‘It’s OK, why?’
‘I think it’s a bit eerie with those ruins and creepy statues. My wicked stepmother thought it was charming, until I told her about the masked figure, and now she’s officially freaked.’ She giggled.
Amelia’s eyes widened. ‘What do you mean, masked figure?’
‘Oh, don’t worry. I made it up to give her the creeps.’
‘You don’t like her?’ She glanced up the beach at Rosamund.
‘Can’t stand her.’ Elise screwed up her face. ‘She flirts with other men, and Daddy just can’t see it. Daddy says I’ve got to learn to get along with her, but I never will. I hate her.’
‘Hate is a strong word.’
‘But she stole my dad from me.’ She glared up the beach. ‘Christ she’s coming. I bet she thinks I’m talking about her.’
‘Elise!’ Rosamund called as she hurried down the sand. ‘Everything OK?’
‘I was just telling Amelia about the masked figure, is all.’ She threw Amelia a conspiring look.
‘Darling, Daddy wants you,’ Rosamund said, seeming to ignore the comment about the masked figure.
‘Fine.’ Elise handed Amelia the bottle, water splashing from it, and hurried away, skipping up the beach towards her father, the pom-pom on her hat bouncing.
*
‘She can be difficult,’ Rosamund said, as they ambled back up the beach. ‘She’s played some awful tricks on me over the past two years. But I’ve got used to it. Her father’s away a lot, and she’d been without a mother figure for so long. Neil relied on nannies who never lasted. She put a frog in the last one’s bag the day she left.’
‘Maybe she needs to see a psychologist.’
‘Maybe. I thought, at first, she just needed plenty of love and attention. It was a tragedy that she lost her mother so young, but I’ve tried so hard to give her that …’ Her voice cracked.
Amelia touched her arm. ‘It can’t be easy taking on someone else’s child – especially a teen.’
‘It’s not. But, as I say, I’m trying my best.’
They reached the others, and Rosamund sat back down, and Amelia dropped onto the sand once more. She didn’t attempt to make the moat around her sandcastle. Instead she rolled up her scarf, laid it on the beach, flopped her head down onto it, and closed her eyes.
The low chatter around her was oddly soothing.
‘I used to come here a lot with my parents,’ her mum was saying. ‘I loved it. In fact, I remember Ruth from when we came camping here in the Seventies, would you believe? I’m not sure she remembers me though.’
Amelia opened her eyes, and pulled herself to a sitting position. Her mum hadn’t mentioned knowing Ruth.
‘Hers was quite a sad story really,’ her mum continued. ‘Ruth was in love with Michael Collis back then, and he loved her too. But their parents disapproved – a real Romeo and Juliet situation. Michael’s father was angry that Ruth’s mother owned some of the estate’s land. His grandfather had lost it in a poker game, or something like that.’
‘Who are Ruth and Michael Collis?’ Rosamund asked.
‘Michael owns the estate now, and Ruth you met on reception.’
‘Ah, the strange woman.’
‘A little eccentric perhaps.’
Amelia shuffled onto her elbows. The sea was calm, the sun flashing on the blue making her squint. Waves ruffled pebbles as they travelled up the beach. She turned to look at her mum – who was smiling and still talking, seeming content – and felt some of that contentment absorb into her. But beautiful moments in life are fragile. This moment wouldn’t last. She knew that. How could it? She couldn’t stop time. She couldn’t stop her mother from dying.
‘I’m going for a paddle,’ Rosamund said, rising and breaking the spell. ‘Anyone else?’
Amelia jumped to her feet, suppressing tears. ‘I’ll come.’
Jackson rose too, and she wanted to sit back down again, but knew it would hurt her mum if she did, so, when nobody else got up, the three strolled down the beach towards the sea.
Amelia veered away from them as soon as they reached the shoreline, and started looking for shells and pebbles, picking one up that shone all shades of green.
When she turned to show Jackson and Rosamund, they’d taken off their shoes and socks and were paddling, laughing as they kicked water at each other, her blonde hair swishing in the sun’s rays. And although Amelia felt sure it was harmless, she was irritated by their frivolity, and couldn’t help recalling what Elise had said about Rosamund being a flirt.
That’s when she thought she saw it – a look between them – something almost tangible, as Rosamund pushed him over and he fell with a splash, soaking his jeans.
Amelia batted away her distrust when she glanced up at her mum who was laughing too as she watched on. I must have been mistaken, she told herself.
Chapter 20
A Year Ago
Ruth
It was gone 3 p.m. and most of her guests were still at the beach, and although she’d seen Maddie having a cigarette on the porch outside her cottage earlier, she and Thomas were now tucked inside.
Ruth grabbed a handful of clean towels and headed towards Rosamund’s cottage, and let herself in. She wanted to know more about her new visitors. The woman, Rosamund, she wasn’t that keen on – got tickets on herself that one – far too full of her own importance with her designer clothes, and swirling, curling hair. She was heavily made-up too, thick foundation like clay. And there was something else she’d observed when they’d collected their keys: Ruth really didn’t buy the woman’s fondness for her stepdaughter.
Now, the man – Neil – he seemed nice enough, in a dull, work-absorbed kind of way. He seemed to adore Rosamund, though Ruth suspected he adored the child more.
Once inside their cottage, Ruth climbed the stairs. From there she entered Elise’s room.
A white nightshirt with a dog on the front was folded neatly on the girl’s pillow, and a book lay open on the bedside
