Snow Going Back

Chapter 27

TWENTY-SEVEN

‘He’s away at the moment, I’m afraid,’ the reedy voice on the other end of the phone informed her. ‘Won’t be back now for a month.’

‘A month ?’ Kate exclaimed, putting her free hand to her head in despair. ‘Is he reachable at least? Is there a number I can try? It really is quite urgent.’

She’d been trying to get hold of Edward Moreaux all week, after the incident with Aubrey and Evelyn, but it was proving to be almost impossible.

‘I’m afraid not – he’s at a health retreat. No phones. Only emergency calls allowed to the main number. Is it an emergency ?’ the woman asked, the unsteady wobble in her voice betraying her more advanced years. ‘Where did you say you were calling from again?’

‘From Morris and Sch—’ Kate clamped her mouth shut to contain her seething frustration. ‘I’m his late brother’s lawyer, Kate Hunter. I’ve called a few times. It’s about his brother’s estate.’

‘ Whose lawyer?’ she asked, sounding even more confused.

Kate closed her eyes and counted to five. ‘Edward’s brother William.’

‘Oh, that brother. He died years ago.’ Her voice became suspicious. ‘Who are you really ?’

Kate pressed her fingers and thumb into her temples. ‘When will Edward be back?’

‘He’s back sixteenth of December, so you’ll have to call back then,’ came the reply.

Kate closed her eyes and slumped forward over the kitchen island, pressing her face to the cold marble as she mentally watched all hope of tying this up before Christmas wave merrily goodbye and walk out the door.

‘Hello? Miss ? Are you there?’

‘Yes, I’m still here,’ Kate replied, her words mumbled from where her nose and mouth were still squashed against the countertop. ‘Sixteenth, OK. I’ll call back then, thank you.’ She ended the call and groaned, not moving.

‘It’s fine,’ she muttered with dramatic self-pity to the empty room. ‘There probably won’t be a wedding anyway once they all learn I’ll still be tied up here. And even if there is …’ She raised her hands and held them out helplessly, feeling too defeated to lift her head. ‘Well, my mother will probably just put me in peach to show her passive-aggressive disapproval. Bell sleeves, giant flowers all around the neckline from Nanna’s old curtains…’ She could visualise it now. ‘She’ll invite everyone she’s ever met and turn it into a circus, where I’ll be the main attraction. As penance . And then she’ll tell me I brought it on myself and to get out and perform. Dance, monkey, dance !’ She waved her hands around above her head to mimic a pair of performing monkeys, then let them drop heavily back to the counter.

The crunching sound close by nearly made her jump out of her skin, and her head darted up. She froze, mortified, as she clocked Sam standing directly in front of her across the island with an apple in his hand. He stared back with a deeply concerned pucker between his dark brows as he slowly chewed. Holding her gaze, he walked back out with slow, deliberate steps, not saying a word.

She waited until she heard his door close before she shut her eyes and let the burning shame ride free. ‘Of course he heard that,’ she muttered under her breath before glancing up to the heavens. ‘Can a girl not catch a break down here?’

Her phone pinged, and she looked down expectantly. It was a voice note from her mother. ‘I guess not,’ she muttered wryly. She opened it up and pressed play.

‘Kate? It’s your mother , Eleanor ,’ came the voice, each syllable accentuated as though she were talking to someone almost completely deaf.

Kate shook her head. She’d explained voice notes to her mother a thousand times, but it just never seemed to take.

‘When you’re not working, you need to call me. On the telephone , not on the What’sUp app, OK, darling? Call me. On the telephone .’

‘Eleanor, she can hear you perfectly clearly. You don’t need to repeat everything like she’s a small child,’ her father said in the background.

‘Henry, be quiet , I am trying to send a recorded message!’ Eleanor sighed irritably, and Kate grinned, amused. ‘So, as I said, darling, do call me when you can. On the telephone . We need to talk about the flowers . Amy’s had some rather strange ideas that I don’t like the sound of, at all . And call Lance , if you haven’t yet today, Kate, won’t you? Don’t forget. Call Lance . Oh! And Harriet Parsons – you know the one: Harriet , from the big bluebell fiasco last year – she’s been asking around for my secret Christmas cake recipe. Absolutely shameless. I’m just telling you, darling, so that you know. So if she tries to contact you and asks, I have not sanctioned this. I repeat, do not give up any information .’

‘Oh, for crying out loud, Eleanor,’ Henry exclaimed. ‘No one is going to contact Kate to try and steal your recipe. And even if they did, Kate knows the score, OK? You trained her well. She’s ready to withstand any and all torture tactics before handing over your state secrets.’

