Did I Mention I Won The Lottery? (12 page)

And then she
would tell Daniel.

Sipping at the
champagne in her hand, Rebecca spent the next few hours wandering
around her new home, familiarising herself with every nook and
cranny as she planned how it would look, how she would use the
space, which were her favourite parts, what she needed. She ended
up back in the kitchen curled up on one of the raspberry settees,
contentment pouring out of her as she looked around. She had loved
the kitchen in their old house on Greyshott Road. It hadn’t been
anything like this in size but it had had the same welcome feel, a
room where a family could gather. She would cook the evening meal
as the children did their homework at the pine table and when they
had finished and disappeared to do something more interesting, she
would turn on the little TV tucked into the corner of the pine
dresser, pour herself a glass of wine and enjoy the smell of the
evening meal as she waited for Daniel to come home. She had hated
the kitchen in Darlington. It was long and narrow, soulless and
bland and just couldn’t provide them with the family space they had
previously enjoyed. The children would come home and go straight to
their bedrooms. Rebecca would prepare the evening meal but then sit
in the conservatory, far away from the comforting smell of a
chicken casserole and wait for the slam of the door which told her
Daniel was home and the evening complaints were about to
commence.

Things would be
different in this kitchen she decided, things would be very
different.

Despite Annie’s
thoughtful gesture Rebecca knew she couldn’t stay in the house that
night, not unless she wanted to sleep on the settee, so reluctantly
she rinsed her glass in the sink, pulled out her mobile to tap in
the number of the taxi firm, a number she now knew by heart and put
the food in the fridge ready for tomorrow before returning to
Quebecs for another night of blissful sleep on their fluffy cloud
of a bed.

Rebecca was up
bright and early the next morning leaping out of bed and into the
shower before dressing and ordering breakfast.

She picked up
her little phone and dialled Parklands to be told that Gwen was
still asleep but had passed a comfortable night and seemed as well
as could be expected.

Then she phoned
to check that her new beds would be delivered as promised later
that day and that her purchases from Debenhams and House of Fraser
would also arrive that afternoon. She sent a quick message to both
children keeping them updated with Gwen’s progress and then checked
for any missed calls. There were none. Daniel still hadn’t called,
left a message or sent a text. Nothing. Again Rebecca’s fingers
hovered over the house number. Should she phone him, let him know
that Gwen was OK and that she was still in Leeds. Did he care? He
certainly hadn’t bothered to phone and ask. Rebecca sighed and
phoned instead for a taxi. Maybe she should think about getting a
car? She couldn’t rely on taxis for ever. She remembered reading
that the first purchase of many lottery winners was a car but
Rebecca had never bought a car in her life. She had shared Gwen’s
battered little Fiesta for many years and after she met Daniel he
took sole responsibility for any car buying. It all seemed so
complicated. He would speak of performance, horse power,
consumption, emissions. They would spend hours in show rooms
looking at cars that all seemed much the same to Rebecca until
finally he would make a decision and the next family car would be
unveiled. Rebecca really didn’t think that she knew enough about
cars to just go out and buy one. Maybe this was the sort of
decision best left to Daniel.

Half an hour
later she was at Parklands and went upstairs to find Gwen not only
awake but looking bright and cheerful. Her close friend in the
home, Betty, was sitting next to her knitting and chatting away and
Mrs Wendover was giving the room a quick tidy as she cleared away
Gwen’s breakfast tray.

‘Oh darling you
look so much better, come in!’ said Gwen as she spotted Rebecca
popping her head around the door.

Rebecca
laughed, ‘It’s you we’re worried about Mum, not me!’

‘Well, maybe
but it’s still nice to see you looking so well and happy.’

Rebecca smiled,
it was easy to look happy when you had millions in the bank.

‘How are you
Mum?’

‘I’m fine my
darling absolutely fine which is why I don’t want you to stay
today.’

Rebecca’s
eyebrows shot under her fringe. ‘You don’t want me to visit?’

‘I don’t mean
that. It’s lovely to see so much of you even if it is in less than
happy circumstances,’ Gwen half lifted her arm with the cast on.
‘But you can’t spend the whole day hovering over me. Enjoy
yourself, make the most of being back in Leeds!’

