by Susan Lewis
‘Humpty Dumpty?’ Tom cried his face beaming with joy.
‘Laurence, for God’s sake.’ Pippa seethed as Laurence settled Tom on to his raised knees. ‘Just tell him that you don’t want to play and send him back to the bloody nursery.’
Tom looked wide-eyed in his mother’s direction, his tiny brow furrowed, his eyes almost afraid. Pippa just looked at him, as though challenging him to defy her.
‘Let him stay,’ Laurence said, lifting Tom up and kissing him.
‘You spoil him,’ Pippa grumbled as Laurence resettled Tom on his knees, but Laurence wasn’t listening.
‘Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,’ he and Tom chorused, ‘Humpty Dumpty had a great . . . fall!’ On the last word Laurence opened his legs and let Tom fall through. Laughing with delight Tom scrambled back up and Laurence began again.
Pippa kept her silence throughout three more falls, then, ‘Has Jane given you your breakfast yet, Tom?’ she snapped.
Tom shook his head.
‘Then tell her I said you can have some flaky chocolate with your cornflakes.’
‘Oh, yes!’ Tom cried, waving triumphant fists in the air, and leaping from the bed he ran from the room yelling for Jane.
‘I guess we ought to be getting up,’ Laurence said still laughing as he watched Tom go.
‘That wasn’t the idea,’ Pippa said, cuddling up to him.
‘Sorry, I’ve got a meeting at nine,’ Laurence told her and flipping back the covers he got out of bed.
‘For Christ’s sake! Is it too much to ask for some precious minutes of your time?’
‘No more than it is to ask for precious minutes of yours,’ Laurence countered, heading towards the bathroom.
‘And just what the hell is that supposed to mean?’
‘Work it out for yourself,’ he answered and closed the bathroom door behind him.
He was already showered and half way through shaving when the door opened and Pippa sauntered in. ‘Are you sulking because I haven’t let you have sex for the past week?’ she asked.
Briefly he met her gaze in the mirror. ‘No. If I were sulking I wouldn’t have woken you up the way I did,’ he answered.
‘So what’s changed your mind now?’
‘I told you, I’ve got a meeting.’
Pippa eyed him angrily.
‘Hey come on,’ he laughed. ‘You’re making too much of this. I told you last night I had a meeting this morning . . .’
‘But I notice that Tom doesn’t get deprived of his share of your time,’ she said petulantly.
‘Pippa, for heaven’s sake, do we have to go through this every time? He’s just a kid. He doesn’t understand about meetings. Now pass me the towel, will you?’
‘All right,’ she said as she flipped the towel over his shoulder, ‘I’m sorry about the way I neglected you last week . . .’
‘I told you, it’s not a problem.’
‘But obviously it is, so I’m apologizing. It’s just that I can’t make love when Zaccheo is in the house. He puts me all on edge – I can’t concentrate on anything. But he’s gone now and I want to fuck!’
‘Then you’re gonna have to wait,’ Laurence grinned.
‘God you can be so damned infuriating at times,’ Pippa seethed and flounced out of the bathroom slamming the door behind her.
When Laurence returned to the bedroom some five minutes later it was to find Pippa doing her exercises. As he dressed he watched her, slightly less amused now than he had been for he could sense her smouldering resentment. He could do without this right now, today was going to be difficult enough as it was.
‘What are your plans for today?’ he asked making an effort to diffuse the situation, but Pippa wasn’t playing ball. She simply continued bending and stretching as though there was no one else in the room.
Rolling his eyes Laurence slipped his feet into his brogues, fastened his watch strap and started out of the room.
‘I’ve worked out what it is now,’ Pippa snapped. ‘You’re still pissed off with me because I invited Kirsten Meredith here last Saturday.’
‘Pippa,’ he said, pronouncing her name with deliberation as he turned back, ‘I’m not pissed at you at all, but you sure as hell are at me. So come on, let’s have it, what’s really eating you?’
‘Are you sure you have the time?’ she asked sarcastically.
Laurence sighed heavily. ‘As a matter of fact I don’t right now.’
‘Then book me in will you?’
‘OK, I’ve just about had it,’ he yelled. ‘You wanna talk, we talk right now,’ and slamming the door he came back to sit on the edge of the bed.
