Beautiful Beloved

Alice Browning’s green eyes flash. She shakes her head making her blonde hair swing around her shoulders. “I can’t believe it!” She says angrily, trying to keep her voice controlled. “There I was the entire night, all dressed up, waiting just for you, and that is where you were! Visiting Stephanie Simms in the nurses’ quarters.”

“Please, Alice, don’t be so dramatic,” Robert tries to calm her down.

“Dramatic? One night, Robert, I needed you with me just this one night, and I’m being dramatic?”

They are sitting in a little street café waiting for their breakfast. It would’ve been their usual lazy Sunday breakfast outing, but today is not another usual Sunday for them, Alice thinks to herself. She glances outside through the window next to her and sees the storm-clouds gathering. A few of the other people are already turning their heads in curiosity, and others in amusement, in their direction. How much longer is she going to allow Robert to treat her this way? All four years of her studies have been the same story with him. And studying nursing and living in the nurses’ quarters didn’t give her much leisure time to take his behaviour too seriously, she was always working or preparing for exams. When he asked her to get married, she told herself that he knew how important her studies were to her and he would change once she was a qualified nurse and they got married. Afterall, he was already twenty-six years old; he has finished his studies and he was making a good name for himself in the architecture world. All his business dinners and late nights out have always been about his career and his future, and she had always been supportive. He wants to further his studies but has maintained these past four years that her studies were their first priority. But last night at her graduation function and being named the top student of her group, the one night she wanted him by her side, this one night, he didn’t even bother to show up.

Alice looks down at her engagement ring on her left hand. How happy was she when he proposed to her, she wonders to herself? And now, trying to remember that moment on her twenty-first birthday, she doesn’t even know the answer to her own question. Was she even happy about it? Or was she just going through the motions of what everyone expected of them after dating for three years? What she expected of them? Everyone dates for two to three years, then everyone is engaged for two to three years, then married for two to three years, and then start a family. Everyone blissfully happy and successful by the time they are thirty.

Alice slips the sparkling ring off her finger and puts it down on the table in front of Robert.

Robert grabs her hand. “Alice, be reasonable. Consider the fact that I had the decency to tell you the truth. Nine out of ten other men would’ve lied about having a flat tire or a car that wouldn’t start,” he says muffled.

“You did lie. If one of the junior students didn’t see you sneak out of the nurses’ quarters late last night you would’ve gotten away with your clandestine visit Scot-free. If I were any other girl, I might’ve forgiven you. Again. But everyone knows that men visit Stephanie Simms for only one reason. And you do thát on the one night I asked you to reserve for my graduation function. One night, Robert. You couldn’t even use your usual excuses of a business dinner or a late meeting with your boss. No, you spent the night with Stephanie Simms. It is over.”

“My dear Alice,” he chuckles, “Don’t be silly, you carry on as if we will never see each other again, and yet, we are going to Greece with your father in two weeks. We have a wedding to plan and our move to Italy. The next six months will cement our entire future.”

“Let go, Robert. Let go of my hand.” She pulls her hand free, “You mean yóúr future will be cemented in the next six months. My father knows the truth about last night. In fact, he knows more about the truth than I apparently ever did. We are not going with my father, I am not going with my father, I already cancelled with him last night. There will be no wedding to plan. I wish you all the best with your further studies in Italy next year. You are a fantastic architect, and you will have a highly successful career. All I ask of you now is to forget that you ever knew me, Robert Everton, I don’t want to see you ever again,” she pushes her chair back and gets up. She tries to remain dignified as she quickly makes her way between the little tables in the small café and walks out the door.

Alice comes to a grinding halt a few feet from her small red car and glares at the expensive gray car parked just a few centimeters from hers. The dreaded thing parked there, so broad and shiny like something that belongs in a space movie. She rushes the last few steps to her car, stops the grocery trolley and swings to face the metallic-gray car. Great, this weekend is turning into a total nightmare, she thinks, fighting her tears of frustration. “Idiot! Rude and ignorant man! I hope you crash into a tree and end this beast’s existence!” She curses the car and its owner to her heart’s content unaware of the people passing by looking at her with expressions of both bafflement and amazement.

