Double Cheque

by Heather MacQuarrie

  Jasmine was wrong-footed by the unexpected remark but pleased to see that Sam had now gone over to his wife and was giving her a cuddle and a kiss on the cheek. Maybe things weren’t so bad between them after all. Perhaps she should admit why she had called in the first place. “What are you suggesting?” she asked.

  “Look, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned it. I’ve had a drink too many. It was just something that Dad said to me one time.”

  “There’s Stevie awake,” Tania suddenly said, hearing the soft cries coming from the baby monitor. “I’ll just go and check that he’s OK. I think he might be coming down with something. He was very restless all day.”

  “I’ll go,” Sam offered. “You stay here and chat with Jasmine.”

  “No, I think you should have a chat with your sister,” Tania riposted. “I’ll see to Stevie. But thanks for the gesture; you’re a good Dad.”

  “But not such a good partner,” Sam mumbled, as she left the room.

  “It can’t be easy for you, living here,” Jasmine comforted him. “You should have moved on by now. Are there no decent flats on the market? Have you not asked her to marry you?”

  “Leave it, Sis. You don’t know the half of it.”

  “I like Tania.”

  “I like her too.”

  “Like? What about love?”

  Sam remained silent. The only sounds in the house were Stevie’s soft cries and Tania’s soothing voice coming from the room above. But the atmosphere was loaded and they could both sense it. Jasmine decided to take the bull by the horns. She sat down again and took off her coat.

  “I’ll tell you why I really called round here tonight,” she began, “if you tell me what’s going on with you two. And let’s start with a cup of coffee. It might sober you up a bit.”

  Sam retorted that he was not drunk but then admitted that he would like a coffee. They both moved into the kitchen. “You first,” Sam insisted, as he turned on the machine.

  “There’s not much room in here,” observed Jasmine, taking in her cluttered surroundings. “It must get a bit cramped with two families trying to share.”

  “You first,” he reiterated, more vehemently.

  Jasmine paused to gather her thoughts. “It is to do with Mum,” she then admitted. “What was that you were saying about Dad telling you something?”

  “He told me one time that he thinks Mum just uses Cathy as an excuse to explain her absence when she might actually be with someone else.”

  “He actually said that?”

  “I didn’t believe him at the time but a few weeks later Mum said she was at a show in Dublin with Cathy and I know for sure that she wasn’t because I met the woman in Tesco’s. At least I spotted her at the checkout; I didn’t actually speak to her or let on that I had seen her.”

  “Are you sure it was Cathy?”

  “Hundred percent. We used to know her quite well. Do you remember we used to play in her garden with her kids? She always gave us jelly and ice-cream, even when I was in my teens!”

  Jasmine laughed. “I was just thinking back over those days myself,” she told her brother. “Do you remember the millennium party at her parents’ place?”

  “Yes, that was awesome.”

  “We never saw much of the Cartwright children after that. I suppose there comes a time when you start making your own friends. After all we only knew them because Mum and Cathy were so close. They didn’t go to our school or anything.”

  “Or maybe Mum deliberately kept us away. If she was starting to use Cathy as an alibi.”

  The two siblings frowned at one another, sharing a sad understanding, and then Sam spoke again.

  “You’ve discovered something too. That’s why you’re here. Am I right?”

  Jasmine nodded her head. “She’s planning to spend the weekend with someone called Dougie. But this time she’s pretending that she has to work. In Scotland.”

  She told Sam the whole story about the conversation she had overheard and the comments that had been made at the breakfast table.

  “So there’s still some sort of connection with Cathy.”

  “And with Grant. Mum said something about delivering an important letter to Grant Cartwright. So this guy, Dougie must know both Cathy and Grant.”

  Sam scratched his head. “I used to know Grant quite well but I haven’t seen him for a few years. The last time I met him he was with a lovely girl called Zoe. I think they were engaged.”

  Jasmine took a sip of her coffee. “Anyway, I’ve kept my side of the bargain,” she proclaimed, changing the subject. “Now what’s going on with you and Tania? You both seem to be a bit down in the dumps.”

  “I think we’re growing apart,” Sam answered with a sigh.

  “You have a baby together,” rejoined his sister.

  “That’s only part of a very complicated scenario,” Sam told her over the sound of the washing machine, whirring loudly on its spin cycle. “We are both exhausted. We never have time to have any fun anymore. Judy and Eddie are so damn through-other. I’m really beginning to detest them. I mean, look at the place.” With a wide sweep of the arm he drew his sister’s attention to the basin full of underwear macerating in some kind of pink detergent next to the sink, the tubs of soiled bed linen lining the wall behind them and the bulk purchase of about two hundred toilet rolls stacked up in the corner.

  As though on cue, the door opened and Tania’s parents breezed in, enthusing about the film they had seen and bustling about the house, dropping coats and handbags, phones, wallets and keys on every available surface. Edward reached up to the wine rack and selected a bottle of Merlot, muttering only the briefest of greetings to Sam and Jasmine, as he poured two glasses for Judy and himself. Then he returned to the lounge where he turned on the television at top volume, sank into his favourite armchair and proceeded to scroll through the channels, choosing something to watch. Checking her phone and noticing that she’d had a couple of missed calls, Judy phoned her friend back and started to talk and laugh loudly over the sound from the lewd reality show that was now on the TV. She reminded Jasmine of Sybil Fawlty.

