In the meantime, they were losing support fast; the camp was slowly disbanding. Winter was coming and the woods weren’t exactly a comfortable place to live, particularly not on misty, damp mornings like today. There was a hard core of the visitors who’d promised to stay whatever it took, but the majority had evaporated, back to their normal lives, or the next campaign, or whatever it was they did. Pippa couldn’t blame them. The fight looked lost, they might as well go to pastures new, to more winnable campaigns. It hadn’t been their fight in the first place.
‘What about Ralph’s right of way?’ she said. ‘Surely they can’t build on that without his permission?’
‘I’d have thought they couldn’t,’ said Miss Woods, ‘but it does leave us in stalemate. And it won’t stop them building everything else.’
‘Oh god,’ said Pippa gloomily. ‘It’s going to happen, isn’t it? Whatever we do, this time, I don’t think it’s going to be enough.’
‘Don’t give up just yet,’ said Miss Woods doughtily. ‘We’ll have to think of something else. Perhaps if they saw what a success you’re making of the farm, they could come up with a more imaginative use of the land …’
‘Maybe,’ said Pippa, admiring Miss Woods’ resilience, but somehow doubtful that she could be right. That was one bright spot: bookings were healthy for the Spooktacular weekends, the first of which was taking place this weekend. The boys were beside themselves with excitement, looking forward to donning chains and jumping out at people. And Lucy had bossily insisted she was going on the gate, to take people’s entrance fees. Only Dan had remained aloof. She’d hoped he’d be persuaded to help out, for the children’s sake if not hers, but he seemed to have retreated somewhere very far away and she couldn’t reach him. Pippa was more hurt than she would let on to anyone. Her party line if she was asked, was that she was happier on her own, but she wasn’t – not really. She missed Dan with a fierce ache, and she was sad that he felt he had no place at her side anymore. All the things they’d fought for together over the years, and now they were barely speaking.
Marianne was also feeling down. Since the planning meeting, there had been more and more activity on the fields opposite theirs, with cars and vans in and out every day. And despite Batty Jack’s continued raids on the site, it wasn’t making any difference. She wasn’t as hopeful as Pippa and felt it was only a matter of time before the bulldozers moved in.
The situation at home was also making her miserable. Though Gabriel had refused to discuss Steven moving in with Eve any further, Marianne knew he was still angry with her, and was brooding about it. An uneasy truce had built up between the three of them on the subject. They skirted around the issue, and Steven hadn’t raised it again. He came back to Hope Christmas from school at the weekend as normal, played with the twins, helped on the farm, saw his mum, but said nothing about his future.
But Marianne couldn’t stop thinking about it. All these years she’d felt tremendously sorry for Eve, and at times, furious with her too, but now she could see how lonely Eve was. She’d lost her rich boyfriend, her lovely house, her job, and she’d long ago lost her son. And all because of the cruel misfortune of her illness. It didn’t make her the easiest of people to deal with, but it was a hard affliction to cope with in your life. Thinking about it made Marianne feel immensely lucky. She had their house, the children, Gabriel. Everything Eve didn’t have. Would it be so very hard to let her son live with her, especially if he wanted to?
She didn’t like to broach the subject anymore with Gabe, she knew what his reaction would be, but instead, for the first time, she found herself seeking Eve out, going for coffee with her on days when she wasn’t working, suggesting a brisk walk on days when she could see Eve was struggling. Because although Eve was continuing to improve all the time, now she was getting to know her better, Marianne could see the effort of staying well was a huge burden on Eve’s shoulders.
‘It’s like it never goes away,’ she explained to Marianne on a sunny day when they wandered up to the local reservoir. ‘Even when I’m well, it’s still lurking there in the background. I know I’ll never be properly better, but I can live with that now, I think. And as long as I keep taking my medication, I can keep it at bay.’
When Marianne heard that, she resolved that somehow she had to break the impasse. Somehow she had to make Gabe see that it would be good for Steven to be living with Eve. It was the right thing to do, she felt sure.
‘How was your day?’ Cat said as Mel came through the door, and watched with joy as Lou Lou launched herself on her mother, ‘Mummee!!’
