Hester's Story (34 page)

Alison smiled. Silver had persuaded her to wear her hair loose. It hung down to her shoulders and luckily she’d washed it just this morning so that it shone. She could actually see it shining, just like hair in advertisements. Silver had made a sort of necklace out of a scarf of hers that was silvery and pink and looked gorgeous. Apart from the scarf, Alison was all in black and that made her look, if not exactly slim, at least not huge.

‘Pity about the shoes,’ said Silver. ‘I wish I could lend you some of mine, but those boots look reasonable. Just remember for next time, go for a bit of a heel. Add height. Always a good idea.’

‘You’re really kind, Silver.’ Alison turned round to face her directly.

‘That’s okay. I love doing it. Any time, honestly.’

Alison stood up to leave and Silver hugged her.

‘Don’t let them grind you down,’ she said, and Alison left the room feeling as though she was a completely different person from the one who’d gone in – braver, prettier, more glamorous. She was longing for dinner.

New Year’s Eve. It was her favourite time of the year. She had a mental image of all the months, looking like a kind of mountain, sloping from the top left to bottom right. December was in the bottom right hand corner and then, on the first of January, you started all over again at the top of the slope, sliding
down towards winter. And somehow, everything was much more wintry here in the country.

Suddenly there seemed to be a lot to look forward to. Going into Leeds with Ruby was good fun, and tomorrow she’d be helping her with the costumes and props that needed repairing and making. Before that, though, there was the New Year’s Eve dinner. She was longing for it. Perhaps she’d be able to sit next to Nick, or opposite him. Most of the time, her head was like a television screen running a whole series of little scenes involving the two of them: she and Nick clinking champagne glasses at midnight, laughing together, dancing, and holding one another very close. There was even one in which they were kissing, but Alison tried not to think about that too much. It depressed her when the dream ended and she had to admit that it was all mad. Cloud cuckoo land. None of it would ever happen, and she was a silly fool. Some people said that Nick was gay, but even if he wasn’t he wouldn’t look at her.

Now Alison went to the staircase and pretended that Nick was going to meet her at the bottom. He’d be staring up at her as she tripped elegantly down, almost floating, with the ends of the pink and silver scarf trailing down her back, and he’d say something like
I never realised you were so beautiful, Alison. You must sit next to me tonight. This year will be the beginning
 …

‘Well, Lawks-a-mercy, child,’ said a voice, and Alison blinked and realised in a flush of embarrassment that it
was
Nick, the real Nick not the fantasy, speaking. She’d been so caught up in her daydream that she didn’t even notice him standing at the foot of the stairs and looking up at her. How stupid was that! As her blush subsided, she managed to speak.

‘Hello.’ Okay, it wasn’t exactly scintillating but it was a beginning.

‘You look fabulous, my love,’ said Nick. He shook his finger at her, and said, ‘Someone’s been having a go at you. Someone who knows what’s what in the slap department.’

‘Silver made me up.’

‘She did a splendid job. Now come along to the dining room, honey. We’re in top posh party mode tonight. No eating in the kitchen. We’re living it up in style. Come with me, and we’ll go in together.’

He tucked Alison’s arm under his and patted her hand as it rested on his sleeve. This has to be, Alison thought, the best moment of my whole life. She could feel his muscles under her fingers through the fabric of his shirt. How strong he was! And he smelled gorgeous. They went into the dining room. The table was set down at the far end, and Alison caught sight of white linen and flowers and glasses by every place setting. Everyone had gathered near the door for drinks and turned as they came in.

‘Nick, darling,’ said Claudia, gliding to his side. ‘We’ve all been wondering where you were.’ She looked searchingly at Alison. ‘Well now, don’t you look good! Who’s persuaded you out of your usual outfits? Not to mention the make-up. Amazing.’

‘Silver made me up. She lent me the scarf too.’

‘Lovely. How kind of her.’ She turned to Nick. ‘No one ever listens to their mother, do they? I’ve been trying to get her to smarten up for years and years and then along comes Silver and in one second, hey presto, the battle is won.’

