Marrying Simone

by Anna Jacobs

  ‘I’ll see to those.’ Elizabeth dumped them quickly on a side table, gestured to a chair then sat on the one between him and Henrietta.

  ‘I wonder if I could speak to my aunt in private?’ he asked her.

  ‘No. I prefer to keep an eye on you.’

  Henrietta managed not to smile at the irritation which came and went on his thin features. He looked rather like a plucked, underfed chicken today, but Jane was right. His skin did have a yellowish tinge. She decided to take the initiative. ‘If you’ve come to ask me for money, Lance, I haven’t changed my mind. As I thought I’d made clear last time, I’m not giving you any more money – not a single penny.’

  ‘But I don’t even have enough to buy food.’

  ‘You should stop gambling your quarterly dividends away, then.’ He only had those because his parents had left him a small fund set up with strict rules.

  ‘I don’t gamble. I’ve given that up.’

  ‘And pigs will fly over the moon.’

  His smile faded completely. ‘Henrietta, I’m your closest male relative. Surely I have a right to a teeny share of the family money? Or will you watch me starve to death?’

  She didn’t want to watch him at all. Suddenly she’d had enough of him. Today, as she’d watched that shifty expression settle on his face when he began speaking, the one he got when he was telling lies, it had made her feel literally sick. She was too old to put up with it and she wasn’t going to.

  She spoke slowly and emphatically, ‘Unfortunately it’s true that you’re my closest male relative, Lance, which just shows how weak our family line has become. But that doesn’t mean I have to give you money, or even invite you into my home.’ She turned to Elizabeth. ‘My dear, I don’t have the patience to deal with him any longer. Could you please see him out and tell Jane not to let him in again? Never. I get more pleasure from watching the birds and the bees than I get from looking at his miserable face.’

  She managed not to chuckle as he let out an indignant yelp of protest at that.

  Elizabeth stood up. ‘Come along, Lance.’

  He hesitated, then let out a long, fake sigh and stood up. ‘I’m sure you don’t really mean that. I’ll come and visit you when you’re feeling better, Aunt Henrietta.’

  ‘Didn’t I just tell you not to? I never want to see you again, Lance. I mean it.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘Go – away!’

  He was surprised into a genuine glare, then turned towards Elizabeth, who was holding the door to the hall open.

  ‘Make sure he doesn’t pinch anything on his way out,’ Henrietta added loudly. ‘I’ll report it to the police if there’s any silver missing this time.’

  Trying not to smile too obviously at Lance’s outraged expression, Elizabeth led the way across the hall. She opened the front door and when he hesitated, put her hand on his back and shoved him through it, making him squeak in shock. She shut and locked it immediately.

  When she turned she saw Jane peering at her from the rear of the hall. ‘Henrietta just told him she doesn’t want to see him again. She actually said “never”. He was going to plead with me just now, so I shoved him out.’ She raised her clenched fists in a gesture of triumph, a gesture echoed by the maid.

  ‘What did he do to upset her that much?’

  ‘Same as usual, started trying to beg money from her only she’s completely lost patience with his lies.’

  ‘About time too. I’ll keep him out, don’t you worry.’

  ‘Just a minute. There’s something that needs throwing away.’

  She went into the small sitting room and picked up the bunch of half-dead flowers, holding it out at arm’s length.

  Jane chuckled as she took it. ‘He tried to give these to me first – in apology for bumping me with the door, he said. I refused to take them.’

  ‘Not his day, is it?’

  Lance went home, grimaced and used his teabag for a second time, then ate a slice of yesterday’s bread and jam, wishing he’d spent his money on some butter rather than the scratchcard.

  He might as well see if he’d won anything on it. Where was the damned thing? Surely he’d put it on the mantelpiece?

  He looked round, felt in his pockets and still couldn’t find it, growing angrier at himself by the second for such carelessness. Then he noticed a brightly coloured corner of what looked like card sticking out from under his armchair. Aha! It must have blown off the mantelpiece in the draught from a closing door. That was the trouble with living in such a small flat.

