by Sue Welfare
Suzie turned the album pages and looked down at a picture of the bride and groom outside the church looking impossibly young and happy. Someone had glued a piece of paper to the front and written ‘Mr and Mrs Jack and Rose Bingham’ on it in a rounded, bubbly hand. The handwriting looked very much like her mum’s, bringing tears to Suzie’s eyes. All those years ago, all that joy and hope – a life crammed full of possibilities and plans, their gaze fixed on the future they had together.
‘We could easily do Mum’s bouquet. I mean, looking at these –’ Suzie said, infected by Liz’s enthusiasm. ‘Red roses and gypsophila, it’s not exactly rocket science.’
Liz pulled a whatever face. ‘If you say so. Let’s face it, flowers are really your thing, not mine.’
‘Actually, if you want to be accurate, vegetables are my thing and Mum’s not going to be too chuffed if she ended up with a bouquet of radicchio and curly endive.’
‘Well, you know what I’m saying here,’ said Liz, waving the words away. ‘You can sort that out. You’re the family gardener.’
‘And you’re the family star?’ said Suzie, raising her eyebrows.
‘Well, if the cap fits …’ said Liz with a wry grin.
Suzie struggled to bite her tongue. Five days of Liz’s ego, of her hogging the bathroom, taking all the hot water and constantly being on her phone even during dinner, had worn Suzie’s Christmas spirit right down to the canvas, particularly as Liz had invited herself. Her idea of mucking in was – in her own words – to stay out of the way when there was any sign of work, whether it was washing up or anything else that might risk chipping her nail polish. Her Christmas present to them all had been tickets to a show in London, which Suzie knew damn well Liz had been given as comps, and which would cost them a mint in train fares to actually use.
‘Play nicely, you two,’ Sam had said, mellowed by a couple of glasses Christmas cheer. ‘And tell me again how come we didn’t throw them a big party for Jack and Rose’s twenty-fifth?’ Up until the party plan had emerged, Sam had been sitting on the sidelines drinking margaritas and watching Wallace and Gromit.
‘I don’t know really,’ said Suzie. ‘Mum and Dad have really never made that much of a fuss about wedding anniversaries. You know what they’re like – no fuss, no frills – and for their twenty-fifth we were probably too young to organise anything.’
‘Or to care, come to that,’ said Lizzie. ‘I must have been at uni and you two were all loved up and getting married.’
‘For their thirtieth they went to Rome, I think,’ said Suzie, flicking back through the album. ‘And our girls were little then and it was Mum’s fiftieth the same year. I think their anniversary just got forgotten in the rush. So actually you’re right, a big party is well overdue. The only downside if we really do want to recreate their wedding reception from scratch is that the church hall where they held it burnt down years ago.’
‘Don’t worry about that. It’s the spirit of it that counts. I was thinking maybe we could hire a marquee,’ said Liz. ‘Stick it up in the garden behind their cottage. There’s plenty of room on the lawn.’
Suzie raised her eyebrows. ‘Have you got any idea how much those things cost?’
‘No, but it’ll be my treat, instead of picking up the tab at Rocco’s,’ said Liz.
‘Probably work out about the same if you pair have a dessert there,’ Sam had said wryly.
And so here they were, six months, many phone calls, a lot of Googling and a complete logistical nightmare later.
Suzie took another look at her watch. ‘I’ve told the guests to be here by 5.45 pm at the latest.
‘And they’re all going to hide in the cottage?’ asked Liz incredulously.
‘No, we’ve asked everyone to go round the back into the marquee so we can keep them in one place. I’ve also asked people to park down on the recreation ground so we don’t give the game away.’
Liz nodded. ‘Right, in that case I’m just going to go upstairs and grab the bathroom before everyone else arrives. Grant will probably be getting here at around six. I know he’s just dying to meet you all and I’m sure you’ll love him. Anyway, I really need to go and get ready. I don’t want him to think that I’ve let myself go just because we’re out in the sticks,’ she said cheerily.
‘Lizzie, wait—’ Suzie began, but too late, her little sister was already heading for the house. ‘You’ve only just arrived and you’ve been on the bloody phone ever since you got here,’ she mumbled.
