‘To save yourself for marriage,’ Savannah rolled her eyes up to heaven.
‘Well kinda. She said . . .’ Sally-Ann cleared her throat and mimicked her great grandmother’s Southern twang. ‘ “. . . Y’all don’t go round relaxin’ yore morals, missy, and keep your bloomers up!” ’
‘Bloomers!’ shrieked the girls, guffawing. ‘She called panties bloomers?’ Savannah sniggered.
‘She sure did. Great grandma Connolly was a hoot an’ a half. But she had the right idea. Girls, you need to be careful out there. Don’t let yourselves be touched up and fingered by boys you don’t know. Like the boy . . . or girl . . . you’re with. Don’t be a sheeple and follow the herd, just because everyone else is. Think for yourselves. That’s one of the most important pieces of advice I can give you. Reason things out for yourselves, make decisions because it’s something that feels right for you, not because everyone else thinks it’s cool—’
‘Diana Barton is gay, she told us last week. How do you know if you’re gay?’ Maddy asked.
‘Well you might prefer to be with girls, you might fancy them instead of boys. But don’t fret about it, you are what you are and you’ll know in time. I wouldn’t even worry about it, Maddy. Your dad and I won’t care what you are as long as you’re both happy and have plenty of self-respect. And,’ she added firmly, ‘don’t make the mistake your dad and I made of getting married too young. There’s no rush, just make sure you love who you’re going to marry.’
‘Do you not love Dad anymore? Does he not love you?’ Savannah eyeballed her.
‘Let’s say we’re not “in” love. There’ll always be a bond because of our two lovely girls. If I didn’t care about him I wouldn’t help him out of his dilemma now, would I?’
‘I suppose not,’ she muttered.
‘Might you meet someone new and get married to them?’ Maddy ventured hesitantly.
‘Well if I do, it will be when you both have finished high school and are leaving home to go to college,’ Sally-Ann promised them and saw both of them visibly relax.
‘So did Dad cheat on you many times?’ Savannah probed.
‘That’s neither here nor there now, sweetie. We are where we are and we’ve all got to move forward,’ Sally-Ann said firmly. She wasn’t, much as she’d like to, going to make Cal the fall guy even though he’d done the dirty on her. She didn’t want her daughters disrespecting their father.
‘Is that why he sleeps in the other room, and not because he gets up early to go to meetings?’ Savannah asked.
‘It is,’ agreed Sally-Ann, forking the hot dogs onto the buns.
‘Don’t you mind him having sex with that other lady?’
‘Well I did mind it at the beginning . . . It hurt, but that’s life and sometimes things happen to us that hurt us, but we can grow from it,’ she said lamely.
‘Why? How are you growing?’ Maddy slathered on ketchup and mustard and handed a hot dog wrapped in a napkin to her sister.
‘Erm . . .’ Sally-Ann wished with all her heart that the interrogation would stop. ‘I . . . ah . . . I’m trying to practise forgiveness. I’m trying not to hold on to bitterness and anger, because let me tell y’all, that’s the worst thing you can do.’
‘Why?’ Savannah demanded.
‘Because when you’re bitter and twisted, the only one who gets hurt is you. You can hang on to bad things and say “poor me”, this bad thing happened to me and I’m never going to get over it, and you can hold that energy in you for the rest of your life, or else you can say, OK, a bad thing happened in my life but I’m gonna move on and I’m not giving it any more energy. That’s one of the lessons in life we have to learn. The sooner we let go of stuff the better. It makes room for better things to come into our lives.’
‘I get that,’ Savannah said slowly. ‘When Beth Ann Regan was bullying me last year, I was so mad it was all I could think about, and then I decided I was going to forget about her and make other friends an’ I did, and I never think of Beth Ann Regan now—’
‘She started to bully Francine Lee.’ Maddy licked her fingers. ‘You should tell Francine what to do so she can get over it.’
‘Exactly, and I was very impressed by the way you dealt with that, Savannah. So moving on is the way to go. And now let’s move on and toast some S’mores,’ Sally-Ann teased and they laughed. ‘And please, when Dad comes with that little baby, be kind,’ she added. ‘Don’t forget that baby has nothing to do with any of our stuff. It’s not his fault, OK?’ She arched an eyebrow at them.
