A Family Holiday (17 page)

‘No problem, I’ll get you there safe and sound, safe and sound,’ he said in his smooth accent, which was a vast contrast to the bumps and jerks of the van.

‘Pot holes!’ said Ted, realising why Tigi was swerving with such little notice. As the light from the headlights danced randomly about, they could see a glimpse of what was around them. The odd tree and clumps of long grass here and there, and occasionally small wooden buildings like large colourful beach huts. Charlie pulled Millie to her and realised that despite the four-wheeled roller-coaster experience she had gone to sleep. Eleanor was looking about and taking in all the snippets she could see as the headlights alighted on them. She must have sensed Charlie watching her as she turned briefly and smiled. George was in the back looking decidedly green.

‘Is it much further, Tigi?’ she asked.

‘I’ll soon have you home,’ he smiled into the mirror. He was true to his word and within a couple of minutes the van slowed and stopped in front of some white gates. Tigi leaned out of the cab, pressed a button on an ageing entry device and waved at the surveillance camera.

‘Wah gwan,’ he said into the crackling device and received an inaudible reply, but the gates began to open and they started to descend a narrow, steep road. He turned off and parked in front of a large hedge. Tigi sprang out and disappeared behind the hedge so, assuming this was it, Charlie lifted Millie into her arms and rounded up the others.

‘Come on!’ called Tigi from behind the hedge. They all followed the sound of his voice like tired sheep. He was standing on some steps that led up to the villa. It was a vast imposing structure in lemon and white that looked pretty in the half-light. They dutifully followed Tigi up the steps and past the shaped infinity pool, where there was lots of pointing and open-mouthed expressions. Through the open door, they found themselves in a large entrance hall complete with black-and-white-tiled floor and sweeping staircase.

‘Welcome home,’ said Tigi, ‘you can relax now.’ He patted Charlie gently on the shoulder as she cradled a sleepy Millie. And, more than anything, Charlie wanted that to be true.

Fleur was tapping her fingers impatiently on the pub table. She’d drunk two large glasses of white wine and was ready for another one. She could buy it herself but she was meant to be meeting Duggan and she didn’t want to be legless before he even arrived. She checked her phone again; still nothing. She flicked her hair off her face impatiently and rang him.

‘Duggan, have you stood me up?’ she demanded.

‘No, Fleur, like I said I’m having a bad day, baby,’ said Duggan, his frustration evident in the huffing that followed. Fleur wondered what a bad day at work looked like for a farm hand. ‘I’ve been working on my allotment and there’s something making the salad vegetables wilt, the rocket has got it bad and…’

‘Duggan!’ said Fleur snapping, ‘I don’t care about the sodding rocket. I care whether or not you are going to bother turning up this evening.’

‘Look Fleur, I did want to talk to you. I think you still have feelings for Rob…’

‘Don’t you dare mention that name! The only feelings I have for him are purely murderous…’

‘Anyway,’ said Duggan, sounding keen to end the call, ‘I think maybe we should take a break…’

‘Argh! You arse!’ she said, slamming the phone down on the table. When she could still hear a muffled Duggan she realised she hadn’t ended the call, so reluctantly picked it up and stabbed the end-call button. The other faces in the pub were either blatantly looking her way or having a sneaky glance.

The ageing barman looked over, ‘You all right, love?’

‘Another white wine, please. Make it a large one,’ said Fleur, picking up her phone and scrolling through to find Jonathan’s number.

The pub was getting busy when Jonathan arrived. The summer evenings were good for business, despite the poor weather, and Fleur was easily lost in the hum. Jonathan excused his way through the crowded bar out into the garden. He looked around at the damp bench seats and the chattering smokers huddled under a gazebo, as he turned to come back inside he spotted Fleur. She was seated at a table tucked the other side of an unemployed fireplace. She was scrolling through her phone directory and she’d been crying. Three empty wine glasses were on the small table in front of her.

Jonathan pulled up a backless stool, placed it opposite her and sat down, his smile greeting her sad eyes.

‘Oh Jonathan, you came…’ she said, fresh tears starting to flow. ‘It’s all such a mess.’

‘Shh, it’s going to be all right,’ he said, quickly moving to sit next to her, only just able to squeeze himself onto the tiny bench seat.

‘Oh, Jonathan,’ Fleur sobbed onto his shoulder, ‘Poppy is on Pa’s side and Charlie has gone on holiday. I miss Charlie.’ She looked up at him and took the handkerchief he offered her. She pulled her hair off her face and scooped it round to lie on one shoulder, exposing her neck, distracting Jonathan for a moment.

‘You and Charlie are very close, aren’t you?’

‘She always knows what to do.’

‘Give her a call. Even if she’s on holiday she’ll want to help you.’

‘No, I think this time I have to sort it out for myself.’

