‘He’s a tough little boy.’ Rory managed a smile. ‘If I had to have the same operation, it would be a different kettle of fish, I can tell you.’
‘Oh yes. You would be a dreadful patient,’ she said, watching him carefully. He looked drawn and tired and when he was tired, he looked old, older than his years, not surprisingly of course because of the strain of the last year, but there was more to it than that.
‘Everything is all right, isn’t it?’ she asked gently. ‘You’re not worried about the girls, are you?’
‘No. Why should I be?’
‘Have you heard from them recently?’ she asked, knowing that they would ring him on his mobile rather than run the risk of her answering the house phone. She regretted that, when Alex was ill, she had been rather short with them on occasions and she was finding it difficult to forgive what she saw as their lack of interest in their little half-brother.
‘I haven’t heard a word,’ Rory told her, not looking too worried. ‘The silence is deafening at the moment but that’s par for the course. They’ll be in touch eventually and I don’t like to press them. They’re grown up now. They don’t need me so much.’
‘Is Jackie still determined to have as expensive a wedding as she can possibly have?’ she asked, trying to keep her tone light although it was really bugging her. His daughter’s long delayed wedding had been on and off more often than a light switch but it looked as if it was going to go the whole way this time. Adele was beginning to suspect that Rory’s younger daughter was very like Angela, who had apparently put Rory through the wringer during the months leading up to the split. It came out in bits and bobs, the reasons why they had gone their separate ways, and she had to piece it together like a jigsaw puzzle. Asking Rory outright was not an option and she had no intention of quizzing his daughters either.
‘Expensive wedding? Jackie can have whatever she wants,’ he said. ‘Just because we did it on the cheap doesn’t mean she has to. It’s her first wedding.’
‘It was my first wedding,’ she reminded him tartly. ‘It’s not my fault that you had been married before.’
‘Sorry but I’m not going to suggest she economizes on her plans, if that’s what you want me to do?’
‘I didn’t mean that.’ She frowned at the sharpness of the tone. ‘Don’t jump down my throat. Of course she must have what she wants – within reason – but I just think you shouldn’t be so damned stubborn about paying for it all yourself. You wouldn’t be compromising yourself in any way if you accept a bit of help from Angela.’
‘Wouldn’t I just? You don’t know her.’
‘I’m meeting Becky Blundell again next week,’ she told him, swiftly changing the subject as she caught the look on his face. ‘Did I tell you? She’s coming over for lunch and bringing Samantha.’
‘That will be nice for you. Give her my regards. We must ask them over for dinner sometime. Is the little one all right?’
‘She’s fine.’
‘And how’s Becky coping?’
‘Same as us. Getting there slowly.’
‘I like Becky. She’s a very pleasant woman. You two seem to have hit it off big time.’ He pushed his plate aside. ‘That was lovely,’ he said, even though he had left a considerable portion of it.
‘Mother’s sent a donation to the cardiac unit,’ she told him, waiting a moment before she cleared away. ‘I think we should do the same, don’t you? It’s the least we can do. In fact, we’ve decided we’re making it our major charity this year. Mother’s getting all geared up to start fundraising. She’s hoping to persuade the village charity committee to support us.’
‘How much has Louisa sent?’ he asked and she looked sharply at him, detecting an odd tightness in his voice.
‘A thousand,’ she said. ‘She thought it was a good start-up figure. I think we should match it, darling. I know it’s not a good time with Jackie’s wedding coming up and everything but …’
‘No problem. A thousand it is.’
‘Good. Thanks. I knew you’d say that. I’ll write the cheque tomorrow.’ She picked up the dishes, waiting for him to stand up and help but he seemed rooted to the spot. Ah well, in for a penny, in for a pound, although she would hold fire on the garden plans just yet. ‘You wouldn’t mind, would you, if I had a little spend on some new clothes? I haven’t felt like it recently but now that everything’s going to be all right with Alex I feel like celebrating and splashing out on a new wardrobe. Something a bit glitzy. And he’s grown out of everything so he needs lots of new things as well. We can’t have our son looking like he’s dressed by Oxfam.’
