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Russell was a year older than Grace, and was the perfect hero with the same golden blond hair and deep blue eyes as his dad, Archie. Griff was two years older and the ideal villain with thick and unruly ebony hair, like his mum, Francesca’s, and her equally dark and intense eyes. Both boys were tall, agile, strong for their years, and handsome even then. And both, like fine wine, had improved with age.
Grace had often daydreamed of Griff kidnapping her and of Russell riding to rescue her from Griff’s evil intentions, and yet at night, when she slept, especially when she reached her teens, her dreams frequently reversed the roles, making Griff the rescuer. Those were more like nightmares.
More than once, Grace had caught Griff watching her and Hope attentively back then, as if there was something about the two sisters that he didn’t entirely trust. Perhaps he thought they were after the family silver, and being the eldest son and therefore the one who would inherit Betancourt and all the family’s possessions, he wanted to keep an eye on the village kids, and in particular, the Eversley sisters, for some reason.
Generally speaking though, Griff and Russell were friends with Grace and Hope. Griff did infuriate Grace sometimes because he liked to play practical jokes and often picked on her, whereas Russell was always the perfect gentleman, especially when they were all in their early teens.
Yet over the years, Grace had noticed that whenever her parents came face to face with Francesca and Archie Betancourt there was a slight tension in the air, as though the adults were all treading on eggshells. At first she thought it was simply because the Betancourts were, well, Betancourts, and her family were simply ordinary village folk. Pat was a stay-at-home mum, and Simon was a manager of a building society branch office in Folkestone. The Betancourts owned a stately home and a thriving auction house in London. But Pat Eversley had no truck with class or any of that nonsense, as she called it, so it clearly wasn’t because she felt intimidated.
‘We’re all made of skin and bone,’ Pat always maintained, ‘and we’re all born and we all die. No one should be considered ‘better’ simply because they have more money, or a seemingly important job. We’re all equals.’
Grace had asked whether something had happened in the past to cause any friction between the families but Pat, Simon, and also Granny Joy had said that the past should be left where it was and would say no more than that.
Grace asked Russell if he knew, but all he had done was shrugged and told her she was imagining it. When she eventually asked Griff, he gave her one of his intense looks and told her not to ask questions to which she might not like the answer. Naturally, she had pressed him on the matter, but he had told her it wasn’t his place to say, and he refused to discuss it further.
And then everything had changed when Francesca Betancourt was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a few days after Christmas the year that Russell had turned fifteen and Griff was just sixteen. She was gone within five weeks.
The entire village attended the funeral and Grace’s heart broke for Russell and his family. He was devasted, as were Griff and Archie, and the three of them retreated behind the walls of Betancourt for several weeks.
Russell had always kept his feelings close to his chest and in many ways, he was a shy boy prior to his mum’s death, but afterwards, he became even more tight-lipped and reticent.
Many people had said they expected Francesca’s passing to hit Griff the hardest because he was extremely close to his mum and there was always that intensity about him and anything he did. He had certainly looked shell-shocked at the funeral and hadn’t said a word to anyone.
Grace still remembered the first time she saw Griff a few weeks later. She was fourteen at the time, two years younger than Griff, and in place of the fun-loving, friendly, albeit slightly intense and extremely mischievous boy, was a sarcastic teenager who made it clear that no one mattered to him, apart from his brother and his dad.
Grace had heard via her parents, who had heard via the village grapevine, that both Griff and Russell would be going away to boarding school, and Archie would be spending more time away from home. It seemed none of them could bear to be at Betancourt without Francesca. It was the day before Griff was leaving, and even now, Grace could still see in her mind’s eye, the look he gave her that day.
She had bumped into him on her way home from school – the school in Folkestone that both Griff and Russell had formerly attended. She attempted to offer some words of comfort, just as she had tried to do at the funeral, but Griff’s response had shocked her.
On seeing Griff, she hadn’t been sure what to say and had clearly made a mess of it, because he glared at her as she told him once again how sorry she was about Francesca and that he and Russell would be missed in the village once they left for boarding school.
He looked her up and down and his gaze seared her skin with its intensity, and then he smiled sardonically and said, ‘As if you care, Grace. I think we’ll both be glad to see the back of one another.’ And with that, he had walked away.
Grace couldn’t believe what had happened. It was true that she didn’t like Griff as much as she did Russell, and she would be the first to admit that she had sometimes missed things Griff said to her in the past because her attention was focussed on Russell and not on Griff, but she had never actively disliked Griff, or shown him any animosity – until that day.
After that, Grace rarely saw either Russell or Griff but they, along with their dad, came home for the Mistletoe Dance. Most of the villagers assumed it would be cancelled that first year, but it was Francesca’s dying wish that the dance would still be held. Christmas had always been her favourite time, and she had adored the Mistletoe Dance. Although it clearly broke the hearts of those she had left behind, they had honoured her wish. Relatives and friends had organised the event that year, and Archie, Griff and Russell had attended, albeit for only a matter of an hour or so. And in Griff’s case, about fifteen minutes. All of them had left again on Christmas Day, and had gone to stay with relatives.
The following year, they stayed at Betancourt for longer, and the year after that, they stayed for one week, but Grace still only saw Russell and Griff at the Mistletoe Dance each time, and only briefly.
Russell was always polite and asked how she was; Griff merely scowled at her and nodded in a sort of greeting. But there was now a distance between the Betancourts and the rest of the villagers, and that distance wasn’t helped by the arrival of Bianca.
Archie met Bianca, three and a half years after Francesca’s death, and married her within a matter of weeks. That Christmas, it was Bianca who had organised the annual, Mistletoe Dance, or at least, had employed an events company in London to do so. And she had been doing that ever since, and the distance between the Betancourts and the residents of Betancourt Bay, had become greater.
In fact, Bianca appeared to actively encourage it, and Archie, Griff and Russell didn’t seem to care. Griff and Russell had new friends. Friends who had more in common with them, according to Bianca. Friends from boarding school. Then friends from university. Then friends connected with work.
Both Griff and Russell lived and worked in London after university, and travelled all over the world for the family’s auction house business, yet each year, they both came back to Betancourt for the Mistletoe Dance, no matter what, in honour of their mum.
Grace had always worried that one year, Russell would announce he was engaged, especially as he had sometimes brought the same woman home for more than two years running, but thankfully, he had remained single.
Griff never brought the same woman home twice, and he’d made it clear that marriage wasn’t on his agenda.
Russell came home more frequently as the years passed, but Griff kept his visits to once a year – for the Mistletoe Dance, and he always left before New Year, whereas Russell extended his visits each time.
Whenever Grace and Russell met, he seemed pleased to see her and each time they spoke for longer than they had on the previous occasion.
Whenever Grace saw Griff, he scowled at her, and she soon grew into the habit of scowling back.
But in recent years, even if Russell brought a date with him to the Mistletoe Dance and home for the Christmas holidays, he seemed to make a beeline for Grace and her family. He always enquired how they all were and was keen to ask questions about Grace and her sister.
