“Yes, I think I’d better. Would you mind taking them off for a bit?”
“Not at all! Tell you what, I’ll bring them up to the house to swim in the pool, and then you two can join us later. How about that?”
“That would be great, Jasmine.”
They walked down to the edge of the garden where Harriet stood watching Benji and Charlie competing with each other in a pebble-throwing contest off the jetty.
“Right, you lot! Slight change of plan! You’re all going along to Benji’s house to swim in the pool.”
Letting out yet more whoops of excitement, the two boys ran back up the steps and headed straight past them to the gate. Harriet’s return journey to the garden, however, was more laborious, pushing on her knees to give herself extra leverage as she climbed the steps.
She stopped beside her father. “Aren’t you and Sophie coming, Daddy?”
“Not just yet, darling.” He bent forward, his hands on his knees. “But if you go with Jasmine, Sophie and I will be with you very soon, okay?”
Harriet nodded and without a hint of shyness, slipped her hand into Jasmine’s.
“Okay, Harriet!” Jasmine said, raising her eyebrows in delight and giving David a wink, “let’s go catch up with the boys, then we’ll have some fun!” They walked together across the garden and out through the gate, and as David headed towards the door of the house, he heard their voices on the other side of the hedge fading off down the street as they engaged each other in conversation.
David opened the door and walked back into the house. Sophie still stood beside the bed, unpacking her belongings. He picked up the kettle as he passed the sideboard and filled it up from the tap.
“Well, I’m going to have a cup of tea. How about you?”
Sophie shook her head without turning.
“No?”
She turned and flashed him a light smile. “No, thanks.”
David leaned against the sink, folding his arms. “When I spoke to Mr. Hunter, he said that you’d done really well in your GSCEs. They went all right, then?”
“I suppose so.”
Perplexed by the offhand reaction to his questions, David walked over to Sophie and put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you feeling all right, darling?”
She turned to him. “Not really,” she said quietly. “I’ve just got this really bad tummy pain.”
“Oh, darling, you should have said! Something you ate on the plane, d’you think?”
She raised her eyebrows at his misunderstanding of events. “No, Dad, not that kind! It’s, well, you know—my time of the month.”
David was silent for a moment as the realization of what she was saying dawned on him.
“Oh, for heaven’s sakes, of course. I’m sorry, Sophie, I should have understood. No wonder you’re feeling mouldy. Have you got, well, everything you need?”
She smiled at him as she continued to unpack. “Yup, I do, thanks.” She stopped as she carefully laid a pair of trousers in the drawer. “It’s just that, well … oh, never mind.”
“No, go on, darling—please.”
“Well, it’s just that I’m still not very sure of myself, you know, dealing with all this, and sometimes I get panicky, and I find it difficult to cope—with swimming and things like that.” She glanced at her father and bit hard on her bottom lip, then let out a faltering laugh. “I don’t suppose it’s the kind of thing that a girl discusses with her father. It’s just that I haven’t got Mummy any m——”
It was as far as she got. In that brief moment, the vulnerability brought on both by nature and by the long flight’s disruption to her own body’s time-clock broke through her steely resolve, allowing her emotions to burst through to the surface.
“Oh, Dad, I miss Mummy so much.”
She ran towards him and circled her arms around his chest, her body heaving convulsively with shuddering sobs as she began to rid herself of the grief that she had been storing up deep within her for so long. For a moment, he held her in silence, kissing the top of her head over and over again, and feeling her tears slowly seep through the front of his shirt, wetting the skin beneath.
“I know you do, my darling, I know you do,” he said eventually, tears welling up in his own eyes as he rocked her gently against him, “and I do too—so much so that it hurts, and I don’t think that it ever will stop hurting. There is not one second of the day goes by when I’m not thinking about her.” He pushed her gently away and, cupping his hand under her chin, he raised her face to look at him. “But listen, darling, I’m here for you now, I’m here for you all. Things were different for me back in Scotland, but they really have changed now, and they will keep changing—for the better, I promise you. I’m afraid we won’t ever get Mummy back, no matter how much we wish and pray, but the most important thing is that we all have each other, as a family, and that’s what Mummy would want—that we keep going and have more happy times, and laugh and joke just like we used to.” He paused and looked around the room. “Do you know, she’s here right now. I know she is. Right here in the room, and she’s saying to us, ‘That’s it! Go ahead, you guys, do it for me! I’m cheering you on! Just keep laughing and joking and be happy, because if you’re sad and downhearted, you won’t be like me any more, and I want to leave you my wit and humour and love of life and—beauty.’”
Sophie’s face slowly broke into a sad smile and she pulled her face away from her father’s hand and turned to look around the room.
“Do you really think she’s saying that?” she asked quietly.
David smiled. “Well, something like that, only she’s probably being a bit more forceful in the way that she says it.”
Sophie snorted out a laugh, immediately following it by a hefty sniff, and David walked over to the draining-board and took a great wodge of paper tissue off the kitchen roll. He handed it to her. “Here, ‘gie yersel’ a tidy-up,’ as Effie would say!”
Sophie laughed again, and taking a deep breath, she gave her nose a hearty blow and wiped away the tears from her face.
