Chapter Ten
May 2006
THE ONLY SOUND in the room then was Mr Arora rustling his way through a box of papers. Neither Lalita nor I could say anything for what felt like hours, but was probably only a moment or two.
‘Your gran?’ I repeated. ‘Your gran?’ My voice began to rise a touch hysterically. ‘How can it be your gran?’
‘I don’t know how, it just is!’ Lalita snapped. ‘I’ve seen pictures of her when she was a teenager.’ She stabbed her finger at the photo; at the girl standing next to Nan. ‘That’s my gran.’
We both stared at the picture. I thought of the tall, cool, elegant woman I’d seen at the wedding reception and couldn’t see a single resemblance to the cheeky-faced girl in the photo. Except maybe those dark, dark eyes.
‘What’s your gran’s first name?’ I demanded.
‘Sharmila.’
Sharmila. Milly …
It fitted.
My hands were trembling as I turned the photo over. Someone, maybe Miss Bell, had written the names of the pupils on the back. Asha Deol was followed by Milly Chaudhary.
‘Was that your gran’s last name,’ I asked, ‘before she got married?’
‘I don’t know,’ Lalita muttered. She was looking as dazed as I felt.
I opened my mouth to make a cutting retort until I realized that I only knew Nan’s maiden name because it was the same as Great-uncle Hardeep’s.
‘Look, Dani,’ Lalita went on, ‘that’s my gran. I don’t know how it’s possible, but it’s her.’
‘Well, has she ever talked about being a pupil at Coppergate?’ I pressed urgently. ‘She must have at least mentioned it when she knew you were going to come here.’
Lalita shook her head. ‘I remember she seemed really interested when I told her,’ she said slowly. ‘But she never said anything. Gran doesn’t talk about her childhood at all. I got the feeling that it wasn’t a very happy one—’ She stopped, looking at me with wide eyes.
‘Which it wouldn’t have been if her mum was ill all the time,’ I added, speaking Lalita’s thoughts aloud. I shook my head, trying to clear it. It seemed impossible that Lalita’s gran could be the Milly of the diary, even though the evidence was here before us in black and white.
‘I can’t believe it,’ I muttered. ‘Milly is so cute and cheeky and funny, and your gran is—’
I managed to bite back what I’d been going to say, but Lalita had guessed.
‘My gran’s not like you think,’ she snapped defensively. ‘She’s lovely. I know she doesn’t always seem that way, but that’s just because of her job. She’s fab when you get to know her.’
‘She’s a headteacher, isn’t she?’ I remembered. ‘And in Nan’s diary, Milly said she wanted to be a teacher.’
‘It all fits, doesn’t it?’
Lalita and I looked at each other in wonder. This was truly the most amazing thing that had ever happened to me, and I guessed that Lalita felt the same.
‘What do you think we should do, Dani?’ she asked, her face crinkling up into a worried frown. ‘My gran’s been talking about coming to see us ever since she found out I’ve met up with my mum again. Should we tell her? And what about your gran?’
It was the first time Lalita had ever asked for my advice, and I admit, it gave me a nice warm feeling inside.
‘I don’t know.’ I took a few deep breaths and tried to think logically. ‘I don’t think we can do this on our own, Lalita. I think we’d better talk to my mum and your dad, and tell them everything …’
And that’s what we did. Mr Arora kindly scanned and printed a copy of the photo for us, and later that afternoon we sat Mum and Ravi down when they got home from work, and then we told them everything.
‘My God, this is unbelievable!’ Mum kept saying. She and Ravi were holding the photo between them, unable to tear their eyes away from it. ‘Is that definitely your mum, Ravi?’
‘For sure,’ Ravi said confidently. ‘Chaudhary was her surname before she married Dad. And is that definitely your mum?’
Mum nodded. ‘This is so wonderful,’ she said unsteadily. ‘To think that they knew each other all those years ago! To think that our families had this link all along, and we never knew about it …’ Her eyes began to fill up.
‘Don’t cry, Mum,’ I said quickly, feeling a suspicious lump forming in my own throat.
‘And you two girls found this out all on your own,’ Ravi marvelled, glancing at Lalita and me. He sounded as if it was almost more of a miracle that Lalita and I had done this together, rather than the fact that our grans had known each other forty years ago.
