Now it was the children’s turn and Cassie sat through their performance with a lump in her throat. After which she made her excuses and hurried to the kitchen. The turkey had been cooked and carved, the vegetables were in their serving dishes, as were the sauces and side dishes. All was placed into the heated trolley and wheeled through into the dining room.
Mae came forward to help dish up the children’s servings.
‘You have a beautiful voice, Mae, are you going to be trained professionally?’
She bent her small finely boned face over the plates. ‘No, Marc needs me.’
‘It would be a pity to waste such a wonderful voice, I’m surprised Marc doesn’t insist you do something with it.’
The girl looked up then and Cassie nearly spilt the sauce she was serving at the venomous look she saw in the dark almond eyes.
‘I will always be there for Marc,’ she stated.
The meal was a success but they had no sooner left the table than little Ruthie was sick.
‘I told you it would be too much for her,’ Mae spoke quietly to Marc.
Then Sam, who had insisted on taking his plate to the kitchen, fell over MacBeth and broke the plate. It was one of a Shelley dinner service which Marc immediately offered to pay for. How could she explain to him that it was a very old design unavailable today? She bit back her disappointment and proceeded to lead the children in a game.
Donald wanted to play hide and seek but Marc forbade it.
‘Why, it’s a nice big house, there will be lots of places to hide, won’t there, Cassie?’
Cassie hesitated, not wanting them running all over her beautiful house, heaven only knew what damage they could do.
Mae said, ‘Why don’t you open the rest of the presents then it will be time to go home.’
‘Yes,’ the twins chorused, charging back to the tree, game forgotten.
Cassie glanced towards Marc who gave her a smile and nod of the head.
‘Good idea,’ he said.
For Cassie there was a silk scarf from Mae, a tartan collar for MacBeth from Sam, a box of chocolates from the twins and from the now wide awake Ruthie a silver bangle, ‘Just like mine,’ she whispered in Cassie’s ear.
From Marc there was a delicate silk jacket, quilted and embroidered with multi coloured dominoes. She kissed all the little ones as they left, even a reluctant Donald, until there was only herself and Marc left in the hall. Then he took her in his arms and kissed her on the mouth. With a catch in his throat he murmured, ‘Thank you.’ And left.
* * *
The family, next door were visiting America for the New Year. Cassie had stayed at the hospital as long as was practicable on New Year’s Eve. Driving home through the dark cold evening with sleet hammering across the windscreen she was looking forward to the warmth of the house and her welcome from MacBeth and Marquis.
When the black shape appeared suddenly in front of her she jammed on the brakes a dull thud and a jar that threw her forward against the seat belt. Nothing moved in the following silence but for the persistent rattle of strengthening hail stones.
The shower passed and Cassie, once she knew there was no harm to herself, considered climbing out to see what it was she had driven into. The large shape was still there unmoving. No one appeared out of the darkness which made her nervous. Cautiously she opened the door and climbed out on to the dark road. There was no other traffic in sight.
The object blocking her way was a dark coloured lorry standing without lights at the side of the road. She moved up to the cabin and rapped loudly on the door. It was all dark inside and there was no response. Raising herself on her toes she tried to see inside the cabin but it was too high. After another thump on the door still raised no reply she reached up and opened the door. The cabin was empty.
Back in her own car, hissing and spitting about irresponsible people, wasn’t it illegal to leave a vehicle on the road side with no lights showing, she switched the engine on and tried to reverse. There was a metallic tearing sound and with a shudder the little car tore free.
Determined to report the incident the minute she arrived home she edged past the lorry and continued on her way.
Home at last, she lent back against the closed door and watched the animals rushing to greet her. Shocked to find herself shaking she bent down to pick up MacBeth and crush him to her. He covered her chin with a wet tongue and when she went to wipe her hand across her face she discovered tears.
Placing the dog back on the floor she went through into the kitchen and sitting down in the rocking chair dropped her face into her hands and wept.
Much later she tried to ring the police station but the lines were busy and in the end she just gave up and went to bed.
CHAPTER SEVEN
On the second of January it was all over the newspapers. The lorry had been carrying illegal immigrants when the vehicle broke down and the driver panicked. He had set forty-seven people, men, women and children loose in the countryside and scarpered. Thirty- five had been rounded up by the police but twelve were still missing and they were asking the public’s help in finding them. The driver was yet to be traced.
‘Well,’ Cassie spoke to MacBeth, the dog waiting patiently to be fed any leftover scraps from breakfast, ‘there won’t be much point in phoning the police now, will there. We had better go and see what damage poor Daffodil suffered.’
When she opened the front door MacBeth ran past her and dashed across the lawn to water the trees. Alf’s head popped up on the other side of the car and gave Cassie a bit of a shock.
‘Alf, what can I do for you?’
He lifted his cap and scratched beneath it. ‘I think it might be what I can do for you, Mrs. I see you’ve had a bit of a bump, not too bad mind, but I think the other fella must have come off worst. See it’s just a case of getting this bump out and taking these scratches off,’ he said, coming around to the front of the car.
Cassie felt in need of more coffee. She looked around for the little white van and saw it parked down by the gate. ‘How did you know I’d had an accident, Alf?’