“All right?” David asked, putting his arm around her shoulder and giving it a quick squeeze.
Sophie nodded and handed the sodden mass of paper back to him. He turned and threw it into the wastepaper basket.
“Listen, I had a thought the other day that, well, seeing I missed your sixteenth birthday at home, we should have a party out here for you.” He gave her a wink. “It’s a pretty important birthday, you know, sweet sixteen and all that. We should celebrate it in style.”
Sophie let out a long sigh. “Oh, I don’t know, Dad.”
“Why not? It would be great fun! We’ll have it here and invite Jasmine and Benji—”
“Dad, it’s a really kind thought, but, well, I feel a bit old to have a birthday party.” She walked back to the bed to continue with her unpacking. “What would we do? Play games and things?”
David slowly nodded his head. “Yeah, I do know what you mean. So, what kind of party would you like? Sort of … a discotheque or something like that?”
“I suppose,” Sophie replied, shrugging her shoulders noncommitally.
“Okay, right, how about this for an idea? First, we’ll have a small get-together out here—nothing too formal and certainly not childish—and we’ll invite a few of my new friends who would love to meet you, and then, when we get back to Scotland, we’ll have a real blowout of a party, either at The Beeches or Inchelvie, depending on how many friends you want to invite. And we’ll make it the happening of the year—no, what the hell!—the century! What do you think of that?”
Sophie’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Do you really think we could?”
“Yeah, too right we could!”
“And can I invite a whole load of friends from school?”
“Of course you can—and they can stay on as long as they like after it!”
Sophie ran forward and threw her arms around his neck. “Oh, Dad, that would just be so cool!” She reached up and ki
ssed him on the cheek. “When can we have it?”
“Well, I think it would be best if we work all that out when we get home—but I promise you, we certainly will have one!” He pulled her to him and gave her a kiss on the neck. “But in the meantime, let’s decide on a day for our Stateside hooley.” He freed himself from her embrace. “No point doing it this weekend, because it’ll be the Fourth of July and there’ll be parties enough going on around here. So, how about next Tuesday? That should be enough time to get things organized!”
“Okay—so, what kind of party should we have?”
“How about a barbecue? I’m lousy at doing them, but you and Jasmine could help me with the cooking. Then afterwards, we’ll head off to Fire Island on the ferry and veg out for the rest of the afternoon on the beach.” He paused. “Actually, the best idea would be for you and Jasmine to organize all the shopping and everything, and I’ll do the inviting. How does that sound?”
“Sounds good.” She looked dubious for a moment. “But, Dad, I would rather it was a party for all of us. I mean, don’t make a big thing about it being my sixteenth, because, well, there really won’t be many others there of my age, will there?”
He nodded. “Okay, message understood. It’s a deal, then?”
Sophie smiled at him. “Yeah, it’s a deal!”
She spat on her hand and held it out, and for a moment David stood looking startled, suddenly remembering that this was the exact way in which he and Rachel used to strike their bargains. He slowly raised his hand to his mouth and, spitting on it, placed it in Sophie’s hand.
“Right now, how about going to join the others? We’ll finish the unpacking when we get back.”
They turned towards the door, linking their arms around each other, and as David opened the door, Sophie stopped and glanced over her shoulder.
“Do you think Mummy’s coming?” she asked quietly, looking up at him.
David smiled at her and turned round to look back into the empty room.
“Yup, she’s with us all the way.”
Chapter TWENTY-EIGHT
Jennifer pushed the rear-view mirror of her BMW to one side to stop the glare of the setting sun from hitting her face, then switched on the radio to listen for the traffic report, wanting some guidance as to whether she should just stick to the Long Island Expressway or cut down the Grand Central Parkway, pick up the Van Wyck Expressway and take the southern route out to Leesport.
However, judging by the traffic build-up that she was presently experiencing in Queens, it was probably going to be a case of just sitting it out either way. It was a pretty dumb idea, at any rate, trying to get out of Manhattan on the eve of the Fourth of July weekend. All the world and his dog seemed to be on the road, but really she had no choice. Sam Culpepper had specifically asked her to be in the office on Saturday so that they could give the proposals for Tarvy’s just one more look-over before it was overnighted to London. Her initial plan had been to head out to Leesport after that had been finished with, but then when Russ asked her to attend a meeting first thing Monday morning with some new clients, she felt that it would be better to spend the whole weekend in the apartment in the West Village, rather than having to face the start-of-the-week rush.
Nevertheless, she hated the idea of not being able to see Benji at all over the holiday weekend. So, on the spur of the moment, she had decided to head out to Leesport, so that she could at least spend a couple of hours with him before returning to the city early the following morning.
As she sat in the queue of cars, she glanced over at the thick typed proposal that lay on the passenger seat. She reached over and picked it up, letting the pages run across her thumb from beginning to end as if she were carrying out some form of superhuman copy-editing. She shook her head and chucked it back on the seat, lightly touching the accelerator to edge the BMW forward a couple of yards.
