Chapter Twenty-one
Revenge
Hampstead Heath had a thin film of
lavender mist hanging over it during winter as she headed for the Glass House.
There were very few people in the meadow at this hour of the day. Kate was
invigorated from the cool air in a way she wouldn’t have been had she stayed
inside. Her usual routine - a light lunch, nurse Katarina, read or do some yoga
- before wading through the play script that lay in wait for her had been
replaced by her ramble. She had more
ideas about the design of the play she was working on and had brought paper
with her to sketch the arboretum. The garden was the central motif in the play
and she wanted to take another look at the architecture.
Kate tied her horse up and got him some
water. As she did this, a familiar horse rode towards her, or maybe she just
thought his markings were familiar. As she looked closer through the clearing,
it was the rider she recognised. He was slightly older, leaner, yet
unmistakably the man who had filled her every waking dream and now her
nightmares.
Heath alighted from his horse in the easy
manner of a country squire.
Kate looked over at him. Even from a
distance, she could hardly believe he was real.
He walked towards her, slowly, with purpose.
Before they spoke she reached over when he
paused to touch his face as if to ask the vision before her if he even existed.
‘Heath?’ She whispered.
‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘It’s me.’
‘But…you’ve been gone…for three years. I
tried to find you. What happened? How did you come to be here?’
‘Perhaps I should be the one asking
questions. I saw your marriage notice in the paper not long after we parted.’
Kate
was silent for a moment.
‘You left me,’ she said.
Heath’s
face displayed a knowing, hardened expression with more than a twinge of anger.
‘I am staying at the pub. I have business
with Harrison in relation to Hareton Hall. I went around looking for him but
there was no one at home. I saw your car in the driveway and I didn’t think
you’d be far. The horses were there - all except Hero. One of them was
practically biting his way out of the stable, so I thought I’d take him out. He
seems to remember me.’
Heath patted the animal and went to tie the
reigns.
‘Business… with Harrison?’
‘Yes. Greta told me you’d be here. You might
be interested to know that I am soon to be the new owner of Hareton Hall.’
‘How?’
‘Harrison mortgaged it to my company; he
lost his money gambling. The house was going cheap and I put a down payment on
it. I officially own it as of…about three minutes ago. ’
Heath smiled. Kate knew she didn’t have
the full details of the matter but suddenly realized how good he must feel.
She visibly shivered as Heath took her
gloved hand in his.
‘I am to be your new neighbour Mrs Hunt.’
Kate sighed, never having doubted, in the
faint possibility if he ever revealed himself to her again, Heath would one day
be the stronger of them.
‘And what of Harrison?’
‘Oh, he can remain in the guest cottage
until he’s found another place to stay. It’s all arranged.’
Together they walked in breathless
silence towards the glass house where they had met as children. There were
overgrown hothouse flowers and benches and comfortable chairs for lovers. The
chairs had been unused all winter until Kate and Heath rested upon them, side
by side. Again they sat in silence for what seemed the longest stretch of time.
Actually it was only a few minutes.
Both former lovers were angry. Kate was
almost speechless.
‘Did you read the note I left?’
‘Yes, you said you’d find me,’ Kate replied
softly. ‘It wasn’t enough. All those legal terms…none of them true.’
‘I needed proof. Harrison told me we shared
the same biological father…’ He showed
Kate the note.
Forget your unnatural desires, it read. Apart from the fact that you are a monster
there are few grounds for an annulment and marrying a close relative is one of
them. I tried to keep you both apart for a reason. Kate is your half-sister.
Mother left because she knew! That’s what they were fighting about that night,
more than ten years ago. I heard them! You are father’s biological child. He
said so himself…Do Kate a favour and leave her. I’ll arrange an annulment at
this end. We’ll tell her you changed your mind. I’m sure she’ll understand once
she knows the truth. I tried to warn you. Thank me later, Harrison.
Kate shook her head after she read it.
‘I am not surprise. Harrison told me of the
supposed connection. I suspected he was lying.’
Heath was silent. Kate tore the letter up.
‘Later, after I married Edmund he admitted
it was another of his lies, designed to tear us apart - only this one worked,’
Kate said regretfully.
Heath noticed Kate’s scarlet riding jacket.
It contrasted with her black riding boots and reminded him of blood. The
colours suited her well. Blood reminded him of betrayal.
He would never admit that he envied her
marriage and longed for revenge upon her family that went further than just the
ownership of Hareton Hall. In any case, Kate must have expected the foreclosure
on her childhood home since there had been talk all over town for months that
Harrison was going broke and had dragged the family name into disrepute. Then
he remembered that it was likely Kate barely knew anything. She rarely spoke to
her brother.
‘What have we done Heath?’ she said after a
long silence.
He
could see her breath, cold in the air and longed more than ever to do what he’d
always resisted doing; to do what he’d done in the endless nights of travel,
parks and animal blood. Then, after he had money, there had been the empty
living of hotel suites, women and elixir to help drown his misery. It had taken
him months to trace his mother, to find out the truth. The specialist had told him he could be
fairly sure Harrison’s allegation was untrue but for total confirmation he’d
have to locate his biological mother and trace some evidence of his biological
father. It had all taken so much longer than he’d expected, several weeks. He’d
been in virtual limbo in the meantime, not wanting to burden Kate with his
misery after he’d tried to find her. He’d seen her through the windows of The
Grange that night, looking so content.
