by Jenny Kane
‘Sorry for what?’
Jack, who’d been studying Rupert’s expression, had already worked out what must have happened. ‘You told him everything, didn’t you?’
Although he hadn’t run far, Rupert was out of breath. His angry frustration made his chest feel constricted and tight. ‘I didn’t mean to. He made me so cross, and suddenly I didn’t see why I should put up with his belittling anymore. Why shouldn’t I be who I really am within my childhood home?’
‘How did he take it?’
‘I didn’t hang around to find out. But as Father isn’t chasing me across the lawn I guess he’s either too shocked to move, or is in his study rewriting his will, leaving everything to that bloody Club instead of me.’
Nodding slowly, the colour beginning to return to Angela’s face as she comprehended what her son had finally admitted to her husband. ‘I told your father years ago, Rupert, but he didn’t believe me.’
‘You knew?’
‘Of course I knew. I’m your mother.’ Angela smiled at Jack. ‘I suspect your mother knew before you told her as well.’
‘She died before I had the chance to speak to her, but my dad said she did.’ Jack held out his hand to Rupert. ‘Are you alright?’
With a silent look to his mother to make sure it was OK, Rupert took Jack’s hand. ‘I am now.’ He squeezed his boyfriend’s palm before dropping it and hugging his mother with more affection than he’d shown her in years. ‘I’m sorry I’ve kept away so much. It wasn’t you.’
‘I know, dear.’ Angela felt tears stream down her face as she held her son. ‘I’ve never minded you being gay. Not for one minute. But I don’t have to tell you that your father’s not an easy man to live with, and if he doesn’t want to see something he is quite capable of being blind to it.’
‘Are you sure you’re alright with it, Mother?’
Smiling through her tears of relief, Angela looked at Jack. ‘You’ve always had good taste, Rupert. You have a good man here, don’t mess it up.’ Keeping her son close for a few more seconds, Angela stepped back, ‘Now, boys, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go and sort out your father. It’s about time I stood up to him myself. If you can do it, Rupert, so can I.’
‘Do you want me to come with you?’
‘It’s OK. You two get back to the station or you’ll miss your train. Best to let your father simmer for a minute, but don’t worry, he’ll come around.’
‘You think so?’
‘Well, maybe not – but I can hope!’ Stretching out a hand to Jack, Angela shook it warmly. ‘Thank you for coming today, Jack, you’ve proved to be the breath of fresh air I badly needed. I will certainly be implementing a few of your suggestions in the garden.’
‘And painting a few of the flowers, I hope.’ Jack returned her smile. ‘Thank you for making me so welcome. Oh, and don’t forget about the restaurant launch, will you? I’ll post an invite. We’d love you to be there – and Mr Ashton as well, if he’ll come.’
A contentment he hadn’t felt since he was a small child swept over Rupert as the train carried him and Jack back to London.
‘You’re very quiet. You OK?’
Rupert nodded. ‘Very OK. Thank you for being so lovely to my mother.’
‘That was hardly a chore, she’s delightful. We have a lot in common. I think she would have got on with my mum like a house on fire.’ Jack tried to push down the feeling of regret that his mother had missed out on meeting Angela. ‘I hope you didn’t mind me inviting her to the restaurant opening? We got chatting about the bistro, and she was so enthusiastic, and gave me so many great ideas for meal combinations, it seemed the natural thing to do.’
‘I don’t mind at all. I doubt my father will come though.’
‘Probably not.’ Jack twisted in his seat so he could see Rupert’s face properly. ‘Your mother will be alright, won’t she? He won’t harm her?’
‘Father’s a control freak, but not a thug. And I have a feeling that now she’s been proved right about the lack of white weddings and grandsons – not to mention after he has digested the news that I gave up legal work precisely so I didn’t embarrass him – he’ll be grumpy but resigned.’
‘I suspect your mother is a lot stronger than he is.’
Rupert rested his head on Jack’s shoulder. ‘I’m glad you liked her. She obviously thinks you a suitable boyfriend for me.’
‘Which is lucky, because I’d rather been hoping that’s how you saw me.’
Travelling along in happy silence, they watched the fields of Cambridgeshire merge into the suburbs of London. Comfortable, with Rupert cuddled up next to him, Jack was beginning to fall asleep when his mobile began to vibrate in his pocket.
