Mercedes said, surprised, ‘Sandwiches? When Ford’s footing the bill? I think not. You mustn’t think of sandwiches. Only the best for our friends, believe me. All you’ll need is money for betting and nothing else. My Ford is a generous host.’ She squeezed Willie’s hand where it lay on the table and gave him another of her smiles.
Sylvia positively steamed at the foolish look on Willie’s flushed face. Because of it she almost said they weren’t going, but decided that she wouldn’t miss the chance of a day at the races because Willie was acting like a fool, so she swiftly changed the expression on her face to one of complete compliance. After all, maybe life in Turnham Malpas had suddenly taken a turn for the better, and why shouldn’t she and Willie have a slice of it? The only drawback was just how much this day at the races would cost. After all, there’d be rounds of drinks to get in and they mustn’t appear skinflints, her and Willie.
As Dottie told Peter on the Monday morning, they had no worries about money because Ford had taken care of absolutely everything. ‘So generous he was, Reverend, you’ve no idea. Wonderful restaurant there, and we’d a big round table where we could see the races while we were eating, through the big glass windows, you know. The food - well, I can’t describe it. I hardly ate a thing yesterday I’d eaten so much on the day. It was so smart, all of it. I was glad I’d got my best suit on, otherwise I’d have felt right out of it. Mind you, neither Sylvia nor Vera nor me could compete with Mercedes. She was utterly splendid, in a bright coral-red outfit with a big white hat, gloves and handbag, and four-inch high-heeled strappy sandals.’
‘I’m sure you compared very favourably, Dottie.’
‘You weren’t there, sir. I know who looked stunning - it was Merc, as he calls her. Ford knows so many people, all looking good and well off. He’s very popular. They don’t half bet, the pair of them, though. Runs through their fingers like water, but they mostly win so that makes all the difference. I took Ford’s advice and won forty-two pounds but Don won a hundred and seventy-five pounds on another race. That chuffed he was! Willie lost ten pounds but Mercedes kissed him and gave him a hug to compensate, and I must say he didn’t seem to mind he’d lost, though Sylvia looked annoyed. Must get on. Finished your lunch? I’ll be off when I’ve cleared up. Embroidery class, you see. See yer tomorrow!’
Peter sat for a moment, contemplating Dottie’s story about the races. It all made him feel very wary of what was going on at Glebe House with the Barclays. It appeared too good to be true. They seemed to him to be trying far too hard to ingratiate themselves, and he wondered why. It would have been so much better in the long run to move in and take things more slowly. A state-of-the-art mower and a shed, which was twice the size of the original, with a workman coming to lay the base before it arrived and more workmen to put it up, within a week of moving in? He chided himself for being so wary.
But he was, and he was also very wary of Suzy Meadows-that-was sending letters to his children. His all-consuming aim every day of his life was to protect not only them but Caroline, too, knowing as he did that her inability to give him children herself had been the major factor in her decision to adopt his and Suzy’s children. The agonizing pain the whole episode had caused him was still as vivid as the day he’d learned that Suzy was pregnant by him, and it the one and only act of unfaithfulness in the whole of his marriage.
Peter picked up the photograph on his desk and studied it. It was a picture of Caroline with the very newborn twins, one in each arm, smiling with such triumphant happiness at the camera that tears came to his eyes each time he looked at it. Today, he wept.
Dottie called out, ‘Bye, Reverend, I’m off. See you tomorrow.’
Peter couldn’t reply, but Dottie thought he was probably on the phone, so off she went.
The tears made him come to the conclusion that for everyone’s sake he would ask the twins about the letters at the first opportunity.
His moment came on Saturday. Caroline was doing an extra surgery and Peter had promised to go to the council tip in Culworth with a load of stuff they’d been clearing out and the recycling things, too. So he encouraged Alex and Beth to come with him and then into Culworth proper for coffee and shopping if they wished.
Beth in particular enjoyed the tip because she loved inspecting the goods laid out for re-sale at one edge of the site. As she always did after she’d been poking about at the tip, she insisted on giving her hands a good wash in the Abbey coffee shop toilets before she sat down at a table.
She’d given her order to Peter before she disappeared, so when she returned her hot chocolate was waiting for her. ‘Dad, you’re not having that gut-rot stuff Alex drinks, are you?’
‘Thought I’d try it for a change, but I think maybe you’ve given it the right name.’
Alex offered Peter the sugar. ‘Might help it down.’
They sat companionably together, drinking and observing people. Lots of people saw Peter and raised a hand or spoke to him. Beth approved of her dad being well liked. He deserved it, she thought. ‘Good thing it’s Saturday, then the Bishop’s wife won’t be here.’
Somewhat astounded by Beth’s statement, as he’d always found the Bishop’s wife very pleasant and helpful, Peter asked, ‘What’s wrong with her, Beth? She’s extremely kind.’
‘At the back of her mind there’s always the thought that we, Alex and I, need special attention because of our circumstances. She kind of glosses over it without actually mentioning it, but her concern is always there.’
Peter, taken aback by her frankness, said, ‘I didn’t realise that. She means well.’
‘Exactly, Dad, but she needn’t because Alex and I are perfectly all right.’
To Peter this appeared to be a heaven-sent opportunity to clear the air. ‘Those letters you got the other day, from Suzy Meadows. Are you perfectly all right about
them
?’
