Restoring Grace (24 page)

Demi, who had been sitting
inspecting her nails,
wincing slightly as each salvo was
exchanged, sat up. 'Yeah! That's right, Grace. Thank you.’

At this moment, the door
opened and Ellie came in
with a tray. Grace realised she must
have been waiting outside for a good moment to bring it in.

Ellie put the tray down carefully on the
cloth-covered
tea chest. She had made proper
coffee in the cafetière
she had
extracted from Rick, and heated some milk
which she put in a charming
little jug she had found harbouring a spider in the larder. She and Grace
exchanged glances.

‘Are you going to join us, Ellie?' asked Grace,
a little desperately.

‘I won't if you don't mind.' She looked up at
Edward and Hermia and explained, 'I'm pregnant and the smell of coffee makes me
nauseous.’

Hermia yawned slightly
and looked out of the window.
'So it's a home for unmarried
mothers you're operating then,' she said, loud enough for Ellie to hear.

‘Hermia!' Grace glared at her. 'We are here to
think what's best to do for Demi!'

‘
Yes,' said Edward. 'Do
try and stick to the point, Hermia.'

‘
And stop dissing Grace's friends!' said Demi. 'Flue's cool.' She glared
at her mother. 'She can cook.’

Hermia made a derisive
noise which eloquently
expressed her opinion of anyone who
did anything so trivial.

‘
It's your
education I'm concerned about, Demeter,'
said Edward, more kindly now. 'How will you continue
it here?'

‘She can't stay here,' stated Hermia.

‘Well, she won't go back to you,' snapped
Edward.

‘Of course she will. Demeter dear, you've made
your
statement, now go and pack your things
and wait for me
in the car.'

‘No! I'm not going back with either of you!'
shouted
Demi, and she ran from the room.
Grace thought she was
crying.

‘Now look what you've done,' said Edward dryly.

‘What you've both done!' said Grace. 'Please
just stop this childish bickering and think about what's best for your
daughter!’

Neither Hermia nor Edward
cared very much for being
called childish, especially by
Grace, who was so much younger than they were. They regarded her sourly.

‘Now, it's quite obvious that even if you
dragged Demi
home by her hair, she wouldn't
stay there,' Grace said to
Hermia. 'And I don't think Caroline really
wants a trou
bled teenager thrust on her
when she's just got married.
Demi has made it quite clear she feels
neglected by both her parents.’

Edward raised an eyebrow in a way which once
would
have had Grace lowering her eyes and
murmuring
apologies. No longer. At one time Edward could do no wrong in
her eyes, now she saw that with regard to his daughter, he was definitely not
perfect. Perhaps it was just as well they hadn't had children together.

‘
What I suggest,' she went
on, 'is that Demi stays here.
I will undertake to get her to and from her sixth-form college, but it
is quite a trek.'

‘
Couldn't you find somewhere nearer to take her?'
suggested Hermia.

‘
No,' said
Grace firmly. 'I couldn't. I know perfectly
well what would happen. If
it all went wrong and Demi left without an exam to her name, you'd both blame
me. And she is your daughter, not mine.’

There was a long silence
as both parents realised what
Grace had offered; that she had
agreed to take on the child that they both found so difficult.

‘That is a very generous offer,' said Edward.
'But are you in a position to get Demeter to and from college?'

‘I don't see why on earth not,' snapped Hermia,
less inclined to be grateful than her ex-husband. 'She's got a very nice car to
do it in.'

‘Actually I was thinking of selling the car and
buying
something cheaper,' said Grace. 'But
I will have some sort
of vehicle.'

‘Won't you need to get a job?' demanded Hermia.
'Or did Edward leave you so well provided for you can be a lady of leisure?'

‘You should be glad I don't have to go out to
work in
the normal way,' said Grace.
'Because that way I can look
after your daughter!'

‘
What do you
mean, "in the normal way"?' asked
Edward. 'What are you doing
to keep yourself?'

‘Not that it's any business of either of you,
but I hold
wine tastings and write articles
for magazines about them.
I've a
column in the local paper and I've been approached
about writing for a
glossy magazine as well.'

‘Huh! That won't put bread on the table!' said
Hermia.

‘
No, not
enough, which is why I'll need to ask for
money for Demi's keep. And
petrol money to get her to and from college.'

‘
Well, I can't afford to pay you anything! She's
got a
perfectly
good home with me!' Hermia got up and
wandered
over to the fireplace. 'This really is a very pretty
room. Have you
thought of selling this place, Grace?’

Grace wanted to say, 'What's it to you? You
obviously
couldn't afford it,' but decided
it was beneath her dignity.

Edward cleared his throat. 'Very well. I will
make you
an allowance to keep Demeter here
on the understanding
that she attends college, every day, and works for
her exams.'

‘
I didn't
realise you had funds to spare,' said Hermia.
'I thought Caroline was
high maintenance.'

‘
Oh, she is,' said Edward, 'which is why I'll
pay what I'm paying you now for Demeter's keep to Grace.’

