Family Connections

by Family Connections (retail) (epub)

  ‘He won’t do it. He’s a real stick-in-the-mud, grew up round here, bought a house here, doesn’t really like going on holidays even. And I wouldn’t want to move, either. Not when I’ve only another year at school.’

  They sat in silence. After a while Casey stood up, patted her arm awkwardly and ambled out without saying anything.

  Rosie sat for a bit longer staring into space. Would her mother be able to stop her from communicating with Brad? No, definitely not. She was using her friend’s family’s PO Box and as Mandy emptied it for her parents on the way back from school every day, they wouldn’t know about it, either. She’d give Brad her mobile phone number when she wrote back so that he’d be able to phone her when he came to England, then they’d see about meeting one another.

  If only her mother didn’t use the same computer for emails, she’d have emailed him now that she had his email address, but she hadn’t dared risk that.

  She didn’t want to hurt her parents, sometimes wished she’d not found out. As Casey had said, it was scary stuff. But she had to follow it through. Dad always said she was like a terrier, never letting go. Mum said she was pig-headed. Whatever. It was how she was.

  She wouldn’t stop what she was doing, but she really wished her mother was on her side. She hated deceiving her parents.

  CHAPTER 8

  Australia

  Gina arrived early at Mel’s house, let herself in and stared round in shock. She’d never seen the place in such a mess. She didn’t hesitate to do a quick tour of the rest, collecting dirty clothes from the bedrooms. Going into the laundry, she set on a load of washing. After that she began to clear up the kitchen.

  When her granddaughter arrived home from school with a friend from the same street, she gave them a piece of fruit each and sent them out to play in the backyard, where she could keep an eye on them. Complaints about wanting to watch TV left her unmoved. In her opinion, today’s children watched too much TV and spent too much time sitting in front of computers and other gadgets. Not that she had anything against computers.

  By the time she heard Mel’s car and the whine of the automatic door on the garage, she had a second load of washing going. She went to greet her daughter and stopped dead.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Mel demanded.

  ‘You look dreadful.’

  ‘I feel it.’

  ‘Go and sit down. I’ll bring you a drink.’

  ‘Just fruit juice.’

  Gina stared at her, taking in the haggard, gaunt cheeks and dark-circled eyes. ‘What have you eaten today?’

  Mel shrugged. ‘Nothing much. I can’t keep things down in the mornings, and lunch time isn’t much better. I should be able to have something for tea, though.’

  ‘Not good enough. You’ve a baby to feed as well as yourself.’

  ‘Don’t nag, Mum. You’re as bad as Simon. I’m not stupid, I’m doing my best to eat. Right? But I just throw it up again.’

  ‘You’re trying to do the impossible by continuing to work, if you ask me.’

  ‘I didn’t ask you.’ Mel closed her eyes for a minute, then stumbled across to a chair. ‘Could you get me that orange juice, please? I can sometimes keep a sweet drink down at this time of day.’

  Gina poured one, hearing the washing machine chime out to announce that it had finished its load. ‘I’ve been doing your washing. I’ll just put that lot on to dry so that I can iron it for you before I go.’

  As she passed her daughter, Mel caught her hand. ‘Sorry I was so sharp, Mum. I’m not at my best. But I’m grateful for your help. Very.’ Her voice wobbled on the last word.

  Gina gave her a quick hug and went to deal with the washing.

  When she returned, Mel had gone upstairs and the glass of juice was only half empty.

  Resolutely refusing to tell her news until Ben and Emma were in bed, Gina served dinner and relaxed with a glass of wine. ‘I’m assuming I can stay the night?’

  ‘You know you can.’ Mel pushed her plate aside.

  ‘Can’t you eat just a little more?’ Gina pressed.

  ‘No. I can sometimes keep down a small meal, but never a large one. I’ll save the dessert for bedtime. So, what’s the big news?’

  Gina took a deep breath. ‘As soon as we’ve sorted out Dad’s estate, I’m going to England.’

  Three faces registered amazement and shock.