He felt more empowered inside than ever
since he’d allowed his true nature to emerge. Once he’d stopped worrying about
Kate’s thoughts he could begin to live the life he was born to live. He looked
at her again, the veins in her wrist and neck, thumping, tormenting him.
Her hand moved to his and she looked at
him pleadingly. In that moment, he was sure he hated her unfairly. The glimpse
of the wedding ring near her neck convinced him he was right. His plan for
vengeance had stirred in him ever since he’d seen Edmund kissing Kate in the
window seat that night. Weeks after Heath and Kate married; Heath’s transition phase
began to stabilize. He wanted her
back.
Kate looked at him accusingly.
‘How can you look at me like that? You
married another. You didn’t wait as I asked you to. Harrison had drained the
family funds and I now see what a good idea it was for you to marry richly and
quickly and…to that spoilt brat Hunt. I see how easily an annulment was
arranged, given the feigned reasoning that we were biologically…related. I
can’t believe you actually went through with the new marriage. Of course, it
all makes perfect sense, given the way you were raised and your brother’s
distorted value system…’
‘In my defence, there was a good reason.
You abandoned me. Harrison finally admitted it wasn’t true but by then I
couldn’t…locate you.’
‘I came to find you, weeks later, after
I’d made sure…everything was as it needed to be.’
‘I was dragged to Verbier to recover from
my broken heart. I had a skiing
accident. I was unconscious for three days! I couldn’t get a message to you. I
looked for you everywhere. I tried to find you but you had…disappeared. I
waited for you… long enough. You had simply, vanished. It was…logical for me to…marry
Edmund, I had no choice…I never believed you would ever come back to me. Not
after the note Harrison wrote.’
‘I said I would return. Love is not
logical Kate. I’m sure your mother
taught you that…’ He coughed into the sleeve of his jacket as he said this.
Kate was alarmed by his thinness and pallor. He looked hungry.
‘You are so cruel Heath. You know my
mother taught me very little except how to leave.’ The woman stood, but she did
not move away from him. Just being near him gave her strength and courage. The
scent of Kate’s perfume was an elixir to Heath, as magical as her blood which
he longed to drink. He moved closer.
‘Stay,’ Heath said. ‘Please stay. No
piece of paper should separate us.’ He took her gloved hand, looking desperate
for the first time and slumped into her shoulder. ‘Please, get me my…drink.
It’s in the saddle bag.’
Kate got up and grabbed a flask, taking
off the top and poured Heath some amber liquid.
‘How is your…condition?’
Heath took a sip and looked at her as if
he might eat her.
‘Manageable.’
He’d torn the leg off a turkey and eaten
it before he’d come to find her. At least the leg was cooked. He hadn’t stooped
to raw meat yet, unless it was a fresh animal kill.
By then, from the look on her face, Heath
knew he had gone too far. Kate, like him, had had very little parental
guidance. The girl turned on him as he regained his strength, lashing out…
‘You don’t know everything…you don’t know
anything! You went missing after our wedding, remember? I thought you’d
abandoned me or worse, that you were dead! What did you expect?’
‘I… I didn’t want to hurt you with the
truth about our family… what I’ve since learnt was false. I went for a walk to
clear my head but the transition caused me to collapse in a gutter. I woke up
three days later in a police station…’
‘You should have known…Harrison would do
anything to separate us.’
Kate looked away.
‘I know… for that I owe you an apology.’
Heath said. ‘Harrison’s lie was a shock to say the least. Something I wanted to
spare you. To do that, I needed the
truth. I needed to find my…birth mother.’
He did not wish to elaborate upon the
murkier details of the conversation he’d had when Harrison had inferred Kate
was a blood relation.
Kate looked away, ‘I know,’ was all
she said.
‘When I had proof, I contacted Greta.
She begged me not to make trouble but I had to find you anyway. Then I learnt
you’d gone skiing…with the Hunts.’
‘You had disappeared. Annabelle offered
comfort and support…’
‘Yes, I know, and her brother…’ Heath
said sarcastically, ‘You’ve always been perfectly capable of impressing
your…admirers, Kate. I hear you are the talk of the theatre world, young
designer of the season, your drawings and paintings nominated for an award…’
‘Oh, you never cared about me having a
career…how dare you joke about it now! We both know all that seems meaningless
in relation to…all of this.’
Heath turned and held Kate by the
shoulders, ‘You’re right, I never did care about your career as you put it, because all I wanted was you…’
‘And you had me…’
Heath laughed sardonically.
Kate continued ‘… You were the one who
went missing, remember.’
‘Yes and now look at you, married to
someone else with barely three months between us. Harrison must have really
pulled strings to have the annulment rushed through.’
Kate looked away.
‘The paperwork was destroyed. It was all
hushed up. No one except the family knew we were even married.’
