by Anita Waller
Mark sighed. ‘I don’t know. I feel completely out of my depth. Surely she knows I’ll take the letters to Gainsborough. I understand her missing the kids, I really do, but she chose to do what she did, and, as a result, we lost Mum and Ray, and two other families lost people they loved.’
‘Then, I say, let’s not tell Grace and Adam, unless it becomes necessary. There’s been enough turmoil in their lives. Agreed?’
‘Agreed, for the time being … but if this escalates, I tell them. I won’t have a choice, because if it does escalate, we go and get those damn letters.’
‘And there’s something else … have you been to the cemetery since June first?’
Mark frowned in concentration. ‘No, it’s about three weeks since I last went; I planted that little rose bush to the side of the headstone. Why?’
‘When I went today, expecting to see droopy pink roses I took last time I was there, they had been thrown away and replaced with white ones.’
Mark stared. ‘White roses?’
‘Exactly. White roses, just like the ones Jenny threw at Anna which caused all the blood, and her to run. I remember you crying about the white roses covered in blood; the image stayed with me.’
‘She’s definitely back, isn’t she …?’
‘And she’s not afraid to let us know.’
They sipped at their whisky, each lost in their own thoughts. With Anna gone, Michael had thought his own life was over. Mark and the children had grounded him, kept him sane, and he would allow nothing to damage that relationship, and certainly not Jenny Carbrook. Murderous bitch.
5
Michael stayed all weekend, instead of going home. The weather was glorious, and on the Saturday morning, all four of them went to buy a large pool. It took until lunchtime to get it erected and filled, but an afternoon of splashing, lazing, and eating helped Mark and Michael relax.
The children were noisy, wet, and without care. They splashed everything within their reach, until eventually, Mark and Michael changed into swimming shorts and joined in. The sun’s heat dried them, the pool wet them; this went on all afternoon, and even a welcome visitor didn’t stop the fun.
Erin, Michael’s daughter and first-born child, called around, and Michael, as always, was delighted to see her. Adam and Grace never queried her ‘aunt’ status, just as they never queried Michael’s ‘dad’ status; they simply accepted the change in their lives with equanimity. The lack of someone with a ‘mum’ status never seemed to bother them.
Erin arrived with tubs of ice cream, which they quickly stowed in the freezer, and they splashed the afternoon away, ordering pizza for dinner, followed by the more mature members of the family drinking copious amounts of wine.
The temperature began to dip around nine o’clock, so while Erin supervised bedtime for Adam and Grace, the two men dragged the cover over the new pool. Mark switched on the outside lights and the patio heater, as dusk began to envelop them, and they sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes.
‘My God, they’re lovely kids,’ Erin announced, as she returned to sit with her father and her half-brother. ‘I feel kind of cheated I haven’t known them since birth.’
Her father smiled. ‘So do I, which is why I’m making the most of my time with them now.’ He held up the bottle of wine. ‘Another glass, Erin?’
‘No, thanks. I’d prefer not to wake up with a hangover, although …’ She grinned. ‘You two are quiet. Is something wrong?’
Mark leaned forward in his chair, an intense expression on his face.
‘We have a problem, Erin. We think Jenny is possibly hanging around, in the hopes of seeing the children, but it was her decision to go off with the bloke she had been seeing, and to leave the children with me. Nothing about that is going to change. I have no objections to them seeing her when they’re old enough to make that decision themselves, when they have all the facts, but there’s no way she’s seeing them while ever she’s living with a drug dealer.’ He mentally crossed his fingers at the lie. ‘I have a photograph of her car. I’ll forward it to your phone; if you see it anywhere, will you text or ring me?’
‘Of course I will. You’re worried? Both of you?’ She looked at each of the men in turn.
‘We are,’ Mark confirmed. ‘She’s obviously still in Lincoln, but we don’t know where she’s living. It’s a black Fiesta; you can see the reg clearly on the photo. What you can’t see on the photo is a small decal on the driver door, not very big, and it’s just under the lock. It’s a small Minnie Mouse with a pink dress. She bought it when we were in Florida last year. It’s probably the only thing that makes it different to every other black Fiesta out there.’
