by M J Hardy
I take a moment to gaze around with satisfaction because yes, this place is two steps up from our previous house in London. It’s got more space, more rooms and more kerb appeal than the shabby terraced house we used to live in in Streatham. I still can’t believe that we sold that house for so much money, enabling us to buy this much bigger one nearer the south coast. Luckily, Streatham house prices went through the roof when commuters decided they wanted to settle there and regenerate an area that had seen better days. We were allocated the house by the council and bought it a few years back on ‘the right to buy’ scheme and have never looked back. So, here we are in Meadow Vale, living the high life and giving our kids the best start in life.
“Can I choose my room?”
“I want to choose, why does he get to go first?”
The boys argue almost immediately and I snap, “I chose your rooms. In fact, your things are already there, so I’ll leave it up to you to find them.”
They are out of the door almost immediately, and I hear their footsteps thundering up the stairs and sigh. Boys are very challenging in a lot of ways, but I wouldn’t change them for the world. Two gorgeous mirror images of their father who need a firm hand because they’re at that age where they could go either way. It was quite a timely move because they were forming friendships with the wrong boys and I could see trouble in their future. Billy is due to start secondary school in September and the one he was allocated is one of the roughest in the area. Now they have a place at local schools they can walk to that were both rated as outstanding by Ofsted. Yes, this move came just in the nick of time and I’m determined to make it a good one. We will make sure we fit in here because it’s time to change direction and make something of our lives.
“I could murder a cup of tea.”
Lucas throws his keys on the counter and looks so tired I feel a little bad. He’s worked so hard to make this happen and I know he was against moving out of London to the country because he’s lived in Streatham all his life.
Walking over, I wrap my arms around him and whisper, “Thank you.”
As his arms fold me inside the familiar, I breathe easier. We may argue and he may annoy me most of the time, but I wouldn’t be without him. He is everything to me and I want him to know that.
“I love you, babe.”
His voice whispers the words that always mean so much, and I squeeze him a little tighter. “Me too, you know we’ve made the right decision, don’t you?”
“If you’re happy, I’m happy.”
Pulling back, I stare at the familiar face that I’ve loved since I first set eyes on it in the playground at Streatham High fifteen years ago and grin. “I wonder what our friends will make of this place?”
“They’ll think we’ve gone posh, sold out and joined the white-collar brigade.”
“You’re probably right, but you don’t regret it, do you?”
I feel a little anxious because I nagged him for months to move here. As soon as I had the idea, I ran like a sprinter with it. It became the most important thing in my life to move out of London to a place I thought would be safe, respectable and the sort of community you see on the television. Nothing bad ever happens in places like these and I say softly, “Listen.”
He looks up and I laugh at the puzzled frown that he wears so well, “What?”
“Silence. Lovely, blissful silence. No traffic, no sirens and no shouting.”
I look past him through the patio doors onto a garden that is double the size of our last one and my heart settles. This was the best decision we ever made and even the loud thump on the ceiling and the sound of arguing doesn’t dampen my spirits because I know we made the right decision. We are home.
“I’ll go.”
Lucas rolls his eyes as we hear the boys fighting, and we share an amused grin. They are always fighting, but I know it’s just what brothers do. They’ve always been the same, but they love each other just as fiercely. Luckily, they are close in age with just eighteen months separating them and do everything together. I just hope they don’t show me up because I want us to fit in here. I want to live the life I always thought respectable people do, and I want us to be accepted.
Lucas heads off to deal with the boys and I make them a snack. Lucas picked them up from school after dropping the van back to the rental company, and the time that took gave me a few hours to get some order to a kitchen that I only dreamed of owning. It’s not the most expensive house on the development, but was the only one we could afford. Four bedrooms and a huge open-plan kitchen diner with an ensuite that I can’t wait to experience. Our last house had three bedrooms if you can call one of them a bedroom, more like an enlarged cupboard. No, now we have a spare room for guests and my Pinterest board is full of images of exactly how this house will look just as soon as I can persuade Lucas to step up and do a spot of decorating. I can’t wait to show our family and friends just how far we’ve come, and they will be astonished at how much more we got for our money here in Meadow Vale.
By the time the boys make it downstairs, I feel as if I’ve settled in already and as we sit around the table eating the makeshift tea I hastily prepared, I try to reassure everyone that this was what we all wanted.
“So, what do you think?”
I look at the boys hopefully and Billy shrugs. “I prefer our old house.”
Archie nods. “Me too. This place is weird.”
Lucas grins as I say crossly, “Don’t be silly, this place is heaps better than our old house, you’ve got your own rooms for one thing.”
Lucas nods. “And a bigger garden. I could rig up your goals and you could play football out there.”
I stare at him in horror, “Over my dead body, there’s a playing field two minutes away, they can go there.”
“Can we have a trampoline?”
Archie looks at me hopefully and I nod. “Of course, we’ll check the Argos catalogue later, maybe they deliver.”
Lucas groans. “For god’s sake, Esme, we’ve been here two minutes and you’ve started already. Couldn’t you wait at least a week before you give me one more job to do?”