  It was Lexie who broke the silence. ‘But why?’

  ‘Because of what I found in Dad’s papers.’ She explained about the family in England.

  ‘And he never said a word!’ Lexie exclaimed indignantly.

  ‘He must have had his reasons,’ Simon said. ‘Don’t you think you should contact them first, Ma? Find out if they want to see you?’

  ‘No. I’ve decided to present them with a fait accompli. I’m not giving them a chance to say no. They didn’t even open the letters Dad sent, just sent them back unopened. But he obviously wrote for several years, several times the first year, then at Christmas and one other time for each of them, which I suppose must have been their birthdays.’

  ‘They may still refuse to have anything to do with you,’ he said.

  ‘Then they’ll have to refuse to my face and I’ll at least see them.’

  ‘What about this?’ Mel indicated her belly. ‘I was counting on you to help.’

  Gina took another deep breath. ‘I know. You and your sister have both been counting on me rather too much. Babysitting for you so often has been disrupting my life. I don’t mind doing it occasionally, but not several times a week. And as Lexie pointed out, I’m young enough to move out of my current rut and do something with the years I’ve got left. So that’s what I’m planning to do.’

  She saw Lexie wince and Mel bite her lip.

  ‘What about your job, Mum?’

  ‘It’s not much of a job and we all know it. I can find another just like it when I come back or go temping, even. I’ve been using the computer a lot since Tom died and I’ve done a touch-typing course on it. Makes things so much easier.’

  Dead silence.

  ‘I know you were counting on my help, Mel darling. But if you continue to make decisions that involve me giving up my life to support yours, then I’m afraid you’re going to have to find other ways through your problems. To be frank, you’re ill and need to rest. You only have to look in the mirror to know that. But you won’t listen to Simon or me. It seems as if you care more about this house than you do about your baby – or about my life.’

  Mel stood up so abruptly that she knocked her chair over. ‘I never wanted this baby, so it’s not fair to ask me to give up things I love for it.’ She turned as if to run out of the room, gave a gasp and collapsed.

  Simon ran round the table to kneel beside his wife. ‘She’s unconscious!’

  As two or three minutes passed and Mel showed no signs of regaining consciousness, Gina picked up the phone. ‘I’m calling an ambulance. Mel needs help.’

  Simon nodded, still clasping his wife’s hand in his. ‘Maybe I should have let her seek a termination.’

  Gina shook her head. ‘No. Terminations aren’t for babies who’re merely inconvenient.’

  ‘But she’s ill – and making herself worse. I don’t want to lose her.’

  ‘I don’t either.’ But his words had struck terror into her. Mel wasn’t that bad, surely?

  ‘I’ve been beating my head against a brick wall for weeks, Ma, watching her get weaker and weaker. How she’s found the strength to continue at all on so little food, I don’t know. She wouldn’t even go and see the doctor, said he was no help last time and she wasn’t wasting what energy she did have left sitting around in a medical centre waiting on his convenience.’

  Lexie spoke from across the room, where she was watching through the window for the ambulance. ‘I’ve tried to talk sense into her as well, Mum. But you know Mel. Once she’s set her mind on something she won’t listen to what anyone says.’

  Gina felt guilty now f
or what she’d just said to Mel, but could do nothing except stay crouching next to Simon. Her worry deepened as her daughter remained unconscious.

  ‘She’s fainted twice before, but she came around quickly each time. It wasn’t like this.’ Simon’s face was ravaged with anxiety. He was still holding his wife’s hand.

  By the time the ambulance arrived, Mel had regained consciousness. But she didn’t protest about what they’d done, merely lay back and closed her eyed with a murmur of ‘Too tired.’

  To see her stubborn daughter so quiescent was the most frightening thing of all to Gina.

  * * *

  Brad needed to hear from Rosie before he could finalize his plane flight. He grew impatient, taking long walks to fill the hours and reading a lot.

  He was tempted to get in touch with some of his old friends from work, but decided against it. Better a clean break for the moment. Maybe he’d call Judy when he got back. But the thought of her didn’t stir up any feelings in him other than friendship and she was clearly attracted to him, so on second thoughts, it was best to leave things alone.

