The Honeymoon Sisters (13 page)

After we left the optician’s – they’d told us the glasses should be ready for collection the next week – Kristen took me to help her choose a birthday cake for Dad. She had a packet of candles in her bag and she said she was going to hide the cake from Dad and get the restaurant to bring it out with the coffee. I’d never seen Dad blowing out birthday candles. It just seemed too childish a thing to expect him to do somehow. But Kristen clearly didn’t agree because she chose a red sports car birthday cake and said we would come back and pick it up before the shop closed.

The high street is pedestrianised and there are quite a few charity shops. ‘Have you ever tried to go into a charity shop with my dad?’ I asked Kristen out of curiosity.

Kristen pulled a face as she answered, ‘Actually I prefer to leave him behind when I go into
any
kind of shop! I like to take my time and he gets rather impatient.’

‘He goes in and out of the shops really quickly, doesn’t he?’ I said. ‘Mum says he hates the fact that women
browse
.’

She laughed. ‘Sounds about right.’

‘I never used to like browsing either, but now he says I’m worse than Mum.’

She laughed again. ‘In that case I’m sure you and I are perfectly matched.’

It was fun looking round the shops with her – kind of like being with a really cool older sister. For the briefest moment I thought that maybe living with Dad wouldn’t be so bad after all, so long as Kristen was around.

‘Kristen, how old are you?’ I asked her, suddenly wondering about the age gap between her and Dad.

‘Forty-two.’

‘Really?’ I’d honestly thought she was younger than that. I mean, that was only a couple of years younger than Mum, but Mum didn’t seem nearly as youthful, either in appearance or attitude. ‘You know, you’re not like Dad’s usual girlfriends.’

‘How’s that, then?’

‘I don’t really know. You’re just different.’ I paused. ‘In a good way, I mean.’

She smiled. ‘Well, so long as it’s in a good way.’

And Dad’s different when he’s with you
, I thought.
Definitely in a good way.
In fact, I didn’t think I’d ever seen Dad this happy and relaxed with a girlfriend before.

Chapter Eighteen

Dad was half an hour late for dinner, but Kristen and I agreed that because it was his birthday we wouldn’t make a fuss. We’d eaten the whole bread basket by the time he arrived – something Mum never lets me do because she says it’ll ruin my appetite for my meal.

I have to say that once Dad had had a few sips of wine and opened Kristen’s present – which was a pair of really beautiful cufflinks – he seemed to relax. In any case he gave Kristen a thank-you kiss right on the lips – just a peck, but it was still a bit embarrassing.

That’s when I plucked up the courage to give him the book which I’d wrapped up so perfectly and been carrying around in my schoolbag all day. I held my breath as I waited for his reaction as he opened it.

‘What beautiful paper. Don’t rip it, Peter,’ Kristen
said, and if I had been able to drag my eyes away from Dad, I’d have smiled at her gratefully.

‘
Just William
!’ Dad exclaimed with a laugh as he held it up to show her, and for a moment I thought he might think it was just a token jokey sort of gift rather than his actual proper present. But then he said, ‘Where on earth did you find this?’ as if he realised it hadn’t been that easy to locate.

‘That second-hand bookshop near the park,’ I told him. ‘Do you like it? It’s not a first edition or anything but it’s very old and it’s got some really nice illustrations inside.’

‘It’s perfect – and very thoughtful,’ he responded, leaning across to give me a kiss on the cheek before laying the book to one side. I wouldn’t have minded if he’d sat there flicking through it for a while but I guess you can’t have everything. I reminded myself that Dad thinks it’s bad manners to read at the table and that he’d probably have a closer look at it later.

‘So you and Kristen have been having a nice time then, have you, Poppy?’ Dad said with a smile.

I nodded. ‘Thanks for the glasses, Dad.’ And I reminded him how much money he owed Kristen.

They both laughed for some reason and Dad assured
me that he would definitely reimburse her and that he’d try and pick them up for me next week.

The rest of the meal passed by cheerfully until Kristen asked me how I liked being a school councillor and I realised Dad must have told her about it. I wondered if he’d also told her how much persuasion I’d needed to apply for the job in the first place.

‘Actually it’s turning out to be a real hassle,’ I answered truthfully. ‘And now I’ve got to help organise a debate for our open day.’