  Bending, he picked the card up and sat down at the table, pulling a coin out of his pocket. He began scraping half-heartedly at the little square of dull silver coating, then stiffened and sat up straighter. Hello! That was the second £500 he’d uncovered.

  He’d never been lucky with scratchcards before, well, he didn’t count winning £5 as lucky. Was it possible that this time he was going to win something worthwhile? Excitement rose in him and he waited a few moments before continuing. He always liked to take time to enjoy the bright feeling of hope.

  As he scratched again, he blinked in shock and delight as another £500 icon was revealed. He checked the three icons again, touching each with his fingertip. Yes, he really had won.

  He danced awkwardly round the small room and blew a kiss at his fat-bellied, lucky little Buddha, which sat on his mantelpiece smiling at him. ‘Thank you, kind sir.’ Then he put the card carefully into his inside pocket.

  His luck was turning. He could feel it, taste the joy of it. Oh, yeah!

  He didn’t need to go and grovel to Henrietta again and he could even pay a little something off his major debt. He shuddered with relief at the thought of that. They’d been threatening to hurt him if he didn’t start making payments soon.

  He’d make sure he had only just over £100 in his pockets when he went to see them, though. It’d be enough to buy him some time and leave him some money to play with.

  The following day he made the payment. The bullies thought it should have been more and one man searched his pockets, even though he assured them it was all he had.

  ‘We’ll wait a month, no longer, and there had better be another payment by then, and bigger than this.’

  ‘I’ll do my best, my very best, I promise you.’

  ‘And in the meantime you aren’t allowed to gamble here again, not until you’ve paid off all your debts.’

  ‘I wasn’t going to,’ he lied.

  On the way home he stopped to bet on a horse instead, choosing one whose name included the word Buddha in it, but only risking the tenner that he’d hidden in his sock. Mr Clever Dick hadn’t found that, had he?

  He waited to see the race on the television in the betting shop and to his delight, his horse won at ten to one.

  He didn’t push his luck by betting again but collected his winnings, a small but nice amount, then drove home.

  It all went to show that he really was starting a lucky streak. He could recognise the signs.

  To hell with Henrietta. The old hag didn’t deserve a relative who fussed over her and took her flowers.

  He’d play it very carefully from now on, though, hiding the money he wasn’t using and only placing bets on sure things. He chuckled as he folded up the spare notes and hid them. Buddha would look after these for him in his fat belly, had done it many a time before.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Simone helped Russ with the final details of setting up his office, feeling satisfied with how it had gone. It had taken most of another morning to sort out the rest of his documents, because all the files and notes from the past year had been in a jumble, having been stuffed into various boxes with neither rhyme nor reason as they arrived.

  When the last invoice had been placed in its designated folder, he looked at her with that gorgeous rueful smile that made something inside her grow warm.

  ‘Sorry about that mess, Simone. You’ve been enormously helpful. After the accident I was thinking more a
bout getting better than about dealing with business paperwork. And I was on strong painkillers for a time.’

  ‘Tell that to the tax man not me. You must owe him quite a lot. You’ll need to get yourself a good accountant to sort it all out. I can’t help you with that because I don’t understand the system here in the UK.’

  ‘I’ve got an accountant already. He’s been pressing me for the paperwork for weeks, so you’ve done me a really huge favour nudging me to sort it all out and be done with it.’

  Silence hung between them. Russ hadn’t said anything about the previous night’s kiss and perversely she wished he would mention it. Hadn’t it meant anything to him?

  Pride wouldn’t let her be the first to raise the subject and she hadn’t been able to decide what she would do if he tried to kiss her again today.

  Even worse, what would she do if he made no attempt to kiss her?

  Dear heaven, she was such a fool, didn’t know what she wanted, was torn every which way.

  ‘I wonder if Henrietta would allow me to go and explore more of her grounds this afternoon?’ he asked suddenly. ‘Do you think she would?’