Eleanor tutted, and Kate let out a short laugh at her father’s mock serious tone.

‘You’re not taking this seriously , Henry. Harriet could easily lie to get what she wants, which is why I’m telling Kate now. So she’s prepared. And we don’t have state secrets; we’re British . Our secrets are national . Just because Kate’s over there, it doesn’t mean you can start acting American.’ She sighed. ‘Kate, I have to go. Your father’s trying to be funny again. Call me later.’

Kate chuckled and held down the record icon.

‘Hi, Mum. I did actually know it was you, as your name came up with the message. And, of course, I’m rather familiar with your voice. But thank you, anyway, for the in-depth clarification.’ She grinned. ‘And don’t you worry, your delicious Christmas cake secret is safe with me. I mean, as if I would give that up to Harriet Parsons !’ Whoever she is , Kate added silently. ‘I’m tied up at the moment but I’ll call you tomorrow to talk flowers.’ Her smile turned to a grimace at the thought of that conversation. She couldn’t face it today. Not after the one she’d just had with Edward Moreaux’s secretary. ‘Love to you both. Catch you soon.’

She ended the call and stared out of the kitchen window, feeling deflated. She usually loved this time of year. Usually, she’d be fully into the Christmas spirit by now, planning parties and presents and everything in between. But then again, usually she’d be in England, around family and friends. She wouldn’t be living in a stranger’s home in a town where she knew no one, planning a wedding she hadn’t expected nor wanted from halfway around the world.

Running a hand back through her long dark hair, Kate bit her lip and stared at the phone screen, feeling a twang of guilt in her chest. She’d been putting off calling Lance, more and more often. But that really wasn’t fair on him. Plus, she’d promised herself she was going to move forward with a better mindset towards things.

She unlocked the screen, scrolled to his number and pressed the video call sign.

Lance’s face lit up her screen, and she straightened up, giving him a broad smile. ‘Hi, how’s things?’

‘They’re good. Great, actually,’ he replied.

A loud, obnoxious laugh she recognised all too well sounded from behind him. It was his boss, Nigel. A man she absolutely abhorred. Someone she privately called the megalodon , as although Nigel was one of the largest sharks in London’s legal waters, he was also a dinosaur, in all the worst ways. A man who grieved the good old days when there were fewer rules, and who kept himself just a careful hair’s breadth away from a sexual harassment case at all times.

‘Sorry, I didn’t realise you were out,’ Kate said with a tight grin. ‘I’ll call you later.’

‘No, stay,’ Lance insisted. ‘Tell me all about your day.’

‘ Yes , Kate Hunter, tell us about your day!’ parroted Nigel as Lance was suddenly demoted to half the screen. ‘How’s life over there in the backwaters of America?’ He guffawed at himself.

‘Nigel,’ she said tightly. ‘How are you? And how’s your lovely wife? Is she there, too?’

‘ Christ, no!’ Nigel looked horrified, then laughed again. ‘We’re out at the estate. Boys’ hunting weekend. Managed to rope in this old boy as you’re out of town. Couldn’t leave him moping around London getting lonely.’

‘How thoughtful of you,’ Kate replied. ‘I’m sure you’ll have a lovely time.’

‘We will indeed. And you should know , Kate, you’re very privileged to be speaking to him right now.’ He pointed a thick sausage-like finger at the screen. ‘There are no wives allowed on boys’ weekends, not even on the phone. It’s a contractual clause of the verbal invite acceptance, you see. Now, I’ll make an exception for you, as you’re technically still unmarried, but make the most of it, because come the first of January…’ He trailed off with a waggle of his eyebrows and then chuckled loudly at himself again.

Kate nodded along, gritting her teeth as Lance joined in. ‘ Got it . Though if I manage to grow a penis after that point, where do we stand? Does that constitute as a clausal loophole?’ She smiled politely.

Lance froze. Nigel abruptly stopped laughing and frowned with a look of distaste.

‘Kate, you’re far too pretty to be that vulgar, and I’m certain Lance could do without that image in his head. Leave the jokes to your husband, will you?’ he said with a low chortle. ‘There’s a good girl.’

The angel on her shoulder Hollywood dived over to the other side and grabbed the little devil round the waist just as she lunged towards the phone with both fists at the ready. She dragged the other furious imaginary entity, still kicking and punching the air, around the back of Kate’s neck, giving her an encouraging thumbs-up before disappearing.

Kate took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, reminding herself that Nigel held Lance’s career in the palm of his pudgy hand. ‘Yes, you’re right, of course,’ she said smoothly. ‘That wasn’t very ladylike at all, was it. Anyway, I’d best go. You guys have a great weekend. Lance, we can talk Monday. It’s really nothing urgent.’

