Music from Home

by Geraldine O'Neill

  Maria could see the pride on her father’s face, but she couldn’t stop from saying, “We’ll have a great day out whether she wins or not.”

  Her father held two crossed fingers up and said, “I have to go over to the stable area to meet with the trainers and Charlie, but I’m sure you will all find something to keep you busy until the rest of our group arrive. There will be stalls selling drinks and things outside, but if it gets too cold there are plenty of places under cover. ” He looked at Maria. “You have money for tea or something to eat, don’t you?”

  Maria assured him she had and so did Stella.

  “I’ll meet you later in the bar,” he told them, giving a theatrical bow. “We have two tables booked in the restaurant for lunch at one o’clock for our own group, and some of our other friends will have their own tables there too. After that the betting will be open.”

  Franco threw his hands in the air. “And let us pray that Bella Maria is lucky today!” Then he laughed. “If she is lucky, we are all lucky!”

  As they all joined in with the laughter, Maria wondered if she dared let herself think for one minute that her father’s horse might win her first major race today. It just seemed to be too huge an accomplishment to expect from the horse so early on in its career, and one that had not had much luck in her recent races. She only hoped that her father wouldn’t be too disappointed if the young filly came trailing in near the end.

  Leo went off in one direction, disappearing into the crowds, and then Franco and Bernice told the girls they were going for a walk around to catch up with some of their friends and would see them in the bar later.

  Stella put her arm through Maria’s and they started to walk in the direction of the main buildings. “I’m glad the oldies have gone off and we’re getting some time to ourselves.” She started to giggle. “What did you think of Bernice’s outfit? Do you think it’s a bit young for her?”

  Maria looked at Stella in surprise, after all the complimentary things she had said. “I thought she looked lovely, and you told her that she did as well.”

  “What else could I say?” Stella rolled her eyes. “She would look lovely if she lost a couple of stone. Didn’t you notice how tight the trousers were on her thighs where her shirt didn’t cover them? They are meant to be loose.”

  “Bernice is not that heavy,” Maria told her, pretending to be more indignant than she really was, as she could see her friend was in one of her giggly moods when she exaggerated everything. “I think you’re being really mean about her.”

  “Come on!” Stella laughed, squeezing her arm. “You’re just being nice because she’s your dad’s friend’s wife.”

  “You are just dreadful,” Maria said, laughing along in spite of herself. “I thought the trousers looked fine on her, and the top comes down almost to her knees so you can’t really see much of her thighs.”

  “She’ll be okay if she keeps her coat on!”

  “And you’ll be okay if you keep your mouth shut!”

  Then they both went into peals of laughter, falling against each other and making people look around to see who the skittish girls were.

  Stella kept glancing back to the car-park area. “I just hope the Spencers’ car arrives before my parents so I get a chance to see Tony for a bit.”

  “Will your mother mind you being with him today?” Maria asked.

  “She minds me seeing him any day! But she can’t really say anything if she just sees us chatting. I won’t be able to act like his girlfriend – she’ll go off at the deep end if she sees us holding hands or anything like that.”

  “You’ll have to be careful then – we don’t want anything to spoil the day.”

  “You are so lucky,” Stella said. “I wish I was allowed to do all the things you get away with.”

  Maria raised her eyebrows and gave her a wry smile, but said nothing.

  Paul and Tony arrived along with Paul’s mother and father. Before Paul’s parents went off with their friends, they came over to the girls to wish Bella Maria good luck.

  “I’ll keep an eye out for Leo,” Paul’s father said. “And in any case I’m sure we’ll catch up with him later.”

  The four young people then wandered around. Tony, who was used to going to the racecourses was pleased to show them all the different function areas and the stand. Then, after a bit, they went into one of the marquees where they had soft drinks and sandwiches. They were having lunch later so Tony bought them all a lemonade, saying, “I suppose it’s too early for the hard stuff,” and they all laughed.

  They were thinking of making a move when Maria noticed a brightly dressed figure coming towards them.

