‘Even though I ran away from him?’
‘He understands,’ Polly said, squeezing him against her. ‘You got scared. You weren’t expecting to see him. Neither of us were so it’s been a big shock, hasn’t it?’
‘Everyone was asking me questions afterwards.’
‘Were they?’
‘Well, Tiger was.’
‘And what did you say?’
‘Nothing. I ignored him and gave him another iced bun.’
‘A good solution to any problem,’ Polly said with a smile.
‘Why can’t Jago be my dad?’ Archie asked.
Polly sighed. ‘Because he’s your friend.’
‘I wish he was my dad.’
Polly sighed. ‘So do I, darling. So do I.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
For the first time in years, Polly thought about ringing her mother and saying she couldn’t make Sunday lunch at Campion House. She could so easily say she had one of her headaches. Her mother would be sure to believe her for Polly never told lies, but Jago persuaded her not to.
‘You need to talk about this,’ he told her.
‘I’ve talked to Bryony.’
‘Yes, but to your whole family. You guys are close and, if you get this thing out in the open, you’ll feel better.’
‘Will I?’ she asked.
‘I guarantee it. You’ve been carrying it around on your own for too long.’
‘But I’ve had you to talk to.’
‘Yes, but I’m not your family.’
‘It feels like you are,’ she said, kissing him.
‘I hope not,’ he said with a grin.
‘You know what I mean,’ she said. ‘You–’ she paused, wondering if she was ready to say this.
‘What?’ he prompted.
‘You complete me. Us. Archie and me.’ She heard him take a deep breath.
‘You guys complete me too,’ he said. They hugged each other.
‘Okay,’ Polly said at last. ‘We’d better get ready.’
‘It’s the right thing to do,’ Jago said.
‘I know.’
‘They’ll want to know what’s going on.’
Polly nodded. ‘You’re right.’
There’d been a hard frost that morning and the grass in the shade at Campion House was still silvery and sparkly. The daffodils and primroses may well be flowering, Polly thought, but the warm days of spring and summer were still a long way off.
Polly, Jago, Archie and Dickens all bundled into the house, glad to be in the warm. A fire was blazing in the living room and they joined Sam, Callie and Josh who were also thawing out there.
As Archie was thanking everyone for his presents, Bryony walked into the room and took Polly to one side.
‘You look tired,’ Bryony told her.
‘Do I?’
‘Yes.’
‘You try handling a seven-year-old’s birthday party,’ Polly joked.
‘Is that the only reason?’ her sister asked.
Polly looked Bryony square on. ‘No,’ she said. ‘It isn’t.’
‘I thought not. What’s been happening? Something’s happened, hasn’t it?’
‘I’ll tell you, I promise,’ Polly said. ‘I’m going to tell everyone, okay?’
‘Polly!’ Eleanor cried as she walked into the room. ‘And Jago and the birthday boy.’ She caught her grandson up in a hug. ‘How was your party?’
‘Brilliant!’ he said. Polly watched him warily. She’d told him not to say anything about his father’s arrival and had explained to him that she’d be telling the family about it herself. But she needn’t have worried as he genuinely seemed to have forgotten about it as he told his grandma about the games they’d all played and the food they’d eaten.
By the time they all sat down to Sunday lunch, Polly was a bag of nerves. Jago seemed to sense this and kept hold of her hand under the table until it was absolutely necessary for her to use it for eating.
She found it increasingly difficult to join in the usual Sunday banter. But it was even more difficult a task to heap her fork with food and eat it, even though it was all delicious, because she knew what was coming. She was going to have to let her family know that Sean was back.
Home-made rhubarb crumble and heaps of happy yellow custard followed the roast. Polly had the smallest bowlful which didn’t go unnoticed by her mother.
‘Not hungry, darling?’ Eleanor asked.
‘Not very.’
‘Too much birthday cake yesterday,’ Jago chipped in and Eleanor nodded, but Polly could see that her mother didn’t look convinced.
The conversation droned on around the table. It was the usual talk about books and life’s little dramas, but even Lara’s lurid tales of university life couldn’t engage Polly.
