by Lucy Diamond
‘She’s awesome on the Wii, too,’ Raffy said. ‘Did you see, she broke my record for the 100 metres on Mario & Sonic at the Olympics?’
That night Alicia and Hugh held each other for a long time in bed.
‘Thank you,’ Hugh said into the darkness, his breath warm against her ear. ‘Thank you for today.’
Alicia could hear his heartbeat, slow and steady. It made her feel safe. ‘She’s a lovely girl,’ she said.
‘I know,’ he said. ‘Thank you for being able to see that. You’re a very generous woman.’
Alicia held him a little tighter. ‘I’m a very lucky woman,’ she replied.
‘Good God,’ Sandra said, spluttering on her cigarette when Alicia told her about the whole episode. She had come down for the weekend, and the two sisters were having coffee in the sunshine outside the Bay Hotel in Lyme, while Hugh supervised the children sea-kayaking.
‘I know,’ Alicia said. ‘That was my reaction too.’
‘Hugh – with a secret love child! I’m looking at the man with totally new eyes now, I’m telling you. I never thought he had it in him.’
‘He didn’t, either,’ Alicia countered. ‘It was a shock for him too. But I think it’s going to be okay, you know. I think we’re through the worst.’
‘What about the ex, first-love-Sophie? Is she back on the scene too?’
Alicia shook her head. ‘No,’ she said. ‘She lives in Norfolk. Has been married to someone else for fifteen years, apparently, so I think I’m safe there.’
Sandra elbowed her. ‘Ah, well, you say that, but lots of women have a soft spot for their first loves, remember …’
‘Don’t start! I don’t need anything else to worry about, thank you very much. I’ve had enough dramas this year to last me a lifetime.’
‘Must be strange, though,’ Sandra went on. ‘Having an extra person in the family all of a sudden. I guess it would be like us, if we suddenly discovered that Christine had been alive all along, that Mum and Dad had just given her away when she was a baby because—’
A shudder went right through Alicia. ‘Don’t,’ she interrupted. ‘Really, don’t. That’s a horrible thing to say. They would never have done that.’
‘I know, of course they wouldn’t, but I’m just saying, imagine if they had.’
‘Really – don’t! It makes me feel weird.’ She fiddled with her coffee cup, aware that Sandra probably thought she was overreacting wildly. ‘I wish she hadn’t died,’ she said wistfully after a moment.
‘I know. Sorry. Do you ever wonder what she would have been like?’
Alicia gave a hollow laugh. ‘All the time,’ she replied. ‘And, most of the time, I measure up short against her. In my head she’s like SuperTwin – you know, the perfect woman, brilliant at everything, leading the most exciting life ever lived.’ Then her brow furrowed as something occurred to her. ‘Although … that’s weird. I haven’t been thinking about her so much lately. For a while it was like she was in my head all the time. These days, hardly at all.’
‘You know, I think maybe you’ve spent your whole life trying to overcompensate for Christine not being here,’ Sandra said, out of the blue.
‘How do you mean?’ Alicia asked, startled.
‘I mean … You’ve always tried that extra bit harder than normal people to please everyone, Al. You’ve almost been too nice, because you’ve been trying to make up for Christine not surviving. And maybe, at a deep subconscious level, there’s some guilt, too, that you couldn’t stop her dying, so you’re running around trying to help everyone else instead. Does that sound crazy?’ she added hastily as Alicia’s face dropped. ‘It seemed okay as a theory in my head, but now that I’ve actually said it out loud …’
‘No, I get what you mean,’ Alicia replied, and then didn’t know what else to say. Whoa, Sandra the psychotherapist. It was rather scary, having someone analyse your behaviour with such unnerving perception.
‘So if you’ve stopped dwelling on her, then maybe it’s because you’re more relaxed – like you don’t have to prove anything.’ She raised an eyebrow. ‘You can drop the nice act now, honey. We all like you anyway. Give us the real Al Jones for a change.’
Alicia laughed. ‘It’s not an act!’ she protested. ‘Some people are just nice, you know, Sandra. Although …’ She hesitated.
Sandra looked delighted that there was an ‘although’. ‘Yes?’ she prompted encouragingly. ‘Go on – let rip with that mean streak. I know you must have one.’
