‘You’re the boss.’
James was retreating out of the kitchen when the phone rang. The house phone had been programmed for specific callers and this ringtone had a persistent chirp that would not be ignored.
‘Judith must have a sixth sense when it comes to locating her grandsons,’ Maggie said wryly.
‘I’ll get it,’ James said as if there had been any dispute.
Maggie began scraping her spatula against the bottom of the bowl as she sought out the last pockets of cocoa powder that hadn’t been incorporated into the mix. A quick taste test confirmed that the icing tasted as good as it smelled and she could almost forgive Sam for giving into temptation. But these thoughts barely registered and her stirring slowed as Maggie listened to one half of a conversation between mother and son.
‘Yes, the traffic wasn’t bad for a bank holiday weekend,’ James was telling her.
Maggie used the spatula to push the mixture towards one side of the bowl as she heard James answer more questions about his early morning journey. It took a couple of minutes for Judith to get around to the real reason she had phoned.
‘I’ll have to check with Maggie first. We wanted to spend as much time with the boys as we can.’
Maggie didn’t need to hear the other side of the conversation to know that her mother-in-law was trying to engineer some time of her own with the boys. Judith would be persistent; she liked to get her own way and with James she usually did. It was this apparent hold on him that terrified Maggie. Fixing gates and trips out with the grandchildren were one thing but Judith had views on James’s future too and Maggie suspected she wasn’t a part of that vision.
‘I know, Mum, but you were down there not so long ago,’ James continued. ‘We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.’
James’s sigh suggested he still wasn’t getting through to her. ‘Wait a minute.’ There was the click of a button. ‘It’s on mute, Maggie,’ he said. ‘She wants to have the boys over for a night next week.’
‘Which means two days out of our week with them.’
‘I said I’d check with you …’
Maggie’s patience was wearing so thin that it showed in the flush rising to her cheeks. She was often the fall guy when James couldn’t get through to his mum. Little wonder Judith hated her. ‘Tell her we’ve got the week all planned but if they want to come over for tea or maybe join us when we go to the zoo then they’re welcome.’
James returned to his conversation with Judith and promptly invited her over for tea. It wasn’t only the spatula that had stopped moving. Maggie held her breath as she hoped for a refusal.
‘Oh, OK then,’ he said. ‘How about a trip to the zoo? We don’t know what day yet. We were going to see what the weather’s like first.’
There was another pause, another sigh from James.
‘Look, Mum, it’s an important week for us. I want to make sure that the kids are happy with the idea that I’m going to be a dad again.’ There was a tone in James’s voice that was almost alien, especially in a conversation with his mum. He was losing patience too. ‘It would be good for the boys to see us all pulling together, don’t you think?’
The spatula resumed its slow, steady movement and by the time James finished the call, Maggie had already started to smooth the icing over the top of the cake.
‘That looks good enough to eat.’
‘But not until teatime,’ Maggie warned. ‘And there’s no point looking at the empty bowl. The boys would never forgive you. So?’
‘It took a while but she’s relented. Dad’s working but Mum will try to meet us at the zoo as long as she can work around her shifts at the charity shop,’ James explained.
‘It can’t be that difficult considering she was hoping to have the boys over anyway,’ Maggie said sceptically.
There was a thud upstairs and an argument began to rage.
‘I’d better see what they’re up to.’
James kissed the top of his wife’s head before leaving Maggie to her baking and her thoughts. She had been looking forward to the week ahead but now all she could see was another day of judgement looming. The call from his mum had poured cold water over Maggie’s enthusiasm and it rose up over her head. She was back in her dream again, fighting to escape the murky depths of the lake only this time Judith was there, pushing her back down.
8
Typical of a bank holiday weekend, the weather had been foul and the forecast for the rest of the week didn’t look promising. So when James looked out of the window on Tuesday morning and saw blue sky, the house erupted into a frenzy of activity as they put their plans to visit the zoo into action.
‘Go upstairs and put those toys back in your room,’ James ordered.
