SOS: Convenient Husband Required

by Liz Fielding

  In contrast to the quiet of his own apartment first thing, the kitchen was bedlam. Nancie grizzling on May’s shoulder, the chicken was squawking at the cats, the dog was barking and there was some schmaltzy Christmas song on the radio. He reached out and switched it off.

  ‘That’s not the point.’

  He’d spent most of the night lying awake, then when he had fallen asleep, he’d been plagued by dreams he couldn’t remember, overslept. He felt like a bear with a sore head and apparently it showed because she stuck a glass of orange juice in his hand.

  ‘Here. Drink that.’

  He swallowed it down and took a breath. The last thing he was going to tell her was that she wouldn’t have been disturbing him. If she knew that he’d been lying awake, had heard the phone, she’d want to know why he hadn’t come to check for himself.

  He could hardly tell her that he’d lain in James Coleridge’s hard bed imagining some private middle of the night exchange between her and Jeremy Davidson.

  Imagining her reassuring him that her marriage would only be a paper thing. That in a year she’d be free. That if they were discreet…

  Because that was what lovers did. Called one another in the small hours when they couldn’t sleep.

  It hadn’t crossed his mind that it would be Saffy. He hadn’t been thinking about her at all, he realised. Or his baby niece, crying for her mother.

  May had accused him of thinking only about himself and she was right.

  ‘Here, give her to me,’ he said, taking the baby, holding her at arm’s length. Shocked out of her misery, she stared back him, her cheeks flushed, her black curls in disarray, a beauty in the making. His sister’s child.

  There and then he made her a silent promise that, whatever happened, he would ensure that her life was very different from that of her mother. That she would always know she was cherished, loved.

  She gave a little shudder.

  ‘Don’t fret, sweetheart,’ he said, putting her against his shoulder. ‘We’ll find your mother, but in the meantime May is doing her best so you must be good for her while I’m away.’ He looked down at her. ‘Do we have a deal?’

  ‘She’ll dribble on your shirt,’ May warned as she clutched at him, warm and trusting.

  ‘It’ll sponge off.’ Then he frowned. ‘How did Saffy get your number? It’s unlisted.’

  ‘I gave it to her once. I’m sorry. If she calls again…’ She stopped as she caught sight of his grip, his laptop bag. ‘Maybe it’s as well that you won’t be here. She hung up when I said I’d get you.’

  It sounded like a reproach. And, if it was, he deserved it. He’d worked so hard to distance himself from his family that now his sister was frightened to come to him.

  ‘If she rings again, I’ll do my best to persuade her to come here,’ she said, then, as the doorbell rang, she glanced at the clock. ‘Oh, Lord, that’s your car and you haven’t had any breakfast. I’m not usually this disorganised.’

  ‘You don’t usually have a baby to look after. Don’t worry; I’ll get something at the airport. If you need anything, you’ve got Jake’s number. He’ll know how to get in touch.’ He kissed Nancie, surrendered her to May. ‘We never did get around to deciding where to hold the wedding.’

  ‘Does it matter?’ she asked. Then, maybe realising that was less than gracious. ‘Why don’t we leave it to Jake? Let him surprise us.’

  ‘If that’s what you want.’ He picked up his bags and she made to follow him, but he said, ‘Don’t come to the door. Stay in the warm.’

  ‘You will be careful, Adam?’

  ‘I’ll watch out for low flying buses,’ he said flippantly.

  After he’d gone everything went quiet. The chicken, stupid thing, stopped tormenting the cats who, embarrassed, settled down to give each other and the kitten a thorough wash. The dog dropped his head back on his paws. Nancie sighed into her shoulder.

  It was quiet, peaceful and if all the tension had gone out of the room, out of the house with Adam, he’d taken all the life with him, too.

  Abandoning any thought of breakfast, she took Nancie upstairs. ‘Okay, little one. This is going to be an adventure for both of us,’ she said as she filled the baby bath, checked the temperature. ‘Now, promise you’ll be gentle with me.’

  Ten minutes later, and considerably damper, she wrestled the baby into a pair of the sweetest pink velvet dungarees, then put her down in the cot and turned on the musical mobile.