‘Well, Dani translated the diary,’ Lalita said.
‘Lalita was the one who persuaded Mr Arora to let us look through the paperwork,’ I added quickly.
‘Are my ears deceiving me, or is this a mutual admiration society?’ asked Mum.
‘Oh, it’s all an act,’ Lalita replied. ‘We still hate each other really. Don’t we, Dani?’
‘Of course,’ I agreed.
Mum and Ravi smiled.
‘But what shall we do now?’ I went on. ‘We were going to tell Nan when we found Milly, but this changes everything.’
‘Should we tell them both right away?’ asked Lalita.
Mum frowned uncertainly, turning to Ravi. ‘I don’t think it would be fair to tell your mum something like this over the phone,’ she said. ‘What do you think?’
‘I agree,’ said Ravi. ‘But she’s been talking about coming to stay. If we invited your mum to visit at the same time, we could tell them together.’ He looked round at us all. ‘Is everyone happy with that?’
We all nodded. I was so excited, I didn’t realize till later that this moment was the very first time that it actually felt like we were a real family.
Haven’t written in my diary for over a week now – too excited!!!
We’ve been waiting and waiting for Lalita’s gran to come and visit. In the meantime, we’ve had to keep it quiet from Nan, and I don’t know how I managed it. It’s nearly killed me!
Well, today was the big day!
‘What’s going on?’ Nan asked suspiciously as we sat around the living room, waiting for Ravi and Lalita. They’d gone to pick up Lalita’s gran from the airport. Mum had decided that maybe they should have a bit of time on their own so that they could discuss the situation with Belinda, so that was why she and I hadn’t gone with them.
‘What do you mean, what’s going on?’ Mum asked calmly, pouring more tea.
‘You and Dani are dancing around like you have ants in your pants,’ Nan said bluntly. ‘Is someone going to tell me what’s happening?’
I told you she should have been a detective!
‘We’re just nervous about meeting Lalita’s gran again,’ I replied, with a flash of inspiration. I tried not to glance across the room at the cupboard where I’d hidden the photo. ‘You know what she’s like.’
‘Actually, she’s been much nicer over the last few weeks,’ Mum remarked, handing Nan a cup. ‘We’ve talked on the phone quite a lot.’
Nan looked a touch disbelieving.
‘It’s true,’ Mum insisted. ‘I think she was just upset about Ravi getting this job, and then him and Lalita moving so far away from Edinburgh. You know she’d looked after Lalita since she was a toddler.’
‘Well, she’d better be civil, that’s all,’ Nan muttered darkly.
I felt even more wound up. What if Nan and Milly – sorry, Lalita’s gran – didn’t even like each other any more? I chewed the inside of my lip. I hoped this wasn’t a really bad idea …
The sound of a car in the driveway made me leap to my feet.
‘They’re here!’ I announced, slightly hysterically.
Nan threw me another suspicious look, but there was no time for her to say anything. Lalita, her gran and Ravi were coming in, and there were greetings all round. Lalita’s gran hugged Mum and me, which was surprising. I kept sneaking glances at her every so o
ften, but I couldn’t see any resemblance to the girl in the photo – except every so often, there was suddenly a flash of something that reminded me briefly of the old photograph. But it was gone before I could put my finger on it. I saw Nan frowning slightly as she too greeted Lalita’s gran, as if she’d noticed it as well. I remembered what she’d said at the wedding reception, about how Lalita’s gran reminded her of someone.
‘It’s lovely to see you all again,’ Lalita’s gran said in a voice which sounded a bit shaky. She took Mum’s hand. ‘All of you.’
I could see that she’d decided to make a big effort to get on with everybody and make the best of the situation. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Nan relax slightly.
We all sat down. Lalita made a point of grabbing a seat next to me, and she looked as excited as I was. We tried not to glance at each other but we couldn’t help it. We were as tightly wound up as two springs!
‘Now, how are you, bhanji?’ Nan began, turning to Lalita’s gran. ‘How was your journey?’
‘Nan!’ I blurted out, without even giving Lalita’s gran time to respond. ‘We’ve got something to show you!’