God, she hoped they’d get this contract. Sam had really set his heart on it, yet she still couldn’t help but feel slightly apprehensive about its final content. Of course, the few days off last week hadn’t helped. It had completely broken her flow, and consequently, over the past four days, she had found herself having to work well into the night in order to get back into the feel of it and to get it completed. Well, not quite completed. There were still a couple of statistics that she wanted to include in the report, but she had all the information with her, and she could just add them in on her laptop at home and take it into the office for printing the following day.
She let go of the steering wheel and linked her hands behind her head, stretching out her tired back.
But my goodness, those few missed days at work had been worth it, even though the reason for them had been thoroughly unpleasant, and the fact that she had had to work those long hours as a result. Having been with Benji for such an unbroken period of time, she had realized just how much he had changed, not only in the way he acted, but in himself, his whole body. Those mornings when he had come to sit on her bed before going to school and she had held him, she had felt no longer the soft flabbiness of his plump little body, but rather the beginnings of a fit young frame.
Yet she could take no credit for this change. It had been entirely David’s doing, generating a renewed self-confidence and an almost tangible vibrance in the energy and enthusiasm of her son. David. She said his name again, feeling an unpremeditated buzz of excitement run through her, tingling her senses so much that a juddering shiver ran down her spine. She smiled and shook her head. No, it wasn’t that kind of feeling. On the other hand, maybe it was. She couldn’t work it out. It was just that being with him made her feel happy and relaxed and, well, almost tranquil without him having to do anything particularly special. Yet that was probably what made him special. There was no pretence with David. She knew exactly where she stood with him. He was kind, spontaneous, funny and totally trustworthy, and—come on, Jennifer admit it—attractive as hell, and, without doubt, one of the main reasons that you happen to be making this ludicrous trip out to Leesport.
The driver behind her blew hard on his horn, making her jump up in her seat and bringing her mind immediately back to concentrate on matters in hand. A gap of thirty yards had opened up in front of the BMW, which, at that moment, was being filled up fast by others who jumped lane in the vain hope that they could speed up their journeys in the process. Jennifer glanced to her right and saw the sign for the Grand Central Parkway. She flicked on her indicator and, turning round to beam a smile at the adjacent driver, she pointed to the exit, and within a minute she had used her charm to cut across three lanes of traffic, leave the LIE and begin heading southwards at a steady thirty miles per hour.
By the time that she descended the driveway to the house, it was just coming up to nine o’clock. She pulled the car to a halt, and picking up her papers and laptop from the back seat, she got out and hurried across to the front door.
“Hi, everyone!” she called out as she entered. She walked through to the study and dumped her stuff on the desk, then turned and made her way back into the hall, just as Jasmine appeared from the kitchen.
“Hi, Jasmine,” she said brightly.
“Hi! Didn’t think you was comin’ home this weekend.”
“You’re right! I’m not supposed to be here, but I just couldn’t bear not seeing Benji over this weekend. We’ve never spent a Fourth of July apart before. Is he around?”
“Not yet. He’s still with David, but they should be home any minute now.”
“So, how’s everything been?”
“Really couldn’t be better! And how are you feeling?”
Jennifer smiled at her. “Still a bit washed out, but I should be able to take things a little easier once this proposal’s finished.”
Jasmine nodded. “Do you want anything to eat?”
“Oh, Jasmine, that would be great. Just a sandwich or something would be fine. I’ve got some work to finish off, so if you could just bring it to the study…”
Jasmine
turned to walk back to the kitchen. “Okay. One sandwich coming up.”
Jennifer made her way to the study, and having laid out her work on the desk, she had just managed to bring the Tarvy’s proposal up onto the screen of her laptop when Jasmine reappeared with a plate of ham sandwiches and a glass of beer. “Here you are,” she said, putting it down on the table next to the desk.
At that instant, the front door opened and Benji’s voice called out excitedly. “Mom!”
“In here, Benji!”
Bursting through the door, he ran over to his mother and threw his arms around her neck.
“Hi, darling! Where have you been until now?”
“We’ve been on the beach all afternoon. We only just caught the last ferry home, and then we went into Leesport to watch them get the firework display ready for tomorrow night. They set some off just to make sure everything was working. Didn’t you hear them? Anyway, David said that we—”
He stopped when he heard the door of the study open. David entered the room, and Benji broke away from his mother and ran over to him. “David, can I tell Mom now?”
David ruffled the boy’s hair. “Would you mind if I did it, Benji?”
Benji let out a disappointed moan, but before he could remonstrate still further, Jasmine walked over and put her arm around his shoulders. “Come on, Benji, I think we should leave Mom and David to talk, don’t you?”
“Okay! As long as you tell her though.” He ran from the room, with Jasmine following hot on his heels.
Jennifer watched them go, then turned to David, a smile on her face. “Hi!”
“Hi!” He put his hands into his pockets as he walked over to her desk. “Sorry about not getting Benji back here earlier. I didn’t realize you were coming home this weekend.”
She leaned back in her chair. “Well, I wasn’t going to. We have to get this proposal off tomorrow, but I just wanted to see Benji, so I thought I’d come back for the night.” She sighed. “Not that it’ll be much of a night. I’ll have to leave at about five-thirty tomorrow morning.”
David nodded. “So, how are you feeling?”
An Ocean Apart Page 36
