Everything You Told Me

by Lucy Dawson

  ‘Of course I paid!’ He laughs. ‘Jeez, you’re not telling me that Matthew made you cough up for your ring? How have I never known this?’

  ‘We actually didn’t buy one at all, if you remember,’ I say absently. ‘Mine is a family heirloom from his grandmother.’

  ‘Oh right – nice. The best kind.’

  ‘I suppose so, although I think—’

  ‘Kelly was so excited,’ he cuts across me. ‘It was really nice. In fact, she was so busy gazing at her finger, we got back to the car and she realized she’d left her handbag in the jewellers. Daft moo. I had to drop her off and go around the block so she could race back in and get it.’

  I stop instantly. ‘She forgot her handbag?’ Given all of the bags I’ve ever seen her with are designer and extremely expensive, I find that very hard to believe.

  ‘Yeah. Luckily her mate’s dad had put it out the back, but her pal had also arrived in the interim. Eight times I did that bloody loop while they were in there, probably just shrieking at each other.’ He laughs.

  ‘You know us girls,’ I say slowly. ‘Tell me, what’s the ring like? Is it platinum or white gold? What cut is the stone?’

  ‘Oh God, Sal, I don’t know!’ he exclaims. ‘It’s sort of square. And platinum, I think.’

  ‘Platinum, you think…’ I repeat in disbelief.

  ‘That’s the most expensive one, isn’t it? Yes, it’s definitely that. We got a lot of bang for our buck, as it were.’

  I’ll bet she did. It’s completely obvious to me what’s happened. Kelly came out with the more modest ring that Will paid for, then she faked a reason to go back – and secretly upgraded while he was in the car. As long as she’d come back with a ring roughly the same shape, he’d have been none the wiser if it was larger, worth three times as much, or thirty-three times. The fact that she also knows the jeweller makes me even more certain that’s what she’s done. She probably had the ring she really wanted pre-selected and on standby – and if they know her personally, they’re not going to question cash, are they? Caroline’s were completely genuine notes, after all.

  ‘Well, don’t forget to add it onto your insurance policy, will you?’ I tell him. ‘Rings have to go on individually.’

  ‘She’s already got it covered. Her agent sorted it, I think.’

  There! I am right, because that’s just weird. Why on earth would her agent be arranging something like that? This is how I can make him see exactly what kind of person Kelly is. I don’t even need to bring up everything else. She’s hung herself.

  ‘Will, you need to ask her if you can add it to your policy, and tell her you need the diamond certificate.’

  There’s a long pause. ‘Sally, I think it might be easier if you just tell me what the problem is.’

  ‘I’m pretty sure the ring she’s wearing now isn’t the one you chose together,’ I say carefully, making sure I say nothing about the missing money. ‘I think she might have swapped it for something a little more… extravagant while you were in the car.’

  Such a long silence follows, I actually think I’ve lost him for a minute. ‘Hello? Will?’

  ‘I’m still here.’

  ‘Just ask her, that’s all I’m saying.’

  ‘Kelly wouldn’t do something like that. She’d know how much that would hurt my feelings. The whole point was we chose it together and it was as much as I could afford. She couldn’t buy a ring for seventy thousand either. Soap stars don’t make anywhere near as much money as everyone thinks they do.’

  There’s a sudden knock on the door, which makes me jump. ‘Mummy?’ says a small voice. ‘The door’s stuck. I can’t come in and I need you to do me a plait, please.’

  ‘I’m coming, Clo. Will, I’m sorry, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you back in a bit, if that’s OK?’

  ‘It’s fine,’ he says distantly. ‘I’ll be here.’

  I hang up and open the door. Chloe is standing outside holding my hairbrush and a hairband. ‘I’ve got everything.’

  ‘Did you get them all yourself? Well done!’

  She nods proudly, passes them to me, and turns around. ‘Can it start low down?’

  ‘Of course, darling.’ I draw her closer to me and start to brush, taking care to hold the hair tightly as I tease the knots from the ends so it doesn’t pull. She stands beautifully still as she waits patiently for me to be done, and I glance at her delicate arms and the perfect sweep of her tiny neck. I begin to plait, and clench my jaw suddenly at the thought of Caroline saying last night that there are enough of us around the children at the moment for any threat to them not to be a problem. What the hell kind of reassurance is that supposed to give me anyway? Someone is either dangerous, or they’re not. It was the right thing to call Will. There’s no doubt in my mind.

