‘I really do think we should get her to hospital,’ said Morag.
‘You’re right. Come on. Drink up.’
We took the stairs two at a time and made our way to the bathroom.
‘Can we come in?’ I called through the door.
‘Ooooh,’ Nell said by way of response. I levered down the door handle. Nell was on all fours rocking around the bathroom. ‘Somebody rub my back,’ she bleated. Morag crouched down and began massaging. ‘Harder! Faster!’
‘Is Ben on his way?’ I asked.
‘Yes,’ Nell gasped, ‘and I’ve sorted out Dylan with both my mother and the school.’
‘We need to get you to hospital Nell. Come on, get up.’
‘No. I can’t move.’
‘You can. And must. I’m going to get a towel and then we’ll get you into Morag’s car. And you’d better text Ben to meet you at the hospital rather than here.’
‘I can’t stand up,’ wailed Nell, ‘it hurts too much.’
‘Then stay like that.’ There followed a very iffy ten minutes of getting Nell down the stairs and out to Morag’s car whilst on all fours. ‘You go on ahead,’ I said to Morag. ‘I’ll just let Rocket back in and lock up.’
‘I haven’t got my overnight bag!’ cried Nell.
‘Where is it?’
‘Down by the side of my bed.’
‘I’ll grab it and bring it along in my car.’ I helped Nell onto the back seat of Morag’s car. Slamming the door shut I banged the roof. ‘Go!’
The Ford Galaxy catapulted off the driveway with Nell swaying on the back seat and very red in the face. At that moment I could see an uncanny resemblance between her and Rocket.
Forty-five minutes later, Nell was gowned and in a delivery room. A monitor was strapped to her bump. A midwife assured us that everything was going swimmingly.
‘A few more hours and baby will be here,’ she beamed. ‘Where’s your birthing partner Mrs Lambert?’
‘Stuck in a ten mile tailback thanks to a closure on the M25,’ Nell snarled. ‘When he finally gets here, I’m going to kill him.’
‘Ben is doing his best,’ I soothed. ‘Meanwhile you have Morag and me to hold your hand.’
‘Sorry girls, but I’m going to have to go,’ said Morag. ‘There’s only so long I can take advantage of Joanie, and I’ve been away for hours.’
‘Fine, fine,’ Nell waved a hand.
‘Morag, can you do me a favour and divert past my house. Let Edna know what’s happened.’
‘Sure,’ she gave me a good-bye hug. ‘Let me know the news as soon as it’s all over. Good luck Nell,’ Morag kissed Nell on the forehead, nearly knocking her out with her chest. ‘Go cervix go!’
Nell smiled weakly.
Four hours later there was still no sign of Ben. But Nell was beyond caring. She was now in the grip of full blown labour.
‘I can feel the baby’s head crowning,’ she gasped. She looked like she was stretching her body to breaking point.
The mid-wife peered between Nell’s legs. ‘You’re doing really well dear. I can see hair!’
‘Ooooh, I want to see my baby’s hair. Cass, get me a mirror.’
I cast around the delivery room looking for a convenient compact mirror.
‘Here you are,’ said the mid-wife producing the sort of mirror one usually finds in a hair salon.
‘Short back and sides?’ I joked. My laughter turned to an agonised yelp as Nell grabbed one of my hands and crushed it within hers. ‘Bloody hell,’ I gasped, ‘I think you’ve broken all my fingers.’
‘Aaaaaaah,’ Nell wailed.
‘A really good push dear and this baby will be born,’ said the midwife.
Nell screwed up her face and turned the colour of beetroot. Making a noise like Tarzan, she pushed as if her life depended upon it. The baby shot out into the midwife’s hands. A few tugs on the cord and the placenta was delivered.
‘It’s a girl!’ I whooped with joy. And promptly burst into tears.
The mid-wife lifted the baby onto Nell’s breast just as Ben burst into the delivery room.
‘Oh my God,’ he swooped down on his wife and new daughter. ‘Oh my darling! Oh my baby!’ And then he caught sight of the placenta. Suddenly he turned the colour of putty, his eyes rolled backwards and he crashed down to the floor.
Half an hour later I was behind the wheel of my car and beetling home. Nell and baby Rosie were doing fine. And so was Ben. He and his concussion were in the next ward. All I wanted to do now was get home, see my own beautiful brood of children and have a nice hot bath. Wouldn’t everybody be amazed to hear my story of being Nell’s birthing partner. What a fantastic feeling. I was high as a kite!