  “Stella!” Jane Maxwell’s voice was unmistakable.

  “Oh, God, it’s my mum!” Stella said. She looked over to where her mother stood at the door of the enclosure – a grim look on her face.

  Maria noticed how Stella pinned a smile on her own face and waved back, obviously hoping Mrs Maxwell might just let things slide for once. That she might just go away.

  “Hello, Maria, dear,” Jane Maxwell said in a formal voice. She was exceptionally well-dressed for the Easter occasion, wearing a yellow woollen edge-to-edge coat with a matching pill-box hat which had a little black bow, and black shoes and gloves.

  Maria smiled over. “Hello, Mrs Maxwell.” Then, to make things seem more normal, she said, “Your coat and hat look lovely!”

  “Thank you, dear. That’s very kind of you.” Jane Maxwell shifted her gaze to the boys. “Hello, Paul . . . hello, Tony.”

  They both said hello back in a polite and respectful manner, although Maria could see that Tony looked most uncomfortable.

  Jane Maxwell turned back to her daughter. “Stella, your father and the others are outside. You were supposed to meet us at the ticket office when we arrived. We’ve been looking for you everywhere!”

  Stella raised her eyebrows as though surprised, but didn’t move. “Oh, sorry, I actually thought I was meeting you inside – I was just going to look for you now.”

  There was a tense silence in the group now, everyone picking up on the atmosphere.

  Jane Maxwell folded her arms now, still waiting. “Can I have a private word, please?”

  Stella turned to pick up her handbag from the chair behind. “Come with me,” she hissed to Maria. “She won’t say as much if you’re there. She won’t want to show herself up.”

  Maria took a deep breath. “It might make it worse if I’m there.” The last thing that she wanted was to be involved in an argument between Stella and her mother.

  “Look! My mother is signalling to us both,” Stella said. “Are you coming?”

  “All right, oh God . . .” Maria muttered, turning back for her own bag. Then she said to Paul, “I hope I won’t be long, but if we’re not back soon then I’ll catch you in the bar. That’s where my dad said to meet him and Charlie and the others.”

  Tony touched Maria’s arm as she passed. “Is there going to be trouble?”

  “I sincerely hope not.”

  “I wish I was old enough to leave home,” Stella said as they walked to the door.

  “Don’t be so dramatic,” Maria told her. “It won’t be that bad.”

  “You don’t know the half of it. My mother tries to control every single thing I do – what I wear, what I eat, who I see – it’s endless.”

  When they got outside, Stella’s mother was standing, still wearing a grim look on her face. She walked on a few yards until they were in a quiet area just outside the ladies’ room and away from the bars.

  “Well, Stella,” she said, “it would appear that your father has gone off with the other men, and I’m now going to have to trail around the racecourse looking for him. This is a bad start to a day we were all looking forward to.”

  “You don’t have to make such a big issue of everything,” Stella said.

  “I am not going to pretend in front of Maria that I’m happy when I’m not. You promised your father an
d me that you would behave properly today, and here you are already going your own sweet way.”

  Stella, a steely, resigned look on her face, sighed and then folded her arms, her gaze fixed far above her mother’s head. “All the other young people here are allowed to mix together. I don’t know why I have to be different.”

  Mrs Maxwell looked over at Maria. “I’m sorry you have to witness this, but you obviously know what’s going on. Stella assured her father and me that she would have nothing more to do with that fellow, Tony, and I’ve just walked into the room and there is Stella, mooning all over him once again.”

  “I wasn’t mooning over him,” Stella snapped. “I like Tony and everyone else thinks he is a very nice person. And, at nearly sixteen years old, I think I’m old enough to choose my own friends. Maria’s father trusts her to make her own judgements on people, and I don’t know why you and Dad can’t do the same with me.”

  Maria kept gazing straight ahead, not wishing to be dragged into the argument.