‘Well, it’s not mean, exactly, but … oh, all right, I’ll just say it.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Please, Sandra, stop calling me “Al”. I’ve never liked it. It makes me feel like a man.’
Sandra’s eyes widened and then she laughed and clapped Alicia on the back. ‘You got it,’ she said. ‘Absolutely. Consider it done, Alicia. Now, can I get you another drink?’
If Alicia thought the family might be heading for calmer waters now, Charlie’s phone call a few days later promptly shattered that illusion. ‘I’m calling a crisis meeting,’ he said dramatically. ‘Mum and Dad’s house, Saturday afternoon. Emma and David are coming too. Are you and Hugh free?’
‘Crisis meeting?’ Alicia immediately feared the worst. ‘What’s happened? Has Eddie—?’
‘He’s okay. Well, he’s the same anyway –’ He broke off. Charlie had taken the news about his dad hard, by all accounts. ‘I’ve been thinking about the future, and I’ve got something to discuss with everyone, that’s all. Not a crisis – not yet anyway. We can’t keep burying our heads in the sand, though.’
Although impressed that feckless Charlie was taking the lead for once, Alicia couldn’t help thinking that this sounded rather ominous. She hoped it wasn’t going to be another of her brother-in-law’s ludicrous money-making schemes, where he would attempt to tap everyone for an investment. Please, no.
Hugh didn’t have much confidence in the forthcoming meeting either. ‘If he says we need to put Dad in a home,’ he started fiercely, ‘I’ll—’
‘He hasn’t said anything yet,’ Alicia reminded him. ‘Give him a chance.’
Privately, though, she had been wondering if Eddie’s days in a normal home environment were numbered. The old Eddie who’d roll up his shirt sleeves and fix anything, who’d take on the boys at French cricket in the garden, the Eddie who made everyone laugh, who smoothed off Lilian’s rough edges and kept them together as a family – he was a thing of the past, and nowadays there was just this anxious, befuddled old man in his place. Charlie was right: they had all been burying their heads in the sand. It was clear that Lilian and Eddie could not carry on as they were for much longer.
She braced herself all week for the meeting. Ever since that anniversary lunch back in February, when Hugh’s parents had announced their intentions to retire, the whole family seemed to have been nervously repositioning themselves in anticipation of the monumental change that was coming. She wasn’t sure if she could handle any more changes, to be honest.
On Saturday afternoon the adult Joneses and Izzy gathered en masse around the dining table in Mulberry House, and it was almost as if the months had rolled back to that last fateful meeting. This time Charlie wasn’t turning up late and in disgrace, though. This time he was a man with a plan, at the head of the table, no less.
‘I’ve got a proposal to make,’ he began without preamble. ‘Or, rather, Izzy and I have.’
Eddie, who had been staring blankly into space, seemed to wake up at this. ‘A marriage proposal?’ he asked hopefully.
Charlie blushed. ‘No,’ he replied, glancing rather sheepishly at Izzy. ‘Well, not today anyway. I know Izzy here is gagging to be Mrs Jones in the future, but …’
‘Don’t flatter yourself, love,’ she put in, rolling her eyes. Anyone could tell she was happy, though. The pair of them had lit up from the inside since they’d finally got it together romantically. (Alicia was thrilled for them, it went without saying. She loved a romantic happy ending – all
the best books and films had one.)
‘No, it’s about the business,’ Charlie went on. ‘Mum and Dad have done a brilliant job of running this place over the years, while still keeping Mulberry House our family home.’
‘Hear hear,’ David put in.
‘And I know when I first offered to take over the business, back in the spring, none of you thought I was up to the job,’ he said.
There was an embarrassed silence. ‘Yes, we did,’ Alicia said kindly after a moment, but it came too late to be convincing.
He laughed. ‘It’s all right, honestly. I wasn’t up to the job, simple as that. I’d have been rubbish – hopelessly disorganized, however much I wanted to save the house. But …’ He looked unsure of himself all of a sudden, as if the real Charlie was being revealed, the vulnerable youngest brother who’d always secretly felt a screw-up.
Izzy stepped in to rescue him. ‘But now he’s got me,’ she said, glancing sideways at him. ‘And I’m really organized. I’ve managed my own business before, and I like working here. And we think, between us, that we could make a go of running Mulberry House. If that’s all right with everyone else, of course,’ she added uncertainly when nobody spoke.
