The Beach House

by Vicky Jones

  “Excuse me, sir, ma’am? Your baby dropped…” She paused when the man turned around. He looked vaguely familiar and after a few seconds both of their mouths formed into a grin of recognition. “Robert? Hi. Do you remember me?” Chloe said.

  “Why, of course I remember you, Mrs. Clark,” he said, tipping his fedora hat. “Ain’t every day I hit on a married woman. Married myself now, well, not myself, but…ah shucks, there’s me rambling on again.” Robert’s cheeks reddened as he reached out to pull his wife into him. “This is Janet.”

  “Hi,” Janet said with a flick of her gloved hand.

  “And this is our daughter, Eleanor,” Robert gushed. “That trick still works,” he added with a wink.

  “Eleanor?” Chloe replied, taken aback for a moment.

  “After my mother,” Janet chipped in, then gazed lovingly between Robert and their baby daughter.

  “What a beautiful name,” Chloe said, her voice barely audible as her thoughts drifted to her own mother.

  “Yeah, well, we’d better be getting this little one back home for her feeding. It was real good to see you again, Mrs. Clark. You take care now.”

  “You too, Robert. And you, Janet. You make a wonderful couple,” Chloe said, the last haunting sentence leaving her lips before she’d even realized it.

  She watched as they walked away, Robert’s arm draped around his wife’s shoulders as she pushed the stroller. “Bobby Kelly says everyone gets a daddy when they’re born,” she heard in her head as she walked slowly through the square. Feeling her head spin, she turned in the direction of the doctor’s office, rather than heading straight home, her thoughts a jumbled mess.

  David flew at Shona the minute she arrived home from work. She just about caught him in her arms before he knocked her over.

  “Whoa there, where’s the fire?” she exclaimed.

  “Shona, Shona, look what I got.” He held in his little hand a certificate, its edges blunted from being carried all the way home.

  Shona took it from him and read it. “Most improved student. Oh, I’m so proud of you, you’re so clever,” she gushed, scooping him up in her arms. “Where’s your momma?”

  “She’s in the kitchen. I made a mess again.”

  “Oh, well, that’s OK, buddy. Clever people are always the messiest.” She sank to her haunches and ruffled his black hair. Grinning, David ran off to play with Cooper in the front yard, leaving Shona to go and find Chloe.

  “Hi honey.” Shona walked up behind Chloe and kissed her on the cheek.

  “He spilled his macaroni all down the table. He got so excited to see you coming down the driveway that he jumped up from the table and…” She opened up her arms to emphasize the accident.

  “Takes after me, alright,” Shona grinned, nuzzling into Chloe’s neck. “You smell real good. That a new scent?”

  “That’s the macaroni and cheese he wiped on me as I was cleaning him up,” Chloe replied. “Yours is in the oven keeping warm. I was thinking, after I’ve put David to bed, we could get ourselves an early night?” Chloe turned to face Shona and wrapped her arms around her neck. Seeing Shona look over her shoulder and out of the window, Chloe stopped talking. “Are you listening?”

  Shona snapped back to her senses. “Oh, sorry, I was just thinking I’d go and spend some time with David out in the yard, maybe throw around that new Frisbee thing I got him?” She refocused her eyes on Chloe. “But yeah, afterwards I’d love to snuggle up with you.” Leaving Chloe to finish the dishes, Shona ran out to the yard.

  Chloe, watching from the kitchen sink, couldn’t help but admire the closeness of Shona’s relationship with him. It was all she’d ever wanted for him, to have someone to teach him stuff. “Did Shona have to be a man to do that?” she’d asked Doctor Thomas that afternoon. Deep down, Chloe knew Shona was an amazing parent, but that the intimacy she’d once felt with her had begun to wane lately. With this gnawing away at her, Chloe made her mind up that tonight she would put this right.