‘Really?’ Dad’s ears pricked up immediately. ‘I could give you a few pointers if you like. I used to be head of our school debating team when I was in the sixth form.’

Of course you were
, I thought with a sigh.

Kristen just smiled. She’d probably been head of her school debating team too, I thought. Unlike poor Mum, who’d told me she’d been struck dumb with nerves at school every time she’d had to speak in front of even a tiny audience.

‘So I hope you’re taking part in this debate, Poppy?’ Dad said. ‘It will be an excellent opportunity to get in some public speaking experience.’

‘I’m chairing it,’ I mumbled. Mrs Smee had insisted and I hadn’t managed to wriggle out of it.

‘Excellent! When is it? I’ll see if I can come.’

I was momentarily taken by surprise. ‘Well, it’s two weeks today, but it’s in the afternoon. You’ll be at work, won’t you?’

‘If I’m not in court, I’ll take the time off.’

‘Oh.’ I didn’t know what else to say. I couldn’t deny that I was flattered he wanted to be there. But I was also terrified. It would be bad enough messing up in front of Mum and all my friends. But messing up with Dad looking on …

The birthday cake Kristen had chosen went down much better than I’d thought it would. Dad did look a bit embarrassed when the waiter brought it out, and he clearly found us singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to him a lot less jolly than we did. But he kept a smile on his face and he ate the cake even though I know he hates all that sugary icing.

‘Next year you’ll have to blow out
fifty
candles,’ I teased him. And I found myself hoping Kristen would be around to buy him a cake then as well. Or maybe even bake him one, which would be better still. (I’d have to drop a few hints to her about that.)

At the end of the meal Dad said he would take me home and Kristen said goodbye to me and went off to get
her own car. She and Dad were meeting back at his place afterwards, and I couldn’t help wondering if she’d be staying the night.

Dad had helped Kristen on with her jacket and now he did the same with my blazer. Dad is a real gentleman that way – helping ladies on with their coats and opening doors for them and all that stuff. In fact, if Mum ever tells me that’s another thing she used to like about Dad but now finds irritating, then I’m going to contradict her because it certainly makes me feel special when he does it for me.

As we walked back to his car he asked if I’d enjoyed my evening. I nodded that I had and he said, ‘You seem to be getting on well with Kristen.’

I nodded again, smiling as I told him, ‘Well, she’s nice and normal – not like your other girlfriends.’

He gave me a sideways look. ‘Is it my imagination or have you been getting cheekier recently?’

I just kept grinning. ‘
And
she puts you in a good mood.’

‘Are you implying that I’m not
always
in a good mood?’

‘Actually –
yes
!’

At which point he started to laugh.

Once we were in the car we both got more serious.

‘So how are things going with Sadie?’ he asked me.

‘Oh,
OK
, I guess,’ I murmured, avoiding looking at him.

Dad was giving me a searching look. ‘Are you sure?’

I know he doesn’t like it when he thinks I’m keeping stuff from him, and I wanted to tell him the truth. But at the same time I knew I had to be careful if I was going to complain to him about Sadie. If he thought I was seriously unhappy he would definitely intervene, and there was no way I wanted to start up another big row between him and Mum.

‘Your mother should have asked you before agreeing to take her in,’ Dad muttered.

‘Well, she
is
Mum’s niece,’ I said in as neutral a voice as I could manage. ‘I guess Mum feels like it’s her duty to help her.’ I paused uncertainly. This was my chance to ask him about that crazy accusation Sadie had made. ‘Actually, Sadie told me something about Mum and I’m sure it can’t be true … something she says Mum did when we were little …’

‘What?’ Dad prompted me.

‘She says Mum wanted to adopt her and that she tried to kidnap her when Sadie’s dad said no. That’s not true, is it?’

