Rumours and Red Roses (19 page)

‘I don’t think so. It wouldn’t have been fair to him to put him through that.’ Simon handed her the big towel as she lifted a slippery Samantha out of the bath. ‘You saw how he was. He feels safe living there. He’s looked after. It would worry him if he was taken away.’

She nodded. He was right about that. It was not fair to put somebody whose mind was playing tricks in the company of other people who might unintentionally upset him. She was pleased she had seen him today, although there were still a lot of questions to be answered. Ah well, she supposed it would all come out eventually. She might gently broach the subject with Esther.

Johnny would be the best person to approach but she didn’t want to speak to Johnny. With her mum back permanently, the awkwardness had returned. Following her Australian adventure, her mum seemed to have a new-found confidence about her and she reckoned she could handle Johnny Blundell, no problem. Becky certainly hoped she was right. 

E
STHER BOUNCED
S
AMANTHA
on her knee as she sang to her and the little girl giggled and clapped her hands in delight. Esther had a lovely stage-voice, Becky’s less so, but she joined in the song and when it was concluded – the five little ducks happily reunited with the mummy duck – Esther popped Samantha down and she toddled off in search of the toy basket. Her confidence in walking verged now on the cocky but she was still capable of falling over from time to time. Over her fair head, the two of them exchanged a smile.

‘Did Shelley find somewhere to stay?’ Esther asked. ‘She’s being very elusive. I’ve asked her over for dinner but she keeps making excuses. I don’t think she’s got used to being a single lady again but you must tell her that an odd number for dinner doesn’t matter to me in the slightest. The last thing I want to do is to start bringing in a man to even things up. I don’t want her to think I’m trying to get her fixed up with
somebody
else, not after what happened.’

‘I’ll have a word,’ Becky promised even though she knew full well what the problem was.

‘The last time I saw her,’ Esther went on, ‘she was still on the
look-out
for a bungalow. She seems to know exactly what she wants.’

‘Oh yes. She’s very excited. She’s been lucky. She’s found just the one. The man had died so it’s empty and the relatives want a quick sale and she’s ready to move so it’s all going through. She’ll be moving in a few weeks.’

‘I’m so pleased for her. She’s had a tough time over the last couple of years.’

‘Haven’t we all?’ Becky said ruefully, glancing towards her daughter.

‘Yes. I wouldn’t like to go through that again. At least I was here with
you all that time but it must have been horrible for your mum. So far away. But I’m still sorry things didn’t work out for her with Alan and Australia though. Of course, I never met him as we didn’t come to their wedding.’

She didn’t say ‘we weren’t invited’ but it was implied in the tone. Becky was just trying to come up with a plausible explanation for the omission, one that did not involve Johnny pawing her mum, when Esther sighed.

‘I’m glad you popped over this afternoon. Simon told me about you going to see his grandpa,’ she said.

‘I was hoping he would.’

‘Has he talked to you very much about William?’

‘He did at first. He told me all about him starting up the business. He seemed very proud at the time,’ she added, watching Esther’s face closely.

‘We are proud of that part of it,’ Esther said. ‘William certainly had a head for business. You have to give him that.’

‘I thought he was dead, Esther. I only found out about his still being with us from Marina,’ Becky told her. ‘That was a bit awkward and embarrassing at that.’

‘It must have been. I’m sorry you had to find out from Marina. Trust her. I should have told you. I can’t think why we didn’t mention that William was in the nursing home. It wasn’t deliberate … well, all right I suppose it was in a way … but what’s the point? You’ve seen him. You know what he’s like. It’s heartbreaking for me to see him like that. I have been a few times over the years he’s been there but I don’t like to listen to him talking about Isabel. I know I should visit more often but I can’t bear it. And I can’t get Johnny to go for love or money. He and his father don’t get on. Johnny blamed his father for—’ She stopped, suddenly checking her newly painted fingernails. ‘William was always so lively a man and he always kept a keen eye on the business. He must have had a lot of go about him when he was young to do what he did. He got hold of some money and used it wisely.’

‘Where did he get the money from? Simon doesn’t seem to know.’

‘Neither do I.’ She grimaced. ‘We don’t ask questions about that or at least William would never answer them. I just hope it was from
legitimate
means. He was a betting man and I suppose the likeliest thing is that he had a bit of good luck with the gambling. I liked him for all his faults.’

‘You talk about him in the past tense,’ Becky said. ‘But he is the same man, isn’t he?’

‘No he’s not,’ Esther said quickly. ‘Absolutely not. He’s just a shadow of the man he was with that illness picking away at his brain piece by piece. It really is very distressing.’