‘Where the hell’s she going now?’ said Sam in exasperation as he rounded the corner on his way back from the marquee with a chair trolley.
‘Apparently she’s just going to get ready,’ said Suzie as casually as she could manage. ‘I’m sure she won’t be long.’
Sam stared at her. ‘Well, that’ll be a first. Just bloody great, isn’t it? Why on earth did you let her go? There are loads of things still to do and we could really do with another pair of hands. Oh, and while I’m on the subject of helping hands, I can’t find either of our dear daughters either,’ he said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. ‘The band have rung up to say they can’t find us, the caterers can’t find anywhere to plug in their equipment without blowing all the fuses, Liz’s fancy photographer just texted to say he’s running late and the fireworks have only just shown up. And you know what? I’m getting fed up of being the one who is supposed to have all the answers. We never agreed that we’d do all this on our own, Suzie, and so far it looks to me like we’ve done the lion’s share. I thought madam there said she’d arrive early and give us a hand?’
‘I know, you’re right – and we have, but Lizzie has paid for a lot of it,’ said Suzie, caught in the badlands between agreeing with Sam (which she secretly did) and defending Liz (which she felt some irrational instinctive urge to do), all the while thinking that being caught in the middle was no place to be.
‘I know, but that still doesn’t mean she can just swan off when we need her. We’re not the hired help here, you know – and she was the one who offered, nobody twisted her arm, although I’m sure Lady Bountiful isn’t going to let us forget who signed the cheques in a hurry.’
‘Please don’t be so snappy, Sam, it’s not like you. She said she needed to get ready, what could I say?’ Suzie said lamely.
‘Oh come off it. Liz always looks like she’s just stepped off the front cover of a magazine,’ said Sam. ‘Never a hair out of place …’
He didn’t add, ‘unlike you,’ although Suzie suspected she could hear it in his voice. She glanced down at her outfit – faded, world-weary jeans and an equally faded long sleeve tee-shirt worn with a pair of cowboy boots that had seen far better days. Suzie knew without looking in a mirror that her hair was a bird’s nest and there hadn’t been time to put on so much as a lick of make-up because the whole day had been manic since the moment she’d opened her eyes.
‘To be honest, I don’t know how she does it,’ Sam said, his gaze fixed on the front door through which Lizzie had so recently vanished.
Suzie stared at him and laughed. ‘You are joking, aren’t you? A professional stylist, twice weekly trips to the beautician, the manicurist and the hairdresser, a personal trainer, Botox and a grooming budget that would make your eyes water. Not to mention the fact that she hasn’t got a husband, two children, two dogs, two cats, a rabbit and a business to run, which probably gives her a bit of a head start,’ growled Suzie sarcastically, snatching up the boxes of table decorations that she had been taking to the marquee before life got in the way.
‘Do I detect a modicum of jealousy there?’ Sam said as he headed off back towards the car.
Suzie swung round to say something but he was too quick for her.
Jealous of Liz? As if, although even as she thought it, Suzie knew that the thought came too quickly to ring completely true. There were days when Liz’s life looked like a total breeze in contrast to her own.
Chapter Two
‘My feet are absolutely killing me,�
� said Rose with a groan, prising off her shoes and wriggling unhappy toes. She and Jack had managed to find a table outside the café in the shade and Rose had no plans to walk a step further. ‘That is just so much better,’ she sighed, stretching her feet. ‘I don’t think I can walk another step. What do you think Fleur’s up to?’
‘She said that she was going to get a pot of tea and some cake,’ said Jack, glancing towards the dark interior of the tearooms.
Rose looked at him and laughed. ‘That isn’t what I meant and you know it,’ she said. ‘All this –’ she waved a hand to encompass the day – ‘out by ten, slap-up breakfast on the way here, God know how many hours spent trudging around a stately home and gardens. This from a woman who usually wants to stay put and be waited on hand and foot while she’s staying with us. Can you remember the fuss she made last time she was over and we suggested a day out at the seaside?’
‘Maybe she’s had a change of heart.’
Rose sniffed. ‘Fleur’s never had a heart, Jack, she’s got a calculator.’