‘Go to your meeting,’ Pippa cried. ‘Just go. We’ll sort this out later.’
As he left the room Laurence didn’t see the tears glittering in Pippa’s eyes – if he had he wouldn’t have left. Pippa knew that, which was why she had told him to go. She hadn’t really wanted to get him off to a bad start for the day, she knew how important this meeting was to him, though for the life of her she couldn’t remember if he’d told her what it was.
Still smarting with guilt she peeled off her leotard, took a quick shower then went downstairs to join Jane and Tom in the breakfast room. She hadn’t heard the front door close and half hoped Laurence was still there, but he wasn’t.
‘I take it you heard us shouting?’ she said to Jane as she poured herself some coffee.
‘I’m afraid so,’ Jane smiled awkwardly.
‘Did Tom?’
Jane nodded.
Pippa looked down at her son who was sitting on the floor at Jane’s feet engrossed in winding up a clockwork toy. ‘It’s your fault,’ she suddenly snapped at him. ‘You take up all Daddy’s time and if you hadn’t come into the bedroom like that this morning Daddy and I wouldn’t have had an argument.’
Tom’s wide eyes were filling with tears as he looked up at his mother. Pippa glared back, but as his face started to crumple Jane scooped him up in her arms.
‘Sssh, sssh,’ she soothed as he buried his face in her shoulder, quiet sobs jerking his little body.
‘Oh God,’ Pippa groaned dashing a hand through her already dishevelled hair. ‘I’m sorry, Tom. Tom, Mummy’s sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. It wasn’t your fault at all, it was all mine. Are you going to give Mummy a kiss now, show that we’re friends?’
Tom lifted his head to look at her, his soft cheeks were flushed with colour, his deep blue eyes steeped in apprehension.
‘I’m sorry, darling,’ Pippa said again. ‘Come to Mummy and show me what a big boy you are by accepting my apology.’
Still Tom just looked at her, but after a while he twisted in Jane’s arms and leaned towards Pippa.
‘I love you,’ Pippa said, smoothing his tousled curls and kissing him. ‘Mummy loves you so much, and I’m such a silly Mummy to get so angry, aren’t I?’
She didn’t hold him for long though before handing him back to Jane and going to sit at the table. ‘Oh God, what a mess,’ she sighed angrily and buried her face in her hands.
‘Tom, would you do something for me, please?’ Jane asked.
Tom nodded.
‘Would you go upstairs and get your pyjamas, they need washing.’ She put him down and watched as he reluctantly left the room. He was being sent away, he knew it, and Jane knew how much it troubled him. But it was clear that Pippa wanted to talk and it was probably better that Tom didn’t hear. She waited until she knew he was no longer in earshot then went to sit down too.
‘Laurence is so bloody hung up on this next movie,’ Pippa said, starting right in with what was on her mind. She was so used by now to having Jane as her sounding board that she simply took it for granted that Jane would want to listen.
‘He eats, sleeps and breathes the damned thing,’ Pippa went on. ‘It’s coming between us, I know it is and I just don’t know how to stop it. Christ, we don’t even make love any more.’
Jane’s mouth twitched with an uncertain smile. ‘I
thought that was because Zaccheo was around,’ she said, gently reminding Pippa that they’d been down this road just the day before.
‘I thought it was,’ Pippa answered, ‘but I’m not so sure now. The thing is I’m always so ready to blame myself for everything that I tend to forget that it might just be Laurence who’s at fault.’ She lifted her head then and looked Jane straight in the eye. ‘Tell me honestly, Jane, do you think he’s having an affair?’
Jane’s eyes widened. ‘No, not at all,’ she answered.
‘Well I do,’ Pippa declared irritably, ‘and if I could only find out who with I could do something about it.’
‘Have you asked him if there’s anyone else?’ Jane said, helping herself to a triangle of cold toast and starting to fiddle with it.
‘Of course I have, and he denies it. Well he would, wouldn’t he? But what about Kirsten Meredith, don’t you think he over-reacted a bit when he found out she was here?’
Jane drew back her head in surprise. ‘You surely don’t think he’s having an affair with her, do you?’
