‘Hasn’t your mum told you her boyfriend’s name?’ Curtis tried to think back to when his parents had split. Mum, brightly positive, had introduced him to Darren right from the first. Darren, who’d seemed a horrible intruder in those days, had been brightly positive, too, no matter how rude Curtis had been. Only Dad had been grave and quiet.
Natasha gave another big gross snorty sniff. ‘Dad just says it’s all out of his hands.’
‘Which is code for “It was her who wanted to split up, not me, so she can tell you.”’ added Jordan, gloomily. He cocked a considering eye at Curtis. ‘Richie at school says he gets loads more birthday and Christmas presents since his parents split.’
Curtis grinned. ‘’Sright. From Darren’s family I’ve got like a spare nan, grandad, aunts and uncles. They all give me stuff. And I get two Christmas Days, one with Mum and one with Dad.’
Natasha wiped her swollen eyes and dumped the tissue on the floor. ‘My friends Alicia and Rowan say the same. And at least we’ve got Auntie Leah here for the holiday.’
Jordan rolled his head back on the sofa. ‘Yeah, better than just being with Dad. He’s got enough shit ache for all of us.’
Unwilling to be in the house but not quite comfortable with closing herself off in La Petite Annexe, unconcerned about everyone else’s unhappiness, Leah lay on a garden lounger, a bottle of rosé pamplemousse nestling amongst ice in a blue plastic jug beside her, a good slug of its contents gleaming in her glass. Alister had taken himself off to brood in the silence of the salon, the kids were elsewhere in the gîte with Curtis, while Leah vibrated with the swimmy-trembly feeling of unreality that came with disaster as she attempted to assimilate the day’s events.
‘You kidnapped my boy?’
The voice mock-growling through the twilight made Leah jump, slopping her wine in a chilly splat onto her legs. She twitched around to find Ronan leaning over the fence. The last solitary ray of evening sun fired red lights in his dark hair.
‘I did ask Curtis to text you. He’s with Natasha and Jordan. He came to invite them to your house but Alister said would he mind being here, instead.’
‘He has an instant memory wipe available for such requests. Is he in your way?’
She shook her head. ‘Alister thought it might be good for the kids to have someone their own age to talk to.’ The tears tightening her throat made her words come out on a sort of gargle.
Ronan’s expression changed. ‘What’s up?’ He slung a leg over the wooden fence and landed on his feet on her side of it, though he winced and flexed his arm.
Knowing she must look a sight she smoothed her hair and wiped at her cheeks as he crouched down to gaze into her face but her chest convulsed on a sob as she explained the day’s events.
‘I feel sick that she’s gone. I got angry and challenged her. By the time the others got home she was all packed. She justified herself to the kids, giving them loads of kisses and promises to be back soon, then carted her bag out of the house and around the corner, where, I presume, her boyfriend picked her up. Everyone’s gutted but Michele says she has to be fair to Baby Three. It’s a mess.’ Though relief had been mixed with the guilt on Michele’s face as she left.
‘These things always are.’ He sighed, sombrely, letting himself down on the grass and propping his back against the next sun lounger. ‘But, for the record, I agree that the new baby’s paternity should be considered. Did Jordan and Natasha know about the pregnancy?’
‘Not till today. If I’d just left well enough alone–’
He moved nearer, closing his hand comfortingly on her shoulder. ‘It’s not your fault! Michele must’ve been formulating her plans. Being pushed into admitting the existence of the boyfriend just gave her the opportunity to put those plans into action. And she must trust you implicitly.’
His reassuring logic eased some of the tightness in Leah’s chest. ‘It sounds as if you’re trying to put a positive spin on me being Deputy Mum while she goes off with her twinkie.’
His eyes softened. ‘No spin. I just know how hard it can be to entrust your child to others, so relying on you is a kind of a compliment.’
Leah snorted. ‘Putting on me.’ Taking another gulp of wine, she welcomed the slight weight alcohol added to her limbs. Nothing about the hideous situation had changed, yet somehow Ronan was steadying her. She tried a smile. ‘You’ve no idea how much I admire parents. I’m awed by the sacrifices you make, staying calm when the shouty little people you’ve created disrupt your every plan, or when they’re upset or ill and your heart’s in tatters for them. But I chose not to be responsible for the next generation.’
