A Perfect Home (21 page)

And one more as she was making the beds that morning:

Counting the hours. X

I'm counting the minutes. X
, she replied.

Claire drove down the small back lane beside the river – using the high street was too risky with Sally working at the gallery today. She wore a simple white dress, 1940s in style with a fitted bodice that did up with tiny covered buttons down the front; a full skirt fell below her knee, and she had chosen a pair of simple pale blue ballet pumps instead of her high heels.

Stefan was waiting for her in the car park, leaning against his car in a checked blue shirt and khaki chinos. Claire's heart lurched when she saw him. He was smiling, she was smiling, she could hardly concentrate on manoeuvring her car into a parking space and turning off the engine. In seconds she was beside him. He opened the passenger door without a word and she slipped in. As he sat down beside her he lent across and kissed her on her lips; the kiss felt warm and familiar and right.

‘I missed you,' he said and started to drive out of the car park.

‘Where to this time?' asked Claire.

‘A little field I know.'

‘A field!'

Stefan pointed to the back seat, Claire turned and saw a wicker hamper and folded tartan rug beside it.

‘I thought you might like to have a picnic. There is a very secluded spot near here where we could be alone.'

Claire raised her eyebrows,

‘How do you know secluded spots round here?'

‘I once came on a Scout camp to a place just up the road and I distinctly remember a rather lovely place beside a little river.'

‘I never had you down for being a Boy Scout,' laughed Claire.

‘I had a stepfather who was a Scoutmaster. He threw me out of his troop when he found me siphoning off his homebrew and selling it disguised as bottles of cola at the annual jamboree.'

‘I bet you were really naughty when you were younger.'

Stefan grinned at Claire.

‘I still am.'

He stopped the car beside a stile leading into woodland.

‘The river is just beyond the trees,' he said taking the picnic hamper out and handing Claire the blankets to carry. ‘I did check on Google Maps to make sure it hasn't been turned into an out-of-town shopping centre or industrial park.'

Dappled sunlight made patterns on the woodland floor, the dry earth beneath Claire's feet smelled musty. Somewhere in the distance she could hear a woodpecker tapping on a tree.

Thank goodness I wore flat shoes,
thought Claire.

Before long they reached a strip of buttercup-strewn grass and the river sparkled like a string of diamonds in front of them.

‘It's idyllic,' said Claire looking at the clear water that rippled over smooth grey rocks and pebbles.

‘I thought it might be more private here than some fancy bar or restaurant,' Stefan put the picnic basket down and bent and kissed her.

‘Are you sure there are no Boy Scouts hiding in the bushes?'

‘I don't think you get a badge for voyeurism,' he kissed her again and then drew away to take the blanket from her. Together they laid it on the ground and Stefan started to unpack the basket.

‘I'm impressed,' said Claire as she looked at the selection of cheese, salami, tomatoes, olives, rolls, and hand-cooked crisps. ‘But where are the Marmite sandwiches?'

‘Oh no!' Stefan put his hand to his head. ‘I knew I forgot something. But I have got this.' He produced a bottle of Chardonnay from a cool-bag. ‘Will a glass of wine do instead?'

They lay side by side, each propped up on one elbow facing each other as they ate and drank and talked and gazed without touching as if saving that as a treat for later. Claire loved talking to him; she wanted to just talk to him almost as much as she wanted to kiss him.

They talked about the children and she wondered about telling him about Jack. Her grief for her lost baby was like a scar she felt he ought to know about. Just as she was about to start to tell him her phone rang in her handbag. She ignored it but in the brief pause it created Stefan suddenly sat up.

‘I've got something else for you.' He said delving into the bottom of the hamper.

‘Pudding?' asked Claire. ‘Cigarettes?' Stefan shook his head and produced a small gold and turquoise box . He held it out to Claire. She took it from his hand. Slowly she lifted the lid. Inside, coiled on a bed of pink tissue, was a delicate necklace, its silver links interspersed with opaque beads and tiny mother-of-pearl buttons. ‘When I saw it I immediately thought of you. The buttons. I had to get it for you.'