There was a ping on her phone, as Mark sent the picture. ‘I’ll keep my eyes peeled. This may be drink talking, but nobody hurts or approaches those kids. Right, I must go home now. I’ll get a taxi, and come back for the car tomorrow. In fact, if it’s nice, I’ll bring my swimsuit.’
‘Do you have to go? We’ve got a guest room,’ Mark said.
‘I have to go,’ she responded with a smile. ‘I have a friend calling to see me …’
Michael held up a hand and laughed. ‘Too much information, Erin. We don’t want to know any more.’
She grinned at him. ‘Good. I’m not telling you any more.’
Erin rang for a taxi, and all three of them walked through to the lounge. Her phone pinged once, and she disappeared through the door, heading for the car parked out on the road.
Twenty minutes later, Erin paid for her ride and unlocked her red front door. She caught the smell of coffee and smiled. ‘Hi, honey, I’m home,’ she called.
‘Thank God for that,’ Sebastian West said, his head appearing round the kitchen door. ‘I’m lonely when you’re not here.’
6
Lily Montague, the head teacher of Adam and Grace’s school, studied the two men in front of her. Their faces were so alike, even down to the crease lines of worry.
‘I’ll make a note of it and send a memo round to our members of staff. Thank you for coming in to see me and explaining the situation. I needed to speak with you, anyway, about Grace.’
Mark looked shocked. ‘Grace? You have a problem with Grace?’
Lily laughed. ‘Not a problem with Grace, a problem with under-funding of schools. We have an extra-curricular music group twice a week. There are currently ten children in it, and they come to me immediately after lunch Mondays and Thursdays for recorder lessons. We have enough recorders to accommodate fifteen children, but some time ago, I moved Grace on to the bass. She is a remarkable musician, Mr. Carbrook. Remarkable. We only have one bass, and I have another young boy who is ready to move on to it, although he is nowhere near Grace’s level, and probably never will be. I would like to give Grace the chance of learning the flute, but believe me when I tell you, we have no chance of funding for that. We hardly have enough funding for books.’
Michael and Mark exchanged a look of surprise. ‘We had no idea. She doesn’t practice at home …’
‘Then, she is even more remarkable. Would it be possible for you to buy her a flute? I was going to talk to her after today’s lesson to see how she felt about it, but I think I know her feelings. I brought my own instrument in last week for her to try, but obviously, she can’t use that one, as I need it to teach her. She took to it in that brief five minutes, as if she had been born with it in her hand. You would have been getting a letter home today asking if you are able to fund this.’
She pushed a piece of paper across the table; it gave details of a flute, and the price.
Mark didn’t do much more than glance at it. ‘Of course, we’ll buy it. I can’t believe she’s said nothing about this. I’ve seen the bass in her school bag, but she just said she went to a class to learn how to play it. And as I’ve said, I’ve never heard her practice it. I assumed it was just part of the curriculum.’
Lily laughed. ‘Oh, I wish, Mr. Carbrook, I wish. Look, can you come back at lunchtime? Th
ere is a small room off the hall where our music group meets. Grace won’t know you’re there. Come and listen, wait until the end, until they’ve all headed back to lessons, and we’ll chat more. She is a very talented young lady, is our Grace.’
‘We’ll be here. Twelve?’
‘That will be fine. Come to my office, and I’ll take you down to the hall.’
The two men stood and shook her hand, the worried looks on their faces replaced by shock.
‘Thank you, Mrs. Montague,’ Mark said.
‘Call me Lily, when there are no pupils around,’ she laughed. ‘Mrs. Montague is the woman who used to be married to Mr. Montague. I’ll see you at twelve o’clock.’
They walked outside, and Michael grinned at his son. ‘You look shell-shocked.’
‘I think I’m in love.’
‘I thought you were. Pity she teaches our kids, isn’t it?’