  At last the letter he’d been waiting for arrived and he tore it open impatiently, standing by the mailbox with the sun blazing down on him.

  It was disappointingly short. Rosie had given him only a mobile phone number. Did that mean she didn’t trust him? He hated the thought of that, absolutely hated it. And she said she couldn’t email because her mother used the same computer.

  He dashed off a quick reply to her, promising to ring as soon as he arrived in Lancashire. Then he booked the next available flight to the UK and found a large hotel in Blackpool that was offering a very tempting special price if you booked for a whole week.

  * * *

  Lexie stayed with the children while Gina followed the ambulance to the hospital. There they wheeled Mel away, then Gina and her son-in-law sat for what seemed a long time in the casualty area. Eventually they were summoned into a tiny bare cubicle of a room to speak to a doctor.

  ‘We need to admit your wife, Mr Tesker. She’s in a very bad way, severely malnourished. We can only hope the baby hasn’t suffered. You really should have sought help before this.’ He frowned at Simon as if it was his fault.

  ‘I’ve been trying to get her to see a doctor, but she wouldn’t.’

  ‘My daughter can be rather stubborn,’ Gina said. ‘And I have to say, the doctors didn’t help her much last time with the nausea.’

  ‘I think it’s worse this time,’ Simon said, ‘but she’s been trying to hide how bad, even from me.’

  When they took Mel up to a ward, Gina offered to go home and pick up some things for her daughter. ‘You stay here, Simon.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  Her thoughts were very sombre as she drove back to Mel’s house. She didn’t see how she could leave for England now. It was one thing to leave a healthy daughter to her own devices, but not one who was so ill.

  No, she’d definitely have to put off her trip.

  She was surprised at how deeply disappointed she was.

  CHAPTER 9

  From England to Australia

  Lou told her parents she was leaving early for her trip and flying straight to Australia.

  Her mother regarded her sourly. ‘We would prefer you to help us move and settle in. Surely you can wait a few months?’

  ‘You’re trying to take me away from Rick.’

  ‘He’s not a good influence.’

  ‘I love him, Mum. Can’t you understand that?’

  ‘I can understand that you’re going to ruin your life. You’re too young to be settling down with the first fellow you meet, especially one who’s failed his college course.’

  ‘He hasn’t failed, he quit!’

  Her mother raised one eyebrow in that infuriating way she had.

  ‘I’m not coming with you.’ Lou hesitated. ‘Can you take some of my things, though?’

  ‘No. You’re not using us as a furniture store if you’re not going to live with us.’

  Lou looked at her, disgusted at this refusal to help her. ‘Do things your way or get out, is that it?’ she asked in a choked voice. ‘All right, I’ll find somewhere else for them.’

  It was like living with an angry wasp. And her father was rarely around because he was working longer hours than usual to finalize projects at his current place of work. He wouldn’t have stood up to his wife anyway. It had always been clear who was the boss in their house.

  ‘How can you do this to us, Louise?’ Mary raged yet again that evening. ‘Don’t you care anything for me, for your grandfather?’

  Lou tried to stay calm. ‘Of course I do. But I care about the rest of my family too – having one, that is.’

  Her mother’s blank look spurred her on to try to explain what was driving her. ‘Look, I’m your only child. Cheryl is your cousin. She’s not only much older than me, but looks down her nose at our side of the family. I have no relatives in my generation here. If I’ve got any down under, I want to meet them. If I like them, I’m going to stay in touch with them. And nothing – nothing at all – will make me change my mind about that.’

  Her mother got one of her puckered-mouth looks. ‘Do as you please, but don’t come begging me to help you if things go wrong.’

  It wasn’t the best note on which to leave for Australia, but her mother was as hard as a rock underneath that quiet exterior. You either did things her way or suffered the penalties. But Lou knew that if she really did need help, if she got into trouble overseas, help would be forthcoming – together with a great deal of grumbling and scolding afterwards.