  Her mother gave a little, sarcastic laugh. “Oh, Stella, please don’t act as though your father and I are complete imbeciles. It’s perfectly obvious that you see Tony as . . . more than just a friend. And apart from the fact that he’s totally unsuitable, it’s obvious to anyone with an eye in their head that you’re throwing yourself at him.”

  “I’m not going to stand here and listen to this!” Stella said. “Everyone else can see that Tony is a really nice boy – it’s just that you’re a complete snob! You think he’s not good enough because he’s not from a professional or moneyed background. That’s all you and Dad think matters.”

  Maria felt her heart sink. This was the last thing she needed.

  “Maria,” Jane Maxwell said, “maybe Stella will listen to you. Please try and talk some sense into her. We really don’t want the day spoiled with all this carry-on.”

  Maria looked over at her friend and then at her mother. “Maybe it would be best if you sort it out privately when you get home later on?”

  “But we have to get through today,” Jane said, “and it’s going to be very difficult if Stella keeps on acting like this.”

  Stella walked off into the ladies’, and Maria and Jane followed her.

  A short while later, when Maria was washing her hands, a whispered argument started up again between mother and daughter. Maria went over the mirror to reapply her lipstick, and pretend she couldn’t hear them.

  The tapping of stiletto heels coming along the corridor to the ladies’ sounded and without a word everyone went back to washing or drying hands or checking make-up in the mirror.

  “So sorry I got sidetracked, Jane,” a lady’s voice said. “I met an old customer.”

  Maria glanced in the mirror but could only see the side of the woman’s face. Even though she wasn’t looking forward to meeting her, at least the row between Stella and her mother was unlikely to continue now that Jane’s friend had arrived.

  “Oh, Maria,” Jane said in a high, gushing tone, “I’d like you to meet my friend, Diana! She owns Gladrags, the lovely ladies’ shop in Heaton Moor. I’m sure you must know it.”

  Maria sucked in her breath and then turned around, and was completely surprised when she saw who it was.

  “You’re the same Maria!” the woman said, equally surprised. “I don’t believe it! You’re the girl who looked after Mrs Flynn’s little dog!”

  “And you’re the lady from the church! The one who went in the ambulance that morning with Mrs Flynn!”

  Diana was actually beaming now. “Well, I must say I’m delighted to meet up with you – and here in York of all places! I’ve been thinking about you on and off for weeks and hoping I’d see you at Mass again.”

  “I don’t normally go to that early Mass. I wondered about you, too.” Then, in spite of her intentions to be cool and distant with Mrs Maxwell’s friend, she found herself smiling warmly back. There was simply nothing else she could do in the company of this very nice, friendly woman

  “Who would believe it?” Diana said, laughing now.

  Jane Maxwell looked from one to the other. “So you two have met before?”

  “Yes,” Diana said, “in church, but we weren’t properly introduced.”

  Between them both, they relayed the story about Mrs Flynn and Poppy, and Diana then went on to ask Maria how she had managed with the dog. Maria explained how she had loved having Poppy so much that she had decided if she ever had a dog in the future it would be the same breed, a little Shih Tzu.

  She then went on to ask how poor Mrs Flynn had coped when she first arrived at hospital and whether Diana knew how she was now. She explained that she had visited her once to see Poppy, but didn’t want to go back because she felt the poor dog got all confused, constantly running from her to Mrs Flynn and back. And Mrs Flynn had seemed a bit put out when the dog jumped up and stayed on Maria’s knee.

  “I’ve been to see her several times. They were worried because she had broken her hip, but thankfully it was only a small fracture and some fairly bad bruises. She’s recovering well –she’s a great old lady.”

  “I felt really sorry for her,” Maria said,

  “Did you know about all this, Stella?” her mother said. “I don’t remember you telling me anything about it.”

  “I told you Maria was looking after a dog for an old woman,” Stella said defensively. “You don’t always listen properly.”

  “Well, I just presumed it was a neighbour. I didn’t know about all the drama in the church.” She looked back at Diana. “I don’t remember you mentioning it at the time, although I’m sure you would have told me.”

