Dune Road

by Jane Green

  “Well, you’ve certainly grown into a stunning young woman,” Ginny says eventually. “I have seen pictures of you over the years but, I must say, you are far more striking in the flesh.”

  “Thank you,” Annabel says, her voice equally frosty.

  Alice leans over to Edie. “What exactly is going on? ”

  “I’m probably not supposed to say anything, but Annabel is Kit’s long-lost sister, who has never met her mother, until, I would guess, now.”

  “You’re joking! ” Alice’s mouth drops open. “How come? ”

  “She was adopted at birth, and she only tracked Kit down very recently.”

  “God, how weird. So why are Annabel and her mother so cold to one another? Where are the hugs? ”

  “I’d say there’s an awful lot going on that we don’t know about, although I imagine we’ll discover it quite soon. Oh dear. I do love other people’s family dramas, but not when they’re people I love so much.”

  “Kit and Annabel? ”

  “Kit, certainly. Annabel, I hardly know.” Edie shoots Annabel a flinty look, and Alice thinks it better not to ask anything more.

  Edie has been loving her role as the surrogate mother and grandmother in her neighbors’ lives. She knows that Ginny sweeps in from time to time, but has never met her before.

  And while Edie is secure in her role, secure in her friendship, in the love that both Kit and her children have for her, she cannot help but feel a little insecure with Ginny physically here.

  Please God, she whispers in her head, let her not stay long. And please God, let her not cause too much damage, for the winds of discontent started blowing a gentle breeze this evening when Ginny appeared, and Edie prays they don’t turn out to be a fully fledged storm.

  “So,” Ginny picks up a glass of wine and takes a sip, “what exactly are you doing here? Another stint in rehab go wrong? Your father deciding not to support you any more? Presumably, there’s something you’re after or you wouldn’t be here. Money, again, is it? ”

  Kit’s mouth falls open in shock. This is a side of her mother she has never seen. Her mother has been often dismissive, but never rude. Her belittling and invalidating of Kit came in the form of humor, jokes at her expense—“Darling, are you sure you want to go out with hair like that? You look like you have a kitchen mop on your head”—rather than the caustic tone she is using tonight.

  Annabel stiffens. “My father said you were a bitch, but I never quite believed him until now.”

  “Oh shit,” Adam mutters under his breath.

  Everyone is now listening, everyone feels awkward, no one knows what to say.

  “I will not be spoken to like that.” Ginny’s voice is as cold as steel. “Just who do you think you are? ”

  “I’m your daughter,” Annabel says, but she cannot hide her emotions, and as she utters the word “daughter” her voice cracks ever so slightly.

  “Ginny! I need to talk to you.” Kit doesn’t bother calling her “Mother” as she takes her by the arm and pulls her aside, out of the room and into the lobby of the restaurant.

  “What the hell is wrong with you? ” she says. “I know you’re not interested in seeing her, but you could at least have the good manners to be nice. This is your daughter, for God’s sake.”

  “You have no idea who she is,” Ginny hisses back. “You are so naive, Kit. She is trouble.”

  Kit shakes her head. “I’ll take you back to wherever you’re staying tonight. You and I can have a talk on the way. Wait here. I don’t want you going back in there. I’ll get your coat.”

  Annabel is pretending to be okay, but she is as white as a sheet.

  “Annabel? Sweetie?” Kit crouches down by her chair. “Are you okay? ”

  Annabel turns to her, and Kit can see she is fighting back the tears. “Not really,” she says. “I’ve spent my whole life trying to meet this woman, and I suppose, stupidly, I thought she’d meet me and want to be . . . well . . . my mother. I thought she’d realize how much she’d missed me.” Annabel laughs bitterly. “I had this vision of her throwing her arms around me, and it would feel so real, I could literally feel what it was like—like coming home. And part of me never wanted to meet her in case that didn’t happen, but I never thought it would be like this. I never thought she’d be such a fucking bitch.” She spits out the last words and Kit recoils slightly.

  “Let me talk to her. Will you be okay with Adam? ”

  Annabel nods and looks up at Adam, whose face is filled with concern.