  She’d just finished mopping up the bathroom and changed into dry clothes when Robbie put her head around the door.

  ‘Is the coast clear?’

  ‘Sorry?’

  ‘Has he gone?’

  ‘Adam? Yes. Half an hour ago. And where were you hiding when I needed you? I’ve never bathed a baby in my life.’

  ‘Then it’s time you learned how. I was feeding the livestock and just look what I found sharing Jack and Dolly’s bed of hay.’

  She opened the door wider to reveal a shivering and sorry looking woman, bundled up in a thick coat, headscarf and peering at her through heavy-framed glasses.

  She looked vaguely familiar… The woman in the park yesterday. She took off the glasses and pushed the scarf back to reveal glossy black hair and said, ‘Hello, May.’

  ‘Saffy!’

  ‘I’ll go and make some tea,’ Robbie said, leaving them to it.

  ‘I saw you. Yesterday.’

  ‘I didn’t mean to stay. I was going back to France, to confront Michel. I just wanted to be sure that he was bringing Nancie to you but the idiot left her on the path where anyone could have taken her…’

  ‘That’s what I said. I shouted at him.’

  ‘Did you?’ That made her smile. ‘You were always shouting at him. That’s how I knew you liked him,’ she said. ‘It’s why I twisted his arm, forced him to ask you to the disco that night. You’d been so kind…’ Then, ‘I just wanted you to have a good time.’

  ‘I know. Nothing that happened was your fault.’ It had been hers. If she’d been braver, instead of hiding her friendship with Adam, if her grandfather had been given a chance to get to know him… ‘Have you been out there all this time?’

  Saffy nodded and May frowned. ‘But I don’t understand. If you were going to see Michel…’

  ‘I lost my nerve. I thought I might be arrested. That the police might be watching for me at Adam’s office. In the end I wandered around for a bit. Bought some food. I stayed in the library for a long time. It was late night closing. I spent as long as I could eating a burger to stay in the warm.’

  ‘Why on earth didn’t you come to me?’

  ‘Because I’m wanted by the authorities. I didn’t want to get you into trouble.’

  ‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, come here,’ she said, holding out her arms and gathered her in, holding her tight.

  ‘I tried to sleep in the park, but it was so cold and I when I tried your gate it was unlocked and I thought, maybe you wouldn’t mind but when you said Adam was here… He’s going to be so angry with me…’

  ‘Not half as angry as I’m going to be with him,’ she said.

  Then, standing back, ‘Saffy Wavell, you stink of goat. Out of those things and into the bath with you before you go anywhere near your gorgeous little girl.’

  Adam had just reached the airport when his phone rang. It was number withheld. ‘Saffy?’

  ‘Adam—’

  ‘May…’ He’d been trying to block out the scene in her kitchen. Noisy, alive, full of warmth and life, a total contrast to his own sterile existence.

  He hadn’t lacked for female company, but he dated women who were more interested in being seen in the gossip magazines than in anything more domestic than opening a bottle of champagne. The kind of women that his sister had always wanted to be. Tall, beautiful but, despite May’s accusation, not always blonde. The colour of their hair hadn’t mattered. The only unchangeable requirement was that they didn’t remind him of her.

  But the
unexpected sound of her voice against his ear brought her so close that he felt as if she were touching him.

  Just one day in her company and he was in danger of falling under the spell she’d cast on him when he was too young to protect himself from the kind of pain that brought. Forgetting what this was about.

  ‘Is there a problem?’ he asked, keeping his voice cool.

  ‘No. I only wanted to let you know that Saffy’s here with me. That she’s safe.’

  Relief flooded through him. Gratitude. He held it in. ‘You were right, then. She wasn’t far away. Can I talk to her? Or is she determined to avoid me?’

  ‘She’s in the bath right now and then I’m going to feed her and put her to bed.’

  ‘I’ll take that as a yes.’ Well, what did he expect? He’d kept her at arm’s length for years. She knew he didn’t want her around, reminding people who he was. Where he came from. ‘I’ll see what I can do about damage limitation,’ he said. ‘I’ll get Jake to organise a family lawyer.’ He could do that for her. ‘Try and sort out the mess.’

