Finding Cassie, page 20
Nope, no more romances for her.
Chapter Twenty-One
It was just after seven when Zoe drew up outside her sister’s house. Cassie peered out of the window, then came hurrying out to greet her with a big hug.
That was the first time her sister had been openly affectionate of her own accord, and it made Zoe glad she’d fudged the truth about having a meeting in London on Monday as an excuse to come down here, instead of obeying her parents’ command to go home for the weekend.
‘For goodness’ sake, forget about your older sister,’ her mother had ordered. ‘She hasn’t been a credit to the family and our careful upbringing, so we don’t owe her anything. It’s about time you showed us your loyalty. I don’t know what’s got into you lately.’
Zoe had had more than enough of being nagged by them, enough too of them trying to keep her away from Cassie.
‘I love my sister and intend to see a lot more of her, whatever you say or do.’ She’d stormed out, sick of their hypocrisy and cruelty to poor Cassie.
She’d left home decades ago, even though at first she’d lived in the same town, but they’d still tried to control her, so she’d left her friends and reluctantly moved to Manchester. Though she dutifully phoned her parents now and then, and even visited them once or twice a year, when she couldn’t put it off any longer, distance had enabled her to see them even more clearly. They were cold and more concerned about appearances than other people’s troubles. Especially when it concerned their elder daughter.
They weren’t even proud of how successful Cassie had been, always putting her down when people commented, saying the topics she featured in her TV programmes were disgusting and should be kept out of the limelight.
Zoe stared in surprise as Cassie grabbed her arm to prevent her from going into the house.
‘I have such a wonderful surprise for you, Zoe. Let me tell you about it before we go in.’
‘OK. I’m all ears.’
‘I have my granddaughter staying with me at the moment.’ She paused and stared challengingly at her younger sister.
‘Your granddaughter? You have a granddaughter?’
‘Yes. The agency found my daughter only once again she turned down seeing me. Her daughter did want to see me, though, and she’s here.’
‘That’s great! I can’t wait to meet her.’ She turned away to get her suitcase out, but as she closed the car boot, Cassie grabbed her arm again.
‘There’s more. The guy my daughter married recently upset Evie so much she ran away and came to take refuge with me.’
‘That’s a bit of an overdramatic reaction, don’t you think?’
‘No. He sounds like a paedophile to me, from what she’s said.’
‘Oh no!’
‘My daughter wouldn’t believe anything was wrong, but since Evie saw the letter from my agency, she knew my address so came to ask for my help. She didn’t want to live with him, didn’t dare.’
‘Dear heaven, what a terrible situation for the poor girl! And for you.’
‘It was such a close-run thing, it makes me shiver. Evie turned up seeking my help the day before I moved down here. If she’d arrived two days later, she’d have missed me and would probably be living on the streets now because I didn’t leave any information about where I was going with the neighbours.’
She shuddered then gave her sister a watery smile. ‘She’s a great kid.’
Zoe gave her a hug. ‘I couldn’t be more pleased for you. Aw, love, don’t cry.’
Cassie swiped at her eyes. ‘I’m so happy to be able to get to know her and help her. And what am I doing standing out here, blubbing like a big baby? Come and meet our newest family member, Zoe. You’ll like her.’
‘I’ll love her, I hope. Hey, just think, I’m an auntie to a girl, no, great-auntie. Michael’s only got little boys and they’re a subdued pair who never say much when I visit. He’s nearly as bad as our parents for being strict.’
‘Yes. I pity them. Anyway, here we go.’ She flung open the door. ‘Evie, darling, this is my little sister, Zoe.’
Evie looked across towards the door apprehensively, but Zoe simply held open her arms and moved forward. ‘You’re my very first great-niece.’
They met in the middle, hugging, then separating to stare at one another.
‘You’ve got the family hair,’ Zoe commented. ‘Do you get called “carrots” at school?’
‘Yes.’
‘Used to drive me mad.’