“Can I maybe be of help, Miss?” asks a gallant male voice behind her. Alice swings around to the man’s words as if she were stung by a bee. She is only half aware that the stranger is extremely tall and broad shouldered, has black slightly ruffled hair, extremely blue eyes, and a strong dimpled chin.

“Can you pick up that car and move it out of my way?” she asks ready for a fight. For a moment he doesn’t understand what she is saying but then he chuckles in amusement. This girl in front of him is slim, and small enough to fit under his chin. Long blonde hair and a porcelain fine face gives her the appearance of a child - until you look into her stormy green eyes. Her eyes remind him of the sun-drenched green hills of Scotland, and he wonders just for a second if she is wearing green colored contact lenses because blond-haired people usually have blue eyes.

“Oh, no… no, if I were Superman, yes, but I am just a normal man.” he answers with forced seriousness, “but if you have his telephone number, then I will phone Superman for you.”

“Funny!” she retorts and then turns back to the metallic gray car. “I feel like I can kick this thing! Maybe I should knock out its windscreen!” She swings back to the man. “Do you see a stone anywhere that I can use?”

Obediently the man looks around him in the parking lot of the shopping center and then he sighs “No, sorry miss, I don’t see any stones. If I were Superman, I could probably pull out one of those lamp poles for you, but...” he says with his hands in the air.

“Yes, you already said, you are just a normal man.” Alice glares at him and he wonders whether she might kick him instead.

“If you could maybe tell me what the problem is…” he starts adding.

“Don’t you have eyes in your head?” she asks sarcastically. “The red car is mine. I am really in a rush to get home, but how can I open my car door if this gleaming monster is parked only a few centimeters from mine?”

The man moves closer, he aims with his left eye pretending to measure the distance between the two cars, and then he shakes his head at a loss. “No, you are right again, it is definitely impossible. I actually doubt if there is enough space for your shadow to fit in between the two motor cars.”

“Exactly! Men are so selfish and inconsiderate!”

“And idiots,” he somberly agrees with her.

Alice looks at him suspiciously. “Are you making fun of me?”

His eyes widen in pure innocence. “Oh, no, miss. To tell you the truth I have absolute sympathy with your situation. But there is a quite simple solution to your problem: open the right-side door and slide over to the driver’s seat.”

She stares at him as if he is the embodiment of total stupidity. “And you don’t think I would already have done that if it were actually possible?”

“Well, why haven’t you?”

“Because you poor… e … Because mister, the lock on the right-hand side doesn’t work. I cannot unlock the door from the outside.”

He instantly looks even more dejected. “Then there is only one solution: you and I can go and have a cup of tea to drink while we wait for the … e … idiot to show up and move his car,” he suggests with a smile.

Alice looks at the man in front of her with more interest. He definitely is very handsome, she decides. If she were not so upset, she would even find him rather irresistible. But as it seemingly is a man responsible for her current predicament she is certainly not giving in to any man’s invitation at this moment.

“That is very friendly of you, mister, but…”

“Oliver,” he quickly interrupts her.

She frowns irritated. “That’s friendly of you, Mr. Oliver, but it just so happens I’m actually quite in a hurry. I was supposed to be home half an hour ago already.”

He quickly glances at her hands before asking: “Are your husband and children waiting for you at home?”

“I am not married, but my aunt and I are going on holiday,” she unwillingly shares with him and looks around her indignantly. “How long must I still stand around and wait here? Aunt Helen told me to be quick.”

“What about a taxi?” he offers enthusiastically.

Her eyes flash again with a noticeably clear message to him about what she really thinks of his limited intellect. “I need my car for us to go on holiday. And we want to leave early enough to avoid driving at night.”

Oliver sighs in surrender and looks at her small red car with more intense interest. “You know, the idiot is not really responsible for the predicament that you find yourself in, miss … e …” he falls silent waiting for her in anticipation.

