by Anna Jacobs
The more he thought about it, the more Aaron agreed with Emma. He’d better not delay bringing his stepchildren up to date on the news. He’d hate Rufus and Peggy to feel that he considered them second best. How could he? He’d been their father for most of their lives, and had loved every minute of it. He couldn’t understand anyone not wanting children.
But he didn’t want Mara to feel she was second best, either. It was going to be a delicate balance. And it had happened at a bad time, with the sale of his business not yet resolved.
When they’d finished the family meal that evening, Rufus started to push his chair back. ‘We’ll clear up quickly then we’re going out to our favourite bar to drown Peggy’s sorrows.’
Aaron grabbed his sleeve. ‘Could you wait a few minutes please? I have something rather important to tell you both.’
‘You can clear the table then we’ll stay in here,’ Emma said. ‘It’s better to hold this sort of discussion across a table, I always think. And keep your phones switched off, please, you two.’
They exchanged puzzled glances and Aaron could almost see the cogs going round in their brains. This switching off phones was one of her rules for mealtimes, and she was unyielding about it. So if the rule was to continue to be applied, it’d be clear to them that whatever this was must indeed be important.
When the table was clear and the dishwasher loaded, they came back to sit down. Aaron hesitated, wondering how to start.
Peggy looked at him anxiously. ‘You’re not ill, are you, Dad?’
‘No, honey. And before you ask, neither is your mother. No, it’s some good news that I received a few weeks ago. It was so unexpected that I had to catch my breath, so to speak, and come to terms with it before I shared it with anyone else – except your mother, of course.’
They waited, still frowning slightly.
‘I found out I’d fathered a child before I left England all those years ago. The woman I was with at the time refused point-blank to emigrate, which was no surprise to me after weeks of quarrelling about it. But she kept the information that she was pregnant from me – out of sheer spite I have to presume. It’s been – a huge surprise.’
‘What sort of child did you have?’ Rufus asked.
‘A girl. Only she’s thirty now, so it’d be stupid to refer to her as a girl.’
‘What’s she called?’ Peggy asked.
‘Mara.’
Rufus nodded. ‘Cool name, Mara. How did you find out about her? Did she get in touch looking for her father?’
‘No. She’d been told I died years ago. I had my first clue about her existence at the Lucases’ barbecue for their cousin from England.’
‘Several months ago, then, not weeks,’ Peggy remarked rather sharply.
‘Turned out their cousin came from the same village as me. They didn’t tell me till I got there, wanted it to be a surprise because the cousin had recognised my name. It’s a very small village, so Di and I knew one another vaguely back in the day, though we weren’t friends, or even in the same year at school. She knew I’d been close to Kath, so assumed we’d kept in touch.’
The pause went on for so long, Peggy tapped his arm. ‘Hello? Anyone still there?’
He jumped. ‘Sorry. When Di was bringing me up to date on people, she mentioned that Kath had settled down in the village with a stranger from London, who was, she said, a really nice man. They hadn’t had any children but Kath already had one. When I did the sums, that child could only have been mine, so I went online and started checking the census information. The birth date fits and the researcher I hired said she even looked like me.’
There was dead silence, then Peggy asked, ‘Are you going over to the UK to meet your daughter?’
‘No, Mara is coming over here for a few weeks.’
‘Have you done DNA tests?’
‘No need to. I don’t see how anyone else could have fathered her. Her mother is very much against us making contact, so things would be a bit awkward if I went there. But as Mara has just been made redundant, it’s a good time for her to take a break and come out here.’
Rufus shrugged. ‘She’s a few years older than us, then.’
‘Three years older than you, five years older than your sister.’
Peggy was frowning. ‘That’s a bit risky, isn’t it? There’s no guarantee that you’ll like her or that we will, yet you’ve invited her here to our home for several weeks. We’ve all seen relatives from overseas come here for long visits and nearly drive people mad after a couple of weeks. We’ve even seen people quarrel and go back earlier than planned.’