  “Welcome to my world,” Sam said to Jasmine. “This is fairly normal.”

  “You need to get away from this,” Jasmine agreed. “You and Tania need a place of your own.” As she spoke, Tania ran down the stairs and yelled at her parents.

  “Do you have to have that so loud? I had just got Stevie back to sleep and now he’s crying again. Thanks a lot!”

  Judy immediately apologised and admitted that she had forgotten about the baby. Edward said nothing but did turn the volume down a bit, though not enough to make much difference. Tania threw Sam a look of exasperation as she deposited the wet nappy she was carrying in the bin and turned back towards the stairs.

  “We’ll be outside,” he mouthed. “I won’t be long.” Then he turned back to his sister and suggested that they should continue their conversation in his car. He fetched her bag and coat from the lounge and led her out through the back door.

  Thankfully, being mid-September, it was quite a balmy evening and they were comfortable enough as they scrambled into Sam’s silver Volvo.

  “I can’t take much more of this,” he declared with a grimace.

  “I don’t blame you,” Jasmine concurred. “I can’t understand why you agreed to move in here in the first place.”

  “Believe it or not, Judy is actually brilliant with the baby. Tania depends on her a lot.”

  “Other couples manage,” Jasmine retorted.

  “I know.”

  “I think Tania needs a break. Why don’t you take her away for a holiday, even just a weekend? Have a bit of time on your own, a bit of fun.”

  “I’ll think about it. It’s not a bad idea. Anyway, I need to get back in and help her with Stevie. Tell me more about the situation with
Mum and Dad. Has she really got a lover?”

  “I suggested that Dad should go with her to Scotland this weekend but she put him off and she got really rattled with me for pushing it.”

  “You’re sure it’s this weekend? In Scotland? I wonder whether Tania would enjoy that.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Why not? Two birds with one stone and all that.”

  “It’s not really putting Tania first.”

  “I think she’d enjoy it, the subterfuge. I can combine that with a bit of romance. Can you find out what flight she’s taking?”

  “It’s not a joke, Sam. This is about our mother sleeping with another man, cheating on our dad.”

  “Sorry, Sis, I know it’s not a joke but it hasn’t really come as a shock to me. I’ve suspected it for some time. Text me the flight details and leave it to me.”

  Jasmine smiled at her brother and then gave him a big hug. “Say ‘night night’ to Tania for me,” she told him, as she got out of his car and into her own with her fingers firmly crossed for a solution to at least one of the two big problems facing her family. She drove home feeling apprehensive but hopeful.

  Chapter 3

  “There she is,” whispered Sam, as he spotted his mother talking on her mobile outside the bookshop at Belfast International Airport on Friday evening. He steered Tania away from the area so that they wouldn’t be observed and waited until Patricia had finished her phone call. He watched as she put the phone back into her handbag and walked over to the screen displaying the departure details of outgoing flights, before marching purposefully towards one of the gates.

  “The gate number must be up,” Sam said, just as confirmation of this was announced over the Tannoy system. “Let’s wait a few minutes so that there’ll be plenty of people in between us. I hope she isn’t seated too close to us.”

  “You’ll have to change tactics if she is,” Tania replied, “or if she spots us in the queue.”

  “Keep that hat down over your eyes,” he told her, as he wrapped his own scarf loosely around his neck so that it covered the bottom half of his face. “We’ll have to take these off for security but we can put them on again afterwards.”

  “This could be quite good fun if it was someone else we were trailing,” Tania observed, “but I do feel a bit guilty snooping on your mum. There’s something very sleazy about it.” Sam had been perfectly honest about the purpose of the trip but had also convinced her that they needed the break themselves. That bit had come as a pleasant surprise.

  “I know. So do I but needs must. I don’t want my parents breaking up. I’ll do anything I can to stop that happening.”

  “Sometimes it’s for the best,” Tania cautioned, “if two people really aren’t happy together anymore. Maybe we shouldn’t interfere. Fewer and fewer couples are staying together these days.”

  “It might come to that,” Sam agreed, “but I have to try.”

  They strolled over to the screen and double-checked the gate number for their flight, taking in the bustling atmosphere around them, then spent a few minutes browsing in the duty-free shopping area. “OK, let’s go,” Sam ventured at last. “That should be enough of a head start. We don’t want the plane going without us.”

  Passengers were already boarding and there was no sign of Patricia. Good, she must be already on the plane. Sam and Tania removed their hats and scarfs as planned and went through security, showing their ID and boarding cards, then replaced their partial disguise before mounting the steps and making their way towards their allotted seats near the back of the plane. Sam hoisted both their bags into the locker above their heads and sat down beside his girlfriend.

  “Can you see her at all?” he hissed.

  “I think that’s her about five rows in front of us, on the other side.”