‘OK, if you’re sure, sweetheart,’ Lance said warmly, pushing his glasses up his nose as he came back into full view. He walked away from Nigel and his smile turned to an accusing frown. ‘Kate, what are you playing at?’

‘I’m sorry, but the guy is just so damn obnoxious ,’ she replied.

‘ Yes , he is ,’ Lance said, stressed. ‘But he’s earned the right to be!’

‘ Excuse me?’ Kate exclaimed. ‘You think obnoxious is something you earn the right to be? Like it’s some sort of goal ?’

Lance tutted. ‘That’s not what I meant, Kate, and you know it. I just mean when you’ve earned a professional track record as impressive as his, you expect to be allowed a little leeway on the odd thoughtless comment.’

Kate stared at his face on the screen, feeling bitterly disappointed by his response. ‘To be honest, I’m really failing to see the difference,’ she said flatly.

Lance let out a deep sigh. ‘Kate, I don’t want to fight with you, OK? All I’m asking is that you don’t offend my boss, the man who could make or break my career at will. Is that really too much to ask?’

‘No,’ she replied quietly.

‘ Thank you ,’ Lance said with emphasis. He turned his head away for a moment at the sound of someone calling his name. ‘Look, I’ve got to go. I’ll catch you later.’

‘Sure. Catch you later,’ Kate echoed.

The screen went black, and she stared at it for a few more moments. In his haste to jump to Nigel’s defence over her apparent offensiveness, it hadn’t seemed to have even crossed Lance’s mind to jump to hers. Not that she needed defending. But the fact he’d been more bothered by Kate ruffling Nigel’s feathers than by the rude behaviour that had prompted her to do so didn’t sit well with her.

Pursing her lips, Kate put the phone away and tried to push it out of her mind. There was no point dwelling on it. She had enough on her plate already without adding anything more.

She pulled a deep breath in, exhaled loudly and pushed her hand back through her hair.

There was a creak as Sam’s door reopened above, and a few moments later, he reappeared in the kitchen wearing a smart dark-green shirt. He buttoned the sleeves and tilted his head upwards. ‘Hey, what are you doing tonight?’

Kate shrugged. ‘Working, I guess. Might walk to Main Street later. Why?’

‘Well, there’s a party at Jack’s, the bar on Main. Jenna hired it out to celebrate Matthew reaching fifty years at the company. Everyone from Coreaux Roots is going. There’s a good band, open bar. Wanna go?’ He waited expectantly.

‘Are you sure they’d be OK with me coming?’ she asked.

‘Yeah, I mean…’ He paused and frowned. ‘You’re not one of the wives , and they’re the only people we ban from these things, so…’ A slow smile crept up his face.

‘Oh, very funny ,’ she said wryly, rolling her eyes. ‘You heard that then?’

‘I wasn’t trying to, but these walls are pretty thin,’ he replied. ‘So, you wanna come?’

Kate hesitated. ‘Will Aubrey be there?’

Sam shook his head. ‘She hates them as much as they hate her.’

‘OK then.’ Kate smiled. ‘Give me a minute to pack up here and I’ll go change.’

‘Great.’ Sam walked back out into the hallway. ‘By the way, if you manage to grow that penis earlier than planned, let me know, will ya? I’ll switch back to leaving the seat up .’ He glanced back with a mischievous grin, and Kate closed her eyes.

As he disappeared around the foot of the stairs, she turned to a small picture of Cora on the windowsill and shook her head with a sigh. ‘You know, Cora, I’m not sure this fresh start is actually doing me any favours. Sam’s keeping his slate pretty clean, but I’ve racked up two crazy points today already.’

‘Walls are still thin, Kate,’ Sam called out.

Kate’s eyes widened. Three , she mouthed at the picture as she pulled her things together.

Kate watched Jenna swing her two children around on the dance floor with a smile. Like everyone else, they were having a whale of a time at the party.

Matthew’s speech about his time at the company, and his friendship with William and Cora, had been emotional, but soon after the band had started to play and the atmosphere had livened. Now the party was in full swing.

As Kate stood watching from the sidelines, Matthew walked over to stand beside her with a lopsided smile. ‘Glad you could make it,’ he said.

‘Thanks for having me,’ she replied.

‘’Course. Can’t have you home alone on a Friday night when there’s a perfectly good party going on.’ Matthew took a sip of his beer and leaned sideways against the wall. ‘Coreaux Roots is a family. We’re one whole, don’t leave no one out. You might not work onsite, but you’re still our lawyer, which means you’re part of this family.’

