Stealing the Show

by Christina Jones

  ‘Nell!’ Ross was moving even closer. ‘Come on, sweetheart. Calm down. Look, I know you and Claudia were close, but you’re Danny’s family, for Christ’s sake. And families stick together …’

  ‘You stick with him if you want to. I’ll never have anything to do with him again!’

  She tore along the venue of deserted stalls, the flinty path making her stumble, the sharp stones like needles in her bare feet. She was desperately tired – but the show must go on, she thought hysterically. In a few hours it would be all lights and music and jollity. The rides and the joints closed in around her. It was stifling. Her tiny world was suffocating her.

  ‘Nell,’ Terry swung down from the Beast Wagon. ‘Is there anything I can do?’

  She stopped between the sheeted-up darts stall and the mobile canteen with its incongruously cheerful adverts for hot dogs and burgers, candyfloss and toffee apples. ‘I don’t think so, thanks. I know all the lads were up in arms this morning – but half of them work for Danny. They’ll have to keep their mouths shut if they want to keep their jobs.’

  ‘Alfie and Mike were worried about the paratrooper. Like, with Sam gone, and now that Danny’s got Barry and Ted on the waltzer, they wondered –’

  ‘I’m sure the paratrooper will be open tonight. Ross and Danny will make sure of that – and it they don’t then I will. Alfie and Mike can run it themselves. They know the ropes. Just tell them not to worry.’

  ‘OK. But you will tell me if you hear from them, won’t you? They were great to me – Sam and Claudia – that night at the police station and afterwards. I’d like to kill Danny. He always treated her like dirt.’

  ‘I know.’ Nell felt the tears welling up in the back of her throat again. ‘Look, as soon as I hear, I’ll let you know. But honestly, in the meantime, just keep out of Danny’s way.’

  She drifted through the remainder of the side stuff and sat on the steps of the dodgems’ pay-box. Birds were singing in the high trees and the air fluttered with butterflies. It must be the same as this when someone died, Nell thought, scrubbing at the ground with her toes. Everything going on as normal when you think it should stop. Life outside being the same when inside you’re screaming.

  Logistically, the loss of Sam and Claudia wouldn’t cause problems for very long. The gaff lads could work the paratrooper; Mercedes and Nyree-Dawn would be delighted to be elevated to the hoopla; spare pairs of hands would be co-opted in from the Percival minions before they left Monkton Regis. The show, she thought bitterly, would definitely go on …

  ‘Nell, love,’ Adele sat wearily beside her. ‘Oh, Nell – what a balls-up.’

  Despite her misery, Nell smiled. ‘That about sums it up. What are you going to do?’

  ‘Nothing.’ Adele jiggled the golden guitars. ‘There’s nothing we can do. I knew – I knew about Claudia –’

  ‘What? And you didn’t say anything? For God’s sake –’

  ‘Oh, no. Not the bedroom stuff.’ Adele looked embarrassed. ‘God, no. I’d have stepped in long ago if I’d known about that. I mean Claudia and Sam – I saw them together at Blenheim. They were kissing. I knew then …’

  ‘Christ! I didn’t even suspect.’ Nell shook her head. ‘And does Dad know?’

  ‘No. Best not worry him with that as well, I thought. Anyway, I could have been mistaken – I spoke to them about it – they said they were messing around. And I wanted to believe them. I love them both. Claudia has always been like a second daughter.’ Adele sighed heavily. ‘After all, we had the Crash’n’Dash and the gallopers to throw at your father – and they were realities. I thought anything else might be a bit too much. Anyway –’

  Nell’s phone burst into its ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ and they looked at each other. Claudia and Sam? Nell snatched at it eagerly, her words spilling over themselves. The answering voice didn’t belong to anyone she knew. For a second her tired brain couldn’t quite assimilate the words. Five-day course … paperwork OK … start Monday … nine o’clock … OK?

  God! Big Wheelers. Jack’s HGV course! Was it less than twenty-four hours ago that she’d telephoned to book it? Less than twenty-four hours ago that she and Jack and the Downland Trusters had beaten the Carter’s build-up time – admittedly without the organ, the lighting, and the horses, all of which would have been far too heavy to have been included in that first build-up – by ten minutes? They’d toasted themselves in freezing Beck’s, and she’d gazed at the rounding boards and wanted to cry. She’d done a lot of crying since. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

  Adele was watching and listening intently as Nell confirmed the details.