  ‘Have you finished, Mummy? I’m hungry.’

  ‘Yup – all done!’ I twist the band into place. Dangerous and devious… I don’t want that woman near any of us. ‘Come on – let’s get you some food.’

  We go back into the kitchen to find everyone – bar Caroline, who is sitting on the sofa clutching a cup of tea – eating breakfast.

  ‘Here’s yours, love.’ Mum gets up hurriedly and passes me a plate heaped with eggs, bacon, mushrooms and tomato. ‘And yours, Chloe.’

  ‘Thank you, Granny Sue,’ she says politely, and sits up. ‘Can you push me in, Mummy?’

  I get up and do as she’s asked, then sit back down opposite Matthew. ‘Do you want me to do that?’ I nod at the bowl of baby porridge, which he’s very slowly and carefully spooning into our son.

  ‘No, thank you. I need to get better at this, and I’m enjoying it.’ He smiles at Theo. ‘Yes I am! Aren’t I? Daddy’s enjoying it. Everything all right with the Crisis team?’ he asks ultra-casually.

  I glance at Chloe, who is tucking into her food, good little girl. ‘Yes, thank you. Would you come to the park with me later, Chloe?’

  Her little face lights up, and she nods happily. ‘I’m going to show you how I can go down the slide backwards.’

  ‘No! I don’t believe it. You can’t do that?’ I pretend to be amazed.

  She grins and says, ‘I can!’

  ‘You don’t think you ought to stay in and rest today?’ Matthew says. ‘I can take Chloe to the park. Sue, you wouldn’t mind putting Theo down this morning, would you, so Sal can go back to bed?’

  ‘Of course I wouldn’t,’ Mum says. ‘Matthew’s right, you should take advantage of us being here.’

  ‘But I—’ I start to protest, only for Caroline to interrupt with a gentle, ‘I think the park is a great idea, Sally.’ I look at her gratefully, and she adds firmly, ‘You and Chloe should go, just the two of you.’

  ‘We used to call that a kitten adventure,’ Chloe says suddenly. ‘If it was just me and Mummy. Just me and Daddy was a mousey adventure, and if it was me, Mummy, and Daddy, it was a puppy adventure.’

  ‘That’s right, clever girl,’ I say, remembering that we used to say that all the time, but then I’m distracted by my mobile buzzing in my pocket with the arrival of a text message. I reach in and pull out my phone, expecting Liv, but to my surprise, it’s Will.

  Just had it out with Kelly. You were right. She swapped ring.

  ‘No!’ I exclaim aloud, without thinking.

  ‘What?’ Matthew says, as everyone else looks up too.

  Had massive row – she was hysterical. Apparently she ‘didn’t want to hurt me’ but my offering not quite up to scratch, so she thought she’d ‘top it up’ herself… Don’t tell anyone else please. Not sure how I want to play this yet. Might pop over and see you all later, depending on everything here. Thanks for heads-up. X

  ‘It’s nothing,’ I say immediately. Will’s not sure how he wants to play this? What does that mean? He’s considering calling it all off?

  They are questions that remain frustratingly unanswered for the rest of the day. I try to text him again later, while we are at the park, and then later still t
o see if he wants to join all of us for a roast that Mum is making, but he doesn’t respond.

  It’s only once Caroline has just left to go home at 7 p.m. that there’s a loud knock at the front door.

  My parents look up from Country File, and Matthew jumps to his feet. ‘Mum must have forgotten something. She’s going to wake Theo!’ He rushes out of the room, only to return apprehensively a few moments later. ‘Sally? Door for you.’

  Confused, I get up, and pulling my bobbly but comfy and favourite cardigan tightly around me, I make my way out into the hall. I’m expecting Liv – who I haven’t heard from all day – or maybe even Will, but the person I actually discover standing on the doorstep, incongruously holding a huge bunch of flowers, some chocolates and a magazine, while looking absolutely furious – is Kelly.