  ‘Probably. Phone and ask her. Does it include me this time or is it a preliminary scout round?’

  ‘I need to check it all properly as well as working out what to film and where exactly to go to do it. There’s parking on some land to one side of her grounds that used to be a public park, according to the map. I’m looking forward to exploring.’

  He beamed at some memory and for a moment she could see exactly what he must have looked like as a boy – which made her foolish heart give another little lurch.

  ‘It’ll be better if I go on my own until I’ve got the area all mapped out in my mind. When we go together, we can take the best path to avoid damage. I’m thinking of featuring the grounds in a couple of episodes if Henrietta agrees.’

  ‘That’s wonderful. I’m sure she will. She’s very proud of it all. Pity there isn’t a family member to inherit. I’m dying to watch you filming it.’

  ‘You’ll be sick of the sight of that in the end because I want your face in a lot of the shots.’

  She shrugged, still unable to understand him wanting to feature her. Even with the new hairstyle bringing out the best in her, she didn’t consider herself good-looking. Unless he thought the viewers would relate better to a middle-aged Mrs Ordinary. Yes, that must be it.

  After his second visit to the grounds of Pennerton House, Russ went to report his findings to its owner before he set off for home. He was absolutely thrilled at the flourishing habitat he’d found in the wild section of the grounds.

  ‘I hoped it’d grow like mad if I left it in peace,’ Henrietta said. ‘Mother Nature can be very clever if you let her get on with things in her own way. They call it wilding, if I remember correctly.’

  ‘I agree. May I come back again tomorrow, or will that be too soon?’

  ‘Of course not. You’re welcome any time. Will you be bringing Simone?’

  ‘She’ll be joining me in the afternoon. I want her to do some shopping for me first because I’d like to continue filming in your grounds for a while, if you don’t mind, and I don’t want to wait even a day for anything to be delivered.’

  He looked at her earnestly. ‘Your grounds will provide enough material for a couple of episodes, just on their own – with your permission of course. And I’d like to use your face in a few scenes.’

  She beamed at him. ‘Oh, yes! That’ll be so exciting. We’ll look forward to seeing you both and giving you tea after you’ve finished your work here tomorrow, then.’

  ‘I’ll look forward to that and I know Simone will.’

  ‘She’s a very nice young woman,’ Henrietta said.

  ‘Yes, she is.’

  He smiled as he left the house. To Henrietta he and Simone were both young. To themselves they were what? Middle-aged? No. He smiled as he remembered a friend who always said middle-aged was ten years older than their actual age – and old age kept moving even further ahead as the years passed.

  At this rate people would never admit to growing old. Well, Henrietta was a wonderful role model for that. She hadn’t grown old where it mattered most, in her head, had she?

  He chuckled. He wanted to be just like her when he ‘grew up’. If he ever did. An increasing number of oldies didn’t totter around looking ‘elderly’ – horrible word! They dived into every activity they could and refused to pay any attention to their years unless it was forced upon them. Why, Simone’s parents were caravanning round Australia. Good for them.

  Elizabeth kept watch on Henrietta surreptitiously. The older woman had been rather quiet for the rest of the afternoon, sometimes staring into the distance, at other times scribbling in her little notebook, as she did when making plans.

  It was good that Russ had called in to report his latest findings. That had cheered her up.

  Henrietta went to bed early without confiding in her companion about what was keeping her so thoughtful.

  Feeling worried about her, Elizabeth crept to the doorway of the old lady’s bedroom a couple of times during the night to check that she was all right.

  The second time, Henrietta said in a low voice, ‘I’m not ill, dear, just having a quiet think. I’m going to change my will, you see, and leave Lance out of it entirely. Not that I’d left him much anyway. He’s had most of his inheritance over the years.’

  ‘I’m delighted to hear that. He doesn’t deserve another penny after stealing from you! You’re sure you’re feeling all right?’

