Escape to Willow Cottage

by Bella Osborne

  Beth gave a weak smile. Carly might be right but it was not being caused by what Carly thought it was. Then, out of the corner of her eye, Beth saw something. Someone about twenty feet away wheeled in a large black box. As long as it doesn’t contain a Hitler lookalike cat we could be in business, thought Beth.

  Carly put her hands on her hips. ‘It’s not that warm and you’ve been wearing a hat all morning, so I don’t think you’ve got heat stroke,’ she said, as music started up behind her. Beth felt the sense of relief wash over her like poured honey. Carly was still looking at Beth but as Beth stood up and looked past her into the square she turned and followed her gaze.

  A single girl stood on her own a few feet in front of the box as it played ‘Moves Like Jagger’ by Maroon 5 and she was moving in time to the rhythm. As soon as she started into a simple dance routine two more girls joined her and they continued dancing in perfect time with each other. Every few seconds more dancers joined in. Two men came and stood near Beth and Carly and they were watching too.

  ‘Watch your bag,’ said Carly cautiously.

  ‘Okay,’ said Beth and she started to clap along. The music changed to ‘Call Me Maybe’ by Carly Rae Jepsen and the two men ran and back-flipped into the routine.

  ‘Wow!’ said Beth, as at least thirty people were now dancing.

  ‘Is this one of those flashy thingies?’ asked Carly, turning to look at Beth who was stepping along in time to the music, splashing water everywhere.

  ‘Flash mob!’ said Beth, still unsure how Carly had managed to survive this far into the twenty-first century without being addicted to the internet.

  ‘Right,’ she said. ‘They’re very good.’

  ‘Yes, they are,’ said Beth, her excitement at full tilt. ‘Keep watching!’ she urged, pointing back at the display, as the last thing she wanted was for Carly to miss the crucial moment.

  The current dancers went into a free dance section where they bounced about in a less coordinated fashion and pushed the crowd back to grow their space.

  ‘I think it’s finished,’ said Carly.

  ‘No, I don’t think it has,’ said Beth.

  The music changed to ‘Uptown Funk’ by Mark Ronson and half of the large crowd moved in time to the new routine and the dance troupe instantly grew to more than a hundred people.

  Carly’s eyes were on stalks. ‘How do they all know the steps?’ asked Carly.

  Beth was beyond being able to answer, she just kept clapping. When the next tranche joined in the whole of Trafalgar Square was either dancing or stood captivated by the spectacle.

  ‘We’re so lucky being here at the right time,’ said Carly, at last looking like she was impressed and enjoying it.

  Thank goodness for that, thought Beth.

  The dancers suddenly shuffled backwards and were all bunched together as the music changed for the last time and ‘Marry You’ by Bruno Mars blared out of the speaker. Beth stopped clapping and watched Carly. She loved that Carly had no idea what was about to happen. She was smiling and jigging about a little in time to the music, watching the dancers so intently that when they waved their arms in a cascade motion, parted into two groups and a corridor opened up between them she didn’t seem to notice who was walking down it and towards her.

  Doing a little dance of his own came a tall man carrying two giant bouquets of brightly coloured gerbera. The dancers were now stood signing the words of the song while their hips all moved in time to the music …

  Cause it’s a beautiful night,

  We’re looking for something dumb to do.

  Hey baby,

  I think I wanna marry you.

  The bouquets parted and Fergus was grinning as he walked up to Carly. Carly’s face was a picture, she went through so many emotions in only a few moments: surprise, shock, thrill and lastly totally overwhelmed as Fergus got down on one knee. She started to cry, big body-wrenching sobs.

  ‘Carly Wilson. I tried to make this little corner of the world stop for you today. I love you so much. Will you be my wife and spend for ever with me?’ He opened a small Tiffany-blue ring box and a glint of sunlight caught the diamond at exactly the right moment, making it sparkle beautifully.

