Northanger Abbey

18

In spite of her fixation on her own future, Bella was alive to the change in Cat’s mood when she returned to their table outside the Spiegeltent. ‘You look like the cat that’s got the cream,’ she said. ‘So the General found you, did he? I suppose you said yes? I suppose you’re off to Northanger Abbey in the morning?’ It was hard to ignore her air of resentment.

‘I had no idea they were going back so soon,’ Cat said, determined not to let Bella deflate her good mood. ‘Never mind that they’d ask me to go back with them. How lucky is that?’

‘All right for some. I’m going to be stuck here in Edinburgh with nobody for company but Jess and Claire. I might as well just kill myself now.’ She pouted.

‘But James is coming back, isn’t he? At least until he has to go back to work.’

‘Sweet Jamie.’ Bella dragged her eyes away from her study of the festival entrance and gazed heavenwards momentarily. ‘I miss him so much.’

‘Is that why you can’t take your eyes off the people coming in? Do you think he’s going to sneak up and surprise you?’

Bella sighed. ‘Honestly, Cat. As if. You make it sound like I want to be hanging on his arm every minute of the day. It would be totally hideous to be together all the time. Everybody would laugh at us behind our backs. It’s healthy for a relationship if you spend time apart, you know. Take it from me, a bloke like Henry Tilney would soon get pretty bored if you were the only company he ever had. So, no, I’m not looking out for Jamie. I’m just interested, that’s all. There might be somebody I know from London, somebody to keep me company when you go gadding off to Northanger. You have to keep me posted, sweetie. Photos and texts and tweets and emails, the lot. I’m going to be glued to your Facebook page, you lucky dog. Is it haunted?’

Cat shook her head. ‘I don’t know. I haven’t had the chance to talk to Ellie properly about it. As soon as I know anything, you will too, I promise. The first mystery I have to get the answer to is what happened to Mrs Tilney. All I know is that she was a recluse and now she’s dead. I don’t know when or how.’ But her friend’s attention had already wandered. ‘Bella? Are you sure you’re not expecting someone?’

With an effort, Bella dragged her eyes back to Cat. ‘My eyes have to be pointing somewhere, Cat. If I stared at you all the time, people would think we were lesbians. You know how I always need to keep an eye on what’s going on around me. Freddie says I’ve got an agile mind, that’s why my eye is always wandering. Oh, and that reminds me. I nearly forgot. I had an email from Johnny. I bet you can guess what it was about?’

Cat would have struggled to care less, but she chose to humour her friend. ‘His outfit for the wedding?’

‘Hardly. Since the only thing he can talk about is you. The poor fool is head over heels in love with you.’

‘With me?’

‘Oh, stop it. Honestly, Cat, sometimes you take the whole “who, me?” thing too far. Just be straight with me and don’t keep fishing for compliments. A drunken child of two and a half would have noticed him trailing around buzzing for you. And he told me you’d been encouraging him to think you cared for him too, just before he left for London. Which, I’ll be honest, I was surprised about because I know how much you fancy Henry. But Johnny said in his email that he made it clear he wanted you to be an item and you went along with him. And I know you too well to think you would do that if you didn’t mean it, so I reckoned you must be totally over Henry. And now Johnny wants me to put in a good word for him, to remind you what a good bargain he is. He doesn’t want to be out of sight, out of mind. So don’t come the innocent with me, lady.’ Bella paused for breath and poked her none too gently in the ribs.

‘It never crossed my mind,’ Cat said indignantly. ‘And since it never crossed my mind, how could I have encouraged him? I swear to God, Bella, I had no idea he fancied me. The only time I wondered was when he was so pushy about me dancing with him the day he arrived. But then I had other things on my mind—’

‘Henry Tilney.’

‘Yes, Henry. So I truly wasn’t paying much attention to whatever Johnny was saying. I’m just totally bemused by what his email said. I mean, I think I’d have noticed him telling me we should be an item. Cross my heart, Bella. He must be bewitched. I don’t even remember talking to him before he left for London.’

‘You did, I remember. It was after Jamie left. Ma dragged me off to find some fabric samples and we left you and Johnny alone in the living room. I remember thinking it was now or never if he was going to make you his girlfriend.’

Cat blew out a deep breath. ‘If you say so. But even if we were alone, I don’t remember him saying anything that mattered. My head was full of thoughts of you and Jamie and the wedding, so I suppose I wasn’t really listening. But honestly, Bella, I never encouraged him. I never wanted him to fall in love with me, never imagined he would. So you have to explain that, whatever he thought I said, that’s not how it was. I don’t want to put him down – he’s your brother, just like Jamie and me, and soon we’ll be related so I don’t want any bad feelings. But you know how I feel about Henry. I could never even think about another man, never mind agree to be his girlfriend.’ For once, Bella was silent. ‘Don’t be cross, Bella. He’ll get over it. We can’t let a silly misunderstanding come between us.’

