The Sister-In-Law(87)

‘I still wonder how she made a living just from posting pictures. Did her parents shed any light on that?’ Dan asked, as he arrived back at the table.

For a moment, Jamie hesitated, then said, ‘Apparently, Ella lived from one man to the next. They paid for everything and she didn’t need a job; she just lived her life… guess I was just another one of those men.’ I guess the sadness for Jamie was perhaps that Ella hadn’t been so open with him as he had with her.

‘Oh my God!’ Joy clutched her chest and gasped in horror at this. I’d told her it was what I’d suspected, but still, I don’t think she could quite get her head around it.

‘I wonder if she ever had any feelings for me,’ he sighed.

Joy offered a half-hearted, ‘Of course she did.’ But I couldn’t give him any comfort. I had no proof that she’d loved him, and as much as I wanted to ease his suffering, I couldn’t lie to him. The fact Ella was prepared to walk out on Jamie so easily once she got my message suggested she hadn’t loved him. I wondered if, after her sister’s death, she’d even been capable of loving again?

‘Mate, she was definitely on the make.’ Dan was saying what no one else could. ‘I know now isn’t the time to be telling you this – but she tried to blackmail me.’

‘What?’ Jamie paled. ‘I can’t believe that,’ he said, clearly shocked. He really had no idea who his new wife had been, but then who did know Ella? She probably hadn’t even known herself.

‘Yeah, she tried to say I’d propositioned her, touched her.’

Jamie shook his head in disbelief, and Bob grunted in agreement as he returned from washing up.

‘That’s enough of that now,’ Joy said; it was all becoming a bit unsavoury for Joy. ‘Bob’s going to pour us all a nice G and T with ice and lemon now, aren’t you Bob, and we’re going to have an early night before the flight in the morning.’

That was how it was with the Taylors, Joy always taking charge, sweeping any problems under the carpet, but it had worked until now – but perhaps Joy had realised that Ella wouldn’t be so easily cajoled?



* * *



On the flight back the next day, we must have seemed like any other family returning from holiday, waiting in departures. The kids were tearing around, Joy was sitting in her eye mask (the stress of the last few days had apparently played havoc with her skin), Bob was doing a crossword and Dan and I were bickering about when was best to feed the kids. Meanwhile, poor Jamie just sat quietly, presumably trying to work out what the hell had happened. He’d arrived only days before as a newlywed, and now he was leaving a widower.

Suddenly Violet was pulling at my arm. ‘Mum, Mum, we have an emergency!’ she said, and I instinctively looked at the double doors that led from Passport Control – I’d had this feeling that Detective Bianchi hadn’t quite finished with us all yet.

‘What emergency, darling?’ I asked.

‘I need the toilet.’

I laughed, relieved there were no carabinieri to see us off or otherwise, so, leaving the boys with Dan, us girls went together. And afterwards, as girls do, we had a little wander around duty-free, where Violet sprayed perfume on us both and we looked at the jewellery. Violet said she would have the big diamond ring in the window, but I said I’d opt for the small diamond earrings.

‘You could have Granny’s,’ she said. ‘I’m sure she’d let you. Ella doesn’t need them now, does she?’

Violet, at only nine years old, obviously hadn’t been privy to what really happened, so was clearly confused at the snatches of conversation she’d overheard.

‘I think Granny has them,’ I said, knowing Joy had got them back.

‘No, no, she gave them to Ella.’ Violet was shaking her head vigorously.

‘Why do you say that?’ I asked, my heart beating like a drum.

‘Because I was there. I was playing hide-and-seek with Alfie. I was hiding behind the sofa and they came in and Granny said, “Ella, I want you to have my diamond earrings for your wedding present, but don’t tell Clare. Just go and get them and hide them in your jewellery box darling,”’ she said in Joy’s voice. So Ella had told the truth… she hadn’t stolen the earrings after all.





CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE





NOW





I remember the details so clearly. The way she smelled of salt and lemons. The way her skin shone gold, and the way she laughed, throwing back her head, white teeth bared, mouth open, lost in the moment. Only now, a year later, can I grieve for the young woman who came into our lives so briefly, and whose truth we tried to grasp like a silver fish, slipping from our hands.

Now, away from that pressure cooker of last summer, I can see that perhaps she wasn’t who I’d thought she was. I’d maybe pinned some of my mistrust, my vulnerability, my fears onto this stranger, when really she was just protecting herself, travelling the world alone, lost without her sister. It was other people who lied, who manipulated; they were the ones who wanted to save themselves, and if that meant hurting me, then so be it.

In the year since our ill-fated holiday, I have realised a lot of things. That the Taylors aren’t as perfect – or as kind and inclusive – as I’d believed. And Joy isn’t the benign dowager that she pretends to be; I should have known when she organised my honeymoon, removed the other woman and convinced me to stay in a marriage that was killing me. I also realised in the heat and secrets that my marriage hadn’t withstood the storm of Dan’s infidelities, and I was living on the edge, not knowing, not trusting, always looking over my shoulder. I’d known in my heart all along, but recently, it’s been staring me in the face, and I can’t live the rest of my life feeling like that.