  ‘It’s the weekend. Nothing is going to get done until Monday. Let me talk to her, Adam. Find out what’s happened. If it can’t be straightened out, I’ll call Jake myself.’

  ‘Damn it—’

  ‘Your priority is your trip, Adam. And there’s no harm in trying honey before we go for the sting.’

  ‘You should know.’ But she was undoubtedly right. In cases like this, soft words might well prove more effective than going in heavy-footed. Something that he wouldn’t have had to be told if this was a business negotiation. But his family had never been exactly good when it came to relationships. ‘Try it your way first, but tell Saffy she has to stay with you until I get back.’

  ‘Oh, that will work.’

  ‘May! I’m concerned about her. Please ask her to stay with you until I get back.’

  ‘Better.’

  ‘What is this, family relationship counselling?’ She didn’t answer. ‘Tell her that I’m not angry, okay. That I’m glad she’s safe.’

  ‘Wow.’

  ‘Sarcasm does not become you, Miss Coleridge.’

  ‘Forget she’s your sister, Adam. Think of her as some frightened creature that you’ve found,’ she said, using his own words to her when he’d been trying to persuade her to take Nancie. ‘It’s in pain and you’ve picked it up and brought it to me.’

  ‘Damn it!’ Was she mocking him? ‘Do whatever you want,’ he said and hung up.

  Around him, the terminal buzzed with people wheeling heavy suitcases as they searched for their checkin desks. They were harassed but excited, looking forward to going on holiday or to stay with family.

  He had a sister and a mother who he kept at arm’s length. Out of sight, out of mind. He had no one. No one except May. He looked at the phone in his hand, scrolled down to her number.

  ‘Adam?’

  From the way she said his name, he suspected that she hadn’t moved, but had been waiting for him to call back. And he couldn’t make up his mind whether the feeling that ripped through him was anger that she could read him that well or an ache for something precious that had been trampled on, destroyed and was lost for ever.

  ‘You can tell my sister,’ he said, ‘that, whatever happens, she can count on me. That I won’t let her down. That I won’t let anyone take Nancie away from her.’

  ‘And that you won’t shout at her?’ she insisted, but now there was a smile in her voice.

  ‘You’re one tough negotiator, Danger Mouse. I don’t suppose you’d reconsider that job offer?’

  ‘As a nanny? I’m already redundant.’

  ‘If you think that, you’re in for a rude awakening. You now have two babies to take care of.’ She didn’t say a word and, after a moment, he laughed.

  ‘Okay. I’ll do my best, but you’ll have to stand very close so that you can jab me with your elbow if I forget.’

  ‘My elbow? My pleasure,’ she said, but she was laughing too and he was glad he’d called.

  ‘I have to go.’

  ‘Yes. Please be careful, Adam.’

  ‘May…’

  ‘Yes?’

  There was a long pause while a hundred possibilities rushed into his head.

  ‘I’ll call you in the morning. Maybe you’ll have got some sense out of Saffy by then.’

  CHAPTER NINE

  MAY surrendered her room to Saffy so that she was next to the nursery, loaning her a nightdress since she didn’t seem to have any luggage. Sorting her out some clothes.

  She slept most of the day, waking only when Nancie cried to be fed, the pair of them curled up in bed together.

  She and Robbie worked quietly, stripping the bedrooms, getting them ready for the next group of guests who would be arriving the following Friday for a three-day garden design course. Then she took Nancie for a walk, sticking up posters with a picture of the kitten to the lamp posts in the park on her way in to Maybridge to pick up some underwear for Saffy who, despite having given birth recently, was still at least two sizes smaller than her.

  Keeping herself busy, counting off the long hours until Adam’s flight landed.

  By the evening, Saffy had recovered. Robbie announced she was going to the cinema with a friend, leaving them to spend the evening catching up.

  ‘I really love Michel,’ she said after she’d given chapter and verse on how they’d met. How handsome he was. How romantic. ‘It’s his mother. She never liked me. She is such a snob. She’s done everything she can to split us up and when that didn’t work she dug up all that stuff from when I was a kid. Telling Michel that I was a danger to Nancie. That I couldn’t be trusted.’