  ‘Just a – um – bit of business.’ She punched out Jack’s number. ‘Heavy goods training …’

  ‘For the lads?’ Adele raised an unpainted eyebrow, and Nell noticed for the first time that her mother wasn’t wearing any make-up. She looked soft and vulnerable. ‘Only I thought they’d all been trained? I thought –’

  ‘Er – Terry.’ Nell blushed. She hated lying. There was no reason why her mother shouldn’t know about Jack, was there? Was there? His mobile was switched off, too, and she gave a sigh of annoyance.

  ‘Terry? Is he old enough? I thought –’

  ‘Mum, it’s not important. We’ve got a lot more important things to sort out. Like the money, the business. I mean, the paratrooper belongs to Sam. And if Claudia isn’t coming back, then she’s still entitled to a share of the overall takings. You and Dad ought to be seeing the bank manager or the solicitor or both and getting things sorted out.’

  ‘Oh, Ross said he’d see to all that.’

  Nell groaned. Of course he would. Ross and Danny would have it all neatly sewn up by the end of the day. Sam and Claudia would probably never see another penny from Bradleys – and Clem Percival would move mountains in the Guild to make sure that they didn’t make a fresh start if Ross told him to do so.

  Adele rubbed her eyes. ‘We all ought to try and get some sleep. I – I don’t really want to see Danny. Your father will have said all that is necessary. I can’t believe he hit her –’

  ‘He didn’t. I’m sure he didn’t. What he did was far worse really. He abused her – and frightened her and made her believe she was in the wrong all the time. And yes, OK, maybe there were faults on both sides, but she didn’t deserve that.’

  ‘No, she didn’t. Still,’ Adele tried to smile, ‘we’ve got your wedding to look forward to, haven’t we?’

  The birds were singing. The butterflies filled the air. Life was returning to even more normality; someone had started a generator and somewhere music was spilling from an open window. She couldn’t marry Ross. She couldn’t marry Ross and travel with Danny.

  ‘I suppose so. Although I don’t feel much like thinking about lifelong commitment and Happy Ever After at the moment.’

  ‘No, I don’t suppose you do. Poor Claudia.’

  Adele closed her eyes. Nell could see the lines and the broken veins, usually so carefully camouflaged. She leaned her head on her mother’s shoulder. ‘I don’t think Ross would turn out to be like Danny, Mum. But how the hell does anyone know until they’ve lived together?’

  Adele pulled Nell to her. ‘It’s a gamble. But you and Ross have known each other for so long, I’m sure you wouldn’t be taking any risks. Maybe that’s where flatties have the edge over us. They test-drive their relationships first, don’t they? Do you think Ross would agree to that? A sort of trial run?’

  Nell wanted to laugh. Adele was the last person on earth to condone living in sin. ‘It’s more involved than that. It’s having to stick with Danny, when I hate him so much. And I’d have to because Ross and Danny have already ordered extra Jessons machines – the expansion is well on course. If I want to travel on my own with the gallopers, then marrying Ross is the only way that I’ll get the Memory Lane Fair on the road – unless Clem would give us the trucks as an “over the brush” present instead.’

  But she knew that he wouldn’t. So did Adele. With
Clem’s power it was marry Ross or face a life in the non-Guild wilderness.

  ‘Clem was right,’ Adele said bitterly, stroking Nell’s hair. ‘It is all my bloody fault. I wanted to bring you and Ross together. I interfered by buying the Crash’n’Dash – and look what’s happened.’

  ‘It’s not your fault.’ Nell’s face was muffled in the pale pink cotton bosom. Her mother may not have had time for the make-up but she’d managed the earrings and the Obsession. ‘It’s not anyone’s fault. It’s just life. Full of ups and downs. Like a roundabout – swings and bloody roundabouts.’

  She thought about the gallopers, about the Downland Trusters, about Jack. Especially about Jack. She’d let them all believe that she could make their dreams come true. She thought about the ‘Petronella Bradley’s Memory Lane Fair’ emblazoned on the golden rounding boards, of the organ, of playing ‘Paree’ on that inaugural outing. There must be something she could do, some decision she could make, that would unravel this appalling mess.