‘Oh I didn’t, Mrs. I was coming to see if you wanted those trees of yours doctoring seeing as how they hang right over the road. The council will be on to you if you don’t do something about them.’
‘Do you never take any time off, Alf?’
‘Oh yes, Mrs, we’ve had a grand two days, and you?’
‘Very quiet, Alf, but you go ahead and do whatever needs doing.’
‘And the car?’
‘Yes, the car as well, but you won’t have it away too long, will you, I’ll need it for the hospital on Monday.’
Alf grinned like a naughty gnome. ‘I’ll just get my stuff and it’ll be done in a wink.’
Cassie was left gaping after him as he trotted down the drive. Then shaking her head she retreated back into the house.
Three days later, Marc and his family were back from the States. Cassie had thought no more about the incident of the immigrants. Alf had been as good as his word and Daffodil was no worse for the bump. He was busy that morning sawing away at the overhanging branches of the trees at the bottom of the garden.
The first she knew of Dominic’s return was the twins and Sam standing on her back doorstep. MacBeth went mad, jumping up at Sam and threatening to bowl him over. The twins were in the kitchen without waiting for an invite and sitting at the table waiting for pop and biscuits.
‘I was sick in the airplane,’ complained Dorothy.
‘That was because it was bumpy and we had to keep our seatbelts on. It nearly crashed when the lightning hit us. It dropped down sudden like this,’ and he demonstrated with his arms flaying. ‘A woman in the next seat had her handbag on her knee and it flew up and hit her in the face. Served her right because you’re not supposed to have anything on your knee. Then a man’s nose started to bleed and wouldn’t stop, there was blood all down the front of him and the lady gave him tissues and they were soaked straight away, i
t was ages before it stopped.’
He was really into his story now and the more carried away he became the greener Dorothy became.
So Cassie called a halt and thrust a biscuit at him.
‘Marc told everyone about you and your house,’ Dorothy spoke shyly.
‘Me?’
She nodded. ‘Yes, all the time and Mae got real mad.’
‘I’m sure she wouldn’t be cross because of what Marc was saying, perhaps certain parties were being naughty, it’s not easy looking after so many you know.’
‘I told you,’ mumbled Donald between a mouth full of biscuit. ‘Told you she wouldn’t believe you.’
Turning away, Cassie frowned as she stood looking out over the sink to the garden. Had Marc really talked about her to people? What had he said, she wondered? She worried about the girl Mae as well, was Marc aware of the girl’s feelings for him?
The twins were arguing and she turned back to the table.
In town a few days later she noticed Mae climbing into a taxi with a rather strange looking man. Standing in front of a shop window she watched them mirrored in the glass. The taxi pulled away, taking them out of the town in the opposite direction to the village.
All the way home she worried about whether or not she should mention Mae’s behaviour to Marc. It really was none of her business, but she couldn’t help fret about the girl. Who was the man she had been with and where had they gone, did Marc know?
Back home she tried to put it out of her mind. But it persisted to the point that she could settle to nothing else. When she thought the time was right for Mae to have returned she dreamt up an excuse about running out of milk and walked next door.
James Munro answered the door. ‘Ah, Miss Cassie, come along in. It’s a rare cold night outside.’
She was shown into the kitchen which seemed to be the heart of everything. Here Mrs O’Connor was just on the point of leaving, but as Cassie hesitantly offered her excuse she left what she was doing and disappearing around the door of an enormous fridge came back with a bottle of milk.
The children were in the conservatory, but there was no sign of Mae. James Munro had taken himself off, so Cassie quietly asked Mrs O’Connor, ‘Mae not around tonight?’
‘That will be all, Mrs O’Connor, you can go now.’ Mae’s quiet authority chilled Cassie. She spun round to face the girl’s hostility.
‘Did you wish to speak to me?’
‘I saw you getting into a taxi in town earlier today and I was worried about your safety, that’s all.’
Mae’s eyes narrowed, emphasising their almond shape. ‘My safety or otherwise is none of your concern, Miss Rennington.’
‘I realise that now, I’m sorry I intruded.’
She had started to leave when Mae spoke again, ‘I suppose you will now carry your tale to Marc.’
Annoyed, Cassie turned back to face the girl. ‘I never tell tales, Mae.’ Then she left.
There was no chemist in the village so when Cassie came down with a feverish cold and it was one of the days for the part time surgery which had a dispensary, she decided to attend.
The waiting room was tiny and people obligingly shuffled along the bench to accommodate her. A low table cluttered with magazines stood in the centre of the room and a box of children’s toys under the one window that looked out on to a brick wall. A fluorescent tube sizzled overhead casting an unreal light over the waiting people.
The door to the doctor’s room clicked open and a nurse appeared in the doorway. The previous patient passed her and without glancing into the room headed for the street door. With a genuine smile on her face the nurse called out the name of the next patient.
Cassie watched Mae’s departure with a frown. Something was happening here, something she was sure Marc should know about. On her way home with a bottle of cough medicine safely tucked into her bag she stopped outside the church and contemplated Marc’s reaction should she attempt to inform him of her worries about Mae.
