Libby in the Middle

by Gwyneth Rees

  Aunt Thecla was glaring at me. ‘What else did she tell you?’

  I blushed. ‘Nothing really. I mean, I only know that you and Tansy’s dad were engaged when you were young.’

  ‘We were very young,’ Aunt Thecla added, in a tone suggesting that in her opinion ‘very young’ and ‘very foolish’ went hand in hand. ‘And, yes, the boys called me Bluebell – not that it matters any more.’ Her tone became softer. ‘Now … while I have the three of you here, I have something to give you all.’ She headed for the living room, clearly expecting us to follow.

  ‘Here we go,’ Bella muttered under her breath, but as we entered the room Aunt Thecla gestured towards the coffee table, where we saw three sparkling brooches.

  ‘They’re diamond brooches that belonged to my mother,’ she explained. ‘After your grandfather died I found them in his safe. There was a note with them, asking me to give one each to you three girls.’

  ‘I want this one!’ Grace burst out excitedly, rushing to grab one, while Bella and I just stood back in silent awe.

  ‘I thought you’d like that greyhound brooch, Grace,’ our aunt said. ‘It’s set with diamonds but it has a ruby eye and ruby collar … and I thought the bird of paradise would be perfect for you, Bella. Quite beautiful and exotic, don’t you think?’

  She handed it to Bella, who gently ran her fingers over the diamond-studded body and the ruby and emerald detail in the tail. I could tell that she loved it.

  ‘Libby, I thought you would like the bumblebee. Very quirky and unusual, don’t you agree?’ She handed the last brooch to me. Its body was set with diamonds but unlike the other two it was finished with dainty black enamel stripes.

  ‘It’s beautiful, Aunt Thecla. Thank you,’ I said as Grace made her doggy brooch leap about on the coffee table.

  ‘I’ve had them valued and each brooch is worth around five thousand pounds,’ she told us matter-of-factly.

  ‘Five thousand?’ I thought she must be joking at first. Come to think of it, even if she’d said five hundred pounds I’d have thought she was joking.

  ‘Yes. The bee one is possibly a bit less valuable but it’s always been my favourite. We kept bees for a while when I was a child, you know. Once, when your dad was about ten or eleven, he decided to try and steal some of their honey. He covered up well and used gloves but he didn’t think about his face. The bees got in plenty of stings, I’m afraid.’

  ‘Poor Dad,’ I said sympathetically.

  ‘Yes. And after our father got through with him I don’t know what stung more – his face or his bottom,’ she added drily.

  ‘That is so mean!’ I burst out.

  ‘Well, it was almost forty years ago and your grandfather had quite old-fashioned ideas about raising children even then.’

  ‘Dad says Grandpa was a horrible father,’ I said.

  She let out a sad sigh. ‘I think if our mother had been able to support him more – rather than being sick and needing his help a lot of the time – then things might have been different. But, yes, your dad didn’t have an easy time growing up. Our father was harder on him than on me, I think mainly because he was a boy.’

  ‘Come on, Libby!’ Bella said impatiently. She’s never as interested in hearing about the past as I am. ‘We have to leave now.’

  I ignored her, longing to hear more about Dad as a boy and to find out what Mrs Mayhew had meant when she’d called him a rebel.

  But Aunt Thecla seemed to pull herself back to the present as she said, ‘Yes, we’d better get you to the dentist. Just because it’s only your mother it doesn’t mean we should be late.’

  Chapter Fifteen

  Tansy and her dad were still in the waiting room when we got there, which meant Mum must be running late.

  ‘Hi, Libby,’ Tansy greeted me at once.

  ‘Hi, Tansy,’ I said with a grin, feeling pleased to be welcomed in such a friendly manner.

  Aunt Thecla looked less pleased, however. In fact, she sounded particularly awkward as she said hello.

  I sat down across from Tansy’s dad so that I could sneak a better look at him, trying to compare him to that photograph I’d found. I was dying to tell Tansy about it but I knew this wasn’t the right time.

  Tansy’s dad cleared his throat and seemed like he was about to say something. Aunt Thecla looked across at him expectantly, but then he seemed to change his mind.

  ‘We’ve been waiting ages,’ Tansy said conversationally. ‘We were supposed to go in half an hour ago.’