  “Didn’t I?” Diana said. “I suppose it’s one of those stories that you tell immediately to several people after it’s happened, and then you forget about it. Amazing, isn’t it though, the coincidence of me meeting Maria here?”

  “I don’t know if you remember me telling you about Leo, the friend who owns the racehorse? The reason we’re all actually here today. Well, Maria is his daughter. She’s taken her father’s Italian good looks.”

  “Yes, I do of course remember you mentioning him a few times.” Diana’s face gave nothing away. She turned to Maria. “You must be really excited being here today to watch your father’s horse.”

  Maria nodded her head. “Yes, yes . . . although I hope nobody puts too much money on her, as we can’t be sure she’s going to actually win the race.” Her gaze met Diana’s and she lowered her eyes quickly as she suddenly felt as though Diana knew what she was thinking.

  When they came outside, Maria spotted Stella and her mother walking ahead in a deep discussion, so she hung back a bit to let them talk on their own. As they went along, she naturally fell into step with Diana, who chatted away, asking her about school and her riding lessons.

  Then, Maria asked Diana about her shop. “I’ve been in it a few times, but I don’t think you ever served me.”

  Diana explained she wasn’t there all the time and that she had two other girls who helped her.

  “Actually,” Maria suddenly remembered, “I have a voucher for the shop. Mrs Flynn gave me it for looking after Poppy.”

  “Did she?” Diana said, smiling. “Wasn’t that kind of her? She must have asked someone to buy it for her, because I didn’t sell it to her. I don’t think she’s fit enough to walk to the shop yet anyway, so maybe a neighbour or a friend got it for her.”

  “It was very generous,” Maria said. “I must come into the shop and pick something.”

  “Do,” Diana told her. “I’m sure you’ll find something you like. I’m beginning to cater now for younger customers than before.”

  As they walked along, it dawned on Maria that Diana might know nothing at all about Mrs Maxwell’s matchmaking plan with her father and that, if she did, she might well be as embarrassed about it as Maria was.

  Diana then slowed down, and indicated Stella. “I think you and I might now find ourselves in an awkward situation.”

 
Maria looked at her.

  “Jane and Stella. They’re clearly at loggerheads over this boy Tony that Stella is seeing.”

  There was no point in denying it, but neither did she want to be disloyal to her friend, so Maria just shrugged and nodded.

  “It can’t be easy for you being caught in the middle.”

  “I usually try to avoid it,” Maria admitted. “But there are times, like today, when it gets a bit much.”

  “I normally wouldn’t talk about Jane to anyone, but I know you know the Maxwells much longer than me. I know today should be a special day for you with your father’s horse racing, and I really hope they don’t make it awkward for you.”

  Maria looked at Diana now, and something made her feel that it was okay to confide in her. She had seen how kind and understanding she was that Sunday in the church and, after all, it was Diana who had brought the subject of Stella and her mother up.

  “It is awkward,” she confessed, “because I’m seeing Paul, one of the boys from the riding school – his parents actually own the stables – and Tony is one of the riding instructors. They’re both here today – they came with Paul’s parents.”

  “Oh dear, that is rather awkward for you! And do you think that Jane feels you’re encouraging the romance or giving Stella an alibi or anything like that?” She quickly added, “Not that Jane has suggested anything like that – I’m just trying to work it out.”

  “I hope she doesn’t blame me for anything,” Maria said, “because I don’t really know Tony that well, and Paul is only friendly with him through work. But I do know that Stella likes the four of us going around together because she thinks her parents won’t mind as much.”

  “I know her mother thinks you’re a good influence on her.” Diana smiled. “And I think from the short time we’ve spent together that I agree.”

  Maria’s face brightened up at the compliment. “Well, that’s very nice of you to say . . .”

  “Confidentially,” Diana said, touching her elbow, “I think Jane and Stella are very similar, both strong-minded, and that’s why they clash so much.” She paused. “Do you think her father is as set against Tony?”