“Browning - Alice Browning,” she gives him the information reluctantly.

“Alice! A small name for a small lady. Nice to meet you, Alice. I am Oliver…”

“I already know, Mr. Oliver,” she crisply interrupts him. “And as I also should have known you are partial to the idiot who parked his car almost on top of mine’”

“Oh, no, I am not, but it is only fair to the idiot to point out that you did park your car over the parking line. If you had parked correctly then you wouldn’t have this problem right now.”

“I had to park so skew, because the car to my right was parked so skew.”

“Oh …” Oliver rubs his right hand over his mouth and chin, he looks obviously uncomfortable and takes out his car keys. “If you promise not to physically attack me and do me bodily harm, dear Alice, I will now immediately move my car. Goodbye, Alice. Or do you want to have a cup of tea with me first?” he asks hopeful.

He sees the different shades of red flashing across her face with her mouth opening and closing as she is searching for the words, and he hastily turns to the metallic gray car.

“You … you insolent, selfish man…” she starts, but then the car door already slams close behind him.

He presses the hooter of the car once, waves, smiles, and drives away fast.

“Men are idiots,” Alice informs her small red car infuriated and unlocks the door.

Alice uses her chin to press the doorbell at Helen Upton’s house. She hears how the front door is pulled open next to her, but she doesn’t lift her chin from the doorbell.

“Alice! What in the world are you doing?” asks Helen alarmed. “Come in, my girl, come in. We are already running late. I thought you were leaving for Greece in two weeks.”

Alice moves her eyes towards Aunt Helen, but she keeps her chin on the doorbell. “Please help me with these grocery bags Aunt Helen. If I move now, all of this will fall on the stairs.”

“Clumsy girl,” chides Helen chuckling. “I told you last night we would get everything we needed when we got to Arundel. When will you learn not to do everything at once?” she asks and takes three of the bags from Alice.

“Goodness, that’s better! Aunt Helen, please, I don’t have the strength now for another lecture: an idiot of a man is responsible for me being so late, two idiots in actual fact,” she explains as she follows Helen down the passage to the kitchen.

Helen comes to such an instant stop that Alice bumps into her. “Ouch! Aunt Helen, are you trying to break my nose?” she asks, taking a step back and rubbing her nose .

“Sometimes, my dear Alice girl, I wish I could break your neck,” says Helen, but she sounds more worried than angry. “I understand that you were without a mother’s touch since you were five years old, but I cannot believe that your father and three brothers had never taught you to behave and talk like a lady.”

“In a house full of men, a girl can’t afford to act like a Lady, Aunt Helen,” answers Alice and follows Helen into the kitchen.

She places the grocery bags on top of the kitchen table and then explains: “If Aunt Helen should ever hear my three brothers … I know strings of curses, and I can kick and bite harder than any of them.”

“My dear girl …” Helen just shakes her head. “You make it sound like you grew up in a circus. Your father is a respected man, a medical doctor, and young David is now also a doctor and a married man.”

“Maybe, but David has always been part of the Three D’s - the three devils: David, Donald, and Dane. The three of them did a decent job of roughing me up since I was small. David was never too bad because he’s also older than I am, but Donald and Dane… They could never understand that I was a girl, and when I didn’t want to do as they commanded, well, then they would simply make me do it. Do you not remember all my blue marks, Aunt Helen?”

Helen smiles unwillingly. “Your blue marks and their bite marks … No, Alice, I have not forgotten. but you are now grown up - already twenty-two - and now a girl with a degree in nursing. Surely you don’t call your patients idiots …?”

“Only in my mind and if they really deserve it,” says Alice while she helps Helen to pack the food cans in the box. She quickly looks up. “That’s why I don’t want to work in a hospital, Aunt Helen. There is always a matron looking over your shoulder. And I hate the routine … I will do private nursing and choose my patients - preferably female patients.”

Helen stares at her in shock, a bottle of dishwashing liquid forgotten in her hands. “What are you saying, child?”