‘Sure. Spend whatever you like.’
‘Thanks. I hate to ask you just now because I’m contributing virtually nothing to the budget at the moment.’
He smiled a little. ‘I didn’t marry you for your money.’
‘I must talk to Emma about work. She’s been carrying the can for me for so long I feel I’m not pulling my weight at all. I don’t know if it’s fair to expect her to carry on like this. The trouble is I don’t feel like leaving Alex just yet. Mother’s offered to look after him whenever I like but she has enough on her plate with Dad and Gran.’
‘I don’t think you should expect her to look after Alex more than one or two days a week. If you go back into the business properly, we’ll have to think about a nursery.’
‘I’d rather get a nanny,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘I know it will cost more but I’d be happier doing that.’
‘We’ll talk about it later and don’t you worry about work. Take your time. Emma will understand.’
‘But is it fair? I think it might be better if I stepped back from it for a while. She’ll do very well without me, probably better, and she can always call on me if she’s rushed.’
‘Do whatever you like,’ he said, turning away from her. ‘I have some work to do. I’ll pop up and see Alex first.’
‘Don’t wake him up.’
Thoughtfully, she tidied away, hearing him going upstairs.
She knew him well enough to know that something was wrong. But what?
TWENTY-EIGHT
BECKY PUT MARINA in touch with Adele.
At the interview, which they held cosily in Emma’s mother’s kitchen, Marina nonchalantly threw in the fact that she had done a cordon bleu cookery course when she was eighteen, producing the diploma in case they did not believe her. She had, she also confessed, not taken it remotely seriously, but when she came to think about it, she had rather enjoyed it, blitzed through the course and had always been under the impression that cooking was a walk in the park.
Emma, more than Adele, needed some convincing but her objections sizzled away when Marina offered to cook for the two of them the following evening and produced a three-course meal with aplomb. Of course she would be happy to ‘muck in’, as she put it, with the dirtier jobs in the kitchen and as Adele watched Emma finishing off the delicious cheesecake Marina had prepared, she knew it was in the bag.
Taking a back seat, sipping her coffee, she watched the two of them, Emma and Marina, chatting excitedly about where to take the business and concluded that, all this time, she had been holding Emma back. With Marina’s drive and enthusiasm and her contacts, they would go far.
‘I’m stepping down from the business for the time being,’ she told Rory that night. ‘I can be called upon in an emergency, of course, to help out but frankly I’m fed up with it. You don’t mind, Rory, do you?’
‘No. I’ve told you. You do what you want.’
‘How are the wedding arrangements coming along?’ she enquired, irritated that he rarely spoke of them. It was as if he was excluding her from them, from all mention of them, and she was beginning to feel left out. She did not feel she could contribute very much but it would be nice to be asked and they were heading towards the date now with a rush.
‘Fine. It’s all in hand. Angela’s over now to do some final sorting out.’
‘Is she?’ She raised her head in
surprise. ‘She’s here in town?’
‘No. She’s staying in Leeds with her sister.’
‘Has she been in touch with you then?’
‘Yes.’ He frowned. ‘We’ve had a meeting on neutral ground. She’s not an easy woman, Adele. She’s still spitting feathers and it’s been years. I don’t envy that new husband of hers. Look, leave it, will you? I don’t want to talk about it.’
‘Well, perhaps I do,’ Adele said, infuriated that he hadn’t even seen fit to mention it. ‘I don’t like the idea of you meeting up with Angela without telling me.’
‘Why not? She’s the mother of the bride. I’m the father. We have things to talk about if it’s going to go smoothly. We have our daughter to think about. We have to meet up sooner or later. For God’s sake, Adele, I’m not back with her if that’s what you’re thinking. Although …’ He smiled slightly. ‘Being married to a billionaire does seem to have its disadvantages. She’s got herself on some charity circuit over there and it seems to be taking over her life. She works nearly as hard as I do. She showed me her diary. Coming over here has played havoc with her schedule. And she’s just had surgery so she’s feeling fragile.’
