New York Valentine (27 page)

She would be back in London.

The handsome Asian home-comer:

White T-shirt (Gap)
Light blue cashmere sweater (J. Crew)
Beige chinos (same)
White sneakers (Converse)
Total est. cost: $390

Too busy hugging and being hugged …

Annie watched the luggage going round on the carousel through eyes puffed and bleary from the flight. Flying to New York with Lana had been so exciting that the cramped hours had passed quickly. But flying home, Annie had fretted and worried about Ed and his suspension all night long, only managing short snatches of sleep.

That bag was hers. She hurried over to the carousel and heaved off the large holdall. New York shopping had resulted in two extra holdalls; Lana was going to bring one and Annie was in charge of this one.

When Ed realized she really was going to come home early just for him and there was nothing he could do to persuade her otherwise, he’d offered to pick her up at the airport but she’d told him no, she would be fine. She’d take the train to Paddington and a cab from there.

Now, wheeling along her trolley loaded with two heavy bags, the beautiful green Mulberry bag over her shoulder, Annie wasn’t so sure about the train idea. Carrying both bags at the same time was torture – almost as much torture as training with Gawain.

As she wheeled her trolley through the exit, she was caught up for a little moment in the glamour and emotion of the arrivals hall. A chauffeur in a shiny peaked cap was holding up a sign for ‘Mr Bendell’, and a large Asian family, including Gran, Grandad, plus toddlers and babies, were all falling over a handsome young man … maybe home for a holiday from his exciting US job.

Annie’s eyes were drawn to the other cardboard signs bearing titles or company names. There was even one that read, ‘My lovely wife’. Oh, how sweet was that?

Then with a gasp of surprise, she realized it was being held up by Ed.

‘What are you doing here?’ she screeched, hurrying her trolley in his direction, her eyes suddenly prickly with tears.

‘Do you always have to greet me like that?’ he asked jokily.

But then they were caught up in a hug. A great big, who cares if anyone is looking or what anyone might be thinking hug. Their arms were tightly around each other, holding on for dear life, the hug as supporting as it was supportive.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Annie said into his shoulder.

He patted her soothingly on the back, the way he patted the babies. ‘It’s not been good,’ he said.

She pulled away from his shoulder so she could look at his face. ‘It’s going to be OK,’ she told him, ‘it really is going to be OK. I’m back. I’m going to look after you and we’ll sort this all out.’

He pulled her in and kissed her on the top of her head.

He seemed so quiet, so tense and so needy that she felt a surge of worry. ‘It is going to be all right, Ed? There’s nothing …’ she paused, suddenly unsure what to say. It had never for one moment occurred to her to think anything but the best of Ed. ‘There’s nothing we need to talk about first?’ she asked, feeling a tight knot in her throat.

‘No, no. Of course not,’ he replied, shaking his head, ‘but the stuff is on my school computer. This is some sort of set-up. I just don’t know who would do this to me – or how.’

His eyes darted away from her face and for a fleeting second she wondered if she should read anything into that. But no, she brushed it away. If he’d told her there was nothing, then she had no reason to doubt him.

‘Do you want to get a coffee?’ he asked.

She shook her head. ‘No, I’m desperate to get home and see everyone. They will all be there, won’t they?’

‘Dinah and babies, yes, unless they’ve gone off to the toddler group. Owen is obviously at … school.’ The word came out with difficulty.

‘Ed, you’ll be back there ASAP,’ she soothed, ‘and they’ll have to take out a billboard to make an apology big enough for my liking.’

Once they were in the car and heading towards north London, Annie began trying to piece together just what was going on with Ed and St Vincent’s.

‘Where is this investigation at, though? Right now?’ she wanted to know. ‘What are they doing for you today?’

Hands on the steering wheel, Ed shrugged. ‘It’s being investigated, that’s all I know. They’ll contact me when they have more information.’

‘But what are they doing? Who’s doing the investigating? And are they on the case today, or is it just sitting in the headmaster’s in-tray until he decides he can find some time to deal with it?’

Ed shrugged again.

‘I can’t believe you didn’t tell me sooner. I’d have been over here. I’d have been helping you to sort this out.’

