The Amber Keeper Read Free

hearing the pride in his voice, and the way he smiled as he mentioned his grandchildren. It was an emotion he’d never expressed over her own daughter, and there’d been no smile for her lovely Aimée.
    Their own relationship had been warm and loving once, full of jokes and camaraderie, even if he’d often expressed a resigned despair at her determination to speak her own mind and do her own thing. Everything had been fine between them until that final split with her mother.
    Of course, there’d been much more to that than a disagreement over a boyfriend. The fact that Kate wouldn’t consider taking her into the business, holding up Robert as a prime example of success as if Abbie weren’t capable of such a thing, had hurt badly. Why hadn’t her mother trusted and respected her enough to want to work with her? Nothing Abbie did, no matter how hard she tried, would make Kate change her mind. Then to also lose the respect and consideration of her father had been a pain too great to bear.
    Now she dreaded the reunion with her brother. How he’d preened himself, making out he was the favourite, and the clever one as well, as he always came top of the class. Meeting his wife for the first time when Abbie hadn’t even been invited to their wedding, or been told about his children, was going to be difficult. Worse, Abbie would have to look Robert in the face knowing that all her family’s dire predictions had been proved correct. She had indeed made a complete mess of her life. Not that any of this should matter now, as there were more important things to worry about, and other people grieving besides herself. Yet somehow it did.
    Dabbing at her tears, she tucked the hanky away again. ‘How’s Gran?’ Kate’s relationship with her adoptive mother hadn’t always been close. At seventy-one Millie was still a feisty, lively lady who believed in living life to the full. Losing her only daughter, however, could easily destroy that wonderful spirit in her.
    ‘As well as one might expect,’ Tom said, with a resigned sigh. ‘You’ll see her tomorrow.’
    Abbie could hardly wait, for in the circumstances her homecoming was going to be far more problematic than her worst fears.

TWO
    C louds hung heavy over the crags and fells as rain drizzled down on a miserably cold March day, as it generally does at funerals. It had taken over two weeks to reach this stage, with a post-mortem and inquest to be dealt with before the coroner was able to release the body for burial. Now Abbie stood holding her grandmother’s arm at the graveside, marvelling at how composed she was, but then she’d always been a strong woman, a no-nonsense sort of person who never made a fuss. What she must be suffering inside was no doubt a different story.
    The vicar gave a long address about how much Kate Myers had generously contributed to the church and community in her role as secretary of the Mothers’ Union and Treasurer of the Women’s Institute , and by serving on the committee of the local Dr. Barnardo’s Home.
    Abbie knew nothing of this part of her mother’s life, and despite herself was deeply impressed. It was astonishing that Kate could manage to be so involved in such matters on top of running the family hand-made jewellery business. How sad, though, that it should take her death to reveal this charitable side of her nature.
    Yet if she’d cared for children so much, why had she never shown any interest in meeting her own granddaughter?
    The presence of the children in fact brought a welcome blast of fresh air and gentle laughter into the sombre household as people gathered for the usual wake. Ignorant of the circumstances that had brought the family together, young Jonathon chattered away twenty to the dozen, telling anyone prepared to listen how excited he was to be starting school after Easter. Eighteen-month-old Carrie didn’t sit still for a second, happily poking into corners, emptying ladies’ handbags and pulling open every