by J. R. Bonham
“Yes, but we can’t stay here all day! Come on, we’ve got places to go and things to see,” he enthused. “Shall we go and visit the Eiffel Tower first? I’ve always wanted to go to the top to see the view. Did you know it’s ninety storeys high?”
“Wow!” ‘I can’t believe this is really happening to me. I’m just the luckiest person alive right now,’ she thought.
They arrived at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower and looked up to see how tall it was.
“That is some construction,” he said to her. She was awestruck too.
“Shall we go up in the lift and then we can walk down if you like. It’s a lot of steps otherwise.”
“That sounds like a good idea.”
They got to the top and Jan was looking out through the wire netting, marvelling at the view. She looked around and saw Mike had suddenly disappeared. She heard a commotion behind her.
‘Where’s he got to?’ She saw some people laughing and pointing. She looked in the direction where they were pointing and saw Mike on his knees looking up at her, smiling.
“Two things,” he announced. “Will you marry me?”
“Oh!” she was bemused. “What’s the other thing?”
“You haven’t answered me yet! I’m not getting up until you say ‘yes’.”
“Yes. Yes. Yes! You can get up off your knees now,” she said as she helped him up and hugged him close. The people around started clapping and Jan blushed. “You’re making an exhibition of yourself!”
“Phew, thank God for that. It was cold down there with the wind blowing through my nether regions!” Mike bowed to the people and waved to them as they dispersed, still smiling at each other. He had made their day.
“Too much information!” she laughed. “You said two things.”
“Patience!” he laughed as he put his hand in his pocket and produced a little gift for her. Here you are. Happy Birthday.”
“Oh thank you,” she said as she ripped off the wrapping paper. It dawned on her as to what it might be when she looked at the small box in her hands. She opened it, very slowly. There, inside was a most beautiful engagement ring. “It’s lovely! Thank you so much,” she said as she just stared at it for a few moments. “How did you know I like that colour? Is it Amethyst?”
“It is, and it’s surrounded by diamonds. But if you don’t like it, I can easily change it. Or if I haven’t got the right size, that can be altered too. Don’t you remember the day we first met? In that shop at the top of the mountain in America. I asked you to choose a painting and you chose the one with the trees and the purple frame. You told me it was your favourite colour and I told you it was mine too.” She looked blank. “You’ve forgotten haven’t you?”
Chapter 44
“It just slipped my mind, that’s all!” Jan admitted. “Of course I knew you liked purple, as I do too. Now I can wear this and always think of you. It fits beautifully. How did you manage to get the right size?”
“Ah, that would be telling, wouldn’t it?” he teased. “OK, I’ll tell you. I borrowed one of your other rings that’s in the treasure chest you brought with you.”
“Treasure chest! Hardly! Do you mean my very small jewellery box?” she laughed. And he laughed as they walked down the steps of the Eiffel Tower hand-in-hand, so happy.
They spent the rest of the day walking alongside the River Seine and then up to Montmartre, the artists’ area of Paris. They walked amongst the artists’ easels but hardly looked at the pictures on show. They only had eyes for each other.
Back at the hotel, Mike told Jan to get ready for the evening. She thought that they were going for a meal somewhere. They were, but Mike had another surprise for her.
“The pièce de résistance is AFTER the meal,” he confessed.
“Oh!” she replied. “What could that be, I wonder?” she said with a glint in her eye.
“Another surprise of course!” He knew what she meant but he wasn’t letting on. She had had the main present, the ring. The pièce de résistance was a little extra that he was able to arrange just before they left London. Something he hoped would impress her immensely.
They had a lovely meal and then Mike hailed a taxi. They arrived outside the Moulin Rouge. He helped her out of the taxi and escorted her to the theatre. They were shown to their seats in the stalls, four rows from the front.
“I could have had front row seats but I never go for them unless it’s in the circle. I like to be a bit further back in the stalls, not so close to the stage that you get neck-ache,” he explained.
“These are wonderful seats. I’ve heard so much about this show but never imagined I’d ever actually be sitting here waiting to watch it. What a fabulous birthday I’m having. Best ever. Thank you so much for making it so special. I couldn’t be happier and it’s all down to you. I’m so lucky.”
“It’s my pleasure.” It pleased him immensely to be able to make her happy.
They caught the late train back to London the next day after visiting the Louvre again. The magic of Paris had captured their hearts and he promised they would visit again soon.
Mike went back to work the next day. Jan looked forward now to the future because she was sure she had made the right decision to be with this loving, generous man. The marvellous experiences that she had enjoyed with him would now be the foundation for their new life together.
“I must go job hunting now,” she told Mike after being in the flat for a few days on her own. She had taken time out to put things in order at the flat before she found a new job. She went to the Job Centre and found a part time receptionist/secretarial post with a small, local firm of chartered accountants. Just what she had been used to in Devon.
