Facing the Light (49 page)

Leonora considered what she now knew of her father and shook her head. She could not, however hard she tried, imagine her parents snapping happy family pictures in the garden.

‘It was most probably Nanny Mouse,' she told Alex. ‘Or Tyler, the gardener. Let me see the one at the piano.'

Alex passed the album over to her and she took it in her hands and brought it up to her face to look at more carefully. She took a deep breath and let it out again.

‘Are you all right, Leonora?' he asked.

‘You still can't see her face properly, can you? She's pretty, isn't she? In a rather faded, quiet sort of way. She reminds me of a startled creature of some kind. A deer, or a bird, perhaps.'

‘Yes, she's very pretty. But as far as one can tell, she doesn't look like you at all, Leonora. Though it's not the clearest image I've ever seen. You take after Ethan, don't you?'

‘I suppose I do,' Leonora smiled. ‘I look like him, and so does Gwen a little and Efe is very like him. You're not, though. Maybe it's you, Alex, who look the most like my mother. You have the same long, thin nose, look!'

‘I can't see it myself,' said Alex, and at that moment, the door of the gazebo burst open and Chloë came in, holding a folded sheet of paper in her hand.

‘I'm sorry to interrupt, Leonora, when you're chatting to Alex, but I'd like to speak to you, if that's okay.'

‘Of course, darling. Alex and I were only looking at an old album. Come and sit down here by me.'

‘D'you mind if I speak to you alone, Leonora? I'm sorry, Alex.'

Alex looked puzzled. ‘No problem,' he said. He closed the album and stood up. ‘I'll take this back to the house with me, should I?'

‘That would be very kind,' said Leonora. ‘We won't be long, I'm sure, and then we'll come back as well.'

‘Ta, Alex,' said Chloë. She closed the door of the gazebo behind him as he left and went to sit next to her grandmother. ‘I'm sorry to send Alex off like that, but you'll see why in a minute. I've typed out the message that we found on the dolls' house roof. This is it. I thought it ought to be just us. You'll understand why in a minute.'

Leonora squeezed Chloë's hand. ‘You're a kind child, aren't you? I'm so glad it's you who's deciphered it all.'

‘And Philip. He was the main one who got it off the roof without damaging it. He's brilliant.'

‘What does it say? I'd better know what it says.' Leonora sighed and put out a hand for the paper.

‘Here,' Chloë said, and handed it to her grandmother. Then she positioned herself with one arm stretched out along the back of the seat, poised to go around Leonora's shoulders. She was sure that such comfort was going to be necessary and she wanted to be ready to provide it when it was needed. She found that she was holding her breath as Leonora unfolded the sheet of paper and began to read.

*

Beth had spent much of the afternoon dealing with Leonora's presents. When Gwen had asked her to be in charge of those that had come by post she'd said yes at once. It would be good to be occupied with something. All the gifts, apart from those from the family, would be displayed under Chloë's tree. Beth had also undertaken to see to it that Leonora came to the hall at the proper time
after the party to open the parcels she hadn't seen already, and to make a note of who had sent what, so that thank-you letters could be written without too much trouble. These few days, she reflected, were not turning out to be the idyllic time she'd dreamed about in the weeks leading up to Leonora's party. Things hardly ever did live up to expectation and she ought to have learned that by now. Still, the gulf between her imaginings of strolling through the garden with Efe, or sitting on the terrace with him talking and talking, and what she was actually doing, was so huge that it almost made her laugh.

She couldn't have got out of helping in this way. Gwen had suggested it and also said that she intended Alex to help her but couldn't find him at the moment. Beth didn't object. The house was now full of young women with dusters and floor polishers cleaning the house before the party even though it looked perfectly fine to her. Everyone, it seemed, was running around hairless getting things ready, and doing her bit like this at least gave her mind a chance to wander as she wrote her notes.