Now it was the twins’ turn to be surprised. Alex spoke first. ‘We didn’t know you knew.’
‘Mum told me. She didn’t
know
, just suspected. On the same day, you see, Jimbo had a letter from her . . . Suzy . . . telling him her husband had died.’
‘She did? Whatever for? Why Jimbo?’
‘Why Jimbo? Because he was very supportive of her when her first husband died.’
‘Killed himself, you mean.’ Beth came out with that remark very abruptly, and there was bitterness in her voice. ‘She must be a crazy, mixed-up person, in my opinion.’
‘Beth!’ Peter was at a loss for words.
Alex said, ‘We didn’t say anything because we didn’t want mum to be hurt. We’ve not known what to do.’
‘Why has she written to you?’
Beth unzipped her bag, glanced at Alex for his approval and gave Suzy’s letter to Peter to read.
‘Are you sure about this? Because I don’t know if I sh—’
‘Read it, Dad, and stop being tactful. All this tip-toeing about is getting me down.’ This from Beth, who’d reached the end of the road with all the secrecy.
Peter unfolded the two-page letter and began to read.
Dearest Beth,
I know this is a surprise to you because I have never written to you before, but I know you know the circumstances of our relationship and felt you should be aware that my husband Michael died a month ago. It has nothing to do with you but is everything to me, and I thought you should know.
The man I truly love is your father, and I have never stopped loving him since the day I first met him. But with three little girls to feed and clothe, and their father dead, I simply could not manage to work and support two new babies in addition to them, so the answer was to give you to your own father, knowing you were being given the best possible chance in life. As for me, I now have none of my girls at home and no husband, either, which is a desperate state to be in.
Now you are sixteen - see, I know your exact age, I haven’t forgotten - and starting in the sixth form and having minds of your own, I’ve no doubt, I wondered if you might like to get to know me better. I should love more than anything in the whole world to get to know the two of you.
I suggest you come to stay for a few days at half-term. It would be just the three of us. What an exciting time we would have, learning all about each other and sharing our lives! Just think of it!
My address and email address are at the top of this letter. Believe me, it would be the most wonderful thing in my life for you to come to stay. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
All my love,
your mother
Beth broke the silence. ‘All about her, isn’t it? That’s what strikes me. All about her. No mention of whether or not my mum will find it wonderful. Or my dad. Oh, no! Well, as far as I’m concerned, I am not going. Full stop. I can’t speak for Alex. We’re not joined at the hip, so he can decide for himself.’ Beth snatched the letter from Peter and tore it into shreds. ‘There, that’s that.’ She concentrated on spooning the cream from the top of her hot chocolate into her mouth and refused to look at her dad.
Peter didn’t know what to say. This letter was so unexpected! He’d have to tread carefully. Maybe Alex would want to go.
To Alex, the bit about her loving his dad had been the biggest shock. Two husbands and still loved
him
? Was it reciprocated? he wondered suddenly. No, of course not. Mum and Dad were crazy about each other. He knew every day of his life how much in love they were. Didn’t he? A terrible doubt invaded Alex’s being.
‘Well, Alex, how do you feel about it? Are you going to see her?’
Alex looked Peter full in the face, an unasked question in his eyes, but Peter couldn’t read what the question was. ‘I shall write a polite letter on behalf of the two of us and say we’re not going. She gave us to you and that’s where it ends. Her chance has gone.’ Alex hadn’t brought his own letter with him, so he couldn’t make Beth’s dramatic gesture. ‘When I get home I shall write one letter and tear mine up the minute I’ve done it.’
‘I see. Shall I tell your mum, then?’
‘No, Dad. We will.’
Beth protested. ‘I’d rather she didn’t know.’
Alex said, ‘It was you who said the secrecy had to end, so let’s do that. Mum must know and then we can all lay a ghost to rest.’ But he promised himself that one day when he found the right words, he would ask his father about Suzy and whether he had ever felt love for her, and if he still did.
Chapter 3
‘Do you think we’d better tell them at the Rectory that Suzy’s Michael is dead? They perhaps ought to know in the circumstances? ’ Jimbo’s voice was muffled as he bent down behind the TV, wondering why on earth they suddenly had no picture at all.
‘Honestly,’ said Harriet, ‘I haven’t the faintest idea what to do for the best, Jimbo. I suppose eventually it’ll get round to them on the village grapevine.’
‘But will it? Pass me the torch. After all, we’re every one of us acutely aware that we’re talking dynamite, aren’t we? Thanks.’
Unaware that Fran had come in, Harriet replied, ‘The next time Caroline comes in the Store I shall corner her and tell her. She should know, and the twins should, too. How’s that for a promise? There’s still no picture.’
‘Blast.’
Fran suggested, ‘It’s Dottie. She’ll have caught a cable again when she was vacuuming. Here, let me see.’
Jimbo emerged, tousled and hot, reluctantly admitting to himself that she would most likely solve the problem in no time at all.
Fran tinkered about with the wires at the back and then said, ‘There we are. What’s the picture like, Mum?’
‘Excellent. What it is to have a qualified TV engineer in the house!’
Jimbo grunted. ‘Hmm! Luck, that’s what, pure luck.’
‘Dad! It was me put it right the last time you couldn’t get a picture.’
Jimbo feigned memory loss. ‘Maybe it was. I don’t remember.’ ‘I don’t know why you bother asking him, Mum. Just send for me, OK? By the way, I think they should know.’