‘So,’ he answered mock-solemnly, injecting a lot of Irish into his voice, ‘will I go to Muntsheim and find a shop that will make you a medal and a plinth to stand on while we all admire you for your sacrifice?’
She let out a strangled laugh.
He returned to his normal voice. ‘Are you sure you don’t want me to take Curtis home?’
Leah tipped back her head to drain her glass. ‘I think I’d prefer you both to stay and eat with us. It’ll distract the kids. Alister’s done his best but he’s … upset.’
A shadow passed over Ronan’s face. ‘Humiliated, is my guess. Whatever the state of the marriage, it’s bruising to know that your wife prefers someone else. When the kids learn you’ve been rejected you feel like shit.’
She stole a glance at the hardness that had taken over his face. ‘Sorry if anything I said touched a nerve.’
His grin flashed, dispelling the lines of pain. ‘Don’t worry. Those nerves have been covered by nice tough skin for quite a while now. It’s all in the past.’
Chapter Six
The next day, Leah was woken by an incoming text. She groped sleepily for her phone.
Michele: Is everyone OK? How are the children? xxxx
A tide of hurt swept over Leah. She got up and showered, rather than trusting herself to reply. Under the fall of water she practised breathing deeply and counting to ten. She reminded herself that Michele was in a tough place and that she genuinely did have a responsibility to Baby Three as well as to Natasha and Jordan.
When she was dried and dressed she typed a return message.
Leah: It’s v early morning and I haven’t seen them since last night when they were sad and tearful but talking to Curtis as he’s an old hand at parents splitting up. Alister’s gutted and I’m feeling petrified and put upon.
Then she deleted it unsent and, instead, returned a more sensible and conciliatory:
I’m doing my best, and so is Alister, but they’re bound to be upset. Perhaps you could talk to them each day so they’re reassured you haven’t disappeared completely?
To keep the channels of communication as friendly as possible she added an x, whilst muttering, ‘This is not about you, Leah, it’s about them. By early September you’ll have your life back.’
She’d just begun to text Scott to bewail her bloody sister and the bloody holiday when, after a perfunctory knock, Natasha burst through the door into the kitchenette of the annexe.
Fair hair screwed into an untidy ponytail, she looked pale and panicky. ‘I’m so glad you came on holiday with us. You are coming out with us today, aren’t you? If we go somewhere. Are we going? Can Curtis come? Jordan isn’t so horrible when Curtis is there. Will Dad come? Are you staying right to the very very end of the holiday? The very end? You will, won’t you?’
After a big comforting hug, Leah gently turned Natasha around so that she could brush out the tangles from her hair and Natasha couldn’t see the guilt on her face. ‘I don’t know anything about today, sweetie, till I’ve talked to your dad. But I expect to be here as long as you guys are.’
‘Yes! Can we have pain au chocolat for breakfast? And pains aux raisins?’ Natasha clutched Leah’s hand to tow her up to the gîte. She got underfoot, whined when Jordan snapped at her and asked peevish questions about her mum, which Leah, understanding how thoroughly her niece w
as rattled, did her best to answer without allowing the least impatience to creep into her voice.
Apart from Natasha, breakfast was a near-silent affair. If Natasha was Leah’s shadow, Jordan was more of a black cloud.
Alister was quiet but composed. ‘I think we should go out today. Let exercise take our minds off things.’
‘So long as Leah comes,’ stipulated the shadow.
The black cloud just shrugged.
Leah pinned on a bright smile. ‘Yes, let’s go out and do something fun!’
Both shadow and black cloud looked at her as if she must be kidding.
Nevertheless, an hour later she was driving them all, plus Curtis, to a local lake described in the guidebook as ‘a perfect place for families’ where Alister hired bikes to ride along the cycle track alongside the water’s edge.
Natasha was all sorts of sulky from the first turn of her wheels. ‘It’s far too crowded and I’ve got a stupid bike that’s stuck in one gear.’
At the same time, Alister made an effort to keep the pack together as Jordan and Curtis surged heedlessly ahead. ‘Not so fast, boys!’ The boys, tyres hissing, showed no sign of hearing.