Nan was frowning ferociously at me. ‘Dani!’ she scolded, ‘Where are your manners?’
Too late! I was already across the room and fumbling in the cupboard for the photo. Lalita jumped to her feet and followed me, determined not to be left out.
‘Dani and I found this photo at school,’ Lalita explained, one eye on her gran, as I charged back across the room, almost tripping over the rug in my eagerness.
Nan put on her glasses. She peered at the photo as I held it out with trembling fingers, and then gave an exclamation of pleasure. ‘That’s me! And look, Dani, there’s Milly, standing next to me. And that’s Miss Bell, our form teacher—’
Blissfully unaware of what was going on, Nan continued to study the photo. But Lalita, Mum, Ravi and I had all turned to look at Lalita’s gran. She didn’t even notice because her eyes too were fixed on the photo.
‘Milly?’ she said in a whisper. ‘Let me see that!’
Then she was on her feet and across the room and whipping the photo from Nan’s hand.
Nan looked up at her, and at that moment I knew that she had finally realized the truth.
‘Milly?’ she asked wonderingly.
‘Asha?’ Lalita’s gran said softly.
Lalita and I watched, spellbound, as our two grans stared at each other in shocked silence. The atmosphere in the room was so emotional, you could have almost reached out and touched it.
‘More tea!’ Mum grabbed the tray and rushed over to the door. ‘Girls! I need some help!’
Within seconds, Ravi and Mum had whisked us from the room and shut the door firmly behind us.
‘Mum!’ I wailed as they ushered us into the kitchen and shut that door too. Huh! No chance of hearing anything! ‘I want to know what’s happening!’
‘Me too,’ Lalita chimed in. ‘This is the best bit!’
‘The grans have got a lot to talk about,’ Ravi said warningly. ‘It’s best if we give them some time on their own.’
Mum nodded.
‘Typical,’ Lalita muttered to me. ‘This is like watching a movie and missing the ending!’
‘I know,’ I sighed. ‘Parents can be so mean.’
Mum and Ravi simply laughed. But I bet they were dying to know what was going on in the living room as much as Lalita and I were.
Twenty minutes dragged by. Lalita and I were slumped at the kitchen table, eating chocolate biscuits we didn’t really want, when suddenly we heard the sound of laughter from the other room. We both leaped to our feet and looked eagerly at Mum and Ravi.
‘All right, you two.’ Mum picked up the tea tray again. ‘Just act cool and calm.’
Lalita and I dashed out of the kitchen, trapping each other in the doorway, which wasn’t big enough for both of us to get through at the same time. I shoved her out of the way, but then I skidded on the hall rug and Lalita overtook me. She flung open the living-room door and rushed in, with me snapping at her heels.
Nan and Milly (well, I can’t keep calling her Lalita’s gran!) were sitting close together on the sofa. Their eyes were red, but they were smiling.
‘And how is Hardeep?’ Milly was asking.
Nan shrugged. ‘Exactly the same,’ she replied. ‘Just a lot older!’
They both turned to look at us then.
‘Everything’s fine,’ Nan said immediately, smiling at me.
‘Aren’t you clever girls?’ Milly stood up and hugged first Lalita and then me, as Ravi and Mum followed us in. ‘Thank you. I never dreamed I would ever see Asha again.’
Nan hugged us too. ‘Now we really are one big, happy family,’ she said. ‘Aren’t we?’
And we all smiled at each other. Great beaming smiles that nevertheless made me feel a bit tearful too. Like Lalita had said, it was just like a movie. Maybe we wouldn’t ever find out what our grans had said to each other during that long twenty minutes when they were alone together, but this was the real ending.
As Nan had said, now we really were a family.
The house was still almost the same as Nan had described it in her diary. It was tall and thin and it had lots of windows, a tiny front garden and steps up to the front door. But it was no longer shabby. The front door was a glossy navy-blue colour, and there were hanging baskets of yellow pansies on each side of it. The steps were freshly painted and a brilliant white. The front garden was very small, but it was crammed with terracotta pots filled with flowers.
When Nan and Milly had suggested taking Lalita and me to see the house where they’d lived, we’d jumped at the idea. It seemed like the last piece of the jigsaw finally slotting into place.