  Carly was uncontrollably blubbing and Beth was feeling slightly smug as she handed her a handful of man-size tissues from her bag. ‘Yes,’ spluttered Carly as she launched herself into Fergus’s arms. The music changed to ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams and the dancers starting waving signs that said She said YES! Fergus picked Carly up and swung her around and around. Beth was having her own little celebration as she splashed water in all directions and whirled her hat round her head. The two male dancers from earlier kicked off their shoes and joined her in the fountain. Fergus put Carly down and she looked overawed by the whole event as dancers and watchers alike all thronged round to congratulate the couple and they disappeared in the multitude of well-wishers.

  When the crowd eventually ebbed away Carly saw Beth and her little gang drenched to the skin in the fountain and she started to laugh as Fergus guided her over.

  ‘Congratulations!’ shouted an excited Beth as she soaked the pair of them in a clumsy hug.

  ‘Was this all just for me then?’ asked Carly, her hand on her chest as she shook her head.

  ‘Yep,’ said Fergus, his shoulders back and a look of total pride on his face.

  Carly turned quickly to point a finger at Beth. ‘You!’ she shouted before giving her a pretend whack on the arm. ‘I thought there was something wrong with you!’

  ‘There was! I needed you to be in the exact right spot at the right time!’

  ‘That was bloody amazing!’ said Carly as Fergus thanked the dancers and organizers. Everyone started to mill away. ‘I’m engaged!’ shouted Carly and Beth and Carly started to screech at the top of their voices. Fergus signed, ‘You’re screaming aren’t you? I’m glad I’m deaf,’ but nobody was looking at him.’

  When the screaming had reduced to the odd squeal and they were opening champagne back at the flat, once Beth had dried off and warmed up, they watched the whole thing back on Fergus’s computer.

  ‘Look at my face!’ said Carly, shaking her head. ‘I can hardly believe it happened.’

  ‘Who was filming?’ asked Beth as she sipped her champagne and watched the events unfold for the third time.

  ‘Loads of people! It’s all over YouTube,’ said Fergus, grinning. ‘But this version was the guy from the flash mob company, it was part of the deal.’

  ‘I loved it,’ said Carly, going all weepy again. ‘It was the best proposal ever …’ She sniffed but couldn’t continue. She slumped onto Fergus’s lap and he wrapped one arm around her while he high-fived Beth with the other.

  ‘You two have a few hours to make yourselves even more beautiful, while I make myself scarce, then we have an engagement party to go to!’

  Carly pushed herself up from Fergus’s chest. ‘I get the feeling you’re not stopping.’

  ‘No way!’ said Fergus. ‘I’m showering and changing into that new shirt I got and some smart trousers,’ he looked proud of himself, ‘and then I’m meeting Ryan and Budgie at some bar.’

  ‘Deaf club mates,’ explained Carly to Beth.

  Beth pulled Carly to her feet. ‘Come on, let’s get cracking, there’s a lot to do!’

  Carly blew a raspberry at Beth but followed her anyway. When she glanced back, Fergus had a soft look on his face and he was holding up his right hand with his ring finger and middle finger bent into the palm and his remaining two fingers and thumb splayed out in a sign.

  ‘I love you too,’ said Carly.

  Curled up on the sofa, wearing dressing gowns with their hair in towel turbans, Beth and Carly were concentrating on painting each other’s nails.

  ‘I still can’t believe it,’ said Carly, wiggling the fingers on her left hand. She turned sharply, making Beth splodge the varnish.

  ‘Carls! Keep still!’

  ‘Tell me you didn’t suggest
this to Fergus?’ Her face was serious.

  Beth tilted her head to one side. ‘Don’t be daft, he’d had it planned for a long while. He just needed help with getting you in the right place at the right time. It’s all his own work. He really wants to marry you.’ Carly visibly relaxed again. ‘Heaven knows why,’ muttered Beth with a grin and Carly jogged her again. Carly watched Beth for a moment.

  ‘You know you don’t have to tell me but I’m guessing the night you left Nick wasn’t the first time he’d hit you. I just wish you’d told me, that’s all,’ said Carly, reaching out a hand and stroking Beth’s arm.

  The comment took Beth by surprise and she breathed in slowly. ‘No, that was the first and the only time he hit me.’

  ‘Really?’ said Carly rather too quickly.