‘Cup of tea, you two?’ Cassie asked. ‘Or do you want to do some more hugging?’
They laughed and moved apart.
Zoe beamed first at her sister then at her niece. ‘A glass of champagne would be more appropriate, don’t you think? This is something to celebrate big time. And I’m sure a half-glass wouldn’t hurt our Evie, who’s almost grown up. It’s such a wonderfully special occasion.’
She saw the girl mouth the words ‘Our Evie’ and could have wept all over again for the wobbliness of her niece’s smile, which said a lot about her hunger for family. It must have been as strong as Cassie’s hunger to find her daughter.
What a mess their family was in! Well, if Zoe had any say, she and her sister were going to stay together and help build a real, loving new family. Their parents might be sadly lacking in parenting skills but she’d been lucky to have her father’s spinster sister living nearby. Mary had showered her with love, so she hadn’t grown up without experiencing genuine affection.
Poor Cassie had left home before Auntie Mary came to live nearby, so she’d missed that affection. Well, when things settled down, Zoe would bring Mary to meet the others. Her aunt would love that. Mary sure gave the lie to the idea of old women sitting around needing to be helped as they tottered towards death. She still helped others, volunteering at a couple of charities, and she had loads of friends.
But that was for another time.
Cassie went to the fridge and took out the bottle of champagne she’d bought on their big shopping trip. It had been chilling there, waiting for a happy occasion, and lo and behold, that had happened sooner than she’d expected.
She poured two full glasses and one half, then put it away again, passing the glasses to the others.
Zoe raised her glass. ‘To us! Family for ever.’
They each clinked their glasses against hers and took a sip.
‘This is a very nice drop.’ Zoe put her glass down and looked from one to the other. ‘My goodness, you two are so alike! Why didn’t I get that lovely colour of hair instead of this faded mousy brown?’
‘Mine’s completely white now,’ Cassie protested.
‘Silver. And it looks as good on you as the red used to. You have a very elegant bone structure. Evie’s got it too.’
‘Took me a while to stop colouring my hair. The sort of people I worked for weren’t openly sexist but they definitely preferred to hire female journalists who didn’t look too old on the TV screen. I wonder if the current fashion for grey hair will change that?’
‘My mother has the same colour of red as me.’ Evie patted her short, wavy hair and stared across the room at her own reflection in the mirror. ‘Though she has one or two silver threads now and boy, does she hate that.’
‘I’m so looking forward to meeting her,’ Zoe said. ‘I hope she’ll come round to the idea of extending her family to include us.’
‘Evie told me that what her mother desperately wants is to have a husband and more children, even though she’s over forty. Only, she shouldn’t have them with a creep like him.’
‘No more talk about him today, please,’ Zoe said firmly. ‘This is a time for celebration. Here’s to aunts and grandmothers everywhere!’ She took another sip and smiled at her sister. ‘Can you sit down comfortably now? We all need to chill out.’
‘I will and—’ Cassie snapped her fingers as something occurred to her. ‘I’d better go and cancel our evening out with Hal and his son before I relax, though.’
‘Who are they?’
After this had been explained, Zoe shrugged. ‘Why not ask them instead if it’s OK for me to join you? I’m happy to pay for my own meal.’
‘I’ll go and see Hal straight away, just to make sure it’s OK. He’s relying on us to keep the peace between him and his son so I don’t think he’ll mind another person. Oliver turned up yesterday and seems very unhappy about something. I won’t be long.’ She got up and left the house by the back door.
Zoe took another sip and smiled across at her niece. ‘Tell me about yourself.’
‘What do you want to know?’ A guarded look replaced the smile.
‘Anything and everything. Let’s not focus on why you ran away, though. Let’s concentrate on good things tonight, like what you want to do with your life and what you want to know about our side of the family.’ She lowered her voice dramatically and added, ‘I know all their dark secrets and am willing to sell them to you for money.’
Evie was surprised into laughter.
