Page 118 of A Good Heart is Hard to Find
‘One last haunt,’ I agreed.
‘And then no more Ghastly Weekends,’ Orla added. ‘You can have your home back to yourself, which must be a relief.’
‘No more weekends likethat, certainly,’ Dante said firmly.
‘No more at all, unless you run it yourself,’ Orla pointed out. ‘Once Rosetta’s gone off with Eddie, I mean.’
Dante paused in the act of putting his jacket on and gazed at her. ‘Once Rosetta’s gone where with Eddie?’
I was pulling faces at Orla behind his back when he glanced round and caught me.
‘What do you know that I don’t?’ he demanded.
I sighed resignedly.‘It’s not for me to tell you, but now Orla’s let it out I suppose I’d better: Rosetta was waiting until after the weekend to tell you that she’s going to live with Eddie.’
‘Live with Eddie?’ he echoed blankly. ‘So, how would you describe what she’s doingnow?’
‘In his van, travelling about with him, I mean. I think one weekend of the B&B trade has been enough for her. Anyway, they’re in love!’
‘You mean I set all this up for nothing?’ he demanded.
‘I wouldn’t say that, Dante! A lot of good has come out of the weekend.’
‘It certainly has!’ agreed Orla enthusiastically, and Jason grinned and put his arm around her.
‘It’snotgood that my only sister intends travelling about the country with a shiftless, pot-smoking layabout in an old van!’ snapped Dante furiously.
‘He’s not shiftless,’I said coldly, ‘he’s very useful. And he’s good-tempered, so he will always be kind to her. I’m sure they’ll be very happy.’
I didn’t mention the baby. Time enough for that when he’d cooled off a little.
His lips were back into that knife-crease origami fold again and he maintained a deep silence all the way back to the Hall, but he did have a firm grip on my hand, though whether to stop memaking a bolt back to my cottage or not was a moot point.
He stopped just before we got there, turned my face up to his, muttered: ‘Oh, to hell with it!’ and kissed me.
After that, I wouldn’t say Rosetta and Eddie had his blessing, just that he temporarily lost interest in their future plans.
I gave a faint scream and then ran silently down the dimly lit, carpeted hall, my eyes and mouth stretchedwide in terror, gossamer white draperies flying behind me …
Only this time I was running towards the fearsome thing in the dark cupboard, not away from it.
‘Got you!’ Dante whispered, snatching me into the blackness and the panel slid silently shut behind me.
He certainly had. The Superglue of love welded our lips together, while faint and faraway scratchings and squeakings from the frustratedSpectrologists told of their fruitless search for poor blind Betsy’s secret.
‘Past midnight – and you’re free,’ Dante said at last, though he showed little signs of suiting his actions to the words.
‘Free?’ I echoed, thinking I was never going to be free again.
‘You’re no longer my unwilling slave.’
‘I never was.’
‘No, it was pretty much the other way round from the minute I saw you. Damn!’he added, as the thumpings and mutterings grew closer: ‘They’ll find the opening to the panel in a minute if they carry on like that! Come on, we’d better go.’
We exited into the garden, then sneaked back into Dante’s tower and carried on where we left off.
After a bit Dante said: ‘Marry me?’
