Beneath a layer of snow, Foxden looked much the same as it had done ten years earlier, on New Year’s Eve, 1938. Bess hadn’t thought about that night for a long time. She smiled remembering how she had fallen asleep in the library while studying for her teaching certificate, and how, sneaking out of the Hall during Lord and Lady Foxden’s party, she had literally fallen into the arms of their son, James. He didn’t recognise her at first. When he did, it was as his childhood chum Tom’s little sister.
Bess could smile about it now, but at the time she had been so embarrassed that she’d fled down the steps. When she stopped running and looked back at the Hall, the French windows were open and she could hear the orchestra playing a waltz. She hummed the tune, “The Blue Danube.” She had fallen in love with James Foxden that night and he had fallen in love with her, though at the time he didn’t know it. Then David Sutherland came into her life and she was duty-bound to turn her back on James, and on happiness.
Another New Year’s Eve, two years later, Bess and James had sipped brandy by the library fire and talked into the early hours. That night they declared their love for one another, made love, and made plans for their future. But fate had something different in store for James. For Bess too.
Bess lifted her right hand and looked at James’s ring, the ring that his parents had given him on his twenty-first birthday, which James had given to Bess when he asked her to marry him. A chill rippled down her spine and she cuffed a frozen tear from her cheek.
So much had happened since that night - some of it sad, but much of it happy. Hitler was finally defeated and many loved ones had survived and returned home, including her brother Tom and his old friend, Frank Donnelly. Frank had lost his left eye in Africa and Bess had helped to nurse him back to health. Frank was kind and considerate, and when he asked Bess to marry him, his proposal was followed with, “When you are ready.”
Bess didn’t think she would ever be ready. She worried that knowing about her first love, James Foxden, Frank would feel he wasn’t enough for her. But he was enough - Frank was everything she wanted in a husband.
Bess heard the hotel door open and Frank’s distinctive step. She waited for him to join her. When he did, he wrapped his strong arms around her and looked over her shoulder. Leaning back, Bess rested against her husband’s chest, her chin tilted upwards. The air sparkled with tiny particles of ice. There wasn’t a cloud in the blue-black sky. She could see every star.
‘It’s late, darling,’ Frank whispered. ‘And it’s too cold to be standing out here. I’m going up, are you coming?’
Bess turned, and, still in her husband’s arms, stood on tiptoe and looked up into his handsome face. ‘What would I do without you?’
Frank laughed. ‘You would manage, Bess, I have no doubt about that. But for my sake,’ he said, burying his face in her hair and kissing her neck, ‘I hope you never find out.’
‘Post come yet, Maeve?’
‘Ten minutes ago. Mr Donnelly has taken it through to the office.’
‘Thank you. And thank you for staying late on New Year’s Eve. It was kind of you. Make sure Frank pays you for the overtime. Tell him I said it’s double-time after midnight on New Year’s Eve,’ Bess whispered, laughing.
‘Thank you, Mrs Donnelly.’ Bess picked up three of the four copies of the Lowarth Advertiser from the reception desk and turned to go into the office. ‘Are you expecting the police to come back today?’ Maeve asked, reaching for the hotel’s reservations diary.
‘No, not today. Sergeant McGann said he was going to see Sir Gerald Hawksley, but he didn’t say when. He’s going to interview the hotel staff too, but again he didn’t say when that would be. I know he intends to ask Simon if he heard any of the conversation between Sir Gerald and Sutherland. But all he said when he left was, “I’ll be in touch.” I expect he’ll telephone first, in which case you’ll know before I do.’
‘I hope Sir Gerald Hawksley doesn’t blame anyone here at the hotel for the trouble that man Sutherland caused.’
Bess glanced across the marble hall to the door of the public bar and pondered the thought. ‘No, Sir Gerald was furious at the way Sutherland treated his daughter. He won’t blame us, but I wouldn’t put it past Sutherland to try. That reminds me, Sir Gerald gave me his card. I can’t remember where I put it.’
‘I found it on the floor when they’d gone.’ Maeve took the small white card from the top drawer of the reception desk and gave it to Bess.
Bess laughed. ‘How did your last employers ever let you go?’ She turned the card over in her hand before giving it back to Maeve. ‘I don’t want it, but we’d better keep it in case we need it in the future.’
Instead of taking a newspaper up to the library and one
