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‘Cathy! Wait for me!’ It was Duncan. He ran up behind me. I want to talk to you, Cathy.
‘Listen— all women like Nick. I know that. But he's not a good friend for you to have.
‘You heard him on the beach. He likes to have lots of women friends. How can you be happy with a man like that?’
‘You're wrong,’ I said slowly. ‘I stopped liking Nick weeks ago.’
Nick wasn't important to me now, I knew that.
But Duncan was important to me— and I couldn't tell him.
For a minute or two I said nothing, but the questions were still there.
In the end I said: ‘Why didn't you tell me about Miranda's accident? Why was it a secret? I feel very upset about all this.’
‘I wanted to forget all about it,’ Duncan said slowly. ‘It was a very difficult time.
‘Miranda and Juliet loved Nick. Juliet hated Miranda. She was afraid because Miranda wanted to live with Nick.
‘Juliet told me about Miranda and Nick because she wanted me to stop Miranda.’
‘Juliet told me about her love for Nick. It was a secret, she said.’
‘A secret?’ Duncan laughed angrily. ‘Well, Miranda never knew about it, it's true.
‘Juliet's very careful— she never talks about Nick. But it wasn't difficult to see.
‘I saw her car at his farm, and I often see it there now.’
The sky was darker now.
‘Was Juliet here, the night Miranda died?’ I asked. Perhaps Juliet killed her sister, I thought.
‘No, no. Juliet wasn't here, Nick wasn't here,’ Duncan said.
‘I was upstairs, and the children were in bed.
‘Then Miranda called me into our bedroom and said: “I'm going to leave you, Duncan. I'm going to live with Nick.”
‘I was very angry and upset, but I ran downstairs into the kitchen before she fell.
‘Cathy, nobody killed Miranda. It was an accident, a terrible accident.’
Duncan put his hand on my arm. ‘Can't you forget about Miranda now? Can't we begin again?’
But I couldn't answer then.
We arrived at Beach House. There was a light downstairs in the kitchen, and a light in the sitting room.
‘The children are watching television,’ Duncan said.
We went into the house and Duncan opened the sitting room door.
‘We're home now,’ he told the children. ‘We're going to the kitchen to make dinner.’
The kitchen was warm and quiet. Old Mrs Harvey sat in her chair.
Suddenly, I felt afraid again. There was something terrible about old Mrs Harvey's face.
I stood by the kitchen door; I couldn't go into the room.
‘We're back. Mother,’ Duncan said. ‘Cathy's with me; everything's all right.’
Mrs Harvey's eyes were dark in her white face.
‘I was afraid, Duncan! I was afraid! The children love Cathy, and you love Cathy. I can see that.
‘But Cathy loves Nick. She's going to leave you and the children.
‘Remember Miranda! It's all happening again. I can see that.’
‘Mother! It's not true! Don't talk like this!’
‘Remember Miranda!’ Mrs Harvey said again. ‘Don't be upset, Duncan. I'm always here, you know that.
‘I can't look after you because of my arthritis, but I love you most, you know that, and I'm going to help you again.’
Suddenly I understood it all. ‘Tell us about Miranda,’ I said quietly. ‘What did you do that night?’
Mrs Harvey looked at me then. ‘I don't want you to leave, Cathy. I want you to stay with the children and be happy with Duncan.
‘Let me tell you about that night,’ she said, ‘and then you must stay here with us.’
The room was very quiet. Duncan held my hand, and his hand was warm and strong.
‘Miranda wanted to leave Duncan. I was upstairs in my room, and I heard her.
‘Duncan ran downstairs and I came out of my room and talked to Miranda.
‘She hated Duncan, and she didn't want to think about her children.’ Mrs Harvey began to cry.
‘I pushed her. She was on the stairs, and I pushed her with my stick.
‘She fell down the stairs, and I went back into my room.
‘I didn't want to kill her, I wanted to break her legs.
‘I wanted her to stay at home with Duncan.
‘But she died, and in the end I was happy because she didn't go and live with Nick...’
Mrs Harvey talked and talked, and in the end we stopped listening to her.
‘Cathy, this is all going to be very difficult,’ Duncan said, tiredly.
‘I must call the police and tell them about mother. Then I must talk to the children.
‘It's going to be difficult for you, too. Are you going to leave Beach House?’
I smiled. There were no more questions in my head.
I knew everything now about the Harvey family: there was nothing more to be afraid of.
‘No, Duncan, I'm not going to leave.’
‘The children need you,’ he said. ‘You know that. But I need you too.
‘I want you to be with me. But can we be happy after all this?’
‘Of course we can,’ I told him. ‘Things are going to get better now, for all of us.’
He put his arms around me. He kissed me then, and I found my home in his arms.