  ‘Well, I’m sure there’s a perfectly good reason,’ Aunt Thecla snapped, her haughty side coming out in defence of Mum.

  I felt embarrassed, since I was pretty sure Tansy hadn’t meant to be critical. Before I could think of something to say to smooth things over Grace did the job for me.

  ‘Mummy says it’s never her fault if she’s running late,’ she said earnestly. ‘It’s always because of a difficult patient or a difficult tooth.’

  Tansy grinned and her dad let out a laugh. ‘Well, at least we haven’t heard any screams coming from inside,’ he said.

  Aunt Thecla gave a little laugh to match his.

  Grace was looking at Aunt Thecla curiously. ‘From now on I’m going to call you Aunt Bluebell!’ she suddenly announced.

  Our aunt immediately sobered up. ‘Don’t be silly, Grace.’

  ‘But it’s a really pretty name. And you’re really pretty when you laugh.’

  Aunt Thecla blushed and Bella and I glanced at each other, not knowing whether to laugh or squirm.

  ‘Tansy, would you like to go through now?’ the receptionist said.

  As Tansy stood up so did her dad. ‘I want to have a chat about whether or not you need braces.’

  ‘Mum said I don’t have to!’

  ‘I know, but she’s a doctor not a dentist. I want a second opinion.’

  As they left the waiting area Bella whispered to me, ‘Sam thinks he needs braces.’

  Unfortunately our aunt overheard. ‘Sam? Isn’t that the boy you had all the problems with?’

  Bella scowled. ‘Dad was the only one with a problem.’

  I expected Aunt Thecla to jump to Dad’s defence, but surprisingly she just looked thoughtful as she asked, ‘A bit overprotective, was he?’

  ‘More like a lot overprotective! And a lot over-interfering and overbearing!’ Bella declared with feeling.

  Aunt Thecla nodded as if she understood. ‘Well, he’s always been overprotective of the people he cares about. If he was like it with me when we were young, I’m sure he must get terribly upset when any of you three try anything too adventurous.’

  ‘Did he try and stop you from doing stuff then?’ I asked curiously. ‘Even though you were older than him?’

  ‘Anything he thought risky, yes. I think it was because our mother had died and he was terrified of losing me too. Of course I had no understanding of that back then. There was only one time when he interfered and caused something dreadful to happen as a result –’ She broke off abruptly as Tansy’s dad came back into the waiting room alone and told the receptionist he was just popping outside for some fresh air while he waited for Tansy.

  ‘Well, Libby … Bella …’ Aunt Thecla said. ‘I’m sure you two can keep an eye on Grace until your mother is ready for you.’ And she promptly left too. Through the window we could see her chatting to Tansy’s dad.

  As soon as it was just the three of us, Bella whispered to me that she was going to meet Sam the moment her check-up was done. ‘Cover for me when you get home, OK?’

  ‘How?’ I protested.

  ‘I don’t know. Tell them I went for a walk. Say I wanted some time on my own to think.’

  I rolled my eyes, imagining how well that explanation was going to go down. Meanwhile, I couldn’t stop thinking about what Aunt Thecla had just let slip about Dad. He’d certainly never told us about any catastrophe he’d caused as a boy, so what was she talking about? I found myself wondering if Tansy knew anything about
it. After all, it was possible that her dad might have told her something. I decided that when she came back into the waiting room I was going to try and arrange a time for the two of us to meet up.

  I won’t bother describing my hideous dental check-up, but just imagine a normal dental appointment, minus the usual politeness.

  ‘Open your mouth wider, Libby!’

  ‘Aaa …’

  ‘I thought you said you’d been flossing?’

  ‘Aaa … haa …’

  ‘Not well enough, young lady! Look at all this tartar.’

  Mum shoved the end of her metal probe under my nose to show me the bit of yellow gunk she’d scraped off. Then she went on about how I can’t afford to be lazy when it comes to flossing since I have such tight gaps between my teeth (which comes from Dad’s side of the family, according to her).

  Dad was waiting for us at home when Grace and I got back. (Mum couldn’t come straight home because she had to go to a meeting again.)

  ‘So how did it go?’ he asked us.

