My Husband's Wives

by Faith Hogan

  ‘I’m alive, we’re alive. This is all that counts. The breaks, they heal with time, the bruising will too, and I can get the tooth replaced,’ Kasia said. Annalise knew she’d been through the wars many times before with Vasile. Perhaps, when the wounds had healed, they would look back and think this time was worth it, because it was the end of Vasile. Either way, he had no reason to come back here now.

  It was worth the trip and the stolen glances when they got to the baby unit.

  ‘She’s healthy and strong,’ the nurse told them as Kasia held the baby close. ‘She could go onto a maternity ward any day, but…’

  ‘I’m working on it,’ Kasia said with a contented smile.

  As it turned out, a week later, they told her she could go home. There would be plenty of time to heal at Carlinville and the house would be good for that. The day dawned bright and crisp. It was a glorious brittle morning that felt as if it might break in half if any of them took for granted the gentle glow of happiness surrounding mother and baby. Evie pulled up outside the hospital in the MG. They had organized a convoy of sorts; the little sports car was not big enough to take the various paraphernalia that had arrived as soon as the baby was ready to go home. The rear-facing seat took pride of place in the bench seat that Annalise’s dad had customised to see them through the next six to eight years of car seats and booster seats. Grace put the remainder of their belongings in the boot of her own car.

  ‘Evie, you are driving us home?’ Kasia looked so happy, perhaps even more so than Annalise and Evie had expected. But then that, too, was down to so much more than the MG now.

  ‘Well, not exactly legally; I’m waiting for my permit, but I thought we’d risk it this once.’ Evie's voice was light; lottery winners never got so lucky. ‘I’m booked for my test in a month’s time. Some friend of Annalise’s dad knows someone who knows someone.’

  ‘It’s lovely,’ Kasia said once she settled the baby and folded herself into the passenger seat. ‘It suits you.’ She smiled out at Annalise who was standing on the path. She didn’t need to say the words, but her eyes held tears of happiness and Annalise knew that she was thanking her from the bottom of heart.

  *

  The solicitor was not what Annalise expected. Mr Blake-Nash was hardly thirty years old and he might easily have walked off the set of a Hollywood movie. He was tall and dark with chiselled features that owed more to his mother than his slack-jawed father. Malcolm was the third generation to take up practice in the legal firm and his father had written both Evie and Paul’s wills. They wrote them here, in the library at Carlinville. ‘Ladies, I appreciate you taking the time. I understand you have a big exhibition coming up.’

  ‘To be fair, Malcolm, we should have done this months ago, but I’m not sure any of us were ready,’ Evie said. They arranged the will reading for a sunny afternoon, when they’d all have preferred to be doing anything but. Then again, there was never going to be a good day for it.

  ‘I have a copy here for each of you. There are letters also. Paul asked that you each read them after the will. They were sealed; we have no idea what they contain.’ He handed each of them a small white envelope, their names carefully written in Paul’s neatest handwriting, with the familiar blue ink of his fountain pen. He placed his own copy before him on his knees. ‘I’m not sure if you have the most up-to-date copy, Evie.’ He glanced across the room that wasn’t as faded as the last time he was here, the light caught sparkling wood now instead of dusty rays. ‘This is dated three weeks before he died. He made just one change, but he was adamant that it was important.’ He began to unfurl the last will and testament of Paul Starr. The will began with the bequeathing of a number of personal items to each of his wives. Little things, which were of sentimental value more than any financial benefit.

  ‘And, to my children: To Delilah, Jerome, Dylan and Kasia – I….’

  ‘Oh, my God,’ Kasia shrieked. ‘I don’t believe it. How can that be?’ Her expression clouded as she tried to add up what she knew of life, of her mother and her father and the way Paul had befriended her – it was a jolt.

  ‘Say that again?’ Grace looked at each of them, shock registering on her face, in her voice and then the glimmer of a smile played on her lips. ‘That makes me your stepmother?’ She looked from Kasia to Evie, ‘Or at least one of your stepmothers?’

