Thicker Than Water by Anthea Fraser Read Free Book Online

overlooking Lake Garda. Everything laid on – gym, sauna—’
    He broke off as he felt her stiffen, and her face took on the same haunted look that had alarmed him the day before. He reached up, gripping her bare shoulder.
    ‘Darling, what is it?’
    She shook her head distractedly, hair swinging across her face. ‘I’m sorry – I can’t—’
    ‘Can’t what?’
    She moistened her lips. ‘Go there. Oh James, I’m so sorry!’
    ‘But – why? I don’t understand. Don’t you like Italy?’
    ‘I love it, but couldn’t we find somewhere in the mountains instead?’
    ‘What have you got against lakes?’ he asked gently. ‘You can tell me, darling. You just said you hate secrets.’ Though he knew instinctively she’d meant other people’s.
    She flashed him a quick glance, then lay down again, staring up at the ceiling. James waited, his heart unaccountably thumping, and after a minute she said in a low voice, ‘My father drowned in one.’
    He was at once contrite and relieved: nothing untoward, then; she was simply avoiding unhappy memories. ‘You should have warned me, sweetheart. Of course we’ll go to the mountains.’
    And as he bent over to kiss her, her arms came round his neck and she clung to him fiercely. He could feel her trembling, and struggled to think of the right thing to say. But before he could, she released him, giving him a shaky smile.
    ‘Sorry to be such a goose!’ she said.
    The wedding passed off better than they could have hoped. Though the earlier heat had abated, the day was warm and sunny, the sky cloudlessly blue. Abigail wore a cream silk suit, a fascinator on her dark hair, and carried a bouquet of pink roses. She looked stunning, Tina thought a little sourly, noting the admiring glances she was attracting.
    James, handsome in pale grey, impressed his bride’s friends, and everyone seemed determined to put reservations aside. The service was simple but moving, the following lunch excellent, and even Rosemary acknowledged it had all gone admirably.
    When the newly-weds had left, Tina and Ben set off for home, needing to collect their children from a friend’s house. Rosemary and Andrew, however, had elected to stay on to see a show, and were spending the night at the hotel where they’d lunched.
    When they finally reached their room, tired after the day’s crowded happenings, Rosemary stood for a moment, looking down at the bright lights and moving throngs of the unsleeping city.
    ‘They will be happy, won’t they, Andrew?’ she asked pensively.
    He joined her at the window and put an arm round her. ‘I hope so, my dear,’ he said.
    The replacement hotel offered all the amenities of the original, and was surrounded by majestic mountains, the higher ones already snow-capped.
    Abigail had said nothing further on the change of venue or the reason for it. That her father had drowned was still all James knew about her family or, indeed, her life before they met, but he was confident that in time she’d confide in him more fully, and by talking through her worries, they’d be able to eliminate them.
    They walked on the mountains, swam in the hotel pool, soaked up the sunshine and luxuriated in the excellent food and wine on the menu. And the other guests, indulgently smiling at the honeymoon couple, could have had no inkling they were virtually strangers to each other.
    One afternoon, as they sat high above the town, their picnic lunch in a hamper beside them, Abigail reached for James’s hand.
    ‘Oh, darling, I wish we could stay here for ever!’
    He laughed. ‘I bet all honeymooners say that.’
    ‘But I’m serious. We’re together, just the two of us, away from everyone and everything.’ Her grip tightened, and he felt her shiver. ‘I’m frightened, James.’
    He frowned. ‘What on earth of?’
    ‘Of being so happy. I’ve no right to be, and I’m terrified it will all come crashing down.’
    ‘Everyone has a right to be happy,’ he said gently, ‘and