‘I didn’t want you to come back for this,’ Ed said, his knuckles tight on the steering wheel. ‘I just want this to be over, and as soon as possible. I want them to realize it’s all a mistake and for everything to go back to how it was.’

‘Do you want me to get in touch with Harry?’ Annie asked, ‘Svetlana’s husband. He’s a QC, remember? He could give you some legal advice.’

‘I don’t want to blow this up into something it’s not. I’ve not done anything. This is nothing to do with me! This is a computer glitch.’

‘But you’ve been suspended. It looks terrible! People will be talking. You’re a music teacher … you take private tuition!’

The traffic lights ahead were at red, long enough for Ed to turn his face and look at her.

‘Don’t you think I don’t know that?’ he asked, voice barely above a whisper.

‘We have to do something,’ she protested, ‘I think we should phone Harry.’

‘No.’

‘But why not?’

‘If I have a lawyer, then I immediately look guilty!’ Ed exclaimed, suddenly sounding very upset.

‘I don’t think so,’ Annie said, trying to stay calm. ‘It’s to protect you. Maybe if you had a lawyer, you wouldn’t have been suspended. People think if you’re on suspension, there must be a reason. But if Harry was involved, he’d probably have you back at school tomorrow.’

‘Annie, I don’t want him to get involved. Just give it some time.’

‘Please, Ed, all I want to do is to help you. Harry really is very good. He got Svetlana an amazing divorce deal. He got her children back when Igor tried to abduct them …’

‘He’s a QC, Annie. What makes you think we can afford someone like that? I’m a suspended music teacher and you’re an out-of-work TV presenter. We’re in serious trouble.’

‘I don’t think he’d charge us anything,’ Annie said quietly. ‘He’s Svetlana’s husband and we’ve helped Svetlana out enough. I’ve just been working in New York for free, turning her dress business around completely.’

Silence.

Ed wasn’t agreeing with the idea and Annie didn’t want to push it. ‘Why don’t we talk about New York?’ she said into the silence, in the most cheerful tone she could muster.

Looking out of the window at the low, ugly, brick buildings sitting squat in the gloom of an overcast morning, she already missed Manhattan.

After a fifty-minute battle through the congested arteries which ran from west London to north, Ed pulled the car up in front of their beautiful old house in Highgate. It had once belonged to Ed’s parents, but was now Ed and Annie’s family home, the inside all slick and twenty-first century.

Whatever anxieties Annie might have been feeling about Ed’s predicament were forgotten, at least temporarily, by the rush of excitement she felt at seeing her family again.

The big double buggy was parked by the front door, so she knew that Dinah couldn’t have gone out with the twins. Leaving Ed to deal with the bags, Annie sprang out and rushed towards the front door. She didn’t even want to waste precious moments trying to find her house keys, so she rang the bell and peered in through the glass, desperate for her first glimpse of the twins.

For a moment, all she could hear was the manic barking of Dave, the family dog. It was so lovely to be back home that she thought she might even feel quite pleased to see Dave again.

Then Dinah threw open the door and while they hugged each other tightly, Annie looking over her shoulder for the babies, Dave bounced up and down against her leg, dangerously close to shredding her tights.

‘Hello, hello darlin’, how are you? How are my babies?’

‘Come into the sitting room and see,’ Dinah urged.

Annie rushed into the room and practically fell on to her youngest children. She squeezed first Minnie and then Micky right up against her and suddenly couldn’t believe that she’d managed to exist for a whole four weeks without them. They were so much bigger than she’d remembered! And so gorgeous, so perfect and totally adorable.

‘Hello, hello, Mummy’s back!’ she kept repeating like a demented person.

The babies accepted several cuddles but then wanted to be freed so they could go back to the button-pressing and drooling that they were busy with this morning.

‘Have they been OK?’ Annie asked her sister.

‘They’ve been perfect,’ Dinah replied, ‘but you know how it is; you’ll get it in the neck now. Every time you leave the room, they’ll squawk for you.’

‘I’m never leaving the room though, so that’s OK,’ Annie said, lying on her side across the play mat and letting her twins crawl and drool affectionately all over her.

Ed was bringing bags into the hallway. ‘Shall I take these upstairs?’ he called.

‘Yeah,’ she replied so that as soon as he was out of earshot she could whisper to Dinah: ‘He’s so upset. Has he been like this ever since it began?’