Claire slowly lifted the necklace out of the box. It was very pretty.

‘I can't accept this.'

‘I can't take it back,' he said. ‘I bought it in New York and I'm not going back there for a while. Don't you like it?'

‘Oh, yes,' Claire said examining the necklace in her hand. ‘It's beautiful. Just perfect. Thank you.' She looked up at Stefan and smiled. ‘I'll try it on.' Putting it up to her neck, she fumbled with the clasp. One end dropped; it slid into her cleavage. She fished it out and tried to do it up again feeling self-conscious and clumsy.

‘Let me help you.'

Stefan got up and walked around behind her. She held up each end of the necklace to him. He lifted her hair, gently laying it across her shoulder before taking the necklace in his hands. For a second Claire could feel his fingers lightly on the back of her neck as he carefully fastened the clasp. He sat back down and looked across at her, smiling.

‘I thought it would suit you,' he said. ‘It looks just right.'

Claire touched it; it felt cool against her sun-warmed skin.

Suddenly she had an urge to stand in the river, to feel the water swirling around her feet, as she got up and kicked off her shoes her phone rang again, but she was already picking her way across the grass towards the water.

‘What are you doing?' called Stefan.

‘Paddling,' she said, stepping boldly onto a large flat rock. The water was ice cold as it flowed over her toes and around her ankles. She bent down to let it run between her fingers.

‘You're getting the hem of your dress wet,' said Stefan, standing on the bank.

‘It doesn't matter,' she said. ‘It will dry.'

Suddenly she flicked her hand in the water sending an arc of droplets through the air across to Stefan. A brief second she saw a rainbow form and then disperse.

‘Hey!' Stefan cried stepping back. ‘You've got me wet now.'

‘Don't be such a townie,' she laughed. ‘It's only water.'

‘Right!' He bent down to take off his shoes and rolled up his trousers. ‘You'll be very sorry about that.' Claire stood on her rock, hands on her hips, defying him to take revenge. Tentatively he stepped into the river, finding his balance on the slippery stones, then with a sudden kick of his foot Claire was drenched, water all over the front of her dress.

‘I'm soaking,' she said holding out a dripping skirt.

‘It's only water!'

She kicked back and his linen shirt stuck to his chest with water.

‘Now you're asking for it,' he laughed and lent forward to throw a wave of water at her just as she was leaning forward to do the same to him. Water cascaded over her head. She stood up in surprise; her hair dripped in streams down her face. She wiped her eyes and stepped onto a rock beside Stefan. She pushed him, aiming to make him fall into the shallow water but it was her who felt herself slip and lose her balance; just as she thought she was about to fall, Stefan caught her in his arms and pulled her towards him, his face next to hers. He drew her into an embrace and kissed her. She could feel his damp chest against her own, feel his heart beating hard against hers. His hands moved slowly down her back pulling her close to him, then in an instant he had picked her up and, stepping out of the river, laid her down on the blanket. He lay beside her, kissing her, his hand moving over the wet bodice of her dress.

‘You're so beautiful,' he whispered into her neck. His fingers deftly undid the buttons of her dress and lightly touched the damp skin underneath. She heard herself breathe in sharply at the pleasure of it. Her phone rang again. She let it ring until it stopped but when it immediately rang again, she couldn't ignore it. Claire struggled to sit up.

Stefan tried to pull her back down towards him.

‘Can't you leave it?' he asked.

‘It's the fourth time it's rung, it might be important. It might be one of the children.' She answered it and was startled by William's loud voice.

‘Where the hell are you?' She glanced at Stefan and put her finger to her lips to silence him.

‘I'm at a shop, talking about them stocking my work.'

‘My mother has been trying to get hold of you all afternoon. She phoned Sally to see if she knew the number of the shop you'd gone to and she said you were at the dentist's, she said she could see your car in the car park in town.'

Panic flew through her; she knew she was too bad at lying to do this.

‘What's wrong? Has something happened?' she asked.

‘It's Ben, he's had an accident.'

