by Susan Willis
As Karen made her way back downstairs to Greg, who was waiting outside in the car, Helen hugged her. ‘Thanks for tonight,’ she said, smiling affectionately. ‘You’ve helped me so much. And just for the record I’m making a pact with myself here and now. This time next year I’ll be one month from hitting the big four zero and by then I will not only look very different I’ll have made every effort to live my life to the full.’
Karen giggled. ‘That’s fine, but don’t go changing too much. I’m quite fond of my baby sister the way she is…’
‘I won’t.’ She waved to Greg while Karen made her way to the car.
*
The following morning Rachel arrived home from university and Helen called hello from upstairs as she stepped out of the shower. She was dreading the conversation about Rob that would have to take place and cursed him for leaving it all up to her – he could have phoned and talked to Rachel, she thought, but he’d naturally taken the coward’s way out. She dressed hurriedly in an old tracksuit hoping and praying that Rachel wouldn’t react too badly to the fact that he’d gone. As she imagined the hurt on her daughter’s face when she heard about twenty-three-year-old Stephanie, she cringed with shame.
Rushing into the kitchen she threw her arms around her daughter and hugged her tightly. It was a lovely spring morning and Rachel had thrown open the patio doors to the garden after dumping two bags of washing on the floor in front of the washing machine.
‘Hey,’ Rachel said, detangling herself from Helen’s arms. ‘I only saw you last Sunday…’
Helen switched on the kettle, feeling flustered. ‘I know. Sorry. It’s just I’ve missed you.’ Rachel had always looked like Karen and her mum when she was little but now the older she became the more striking the resemblance was.
Rachel jumped up onto the bench in her tatty jeans and swung her trainers against the cupboards like she’d done as a teenager. She wound a tress of her long black hair around her finger and examined it for split ends. ‘Where’s Dad?’ she asked.
Helen’s stomach slumped. She’d hoped to chat first and then tell her the news gradually, but knowing she couldn’t lie to her daughter she took a deep breath. ‘Darling, there’s something I’ve got to tell you and I’m afraid it’s not good news. Why don’t we make some coffee and go out into the garden while I try to explain what’s happened…’
Rachel jumped down. ‘Shit. Is he okay? Has he had an accident?’ she barked.
Helen’s heart began to thump, realising she’d alarmed her unnecessarily. ‘No, oh no, love. He’s fine – he’s not physically hurt. I’m sorry. I should have explained it better but I’m trying to…’
Rachel sighed heavily. ‘You’re trying to protect me and wrap me in cotton wool as usual instead of just explaining and talking to me in a rational adult manner.’
Helen added milk to the cups and stirred the coffee. ‘Probably, but I’m hoping to, what they call nowadays, minimise the damage. Come on,’ she said. ‘Let’s take this outside. It’s such a beautiful morning.’
They strolled into the eighty-foot-long garden that was surrounded by high shrub fencing, and sat together on the wood bench facing the small pond that Rob had built. Helen lifted her face to feel the warm sun and revelled in the peace and quiet. Rachel was right, she thought, it was high time she treated her like the lovely young woman she was and not a vulnerable teenager. She sipped her coffee and told Rachel the whole story, but omitting the details about Stephanie.
‘I’m not totally surprised,’ Rachel said. ‘In fact I’m amazed you two have stayed together for so long. You should have left him years ago.’
Helen was gobsmacked. ‘Wh-what? But how did you know?’
‘Oh, I didn’t know about this one.’ Rachel turned to face her. ‘But I saw him with the last one three years ago in the town centre. I didn’t want to tell you though in case it upset you even more.’
‘So, we’re actually one of a pair – not telling each other things to avoid upset,’ Helen said nodding. ‘I’d like to make a pact now that in future we don’t keep secrets and we tell each other everything – no matter what.’
Rachel put her hand in Helen’s and shook it. She giggled. ‘You’ve got yourself a deal, Mum.’
They drank their coffee, laughing together, and Helen tried to explain why she hadn’t wanted Rachel’s last few years at home to be lived amidst horrible arguments, and then she reluctantly broke the news about Stephanie.
Rachel gasped and her big brown eyes bulged. ‘Yuk! How gross is that!’ she cried. ‘So he’s shacked up with a twenty-three-year-old. But that means she’s only five years older than me.’