  In contrast to the glossy girl from the Instagram picture I saw last night, her eyes are slightly red from crying, she’s got no make-up on, and her hair is tied back in a ponytail. She’s wearing a simple long-sleeve black top over dark skinny jeans, and some battered old Converse, but she actually looks amazing. Almost a completely different person. As she glares at me, I can see we are about to have a conversation stripped back of any pretence too.

  ‘It was you, wasn’t it?’ she says. ‘You call, and out of the blue, Will is suddenly asking me for diamond certificates and insurance documents. You really hate me this much? You’re that jealous? Will would have been none the wiser if you hadn’t stuck your nose in. All you’ve done is hurt him – again.’

  ‘Me?’ I say in disbelief. ‘I wasn’t the one who deliberately left my bag at the jewellers so I could go back and swap the ring before anyone got a picture of me wearing the “sub-standard” offering my poor brother worked so hard to provide you with.’

  She flushes hotly. ‘Don’t you dare make out you know anything about me!’

  ‘I know a lot more than you think,’ I retort, unwisely.

  Her eyes narrow and, after a moment’s pause, she says dangerously, ‘And what exactly is that supposed to mean, Sally?’

  I realize instantly I’ve said far too much, and am teetering on the verge of betraying Caroline. Desperate to deflect Kelly’s attention, I blurt, ‘Why did you do it? You found some spare cash lying around the house you thought you’d invest?’

  She turns completely white and whispers, ‘No! Of course I didn’t.’

  ‘You’re lying. I can tell. I know you stole the money!’

  Her expression changes again. ‘Stole it? From who?’

  ‘My mother-in-law,’ I say quietly, and watch carefully for her reaction.

  She laughs incredulously. ‘Oh my God! You really are completely mad, aren’t you? I’ve always known you’ve got issues – but this is on another level.’

  ‘I know you took the sixty-five grand.’

  ‘Sixty-five thousand pounds?’ She shakes her head in disbelief. ‘OK, Sally – despite what we said to each other on Friday night, after you wound up in Cornwall, I actually was going to just back off and leave you alone. You’re ill, and I get that, but you just can’t drop it, can you? You keep coming back for more, and I’ve told you, I’m not letting you do this to me. You know, all of my friends keep saying you’d be like this with whoever Will was with, but I don’t agree. This is personal to me, I know it is. What did I ever do to you? I’m just a nice, ordinary girl.’

  ‘No, you’re not.’

  She considers that for a moment, and then throws her head back as if she’s in a spotlight. ‘Yeah, actually you’re right. There’s nothing ordinary about me. But, you know, I’m actually not just a pretty face; I’m also way smarter than you give me credit for, and if it’s any consolation, Sally, I believe you. I don’t think you tried to kill yourself.’

  ‘Oh? And why’s that?’ I say slowly.

  ‘I know exactly what you’ve done – you don’t fool me for a second. People who really want to kill themselves, do it. They really commit to suicide. You think you’re so clever with your little games, don’t you? Taking yourself off to Cornwall in a taxi and your PJs: “Woohoo, everyone, look, I’m going to jump off a cliff…”’ She stares at me in disgust. ‘Nothing makes a husband buck his ideas up like a wife literally on the edge, eh, Sal? Being a bit more attentive now, is he? Plus, of course, now everyone is on your side. No one can be angry with poor little Sally when she interferes where she’s not wanted, because she’s so vulnerable at the moment, we couldn’t possibly upset her. Except, here’s the thing, Sal –’ she takes another step closer to me, letting the flowers hang loosely in her hand. Caroline’s warning not to kick the hornets’ nest begins to reverberate in my head, while I try to stand my ground and wonder if she’s about to hit me – ‘normal people don’t pull attention-seeking stunts like this. You are deranged to have done it.’

  ‘I didn’t do anything!’ I exclaim. ‘And you know that. You were the last person who—’

  ‘Oh, just shut up! I’ve not stolen a penny from you. And for the record, the ring cost nowhere near that amount. You need to learn not everything you read in the papers is true. But most importantly, from one actress to another, here’s some professional advice: you don’t want to overplay this. Otherwise everyone might think you’re really unstable, and that’s a different game altogether, trust me.’

  ‘Have you got the door open out here, Sally? There’s a wicked draught coming through… Kelly!’ Mum appears alongside me, beaming, but then looks concerned. ‘Are you all right, love? Where’s Will?’