‘Polly?’
Somebody had called her name. She looked up. It was her mother. Of course it was her mother.
‘What is it?’ she asked, seeing her mother’s anxious expression.
‘Your custard.’
Polly looked down and saw that she’d dropped a huge blob of custard onto the tablecloth.
‘Oh, no,’ she said, whipping her napkin from her lap and dabbing at it. ‘I’ll get a wet cloth,’ she said, making to stand up, but Eleanor stopped her.
‘Don’t worry about it. Put your napkin down and tell us what’s going on.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Something’s obviously on your mind,’ Eleanor said. ‘You’ve not heard a word any of us have said this entire meal, have you?’
‘She hasn’t,’ Jago assented.
‘Dad’s back,’ Archie blurted.
‘Archie!’ Polly cried.
He looked at her with huge, innocent eyes. ‘Sorry,’ he said.
‘It’s okay,’ she assured him. ‘I was going to tell them.’
‘What’s this?’ Frank asked from his end of the table.
‘It’s Sean,’ Polly said. ‘He’s back.’
‘What do you mean?’ Grandpa Joe asked.
‘He was at Polly’s yesterday,’ Jago said, squeezing Polly’s hand. She seemed to be suddenly unable to communicate. ‘He’s been in the area a while, we think.’
‘What?’ Eleanor said. ‘You knew about this?’
‘Not for sure,’ Jago said. ‘A few things have happened and–’
‘And you didn’t think to tell us about them?’ Eleanor said.
‘We didn’t really know what was going on,’ Jago said. ‘We didn’t want to alarm anyone.’
‘Where is he now?’ Bryony asked from across the table.
‘We don’t know,’ Polly said, finding her voice at last. ‘He’s moored at Woolverstone Marina.’
‘He’s living on his boat?’ Frank asked.
‘Who’s living on his boat?’ Grandma Nell asked.
‘Sean,’ Grandpa Joe said. ‘Polly’s husband.’
‘Polly’s married again?’ Grandma Nell asked, obviously confused.
‘No, this is the husband who went missing,’ Frank said.
‘I thought he was dead,’ Grandma Nell said.
‘Yes,’ Grandpa Joe said. ‘We all thought that.’
‘What did he say to you?’ Eleanor asked. ‘How did he explain himself?’
‘We didn’t really give him a chance to explain,’ Jago said. ‘He arrived in the middle of Archie’s party.’
‘Oh, heavens!’ Eleanor said.
‘What did he look like?’ Lara asked. ‘I mean, did he look the same?’
‘Yes, pretty much,’ Polly said.
‘He didn’t look like he’d been in some accident and had amnesia for three years?’
‘You watch too many silly films,’ Bryony told her younger sister.
‘You can learn a lot from films,’ Lara said.
‘Maybe, but not about Sean Prior,’ Bryony said.
‘How do you know he’s come back?’ Eleanor asked. ‘I mean, what if he disappears again?’
‘He won’t. He wants t
o see Archie,’ Polly said.
‘And how do you feel about all this, Archie?’ Eleanor asked gently.
Archie gave a shrug of his little shoulders. ‘Don’t know.’
‘Has he been in touch with the police?’ Frank said. ‘Has anyone been in touch with the police seeing as he’s no longer a missing person?’
‘We haven’t been,’ Jago said. ‘I don’t know what Sean’s stance is on that.’
‘He’s been working under a different name,’ Polly said.
‘What?’ Sam said. ‘Isn’t that fraud or something? Polly, you can’t be involved with somebody like that.’
‘Just in case it’s slipped your attention, I am involved,’ she said, nodding to Archie whose solemn gaze was somewhere at the bottom of his pudding bowl.
‘Sam’s right. You’ve got to get rid of him,’ Josh continued.
‘Josh, please,’ Polly said. ‘This is Archie’s father and he’s back.’
‘I don’t care if he’s the Dali Lama,’ Josh said. ‘The way he’s treated you – everyone – is despicable.’
‘I agree,’ Bryony said. ‘Unless he’s been at death’s door for over three years and couldn’t contact you or had some sort of amnesia like Lara’s suggested, he had no excuse not to get in touch.’
