Haven't They Grown(83)
‘And you told Kevin what? “Someone I want to avoid is poking around in my business, so I’m going to have to go and stay with my ex-husband in Florida”?’
She recoils. ‘I’m not staying with Lewis and his children. I’d never do that. He wouldn’t allow it, either. Lewis arranged another house for me to stay in. I’m not part of their life any more, and we both want to keep it that way. I’m a coward, Beth. I’m not confident and brave like you.’
‘I asked about Kevin,’ I remind her.
‘Kevin understood, yes. He doesn’t pry into my business. That’s one of his best qualities.’
Got it. Prying is bad. Message delivered, loud and clear.
‘So together, you and Lewis made a plan to mislead me because you thought the questions I was asking might lead to the truth coming out.’ As I say it, I try to imagine the conversations they must have had if this is true. I picture Kevin Cater, not privy to these discussions, saying to Yanina, ‘Flora and her ex-husband must have some unfinished business to deal with, relating to this old friend. I’m not going to pry.’
‘We knew you knew about the names,’ says Flora. ‘How could I explain to you why I’d used the same ones? I knew it was the first question you’d ask me if you got the chance. There’s no explanation that makes any sense apart from the truth! And if I told you I was estranged from … from …’ She covers her face with her hands.
‘From your oldest two children,’ I say. ‘From Thomas and Emily Braid.’
‘If I told you that, you’d have asked why. You’d have demanded an answer. You remind me of Lewis sometimes, with your determination to get the result you want. I’m not a strong person, Beth. You’d have broken me down eventually. Lewis and I both knew that. We agreed that the best thing to do was get me out of the way, where you couldn’t find me.’
‘Except I did.’
‘You did.’ Is that hatred in her eyes, or something else? ‘Here you are.’
‘And here you are, telling me the story. What if I go to the police now?’
‘You promised Lewis you wouldn’t tell anyone but Dom.’
‘Flora, Lewis might be your lord and master, but he’s not mine. What if I break the promise I made?’
‘You won’t. You wouldn’t do that to me, or to any of the other people who would suffer if you did. Georgina’s been gone twelve years. What would it achieve to stir things up now? Have some compassion for Lewis, if you’ve got none for me.’
‘Flora, how can you say that? That’s so far from—’
‘He isn’t my lord and master, but he is my saviour,’ she talks over me. ‘He says he’s not doing any of it for me, but I still get the benefits. He made this escape plan for me. He’s helped in all kinds of ways – like letting me and Kevin have the Hemingford Abbots house, which he didn’t have to do. It was still his, he hadn’t sold it. And once he’d moved to America—’
‘Flora, I know you’re lying.’ The words spill out of me as a sudden realisation hits hard. How did it take me so long to see it? ‘You’re so intent on cutting all ties with your old life that you disown your kids, change your name, cut off your parents – something you’d never do, by the way – and then you choose to live with your new husband and bring up your new children in the house where Georgina died? You expect me to believe that?’
Flora stands up. ‘I don’t have to talk to you,’ she says. ‘Not any more. You already know the only thing I wanted to keep from you. Do what you want with it, I don’t care.’
‘Really? That’s not plausible either – that you suddenly don’t care about the effect it would have on your parents, for example, if I were to go to them next week and tell them the truth.’
Flora moves towards the door. I try to block her path, but she shoves me hard. I land on the bed on top of my bag.
‘Flora, wait!’ I call out. The door slams.
Rubbing my sore side, I get up and run after her, but there’s no sign of her in the corridor in either direction.
I don’t want to go back inside and shut the door to the outside world. Not yet. Instead, I stay in the corridor, leaning against the wall, watching my hotel room through its wide-open door and half expecting somebody to burst out of it. That doesn’t happen, and won’t, since there’s no one in there. All I see is an ordinary, unremarkable room: suitcase spread open with clothes spilling out, rumpled duvet cover, cushions scattered on the floor. No hotel guest who passed now and glanced in would see any sign of unusual activity.
Maybe it’s not unusual. Thinking about it, it can’t be. It must be absolutely standard: people lie to each other in hotel rooms all the time.
If I’d run down to the lobby as fast as I could, determined to find Flora at all costs, would it have done me any good? If I’d tracked her down, would she have told me the truth, and would I have believed her if she did? I’ve lost count of the number of times she’s lied to me.
It has to be another lie: all of it.
I slide down the wall into a seated position and start to make a mental list of all the reasons why I’m certain the detailed story Flora and Lewis just told me is not true.
I don’t believe that Kevin doesn’t know what’s going on between Flora and Lewis. Any spouse would demand to know the details before saying, ‘Fine, you go off to America with your ex. I’ll stay here and mind my own business.’ When Dominic and I met Kevin Cater, he had the manner of someone who was in on the plan. There was an in-charge air about him. Everything I can recall of his behaviour that day makes me think he knows all the details there are to know. He also knows why it matters that Dom and I should be kept in the dark. Yanina knows too.