‘Oh, hello, Megan. Everything alright?’
‘Slow down!’
Rupert was almost out of puff as he ran behind Jack along the street towards Pickwicks. ‘Peggy won’t have changed her mind before you get there.’
His eyes gleaming with joy, Jack laughed as he slowed to a walk. ‘I’m sorry, but I want to hear it directly from Peggy and Scott. I won’t allow myself to truly believe what Megan said until I hear Peggy say it myself.’
Rupert grabbed Jack’s elbow as they turned into the lane that led to Pickwicks. ‘Megan wouldn’t have called if there was even a chance that Peggy was going to change her mind.’
‘You’re probably right, but, well ... Look, today has already been very good to me. I’m not known for having a lot of luck.’ He held Rupert’s hand. ‘Although I must confess, dragging you to Pickwicks as soon as we got off the train wasn’t top of my list of interesting things to do on our return to London.’
Blushing, Rupert said, ‘Well, nor mine, but this is so exciting!’ He glanced at his watch. ‘The café will be closed now though, won’t it? It’s almost six o’clock.’
‘Everyone will still be there cleaning up though, and hopefully, if she got my text, Amy will be there as well.’
‘You invited Amy?’
‘The more witnesses the better!’
Stopping abruptly, Rupert decided not to mention that he was quite nervous about meeting Amy, considering how much Jack obviously adored her, but said, ‘Hang on ... what if Helena is there? I haven’t seen her since she and I ... um ... you know.’
‘Trust me, if Helena is there she’ll act as though nothing ever happened. Pride and all that. But it’s late, I’m pretty sure she won’t be around.’
Pickwicks was at a standstill. The tables were littered with used cups and teapots, and there was a stack of dirty glasses gathered on a tray, which had been abandoned on the counter. The reason for this hiatus in the usual post-customer industry was obvious to Jack and Rupert as soon as they knocked on the locked café door.
Amy had brought Poppy for her very first trip to Pickwicks, and Peggy and Megan were queuing alongside Kit for a cuddle. To Rupert’s relief, there was no sign of Helena.
Leaving Poppy in Kit’s capable hands, Amy escaped from the cooing and ahhhing and let Jack and Rupert in.
‘I’m so pleased you came! How’s my little girl?’
‘Do you mean me or Poppy?’ Amy smiled at Jack, knowing full well he meant Poppy as she put out her hand to Rupert, ‘I’m so pleased to meet you. I assume you are Rupert?’
‘And you have to be Amy, I’ve heard so much about you.’
‘I dread to think!’
‘It’s all been good, I promise.’ Rupert found he liked Amy already. He could see instantly why Jack cared for her so much, and the sense of relief he felt shocked him. It wasn’t until he’d set eyes on her that Rupert realised how badly he’d wanted to like Amy, and for her to like him in return.
Letting go of Amy, Jack pointed across the café. ‘I assume I’m going to have to break through that scrum to get a cuddle of my goddaughter?’
‘You’ll have to wrestle Peggy out of the way for sure. She’s made it clear she’s next in line for a snuggle when Kit gives Poppy up.’
‘Then I’d bet
ter wait patiently. I don’t want to annoy Peggy today!’
Amy laughed, ‘Now she and Scott have decided they want in at the bistro, they won’t change their minds.’
Rupert smiled. ‘That’s what I keep saying.’
‘I know you’re both right, but I need to chat to them properly. There’s a lot to discuss. We need to arrange meetings, the legal stuff and all that. I also want to see if they are OK with Megan running the show, and to see if Megan still wants to, for that matter.’ Jack looked around; he could see Kit, Megan, and Peggy with Poppy by her pram. ‘Where is Scott anyway?’
‘Hiding in the kitchen.’ Amy started to walk towards the counter, and called out, ‘Shall I make us all a cuppa?’
Kit gave a very obliging Poppy a tiny kiss, before passing her to Peggy, ‘No you don’t, Amy Donahue, I’ll make it! Am I right in thinking this will be the first coffee you’ve drunk since you started getting morning sickness?’
Peggy, who’d just got Poppy comfortable on her lap, said, ‘You’re joking! Is it really, Amy?’