  ‘Yes.’ She let out a deep sigh. ‘It was almost a relief when it happened, like confirmation that he was the person I thought he was deep down and not the charming facade he put up most of the time.’

  ‘Right, I guess I just thought when you said he’d been abusive for a while that, you know …’ Carly didn’t finish the sentence but tilted her head to one side.

  ‘There was a time when I also thought that if someone was being abused it had to be physical but I’ve learned the hard way that it comes in many different forms.’ Carly squeezed her hand. ‘With Nick it was all about control and to do that he needed to strip me of my friends, my self-confidence and anything that didn’t fit into his picture of how I should be – like calling myself Beth instead of Elizabeth or wearing hats.’ She patted the fedora on the arm of the sofa next to her.

  Carly was still looking puzzled. ‘Did he shout at you, call you names? That sort of thing?’

  ‘Not really. I know this is hard to understand, Carly, it’s taken me ages to piece it all together and see it for what it really was. All the times he pleaded with me not to go out was about controlling me, all the times he put down my friends, didn’t pass on their messages or deleted emails was about distancing me from other people. When he bought me new clothes and packaged up some of my old favourites for the charity shop he wasn’t being thoughtful, he was exercising more control. The times he looked sad or sulked were all about getting me to behave how he wanted me to. Putting Leo into private school, signing him up for every after-school club and having someone to take him and pick him up from school wasn’t about helping me manage my time, it was about keeping me and Leo apart. He wanted him to go to boarding school but I refused, which caused a blazing row. I’ve never seen anyone that cross; I thought he was going to hit me then although he didn’t. He was unbearable for weeks but on that one I held my ground – I couldn’t bear to send Leo away. Things got worse and worse after that, like he wanted me to pay for my decision to keep Leo at home with us. I think he saw Leo as a rival for my time and affection.’

  ‘That’s ridiculous!’

  ‘Not to Nick. His behaviour became magnified, he criticized everything but always very subtly: the underhand comments, the tuts, the looks of disapproval. He got onto Leo about anything and everything, pushing his buttons and making him retaliate. He was even talking about taking Leo to a psychiatrist because he was trying to convince me there was something wrong with him!’

  ‘I didn’t realize,’ said Carly, tears welling in her eyes.

  ‘Nor did I for a long time. I put it down to him being overprotective but it’s not. His behaviour isn’t normal, his need to control is unnatural and at times quite frightening. He would only have to look at me in a certain way and my insides would knot up. I found myself checking everything I said and did so as not to upset him. I was worrying all the time about silly little things, almost afraid to start a conversation in case it would trigger one of his moods.’ Beth forced a brief smile onto her face. ‘So, he did only hit me the once but he hurt me every single day and that was why when he did hit me it confirmed everything I had been feeling for months and that was my cue to get me and Leo as far away from him as possible.’

  Carly threw her arms round Beth and sobbed. Beth felt her own tears trickle down her cheeks but she somehow felt lighter for having voiced all the fears she had been carrying around like a stagnant rucksack for so long.

  Carly pulled away from Beth, wiped her eyes and blinked hard. ‘You have been so brave.’

  ‘No, I was stupid not to trust my instincts. The signs were there but I chose to ignore them because he loved me – the sad thing is a love like that will only do you harm.’

  ‘I wish you’d shared some of your worries with me, I would have understood,’ said Carly, running a finger under her right eye and collecting more tears.

  ‘I wish I had too,’ said Beth and stood up. ‘But now we have to change you from a puffy-eyed wreck into a glamorous fiancée. It may take a while.’ She grinned as Carly pouted at her.

  As Carly was doing the finishing touches to her hair Beth made a swift call to Petra. ‘Hiya, how’s things?’

  ‘Hi, Beth. We are all very fine and well, thank you. How did it go?’

  Beth wasn’t sure if she heard tension in Petra’s voice or if it was just that some people weren’t that relaxed when they spoke on the phone. Ignoring it, Beth launched into an account of the proposal and directed her to it on YouTube.

  ‘That sounds amazing.’

  ‘It truly was. I’m so happy for them both. Thanks again for having Leo. Is he about?’

