The Christmas Surprise (40 page)

Her hands were shaking so much she could barely hold the receiver, and it took her three goes, swearing all the while, to get the digits dialled. Finally the extension rang, and rang, and rang. Rosie was feeling torn between being desperate to get this over with and relief at putting it off for a while when the phone was finally picked up, and a different, younger voice said, ‘Hello?’

‘Um, hello,’ said Rosie, discombobulated. ‘Is, uh, is Joy there?’

‘Nooo,’ came the voice. ‘No. She’s on sick leave. She’s been signed off. I’m the replacement.’

‘What’s wrong with her?’ said Rosie, horrified. ‘Is she okay?’

‘Stress?’ said the voice, still sounding very chipper. ‘Yeah, she was finding it too stressful. People do, you know.’

‘I bet,’ said Rosie, a tiny pilot light of hope suddenly
leaping into flame in her chest as well as some astonishment at the leakiness of social service departments. ‘Um, we’re the Lakeman family. I wondered if … I mean, are you going to be looking after us?’

‘I guess so?’ said the voice, still in that youthful questioning register. ‘The thing is, Joy dropped her iPad, and she hadn’t backed up all the notes, so it’s a bit of a mess this end.’

‘Oh,’ said Rosie, blinking hard and letting out a breath she hadn’t even known she was holding.

‘Hang on,’ said the girl. ‘I can call you up on the computer … L-a-k-e-m-a-n?’

‘Yes,’ said Rosie. There was a long pause, and lots of clicking.

‘Okay, all it says is you’ve adopted a baby from overseas?’

‘Seriously?’

‘Yup, I know, she didn’t back a thing up.’

‘Wow.’

‘So, how are you getting on?’

‘We’re GREAT,’ said Rosie. ‘Really terrific.’

As if on cue, Apostil gurgled cheerfully into the telephone.

‘Sounds like it,’ said the girl on the other end. ‘Okay, well, listen, I don’t think you’re on our priority list for now … Can I put you on the end of my very long list, and pop round to see you in a month or so?’

‘We’re moving,’ said Rosie.

‘Oh, no problem. Just send us your new address when you get settled. And call if there are any problems, okay?’

‘Okay.’

‘How are you finding it?’ said the voice, in a friendly way. ‘My first baby, I was a bit all over the place.’

‘Us too,’ said Rosie, fervently. ‘But do you know, we just about seem to be pulling it together.’

‘That’s the spirit!’ said the woman, and gave Rosie her details, which Rosie pretended to write down before hanging up the phone.

Then she collapsed on to the sofa and burst into tears.

There was an envelope waiting in the sweetshop. Rosie, still slightly tear-stained, opened it. It was a copy of a referral letter from Moray to Derby General. He’d attached a Post-it: ‘Stephen told me. Good luck.’

There was also a letter from the nursing agency that she needed to use to re-register herself so she could get a job. So much paperwork. But oh my goodness, this was nothing compared with the relief – and slight guilt – she felt at slipping down the social worker’s files. She wondered if it had been her that had caused Joy’s stress. But weren’t social workers used to people shouting at them?

She wished she could send Joy a card or something to cheer her up, but was wary of bringing herself to her attention in any way.

She looked up as Hester clanged the bell loudly. Marie was, as usual, wriggling like crazy. When she saw Apostil, her face lit up. He also struggled forward.

‘They’re like two dogs sniffing each other’s bottoms,’ said Rosie, then wished she hadn’t. Even though it was against about a million Health and Safety regulations, she plopped Apostil on top of the glass cabinet that housed the chocolate bars, nose to nose with Marie, still in the ethnic sling, who stuck out a pudgy hand and patted Apostil hard on the head.

‘HEH,’ she said.

‘That’s right,’ said Hester. ‘That is his head. She’s a very early speaker,’ she said to Rosie. ‘I have to struggle to keep up with her! Ha ha!’

‘Ha ha,’ smiled Rosie.

Marie reached out and batted Apostil in the nose.

‘NEH!’

Apostil burst into tears.

‘Oh, does he cry a lot?’ said Hester, putting her head on one side. ‘Sometimes children do that when they don’t feel securely connected to their mothers.’

‘What can I get you?’ said Rosie, comforting Apostil and moving him backwards out of Marie’s reach.

‘Barley sugar, please. Arthur needs them for his
throat.’ This was Hester’s long-suffering husband. ‘He’s giving a paper at a major conference in Geneva. No surprise Marie is so verbal really.’

‘That’s nice,’ said Rosie blandly, fetching down the glass jar. ‘Small bag or large?’

‘Large, please … How’s Apostil coping in the cold weather?’

Rosie gave her a sharp look.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Well, you know. He won’t be used to the cold.’

‘He’s lived here for over half his life. He’s more used to it than I bloody am.’

Hester smiled beatifically.

‘Now don’t be so touchy, Rosie. I think it’s part of your duty to keep Apostil in touch with his heritage, that’s all.’

‘By turning up the thermostat?’

‘It’s all right for him to be different, Rosie,’ said Hester in her most infuriatingly gentle voice. ‘You must never force a child to fit in.’

‘I shall force him to fit in his duvet jacket,’ muttered Rosie, handing over the bag with bad grace.

‘Sorry to hear you’re leaving us,’ said Hester. ‘It was nice to have a bit of colour in the village.’

