Among the Olive Groves Page 10

  “Yes Ashleigh. Sorry, I’ve a lot on my mind.”

  “Is it still okay for me to leave early tonight?”

  “Of course. Why don’t you go now,” Kate said, smiling. As a boss, she was extremely fair and accommodating to her staff.

  “Thanks!” Ashleigh skipped from the room in a whirl of excitement, as Kate sank back into the chair. She took a minute to survey her kingdom. It was only a small one, but it was hers. She had left Cornwall nine years ago. Left her parents, the house she grew up in, and the job that she loved, to start afresh. She wanted to try and get some perspective, to try and work out what to do with her life. She had joined the Tourist Information team in Bristol, and worked her way up through the ranks, saving every spare penny she could.Two years ago she came up with the idea for her company, Fisher Events, and she rented a small office in the centre of town. It was an instant success. They offered both high and low end tours of the city as well as catering for company parties in exclusive and unusual venues. She enjoyed it, and it kept both her body and mind active, but the rest of her life was sadly lacking. Since her disastrous break-up with Jase, she had all but steered clear of men. She had convinced herself that work took up too much time anyway. She tried to visit her parents whenever she could, but felt as though something was missing.

  She had very few friends and had not seen Fletch for a decade now. He still managed to creep into her thoughts though and she still wondered where he was and what he was doing. She missed him terribly. She wished she could spend just an hour with him, to tell him how much she missed him. But she knew that would never happen. He was gone from her life.

  Sighing, she played with the dolphin pendant hanging around her neck and watched her staff go about their work. Each one had that excited look about them. It was Friday and in a few hours’ time, they would leave the office for two days of mirth, merriment and quality time with their loved ones.

  She would be going home to a quiet, empty house and dinner for one.

  She wished she could just click her fingers and get the weekend over in one fell swoop. Tomorrow was her thirty-first birthday. Ten years since her life had been ripped apart, and she was absolutely dreading it.

  “Kate. Phone call for you!” She was brought back to earth with a bump.

  Sighing, she left her worries in the meeting room and went to deal with her client.

  ~

  Fletch looked out across Fistral Beach. The Headland Hotel towered behind him and the wide sweeping golden sands and crashing blue ocean stretched before him. He had so many good memories of this place, but they were clouded by the final argument with Kate ten years ago. He had not seen her for so long and missed her a lot. At the time, he thought they would be friends forever. He had loved her so much but never got the chance to tell her. Now, from what he heard on the grapevine, she was a successful businesswoman. She owned her own company and rarely came home, and had well and truly moved on. He, on the other hand, was just a surf bum who had spent years searching for something to replace Kate. But he never found it.

  He hated Kate’s birth mother for what she had done to her all those years ago. She took the love of his life from him and it hurt deeply. Fletch had tried to get over Kate. He had left, gone to America, bummed around on the beaches in California, taught surf lessons, drunk beer, kissed pretty girls, most of the time more than kissed, but all the time his heart ached for Kate Fisher.

  He had come home this weekend, the weekend of her birthday, in the hopes of seeing her. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher had greeted him with open arms, but sadly there was no Kate. She had stayed in Bristol, choosing to celebrate her birthday alone.

  Here he was, a stranger in his own town, completely lost, completely heartbroken.

  There was nobody to see and nothing to do. Not even the surf was inviting.

  His heart was heavy and he knew he should not have bothered coming back.

  ~

  Kate awoke late. It was her birthday. She was thirty-one years old. Sitting up, she reached for the glass of water she kept on her bedside table, and drank deeply. She wondered what to do for the day. She had no friends or boyfriend to spend the day with, and all of her work colleagues had plans. She could go into town and walk around the shops, but she hated the weekend crowds of Broadmead shopping centre. Sighing, she lifted the remote and clicked the standby button, making the TV spring to life. She flicked through the channels and stopped on the news channel. Moments later, the doorbell rang, disturbing her peace. She wondered if she should just ignore it, but then it could be something important. Sighing again, she padded downstairs and opened the front door.

  “Happy birthday, love!” her mother exclaimed, enveloping her in a warm hug.

  “Happy birthday, Kate,” her father repeated, minus the hug.

  This was all she needed. Parental concern.

  “Come in, make yourselves at home,” she said as she guided them into the living room. “I’ll just shower and change.” Kate disappeared upstairs. She should have known they would not let her spend her birthday alone. She loved her parents and knew they were only trying to help, but this was not what she wanted today. She wanted to be on her own and allow the day to pass by quietly. She wanted it to be over quickly and with as little fuss as possible. She knew that was now out of her hands. Twenty minutes later, she was sitting in the living room pouring cups of tea.

  “So how have you been?” her mother asked.

  “Fine. Busy with work,” Kate replied quietly.

  “That’s good. We thought you might have come home for your birthday,” her father said.

  “Sorry, I thought I had to work this weekend.”

  There was silence.

  “We miss you. We hardly see you nowadays.”

  “I know, Mum,” Kate sighed. She had expected this as soon as she had opened the door. “But my job keeps me so busy.”

  “I know dear, but as boss, surely you could let someone else take over occasionally?”