‘OK,’ they agreed, Savannah more grudgingly than Maddy, and Sally-Ann gave an inward sigh of relief that she’d managed somehow to get things back on an even keel, for the time being anyway.
‘Here he is,’ Madison yelled, hurrying out from the front lounge where she’d been keeping watch while doing her lessons. Sally-Ann, who’d been scrolling through her emails in the kitchen, felt her stomach flip-flop. Now that the actual moment of seeing Cal’s child by Lenora had arrived, she felt sick. She should have just refused his request, she thought, annoyed at herself and wishing she could practise some of the high-falutin advice she’d given the girls earlier. What a grand old hypocrite she was, she thought gloomily, wishing her heart would stop pounding. Madison had the door open before Cal had even unlocked the car door to lift out the baby carrier.
Sally-Ann watched from the hallway as Cal reached out and hugged his daughter tightly. Maddy was such a little peacemaker and always had been, Sally-Ann thought fondly, wishing she could be as open hearted.
‘Hi, Sally-Ann,’ Cal called over as he lifted out the baby carrier. Maddy peeped in and Sally-Ann heard her say in disappointment, ‘Aw, he’s asleep.’
‘Travelling in the car always knocks him out,’ her father explained, hoisting a baby bag over his shoulder and crossing over to the front door. Sally-Ann met his gaze and her lip wobbled. She swallowed hard and looked in at the little mite, wrapped in a babygro and cardigan with a little blue knitted cap on his head. His long black lashes brushed his rosy red cheeks and she saw that he had Cal’s chin, with the Cooper cleft. Myriad emotions smote her. Grief, loneliness, envy, broodiness, but mostly heart-melting awe at his innocent loveliness.
‘He’s a fine little fella,’ she gulped. ‘Give him to me and get the rest of his stuff.’
‘Are you OK, Mom?’ Madison asked anxiously, observing her mother’s upset.
‘Fine, sweetie,’ Sally-Ann made a supreme effort and smiled at her daughter. Cal looked at her and looked away, an expression of dismay crossing his rugged face.
‘I’ll get the rest of his things. Will you help me, Maddy?’ he asked flatly.
‘Sure, Dad,’ she agreed, casting another anxious glance at Sally-Ann.
‘I’ll take him into the lounge.’ Sally-Ann took the baby carrier from her husband.
‘Where’s Savannah?’ he enquired.
‘In her room,’ Sally-Ann said quietly, ‘and she says she’s staying there, so let her be,’ she warned, before turning to walk into the lounge with the baby. She laid the carrier on the sofa and heard him give a little snuffle. His eyelashes flickered and then, all of a sudden, a pair of startling blue eyes stared intently at her and her breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t explain it. It was as though they had always known each other. An ‘old soul’, her great grandma would have called him. Sally-Ann stared back at the blue-eyed son of Cal and another woman, and then the baby smiled at her, the widest, happiest, most joyful smile and her heartbreak receded and she found herself smiling back at him and longing to cuddle him.
‘Oh Cal, he’s adorable,’ she murmured when her husband entered the room laden down with baby gear.
‘Yeah he is, isn’t he?’ Cal came and stood beside her as they peered in at the beaming baby.
‘It’s strange, and you might think this is a weird thing to say but I always thought the baby I lost was a son. It’s like Jake’s being here has healed a wound that was always there in the core of me
,’ she confided.
‘Aw, Sally-Ann, that’s a great thing to hear, darlin’. Take him and cuddle him,’ Cal urged.
‘He might not take to me,’ she demurred.
‘Naw, he’s a happy-go-lucky little dude,’ his father said, lifting him out of the carrier and handing him to her. Jake settled against her shoulder and gazed up at her and another smile illuminated his face as he gooed and gurgled as though trying to speak, his fists waving in the air before finding their way into his mouth, and she gazed at him in delight, loving the feel of him in her arms.
‘Let me see, Mom, let me see,’ Madison said eagerly.
‘Do you want to hold him?’ Sally-Ann asked.
‘Oh, can I?’ Madison was excited.