‘They’re only for in the car,’ whined Sam. Some of his toys were left permanently at his dad’s house so when he was reunited with his Transformers it was like Christmas all over again. To mark his displeasure, Sam pressed a button on one of his killer robots. A burst of gunfire was followed by an earth-shattering explosion that set Maggie’s teeth on edge.
‘No, Sam!’
‘But why?’
James had to shout over the sounds of warfare. ‘That’s why!’
‘Can I take my game?’ Liam asked next while Sam stomped upstairs.
‘As long as you use your earphones and you leave it in the car when we get there. Today is about doing things together and having good old-fashioned fun without the aid of electronics.’
‘The overhead train runs off electric,’ Liam pointed out.
‘Less lip or I might change my mind.’ As the words left James’s mouth, his mobile phone began to ring.
‘I hope you’re leaving that in the car too,’ Maggie said, much to Liam’s amusement.
She enjoyed playing the good cop if only to exaggerate James’s often lacklustre bad cop impression. He struggled to remain firm with his sons when all he really wanted to do was spoil them rotten so today he would need a will of iron. Nana Judith was meeting them at the zoo and would make sure her grandsons had everything they wanted and more.
Answering the call, James said, ‘Hi, Gerry, hang on a second,’ then turned to his wife. ‘Sorry, Maggie, I won’t be long. Could you get everyone loaded into the car and I’ll bring the picnic from the kitchen?’
When James eventually emerged from the house ten minutes later, Liam was in the front passenger seat while Maggie was in the back with Sam playing a game of ‘I spy’. Maggie was allowed to pick anything that came to mind and it usually involved weird or otherworldly objects that Sam found hilarious. Harvey, meanwhile, was trying to lick the back of Sam’s head through the mesh that separated the boot space from the rest of the car.
Rather than taking the driving seat, James opened the rear door where Maggie was sitting.
‘You’re going to hate me for this,’ he said.
It took far longer to empty the car of sulking children than it had to fill it with their growing excitement. Fortunately for James, he was in too much of a rush to set off for an emergency job to take in the full measure of his sons’ displeasure or that of his wife. He had been working on a house extension the week before and had thought his timing perfect by taking a week off to let the concrete set. But he hadn’t factored in the rain or been aware that the roof wasn’t as watertight as he would have hoped.
‘I’m really sorry, Maggie,’ he said as he pulled on his work clothes in their bedroom. Her silence had finally registered in his psyche. ‘I know I should leave it to Gerry to sort out but he’s on another job and this one is my responsibility. I should have checked the roof before I left.’
Maggie knew there was little point in arguing. She loved James for many reasons and his character flaws were often his strengths. He was too easy-going, too generous and too conscientious. That was why he wouldn’t shirk his responsibilities and leave his business partner to fix what he considered to be his mistake, even though she knew the roofing work had been subcontracted.
‘I’ll do my best but I can’t make promises. It’s an important contract and if I mess this one up then it could go against us for future work.’
‘Surely once you’ve checked it over you can leave it to Gerry to supervise?’ Maggie persisted.
‘I need to do everything I can to keep the clients we’ve got, Maggie, but I promise that, whatever happens, we’ll get the boys to the zoo before they go back.’
‘And that’s supposed to make up for us not having a whole week together?’
‘Maggie, please. I’m doing my best.’
Her body sagged but then she grasped at the silver lining. She didn’t have to face Judith. ‘What about your mum? She’ll be on her way.’
James came over to put his arms around her, thankful the argument was over. ‘All sorted. I phoned her as soon as I finished speaking to Gerry. She was almost out the door but I managed to catch her in time.’
‘Did she give you a hard time too?’
‘No,’ James said.
Maggie detected the lie as soon as it had left his lips. ‘James?’
‘She was happy to put it off for another day,’ he insisted.
‘But?’
‘Well, Mum did suggest coming over to help you look after the boys while I was out.’
The pressure that rose from her chest and set her cheeks on fire was fuelled more from irritation than alarm.
