Sinful Nights(64)

I really don't think you should be telling me any of this, Mrs  Vickers,' protested Claire, softening the words with a smile. Mr Fraser  didn't strike me as the kind of man who would like the thought of  people gossiping about him.'

Gossip is part and parcel of village life; when you get to my age it's  one of the few pleasures left. He did take it very hard when she left,  though, and that's a fact. Never seemed to have seen it coming like the  rest of us. Of course, with him being away so much  …  He has a  manufacturing company in Bath and they do a lot of business abroad. I'm  not sure what they make, but she was the sort of woman who needs a man's  constant attention, and when he wasn't there to give it to her she  looked for it somewhere else. She never struck me as the sort who was  suited to village life-or to marriage, come to think of it. Little  Heather was only a few months old when they moved in. That father of  hers ought to find someone better to take care of her than Amy Roberts,  though. Not keen on kiddies, isn't Amy  … '

That was the second time today that someone had made that observation,  reflected Claire a little later as she returned home, and it was one she  agreed with. However, the person they should be telling wasn't her but  Heather's father. It seemed ridiculous that one brief visit should give  the village the idea that in some way she was responsible for Heather's  welfare. Nothing like this had ever happened in the block of flats; no  one cared or noticed there who went in or out of someone else's front  door. But here it was different  …  people did care, and they certainly  noticed!





CHAPTER TWO


CLAIRE HERSELF HAD not expected that Lucy would receive an invitation to  have tea with Heather, but it was very difficult to explain to her  little girl why she could not bring her new friend home with her every  afternoon.

But Mummy, Heather likes it with us,' Lucy protested one afternoon when  Claire had gently but firmly refused once again to allow Heather to  come home with them.

Lucy, Heather has her own home, and her daddy will be waiting for her.'

Privately Claire thought it was appalling that the little girl should be  left to walk home from school on her own, and she had got into the  habit of walking Heather to her own gates first and then taking Lucy  home. From her own point of view she was more than happy to feed Heather  every tea time; she always had plenty, and the two little girls played  happily together. She didn't want Lucy to grow up as a lonely only, and  since she herself was never likely to have any more children, friends  were something she wanted Lucy to have plenty of.

It tore at her heart to see the woebegone and hurt expression in  Heather's eyes, but how could she explain to a six-year-old that she  couldn't encourage her visits because her father would put the wrong  interpretation on them-not to mention half the village. She did notice,  however, that Heather was losing weight and gradually becoming  worryingly withdrawn.    

 



 

Two weeks after her confrontation with Jay Fraser, Claire relented and  agreed that Heather could stay to tea the following day, provided that  Mrs Roberts agreed.

Everything went very well until it was time to take the little girl  home, and then to Claire's dismay Heather burst into tears and clung to  her, sobbing pitifully.

I don't want to go back,' she wept. I want to stay here with you and Lucy!'

But Heather, your daddy  … '

He's gone away again. I wish I could come and live with you and Lucy  and then you could be my mummy and Daddy could be Lucy's daddy  … '

Yes Mummy, don't you think that would be a good idea?' Lucy piped up.  She had gone very quiet when Heather started to cry, but now her brown  eyes sparkled excitedly, and the unmistakable contrast between her  bright, happy daughter and the little wan face of the child burrowing  into her lap caught at Claire's tender heart.

She tried to tell herself that it wasn't all Jay Fraser's fault-a man  had to work-but surely he could do better for his daughter than to leave  her in the care of someone as plainly unfeeling as Mrs Roberts? Even  she herself had quailed a little before the older woman's sternness, and  she could well imagine the effect it would have on someone as shy and  insecure as Heather. She suspected that Mrs Roberts wasn't above  bullying the little girl, and, like all bullies, the more frightened  Heather seemed, the more bullying she would become.

Please, can't I stay here tonight?'

If only she could say yes, but she couldn't, and neither could she explain why not.

Not tonight, Heather,' she refused gently, softening her refusal by  adding, perhaps another night, if your daddy will let you. Come on now,  let's dry those tears and then we'll take you home.'