She hadn't realized that Leonora had so many friends and acquaintances. Nearly seventy people were coming to the party tomorrow and on top of that there were all these things from those who for one reason or another couldn't make it. Their cards said things like ‘To dear Leonora, wishing you many more happy years', or ‘With great affection', and some of the gifts were worth displaying. There was an antique bon-bon dish, luxurious soaps and talcum powders, handmade chocolates, and extremely expensive pot-pourri. Someone had sent fur-lined slippers, too, and Leonora would pretend not to love those, protesting that they were the height of oldladyishness, but Beth knew she'd wear them every night. Another person had sent a special tray mounted on a cushion that settled round your knees as you watched
television, but whoever it was clearly didn't know Leonora at all well. She'd never eaten a meal in front of the television in her whole life and wouldn't dream of falling into such lax ways merely because she was seventy-five. Beth smiled and stood up to take the first batch of gifts into the hall.

The tree that Chloë had created there was like something out of a fairy tale. Beth found Douggie and Fiona looking at it, entranced. As she approached them, the front door opened and Gwen came in from the garden. She was carrying a bucket full of flowers for the vases waiting in the scullery.

‘You're going to catch flies in your mouth, Douggie darling,' she said, ‘if you keep it open like that.'

The little boy took no notice at all, and Fiona laughed. ‘You can't really blame him,' she said. ‘It's the most beautiful tree I've ever seen.'

‘It
is
lovely, isn't it?' Gwen said. ‘I'm so pleased Chloë thought of it. It'll be quite a talking point, I'm sure.'

Beth suddenly realized that the trunk of the birthday-present tree was the old hatstand that had been thrown out into the shed by Leonora years ago on the grounds that hardly anyone wore hats these days and even if they did, most people weren't tall enough to reach the hooks on a piece of furniture which seemed to have been designed for giants. Efe used to like to use it in all sorts of pretend games when they were younger – as a barrier, or a cannon of some kind, or even, she now remembered, as a tree. He'd tied her up to it once when it was raining and they couldn't go out into the garden.

She looked carefully to see how Chloë had achieved her effects. There were handmade bows of tinfoil tied among the willow leaves, and these alternated with thin ribbons of gold tape, hanging down like small tassels. It really is, Beth thought, like something out of a dream. The metallic decorations caught every bit of light,
sparkling and glittering and making tiny tinkling sounds as they moved in the air. Leonora would be overwhelmed, Beth was sure of it, and the guests would love it. Sean would almost certainly want a shot of it in the film.

‘I'm going to do the flowers for the house now,' Gwen said, and then caught sight of the tray that Beth was putting down on the floor. ‘I see you're all busy with the arrangement of the presents.'

‘What're we going to do about our presents, Gwen? Are they going under the tree as well?'

‘No, I don't think so. Mother's going to open them tonight of course, quite separately from all the others. It looks as though you've got quite enough to go under the tree without worrying about the family presents as well.'

‘Okay,' Beth said. She started to take the gifts one by one off the tray and caught sight of Douggie out of the corner of her eye, staring longingly at her. ‘Would you like to help me, Douggie? Give me a hand with putting the presents under the tree?'

Douggie nodded solemnly and Fiona said, ‘That'll be fun, won't it, Douggie? Only you'll have to be extra careful, won't you? Here, I'll help you give them to Beth and she'll put them all in their proper places.'

‘It's going to look amazing,' Gwen said. ‘I'd better get on with my flower arrangement.'

Beth wondered where Efe was, and how Leonora's revelations had affected him. Where was he now? Maybe Fiona would know. She said, ‘Where is everyone? Have you any idea?'

‘Carefully, Douglet,' said Fiona in the rather silly voice she often adopted to talk to her child. ‘Give them to Beth and let her put them down. It would be so awful if anything got broken. That's right.' She turned to Beth. ‘I've no idea where they've all got to. Alex went into the garden. Chloë and Philip were up in the nursery but I
don't know where they are now and Rilla's in her room, I think.'

No mention of Efe. Beth said nothing and turned her attention to placing Leonora's birthday presents in the sort of arrangement that you sometimes saw in shop windows at Christmas, where parcels were artistically disposed under the decorated branches. She said, ‘There are going to be so many presents, aren't there? No one's going to arrive empty-handed, are they?'

‘Hello, ladies!' said a voice, and Efe crossed the hall, picked Douggie up and kissed him. ‘What are you doing and can anyone join in?'