Alf intruded into her thoughts. ‘I’ve just finished, Mrs. The lads’ll be along later to clear the rubbish.’
‘Oh right, if you come up to the house with me I’ll pay you now.’
‘Righty oh, I’ll just lock up the van.’
He waited at the front door while Cassie went through into the kitchen to collect his money, waiting for him in an envelope on the mantle.
‘Right carry on next door,’ he said as he took the envelope from her.
Cassie didn’t normally gossip but Alf was a fountain of information and she wondered if it had anything to do with Mae: ‘Oh yes?’ she said, inviting his confidence.
He nodded his head. ‘Oldest one turned up the other night with her whole family in tow. Rumour has it they’re illegals, aren’t they, given poor Marc a hell of a fix.’
‘I thought she was an orphan with no family, why else would Marc adopt her?’
Alf was shaking his head. ‘She was a twelve- year-old bar girl when he found her. She saved his life when he was set on by thugs in a back alley one night, that’s what he told me. Said her life would have been in danger if he’d left her there without protection.’
‘What will he do now?’
Alf shrugged his shoulders. ‘Don’t know, Mrs, but I wouldn’t want his problem.’
Cassie watched him walk back down the drive before closing the door and making her way thoughtfully back to the kitchen. She saw the police car from the front bedroom window the next morning. Two minutes later a second car pulled up.
You have finished dusting, go back downstairs, she told herself, but curiosity drew her back to the window and a short while later she saw several people being bundled into the cars.
A tearful Mae stood on the steps with Marc’s comforting arm around her. She swallowed the lump that had grown in her throat, and picking up polish and duster hurried down the stairs.
That afternoon a wrapped up Sam was playing with MacBeth in the garden when there was a rap on the back door and Marc entered. Tall and dark he stood framed in the light from the window. He started to say something then took two strides forward and she was in his arms. After a long kiss he said, ‘I missed you like the very devil.’
She broke away and stood before the roaring fire in the old range. ‘I missed you too, all of you.’ She had felt the stress in him and hoped he would talk about Mae.
‘Is something wrong?’
She turned to him smiling. ‘No, are you home for a while now?’
‘Yes,’ he said with a frown, ‘I have some things to sort out here then my next concert isn’t until the beginning of March.’
‘A drink?’ she offered.
The frown continued to crease his brow as he accepted. Their conversation thereafter consisted of small talk and he left without ever mentioning Mae. Cassie was disappointed to say the least. She had hoped that their new found relationship would include sharing, but then she acknowledged that her own past still hid in the shadows.
CHAPTER EIGHT
When next Cassie met Mae, the girl crossed the street to avoid her. This is ridiculous, she thought and deliberately went after her. She caught up to her at the church gates.
‘Mae, unless you want me to come in and include Marc in our conversation please stop and listen to what I have to say.’
The girl turned and looked down at her from halfway up the steps leading to the front door. ‘I have nothing to say to you, my uncle and his family are in a terrible place because of you.’
Cassie stepped back in shock. ‘Because of me?’
‘You crashed into their vehicle and told the police where they could be found.’
Cassie shook her head. ‘That’s not true, any of it. I bumped into a stationary vehicle, yes, but it was empty and I never said a word to the police.’
‘You were seen and now my uncle cannot stay here, and cannot go home because China will not have them back, they will be always homeless.’
‘Mae, you must believe me, I had nothing to do
with this thing, and whatever you think I am not your enemy, I would like very much to be your friend.’
Mae gave a laugh that belonged to a woman older and harder than the girl standing on the steps, then, she disappeared inside and shut the door.
Cassie hired a solicitor to make enquiries as to the position of the Choo family, only to be told that Marc had gone down the same path and been unsuccessful. So for the time being she gave up on Mae and concentrated on the younger members of the family.
Ruthie still wanted to come and live with her and never missed a chance to follow the boys into her garden.
Marc was also a frequent visitor and would settle into her kitchen with the comfort of a second home. She was surprised one day to discover that he gave impromptu concerts at music nights at the ‘Green Man’. He invited her to join him at the next event and it wasn’t until later that she found out from Donald that Marc was in the habit of taking Mae along on these occasions.
Her mother had always warned that bad things came in threes and she was certainly right in this case. First the issue of the dog, then the immigrant family, now she was to play gooseberry at their musical evening. No wonder the girl thought she was public enemy number one.
On the night in question she dithered between going and making the best of it or sending some excuse and backing out. In the end she dressed as quietly as possible in a sober grey skirt and jumper under a houndstooth checked coat, tall black boots and black kid gloves.
When she arrived in front of the church Marc was standing at the top of the steps. He ran down to greet her and tucking her arm in his guided her back on to the pavement.
‘Where is Mae, isn’t she coming? Donald said she always accompanied you.’
He laughed. ‘She’s already gone. There’s a chap there from a record company wants to hear her sing.’
Cassie stopped in her tracks. ‘But surely she’s too good to be singing in a pub. You can’t possibly approve.’
‘She’s nearly nineteen, what do you think I should do, forbid her? I played my way round pubs for two years at her age. I have tried getting her to go to music college but she won’t budge.’
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