  Kate had no answer. She knew she was deliberately staying away, but could not admit it. Her parents would be hurt if they found out.

  “Anyway, we wanted to give you this,” her mother passed her an envelope.

  Kate smiled weakly as she reached out and took it. Slowly she opened it and pulled out the birthday card. Both parents had written their own messages of love and celebration and it warmed her heart. She hugged them both.

  “Thank you. I love you both, too,” she said as she placed the card on the mantelpiece. It was the only one to grace it. It was sad, really, for someone of her age. She sat back down next to her parents.

  “We also have this for you,” her father said, passing her another envelope.

  “What is it?”

  “Open it.”

  She did as her father instructed and out fell Athena’s birthday card and the bank passbook. Kate gasped in shock. She never expected to see them again.

  “I thought these had ended up in landfill!”

  “No dear. You weren’t thinking straight and I thought you might want them one day. I have checked and the bank on the passbook is here in Bristol. We are staying for the weekend whether you like it or not and are going to the bank first thing on Monday. Your father has already made an appointment.”

  “But...”

  “No buts, Kate. Enough is enough!”

  ~

  Kate reluctantly put her parents up for the weekend. They took her out for a meal for her birthday and made her leave the house with them on the Sunday so that they could go for a long walk along the docks. As cross as Kate was for them turning up unannounced, she enjoyed spending time with them. She had missed them more than she thought she would.

  Monday morning rolled around quickly and, after calling Ashleigh to tell her she would be late in, she grabbed her coat and bag and unenthusiastically followed her parents to her car. After parking up, they walked the short distance to the bank, where Kate and her parents were shown into the bank manager’s office.

/>   Sitting with a parent on either side of her, Kate felt trapped and nervous. This was not how she wanted to spend her Monday morning; she had too much work to do. She brought herself back to the present. Her mother was explaining the situation to the bank manager, who nodded politely.

  “It is nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Fisher and, of course, you Kate. I am aware of your situation; Hobsens Solicitors had already briefed me. I did not expect to have to wait ten years for you to visit us, though,” he laughed, trying his best to lighten the tense mood.

  Kate squirmed uncomfortably, not knowing what to say.

  “Kate just needed time to come to terms with everything,” Margaret said while laying a comforting hand on her daughter’s arm.

  “Right well, shall we get down to business? I will need proof of ID for you, Kate.”

  “I don’t have any.”

  “Here you are.” Margaret opened a familiar brown envelope and passed a fading birth certificate and some other papers across the table. Kate was shocked; she had never seen her birth certificate before.

  “Thank you, Mrs. Fisher.” He studied the documents for a moment. “It all seems to be in order, and you have the passbook, too?”

  “Yes,” she handed the old book to him.

  “I won’t be a moment.”

  He hurried from the room, leaving the Fishers sitting in silence. The passing seconds felt like hours and it was unbearable. Kate wondered what she had done in a previous life to suffer so much turmoil.

  The door opened and the bank manager returned. “We have updated the passbook for you, and I am pleased to say with the interest added you have inherited a tidy little sum of money. Let me know if you would like to withdraw anything today or if you want to transfer any funds to another account.”

  Kate stared at the figure on the pages before her. The number of zeros shocked her. She could do so much with it, but at that moment she had no idea what. Athena had left her a nice little nest egg that would make her very comfortable indeed. “Thank you. I think I will leave it for now.”

  “That is fine. We are here if you need anything. All we have to do now is pop down to the vault, and then you can get on and enjoy the rest of your day.”

  “The vault? What’s in the vault?”

  “Your safety deposit box.”

  Kate was shocked. “I have a safety deposit box?”

  “Athena did, but now that she is no longer here, it is yours. The will stated that it be left to you. So you now own the contents.”

  “What is in it?”

  The bank manager chuckled. “That I can’t tell you. Safety deposit boxes are the property of the renter, so not even I have the privilege of knowing the contents. Would you follow me, please?”

  He led them from the room and through a door marked ‘private’. Blindly, and in a confused state, Kate followed him through the never-ending corridors. They stopped in an ante-room.

  “Only Kate can go in. You will have to wait here, Mr. and Mrs. Fisher.”

  Kate spun her head around to look at them, but they merely nodded in support. Breathing deeply for courage, she followed the bank manager into the room. The walls were lined with little metal boxes, all of them numbered. He put the key into number 176, pulled the box from its slot, and placed it on the table in the centre of the room.

  “All you do now is lift the lid. If you want to take anything away with you, just let me know. I will need a signature from you.”

  The door shut behind him and Kate was alone. Shaking, she sat and took a deep breath, then slowly lifted the lid, and surveyed the contents. There was an envelope with a solitary name written on the front in a foreign hand, a blue velvet pouch tied at the top and a small black jewellery box. Opening the box first, she gasped. Inside was an exquisite silver and emerald ring, weighty and gleaming in the harsh electric light. Lifting it from the box, she slipped it onto her finger and was surprised to see it fit her perfectly. She quickly removed it, placed it back in the jewellery box and closed the lid.

