The Hornbeam Tree (63 page)

‘So you two have finally finished whispering, have you?’ she said, glancing in the mirror again. ‘I feel like a chauffeur who can’t keep secrets up in front here.’

‘Yeah, but we’ve got a lot to talk about,’ Molly told her, ‘because it’s only two weeks to your birthday and there’s still a lot to organize – and don’t start going off trying to guess what we’re doing again, because you just show yourself up saying really dumb things.’

Katie chuckled.

‘Did you speak to Tom last night?’ Michelle asked Molly.

‘Yeah, and he’s totally cool about, you know, but it was his idea so he’d be a bit weird if he wasn’t.’

Michelle had to laugh, while loving Tom for being so attentive to Molly and her plans when he had so much else going on. ‘Laurie’s sending down a rough cut of the programme at the weekend, did she tell you?’ she asked Katie.

‘I can hardly wait. Are we allowed to give notes?’

‘You can always try,’ Michelle laughed.

Inside her waxen skin Katie was twinkling. ‘As Tom’s getting a copy too, I guess we’ll leave the editorial input to him,’ she said. ‘When’s Elliot coming back, do you know?’

‘I’m told in time for transmission, so Laurie’s not left on her own in London dealing with the fallout here.’

Katie frowned. ‘So it’ll be just us three watching it in Membury Hempton?’ she said. ‘Seems a bit damp-squibbish. Maybe we should whoop it up and invite Judy and Dave round?’

‘Oh yeah, like really, out there,’ Molly declared.

‘Rusty can come too,’ Katie offered.

‘Very funny. Anyway, where are we going, because we’re like, heading in the direction of nowhere.’

‘I think we’re like, here,’ Katie said, indicating to pull into a layby.

Molly looked around. ‘I know you’re not serious,’ she said, ‘because I mean, like, there’s nothing here.’

‘Yes there is,’ Katie assured her. ‘Can’t you see the trees? Come on, get out, I’ve got something to show you.’

‘You go on ahead,’ Michelle said. ‘I’ll catch you up.’

As she watched them trudge into the little woodland, she remained in the back of the car, trying not to see the starkly naked branches against the backdrop of a colourless sky, for their symbolism was simply too harsh an indicator of what she already knew they were about to face. The time was drawing close for Katie to leave now, and though she was trying hard to keep cheerful and
strong
, Michelle understood very well that bringing Molly here today was probably one of the last trips out she would make.

Inside the barren little copse the air was perfectly still. The ground was covered in sodden leaves, the brush netted in silvery cobwebs. Branches dripped randomly into the gloom. As Katie looked around at the skeletal trees whose limbs twisted sharply, yet somehow comfortingly around each other, she wondered if, without its glorious summer or autumn foliage, she’d recognize her own. However, once she saw it there was no doubt in her mind, for though it was as naked and enmeshed as the others, to her it appeared as a gleaming white beacon on the darkest night.

‘Do you see it?’ she said to Molly.

Molly screwed up her nose. ‘What?’ she asked.

Katie smiled, and linking her arm tighter took her right up to the tree. ‘It’s a hornbeam,’ she told her. ‘It has all kinds of healing qualities that I’ll tell you about later, but it’s a very special kind of tree, and this one here is ours, because we pay two pounds fifty every month to keep it alive.’

Molly’s green eyes moved up over the bark to the spiky grey limbs above.

‘I could have asked Michelle to do this,’ Katie said softly after a while, ‘but it’s you I need to tell really, because you’re growing up now, and because you’re my daughter, and because no-one else in the world matters more to me than you.’ She swallowed and forced a smile. ‘When the time comes, Molly, I’d like you to bring my ashes here.’

Molly’s eyes immediately came to hers and flooded with tears. ‘No, Mum, no,’ she gasped.

Katie smiled again, and pulled her into her arms.

‘I don’t want you to go, Mum,’ Molly said, clinging to her.

‘I know,’ Katie whispered, ‘but I’ll never really leave you, my love, not completely. We’ll always be a part of each other, and nothing’s ever going to change that, but we both have to face the fact that it’s coming time for me to let you go on with your life now, which is why I’ve brought you here. I’d like this to be our special place, Molly, somewhere just for us, where you can come if you need to talk to me, or simply to feel me close. I’ll always be with you anyway, but sometimes life gets all fraught and crowded, and you might need to feel a bit more private. This hornbeam will let you do that. You just have to put your hands on it, or your cheek, and … Come on, try … You’ll see what I mean.’

