Page 103 of The Christmas Retreat
I stopped and shivered as the memories came rushing back to me.
‘It was on the wrong side of the road and … the horn must have jammed because it was blaring. I stopped, of course, and so did someone coming the other way, so our headlights lit the whole scene up like a nightmare.’
His hands took mine in a warm, strong, comforting grasp. ‘It must have been a horrible shock,’ he said gently.
‘It was. I’ve had nightmares about it ever since,’ I confessed, then carried on, determined to tell him everything.
‘I got out and ran to the car. There was just one person in it, a woman, and I could tell at once she was in a bad way. I stayed with her. I could hear the man from the other car calling for an ambulance.’
I could feel myself shaking again. ‘There wasn’t anything I could do and she didn’t seem to be in any pain. I’d recognized her by then, even though I’d only seen photographs of her before – but she was so beautiful. She looked like an angel … I tried to keep her talking because somehow I thought that might help to keep her alive till help came, but it didn’t.’
‘I don’t see that you could have done anything more, and it must have been a comfort to her to know you were there,’ he reassured me.
‘I hope so. I felt so helpless.’
‘You know, I wasn’t told any of the details of the accident, because we’d been divorced for years by then. It was her boyfriend, Finn Flint, they contacted, through her phone.’
‘I only realized that you’d been divorced for ages once I’d gothere and Cariad told me. Until then, I was afraid you might realizeIwas the Virginia Spain in the police reports.’
‘No, I didn’t see those at all.’
‘Then …’ I said slowly, ‘I don’t suppose you know the last words Annie ever spoke, either?’
I looked at him for the first time since I’d started speaking and he shook his head. ‘They might have told Flint, but if so, he didn’t pass them on to me.’
‘Then he ought to have, because her last thoughts were of you and of Cariad – except I didn’t know Cariad was her daughter’s name till I got here. But once I did, those few, disjointed words suddenly made sense.’
‘What exactly did she say?’
‘There was something at first about hares running in circles. I took it to mean she’d swerved to avoid a rabbit, but now I wonder if her mind was wandering, and it was the hare triskelion she was thinking about – or perhaps the one led to the other.’
‘Probably. She must have swerved forsomereason.’
‘After that she only managed a few slow words, with long gaps between, but I’ll never forget them. She said: “Tell Rhys … all … very … sorry … Cariad.”’
He frowned over this. ‘You’re right, she must have been thinking about Cariad at the end. And Cariad ought to know that, later, when she’s old enough. But go on – was that the very last thing she said?’
‘Yes, because after that she just sort of sighed, and then – she was gone,’ I said. ‘I’d never seen anyone die before.’
His hands tightened a little on mine and I went on, ‘I stayed with her till the police and ambulance came.’
He let go of my hands and instead pulled me into his arms and I leaned gratefully against him.
‘I’m sorry you had such a dreadful experience, but also very grateful that you were with her, Ginny – that she wasn’t alone at the end.’
‘I hope so,’ I said. Then I went on, determined to finish the story. ‘When I finally got back to my cottage I tried to contact Will in London to ask him to come home – which is when I discovered he was living with this other woman during the week, and not staying with his friend. So that was the end of that – and just before lockdown.’
‘Poor Ginny! You had a really bad time,’ Rhys said softly, and it would have been so easy just to stay there, held comfortingly close, and with his beautiful, deep and mellow voice consoling me.
Instead, I got a grip on myself and pulled away, although he kept one arm around me.
‘I did wonder later what she was doing in my neck of the woods,’ I said.
‘Verity told me that that boyfriend of hers had a bolthole there, an old cottage off the beaten track near a place called Old Warden. He’s in a band and liked to go there to write new songs. She must have been headed there.’
‘That would explain it. Verity seems to know everything, doesn’t she?’
‘I don’t think she and Annie kept any secrets from each other,’ he agreed. ‘When I got back from the States, I saw Verity and she told me that Annie had texted her earlier that evening to say she and Flint had quarrelled because she was convinced he’d been seeing other women, and he’d flung off in a rage to the cottage.’
