Perfect Wives

by Emma Hannigan

  ‘As I just told you, he assaulted Jodi Ludlum’s son in the café today in front of half the village. Then he climbed up a tree and trampled on another child’s fingers and refused point blank to come down when I asked.’ Francine was exhausted. ‘I can’t take any more, Carl. Please try to see this from my point of view. The bottom has been ripped out of my career. I’m stuck at home trying to pretend to the entire village that I’m on an extended holiday and now this. I’ve tried to act as if Cameron is behaving normally but it’s out of hand now.’

  ‘Okay so.’ He sighed deeply as he gazed at his wife. ‘I’m on board,’ he said. ‘But promise me one thing?’ He tilted his head to the side and wagged his finger half in jest, half in seriousness. ‘Don’t make such massive decisions without me again. We’re a team, you and I. Team Hennessy, remember?’

  ‘Team Hennessy,’ Francine echoed, hugging him. Inside, she’d never felt more like a solo artist in her life.

  Chapter 15

  Jodi grinned as she flicked through the complimentary glossy magazine she’d just received in that morning’s post. She and Darius looked the picture of marital bliss on the front cover. She picked up her phone and rang him, hoping she wasn’t waking him.

  ‘Hey, sweetie.’ He’d answered immediately. ‘Let me guess. You’re looking at how gorgeous we are on the front of Celebrity Lies?’ he joked.

  ‘It’s a lovely picture.’ She giggled. ‘We really are the epitome of a wonderful life. Any more rumblings from your annoying little fella?’ she asked.

  ‘Nah, he’s gone,’ Darius said. ‘Thank goodness. I really know how to pick baddies, don’t I?’

  ‘Not all the time,’ she said. ‘You have me!’

  ‘Yeah, and you’re the best thing that ever happened to me but I didn’t exactly orchestrate us, lest you forget!’

  ‘Whatever,’ Jodi said. ‘We make it work – better than most couples, if you ask me – so we must be doing something right. How come you’re so bright and breezy? I was half expecting to get your voicemail or a groggy-sounding bear?’

  ‘I’m about to begin shooting. I’ve been here since dawn, darling.’

  ‘I’m turning into a real country bumpkin!’ Jodi admitted. ‘The thought of having to sit and have my hair and makeup done really doesn’t appeal to me at the moment. Saul and I spent half the day wandering fields and staring at clouds this weekend. I’m terrified I’m going to want to jack it all in and get hens and live in worn-out wellingtons with grey hair and no teeth!’

  ‘Sounds so attractive!’ He laughed. ‘You’ll get the bug again as soon as they point a camera at you. The silver screen is your home, Jodi. You’ll never leave this nonsense. Any more than I will.’

  ‘You’re probably right,’ she said. ‘Saul can’t wait to see you for Hallowe’en.’

  ‘I’m counting the days until you guys get to London,’ he said. ‘There’ll be some seriously cool people here at the party.’

  ‘Great,’ she said.

  ‘God, don’t make it sound like you’re being sentenced to twelve months in jail when it’s a weekend in London rubbing shoulders with the stars,’ he teased.

  ‘I hate all that shit and you know it. Listen, I’ve had a call from Mac.’

  ‘What? How did he get your number?’

  ‘Ah, what does it matter? You know him. He has his dirty spies.’

  ‘What did he want?’

  ‘Money, of course,’ she said. ‘I thought he’d leave me alone after the last time. Those guys we used to make the delivery were bloody threatening and he got a serious amount of cash out of me. I can’t pay him any more, Darius. I’m thinking of dealing with him myself this time. I’m ready for a face-off. If he goes to the press, I’ll have to take the heat. Darius, I’m really scared. He could rip our lives apart. Every time I think I’ve dealt with Mac, he comes back. Just as I think I can make it all work he steps out of the shadows. I’m terrified, but I’m starting to think it’s D-day. I have to muster up the courage to face him down finally. I need to grow up.’

  There was silence.

  ‘Darius?’

  ‘I’m here,’ he said sadly. ‘I know you’re probably right, and even though I’m thirty-six I can’t say I love the idea of growing up if it means airing our dirty laundry in public. I don’t know that you’ll do either of us any favours.’

  ‘I get that,’ she said. ‘But when are we going to draw the line, Darius? That little skunk you had to pay a few weeks ago wasn’t the first and, let’s face it, he won’t be the last. Mac is a scumbag. He’s never going to go away.’