  ‘It kind of makes sense, doesn’t it?’ Annalise looked across at Evie’s shocked expression. ‘I mean, she has his eyes. You had to have noticed, they do have a resemblance to each other. Baby Eve is the spit of him – don’t you think so?’ It would take a while for the news to settle on Annalise, but it was good, she was sure of that. It was good news for all of them.

  ‘Well, I…’ Evie was lost for words; she had to let this settle first. Paul had a child. Paul had a child with a woman who lived on the far side of Europe. He got some woman pregnant and said nothing to her all these years. ‘So all this time he lied to us?’ She looked at Grace.

  ‘We’ve blamed ourselves.’ Grace nodded. Maybe she was thinking, too, of the wasted years when she held herself and Annalise responsible for how things had turned out with Paul.

  ‘It’s what I’ve been trying to say to both of you. He wasn’t as bloody perfect as we thought he was,’ Annalise whispered. ‘I didn’t know that Kasia was…’ She looked across at Kasia whose face had set in a distorted grimness. Shock? Annalise figured it was going to get them all. ‘None of us knew, Kasia, you know that?’ She tried to catch Evie’s attention, raised her voice a little. ‘I’ve tried to say it to both of you: we did nothing wrong. All we did was love him, but maybe he wasn’t able to love us the way we loved him.’

  ‘Maybe he still loved your mother?’

  ‘No.’ Kasia made a sound; her rounded lips told them what it was. ‘No. He loved you all, I’m sure of that. I’ve always been sure of that. Whatever else I knew of him, I’ve always known that much. Whatever he had with my mother, he still left her, didn’t he? He still left us both there and he stayed married to you Evie; he didn’t leave you for my mother.’

  ‘Oh my.’ It was all Evie could manage for a moment. ‘It’s not that it didn’t cross my mind. I’ve wondered a thousand times, if maybe… I mean, he went there every year, and you have his eyes, my dear. I can see that now.’ She made a sound; it might have been a laugh, but emotion carried it into territory that was more tremulous. ‘I watched you once, here, in the garden. It was something in your expression when you were caught by surprise. Ah, yes. I can see it now.’ She shook her head, as though to dispel a terrible thought. ‘How could he have left you in that orphanage? How could he have walked away knowing that you were there with no family to call your own?’

  ‘Oh, Evie, are you all right?’ Kasia moved towards her, balancing the baby at the same time. She knelt before her, perhaps not sure whether to embrace her or apologize. It wasn’t her fault, of course, but she couldn’t stand to think of Evie being hurt once more.

  ‘Dear Kasia, I wish he had told me. I wish he had brought you here. You could have had a much better life after your mother passed away. I’m so sorry that he left you there for so long.’ She smiled now, a shaky half movement about her lips. ‘Oh, dear, I thought I did him out of something for so long, when it seems he was the one who made us both lose out.’

  ‘Evie, you are…’ Tears welled up in Kasia’s throat. She couldn’t speak. It didn’t matter; words were inadequate. She bent closer and threw her free arm about Evie.

  ‘Shall I continue with the will?’ Malcolm looked across at Grace who was now crying tears that Annalise thought must be happiness, because beneath them her smile beamed with an emotion that went far beyond pleasure.

  ‘Of course,’ Annalise said, ‘and as soon as you are done, we are going to celebrate the newest official members of the Starr family!’

  21

  The Exhibition

  ‘She has slept almost all afternoon,’ Kasia said. Baby Eve stirred in her cot as though she knew t
hat something wonderful waited down stairs.

  ‘That’s good news, isn’t it?’ Annalise whispered. Each time Annalise came to Carlinville now, she went in search of Eve. ‘I can’t help it, I swear. She’s totally addictive.’ Annalise doted on the little girl. ‘We should get her ready.’ Annalise had brought a choice of outfits. She held each up in turn for Eve’s approval.

  ‘Annalise, she is a baby, she is too small to know the difference.’ Kasia laughed. She was so happy. She pulled back the curtains that had kept the afternoon sun out of Carlinville. ‘Oh, Annalise, it is a dream come true.’ At the oddest of moments she would feel a tremor of emotion surge through her, and then realize it was happiness. She could hardly believe she was living in this beautiful house and this would be her home forever. But better than that, she had family; a real family. Not just her and Baby Eve as she thought it would be. She had a half sister and half brothers. And she had Evie and Grace and Annalise, and she knew she was the luckiest person alive.