Alice hesitates, until this very morning she was engaged, she thinks somberly. And then the image of a tall dark man with extremely blue eyes flashes before her, and her anger simmers. His eyes were bluer then blue - almost black - with long black lashes. It’s unfair that a man should have such beautiful eyes, she thinks to herself. For a second, she believed he was trying to help her, but he was just another insolent idiot, and he misled her on purpose. Just like Robert. She is the laughingstock of the year. At this very moment he is probably laughing himself to death because she did not realise that he was the owner of the metallic gray car.

“Let it out, Alice, what’s going on? Why your late phone call last night to say you were coming to Arundel with me? You and Robert were going to Greece in two weeks, and you have your wedding to plan,” says Helen worried.

“Please, Aunt Helen, stop with the lecture! I broke off the engagement with Robert this morning. My father and I had a long discussion last night. You can be sure to know from hereon in I will choose my groom much more carefully. He must respect women and treat me like a valuable piece of crystal. I want to be his queen, not his slave.”

“You are the one, my girl, looking for a loyal slave, not a man. I can tell you this now: no women with self-respect will be satisfied with a man that plays the role of a slave,” says Helen, a worried frown on her forehead.

“Don’t start, Aunt Helen,” says Alice bitingly, turns her head away and sighs deeply. She puts her hand on aunt Helen’s arm, her eyes pleadingly on her face. “I’m sorry I am so quick to bite, Aunt Helen, it’s been a long night. Why must people lie and deceive? I have been working so hard these four years. It is in these four years that I have met Robert and we have planned our future together and last night was supposed to be the start of everything. Must I now just forget what he did and pretend nothing has changed? That I can’t trust him? This isn’t the type of marriage, the type of husband I want.”

“Absolutely true, child. But keeping busy is usually exactly the remedy to forget,” says Helen calmly.

“Maybe I shouldn’t forget,” she says angrily, her face stern. “Maybe I will learn my lesson better if I remember every day that my very attractive, charming fiancé decided on the threshold of our future to spend a night with another girl – that will prevent me from repeating my foolishness again.”

“Foolishness?” asks aunt Helen confused.

“To believe and accept excuses, to not see the truth that is right under one’s nose. That there is something like respect and loyalty. It is all nonsense, Aunt Helen. Any man can marry any girl, as long as the circumstances suit both. It suited Robert to plan a future with me because I own the old family farm in Greece. He waited until my twenty-first birthday to get engaged – and started with his plans to further his studies next year in Italy. We would not have had any financial problems ever again once I sold the farm.”

Helen shakes her head in shock. “What do you mean sell the farm? Is that why you broke off the engagement?”

“I knew nothing about it, but my father told me about Robert’s plans last night,” answers Alice and sighs tired. “That is why Robert made such a huge fuss last year to get engaged on my twenty-first birthday, and why he was so adamant we get married now after my graduation and then move to Italy. Robert visited my father about a month ago, and discussed the possibility of me selling the farm, with him. Father obviously explained to him that the farm cannot be sold under any circumstances as it is the family farm of the Browning’s.” Alice falls silent and pulls up her shoulders. “Well, that was the end of Robert’s endless love for me, and last night he spent the night with another girl whose parents does have enough money to fund his studies and his lifestyle in Italy.”

“The low-life…” Helen keeps quiet and looks at Alice sympathetically. “I am sorry, Alice. I have always thought of Robert as hard working and charming, but now… You were in a relationship for four years, and I was convinced he genuinely loved you. I… I don’t know what to say.”

“What else than that Robert obviously loved his future with my money, not with me?” She laughs bitterly. “I actually need to thank my father. If he didn’t see through Robert’s plan, I would have married a man who never actually loved me. But my father isn’t as easily fooled as I am. When Robert started talking about selling the farm, he quicky realised Robert needed the money for his further studies in Italy. That is why he didn’t mention the rest of my inheritance I get now upon my graduation. Thank heavens for common sense… I should be grateful I escaped Robert’s plan,” she smiles wryly, and Helen sees the tears in her eyes just before she turns her head away.