The floundering Natasha was acting like a chicane, obliging other cyclists to ring their bells and swerve around her. Leah cast around for a way to improve the situation. ‘I don’t mind if you swap bikes with me. I can’t get excited about anything without an engine, anyway.’
‘But yours has those stupid brakes.’ Natasha slapped furiously at her gear lever.
‘They’re easy once you get used to them. You just pedal backwards instead of the brakes being on the handlebars.’ Leah back-pedalled to demonstrate how the wheels were slowed.
Natasha was in no mood to be mollified. ‘How come Jordan and Curtis have scored 21-gear trail bikes? It’s not fair.’ She glared after the boys.
Alister shouted again, ‘Jordan! Curtis!’ as their back views disappeared around the next curve.
‘You go after them. I’ll stay with Natasha.’ Leah pulled aside to let a family past while she resettled her helmet, which persisted in swivelling until its strap sat over one eye. She pointed to a Nestlé’s flag fluttering above the trees. ‘Looks like there’s an ice-cream place not far off. We’ll meet you there.’
‘I’ll never make it on this thing,’ whined Natasha as Alister hared off around the curve after Jordan and Curtis. Blinking back tears, she wrestled anew with the lever. Then, with a triumphant ‘Done it!’, she found a co-operative gear and began to pick up speed. ‘C’mon, Leah, keep up!’
Mindful of it being a family area, Leah smothered the curse that leaped to her tongue, standing on the pedals as she obeyed Natasha’s summons and tried to be thankful for the lightning change of mood.
Finding her pedalling rhythm, she began to feel the wind in her face. The next bend saw her whizzing up behind Natasha who, in turn, was gaining on Alister. The two boys were again out of sight. Leah’s feet whirled faster and faster, her wake marked by reeds swaying at the edge of the lake.
Natasha glanced around, wobbling precariously. ‘Dad, Leah’s catching us!’ she shrieked. ‘Go, Dad, go!’
Alister tucked his head down and pedalled harder, putting on a big booming Gandalf voice. ‘You shall not pass!’
Leah laughed, her legs going like pistons, her hair blowing over her face, helmet strap once again over her eye. ‘I’ll be first in the queue for ice-cream!’
Giggling and gasping, Natasha crouched over her pumping legs. ‘No, no, I will!’
Alister panted, ‘You shall not pass!’ less convincingly, as Natasha and Leah drew level.
Three abreast, howling and laughing, wobbling and swerving, jockeying for the lead, they flew around the next bend.
Which was when they met Jordan and Curtis flying back.
‘Whoa!’ the boys bellowed, sliding sideways in a screech of brakes, flinging up clouds of dirt but ending up more or less on their feet and astride their machines.
‘Waaaah!’ screamed Natasha, swerving wildly towards the reeds.
‘NO!’ After a heart-stop moment of grabbing at the handlebars for brakes that weren’t there, Leah remembered the unfamiliar braking system and back-pedalled. Hard.
The bike bucked her off like a pony.
She had a split second to be thankful for her helmet, skew-whiff or not, before the ground flew up to thump all the air from her body. ‘Oof!’ As she lay and crowed for oxygen, she heard a splash. And then a piercing scream.
‘Natasha!’ On a surge of adrenalin Leah hauled herself to her feet and staggered dizzily to where the reeds fidgeted in agitation at being disturbed.
But no Natasha stood in the water among them.
‘Natasha! Tashie?’ Leah’s heart hammered, and she had to hold her ragged breath to listen. After a terrifying moment, she heard whimpering.
‘I’m stuck.’ A choking cough. ‘I can’t!’ Splutter. ‘Lea–’ More coughing.
‘I’m coming!’ Leah splashed into the water, shoving blindly at the reeds that, nightmare-like, grabbed at her arms and legs. Endless seconds of battling took her up to her waist in icy lake water and suddenly she could see Natasha’s neon green helmet bobbing frighteningly close to the surface.
‘Legs stuck– Bike–’ Natasha gasped, flailing bravely to keep her mouth above water.
Heart pounding, Leah fought her way close enough to scoop an arm beneath Natasha’s shoulders. ‘OK, I’ve got you. Breathe, sweetie. Just breathe.’ She took a couple of moments to follow her own advice as Natasha’s panic began to calm with a few last heaves and coughs.
‘Can you kick free if I hold you up?’