  She and Rick went to take her things round to her granddad’s in the car of a friend of his. She didn’t even consider asking her dad to help with this. The friend drove off and Rick helped her stack the boxes in the garage.

  ‘Cheer up, love. Your parents will come around.’

  She looked at him. ‘In their own time. They’re not—’ she hesitated then said it, ‘the most loving of parents, are they? Thank goodness for my granddad.’

  Rick gave her a long hug then they went into the house and had a cup of tea.

  ‘Are you still mad at me, Gramps?’ she asked afterwards as they were being taken on the usual tour of his vegetable garden.

  He looked at her, his eyes sad. ‘Not angry, just disappointed that you’re so intent on stirring up things best left alone.’

  ‘I’m sorry to upset you.’

  ‘But you’re not changing your mind.’

  ‘No.’

  He changed the subject.

  When they were walking away down the street she looked at Rick. ‘Do you think I’m being unfair to my family?’

  ‘I can understand your need to do it. And I’d be a fine one to tell another person what to do about her family. I’ve upset my own so badly by dropping out of art college that they’ve thrown me out. I’ll be sleeping on the floor at my mate Cole’s flat till we leave.’

  ‘Oh, Rick, why didn’t you say?’

  ‘I thought you had enough to worry about.’

  She stopped walking to pull him to her for a quick kiss. ‘You’re a darling.’

  He grinned and smacked a loud kiss on each of her cheeks in return. ‘I know.’

  ‘And so modest with it.’ She sighed as they started walking again. ‘I’ll be glad when we leave.’

  But she didn’t feel glad as the plane took off; she felt sad and disoriented. Her mother hadn’t relented and had hardly said a word to her during the final week. Lou reached for Rick’s hand and held it tightly. ‘Here we go, then.’

  He gave her one of his gentle smiles. ‘We’ll be all right, Lou.’

  ‘Will we?’

  ‘Yes. Whether you find your Australian family or not, you and I are going to have a ball and fill ourselves with mind-blowing experiences. And I’m going to come home with a sketch book full of stuff for future paintings which will make our fortune. You’ll see.’

  She wondered what new understan
ding of the world she would take home. They said travel broadened your mind. She’d had quite a narrow life up to now. Her parents were extremist stick-in-the-muds. Absolute dinosaurs.

  She’d miss Gramps most of all. He was quite with it in his own tranquil way, what with organic gardening and save the planet stuff. She admired that in him. And even though he disagreed with what she was doing, he hadn’t gone on at her or sulked as her mother had.

  * * *

  Peggy opened the door and blinked in shock to see Cheryl standing there. ‘Darling, why didn’t you phone? I’ve not got your room ready or anything.’

  Cheryl shrugged. ‘I was in the district so I thought I’d pop in.’

  ‘Are you able to stay overnight?’

  ‘Yes. If that’s all right.’

  ‘It’s always all right, you know that. I’ll just ring your father and let him know.’

  ‘He knows already. I phoned him at work. I’ll put this in my bedroom, shall I?’ She carried her overnight case and computer upstairs and called down, ‘Mum, where shall I put the ironing?’

  Peggy went rushing along to the bedroom. ‘Sorry. I’ve not had time to do it today.’ She gathered it up and stood for a moment, unable to think where to put it. There was nowhere, really. Hartley had taken the second largest bedroom for his home office and had his computer set up there. And he had the fourth bedroom for his models. He had several display cabinets full of them, had been making them for years. He’d not thank her for dumping un-ironed washing in there. ‘Um – do you think I could leave it on this chair? I mean, if you’re just staying overnight, it won’t matter to you, will it?’

  Cheryl pulled a face. ‘I hate seeing piles of washing lying round. Why do you iron so much anyway?’

  ‘Your father is rather – fussy.’ Peggy hugged the washing to her breast then put it on the chair. ‘Don’t tell him it’s here.’ She glanced uncertainly towards Cheryl, who was hanging up a skirt and top.

  Her daughter looked back. ‘You shouldn’t let Dad bully you.’