‘I know, darling, and I’ve told him he’s making a complete fool of himself, but…’
Helen’s heart ached when she saw the disgust and hurt on Rachel’s lovely young face – she wanted to wrap her up in the old baby blanket to protect her.
‘I’ll never speak to him again after this,’ Rachel pouted. ‘He’s like a bloody perv creeping around young girls.’
‘Oh, don’t do that,’ Helen begged. ‘I’d hate this to ruin your relationship with him. He does love you to bits, Rachel. No matter what he thinks of me, he worships you.’
Rachel huffed and her chin trembled. ‘He can’t love me that much or he wouldn’t behave like this, Mum. He’s nothing but a total embarrassment.’
A tinkle on Rachel’s mobile vibrated in the pocket of her jeans and she read the text. She giggled, and with her fingers racing over the front of the phone at breakneck speed she replied while Helen looked down the expanse of the garden.
That was the gift of youth, she mused thoughtfully. Rachel would pull through this much better now she was away from home with her new friends and life at university. If she’d still been at home she would have missed Rob more and would possibly have got caught up in the upheaval.
Tucking the mobile back into her pocket Rachel told Helen about the funny text from her friend and Helen told her about the makeover she had planned at the beauty salon and how she was meeting Karen for shopping and lunch.
‘OK,’ – Rachel looked at Helen dubiously – ‘Maybe I could leave the washing till later and come into the city with you and Aunty Karen?’
Helen grinned. ‘Of course you can. We’ll get round to the washing over the weekend. And Aunty Karen will be cock-a-hoop to see you.’
*
Helen sat in the salon with her eyes closed, not wanting to look at the finished result, while the beautician made up her face with new foundation and blusher, and widened her eyes with brown eyeliner. Her pink manicure had dried and when the beautician excitedly pronounced, ‘Ta-Dah’, she slowly and apprehensively opened her eyes and looked in the mirror.
Dear God, she thought, looking closer into the mirror at her face, was this really her? The transformation was unbelievable and she loved it. The new make-up was subtle and in keeping with her complexion. Her eyes looked brighter and more alive than she’d seen them for years. Her lips were coated in a soft pink gloss and she pouted playfully in the mirror. But it was her hair that made the biggest difference. The long layers that had been cut into its length made it fall around her face in a wavy, tousled affect as though she’d just got out of bed. The warm chestnut highlights were perfect, and foolishly she felt a ball of emotion gather in the back of her throat.
Karen and Rachel came back into the salon and she swung around in the chair grinning at them both.
‘OMG!’ yelled Rachel. ‘Mum, you look fabulous!’
But it was Karen’s eyes, awash with tears, that made her choke back her own. ‘Well, my lovely,’ Karen said. ‘You won’t ever get sick of looking at yourself like this, will you?’
After lunch the three women shopped on Oxford Street. Karen and Rachel chose clothes for Helen to try, and then shook their heads in dismay at Helen’s own choices. Finally, armed with piles of clothes, shoes and underwear, Helen went into the changing room in John Lewis while Karen and Rachel sat outside.
/> ‘It’s a bit like the Pretty Woman film,’ Rachel giggled.
Karen laughed and hugged her excitedly. ‘You’re not trying to tell me that my sister looks like a prostitute, are you?’
Suddenly, they both stopped laughing and gasped in awe as Helen emerged dressed in a brown, knee-length pencil skirt and cream shirt. The top two buttons of the shirt were open at the front and the plunge bra, as Karen had predicted, gave her an amazing cleavage. A wide, chunky leather belt over the waistband of the skirt nipped in her waist and the brown, one-inch, kitten heels added to her height.
Rachel’s eyes were practically standing out on stalks as she stared at Helen’s breasts. ‘Christ, where have you been hiding them, Mum?’ she grinned.
Helen was delighted with their reaction and with her new image. ‘I think it’s what’s called hiding your light under a bushel,’ she tittered nervously. ‘Is it too much?’
After reassurance and encouragement from them Helen returned to the changing room, removed the skirt and teamed the shirt with skinny jeans and two-inch ankle boots – she loved the casual look just as much and felt an excited buzz that was totally alien to her. By the time they left Oxford Street she had three new work-wear outfits, two pairs of jeans, four tops, boots and shoes and a bag full of new sexy underwear.