Kate felt touched by the sentiment and gave him a warm smile. ‘Thanks, Matthew. I’m honoured to be considered that way.’

He nodded and took another sip of his beer. ‘How’s it going, anyway?’

Kate sighed. ‘Not as smoothly as I’d hoped,’ she admitted. ‘I met Aubrey last weekend.’

‘I heard,’ he said.

‘It wasn’t very pleasant,’ she added.

‘I heard,’ Matthew said grimly.

Across the room, Sam put down his beer and allowed Jenna’s daughter to pull him onto the dance floor. He swung to the music and twirled her round and round, making her laugh. Kate smiled as she watched him, then Jenna danced over with her son, and as she turned, Sam gripped her hand and twirled her around, too.

A strange pang of wistfulness yanked at Kate’s core as she saw the way they looked at each other, and she blinked, surprised by how it had made her feel. It wasn’t jealousy though. Of course it wasn’t. Sam didn’t mean anything to her in that sense. He was just a friend, at best, and Kate was engaged. She looked over at Matthew and saw him watching her.

‘Sam’s good with Jenna’s kids,’ she remarked. ‘They seem to think a lot of him.’

‘Yep,’ Matthew commented. ‘They’re like brother and sister. Cora pretty much raised ’em both.’ He pushed off the wall and straightened up. ‘Sam looked after Jenna a lot when they were kids, being that bit older. I think he always felt that it was his job to get her through, both of them being without a mom.’

Kate smiled. ‘He’s like Cora then?’

Matthew’s smile widened fondly. ‘He is a lot like her, yeah. He cares about people. But he’s more like Will. Has the same big ideas about changing the world and the same stubbornness to make ’em happen, too.’

The softness of his smile at the mention of Cora’s name suddenly prompted Kate to wonder exactly how deeply his love for Cora had run. Was it just with the fondness of a close friend, or could it be something more than that? M was still very much the focus of Cora’s diary, from what she’d read so far. Matthew started with an M , and he’d told her himself that he’d been around from the beginning. What if Cora had never given up this secret love of hers? What if … She studied the side of his face for a moment, then dismissed the idea. It was ridiculous. Of course Matthew wasn’t M. She needed to stop letting her imagination run riot.

Kate turned back to the dance floor, her gaze resting on Sam curiously. ‘Whose side of the family did Sam come from?’ she asked Matthew. ‘I wasn’t sure, with his name being Langston.’

Matthew exhaled slowly. ‘Well, I guess it’s no secret. Sam came from Will’s side. His father was the youngest of the three brothers. Jimmy.’ He shook his head with a grim expression. ‘As bad an egg as I ever did see, I’m sad to say.’

Kate frowned. She’d assumed Sam was William and Cora’s great nephew. That he was the same generation as Aubrey. As if he’d read her mind, Matthew’s next words answered her unspoken wonderings.

‘Jimmy was a lot younger than Will; a good decade or so. And then he was nearing forty when Sam came along,’ he told her. ‘Don’t think he’d ever planned to have kids, so Sam was a surprise for all of us.’

‘I see.’ That explained the wide age gap between Sam and his uncle and aunt. ‘So was Langston his mother’s name?’ Kate asked.

‘Yep,’ Matthew confirmed. ‘Jimmy was, er…’ He made a small sound of discomfort. ‘Well he put Sam and his mother through a lot, from what I understand. He was a bully with a gambling problem. I remember him from the early days, before Sam came along.’ He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. ‘I guess Sam wanted to honour his mother, rather than him. He was very close to his mother before she died. And he’s done a lot in her honour. Always trying to make things better for folks. Those houses of his, the cellulose film…’

‘That was Sam’s idea?’ Kate asked, turning to him with a frown.

‘More than just the idea ,’ Matthew told her. ‘Sam set the whole operation up, from start to finish.’

Kate frowned. ‘But I thought he didn’t want anything to do with the business?’

‘Hey, Matthew! Look who made it!’ someone called over, and he turned.

‘I’d best go say hi,’ he said, smiling and raising a hand to the woman who’d just walked in. ‘You alright here?’

‘Of course ! You go – I’m fine,’ Kate replied with a smile.

He tipped his head and walked away, and Kate turned her attention back to Sam with a sad frown. He’d been through more trauma and heartbreak in his tender youth than any child should have to suffer. Her heart went out to the little boy he’d once been, but as she looked now at the man he’d become, she realised that the more she learned about him, the less she understood. He’d loved his aunt and uncle and clearly cared deeply about people. He wanted to help people. He’d set up an incredible and cutting-edge new venture within the company. He was the ideal person to take over Cora and William’s legacy on all fronts. So why was he so dead set against it?