Free The Promise by Freda Lightfoot Page B

think. Then there are the twins.’
    ‘Oh, so he has four?’
    Ben shook his head, laughing all the more. ‘Sorry, no, I’m explaining this very badly. I mean Jenna and Corin, Mrs Cowper’s twin daughters. They live in the Midlands, I think, and only come at Christmas and holidays. They were here in July, as usual, with their respective husbands and children. I rather like the twins. No-nonsense types, and very jolly. They are the only ones who can put their brother in his place.’
    Chrissie was stunned into silence. So this was the‘family’ Georgia had obliquely referred to, who came and went as they pleased. Not only did Chrissie have an uncle she hadn’t been aware of, but two aunts and goodness knows how many cousins. Now, why had her mother never thought to mention them? Surely her siblings could have kept in touch, even if Vanessa had been told never to darken her mother’s doors again. Or did they cast her off too? The fact that Vanessa had never even told her own daughter that these family members existed was distinctly odd, and clearly deliberate on her part. Was this one of the reasons Mum hadn’t wanted her to come? There was clearly more to this estrangement than she’d at first realised.
    Everyone had a right to a secret, except when it affected other people. But Chrissie was beginning to wonder which of these two women, Georgia or Vanessa, was the one really responsible for this family rift.
    ‘Are you all right?’ Ben was leaning close, looking concerned. ‘You’ve gone all pale.’
    ‘I’m fine.’ She could smell the fresh mountain air on him, the sharpness of green grass, feel the warmth of his closeness. In that moment Chrissie experienced an overwhelming desire to rest her head on his shoulder and weep. No, not weep. Lean into his strength and kiss him perhaps, reaffirm that she was a person who mattered and not one to be either bullied into marriage by an overcontrolling boyfriend, or ignored by a selfish mother.
    ‘It’s very hot, fancy a swim?’
    ‘I’d love one, sadly I didn’t bring my costume.’
    He grinned at her. ‘I wouldn’t mind.’
    Chrissie laughed. ‘I’m sure you wouldn’t, but I would.’
    ‘Next time, then? We could bring a picnic.’
    So, he wanted there to be another boat trip, did he? One he’d arranged himself without his mother’s assistance. Still, she wasn’t against the idea. She rather liked Ben Gorran. Chrissie thought a girl could lose herself in those gorgeous blue eyes of his. ‘Just name the day and I’ll be ready.’

Chapter Six
San Francisco
    Addressing the barman, who looked in dire need of a shave and a clean waistcoat, I spoke in a voice loud enough to carry to the furthest corner of this grubby little bar, and to whoever may be listening beyond. ‘I believe my sister may have been brought in here and I’d be obliged, sir, if you would point me in the right direction where I might find her.’
    He stared at me as if I were an alien who had fallen out of the sky. I’m quite sure the only women who ever entered his saloon were of the type whose morals were questionable to say the least. I might have appeared flustered, my hair awry and my skirt muddied, but I was undoubtedly recognisable as class. It radiated from my presence, was all too apparent in my crisp pronunciation, and must have shone out of my face like a ray of sunlight in hell, which was what this place was, near as made no difference.
    ‘I wouldn’t know nothing ’bout that,’ he mumbled. ‘Can’t help you, ma’am.’
    ‘Oh, I think you can, if you put your mind to it.’
    I half turned in surprise at the sound of the voice at my elbow, startled to find my would-be assailant had come up quietly behind me. My young defender was casually dressed in brown jacket and trousers, a neat green silk cravat at his throat, and as he swept off his hat I noticed that his hair was a pale gold, almost as fair as mine was dark. Utterly entrancing.
    Ignoring me completely, his