‘Ok,’ said Mel. ‘I missed this little monkey.’
Two seconds later when Lou Lou had a strop about bath time, Mel sighed, ‘What was I saying?’
‘You used to do that when I came home from work,’ reassured Cat. ‘It’s her punishment to you for being away. Don’t fret.’
‘God, what’s she going to be like next year, when I’m at uni?’ said Mel, with a sigh.
‘Worse?’ said Cat. ‘But that’s parenthood for you.’
‘Gee thanks, Mum, you’ve made me feel so much better,’ said Mel, before disappearing upstairs with a screaming child, while Cat got on with preparing the tea.
Paige wandered in, as usual with her head attached to an electronic device, snapchatting away or whatever it was she was doing, deigning momentarily to engage with anything other than her iPhone to say, ‘When’s tea?’
‘Half an hour,’ said Cat. ‘And don’t you have homework?’
Paige waved her hand airily.
‘Homework, what’s that, Mum?’ said Noel laughing. ‘“There are more important things to think about like texting and tweeting.’
‘Of course, how silly of me,’ said Cat, mimicking banging her head against a brick wall, ‘why would I imagine something as minor as homework would get in the way of social networking?’
‘Sorry, what?’ said Paige vaguely, looking up from whatever she’d snapchatted to her friends.
Noel and Cat exchanged glances and burst out laughing.
‘Nothing, darling,’ said Cat. ‘Just keep taking the selfies and you’ll be fine.’
Ruby rang five minutes later needing to be picked up from drama, so Cat set off in the car, as she seemed to do constantly these days. Always picking someone up or dropping them off. Mel was the only one yet able to drive, and she had so much on, Cat never liked to ask her. Noel was often not around at the right time. Cat felt like she was a permanent taxi service.
She’d just got in when the phone rang. It was Kay. Now what? Cat wasn’t sure she was ready for any more of Kay’s dramatics. Angela had finally returned to Kay’s a couple of weeks earlier, and as far as Cat was aware, things had settled back in. She’d certainly seemed happy enough, whenever Cat spoke to her on the phone, and Kay and Noel hadn’t had any more screaming matches, which was a blessing.
‘Cat, have you heard from Mum?’ asked Kay, sounding anxious.
‘No, not today,’ said Cat. ‘Why, should I have?’
‘She’s gone missing. I swear she does this to me on purpose. She knows I have high blood pressure and the doctor says I shouldn’t get stressed.’ Kay’s voice grew high and reedy, ‘I can’t believe she’d do this to me. So selfish.’
And she’s not the only one, thought Cat.
‘What happened?’ she asked, sensing there was more to this than met the eye, which it transpired, there was.
‘All I said to her yesterday was I wondered if living alone was getting too much for her,’ said Kay, ‘and she went off the deep end.’
‘She doesn’t live alone, she lives with you,’ said Cat automatically, registering concern.
‘Living independently, I mean,’ said Kay. ‘Cat you have no idea what it’s like, She is so confused all the time, and it’s awful to admit about your own mother, but I really don’t think she’s quite right in the head.’
‘She seemed fine when she was with us,’ said Cat, ‘maybe she’s not very we
ll.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with her physically,’ snapped Kay. ‘It’s her mind that’s going. You don’t see her every day.’
This was true, but Angela had stayed with them for over a week, and had seemed reasonably with it. Thinking it was wiser to change the subject, Cat said, ‘So when did she go missing?’
‘Well that’s it,’ said Kay, ‘I don’t know. I went to work and she was fine, and came back and the house was all locked up and she wasn’t there. And she’s not answering her mobile. I mean what’s the point of a mobile if it’s always switched off? It’s a damned nuisance.’
‘Have you called the police?’ asked Cat, remembering her mother’s escapades when the Alzheimer’s had started, and beginning to feel anxious.
‘Whatever for?’ said Kay. ‘She’s punishing me, I know she is. I do everything for her, and look how she behaves. It’s outrageous. So bloody ungrateful.’
And so hard for her to feel grateful all the time, thought Cat, but kept her thoughts to herself.