Alicia’s mouth had fallen open. ‘Gosh,’ she blurted out. ‘Wow!’
‘Really?’ said David. He looked delighted. ‘Good on you!’
‘How exciting!’ Emma chimed in, her eyes crinkling at the edges as she smiled. She was very smiley these days, Alicia thought, noticing how cosily ‘together’ she and David looked.
Lilian clutched a hand to her chest. ‘Oh, that’s wonderful,’ she exclaimed. ‘Truly wonderful! I’ve been hoping and hoping, you know. I didn’t want to put any pressure on you, or say anything but …’
‘Wait a minute. So, how’s this going to work?’ Hugh, of course. He always had to get the full facts before he was able to give any future project his approval. Some might say he’d just killed a lovely moment stone-dead, but Alicia knew it was only because he cared.
‘Well, I’ve come into quite a large sum of money,’ Izzy said.
‘And I’m going to sell my flat,’ Charlie added. ‘We’ve got enough to buy Mum and Dad out, so that they can move somewhere smaller and retire.’
‘Move out?’ cried Eddie in alarm, as if this was the first he’d heard of the idea. ‘But what about my garden?’
‘Or,’ Izzy put in quickly, as he began to look anxious, ‘we can look at turning the holiday chalet – or one of the other outbuildings – into a more permanent place for you both to live. That way, Charlie and I are onsite if you two need anything.’
‘Oh, Eddie,’ Lilian said, taking his hand. ‘Did you hear that? We could stay. We could stay here! You wouldn’t have to leave the garden.’ She put her face in her hands, clearly battling not to cry.
Alicia had tears in her own eyes, seeing her mother-in-law’s undisguised relief. The Joneses had come good, she thought, as Charlie, David and Hugh began animatedly discussing how the new set-up could work. Those Jones boys – and Izzy – really had come good.
Later, when the meeting had descended into positive, hopeful chatter about the future, and Hugh had cracked open a bottle or two of wine, Alicia saw Izzy going to check on the girls and followed her out of the room, wanting a quiet word. It was all very well the Joneses having sorted out their problems, but with the best will in the world, this new plan was an enormous leap of faith for Izzy. Going into business with Charlie so soon after the tragedy of her ex-husband – did she really know what she was letting herself in for?
‘Listen, tell me to mind my own business if you want, but …’ She broke off, feeling guilty for being such a killjoy when everyone else was so openly thrilled by today’s developments.
Izzy just smiled. ‘But am I rushing into things without thinking them through?’ she finished. ‘Following my heart instead of my head?’
Alicia bit her lip. They were standing in the hallway, the grandmother clock ticking discreetly behind them. ‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I don’t want to pour cold water on anything; it all sounds wonderful – really, it does. I just can’t help being boringly sensible. You know me.’
‘Not boring at all,’ Izzy replied. ‘You’re right. I know this must all seem a bit sudden. Normally I would never rush into something like this so quickly, but …’ She shrugged. ‘Sometimes you have to go with your instincts, right? And I don’t think this is just a rebound response. I’ve got a really good feeling about it – like it’s meant to be.’ She laughed at herself. ‘Hark at me, Mystic Izzy. But don’t worry, we’re getting a proper legal agreement drawn up, making everything official. If it turns out that my instincts are actually crap, and the whole thing is a disaster, I won’t lose out financially.’
‘Great,’ Alicia said warmly. ‘I’ve got a good feeling about you two as well. I always have had, to be honest.’ She hesitated. ‘And I know Charlie was only mucking about, but … well, it’s nice to think there might another Mrs Jones in future. You, I mean – not some random other woman he’s going to run off and marry.’ She giggled and put her hand to her mouth. ‘Sorry. This is all coming out wrong. Too much excitement.’
Izzy grinned. ‘Isabel Jones sounds all right, doesn’t it?’ she replied, then added shyly, ‘I always wanted to be part of a big family, you know.’
Alicia hugged her. ‘Welcome to the family. It’s good to have you.’
Much to everyone’s relief, Lilian and Eddie chose to stay living on the premises, and the details of all the chalet bungalows that Lilian had accumulated went straight into the recycling pile. ‘This will always be our home,’ she said fondly to anyone who would listen. ‘And you never know, Izzy and Charlie might want my advice on best business practices. I am an expert, after all.’
