Sara Craven - Past All Forgetting

It would have been an immense consolation to put her head down on her mother’s lap and sob out the whole wretched truth, but Janna could not permit herself that indulgence. Her mother did not deserve to be upset like that after all this time, she thought wearily. The time for confession was long past.

She forced a smile and rose to her feet. ‘Nothing, of course. You’re right, Mum, I’m sure you are. It’s just bridal nerves, I suppose.’ She bent and kissed her swiftly. ‘Now watch the rest of your film. I’m going to bed before I get nightmares!’

She had not arranged to see Colin on Sunday, and spent a quiet day, lazing round the house, acting her normal self for all she was worth, conscious of the occasional worried glance from her mother. She slept badly that night and rose late on Monday morning, feeling as if she had not rested at all. She was helping her mother strip the beds ready for the weekly wash, when the phone rang.

‘Colin?’ she said in surprised response to the terse tones at the other end of the line. ‘What a strange time to ring. Is anything wrong?’

‘Oh, no.’ Colin’s voice was heavy with sarcasm. ‘Everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds. I just thought you’d like to know that the supreme sacrifice will not be demanded from you after all.’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘You won’t have to live in Carrisbeck House, my sweet. It’s been snapped up by someone else while you were dithering about last Friday.’ His voice sharpened. ‘Hello—Janna—are you still there?’

‘Yes, I’m still here,’ she managed. ‘Colin, I don’t know what to say. I’m so sorry. I know how you’d set your heart on it. Do you know—have you any idea who it is?’

‘Of course I know.’ He gave a short, savage laugh. ‘It’s in safe hands, darling. Back safely in the bosom of the Tempest family, just as you secretly wished. The Colonel’s nephew—Rian or whatever his damned name is—has come back, and he’s bought it.’

JANNA replaced the telephone receiver and stood for a moment, her knuckles pressed childishly against her teeth. She felt totally shaken, not merely by Colin’s news, but by the anger and petulance he had displayed in the telling of it.

She had tried to console him, in spite of her own inner turmoil, by telling him that there would be another house for them, but her efforts had been useless. Colin had wanted Carrisbeck House and had been thwarted, and the frustration revealed a totally new side of his character.

She went into the sitting room and sank down on to the sofa, feeling limp. In some ways she could understand his reaction. To many people in Carrisford and the neighbouring villages, Colin and his father were still mere newcomers to be tolerated rather than dales people. Colin, she was sure, had felt that his acquisition of Carrisbeck House would have altered this—that he would in time fill the position in the community that Colonel Tempest once had done. But Janna was not so sure about this. She wondered even if Colin’s motives might not have been fully comprehended and resented by the local people. At any rate, such speculation was now a waste of time. Colin would have to find a new way of establishing himself as the new ‘squire’.

And if Colin himself was so peevish in his disappointment, she shuddered to think what Sir Robert would say. The only glimmer of brightness in the dark cloud that seemed to be descending on her was that she did not have to face having her future father-in-law living in such close proximity.

Now there was her mother to tell. This was another prospect that Janna did not relish. Mrs Prentiss would undoubtedly want to know why Janna had not informed her that Rian was back and with a small child in tow, who was actually going to be Janna’s pupil. Janna sighed. That was how her mother would see it—a piece of interesting and slightly scandalous news to be imparted over the coffee cups. She would certainly not understand why Janna had kept it to herself.

Janna could not fully understand it herself. It would have been so much simpler that way—to mention it casually in passing. ‘Oh, by the way, guess who’s back?’ Now it was too late, and by her silence she had invested Rian’s return with an importance that her mother’s shrewdness was unlikely to overlook.

But these were minor worries compared with the actuality of Rian’s presence as a permanent resident in Carrisford. Of all the places in the world that he had visited, what had drawn him back here to this quiet market town in the shadow of the Pennines? How could he bear to come back to all the memories that Carrisford must evoke, and live in the house from which he had been dismissed in disgrace? When it became generally known that he had been forced to buy his uncle’s house and not inherit it as in the normal course of events, she knew that speculation would be rife. And all eyes would be on him anyway because of the child Fleur. He had not always regarded public opinion with such arrogance, she told herself unhappily.

She got up with sudden resolution. No matter what the cost, she would have to see Rian—try and persuade him to change his mind. Could she make him see that no purpose could be served by him living here? If he wanted his revenge on her, then he had already achieved that, by effectively destroying her peace of mind.

She found her suede coat and tugged on matching knee-length boots, then called to her mother that she was going to the library, snatching up a couple of books from the sideboard.

As she walked hurriedly down the long sloping street that led to the market place, she wondered what she would do if Rian was not staying at the White Hart after all, but a swift glance at the hotel car park before she passed under the archway leading to the hotel entrance reassured her. That exotic-looking foreign car he had been driving was there, so he could not be too far away.

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