The New Neighbours (62 page)

“What on earth was all that about?” Angela demanded when they were both safely upstairs in the living room.

“Nothing,” Chantal said miserably. “I hate Oliver Hooper!”

“Yes, well I suggest you steer well clear of him from now on,” said her mother. She gave Chantal a hug, “Won't be for long, then we'll be safely at Stone Winton and you'll never see him again.”

Chantal nodded, but she was feeling suddenly sick inside. Were the police really going to accuse Dan of rape? Was the detestable Oliver right, had she been asking for it? She really didn't remember much about the party, just that Dan had been waiting on the landing and it had all seemed inevitable and afterwards she wished it hadn't happened. She longed to get away from Dartmouth Circle.

“Mum—” she began and then stopped.

“Yes?” Angela tried to sound encouraging.

“Mum, do you know… I mean, well Oliver said Dan is being charged with rape, you know, after the party? Mum, is he? Will they put him in prison?” Tears were filling her eyes, and Angela put her arms round her.

Damn Oliver Hooper! she thought fiercely. What did he have open his mouth for? But then he always was a spiteful beast.

“I don't know,” she admitted. “We haven't heard anything yet. The thing is that you are under the age of consent. Whether you let him or not, he's not legally allowed to have sex with you. It is a crime, and he may be prosecuted for it.”

“Does he have to be?”

“I honestly don't know, darling. But until we hear anything you must try and put it all out of your mind.”

“But it was all my fault,” cried Chantal.

“Rubbish!” declared her mother firmly. “It was not your fault. He knew perfectly well what he was doing. He's a grown man, and he took advantage of you.”

“Oliver Hooper says I led him on, he said…” Chantal choked on the words, “Oliver said I was begging for it.”

“Oliver Hooper is a foul-mouthed, poisonous toad!” Angela snapped. “Take absolutely no notice of what Oliver Hooper has to say! It was not your fault, right?” She hugged her daughter to her, feeling again that she'd failed her. How could she have let her get into such a dreadful situation? The move to Stone Winton would help, she supposed. Of course they'd be taking their problems with them, there was no leaving those behind in the Circle with the house, but at least they would be able to deal with them in private, in a place where no one knew them or the troubles they had, and without comments from bloody Oliver Hooper.

Chantal pulled away at last and said, “Think I'll go up get on with my homework. Will you test me on my vocab later?”

“Yes, of course,” Angela forced a smile. “Come down when you've learned it.”

Shirley Redwood put the last of the biscuits on to plates and carried them into the sitting room. Everything was set up for her coffee morning in aid of St Joe's, and in about ten minutes her door would be open, she hoped, for her first customers. She had sent invitations to all her friends in the hope they would come and support her final fund-raising venture before she moved, and as she said to David when she decided to have the coffee morning, “It'll give me a chance to say goodbye to everyone.”

“We shan't be moving for a bit yet,” David pointed out.

“No, I know,” she agreed, “but we know we are moving, and after this we shall have to begin sorting the house out, I shan't have time for lots of goodbyes. Far better to say them all at once, then if I happened to see people after that, all well and good, but if not…”

“You won't want me at this do, will you?” David asked hopefully. “I'd just be in your way.”

“Up to you,” said his wife, knowing he wouldn't stay.

“Why don't you ask Cirelle to come and give you a hand?” suggested David, relieved. “She helps at St Joe's as well, doesn't she?”

“Yes, I might do that,” said Shirley. “I think she was a bit upset by the way Melanie spoke to her before she left.”

“Doubt it,” said David. “She's a sensible girl. Anyway, I gather she told Mel where to get off.”

Shirley had approached Cirelle, asking if she could help, and Cirelle had agreed willingly enough. If she was still upset by the things Melanie had said to her, there was no sign of it now.

“Yeah, no probs, Shirley. I'll give you a hand,” she said, “and I expect Mad will too, if you like.” Shirley did like, and Cirelle asked Mad.

“A coffee morning!” cried Mad in mock dismay. “I don't do coffee mornings.”

“Yeah, you do,” Cirelle told her cheerfully. “It's for St Joe's. Come on, Mad, like, it's only for one morning?” Grumbling, Mad allowed herself to be persuaded.

“Well, I'm not going to any coffee morning,” Dean said firmly, “but when you guys have earned your brownie points, I'll meet you in the union bar, OK?”

The girls had arrived early and helped set out the bring-and-buy table and the coffee cups.

“I'll be on the door,” Shirley said, “so I can greet people when they arrive. You two can serve at the bring-and-buy table and Mary has said she'll pour the coffees. She'll be here in a minute.”

Mary had volunteered her services in the kitchen as soon as she received her invitation. She was always ready to help fundraise for St Joe's, but she was very sorry to hear it was the Redwoods' farewell, too. “Are you really going?” she asked. “I know you had it at the back of your mind, but I didn't think it would be so soon.”