‘Or if he’s been held prisoner in a jungle and made to read Dickens to a madman,’ Josh said.
‘A Handful of Dust,’ Grandpa Joe said with an excited wave of his fork. ‘Wonderful book.’
Eleanor held her hands up. ‘I think we all need to calm down,’ she said. ‘This is a problem that isn’t going to be solved by us all shouting our opinions at one another. It’s a private matter between Polly, Jago, Archie and Sean. We’re all here if you need us, you know that, don’t you?’
‘Yes, Mum,’ Polly said. ‘I know that.’
Polly didn’t go on the afternoon walk with the family. Jago took charge of Dickens so he’d get his exercise and Archie went along with him, Sam and Callie, Bryony, Lara, Josh, their father and Grandpa Joe.
Grandma Nell was having forty winks in her favourite chair in the living room, the fire having just been given a new lease of life by Frank before he’d left the house, and Polly wandered through to the kitchen to help her mum.
‘There’s not really a lot to do,’ Eleanor told her. ‘Go and sit down.’
‘I’d rather not,’ Polly said. ‘I’ll just wash these glasses.’ She could feel the full weight of her mother’s anxious gaze upon her as she poured hot water into the sink. ‘I’m okay, Mum,’ she said without turning around.
‘Are you?’
Polly looked out of the window across the garden towards a clump of pretty yellow and purple crocuses which were doing their best to banish winter and herald the spring.
‘No,’ she said at last. ‘I don’t know how I feel, but it’s about as far from okay as a person can get.’
Her mother sighed. ‘I never thought this day would come,’ she said. ‘I mean, I’ve wondered what would happen if he came back, but I think I gave up any hope of it actually happening some time ago.’
Polly turned to face her. ‘When?’
‘When what, darling?’
‘When did you give up hope, Mum?’
Eleanor looked pensive. ‘I think when it came to the one-year anniversary of his disappearance.’
‘Really?’ Polly said, genuinely shocked that her mother would have given up hope so soon.
‘I guess I thought that he must be dead because surely nobody would walk out on their wife and young son for that length of time. Not without some sort of explanation at least.’
Polly nodded.
‘And you said he didn’t have any reason for leaving,’ Eleanor went on. ‘I mean your relationship was good, wasn’t it? You hadn’t argued or anything, had you?’
‘No, Mum,’ Polly said. ‘We hadn’t argued.’ Not on the day of his disappearance at least. But she wasn’t going to tell her mother that arguments with her husband were far from rare.
‘I wonder what he’ll have to say for himself,’ Eleanor said.
But Polly knew that she wouldn’t get any sort of explanation out of Sean. He’d left because he’d wanted to. It had suited him at the time. Now, it seemed, he wanted to come back. He was nothing more than a selfish, thoughtless, heartless individual, and Polly had no intention of sharing that with her mother.
There was a car waiting outside their house when they got back and Polly instinctively knew it was Sean before she even saw him. It was time. There was no hiding behind a children’s party today. She was going to have to talk to him and she was going to have to let him talk to Archie.
‘I’ll come in with you if you want,’ Jago said.
‘Best not,’ Polly said.
‘You sure?’
‘No, I’m not sure!’ she said with a tight laugh as she parked the Land Rover opposite Sean’s car. ‘I’ve got to do this on my own.’
‘Have you thought about what you’ll do next Sunday?’ Jago asked.
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, which one of us will you take to Sunday lunch at your parents?’
‘Oh, Jago! Don’t tease me.’
‘I’m not teasing you,’ he said.
‘I can’t even think about what the next hour’s going to bring let alone next Sunday.’
‘I’m sorry,’ he said, quickly taking her hand. ‘I just had a horrible image of us all arriving together.’
‘That will never happen,’ she said. ‘I’m going to let him see Archie and let him say whatever he’s got to say.’
‘What if he wants to move back in?’
She shook her head. ‘The house is mine. Well, as much as a rented house can be. He lost his rights to it being his home when he walked out.’ Polly looked closely at Jago. ‘You do believe me, don’t you?’