She spoke lightly and Nick would never have guessed, but Alison knew how furious Claudia was. She was jealous of Silver anyway, because of her being younger and a better dancer and now she’d come along
and acted as though she was related to Alison, or her best friend or something and Claudia didn’t like that one little bit. She couldn’t say a word, of course, because that would make her look mean and grudging. Tee-hee, thought Alison. Serve her right.

‘Now, darling,’ Claudia said to her daughter, ‘I think you’ve monopolised this divine young man long enough. He’s done his duty and brought the princess to the ball, and now,’ (she touched his hand and looked up at him from under a sweep of eyelashes that made Alison’s look sparse) ‘he’s coming along with me to get a glass of wine.’

She gathered him up and he went off with her, glancing over his shoulder at Alison as they made their way over to the drinks table as if to say
it’s not my fault. I can’t help it. I’d much rather be staying and chatting to you
. Anyway, that was how she interpreted his raised eyebrows and the funny thing he did with his mouth when he smiled at her.

Alison didn’t care. I know he likes me, she told herself. And he thinks I look great, so I must do. Claudia’s outfit was a catsuit (tight all over but with wide, floppy legs below the calf) in brown velvet, printed with a sort of leafy pattern in green which made her look like a rather glamorous pixie. Ilene was in a peacock-blue silky dress, and Ruby was wearing a long tartan skirt with a black silk blouse. Hester’s dress had a tight bodice and a full skirt and was made of some dark red, soft material woven with gold threads. They glittered when she moved and the fabric caught the light.

When Silver appeared, though, everyone else, even Hester, suddenly seemed drab. You could almost hear the intake of breath as she stood in the doorway for a few seconds before coming into the room. Her dress was black and as plain as could be, just a long straight
shift of silky stuff that fell from her shoulders to the floor. Her arms were bare and from her ears silver and crystal earrings hung almost to her shoulders. The scarf she’d thrown around her neck was like a length cut from the sea: blue and green and purple and silver and all shimmering together so that you couldn’t tell where one colour ended and another began. It flowed down over the darkness of her dress like a bright wave and almost touched the silver shoes she was wearing. Height, Alison thought. She’s done what she told me to do. In dizzying heels, Silver towered over everyone else in the room, except for Hugo.

‘Silver, how lovely you look!’ he said, coming across the polished floor towards her. He kissed her first on one cheek and then on the other. Everyone could see it was just a friendly greeting, but Alison chanced to catch sight of her mother as it happened and she looked enraged and sulky. Ha! thought Alison. She thinks he fancies Silver. The moment this occurred to her, she wondered whether it was true and the more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed. What would happen if Hugo and her mother split up? I’m not going to worry about that now, she told herself. It’s New Year’s Eve. I’m going to have fun.

*

This has to be, thought Alison, the best meal I’ve ever had in my whole life. She looked along the table at everyone else and saw that they weren’t even enjoying it properly. Typical! She took a sip of wine, which she’d accepted just to seem grown-up, and wrinkled her nose. I’ll have orange juice when I’ve finished this glass, she told herself, and went back to her plate, which was laden with crispy roast potatoes, goose or duck or something, and vegetables which didn’t taste like the ones she was used to from school, but more
sophisticated somehow. She knew she was the only person at the table tucking in, apart from Siggy the cat. He was sitting under the table near her ankles enjoying the tiny pieces of meat she had contrived to drop on the floor from time to time. Everyone else was fiddling: pushing bits of this and that round their plates and talking a lot and drinking even more and, in the end, she could tell, there’d be as much left on their plates as there was to begin with. Ballet dancers! She sighed. It was because she’d had the misfortune to have a mother who was one of them that she was so unused to nice meals in restaurants. Claudia never went out to eat if she could help it, and Alison felt she’d missed out. Dad used to take me to the Chinese restaurant, she thought, and a sudden memory of red lanterns swinging from the ceiling came to her. She must have been very little because she could also remember being frightened of a huge red and gold dragon mask on the wall. She could see it now, exactly how it was, and wished she could go back now and eat there, in that very same place with her dad. She wouldn’t be scared of it now. She’d love every minute.

Joan and Emmie took away all the plates and Siggy followed them to the kitchen. He’d be having leftovers for weeks, probably. Then the pudding was brought in, on three enormous plates, and Alison knew you weren’t supposed to call it pudding when it was as grand as this. Each plate had on it a huge, white circle made entirely of meringue with raspberries and cream spread all over it and another layer of meringue on top.

