Olivia's Enchanted Summer (18 page)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“It's so exciting!” said Aeysha, looking out of their dressing-room tent at the long queue snaking from the box office. “It's going to be another full house.”

“We're completely sold out tonight, too. Returns only,” said Eel happily.

“We deserve to be full,” said Evie. “The reviews have all been raves. Look, Livy, there's a massive picture of you and Jack on the high-wire in the
Guardian
. They say ‘this is a truly enchanting show that will make every child – and adult – want to run away and join the circus.'”

The Swans were all buzzing with excitement. They'd just come from the ceremony at which they had been awarded their Fringe
First, and there was a strong rumour that they were going to get a Herald Angel, too. A TV crew was going to be filming part of this afternoon's performance, and producers from both the Barbican and the South Bank were coming to see the show with an eye to transferring it to London the following summer. Both Alicia and Jack had told them not to get their hopes up.

“Producers are fickle,” warned Alicia. “They get all excited about a show but it only lasts five minutes and then they move on to what they think will be the next big thing.” She looked thoughtful. “In any case, if we did want to bring it to London perhaps we should produce it ourselves?”

Jack looked horrified. “I never want to produce anything again in my life,” he said. “It's much too stressful. I'd prefer to spend forty days and forty nights living on a high-wire than go through the agonies of doing all that again.”

“That might be wise, Jack,” said Alicia drily. “Not forty days and forty nights on the high-wire. That would be insanity. But no more producing. You should stick to the creative and technical stuff and leave me to do the rest.” She smiled at her son-in-law. “Together we could
make a great team.”

“We already do,” said Jack quietly.

There was a cough outside the girls' dressing-room tent, and a familiar voice said: “Is everyone decent? Can I come in?”

Georgia, Aeysha and Eel squealed, and Olivia flung back the tent flap and threw herself on the freckle-faced, red-haired boy standing outside.

“Tom McCavity, where have you been all summer?” she cried.

Tom laughed, “Flying to Neverland, since you ask, but I'm back in the real world now and dying to see your show.”

“See it! Now you're finally here, you're going to be in it. We've still got ten performances to go,” said Olivia. “We'll have you rehearsing first thing in the morning. Dad will be thrilled.”

“I'm a bit rusty,” said Tom.

“Oh, the high-wire's like riding a bicycle,” said Olivia. “You never forget.” Ayesha went to greet her family, who'd travelled up to Edinburgh with Tom. Georgia went to look out for her dad and Leonie, who'd also come up on the same train to stay for a few days.

Olivia introduced Tom to Evie and Tati.
“These are my great friends, Tom: Evie and Tati Purcarete. Evie and Tati are an essential part of the Swan Circus, and part of the Swan family.” Evie and Tati went pink and looked really chuffed. She also introduced Tom to Alfie.

“My cousin,” she said proudly. Tom was impressed by Alfie's conjuring prowess, and Alfie was even more deeply impressed to discover that Tom could walk the high-wire.

“It's almost the end of the summer. Term will be starting soon,” said Aeysha when she came back to the dressing tent. “I can't believe that we'll be going into Year Nine.”

The Swans started talking about school, the people they knew and how much they were looking forward to the coming term. Everyone was talking so animatedly that nobody really noticed Evie and Tati detach themselves from the group. Nobody except Olivia, who followed them around the back of the dressing room.

“Why did you leave?” she asked.

Evie blushed. “Whatever you say, Livy,” she said, “Tati and I, we're not really Swans.”

“Yes, you are. You're honorary Swans. Just like Alfie.”

“But after this summer, we may never see
each other again,” said Evie, wistfully. “Alicia is talking to the social services. They're trying to work something out.”

“You know that Gran would have you at the Swan, Evie. If that's what you wanted.”

“What do you think I am,” said Evie, looking comically affronted. “Some kind of stage-school brat?”

Olivia laughed. “That's what I thought about all stage-school kids before I went to the Swan. But I was wrong. Most of them aren't like that at all.”

“No,” said Tati. “They're not. They're loyal and brave like you, Livy. You are lucky to have such good friends.”

“I know,” said Olivia seriously. “We all look out for each other.”

“Ready to catch each other if you fall,” said Evie softly.

“Yes,” said Olivia. “We all need people like that in our lives. There's somebody out there for you and Tati, Evie. I'm sure of it. But in the meantime, you'll just have to make do with me and the Swans. We're good catchers, honest.”

“The best.” Evie smiled.

It was after the evening performance. The sun had almost set but it was still blisteringly warm. It was so still that from across the city they could hear the sound of the Tattoo coming from the castle. Soon there would be fireworks. The Swans were celebrating the end of a blissful day with a post-show picnic on the hill. Michael and Lydia had made masses of salads and quiches and there was a huge raspberry cheesecake and two chocolate cakes for pudding.

Olivia and Tom were sitting together on the hillside.

“This is magic,” said Tom, stretching out. “You are lucky to have spent the entire summer here.”

Olivia smiled to herself. If only Tom knew. It was going to take a long time to tell him everything that had happened, about all the misunderstandings there had been and all the mistakes she had made.

