The Garden of Forgotten Wishes - Trisha Ashley Page 0,10
especially after you lost the baby.’
I shivered. I’d got pregnant after my pills had mysteriously ‘vanished’ and before I could replace them, but I’d hardly realized I was expecting before I’d lost the baby.
‘I think the worst thing he ever said to me was that I couldn’t even carry out the one function most women managed without any problem – have a baby.’
‘He truly deserved a burst appendix and septicaemia,’ Treena said. ‘God moves in mysterious ways – and it was certainly a godsend for us that he was ill the exact same weekend we’d arranged everything for your escape.’
I smiled through a blur of sudden tears. ‘Yes. It was ages before he got home and could start trying to find me.’
‘He rang me when he got back to the flat and found you gone,’ Treena said, to my surprise. ‘I didn’t tell you at the time in case it worried you. At first he tried to charm me into telling him where you were, and then, when I wasn’t having any of his fake concern about you, he moved on to the threats. But I told him I was recording the conversation and if he tried to blackmail me I’d hand it to the police. That stopped him in his tracks and he rang off.’
‘I should think it did,’ I agreed. ‘Were you recording it?’
She grinned. ‘No, but he didn’t know that.’
‘You said you thought he’d got someone watching you for a while, presumably to see if you led him to where I was hiding.’
‘Yes, and it sounded like the same man Mum and Dad said turned up at the château, asking nosy questions, but of course by then you’d long since moved on and the trail was cold.’
‘The fact that I left him a letter asking him to contact my solicitor to discuss a divorce must have given him a hint I wasn’t coming back,’ I said drily.
‘I expect so, but it wasn’t until he wanted to remarry that he actually did,’ Treena said. ‘Lucky for you – but not for her.’
‘No …’ I agreed. ‘But perhaps things will be different.’
‘Perhaps,’ she said, though not sounding convinced, and then tipped the last of the prosecco into our glasses. She passed mine over and raised her own in a toast.
‘Here’s to your new, unfettered and free life in Jericho’s End!’
We clinked glasses.
‘Jericho’s End is an odd name for a village, isn’t it?’ I said. ‘Wasn’t there a Jericho in the Bible, where the walls fell down when someone blew a trumpet?’
‘Yes, so there was, but you should be safe unless anyone starts up a brass band,’ Treena grinned. Then she added, ‘It’s just like old times, having you here. I wish you could stay a few days more.’
‘I do, too, but they seemed very keen on my starting work as soon as possible. And actually, I can’t wait to see this magical village that Mum used to tell me stories about. I’m just afraid the reality won’t live up to them!’
‘Haven’t you even looked at the place on Google Maps yet?’ she asked. ‘That gives you a good idea of the layout and you can move around the village as if you’re wearing an invisibility cloak.’
‘No … I don’t quite know why, but I sort of want it all to unfold in front of me when I arrive, not sneak about the place first, via the internet.’
‘You’re weird,’ she said, but in a kind way.
‘Don’t forget, I couldn’t afford a laptop for ages until Aunt Em gave me her old one. I had to rely on occasional access to the internet on someone else’s, and my phones are always the cheapest and most basic ones I can find.’
‘That old laptop of Mum’s is so ancient, it belongs in a museum. Does it even work?’
‘If I turn it on and off a few times and the wind’s in the right direction, then it usually does. It’s started making an ominous whining noise, though.’
‘I’m just about to buy a new laptop, so you can have my old one,’ she offered. ‘It works fine; I just fancied the new model. I’ll clean my stuff off it for you, ready for next time you come over.’
‘Thank you, that would be great,’ I said. ‘I must buy a new phone too. I dropped the previous pay-as-you-go one in a lily pond.’
‘Why not sign up with my mobile phone provider? It’s a rolling thing: you pay every month and you can cancel any time. It’s