Jack raised his eyebrows. ‘Play nicely. You have to admit she’s been all right while she’s been over here this time. Maybe she’s mellowing in her old age. Maybe she’s beginning to realise what she’s missing. And like she said, she’s only over here for a couple of weeks this time around and the gardens are only open to the public for a month every year.’
‘Fleur hates gardening.’
‘Yes, but she knows that you like it,’ said Jack.
Rose looked sceptical. ‘That’s exactly what I mean. When was the last time Fleur thought about anyone but herself? When she gets back I’m going to ask her what she’s done with my sister.’
Jack laughed and then, changing the subject, said, ‘Actually it’s been a really nice day all round, hasn’t it? I’m really looking forward to a pot of tea and some cake.’
‘And that’s another thing – buying us tea and cakes,’ said Rose. ‘Fleur’s purse is usually welded shut. So far she’s insisted on paying for us to get in and fought like a tiger when we offered to buy her lunch,’ As she spoke Rose counted the things off on her fingers. ‘And now she’s gone trotting off to go and get the teas. I don’t understand it at all. There’s something up. You don’t think she’s ill, do you?’
‘What?’
‘There’s bound to be something more to this. I’ve been trying to work it out all day. Maybe she’s softening us up so she can break the bad news.’
‘What bad news?’ asked Jack anxiously.
‘Well, I don’t know, do I? Maybe she’s coming home for good. Maybe she’s finally outgrown Australia. Oh my Lord, you don’t think she wants to come and live with us, do you?’
Jack shook his head. ‘No, of course not. Maybe she’s just …’ he began, obviously struggling to come up with some explanation, while fiddling with a sugar packet, tipping it end over end so it made a sound like waves breaking on the beach. After the tide had rolled in and out half a dozen times, he shook his head. ‘No, actually, Rose, you’re right. I have no idea what Fleur’s up to, but to be honest it makes a nice change. In all the years I’ve known her she’s never so much as offered to buy a cup of tea, let alone treat us to a day out. And you have to admit she’s been really cheerful and good company today. I’m really rather enjoying myself.’
As if to underline the point, Fleur reappeared from inside the teashop carrying a huge tray. Jack leapt to his feet to rescue her. Rose smiled. Jack was always the perfect gentleman even when it came to her grumpy sister.
‘Here, let me have that,’ he said, taking it out of her hands. ‘Bloody hell, that looks amazing, you must have bought half the shop. Are you trying to feed us up?’
‘Thanks, Jack,’ said Fleur with relief. ‘I didn’t know what you liked, so I got a selection of little sandwiches and cakes. There’s salmon and cucumber, egg and cress, Victoria sponge, and a lemon drizzle cake. Oh and Danish pastries.’
Rose looked at them in astonishment. ‘We haven’t long had lunch, we’ll never eat this lot.’
‘I know, I got the boy behind the counter to give me a box, so we could take home what we don’t eat. Waste not want not.’ Fleur settled herself down at the table. ‘So have you enjoyed your day so far?’ she said, in a tone that suggested it was a leading question.
‘Yes, we were just saying that it’s been lovely,’ said Rose, watching her sister’s face for clues. ‘I was going to talk to you about that.’
‘The thing is,’ said Fleur, leaning forward to unpack the cups and pour the tea. ‘Coming here today. To the gardens. It wasn’t really my idea.’
‘Now there’s a surprise,’ said Rose, shooting Jack a knowing look.
‘Actually it was Suzie’s. She said that you’d always wanted to come here and as it’s your fortieth wedding anniversary she thought it would be a nice gesture—’
‘If you brought us?’ asked Rose sceptically. ‘Why didn’t she bring us herself?’
‘Well, the thing is, Liz is taking us all out to dinner tonight and Suzie got you those lovely olive trees and to be perfectly honest I couldn’t think of anything else to buy you. So I thought this would be the perfect present – a nice day out. Just the three of us.’
‘I don’t know why you bothered. You never bought us anything before,’ Rose said, the words out before she could stop herself.
‘That’s hardly fair,’ said Fleur. ‘I gave you that lovely cut-glass decanter, remember?’