  Chloe bathed David and read him his bedtime story in super quick time. Climbing into the shower, she began lathering her body with her most luxurious soap and washed her hair twice, not wanting the smell of dinner to linger on a single strand. She chose Shona’s favorite coconut-scented conditioner, then dressed in the red chiffon nightgown she’d bought earlier that week. She blow-dried her hair carefully, running a soft brush through it to accentuate the natural waves in her light brown hair, and applied just the merest hint of red lipstick. Looking in the full-length mirror, she saw her old self staring back, her face and body more mature though now, with more natural lines and curves. Long gone were the days when she would cake on her makeup and squeeze into tight dresses and restrictive pencil skirts when she worked for her father. Taking in a deep breath, she checked herself one more time and walked back into the living room.

  Shona had taken off her denim shirt, pants and boots and was lying full length on the couch fast asleep.

  Chloe sashayed over to Shona and lay down next to her, lifting up her arm to snuggle underneath. Lifting her lips to Shona’s forehead, Chloe planted a soft kiss there, then another one on her temple, finally coming to rest on her lips.

  “Hey baby, you smell amazing,” Shona mumbled, her eyes still closed.

  “I just wanted to be close to you tonight. We don’t have to go any further if you’re too tired.” Chloe stroked her fingers across Shona’s forehead, sweeping away a few loose strands of baby soft blonde hair. Her hand then drifted over Shona’s arms, lifting her undershirt over her head. Running her palm over Shona’s warm, smooth skin, Chloe felt the first ripples of arousal flutter through her as she slipped Shona’s white shorts down over her knees and dropped them to the floor with the undershirt.

  “Mmm…” Shona murmured as she sleepily lifted up Chloe’s nightgown, and it joined the undershirt and shorts on the carpet. Both now naked, they lay together, skin on skin, feeling their bodies tremble in the cool evening air. Placing Shona’s head on her chest, Chloe held her tightly, her breathing matching the rhythm of Chloe’s own. Shivering, she reached up to the back of the couch and pulled a blanket over them both.

  “I love you so much, Shona. I’m so messed up in the head at the moment, about a lot of things. But everything seems to go quiet when I’m lying here with you.”

  “I’ll keep you safe, baby, always. Ain’t nothing and no one gonna break us. I love you too,” Shona replied, looking up at her. For a few seconds they gazed at each other, connecting on the deepest of levels once again. Shona, unable to keep her eyes open a second longer, lay her head back down on Chloe’s chest, the perfect comfort of Chloe’s heartbeat thudding against her chest sending her almost immediately into a deep sleep.

  They lay there together for the rest of the night, their breathing and heartbeats completely in sync, their bodies melted together as if as one.

  Chapter 32

  After finishing all of her morning chores, Chloe lay on the couch for ten minutes to rest. Waking with a jump five hours later, she looked up at the clock.

  “Oh my gosh!” she exclaimed, seeing that it was well after four. Running over to the telephone in the hall, she dialed Shona’s number at the garage.

  Seconds after hanging up the phone on Chloe, Shona locked the garage doors and sped off in the direction of Fairview Elementary where David had been waiting for over an hour to be picked up.

  Skidding to a halt just inside the school gates, Shona jumped out of the truck and ran over to the reception where she leaned over the desk, breathless. “I’m here to pick up David Clark?” she squeezed out between gasps.

  The receptionist looked up from her Rolodex and pinched the corner of her cat-eye glasses, pulling them forward. “Name?”

  “Clark. David.”

  The receptionist rolled her eyes and straightened her beehive. “No,” she replied, “your name.”

  “Shona Clark.”

  “Relation?”

  “Aunt,” Shona said.

>   There was a long pause while the receptionist got to her feet and walked over to the filing cabinet behind her, her kitten heels clicking on the wooden floor. A few moments later, she walked back and met Shona’s expectant stare with a hard one of her own. “You’re not down as a nominated adult, so I can’t let you take him. Is your sister at home for me to call?”

  “Yeah, she’s the one who sent me.” Shona’s patience was wearing thin.

  “Hold on.” The receptionist dialed their home number and in a few moments was pointing the way to David’s classroom. Reluctantly thanking her, Shona headed off in search of David. She finally located Room 19 and knocked on the door.

  “Come in,” called a light feminine voice from inside.