From where she was standing Michelle could see them beside the tree, arms around each other, cheeks resting on the bark, and she doubted anything would ever touch her more deeply. She remained where she was, watching as they talked and even laughed once or twice, and when finally she sensed the time was right she began walking across the clearing to join them.

‘Come and listen to Molly’s poem,’ Katie said, as she reached them.

Michelle turned to Molly and was surprised by the humour shining through her teary eyes.

‘We came here, my mum and I,’ Molly began, ‘and through the trees we could see the sky, she said to me this will be our very special place, and I said, couldn’t you pick somewhere a bit warmer?’

Michelle laughed and then cried and held them
both
tight. ‘That’s the worst poem I ever heard,’ she declared.

‘She has a gift,’ Katie said proudly.

As their laughter eventually faded they placed their cheeks on the bark again and held onto each other. Katie wasn’t sure if they were feeling the same stirring of energy that she was, but all that really mattered was that they’d claimed this big old hornbeam as theirs now. Any time they felt like it they could come here and know that somehow, in its own special way, it would link them. She smiled privately to herself, for, just as she’d hoped, this one last fix on the tree was giving her the strength to stay long enough to let Molly make one last dream come true.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

IT WAS FOUR
o’clock on the day of transmission. After working flat out for a full three weeks, with virtually no time to eat, sleep, or even think about anything else, Laurie finally delivered the edited master tape to the transmission centre in person, then called Elliot to let him know she was on her way home. By the time the taxi reached Butler’s Wharf the driver had to come and prod her awake, before helping to pick up everything that had spilled from her bag at a sudden stop.

Elliot was waiting with a drink, food and the strong arms she needed to carry her up to bed, where he left her until an hour before the programme was due to air, by which time several friends and colleagues were already starting to arrive.

Laurie showered quickly, threw on a pair of black trousers and white lacy top, called Michelle and Katie from the bedside phone, then feeling strangely remote from the building excitement, as though it were happening on some other kind of
plain
that she ought to be on, but couldn’t quite get to, she tripped downstairs to mingle with their guests. There were many more than she’d expected, so it took a while to work her way over to Elliot who was in the kitchen making cocktails.

‘Still tired?’ he murmured, as she slipped her arms around him and rested her cheek on his back.

‘Mm,’ she responded, loving the smell of him and tightening her arms. ‘But you did right to wake me, I don’t want to miss the show, even though I know how it ends. Katie and Michelle are having a little party too, they just told me. It’s a shame Tom’s not with us. Have you spoken to him?’

Turning to kiss her, he said, ‘Yep. He’s got a live transmission feed set up at the St Regis in Washington with a stellar guest list, apparently, ranging from three actual secretaries of state, to senators and congressmen from both sides of the House, to editors, broadcasters, political commentators … Frankly, if you haven’t made that list, you just haven’t made it.’

Laurie chuckled. ‘Then let’s hope he found good caterers,’ she quipped, ‘because there’s a lot to digest.’

Smiling and kissing her again, he shook the cocktail and began filling the glasses.

Wishing they were alone so she could kiss him the way she really wanted to, she settled for a drink and was about to start mingling again when Elliot said, ‘Nick’s here, have you seen him?’

Her heart immediately jumped, but her expression remained neutral as she looked across the bar.

‘Over by the window,’ he directed her, while handing a couple of glasses to the closest guests.

Finally spotting him, Laurie felt her insides tightening, and wondered how difficult she was going to find it to come face to face with him with all these people around, many of whom knew they’d been involved, even if they didn’t have all the details. She had to admire Elliot for inviting him, though he’d been right to, not only because Nick had played an integral part in the story, but because they moved in the same world, so needed to get used to running into each other.

‘Do you recognize the woman he’s with?’ Elliot asked, slipping an arm round her.

‘I feel as though I should,’ she responded, looking curiously at the strikingly attractive blonde who seemed, even without the silicone and collagen enhancements, to be oozing a similarly brazen appeal as spilled from Andraya. ‘Who is she?’

‘Her name’s Sandy Paull. Theatrical agent?’

