Her shoe was still caught on the wrought iron kerb around the old grave where she had tripped. In the dark she couldn’t see the blood from her trapped foot seeping inexorably into the grass.
Somewhere in the distance she heard a door slam. ‘Here! I’m here!’ she called, but her voice was barely more than a whisper and no one heard.
She should have known the evil was in the church now; she should have been able to feel it, realise that something had awakened it, but she was getting old. Too old. Too weak. She must warn Jocelyn. Slowly her eyes closed again and her head fell back onto the soft pillow of dead grass. Another short rest and she would try and move again, but suddenly she was so very tired.
‘Georgie? Sam?’ Her whisper was very faint. ‘Help me, boys. I need you.’
36
When Mat arrived in Oxford unannounced, hugging his parents and the children before giving her a brotherly kiss on the cheek Lyn was as surprised and pleased as they were.
‘You might have let us know, Matthew!’ Elizabeth Grant feigned annoyance. ‘It’s typical. You just arrive, assuming there will be room for you!’
‘Of course there’s room.’ His put his arms around his mother again and squeezed her hard. ‘There’s oceans of room! I only knew yesterday that I could wangle five days in the south before starting on the new project so I thought I’d grab the chance and I did. I didn’t think I’d need to book.’
‘I’m afraid the boys and I are filling up the house a bit.’ Lyn felt suddenly shy as she smiled at the handsome, cheerful, carefree face.
‘Nonsense.’ Elizabeth and Mat spoke at the same moment and then both dissolved into laughter.
‘There’s room for all of you,’ Elizabeth went on firmly. ‘I was only teasing!’
It wasn’t until the evening that Lyn found herself alone in the sitting room with Mat after the children had been put to bed. He poured her a sherry and sat down opposite her, his long legs loosely crossed at the ankle as he sipped at his own. He gave her an amiable grin. ‘So, how are Joss and Luke really?’
‘Fine.’ She looked at him fiercely for a minute. ‘You never answered my letters.’
‘I know. I’m sorry.’ He seemed embarrassed. ‘I meant to. It’s just – you know how things are.’
‘No. Supposing you tell me.’
He looked distressed. Standing up he put his glass down carefully and moved across the room to stand at the French doors looking down towards the bottom of the garden where the River Cherwell ran between banks of lush willow. ‘I live in Scotland, Lyn. I have a life up there.’
‘I see.’ She could not hide the bleakness in her voice. ‘How stupid of me to think you’d have time to write a few lines on a postcard!’
He swung round. ‘Please try and understand. You’re a very attractive woman – ’
‘No.’ She stood up slopping her sherry onto her skirt as she slammed the delicate cut glass down onto the coffee table. ‘Please don’t make it worse.’ Her face was scarlet. ‘I have to go and check on the boys if you’ll excuse me. Then I’ll help your mother with the supper.’
By the morning she had made up her mind.
‘But Lyn, why don’t you stay a bit longer, my dear! You know how much we love having the children.’ Elizabeth removed Tom’s bib and helped him down from his breakfast chair. ‘There, sweetheart, take a chocky out of Granny’s tin and then go and play while Aunty Lyn and I have a talk.’
Lyn gave a tight smile. ‘It’s very nice of you, Mrs Grant, but honestly, I’d rather have them in their own home. Their routine is getting badly unsettled by the break and it’s time we got back. Tom was due to start playgroup for an hour or two this week.’ With dismay she watched Tom helping himself to a fistful of chocolate toffees.
‘But this is so sudden and Luke was so insistent we look after you all, my dear. And it’s been such fun.’ Elizabeth got up and went to the sink. ‘You know, I don’t think you ought to go back without checking with them, I really don’t.’ Squeezing a flannel out under the hot tap she went in pursuit of her grandson before he managed to spread the mess on his fingers to her gingham table cloth.
Lyn hid a scowl. ‘It has been fun here,’ she said as sincerely as she could. ‘But I think Luke and Joss would want him to go to the playgroup. There is such a waiting list. We were very lucky to get him in.’
Elizabeth looked up. Then she shrugged unhappily. ‘I hope it’s nothing to do with Matthew coming.’ She glanced at Lyn shrewdly and noted the sudden defensive look in her eyes. She sighed. Wretched boy! Another heart broken. She shook her head, too tactful to say any more. ‘Well, you’re in charge of the little ones, I suppose. Perhaps you’re right,’ she added after a minute. She looked down at the revolting cloth in her hand and gave a rueful laugh. ‘Yes, perhaps you are right. Short visits, and often – that’s always supposed to be the best, isn’t it? But do try and ring Luke and Joss, my dear. They left the hotel number. Just check it’s all right to go back, won’t you?’