  Sam took a furtive glance in that direction. “You’re right,” he confirmed, recognising his mother’s blue coat and blonde hair. “We’ll have to be careful getting off. I don’t want her seeing us until we get the chance to catch her red-handed. This Dougie bloke will be sure to be waiting for her in the arrivals area.”

  “What if she walks past us to go to the toilet?”

  “It’s a very short flight. I don’t think that’s likely.”

  Sam sent a text message to his sister before they would be instructed to turn off their mobiles.

  On plane. Mum is a few rows in front. Hasn’t spotted us.

  Jasmine answered immediately.

  Good. Keep me informed. Make sure you two have some fun in spite of the reason for your trip!!

  Sam showed the text to Tania.

  “I like your sister,” she said.

  “She likes you too.”

  An air stewardess was now going through the safety procedures and telling everyone to turn off their phones and buckle their seat belts. Tania felt a sudden and overwhelming surge of relief and freedom. “I like you as well,” she told Sam with a smile.

  “I love you,” he replied without hesitation.

  Tania held her breath, hardly believing her own ears. How long had she waited to hear him say that? Long enough to convince herself that he didn’t love her and worse still, that she didn’t love him. But now he had said it and that changed everything. Her whole body was tingling with excitement.

  “I love you too,” she whispered, as the plane taxied along the runway and rose from the ground.

  “Marry me,” Sam breathed in reply. They were now soaring above the clouds and Tania had a fleeting wish that they could stay up there for ever. But then she had a vision of little Stevie and she came back down to earth with a thump. Would anything really change if they were married?

  “Please,” Sam persisted. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking these past few days. I want us to be a proper family, Tania. You, me and Stevie. Marry me, and let’s get as far away from your parents as possible.”

  Tania was momentarily offended. “My mum has been very supportive,” she countered. “I don’t know how we could have coped without her.”

  “I’m not disputing that,” Sam reasoned. “But I can’t live in her house any longer or I will go mad. I mean it, Tania. I can’t go back there.”

  She didn’t reply but she understood his reserve. Their current living arrangements were anything but ideal.

  “You haven’t answered me, Tania,” Sam said after a few moments. “Will you marry me?”

  “I thought you were still in love with Imogen.” She could have kicked herself for saying it but it just came out. She couldn’t help herself.

  Sam started at the name of his first love. How could he blame her for thinking it? He had been deeply in love with Imogen and had lost her because of a stupid fling with her friend, Holly. It had been nothing more than an infatuation and he had regretted it almost as soon as it started but he knew that he couldn’t expect Imogen to take him back. He had begun a relationship with Tania on the rebound. When Imogen had phoned him one night and had said she still loved him, Tania was already pregnant. With a heavy heart Sam had done the honourable thing. But he had eventually managed to put it all behind him. He did love Tania now. He really did want it to work.

  “I don’t love Imogen,” he said simply. “I love you and I love Stevie. I want us to be a proper family.”

  “Then yes,” Tania whispered.

  “Yes?”

  “Yes, I’ll marry you. And yes, we’ll live somewhere else. Just you and me and Stevie.”

  They shared a kiss. Luckily there was no-one in the aisle seat so they had a fair amount of privacy.

  “I think Jaz should be the first to know,” suggested Sam.

  “OK,” agreed Tania, bursting with happiness, “followed by Lawrence and Maggie.”

  “Fair enough.” Lawrence was Tania’s older brother and Maggie was his fiancée. They had been engaged since April but had del
ayed their wedding plans due to Maggie’s dad being very ill. He had died just last month.

  Sam took hold of Tania’s hand and held it lovingly for the rest of the flight. Jasmine had been right. All they needed was to get away for a romantic break. And it was only beginning. They weren’t even there yet. Tania was over the moon. He had said those four words that she had longed to hear, ever since she had known him. He had said it at last. I don’t love Imogen. She could scarcely believe it. And they had a whole weekend ahead, just the two of them. Bliss! That is, once they get things sorted with Sam’s mother.

  The plane landed on schedule and most of the passengers stood up and started to put on coats and retrieve their hand luggage from the lockers. Sam and Tania sat on, looking out of the window, disguised again by their hats and scarfs. They squinted sideways from time to time and were aware of Patricia passing by and exiting the plane. Only then did they stand up and follow her down the steps and into the arrivals area, keeping a discreet distance behind.

  “I don’t know whether she checked in any luggage or not,” Sam said, “but I wouldn’t think so. She’s only here for two days like ourselves.”

  As expected, Patricia bypassed the baggage reclaim carrousels and made her way towards the exit, trundling her green cabin bag behind her. And suddenly there he was, rushing up to her and taking her in his arms. They kissed on the mouth, long and passionately. Sam felt sick. His mother and another man! “Come on,” he said to Tania. “This is it.”

  Sam and Tania quickly caught up with the older couple and shadowed them as they walked out of the airport, hand in hand, and made their way to the short-term carpark, the stranger now trundling the green bag. Stopping beside a black BMW, the man took a key from his pocket and activated the lock. The lights flashed and he opened the door.

  “Hi Mum,” Sam said clearly, as other people who had arrived on the same flight continued to walk past in search of their own cars. Patricia recognised the voice immediately. She swung round in panic.