Inheritance

Chapter Thirty-five. A Fly in the Ointment.

Chapter Thirty-five 

A Fly in the Ointment. 

It was well after eleven when Rachel arrived at the dance. The pairings that had occurred during her absence were quite predictable. The eccentric Valerie, doing her Minnie Mouse impersonation in black tights and micro black skirt, was partnering Einstein. Carol, with her broad Cumbrian accent, and the Cockney Norman were obviously communicating, but not verbally. Eric and Janet had their eyes locked on each other.

There was no sign of John. He was probably in his usual place on the balcony overlooking the dance floor. There he was, looking forlorn, lost in thought. She slid into the seat behind him, reached forward, and covered his eyes with the palms of her hands. 

"Guess who?" 

Instead of answering, John brusquely clamped his hands on her wrists, forced her hands away, and turned to face her. With what almost sounded like a groan he said, "I might have known." 

"Gee what a wonderful greeting. Have you nothing nicer to say?" 

"It's funny. I was actually just thinking about you, and how you keep cropping up. I would have been quite content to let this birthday pass with maybe a celebratory pint or two with the lads but what happens? You get involved and we end up with all this fuss and bother. Who put you up to this?" 

"Your stepmother. She asked me to organize something in an attempt to cheer you up. She said she was tired of being Job's comforter." 

"That's not funny. Things have been really tough lately and I blame you for a lot of it." 

"Me, John? How could you possibly think that?" 

"Easy. Remember when you showed me that press clipping. I'm sure you knew it was in error." 

Rachel gasped. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. 

"So John Gregson, that's what you really think of me. For your information the retraction to that notice appeared days after you stormed out of my bedroom and disappeared to God knows where without a word. I had no way of getting in touch with you." 

"And what about Gillian?" 

"What about her?" Rachel yelled. 

"One night with you and she drops me like a ton of bricks. What lies did you tell her?" 

"I told her nothing that she didn't know already." 

"What do you mean?" 

"If you recall, Gillian spent most of the time at the wedding in the arms of that slimy step brother of yours. He filled her head with all sorts of nonsense." 

"How do you know?" 

"Well later on, at home after the reception, Gillian and I had a long chat. She was quite blunt and asked me directly if we had ever dated. I told her that we had been close friends. I even admitted that once upon a time, I wanted to be more than friends, but that Sheila stood in the way. She seemed to understand. Then for some reason she started to ask me about your father's illness. I couldn't help her on that score because I was unaware of it. My mother didn't know about it either. What was the problem John?" 

"Oh it was nothing. He's fine now."  

"I'm sure he is." 

There was a prolonged silence. The damage was done. Rachel stood and turned to go.  

"I'm glad we had this little chat John. Now that I know what you really think of me, I won't come to the party. I hope everything works out well. Give my regards to your parents and if you ever wish to apologize ... well you know where I live. Bye, John."