Charlie was disorientated when she woke up; the cool cotton covers were unfamiliar and there was the hum of a ceiling fan. She was in Antigua. She’d really done it and now they were here, hopefully they had four weeks of perfect relaxation time together ahead of them. Whatever faced them when they got home she would worry about when they touched down at Gatwick, but for the next four weeks she was going to make sure that they had some amazing memories and that the bond between them all was strong. That would only serve to help them face whatever came next.

The room was vast and painted pale yellow with simple white furniture and a large bed. There was also a huge pair of curtains. Charlie threw them back and was met by the most amazing view. The curtains had been hiding patio doors and a balcony beyond. Charlie stepped out and clutched the wooden railings for support. In front of her was something she’d only ever seen in films. They were on a hillside, overlooking a perfect crescent bay. Boats of different shapes and sizes were painted onto the water. The sea was perfectly calm, as if spread with a hot knife. Palm trees lined the white sandy beach and everything that was not sea or sand was lush and green. Charlie wanted to shout for the children, but it was still early so she settled for sitting on the conveniently placed sun-lounger and staring at the view. She couldn’t help grinning to herself, it was so beautiful. ‘Paradise’ summed it up brilliantly.

Charlie had a shower in the cavernous en-suite bathroom and was running a brush through her wet hair when she heard movement in the villa. Eleanor and Millie were padding about the glossy tiled floor in bare feet and came running in as soon as Charlie opened the door.

‘I slept in a castle!’ announced Millie, proudly pointing back to the bedroom she’d shared with Eleanor.

‘It’s a four-poster bed, Millie,’ said Eleanor with a very grown-up roll of her eyes.

‘Castle!’ said Millie emphatically. ‘Charlie got one too!’ she exclaimed delightedly.

‘Can we go to the beach?’ asked Eleanor. ‘Please!’ she added hastily.

‘Yes, but let’s wait till everyone’s up and we’ve had something to eat.’

‘Ahhh,’ groaned Eleanor, lying back on Charlie’s bed. Millie wandered out onto the balcony and climbed onto the sun-lounger. Charlie was right behind her.

‘Millie, you need to be careful. No climbing and no coming onto the balcony without me. Okay?’ Millie nodded, but had already lost interest and was opening the door to the walk-in wardrobe.

‘Wow, ickle room!’ she exclaimed, going in and pulling the door closed behind her.

‘It’s a wardrobe and don’t go shutting yourself in there. That’s not very smart,’ said Charlie, but Millie was now heading off to explore the rest of the house.

From downstairs came the sound of someone singing, which was odd but somehow quite pleasant too. It was a stranger, but Tigi had warned Charlie that a local woman would be in to cook for them. Charlie guessed this was the source of the melody. Millie covered her mouth dramatically as she laughed, and she and Eleanor giggled their way to the kitchen.

‘Morning, morning, welcome to Wild Cane Villa. My name is Berta and I’m here to cook for you,’ said a large smiley-faced black woman. ‘I’m doing hedgehogs for breakfast,’ she said to the girls with a wink.

‘Hedgehog?’ queried Eleanor, ‘yuk!’ Millie gripped Pooh Bear tighter and stared at Berta, her eyes wide with awe.

‘You are going to love my mango hedgehogs,’ said Berta, showing them a mango half, the surface of which had been cut into cubes and turned inside out so it did vaguely resemble a hedgehog.

‘Mine, please,’ said Millie, holding out her hand for the mango.

‘Of course, baby girl,’ said Berta, leading Millie to the table with the mango as bait. She’s good, thought Charlie.

‘Hi, I’m Charlie. This looks lovely,’ she said, pointing to the dishes of fruit and pastries already on the big table.

‘Whatever you want, I can make it… with a bit of notice, anyway.’ She gave a robust chuckle and Charlie felt obliged to join in.

‘That sounds wonderful. Thank you,’ said Charlie. There was a big temptation to give herself a pinch to check it wasn’t a dream, but she knew it wasn’t – she’d never had dreams as good as this.

‘Who do we have here?’ asked Berta. Charlie realised it might have been a good idea to work out a story about Toby and Helen before now. Charlie did the introductions and explained that the older boys would most likely surface later. As Berta didn’t ask about the two missing people, Charlie didn’t volunteer anything. Perhaps Tigi had already tipped her off.

Eleanor started firing all sorts of suggestions at Berta to try to find something that Berta was unable to cook. She only succeeded when it started to get silly and they were on stewed donkey and barbecued pencil case. Berta was lovely with the girls and was one of those people who you knew genuinely loved children and saw them for the wonderful little people they were.

As the girls were finishing breakfast, George and Ted stumbled into the kitchen. Whilst Charlie got the girls showered and covered in sun cream, Berta made fluffy pancakes for the boys. Charlie admitted defeat and let Millie do her own sun cream and wiped off the excess and used it on Eleanor, which was easier said than done in all the excitement, when you were getting repeatedly whacked by Millie’s cream-clad flailing hands.

