Everything is Beautiful by Eleanor Ray (best classic romance novels txt) 📕

‘I thought that since Nina had gone, you might need . . . ’ She picked up the dish again and thrust it forwards.

‘What’s that?’ he asked, then smiled as he realised. ‘I can cook, you know,’ he said, with a laugh. ‘It’s not the fifties.’

‘Oh,’ said Amy, suddenly feeling foolish. Perhaps acting as her grandmother would have was rather outmoded.

‘I’m sorry,’ said Richard. ‘I shouldn’t laugh. That was very thoughtful of you.’

Charles appeared at the doorway. ‘Amy!’ he said. ‘My excavator saviour and mouse rescuer.’ He smiled. ‘That’s what Dad said you were.’ He turned to his father and whispered something.

‘Of course,’ said Richard. ‘Amy, would you like to join us for dinner? We’ve just sat down. Will what you’ve made save till tomorrow?’

‘I’m busy tomorrow,’ said Amy, wishing again that she hadn’t accepted that date with Liam.

‘Not a date?’ asked Charles, his ears pricked.

‘Well—’

‘Amy’s private life is her own,’ interjected Richard. ‘Sorry, Amy.’

‘The stew will keep for two to three days,’ replied Amy, pleased with what she’d read in the recipe book. ‘If kept refrigerated.’

‘Perfect,’ said Richard. ‘Then maybe join us again in two to three days.’ He smiled. ‘Come through.’

The table was set with a wooden bowl containing salad, a smaller wooden bowl full of fresh garlic bread and a plain Pyrex dish with a steaming lasagne. The boys had already been served and Richard went to the kitchen to get an extra plate.

‘Look how happy Mickey is,’ said Charles. ‘We bought him a proper tank with sawdust and a wheel and food and a water bottle of his own.’ Amy peered into the tank. A tiny mouse barely the size of her thumb peered back at her. Something in his expression reminded her of Scarlett.

‘He is exquisite,’ she said.

‘I love Mickey,’ agreed Daniel.

Amy took a seat. ‘Wine?’ called Richard from the kitchen. ‘A nice glass of Merlot is the perfect accompaniment to lasagne à la Richard.’

‘Thank you,’ said Amy, helping herself to garlic bread.

‘Nina didn’t eat garlic bread,’ said Charles. ‘Because of the carbs.’

‘Oh,’ said Amy. She looked at the bread in her hand and took a giant bite. ‘She was missing out,’ she said. Charles grinned at her. Richard filled her glass and Amy admired the wine bottle. It appeared black and opaque when full, but as Richard filled her glass she saw the familiar translucence develop. It really was lovely.

Amy was distracted when Richard served her up a hearty-size portion of lasagne. She tried not to look at the bottle again as the four of them tucked in. It felt weird to Amy, hearing the sounds of others eating around her. She was used to dining with only Scarlett’s company.

‘That’s a pretty pendant,’ said Richard. ‘Is it a ring?’

‘It’s from an ex-boyfriend,’ said Charles. ‘But Amy isn’t going to marry him because he’s disappeared.’ Amy suddenly found the mozzarella in her lasagne hard to swallow and took a gulp of her wine to assist.

‘Charles,’ said Richard. ‘Amy might prefer it if you didn’t reveal aspects of her private life at the dinner table.’

‘But you already know,’ objected Charles. ‘I heard Nina tell you after Rachel told her.’ There was silence for a moment, then the reassuring clatter of knives and forks on plates.

‘It’s OK,’ said Amy.

‘Done!’ announced Daniel. ‘Cartoons?’

‘OK,’ said Richard. The boy slipped off. ‘Charles, do you want to join him?’

‘I’ll stay here with Amy,’ replied Charles. ‘More wine, Amy?’

‘I’ll pour, thanks, Charlie,’ said Richard, with a laugh.

Amy allowed her glass to be refilled. The glass was simply shaped but effective. She’d seen something similar in the supermarket and had managed to resist. In fact, she’d bought nothing more than she needed for her slow-cooker meal. Maybe when she went back she’d buy a bottle of wine to repay Richard for his hospitality. The thought sent a judder of memory through her so fierce that her wine glass shook. An inexplicable need to talk about what had happened rose up like heartburn.

‘Are you OK?’ asked Richard, placing a steadying hand on her arm.

‘I found this ring in the garden,’ Amy blurted out, words escaping from her like rats running from a sinking ship. Or mice escaping her house. ‘And I didn’t know what it meant, but I did know it was from him. Then I found a letter from my best friend who went missing at the same time, and a picture of a bit of woodland or a park or something but I can’t work out where, even though I feel like perhaps that’s the key to the whole thing. And now I know the ring was inside the same envelope. It all fell into the pot I used to keep for umbrellas by the front door, and sat in my garden for god knows how long and the letter is all but illegible.’ Amy paused for breath. Both Richard and Charles were staring at her.

‘Was it a nice park?’ asked Charles.

‘I don’t think that’s the point,’ said Richard, his voice soft. ‘Amy, have you taken this to the police?’

‘That’s what I said,’ said Charles, looking pleased. ‘When she told me about the ring ages ago.’

‘I took the ring and they weren’t interested,’ said Amy. ‘I think they’d need more evidence than this . . . ’ She cut herself off.

‘They need a dead body,’ guessed Charles, grinning darkly. ‘Maybe the letter tells you where the body is. It would just be a skeleton by now,’ he added, his eyes shining. ‘The worms would have eaten—’

‘We get the idea,’ said Richard. He paused. ‘What did the letter say, exactly?’

‘I can’t make much of it out,’ said Amy, trying not to think about skeletons.

‘I’m a very good reader,’ said Charles. ‘I can even read Miss Gillingham’s writing.’

‘I could look at it for you?’ suggested Richard. ‘If you’d like a second opinion?’

‘And a third,’ said Charles.

Amy hesitated. The letter felt private, but then, it was predominantly illegible. What harm could it do? ‘I’ll go and fetch it,’ she said.

Back inside, her house felt quiet.