‘So you’re dead set against getting involved with him?’

‘I don’t feel the way you say he feels about me. And God knows where he got that idea from.’

‘You must have led him on a bit.’

‘I so didn’t. I mean, what is he on? I’ve never so much as kissed his cheek. I’m not in love, Bella, nothing like.’

Bella swept her hair back with a disdainful toss. ‘You’re just saying that because you think you’ve got a better offer. Because Johnny hasn’t got loadsamoney and a place like Northanger Abbey.’

Indignant, Cat glared at her. ‘That is so not me. The Tilneys are just my friends. And anyway, Northanger doesn’t belong to Henry. Freddie’s the oldest, he’s bound to inherit.’

‘If he lives long enough,’ Bella said darkly. ‘He’s such a risk-taker – who knows if he’ll make it back from Afghanistan. But as far as Johnny’s concerned, you’ve clearly changed your mind. And that’s OK. And let’s face it, the Tilneys are pretty special.’

‘It’s not a competition, Bella. We’re still friends, right?’

Bella half-turned away and sighed. ‘Fine. Whatever. I’ve done what Johnny asked, and that’s that. I’ll be totes honest, Cat, I always thought it was a crazy idea. I mean, you and Johnny? What kind of a good time would you be able to have, since you never seem to have any fun money and he always spends it as soon as he gets his hands on any. You’d just sit around whingeing about being skint, there would be totally no future in it. God knows what he was thinking of. Obvs he didn’t get my email about how tight things are going to be for me and Jamie ...’ Her voice tailed off and she glanced sideways at Cat.

‘So you believe me? That I never led him on?’

Bella gave a little laugh. ‘I don’t pretend to know what goes on in your head, Cat. I mean, you were probably being a bit flirty when you danced with him, because that’s just the way you are. I don’t know if you even know you’re doing it. But I’m not saying you did anything deliberately. I mean, who am I to judge you? We’re young, right? And we’re women. We’re supposed to flirt and be changeable. A woman’s prerogative, like Beyoncé says.’

‘But I’ve not been changeable. I never flirted with him in the first place. You’re describing something that never happened, Bella.’

But Bella was not listening, as was her wont when the words didn’t suit her. ‘Speak of the devil. Look, there’s Freddie.’ She waved enthusiastically at Captain Tilney, who cut across the grass and sinuously lowered himself down next to Bella. Cat thought he looked a little fragile, as if he’d eaten something that had disagreed with him. ‘Hey, Freddie,’ Bella said. ‘Are you stalking me, or what?’

He gave a mock leer that nevertheless made the hair on Cat’s arms rise. ‘If I was stalking you, you’d have had it by now.’

Bella giggled. ‘Promises, promises.’

‘I saw what you put on my Facebook page,’ Freddie said, a dark note in his voice. ‘Ah, Bella, if you were mine, you wouldn’t be saying things like that to another man. I don’t think you have a heart at all.’

Cat could hardly believe her ears. Not only was Bella flirting shamelessly with Freddie, she was brazenly doing it in front of her fiancé’s sister. She was afraid that if she stayed any longer she might overhear something she could not in all conscience keep from relaying to her brother. So she stood up and said, ‘I’m going to see if Susie wants to walk down George Street for a coffee. You coming, Bella?’

Bella yawned. ‘I’m knackered, Cat. Besides, if I move from here, I might miss Jess and Claire. They should be along any minute now. I’m just going to hang out here, if Freddie doesn’t mind keeping me company ... ?’

Freddie raised one eyebrow. ‘It’s not like that would be a hardship, babe.’

Her plan to separate them having backfired, Cat left with some uneasiness. She collected Susie and they set off for one of the many café bars along the pedestrianised street. But although Susie was full of the latest gossip, Cat heard nothing, so busy were her thoughts. It seemed to her that Freddie was falling for Bella, who, ironically enough, was doing exactly what she’d accused Cat of – unconsciously leading him on. It had to be unconscious, for there was no doubt about her attachment and commitment to James. Cat trusted her friend, but still, she had to admit that Bella’s attitude had been very odd. She wished it had been one of their usual devil-may-care conversations without so much focus on money and practicalities.

And she wished that Bella had been less obviously thrilled to see Freddie. Maybe she needed to warn Bella to back off in case Freddie got the wrong impression and things kicked off when James came back to Edinburgh. After all, this business with Johnny showed how easy it was for people to get hold of the wrong end of the stick. Cat shivered as she thought of how appalling it would have been if Bella had launched into her Johnny conversation when Freddie – or even worse, Henry – had been in earshot. And Bella, she knew now, would certainly have been capable of speaking without thinking of her audience.

It had been quite a day of ups and downs. And it wasn’t over yet.