She takes a tissue from her handbag and holds it out to Alice. “Here, dear child, cry your tears and then you remember that you are Alice Browning, newly qualified nurse and top student of your group. You have earned everything you have worked for. You are not just beautiful, Alice, you also have a kind heart. You deserve the undying love you have always dreamed of.”

“You are wonderful, Aunt Helen. You don’t know how ugly I feel and … repulsive – I was nothing more to Robert than just a little rich girl with money to fulfil his ambitions. Undying love. Does that even exist?” Alice walks to the kettle and switches it on. “Never again will a man treat me like a nitwit again. If I am too particular, then I will remain single - like you, Aunt Helen,” answers Alice, shrugging her shoulders matter-of-factly.

Why did Aunt Helen never get married, she wonders like so many times before?

Helen is already fifty-five years old, but she is tall and slender, with a slight red shimmer in her blonde hair, and with intelligent brown eyes. Her face bears the signs of a great beauty in her youth which even time could not erase. Is it her inbred, snobbish way that has kept men at a distance? No … there has always been men in Helen’s life. During her career as a lecturer in psychology at the university she would often have dinner parties and then she would invite male friends as well, and more than one of them always looked at her with clear admiration.

“Why did you retire at fifty-five, Aunt Helen? I always thought you would marry one of your colleagues and retire then … and I have always quite liked Professor Winthorp,” asks Alice curiously while she sets the teacups for them.

“I liked all of my colleagues,” answers Helen impassively, “but somewhere during my youth I heard that love was a non-negotiable condition for a happy marriage.”

Alice looks at her totally baffled. “How can one get to such an old … e… fifty-five years old, without ever falling in love with even just one man?” she asks in pure disbelief.

“I would agree that it is impossible, but it can happen that one falls in love with the wrong man,” answers Helen without looking up.

“Aunt Helen, is there someone that you are in love with?” asks Alice curiously.

Helen gives a slight laugh, “No Miss Curiosity. But a long time ago, before I was so old and fifty-five, I did love a man. But unfortunately, he did not love me. And by the time I got to accept it I was so focused on my career that I just never got to finding someone else.”

“Did it take you a long time to get over him?” asks Alice impressed.

“No, Alice. For a lot of years, I buried myself in books and in my work, so I did not have the time to miss him. And then, one day, I realised I was now a spinster and a career-woman, with no husband or children. That is what happens when one waits too long: you become selfish with your own lifestyle and your time.” A smile reaches her eyes, “But I found the consolation prize: you.”

Alice feels how she becomes part of the warmth of Helen’s smile. She walks over to her aunt and gives her a long hug. “If I had to be honest, I must say I am glad you never got married, Aunt Helen. When I was younger, I could never have shared my aunt with a man and a house full of children.”

“As long as you make sure that I have grandchildren one day,” teases Helen and pours their tea. “I already made us some sandwiches. You are probably just as eager as I am to get to Arundel.”

“Too eager and too excited to eat anything now,” agrees Alice while quickly drinking her tea. “How far is Arundel from Stanton Estate?”

“Stanton Estate isn’t just a house. It is the entire land that belongs to the Howards. Stanton Manor is their house, their castle, which stands on a cliff overlooking the entire valley of Arundel. Sir George Howard had the manor built when he realised that Arundel made the perfect stop between the coast and the city for transporting goods. The town of Arundel flourished, and so did the Howards. I remember as a child …” Helen falls silent as if she got lost within her own memories.

“I remember you told me that my grandfather was the doctor in Arundel,” attempts Alice to bring her back to the present.

Helen sighs. “Yes … yes, those were wonderful years. I know West Sussex is known for its winter rains and strong coastal winds, but when I think of my youth in Arundel, then I only remember sunny days and playing on the riverbank,” she recalls, with the nostalgia truly clear in her voice.

“Then why have you waited so long to go back to Arundel? We have often gone to the beach at Littlehampton in Decembers, but …”

“I have my beach house at Littlehampton,” Helen interrupts her quickly. “You did enjoy your holidays there, didn’t you?”