After a while Jan started thinking of playing tennis again. She knew that Mike had played a bit in the past so she suggested that they join a tennis club. She hoped to resurrect his interest after years of not playing. This was a way of making more friends as much as getting some exercise. They looked at a few clubs and decided on one of them. At weekends they would go and play there early and then they would have the rest of the day to themselves. She was also able to play a couple of times in the week before she went off to work.
“Would you like to go to the Cotswolds for Christmas?” Mike asked her out of the blue. “It’ll take your mind off what you’re missing with the kids. I do understand you know, how you must be feeling the sense of loss.”
“That would be nice,” she agreed. “Yes, I am feeling a bit sad at not being able to see them at Christmas time.”
“I hate Christmas myself. Never have liked all the false jollity. Our first Christmas should be special, though, so I think you shouldn’t have to work all through it with cooking and everything.”
Mike organised the trip to a hotel in the Cotswolds for Christmas. They arrived and met other like-minded people there. People with no families to spend Christmas with, or people who just wanted to get away from it all and have someone else to cook for them.
They had four days of pure gluttony.
“I don’t think I should eat for a week when we get back!” said Jan on the way home. “Anyway, thank you so much for thinking of me and taking my mind off other things. I’ve had a great time.”
On the way home Mike suggested they look in on his mother. He felt guilty leaving her on her own at Christmas time, even though she had told him she had had an invitation to spend Christmas with the neighbours.
“I’ve had a great time,” his mother told them as soon as they arrived. “The neighbours have all been wonderful. We’ve played games and watched old films on the TV. I’ve eaten far too much turkey and Christmas pud. I didn’t miss you at all!”
“Oh, that’s good.” Mike was so pleased to hear that his mother was happy. He hadn’t seen her so animated for years. He reckoned he couldn’t have done better for her himself. It was a win-win situati
on all round. Jan was happy to have a memorable Christmas away and his mother was perfectly satisfied.
Everything changed just a few days later. His mother died suddenly from a heart aneurism.
It was a huge shock to Mike and he had to have bereavement counselling. Jan did her best to comfort him too. Now he felt that he was all alone in the world apart from her. His father had died nearly twenty years before and now his beloved mother. He had no brothers or sisters and his children had little to do with him. His daughter, Sonia, hadn’t wanted any contact at all with him since he split with her mother when Sonia was only five. When his son, Richard, was at school, Mike used to take him to cricket matches and out to dinner on a weekend. Once Richard left university he left the country and Mike heard nothing more from him since he left for a new life in Australia.
He felt better after his counselling and was kept busy with the funeral arrangements.
The new year promised them a life much better than the year before. Settled, with little or no stress. Every morning Jan woke up with a smile on her face. Something that she felt she had never done before. When she was at home with her parents it was not a happy time after her mother was diagnosed with manic depression. And then in her marriage, it was always a strain and she certainly never felt happy apart from when she had her children. They certainly fulfilled her life and made it more bearable.
She didn’t know how long this happiness would last but she grabbed it with both hands, hopefully never to let it go.
Both John and Clare were worried about their brother-in-law, Geoff, and in the weeks and months that followed Jan’s leaving, they took turns to ring him every week to see how he was getting on. John, in particular, carried on with the contact after Clare was happy that he wasn’t going to do something stupid, something he had threatened to do. Like, end it all.
Six months after the separation from Jan, Geoff met a woman, by chance, while he was in the supermarket buying his weekly shopping. She was having trouble with her trolley and he tried to help her. They introduced themselves and he asked her out.
“That was daring,” John said to Geoff after he had told him of the circumstances of his meeting Lynda.
“Well, I thought to myself, ‘there’s nowt for dumb folk,’ – one of my mother’s favourite sayings. I have grieved over Jan for long enough and I know she’s never going to come back to me. I’ve got over her now and moved on.”
“Good for you,” John replied.
John and Vera met up with Geoff and Lynda on one of the weekends that they stayed with Ken and Audrey at their cottage in Shaleham. Later on, Clare also met Lynda.
John kept Jan up to date with what was happening in Devon. He told her that Geoff had met a new woman, within six months of Jan’s leaving. She was delighted to hear that he wasn’t on his own anymore. Hopefully, he would be a bit happier. It was at this time that she felt that any possible danger had passed and she could let her family know where she was living. Now, at last, she hoped to be able to have a letter back from her children. She went back to the police station to retract her statement and they said they would keep it on file for the time being.
Jan wrote weekly letters to her children when she first left. She always asked for a reconciliation with them. Always hoping. When it came to Christmas and birthdays, she would send them special cards and presents. After six months or so she changed from weekly letters to monthly letters. After a year she changed to bi-monthly letters but still sent special cards for birthdays and Christmas. She never received anything in return. Not a letter. Nothing.
She wondered what the children thought when they received all her letters. She imagined them taking pleasure in ripping them up and putting them into the bin. But that didn’t deter her. She just kept writing and saying how sorry she was and how much she missed them. Sorry about the way in which she went about leaving, but explaining also why she had to do it. She tried telephoning them occasionally but they just hung up when they knew it was her.