  She picked up the envelope and opened it, pulling out the contents. It was a faded yellowing page, containing a mass of words in a language she did not understand. It was frustrating not to be able to read it and she wondered what it said. After sliding it back into the envelope, she lifted the velvet bag. Opening it, she tipped the contents onto the table. It was a necklace; a tarnished silver chain from which a silver locket hung. The front was engraved with an ornate letter E, and on the rear was more of the same script as the letter. Kate fiddled with the clasp and managed to open it. One side of the locket contained a photograph of a woman, a very beautiful woman. On the other side was a man.

  She sat back not knowing what to do next. She had two choices, put everything back and leave them to bask in the annals of time, forgotten. Or, take them with her and try and work out what they were.

  Ten years ago, she had decided that Athena did not matter and that her parents were the most important thing in the world to her, but what if she really was meant to find out about her past? What if that was really her purpose in life? She groaned. The last thing she wanted to do was upset her parents, but then, they had set the wheels in motion by keeping Athena’s card and bank book, and bringing her here today. What if they wanted her to do it? Kate sat and stared at the monotonous wall of safety deposit boxes, hoping and wishing an answer would show itself, but nothing came. She knew she had to make the decision, so she got up and paced back and forth a bit before finally opening the door. The bank manager stepped forward, smiling.

  “All finished?”

  “Yes.”

  He followed her back into the room, closing the door behind them. “I would like to take some items away with me. Can I leave the bank passbook behind though?”

  “The deposit box is yours, Miss Fisher. You may take or leave whatever you like.”

  “Okay,” she said as she lifted the three items and put them in her bag, replacing them with the passbook. She closed the lid and nodded at the bank manager.

  He placed a logbook on the table, showing her where to sign and date, before sliding her deposit box back where it belonged and locking it.

  “This key now belongs to you. You are able to access the box whenever you want.”

  Kate took the key from him, safely put it in the zip pocket of her bag, and thanked him for all of his help.

  Outside the bank, Kate and her parents wandered back towards the car. Once inside, Kate sat for a moment, still trying to take everything in.

  “Are you okay, love?” Margaret asked.

  “Yes. It’s just a lot to get my head around.”

  “I know, but it will get easier with time. You just have to try and do what is right.”

  The Fishers persuaded Kate to take the rest of the day off so that they could take her to lunch and spend some more time with her before they went home. Later that afternoon, they sat in Kate’s living room drinking tea and chatting.

  “Before we go, you should have this.” Margaret pulled Kate’s birth certificate out of her bag and passed it to her.

  “Thanks.” Kate opened it, and briefly scanned the page, it was weird seeing her name written as Katerina. She had been called Kate for so many years, that Katerina felt strange to her. After placing it on the table, Kate rummaged in her bag, and showed her parents the items she had removed from the safety deposit box.

  Margaret studied the letter in the envelope. “Do you know, this writing looks a little bit like Greek to me.”

  “Really?” Kate said.

  “I think this ring is an emerald,” Brian said as he studied it. “Have you seen the writing on the band?”

  “No.” Kate leaned forward and looked more closely. “To my wife Athena. This must have been my mother’s wedding ring!”

  Kate was learning so much in such a short space of time, and it was beginning to overwhelm her. She placed the ring back in its box and set it on the side, turning her attention to her mother. Margaret was trying to open the lock
et, but she couldn’t figure out the clasp.

  “Let me.” Kate took it from her and released it, letting the two halves swing open.

  “My god, Kate! That could be you.”

  “What could?”

  “This woman. Look at her, she looks just like you.”

  “Is it Athena? You met her didn’t you?”

  “Yes we did, briefly. She looks similar to Athena, but I don’t think it’s her. The picture looks too old.”

  “I wonder who it is.”

  “I’ve no idea, but I’m sure you will work it out. We really should be going now, my love, or it will take us forever to get home.”

  Kate threw the locket, envelope and ring box into a nearby drawer and slammed it shut, before showing her parents to the door. She hugged them tightly, promising to speak to them soon.

  “Oh, I’ve left my cardigan in the living room. See your father to the car, dear.”

  Margaret disappeared and Kate obliged, walking outside with her dad. Moments later, Margaret reappeared with her cardigan. Kate hugged them again before waving goodbye. Shutting the front door, she walked into her living room, turned on the TV and settled down for an evening of lone entertainment.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Bristol, England, 2001

  The twinkling lights of Bristol city centre danced, and revellers drunkenly walked arm in arm across the road without any thought for the busy traffic. Kate walked past the Hippodrome Theatre, where the pantomime was showing, a sure sign that Christmas in Bristol had officially begun, despite it only being the beginning of December.

  She pulled her coat tightly around her and picked up speed. The weather was getting colder and snow was forecast. She hoped she could get home, pack her case and get to Cornwall before it rolled in.

  It had been almost nine months since she had seen her parents. Nine months since her birthday and nine months since visiting the bank. She had gone back to work the next day, pushing the weekend and what she had learned about Athena to the back of her mind. Life continued as normal, and nothing changed. The Fishers were still her parents and Athena was still dead. All she wanted to do was get on and live her life.