  ‘Probably not. But what about Saul?’

  ‘We talked about this a long time ago,’ she reasoned. ‘We don’t have to announce on the front cover of every newspaper that you’re gay, but I can set my ghosts free. You can step away once the dust settles and we can do a press release to say we’re parting on amicable terms.’

  ‘If you decide to challenge Mac and your secrets come out, that’s one thing, but I’m not abandoning you at the same time. I won’t do that to you,’ he vowed. ‘At least if the public can see that you’re now happily married to a loving partner, it’ll defuse the situation quicker.’

  ‘Wouldn’t it just be easier to cut our losses and step away from the web of lies that have lurked in the shadows for so long?’

  ‘Leave it with me,’ he said. ‘I have to go. They’re calling me to set. Don’t do anything until we see each other at Hallowe’en.’

  ‘Okay. Love you,’ she said automatically.

  ‘Love you, too, sweet-pea,’ he said, and hung up.

  Jodi wasn’t sure if the change of scene had prompted her sudden urge to clear her slate. But she knew she’d hit a point at which she didn’t want to run any longer. Her secrets were bound to come out some time. But fresh courage had seeped into her soul. It was probably because Mac, scum that he was, had mentioned Saul. Jodi had vowed she was never going to allow her son to be hurt. If Mac was planning on attempting to drag him into things she had to act decisively. She wasn’t going to wait for it all to blow up in her face. She was going to meet it head on. How could she be a good mother to her son if she didn’t act with honesty and decency? Her mother had never told the truth in her life. She’d always blamed everyone else for her own mistakes. Jodi wanted to be everything Bernadette hadn’t been, which meant being true to herself.

  It was time for her to admit the real reason she’d moved Saul to Ireland. She wanted to prove to herself that she was capable of giving her son the childhood she’d lacked. But that was only part of it. She had to face up to the awful event that had rocked her world and left her mentally scarred. It was time to stop running.

  Saul came out of school with a handful of paintings. ‘I spent fifteen hours doing art today,’ he said earnestly.

  ‘So it seems.’ She grinned. ‘We have enough pictures here to wallpaper the entire cottage!’

  As they drove the short distance home Jodi’s phone beeped.

  ‘It’s a text from Uncle Tommy,’ she told Saul. ‘That’s odd; he wants us to call him.’

  Jodi worried endlessly about her younger brother. Until she heard his voice, she always assumed the worst when he asked her to Skype him. She’d long since given up phoning him.

  ‘It’s so expensive and pointless when we can Skype!’ he’d insisted. ‘I’m making a stand and telling you to stop wasting your millions on phone calls.’

  ‘Okay, okay!’ She’d laughed. ‘I’ll convert to Skype!’

  ‘What did Uncle Tommy say?’ Saul wanted to know, as they ran into the house.

  ‘We’ve to turn on Skype this second,’ she said, already clicking on the computer. A minute or two later, Tommy was on the screen.

  ‘G’day, sis!’ he greeted her.

  ‘You crack me up! I don’t know whether or not you’re putting on the Ozzie to entertain me or if you’ve really lost your Irish accent.’

  ‘Weren’t you the one who used to correct me and tell me I wasn’t s
peaking properly?’ Tommy was referring to the time before she’d become famous, when she had gone for elocution lessons.

  ‘When I think of it now I still cringe,’ Jodi admitted.

  ‘Don’t knock it, sis, you were right. Look where it’s got you,’ Tommy said. ‘Where’s my nephew? I need to hear all about school.’

  Saul jumped up and down as he spoke to his uncle.

  ‘Sit down a sec, mate. You’re bopping all over the shop!’ Tommy grinned.

  ‘Look at my paintings!’ Saul said, holding them up to the camera.

  ‘Wow! You’re seriously talented, aren’t you?’ Tommy said, clapping.

  ‘Yes, I am. And I’m a good boy,’ Saul told him. ‘There’s one bad boy in the class.’ He leaned into the camera. ‘He hits and bites and I went to his house and he was so mean.’

  ‘You tell him your uncle Tommy will get him if he goes near you!’ Tommy said, looking fierce.

  ‘Tommy! Not cool!’ Jodi shouted, from the background.