‘Yes but looking on the bright side …’ Becky smiled a little as Esther gave her a disbelieving look. ‘It could be worse. It’s not as if he’s in great pain so in a way what does it matter to
him
that his memory is all mixed up? Does he realize? I think he’s quite happy most of the time. It’s
probably
worse for us seeing him like that.’

Esther seemed unconvinced. ‘Did he mention Isabel?’

‘Yes. He talked about Isabel. He thinks she’s still alive. He was very cross because she hadn’t visited for a while,’ Becky told her. ‘And then he thought the nurse who came over was her and he had already accused another poor lady of being her. That was hard, as a matter of fact. I think that really brought it home to me how lost he is.’

‘You’re a thoughtful girl, Rebecca. And you’re one of the family now,’ Esther said. ‘And I think it’s time you knew something about Isabel although I’d rather you didn’t talk about her to Johnny. He’s in denial. It all happened so long ago. It was very sad but his mother was a little unstable and at the end …’ She hesitated. ‘I’m afraid she took her own life.’

‘How well did you know your grandmother Isabel?’ Becky asked Simon that evening. ‘Were you close?’

He shook his head. ‘She was a little stiff with me. She wasn’t the cuddly sort of grandma. She was always beautifully dressed and she didn’t like grubby little hands or messy fingers playing with her hair. I do remember the hair though. She always sat in a particular chair by the window and if it was sunny her hair went even redder.’ He smiled slightly, shrugging the memory away. ‘Grandpa paid me more attention than she ever did.’

‘I know she committed suicide, Simon. Esther told me. How old was she?’

‘Forty-seven and I was only a little boy. Obviously the circumstances were kept from me at the time but I picked up on things when I was older. What did my mother tell you exactly?’

‘Not very much. I think she would have told me more but we were
interrupted by Johnny and that was that. Samantha was playing up and I left soon afterwards,’ she said, unwilling to say that Johnny’s arrival had prompted a sudden getaway.

‘They had a volatile relationship, my grandparents,’ Simon said. ‘Maybe it was something to do with the fact that her parents
disapproved
of the marriage. They didn’t attend the ceremony, cut her off, I suppose, because they thought she was marrying beneath her. William had the money by then and the business but he could not shake off the rough edge.’

‘She would have found that very attractive in a man. Some women do.’

‘I think her father had a title of some kind but she never talked about it. Anyway, just before it happened …’ He paused and Becky smiled gently at him.

‘You don’t have to tell me,’ she said. ‘Not if it’s too painful.’

‘It’s time I told you. There was a big bust-up between them
apparently
. I don’t know what was said but I understand from my mother who happened to be in the house at the time that there was a lot of yelling and door slamming. She had a very bad temper and I know she walked out on him. I was only a boy but I remember the fuss and bother. She was missing for two days and they had no idea where she had gone.’

‘Were they trying to find her?’

‘Oh yes. They called the police. My father was distraught. He
personally
went looking for her, scoured all the places he thought she might be. We never found out where she was for those two days but on the third day she was seen by somebody standing on the railway bridge. He witnessed it and could do nothing to stop her. She had climbed over the railing, sat on the little wall and just waited for the right moment and jumped off into the path of the train.’

‘Oh my God.’ Becky put her hand over her mouth. ‘Why?’

‘I guess it was to do with infidelity. She was a very upright sort of person, very religious, and, all I can imagine is that she found out that Grandpa had been having an affair for years and it pushed her over the edge. He had a reputation. He was one for the ladies.’

Becky frowned. ‘Like father, like son.’

‘What?’

‘Your dad …’ She clicked her tongue. ‘I don’t like to say it, Simon, but he’s given my mum a bit of a runaround.’

‘He’s
what
? Oh, for God’s sake, what’s he thinking of?’

‘Don’t panic. Nothing has happened because she makes sure she’s never alone with him but I’m not sure she trusts him.’

‘Why am I not surprised by that? You should have told me.’ He smiled suddenly. ‘If there is a family gene, I swear I haven’t got it, Rebecca.’

‘I know you haven’t. I don’t care what he might have done, it must have really upset your grandpa to have that happen and he must have felt he was to blame. If it was me … if you did that to me …’ She smiled across at him. ‘I would be hurt and humiliated and very angry with you but I have Samantha to think about. I couldn’t kill myself.’

‘Neither could most people. I told you, she was a little unhinged. People were generally sympathetic to Grandpa because everybody who knew her knew she was a troubled soul. She was either high as a kite or down in the depths, no happy medium. The doctor was treating her for some sort of nervous illness, and that was enough to explain why she did it. The inquest verdict was suicide while the balance of mind was disturbed.’