  Kit watches her closely before turning to Adam. “Would you drive Annabel home? Is that okay? The kids are still with you tonight, aren’t they? ”

  “Yes. And sure, I can drive Annabel back to your place. If you need some time with your mom, Annabel can always stay with us.”

  “Where will she stay? ” Tory interjects, suspiciously.

  “She could sleep on your trundle bed,” Adam says, with a vague hint of regret.

  Tory’s face lights up. She has been suspicious of her father and her aunt. Nothing she can put her finger on, nothing she can, at thirteen, name, yet there has been something that doesn’t feel right; but all that is forgotten.

  “Yes! That would be awesome! Will you? Say yes! Please! Say you will! ”

  “Are you sure? ” Annabel flashes a look at Adam.

  “Sure I’m sure. We’d love to have you.”

  Steve pulls Kit aside. “I was hoping I could come back to your house.” He nuzzles her ear.

  “You can,” she says, although there are other things on her mind tonight, like how to talk to her mother, and how to comfort Annabel. “Why don’t you come over in an hour? ”

  “Will your mother be at your house? ”

  “I doubt it. My house has never been good enough in the past. I’m almost certain she’s got a suite at Seasons Hall.”

  A small Relais & Châteaux, a couple of towns over, it is fiercely expensive and exclusive enough to satisfy even Ginny.

  Steve raises an eyebrow. “Seasons Hall? Nice.”

  Kit doesn’t react to Steve. She just wants to get out and talk to her mother, do something she’s never been able to do before: vent her fury.

  For how dare her mother be so dismissive? Kit can’t even begin to imagine how Annabel must be feeling. Yet another rejection, after all these years, and this one in public.

  How dare Ginny do this to her sister?

  “You have no idea what she’s like,” Ginny says, as soon as Kit pulls out of the car park of the Greenhouse and on to the Post Road. “You think I’ve been rude and cold, but let me tell you, this girl is dangerous.” Ginny closes her eyes and sighs. “I can’t believe she came looking for you and found you, and I can’t believe you’ve been so naive as to let her in.”

  “What are you talking about? ” Kit says derisively. “She’s not dangerous. She’s a kid who’s lost, who wanted nothing more than to meet her mother, and you didn’t want to know. Not that I’m particularly surprised. It’s not like you were ever going to win any awards for being a great mother, but you could at least have had the grace and the good manners to pretend you were interested. I’ve never seen anything like the coldness you exhibited toward her tonight.”

  Kit’s words pour out in a torrent. Words she has never dared say to her mother before, their relationship always having been distant and formal. But her rage is forcing her on, the years and years of pent-up frustration and fury finally coming out, finally being expressed in the open.

  “I know I haven’t been a good mother.” Ginny’s reply is slow, measured. “And I do feel guilty about that, and I apologize to you for not being around more, but do not point the finger at me about that Annabel Plowman.” She takes a deep breath before continuing. “Do you really want to know who she is? Do you really want to know what kind of fire you’re playing with? ”

  “Sure,” Kit says, knowing that her mother will attempt to justify her behavior in any way she can.

  “She’s an
alcoholic and a drug addict.”

  “So? You told me that already and she and I have talked about it. She’s been clean and sober for months.”

  “That’s just the beginning,” Ginny says flatly. “She’s bad news, through and through. She has only ever attempted to get in touch with me when she’s needed money. This is a girl who does everything with an ulterior motive.”

  “That’s insane,” Kit says.

  “Oh yes? And I’ll tell you something else I witnessed tonight, which also seems insane: it’s clear she’s after your ex-husband.”

  Kit snorts with laughter, although she saw how Adam looked at Annabel. “Adam may like the look of her, but there’s no way she’s after him. It’s ridiculous to even think it. Not to mention that he’s my ex-husband. She would never ever do that.” But her voice falters. She isn’t sure.