Dinah nodded.

‘I want him to phone Harry, you know Svetlana’s husband, the QC. He could at least give him some advice.’

‘Good idea.’

‘Yeah, except he won’t.’

The door opened and Ed was standing in front of them.

Annie immediately smiled brightly. ‘Presents!’ she said, jumping up from the play mat, ‘I have to get everyone’s presents.’

Sure enough, as soon as she stepped out of the room, the twins began to squawk in unison.

Owen by day:

White school shirt (Asda)
Black school trousers (same)
Black school socks (same)
School tie (St Vincent’s uniform store)
Hair clay (Brylcreem)
Total est. cost: £30

‘Just a weeny corner?’

It was 4.30 in the morning, but Annie was jet-lagged and so wide awake that she’d had to give up lying in bed.

For the past half an hour she’d been in the tiny room which served as her office space and the overflow of her wardrobe. Here she was soothing herself with one of her favourite occupations: a mini-wardrobe cleanse.

Tomorrow was the first day of October, officially time to lay her Spring/Summer wardrobe to rest. She was sorting through a rail of clothes, with the aim of dividing things up into store, sell, give away or keep out for autumn wear.

Annie loved clothes. Yes, she loved shopping, but she really loved clothes. There was a difference. People who loved shopping often didn’t wear their purchases more than a few times before they hid them in the back of the cupboard and went out shopping again. Annie couldn’t imagine committing such a waste.

She shopped with great care and attention, mindful of the things she needed, mindful of the seasons and the up and coming events. Yes, of course, like everyone who loved clothes, she was often seduced by the treasures and once in a lifetime finds which threw themselves at her when she was looking for something else. But most of the clothes in her wardrobe were regularly worn.

Well … that’s how it had been in the past. Now, she had to accept that there was a large selection of things which she was either going to have to fit back into or move on out.

A large pink storage box was open on the floor. Tenderly taking out of her wardrobe a selection of light dresses she hadn’t worn once this summer because of waistband issues, she decided that she would store them just for this winter. If by next April the Gawain magic hadn’t worked and she couldn’t get back into them, then she would have to pass them on.

Folding hundreds and hundreds of pounds’ worth of clothes into the box, she realized how expensive it was to gain weight. Her whole philosophy of buying nice things and keeping them for years would have to change. She would either have to have far, far fewer expensive clothes, if she was going to have to size up every few years, or she’d have to find more bargains.

The weight was costing her. And she didn’t like it. Not one little bit.

Annie had desperately wanted to seduce her unhappy husband tonight. But she hadn’t been able to. He’d been so down, he’d just curled up in bed, accepting only hugs and pleading with her to understand that he just wasn’t in the mood.

Much as she wanted to believe this was all about the school problem, she couldn’t help asking herself: if she’d been foxier and fitter, maybe she’d have been able to banish thoughts of it from his mind for at least a little bit.

He hadn’t even cheered up much at her gifts. The lovely Brooks Brothers shirt and tie had been admired in the packet, then put to the side.

Annie’s attention turned to her summer shoe and handbag collection. Now, here was happiness. Here were the items which loved you right back no matter how many pounds you put on.

Was she going to be one of those ladies, though? Dressed from head to toe in stretchy and forgiving black, but wearing Gucci shoes and carrying a stunningly expensive bag as a sort of charm to ward off evil looks? It would be like turning into one of the Arabian princesses Annie had often dressed in The Store. They had priceless shoes, handbags and jewels but in between they were just swathed in draping black. It seemed such a shame.

She cleaned the summer sandals gently with a damp cloth and dried them, before returning them to their boxes. The shoeboxes were then placed into the storage chest.

The best thing about putting items away like this was that when spring came around again next year, it would feel like her birthday when she opened the boxes filled with all these treasures once again.

She checked the handbags for stray contents and found a strip of passport photos of Owen.

Ha! Owen!

Now, he had been delighted with his New York presents. ‘Mum! What a total star!’ he’d exclaimed, fanning out all the DVDs she’d found for him in her one harried trip to Bleecker Bob’s. He’d immediately grabbed the NYC Police Department T-shirt and put it on over his school shirt and tie. ‘Loving it, totally loving it!’