‘Oh, sorry. I didn’t know that.’
‘The plastic variety,’ he said with a grin. ‘So don’t be too sorry. She looks a million dollars, I have to say.’
‘Does she indeed.’ Ruffled, aware she could be accused of acting childishly, she tried not to let it show.
‘Not so good as you, of course,’ he said with a grin. ‘But then you’re so much younger.’
‘Watch it, Rory,’ she said, trying to hide a little smile. ‘I’m just worried about it, that’s all. I don’t mean to be bitchy.’
‘Look, weddings with split families … it happens all the time these days, darling, and we have to get on with it.’
‘I know.’ She sighed, still madly irritated with him and doubly so with Angela. A new face, a billionaire husband; she was going to have to go all out to compete at the wedding.
‘Don’t let it get to you,’ Rory went on, sensing that it was troubling her. ‘It can be got through in a very civilized manner if we all focus and remember that it is Jackie’s special day and nothing must spoil that. It’s taken her long enough to get it sorted out. We were planning this, if you can remember, long before Alex was born.’
Adele sniffed. ‘I hope she knows what she’s doing. You have to worry about all this on and off business. I don’t care for him, if you must know.’
‘Neither do I but it’s not up to us.’
‘Sorry. But I think it might be best all round if I opt out of this, Rory. After all, I’m not exactly the flavour of the month with either of your girls, am I? They won’t miss me.’
‘I will,’ he said sharply. ‘You’re my wife and you’re coming along. And Alex too. You are my new family and I’m not hiding you away as if I’m ashamed of you. Don’t worry. Angela will be with her partner. It will be fine.’
She relaxed a little. They must not have a row about this. He was right and they could get through it in one piece. Alex would be useful in that she could hide behind him if necessary, concentrate her attention on him and people would understand that. One thing was sure, she was going to get something glamorous from the designer rails to wear. She would not be petty about this for Angela was, after all, the mother of the bride – but she would not let anybody think she was the poor relation. And she would get Alex a really cute outfit too, maybe from that little boutique her mother was so fond of.
‘Everything is all right, Rory, isn’t it?’ she asked, knowing he was keeping something back. ‘You can tell me. Whatever it is.’
‘Everything is fine,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry I’m going to be away all of next week but duty calls and all that. Use my mobile if you need to get in touch. Please don’t ring me during the day unless it’s an emergency because I shall be in wall-to-wall meetings and don’t try to ring me at the office either.’
‘Why would I do that if you’re not there? And, no, don’t worry, I won’t ring you during the day. I wouldn’t dream of disturbing you in a meeting,’ she said tightly, for sometimes it was as if he didn’t credit her with any common sense. ‘Give me a ring in the evening from the hotel. Where are you staying?’
‘Holiday Inn somewhere or other. I’ll let you know,’ he said, looking harassed.
‘They work you too hard.’
‘That’s what I’m paid so much for,’ he said, running a weary hand through his hair. ‘Working too hard.’
TWENTY-NINE
LOUISA WAS IN the utility room, arranging a collection of frothy blue garden flowers in an earthenware pot, when Adele and Alex arrived round the back, escorted by a very waggily tailed Wilson.
‘Hello, you two.’ Louisa paused, wiping her hands on her apron before swooping down on Alex and planting a kiss on top of his head, cooing to him a moment in her special granny voice. He responded with a laugh, tugging at her hair and causing her to yell out in mock pain.
‘Where’s Gran?’ Adele asked, glancing towards Chrissie’s room. ‘Is she having a nap?’
Louisa nodded. ‘She complained of a disturbed night so she’s putting her feet up. The last time I peeped in, she was fast asleep so we won’t disturb her for the moment.’
‘No, you mustn’t. I’ll give her a ring this evening.’
‘Come on through, darling.’
Alex, let loose, accompanied by a protective Wilson, toddled straight over to the box of toys in the corner of the sitting room, busily taking out the cars and setting them up on the carpet in a formation very like the starting grid of a Grand Prix, Louisa kneeling down beside him to direct the traffic.
