Rosemary slowly scanned our faces, eyes gleaming. ‘The open gate, despite the fact – orbecause– Pip warned her about it. Mysteriously getting the times wrong for serving the wedding food, and blaming it on me. What better revenge on Nellie’s mother-in-law than to spoil the last wedding cake she’ll probably get to make? I ask you, who else but this family and her knew about the broken fridge? It couldn’t have been anyone else. She said it herself, she’s a highly competent caterer and top-notch businesswoman who never forgets a trick. Have you a better explanation? Haveyou?’
She turned her glare on me, and I had to close my eyes to prevent being overwhelmed with the horror of it all. I’d started to realise as we’d made our way to the farmhouse that all the nasty incidents had been Rosemary. Would it come down to the fierce word of a beloved wife and mother against that of a quaking, stumbling stranger?
‘I thought not.’ Rosemary’s triumph was growing. ‘You may have been kind enough to lend her your most precious gown, Mammaw. But don’t fool yourself for a second that she respects that sentiment. We’ve seen how clumsy she is, but to damage a dress so well made must have been deliberate. Did you curse our family as you ripped that hole in the shoulder?’
There was a stunned silence. I pressed one hand against my frantic heart, sure it would explode before this ordeal was over.
‘How did you know about the torn seam?’
Richard’s sardonic voice penetrated the swirl of blind panic clouding my vision. For the first time, a glimpse of fear peeked out from behind Rosemary’s defiance.
‘Look at it. It’s obvious. Her sheer audacity to parade around in a vandalised dress surely proves how much sick pleasure she is deriving from her revenge.’
‘I can’t see it,’ Violet said, sitting beside me. ‘Which shoulder was it?’
‘The right one. And you can’t see it because I repaired it before she put it on,’ Richard said. ‘If you’d noticed it while it was still hanging in the coat closet, Rosemary, why on earth didn’t you say something then? To Ma, if not her.’
‘Maybe I know the dress better than you,’ Rosemary gabbled. ‘I can spot a darned seam, even if Violet can’t.’
‘But you didn’t say it had been mended, only that she was parading around in it ripped,’ Lily added.
‘You really can’t tell it was ever torn,’ Violet reiterated, having peered closely as she fingered the fabric while I prayed I wouldn’t throw up on her bridesmaid dress.
‘You ripped the dress,’ Richard said. ‘Moved the cake, deliberately told Emmie the wrong time for dinner, and have you really become so poisoned by jealous spite, you risked our precious herd to make her look bad?’
‘Better risking an injured cow than losing the whole farm!’
The stunned silence seemed to go on forever.
‘You tried to ruin my wedding?’ Iris asked, eventually, her voice small.
‘Och, of course not. No one who organises a wedding in four days is going to be that bothered by lukewarm pasties and a sagging cake. I was just showing you that she’s not capable. Pip – she’s not fit to be an island farmer! She can cook the one meat we don’t produce on this island, and a half-decent pastry crust.She knows nothing about anything that matters. I had to make you see before you did something stupid like your father.’
‘Rosemary.’ Gabe spoke her name like a warning bullet being fired.
‘You spoiled Mammaw’s cake?’ Iris asked, choking back a sob. ‘And her dress? If you were worried about Emmie, why didn’t you just talk to us? Talk to Pip?’
‘Because none of you knew who she was!’
‘What else did you do?’ Gabe asked.
‘Nothing,’ Rosemary said, but the way she turned her head, hitching her shoulders up as she folded her arms, gave a different answer.
‘She soaked the bike I hired from Barnie in something really nasty,’ I said.
‘Oh, my goodness. Ma, was that you?’ Lily exclaimed, screwing up her nose in memory of the stench.
‘After I’d come home from the beach on Sunday evening, I found bird droppings in the milk jug in my bedroom.’
‘What? Why didn’t you say anything?’ Lily was wild with anger and disgust. ‘You’re my test guest and you found bird crap in your milk?’
‘I thought it was Celine. I didn’t want to cause any drama before the wedding,’ I mumbled.
‘So, you said nothing while she continued her intimidation tactics at Iris’s wedding?’ Violet asked, frowning.
‘She’s Iris’s best friend. I felt sure she’d not do anything to ruin her big day.’
‘Which turned out to be accurate,’ Pip added. He’d been mostly quiet throughout this whole agonising conversation. ‘It didn’t cross your mind to consider it might be anyone else? That if you told me, I’d take it seriously, and do something to help?’
