Restoring Grace (15 page)

Ellie couldn't help laughing but gave her a
stern look.
'You can't run with a futon, you
know. They're very solid.
We'll have to get Rick to move the van so we
can park outside.'

‘
Will he do that?'

‘I have no
idea! Come on, I've got my key.'

‘Rick?'
Ellie called as she opened the front door. 'Are you home?’

The most gorgeous man Demi had ever seen
appeared at the door of what seemed to be the kitchen. 'Hi. Oh,
hello,' he said to Demi, looking at her hard. 'Who
are
you?'

‘
Hi, Rick, this is Demi. We've come to get my
things.’

‘So you're
leaving for ever, then?'

‘
Yes. You don't want the baby and I do.' It seemed
very
straightforward now.

‘You got
somewhere to live?'

‘
Yes. Now, do you mind if I take the futon? I paid
for
it and I need it.’

Rick scowled, an
expression which diminished his good
looks not one
jot. Demi was finding it difficult to breathe.
'What am
I going to sleep on?'

‘
I have no idea, but I'm
sure you'll manage to scrounge
a bed from somewhere.'

‘That's not
fair—'

‘
Not fair! What do you mean, not fair? I'm the one
who's
leaving my home!' God, he was so insensitive! 'It's my home. My name is on the
lease!'

‘
And my name is on the
futon! At least, it is now!'
Aware of the affect Rick was having on
Demi, she took her by the arm. 'Come on, Dems. Let's go and get it.’

Demi, more than a little reluctant to be
dragged away from the smoulderingly delicious Rick, followed Ellie up
the stairs to the bedroom. Ellie opened the
wardrobe and
produced some carrier
bags. 'The bedside light is mine:
 
I
made it at college. I've already got most of my clothes and my portfolio so we
can just fill the car up with furniture. Can you take that little table, and
the vase - Rick won't want that.' She stopped. 'God, it feels so sad,
dismantling everything.'

‘What about the wardrobe?' said Demi, once
she'd allowed Ellie a few moments to get herself together.

‘
It won't
fit in, or if it does, nothing else will,' said Ellie,
feeling much more matter-of-fact now. 'I'll just
go and
ask Rick to move the van so I can park outside.'

‘I can't imagine Grace asking my dad to move
his car so she could take stuff.'

‘No? Well, I'm not Grace and Rick isn't your
dad. Do you want to check the bathroom for stuff that's likely to be mine?'

‘No, I'm coming with you.’

Rick was sitting in the kitchen smoking a joint.
'Could you move the van so I can
park my car there and load my stuff?' asked Ellie.

‘
I don't see why I should help you to move out,' said
Rick, unhelpful, but not aggressive. 'After all,
you're
taking my bed.'

‘
My bed.
And you may as well cooperate because if I'm
out of the way, it'll be easier for you to move someone
else in.'

‘You're very hard all of a sudden, Ellie.'

‘No, I'm not, I'm practical. You may as well
be, too.’

Acknowledging this point,
Rick carefully rested his roll-
up on the side
of an ashtray, got up, and felt in his pocket
for his
keys.

‘You do it,' he said to Ellie, passing them to
her.

Ellie sighed. 'I just wonder how your bum is
going to get wiped when I'm gone, before you find another silly cow to do it
for you.’

Rick
shrugged.

‘
Come on, Demi,' said Ellie.

When they were in Rick's van, trying to find
another
space big enough for it, Demi said,
'You didn't really wipe
his bum for him, did you?’

Ellie glared at her. 'Of course not! It's just
an expres
sion. I did everything else for
him. Do you think we'll
get in there, behind that skip?’

Demi shrugged. 'Dunno. Do
you think it will take Rick
long to get a new girlfriend?'

‘
About five
minutes, if he hasn't done it already.
Bastard!' Ellie shouted at a red
Mercedes. 'This is my space! Don't even think about taking it. Thank you!' She
smiled and waved as the man moved on. 'This van
always
was a bitch to park.’

Chapter Six

 
Disappointed
that she was not able to be part of the
raiding
party, Grace washed up the mugs and plates from
lunch while wondering
what she could do to make the house more homely. She and Ellie had done a
certain
amount upstairs, but downstairs was
still fairly austere.
It was starting to get dark; soon she would go
round the house and put the lights on - her strategy for living alone had
included putting lights on early, so she didn't have to go upstairs into the
dark. She had learnt those strategies the hard way, and now wondered if having
Demi and Ellie living with her would cause her to
lose
her skills; if, when they
eventually left, as they inevitably
would, she would have to learn them
all over again.

She was about to do her
rounds of the house when the
telephone rang. It was Demi's
mother. So much for her using Demi's mobile.

‘Can I help you?'

‘I cannot believe you've been so
irresponsible!' Usually, Grace would do anything to avoid a conver
sation with Hermia; Edward's first wife terrified
her. But
today, for some reason, she felt brave enough to speak her
mind. 'If you want to speak to Demi, why don't you try her on her mobile?'

‘
Her name is
not Demi! It's Demeter! And you're to
bring her home immediately.'

‘She's not here.'