  ‘Did he ask you about it?’

  ‘Of course and I told him everything. Not that I nearly went to jail. That you saved me. But everything else,’ she said.

  ‘You can’t hide, Saffy. Michel has rights, too. And you’ve put yourself in the wrong. He must be frantic with worry. Not just for the baby,’ she added.

  ‘I was frightened.’

  ‘Of course you were. Do you think it would help if I spoke to him? Explained?’

  It took a while to persuade her but, an hour later, a sobbing Saffy was talking to Michel, declaring how much she loved him.

  Adam finally rang at ten the following morning.

  May, in an unfamiliar bed, had scarcely slept and jumped every time a phone rang. Once it had been Jake, to let her know that Adam had arrived safely just after ten the previous evening and to ask if she needed anything.

  Mostly it was Michel calling Saffy to mutter sweet nothings. Clearly the thought of losing her had brought him to his senses.

  ‘I tried earlier, but the line was engaged.’

  ‘It’s the French lover.’

  ‘They’re talking?’

  ‘Endlessly. I’ve suggested he comes to stay but, from his reluctance, I suspect he hasn’t told his parents that they’re reunited. Maman sounds like a dragon.’

  ‘There are worse things than an over-protective mother.’

  ‘True.’

  ‘I’m sorry, May. At least I had one.’

  ‘Forget it. How was the flight?’

  ‘Long. Boring. I’d seen the film. The food was terrible. Pretty much what you’d expect.’

  ‘Well, you’ve got that Presidential dinner to look forward to.’

  ‘Not until the end of the week.’ He told her his itinerary; she gave him her mobile number. ‘I have to go, May. I’ll call you later. Take care.’

  ‘Take care,’ she repeated softly when he’d hung up, holding the phone to her breast.

  He called every morning on the landline and talked, not just to her, but Saffy. Called every evening on her mobile when she was in bed. She updated him on the saga of the French lover and his mother. He told her what he’d been doing. Nothing of any importance. The words weren’t important. It was hearing his voice.

  May, up to her eyes preparing for the arrival of a houseful of guests a
s well as preparing a rush order of fudge, snatched the phone off the hook.

  It was the tenth time it had rung that morning. The announcement of their forthcoming wedding had appeared in The Times that morning and she’d been inundated with calls. Only Adam hadn’t rung.

  ‘Yes!’ She snapped as snatched up the phone.

  ‘Whoa. Bad morning?’ Adam said, making the whole hideous morning disappear with a word.

  ‘You could say that.’ But not now… ‘I’m just busy. Michel and his parents are arriving this afternoon.’

  ‘His parents?’

  ‘It was my idea to invite them. He’s finally owned up to his maman that the relationship is back on and he wants to marry the mother of his child.’

  ‘Not before time.’

  ‘His mother still thinks that Saffy is a scheming little nobody with a bad history who’s not fit to clean her boy’s boots, let alone raise her grandchild. I’m going to change her mind. Prove to her that the Wavells have connections. Robbie and Saffy are polishing the family silver even as we speak.’

  ‘You’re giving them the full country house experience?’

  ‘Absolutely. The best crystal, the Royal Doulton, Patsy in a white apron waiting table. I’m even going to wear my grandmother’s engagement ring. Just to emphasize that Saffy is about to become my sister-in-law.’

  There was a silence, a hum on the line and for a moment she thought she’d lost the connection.

  ‘Your mother didn’t sell that?’

  ‘It’s been in the family for ever. Jane Coleridge is wearing it in the Romney portrait, something I’ll point out when I introduce them to the ancestors. Knock them out with centuries of tradition.’

  ‘Just as long as they don’t think that I’m too cheap to buy you one of your own.’

  ‘Adam…’

  ‘You’ve clearly got everything under control, there. I’ll call later and see if you’ve managed to cement the entente cordiale.’

  He rang off. May replaced the receiver rather more slowly. Clearly he’d been annoyed about the ring but there was no point in worrying about it.

  If she was going to hit them with afternoon tea in the drawing room, install Michel’s parents in state in the master bedroom and then serve the kind of traditional British food at dinner that would make a Frenchman weep with envy, she didn’t have a minute to spare.