  ‘Tell your mummy I don’t care – nobody messes with my nephew!’

  Saul giggled.

  ‘Well, Maisy and I have some pretty cool news for you, guys,’ Tommy said.

  ‘What?’ Saul asked, as Jodi shot over and scooped her son on to her lap.

  ‘We’re engaged!’ he said, with a huge grin.

  ‘Oh, my God, that’s amazing, Tommy!’ Jodi said, as tears threatened. ‘I’m so thrilled for you both.’

  ‘Aw, thanks, sis. We’re thinking of having the wedding down here, but not if you can’t make it.’

  ‘Of course I can,’ Jodi vowed. ‘When were you thinking of?’

  ‘Early next year,’ he said. ‘After the baby’s born!’

  ‘Whaat?’ Jodi screamed. ‘That’s brilliant! You’re going to have a little cousin, Saul.’

  ‘Cool! Is it a boy or a girl cousin?’ Saul asked.

  ‘We don’t know yet, dude. We’re going to wait until it’s born to find out.’

  ‘How far along is Maisy?’ Jodi asked.

  ‘Six months,’ Tommy said ruefully. ‘Please don’t yell at me, but we wanted to wait a while before telling people. Maisy’s been really sick and we were scared something might go wrong.’

  Tears slid down Jodi’s cheeks. ‘I’m just glad they’re both all right now.’

  ‘Why are you crying, Mum?’ Saul asked, as he swivelled in her lap. ‘Is the baby not well? Is Maisy not well?’

  ‘Nothing like that, lovie. They were a bit poorly for a while but they’re fine now.’

  ‘So, will you think about making the trip down under to see your niece or nephew and come to our beach wedding?’ Tommy asked.

  Saul didn’t give her a chance to reply. ‘Will you have sharks and surfing there?’

  ‘Deffo!’

  Saul continued to question Tommy about the waves and how many hours he’d be able to spend on the beach when he came to visit.

  ‘Okay, little man, I’m off to get some stuff done,’ Tommy said. ‘Catch you in a few days, and you make sure that Cameron guy stays away from you or he’ll have me to answer to! Tell him I’ll send a shark to bite him on the bum.’

  ‘Do you have a pet shark?’ Saul asked hopefully.

  ‘No, dude, but I could possibly arrange to find one if we need it!’

  ‘Tommy, enough already!’ Jodi yelled. ‘He thinks every syllable you utter is gospel.’

  ‘Okay, okay!’ Tommy held up his hand in defeat. ‘You know I’m only kidding, right?’

  Saul looked mildly disappointed. ‘I thought you were going to send a big killer shark to chew Cameron’s leg off.’

  ‘Steady on, Saul!’ Tommy roared laughing.

  As they switched off the computer, Jodi hugged Saul to her. She couldn’t have been happier for Tommy that he was going to have a son or daughter. Saul had healed so many wounds for her. Tommy and Maisy had a wonderful relationship, but fatherhood would be the making of him.

  Jodi hoped his childhood hadn’t been quite as bleak as hers. After all, he’d been raised mostly by Nana. But she knew there must be a similar hollow feeling in his heart at how their mother had treated them. They’d spoken of Bernadette’s death a few times, but Tommy claimed he hadn’t much memory of it. He was so easy-going he almost annoyed Jodi.

  ‘If I didn’t adore you so much I’d want to grab you and shake you!’ she’d said, the last time he and Maisy had visited them in London. ‘You just float from one day to the next!’

  ‘Do you want me to behave like a wound-up movie mogul?’ He’d begun striding up and down the apartment with his fists balled, muttering to himself.

  Jodi had giggled and assured him she loved him just as he was.

  The dark clouds outside had been threatening rain all morning, so when hailstones battered the cottage, Jodi lit the pot-bellied stove. ‘Let’s have a story. We’ll cuddle up on the sofa,’ she said.

  Saul was really enjoying the C.S. Lewis book they’d started a couple of days before.

  Jodi wanted to freeze-frame these cosy moment with her son. As he clambered on to the couch and snuggled into her, his face filled with anticipation, indescribable happiness flooded her every fibre. Nobody had ever sat with her and read a story like this. ‘Now, where were we?’ she asked Saul, as he began to suck his thumb and absentmindedly wag his foot.

  As if she were acting a script, Jodi immersed herself in each and every story they read together. Saul listened intently as the tale unfolded in Narnia.