I shot through our electric gates, parked the car and, with a spring in my step, bounded up to the front door. Just as my key was poised, the door opened. And suddenly my bubble of elation burst like a pricked balloon. For there, standing on my Welcome mat, was Selina.
Chapter Eight
I stared at the vision haloed in the doorway. My doorway. Selina looked more like Angelina Jolie than ever – elegant and poised. I presumed she’d come straight from work. Her slim frame was dressed in a smart trouser suit. On her feet she wore expensive leather boots. The long dark hair was loose and shiny, and the pumped up lips glossed to perfection. In contrast, I looked a wreck. My hair was still stuck to my head from the earlier workout with Rocket. My joggers were splashed with amniotic fluid. And as for my trainers. I kicked them off irritably. Our nostrils twitched as whiffy insoles made their presence known.
‘Cass!’ Selina’s face lit up. ‘How lovely to see you.’ Either she was a damned good actress or genuinely ecstatic that our paths had crossed again so soon. Personally I suspected the former. ‘Do come in.’ For one surreal moment I felt as though I were being invited into her home. ‘You’ve missed mains but we’re enjoying the most delicious pudding cooked by your charming mother-in-law. She’s an absolute poppet.’
‘Well don’t let me interrupt your meal.’ Dear God, now I sounded like a visitor. ‘I mean, carry on.’ Where was Jamie? Why wasn’t he greeting me?
‘Jamie’s just changing Eddie’s nappy,’ Selina said, as if reading my mind. ‘We’re in the kitchen. Come on through.’
There! She was doing it again – inviting me into my own home! Somehow I ended up following her through the hallway, for all the world like a guest. In the kitchen an unfamiliar sight greeted my eyes. Four children sat around the table, elbows in, backs ramrod straight, eating apple crumble with impeccable manners. Not a scraping spoon, nor a slurped drink, and definitely no rowdy conversation.
‘Good evening kids,’ I smiled at them all. They beamed back.
‘Good evening Mummy,’ said Livvy politely before turning to her step-sister. ‘More custard on your crumble Petra?’
‘Thank you Livvy.’
‘I’ll have the custard jug after you please,’ said Toby to Petra. ‘Thank you. Jonas, would you like some too?’
‘I’ve had sufficient thank you Toby.’ Sufficient? Since when did anybody in this house say sufficient? ‘I wouldn’t mind finishing off the cream though.’ Jonas paused, and instantly looked contrite. ‘So long as nobody else wants any,’ he added.
‘No, no, that’s fine, go ahead,’ the other three graciously urged Jonas to pig out with a carton of double.
My eyes flicked from face to face. I had an overwhelming urge to whip out a thermometer and take temperatures.
‘Charming children,’ Selina murmured at my elbow.
‘Yes. They’ve been brought up to be,’ I couldn’t resist pointing out. Frankly I hadn’t a clue who these children were. They might look like Livvy, Toby, Petra and Jonas, but they weren’t. The real Livvy, Toby, Petra and Jonas should be noisily chatting about school, arguing about who had the biggest measure of custard, eating with their mouths open, knocking drinks over and spilling crumble down their clothes.
‘Ah, Cassandra dear,’ Edna came into the kitch
en with Eddie on her hip. ‘Jamie’s just this second taken an international call from Ethan. He’s shut himself in the study. I’m afraid he could be a while.’
‘Oh well. Business is business,’ I cranked up a smile.
‘Sit down. I’ve kept your dinner warm.’
‘Thanks. I’m absolutely famished.’ Famished? Was that the right sort of word to use in the company of a woman like Selina? I couldn’t imagine her sitting down and saying, “Feed me, I’m famished” before tucking into a plate of raw cauliflower. I held out my arms to Eddie. ‘Hello beautiful boy. Come to Mummy.’
‘You eat your dinner Cass,’ Selina immediately swooped on Eddie. ‘I’ll look after this little fellow.’
And suddenly my baby was in her arms. My heart jumped into my throat. I had an overwhelming urge to snatch Eddie away – as if to protect him. Every nerve in my body screamed hands off. But I could do nothing about it. Edna had plonked a hot plate in front of me. The food was steaming. I could hardly eat with Eddie on my lap – his little fingers had a habit of going everywhere and I didn’t want him getting burnt. Edna caught my eye.
