Barbara Erskine 3-Book Collection: Lady of Hay, Time’s Legacy, Sands of Time. Barbara Erskine
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grinned back amiably. ‘You couldn’t afford me, love, not for full-scale analysis! But seriously, I do want to help you. I have to go home tomorrow. I’m giving a lecture on Friday and another on Monday at a post-graduate conference, but after that I can come back and I want you to agree to see me then, just to talk things through.’
She frowned. ‘I won’t need to, Sam. Really.’
‘If you really don’t need to, we’ll forget it, but if you have any more dreams, any more crying babies, then you must call me. Promise?’
Jo sighed. ‘All right, I promise.’
‘I’ll give you my number in Edinburgh so that you can reach me there as well. And I don’t want you to go back to see Bennet. He’s away anyway at the moment, I gather, but he’s not competent to help you, Jo. He doesn’t know how to cope with the reactions he’s getting from you and more to the point, neither do you.’ He sipped his coffee thoughtfully, not looking at her. ‘I know you’ll do the sensible thing.’
Jo grinned. ‘You’re the first person who has ever said that to me,’ she said. She reached forward and kissed him on the cheek, then she frowned. ‘What is that awful mark on your face?’
Sam glanced at Nick. ‘I scratched it on some wire,’ he said quickly. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll live.’ He put the cup down. ‘And now, I must go and get on with some packing. I’ll give you a lift back to the flat, Nick, shall I? I’ve got your car. It’s parked round the corner.’
‘Then I’ll have the keys.’ Nick held out his hand. ‘Perhaps you’d grab a taxi, Sam, if you don’t mind. I’ll come on later. I want to talk to Jo.’
‘It will be easier if we drive back together.’ Sam’s tone was insistent.
Stubbornly Nick shook his head. ‘I’ll be along later.’
‘Jo –’ Sam appealed to her. ‘You’re tired. You don’t want Nick here.’
‘That’s all right, Sam, thanks. But I do want to talk to Nick as it happens.’ Jo smiled almost apologetically. She stood on tiptoe and kissed him again. ‘You’ve been very sweet, Sam, thanks for coming.’
Nick closed the door behind his brother thankfully and stood for a moment staring at it. Mortice, Yale lock, chain and bolt. Why the bolt, in broad daylight when Sam was here? He shot it experimentally.
‘What are you doing?’ Jo was behind him; she looked apprehensive.
‘I was wondering why Sam found it necessary to bolt the door. Unless it was you, of course?’ He eyed her thoughtfully.
‘I never bolt the door. What are you talking about?’
The particular shade of burgundy silk she was wearing suited her exceptionally well. His eyes travelled to her breasts, outlined beneath the low-buttoned blouse. They seemed more prominent than usual. She was looking very beautiful. ‘Then Sam must have done it,’ he said. ‘Did you ask him to hypnotise you, Jo?’ He moved away from the door and picked up his empty cup. He stared at it absently.
She nodded. ‘I heard the baby crying again and Carl Bennet wasn’t there and I didn’t know what to do, so I rang Sam. He was marvellous, Nick.’
Nick put down the cup. ‘He is pretty good, so I’ve heard,’ he said cryptically.
Jo smiled. ‘You heard right.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘So. How was France? I gather you had company while you were there.’
‘I thought Sam might just find it necessary to tell you she had come after me,’ Nick said cynically. ‘It was the end of us, if it’s of any interest. As far as I know, she’s still there.’ He glanced at her. ‘Jo –’
‘The answer is no, Nick. I don’t accept cast-offs.’
His face hardened. ‘You are assuming too much. I came here to see if you had recovered, not to resume our affair. I don’t beg women to take me back.’
‘Good.’ She looked defiant. ‘I don’t think begging would suit you.’ She walked out onto the balcony and stood there for a moment with her back to him. Then she turned. ‘Nick, do you believe in reincarnation now, after what’s happened?’
‘No. I do not.’
‘Then what do you think is happening to me?’
‘I think you are the victim of your own imagination. No more than that.’
‘You don’t think it is possible that everyone lives again? You don’t believe that we might have known each other before, when I was Matilda –’
‘No, I don’t.’ Nick joined her on the balcony. He put his hands on her shoulders. ‘Don’t try and talk yourself into this, Jo. It’s madness.’
‘It was when I fainted at Ceecliff’s,’ she went on as if she hadn’t heard him. ‘As I was coming round I saw someone else’s face there, in the room. Someone who was you, and wasn’t you. Someone beside you –’
‘Shut up, Jo. I don’t want to hear any more –’
‘That person tried to strangle me. I couldn’t breathe. That was why I fainted. I thought it was you, but it wasn’t. His eyes were different and he had a beard …’ She pushed past him and went back inside. ‘Nick, you were part of that life. And it’s catching up with me! The people from the past are following me into the present! They are here, in the shadows!’ Her voice was rising. ‘William, my husband William was here, in my bedroom, and the baby, my baby, little Will. Nick, I started producing milk to feed him! That’s why I called Sam. I didn’t know what to do!’ Tears began to roll down her cheeks. ‘And the man at Ceecliff’s house reached out of the past to try and kill me, Nick. None of it was my imagination. They were real!’
Nick was staring at her in horror. ‘Jo, for God’s sake, get a grip on yourself. You’re talking rubbish.’
‘Am I?’ She took a deep breath. ‘How come the Chandlers upstairs heard the baby crying?’
‘You should be very glad they did, Jo. That proves absolutely, beyond a shadow of doubt, that it was a real baby they heard.’ Nick sat down, still watching her. ‘You need to get away, Jo. Right away for a few days. Listen, I’m not due back in the office until Monday –’
‘I know what you’re going to say.’ She gave him a brittle smile. ‘Thanks, but no.’
‘You don’t know what I’m going to say. I was going to suggest that you come down to the boat with me –’
‘Nick! Don’t you understand? I’m afraid of you! Afraid of that other person –’
‘There is no other person, Jo!’ Nick caught her arms. ‘You’ve been cooped up too long in this flat with this story all round you – tapes, books, nightmares. You’ve got to get away before it sends you really insane. I’m going to take Moon Dancer back to Lymington – I never got round to it when I went to see Ma last. Come with me. You know you’ve always loved the boat, and the sea air will help get things straight for you. It always did, remember?’
Jo hesitated. He was right. She had got to get away. ‘No strings? Separate bunks?’
Nick grinned. ‘Scout’s honour. Why don’t I ring the marina and ask them to get her ready? We’ll call in at Lynwood House and pick up my gear and we could be at Shoreham in a couple of hours or so.’
Jo sighed. She stared round the room, thinking of the night before, sitting all alone, waiting to hear if the baby was going to start crying again. Abruptly she capitulated. ‘OK, I’ll come. Thanks.’
He smiled. ‘Pack a bag while I phone.’ He watched as she moved towards the bedroom, seeing already a new lightness about her. He made the call and then threw himself back on the cushions of the sofa. They slipped a little and a bundle of rolled-up clothing fell onto the