*

'I so wish I'd been there
to see Mum's face when Dad
said that!' said Demi, half an hour after
Grace's unwelcome guests finally left.

‘
I wish
you'd been there, too, but you bailed out on me
and left me all alone
with a virago,' said Grace a little grimly. 'Although I must say, it will make
a difference to our finances, getting your keep from Edward.’

Demi frowned. 'What's a virago?'

‘A woman who's really, really angry. Which
hardly describes her, actually. She went completely . .

‘Mental?' suggested Ellie.

‘That's it. But Edward coped, as usual. He's
very good with her.'

‘
It's all
right for him,' said Demi. 'He doesn't have to
live with her.'

‘And nor do you, now, thanks to Grace,' said
Ellie.

‘
I know.'
She looked up at Grace and smiled
awkwardly.
'Thank you so much, Grace, you're the best.
Really.’

She looked very vulnerable for a moment, and Grace
suddenly remembered how young she was. 'It's
a
pleasure, Demi. It's good to have you here. Now come
on, let's wash up the coffee things, so that
Ellie can start
cooking.'

‘
We could buy a
dishwasher,' suggested Demi brightly.
'If we've got all this money.'

‘
We've hardly got any money at all just now, Dems,’

Ellie explained.

‘
No. I spent
a fortune at the supermarket on my bloody
sister,' said Grace.

‘Have I really got to go to college tomorrow?'
asked Demi.

‘I'm afraid so, or they'll drag you back,
kicking and screaming.'

‘
Then
there's an essay I should be doing. Can I borrow
your desk, Grace?'

‘Yes, but don't muddle anything up. I've got
half an article written.'

‘
Don't worry. Shit!' said
Demi with her hands in the
air. "I should have asked Mum if I could have my
computer here!’

Grace
frowned. 'It might be better to let your father handle that one.’

Chapter Ten
In between
banging pork fillets into next week and taking
the filling out of sausages and trying to read up as much
about History of Art as she could in the loo, which
seemed
to be the only place she didn't have to be doing
anything else, Ellie helped Grace in the dining room.
Grace had
been surprised that Ellie had felt so strongly about being present at what
seemed to her to be quite a simple task.

‘If we put this curtain in that gap, we can
drape the originals over it, and the missing bit won't show,' said Grace
optimistically, clambering on to one of the stouter kitchen chairs. 'Hand me
the hammer, Dem.'

‘You will be careful, won't you?' pleaded Ellie.
'The panels are already damaged enough. I'd never forgive myself if you banged
a nail into them.'

‘I'll be careful! Anyway, apart from it being
sad, it
wouldn't really matter. "Don't
cry over anything that
can't cry
over you," my old auntie used to say. Mind you,'
she added, a couple of tacks between her lips. 'I
think
my sister thinks that Sèvres china can cry.’

Demi, who had used Grace's
half-finished article as an
excuse not to do her essay, said,
'My mother definitely
cried when she broke a
crystal decanter once. She said it
was
because it was a wedding present, but I think it was
because she rang
John Lewis and they told her it would be five hundred pounds to replace.'

‘
Good Lord! I hope no one gave us anything as
expensive as a present,' Grace mumbled.

‘
Did you get wedding presents?' asked Ellie. 'If
so,
where are they?'

‘In the
attic. In boxes mostly. I didn't unpack a lot of them because Edward had so
much stuff.'

‘
So get them out now then!’

Grace shook her head and
released a tin tack from her
mouth. 'I might need to sell them.
Now hand me that curtain, Dem, the plain gold silky one. I think that's the
best match, don't you, Ellie?'

‘
The
curtain is fine, just don't bang nails into the panels!
Can't you drag
the original one along a bit? Then you won't be too near the painting when you
start?'

‘
I'll do my
best.' Grace tugged at the tattered silk which
tore a little more as she did so. 'What does that look like?'

‘
The
painting is covered,' said Ellie, not entirely truth
fully. 'More or less. Just put the other curtain up next to
it.
No one will notice if there's a little gap.’

A few bangs, a bit of falling plaster, and the
two paint
ings were more or less concealed.
Ellie, satisfied that the paintings were not significantly more damaged than
they
had been before, rushed back to
the kitchen, leaving Grace
and Demi to finish.

‘That should do it,' said Grace. 'As long as
she doesn't come in here.'

‘
There's no
point in doing all this if she doesn't come
in here,' said Demi.

‘
I know,
this is just in case. I'm sure if I light the fire
in the drawing room and make it as cosy as
possible, she
won't be keen to come out into the cold of the rest of the
house.'

‘I thought she was coming to discuss some
report she had. She's bound to want to see the rest of the house.’

Demi, your logic is faultless, your tact is
not! I'm in denial here. Please don't make me come out of it.’

Demi
laughed. 'You are funny, Grace. You never used to make me laugh before, when
you were with Dad.'

‘
Didn't I? I'm not sure
I mean to be funny now. Oh,
well, I'm going to see if I can help Ellie
with the supper. Flynn will be here soon, spreading himself all over the
kitchen, so the desk is all yours, Dem. You'd better get started on that essay.’