‘No. At least not yet he isn’t. But give him time.’
Jane spent the next few moments mulling this over in her mind. ‘Would I be right in thinking,’ she said carefully, ‘that Kirsten and Laurence knew each other before?’
Pippa gave a snort of derision. ‘Oh yes, they knew each other all right. He was the great love of her life, or so she made out. She even threatened to kill me if he didn’t give me up and go back to her . . .’
Jane’s astonishment showed. ‘Gosh,’ she said, looking down at her toast. Then returning her eyes to Pippa’s she said, ‘So what made you invite her here on Saturday night?’
‘To test him, of course. To see if he really was over her.’
‘You mean you thought he might not be?’ Jane said incredulously.
‘Well do you think he is, behaving like that?’
‘I don’t really know,’ Jane said somewhat at a loss. ‘I mean on the face of it I’d say he definitely was.’
‘Well you’re right,’ Pippa cut in, her exasperation with herself suddenly deflating her irritation. ‘He is over her. He has been for years and I’m just being a pain in the ass. Laurence wouldn’t go near Kirsten Meredith again if she was the last woman on earth. But if you ask me she’d have him back tomorrow. I mean, why else would she have come on Saturday?’
‘I don’t know,’ Jane said, which was true, but she felt decidedly uncomfortable all of a sudden. She was silent for a while, but in the end realized that she really couldn’t, or perhaps shouldn’t, hold back on Pippa. ‘There’s something I think I should tell you,’ she began tentatively. ‘Kirsten Meredith overheard what Laurence said about her on Saturday, you know, when he was telling you to get her out of the house. She was pretty upset, I know because I was with her when she overheard it. I’d spilt a drink all over her dress, you see, and was about to take her upstairs to clean up when we heard you and Laurence in the study. Anyway, I did take her upstairs in the end and she borrowed some of my clothes to go home in. I went round to collect them on Wednesday.’
Pippa was staring at her. ‘You mean you’ve actually talked to Kirsten Meredith! Actually been to her house?’
Jane nodded then to her amazement Pippa suddenly started to laugh.
‘What’s so funny?’ Jane asked.
‘What’s so funny is that if Kirsten Meredith thinks she’s going to get back with Laurence through you she’s got to be out of her mind. He’d see through that quicker than he could see through glass and if there’s one thing Laurence can’t stand it’s scheming women.’
Neither of them spoke for a while then, but Jane watched Pippa as the thoughts raced round in her mind. Finally Pippa smiled. ‘So Kirsten was upset was she?’ she said.
‘Well, yes, she was a bit. I mean, I suppose anyone would be hearing themselves spoken about like that,’ Jane answered. She didn’t know quite why she should feel the need to defend Kirsten, or why she should choose to be loyal to her, but for some reason she knew she was going to withhold the true extent of Kirsten’s distress.
‘Yes, I suppose you’re right,’ Pippa sighed. ‘And I’m just being a cow. I don’t have anything against the woman really, why should I, he married me, didn’t he? And in actual fact I do feel genuinely sorry for what the press are doing to her. If I thought it would do any good I’d speak to Dermott myself and try to get him to stop, but you know Dermott, once he’s got his teeth into something there’s no stopping him. And my guess is Dyllis Fisher is paying him a whole whack of bonuses to keep him at it. Oh Jane, if you could see your face,’ she laughed. ‘You really don’t like poor old Dermott, do you?’
‘I just think it’s a horrible way of earning a living,’ Jane said, ‘riding high on someone else’s misery. I never have been able to work out why Laurence has him as a friend.’
‘They’ve done each other some favours in the past,’ Pippa chuckled. ‘Well, you know that. And once you get on the right side of Dermott he’s not so bad, you know. He’s really fond of Laurence.’
‘And of you,’ Jane said.
‘Because we helped him out at a time when he was down on his luck. Still he’s really making a comeback now. He should be grateful to Kirsten in fact, he might still be in the wilderness if it weren’t for her. Anyway, those two don’t really concern me right now. What does is Laurence. Do you know who this meeting of his is with today?’
Jane shook her head.
‘Then I’ll just have to look in his diary and find out, won’t I. Oh, get that will you,’ she added as the telephone started to ring.