‘What happened afterwards?’

‘Nothing. Grandpa went to ground as it were. I think he decided that if it wasn’t talked about, he could pretend it had never happened.’

‘What about the other woman?’

He shrugged. ‘I don’t know who she was. One of their set, I suppose. Very likely a woman my grandmother knew. The whole episode dragged him down. He was never the same after that. He lost his spark. And he and my father never made it up. My father was close to his mother and he blamed Grandpa fairly and squarely. I live in hope they will make it up some day. There’s time, isn’t there?’

‘It’s running out.’ Becky grimaced. Much as she would like to see a wonderful reunion, she thought it most unlikely and it wasn’t up to her to initiate it. Suddenly she didn’t want to talk about Johnny any more. The man was beginning to infuriate her. All right, so his father had made a mistake, a big mistake, but hadn’t he paid for it by losing his wife? And now Johnny was behaving in exactly the same way for if her mum had shown any interest, she was sure he would have tried to start an affair.

Her mum had had a bit of a setback recently. She, too, had lost her spark briefly, confessing to Becky that, perversely, she had half expected
Alan to come storming over to drag her back. He had not done so, which had really drawn a line under it all. She had moped around for a few days but then, in her customary style, had bounced back and having Samantha close at hand was the saving grace.

‘Thanks for telling me, darling,’ she said, going across to Simon and putting her arms round him. ‘What an awful thing for you.’

‘Look, why don’t I take you to see Grandpa again soon? We’ll take Samantha. Would you like that?’

She smiled at him. ‘Yes, I would. He must have been quite a man once upon a time,’ she said thoughtfully.

‘An old rogue more like,’ Simon said with a rueful smile. 

‘H
I, DARLING.’
A
DELE
reached up to kiss her husband. ‘Good day?’

‘So so. How’s Alex?’

‘No problems at all. He missed his nap this afternoon so he’s exhausted. I’ve put him up to bed and he was off straightaway. He wanted his clown pyjamas on tonight.’ She smiled at him. ‘I’ve been checking on him every five minutes but everything’s fine. I can’t believe how much stronger he seems every day. He pulled himself up on to the sofa this afternoon when Mother was here and stood there looking very pleased with himself. He’ll soon catch up. Now, come on, take your coat off and I’ll pour you a drink before you eat. You look shattered. A whisky and water?’

‘Thanks. A large one.’

They were all shattered, she reflected, as she busied about in the kitchen whilst Rory relaxed with his drink. Dare she say it but things were marginally better of late. Rory had eased up on the running at least and they had had a long talk the other evening when they had each got a lot off their chests.

How they felt about Alex.

How they felt about each other.

How they were going to make this work.

So what if things had been tough – it was over now and neither of them was in a mood for giving up on it.

‘What have you been up to today?’ Rory asked as she peeped in to check that he hadn’t drifted off, drink in hand, as he was sometimes apt to do these days.

‘Oh, nothing much. Mother came over this afternoon to see Alex.’

‘Not to see
you
?’ he asked with a smile.

‘Well, me too. But particularly Alex,’ she replied, returning the smile, grateful that he hadn’t asked about her morning.

She had had the garden designer here for most of the morning but she would keep that quiet until later. The large back garden at The Manse was, to Adele’s critical eyes, a mess. It was good enough for Alex to play in, safe enough as they had now boarded over the pond, but hardly of the standard she aimed for. Although her mother had come up with a few ideas for replanting and reshaping, Adele felt she needed the
services
of an expert team. In any case, her mother had enough to do endlessly pottering in her own garden and she did not want to take advantage.

The designer, decidedly new-age with a shock of bright red hair, a flowing smock of a dress, a bewildering number of body piercings and large pink-framed spectacles, was brisk and efficient. She was going to come up with a detailed plan for Adele to look over at her leisure but her off-the-record suggestions sounded wonderful. Drinking herbal tea and a slice of homemade Victoria sponge in Adele’s kitchen, she had stared fiercely out at the garden and rattled off her ideas, effortlessly incorporating Adele’s must-haves into the plan.

The neglected pond at the bottom of the garden would have to go now that Alex would soon be on the move but the designer was
confident
that she could replace it with something startling and eye-catching. She was talking about giving vertical dimensions to the area with wooden pyramids on which would trail clematis, rambling roses and sweetpeas. The designer’s enthusiasm had bubbled over to Adele.

She could picture herself and Rory sitting on the new pink paved terrace having their pre-dinner drinks, bathed in the scented heaven and soaking up the evening sun. By the time the designer had gone, Adele had convinced herself that doing this, having a large-scale horticultural project to occupy her, might be the answer to all her current problems.