‘Yes, I believe you.’
‘You think I’m going back to him, don’t you?’ she said in a low voice, aware that Archie was sitting just behind them. He may have looked absorbed with his tablet, but it was possible he was listening to everything they were saying.
‘Well, I can’t say I’m happy about this situation,’ Jago told her.
‘Neither can I,’ she said. ‘But it’s happening and we’ve got to get through it.’
Jago squeezed her hand. ‘Call me if you need me.’
‘I will.’
‘Bye, Archie.’
‘Bye, Jago.’
She watched as he got out of the car. Sean was watching too, she noted. ‘Ready, Arch?’ She turned to the back seat.
‘Is that Dad?’ he asked.
‘It is.’ She waited for his response but he said nothing. ‘He’ll want to see you, sweetheart. Is that all right? Will you talk to him?’
‘Will you stay with me?’
‘Of course I’ll stay with you!’ she said. She was definitely not planning on leaving Sean alone with their son lest he attempted to leave with him for another three and a half years. She certainly wouldn’t put that idea past Sean.
They got out of the car together. Polly took a tight hold of Dickens’s lead which was just as well as he started to pull and bark as soon as he saw Sean getting out of his car.
Sean glowered at the dog. ‘You should get that thing under control.’
‘He is under control,’ Polly told him, ‘and his name’s Dickens.’ She stared at her husband for a moment, taking in the brilliant blue eyes and the short sandy hair. He was still the handsome man she’d fallen in love with, but she felt absolutely no love for him now. The only feelings she felt were curiosity, hurt and fear.
‘Are you going to invite me in or are we going to stand out here on the cold pavement all evening?’ Sean asked.
‘You’d better come in,’ Polly said.
‘Got a hello for your father?’ Sean asked once they were all in the living room.
Archie looked up at him. ‘Hello,’ he said in a small, barely-there voice.
‘I got you
something,’ Sean said, reaching into his jacket pocket and bringing out a small package and handing it to Archie. ‘I tried to give it to you yesterday, but you took off.’
Archie slowly unwrapped the gift and looked up at his mum as he saw what it was. ‘It’s a model boat.’
Polly looked at it. It was similar to the one Archie had been given in the playground.
‘You got my other one?’ Sean asked.
‘A man gave my friend a boat to give to me,’ Archie said.
‘That man was me,’ Sean said. ‘I couldn’t see you in the playground so I asked a boy to give it to you.’
Polly was so tempted to accuse Sean right then and there of not being able to recognise his own son, but she bit her tongue.
‘Mum’s got it now,’ Archie said and Sean glanced at Polly.
‘Why did you take it?’ he asked her.
‘We had no proof it was from you,’ she said.
‘Well, of course it was from me,’ he said. ‘Who else would it have been from? You did recognise it, didn’t you?’
Polly nodded. So much inside of her wanted to scream at him, but she wasn’t going to do that in front of Archie.
‘Yes, I recognised it.’
‘The other was just a model,’ he told Archie now, ‘but you can put this one in water.’
‘Thank you,’ Archie said.
‘Have you ever been sailing, Archie?’
Archie shook his head.
Sean turned to Polly. ‘You’ve never taken him sailing?’ His tone was accusatory.
‘No,’ she told him. ‘We’ve been kind of busy for the last three and a half years. What with it only being the two of us to do everything.’ She sighed. She hadn’t meant to say that, but it was pretty hard to keep all the years of pent up emotions from blurting out. ‘Archie, I think it’s time you went up to your room so I can talk to your father, okay?’
He looked up at her and nodded and left the room.
‘He’s a great lad,’ Sean said.
‘Yes, he is,’ Polly said. ‘He’s the sort who deserves to be loved every single day of his life.’
‘I’ve never stopped loving him, Polly,’ Sean said, his voice low.
‘Oh, really? You don’t even know him!’ Polly said, closing the living room door. ‘I don’t understand, Sean. Why didn’t you just call me? Why wait like this, spying on me, breaking into the house?’
Rules for a Successful Book Club (The Book Lovers 2) Page 25