  ‘Yes, of course. I’m just sad. Anybody would be to be related to that awful creature. The older he gets, the nastier he seems to become. His character shows in his twisted face, don’t you think?’

  ‘Yes, definitely. Ugly soul, ugly face, my grandma always said. She used to point out people who had lumpy faces but weren’t ugly, which she said was because they had nice souls. And then she’d tell me always to wear a friendly expression because that did far more for a woman than putting claggy stuff on her face. Still makes me smile and think of her when I see women covered in greasy make-up.’

  ‘She was right. And you have a lovely friendly expression, which I very much appreciate. Now, go to bed and stay there this time. I’m perfectly all right, Elizabeth, truly I am.’

  The younger woman smiled as she returned to her own bedroom. Henrietta enjoyed revamping her will and used a semi-retired lawyer about ten years younger than herself, whose visits didn’t cost nearly as much as they should have done and who spent half his time laughing and chatting. No, dear Henrietta couldn’t be feeling too bad if she was about to work on her will again.

  Thank goodness!

  Elizabeth hoped Henrietta would live to be over a hundred, as one of her ancestors had done. She would miss her greatly when she died because Henrietta had been more like a second mother to her than an employer.

  Lance was a dreadful creature but the rest of the Pennerton family were pretty decent folk. The ones living nearby visited regularly or invited Henrietta to visit them.

  That distant cousin from Australia also seemed pleasant, as well as pretty. The nature-loving chap seemed to think so too. Nice to have someone living next door to you who was charming and quite a hunk. Elizabeth had enjoyed watching Russ’s programmes with Henrietta. She did hope he and Simone would get together permanently. They seemed so well suited.

  Elizabeth judged people partly by the company they kept and that way of judging had rarely let her down. It suddenly occurred to her that she couldn’t remember ever meeting any friends of Lance. Did he have any? His marriage certainly hadn’t lasted long and even his son seemed to avoid him as much as possible.

  Why didn’t Lance turn to Kit when he needed money? Maybe he’d already tried and been turned down. Probably had, in fact.

  Oh, it was all too much at this hour of the night. She snuggled down and started playing number games in her head, which always helped her relax into sleep. Somet
imes it took longer than others, though.

  When Russ got back to the leisure village he found that Simone had made him a meal.

  He eyed it with longing, breathing in the wonderful smells. ‘That’s above and beyond the call of duty. I shouldn’t take advantage of you.’

  ‘It’s only a chicken casserole, easy enough to sling together.’

  ‘Twist my arm.’

  She pretended to do that, growing suddenly breathless and pulling away to say hastily, ‘Let’s eat.’

  He ate two huge helpings. ‘Am I being greedy? It’s delicious and I think I forgot to get any lunch.’ He frowned as he tried to remember, then nodded. ‘Yes, I did forget.’

  He hardly stopped talking until he suddenly began to nod off, then jerk awake. It was the result of fresh air and excitement, she thought, watching him fondly.

  After a few minutes he closed his eyes and didn’t jerk awake, so she shook him gently. ‘I think you need to do your sleeping in bed, Russ.’

  ‘What? Oh, sorry. There’s nothing like a day in the fresh air for putting a person to sleep, is there?’ He hesitated at the door. ‘May I kiss you goodnight?’

  She nodded, then got angry at herself for such a feeble response and reached out for him at the same time as he reached out for her.

  The result was a very satisfactory encounter that left her smiling as she watched him saunter across the lawn to his home and turn to wave at her from the doorway.

  She needn’t have worried. He’d definitely wanted to kiss her again. And this time it had been even better.

  It was too late to keep her distance from him. She was, she guessed, about to find out what it was like to have a holiday love affair.

  Nice start to it. She couldn’t resist following up.

  She wouldn’t think about the inevitability of it ending when she went back to Australia. That would be months away.

  When she woke in the morning, Russ’s car had gone but a shopping list had been pushed through her letter box and was signed by a smiley face blowing a trail of Xs across the page.