  ‘Great!’ Grace enthused. ‘Mummy says my teeth are perfect, and she let me ride up and down in her chair.’

  ‘Dad, I hate having Mum as our dentist,’ I complained. ‘Why can’t we go somewhere else?’

  He ignored that, just as he always does, and asked, ‘Where’s Bella?’

  ‘Oh, and guess what?’ I added swiftly. ‘I met Tansy Godwin at the dentist. She says I can text her anytime I want to go round to her place or meet up. Isn’t that cool?’

  ‘Tansy Godwin?’ His attention was temporarily diverted as he added sharply, ‘Michael’s daughter?’

  ‘That’s right. And guess what? We’ll be starting at St Clara’s together!’

  ‘Thecla mentioned that was the case.’

  ‘Did she mention anything else … about the Godwins, I mean …?’

  Dad scowled. ‘Why should she? Libby, where is Bella?’

  ‘Bella? Oh, well …’ I decided it was pointless trying to stall for any longer so I told him she’d gone for a walk.

  ‘A walk? Where?’

  ‘Oh, just around the village … She said she wanted to do some thinking.’

  ‘Thinking?’ Dad made it sound as if the idea of my sister thinking was totally preposterous. ‘About what exactly?’

  Fortunately Grace chose that moment to interrupt. ‘Daddy, did you know Aunt Thecla gave me a diamond dog today?’

  ‘It’s a diamond brooch,’ I explained swiftly to Dad. ‘She gave us all diamond brooches. She says they belonged to your mother. They’re really valuable.’

  ‘How valuable?’ Dad asked with a frown.

  ‘Aunt Thecla says each one is worth five thousand pounds.’

  ‘Our grandpa left them for us when he died,’ Grace added.

  Dad immediately tensed. ‘I think I’d better go and have a word with your aunt once Mum gets home. Where are these brooches now?’

  ‘Still at Aunt Thecla’s,’ I told him. ‘They’re really beautiful, Dad.’

  ‘I’m sure they are,’ he grunted. ‘My mother had very good taste.’

  Bella got in an hour later, after failing to answer any of Dad’s calls. He was furious with her, and the second she walked into the house he demanded, ‘Where have you been, young lady?’

  My sister shrugged, avoiding his gaze. ‘Out.’

  ‘Bella …’ Dad sounded like he was about to ground her for the rest of her life if she didn’t give him a proper answer.

  ‘Look, Dad, it’s not like you tell us everything, is it?’ she snapped defensively.

  ‘This isn’t about me!’

  ‘Actually, it sort of is …’ she persisted defiantly. ‘Because you and Mum are our role models, so if you don’t value the truth, then why should we?’

  He gaped at her. So did I. It’s at times like these when I honestly think Bella must be more intelligent than she lets on. Or more suicidal.

  ‘Exactly what do you mean by that?’ Dad growled.

  ‘Well, you haven’t exactly told us the truth about lots of things, have you?’

  ‘What things?’ he demanded indignantly.

  ‘For starters, you’ve never told us you were expelled from school!’

  ‘What?’ I exclaimed loudly.

  ‘It’s true! Ask him if you don’t believe me!’

  I couldn’t believe it. But I didn’t need to ask Dad because I could tell by his face that she wasn’t making it up.

  ‘He was sixteen,’ Bella went on, ‘the same age as Sam when he left school! Only unlike Sam – who left because he actually had a job to go to – Dad got kicked out!’

  ‘Who told you all this?’ Dad asked her gruffly.

  ‘I just spoke to gossipy Valerie from the uniform shop and she told me. So come on, Dad. What did you do?’

  ‘Yes, Dad,’ I echoed. ‘What did you do?’

  But whatever Dad had done he clearly didn’t think the story was fit for Grace’s ears, because he swiftly told Bella and me to stop talking about it in front of her. (Even though she was too engrossed in the TV to bother listening.) ‘Come on, Grace. Time to go upstairs. I’ll run your bath now.’ But before he went he suddenly asked Bella again where she’d been this afternoon. ‘I can’t believe you spent a whole hour exchanging gossip with Valerie Mayhew.’

  As she started to say that she’d gone for a walk because she needed a chance to think, I quickly thought of an excuse that Dad might actually believe.