‘Sit down and I’ll hand him to you,’ Sally-Ann instructed, laying the child into his half-sister’s embrace when she’d settled back on the sofa with her arms out for him.
‘Oh wow! Mom! Look, he’s smiling at me.’ Madison was beyond thrilled and Sally-Ann gave a silent prayer of thanks that her instincts had been right, in Maddy’s case at least. Getting to know their half-brother as a baby would be far easier than in years to come when he was older. ‘Can I give him his bottle when it’s feeding time?’ she asked.
‘Of course you can,’ Cal agreed, utterly thankful that Jake would have one sister who loved him, and more grateful to Sally-Ann than he’d ever been.
‘Thank you,’ he murmured earnestly, his eyes probing hers with that blue-eyed intensity that in the old days would send delicious shivers down her spine. ‘Jake and I are in your debt.’
‘You are, he isn’t, he gets a “get out of jail free” pass,’ she remarked lightly, turning away from him to watch Madison cuddling her baby brother. She didn’t want Cal getting any ideas that the divorce was no longer an option. Whether Lenora and he got back together or not was no longer her concern. Now that it had been broached to the girls she wanted to draw a line under their relationship, and the sooner the better.
Stubborn to the last, Savannah stayed in her room until the following morning when she heard her father leave for the airport.
‘Mom, will that baby be gone when we get home from school?’ she demanded, appearing at Sally-Ann’s bedroom door. Sally-Ann yawned and sat up to drink the cup of coffee Cal had brought her before he left.
‘I don’t think so. Dad has meetings in Miami and he won’t be back until late afternoon. Why?’
‘I was just wondering,’ she said grumpily.
‘You don’t have to see him if you don’t want to,’ Sally-Ann assured her, ‘but Jake is a lovely little baby and your sister and I had a very nice time with him last night.’
‘Yeah well, I’m not interested,’ Savannah replied, waiting for the backlash.
‘Fine,’ shrugged Sally-Ann. ‘Your choice. Your decision.’
‘Oh!’ Her daughter couldn’t hide her surprise, but Sally-Ann ignored her, pretending to scroll through her phone instead, and Savannah, seeing she was getting no argument from her, wandered off to her room, but not before peeping into Cal’s room where Jake lay sleeping in his travel cot.
Sally-Ann was in the bathroom when she heard the baby wail.
‘Mom,’ shouted Savannah. ‘That baby is crying. Get him quick!’
‘He’ll be fine,’ she called back.
‘Mom, you can’t leave him,’ Savannah yelled indignantly with a note of panic in her voice. ‘Pick him up.’
‘I can’t,’ she yelled. ‘I’m putting in a tampon. You go pick him up.’
She heard Savannah stomp along the landing as the wails got louder and more heart-rending and then silence descended. Sally-Ann took her time finishing her ablutions before padding silently across the landing to see Jake being held by Savannah, as a sleepy Madison peered over her sister’s shoulder, entertaining him with his baby rattle.
‘Good boy, don’t cry,’ she heard Savannah say with a tender awkwardness that brought a lump to Sally-Ann’s throat. ‘I bet you’re hungry.’
‘He just guzzles his bottle, don’t you, Jake?’ Madison cooed.
‘How do you know, did they let you feed him?’ Savannah jiggled Jake in her arms.
‘Yeah, it was cool. He loves me, he kept smiling at me, didn’t you baby? Can I hold him?’ she begged.
‘In a minute. You got to feed him and hold him last night, it’s my turn,’ Savannah declared.
‘That was ’cos you didn’t come down ’cos you were being a bioch,’ Madison protested. ‘Dad was pretty down about you staying in your room.’
‘So?’ sniffed her sister. ‘He’s not gonna get in my good books that easy. Sure he isn’t, baby Jake?’ She gazed down at her half-brother, making baby noises. ‘OMG, Maddy, look, he’s laughing. I’m making him laugh,’ she exclaimed delightedly.
Smiling, Sally-Ann slipped back to her own room. Her next battle today would be sorting out rows about whose turn it was to hold and feed Jake. She wanted her turn as well. Great grandma Connolly had always maintained that good often came out of bad. Perhaps she was right, Sally-Ann reflected. Jake Cooper had come into their lives and in less than twenty-four hours had brought a healing of sorts to their family with just his big, wide, happy smiles and gooing gorgeousness. She hoped against hope that it would last.