‘Of course, darling,' said Fiona. ‘We'd love you to join in, wouldn't we, Beth?'

Beth nodded. Efe, quite amazingly, considering the state he'd been in while they were in the conservatory, looked altogether nonchalant, and she marvelled at his ability to hide his true feelings. Surely he hadn't been completely unaffected? He was wearing a khaki T-shirt and khaki trousers with rather more pockets than were strictly necessary.

‘I've been helping Dad in the marquee. It looks great. Really excellent. Have you seen it, Beth?'

‘No, not yet. Douggie, bring that bottle you're holding back here right this minute, please. I need it to go on this little pile.'

Douggie trotted obediently over to her and Beth took it from him and put it down before any harm could come to it.

‘I see you're being about as useful as a chocolate teapot, beloved,' Efe said, looking directly at his wife, Beth noted with a shock, for the very first time since he had come in. He was smiling as he spoke and Beth felt suddenly furious with him. However troubled he was, there was no excuse for him to be so unkind. He was clever, too. If Fiona objected, he'd say at once that he was
joking. That light tone allowed him to insult her and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. Beth was wondering whether she should say something herself and if so, what it should be exactly, when Efe spoke again. This time, he addressed his remarks to Beth.

‘My wife is very silly, Beth. I'm married to a moron. That sounds like a movie title, doesn't it?'

Fiona had tears in her eyes. Beth looked at Efe and opened her mouth, about to say something, when she saw that Alex had come in and was standing silently beside the door. He said, ‘Apologize, Efe. That's an insult to your wife and if you weren't my brother I'd hit you. I might hit you anyway. Take it back. Now.'

Efe smiled. ‘Oh, right. You've become some kind of knight errant, have you, Alex? A bit late in the day, isn't it, to morph from Wimp Number One into Bruce Willis? Having kept your mouth shut your whole life, don't you think this is none of your business?'

‘It
is
my business. You think you can get away with everything. That's your problem.'

‘Oh, fuck off, Alex. You're boring, d'you know that?'

Fiona said, ‘Douggie, come on now. We'll go and find the kitty.' She picked her son up in her arms and left the room, almost running, frantic in her haste to get away from there. Beth followed her, wanting to see what Alex would do next, but knowing that someone had to look after Fiona. By the time she'd left the hall, though, there was no sign of her, and Beth sighed. She positioned herself in a part of the corridor which she knew wasn't visible from where Efe and Alex were standing, even though she could see them both perfectly well.

‘You are a fucking arrogant bastard!' Alex shouted, and before Beth knew what was happening he had gone right up to his brother and punched him in the face. He caught Efe by surprise, so that he stumbled back for a moment against the banisters, but he recovered quickly
and hit out at Alex, almost reflexively, and his fist connected with the corner of Alex's mouth. Efe was pale with fury. ‘Shit, man, what's got into you?' he shouted. ‘Lay off, will you?'

‘Apologize, then. Go on. Go and find Fiona and say you're sorry.'

Efe scowled. ‘What I say to my wife is none of your damn business.'

‘I don't care. Say you're going to apologize or I'll hit you again. Harder this time.'

‘Ooh, I'm scared,' Efe said, in the voice he had always used when they were children specifically to tease Alex. ‘Okay, okay, I'll apologize, Okay? I will. When I see her.'

He stalked away towards the staircase and took the steps two at a time. When Beth saw that he was safely upstairs, she came out of her hiding place and went over to Alex, who was leaning against the doorframe, touching his bottom lip, which was already swollen.

‘You didn't see that, did you? Could've been worse,' he said to Beth. ‘One of us could have landed on all those dainty presents and crushed every piece of glass and china. Look on the bright side.'

‘Let me see how badly you're hurt, Alex.'

‘I'm not hurt at all.'

‘Yes, you are. You're going to have a huge lip and a bruise.'

‘It was worth it, though.' Alex grinned suddenly. ‘I haven't had a fight with Efe for years. Can't remember the last time, actually. I always avoided it as a kid. Scared of getting flattened, I guess.'