‘It is! I’m only just back to fancying coffee again, and I wanted my first cup to be a Pickwicks special.’
‘In that case,’ Peggy stroked a finger across Poppy’s soft cheek as she spoke, ‘Kit, stand away from the coffee machine! Megan, could you make Amy a cup of coffee please?’
Kit laughed, ‘Are you casting aspirations on my coffee-making skills, Peggy?’
‘Yes. No offence, honey; you may be an expert coffee drinker, but your coffee making most certainly needs work!’
Jack, who’d been watching the activity around him with a feeling of love for the women in his life, added, ‘And while you’re there, Megan...’
‘Yes, I know, I’ll make a full round of coffees! But only if I get the next Poppy cuddle.’
‘It’s a deal.’ Amy took the chance to sit down, and patted the chair next to her for Jack to sit down as Rupert went to help Megan with the drinks and to chat to her about their combined website.
‘Tell me,’ Amy spoke quietly. ‘Did the meal go well? Is Rupert officially with you now?’
‘Ish.’ Jack was trying to be vague, but he was given away by his smile.
‘Ish?’
‘We’re going slowly, but it feels good like this. His father’s a nightmare, but his mother is lovely. I’m hoping she’ll come to the bistro opening. I think you’d really like her.’
Amy clapped her hands. ‘I’m chuffed for you, Jack. He looks like a nice man. Why don’t you bring Rupert over for a takeaway soon so he can meet Paul as well? I’d say I’d cook, but mealtimes are something of a fractured affair in our house now we have Poppy.’
‘Takeaway sounds great. I’d love to bring Rupert round, thanks.’ Jack looked over to where his boyfriend was handing out coffee cups to Kit and Peggy. ‘Where is Paul, anyway?’
‘He took Mum and Dad into London for a shopping trip this afternoon. I suspect they may be in the process of spoiling their first granddaughter rotten.’
As Amy’s coffee cup made its way to her table, Poppy decided she’d had enough of being handed around like a gift in a game of pass the parcel, and began to cry.
With a groan of resignation at her baby’s ability to always need her when she was about to relax, Amy stood up, but Rupert halted her progress and passed her a cup of coffee. ‘I’ll take her, you drink your coffee.’
Taking the baby from Peggy, Rupert started to murmur to Poppy softly as he walked her up and down the café. Almost instantly the crying morphed into gurgles of contentment.
Delighted, Amy smiled. ‘Rupert, you’re a natural, thank you so much. You aren’t on hire for midnight call-outs, are you?’
‘Only in dire emergencies!’
While Peggy went to drag Scott away from cleaning the kitchen, Amy asked, ‘Do you like children, Rupert?’
‘Very much. I’d happily babysit your daughter from time to time ... if you’d like me to, of course.’
‘You have a deal!’ Amy turned to look at Jack. His smile widened as the look in his ex-girlfriend’s eyes told him very clearly that, at last, he had found a good man.
AUGUST
In which many champagne bottles are put on ice...
Chapter Forty-one
Monday 8th August
‘And so the party, or naming ceremony as Jack keeps calling it, will be held at the bistro on the eighteenth of August.’ Amy pushed the pram back and forth as she chatted to Kit across the café table in the sunshine of Kew Gardens.
‘Well, it is Poppy’s naming ceremony, isn’t it, everything else that’s going on is just extra.’ Kit smiled down at her sleeping goddaughter. ‘Any gifts you’d like for her? If this was a christening there’d be presents.’
‘We don’t expect presents. Mum suggested that if people want to give Poppy something, then we should open a bank account for her and tell people they can donate some money to her future.’
‘That’s an excellent idea. We’ll do that.’
‘Does that sound mercenary?’
‘Not at all. Anyway, it’ll prevent you from drowning in hundreds of items of clothing you can’t stand, mountains of bibs, and a whole host of pewter mugs and spoons neither you nor Poppy will ever know what to do with.’
‘There speaks the voice of experience.’ Amy took a sip of coffee as she rested back in the sunshine and watched the tourists go by. ‘I still don’t think the party should be just thought of as being for Poppy though. We all have is so much to celebrate. The bistro opening, Megan’s new job and her blossoming art career, Peggy’s birthday is only two days after the opening, and your novel has finally been drafted.’