Coming down to earth, it was, alas, going to cost a lot even if she opted for the cheaper half-baked version, which she did not want to do. The designer had been a touch cagey about actual figures but Adele knew it must be all or nothing. She would wait until she got the
drawings
and the detailed estimate before she brought up the subject with
Rory but she could foresee no real problems. Doing it themselves was not an option. He would grumble probably, say ‘how much?’ in horror but then agree to it.

She wished she could keep her mouth shut. She had told the designer rather too much this morning about herself and she ought not to have told Becky about losing interest in her catering business because she was sure that was just temporary. Emma was as keen as ever although she had been doing the lion’s share these last few difficult months, had taken on a new girl to help, whilst Adele had, to be honest, fiddled about doing bits and pieces when she could. If she was an employee, then she would sack herself.

Emma understood or said she did. As Alex’s godmother, she had struggled to come to terms with his illness. She had not come to see him in hospital, finding it just too much, but she had popped round a lot since they were home, bringing him endless little gifts. Her constant reassurance about Adele’s present level of commitment was reassuring in itself but it didn’t stop Adele feeling guilty at leaving her in the lurch as she had. She had money tied up in the business, mostly her
grandmother’s
money, and she knew that Emma was painfully aware of that.

Over the last few months, her mind had been on one thing and one thing only – a tunnel vision of thought. As well as routine trips to their GP, there had been endless visits to the consultant, sitting there, stunned, listening to the explanations, trying to take in the medical stuff even when it was explained in the simplest lay terms. On some visits, she felt optimistic, others less so, trying to read faces all the time rather than the leaflets.

The literature they were given remained, at least by Adele, largely unread. Originally, they had hoped to postpone Alex’s operation until he was older and bigger, three or so, but he contracted a very bad chest infection which had hospitalized him and been horrendous. One awful night, when she had sat up all night long holding his chilly hand, listening to the wheezy breathing, seeing his little chest rise and fall, willing him to be better, she had imagined she might lose him. Rory had been there with her, for her, and they had clung together and, following a sleepless night, heaved a sigh of relief when, next morning, the crisis had passed and there was some improvement.

The baby monitor was switched on this evening as it always was but she was still nervous, popping up to check on the little boy more than
was necessary. His heart was mended, his breathing fine and he should be able to lead a perfectly normal life. How many times had the consultant told them that? How many times did she need to be told it? How long would it take before she actually believed it?

As to confessing to Becky the last time they had met that all was not well with her and Rory, well … why had she done that? That was a private matter and she had been truly indiscreet. The trouble was she hadn’t wanted to talk to her mother or even her grandmother and Becky had such a sympathetic look and she did trust her implicitly. She might tell Simon because they did not have secrets from each other but she wouldn’t breathe a word to anybody else. Of all her friends, even more than Emma, it was Becky who really understood how she felt these days because Becky had been there, done it herself.

‘How’s work going?’ she asked Rory when they finally sat down at the table. She was operating in second gear only just now with so much of her mind still focused on Alex but she had somehow managed to prepare a reasonable meal and there was a blackcurrant pie courtesy of her mother.

‘All right.’ Rory smiled at her. ‘It’s all settling back into the normal boring routine. It’s as if I’ve never been away.’

‘They haven’t minded you taking so much time off lately?’

‘No. After all, I’ve worked my fingers to the bone over the last few years, especially after Angela left me. I had nothing to come home for then. I put in more than enough extra hours and I’ve put a lot of new business their way. I reckon they owe me some.’

‘Poor you.’ She smiled at him. ‘They were kind anyway to send me the flowers and the get well card. Did you remember to thank them?’

‘Yes. Everybody wished you well. So, how did your day go? How was Louisa?’

‘Like me, she’s still a bit nervous and scared to death of Alex falling over and hurting himself. We’ll all get better at it. The only person who’s remotely unconcerned is Alex himself. I can’t believe how well he’s recovered, Rory.’

‘He’s a tough little boy.’ Rory managed a smile. ‘If I had to have the same operation, it would be a different kettle of fish, I can tell you.’

‘Oh yes. You would be a dreadful patient,’ she said, watching him carefully. He looked drawn and tired and when he was tired, he looked
old, older than his years, not surprisingly of course because of the strain of the last year, but there was more to it than that.

‘Everything is all right, isn’t it?’ she asked gently. ‘You’re not worried about the girls, are you?’

‘No. Why should I be?’