Once this had been decided, the whole family helped set the wheels in motion. David drew up plans to extend the holiday chalet so that it was more spacious and luxurious, and hired a team of builders. Emma advised on the interior design and helped Charlie decorate. Izzy borrowed a van and collected her last bits and pieces from the flat in Lyme, saying a fond goodbye to Mrs Murray while she was there. Then she and the girls moved into the big house with Charlie, and everyone began working in earnest on ways to improve the business.
Izzy discovered a local-ish company, Berry Botanicals, which made organic toiletries, and ordered a load of yummy smellies in for the bathrooms. Emma took her on a buying trip around an auction house, where she bought some beautiful pieces of furniture for the guest rooms, as well as boxfuls of quality new linen and crockery. Charlie installed a proper Wi-Fi system, Alicia ran up some new curtains on her sewing machine, and Hugh helped with a website overhaul. With just a few small touches, the house was becoming transformed from a tired bed and breakfast to an upmarket, elegant place to stay.
Not only that, but Izzy and Charlie quickly turned the private quarters of Mulberry House back into a proper family home once more. The kitchen became adorned with the children’s artwork and school certificates, the dresser displayed colourful vases of flowers picked from the garden and Izzy’s favourite cookery books. There were cuddly toys and Pixar DVDs up in the girls’ bedrooms, and the garden rang with cheerful shouts and laughs. There was even talk of a new puppy.
‘You’ve done an amazing job,’ Emma told Izzy one Sunday in July. She and David had been invited over for lunch, along with Alicia and Hugh’s mob, but it was such glorious weather that Charlie had stoked up the barbecue for al-fresco dining instead. Replete with steaks and salad, the three women were now lolling lazily in deckchairs on the patio, with tall glasses of Pimms, while the men organized a game of French cricket for them and the children. Even Lilian had been roped in to referee and was taking it all very seriously.
‘Thanks,’ Izzy said, twisting her hair up in a chignon. ‘I’m loving it, to be honest. Everyone’s been so nice to us – we’ve had so many people booking for next year already.’
‘And he hits a six!’ yelled Charlie excited
ly, thwacking the ball into the orchard. The children all screamed and ran after it.
Alicia laughed. ‘I was just about to say how sensible your Charlie is these days,’ she said. ‘But he’s still about seven years old really, isn’t he?’
‘Young at heart,’ Izzy agreed. ‘The girls just love him. Do you know, Willow asked him if she could start calling him “Dad”.’
‘No! Really?’
‘It was the sweetest thing,’ Izzy said. ‘Not Daddy, she decided, because that was Gary. But he could be her dad – because that’s different, in her little world.’
‘Bless her,’ said Alicia. ‘She’s so gorgeous.’
‘And what a compliment to Charlie,’ said Emma. ‘He makes a good dad.’
‘HOWZAT!’ Hugh screamed triumphantly just then, punching the air as he bowled Charlie out.
The three women laughed. ‘Competitive, much?’ Alicia spluttered, rolling her eyes.
‘What are they like?’ Emma said, as all three brothers began arguing. Lilian marched over, hands on her hips, and they watched in amusement. You could imagine the exact same scene taking place thirty years earlier.
‘So, what’s next for Mulberry House?’ Alicia asked after a while.
‘Well, we’ve been finding out about the glamping market,’ Izzy replied. ‘Boutique camping, for people who don’t like roughing it. It’s the hip thing, apparently. We’ve definitely got room for some big posh tents – yurts, I think they call them – in the orchard.’
‘Ooh, that is a good idea,’ Emma said. ‘David and I are off to Cornwall next month with some friends, and we’re all staying in yurts. We can be your researchers.’
‘You and your trips,’ Alicia teased. ‘New York last month, Thailand in December … You two are becoming the best-travelled couple I’ve ever met.’
‘I know,’ Emma replied with a grin. ‘The last few months have been really fun. David’s used up half his annual leave already with all our adventures. And we’ve decided …’ She lowered her voice, even though the rest of the Joneses were still arguing heatedly a safe distance away. ‘We’ve decided we’re going to try IVF next year, which is why we’re doing all these things while we still can.’ She drained her Pimms with a rattle of ice cubes. ‘Any excuse, right?’
