Master Of Maramba. Margaret Way
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suspect not,” he gave a low laugh, “nevertheless you might tell me why a beautiful girl like yourself, a gifted performer, would want to hide herself away in the wilds. You have an aura of intense excitement swirling all around you yet you want to get away. You must have some idea what station life would be like? You’d be so isolated much of the time.”
“I know that.” Her eyes looked straight ahead.
“So what’s the reason?” His voice was like black velvet against her skin. “You’ve split with a boyfriend? You’ve changed your mind about your big career?”
Some things you couldn’t help. “My career is demolished, Mr. McQuillan,” she gritted, her voice harsh so she could keep it steady. “Thank you for helping me out. Of course if you hadn’t parked so close behind me you wouldn’t have had to worry.”
The whole attitude of his lean powerful body changed. “Look,” he said.
“No, you look.” She lifted a hand in farewell and drove off.
She could still see him in her rear-view mirror. He was standing in the middle of the quiet street looking after her. God! He probably thought she was mad. She didn’t have any appointment at the Conservatorium to keep. She couldn’t bear to go home. Glenda’s manner was so unpleasant these days. She’d thought to get rid of me but my accident changed that. It changed everything.
Tears sprang to Carrie’s eyes but she blinked them away furiously. No use crying. What’s done was done. Like Jamie said, she had to pick up the pieces and find strategies to propel her through life.
CHAPTER TWO
WHEN he returned to James’ office, Royce got straight to the point. “Your niece just shocked me by telling me her career is demolished. What on earth happened? You’ve never said anything.”
James found himself apologising. “Of course I should have. To be honest, Royce, I haven’t felt able to talk about it. Carrie has grieved. We’ve all grieved for almost a year. She was involved in a car crash the very afternoon she had word she’d secured a place at the Julliard Academy in New York. The accident wasn’t all that bad. A friend’s car and a taxi collided. Carrie broke a couple of ribs, suffered a few abrasions but the worst part was the little finger of her right hand was very badly broken. The orthopaedic man did a marvellous job. For most purposes it’s perfectly all right. She’s still a highly accomplished pianist but he warned us the finger won’t stand up to the rigours of a concert career. It will let her down, perhaps during a performance. I haven’t got words for how we feel. Carrie has changed in little telling ways. But she’s very brave. A fighter. In many ways she’s been fighting all her life.”
“You mean in terms of her relationship to her stepmother?” Royce asked perceptively.
James trusted this man so he gave an unhappy nod. “Like Carrie, my sister was so beautiful. Unforgettable really. When she died—a tragic accident, she fell and struck her head—Carrie was only three. Her father nearly went out of his mind. Jeff and I have never been close friends so I wasn’t able to help him as I could have had things been different. He started to drink pretty heavily. He hadn’t before and he doesn’t now, but out of his despair came a very quick second marriage. Glenda, his present wife, was his secretary. It appears she’d always been in love with him.”
“So she made things happen,” Royce said quietly.
“Yes.” James swallowed hard. “Melissa was born soon after. Carrie was never wanted by her stepmother. Her father adores her but he doesn’t understand her any more than he understood my sister. Glenda is always very careful when Jeff’s around but the relationship seen through my eyes and my wife’s has never been caring. Not affectionate. Certainly not loving. To compound it all Carrie was by far the brighter child in the family. As you’ll know from that photograph she was the prettiest little girl imaginable. She shone in the classroom. Right from the beginning she was brilliant at the piano, which I insisted she learn in remembrance of her mother who was a fine pianist, as was my mother. It runs in the family.”
“So the stepmother was not only jealous of her husband’s attention to his firstborn she was jealous and resentful of her capabilities,” Royce remarked.
“I’m afraid so. Carrie was always classed as a gifted child. Glenda saw the two girls in competition, which was sad for Melissa. Melissa had her mother’s views and attitudes forced on her. I think the two girls could have been good friends but Glenda didn’t want that. She wouldn’t permit it.”
“And Catrina’s father didn’t put a stop to this?” Royce asked almost curtly.
James shook his head. “Glenda is clever. Outwardly she’s as proud of Carrie and her achievements as ever Jeff is. Inwardly I think she struggles with her rage. She was thrilled at the thought of Carrie’s securing a place at the Julliard. That would have taken Carrie off her hands. Very very sadly it didn’t happen.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t know,” Royce said, like he bitterly regretted the fact.
“I think I would have told you at some point but you’ve had lots of problems of your own, Royce,” James answered in a conciliatory voice.
“Your niece is very unhappy.”
It couldn’t be denied. “She’s struggling to overcome it. She hasn’t touched the piano since the accident.”
“So what is she doing with herself?” Royce McQuillan asked outright. “Teaching? That would be very hard at this point.”
“Very. Her whole training has been geared to performance.”
“I don’t think she’s governess material,” Royce said. “Too many strong emotions working through her. A trauma to battle down. I was looking for a quiet capable young woman who wouldn’t be discontented far away from boyfriends and the city life.”
“I agree. I don’t think Carrie is governess material, either, but she made it clear to me she wants to get right away from the world of music. For a time.”
“How long?” Royce asked in his direct manner.
‘Who would know?” There was deep concern in James’ voice. “I think Carrie feels all the pain and bitter disappointments like it was yesterday. She’s right about one thing. She’s great with children. Or she was until her world changed. She had such sparkle. Such vitality. Saddest to me is she’s lost a lot of her natural confidence.”
“Her accident has made her fearful?”
“Of certain things, yes,” James agreed. “Her father would never hear of her leaving home. She’s tried before but a large extent with her studies she’s been dependent on him. He wouldn’t thank me for interfering in any way. As I say, we don’t get on. But Carrie told me today she is determined on moving out.”
Royce didn’t give that another moment’s consideration. “It sounds like the obvious solution. Where will she go?” He narrowed his brilliant eyes.
“Wherever she wants to go. Liz and I will help her. Carrie is the love of our lives. She’s given us such joy. She’ll have a battle with her father, though. He’s a born controller.” James’ largely hidden antipathy came through.
“Except he lost control all those years ago.”
James nodded. “All that’s history. Almost any other young woman would have made a better mother for Carrie than Glenda. A better mother for Melissa in a way although Glenda dotes on her. They present a united front socially but it’s really a dysfunctional family.”
“Then it can’t be nice for Catrina to be around.”
In that moment Royce McQuillan made the decision to act.
Carrie spent another hour in town drifting through a department store, buying nothing. Nothing appealed. She was simply putting off the moment she had to return home. There was such a soul-destroying drawing up of sides;