‘But mum
I…’

‘No. You can
pop in and see me later but go make the most of your day, I’m
absolutely fine here with Betty and Mrs Wendover.’

‘But
mum...’

Mrs Wendover
bustled over, picking up Gwen’s tray as she headed for the door.
‘Your mother’s quite right Rebecca. Go make the most of a day in
Leeds. We all know how much you miss the place. I’ll phone you
straight away if there’s any change at all with your mother, she’s
in good hands.’

And so Rebecca
was gently shooed away, finding herself outside the front door on a
bitterly cold April morning watching as yet another taxi pulled
into the driveway to collect her.

She opened the
door and jumped in to escape from the biting, cold wind.

‘Where to
love?’

She looked at
her watch. She had just over 3 hours before she needed to be at the
house to take delivery of her new beds.

Rebecca sat
back and smiled at the cheerful face looking at her in the rear
view mirror.

‘Leeds please -
I’m going shopping!’

Exactly 2 hours
later the same taxi driver helped Rebecca carry the last of the
bags and bags and bags of shopping into the kitchen loading them
all onto the table.

He looked
around approvingly. ‘Nice place you’ve got here love, very
nice.’

Rebecca smiled.
She realised that this was the only person apart from Annie who had
seen her new house. In fact, apart from Annie, her solicitor and
bank manager, he was the only person who knew she had a new
house.

‘Well, I like
it,’ she grinned and took out her purse to pay him, including a
very large tip.

Protesting at
first but then taking the proffered notes with a happy smile the
taxi driver left, leaving Rebecca to walk back into the kitchen and
her piles of shopping. Her house, her lovely house. How good it
felt to be able to show someone this beautiful house and say, this
is my home.

It took Rebecca
a while to get to grips with the central heating but she soon had
it working and turned up high so that every room felt cosy and
warm. She unpacked the bags which were full of the bits and pieces
that turned a house into a home. Enough toiletries to rival Quebecs
now sat in the bathrooms; the living room had some ruby red and
gold cushions sprawling across the cream sofas along with a deep
red throw that Rebecca could imagine snuggling under while watching
TV tonight. A pile of books sat on the glass topped coffee table
and a basket of DVDs sat in the space where the TV would go. The
sort of DVDs that Rebecca loved, Pretty Woman, Wuthering Heights,
Miss Congeniality, Bridget Jones. Tonight she wouldn’t watch a
single programme about cars being rescued.

More bags were
unpacked in the kitchen from the beautiful, such as the delicate
crystal champagne goblets that had caught Rebecca’s eye, to the
practical such as the state of the art spice rack that held every
spice she could possibly need and more.

She boiled the
kettle, a stainless steel retro version that had made Rebecca gasp
when she saw the price and filled the cream ceramic caddy full of
teabags before making herself a cup in one of the pretty new china
mugs. Daniel always said china was a waste of time, too hard to
keep clean, too easy to chip and break, pretty but pointless.
Rebecca had always loved the feel of proper china and now a
selection of pretty flowered mugs sat in one of the cupboards.

Curling up on
one of the raspberry settees she held the mug of steaming tea in
her hands and gazed out onto the garden. It was far too cold to go
out and explore and she hadn’t really seen much of it when she
first viewed the house with Annie. Perhaps she should ask the
gardener to stay on. She liked gardening but there were trees to
prune and grass to cut, it might be too much for her to keep on top
off herself. Her daydreams were stopped short by the ringing of the
doorbell and for the next few hours Rebecca didn’t have time to
think about anything as she directed beds to various rooms, made
copious cups of tea for various shivering delivery drivers and
unpacked feverishly as box after box of items arrived at the door.
It was 5.00pm before she finally stopped. Her back was aching, her
knees sore, her shoulders tight but Rebecca was probably the
happiest she had been in years. It was dark outside, the sun had
barely made it out all day and now it had disappeared altogether
and Rebecca could hear the wind howling through the trees. But the
house was aglow with warmth and light. She had figured out the
lighting system along with the switches that closed the curtains
but for now she was happy to leave the windows uncovered. The
contrast between her beautiful warm house and the cold April
evening was one she was enjoying. The bedrooms were finished. Beds,
quilts, mountains of soft down pillows, warm cuddly throws, all
were in place. The new TV stood in the living room and the kitchen
cupboards were full of pans of every size and shape and an entire
new dinner service. Rebecca stood at the foot of the staircase and
looked down the hallway towards the living room at one end of the
house and then towards the sprawling kitchen in the other direction
before heaving a sigh of ecstatic relief.