“Yes, except that time when my brothers came with.”

Helen chuckles with the memory. “Now that was a disaster which I will never repeat again.”

“But why have you never gone back to Arundel?” repeats Alice her question.

“There wasn’t a reason for me to ever go back. I told you your grandfather was already in his fifties when I was born. He passed away when I was still a student. There was nothing to go back to,” answers Helen, but she avoids Alice’s eyes.

“But now you have a reason to go back again…”

Helen hesitates, a slight frown on her forehead.

“Why not? I have retired from my career and when Doctor Howard – “

“Doctor Howard?” surprised Alice interrupts her. “Then you know the people of Stanton Estate!”

“Child, give me a chance to finish,” says Helen angrily. “Obviously, I have known the people of Stanton Estate, but I am now talking of at least thirty-five, maybe forty years ago. In those days, old Sir George Howard’s son, Edward, still crowed king in our small town, but in the meantime he and his wife had also passed away.”

“Then Doctor Howard is now the owner of Stanton Estate?”

“No. Edward had two sons. Henry and William. Henry died in the war. So, William became the owner of Stanton Estate.”

“And Doctor Howard then?”

“He is not a real Howard. Doctor Howard is my cardiologist. And because I grew up so close to this surname, I asked him once whether he was related to the Howards of Stanton Estate. He told me that William Howard and his wife, Emily, had adopted him, but later they also had a son of their own, Richard,” explains Helen, her voice strangely tense.

“Is Richard then the sole heir of Stanton Estate?” asks Alice mesmerized.

Helen keeps quiet, memories swimming before her mind’s eye. She sighs impatiently. “I suppose so, yes, but we have nothing to do with the Howards. I told you we were going to visit my old friend, Aunt Eleanor, who lives in Tortington.”

“Tortington. Where on earth is Tortington?”

“It used to be part of the Stanton Estate. I remember the place: Edward Howard had a house built there when Henry got engaged to Annabelle Montgomery. Edward’s wife, Lady Caroline, did not want to live under the same roof as her would-be daughter-in-law. Already then, Edward’s health was failing and the possibility that Lady Caroline would survive him was great. The house was built, and after Edward’s passing, Lady Caroline lived there. Aunt Eleanor was her care-giver, and her friend, until her passing and she then received life-long right on the house.”

“Oh, it sounds wonderful! I would bet that Aunt Eleanor could tell us everything about the Howards,” says Alice quite excited with the intrigues of the Howards.

Helen looks at her with uncharacteristic sternness. “Under no circumstances are you going to place Aunt Eleanor under interrogation, girl. She is an old Lady of seventy-eight – an old Lady who needs peace and quiet. It was extremely gracious of Dr Howard to invite us to Stanton Estate to visit her, but I don’t want us to be a burden to her.”

“What does Stanton Estate have to do with Dr Howard? If he is just an adopted son, then he …”

“He inherited Tortington from Lady Caroline, his grandmother. And that is now enough questions, Alice. If we are planning to still leave here today, then we should get our things packed in my car,” says Helen, suddenly in a rush, and gets up from the kitchen table.

“Your car, Aunt Helen?” Alice jumps up dismayed. “I am driving with my own car, Aunt Helen. I especially had new tyres fitted and had my car serviced. I know by now Aunt Helen: you are just going to want to walk by the river, while I will have to phone a taxi when I want to go anywhere.”

“But Alice-child, you know my car is always at your disposal,” says Helen calmingly.

“And you know I don’t want to drive that huge old car, Aunt Helen.” Alice places her hand beggingly on Helen’s arm. ”Please Aunt Helen, I am independent, and I do have my driver’s license. And I have been driving my own car for more than three years now. I promise I won’t race or be irresponsible.”

“If that is a promise … I will drive in front, and if you pass me, I turn around immediately and come home. I, unfortunately, have experience of your driving skills.”

“That was when I was still learning to drive,” says Alice offended.