“If you think I’ve only got one job for you, you’re mistaken. The list is growing by the second.”
The boys laugh as Lucas groans and I laugh lightly. Yes, this is what I imagined. Us all sitting around the table sharing family time in a place we can grow and breathe fresh air. I knew we’d made the right decision.
Chapter 3
Esme
After a sub-standard tea, we go for a walk to escape even more unpacking and as I walk hand-in-hand with Lucas, the boys' race ahead.
“I already love it here, we’re so lucky.”
Lucas nods. “It’s quiet though, I’m not sure if I’ll ever get used to not hearing the noise of the traffic. It feels a little eerie if I’m honest.”
“It’s better, way better because noise pollution is a silent danger.”
“Silent danger, what on earth are you talking about? How can noise pollution be a silent danger?”
Lucas laughs as I say crossly, “What I mean, is that you don’t notice it’s a problem because you’ve become immune to it. Now it’s gone, you notice it, which means you’re better off.”
Lucas laughs beside me and I mumble, “Well, I know what I mean.”
He squeezes my hand. “Yes, only you know what goes on in that brain of yours.”
As we pass, I look with interest at the houses that are similar to ours but a little different in some ways. There were four types of house built here, and each has its own name. The Wisteria is the most expensive with five bedrooms and three bathrooms and a rather impressive layout downstairs. Then there’s the Dahlia which has four bedrooms and a separate dining room with a smaller kitchen. The Daisy is a three-storey town house with an impressive master suite on the top floor and then there’s ours, the Rose, a four-bedroom home with smaller rooms and one less bathroom. The garden is also slightly smaller, but more than enough for us. We
also only have a single garage whereas the two more expensive ones have double garages, but never having had the luxury of one before, we are more than happy with a single. In Streatham we were lucky to find a space in the road outside our house, so this is pure luxury.
As we walk, I look with interest at the houses that surround ours and feel smug as I look at how high we climbed. We’ve made it, we’re now living the dream and I know we made the right decision, despite what Lucas thinks.
My husband is unusually quiet beside me, and I know he feels out of sorts. He was content to stay in London, I suppose because it’s all he’s ever known—all we’ve ever known, and yet he did this for me.
I squeeze his hand, feeling so grateful I found him. Everyone thought we were young and foolish when we got engaged at sixteen. When we married at seventeen, I could see the resigned expressions on both sets of parent’s faces as they thought we had made a huge mistake and yet here we are, twenty years later and still going strong with two gorgeous boys and a house I never dreamed of owning. We worked hard for it though, and it certainly hasn’t been easy. I mean, there were a few speed bumps along the way that slowed us down. A few redundancies and missed opportunities and the fact it took us a few failed attempts to get the family we craved so much.
The tears burn as I think about the dark time when getting pregnant was the most important thing in my life. It consumed me and I couldn’t understand why I was unsuccessful. I checked out medically and so did Lucas, but through no lack of trying, it never happened. It made little sense and I suppose I became a little obsessed with it but it paid off in the end. The results are play fighting a short distance away and I shout, “Boys, stop fighting, behave yourselves.”
Lucas laughs softly, “They’ll never change.”
“They’ll have to, I mean, I’m pretty sure this place frowns upon children.”
“Now you’re being ridiculous.”
“Am I though? I told you before, this place is eerily silent. Look around you Lucas, where are the kids on bikes? Where are the windows open with music blaring out and where are the kids playing? Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen any children all the times we looked around. Do you think there are any, or is it just people like Keith and Sandra Wickham, maybe our boys are the only life in the place?”
“Who are Keith and Sandra Wickham when they’re at home?”
“Our new neighbours and he is seriously square. He popped over when you were picking up the boys and gave me a folder on things we need to know. He was a little straight and above himself but maybe I was just being harsh, I mean, it was kind of him to stop by, don’t you think?”
Lucas nods and falls silent, and I kick myself. Why did I plant one more seed of doubt in his mind? He never wanted to move, and the boys certainly didn’t. In fact, they told me on numerous occasions I was ruining their lives and they would hate me forever. I didn’t care, mother knows best and yet now we’re here I’m not so sure. Was this the right move? It had better be.
As we walk around the corner, I look at the houses with interest. They built this part of the development before ours and it subsequently has a more lived-in look. Pretty houses set around the village green that have beautiful flower gardens and established borders. Lucas is quiet beside me and I whisper, “Do you wish we lived in this part?”
He sighs and says somewhat irritably, “No I don’t, Esme. I’m happy with what we’ve got and so should you. Anyway, these houses weren’t available, you know that.”
“Oh, for goodness’ sake, Lucas, I’m only asking, why are you so irritable?”
As we walk, I feel annoyed that he’s in one of his moods. I know we should be doing a million things back at the house like hanging curtains and settling in, but I was keen for us to take a breath and discover the area we moved to.