Berta gave them the easiest directions in the world to get to the beach, ‘Turn right onto the road, walk down the hill and there it is.’ Even Charlie couldn’t get that wrong. She had also given them all strict instructions to avoid the east end of the beach, which was popular with sea urchins – apparently very prickly and not good for either you or the sea urchin if you stood on them. There were buckets and spades that belonged to the villa along with an assortment of inflatable toys so, after a discussion that went on way longer than it needed to, they democratically decided on what to take to the beach. Millie clutched hold of a bright-yellow bucket protectively and Ted gathered up the other items.

Berta was right, it was a short walk to the beach and all downhill. En route they met a couple of locals who stopped to chat and Charlie automatically went into suspicious city-dweller mode, wondering what they were about to sell them, or worse still, about to steal from them, but she quickly realised that they genuinely did just want to chat. They wished them a happy holiday and waved them on their way. Charlie couldn’t help thinking that if it had been London and you’d told them where you were staying their next stop may have been to burgle the place, but this was Antigua and Berta was still at the villa, so it was bound to be okay.

As they got closer and the road straightened, the full glory of the beach and the sea appeared. Had Charlie been on her own she would have stopped to take in the beautiful sight, but as she had Millie she had to start running to catch up with the high-speed child, who was now careering towards the water at a rate of knots. As she reached the water’s edge, she applied emergency braking and stopped dead. Millie clutched her Winnie the Pooh swim ring as if she was about to be shipwrecked and tentatively dipped a single toe in the water as it washed close to her. The others now joined her and awaited her response.

‘Yay!’ she shouted and waded in up to her knees and bobbed down to wet her bottom. Her face was one huge grin and she was giggling. Eleanor took a bucket and went in search of the perfect place to make sandcastles and George set about digging a trench. Ted lay out a towel, switched his phone to music and lay down. Charlie looked around; this was why she’d come to Antigua – they could all be themselves, have fun, try to relax and make some new memories to sit alongside the old ones.

Millie was enlisted by George to fill up the trench he was still digging, so Eleanor magnanimously gave up her bucket and went for a swim. Charlie paddled on the shore to keep an eye on her. She was a competent swimmer for an eight-year-old and it was calm, but this was still the ocean and she didn’t want her going too far out.

Charlie adjusted the straps on her swimming costume. She didn’t know why she’d bought the size twelve – it was too big all over. Ever since the accident she’d been steadily losing weight and nothing seemed to fit any more. She’d grabbed the costume when she was shopping and didn’t bother to try it on. It was a plain black one-piece, which was functional rather than glamorous, but as she never wore a bikini it would have to do. George grinned as he went past Charlie and stood in the sea scooping up water in the bucket and hurling it in Eleanor’s direction.

‘Stop it George! Look at these creatures,’ said Eleanor, and George waded out to join her.

Charlie’s mind returned to her clothing crisis. Most likely all the summer things she’d thrown in the case were going to be too big for her now. Oh well, she thought, I’ll only need swimming costumes, shorts and t-shirts while I’m here and if Berta is cooking for us I’ll soon put the weight back on. Charlie’s thoughts were interrupted by Eleanor screaming. This wasn’t play-screaming this was the noise of someone in pain and Charlie was bounding through the water in an instant.

‘It’s a sea urchin!’ yelled George, as Charlie hoiked Eleanor into her arms and carried her back to the beach.

‘Where does it hurt, Elle?’ asked Charlie and Eleanor held up her hands.

‘I’m sorry!’ said George and Charlie dragged her eyes off the now very pale Eleanor to glare at George. ‘I scooped it up in the bucket because I thought it was seaweed going past and… I threw it and Eleanor…’ George stopped talking and stared at his sister. Ted was now kneeling next to her.

‘George!’ shouted Ted, bringing George back to the now.

‘Eleanor caught it but… it was a sea urchin,’ tears started to pour down George’s already wet face.

Ted turned to Charlie. ‘They’re poisonous, aren’t they?’

Before Charlie could think of an answer there was a shadow over them all. She looked up and through the blinding sun she could just about make out a fair-haired, golden tanned Adonis in sunglasses.

‘Was it small, black and spiky?’ the Adonis asked George. George sniffed and nodded. ‘Nasty sting but it’s not dangerous.’ He crouched down next to Eleanor and uncurled her fingers to reveal very red palms dotted with black spots. Eleanor winced. ‘Let’s get these sorted,’ and he lifted her into his arms and marched off across the sand. There was something very familiar about that voice. Charlie stared after the muscular figure in swim shorts who was now striding away from them, with George in hot pursuit. Ted took Millie’s hand and stood up nudging Charlie as he did so, urging, ‘Come on,’ and they had to jog to catch them up.

‘But isn’t that…?’ asked Charlie, but everyone was too far away. She felt like a very large wet kipper had hit her, that or the jet leg was doing very crazy things to her hearing.

The Adonis took Eleanor to a small beach bar attached to the nearby hotel and as Charlie and Ted joined them the barman was already filling a bowl with hot water. Eleanor was deposited gently onto a bar stool and the Adonis tested the water.