Claire scrambled to her feet.

‘How? When? Where is he?'

‘I don't know exactly, a head injury apparently. I'm still at the office, he's in the hospital; my mother is in a terrible state.'

Claire felt tears pricking in her eyes, she never should have left the children with William's mother – of all people, what had she been thinking?

‘I'll meet you there,' she said to William and turned off the phone. Snatching up her shoes and handbag she turned to Stefan. ‘I need to go,' she said. ‘I need to get to the hospital, it's Ben.'

Stefan quickly gathered up the remains of the picnic and followed Claire who had already set off at great speed towards the stile.

As he started the car he looked at her. ‘You're shivering; here ,have the blanket, let me put it over you.' He had already turned to pick it up from where he'd thrown it onto the back seat.

‘No! Just drive,' her voice was loud and he looked taken aback.

‘Try to calm down, Claire; are you all right? You look as white as a sheet.'

‘Of course I'm not all right, my child is in hospital. All I want is for you to drive the bloody car!'

It took three-quarters of an hour to get to the hospital, it seemed like an eternity to Claire. Images of Oliver and Jack kept flashing into her head, their tiny bodies covered with tubes and wires and monitors, was this how Ben would look when she got to him? She tried William's mobile, then Sally's – she needed more information to stop herself imagining the worst. No one picked up. She started to cry and Stefan reached across and tried to touch her reassuringly, she pushed his hand away; she couldn't look at him, she couldn't speak to him. Was this the price she had to pay for a few moments of guilty pleasure? She couldn't bear that anything should happen to Ben.

‘Stop here!' she said a few hundred yards from the hospital gates.

‘I'll drive you to the entrance.'

‘No, I don't want William to see me arrive with you.'

Stefan stopped the car, she was out of the door before the wheels stopped turning.

‘Let me know how he is,' Stefan called from the window but Claire hardly heard him. She was running fast along the grassy verge and through the big stone gates and across the tarmac car park to reception where she was told to go to A& E.

‘Where is that?'

‘The other side of the building,' replied a dumpy woman with
here to help
written on her name badge. ‘Follow the yellow arrows.'

She ran faster, her footsteps echoing down the linoleum corridors, her hands pushing through double doors, each breath escaping from her lips in little gasps.

Suddenly she was there, emerging into the bright new A&E extension. She looked wildly around her – massive televisions glared brightly on every wall, people were lined up on multi-coloured plastic chairs and a crowd was gathered around the drinks machine, banging it to make it work. Finally she saw Sally sitting on the window ledge with Oliver and Emily and sitting on her knee, swinging his legs and eating a packet of Smarties, was Ben.

‘At last!' said Sally.

Ben beamed up as Claire with a chocolaty smile. Claire crouched down in front of him, reluctant to take him in her arms in case she exacerbated whatever injury he had. She stroked his face.

‘What happened?' she asked Sally.

‘Apparently some sort of plant pot fell on top of him.'

‘No,' interrupted Emily in an exasperated tone. ‘
Not
a plant pot, a plant stand. The one that grandma was trying to put together. Ben climbed up it and she hadn't put it together right and that column thing fell off the bottom bit and Ben fell down and that funny platform on the top hit him on the head.'

‘There was blood gushing everywhere,' Oliver sounded impressed.

Sally gently turned Ben's head to one side and Claire saw a square shaved patch amongst his blond curls and a row of stitches along a short cut on his scalp.

‘For a little while they thought he might have mild concussion,' said Sally. ‘But now they think he's absolutely fine.'

‘Where is William's mother?'

‘William's dad came and took her away, she got rather hysterical, she said she needed to get home to have one of her pills,' said Sally.

‘She meant gin,' said Emily in a conspiratorial whisper. ‘I heard her telling Grandpa a stiff G&T was all she could think about.'

‘Anna very kindly let me come here to stay with the children till William or you arrived.'

With an overwhelming feeling of relief Claire took Ben from Sally and held him closely to her.

‘Thank goodness you're all right, my love. I've been so worried.'

Ben pulled back from her tight grasp.