PART THREE
TIME MARCHES ON
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
November 2007
CONSTANZA
Constanza Torres shivered, walking in the shade, where the sun was not yet high enough to brighten the façade of Block 1 of La Joya. It was early November, and temperatures were in the mid teens, far from the high twenties that she liked.
On her rounds, she’d had seen Austen MacDonald and another man doing laps of the big pool, slicing through the water at speed, circling around the little island up in the deep end – massed with daphne and vibrant pink geraniums – before racing each other back, and wondered how the Irish man and his friend were not frozen.
It always amused Constanza to see the hardy Irish and British out in their shorts and sundresses, making the most of the winter sun even in January, while she and her compatriots were wrapped up in their winter woollies.
Austen was on his own. His wife was staying at home to be near her pregnant daughter. He wasn’t happy about it, Constanza could tell, but she refrained from comment. She always listened but rarely gave an opinion. Discretion and prudence was paramount in her job.
She’d become friendly with Anna MacDonald in those first early months after La Joya had opened its gates to the new owners. She and Anna had worked as a team when Anna had become secretary of the management committee and Constanza had been very sorry to see her resign after her stint.
Constanza sighed, letting herself into her office, glad of the warmth provided by the electric heater. In previous years there’d been more owners and visitors staying during the winter. But many changes had taken place in La Joya in these past months, and not, Constanza thought gloomily, pouring coffee from her percolator, changes for the good.
Other owners were experiencing the same type of problems as Anna and Austen. Minding grandchildren and taking care of elderly parents seemed to be on the increase, as incomes dropped, and the wings of freedom were clipped.
Gone too were the days of hopping on a flight to Spain for a long weekend. Several of the apartments were up for sale, with owners unable to pay the mortgage, let alone their maintenance fees. The carefree buzz of excitement and exuberance that had reigned in the early years had changed, and there was an underlying sense of anxiety, as taxes and maintenance fees went up, and services were cut.
The global downturn was having a disastrous effect on the Spanish economy. The property bubble had burst, half-finished developments littered the country and unemployment was rampant. Walking along the promenade of San Antonio del Mar, it was easy to see the ravages the recession was wreaking on the local economy. Where once the cafés and restaurants would be full of ex-pats having breakfast or morning coffee, rea
ding their papers, meeting up with friends, going to the hair and beauty parlours, now bored waiters wiped empty tables that were already clean, and attended any customer who sat at one of the tables under the colourful awnings like royalty.
Constanza could see the effects of the slump in La Joya, too. People were in arrears with their maintenance fees, with some owners owing thousands to the community. It was an enormous worry and the current community president, an affable Englishman whom she liked and got on with, was tearing his hair out and couldn’t wait for his term of office to be over.
Constanza sipped her coffee and glanced at her emails. Her heart sank when she saw Eduardo De La Fuente’s name among them. That horrible, arrogant Madrileño was the bane of her life. From the moment he’d set foot in the complex he’d behaved like he owned the place and was constantly finding fault with her, and all the other employees.
She wasn’t being aggressive enough chasing owners for fees.
People were hanging towels on balconies.
The cleaners weren’t thorough when cleaning the common areas.
The gardeners weren’t doing a good job.
The planting was haphazard.
Diego and Mateo, the caretakers, spent more time smoking than working.
His complaints were never-ending.
Once Eduardo had marched up to her office waving a paper cup and napkin he’d found on the lawn, and torn a strip off the two men, in front of people she was dealing with, until she’d put her hand up and said sternly, ‘You bring your complaints to me! And I’ll investigate them.’
‘Señora, I am an owner here, I’ll have my say,’ he retorted.
‘And I am the concierge here, employed by the community, and I’ll have mine, and I say you bring your many complaints to me,’ she’d said icily and had glared at him until he’d looked away. Madre de Dios but he would drive a saint to drink. All he desired was to become the president of the committee, and if and when he did, she would pay for her perceived impudence, Constanza knew.
Orange Blossom Days Page 21