  Shona pushed open the door and looked around the room for David, who was playing with a red wagon on the carpet in the corner. Shona grinned and rushed over, scooping him up in her arms.

  “David, I’m so sorry you had to wait, but I’m here now.”

  David wrapped his little arms around Shona’s neck and nuzzled into her. “It’s OK, I got to play with the red wagon and the blue wagon. Miss said I could because I’d been a good boy today.”

  “Is that a fact?” Shona replied, turning around to face the front of the classroom. She saw David’s teacher sitting facing her, a look of complete disbelief on her face. She stood up, a hand up to her mouth and in total shock. It was a look matched instantly by Shona.

  “Shona, this is Miss Adamson. She’s my teacher,” David said as he rolled a wagon innocently up and down Shona’s arm.

  “It can’t be. Lucy?” Shona gasped, her eyes like saucers.

  “Did you call home?” Principal Miller asked, her hands on her hips as she bore down on her seated receptionist.

  “Of course I did, Mrs. Miller. But Mrs. Clark said it was fine for her sister to pick the child up as she wasn’t feeling too well today.”

  Miller took her glasses off and chewed on the end of one earpiece. “Where is this Shona now?”

  “Gone down to Lucy’s classroom to pick up the boy.”

  “Hmm… OK, leave it with me.” Miller set off back down the hallway. When she reached her office, she closed the door, sat down at her desk and picked up the telephone.

  “Hello, is that Mrs. Clark? This is Principal Miller at Fairview Elementary. My receptionist has informed me that you’re not feeling too good today and have therefore sent an advocate to pick up your son?” She paused. “Oh, I see, that is correct. Well, now may I suggest that, going forward, we make a record of your sister’s contact details so we can update our records.” She waited. “Oh, nothing much, just her full name, address, that sort of thing.” Miller paused as Chloe replied. “So her address is the same as yours? Right. Pardon me for sounding surprised, but you didn’t put it on the forms when you enrolled David. No, no, it’s fine. Alright, well, thank you, Mrs. Clark, for clearing that matter up. Good day.”

  Miller hung up the telephone and sat back in her chair, her hands clasped together, fingers steepled and pressed against her chin.

  “What are you doing here?” Shona squeezed out after what felt like an age staring in shock at the ghost from her past.

  “I could ask the same about you,” Lucy replied, equally bemused.

  “I’m here to pick up my s…” Shona stopped herself before saying the word. “Nephew.”

  “Your name isn’t on the list. I checked all the next of kin when I filled in my planner at the start of semester. I would have noticed your name.” Lucy’s cheeks were flushed, the look in her eyes alternating between shock and amazement. Finally, she couldn’t suppress her smile any longer. “You look good. How long’s it been now?”

  “Eight years,” Shona replied, her whole body ice cold.

  “Eight years? Wow.” Lucy shook her head and bit the corner of her lip, hardly able to believe she was standing in front of her so many years after what had happened in Mississippi.

  Shona snapped out of her shock. “I have to go.” She held on to David, who was still sitting snugly against her hip, his arms wrapped around Shona’s neck.

  “Wait!” Lucy exclaimed. “Um… I need to clear it with Principal Miller. If you’re not on the list then…”

  “The receptionist called home. It’s fine.” Shona stormed towards the classroom door, ripping it open with her free hand, David wriggling in the crook of her other arm.

  “Shona… Shona, stop! Please,” Lucy called after her.

  Principal Miller came out of her office, appearing large in the corridor in front of Shona who almost, in her haste to escape, barged her over. “What on earth is going on here? Lucy?” Miller looked over Shona’s shoulder at a red-faced Lucy.

  “I just needed to check that it’s OK for Miss Jac…”

  “Clark,” Shona interjected with an urgency that startled Lucy.

  “Miss Clark, would you mind if I took David for a moment?” Miller reached to take David from Shona and beckoned Lucy into her office. “I won’t be a moment. We just need to check one or two things.”

  The door closed. Shona watched through the window as Lucy opened her arms out wide as if to say she didn’t know something. Miller let out a long breath and nodded, her hands firmly clamped on her hips. Finally, the office door opened and David appeared, still clutching his red wagon.

