by Agatha Frost
“Julia?” the man with the crooked nose asked, his voice belonging to that of the man she had spoken to that morning on the telephone. “Julia South?”
“Yes,” she said, suddenly smiling at the new arrivals. “Sorry! I was expecting someone who looked like Barker. Ethan, isn’t it?”
“That’s right,” the man dropped his bag to shake Julia’s hand. “Don’t worry, none of us look alike. We all have different fathers. Well, except Theo and me.”
“Oh,” Julia said, trying to hide how little Barker had told her about his family. “And you must be Ethan’s wife?”
“It’s so lovely to meet you,” the woman said, her voice soft and soothing, reminding Julia of a radio presenter her gran listened to in the afternoons. “I’m Dawn. You’re so pretty! Is your dress vintage?”
“It is,” Julia said, blushing as she looked down at her 1940s yellow and pink polka-dot dress. “I think I should have opted for something a little warmer.”
“Don’t be silly!” Dawn cried, winking at Julia with a playful grin. “Style doesn’t care about the weather.”
Julia did not admit her love for vintage fashion came from the way her mother used to dress and less about making a fashion statement.
“This must be your daughter?” Ethan asked, suddenly turning to Jessie. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Foster daughter,” Jessie corrected him bluntly, accepting the man’s handshake weakly.
“We’re in the process of adoption,” Julia added, apologising for Jessie’s abruptness with a smile. “It takes a while. How was your journey?”
“I can’t get a signal!” the young man cried, pointing his phone up to the sky, ignoring Julia’s question. “I only have one bar!”
“This is our son, Luke,” Ethan said, slapping the boy on the shoulder as Luke stared at his phone. “Forgive him. He thinks he’ll die if his emails don’t refresh once a minute.”
“It’s for business, Dad,” the boy snapped, skipping the introductions. “Is there Wi-Fi where we’re staying?”
“I think so,” Julia replied uncertainly. “You’ll be staying with my dad and his wife at Peridale Manor. I did try to get you into the B&B, but Evelyn closes up every winter. She’s travelling around New Zealand with her grandson. She didn’t even know she had a grandson until last month. Her daughter died and – it’s a long story.”
Ethan and Dawn stared blankly at her with polite smiles. Julia had to remind herself the local village news would be of little interest to these city folk.
“I should have called ahead about Luke joining us,” Ethan said apologetically. “It was a last minute decision.”
“I didn’t even want to come,” Luke mumbled like a boy half his age would. “I had to cancel important meetings for this.”
“Like I said, you haven’t seen your Uncle Barker since Bethany’s funeral, and you can do the meetings on video-link,” Dawn said, clearly exasperated by her son. “It’s been three years. Family is important.”
“When it suits you,” Luke muttered, before cramming his phone into his pocket and turning to his father. “Is my cousin coming?”
“Bella?” Ethan asked, turning to Julia. “I don’t know. Did Theo even agree to come?”
Theo, another of Barker’s brothers, had been the most difficult to pin down. When Julia had decided she was going to plan a surprise birthday party and invite the siblings Barker rarely spoke about, she had expected it to be as simple as quick phone calls and instant confirmations. It had been easy to get their contact details from Barker’s phone, but the rest of it had been anything but easy. Casper, the eldest brother, had been the only one to confirm that he would attend with his wife, Heather, during their first phone call. Ethan had called back after three days and agreed to come, but Theo had not picked up the phone at all, instead choosing to text Julia over a week later with a long list of questions, mainly revolving around the guest list. She had given up hopes of getting all of the Brown brothers together for Barker’s thirty-ninth birthday, until Theo had sent a text message three days ago confirming his acceptance of her invitation.
“He’s driving down tomorrow,” Julia said. “He was the trickiest of you brothers to convince to come to this party.”
Julia chuckled softly, hoping to make light of the difficult couple of weeks she had endured while organising everything, but her attempt at humour seemed to wash over their heads. Ethan rolled his eyes, as though he was not surprised, and Dawn looked uneasily at her husband.
“So, Bella is coming?” Luke asked, looking directly at Julia, his tone that of a boss demanding something from an employee. “Is she bringing Conrad?”
“I think so,” Julia said, trying to remember exactly what Theo had said in his message. “He said there would be three of them. Him, his daughter, and her boyfriend. I’m assuming Conrad is the boyfriend?”
“No Michelle?” Dawn asked, almost under her breath at Ethan. “I guess the rumours are true.”
“Michelle?” Julia asked. “I don’t think I’ve heard that name.”
“Theo’s wife,” Dawn said, arching a brow as though Julia should already know. “It’s been obvious they’ve been heading for divorce ever since Bethany died. We hoped they’d patch it up, but people have been talking.”
“Theo didn’t mention anything about a wife,” Julia confessed, not wanting to admit she also had no idea who Bethany was either. “Shall we set off? It might be a tight squeeze in my little car. I was only expecting the two of you.”
“I’ll walk,” Jessie said, her fingers tapping rapidly on her phone screen. “I said I’d meet Dolly and Dom anyway.”
Before Julia could ask any questions, Jessie headed for the ticket office and out of the station without so much as a goodbye.