Zoe grimaced. ‘I’d better warn you, though. Our parents won’t welcome you into the family. They don’t have anything to do with your grandmother.’
‘I’ve gathered that. It’s cruel. She’s such a lovely, kind person.’
‘Yes. I agree. But Auntie Mary will want to know you and I’m sure you’ll love your great-great-aunt.’ She explained about their oldest relative.
Cassie found Hal sitting on his back patio in the sheltered spot he seemed to have made his favourite retreat. He was staring across the garden, his expression so bleak she paused, hesitating to interrupt him.
The minute he noticed her, the unhappiness vanished from his face. Jumping to his feet, he held out one hand, smiling. ‘Cassie! Do come and join me. I was in need of cheering up and the mere sight of you lifts my spirits.’
‘Just for a minute. I have a visitor.’
‘I noticed the car arrive.’ He let go of her hand to pull a chair out for her, giving her a quick hug before he allowed her to sit down.
‘What brought on your fit of the dismals, Hal?’
‘Oliver.’
‘Ah.’
‘Turns out he’s been demoted and has to attend a course on interpersonal skills before he can take up his new lower-level job, as well as undergoing counselling.’
She let out a soft whistle. ‘Did he say what he did to upset people?’
‘Sounds as if he bad-mouthed women and gays, and shoved a female colleague out of his way.’
‘Bad tactics but he must have been upset about his marriage breaking up, so can’t they give him a little leeway?’
‘It seems not. The new owners of the company are extremely politically correct.’
‘It’s not a good way for him to behave but I know I was very upset when my last relationship ended, and that was a reasonably amicable split – though Brett initiated it, not me.’
‘The guy must be crazy to have dropped you.’
She smiled. ‘You say the nicest things. But actually, he was right. At the time, I was too focused on work to make a good life partner. It took the terrorist incident to shake me out of that and point me back towards being a normal human being, not a work-focused automaton.’
‘His loss, my gain – I hope.’
‘You’re good for my morale too, Hal.’
‘Well, that’s a great start for our relationship, don’t you think?’
They sat smiling at one another for a few seconds then she told him about Zoe’s arrival. ‘So is it all right if my sister joins us for dinner?’
‘Of course it is. The more the merrier. Moreover, if she’s closer to Oliver’s age, perhaps he’ll find he has something in common with her and show us all his better side, which I admit I haven’t seen much of so far this visit.’
He paused for a moment then asked, ‘No word from your daughter?’
‘No. But hopefully she’s received Evie’s message and isn’t worrying about her daughter’s safety. Only, from what Evie has told me, I think it’s Fran we need to worry about now. Her new husband sounds to be a wrong ’un, as an old friend of mine used to call unsavoury folk.’
She got to her feet. ‘I really have to go, Hal. Zoe’s not been here long and we have a lot of catching up and bonding to do. You should have seen Evie’s expression at having a great-aunt as well as a grandmother. That girl is hungry for love, someone to give it to as well as someone to receive it from.’
‘We all need both of those in our lives.’
The world seemed to stand still for a precious moment and she could have sworn that she could feel his affection for her already, a tangible presence. He was such a nice man, would be so easy to love.
Was she reading too much into their friendship? She thought not.
At seven o’clock they met outside the front of the two houses and Zoe gasped in surprise. ‘Oliver Kennedy.’ Her exclamation was hidden by the voices of the others.
‘Zoe.’ He glanced quickly towards his father, then looked back at her apprehensively and lowered his voice. ‘Can we please start our acquaintance again? I’m sorry I was so rude to you. I do remember that evening, the beginning of it anyway. My wife had just told me she was leaving me, which is why I drank way too much and acted up.’
She sighed but held her hand out to shake his. ‘Here’s to second time lucky, then. You certainly didn’t make a good impression the first time and I shan’t give you a third chance to get the social niceties right, if you mess up again.’