“Tom,” she said haltingly, “you know the way that sometimes you think that you are on the right track…”

“…but it turns out that you are on completely the wrong train,” said Tom, finishing her sentence for her. “Been there, done that.”
He squeezed her hand. Olivia smiled into the dusk. She'd always known that Tom would understand.

She looked across the hillside. Alfie was trying to teach Eel how to produce an egg from behind Emmy's left ear; Jack and Michael were laughing together; Aeysha was surrounded by her large family; Georgia had her arm around her mum's waist as they both stood chatting to Georgia's dad and Leonie. They all looked relaxed and happy. Olivia heard Georgia say: “Can I? Can I really?” The adults all smiled and nodded, and Georgia put her hand on Leonie's swelling tummy. A look of wonder came over her face.

“I felt her. I felt my baby sister kick!” she said excitedly. “I can't wait until she's born and I can hold her and help look after her.”

“Families are such funny things, aren't they?” said Olivia.

“Yes,” said Tom. “Sometimes I want to kill mine, but I wouldn't be without them.”

“Me neither,” said Olivia.

“I'll remind you that you said that the next time you're raging at Jack or in a strop with your gran or irritated by Eel.”

Olivia watched a chic dark-haired woman walking up the hill. She was peering anxiously around as if looking for somebody. Her eye suddenly fell on Evie and Tati, who were talking intently to Alicia. The woman's worried face broke into a broad beam as she called out their names and started speaking very fast in a foreign language.

Evie and Tati looked up, astonishment passed across their faces, then they ran towards her and threw themselves into her arms. Harry barked as if in welcome. There was a great deal of gesticulating, Tati burst into tears, and Evie was talking at high speed in what Olivia guessed was Romanian and grinning from ear to ear.

Evie turned to the others. “I would like to introduce you to our Auntie Zsa Zsa.”

“Are you quite sure she's your auntie?” asked Eel, very seriously. “Because your uncle wasn't your uncle.”

“Certain,” said Evie, with a grin.

“Yes,” said Zsa Zsa in almost perfect English. “Evie and Tati are my dead brother's children. Poor little orphans. I had no idea that poor Cora had died, too. I've been trying to trace them for months, and then I had a stroke
of luck. I was doing yet another online search and Evie's name came up in a review of a circus production at the Edinburgh Festival. I caught the first plane I could and I've come straight here from the airport. I can't believe I've found you. I thought you were lost to me for ever. Now we can all be together again. A real family.” She burst into noisy tears.

Evie looked worried. “Are we going to have to move to Romania, Auntie Zsa Zsa?”

“Oh no, Evie, darling. I've been living in Italy working with a circus as an animal trainer. But my contract is almost up. I'll be a free agent by Christmas. I can live anywhere in Europe. Even Edinburgh, if that's where you want to live. I have a little nest egg that will see us through, and I'm sure I'll find work. I noticed some very badly behaved dogs on my way from the airport in the taxi. These poor people and their doggy friends, they desperately need our help, Evie. It's our duty to lend a hand.”

Harry bounded up and offered his paw. Zsa Zsa smiled. “You trained him, Evie?”

Evie nodded.

“I knew it,” said Zsa Zsa happily. “You've remembered everything I taught you. We'll
make a great team!”

“And what about Tati?” asked Alicia softly.

“Oh, I'll be fine,” said Tati, with a big grin. “If I know that Evie's going to be looked after, I can go back to college, get some exams and maybe go to university.” She looked shy. “I'd like to be a doctor. Maybe I could find a cure for leukaemia.”

“That's all quite settled, then,” said Zsa Zsa decisively, with the confident air of a woman who knows that life is really very simple and that there is no need to complicate it. “Now let's celebrate and then you must tell me everything that's happened to you.”

As Kasha and the band started to play, fireworks began to explode above the castle, fizzing across the sky and streaking it red and silver and electric blue. Georgia was dancing with her dad; Aeysha was gambolling with two of her little sisters; Lydia and Michael were dancing; Alfie and Eel were hamming it up with Tom; and most astonishingly, Jack and Alicia were dancing a gentle waltz together in perfect step and time. It was, thought Olivia, a magical scene.

Evie detached herself from Tati and Zsa
Zsa and came over to Olivia.

“May I?” she said, giving her a mock bow.

“Enchanted,” said Olivia, bowing back, and the two of them joined in the dance. They whirled into the middle of the dancers. Evie's foot grazed the side of a tussock and she stumbled, but Olivia didn't falter. She gripped Evie firmly and she stayed upright. The two girls smiled at each other, swaying and spinning together in perfect unison, ready to catch each other if they fell.

Lyn Gardner was born in London and now lives near Richmond Park with her partner and two daughters. A theatre critic on the
Guardian,
she goes to the theatre five or six nights a week, which should leave no time for writing books at all. But apart from the
Olivia
books, she has also managed to write two other novels for children:
Into the Woods
and
Out of the Woods
. Her ambitions are to learn to tap dance and walk the high-wire, but it may have to be the low-wire as she is a bit scared of heights.