‘Think so.’ After a lot of splashing and ‘Ow! Ow!’ Natasha was able to slide her legs out of the bike frame and tremble her way to her feet. ‘I couldn’t br-breathe. I thought I’d drown.’ Reaction setting in, she clung wetly to Leah and burst into tears.
‘I know. You’re safe now.’ Leah closed her eyes and cuddled her niece close as she waited for the fear to subside. It was several moments before either of them felt strong enough to yank their feet free of the lakebed and turn back towards the dry land. Jordan was just striking out towards them through the reeds, looking uncharacteristically anxious.
‘Leah–’
‘I’ve got her. She’s had a fright but she’s OK.’ Gaining dry land, after a cursory check of Natasha’s person and finding nothing worse than barked shins and bruises, Leah pressed her niece’s hand firmly into Jordan’s. ‘Look after your sister for two minutes while I drag the bike out. Don’t move an inch.’
‘Leah, Dad’s hurt his leg.’
‘One thing at a time.’ Ignoring the fact that her elbow was beginning to throb fierily Leah waded back into the chilly water, slipping over painfully between the reeds. It took all her strength to haul the bike up from its watery bed and back to shore. When she allowed herself a moment to catch her breath she noticed that not only were Jordan and Natasha still holding hands and standing exactly where she’d left them, but Jordan was dead white. Her heart gave an extra thud. ‘Did you say Alister’s hurt?’
‘Really hurt. Curtis stayed with him and I came after you and Tash.’
The sun was beating down but Leah’s blood ran cold. She’d been so focused on her mission that Alister’s absence hadn’t hit her. For him to abandon his daughter in a lake he must have been physically unable to–
‘Right, let’s check him out,’ she said briskly to disguise the slimy feeling of apprehension slithering through her belly. Leah jogged back towards the track as fast as suddenly wobbly legs would allow, surprised to see how far she and Natasha had plunged after the mass collision.
She found Alister sprawled in the dirt, face an unpleasant grey-white, Curtis crouched beside him.
‘Oh, shit.’ Leah almost gagged as she saw the unnatural angle of Alister’s leg.
‘Hurts.’ Alister’s breath hissed through gritted teeth either side of the single word.
‘I’ll get
an ambulance. The French for 999 is 18, isn’t it?’
Alister sucked in a breath. ‘But we left all the phones in the car to save them from getting damaged – my bright idea, I think.’
‘Right. We’ll have to …’ Leah faltered. The track, so busy just a little while earlier, was empty. Her mind hurtled through the possibilities. Which was closer, the ice cream place or The Pig? Should she leave Alister and take all the kids? Leave all the kids with him? She’d just made up her mind to leave the boys but take Natasha, who was wailing again at the sight of her dad’s leg, when, to her swamping relief, two men in Lycra shot around the corner on serious cyclists’ cycles. They swished to efficient halts with exclamations of ‘Merde!’
‘S’il vous plait,’ Leah stuttered, jumping up, ‘mon bon-frère est blessé —’
‘Beau-frère.’ Alister couldn’t resist correcting her, be it through white lips. He even took over the explanations, his French flowing impressively despite his agony. In moments one man was hunkering down beside Alister while the other flew back along the track, wheels whirring. Alister, grimacing all the while, translated these developments into English. ‘There’s a ranger’s station as well as a café. The gentleman’s gone there for help.’
Leah huddled with a shivering Natasha as the lake water in their T-shirts and shorts became too cold to be outweighed by the warmth of the sun. Jordan sat on the track with his father, and the Frenchman who’d remained with them introduced himself as Théo and chatted reassuringly with Alister in French and with the others in fair English. A few minutes saw the rangers bowling up in a pick-up truck with Garde Forestier on the side, the second Frenchman and his bike in the back.
Théo nodded approvingly. ‘Les pompiers come also, soon.’
It felt like ages before the red ambulance edged along the track. Les pompiers seemed to be firemen, to Leah’s surprise, in navy uniforms with red and yellow flashes. They took control with easy efficiency and when Alister was splinted and in the ambulance the rangers piled the rented bikes in their truck and Théo escorted Leah and the kids back to The Pig to guide her to l’Hôpital Civil in Strasbourg.
Just for the Holidays Page 7