Jane reached over to the kitchen counter and lifted the receiver. As soon as she heard the voice at the other end she stiffened. ‘Speak of the devil,’ she said, holding the receiver out to Pippa.
Pippa looked at her questioningly.
‘Dermott Campbell,’ Jane grimaced.
It was half an hour or so later that Pippa wandered into Laurence’s study and found Jane standing at the desk. ‘Oh, I didn’t know you were in here,’ she said, clearly surprised. ‘Were you looking for something?’
‘Just these,’ Jane smiled, holding up two carriages from Tom’s train set that Laurence had been repairing.
‘I’m on my spying mission,’ Pippa confessed. ‘Where’s his diary?’
‘Just here,’ Jane answered, pulling a large leather-bound book out from underneath a script. They both knew Laurence’s diary well since both of them frequently acted as his secretary.
‘OK, let’s see,’ Pippa said starting to flick over the pages. ‘Here we are, Thursday . . . Oh shit, no!’
‘What is it?’ Jane said, leaning across to take a look herself.
‘You mean who is it?’
‘Then who?’
‘Ruby bloody Collins, that’s who.’
‘The writer?’
‘The writer. Oh shit and fuck and all the other vile words I can’t think of right now! I was just deciding to cook dinner tonight, candles, good wine and all the rest of it to try and make up for this morning, but he’s bound to come back in a foul mood after seeing her.’
‘What does that say there?’ Jane said, still looking at the diary. ‘The pencilled in name.’
Pippa turned back and Jane lifted her eyes to her face as she felt Pippa tense. ‘Alison Fortescue,’ Pippa muttered. ‘Does this mean he’s seeing her today, too?’
Jane wasn’t quite able to meet Pippa’s gaze then for she knew that Laurence had called Alison before leaving the house, and she also knew that Alison had been the cause of many bitter arguments between Laurence and Pippa. ‘It’s only in pencil,’ she pointed out feebly.
‘I’m not fooled by that Jane, and neither are you,’ Pippa retorted. ‘It’s Alison bloody Fortescue he’s having an affair with and you know it as well as I do. No, there’s no point in denying it, Jane, you’ve known for some time and haven’t wanted to tell me. I’m right, aren’t I?’
‘No!’ Jane cried. ‘I
don’t know anything. Honestly Pippa, I don’t know how you can think these things. You’re accusing Laurence of so many affairs it’s almost as though . . . well, I don’t know, as though you’re trying to push him into one.’
Pippa recognized the accusation instantly. ‘Is that what he’s been saying to you?’ she raged.
‘No, no,’ Jane said. ‘But I’ve heard him saying it to you, and I’m beginning to think he might have a point.’
‘Oh really!’ Pippa responded scathingly. ‘Well let me tell you something, Jane. Never underestimate how clever, nor how bloody devious Laurence can be. Because I can assure you that he’s more than capable of turning a very real affair into my paranoia and sending me to the loony bin into the bargain. He damned nearly put Kirsten Meredith there five years ago!’
For a moment Jane seemed too astounded to answer. ‘Laurence would never do something like that,’ she said eventually.
‘Oh, wouldn’t he? Then try asking your friend Kirsten, see what she has to say.’
‘Well, he’d never do it intentionally,’ Jane said feebly.
‘Oh, wouldn’t he?’
Jane was already drawing breath to say no, when suddenly a vision of the way Kirsten had been on Saturday night flashed through her mind.
‘I see, not so sure of yourself now,’ Pippa said smugly. ‘The trouble with you Jane is that just like every other woman on this damned planet you think the sun shines out of Laurence’s backside. Well believe you me it doesn’t. My darling husband has plenty to hide, make no mistake about that. And he’s a past master when it comes to deception.’
‘I’m not convinced he’s having an affair with Alison,’ Jane said quietly.
‘I don’t suppose you’d say he was having an affair with Ruby Collins either, would you?’ Pippa smirked.
Jane’s mouth and eyes formed three circles of astonished disbelief.
‘Sit down Jane,’ Pippa smiled maliciously, ‘I’m going to tell you all there is to tell about Ruby Collins. Let’s see how quick you are to rush to Laurence’s defence then.’
