Abi's Neighbour

by Jenny Kane

  Beth felt a tremor of excitement edge ahead of the nerves that had been somersaulting around inside her all morning.

  ‘Do you have a sample for me?’

  Jacob rummaged in the bag and produced the phial for Sue’s inspection.

  ‘Excellent. I’ll test that while you undo your trousers for me, Elizabeth. Just rolling them down a little will be fine for today.’

  ‘OK.’ Doing what she was told, Beth gave Jacob a look which told him clearly that she wanted him to hold her hand.

  Seconds later, Sue was pouring the sample down the sink and scrubbing her hands. ‘Well, that was perfect. Now, are you ready?’

  ‘As I’ll ever be, and, um, it’s Beth.’

  ‘I like that. Suits you better than Elizabeth.’ Sue smiled at the almost parents before her. ‘Let’s have a peep.’ She gave the bottle of gel a shake and squeezed a little onto Beth’s mini bump.

  ‘Oh! I expected it to be cold.’

  ‘We’re less cruel to our new mums these days; it’s all warmed in advance!’ Sue placed a plastic scanner over the gel. ‘You have a little bump already. I see from your notes that you’re almost four months pregnant, so we should get a clearer picture than if you’d only been three weeks. Have you drunk plenty of water while you waited?’

  ‘Gallons. I am in danger of wetting myself.’

  Sue laughed. ‘You wouldn’t be the first. But fear not, there is a toilet through that door. As soon as I’m done you can run through at speed.’

  A moment later, however, Beth had forgotten all about her desperation to visit the bathroom. She’d also forgotten about how scared she was about being a mum.

  ‘Oh, wow.’ Jacob squeezed Beth’s hand, tears pricking at the corner of his eyes as they watched the computer monitor burst into life.

  ‘Is that really our baby?’ Beth’s voice was full of wonder.

  Sue moved the ultrasound probe through the gel. ‘It is; and I’m pleased to report that all limbs are where they ought to be.’ Sue pointed to four points on the screen which looked like blurry lines to Beth, but she didn’t care. It was the little face that captivated her. That, and the heart. It was beating so fast it seemed impossible.

  ‘My baby is alright?’

  ‘You and your baby are in fine health. However, I suspect you are nearer four and a half months gone than four. Would you like me to print off some photographs for you to take away?’

  ‘Yes, please.’

  Thirty seconds later, clutching the photos as if she still couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing, Beth dashed to the bathroom. Grandad, it’s real. I’m having a baby!

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Abi stared at the photo in her hands, a knot of emotion forming in her throat. ‘These are so beautiful. How are you feeling?’

  ‘Elated but odd covers it.’ Beth passed a photograph to Dora, who shared it with Cass as they sat in the garden of the Lamorna Wink pub, having a last planning meeting before the wedding. ‘It’s like looking at something that isn’t real – and yet it is.’

  Dora gazed in wonder. ‘I can’t get over how clear these pictures are these days. They used to be grey and black smears on a piece of paper. This is incredible.’

  ‘I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was so nervous that I hadn’t allowed myself to think about what was going to happen. I just wanted to hear that my baby was alright, nothing else really mattered until I knew that all was OK.’ Beth put a protective hand on her stomach as she spoke. ‘You should have seen Jacob. He was blown away.’

  ‘I can imagine.’ Abi swapped photographs with Cass, as she privately wondered how Max would react in that situation. ‘When do you have to go back for your next scan?’

  ‘Not for two months. They can tell us if it’s a girl or a boy then, but we’ve decided not to find out.’

  Dora nodded with approval. ‘Quite right. Some things aren’t meant to be known until they are meant to be known. Happy and healthy is what you want.’

  Cass laughed. ‘You old-fashioned thing you, Dora.’

  ‘I am,’ Dora picked up her glass of wine, ‘in some ways at least. In other ways I am bang up to the minute. Why else would I be sat with three under-forties for my last evening as a single woman since 1950?’

  ‘Because you are young at heart!’ Abi raised her glass in Dora’s direction as the waiter arrived with a tray piled impossibly high with cheesy chips, steak and salad.

  ‘I certainly hope so.’ Dora winked at the young waiter, who obligingly winked back, making them all laugh.