  ‘At home. Everything’s fine, I just wanted to pop over with these for Sal,’ Kelly says earnestly, absolutely all trace of anger having flicked off like a switch, as she holds out the flowers, chocolates and magazines. ‘I know they’re not much – but I wanted Sal to know I was thinking about her.’

  ‘Isn’t that nice!’ Mum says. ‘You came all that way!’ She looks at me pointedly.

  ‘Thank you, Kelly,’ I say dutifully.

  ‘You’re very welcome. You’ve been through so much, Sally, but please don’t forget where we are. Just call again, and I’ll be there. I’m not going anywhere, I promise you.’

  CHAPTER TEN

  By a quarter to seven, the house is warming up nicely for Monday-morning chaos. Theo has been babbling in his cot for half an hour, having already been fed when he woke up at six, and put back in his cot. I haven’t got him yet, not just because I’m clinging to my one sacrosanct rule that the kids don’t get properly up before seven o’clock, but because I’m lying in bed thinking about Kelly, turning up on the doorstep last night out of the blue. She is completely determined to stay in Will’s life. She left me in no doubt about that.

  Matthew begins to crash around in the shower, and Theo instantly changes tack as he realizes someone else is awake, and starts clamouring noisily to be rescued. I reluctantly drag myself up and go through first to check on Chloe, who is sitting in bed flicking through some books.

  ‘Morning, darling, how are you? Sleep well?’ I give her a business-as-usual smile. ‘What do you fancy for breakfast?’

  ‘Boiled egg, please. Is it a school day today?’ she asks.

  ‘Yup. Granny Sue and Grandpa have asked if they can take you. That’s fun, isn’t it? I’m just going to change Theo’s nappy, then we’ll get you dressed, shall we?’

  ‘Can I come and get Theo up too?’ She scrambles out of bed and dashes past me.

  Pausing to grab her uniform and the hairbrush, I also stop en route outside the bathroom and knock on the door. ‘Matthew? Don’t forget, Mum and Dad have to get through the shower too, will you? I’ll go and start Chloe’s packed lunch, but can you come down to sit with Theo as soon as you’re dressed?’

  ‘Will do,’ he shouts back, unusually equably. Normally he hates being chivvied. ‘I’m nearly done.’

  I go through to find Chloe has climbed on the side of Theo’s cot and is squeaking, ‘Good morning’ repeatedly to him, at an ear-piercingly high pitch. Theo has pushed himself up onto his tummy in hi
s Grobag and is craning to look at her. I arrive in time to see him pulling his knees up to his chest in very credible preparation for crawling.

  ‘Let’s stop that, shall we?’ I pick him up hastily and wrestle him onto the change mat while Chloe continues to jump around and screech. ‘Sweetheart, can you not make that noise? Please?’ I ask her, smiling, despite it being a really horrible sound.

  ‘Everything all right in here?’ Matthew suddenly appears around the edge of the door, clad in a towel, hair damp, and looking – I’m surprised to find myself thinking – very attractive. ‘Do you need me to change him?’

  ‘Um, no, thank you.’ I self-consciously pull my gross nightie down so it covers my legs and bottom a little better.

  ‘You sure?’ he says, concerned. ‘I don’t mind, if you feel like you need a moment? You sound stressed.’

  ‘I’m really fine,’ I assure him, and he nods, then disappears.

  I sounded stressed? I didn’t think I did.

  Everyone might think you’re really unstable, and that’s a different game altogether, trust me.

  Disquieted, I push Kelly’s voice from my mind as I bend to gather Theo up and get to my feet. I need to try not to let her into my head, that’s exactly what she wants. I should never have said I knew more about her than she realized, though, that was insane. She’s going to put two and two together and deduce Caroline’s the source, surely? I basically did exactly what Caroline warned me not to. Should I give Caroline a heads-up? I probably ought to. There was no need for me to accuse Kelly of stealing the missing cash either. Will is going to pursue where Kelly got that kind of money from in any case, it would have come out anyway, without my needing to take a wrecking ball to it.

  I just need to go and see him, and have this out with him properly. I wonder when he’s working from home next? That would be the best solution. We need to sit down and discuss things calmly, without anyone else interrupting.

  ‘MUM!’ Chloe tugs on my sleeve, bringing me back to the room. ‘I said I want bunches today!’