‘Well, I think maybe you should,’ said Cat. ‘Something might have happened to her.’
‘Nothing will have happened to her,’ snorted Kay. ‘She’s indestructible.’
‘Well give it another half an hour,’ said Cat, ‘but I’d be inclined to ring them anyway, particularly if you say she’s confused.’
She thought about all the times Mum had gone missing. Was this the beginning of the end for Angela? She really hoped not. She couldn’t bear the thought of Angela going through what Mum had been through, and Noel suffering the way she had. Kay hung up, promising to ring back later and Cat tried to ring Angela – not that she expected her mother-in-law to answer or indeed for it even to be switched on.
‘Oh bloody hell,’ said Noel, ‘where on earth do you think she can be?’
‘No idea,’ said Cat, who was trying to stop her imagination running riot. Anything could have happened to her. ‘Look, I’ll just have another trawl of your mum’s friends and see if any of them know anything.’
She flicked through her address book, trying the few numbers of Angela’s friends and relatives she’d got, but nothing. It was no good, she was just going to have to ring Kay back and persuade her to call the police. Cat was on the verge of doing so, when there was a knock on the door. On the step stood a fraught and rather bedraggled looking Angela, with several bags and an enormous suitcase.
‘I know it’s ridiculous at my age,’ she said, ‘but I can’t stand living there a moment longer. I’m running away from home.’
Chapter Twenty-Nine
‘So what are you going to do with your runaway?’ said Pippa in amusement, when Cat called in for a much needed cup of coffee. Angela had now been with them for over a week, and was showing no signs of wanting to go home, despite Kay’s frantic phone calls and suggestions that Angela wasn’t in her right mind and needed sectioning. As a precaution, Cat had taken Angela to the doctor, who’d pronounced her slight confusion was the result of a long term urine infection. Within seconds of being on antibiotics, or so it seemed to Cat, Angela had been as right as rain, as sharp as she’d ever been, and not in the slightest bit in danger of losing her marbles.
‘I don’t know,’ said Cat. ‘She’s refusing point blank to speak to Kay, and I can’t really blame her. Noel’s also refusing to speak to Kay – though I’m not quite sure why he’s taking the moral high ground, it’s not like he was all that keen for Angela to live with us. So I keep having to field Kay’s phone calls and calm her down, she’s quite hysterical. She keeps shouting down the phone that it’s a plot and we’re after Angela’s money. Which is ridiculous, and anyway we can’t keep her permanently unless we convert the garage. The house is bursting at the seams. Paige and Ruby are currently sharing, so Angela can have a room, and they’re fighting like cat and dog, and Lou Lou’s routine seems to have been upset since Angela’s been there, which is making Mel fret. The only calm one in the house is James. But even with a bomb under him, I don’t expect he’d lose his cool.’
Pippa laughed. ‘Boys are certainly different,’ she said. ‘My two are similar, they’re so laid-back sometimes I think they’ll never get off their backsides and do anything, but with Lucy I get fireworks.’
‘How are things your end?’ asked Cat, pleased for a moment not to have to think any more about her domestic chaos. ‘Has Richard given up the idea of you getting back together?’
Last she’d heard, Richard was back on the scene and Pippa had been trying to tactfully persuade him that she wasn’t interested in pursuing their relationship further.
‘Thankfully, yes,’ said Pippa, ‘and he has been surprisingly helpful about the campaign. Not that it’s doing us any good. Miss Woods and I have been looking at it from every angle we can, but I think I might have to admit defeat this time. I think we’ve got to face the fact we’ve lost.’
‘No,’ said Cat. ‘After everything you’ve done. I honestly didn’t think the planning application was going to be the end of the road. And I thought our TV segments might make a difference.’
Cat’s TV series hadn’t aired yet, but had had a lot of interest in the press, and she’d done several radio interviews on the subject.
‘I really hoped all the PR I got might help,’ she said. ‘I’ve got another article coming out in one of the Sunday mags soon, but it was probably a long shot.’
‘It did,’ said Pippa, ‘everything helped, but it wasn’t enough. It’s so much harder for us to appeal now the plans have been approved.’