In Devon, Louise and Dean’s wedding day approached. Everything was planned with the help of Dean’s mother in the absence of Louise’s mother. John and Vera and Clare and Jamie were invited but not Jan. Ken and Audrey were invited but they declined at the last minute through ill health. Audrey’s manic depression was starting to get out of control and Ken didn’t want her embarrassing herself, or himself, and ruining their granddaughter’s special day.
Louise had one bridesmaid, a friend from school whom she had seen regularly since they both left. Dean’s best man was an old friend he had known since he was five. Louise chose the same church which was attached to the junior school which she and Steven had attended. It was a little village church school which Jan had chosen for them a long time ago. It had lasting good memories for both of them.
Geoff gave Louise away but he didn’t think it appropriate that his new lady friend should be invited. He was surprised that Louise had been adamant that her mother wasn’t going to be invited. He felt that he had got over her leaving him so wondered why his children were still feeling so bitter. He wondered if it was anything to do with his mother.
“You look fabulous,” Betty told her granddaughter on her big day, thinking that was what she wanted to hear. “It’s just a pity you look so much like your mother!”
Jan’s friend, Margaret, who used to have Steven and Louise in the holidays when Jan had to work, heard about the wedding through her daughter Sophie, who was one of the guests.
“I must go to the church and wish her well,” Margaret told Sophie. “I have some confetti. I’ll keep a low profile, mingle with the villagers who will come out to wish the happy couple good fortune. Don’t worry, I won’t embarrass you.” She was so well aware how easy it was for parents to embarrass their children. She was also hoping to see Jan and speak to her. Ask her quietly how it’s going in Surrey with her new man. Unfortunately, no one had told her that Jan wouldn’t actually be there.
The service went ahead without a hitch. The happy couple emerged from the church with the wedding congregation following behind, throwing confetti. The photographer tried to take natural photos of everyone before he took official ones of the bride and groom.
Margaret searched for Jan as everyone was emerging from the church. She couldn’t see her at all. She wasn’t with Geoff. ‘Well she wouldn’t be, would she?’ thought Margaret. ‘I don’t know many people here, but I could ask Steven where Jan is. There he is, standing with his Granny.’
“Hello Steven, how are you?” asked Margaret, giving him a hug. “It’s been ages. You do remember me, don’t you?”
“Of course I do!” Steven said politely. “I’m just fine, and you?”
“Oh, yes thank you, fine,” she said. “I don’t want to bother Louise on her special day but I just wanted to say hello to your mother. But I can’t find her amongst the guests.”
“That’s because she wasn’t invited!” Betty barged in.
“Oh!” Was all Margaret could think of to say. Not thinking for a moment that her friend would not have been there, naturally, to see her own daughter getting married. “Why ever not?”
“Louise and the family didn’t want her here, so she wasn’t invited,” Betty reiterated and Steven stood back nodding agreement.
“Oh, that’s a shame,” Margaret continued. “I was hoping to see her.”
Louise came over to say hello to Margaret when she saw her talking to Steven and Betty.
“Hello,” said Louise.
“Oh, Louise, you look lovely. Gosh, don’t you look the spitting image of your mum! So beautiful. I was hoping to catch up with her, but your gran says she isn’t here.”
“That’s right,” Louise bristled. Nothing else was said and Margaret went away shaking her head. ‘Unbelievable! Not inviting her own mother! I bet Jan is devastated.’
Jan was obviously very upset not to be able to see her daughter get
married. Mike was well aware of this and to take her mind off it, he asked if she would like to go up to London to see a show.
They went to get tickets for Les Miserables. There were no seats available at the box office but they were told to wait and see if there were any returns. They were lucky because some front row tickets in the circle were returned at that moment and so Mike snapped them up.
“We’re very lucky to have front row seats,” Jan said to Mike.
“Only the best for you!” He also thought that they really had been extremely lucky. They just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
In the last scene of the show was a wedding. All Jan could think of was her own daughter’s wedding on that very day. Probably at that very same time of day. Mike looked across at her and saw a tear running down her cheek.
“Sorry,” said Mike. “I really didn’t know that was going to happen. All I wanted to do was to take your mind off it and then that happens!”
“No, don’t be sorry. I’ve loved the show. Thank you so much for bringing me here.”
Jan met an elderly woman, Eileen, at the block of flats where they lived. She welcomed Jan and asked her in for coffee one day. Jan proceeded to tell her the story of how they came to Surbiton. Eileen was mesmerised and amazed.
“You seem to lead an active life. Do you play badminton?” she asked Jan.
“I certainly do, but I haven’t found anywhere to play yet. We’ve joined a tennis club but Mike doesn’t play badminton. I expect I shall find somewhere when I’ve got time.”
“This could be your lucky day. I’ve a friend, Pauline, coming over later for tea and she runs a badminton club. Would you like to meet her? Come in for tea later on.”
“Oh, thank you.”
Before Jan arrived, Eileen told Pauline all about Jan’s story of her leaving her husband. As soon as Jan arrived Pauline questioned her some more which bemused Jan. She wondered if she was more interested in Jan’s story or whether she wanted an extra member of her badminton club.