She had done
it. There was lots more to do and buy but Rebecca already felt at
home in a way she had never been in Darlington. And she never
wanted to leave.

But leave she
had to and wrapping herself up tightly she called another taxi, she
would seriously have to address the issue of buying a car for when
she was in Leeds, and went first to Quebecs where she packed up her
belongings, paid her bill and said a sincere thank you to the staff
and then to Parklands to visit Gwen. Her mother was still in her
bed and this time Carol had joined her and the two were chatting
happily as Rebecca entered the room.

‘Oh I can feel
the cold air on you,’ Gwen declared. ‘Come in and get warm.’

Rebecca
shrugged off her coat and scarf, thinking that the room was nowhere
near as warm as it should have been.

‘Are they
having trouble with the heating again Mum?’

‘Yes,’ sighed
Gwen. ‘Poor Mrs Wendover has been poking and banging at that boiler
all afternoon but it’s not making much difference.’

Just then one
of the other staff members appeared at the door with a little
portable radiator. Parklands had a supply which they wheeled out
whenever the heating let them down.

‘Here you go
Gwen my love,’ said Rita cheerfully, ‘an extra radiator, a hot
water bottle and an extra blanket. Don’t want you getting cold!
I’ve just left the same in your room Carol love.’

Rebecca plugged
in the radiator, threw the blanket over Gwen’s legs and passed her
the hot water bottle. Perhaps she needed to speak to Mrs Wendover
sooner than she had planned.

‘Are you OK?’
she asked Gwen who was arranging the hot water bottle by her
feet.

‘Oh I’m fine.
Warm as toast now and feeling much better. The doctor came this
afternoon and said everything looks good and the pain killers he
left me are all I need when it starts aching. You look tired
darling, have you had a busy afternoon?’

Rebecca smiled
and flopped on the edge of Gwen’s bed. ‘I’ve had a very busy day
Mum, in a nice way and I’ll tell you all about it as soon as I can
it’s just that…’

Gwen waved her
good arm in the air, ‘Oh I wasn’t prying! I know you’ll tell me
when you’re ready and I’m sure it will be worth the wait.’

Rebecca smiled
tiredly ‘I think it might Mum, I think it might. Do you mind if I
don’t stay? I’ve actually got a taxi waiting downstairs for me and
I …’

‘Of course not!
Why didn’t you say. Go, go and I’ll see you later.’

And Rebecca
kissed Gwen goodnight, said goodbye to Carol and to Rita who was
still delivering blankets along the hall, grabbed her coat and went
out into the cold air for the last time as the taxi took her
home.

She had a
wonderful evening. Not caring about heating bills she had the house
toasty warm. There were logs left behind so she lit a fire in the
vast grate and after a couple of failed efforts had a blazing fire
going. She took out the rest of the champagne Annie had left and
made herself a meal of smoked salmon and ciabatta and curled up
under the red throw, watching Bridget Jones Diary in absolute peace
and contentment. Eventually as her eyes grew heavy, she turned down
the heating, turned off all the lights, finally drawing the
curtains and then made her way upstairs. She was thrilled with her
room. A lovely sales lady had watched her struggling at the vast
choice before her and had helped Rebecca put together a bedroom
full of colour and warmth which echoed the colours in the lounge.
Spread across the bed was a luxurious duvet cover in a soft
champagne colour and a throw of red velvet decorated with gold.
Rebecca contemplated having a bath but decided she was just too
tired and instead she slid into her very own nest of goose down and
Egyptian cotton sheets and fell asleep almost before her head had
hit the deep, fluffy pillows.