Meadow Vale is split into two parts at the moment. The first phase of houses set around a pretty green and then the part we have moved into, a smart street around the corner of the green. Houses were in demand and we were lucky to find a buyer for ours so quickly and I have to pinch myself that we pulled it off. There is more building work to come and I hope it doesn’t alter the ambience of the place because now it’s perfect. However, as we walk, it strikes me how deserted this place is. There are quite a few houses here, but no movement or activity. No eager husbands mowing the lawn or tinkering with their cars. In fact, there are very few cars around and I can only suppose they are at work, or the cars are safely locked in the garages of the smart houses.
After a while, I whisper, “Can you feel it?”
“What?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe I’m being stupid.”
“Just tell me.” Lucas is irritated and I almost say nothing but whisper, “I’ve just got a strange feeling we’re being watched.”
He laughs softly and squeezes my hand. “We probably are. I’m guessing the neighbours are curious about the new arrivals. I’m sure it won’t take you long to infiltrate the development. By the time I return home from work one day, you will have all the gossip and tell me things I’d really rather not know.”
“Maybe you’re right but I don’t know, something feels off to me.”
“Boys, if I have to tell you one more time, you’ll go to your rooms with no tea.”
“Supper, Lucas.”
“What?”
He looks at me in surprise and I whisper, “I expect they call it supper here. Don’t make us stand out any more than we do already.”
I can tell I’ve said the wrong thing when Lucas says tightly, “Stop.”
“What?”
“This, pretending we’re something we’re not. We’ve always said tea and I’m not about to change just to fit in with people we don’t even know. For all you know, these people could be murderers, gangsters, drug addicts or wife beaters. Don’t be so quick to think they are better than us.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, of course nobody here is like that. We are in a respectable neighbourhood now and have left all that behind in Streatham.”
“Are you serious?”
Lucas looks at me with disapproval and I colour up a little. “Ok, maybe I’m being unfair on our friends back home but honestly Lucas, do you really think Meadow Vale is home to riff raff? Just look at the number of windows with shutters on them, that should tell you these people have taste and money.”
“Or something to hide.”
“Now you stop. In fact, I want shutters as a matter of urgency and we have absolutely nothing to hide except for the mess you boys make.”
Sighing heavily, Lucas shouts, “Come on guys, time to head back.”
I know not to push my luck any further and just fall into step beside my husband but I know how I feel, something is off about this place and I’m certain we are being watched, call it a sixth sense, I can feel it.
Chapter 4
Esme
A knock on the door the next morning takes me by surprise and upon opening it, find the smiling woman from next door holding an envelope and a bottle of wine.
“Good morning, I’m sorry to disturb you.”
“Oh, no problem, would you like to come in?”
I feel a little flustered because as usual our house is a complete mess and I try not to let my relief show when she shakes her head and says apologetically, “I’m sorry, I can’t stop. I’m heading off to Pilates, but I just wanted to welcome you officially and invite you around this evening for social drinks.”
She hands me the bottle and the envelope and I smile gratefully. “That sounds great, we would love to come. What time?”
“Oh, shall we say seven? I’ve invited a few of the other neighbours and you can meet everyone in one go. Not that there’s many of us—yet, but it’s a start at least.”
“Thank you, we would love to come.”
With a smile and a wave, she heads back down the path and I close the door feeling excited. Yes, this is just what I envisaged when we moved here. Drinks with neighbours, get-t
ogethers and cosy chats over coffee. Now all we need is to find the local pub so Lucas will be happy and some friends for the boys.
“Who was that?”
Lucas materialises from the garden and I say happily, “Nancy from next door. They have invited us around there for social drinks at seven. I told you we’d fit right in.”
“What the hell are social drinks when they’re at home?”
Lucas raises his eyes and looks so shocked it makes me laugh. “The clue is in the title, babe, people here obviously like to party so you should fit right in.”
“What about the boys, are they invited?”
“She didn’t say.”
Lucas shrugs, “Oh well, it’s only next door, they can always stay here and shout if they need us.”
He heads off upstairs to drill yet another hole, and I feel good about things. Social drinks, whatever next.
At seven on the dot, we ring the doorbell next door and I smooth down my dress feeling anxious. Am I overdressed, will I fit in, will they be our sort of people?
Nancy answers the door with a huge smile, making me feel instantly at home and says sweetly, “Welcome, welcome, come on in and meet the others.”
The noise of conversation stills as we walk into her kitchen that runs the length of the house at the back, and I feel strangely shy as I grip Lucas’s hand and smile around me. Nancy pulls a man forward who nods with interest, “Hi, I’m Adrian, Nancy’s husband, you must be Esme and Lucas, I’m pleased to meet you.”
We shake his hand and Nancy says brightly, “This is Jasmine, she lives in the house opposite me and this is her husband Liam.”
I look with interest at a slightly serious looking couple who nod politely and shake our hands. Jasmine looks to be in her late thirties, early forties and Liam looks a little older. They are both very smart and make me regret wearing the dress I bought from the well-known chain store when I see hers is more designer than budget brand. Liam is wearing smart chinos with a polo shirt and I don’t miss the Rolex he has on his wrist. Both of them look immaculate and my heart sinks as I wonder what they must think of us.
