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As Gabriel began telling Maggie about Beth’s gap year in Greece, he was humbled by her generosity. He couldn’t imagine how painful it must be for her to hear about someone nearly the same age as her son, who was experiencing life to the full and had a bright future ahead of them. He also felt ashamed. Yes, he had lost two friends in terrible circumstances, but Maggie had lost her only child, yet she still managed to get out of bed every day instead of indulging in self-pity, as he’d been doing.
“Are you still practicing as a GP?” Maggie asked, when they had finished talking about Beth.
Gabriel hesitated. “Not at the moment. I’ve taken some time off.”
“Of course.” Maggie nodded sympathetically, and Gabriel gathered, to his relief, that she thought his time off was a recent thing, and was related to what had happened to Laure and Pierre rather than Charlie.
“I feel so guilty about Pierre,” he blurted out suddenly, wondering why he was telling Maggie about the crushing culpability he carried around with him, when he had never mentioned it to Iris. “He was my best friend, and I let him down. I should have gone to see him as soon as Laure moved in with us, but I didn’t, I only went a month later. If I’d gone right at the beginning, it might have changed the course of events.” He broke off, realizing that she might not know what he was talking about. “I’m sorry, I don’t know if you read about it in the press.”
“I did,” she said, eager to put his mind at rest. “When Laure was found, the media drew a lot of parallels with Charlie, because they were both found in the quarry.”
Gabriel looked appalled. “I can’t imagine how hard that must have been.”
She smiled. “Going back to Pierre, regret is such a waste of emotion. No matter how much we want to, we can’t change the past. We need to acknowledge the mistakes we’ve made but not allow them to cloud every moment of every day.”
“I know you’re right. But it’s not easy to move on.” He paused. “How about you? Are you working at the moment?”
Maggie shook her head. “I’m concentrating on our garden. While I was working at the school, I used to help in the vegetable garden in my spare time and I’d love to be self-sufficient one day, and have some chickens too.”
“You’re speaking to a convert,” Gabriel said. “I never had time to garden before, but when I started looking for something to fill my time, I decided to make a start on an old walled garden that the previous owners had let slide into ruin. I can’t tell you how much I love being out there.”
“A walled garden,” Maggie breathed, closing her eyes for a moment. “The ultimate dream.”
“Would you like to see it?” Gabriel asked impulsively. “Unless you’re in a rush?”
“No, no, I’d love to see it. Thank you.”
Gabriel led Maggie through the house and out onto the terrace, pleased to have someone to show the walled garden to. He was sure that once they’d managed to put the horror of the last few months behind them, Iris would appreciate the garden. At the moment, it was the last place she wanted to be. He knew she no longer felt comfortable around Joseph because of what she’d said to the police about the argument she’d overheard. It was unfortunate that he needed Joseph for a few more weeks, otherwise he would have asked him to leave. But there was still work to be done that he couldn’t do on his own, from lack of expertise—and, he hated to admit it, strength.
“This is lovely,” Maggie said, admiring the flower-filled borders as they walked down the path. “Do you do all this on your own or does your wife help?”
“Iris usually takes care of the borders and I cut the grass. But I have help in the walled garden.”
They arrived at the entrance and Gabriel pushed the door open.
“What a lovely space!” Maggie exclaimed. She stepped inside and looked around. “I love all the paths—and you have quite a lot in here already. I imagine some of these shrubs have been here a long time.”
“Yes, we kept what we could, but as you can see, we’ve got a lot of planting to do. I wish I’d taken some photos of what it was like before, then you could have seen how far we’ve come in three months or so. It’s largely down to Joseph. He’s the one with all the knowledge and expertise.”
“Joseph?”
“Yes. That’s him in the far corner. We poached him from some friends of ours who recently moved into the village—” Gabriel stopped; Maggie had clutched his arm and when he turned to look at her, he sawthe blood had drained from her face. “Maggie, are you all right? Do you want to sit down?” Fearing she was about to keel over, he put his arm around her shoulder and tried to lead her to the wooden bench. But wrenching free, she turned, pushed through the open door and began running up the path toward the house.
“Maggie!” As Gabriel caught up with her he could hear her ragged breathing. Iris’s face appeared at the kitchen window, then disappeared as she ran to open the sliding door for Maggie.
“Would you like to sit down for a moment? Can I get you some water?” he heard Iris asking.
Moving past her, Maggie made her way to the door. “No, no, I’m sorry, I need to go. I didn’t feel well for a moment. But I’m all right now.”
“Are you sure you won’t sit down for a minute?” Gabriel asked as he caught up with her. “I’m worried about you driving, if you’re not feeling well.”
“No, really, I’m fine now.” She fumbled for the latch and he reached around her and opened the door.
“If you’re sure,” he said.
“I am. Thank you, you’ve been very kind.” Maggie looked past him to where Iris was standing. “Goodbye.” And then she was gone.
They stayed where they were until they heard the car pulling out of the drive.