  “I don’t believe there is anything that Annabel Plowman wouldn’t do if she decided there was something she wanted, and betraying a newfound sister is the very least of the things she is capable of. Do you know where your credit cards are? Does she have access to your computer? Your bank account? ”

  “Oh for God’s sake.” Kit stops the car. “This is the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard. And whatever you think of her, whatever ridiculous things you imagine she’s up to, the fact remains: this is your daughter. A woman you’ve never met, never acknowledged. And what if you’re wrong? I saw real pain in her face tonight. I saw pain, and hurt. Whoever you think she might be, she is still your daughter, and whatever her transgressions of the past, you owe her a chance.”

  “Kit, I understand what you’re saying, and perhaps for someone else this would be true, but leopards do not change their spots.”

  “At least will you think about it? Think about meeting with her so you can talk it over. Give her a chance. That’s all I’m asking. If you’re right, you never have to see her again.”

  “And what about you? ” Ginny demands. “How will you protect yourself ? ”

  “Let me worry about that,” Kit says. “Let me worry about what her motives are with me.”

  “Please, Kit. Watch her with Adam. It scares me. I know it seems to you like I’m being overdramatic, but this time I’m not. I’m horrified that she’s here. It makes me think she has bigger fish to fry, and I just don’t know what they are. Please, Kit, get her away from you. Get her away from the kids, from Adam. She isn’t like you. She doesn’t operate from a good place. You need to get her out of your life.”

  Kit takes a deep breath, as if she is about to say something, and a picture of Adam looking at Annabel, gazing at Annabel, comes into her mind. A feeling of being unsettled, of emotional drama, suddenly overwhelms her and she bursts into tears.

  And her mother does something she has never done before: she puts her arms around Kit and squeezes her tight, rocking her gently, rubbing her back.

  “How will we know? What are we going to do? ” The frustration and fear trickle down her cheeks in the form of tears while she relaxes into her mother’s arms, for the first time in her life.

  “I don’t know,” Ginny murmurs. “We need to talk to Peter. He knows what to do about these things.”

  Kit pulls back. “Peter? ”

  Ginny smiles faintly. “The man I’m going to marry.” She holds out her left hand, where a huge Asscher-cut diamond sparkles on her fourth finger. “He was supposed to come with me this evening but had to make a detour to Europe for a business meeting. He’ll be here in a couple of days. He’ll know what to do. And I promise you, this will all feel better in the morning. We’ll work it out. Now why don’t you drop me off at the hotel? I’m going to need at least two sleeping pills tonight after this. And you probably will too.”

  “I . . . I can’t. Steve’s coming over.”

  “Steve? ”

  “He was at the dinner. He’s my . . .” She can’t say “boyfriend;” she feels ridiculous calling Steve her “boyfriend.” “He’s someone I’m dating.”

  “Well, at least he’ll help you take your mind off it.” Ginny smiles. “But don’t, for heaven’s sake, tell him. Don’t tell anyone anything for now.”

  “Even Adam? ”

  “I don’t know. Let me think about that one. My gut says do nothing until we talk to Peter. He was the one who found the private investigator for me. Let’s just hold fire until Peter gets here and tells us what to do.”

  Chapter Twenty-six

  It should have been a wonderful night, but instead . . .

  Kit feels unsafe. Steve is lying in bed, snoring faintly, and Kit has been awake since three in the morning, at first hoping sleep would overcome her, and eventually getting up and going downstairs to read a book, to try to quiet her mind, take her thoughts to somewhere else.

  Her life is usually terribly dull, but it occurs to her that every time her mother is around, a drama occurs. Kit hates drama, finds it unnecessary and unsettling, and strives to keep her life as balanced, ordered and calm as possible.

  She watches other people she knows, women going through divorce, other mothers in school, get pulled into gossip and arguments, watches urgent, whispered conversations take place in the corridors of the school, and strolls past, grateful that she is not tempted to take part, and nor are her friends.

  Already, women she knows, the ones who love the drama, are starting to ask her about Charlie. Is Charlie okay? Is it true? They’re just concerned, of course. And Kit just smiles and says Charlie is great, and refuses to be drawn, refuses to take the bait, to comment any further. They may want the dirt, but they’re not going to get it from her.