  Cass picked up a chip and watched as a loop of melted cheese clung on with dear life. ‘I never used to eat these in London.’

  Abi picked up a chip of her own. ‘Nor me. Luke thought eating anything with unnecessary fat was the first step on the road to ruin.’

  Relishing the taste of her first mouthful, Cass said, ‘I was so paranoid about putting weight on. I thought Justin would leave me. Ironic, huh.’

  ‘About as ironic as Luke dying of a heart attack despite being a health freak.’

  ‘God, really?’

  ‘Yep. So eat what you like, do what you like, but keep things in moderation.’

  Dora clapped. ‘Wise words, Abi.’

  ‘I’d like to claim credit for such wisdom, but it was Stan who told me that.’

  The bride-to-be played her fork in her liver-spotted hand. ‘I loved my Gordon very much. It took me many years to allow myself to even consider that when I went home from work he wouldn’t be there.’ She looked Cass square in the face as she carried on talking. ‘For over a decade I never went home properly. Sometimes I wonder if I ever truly accepted my loss until I was in my seventies and had no choice but to retire. Then, like a miracle, Stan came to Chalk Towers and saw me. The real me. Not Dora the poker wizard, or Dora the life and soul of the party, but me. The one on the inside.’

  The girls were quiet, each feeling their respect for the woman before them grow even higher. Beth broke the tension by starting to talk about how much her grandad Jack had liked Stan, but Cass wasn’t listening. An image of Dan sat next to her on the bench near the hotel where they were due to return for the wedding tea the following day. Does Dan see the real me? The one inside? The one I’m only just discovering myself…

  ‘So are you and Stan ready for tomorrow then, Dora?’ Abi topped up everyone’s wine glasses with either alcohol or orange juice.

  ‘As we’ll ever be. Dan has been a total star helping to organise everything. Very much going above and beyond his remit as a care manager.’

  Cass looked up at the mention of Dan’s name. ‘That sounds about right. He was very kind to me when I felt ill at the hotel.’

  Dora gave Cass an assessing look. ‘He is a good man. Not too many like him.’

  Catching the undertone of what Dora was saying, and seeing that Cass was feeling uncomfortable, Abi kept the conversation moving. ‘Has Dan got transport organised for the Chalk Towers crew, or do you want Max and myself to do a few trips ferrying folk back and forth?’

  ‘Bless you, but Dan has a minibus booked. He was going to drive it himself, but I’ve persuaded him to hire a driver so he can stay for the reception.’

  ‘Sounds good.’ Trying not to feel nervous about her role as chief bridesmaid, Abi asked, ‘I don’t have to do anything apart from stand there and hold flowers, do I? You aren’t going to drop me in it and demand a speech or anything?’

  ‘As if I would!’

  Beth rolled her eyes. ‘Yes, you would. Don’t you dare do that to any of us!’

  Dora chuckled. ‘Fear not, Jacob is giving me away, so he’ll be doing a quick speech, and then it’s over to Stan’s best man. I dread to think what he’ll say.’

  ‘Who is the best man?’ Cass was trying to stop herself from daydreaming about what Dan was going to look like in a suit.

  ‘Didn’t Stan say? It’s Max. If Beth’s grandfather, Jack, had been alive, it would have been him of course. They were best friends at school.’r />
  Beth looked at Abi. ‘Has he written a speech yet?’

  ‘He’s been very quiet these last few nights, and he keeps making lists of things to say. He won’t let me read it though.’

  Before Dora could speculate on what might be in the speech, Beth’s mobile burst into life. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, Dora; I thought I’d switched it off.’

  ‘No worries. Who is it?’

  ‘Max. Maybe he’s been trying to reach you Abi. Is your phone off?’

  Abi immediately reached for her phone, but there was no missed texts or calls. She frowned as Beth answered her call, hoping everything was alright.

  Pulling away from the phone for a second, Beth said, ‘Max is fine, Abi. He assumed you’d have your phone on silent. The gallery has got busy and he can’t find the price list for the paintings.’

  Abi laughed. ‘Sounds like Max.’

  Taking the phone and wandering away from the table, Beth whispered into the mobile. ‘Max, what do you mean you can’t find Abi’s tights? What the hell are you doing? I never had you down as a cross-dresser.’