‘I could eat this little fellow, I love him so much. I’m so glad you live nearby so that I can get my weekly granny shot,’ she said and then, looking up at Adele, ‘How’s he been?’
‘Alex is fine as you can see. He loves his little cars.’ Adele smiled. ‘Where’s Dad?’
‘At his art class.’ Her mother smiled. ‘It’s taken a while to get organized but he’s finally done it. He’s got his daily routine set up and it doesn’t interfere too much with mine. He takes ages over his breakfast but I just leave him to it. He won’t go out anywhere until he’s done fifteen clues of the morning crossword so sometimes it’s touch and go so he has to resort to asking me or your gran. She’s very good with crosswords. She’s still got a mind like a razor and a tongue to match.’
‘Is she giving you what for?’
‘I should say so,’ Louisa said, glancing towards the corridor and Chrissie’s door. ‘As to your father, did I tell you the U3A he goes to has asked him to run an American history group?’
‘No. That will be nice for him. He’s always been interested in that. Do you go along?’
‘Goodness, no. It’s his Tuesday thing. Wednesday is his day for browsing round the library or museum, he likes to do that on his own, Thursday he takes me out to the cinema and Friday … oh, he’s free on Fridays and we usually reserve that for taking your gran out to lunch.’
Adele smiled. ‘And to think that you were worried about him retiring. It sounds like he’s taken to it very well.’
‘He has. We’ll be hard pressed to find time for our cruise but I’m going to book it so we shall have to find time. Just the two of us. I hope you’ll be able to stay and look after your gran whilst we’re away. I can’t leave her on her own.’
‘Of course. Go ahead and book it.’
‘I suddenly realized that, for the last goodness knows how many years, we’ve spent all our holidays with other people,’ she said. ‘In fact, going on holiday constantly with Jennifer and Michael did have its problems. You did us a favour, darling, letting James off the hook.’
‘I never thought I’d live to hear you say that.’
Louisa stood up slowly, holding on to her back. ‘Oh my heavens, that’s painful. It’s when you do things like this that you suddenly realize you aren’t getting any youn
ger. Mother can still do it, you know. Get down on her knees and more importantly get up again. Isn’t that something at her age?’
‘Does she get out much?’
‘Only if I take her. Although she does order a taxi sometimes and goes off for the day. She won’t say where. It’s very annoying. I ought to know where she is. What if I have to report her missing? It’s going to look very odd if I don’t know her whereabouts.’
‘People don’t if they are reporting somebody missing.’
‘Don’t be obtuse. Are you all right? You look peaky. Oh God, you’re not pregnant again?’
‘No. Once is enough, thank you, particularly after what we went through. I am all right. Although …’ She sighed, picking at some imaginary fluff on her sleeve.
‘I knew it,’ Louisa said. ‘You can’t fool me. Out with it.’
‘It’s Rory, if you must know. He’s not sleeping well. I’m not either. The thing is … Oh, Mother, I’m not sure but I think he might be having an affair.’
‘What?’ Louisa laughed, fidgeting on the sofa opposite. ‘We’ve had this conversation before.’
‘And I wasn’t wrong then either.’
‘But that was James. This is Rory. It’s completely different. That man worships you, darling. It’s obvious. He would no more have an affair than your father – although chance would be a fine thing for him.’
‘He’s stopped the running.’
‘Thank heavens for that. A man of his age? Sorry, darling, but you do hear of men popping off after over-exerting themselves. What’s the significance of that anyway?’
‘I don’t know but it’s set me thinking. Things have been a bit better after we had a talk but it suddenly occurred to me that he’s hiding something. He’s not very interested in me, Mother. You know what I mean?’
‘He’s gone off the boil?’ Louisa smiled. ‘You’re not on honeymoon any more and this thing with Alex … well, it’s hardly surprising. He’s been worried sick. We all have. Give him time. You’ve got to get yourselves back on track. Remember, darling, that you had Alex straightaway. You never had any time to get used to being married.’
Rumours and Red Roses Page 21