‘Oh yes, I recognize her now,’ Laurie murmured. ‘Did they come together?’

‘Yes. Apparently she’s an old friend of Tom and Michelle’s.’

‘Really?’ Laurie commented, making a mental note to ask Michelle about her, but then on second thoughts, maybe she wouldn’t, because she really wasn’t that interested in Sandy Paull, in spite of Nick’s apparent fascination with her. In fact, she just felt happy for him that he’d met someone else already, and more certain than ever that she was exactly where she wanted to be.

When finally it came time for the programme to start, she sat down on the floor in front of Elliot, with a third Cosmopolitan and slightly blurred vision that allowed her to see only the flaws that
lack
of time had made inevitable. However, the message seemed to come across loud and clear that the US power merchants were out of control, for everyone gave her a rousing ovation when the final credits rolled, and almost instantly the phone started to ring.

The next few hours were crazy, just as they’d known they would be, as were the next days, right through to the weekend and into the following week. They’d already worked out how to handle it, with Laurie taking on the endless round of TV interviews, while Elliot handled radio and print, for he preferred to keep a much lower profile. Nick, Rose and several other members of the team did their share of live links, panel discussions and phone-ins too, as did Michelle, though in her case it was all by phone.

They spoke to Tom daily in Washington, whose schedule was even crazier than theirs. Immediately after the airing of the programme in Britain, two American papers had run his and Elliot’s full accounts of the story, complete with copies of the documents that had set it all in motion. However, nothing, but nothing, was going to prevent Tom from jetting over at the weekend to take part in Katie’s grand birthday surprise. His ticket was booked, the schedule had been kept clear, so, right on time, he flew into Heathrow early on Friday afternoon where Laurie was waiting to pick him up and drive him down to Wiltshire.

‘Elliot’s already there,’ she told him, as they drove out of the car park heading towards the M4. ‘He’s checked you into the same hotel as us, where you stayed with Michelle, she tells me.’

‘I know and love it,’ he confirmed. ‘So how are all my girls?’

‘Under the firm command of Molly, I believe, who’s absolutely thrilled to bits that she’s got all us adults dancing to her tune, which is Michelle’s way of putting it. Katie’s is to say that Molly’s sprouting a tufty little black moustache that she’d better wax off before the big event, because it’s not very becoming.’

Grinning, Tom said, ‘I take it Katie still doesn’t know what it’s all about?’

‘At the moment she thinks Molly’s got her a glittery little thong and a shiny pole to gyrate around.’

Tom turned to look at her.

‘One of Katie’s more bizarre dreams, to be a pole dancer,’ Laurie explained.

Giving a shout of mirth, Tom said, ‘Then she is in for a surprise. Tell me, did Molly opt for the live music, or recorded?’

‘Recorded, I think, but we’ll find out when we get there. Elliot says the van’s already parked outside, and Katie’s going berserk trying to work out whether MI5 have flipped and forgotten to disguise themselves, or if she’s about to be carted off in a coat without sleeves.’

‘I can just hear her,’ Tom laughed. ‘And what about the catering?’

‘All taken care of, mostly by Judy and Michelle in Judy’s kitchen. They had some professional help too, apparently.’

‘So,’ he declared, releasing his seat to give his legs more room, ‘sounds like we’re all set. I’ve brought my tux …’

‘Tux! That reminds me,’ Laurie gulped, and jabbed the speed dial on her mobile. ‘Elliot!’ she cried when his voice came over the speaker. ‘Where are you, can you talk?’

‘I’m in the car,’ he told her, ‘and I’ve just picked up the dresses …’

‘Oh thank God, that’s why I’m calling.’

‘That’s why you called last time,’ he reminded her.

She laughed. ‘Really? And you’ve got your DJ?’

‘Yes. Did you remember my shoes?’

‘They’re in with mine. How’s Katie today?’

‘Aquiver, she tells me. Though Michelle’s making her lie down at the moment, because she’s getting out of hand.’

Laurie and Tom laughed.

‘I’m just pulling up at Judy’s now,’ Elliot informed them, ‘she’s keeping the dresses, while I go to pick Molly up from school. Apparently she’s spotted a tiara that’s totally wicked, and I just have to see it.’

‘I’m sure it’ll suit you,’ Tom informed him.