  “Send your sister our best wishes for a speedy recovery, Miss Clark,” Miller said, a forced smile plastered on her perfectly made-up face.

  Shona nodded, picked up David and strode away, casting the quickest of glances back to Lucy.

  “This can’t be real,” Shona muttered to herself. “Why? Why here? Why now?”

  “I think Miss Adamson looks like Mommy. They have the same hair,” David said as he rolled the red wagon he’d taken from his classroom up the back of Shona’s seat.

  “She’s nothing like your momma,” Shona snapped back. She wiped her brow and chewed on the end of her fingers as she drove, her eyes fixed on the horizon. So many thoughts were whizzing through her mind. Eight years had passed since that fateful night at Dorothy’s house. Shona rubbed the side of her ribs where the first blow had landed, the memory of it flooding back. Her thoughts drifted to Chloe. How on earth was she going to tell her that her son’s teacher was the same person who nearly got the love of her life killed? Would they really have to now up and leave town—again? All because of the past? It was all such a mess. But Chloe had to be told. There was no way Shona could keep this a secret.

  Minutes later, they arrived home and Chloe rushed out of the house to greet them.

  “Oh baby, I’m so sorry. Momma fell asleep and lost track of time.” She scooped David up in her arms and smoothed his hair down. “Are you OK?”

  “Yeah. Shona came and got me. She met my teacher,” David said, rolling his wagon up Chloe’s sleeveless arm.

  “Well, I’m due to meet her next Tuesday night at parents’ evening and I can’t wait,” Chloe replied, smiling. A flicker of dread crossed Shona’s eyes. “Why don’t you come with me, Shona, now you’ve introduced yourself to the school? I’m sure Miss Adamson won’t mind,” Chloe asked.

  “No,” Shona said, then strode straight past Chloe and David down the boardwalk to the beach. In a second or two she was out of sight, leaving Chloe open-mouthed at her reaction.

  “So, are you gonna tell me what’s eating you?” Chloe asked, looking down at Shona, who was sitting cross-legged on the white sand.

  Shona looked up and squinted into the lowering sun. “Nothing. Just had some heat from that principal, that’s all.” She looked back out to the water. Somehow the words hadn’t quite fallen into place in her head yet to explain how she felt about seeing Lucy again. Anger had emulsified itself with hurt, a hurt tinged with regret that their friendship had ended the way it had. All of these feelings were wrapped up in a tangible web of frustration that, because of Lucy, she’d had to leave Mississippi and a job she adored, not to mention having to leave Dorothy on her own. But what was conflic
ting her more was the thought that if all that hadn’t happened then she wouldn’t have ended up in Alabama and met Chloe.

  Shona blinked hard, hoping her shattered mind would clear.

  Chloe sat on the sand next to her and leaned against her arm. “She can be a dragon. She called me while you were there. I think she bought the idea that we were sisters, so if you want to, I think you should come to parents’ evening.” Chloe reached out to stroke Shona’s face. “I’d really like you to come with me. He’s your son too. At least in my eyes, if not in the eyes of the law.”

  Shona blinked back the tears. “I can’t. I’m sorry,” she replied, then got to her feet. “I gotta go out for a bit.” She walked away, leaving a confused Chloe sitting alone on the sand.

  “Why Shona, this is a nice surprise. Come in,” Minnie gushed after opening the door.

  “I’m sorry to bother you, Minnie, but I need someone to talk to. I really don’t know what to do. Something’s happened and…” Shona’s voice was breaking as she spoke.

  Minnie wrapped an arm around her shoulder and walked Shona into her opulent living room, sitting her down on a cream-colored wingback chair. “Now you just take a minute to settle yourself. I’ll go get us some tea and you can tell me all about it.”

  Minnie disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Shona to attempt to piece together her jumbled thoughts. Five minutes later, she returned holding a tray with two tea glasses sitting on it and a plate of ginger cookies. After placing the tray on the coffee table, she sat on the chair opposite Shona and leaned forward, her wrinkly hands clasped.