‘Don’t blow a fuse,’ James said, trying to laugh it off. ‘I told her you’re more than capable of keeping the two horrors in check.’
He still had his arms around her and Maggie’s neck was starting to ache but she kept her face lifted towards him and narrowed her eyes in determination. ‘I might take them to the park,’ she said as if there remained a point to prove. ‘We can still have our picnic and the kids can play with their remote control boat on the lake. In fact, we’ll make a little adventure of it.’
James leant down to kiss her forehead. ‘I am sorry,’ he said and was about to release her but stopped. ‘Actually, I’m not. It’s good to see that spark again.’
‘What spark?’
‘The one that makes you light up a room and dare anyone not to be in awe of you. The one that made me fall in love with you,’ he said with a soft slow smile in his voice. ‘It’s been lost in the shadows since your mum died but it’s there now. I can see it.’
‘Yes,’ Maggie said carefully as she recognised in herself what James could see. ‘The phone call to Dad helped. I’m feeling almost ready to face the future again.’
‘Almost?’
‘Give me time. Now off with you,’ she added as she pushed him away. ‘You’ve got work to do.’
When James left, Maggie was smiling. She wasn’t convinced the spark was anything more than a flicker – but given a chance it would blaze a light towards the future. Assuming, that was, no one came along to snuff it out.
Elsa turned her nose up in disgust as she tried to wipe away the pervading scent on her hands. She recognised the lavender but there was something else too, something lemony and she didn’t like it. Rummaging through her bag, she found a bottle of perfume and tested it on her wrists.
‘That’s better,’ she told herself before spraying it liberally on her neck and body.
The lilac fragrance was strong enough to disguise the other scents but the sense of familiarity did little to ease her mind. She was looking down towards the lake. A gust of wind swept across the water and the bright reflection of the sun shivered on its surface. The nearby shrubs and trees whispered to each other in the breeze and Elsa was reminded of the hushed conversations between Aunt Flo and Anne as they conspired against her.
She felt exposed on the top of the embankment and her eyes searched out the safety of her bench, secreted beneath the shadow of giant rhododendrons in full bloom, their bulbous purple flowers reflecting softer pinks in the sunshine. There was someone already sitting there and close by, two small boys playing with a model boat at the water’s edge. A frown creased Elsa’s brow as she watched the woman shouting over to the boys. She thought she recognised her but couldn’t understand how she could have children.
Turning her attention back to her handbag, Elsa began to sift through its contents. When she couldn’t find what she was looking for she became more and more agitated and began pulling things out. There was a purse and a handkerchief along with other items that completely baffled her. She paid them no heed.
‘It’s got to be here somewhere,’ she whimpered but then froze as soon as she heard the rustle of paper beneath her fingertips.
Elsa almost tore the envelope in her eagerness to pull it from her bag but her heart sank when she realised it wasn’t the airmail letter she was searching for. She groaned in frustration and dropped the accumulated clutter back into her bag, some of which fell to the ground. But Elsa was more aware of her growing panic than the detritus scattered around her.
Looking back towards the lake, she watched as one of the boys went to sit next to the woman on the bench. She wrapped a motherly arm around him, yet Elsa was sure this woman had told her she didn’t have children. She had lied. Was there no one left who she could trust? Her first instinct was to turn and run but she still hadn’t found Freddie’s letter. A sob escaped her as she stumbled down the hill.
‘Can you feel the baby inside your tummy?’ Sam asked.
‘I keep waiting,’ Maggie said with a smile, ‘and there have been a few times when I thought I could feel it moving but it turned out to be my stomach gurgling. It won’t be long though and one day you’ll be able to feel him or her kicking too.’
‘I want it to be a girl,’ he said in a whisper so his brother wouldn’t overhear, but he needn’t have worried: Liam was too busy chasing the ducks with his boat.
‘I always wanted a sister,’ Maggie told him. Her parents had spent many painful years trying to have a baby and at forty-one her mum had all but given up hope of ever having children when Maggie, their miracle baby, arrived. ‘But to be honest, a brother would have been better than nothing.’