  ‘It is my day off!’

  ‘Max! I have told Abi you’re at the gallery and can’t find the price list. What are you really doing?’

  ‘I told you. I’m searching for Abi’s tights. I’m trying to pack secretly for our trip while rehearsing my speech.’

  ‘Of course! Sorry, I forgot about the trip. I take it Abi has no idea?’

  ‘Not a clue. But packing for women is a nightmare. What do I take?’

  Beth laughed. ‘OK Maxwell. Count to ten, grab a pen and paper, and we’ll write another list. Ready?’

  Abi had made serious inroads into her steak and chips before Beth came back. ‘Has he found the price list?’

  ‘Yes. Max is very much with list now.’

  Dora chuckled. ‘I bet Stan is asleep on the gallery sofa. Can’t see you’d have many customers with him there. You’ve heard his snore, Abi; it could curl paint off the walls, so I fear for your watercolours.’

  Beth laughed, only feeling a little bad for her white lie, for in fact it was Stan and Jacob who were holding the fort that afternoon.

  Cass stabbed her last chip into a pot of peppered mayonnaise. ‘Nonsense, I bet Stan’s charming everyone who comes in. Sales will be up.’

  ‘Will you close the gallery on the day of the wedding, or will you get someone to open it for you?’ asked Dora

  ‘I was considering taking the day off, and staying closed,’ Abi said. ‘What do you think, Beth? Beth?’

  Beth had gone pale and very still.

  Abi reached out a hand. ‘Beth?’

  ‘I’m OK. Oh, my goodness.’

  ‘What is it?’ Cass and Dora exchanged anxious glances.

  ‘I think the baby just kicked. Oh, wow. That was weird.’

  ‘So early?’ Abi automatically put her palm out to see if she could feel, ‘May I?’

  ‘Please do, although it seems to have been a one-off. The midwife thought I was four and half months already rather than almost four months, so it’s about right according to the baby book Jacob picked up yesterday. I tell you, I have never seen him devour a non-pottery related book so fast and so thoroughly. I might have imagined the kick…oh! Or maybe not.’

  Abi smile wider as a tiny flickering hit her palm through Beth’s T-shirt. ‘That is incredible.’

  As the feeling subsided, Beth relaxed. ‘I can’t even begin to describe how that felt.’ She picked her mobile back up. ‘If you’ll excuse me once again, Dora, I have to call Jacob.’

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Jacob bounded into the bedroom, a cup of tea and a pile of hot buttered toast on a tray, wearing nothing but an apron. ‘Breakfast is served, madam.’

  Beth burst out laughing. ‘Oh my goodness! You look incredible, but I hope you’ll at least stick a pair of boxers on before we go to the hotel!’

  ‘Possibly. It’s hot out there though, so I could go like this!’ Jacob sat down on the bed next to Beth. ‘Open wide, I’ve got to feed you up. We’re going to need all the energy we can get today. All three of us!’

  Beth kissed Jacob. ‘After today you can feed baby and me as much as you like but if I can’t fit into my bridesmaid outfit then there’ll be trouble.’

  ‘No there wouldn’t!’ Jacob grinned. ‘Anyway, you could always wear my apron instead.’

  Max’s freckles looked particularly obvious as he sat at the kitchen table, which Abi recognised as a sign that her partner was nervous.

  ‘Don’t worry; you’ll be a fabulous a best man.’

  ‘It’s been years since I did any public speaking. Perhaps it’s just as well I gave up teaching to be a decorator, I’d have been permanently tongue-tied.’

  ‘You’d have been an excellent teacher. I’m glad you are a decorator though.’ Abi pushed a mug of tea across the table.

  Max smiled. ‘Because you get to wash a load of paint-spattered overalls every weekend?’

  ‘Because, if you’d been a teacher you wouldn’t have been in the pub in St Just when I first came to Cornwall, you’d have been in another town or village and we would never have met. Unthinkable.’

  Looking Abi straight in the eye, Max reached out to her. ‘Unthinkable.’

  Coming around the table to sit on Max’s lap, Abi snuggled against his chest. ‘Do you want to rehearse your speech with me?’

  ‘No. I want to help you get into your wedding clobber.’

  ‘But Stan might get up any minute!’

  ‘He knows where everything is!’