‘You must tell us all about Nell’s new baby dear.’
‘Gosh, yes!’ Selina smiled. ‘How exciting! I gather you ended up playing mid-wife.’
‘Well, it wasn’t quite like that,’ I forked up some chicken, ‘but I held Nell’s hand and gave her lots of encouragement while Rosie was being born.’
‘I can’t wait to have a family,’ Selina smiled and began to bounce Eddie on her knee. He gave a delicious chuckle of laughter. She turned to me with wide eyes. ‘I want at least six children. These five will do nicely for starters.’
Any casual onlooker would have believed Selina’s words to be complimentary. But I was on red alert.
‘They’re already spoken for,’ I said coldly.
Selina flushed. ‘Well of course. I simply meant–’
‘–and I’m sure you’ll make a very good Mummy one day,’ said Livvy coming to Selina’s rescue. My daughter flashed me a dirty look. Now it was my turn to flush.
‘Well you can be my Mum any time,’ Toby gave Selina a cheeky wink. Dear God. Was my son attempting to flirt? Aged eleven but already revving up to follow in his father’s womanising footsteps? I was irked that my own children should be enthralled with this woman. My appetite fizzled and died. I put my knife and fork together.
‘If you’ll all excuse me,’ I stood up, ‘I’d like to have a shower and get out of these clothes.’
Edna whisked my plate away. The cats meowed around her feet, clamouring for the leftovers.
‘Perhaps you’d like some crumble later on Cassandra dear, when you’ve had a chance to unwind?’ Edna’s message was clear: when Selina had gone and my knotted guts had unravelled.
‘That would be great Edna. Thanks.’
I went out into the hallway. Selina’s voice floated after me. She had now turned her attention to Edna.
‘You are such a wonderful mother-in-law to Cass. One day I want to live in a house just like this one, with a mother-in-law just like you.’
I grimaced. Not content with making a play for my kids, Selina was now sucking up to my mother-in-law. Cow. Passing the study I could hear Jamie within talking to Ethan. I stuck my head around the door. He looked up. Smiled. Gave me a thumbs up. I blew him a kiss and shut the door.
Upstairs in our bedroom, I set about running a bath in the en-suite and peeled off my clothes. With a bit of luck, if I strung it out, Selina might have gone home by the time I was done. Feeling a smidgen happier, I hopped in the water and tipped shampoo over my head. Half an hour later I emerged from the bathroom wearing a bath towel and turban. I nearly dropped the bath towel when I saw Selina sitting at my dressing table. She had her legs elegantly crossed. Her manicured hands were folded in her lap. I glanced at the bedroom door. Shut.
I immediately went on the defensive. ‘What are you doing up here?’
Selina spread her hands wide, palms open. A gesture of coming clean. ‘I wanted to talk to you in private.’
‘What about?’
‘Look Cass, I feel that we’ve got off to a bad start.’
Was she for real? ‘You don’t say!’ I feigned surprise. ‘Now why on earth could that be? Let me think,’ I frowned theatrically. ‘Hang on. It’s coming back to me. Yes, yes, that’s right. Something to do with a series of intimidating phone calls at my home. Oh, and place of work. And lots of whispering down the phone, that I was a bitch and you hated me. And let’s not forget the little matter of dragging me off on a wild goose chase to The Planet Restaurant where – lo! I stumble across you apparently having a romantic dinner with Jamie and trying to make out there’s a passionate affair going on. Sorry, what was that you were saying about us getting off to a bad start?’ I stood there blinking very rapidly. Any moment now I’d whisk off my wet towel – to hell with lack of modesty – and thrash her with it.
‘Cass, try and see things from my perspective. After all, you were the other woman.’
‘I most certainly was not!’ My chest heaved with indignation.
‘Well it seemed that way from my side of the fence,’ Selina said evenly. ‘There I was, dating my dream man, happy as a lark. Yet wherever we went, you’d show up. My God, you were even skiing in the same place as us. Of all the mountains in the world,’ Selina’s voice cracked, ‘there you were crashing into my boyfriend on a red run in Risoul.’
‘Hold it right there lady. Yes, through a series of unfortunate coincidences our paths did cross a few times. But at no point did I set about to steal Jamie from you. The first time I met Jamie I was newly separated and barely functioning. And later –much later,’ I added, ‘I was involved with somebody else.’