‘We could always move them to a different school …’
‘Really in love, then. You’ll be getting a haircut before our twelve o’clock appointment, will you?’
‘How did you know?’
They reached the car, and Michael slid behind the wheel. ‘Good job I’m driving,’ he joked. ‘We’d be all over the road with your lack of concentration.’
‘She was lovely, though, wasn’t she?’ Mark said, with a sigh. ‘Oh, well …’
‘Forget Lily for the moment. Just keep your eyes peeled for that bloody car.’
Arriving home, Mark went immediately into the office to contact his workforce managers, and Michael heard him say he wouldn’t be in at all that day, but would be available on his phone after 2 p.m.
Time dragged until they left to head back to school, parking the car out of sight of the school playground. They didn’t want either Grace or Adam guessing they were in school.
Lily offered them a drink. Carrying their cups, they headed down to the small room by the side of the main hall.
‘I’ll leave you here, while I go and get out the instruments and set up the stands. You’ll hear when the children arrive; they can be quite noisy for such a small group. Make yourselves comfortable, and try and enjoy the music.’ She laughed. ‘They’re not all up to Grace’s standard. I will get Grace to play a solo, so you can hear what I’m hearing. Be proud, you two, be very proud.’
And they were. The haunting notes coming from such a basic instrument, as she played ‘Morning Has Broken’, left them in no doubt about her talents. They heard Lily offer the flute to her, and while it was obvious she was not an expert flautist, it was also clear with the right guidance, one day, she would be.
The group dispersed, without them being any the wiser they had entertained an audience. Lily Montague put away the instruments and came to join her two visitors. ‘Does she get her flute?’
‘She certainly does. Are we allowed to donate to you to get more instruments?’ Michael smiled at the head teacher and took out his cheque book.
‘That’s music to my ears, sir. We certainly could use four new bass recorders.’
Michael wrote quickly and handed the cheque over. ‘Thank you, Lily, you’ve made my day. We both appreciate everything you’re doing for Grace. Put that to whatever you want, once you’ve got Grace her flute.’
Lily Montague looked at the cheque, then at Mark and Michael. ‘Thank you.’
Erin loaded her dishwasher with the few pots left from the weekend, leaning against the sink unit. Sebastian had said he would be away for ten days or so, and she knew she would miss him. When they had met, she had been very low. Anna had just died, and she was supporting her father, who was sinking ever deeper into grief.
And along came Sebastian West, a knight in shining armour, to her. She had dropped her iron on the floor, causing too much damage for it to ever be used again, and her visit into Lincoln city centre to buy a new one ended with her going into a coffee shop, a coffee shop that only had one available space left. She sat down, after checking the man reading the newspaper wasn’t waiting for someone to join him. He assured her he wasn’t, and by the time midnight arrived, they had shared a pot of tea, seen a movie, had several drinks in a pub close by the cinema, and made love in her double bed.
She expected him to disappear, but he didn’t. Not permanently, anyway. As the owner of the company, he had to travel a lot; she accepted it, and simply waited for his return. Three months down the line, and they had started using the love word; she was thinking of telling her dad, and introducing the two most important men in her life – maybe the next time Seb was back from his travels.
Jenny was sitting up in bed staring at her phone, willing it to ring. When it did, she gasped and answered it quickly.
‘Seb? Where are you?’
‘I’ve just got home. It’s been a gruelling trip this one, but I’m back now. You working this afternoon?’
‘I am. Start at 12.30. It’s good to hear your voice.’
‘Come over now, and you can hear it properly.’
‘Give me an hour, I’m only just getting up.’
He chuckled. ‘That opens up my mind to all sorts of possibilities. That’s what’s known as missed opportunity.’
‘Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you don’t miss out on anything. I’ll see you in an hour.’
She put down the phone and crawled back under the duvet. She needed to step up her plans a bit; she needed money. She needed to get away from Newark, leave Lincoln well behind her, and ultimately get those letters in her hands. The key to it all was Sebastian West. Generous to a fault, always treating her with little gifts, she knew he was really falling for her, and she knew she had to turn that to her advantage. She simply didn’t know how. Not yet.
