Past All Forgetting by Sara Craven Read Free Book Online Page B

was alone in the sitting room watching a horror film on television as Janna let herself in.
    'Hallo, dear, had a nice evening?' she queried automatically as her daughter entered the room, and without a pause, 'I can't understand these people at all, Janna. The villagers, have warned them to stay away from the castle, and yet they're all going to spend the night there. It beats me why they're so daft.'
    'Why do you watch it then, if that's what you feel?' Janna sat down beside her mother and cast a tolerant eye at the cobwebbed horrors being depicted on the screen.
    'I love Christopher Lee,' Mrs Prentiss confessed, reaching for another peppermint cream.
    Janna had to anile in spite of herself. She forced herself to sit and watch as the heroine's friend succumbed to the vampire's lure, then, trying to sound casual, she said, 'Mum, when you were engaged, did you have—doubts?'
    Mrs Prentiss wrenched her attention away from the bloodstained goings-on in front of her with an obvious effort. 'About your dad?' she exclaimed. 'I don't think so. Why do you ask?'
    'No reason,' Janna said uncomfortably. 'I'm just— interested, that's all.'
    Her mother surveyed her. 'Are you having second thoughts about marrying Colin?' she demanded. 'Because, if so you want your head seeing to. The trouble with young people today is that you want everything perfect all the time. You're not prepared to work at a relationship. Have you quarrelled?'
    'Oh, no!' Janna was aghast. 'Please, Mum, let's drop the subject.'
    'Well, you raised it in the first place,' Mrs Prentiss pointed out reasonably. She leaned forward and switched off the television set. 'Now, let's have this out. Are you having second thoughts about Colin, and if you are, why?'
    Janna bit her lip. 'It's nothing as definite as that,' she said miserably. Swiftly she told her mother about Colin's wish to buy Carrisbeck House, and Sir Robert's plan to live in the stable block.
    Her mother seemed unimpressed, however. 'It's a modern thing, this wanting to live away from your family,' she remarked. 'When I was a girl, people had their parents to live with them and thought nothing about it. And he won't actually be in the house. I don't see what you're making all the fuss about. Colin is all he's got, after all, and for all his money, he's a lonely man, I daresay.'
    'You think I'm being selfish,' Janna said forlornly.
    'Not altogether, but I think you're crossing your bridges before you come to them,' Mrs Prentiss said bracingly. 'As Colin said, he may change his mind. And it's a lovely house. There was a time when we couldn't keep you away from there. Not many young people have a chance to start their married life in those circumstances, you know. Look at it from Colin's point of view. And what have you got against the place, anyway?'
    It would have been an immense consolation to put her head down on her mother's lap and sob out the whole wretched truth, but Janna could not permit herself that indulgence. Her mother did not deserve to be upset like that after all this time, she thought wearily. The time for confession was long past.
    She forced a smile and rose to her feet. 'Nothing, of course. You're right, Mum, I'm sure you are. It's just bridal nerves, I suppose.' She bent and kissed her swiftly.
    'Now watch
the
rest of your film. I'm going to bed before I get nightmares!'
    She had not arranged to see Colin on Sunday, and spent a quiet day, lazing round the house, acting her normal self for all she was worth, conscious of the occasional worried glance from her mother. She slept badly that night and rose late on Monday morning, feeling as if she had not rested at all. She was helping her mother strip the beds ready for the weekly wash, when the phone rang.
    'Colin?' she said in surprised response to the terse tones at the other end of the line. 'What a strange time to ring. Is anything wrong?'
    'Oh, no.' Colin's voice was heavy with sarcasm. 'Everything is for the best in this best of all