  ‘Ross always said he wanted a three-way split.’ She looked at her mother. ‘And maybe that’s what he’s going to get. I’ve got to go and see someone first though. Look, Claudia and Sam will be in touch whenever they can. She’s safe now. I don’t give a toss about Danny – and neither should you. There are more important things to be sorted out. Would you like a visit back home?’

  ‘Highcliffe? What for? Not until all the legal side has been sorted out. I don’t think Peter and I should leave until that’s been done and –’

  Nell was scrambling to her feet. ‘Not Highcliffe. Fox Hollow. I want to show you my part of the business.’ She hauled Adele after her. ‘Let’s go and get the slap on. Let’s leave the boring legal and business side to the men, Mum. Let’s go and have some bloody fun.’

  Adele still looked bemused as Nell rattled the Volvo into the yard at Fox Hollow. They’d made a fist of showering and putting on some make-up, although weariness meant it wasn’t as effective as usual. The yard was deserted. The Roadster was missing. Nell was fairly relieved. Much as she wanted to see Jack, this visit would be easier without him.

  She unlocked the shed, switched on the lights, and waited for her mother’s reaction.

  Adele walked slowly towards the again-dismantled gallopers, looked at everything, lifted the tarpaulin on the Gavioli, stroked the immaculately decorated horses, then finally stared at the rounding boards. She didn’t speak.

  Nell was overwhelmed by the essence of Jack. His living quarters were still between the ghost train and the caterpillar, although Adele didn’t appear to have noticed; the smell of him was everywhere. A pair of paint-splashed black jeans and a blue T-shirt were screwed up by the music cupboard and Nell picked them up, meaning to put them on the bed. She bunched them in her hands and laid her cheek against them, closing her eyes.

  ‘Nell,’ Adele’s voice penetrated her thoughts. ‘Nell, it’s wonderful – incredible. I had no idea – and keeping them here. Ross and Danny kept ringing me to find out where they were. I would never have thought –’ She touched Nell’s arm very gently. ‘This is it for you, isn’t it? Not Matterhorns and white knuckles? Oh God, Nell. What have I done to you?’

  Nell bit her lip. A thousand emotions were tangling inside her and if she gave way to one of them she’d probably howl. Yes, this was her life. This was her future. The Memory Lane Fair was all she’d ever wanted, and now she was so close to realising the dream, she couldn’t and wouldn’t let it go.

  Claudia had been brave enough to throw away her security. Claudia had eventually found the courage to change her life. Could she be as brave as Claudia? Could she take that final, irrevocable step? Nell thrust Jack’s clothes on the bed and put her arms round Adele’s waist. The Body Beautiful had ensured that it was trimmer and firmer, but it was still the waist she’d clung to since childhood. ‘Oh, Mum. I really need a hug.’

  ‘God, Nell. I should have let Danny have a bloody smaller Jessons ride – and Sam have whatever he wanted – and paid for you to have trucks and things for this lot. I should never have splashed out every penny on the Crash’n’Dash! I should have found out what you all wanted – not decided what you should have. I should have thought. Instead I barged in and messed everything up.’

  ‘You haven’t. You’ve been kind and generous – and you thought you were acting for the best. I’ve been thinking – Once the gallopers are on the road, I don’t have to travel with Danny, do I? Sam can sell the paratrooper to the new Bradley-Percival amalgamation and start again somewhere. Things always work out …’

  Adele didn’t look convinced, Nell knew as she pulled away from her mother and dashed the back of her hand across her eyes. ‘Anyway, now you’ve seen all this I hope you’ll understand. I still don’t want anyone to know where they are. Look, I’ve just got to leave a note for – for one of the guys who has been helping with the restoration, and then I think we should get back to the gaff and make sure that whatever Ross and Danny have decided to do, Sam and Claudia don’t lose out. OK?’

  Adele watched as Nell scribbled a note for Jack, with details and dates of the HGV course, and pinned it to the fridge door in the kitchen. She knows, Nell realised. She knows, without reading it. She knows it’s not for Terry.

  ‘Mum, there’s something else –’

  The something else was drowned by the roar of the Roadster out in the yard. Nell’s heart turned over. A shiver of excitement zipped through her body. She stood in the kitchen doorway, her mouth dry.

