Free Tell Me No Secrets by Julie Corbin Page A

is.’
    â€˜Is she well?’
    â€˜Yes, very. In her element, actually. New husband, lots of money, busy social scene.’ She shakes her head. ‘Sometimes I wonder why my father put up with her for all those years. She was the reason we left the village, you know.’
    â€˜No, I didn’t.’ At the back of my mind I had always thought it was because of Rose, because Orla and I could never have lived together in the same village, looking each other in the eye day in and day out, after what we’d done.
    â€˜Did you think it was because of Rose?’
    I nod. She was always in the habit of second-guessing me.
    â€˜It wasn’t.’ She looks beyond me. Her eyes are still her most stunning feature. A cocoa and caramel blend. ‘Anyway, tell me about the gang.’
    â€˜Faye left the village . . .’ I think. ‘It must be twenty years ago now. She lives on the Isle of Bute. She married a sheep farmer. Has four bairns last I heard. Callum runs his dad’s business now. Employs half a dozen people on the boat and in the fish shop. Hasn’t changed. Talks non-stop and is still into football. His son Jamie is Ella’s boyfriend. Euan is an architect and Monica is a GP.’
    â€˜So Euan’s still in the village?’
    â€˜Mmm.’
    â€˜You didn’t marry him, did you?’ Her eyes widen. ‘Tell me you did!’
    â€˜No!’ I look at her as if she’s mad. I knew this was coming. ‘God! That would have been like marrying my brother.’
    â€˜Grace, you don’t have a brother and the looks you used to give each other had nothing to do with sibling love.’
    â€˜Really, Orla.’ I fake a bored expression. ‘That was a hundred years ago.’
    â€˜So is he married? Do you still see him?’
    â€˜He married Monica.’ I say it casually, let it slide off my tongue like cream off the back of a warm spoon.
    â€˜What, Euan and Monica?’ She sits back in her chair and frowns at me. ‘I don’t believe you!’
    â€˜Mmm.’ I swirl some mineral water around in my mouth. ‘They have a couple of kids, boy and girl. Monica works in the practice in—’
    â€˜Wait! Wait!’ she interrupts me. ‘Euan and Monica? Are married? That just doesn’t make sense!’
    â€˜Love doesn’t always, does it?’
    â€˜Euan didn’t even like Monica.’
    â€˜How do you know?’
    â€˜It was obvious!’
    â€˜Well, sometimes that’s the way it is, isn’t it? You think you don’t like someone, in fact you positively dislike them and then wham!’ I bang my hands together. ‘Cupid’s arrow strikes and you’re lost.’
    â€˜How did you feel?’
    â€˜Me? I was happy for him!’
    â€˜You didn’t feel jealous? You were inseparable!’
    â€˜No, we weren’t. You and me.’ I point to her, then back to myself. ‘We were inseparable.’
    â€˜Euan loved you,’ she says quietly. ‘Even at sixteen I could see that.’
    I laugh. This is harder than I thought. ‘As I said. We were like brother and sister. Still are.’
    â€˜So who did you marry?’
    â€˜Paul. He works at the university. He lectures in marine biology.’
    â€˜Would I know him?’
    Our desserts have arrived and I swallow a spoonful of pavlova, sweet meringue breaking into the sharp taste of the raspberries. It occurs to me not to tell her my husband’s surname, to fudge it or even make something up but my marriage is not a secret; she can easily find out for herself. And I’m hoping that Euan is wrong. If she intends to tell the truth about Rose’s death, then this will surely stop her. ‘I married Paul Adams.’
    She stares at me. I watch as her jaw slackens and drops open. I don’t look away. I am prepared for this. I have rehearsed it. I knew she would take issue with my choice of husband.