‘How very appropriate!’ said Andy, smiling at Alison. ‘Raspberry Pavlova. What else could a ballet company possibly have as a dessert?’ He helped himself to quite a large portion and actually began to eat it. ‘You don’t see it very often these days. Most
people I know gave up this sort of thing years ago. More fool them, eh?’

Alison nodded. She finished her pudding – dessert – and wondered how long they’d have to sit here and just chat. It wasn’t that she was bored exactly, but she wanted to get a little nearer to Nick, and there was no chance of that when he was locked in his chair. She looked at her mother and frowned. What was she doing? She was leaning right over so that almost all of her was sort of curled round Nick and her arm was on the back of his chair. She was obviously drinking too much. It made her even sillier than she normally was.

The others didn’t seem to be paying attention. They were busy with their own conversations. George and Ruby were talking to Ilene. Alison wondered again if it was true that Nick was … no, she thought. I refuse to even think about it. She’d never told anyone and didn’t often admit it to herself, but the idea of almost anyone in bed with anybody else made her feel a bit queasy. She knew the facts of life, of course she did, but still, trying to visualise all that heaving and grunting when it was people you’d actually met was a bit off-putting and Alison tried to avoid bringing it to mind. When she thought of Nick
doing it
with anyone, she began to feel quite faint, but it was different in his case. She couldn’t help imagining her and Nick together, and that made her feel, well, most peculiar, but it was quite a pleasant feeling and she found that she was going back to those thoughts more often, just in order to feel that tingle, located not exactly in her stomach but sort of
under
it.

*

So far, Claudia thought, so not bad at all. This evening’s shindig was progressing much better than she’d expected, mainly thanks to the seating plan for
dinner. A forest of flowers took up most of the centre of the table and she had been placed quite far away from Hugo, but right next to Nick. She’d spent much of the meal flirting with him. Hugo must have been able to see this, which added to the fun. There wasn’t any harm in it, and anyone who knew her would realise that she was just, well, just playing really. The wine was delicious and by the time the roast goose had been cleared away, she was feeling both randy and reckless.

‘I wish we could get away from all of them,’ she whispered. ‘Go somewhere on our own.’

‘Everyone would notice. Hugo wouldn’t think much of that, would he?’

‘He’s drinking rather more than he’s used to, I can see. And he’s busy with Hester. He’s very close to her you know. Goes and chats to her all the time. Perhaps I should be jealous. She’s very attractive.’

She ran a finger down his thigh. ‘Are you quite as unattached as you pretend to be? No nice young ladies anywhere? Or nice young men, if it comes to that?’

‘Nope.’ He smiled at her in a way that Claudia thought looked distinctly promising. ‘I’m as free as a bird.’ Then he winked. Claudia took another sip of wine to steady herself. Maybe, maybe it would be possible for them to creep away without anyone noticing?

She sat back and looked at Alison, down the other end of the table, and caught her eye. The child looked as though someone had just stabbed her in the stomach. Oh, God, thought Claudia. Will she burst into tears and disgrace herself? She ought to be grateful to me for preventing her making a total fool of herself.

‘Pour me another glass, sweetie,’ she said to Nick.

Nick sighed theatrically. ‘You’re not going to be in a fit state to dance tomorrow.’

‘Oh, yes, I will. I’ve got a very strong cons … constituency. Constitution. You know.’ She giggled and swallowed the wine. The faces of everyone sitting round the table were becoming a little blurred around the edges.

*

‘Do you mind me saying all this?’ Hugo leaned closer to Hester. ‘You must stop me if I get boring, only I’ve had rather a lot to drink. It was a dinner to remember.’

Hester smiled at him. ‘I don’t mind you talking to me one bit. It
was
a good meal, but look at the table now.’

He followed her glance as it took in the ruins of the meal: plates bearing the remains of biscuits and cheese, napkins lying crumpled on the white tablecloth, wine glasses stained with a hint of scarlet, and many of the chairs pushed away from the table. The rest of the company had wandered off to have coffee in the drawing room, but Hugo and Hester were still at the table, alone in the huge dining room.