‘Have you heard from them recently?’ she asked, knowing that they would ring him on his mobile rather than run the risk of her answering the house phone. She regretted that, when Alex was ill, she had been rather short with them on occasions and she was finding it difficult to forgive what she saw as their lack of interest in their little half-brother.

‘I haven’t heard a word,’ Rory told her, not looking too worried. ‘The silence is deafening at the moment but that’s par for the course. They’ll be in touch eventually and I don’t like to press them. They’re grown up now. They don’t need me so much.’

‘Is Jackie still determined to have as expensive a wedding as she can possibly have?’ she asked, trying to keep her tone light although it was really bugging her. His daughter’s long delayed wedding had been on and off more often than a light switch but it looked as if it was going to go the whole way this time. Adele was beginning to suspect that Rory’s younger daughter was very like Angela, who had apparently put Rory through the wringer during the months leading up to the split. It came out in bits and bobs, the reasons why they had gone their separate ways, and she had to piece it together like a jigsaw puzzle. Asking Rory outright was not an option and she had no intention of quizzing his daughters either.

‘Expensive wedding? Jackie can have whatever she wants,’ he said. ‘Just because we did it on the cheap doesn’t mean she has to. It’s her first wedding.’

‘It was
my
first wedding,’ she reminded him tartly. ‘It’s not my fault that you had been married before.’

‘Sorry but I’m not going to suggest she economizes on her plans, if that’s what you want me to do?’

‘I didn’t mean that.’ She frowned at the sharpness of the tone. ‘Don’t jump down my throat. Of course she must have what she wants – within reason – but I just think you shouldn’t be so damned stubborn about paying for it all yourself. You wouldn’t be compromising yourself in any way if you accept a bit of help from Angela.’

‘Wouldn’t I just? You don’t know her.’

‘I’m meeting Becky Blundell again next week,’ she told him, swiftly changing the subject as she caught the look on his face. ‘Did I tell you? She’s coming over for lunch and bringing Samantha.’

‘That will be nice for you. Give her my regards. We must ask them over for dinner sometime. Is the little one all right?’

‘She’s fine.’

‘And how’s Becky coping?’

‘Same as us. Getting there slowly.’

‘I like Becky. She’s a very pleasant woman. You two seem to have hit it off big time.’ He pushed his plate aside. ‘That was lovely,’ he said, even though he had left a considerable portion of it.

‘Mother’s sent a donation to the cardiac unit,’ she told him, waiting a moment before she cleared away. ‘I think we should do the same, don’t you? It’s the least we can do. In fact, we’ve decided we’re making it our major charity this year. Mother’s getting all geared up to start fundraising. She’s hoping to persuade the village charity committee to support us.’

‘How much has Louisa sent?’ he asked and she looked sharply at him, detecting an odd tightness in his voice.

‘A thousand,’ she said. ‘She thought it was a good start-up figure. I think we should match it, darling. I know it’s not a good time with Jackie’s wedding coming up and everything but …’

‘No problem. A thousand it is.’

‘Good. Thanks. I knew you’d say that. I’ll write the cheque tomorrow.’ She picked up the dishes, waiting for him to stand up and help but he seemed rooted to the spot. Ah well, in for a penny, in for a pound, although she would hold fire on the garden plans just yet. ‘You wouldn’t mind, would you, if I had a little spend on some new clothes? I haven’t felt like it recently but now that everything’s going to be all right with Alex I feel like celebrating and splashing out on a new wardrobe. Something a bit glitzy. And he’s grown out of everything so he needs lots of new things as well. We can’t have our son looking like he’s dressed by Oxfam.’

‘Sure. Spend whatever you like.’

‘Thanks. I hate to ask you just now because I’m contributing
virtually
nothing to the budget at the moment.’

He smiled a little. ‘I didn’t marry you for your money.’

‘I must talk to Emma about work. She’s been carrying the can for me
for so long I feel I’m not pulling my weight at all. I don’t know if it’s fair to expect her to carry on like this. The trouble is I don’t feel like leaving Alex just yet. Mother’s offered to look after him whenever I like but she has enough on her plate with Dad and Gran.’

‘I don’t think you should expect her to look after Alex more than one or two days a week. If you go back into the business properly, we’ll have to think about a nursery.’

‘I’d rather get a nanny,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘I know it will cost more but I’d be happier doing that.’

‘We’ll talk about it later and don’t you worry about work. Take your time. Emma will understand.’

‘But is it fair? I think it might be better if I stepped back from it for a while. She’ll do very well without me, probably better, and she can always call on me if she’s rushed.’

‘Do whatever you like,’ he said, turning away from her. ‘I have some work to do. I’ll pop up and see Alex first.’