To Katie’s surprise, all the purchases were paid for by Mackintosh, who followed them round patiently, settling up shop by shop as they moved on from one to another. Katie was relieved to see that he used a debit card. For a while she had been wondering if he would appear with a bag of gold sovereigns, but clearly, some aspects of modernity had, of necessity, had to intrude upon the isolation of Iddlescombe Manor. However, as far as Katie could see, Victoria didn’t even carry a purse.
Although Katie had had a pretty privileged upbringing, without any real money worries, she had never experienced anything like this before. She had started to keep tab of just how much was being spent, but she gave up after the figures became a blur. Victoria was spending thousands of pounds without batting an eyelid. And yet, somehow, Katie didn’t feel jealous. However much money Victoria might have, it still couldn’t compensate for the loss of so many years of her life. She knew Jen would have a fit when, or rather if, she told her, but she didn’t know the full story. What was that thing about money not buying happiness again?
They had lunch in a restaurant near the fine old cathedral. The two girls sat by the window, while Mackintosh disappeared for a short while. Victoria demonstrated that she wasn’t quite as green as she looked by informing Katie of his likely destination.
‘I’m pretty sure he’s gone to the bookmakers. He’s always been one for a flutter on the horses. When he and my father used to go to the local point-to-point, they would always place a few bets.’
‘Didn’t they take you? You love horses after all.’ Victoria caught her eye and gave the now familiar shake of the head.
‘Never. Remember, I was his precious little girl to be sheltered from any possible harm.’ She shrugged her shoulders. ‘Anyway, that’s over now.’
Katie decided she could now ask something that had been bothering her for some days. ‘Victoria, you’re twenty-five, aren’t you? Surely, when you were eighteen, or at the least when you were twenty-one, you would have been able to do as you wished. You could have chosen to fly the nest. Your father couldn’t keep on holding you in the house against your will, surely?’
‘I’m not sure it was really against my will, Katie.’ Victoria set the menu down and transferred her gaze out onto the cathedral. ‘I did escape one day, you know.’ She lowered her voice and still avoided meeting Katie’s eye. ‘When I was fourteen, fifteen, I forget exactly, I ran off. I’d been getting more and more bitter about being cut off from the real world. I must have been really hard work for Mrs Milliner and my tutors. I hated everybody and everything and I behaved very badly. I was rude to everybody, I threw tantrums and I screamed and shouted all the time. I even threw things around.’ She took a deep breath and caught Katie’s eye. ‘I behaved like a real… What’s the expression I should use?’
‘Teenager?’ Katie smiled at her. ‘I’ve spent the best part of a decade teaching teenagers. There’s nothing particularly unusual in a teenager throwing tantrums and rebelling against authority.’
Victoria nodded. ‘Well, I got to the stage when I decided I had to get out. I couldn’t take it any more. One autumn afternoon I climbed the wall over by the far woods and set off down the valley, hoping to find a train to take me away.’ She managed a small smile. ‘It didn’t occur to me to take money with me. Even if I’d found the station, I wouldn’t have been able to buy a ticket.’
‘So what happened?’
‘It got dark while I was still in the woods. I got hopelessly lost and started to panic. It was freezing cold and I began to shiver. I blundered on until I came to a road.’ She shook her head and sighed as the memories resurfaced. ‘I didn’t know which way to turn, so I headed back uphill, hoping it would lead me home to the manor. Then, about three o’clock in the morning I saw the lights of a car coming towards me. It was Mackintosh. I’ve never been so pleased to see anybody in my life.’
Katie reached over and squeezed her hand. ‘He’s a good, kind man, isn’t he? I felt that the very first time I met him.’
‘He’s a very good man. I hold him in high esteem.’ Victoria looked back and caught Katie’s eye. ‘That’s wrong, isn’t it? Nobody says that any more, do they?’
Katie gave her a smile. ‘Well spotted. I think we just respect people these days or think a lot of them.’
Victoria nodded. ‘Well, I certainly think a lot of him. He wrapped me in a blanket and drove me home. When we got back to the manor, there were cars all over the place, blue lights flashing, even men in frogman suits down by the lake. My father was standing at the front door as we pulled up. I can still see his face now.’ She blinked a few times at the memory. ‘He came running down the steps when he saw me and took me in his arms. He was sobbing his heart out and he just stood there, holding me to him, touching my head, my face, my shoulders, as if he were assuring himself it really was me. He kept repeating over and over again how much he loved me. I’d never seen him cry before. In fact, I’d never really seen anything much in the way of emotion from him before.’
The waitress was hovering, but Katie waved her away. Somehow she knew that the more Victoria talked about her troubled past, the better it would be for her. She sat back and listened, enthralled, as Victoria picked up the story once more.
‘You see, deep down, I’d always known he wasn’t quite right in the head ever since the accident. But up till then, I’d only seen the hard, unbending side of him; the blind refusal to compromise, even when I begged and begged. But seeing him totally distraught like that was a real eye-opener. I think that got through to me more than anything. Anyway, from that time onwards, I knew I had to look after him.’ She caught Katie’s eye. ‘I know it sounds strange, but somehow I realised that it was my duty to look after him in the same way he thought he was looking after me. From then on, I decided to toe the line, for his sake. And, anyway, after the scare I’d given myself in that big, dark, cold wood, maybe I wasn’t ready for the big wide world after all.’
‘It can be a scary place out here.’ Katie found herself thinking about her experiences over the past few months. Life had a way of being both scary and unkind. ‘If I told you all about the year I’ve had, it would make your hair curl.’
Victoria nodded. ‘So I just accepted that things were going to be that way. I suppose part of me liked the idea of being so important to my father and to being protected from all the terrible things you hear about on the radio. And, at the same time, knowing that I was somehow caring for him, gave my life a sense of purpose it had been lacking up till then.’ She paused and caught her breath. ‘And then, a few years later, around the time of my twenty-first birthday, he was diagnosed with cancer.’ She ran the back of her hand across her eyes and looked up at Katie. ‘I couldn’t abandon him then, could I?’
Katie could imagine the conflicting emotions that must have been running through her head. She nodded in agreement. ‘I see the problem. No, of course you couldn’t.’ Determined to cheer the atmosphere up, she gave a broad smile. ‘But think of your life up till now as like being in a cocoon. Now, at last, it’s as if the cocoon’s split open and the butterfly can finally come out. Your butterfly wings are beating, Victoria, can you feel them? Come on, let’s order some food and then hit the shops again. You’ve got a lot of lost shopping time to make up for. Let me show you how retail therapy can be a very real form of therapy. You’ll be amazed at how it cheers you up.’
As they ate their lunch, they chatted, mainly about the people they could see through the window. Katie realised that the experience of observing complete strangers was something new and exciting for Victoria. Women’s fashions, in particular, never ceased to amaze. ‘But that girl there is almost naked.’ Victoria’s tone was incredulous. ‘Her breasts are just hidden by the material, but you can still see everything through it.’ She looked up at Katie, as an idea crossed her mind. ‘Do you think she’s a prostitute?’
‘Ssh, Victoria, keep your voice down. No, she’s definitely not a prostitute. It’s the fashion these days. Look, there are