  ‘Kasia, you are funny.’ Annalise held up Eve, and gazed at her. ‘But I suppose I felt a little like that too, when the boys were small. I couldn’t believe my luck.’

  ‘And now?’ Kasia could still see the sadness of losing Paul in Annalise’s eyes. It was there at times when she least expected it. Perhaps it was the knowing that he would miss out on so much that he should share with his sons.

  ‘Life is good now. We have the exhibition tonight and it’s going to be a great success.’ Annalise nodded towards the dresses that she’d hung beside the cot for Kasia to decide. ‘And then, little Eve Starr, then we are going to have the best party Carlinville has ever seen.’

  Kasia was really looking forward to it. Her cuts and bruises were healed and Annalise brought them all shopping for dresses and shoes, once they had agreed a date with Patrick. Kasia felt like one of those celebrities that Annalise once adored, except of course, this was the real thing. Funny, she thought recently, but Annalise didn’t bother with all that anymore.

  They had spent the whole week putting the house to rights, but in the end Grace had insisted on bringing in people to get the rooms set up. The rooms looked huge once the workmen had finished, and Kasia gasped with delight when she saw the dining room cleared back, and the wooden floor polished for dancing. ‘Just in case,’ Evie said, but her eyes twinkled and Kasia threw her arms around her. She knew the dark days were well and truly behind them now.

  *

  The date for the exhibition had crept up on them before they knew it. Grace put aside fifty pieces to exhibit. Most of them were new: many drawings in pen and ink, and quite a few charcoal portraits.

  ‘Will they find the place?’ Evie asked. They sent out invitations with an image of Carlinville on the front. Of course what she meant was, would everything be all right in Carlinville? Would it be an adequate host for the prestigious crowd?

  ‘Will people actually show up?’ Grace was terrified. It had been almost six years since she’d held an exhibition.

  ‘Well I, for one, am very optimistic.’ Patrick had a thrill in his voice as he gauged each piece. ‘You may have disappeared for a while, but talk about coming back with a bang!’

  ‘Let’s wait and see how the night goes before we start to celebrate.’ Grace was cautious; Evie couldn’t understand why, and she told her so too. The work was the best she’d ever done – at least Evie thought so. It was certainly the warmest, and contained the most emotional depth she had ever seen on a canvas.

  ‘Well, you definitely have two sales.’ Evie nodded across at Madeline, who was fawning over two watercolours of her grandchildren.

  ‘Make that three.’ Jake stood beside them, strong and steady. Grace didn’t try to hide that it was good to have him near her.

  ‘I’m glad you came.’ She meant it.

  ‘All the news scoops in the world wouldn’t keep me away,’ he whispered in her ear.

  ‘Steady,’ she smiled at him. They were taking things slowly – dinner dates and walks on the beach – but he fit with their odd extended family set up. In some ways, he was already part of them.

  ‘Do you know she’s a terrible tease?’ he said, smiling at Evie who was being lured away from them by Annalise’s dad.

  ‘And you are going to love me for it.’ She leaned in close to him.

  ‘Maybe I already do?’

  ‘Stop it, you two.’ Delilah looked sternly at them, but Grace knew she was delighted that Jake and Grace were hitting it off so well.

  ‘You look beautiful, Ms Starr.’ Jake did a little bow. ‘I may just have to bring you dancing later.’ He winked at Delilah.

  ‘Not in a million years, Grandad.’ Delilah laughed and Grace thought it was good to see her so happy. Not that they didn’t still have days when Paul seemed to loom large between them, but now, more often, they would shake off any melancholy by picking up Dylan and Jerome and heading off to the local park, or just by hanging out in Carlinville. Delilah was crazy about Eve. They were all crazy about her. Eve had transformed this house. Grace sometimes stood back in amazement; she was such a tiny person to have impacted so fully on everyone around her. Grace loved her too, held her every chance she got, although there was always a queue. Somehow things had worked out well; better than Grace could have ever imagined, and tonight was the icing on the cake.

