Chapter One
Two years later
A splendid Christmas tree of jubilant forest green soared into the double-height entrance hall of the homestead, commanding the entire space. The branches were lavishly decked with all manner of glittering baubles, the traditional red and green, the silver and gold, interspersed with ribbons of tinsel and exquisite little Christmas ornaments that had been in the family since forever and lovingly taken out of their boxes year after year. This year there were more additions in the form of hand-painted porcelain Alessi Christmas bells and some beautiful silver Georg Jensen collectables. Decorating the tree was important and hugely enjoyable.
“Silent Night” was being wafted through the house over the state-of-the-art sound system. It was being sung by a boy soprano whose celestial voice had the power to move the two women to tears.
Samantha MacArthur, daughter of the house, was up the tall ladder. Her mother, Sophie, was on a shorter ladder on the other side of the tree busy tying little winged Cupids to the lower pendulous branches. Samantha, a beautiful young woman with the MacArthur glorious russet hair and intensely blue eyes, was working her way to the top of the tree which would be adorned with an antique white porcelain Christmas angel with 18 karat gold-tipped wings.
“I’ve something to tell you, Sam,” Sophie whispered, from behind her hand.
Samantha had to smile. Her mother had long established herself as a character.“You have my full attention, Mumma,” she said indulgently.
“Please come down off the ladder, darling,” Sophie begged, sounding unexpectedly serious. “I don’t want you to fall.”
“Fall? For crying out loud, Mum. I’m not going to fall. What’s the problem?”
“Please do as I ask.”
Samantha obeyed. She had no idea what her mother was going on about. Her mother was full of surprises. “Okay.” Swiftly she descended the ladder, the Christmas angel in hand. She took a moment to put it down on the hall console.
The words came tumbling out of Sophie’s mouth. “I’ve invited Darcey for Christmas.”
Whatever Samantha had been expecting, it was never that. The admission went off like a bomb, striking her dumb.
“You’ve what?” she finally asked, her voice lifting alarmingly.
“No need to shout, darling.” Sophie glanced quickly over her shoulder in case someone would come running. “You’ll bring down the tree.”
Samantha snorted. “You’re joking.”
“I mean it. I’ve invited Darcey.”
“You’re only saying that,” Samantha moaned. “You’d never do it. You’d never do it, would you, Mum?”
“I have. My decision. I take full responsibility.”
“Sweet Jesus!”
Sophie, a lapsed Catholic, spoke up. “Dearest girl, please don’t take the Lord’s name. Not at Christmas.”
“I’m praying to Him, Mum. Are you looking to me for backup?”
“Of course I am. You always back me up.”
“I should have been much stricter with you.” Samantha gave a frustrated shake of the head. It was her task, after all, to curb her mother’s excesses. She and Scott had agreed on it. “You can apologize to me for not having told me sooner. Christmas is just over three weeks away. You do realize that. The invitations have gone out. Everyone will be so shocked, and I mean everyone. But no one will be as shocked and angry as Scott. He’ll go ballistic.”
“Scott would never go ballistic with his mother,” said Sophie, believing the mother-son relationship sacred.
“There’s always a first time,” Samantha warned. “Oh, Mum! I never know what you’re going to do from one day to the other. You invited Darcey, who betrayed not only Scott but the entire family. We all loved her. She was so beautiful and so gifted. She and Scott were set for life. He adored her. People said they had never seen two people so much in love. We all got on so wonderfully well. I don’t believe this!” she wailed. “It could ruin everything, the polo match, the ball, Ashlee’s chances with Scott.”
“Darling girl, you well know Ashlee has no chance with Scott.” Sophie tut-tutted at the very idea.
“But we like Ashlee,” Samantha protested. “Or we like her enough. We’ve known her forever. She’s utterly trustworthy. She’s not nerve-ridden like Darcey and she’s always been in love with Scott.”
“Scott has only ever been in love with one woman, and that’s Darcey,” said Sophie. “My son was shot through the heart by Cupid’s arrow. There never will be anyone else for Scott but Darcey. No one will come close.”
Samantha sighed volubly. She had to agree. “Be that as it may, you never saw the end coming, did you, Mother dear?”
“And haven’t I done penance for that!” said Sophie.
“We all thought Darcey was as madly in love as Scott,” Samantha lamented. “How did we get it so wrong?”
Sophie, a pretty, petite woman with golden brown hair and golden brown eyes, suddenly seized her tall daughter by the shoulders. “The aunt was the problem,” she said, trying and not succeeding in shaking her daughter. “All right, I admit I woke up too late. I should have called a family conference. It was the meddlesome Aunt Rachael who dominated Darcey’s young life.”
“They never did find the motorist who knocked her mother off her bicycle,” Samantha sidetracked, gently removing her mother’s small hands. The family had been greatly saddened when they found out Darcey’s mother, Ysobel Gilmore, had been out on a morning bike ride close to a quiet local park when she had been struck and killed by a motorist.
“The coward got clean away.”
“No one gets clean away from causing another human being’s death,” said Sophie, exuding belief in Divine justice.
“Only some people lack a conscience, Mum.”
“True,” Sophie conceded. “Might as well say manslaughter, not accident. The tragedy had a hugely lasting effect on Darcey.”