He took her hand. ‘I can’t remember much, though I do remember your face and how disgusted you looked. Was I very bad?’
‘Yes, very. The things you said about me and all women were … horrible.’
He swallowed hard. ‘Oh hell.’
His father turned towards them. ‘Nice to meet you, Zoe. Did I hear that you and my son have met before?’
‘Only once, and it was at a party, so we didn’t interact much.’
He waited till his father had turned away to whisper, ‘Thanks.’
Oliver watched in admiration as Zoe turned away any other questions about their previous meeting, then she stayed next to him to walk across to the hotel. He must have upset half the world in recent weeks. What a pity he’d picked on her. Her attractiveness didn’t come from make-up and expensive clothes, but from her face and personality. She was lovely in a girl-next-door way, all warm and friendly – ‘bubbly’, people might call her.
What would they call him? The word ‘grumpy’ sprang into his mind. That’s what his father had called him tonight as they were getting ready to come out, anyway.
‘What do you do for a living?’ he asked.
‘I’m a commercial artist.’
‘Do you have a speciality?’
She laughed. ‘What is this? Practice for Starting up Conversations, Unit 101?’
He could feel himself flushing. He didn’t usually have trouble talking to people but it had thrown him to find he’d made such a bad impression on such an attractive woman. Her sister must be much older than her, but she was attractive too, and the niece was going to be good-looking when she grew out of her gawkiness. Only, tonight she looked as if she were worried about something and why on earth was she wearing what was obviously a wig? Who was going to know her here? She was overreacting to the situation if you asked him.
He followed the others into the hotel, pleased that they’d got a round table to sit at. It was always easier to chat on those though he intended to let his father lead the conversation most of the time. He didn’t want to stuff up.
The menu wasn’t at all bad, he soon decided. ‘What do you recommend, Dad?’
‘The beef and ale pie. One of the best I’ve ever tasted. They don’t go for fancy stuff here, thank goodness, just good, hearty fare.’
A woman came across to greet them. ‘Hi, Cassie and Hal. How are you settling in?’
‘We’re starting to sort ourselves out. Everyone, this is Molly Santiago, one of the owners. Molly, meet my sister Zoe and my granddaughter – um, Lacey.’ She shot a quick warning glance at the others.
Curiouser and curiouser, Oliver thought. An assumed name as well as a wig. Things must be bad. She had lovely red hair, he’d seen her sitting out on the back patio, but whenever she went away from their house, she put on that wig. Why buy one that didn’t flatter you, though?
He looked sideways at Zoe.
‘Don’t ask her anything,’ she ordered in a low voice. ‘I’ll answer your questions another time, those that I can, anyway.’
‘OK. I know a rough outline, was just thinking she was overreacting. Um, I’ve seen your sister on television, but she had red hair then.’
‘She got fed up of dyeing it and after she got caught up in that terrorist incident, she didn’t want to be recognised. She needs peace and quiet to recover.’
‘Oh yes. I remember seeing it on the news. Rotten luck, eh, but at least she survived.’
‘Yeah. I’m pretty glad about that, I can tell you.’
She raised her voice and joined in the general conversation and he followed suit, though he didn’t contribute as much to it as she did. She was a lively one. He enjoyed just watching her.
What had he got into here, though?
He’d have to ask his father to explain the details more fully when they got back. He didn’t want to put his foot in it. And maybe whatever it was would add interest to a rather boring stay. He wasn’t going to start the new job until he had to.
But he couldn’t avoid the damned counselling session, more’s the pity, had to go to the first one tomorrow in Swindon.
They sat chatting till half past nine, then Zoe yawned. ‘Sorry. Been a long day. I think I’ll stroll back home.’
‘We all will,’ Cassie said. ‘It’s not good to be walking about after dark with half-built houses and piles of junk to provide hiding places for troublemakers.’
Zoe looked at her sister in surprise. ‘This village doesn’t seem the sort of place where you’d be in danger of getting mugged after dark.’