  Cass stood in front of her wardrobe. It was an act of habit. She already knew what she’d be wearing for the majority of the day. For the job she had to do first, any clothes would do.

  Pulling on her jeans and the oversized T-shirt she’d purchased on her first trip to Truro, Cass picked up the cheque from Justin, slipped it into her handbag, and headed for the little hire car she had already decided she’d buy if she could.

  Donald Clearer was expecting her at ten o’clock to arrange the compensation of her ex-employees. Alongside the cheque, Cass had written a personal note of regret and explanation to each of her governesses; with a fervent promise that if any of them wanted a reference at any time, then all they had to do was ask.

  With the knowledge that once she had seen Donald the London chapter of her life would be over, Cass experienced a lightness she hadn’t felt for a long time.

  Standing outside the lawyer’s office, Cass watched the flow of people moving up and down Penzance high street. She chuckled to herself. Compared to London this wasn’t busy at all, but now, to her, it was.

  In a few hours’ time she’d be wearing her bridesmaid outfit, helping launch friends she never dreamed she’d have step into a new chapter of their lives.

  In a few hours’ time she’d be free.

  ‘Are you alright then, Stan?’

  ‘Right as ninepence, thanks, Abi girl.’ Stan was tucking into the full English breakfast she’d cooked for him. ‘Fabulous bacon this. Local?’

  ‘Farm shop on the outskirts of Penzance. Good, isn’t it?’

  ‘The breakfast at Chalk Towers is good – if you want to have the communal breakfast, that is – but it isn’t a patch on this. I’ll get Dora to ask Dan to get the cook to buy this instead.’

  ‘And why can’t you ask Dan yourself?’

  ‘Because Dora is far better at making things happen.’

  Abi laughed. ‘I can’t argue with that. I haven’t seen Cass yet, but Dora seemed satisfied that she’d be ready to move on with her life this morning.’

  Stan chewed his toast thoughtfully. ‘The future Mrs Abbey is, without doubt, one of the most remarkable women I have ever met. I can’t believe how lucky I am.’

  Abi sat down next to Stan as Max came in, his ginger hair wet from the shower. ‘Oh, this looks marvellous. If one of Abi’s fry-ups doesn’t set you up for the day, Stan, then nothing will.’

  ‘My Mary used to make a wonderful bre
akfast.’ Stan smiled as he gazed at the kitchen sink where his first wife had stood so often. ‘I hope she would be pleased for me. I know she’d be pleased that you two are taking care of her home so well.’

  ‘Mary was something special; she’d be happy for you.’ Everything she’d heard about Stan’s first wife over the past year convinced Abi she was right about that. ‘And the fact that Dora respects her memory enough to get married at the Queen’s speaks volumes.’

  ‘Dora surprises me every day.’ Stan nodded into his mug of tea. ‘I’m one lucky old duffer!’

  Dan examined his reflection in the mirror. He still wasn’t sure about this, but Stan had insisted. He’d said that Dan should wear his uniform, because it was time to be proud of the lives he’d saved, and accept that there’d always be lives he hadn’t been able to save.

  Looking back on the walk he’d orchestrated to cheer Stan up after Sally’s hostile reception to the wedding, Dan saw that it had in fact been him who’d had the pep talk from Stan, not the other way round.

  It had been a long time since Dan had worn his dress uniform, and he hadn’t been sure it would still fit. Rather than being too small for him, it was a little loose if anything, a reminder that he didn’t knock back as much beer now as in his Army days.

  To his relief, Dan didn’t feel the revulsion he’d expected to as he examined himself critically. Talking to Stan, and then confessing to Cass, had obviously done him good.

  Cass.

  The city girl was occupying more of his waking thoughts with each passing day. Instinct, however, told him to hang back. No matter what Dora said, he was convinced Cass wasn’t ready for commitment with anyone new yet. But maybe, if they could become better friends…That would be a start.

  ‘Stan, you are so handsome.’

  ‘Thank you, Abi girl.’

  ‘Honestly, you look the cat’s whiskers.’

  Stan laughed. ‘That’s such a strange old saying.’

  ‘It is a bit.’ Abi laughed too, as the door to the kitchen opened and Max came in, wearing his suit. ‘Wow. You’re gorgeous.’