‘I’m sure Mara won’t be like that.’
‘There’s no guarantee. And don’t assume you can shove her off on us to entertain if you have to go away. You know what you’re like when work calls. I know you’ve got the business up for sale, but it hasn’t attracted a genuine buyer yet.’
Aaron didn’t like the continuing sharpness of Peggy’s tone. He shot a quick glance at Emma and she shook her head slightly, warning him not to take issue with that.
Rufus pushed his chair back and stood up. ‘Well, if that’s news time finished, we’ll be off. Coming, Peggy?’
‘Yep. My first foray as a single woman.’
‘Don’t rush into anything,’ her mother warned.
Peggy smiled brightly but unconvincingly. ‘Of course not.’
The two of them were gone so quickly Aaron didn’t have the chance to tell them anything else about Mara. Not that they’d asked for it.
He went across and put his arms round Emma. ‘How did I go?’
‘Six out of ten.’
‘Huh? What did I do wrong?’
‘Gave them the bald facts, didn’t say much about how you’re feeling, didn’t ask their help, just assumed it’d be forthcoming. Add to that, Peggy’s still in hyper-sensitive mode, still shocked that her relationship could have ended so abruptly, so I doubt she’ll feel positive about anything for a while.’
‘And you? How do you feel about Mara? I didn’t even ask you how long I could invite her here for. Sorry.’
Her smile crinkled her face into the adorable wrinkles she was developing at the corners of her eyes to match the faint frosting of silver in her hair, so he kissed them.
She kissed him back, then pushed him away to continue their discussion. ‘I won’t know how I really feel till I meet her, will I? But she’ll be a guest so I’ll treat her nicely, even if she turns out to be, um, a challenge.’
‘Why should she be?’
‘No saying what she’ll be like, is there? Her mother didn’t sound to be easy to deal with. Her difficult attitude to life might be inherited.’
‘George says he likes Mara.’
‘Well, that’s a start. You’ve known him long enough to trust his opinion. Let’s hope we’ll all like her too.’
Aaron was starting to worry, but he didn’t get a chance to ask Emma anything else about how she felt because she changed the subject very firmly.
She tugged his arm. ‘Come on. You can make us our Friday night cocktails and then we’ll watch that movie and not worry about anything else tonight.’
Which meant she didn’t intend to go on talking about it. Not worrying was easier said than done for him, though.
And was no one happy for him to have found a daughter? Didn’t they have any idea of how much it mattered to him?
What sort of welcome would the others offer Mara if even tolerant Emma was guarded about her feelings? He did so want his daughter to feel welcome in his life, and for himself to have a chance to make up for all the years they’d missed, wanted it desperately.
When Phil and Mara got home from their meeting with George, having visited a coffee shop to delay their return, they entered the house through the garage as usual. They’d seen all the downstairs lights blazing as they turned off the street.
‘Uh-oh! She’s ready for a confrontation,’ he said with a sigh. ‘I know the signs.’
Mara glan
ced quickly sideways. ‘Then she’ll have one with me. You stand back, Dad.’
‘But I was going to—’
‘Do what? Protect me from her? Not possible, because all that will satisfy her is my abject submission to her will and that’s not going to happen. So as I’ll be leaving and you’ll be staying, I might as well do what I can to protect you.’
‘I can usually manage her moods. Not so well lately, though.’
She didn’t say it but she didn’t think he should have to. She doubted she’d ever marry. Most of her friends had found partners by now and two had divorced again. Perhaps she didn’t have the happy marriage gene anyway. There must be some subtle factor that predisposed you to it. Look at how Darren had taken her for a ride.
Kath was waiting for them in the living room. The television wasn’t switched on but the three table lamps were blazing as well as the overhead light, and she was sitting bolt upright at one end of the sofa, strategically facing the door.
‘You’re late,’ she threw at them. ‘I had my tea at the usual time and I’m not messing up the kitchen again just because you two can’t keep an eye on the clock.’