  ‘Who’s that talking to Evie?’ Grace was watching Evie. Being a hostess suited her. It seemed as though she sparkled, even managing to outshine the beautiful Carlinville.

  ‘No idea, but isn’t that Annalise’s father beside him?’

  ‘Maybe it’s a big collector?’ Delilah said.

  ‘Well, whoever he is, it looks as if he’s hitting it off with Evie,’ Jake said.

  ‘It would be good for her, I think…’ Grace said wistfully. She watched Evie chat to the man who seemed to hang off her every word. ‘They would make a cute couple, don’t you think?’ She turned to Jake.

  ‘I certainly do,’ Jake said.

  ‘It would be an unexpected gift from this evening.’ Grace studied them; there was something in the way they stood. You could see it a mile off. He was nothing like Paul. He wasn’t any taller than Evie, and he had a face that looked as if he loved to live. His shape was that of a man who ate and drank well of life. His eyes danced and he had a manner of delivering his words and receiving them that told of someone who would not allow life to pass him. He wouldn’t remain cooped up with a house of books, not when there was a whole world beyond to enjoy. He looked like a man who had been educated not in Trinity, but in life. In a word, he looked the opposite of Paul and maybe exactly what Evie needed.

  By eight, the crowd was in and it felt as though Carlinville had waited for years for this moment, as though it was letting out a warm sigh of relief with every person who arrived.

  Patrick had organized the hanging space for the work, so people could move around the paintings. Each set of ten represented a different aspect of Paul’s life. Patrick was enjoying this immensely, dancing from foot to foot as he escorted one well-heeled buyer after another around the room.

  It felt more like a party than any exhibition Grace had ever held. It was strange to be surrounded by Paul in this way. It was as though he was still here. Funny though, the last few months, Kasia, Evie and Annalise had taught her more about love than she’d ever experienced with Paul. That love had filtered through to Delilah and now, she could feel, it was moving her closer to Jake. She wandered around the room, passed all her paintings, thrilled with the red circles indicating that many had sold already. Grace managed to get to Evie before the speeches were to begin.

  *

  ‘I hope you’re going to buy a painting tonight, Jake. After all, you can well afford it now.’ Annalise looked stunning, but more than that, she felt comfortable and at one with the world, at last the captain of her own destiny. ‘You still haven’t told us how much the documentary made,’ she chided him.

  ‘You can talk; I hear that ITV are looking to get you fronting
their fashion programme?’ Jake retorted.

  She grinned back. ‘Thanks to you, Jake. And Kasia.’ She turned to Kasia. ‘I wouldn’t have any offers at all if it wasn’t for you,’ she said.

  ‘It would have come your way at some point. You are very talented. It’s obvious you’re going to make a great presenter.’ Kasia smiled at Annalise.

  ‘Actually, I’m keeping my options open, waiting for Time magazine to come back with a serious offer.’ Annalise wrinkled her nose. ‘This new agent that Jake hooked me up with,’ she nodded towards Jake, ‘well, she thinks there might be a chance to front something similar here. I wouldn’t mind doing another programme like the one I did with Jake, see then if it sells. It’d be better than trekking off to London every Monday morning.’

  ‘That’s for sure,’ Jake agreed. ‘There’s nowhere like good old wet and wintry Dublin.’

  ‘Less of the wet and wintry; it’s lovely tonight and that’s all that matters,’ Annalise said and she looked out onto the garden where the boys played with Delilah. Annalise loved Delilah; she could spend hours on end playing with the boys – a lot like herself really. She enjoyed them. They were half-siblings catching up on a lot of lost time.

  ‘She’s a great girl, isn’t she?’ Kasia came up behind her. It was uncanny, but it seemed she could still read her thoughts.

  ‘She is lovely,’ Annalise sighed. ‘Just like her mum.’

  ‘You sound a little surprised.’

  ‘I suppose I am.’ Annalise thought back to all of those years she’d wasted being jealous of Grace. ‘I never thought I’d like her so much.’

  ‘You like her?’ Kasia nudged her. Baby Eve, in her arms, seemed to be mocking her also.