7
Michael had gone to his own apartment after they had eaten; he wanted to read, wanted time with his own thoughts. Of Anna.
Mark went upstairs to find Grace and heard gales of laughter coming from her room. He knocked on the door, and was surprised to hear both his children call, ‘Come in.’
They were watching one of the Shrek movies, and even he grinned at the bit he had caught.
‘Can you pause it, guys?’ he asked.
Grace pressed the relevant button on the remote control and frowned at her dad.
‘Well, I’ve done nothing wrong – what’s Adam done?’
Mark smiled.
‘He’s done nothing, or at least nothing I’m aware of. But, you, my sweet, little, innocent one, have you got something to tell me?’
She frowned. ‘Don’t think so. Adam, have I got something to tell Dad?’
Adam pretended to think. ‘Nope, can’t remember anything you’ve done wrong. There’s probably something, though.’
‘Stop it, monkeys.’ Mark chuckled. ‘You haven’t done anything wrong, but if I said “flute”, what would you say, Grace?’
‘Oh.’
‘Oh, indeed.’
‘It doesn’t matter, if we can’t afford one, Daddy.’
‘Of course we can afford one.’ He smiled at her. ‘You’ll have one by the next lesson. Granddad Michael paid for it, for you.’
‘He did? But, how did he know?’
‘Mrs. Montague asked us to go and listen to you today. We were in that small room by the side of the hall.’ He reached across to her school bag and took out the bass. ‘Here. Play something for us.’
Adam stared. ‘She plays that?’
‘Didn’t you know?’
He shook his head. ‘Didn’t even know she was in the music group. Go on then, Sis, let’s hear a few notes.’
She lifted the instrument to her mouth, and the haunting notes of ‘Amazing Grace’ floated effortlessly around them.
‘Bloody hell,’ Adam gasped.
‘Adam!’
‘Sorry, Dad, but …’
Mark stood, leaning over to kiss his daughter. ‘That was the right tune, Grace, definitely the right tune.’
He went downstairs and walked along the corridor, knocking at the door of Michael�
�s apartment.
‘Come in, Mark.’
‘I’ve just heard …’
Michael held up his hand. ‘“Amazing Grace”. Beautifully played. Perhaps we should think about serious lessons outside of school for her.’
‘I’ll talk to her tomorrow. How did our genes manage to produce something as gifted as that?’ Mark asked, quietly closing the door that still said it belonged to Nan.
‘Okay, what shall we do?’ Sebastian smiled at Jenny. She was still very much an enigma to him, but she fascinated him. She was so different to Erin, and he knew the time was fast approaching when he would have to stop living his double life, and be honest with one of them. His problem was, he couldn’t choose.
He had met both women in the same week – Jenny after her minor accident at work, and Erin through yet another chance meeting in a cafe. He’d tried to analyse his feelings, tried to be honest, but the truth was, he wanted both.
Erin was funny, educated, well read, and well travelled, beautiful and wealthy enough in her own right to insist on paying half every time they went anywhere. Jenny, on the other hand, was gentle, quiet, and stunningly attractive, especially when she allowed herself to smile. It amused him she lived on such a tight budget, but it pleased him so much that he could treat her, pay for everything, and reap the benefits of her gratitude. Deep down, he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, if he were forced to choose, it would be Jenny. And yet, he still risked everything by being with both.
Jenny snuggled close to him on the settee which seemed to wrap itself around her. ‘Take-away?’
‘You don’t want to go out?’
‘No, I’m quite happy here with you.’
‘Take-away it will be. Chinese? Indian? Thai?’
She laughed. ‘Italian.’
‘Are you always so ornery?’ He smiled, and reached down to kiss her. ‘I bless the day I met you, Jenny Carbrook. You make me smile. Have you given any more thought to where you live? A new place of your own, or moving in with me until you decide?’