‘That’s all right. I’ll go out and get us a curry takeaway after I’ve told you my news.’ Mara dropped her bag on the floor near the armchair where she usually sat.
‘Pick that up this minute. You know I don’t like anything messing up my nice tidy room in the evenings.’ Kath’s voice was at its sharpest. ‘And I’m not having a curry stinking up the house, either.’
‘I’ll pick my bag up when I go out for our takeaway. Until then it’s doing no harm. And we’ll keep the curry in the kitchen, but we’re hungry, so we’re having one. Now, do you want to hear my news or not?’
Kath tossed more words at her. ‘I know what your news is: you’ve been in touch with him. I can tell from the expression on your face. When I read his letters, I knew he’d come between us if he ever found you.’
‘You were wrong to read my letters and he hasn’t come between us because I’ve not even spoken to him yet.’
‘But he’s got through to you. I can tell. Who’s his messenger?’
Phil’s voice was calm. ‘A friend of mine, actually: George Walters.’
‘I suppose Aaron’s promising you the earth if you’ll toady up to him.’
Mara had had enough. ‘For heaven’s sake, Mum, what’s got into you lately? Few people have the nasty motives you ascribe to them. Why should this man want to come between us?’
‘I know him and you don’t. Well, just you wait and you’ll find out how worthless what he says is. He’ll promise you anything to get you away from me, then he’ll play nice for a while but drop you once he’s tired of you.’ Her voice grew more shrill. ‘The same way he dropped me when I wouldn’t let him boss me around and drag me to the other side of the world.’
Mara managed to continue speaking quietly and evenly. ‘Thanks for your confidence in me, Mum, but I usually make my own decisions. You’re right about one thing though: he’s offered to pay for me to visit him in Australia. And I’m going.’
She waited for the usual explosion of anger and it erupted almost immediately.
‘Then you can get out of this house tonight. I’m not having anything from him contaminating my life.’
Phil intervened. ‘Stop making a drama out of nothing. Mara’s not going anywhere tonight except to fetch us a takeaway. I really fancy a curry.’
‘Go on! Side with her.’ Kath’s voice rose shrilly. ‘She’s not staying here if she’s going to see him! I won’t let her!’
Phil sighed quite audibly. ‘I’m not siding with anyone, though I would like a calmer life, by hell I would. And I’m definitely not kicking my daughter out of my house. You do remember that we put it in my name, don’t you, Kath? Mara, love, you know you’ll always be welcome under my roof, don’t you?’
Kath stared at him in shock at this unexpected counter-attack. ‘Whose side are you on? You can’t mean that! She’s not even your birth daughter.’
‘Why can’t I mean it? She’s become my daughter and I love her dearly. I’ve been too weak before, letting you have your own way in just about everything because I despise quarrelling as a way of communicating. That was because your silly little rules didn’t matter to me. But this does matter, Kath, it matters very much. Mara is staying here till she leaves for Australia, and she’ll be welcome back here when she returns.’
‘You traitor!’
‘Don’t do this, Mum,’ Mara pleaded. ‘There’s no need. Meeting my birth father will make no difference to how I feel about you and Phil.’
‘But it’ll make a huge difference to how I feel about you, you ungrateful creature. You’re my daughter, not his. He went away and left me to have a child on my own.’
‘Are you changing your story now?’ Phil asked. ‘You’ve always said you didn’t tell him you were having his child. And he told George he’d only just found out about Mara, so I reckon that was the true story on both sides. You always told Mara he was dead, and that was an outright lie.’
‘She was better off without him.’
‘You can’t know that. Stop making simple things difficult. That lass is going to Australia to meet her biological father, then she’s coming back to carry on with her life here. She may get on well with him or she may not. Whichever it is, I’ll back her up on what she does about it. What’s so hard for you to accept about that?’
‘She won’t want to come back. He’ll poison her mind. And I won’t want her back if she’s on his side. She must make her choice now: him or me.’
He sat down on the sofa beside his wife and tried to take her hand. ‘Look, love—’
But she shoved him so hard she took him by surprise and knocked him off it.