‘Isn’t there anything else we can do?’ said Cat. ‘Noel and Michael are still looking at the possibility of some alternative ideas.’
‘Short of persuading Felix Macintyre to come here again, and see that there’s an alternative I don’t know that there is. And he’s showing no signs of doing that, unfortunately. I’m really disappointed. He seemed so excited about the merlins, I thought he might really change his mind. But apparently he’s been away on business a lot. Maybe he doesn’t realise how far things have advanced.’
‘That’s such a shame,’ said Cat. ‘What does Ralph say?’
‘Ralph’s been called away to London,’ said Pippa, ‘he’s been trying to find some deeds to a right of way that have gone missing. He seems to think it might be useful. I thought Noel would have told you.’
‘He may have mentioned it,’ said Cat, ‘but to be honest, I’ve been so caught up in what’s going on at home, I’ve really not been paying much attention.’
‘You’re going to need a bigger house if Angela stays much longer,’ said Pippa.
‘Don’t,’ said Cat, ‘just don’t.’
Pippa stood on the freezing cold and dark October night at a stand selling hot dogs and burgers, feeling sick with nerves, as people poured through the gate of her farm. Well not people – her clientele seemed to be mainly giggling teens and young couples. She’d had no idea so many of them would come. It was a great relief that they’d actually not only sold tickets, but that people had turned up. But that wasn’t the end of it. For this to work, they all had to have a great evening, otherwise there was no point. Lucy sat imperiously in her wheelchair taking tickets off people, with Pippa’s mum, Margaret, beside her to help.
The boys, together with the actors Pippa had hired, were taking the first victims round the farm, and it was all in all proving a very successful evening, judging by the screams. Pippa just hoped the takings would make it worth their while. On paper she should just turn a profit, but it was touch and go, and the evening had been more expensive than she’d thought. It just needed one bad night of rain or fog, for people not to turn up, and she’d be back to square one again. Best not think about that.
‘This is great, Pippa,’ Marianne and the twins had just been to the play barn, which had been set up for littlies. Although Pippa had mainly planned an evening for older kids, she’d laid on some entertainment for the younger ones. And she was organising fireworks for the last weekend in October, and hoping famil
ies would come. ‘I think we might be ready for a hot dog and hot chocolate each.’
‘Coming right up,’ said Pippa. ‘Where have Gabriel and Steven got to?’
‘They’re trying out the Haunted House,’ said Marianne. ‘I thought it might be too much for the twins.’
‘Wise idea,’ said Pippa. ‘Thanks so much for coming, I’m really grateful for the support.’
‘We wouldn’t have missed it for the world,’ said Marianne. ‘And the twins are really getting excited by the idea of seeing Santa and his reindeer.’
‘One thing at a time,’ said Pippa. ‘Santa’s a very busy man.’ She was hoping Ralph Nicholas wasn’t going to stay in London too long, or she’d be in big trouble.
Marianne smiled and led the twins away to sit on two bales of hay and have their food and drink, while Pippa served other customers.
The evening went by with a swing, business was brisk, and judging by the excited screams coming from the rides, people seemed to be enjoying themselves. Halfway through, Margaret ushered a very tired Lucy to bed, while Pippa’s dad took over at the entrance until it got too late for newcomers to come in, and he came to help Pippa instead. By midnight the last of the revellers were off the premises. It had been a brilliant night and, when they checked the takings, one that had wildly exceeded Pippa’s expectations. She high-fived everyone in delight.
‘Excellent work, team,’ she said. ‘Now we just have to do it all again tomorrow.’
It was 1am before she went to bed, but she was too excited by the success of the evening to sleep. As she stood at her bedroom window staring out at the farm, she felt a quiet sense of satisfaction. She might not have saved the wood, but she could still save the farm. She could give the boys that at least.
And you? a voice said in her head, What did you get?
She brushed it aside. What did it matter what she got? She was doing this for her family, wasn’t that enough? But she couldn’t stop the thought creeping in that, once upon a time, she’d have celebrated the night with Dan – once upon a time. Now, she was doing this alone. And it was hard not to feel sad about that.
Coming Home For Christmas Page 23