  ‘Would you like to go somewhere out of our wardrobe?’ he asked.

  ‘I couldn’t think of anything I’d love more,’ Jodi said.

  ‘Have you ever tried?’

  ‘No, honey, but it might spoil the story if we did. Just in case our wardrobe isn’t a magic one,’ Jodi said gently.

  ‘But if we don’t look how do we know it isn’t magic?’ he reasoned. ‘It could be waiting for us to come and find it!’

  ‘Well, you can go and check, if you like,’ she said, trying to keep a straight face.

  ‘Will you come too?’

  ‘Okay,’ she said, putting the book down.

  ‘Let’s not,’ Saul said. ‘It’d be sad if Narnia wasn’t there.’

  ‘Sometimes it’s more fun to imagine the magic rather than going to look for it,’ she explained.

  Plugging his thumb into his mouth again, he waited for her to continue reading.

  The day melted away as they finished the book and shared frozen pizza from the Aga.

  ‘I think it tastes better because it’s been cooked by such a gorgeous oven,’ Jodi said.

  Later, after she’d tucked him up in bed, Jodi pottered towards the kitchen deciding to take a mug of herbal tea to bed and flick through her copy of Celebrity Gossip. She’d long since given up buying or reading most glossies. Some of the stories they printed were so far from the truth they’d upset her. Now she’d come to the conclusion she shouldn’t take it all so seriously. Still, one of the items that never ceased to make her cross was the comparison of two celebrities in the same dress. She sat bolt upright in bed when she realised she was one of the celebrities in that issue. She was pictured in a D&G gown at a recent red carpet event, and was pitched against an American starlet. She cringed to see that the readers’ poll had chosen herself as the hands-down winner. She called Darius and was glad to hear him answer immediately.

  ‘Hey, babe,’ he said.

  ‘Hey,’ she answered. ‘Did you flick through the rest of that god-awful rag we’re on the front cover of?’

  ‘Sort of. Why? Did I miss something?’

  ‘I’m in one of those hideous comparison pieces in that red D&G dress you love.’

  ‘Did you win?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes, but that’s not the point. That poor girl who lost can’t be more than nineteen. She’s going to see this and feel about two feet tall. What makes them do this to women?’ she raged. ‘They don’t have men dressed in the same T-shirt and rip one to shreds saying he’s got a wobbly
belly or a double chin. It’s really nasty – such a personal assault. It makes me so angry.’

  ‘I don’t know why you’re so annoyed,’ Darius said. ‘They love you. As far as I’m concerned, that’d good enough for me.’

  ‘That’s not the point, Darius. We’re both professional women doing our best. Where’s the sense of sisterhood? Why would anyone want to look at this kind of thing? It’s so demeaning!’

  ‘Calm down, honey,’ Darius soothed. ‘I told you ages ago to stop reading those magazines. If it winds you up like that, avoid it.’

  ‘But don’t you agree or at least see my point?’

  ‘Yes, I do. But people must derive some sort of pleasure out of criticising celebrities.’

  ‘But we’re not robots! We’re people with feelings just the same as everyone else,’ Jodi ranted.

  ‘I guess that’s show business.’

  ‘Well, I’ll never diss the trade because it’s our bread and butter, but we shouldn’t be torn to pieces like this.’

  ‘The flip side is that the press have made us who we are today. Look at the front cover. We rock!’

  The sound of voices in the background gave Jodi the hint to get off the line.

  ‘I’m out having a bite to eat before I hit the hay,’ Darius said. ‘I’ll talk to you tomorrow. And put that magazine away. You’ll only stay awake all night seething. I know you!’

  ‘You’re right. Talk tomorrow.’

  Jodi gazed at the picture of love and contentment on the front cover. They looked like the happiest couple alive. She wondered if her private life would ever be as perfect as the one the media thought she led.

  Chapter 16

  The Hennessy household was up and ready for school with plenty of time to spare.

  ‘Why are both you and Dad taking us today?’ Cara asked suspiciously, as Carl and Francine made their way to the people-carrier.

  ‘We have a meeting to go to this morning and we’re heading straight there once we’ve brought you to school,’ Francine explained.

  Carl made it his business to be at his desk before everyone else each morning so he’d left a message with his senior partner saying he’d be late.