The Amber Keeper Read Free Page B

grandmother home to the lodge house which stood at the entrance to Carreck Place.
    ‘Would you like me to stay for a while?’ she asked, putting on the kettle for a cup of tea, as if they hadn’t drunk enough already on this endlessly sad day.
    ‘That would be lovely, but then I need a little time alone, if you don’t mind.’
    Abbie kissed her papery cheek. ‘Don’t blame yourself, Gran. My mother was never an easy woman.’
    ‘I know that only too well,’ she said, sinking into her chair with a heavy sigh. ‘Nor must you blame yourself either, my darling.’
    ‘Easier said than done, since everyone else seems to.’ The kettle boiled, which allowed Abbie to turn away and fuss over brewing the tea and place Gran’s favourite porcelain tea cups on to a silver tray. She had ever been a lady of high standards. ‘I know Mum didn’t have an easy start in life, being adopted and all that, but it hurts that she rejected Aimée so completely. Why was that?’
    Millie Nabokov gave a sad little smile as she accepted the cup of tea Abbie offered her. ‘Once Kate had taken a stance she always found it hard to retract. Strangely, she very nearly made the same mistake herself.’
    ‘Really? I never knew that.’ Abbie sat down opposite her grandmother, eager to know more.
    ‘Except in her case it was all about rushing into a hasty marriage. It must have been about 1934. I well remember the scent of wild garlic and bluebells in the air as we sat together on an old bench beneath the copse of silver birch down by the lake, a shaft of spring sunshine warming my face. Kate was asking about my time in Russia when she suddenly announced, with great excitement in her voice, that Eric had asked her to marry him and that she’d said yes. She thought it so romantic that he’d gone down on one knee to propose. She was seventeen at the time. I, of course, was quite shocked, and not at all in favour.’
    ‘Oh dear. That wouldn’t go down well.’
    ‘No, sadly it didn’t. Eric was a fine young man, but I told her friendship is one thing, marriage quite another matter entirely. I considered her far too young to even understand the meaning of love, let alone contemplate such a commitment.’
    Abbie gave a wry smile. ‘Yet you never judged me when I ran off at almost the same age, already pregnant with Aimée, nor in any of your lovely letters since.’
    ‘I know, my darling, but it’s a different world now.’ The old lady’s brow puckered slightly. ‘Although I have wondered about the tone of your recent letters. You are happy, aren’t you?’ she gently asked, taking a sip of tea.
    Abbie took a steadying breath then gave a sad shake of her head. ‘I’m afraid not.’ She’d tried so hard not to worry her grandmother with the truth, putting on a brave face, but now seemed a good time to admit to it at last, Millie being the one person in the world right now she felt comfortable with. ‘A while ago I discovered that Eduard had lied to me, that he never had divorced his wife. I kept on hoping he’d get round to it because I still loved him, and for Aimée’s sake. Then, when I found out that his wife was pregnant again, I finally had the sense to kick him out.’
    ‘Oh my darling, I’m so sorry. We all make mistakes, but it’s how we deal with the consequences that show our true worth, and you are young enough to start again.’
    How pragmatic and sensible her grandmother was, but then Abbie had always felt able to talk to her. They, at least, had regularly kept in touch, and she was deeply grateful for her support over the years. Her grandmother continued with her tale, as if set on blaming herself for her daughter’s death.
    ‘Unfortunately, Kate found it difficult to forgive me for my lack of approval, and I’m afraid a distance grew between us which lingered for some time. She was stubborn in that respect, something with which you are all too familiar, Abbie. She said it was as if all the security she’d taken