Her Garden Angel - Book 4, The Porth Kerensa Series

Chapter Twenty-Three

Porth Kerensa, Cornwall, May 2010

Tom says very little during dinner, although Rachel feels his burning stare on her throughout the meal. The conversation between Jack and Rachel is stilted and awkward. She wishes she had stayed at the pub and eaten alone in her room. She and Jack cannot find their way back to the easy camaraderie they had shared before, and Tom has nothing to say to her.

When dinner is finished and Jack is clearing the table, Tom stuffs some tobacco into a pipe and lights it with a sigh. He sits back and looks at Rachel seriously.

“Who did Evie marry?”

“Jeff Burton, my grandfather. They were married for thirty years, until the day he died. He died of a heart attack when I was seventeen. He was a sailor during the war, a coder in the navy.” Rachel knows she is babbling in the face of his steel gaze and she stops talking abruptly. She watches Jack pour their coffees, avoiding looking at Tom.

Tom leans forward, peering at her and unwillingly she drags her eyes back to his gaze. “Did they have children together? Did Evie have any children?”

“No, Evie has no real blood ties. She has no children,” Rachel replies.

He puffs thoughtfully on his pipe. “Jack told me she’s very ill, he said he was her doctor."

“Yes, she is and, yes, he was.”

“It’s a strange coincidence that he ended up in the same place as her. You know she’s wrong when she thinks she has no blood ties. Jack is her cousin twice removed; he is Judy’s grandson.”

“I don’t think it will mean much to her, to be honest. She barely knew who he was when he was just her doctor.”

“I want to go and see her; would you let me see her?” He lifts his shaking hand and wipes it slowly across his brow.

“Earlier, you said you never wanted to see her again,” Rachel says, coldly. "How do I know you won't go in there and shout abuse at her?"

"I loved her, Rachel. She's the only woman I ever loved," Tom replies, softly. "However angry I've been with her all these years that never changed."

"Why did you marry Judy? Why didn't you look for Gran if you loved her so much?" Rachel cannot shake the anger she feels towards Tom. She remembers Gran whispering that she hadn't trusted Tom with the truth and Rachel can't help feeling cross that this man who professes to love Gran hadn't made Evelyn feel secure in their union.

His voice is quiet. "I married Judy five years after Evie left, when I was finally granted a divorce for desertion. Judy needed a husband and we'd formed a bond in the years since Evie had left us both. It seemed right."

Rachel glances at Jack standing in the doorway. His face is set in a hard expression and his eyes are sharp and angry. She remembers how hurt and unsure she had felt when she discovered there had been another love in her gran’s life before Jeff. How uncertain she had become of a love that she had always held up as a bastion of what a good relationship should be.

Rachel stands up and paces back and forth, like a caged animal. She is angry, both men can see it flaring in her eyes and in every step she takes. “Gran asked me to come and see you; she wants you to visit her. She said she needs to talk to you. God knows, every part of me is screaming at me to say no. I worry that seeing you will be no good for her at all in the long run, but that’s what she wants.”

“Thank you, Rachel,” he says, gratefully.

“Just don’t upset her,” she replies tautly.

Jack walks to the drinks cabinet and opens a bottle of whisky. “I don't know about anyone else but I need a drink, do you want one?”

Rachel shakes her head and looks at Tom. “Gran said that Judy told her you'd gone back to America."