  Charlie would do the same for her, did, in fact, when Kit was going through her divorce. Everyone wanted to know everything, and Charlie kept quiet, a fact for which Kit will be eternally grateful.

  But this is something different. The foundations of her life feel as if they are shifting. First with a sister she never knew she had turning up, then Charlie losing everything, and now her mother arriving and accusing her sister of being about as bad news as you can be. And Kit doesn’t know what to do.

  It can’t get any worse, she thinks, but at the same time she feels as if she is on tenterhooks, waiting for the next bad thing. It feels as if she is living in an increasingly fragile house of cards which is being shaken with every new day.

  The reading isn’t working. Perhaps some tea. She makes it, appreciating her house at this hour of the day; it is six o’clock and absolutely quiet, no children, no noise, no errands to run or things to do.

  Her cell phone rings shrilly, disturbing the silence, and she jumps, her heart instantly beating faster. When the phone rings late at night or early in the morning, and her children are not with her, she always presumes the worst, and picks it up with a shaking hand, trying to prepare herself for terrible news.

  “Darling? What are you doing awake? ” It’s her mother.

  “I couldn’t sleep. What are you doing awake, and why are you calling? I thought you didn’t get up until noon.” Kit gets a flashback of staying with her mother when she was young, and the staff tiptoeing round the house all morning for fear of waking her up. Ginny would emerge from her bedroom at around noon, in a cashmere robe and slippers, to have tea before stepping in the shower and getting ready for her day.

  Ginny laughs. “I’ve become a bit of a reformed character with Peter,” she trills. “We’re up at the crack of dawn every day doing yoga together on the terrace.”

  “You are ? ” Kit is stunned.

  “Oh yes. I’ve cut out all caffeine and we’ve gone organic with everything. I’m a new woman. Honestly, I feel twenty years younger.”

  That might be the new round of Botox, Kit thinks, but doesn’t say.

  “I was going to leave a message. I just spoke to Peter and he said you ought to check all your things. Change the passwords on your accounts, that sort of thing.”

  “Mother, don’t you think that’s a little excessive? Even if you’re right that I should check, I just don�
�t believe she would do that.”

  “I promise you, Kit, she would. And isn’t it always better to be safe rather than sorry? Just double-check that everything is safe. She’s a clever girl, and it won’t be the first time.”

  “What do you mean? ”

  “She was caught stealing money before. It was a long time ago, and her father told me it was to fuel the drug addiction, but she was lucky. They didn’t press charges. I always thought they should, because if there are no consequences, what’s to stop her doing it again? ”

  “But . . .” Kit splutters. “Even if that’s true, she isn’t doing drugs now. Why would she do that? ”

  “Is she working? ”

  There is a pause. “I don’t think so.”

  “So. Just check. That’s all I’m asking. I understand how hard this is for you, you know, and I understand your loyalty, and that you cannot accept my not wanting to have anything to do with her, but let’s talk again when you have done some checking.” Ginny pauses. “I mean it, Kit,” she continues. “You need to check your stuff, and Adam ought to as well.”

  “I’ll go upstairs now. She’s staying at . . . Adam’s. With the kids.”

  Even as the words leave her mouth Kit realizes that she’s been burying her head in the sand.

  “Oh God,” she attempts a laugh, “I think I’ve been really stupid. You’re right. There’s . . . something . . . But . . .” She tries to make sense of it. “I just can’t believe that anything has actually happened. Adam likes her, I saw that tonight, but it would be so inappropriate. Do you really think they are? ”

  “Oh darling.” Ginny sounds sad. “Men are such shallow creatures, and she is a stunning girl. You’re quite right that it shouldn’t happen, but I’m afraid it probably already has.”

  “What? ” Kit starts to shake. “Do you know something? ”

  “No, but I saw the way he looked at her. He’s smitten.”

  “You’re wrong,” Kit says firmly. “I can see that he’s fascinated by her, but honestly, I don’t think anything has happened. It would be like sleeping with a child, and however bad you think she is, I think she cares about me, and she knows that would be unacceptable.”