“God yes!” Samantha shuddered, suddenly feeling very sorry for her ex-sister-in-law. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing her own dear mother. Or imagine how she would react after such a tragic event. “Even so, we all knew Scott didn’t betray Darcey. You’re right as usual, mum. It was the domineering aunt that caused all the mayhem. She had such a hold on Darcey.”
“You can bet your life she worked long and hard on it,” Sophie said. “Aunt Rachael is the key to the mystery we need to unlock. It’s gone on far too long. Scott is suffering, though he never shows it. That’s the man thing. The strong, silent behaviour that has been the norm for men for generations. Silence is the reason why men are so lonely. Silence is the reason why so many men and boys get sick. Women talk to their women friends, derive comfort and support. Men put on the brave manly face. But my boy can’t hide his true feelings from his mother any more than you can. You really like Linc, don’t you?”
Samantha’s expression turned fierce. “I do not! I wish Scott had never given him the foreman’s job. Anyway, we’re not talking about me, Mum, we’re talking about you. Why you invited Darcey for Christmas.”
“I got permission from God,” said Sophie, very simply. “I talk to Him, as you know.”
“And God told you to do what?” Samantha asked sarcastically.
“Write to Darcey.”
“He didn’t suggest an email?”
“Goodness me, no. Way too impersonal. I wanted Darcey to know how we feel. We all miss her, don’t we? Own up, Sam. You and Darcey had become very close.”
“Like sisters,” said a bitterly disillusioned Samantha. “But much as I loved Darcey, Mum, I love my brother more. She broke his heart. She won’t have turned over a new leaf. She’s still in close contact with her horrible aunt. I’m sorry, but Darcey has long since been brainwashed. I’m amazed she was allowed to go through with the wedding.”
“The wedding wasn’t a mistake, Sam,” Sophie said. “The divorce was the big mistake. Both of them were so wounded they took themselves out of reach. Only I can’t sit around doing nothing any longer. We can’t pretend Scott will ask Ashlee to marry him. He won’t. Even if he never saw Darcey again, it’s as I said. He will never get fully over her.”
“Maybe there’s a limit to love,” Samantha mused. “To being in love. Things are wonderful for a couple of years, then it’s all over. A couple of years. That’s all you’re going to get.”
Very gently Sophie took her daughter’s hand. “I never fell out of love with your father from the moment I met him to the day we lost him. He never fell out of love with me. One day soon you’ll find the right man, my darling, and fall deeply in love.”
“I hope so, Mum,” Samantha said, without much conviction. “I don’t for a moment include you and Dad. Dad was a splendid man. We knew how happy you and he were. It’s been very hard for us: you, Scott, and me. We lost Dad. Darcey lost her mother. We can’t bring them back.”
“No, but we will see them again. The bonds of love will carry over into the next life.”
Samantha laughed with tears sparkling in her eyes. “Oh, Mum! Do you really believe that?”
“I most certainly do. I don’t care what anyone says, there is a heaven where we’ll all meet up with our loved ones again. The good ones, that is.”
Samantha bent to kiss her mother’s smooth cheek. “I long for your faith, Mum.”
“Give it a few more years, darling,” said Sophie. “You need to see a bit more of life. Right now, we have a job to do. We have to bring Scott and Darcey back together again. We were family. We will be family again.”
Samantha stayed silent for a moment. “I don’t have your faith, Mum, though I guess it says something Darcey is willing to come?”
“True.” Sophie nodded.
“When are you going to tell Scott?”
“I’ll wait until he’s ready,” said Sophie.
Samantha raked a hand through her russet mane, visualizing what would surely be a tempestuous event. “And when’s that? No one tells Scott what to do, even you, Mum.”
“Being without Darcey is like torture for my son. He’s under a lot of stress he won’t let out. I’m his mother. It’s my job to take care of him in a way he needs. If Darcey and Scott haven’t communicated with each other, they need me. I know, because God told me.”
“It’s a wonder you and God didn’t plan on allowing Darcey to show up unannounced,” Samantha retorted smartly.
“Now, that would have been a problem.”
“Whenever you plan to tell him, I want your promise you’ll tell me first.” Samantha held her mother’s gaze.
“You know I can’t possibly tell him without you to back me, Sam. I thought a week before?”
Samantha’s face registered her grave concerns. “If you’re okay with that, I guess I’ll have to go along. After all, the deed is done. If either of us had any sense, we’d be running scared.”
“I know he loves her,” said Sophie. “Nothing has really changed. We knew Ashlee and the others would rush in to take Darcey’s place. We know Ashlee and her mother have been making plans—”
“Ashlee hates Darcey, Mum,” Samantha felt compelled to remind her mother.
“Well, they didn’t really get on, I know.”
“Wasn’t there a reason for that? Ashlee has always been in love with Scott, then along came Darcey and snatched him away.”
“She did no such thing. It was love at first sight.”
“Only it didn’t last, did it, Mum? Do you really think Ashlee will be able to control herself when Darcey shows up?”
“I’ll be keeping a close watch,” said Sophie.
“Only it’s not settled yet, Mum. Scott will probably forbid it.”
“If he’s that upset, we’ll cancel it,” said Sophie, fingers and toes crossed.