“She’s going through a breakup,” Julia explained quietly. “First boyfriend.”
“Poor thing,” Dawn said, looking at the exit of the station even though Jessie was already long gone. “Explains the clothes.”
Julia’s lips parted to let Dawn know that was how Jessie always dressed, but she decided against it, having spotted at least three visible designer logos on each of them.
With their bags in hand, they followed Julia out of the station to her aqua blue Ford Anglia, which was the only car in the middle of the empty car park.
“Jesus Christ,” Luke muttered, his left brow arching high up his smooth forehead. “How old is that thing?”
“She’s vintage,” Julia said firmly, deciding she disliked Barker’s nephew. “I promise she’s fit for the road. She had a new engine fitted last month. I had a little accident in the middle of a storm.”
“Same one that destroyed Barker’s cottage?” Ethan asked as Julia unlocked the car boot. “I saw the pictures online. Where’s he living now if his new cottage is wrecked?”
“With me,” Julia said, taking Ethan’s bag from him. “We’re living together.”
“Big step,” Dawn said as she handed over her bag. “Must be serious?”
“I’d like to think so.”
“I have no idea why Uncle Barker would want to live here,” Luke said, his lip curling up as he looked around at the surrounding rolling fields. “It’s the middle of nowhere.”
“I quite like it,” Dawn said, inhaling the crisp country air. “Makes a nice change from London.”
“Thank God it’s just for two days,” Luke said as he thrust his bag into Julia’s hand. “Be careful. My laptop is in there.”
The three of them piled into Julia’s car, Ethan taking the passenger seat. Julia crammed Luke’s bag next to the other two, making sure to give it a nice heavy shove on the way.
Julia had wanted to meet Barker’s family since the beginning of their relationship. All he had told her was that he had three brothers dotted around the country and that their mother had died five years ago. He had not mentioned names or ages, and every time Julia pushed the subject and asked when she would meet them, he would dismiss her with a vague ‘soon
’. As Julia drove in the stuffy silence along the winding lane towards Peridale Manor, she wondered if there was a reason she knew very little about her partner’s siblings.
“Your father lives here?” Dawn asked, clearly impressed when Peridale Manor came into view. “It’s beautiful. Is that Cotswold stone?”
“It is,” Julia said. “It’s technically his father-in-law’s house. It’s been in the Wellington family for generations.”
“Dawn is an architect,” Ethan explained. “She does a lot of work for various London councils. She loves these big old buildings.”
“They don’t build them like this anymore,” Dawn said, pulling out her phone to snap a picture through the window. “I’m glad I brought my sketch pad with me. I needed a break from glass and steel.”
The gravel surrounding the house crunched under Julia’s tyres when the lane ended. She pulled in between her father’s black BMW and Katie’s bright pink Range Rover.
“Looks like Casper is already here,” Ethan said as he climbed out of the car, nodding at an orange Volkswagen Camper Van parked on the other side of the Range Rover. “I can’t believe they’re still in that old thing. He’s been driving it for thirty years now.”
After unloading their bags from the boot, they walked towards the double oak doors. Julia knocked hard on the wood, the door opening almost immediately. Hilary, the grumpy and, elderly housekeeper, peered through the gap, her eyeliner-circled eyes bulging out of her sockets like they always did.
“I thought there’d only be two of you,” Hilary snapped, skipping the niceties as she looked down her nose at Julia. “You said there’d only be four guests arriving today. Four! I’ve only made up two bedrooms.”
“That’s my fault,” Ethan said, holding his hands up. “I should have called ahead. I’m sure Luke won’t mind sleeping on the couch. I’m Ethan, and this is my wife, Dawn.”
Ethan held out his hand for Hilary, but she looked down at it as though he was offering her a slab of road kill they had found on the drive up. She huffed before swinging open the door and turning on her tiny heels.
“I’ve just polished the marble, so wipe your feet,” she demanded as she shuffled to the grand sweeping staircase in the middle of the entrance hall. “I’ll make up another room. Leave your bags near the door.”
Julia wiped her feet on the doormat, smiling her apologies on behalf of Hilary. The housekeeper had been with the Wellington family for decades and was well past the age of retirement. Her loyalty to Vincent Wellington kept her there, even if the old man could no longer speak a word since his last stroke.
“This place is incredible,” Dawn exclaimed, taking a picture of the glittering chandelier that hung from the ornate ceiling as she wiped her feet on the doormat. “Early 1800s?”
“I’m not sure,” Julia replied. “Katie might know.”
A man’s deep laugh drifted out from the sitting room, echoing around the grand entrance hall. Dawn and Ethan looked at each other, both rolling their eyes.
“That’ll be Casper,” Ethan said with an exhausted sigh when he finished wiping his feet. “Always the bloody loudest in the room.”
Julia was beginning to abandon all hope of a quiet family reunion for Barker’s birthday.
Luke walked in and ignored the doormat, his eyes glued to his phone. He pushed the door shut with his hip, slamming it in its frame. Julia motioned for them to follow her towards the sitting room.
“Julia!” Brian, her father exclaimed, jumping up to kiss her on the cheek when she walked in. “You never told me Barker’s brother was the Casper Brown!”