“We will have to stop somewhere and sleep over in a hotel. I am not driving after dark,” sets Helen another condition.

“Yes, Aunt Helen. Good, Aunt Helen. As long as we get to Arundel before Christmas, Aunt Helen” answers Alice and walks out of the kitchen to fetch her luggage.

“Smarty pants!” Helen calls out to her, but then her expression sombers. Why does she want to go back to Stanton Estate? The people who mattered, aren’t there anymore – except Eleanor Wallace. And memories. Such sad memories, which had her fleeing her entire life. Maybe that is why she had to go back: to find a grave for her memories; to lay to rest her lost dreams for good. And still: she can dig a grave, but she will stand next to that grave with empty hands, because memories live in your heart.

Alice stops her car in front of the entrance to Stanton Estate and stares in amazement at the granite walls with the name Stanton Estate in wrought iron letters fastened onto it. Her eyes search further, and then she sees the castle-like mansion on a high cliff, rising dark and gray against the ice blue sky. A mansion of secrets, she thinks to herself, and she feels a shiver of excitement mixed with a little bit of fear running cold down her spine.

“I knew your car was going to fail you,” says Helen unhappy through the open car window next to hers. “Let’s push your car out of the way, Alice. Look, there you can see Tortington, on that hill right next to the river.”

“Don’t you have a soul, Aunt Helen?” asks Alice insulted. “There is absolutely nothing the matter with my car. I only stopped to admire Stanton Estate.” She forgets about her slight upset and continues enthusiastically: “The mansion looks like a castle from a fairy tale! All those towers and chimneys, and that huge clock-tower … The dark granite makes it look haunted. Are the ghosts of the Howards still haunting this old mansion, Aunt Helen?” For a while Helen stares at her totally speechless, and then her irritation kicks in. “I am dead tired and hungry and thirsty, and you waste our time staring at that old mansion! For goodness’ sake, child, remember that you are now an adult, and to behave as such. Now, come!”

“Aunt Helen, you have the romantic inclination of a hungry bedbug!” calls Alice tauntingly after her and starts her car again. She will have to work on Eleanor Wallace, because if it depends on Aunt Helen, she will never even see the inside of Stanton Manor, Alice thinks to herself as she follows in the twisting road to Tortington. Maybe she kan befriend late Sir William’s son, Richard. Is he married? Well, then she can become friends with his wife. She is definitely not visiting in Tortington for six weeks, and not visiting Stanton Manor even once.

She brings her car to a stop next to Helen’s in front of the white house, gets out en stares in surprise at the flower garden surrounding the house. Tortington is exceeding all her expectations, she thinks, and smiles impressed.

“Come closer! Come closer!” invites a clear, youthful voice.

Alice turns her head and stares surprised at the large, stocky woman with snow white, curly hair; big, friendly gray-blue eyes and the warm summer sun in her smile. She comes at a strong gate walking towards them and opens the garden gate.

If this is Aunt Eleanor Wallace … Alice shakes her head in disbelief. Too many summers have carved deep lines into Eleanor’s face and the burdens of the years has come to lay as a hump on her shoulders pushing her neck forwards, but a laughter as bright as a summer’s morning shines in her eyes and reflects in the youthfulness of her smile.

“Aunt Eleanor! It has been too long. You look wonderful,” says Helen heartily and kisses her old friend.

“Wonderful or wonderfully old?” teases Eleanor and turns to Alice who walks closer hesitantly. “And you are Alice. Welcome at Tortington, dearie. I am so delighted to have some young company again.”

“Hallo, Aunt Eleanor,’ greets Alice and receives a spontaneous hug and a kiss on her cheek.

“Forget about your luggage. You both look warm and tired. Let’s first go find something to drink and to eat,” invites Eleanor hospitable, hooks into Helen’s arm en starts walking to the house.

Alice lingers in the front garden, overwhelmed by the variety of flowers and plants. She had already noticed the dark green of a natural forest just left of Stanton Estate, but she never expected to see so many flowers grow so close to the coast.