‘Less of the finally, thank you very much – although I grant you the deadline was cut to the wire!’ Kit watched the sleeping baby wriggle against the mattress. ‘I’ll be exactly the same empty nest wise when Poppy leaves home. Mind you, right now I can’t imagine waving her off to school, let alone university.’ Amy looked at her daughter. ‘It seems unreal that she’s virtually two weeks old already.’
‘It’ll go faster than you can ever imagine.’
Noting the wistful tone to her friend’s voice, Amy said, ‘I bet it’s great to have Thomas back. Did he have a good time?’
‘Adventure of a lifetime by the sound of it! And yes, it’s great to have him back. We all went out for a meal last night and listened to his tales. Although I think some of the information I could have done without knowing!’
Amy laughed. ‘I can imagine. He’s a good-looking boy! So, how are you doing with the whole life after the twins have left bit?’
Kit squinted into the sunshine. ‘We won’t know for sure that they’re going until their results come out on the eighteenth. Helena’s like a cat on hot bricks. The sooner we find out if she’s got the grades she needs, the better.’
‘I’m assuming Thomas is chilled about it.’
‘Yes, my son is very much of the “what will be, will be” persuasion. How they can be twins when they’re so different beats me.’
A gurgling from the pram alerted the friends to the fact that the baby was now awake and grinning happily at the shadows being cast over her by the tree leaves she was shaded beneath. Slowing the rocking of the pram to a halt, Amy said, ‘But assuming they get the grades they want, when do they go?’
‘Helena starts at Bath on the twentieth of September, and Thomas will be off to Exeter two days later. Such a relief they start on different days! Makes the logistics of getting them where they need to be so much easier.’
‘Just as well Jack is planning to line up the champagne bottles at the naming ceremony. It’s been a hell of a long time since we had so much to celebrate. In fact, we haven’t had a party all together since that one after Scott’s accident.’
‘What about your wedding? I seem to remember dancing for Britain at the party after that – although I grant you I was a touch worse for wear after a fair bit of Pinot!’
‘True. It was great – but Jack wasn’t th
ere, was he?’
‘Ah, yes, so he wasn’t. And this time we’ll have Rupert with us as well.’ Kit took a final sip from her coffee cup, ‘What do you think of young Mr Ashton then?’
Amy put down her own cup and scooped up Poppy to check her nappy didn’t need changing before they took a walk around the grounds. ‘He’s lovely. Perfect for Jack. You?’
‘I couldn’t agree more.’
‘And is Helena OK with it?’
‘Helena has said nothing about it at all, which pretty much means she is embarrassed by the whole episode and is pretending it never happened. Frankly, that’s the best thing for all of us!’
‘So that’s settled then?’ Peggy smiled as Jack and Scott shook hands over the freshly signed paperwork.
Sitting back down, Jack raised a cup of Peggy’s finest coffee in his new colleagues’ direction. ‘I can’t tell you how delighted I am that you’re doing this with me. I have to admit, the afternoon coffee and cake side of the enterprise was daunting me the most.’
Scott pulled his notebook towards him. ‘I find that surprising. The idea of serving full meals for a non-stop run of demanding diners would surely be the most difficult thing?’
‘Well, it isn’t easy, but it is exciting! I love the nightly challenge. It’s a bit like spinning plates, and knowing that if you drop just one the whole display will be ruined.’
Peggy laughed. ‘I can well imagine! Which is why we’re quite happy to leave all that to you!’ She slid the contract they’d signed into an envelope ready to hand to their solicitors, ‘So, let’s go through this one more time then.’
Scott rolled his eyes. ‘Peggy, love, we’ve signed now. It’s all agreed.’
‘I know, but I want to triple check we haven’t left anything off the list.’
‘Good plan.’ Jack picked up a pen, and flipped his own notebook back open. ‘The contract between the three of us will officially begin on the twenty-seventh of August, which is the second Saturday after Poppy’s naming ceremony. I’ll talk to Megan properly tomorrow, but she already knows that she’ll be my right-hand girl, spending the first few days setting up your side of the proceedings, making sure the coffee machine works, helping me with the last-minute adverts, and training up the evening waiting staff. They’re all from the local silver service college course, so they pretty much know the drill anyway.’