She could tell that Heather was reluctant to go, but what could she do?  She saw her safely inside the gates, but didn't go up to the house with  her, mainly because she didn't want to run the risk of running into Jay  Fraser, should he have returned.

Later she was to curse herself for that bit of selfishness, but as she  watched Heather's small figure trudging miserably towards the house she  had no premonition of what was to happen, only a tender-hearted sadness  for the little girl's misery.

The following day, when she went to meet them from school, Claire found  that both little girls seemed rather subdued. She left Heather after  seeing her safely inside the gates to her home, and although Lucy was  quieter than usual, there was nothing in her small daughter's silence to  worry her.

They had almost reached their own cottage when Lucy suddenly asked, Can  Heather come and live with us, Mummy instead of with Mrs Roberts?'

Sighing faintly, Claire shook her head. Heather's daddy would be lonely  if she came to live with us,' she said by way of explanation. Just as  I'd be lonely if you went away from me.'

But Heather's daddy is always away, and she doesn't like Mrs Roberts.  She didn't like her mummy either; she was always cross and smacking her.

Claire was too aware of how Jay Fraser would react if he ever learned  that his daughter had been passing on these confidences to encourage  Lucy to say any more. His comments to her on the one occasion on which  they had met still stung.

She hated the thought that other people besides himself might consider  that she was on the lookout for a husband. A man in her life was the  last thing she wanted, especially a man with the legal right to share  her bed and her body. She felt herself tense, the familiar sense of  nausea sweeping through her.

After she had had her tea, Lucy asked if she could go and play in the  garden. Claire agreed readily enough; Lucy knew that she was not allowed  to go outside its perimeters.

Mrs Vickers had commented to her earlier in the day that soon it would  be autumn. She had remarked on the likelihood of autumn gales and the  damage they might do to the cottage roofs. Her cottage, like Claire's  badly needed re-roofing, but unlike Claire it seemed that she had enough  money put on one side to cover this expense. She had mentioned a sum  that had frankly appalled Claire, who had not realised that the age of  the cottages and their country setting meant that they had to be  re-roofed in the same traditional hand-made tiles as had been originally  used.

She hadn't realised how long she had been sitting worrying about the  roof until she heard the church clock chiming seven. She went to the  back door and called Lucy, frowning slightly as she scanned the garden  and realised there was no sign of her daughter.

She was just wondering if Lucy could possibly have slipped round to see Mrs Vickers, when she suddenly appeared.    

 



 

The guilty look on her face was enough to alert Claire's maternal  instincts. It was her private and most dreaded fear that the same thing  that had happened to her might happen to Lucy, and it was because of  this nightmare dread that she was so strict about not permitting her to  stray outside the garden. Now, however, the guilt in her daughter's eyes  made her hesitate before getting angry with her. Her Where have you  been?' brought a pink flush to Lucy's face.

I went for a walk  … '

Lucy, you know I've told you never to go out of the garden without me.  Come on now, it's bedtime.' How on earth could one describe to a  six-year-old the perils that lurked behind the smiling mask of friendly  strangers?

Don't be cross, Mummy.' An engaging smile, and a small hand tucked in  hers, made her sigh and decide that her lecture would have to await a  more propitious occasion.

It was only when she was making Lucy's supper that she noticed that her  cake-tin was almost empty. She frowned slightly. She had never forbidden  Lucy to help herself to food if she wanted it, but neither had she  encouraged her. Lucy was not a greedy child, and rarely asked for food  between meals, but she could have sworn that that cake-tin had held far  more home-made buns last night than it did now.

NORMALLY HEATHER WAS waiting for them outside the school gates, but this  morning there was no sign of her, and Claire couldn't help feeling  concerned. Was the little girl ill? Heather wasn't her responsibility,  she reminded herself, and neither her father nor Mrs Roberts would thank  her for interfering, and yet she knew that if Jay Fraser's reaction to  her had been different she would have called at the house on her way  home and checked to see if Heather was all right.