Rosie wanted to hit Hester quite badly now, so she turned away and forced herself to concentrate on the morning’s good news.

‘Although I suppose in Derby it’s a lot more … mixed.’

(Stephen said to Rosie later that you had to realise that Hester was probably only saying what other people were thinking, and Rosie had snapped back, yes, other RACIST people, and Stephen had shrugged and said, okay, she was evil, and Rosie had said, yes, she was and that was the end of that conversation. Rosie was already cross with him because he had been so delighted that Joy was ill, and didn’t have a word of sympathy for her. ‘She hounded us,’ he said.

‘She was doing her job,’ said Rosie. ‘Probably pretty well.’

‘Well go and call her, tell her to get up out of her sickbed and take our baby away,’ said Stephen, and Rosie silently fumed at him.)

Rosie stared so long at Hester that even Hester’s normally redoubtable self-confidence seemed to shrink a little, and she paid for her sweets and left, leaving Rosie furious and shaking and absolutely not in the mood for her next customer of the morning, as she heard spiky heels clopping up the street and looked with weariness at the skin-tight jeans and the tiny cropped furry coat and the huge pair of sunglasses even though there was no sun in the sky today and no prospect of any for quite some time.

‘Pamela.’

The door tinging was less of a welcoming ring and more of a clanging doom chime.

‘My brother is a prick,’ said Pamela, without bothering with any of the niceties. Old Mrs Brown, who was browsing for humbugs, scurried to one side.

‘Um, yes, sorry about yesterday, we had a lot going on,’ said Rosie. ‘Do you want to see Apostil?’

‘Yeah, great. Well done. Et cetera,’ said Pamela.

‘What are you up to?’ said Rosie politely. ‘Are your builders still in?’

‘Oh no, I told them if they weren’t clear by the weekend they’d not be getting paid. Triple shifts. You’ve got to be firm with these people.’

‘Okay,’ said Rosie.

‘No, I’m on my way to have it out with him once and for all,’ said Pamela.

‘Who?’ said Rosie.

‘Roy, of course.’

‘Uh, of course,’ said Rosie. She had rather thought that Roy snogging his ex-wife and getting back together with her in front of everyone in the entire town might have settled the matter pretty conclusively, but she wasn’t going to step in front of Pamela’s wrath.

‘Give me some chewing gum.’

‘We don’t stock it,’ said Rosie apologetically. ‘Lilian thinks it’s common.’

Pamela rolled her eyes.

‘How can it be when
I
want some?’

Rosie didn’t have an answer to that, so brought out the sugar-free mints instead.

‘What are you going to say to him?’

‘Apart from the fact that he’s a cock-sucking son of a bitch … sorry, Appy.’

Apostil beamed cheerfully. It slightly tickled Rosie that he seemed to love his aunt Pamela so completely. It was a combination of her making a lot of noise and wearing masses of sparkly, shiny things that attracted his attention, plus the fact that she didn’t coo or fuss over him. It reminded Rosie of those people who didn’t like cats, who would instantly have the nearest cat drape itself over them.

‘No, I just need to hear it from him. For closure, you know what I mean?’

Close up, Pamela didn’t look as tremendous as usual. Her skin had lost that buffed-up American sheen, and underneath the heavy make-up she was wearing she looked pale and wan, with dark shadows underneath her eyes. Her highlights had started to grow out at the roots, with little wiry grey hairs showing here and there, and she had lipstick on one of her teeth.

‘Um, are you sure that him getting back with Laura wasn’t closure?’

‘Not for me!’ shouted Pamela, popping two mints into her mouth. ‘And as soon as he sees me, I totally reckon he’ll reconsider.’

‘Do you really want him that much?’ said Rosie.

Pamela tilted her head.

‘Well. You know,’ she said. ‘There’s not a lot of men in this town.’

‘There’s nothing
but
men in this town,’ said Rosie, exasperated.

‘Yeah, if you want to marry a farmer. Or a primary school teacher.’

‘I would like that,’ said Rosie. ‘Come on, Pamela, you’ve been here for ten minutes. I’m sure there’s loads of other guys around here.’

‘Roy and I had a connection.’

‘Yeah, as long as you were debating brands of toothpaste,’ said Rosie. ‘Be sensible, Pamela.’

Pamela looked at her.

‘Well it’s all right for you, isn’t it, Miss Goody Two-shoes? With the man and the baby and the oh-so-sweetie sweetshop. Your life is totally sorted. So please don’t tell me how I should run mine.’

Rosie was completely taken aback by this. The idea that she could inspire jealousy in someone like Pamela had never crossed her mind.

‘All right then,’ she said. ‘Do you want me to call ahead to the surgery, see if he’s free?’

‘No,’ said Pamela, turning to leave without paying. ‘I want the element of surprise.’

‘How’s your morning been?’ Stephen had run up at lunchtime; he didn’t normally, but it wasn’t a full school day.

‘Surprising,’ said Rosie.

‘Oh,’ said Stephen, after she’d explained. ‘Ah.’

‘What?’

‘I heard shouting. On my way.’

‘Was it possibly dentist’s surgery shouting?’

‘I think I might have heard a drill going.’

‘Oh God, we should probably alert Moray.’

A thought struck her.

‘Laura isn’t back being his receptionist, is she?’

Stephen nodded slowly.

‘Oh my good Lord.’