She searches further and then she sees the stonewall on the southside of Tortington. The wall shields this magnificent garden from the cold south-easterly winds, she realizes.

The sound of a rumbling car engine catches her attention. She sees a luxurious metal-gray car getting closer extremely fast, she is still wondering if she recognizes the driver, and then she storms closer angrily just as the car stops only a few centimeters from her own. The driver gets out of his car and Alice chokes on her anger as her eyes meet the black-blue eyes of the tall, broad-shouldered man.

“You … you …” stammers Alice, out of breath from anger.

“Idiot or selfish?” he asks and smiles mockingly.

“I know some terrible curse words, I have three brothers,” she warns and feels like a total fool as he just continues to smile at her. She glares at him. “Why do you do it? Why do you park so close to my car? You know very well that I can’t get in from the right side.”

“It was a precaution. When I invited you the last time to join me for a cup of tea, you refused. Now you don’t have a choice: we first go have a cup of tea together and then you can have your car back. All right, Alice?”

“Why?” she asks obstinately. She knows men. She knows how they look at a girl when they are interested in her. But Mr. Oliver is definitely not interested in her … except that he finds her very amusing. No man has ever treated her like she was a clown, she thinks angrily. If Mr. Oliver thinks he has discovered a new plaything, he is sorely mistaken.

“Shall we say I want to make amends for the inconvenience I caused you when I parked you in at the shopping centre?” he asks gallantly, the laughter still dancing in his eyes.

“That is impossible. Aunt Helen and I arrived just now, literally as we speak. Aunt Eleanor is making us tea,” she answers with a cold superiority. She sees the surprise on his face and continues in triumph: “I am visiting here. If you want to drink a cup of tea – there are coffee shops in the town. Goodbye, Mr. Oliver.”

That’s it, now she had properly put him in his place, she thinks very impressed with herself and gets even more furious when he just smiles even broader and starts walking towards her. “Fantastic! Aunt Eleanor is the best baker in the district. Come, little firecracker, I am looking forward to that cup of tea and all of Aunt Eleanor’s forbidden treats.”

He takes her by the arm, but she pulls away confused. “Do you know Aunt Eleanor?” she asks baffled.

“Better than my own mother, because she raised me.” His eyes search involuntary for the dark building on the cliff.

“Richard and I. Because Aunt Emily’s … e… health, was never really the best.”

“Richard Howard?” she asks, her voice faint.

He frowns. “Don’t tell me my adoptive brother already met you. He has a reputation of …”

“I don’t know him,” she interrupts him, “I know of him. But if he is your adoptive brother, then why are you Mr. Oliver?” she asks suspiciously.

He pulls up his shoulders. “Because you decided to call me Mr. Oliver, little Alice. I am Oliver Howard.”

“Doctor Oliver Howard?” she asks breathless.

“When I work, yes, but my friends call me Oliver. Do you think we could be friends if I promise to never park so close to your car ever again?”

How can she be friends with a man who is so spiteful and inconsiderate, a man who gets her so angry, she wonders, and she is aware of an uneasiness within herself. She isn’t angry, she realizes, but she feels humiliated as Oliver continuously taunts her and laughs at her. She knows she is pretty – even her hypercritical brothers say so – but Oliver Howard makes her feel as if she is a total joke.

“I choose my …” she starts with an ice-cold disdain and swallow her words when Helen and Eleanor walk out onto the front porch.

“Oliver!” Helen calls out in surprise. “What are you doing here, child? I’m not sick.”

He laughs heartily and gives Helen a hug. “That is only proof of how good a doctor I am, Aunt Helen. Welcome at Tortington. I know you are really going to enjoy your visit here.” He turns

to Eleanor, who is standing there wringing her hands. “Hallo Aunt Eleanor. Are the nerves acting up again?”

“Yes, yes, Oliver, no need to play doctor-doctor with me, my dear boy. It is on behalf of your Uncle William that I asked you to come home urgently, but the question is: will they allow you to talk with him?”