There was dead silence in the room as he got to his feet. ‘I’ll move my bedding and clothes into the dining room till Mara leaves, then I’ll sleep in the second bedroom permanently. Be very careful what you say and do from now on, Kathleen Gregory, because I’m just so far from leaving you.’ He held up his right forefinger and thumb, with the tips nearly touching, to illustrate this.
Kath let out a whining sound and began to rock to and fro, tears running down her cheeks, but this time he ignored her play for pity.
He turned to Mara. ‘Get me a chicken korma please, love. With all the trimmings. I’ll stay here with your mother and I’ll have the table set in the kitchen for when you get back.’
She nodded, wondering what he’d say and do while she was out. Perhaps he wouldn’t say anything new. He rarely ever argued with his wife.
She phoned the restaurant and set off immediately. She’d be a little early but that didn’t matter. She needed some thinking time.
This wasn’t just about Aaron contacting her, though that was a major issue at the moment; it was as if her mother was increasingly desperate to control every single detail of what they did.
After her last breakdown Kath had refused any kind of further medical assistance, insisting she was fine and only needed a peaceful life to be happy.
Mara wanted a more peaceful life too, of course she did, but on her own terms not someone else’s. If making her own choices led to mistakes, well, she’d learn from them and try to do better next time. She was going to go to Australia and meet her father, see what he was like, and was hoping they’d get on well.
She admitted to herself that she liked the idea of a holiday in the sun and time to think about her future without her mother hovering and nagging. It was strange how sunny weather seemed to lift your spirits in so many ways.
George had spoken well of her father. She hoped he was right because she would be very much at Aaron Buchanan’s mercy once she got to Australia. But she believed George’s opinion of him rather than her mother’s tangled skeins of hostility.
When she got home with the food, the light was on in her parents’ bedroom and Phil was sitting in the kitchen, so lost in thought he didn’t immediately look up. Then h
e did and said brightly, ‘You know, I really am hungry. Perhaps standing up for yourself gives you an appetite.’
‘I hope so. I got us all the trimmings.’
They talked of other things, politics, a book Phil had just read and enjoyed, which he offered to lend her to read on the plane, a television series they’d been watching together.
And for once, her mother stayed out of the way.
But Phil’s bedding was sitting in a corner of the living room and when they said goodnight, he started making up the couch for himself, avoiding looking at her.
Mara didn’t comment. It was his choice where to sleep and whether to stay with her mother. Whatever he decided to do wouldn’t affect how much she loved him.
Chapter Five
Hal Kendrell had been lost in thought and jumped in shock when the taxi driver said loudly, ‘We’re nearly there now, sir.’
As they turned off the main road, he saw the street sign and was pulled fully back into the present. In a few moments he would have to start dealing with what had happened, something he’d been dreading during the whole flight from the UK to Western Australia. His loss seemed more real here, where his mother had lived her last years – and died alone.
The taxi driver said, ‘Here you are, sir, Waterfront Gardens. It certainly lives up to its name, eh? If I ever win Lotto, I’ll buy a house here or somewhere like it, that’s for sure.’
It was an effort to answer him. ‘It looks pretty.’
‘Yes, very. Not been to this part of Mandurah before, sir?’
‘No. I’ve never visited Western Australia. My mother moved here a couple of years ago and I’ve been working flat out, travelling between the UK and North America.’
She hadn’t told him she was terminally ill, or Hal would have come to see her regularly. But knowing her, when she found out that her cancer was terminal, he’d guess she’d preferred to spend her last months in peaceful solitude. That didn’t stop him wishing he’d managed to say a proper farewell and at least told her how much he loved her.
As far as he was aware, she’d not confided in anyone how short a time she had left; well, unless you counted the lawyer he’d just been talking to in Perth. Mr Coates had drawn up her will and she’d briefed him about what to tell her son after she died, which he’d done gently and carefully today, making sure Hal understood all the basics.