Julia smiled meekly at the couple sitting on the ornate red and gold couch across from her father. The man, who she assumed was Casper, looked to be the same age as Julia’s father. He was plump, with a thick grey moustache balanced on his top lip. A cane sat between his legs, his hands leaning all of his weight onto it. The woman, Heather, was also plump, but was so short her feet did not touch the ground. Her thick grey hair had been set into neat rows, which Julia thought looked far too old-fashioned for her kind and open face, which was absent of any wrinkles thanks to her red chubby cheeks.
“Ethan,” Casper said, nodding to his younger brother. “Dawn. Good to see you. How long’s it been?”
“Bethany’s funeral,” Dawn reminded him.
“Ah, yes,” Casper said, his eyes glazing over for a moment before turning to Julia with a wide grin. “You must be Julia! It’s nice to put a face to the name.”
“You never told us how pretty your daughter is, Brian,” Heather said, looking around her husband to smile at Julia. “My brother-in-law has got himself a catch there.”
“Do you all know each other?” Julia asked, glancing from her father to Casper.
“Casper was an avid collector of army medals,” Brian explained. “We go back some twenty years. I’d say he bought more medals from me than any collector I’ve ever met.”
“Still wasting your money on those things, Brother?” Ethan asked as he took in the large and lavishly decorated room. “I could think of better things to spend an army pension on, like a new car, for instance?”
“Your father is one of the best antique dealers there is,” Casper said, looking at Julia and completely ignoring his brother’s passive aggressive comment. “My hunt for medals became much harder when he got out of the business.”
“I recently reacquired the antique barn,” Brian said, clapping his hands together. “Anthony Kennedy croaked it, so I’m officially back in business. Murdered, in fact, and by his own mother, no less. I’d say I felt sorry for the fella, but he screwed over too many people on the way out. Got into some dodgy business with a fake Murphy Jones painting. Can’t believe he was the best man at both of my weddings.”
“Never did like him much,” Casper muttered darkly. “He didn’t know a medal from a chocolate coin. Still can’t believe you’re having another baby at your age, old boy. Our seven are all grown up now. Three boys, four girls. Our youngest, Daisy, has just gone off to university!”
“You’re never too old,” Brian said, rubbing his hands together and leaning forward. “And when you’ve got a wife as beautiful as mine, it’s hard to resist.”
“I’m thinking of trading this one in for a younger model,” Casper joked, tapping Heather on the knee. “But I’m not sure if anyone will put up with an old codger like me with a fake leg.”
He knocked on his left shin and an unnatural rattle of plastic shuddered under his trousers.
“The leg is the easiest part, Mr. Brown,” Heather said, flicking her husband’s ear. “I dare you to find someone else to put up with the rest of you.”
Julia chuckled before looking at Dawn and Ethan, who could not have looked more disinterested with their relatives’ banter. Julia had a feeling she was going to be getting along with Casper and Heather a lot more than anyone else during Barker’s birthday party.
“I’ve got a nice collection of medals down at the barn,” Brian said suddenly, clicking his fingers together. “I dare say even you don’t have some of these. You’ll have to come down and have a look tomorrow.”
“Maybe,” Casper said shakily, glancing unsurely at his wife. “My collection has – is that Luke?”
Casper squinted through Ethan and Dawn to his nephew, who was still glued to his phone. Luke looked up at his uncle Casper, a dry smile on his lips.
“Hello, Uncle,” he said in such a cold way it made Julia shiver. “Auntie Heather. Nice to see you. How’s things?”
Casper’s eyes bulged out of his face, his jaw gritting, and his cheeks turning bright red in the process. For a split second, it seemed as though he was about to explode, but Heather softly rested her hand on his knee, rapidly sedating him. Julia scanned the faces of the others in the room, but no one else seemed to notice the obvious tension.
“Lemonade!” a squeaky voice announced as metal wheels rattled along the polished floorboards. “Oh, more guests! I’ll have to grab some more glasses
.”
Julia turned to see her father’s wife, Katie Wellington-South, pushing in a trolley with a large jug of Wellington family lemonade and four glasses. Her peroxide blonde hair was curled to perfection, her face painted like a model, and her ample chest and giant stomach looked fit to bursting out of her tight shirt.
“None for me,” Casper said, pushing himself up on his cane with a groan. “I-I-It’s been a long day, and I think I need to lie down. My good leg is cramping up.”
“Are we okay to go up?” Heather asked, standing up and resting her hand on her husband’s lower back. “It’s better that he rests up now before it gets any worse. He’s not used to wearing the prosthetic for this long. I told him to take it off while I was driving, but he never listens. Was more worried about having it on in case we crashed, but at the speed I was driving, I think a plastic leg would have been the least of his worries.”
“You’re in the room at the end of the hall near the bust of my great-grandfather,” Katie announced after pushing the trolley around to the other side of the couch. “You can’t miss it.”
Katie rested her hands on the bottom of her lower back and pushed out her stomach. Julia looked down at her high heels, almost not believing that she still insisted on wearing them so close to the end of her pregnancy.