‘What do you mean, she's not there? Where the
hell is
she?' Hermia's anger was so
incandescent Grace wondered
if the energy from it could somehow be
garnered and
stored. She could probably provide
enough to heat the hot
water and run a couple of radiators, and then
Grace wouldn't have to have the stove Cormack Flynn - or was it Flynn Cormack -
was so intent on giving her.

‘She's gone with a friend to pick up some
furniture. Anyway, how did you know she was here?'

‘
Edward told
me. Bloody useless man! He won't go
and get her! Expects me to go down
there and bring her home!'

‘And you want me to do it.' Grace tried to
remember that Hermia would be worried, and make allowances.

‘
I can't just
drop everything for that stupid girl! I've
got people coming for dinner, this couldn't have
happened at a
more inconvenient time!’

Grace was shocked, but stayed calm. 'Well, I
suppose
it's never a good time for your
daughter to run away
from home.' Demi's statement that her mother no
longer had time for her was obviously true.

‘What?' Hermia had obviously not put this
interpreta
tion on Demi's absence. 'Demeter
has not run away from
home! What are you talking about?’

Grace couldn't unsay her words, but now tried to
be a bit more soothing. 'If she hasn't run away, why are you getting so worked
up?' Too late, she realised she should have said 'upset'.

‘I'm not worked up! Or if I am, it's with
perfectly good reason. I grounded her the other day and she just went out anyway!
I've stopped her allowance, of course, but what can you do? Edward still gives
her money. He's got no sense of how to discipline children.'

‘Well, she's not here just now. Shall I ask her
to ring you when she gets back?'

‘
No! You will
tell
her to ring me! And
you'll make sure
she gets on the first bus
home in the morning.'
Annoyed as she was, Grace began to feel sorry for
Hermia. There she was at the end of the phone, giving
orders, with absolutely no ability to make sure
they were
carried out. 'I don't think I can do that.'

‘
Why on
earth not? I know you've never been a mother,
but surely you must have
some
understanding about how
I feel?’

Grace took a calming breath. 'Of course. I'd be
very
upset if my daughter found it necessary
to run away, but
I can't put her on a bus.'

‘Why not? God, I find you incomprehensible!'

‘For one thing, there are no buses at the
weekend and a very infrequent service at other times. She hitchhiked
here. And for a second thing, I can't make her do
anything
she doesn't want to do.
She's quite a lot taller than I am.
And thirdly, I'm very fond of Demi
and think she
should
stay
here for a bit.' She hadn't realised she was going to
say that because, in principle, she felt children should live
with
their parents. But Hermia was so appalling, Grace not only felt she shouldn't
be allowed to have custody of
Demi, but
that she probably shouldn't be allowed to keep
pets, either.

‘
Out of the
question!' Never mind a couple of radia
tors, the woman's wrath could run
an entire central-heating system. 'She's to come home and finish her education.
What a suggestion! Stay with you? I wouldn't trust you to look after a
hamster!'

‘That's funny, I was just thinking the very
same thing about you,' said Grace.

‘
Grace! I
know Edward married a child when he left
me, but I didn't realise it was one who was education
ally
subnormal!’

Grace thought about putting the phone down but
decided that listening to Hermia rave was actually quite
entertaining. How could she ever have been
frightened
of someone so inhuman? It
was like being frightened of
a cartoon monster.

‘You're to tell that young woman, when she gets
in,' went on Hermia, unaware she'd been downgraded to a
minor character out of
Scooby-Doo,
'that she's to
stop
being so disobedient and
come home! And you're to
bring her! I
can't and I know you got a very good car
out of
Edward!'

‘My car is my business, and your daughter is
your responsibility, not mine, you know,' said Grace gently, aware that Hermia
would prefer her to get angry back.
'You and
Edward have to sort it out between you. I'm
very happy to have Demi
here. I think she's a lovely girl,
and with
a little understanding might even be persuaded
to go back and do her A
levels.’

Then Grace
did put the phone down.

*

She decided it would be nice for the others if
they came
back to a house with lights
shining from all the windows
and not just the ones Grace usually put on.
The house
deserved it too; it was too lovely
to be lived in only by
an anti-social
ex-wife. She went first to the drawing room
and switched on the wall lights. She was never quite sure
about wall lights, but they had always been
there, so she'd
never seriously considered changing them.

Then she went into the dining room. From here
she
could see the spinney, her potential
wood supply, its leaf
less trees silhouetted against the pale sky edged
with
pink. She gazed at the view for a few
moments, admiring
the tracery of the branches against the duck-egg-blue
backdrop, and then, because beauty always made her think of Edward and it was a
habit she was trying very hard to break, she reached out and pulled the
curtain.

‘Oh, bugger!' she said as the curtain collapsed
into a pool of tattered silk on the floor. 'Why did I do that?’

Then she gave a little scream of shock. There
was a figure, pale and spectral, behind where the curtain had been. Sweat
formed instantly and the hair on her neck
stood
up; it took her a heart-thumping moment to realise
that she hadn't seen
a ghost. The figure was a painting, almost life-size, on the panel of the
shutter.