‘I wouldn’t say so,’ muttered Sam. ‘Liam’s a pain.’
Maggie put her arm around him. ‘At least you’ll get to play big brother to the new baby. It’ll be your turn to boss them around.’
‘But I won’t be a proper brother.’
‘What do you mean, Sam?’ she asked, completely dismayed.
‘Nana Judith said the baby will only be my half-brother or -sister. That means we’ll only love each other half as much, doesn’t it?’
‘Nana-bloody-Judith!’ she said with a hiss loud enough to disguise her words. Taking a breath she explained, ‘No, Sam. It means that you share only one parent: in your case you have the same dad but not the same mum. That’s all. I think you’re going to love this baby as much as you possibly could, even if it is a boy.’
‘OK,’ Sam replied.
Maggie felt as if she ought to say more but the sound of heels scraping along the path caught her attention.
‘Did you take it?’ Elsa demanded.
As Elsa approached the woman on the bench, her golden-haired dog stood up to greet her. His ears were pricked and his tail wagged furiously but his body froze as she spat out her accusation.
There was a look of shock on the woman’s face. ‘Elsie? What’s wrong?’
‘My name is Elsa, as well you know! Did you take Freddie’s letter?’
The woman had the nerve to turn towards her son. ‘Sam, why don’t you go and play with Liam so Elsa can sit down?’ The boy looked warily towards Elsa but didn’t move other than to take hold of his mother’s hand. ‘I’ll be OK,’ the woman reassured him.
‘Is everything all right?’ It was the other boy this time. He had abandoned his boat and was creeping closer to them.
‘Don’t worry, Liam. Elsa is a friend. We’ll be fine. Why don’t you take your brother
and carry on playing with your boat?’
The boys skulked away but didn’t return to their play, reluctant to leave Maggie’s side. The fearful look on their faces wrenched at Elsa’s heart. She didn’t want to frighten the children but she was scared too. She didn’t know who she could trust any more and her mind was becoming so muddled. Through it all, one single thought stayed in focus.
‘Well? Did you?’ she demanded.
‘Please, Elsa, sit down.’
Elsa shook her head. ‘And you’re not coming near my handbag.’
‘I didn’t take Freddie’s letter, Elsa. I didn’t even know he’d sent one. Please, sit down and tell me what’s happened.’
Elsa refused to move closer. ‘You said you didn’t have any children but here you are with them!’
‘They’re not my children; they’re my husband’s from a previous marriage. I don’t have any of my own, not yet.’
‘So you stole them and now I bet you want to steal my baby too! Well, I’m telling you now: no one is taking my baby away. I won’t let you and Freddie won’t either.’
The dog was looking at her with his deep brown, imploring eyes. His friendly face was irresistible and he wagged his tail when he sensed her resolve weakening. Maggie let go of the lead and the dog stepped confidently towards her. She patted his head.
‘I want you to keep the baby, Elsa. Really, I do. I’m pregnant too, remember? I’m Maggie and this is Harvey. Tell me about the letter from Freddie. Please, Elsa,’ Maggie said.
Harvey led Elsa towards the bench but she sat as far away from Maggie as she could. Her breathing was still ragged but as she settled into her seat and took in the view she knew so well, her thoughts began to calm. She could picture Freddie perfectly, as if he was standing there in front of her. ‘You have no idea how lucky I am,’ she said. ‘Freddie’s so dashing and out of all the girls at the dance, he chose me.’
Elsa didn’t flinch when Maggie moved closer. Amongst the memories she was able to grasp, she recalled that Maggie was indeed a friend.
‘I’ll never forget the first time he took me for a ride on his motorbike. I was all dressed up for the dance in a red polka-dot dress, which was hardly appropriate for riding pillion. I had to hold on to Freddie for dear life and couldn’t stop my skirt from blowing up but Freddie said my legs were too good not to show off.’ Elsa giggled at the memory and her anger was all but forgotten. ‘That was the night he told me he loved me.’
Where I Found You Page 9