‘Of course not!’ Dad was shaking his head dismissively.
‘Though I can imagine Kevin seeing it that way and possibly even telling Sadie that story. Your mother was looking after Sadie a lot, you see, while Kevin worked, and she got very attached to her. She didn’t think Kevin was coping very well as a single parent, plus he’s definitely always been a bit of a shifty character, so she offered for Sadie to move in with us, at least for a while. Well … Kevin was horrified. I advised your mother to drop it but she wouldn’t, and they ended up having a terrible row. Kevin got quite paranoid about the whole thing. He seemed to think we might be plotting to take him to court to get Sadie away from him. He not only made new childcare arrangements, he stopped us from seeing Sadie altogether. Your mother was heartbroken, as you can imagine. Sadie was like a second daughter to her by then. We actually
did
consider trying to take the matter to court at that point, just in order to get
some
ongoing contact with Sadie, but in the end we decided that we probably wouldn’t get anywhere and that fighting over her like that wouldn’t be in her best interests.’

‘That’s awful!’ I exclaimed, because I hadn’t known any of this until now. ‘But it doesn’t sound like Mum did anything
wrong
.’

‘Well, no … though I dare say she could have been a
lot more tactful with the way she approached Kevin instead of letting her emotions rule as usual.’

‘Yes, but nothing so wrong that social services would think she was unsuitable as a foster carer.’

Dad gave me a sharp look. ‘What exactly has Sadie been saying to you?’

I bowed my head, hiding my face as I mumbled, ‘Nothing.’

‘Poppy, don’t lie to me.’

I started to squirm, then stopped myself. After all, I wasn’t in the witness box and Dad didn’t have his wig on, even if he
was
using his courtroom voice.

‘Dad, I’m not under oath here,’ I said in as reasonable a tone as I could manage. ‘Just because I don’t want to tell you something doesn’t make it … I don’t know … contempt of court or something like that.’

His eyebrows shot up in surprise, but he recovered pretty quickly. ‘I wasn’t implying otherwise, Poppy! I don’t like you lying to me because, quite simply, it prevents me from helping you.’

‘I know that, Dad,’ I said. And as kindly as possible I added, ‘It’s just that sometimes it’s better if I sort stuff out on my own.’

Chapter Nineteen

As I unlocked our front door and waved goodbye to Dad, who had been watching me from the car, I heard music coming from the kitchen. It wasn’t all that late but I felt really tired.

I’d been thinking non-stop since Dad had told me what had actually happened. Because even though Sadie’s story about Mum wasn’t true, I couldn’t just forget about it. Not now that I knew how close I had come to having Sadie in my life all along.

Mum and Sadie were sitting at the kitchen table talking. The radio was on and they were flicking through Mum’s photo album. They had their backs to me and when they didn’t turn round I realised they hadn’t heard me come in. Mum was showing Sadie some baby photographs and I decided not to interrupt them. But I couldn’t resist standing outside the door to listen.

‘You do know your mother was only twenty-two when you were born?’ Mum was telling Sadie. ‘I was ten years older so I tried to help her as much as I could, but she always argued with me about every little thing.’

‘Dad says she argued a lot with him too,’ Sadie said.

Mum sighed. ‘That sounds like Kim.’

‘Dad says that he always loved me more than she did. Is
that
true, do you think?’

‘I don’t know about that, Sadie, but I do know Kim just didn’t seem cut out to be a mother. She always put her own needs first.’

‘Dad says she wrote you a letter after she left,’ Sadie murmured. ‘She never wrote one to me.’

‘It was a very short letter. All it said was that she’d changed her name and we should think of her as dead from now on because she wasn’t coming back.’ Mum paused. ‘I don’t know about your dad, but that’s certainly what I’ve been trying to do since then – think of her as dead and gone. It’s the only way I’ve found to move on.’

‘I keep thinking that one day she might contact me,’ Sadie murmured in such a quiet voice I could hardly hear her.

‘Just don’t get your hopes up too much,’ Mum said gently. ‘I knew Kim for longer than anyone and I’d
honestly be surprised if she ever did. And even then I don’t think you could trust her not to take off again whenever she got the urge.’ Mum paused, presumably to show her another photo, because a few moments later she said, ‘That’s Kim when she was fifteen. My parents had her very late so at that point Mum was nearly sixty and Dad in his seventies, and Dad’s health was never good after his stroke, poor thing. Kim was always running off and being brought back again. Sometimes she’d be gone for days, occasionally for a week or more. Our mother was always worried sick about her.’ Mum paused again. ‘You know, sometimes I think Kim did the best thing for you that she could, making a clean break and leaving once and for all. Better than coming in and out of your life all the time, making you love her, then leaving again.’