Evans to Betsy

“Goodnight, Betsy.” He leaned over and gave her a little kiss on her forehead.

He woke early to find himself alone in bed and wondered if he had dreamed the whole thing. Then the smell of frying came to his nostrils. He went downstairs to find Betsy in the kitchen, the tea already in the pot and eggs and bacon sizzling in the pan.

“Toast just popped up,” she called. “If you hurry up and butter it, the eggs are ready.”

He sat down to his best breakfast in weeks.

“I thought I’d better get going early, before too many people are about,” she said. “I don’t want to ruin your reputation.”

“What about yours?” Evan laughed.

“Me? Oh, they all think I’m a loose woman anyway. And what do I care? Let them think what they like.”

“Too late,” Evan said. There was a tap on his front door. He went to answer it.

“Oh, good, you’re up.” Bronwen breezed past him into the hallway. “I felt so much better this morning that I thought I’d come over and surprise you. Look, I’m walking again. Isn’t that wonderful?”

“Oh, yes,” he managed to say. “That’s wonderful.”

“Do I smell bacon frying, on a workday?” she demanded. “Evan Evans, what about that healthy diet you were promising. When I’m not around to keep an eye on you, you go—”

She broke off. Through the half-open kitchen door she had just caught a glimpse of Betsy in her nightdress, standing with a frying pan in her hand, looking trapped and guilty.

“My God, you didn’t wait long, did you?” Bronwen demanded. “Did you think I wasn’t going to recover and you were going to hedge your bets?”

“Bronwen, wait. It’s not—”

“Did she spend the night here?”

“Yes, but—” He tried to grab her but she pushed him off and ran out of the house again.

“Bronwen, please—stop. Just let me explain. It wasn’t like that at all …”

“Go away,” she shouted. “Go away and leave me alone. I never want to see you again.”

Without warning she teetered and collapsed to the ground.

The next moments passed as if in a nightmare. The ambulance seemed to arrive in no time at all. Evan watched the medics scoop Bronwen up and cart her off on a stretcher as if she were a piece of meat. He tried to go with them and was pushed back.

“Are you next of kin? Well, then ring the hospital later and they’ll let you know when you can see her.”

He stood there in his bare feet, in the street, watching it go, hearing the siren as it disappeared down the pass. He had only felt this bad once before in his life, and that was when he sat beside his father in the Swansea hospital and watched the life ebb out of him. The words of guilt screamed through his head: “You did that to her. It’s your fault.”

Chapter 22

  It was still raining when Betsy arrived at the Sacred Grove. For the first time she had had to take public transportation and was out of breath after the long walk from the nearest bus stop. She had run all the way from the gate, not wanting to be late. Her heart was thumping as the electric security gate swung open—and it wasn’t just from running. She had tried to seem brave to Evan, but truly she was scared about coming here now. Yesterday’s incident in the steam room had unnerved her more than she cared to admit. The morning’s incident with Bronwen had unsettled her even more. She knew that she had done nothing wrong, but she couldn’t help blaming herself. She got the feeling that Evan blamed her too. What if something awful happened to Bronwen because of her? The stupid thing was that she had fantasized over and over about something happening to Bronwen and Evan turning to her for love and support instead. But now that something had happened to Bronwen she just felt sick and scared.

She reached the main house and went to hang up her coat in the cloakroom. Evan had made her promise that she’d not be caught anywhere alone again. “Stay in public areas and if you’re sent anywhere, get another girl to come with you,” he had instructed. If Evan was worried for her, then she should definitely be on her guard. She decided she’d go around with Bethan all day, just for safety.

“Where’s Bethan?” she asked as she went into the kitchen. Bethan usually cleared up after breakfast with her and the dining room looked like a disaster area.

“I don’t know,” Michael said. “She was looking for you a little while ago. I think she must have gone on down to the meditation center. Rhiannon wants you down there too, as soon as you can.” He leaned closer to her. “I’ll warn you that she’s in a bad mood. It’s raining on her bonfire and she had absolute confirmation from the universe that it would be fine tonight. But you’d better get on with clearing up in the dining room first. Chef’s in a bad mood this morning, too. Must be the weather. Come on, I’ll give you a hand.”

Bethan put down her bucket as she pushed open the main door of the health center. Rhiannon had them all in a tizzy today, because the big ceremony was tonight. She’d almost snapped Bethan’s head off when she had tried to be helpful.

“Get your other tasks done and come back here as quickly as possible. I want you and Betsy together. We need to carry all this stuff across to the ceremony site and attempt to keep it dry. And tell the groundsman that I want him to find me dry wood too. The fire can’t be allowed to smolder. It must flame up instantly.”

Bethan thought it was a lot of fuss about nothing. She’d been to a ceremony before and thought they all looked pretty silly, dancing around the grove in their long robes, calling on the East and West and the spirits of animals. But she was afraid of Rhiannon. There was something about her, the way she looked at you, that made you not want to get on her bad side.

She decided to get her share of the spa cleaning done right away, then she wouldn’t get in trouble with Annabel. She paused and looked up at the main house. It wasn’t like Betsy to be late. And why did it have to be today, when Bethan really wanted to talk to her? She’d had a bad night last night, wondering who to tell—because Rebecca’s disappearance had been playing on her mind. At the time she hadn’t thought much about it. They’d told her Rebecca had gone and she’d accepted it. And when she had found Rebecca’s raincoat still hanging in the staff cloakroom, she hadn’t thought twice about that either. Rebecca was American, after all. They were all supposed to be rich. She probably didn’t care that she’d forgotten her raincoat. She’d just buy another one.

But now that Randy had died, things were different somehow. She remembered that it had been cold and rainy the night Rebecca had left. She began to wonder what had made Rebecca run off, leaving her raincoat behind. She had inquired, innocently, of Mrs. Roberts whether Rebecca ever wrote and asked them to forward her raincoat. Mrs. Roberts said she hadn’t heard a peep out of Rebecca since she left. So Bethan decided to do some snooping of her own.

Betsy finished up in the dining room and went down to Meditation to see if Bethan was down there. The sooner she teamed up with Bethan, the easier she’d feel.

“Ah, good, you’re here,” Rhiannon said in greeting. “Now where’s that lazy child Bethan? Go and find her, will you? It will take two of you to carry the Wicker Man and I don’t want him damaged.”

Betsy went back up the steps. Bethan was nowhere in the main building. She wasn’t in any of the cottages. Then Betsy opened the health center door and saw a bucket sitting in the hallway.

“Bethan?” she called. “Are you in here?”

That’s when she was aware of the hiss of steam. She rushed to the steam room and struggled with the door. Finally she was able to wrench it open. Steam rushed out to meet her. She forced her way through it to the shape that lay huddled on the floor.