  ‘Yes, of course. Hang on. Leeooo!’ Beth pulled the phone away from her ear as Petra shouted.

  There was a pause and muffled sounds as the phone was passed over. ‘Hi, Mum,’ said Leo and Beth had to stop the emotion that welled up.

  ‘Hiya, mate. Are you behaving yourself?’

  ‘Mmm,’ said Leo in bored tones.

  ‘What have you been doing?’

  ‘Stuff.’

  ‘Leo, come on, a bit more info needed here, please.’

  Leo sighed down the phone. ‘We took Doris for a walk and played football and watched Star Wars on DVD. Tomorrow Jack is taking me and Denis to a climbing wall,’ he said as he started to succumb to his own enthusiasm.

  ‘Oh, so you’ve been with Jack then?’ The mention of him made his image spring to mind and she suddenly wanted to share with him the spectacle in Trafalgar Square.

  ‘Yeah, he’s been here all day and he’s staying with us tonight. I need to go. Jack’s ordering pizza and I want peper—’

  ‘Hi,’ said Petra. ‘Sorry, the call of food was too strong. But he’s fine. Please don’t worry.’

  ‘I’m not,’ said Beth, although she now felt a twinge of something a lot like worry and she wasn’t sure why.

  ‘This is good. You enjoy yourself and we will see you tomorrow.’

  ‘Thanks, Petra.’ Beth took a deep breath when she came off the phone. Everything was okay. Leo sounded fine and there was nothing to worry about, so why did she have an odd sensation that there was something she should be worrying about? Beth pushed the niggle to the back of her mind. It was Carly’s night and she didn’t need a paranoid mum spoiling things.

  ‘Come on!’ called Carly. ‘Cab will be here in a minute.’

  Apparently it was traditional for the newly engaged person to get the drinks in all night so Fergus found himself back at the absurdly crowded bar. The long thin room was packed out but they had found somewhere to stand at the back. He’d had two pints so this was his absolute last one because there would be champagne at the restaurant later and he didn’t want to be legless at his own engagement party. He stood patiently at the bar as people jostled around him. He was pleased he was tall as it was an advantage in getting noticed and therefore in getting served. The harassed barman blinked upwards to indicate it was Fergus’s turn to order.

  ‘Pint of Guinness, pint of bitter and a Coke, please,’ shouted Fergus above the hum of the bar. A well-built man a few feet away started to swear his annoyance at being overlooked for service yet again. The barman started to get Fergus’s order and he put his hand up in apology to
the squat man further down.

  Eventually Fergus paid and was able to carefully balance his three drinks and start to make his way through the hordes of people. It was slow progress and he had to keep stopping. A woman in front of him was on the phone and she couldn’t seem to hear his polite request to get past and he had no free hands to tap her with, so he stood and waited. Fergus didn’t hear the not-so-polite request from the squat man behind him who was carrying two bottles of beer.

  ‘I said pissing well excuse me!’ he repeated loudly. When there was no response he nudged Fergus in the back. Fergus turned and gave the squat man a smile and nodded his head in the direction of the woman by way of explanation.

  ‘Get out of the way, dickhead!’ shouted the man and people around Fergus started to look. Fergus didn’t react; he was now watching the woman and was lip-reading her side of an interesting conversation. He was lost in the discussion about online porn from what appeared to be a very prim and smartly dressed woman in her thirties.

  ‘This is your last warning, dickhead. Pissing well move!’ yelled the man as he bumped Fergus.

  Fergus turned round to see that the man was speaking.

  ‘What’s wrong with you, are you bleedin’ deaf or sumfin’?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Fergus with a smile, ‘I am.’ He turned back to catch up on the woman’s increasingly interesting conversation.

  Fergus felt the sudden blow to the back of his head, but at first he didn’t actually feel any pain, he felt wet as the contents of the shattered beer bottle cascaded over his head. The squat man dropped what was left of the smashed bottle as two men grabbed him and pulled him away. Fergus saw the look of horror on the woman in front’s face as she screamed and stepped back. It was then the pain registered but he was already falling forward. My new shirt’s ruined and I’m going to spill my Guinness, he thought, as his knees gave way and everything went black.