  Jack, of course, knew she was there. He’d seen the Volvo. He was running his fingers through his hair, swinging the skid-lid, grinning, as he walked into the shed, looking for her. He was wearing the clean black jeans and a faded denim shirt. Nell melted.

  Gathering her senses, she arranged her face into a welcoming smile. He looked so much better. He was happier, calmer, obviously coming to terms with his loss.

  ‘Hi. You look lovely. This is a brilliant surprise. I thought you weren’t coming over today, otherwise I’d’ve waited and whisked you off to the Maybush. I’ve been into Newbury. Made appointments with –’

  Adele appeared in the doorway behind her. Nell took a deep breath. ‘Mum, this is Jack Morland – he’s done all the painting. Jack, this is my mother –’

  They eyed each other warily, then smiled, and said all the right things.

  Nell wiped her damp palms on her jeans. ‘Jack, I’ve – er – left a note about Big Wheelers. They – um – can fit you in on Monday. Will that be all right?’

  ‘Great. Thanks.’ Jack was still looking at Adele. ‘I know this must come as something of a shock. I hope you’re not too disappointed. I mean, Nell explained about your plans for the expansion, but this is where her heart is.’

  Adele straightened her pale-pink shoulders, and jangled her earrings. She looked from Nell to Jack and back again. Then she smiled. ‘Yes,’ she said quietly. ‘I’ve just realised that …’

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  It was probably one of the strangest weeks of Nell’s life. It had taken on an Alice Through the Looking-Glass quality; nothing was quite as it seemed.

  No one had heard from Claudia and Sam. Their phones were still switched off, and even the travelling grapevine had failed to pick up on their whereabouts. Nell wasn’t unduly worried. If – and she believed Adele on this one – Sam loved Claudia, she knew that he’d cherish her. He’d make the right decisions for them both, and use his gentleness to heal the scars.

  Jack was away on his HGV course. She hadn’t phoned him. Nor had she returned to Fox Hollow. There were a million other things she had to do.

  Adele had said very little after her impromptu excursion to meet the gallopers – and Jack. They’d returned to Monkton Regis in the Volvo, and Adele had perked up enough to sing ‘His Latest Flame’ quite chirpily under her breath for most of the journey. By the time they got back to the gaff Clem Percival had left. Peter, Danny, and Ross had contacted the solicitor, the accountant, and the bank manager and seem
ed relieved, petulant, and smug in that order. Nell hadn’t asked any questions. She-knew what she was going to do, and the fewer people she involved, the better.

  Her parents left for Highcliffe just before the fair opened. Adele had hugged Nell. ‘Ring whenever you want to talk. I do understand, now. Really. It’s not what I wanted, of course, but I honestly wish you all the luck in the world.’ She eased herself into the Gucci loafers and paused before clambering into the Jag. ‘He’s gorgeous, Nell. Such a pity he’s a flatty –’

  Ross, as she’d suspected, had taken control during the remainder of the fair’s time at Monkton Regis. He’d reorganised the staffing, brought in spare Percival workers, installed the preening pair of Mackenzie twins in the hoopla, and no one outside could have spotted the difference. He and Danny took it in turns to staff the Crash’n’Dash and the waltzer, and spent nearly all their spare time together.

  Danny’s face was spectacularly swollen – and beginning to change from red to blue and yellow.

  ‘He matches the Bradley paintwork a treat,’ Nell said to Terry as they worked the dodgems. ‘Pity Sam didn’t have time to livery the rest of him.’

  She hadn’t spoken to her brother, and he avoided her. It couldn’t go on, Nell knew, any more than the constrained atmosphere between herself and Ross. Things would have to come to a head. Very soon.

  They were due to pull out the following day and move once more towards Oxford en route for St Giles’ Fair. Making sure that Terry was OK on the dodgems and that he understood that, should anyone ask, she’d be back shortly and no, he couldn’t say where she’d gone, Nell drove away from Monkton Regis in the gathering twilight and headed for Chipping Norton.

  It was a sultry evening, with the sky marbled lilac and pink and gold. Clem’s Jessons rides dominated the horizon for miles, adding to the rainbow. Nell parked the Volvo in a side street and pushed her way through the fairground crowds.

  Marcia, taking money on the awesome Ice-Breaker, drew back her lips in a sort of smile. Her teeth, Nell thought, looked as though they were about to take on a life of their own.