‘It’s certainly come up in the world,’ Milly remarked as we stood gazing up at the house.
‘It looks like it’s been converted back to a house too,’ said Nan. ‘Look, all the doorbells for the different flats have gone.’
Lalita and I stood silently staring at the house. I tried to imagine Nan the same age as me, running up the path, her plaits flying. Playing in the snow with Hardeep. Meeting Milly secretly in the garden. I quite enjoyed studying history at school, but this was a special kind of history. It wasn’t about kings and queens and wars and parliaments. This was my history. And Lalita’s. I glanced at her and she grinned back at me. I wondered if she was thinking the same thing.
As we all hovered in front of the wrought-iron gate, the blue front door suddenly opened. A woman balancing a baby on her hip appeared, holding a black rubbish sack.
‘Oh!’ she murmured, looking quite taken aback at the sight of four females loitering right outside her gate.
‘Sorry, my dear,’ Nan called. ‘We didn’t mean to startle you. It’s just that my friend and I’ – she and Milly smiled at each other – ‘used to live here when we were children.’
Quickly Nan explained what had happened. The woman, who was quite young with red hair and a warm smile, was so interested that she dropped the black bag next to her bin and came across to the gate. The baby gurgled at us.
‘That’s quite amazing,’ she said when Nan had finished giving her a brief version of how Lalita and I had brought her and Milly back together. ‘How wonderful for you!’ She switched the baby skilfully to her other hip. ‘The house isn’t divided into flats any more, as you’ve probably guessed, but would you like to come in and look around? You’d be very welcome.’
Lalita and I looked at each other with delight. Nan and Milly did the same, and I smiled. It was almost like seeing me and Lalita grown up!
The woman led us up the steps and inside the hall.
‘Oh, you’ve kept the old tiles!’ Nan exclaimed, staring down at the black and white floor. ‘And look, Milly, that study was the TV room! Remember when we used to sneak in there to watch Doctor Who?’
Milly laughed and nodded. ‘And that was the Lawrences’ flat,’ she said, pointing across the hall at the cream a
nd blue living room.
Lalita and I were looking around, fascinated. Even though the house had changed quite a bit, I could still imagine how it had looked, from the descriptions in Nan’s diary. I could see Nan and Milly running up the narrow wooden staircases and sitting in front of the TV, gasping with fright at the Daleks.
‘We built an extension on the back to put in a new kitchen,’ the woman explained, leading us to the back of the house. Through the wide kitchen windows we could see out into the enormous garden, and Nan gave a shout of laughter.
‘The outside toilet’s gone!’ she pointed out, nudging Milly. ‘Look, girls, it was right there, where that pond with the pretty fountain is.’
The woman led us upstairs, and we saw where the kitchen and the bathroom had been, as well as Nan’s family’s flat. Then we went up to the third storey, where Milly and her parents had lived. It had now been converted into three bedrooms, two large, one small.
Milly stood in the doorway of the biggest room and stared around. ‘This was our living room,’ she said quietly. ‘My mum used to lie on the sofa all the time, there, underneath the window.’
Nan touched her arm lightly, sympathetically. Lalita and I stood silently together, watching without saying a word. The past suddenly seemed very close, so close that I could almost take a step forward and walk back right into the middle of it. Who needs time travel? I could see Milly and Asha and everything that had happened to them vividly, inside my head.
‘It was good to see the old place again,’ Nan said as we walked back to her car. ‘And very kind of that lady to allow us inside her home.’
Milly slipped her arm through Nan’s. ‘So how about if we go over and visit your brother this afternoon?’ she suggested. Her dark eyes glittered wickedly, making her look so much like the Milly in the photo. ‘I’m sure Hardeep would love to see me again!’
Nan pulled a comical face. ‘You should ask him for all those pennies that you bribed him with!’ she replied. ‘And for forty-three years’ interest too!’
They chuckled, heads together, as they plotted how they were going to surprise Great-uncle Hardeep. It was almost as if they were twelve years old again! With a shock, I realized that in another forty-odd years’ time, this could be me and Lalita. Close friends, almost as close as sisters. Just like our grans …
Dani’s Diary Page 16