‘Which someone gave you,’ Rose fired straight back.
‘Only because I thought it was more your sort of thing than mine and how was I to know that you knew the man at the garage?’
‘They were giving them away with petrol tokens,’ said Rose to a bemused-looking Jack by way of explanation.
‘Yes, but the promotion was over,’ protested Fleur.
‘I know,’ said Rose. ‘The man in the garage told me they were throwing the rest of them out and asked if I wanted one to match the one I’d already got.’
‘You said you liked it.’
‘I was being polite,’ growled Rose, ignoring the sandwiches and helping herself to the chocolate éclair from the selection of cakes on the plate.
‘I was going to have that one,’ Fleur said, sounding hurt.
‘I know,’ said Rose, biting off the end.
Jack, who had been watching the exchange, looked from one sister to the other. ‘When did we ever have a cut-glass decanter?’ he asked.
‘Fleur gave it to us as a wedding present,’ said Rose, through a mouthful of éclair. ‘I gave it to your mum for Christmas.’
Jack sighed and made a start on the sandwiches.
Chapter Three
Across the garden of Jack and Rose’s cottage, in a secluded spot behind the summerhouse, and as far away from the marquee as it was possible to get without actually being in the neighbour’s vegetable patch, Hannah, Suzie and Sam’s older daughter, threw herself down on the grass alongside her little sister, Megan. She put her hands behind her head and closed her eyes.
‘That’s it. If anyone asks me to carry just one more thing round to that bloody marquee I’m seriously going to flip out. Really. And Mum is just so stressy about everything at the moment. I mean, I was just getting myself a drink from Grandma Rose’s kitchen and she comes in and reckoned I was skiving off. As if. I mean, just how unfair is that? I said to her, I don’t have to be here you know. We’re volunteering, it’s not like we’re getting paid to help out or anything.’
‘It’s Grandma and Granddad’s party,’ said Megan.
‘I know that,’ said Hannah. ‘I’m not totally thick, you know.’
‘Well, you don’t get paid to go to a party.’
‘You do if you help. Those waiters and the people in the kitchen aren’t doing it for nothing, are they?’
Megan considered her answer and then after a second or two said, ‘That girl was round here looking for you a little while ago.’
Hannah opened her eyes and pushed
herself up onto her elbows. ‘What girl?’
‘You know, the one that came round to tea. The one Mum says is trouble.’
‘Sadie Martin.’ Hannah rolled her eyes. ‘It’s only because she dyes her hair. And she’s fine. It’s Mum and Dad – they are just so narrow-minded about anybody not like them.’
‘She took the mickey out of everything, doing that funny voice, all that “Thank you, Hannah’s mum”.’
‘She was just being polite,’ Hannah grumbled.
’She was not,’ said Megan. ‘And then she did that thing when Mum asked her if having her nose pierced hurt.’ Megan mimed an eye-rolling, sarky face. ‘And when Mum said about her having her hair streaked and how she’d done hers when she was a teenager and Sadie said, “I didn’t know they had hair dye then.”’
‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what did she want?’
‘She’s the one who swears a lot?’
Hannah nodded. ‘I do know who you mean, Megan. She’s okay.’
‘Mum says she probably takes drugs—’
‘Well she probably does but that doesn’t make her a bad person. Okay? Or me a bad person for knowing her, come to that. All right?’ Hannah snapped.
‘Don’t have a go at me,’ growled Megan. ‘I’m just saying.’
‘Well, don’t,’ growled Hannah, closing her eyes again.
There was a moment or two of silence and then Megan said, ‘She came round with some boys.’
‘Yeah,’ sniffed Hannah, not stirring. ‘What boys?’
‘I dunno, just boys. One was sort of blond with cut-offs and a hoodie – like a skater, you know – and the other one was tall and thin with spiky hair.’
Hannah pulled a face, feigning nonchalance; it sounded like Simon Faber and Stu Tucker. Tucker had been seeing Sadie on and off for months and Simon … well, he was really cute and Sadie had told Hannah that he fancied her, but Hannah was playing it cool because Sadie could be cruel sometimes, and it might just be a joke and then how stupid would Hannah look?