‘Oh yes. I seem to remember he belonged to another woman too – married no less.’ My mouth dropped open. How the bloody hell did Selina know that? ‘I was there. In the restaurant,’ she looked at me knowingly. I gazed at her, suddenly wrong-footed. ‘What was the place called? Ah yes, Cavendish’s. Jamie was meeting me there to celebrate my birthday. Due to work detaining him, he didn’t see the showdown. But I did. You caused quite a rumpus, didn’t you? When that guy’s wife marched in, one couldn’t see the space around your table for flying ice buckets and dinner plates.’
‘I didn’t know Euan was married,’ I whispered.
Selina made a tutting noise. ‘Don’t trot out that old line Cass.’
I sucked in my breath. ‘It’s true! But actually I don’t care whether you believe me or not. Frankly it’s none of your damn business.’
‘You’re right. It’s none of my business. However, Jamie was my business. Until you came along.’
‘Jamie had finished with you months before I started seeing him.’
‘So you say. Not sure I believe you though.’
‘Tell you what. Why don’t I get Jamie up here? Sod his international business call to your fiancé,’ I made to go to the bedroom door, ‘let’s listen to the facts – straight from the horse’s mouth.’
Selina stood up. ‘There’s no need for that Cass. It’s all in the past now.’
‘Well obviously you still have an axe to grind, otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation – in my home,’ I added, ‘where you invited yourself as a guest. Unwanted by me. And frankly I’d like you to now leave.’
Selina smoothed an imaginary crease from one leg of her trouser suit. ‘When I came up here to see you, the intention was to have a friendly one to one with you. I didn’t mean for us to end up being hostile with each other.’
‘Things already were hostile – don’t flatter yourself.’
‘What I’m trying to say,’ Selina took a deep breath, ‘is sorry. I’m sorry for everything that happened.’
I glared at her. ‘Okay. So now you’ve said sorry. I still want you to leave.’
‘Cass, whether you like it or not, I’m engaged to Ethan and working with your husband. I just want to wipe the slate clean. Start again. It wo
uld make things so much easier if we could do that.’
I narrowed my eyes. ‘You mean make it easier for you.’
‘No. I mean make it easier for you actually.’
‘I don’t think so. If I told Ethan about your past behaviour and what you’d done, he’d drop you like a hot cake.’
‘He wouldn’t Cass. Because he wouldn’t believe you.’
‘No?’
‘No. I’ve since told Ethan that I once dated Jamie.’
That flummoxed me. ‘And what did Ethan say?’
‘As far as my fiancé’s concerned, I finished with Jamie.’
‘Oh don’t give me that.’
‘But it’s perfectly plausible. Ethan believes I could no longer deal with Jamie’s emotional baggage. That Jamie was one thoroughly mixed up man following the death of his first wife. Ethan totally believes my story. However, if you give me a hard time Cass, I’ll tell him that Jamie wouldn’t take no for an answer. That for quite a long period of time he was an utter pest. Made nuisance calls. Stalked me,’ she gave a twisted smile, ‘and that the real reason why I needed persuading to work for Fareham & Mackerel was because of Jamie’s previously unstable mind.’
My mouth dropped open. ‘You wouldn’t dare!’
‘Wouldn’t I? Who is Ethan going to believe? The woman he loves and can’t wait to marry? Or a man who lost his marbles after his first wife died? And look at it from another angle too. Who is the most expendable? Me – the woman Ethan wants to spend the rest of his life with? Or Jamie – a junior partner who can be replaced? This is a nice house you have Cass. Very grand. High maintenance. Not to mention five children to feed, clothe and keep in ponies and iPads.’
‘You really are round the bend,’ I spluttered.
Selina smiled. ‘No. I was once. When I was heartbroken about Jamie. But not any more. I’m trying very hard Cass to be your friend now. I’ve apologised. And I’ll apologise again. But in my defence, at the time I was in a bad place. I was devastated. And suffering. It affected me. Yes, I went a bit loopy. But I’m good now. Sorted my brain out. I’m better. I have Ethan, and a future again. I want to make the best of it. Can’t you sympathise, just a little bit? Your first husband treated you badly. Didn’t you ever have a moment where you felt you’d lost your mind?’
Lipstick and Lies Page 9