  ‘She was phoning Sam!’ I blurted.

  Dad of course had no trouble believing that. He just assumed Sam was still living in our old town. ‘I’d rather you phoned him from your bedroom, Bella,’ he grunted.

  ‘Why? So you can listen in?’ she grunted back.

  ‘Why would I want to listen in?’ Dad retorted. ‘In fact, I can hardly imagine anything worse! I’d just rather know you were safely up in your room rather than wandering about the streets, that’s all. Though you do realise you won’t be able to phone Sam every evening once school starts and you’ve got homework to do.’

  ‘Oh yeah … because you know all about homework,’ Bella said sarcastically. ‘Oh no, wait a minute … I forgot … you didn’t have any homework when you were my age because you’d been expelled!’

  He just rolled his eyes and headed upstairs to find Grace.

  ‘I can’t believe Dad really got expelled!’ I said as I joined Bella in the living room. ‘What could he have done that was so bad? I mean, this is Dad we’re talking about!’

  ‘I know! It’s great, isn’t it?’ she said with a grin. ‘Every time he has a go at me about school, I am so going to throw this back at him!’

  ‘As soon as Grace is in bed I’m going to ask him,’ I said.

  To be honest I expected the truth was that Dad had been involved in some misguided prank that had gone horribly wrong or that he’d taken the blame for something he hadn’t actually done. I was certain he could never have done anything actually worthy of expulsion.

  But in the end I didn’t get the chance to ask him because Mum arrived home just as Dad was putting Grace to bed. Mum immediately took over with Grace, and he told her that he was going round to speak to Aunt Thecla about the brooches.

  ‘Well, if it’s your mother’s jewellery, surely it’s perfectly natural she’d want to pass it on to the girls,’ Mum said after he’d explained what had happened. ‘Honestly, Paul, I really don’t see the problem. In fact, I think it’s a very sweet gesture.’

  ‘The problem, Nina, is that any normal person would talk it through with us first – not directly hand over fifteen thousand pounds in jewels to three kids. It’s ridiculous.’

  ‘Perhaps Aunt Thecla thought you’d say no because it was our grandfather who wanted us to have them,’ I suggested.

  Mum’s mouth twitched at the corners slightly. ‘Don’t be silly, Libby! I’m sure Daddy isn’t that petty.’

  Dad grunted that where his father was concerned he was that petty. ‘I don’t want his money,’ he murmured. �
�Or his valuables.’

  ‘They’re not his any more – they’re Thecla’s,’ Mum argued. ‘Anyway, I thought you’d want the girls to have something that belonged to your mother.’

  He seemed really tense when he left the house and I just hoped he and Aunt Thecla weren’t about to have an argument. Mum must have been thinking the same thing, because just before he closed the front door she yelled out, ‘Whatever she says, Paul, just take a deep breath and count to ten! And remember she’s paying the school fees!’

  Chapter Sixteen

  ‘I didn’t think Dad would actually bring our brooches back with him from Aunt Thecla’s. Did you?’ I asked Bella as we lay in bed that night.

  Bella didn’t reply. She was admiring her bird of paradise brooch, which was glittering under the light from the lamp on her bedside table. I knew for Bella it was the brooch itself – the beauty of the thing – that mattered the most, rather than how much it was worth or where it came from.

  For me the greatest value lay in the fact that the brooches had once belonged to our grandmother. They were proper family heirlooms that I could imagine my sisters and I passing down to our own daughters one day. I’ve always wanted to know more about my family, and I love watching programmes on TV where people trace their ancestors and find out more about how they lived and what they were like. I’m really keen to research my family properly one day, though it’s going to be hard to get any helpful information out of Dad since he never seems to want to talk about the past.

  It turned out that Aunt Thecla had already insured the brooches for us. She said she wanted us to wear them without worrying about them getting lost or stolen. That also meant Dad couldn’t complain about the cost of having to insure them himself. Mum and Dad had still got Grace and me to hand ours over to them for safekeeping, but Bella had refused, saying she was old enough to look after her brooch herself.

  ‘I bet Sam’s glad he’s not sleeping outside tonight,’ I whispered. The rain was clattering down outside and I wondered how the cottage roof was holding up and whether Sam had enough containers to place under all the leaks.