Kissed a Sad Goodbye

knowing they are loved for themselves—who they are on the inside. But Isabel loved her daughter in spite of her beauty, not because of it, and she was scrupulously fair with the children.” She sighed. “William, of course, was a great trial to her, but she didn’t like to complain.”
    “A trial? How?”
    “Annabelle was the child of his dreams—this beautiful girl who grew up with a passion for tea that surpassed his own.”
    “So he spoiled her terribly?”
    “Oh, yes. And he placed on her the burden of perfection, which is a very difficult thing to live up to. It’s no wonder Annabelle went off the rails a bit when her mother died.”
    “You knew about Annabelle and Martin Lowell?”
    “I’m afraid so,” Rachel said, nodding sadly. “Jo confessed it to me. Poor thing, she had no one else to turn to—she certainly couldn’t tell her father what his precious Annabelle had done.” She gave Gemma a swift, intelligent glance. “And I suppose I’m betraying Jo’s confidence now. But all this has been rather weighing on me....”
    “Jo told us herself, so you’re hardly betraying a confidence,” Gemma reassured her. “What I don’t understand is how either of them could have fallen for Martin Lowell.”
    Rachel Pargeter smiled. “I take it you haven’t seen Martin at his best. He can be quite charming—even I was smitten when they were first married and he asked my advice about the garden. He made me feel my opinion was the only one in the world that mattered. That intensity of his must have been awfully tempting to a girl used to playing second fiddle. Jo saw herself as Cathy to his Heathcliff.”
    “And Annabelle?”
    “I suspect that after Isabel died she just desperately wanted to feel loved, and she mistook Martin’s desire for that. I imagine she found out soon enough that Martin and love had no place in the same equation.”
    “But to betray her own sister!” Gemma hadn’t realized until now how much the knowledge had upset her. She’d been able to justify to some extent Annabelle’s betrayal of Reg Mortimer with Gordon Finch, but not her affair with her own brother-in-law.
    “Sibling rivalry has existed since Cain and Abel. I expect Annabelle wanted what she thought her sister had— contentment in her marriage, children—and she was used to taking what she wanted.”
    “And Jo forgave her?”
    “Eventually. But Harry didn’t.”
    “It’s about the dinner party I came to see you,” said Gemma.
    Rachel closed her eyes for a moment. “Oh, that was a terrible evening.”
    “You heard the argument.”
    “It’s a small house, and they were shouting. Not that I was surprised, mind you. I’d had an idea what was brewing. Harry stays with me sometimes, and I’d seen what his father was doing to him.” Rachel pushed the cat from her lap and set her empty cup on the table. “Martin’s infidelity I could forgive, but not using his son to satisfy his own need for revenge. I’m surprised someone hasn’t killed the bastard.”
    “Tell me what they said in the kitchen that night.”
    “I heard Harry first, shouting filthy words. Jo’s poor clients were mortified—I think they thought it was the telly at first. Then Jo, shouting at Harry... and Harry sobbing.”
    “And Annabelle?”
    Rachel looked away. “She was... pleading with Harry. Then Reg started in on her—I couldn’t make out all the words, but he was outraged. Annabelle shouted at him. Then the back door banged, twice. Neither of them came back into the dining room. Jo returned a few minutes later, trying to put a good face on it, but we excused ourselves as quickly as we could.”
    “Did Reg and Annabelle seem all right at dinner?”
    “Yes. A bit snappish, perhaps, but nothing out of the ordinary for a couple who knew one another well.”
    “And there was no mention of anyone, or anything else, that might have set off an argument?”
    “Not that I remember.” Frowning, Rachel added, “You’re not thinking that Reg could have had something to do with Annabelle’s death, I hope. He’s not a bad lad— used to play with my Jimmy when he came to visit Jo and Annabelle.”
    “He was very angry with her.”
    “I think he may have been more upset on Jo’s behalf than his own. That’s what he shouted at Annabelle. ‘How could you do that to your sister?’
    “It is a shame that Annabelle hadn’t the chance to see what she could make of herself—to see if she could mend her flaws,” Rachel