Shirley smiled ruefully. “Nor did I,” she admitted, “but the opportunity to buy a house nearer to Melanie came up and it seemed stupid to miss it. You know I was worried about her when she went home. Well, we went for Christmas as you know, and stayed for ten days. Quite long enough for me and far too long for David! Still, she does seem to be coping better than she was, and is more relaxed, but she doesn't find the children easy.”

“Didn't you tell me her husband had got a new job and wouldn't be away so much?” asked Mary.

“Yes he has, so he is at home in the evenings,” replied Shirley. “Not that he does much with the children, but it does mean she has someone to talk to when they've gone to bed. And since Suzanne goes through the night now at least Melanie gets some unbroken sleep.”

“Absolutely vital,” Mary agreed with feeling. “You can cope with almost anything if you have your sleep!” She looked across at her friend. “But have you found somewhere to live? I'm surprised you could get David to leave his beloved garden.”

“It was really very strange,” Shirley explained. “Fate almost. We took Todd out for a walk on Boxing Day, and went to a playground that he particularly likes in the next village, Derringham; and there on the edge of the village green was a cottage with a for sale board outside. David was pushing Todd on the swings so I wandered over and had a look at it. Mary, it was just lovely. Just the sort of house I've always wanted. Not very big, much smaller than here, but with a beautiful garden, though that's rather overgrown at the moment; and it's right in the middle of the village. I could see it was already empty,” she went on conspiratorially, “so I went and to look in through the windows. David came over to see what I was doing, and I said I was just having a look round the cottage. I peered in the downstairs windows while he wandered round the garden. Anyway, to cut a long story short, we contacted the agent after the weekend and arranged to go and see it properly, and we both loved it. So we made an offer and it's been accepted.”

“Have you sold your own yet?” asked Mary

“No, that's the problem,” sighed Shirley. “Now we've decided to go, we want to get on with it. Luckily the owner of the cottage isn't in any particular hurry. It was left to her by an old aunt, and she said she was happy to wait, so let's hope she is.”

“We shall miss you in the Circle,” sighed Mary. “I shall miss you very much.”

“We shall miss you too,” said Shirley, “but you can come and stay with us. We've got two bedrooms in the cottage, but that's all.” She laughed and added, “I think that is part of the attraction for David. The family won't be able to descend on us en masse because we shan't have room, but we'll be close enough for Melanie to drop in whenever she wants to, and we shall see lots more of the grandchildren.”

The first person to arrive at the coffee morning was Sheila Colby, with Gerald in tow.

“He's just going to have a quick cup of coffee,” Sheila told Shirley as she paid at the door, “and then he's off to play golf with Andrew Peters, but I told him he had to support your morning first.”

“Nice to see both of you,” Shirley replied, smiling. “Thank you for coming. Coffee and bring and buy are upstairs.”

The Colbys went upstairs, and Shirley could hear Sheila explaining Gerald's presence to Mary. Poor Gerald she thought, and yet he never seems to mind, he must be quite fond of the silly old bat!

Dr Fran arrived next, and gave Shirley a quick hug. “Shouldn't be here really,” she said, “but I need a quick coffee, and I've brought you some things for your bring and buy. How's Mel? Did you all survive Christmas all right?”

“Yes, thanks. Mel's doing pretty well now I think,” Shirley replied. “We really are very grateful for all you did for her, Fran. I think you and your counsellor got to her just in time.”

“I'm glad,” Fran said simply. “Now look, I'm sorry this truly is just a dash in and out, but let's have a pub supper somewhere, the four of us before you go.”

“That'd be lovely,” Shirley agreed, adding as Alison Forrester came up the path, “I'll ring you!”

Dr Fran disappeared upstairs and Shirley turned to greet Alison. “Alison, lovely to see you,” she cried. “I didn't know if you'd be able to get away. Are you meant to be working today?”

“Yes, and we are frantically busy,” Alison agreed, “but I've managed to slip away for half an hour. I always like to support things going on in the Circle.”

“No children with you?” Shirley was surprised, she thought at least Harriet would be with her if she came.

“Didn't think they'd be an asset at a coffee morning,” Alison laughed, “Jon's at school, but as Isabelle had Harriet this morning anyway while I was at work, I decided to leave her there.”

She headed up the stairs and was soon followed by Jill Hammond. It was Jill's first social appearance in the Circle, apart from the few moments at Madge's funeral, since the night of the Madhouse party. She greeted Shirley with a smile and went upstairs with a confidence she didn't feel, to join the group in the sitting room.

Other helpers from St Joe's turned up to support the event and to take the chance of wishing Shirley luck in her new home.

“We're going to miss you, Shirley,” Mavis said, “and not just because you're leaving a gap in the rota! All our clients send you their love, and say you will go in to see them before you go, won't you?”

Shirley promised she would. “Anyway, I shall still be doing my turn for a while yet. We can't move until we've sold this place.”

Several more people arrived and Mavis took a turn on the door so Shirley could go and see how things were going upstairs. There was a cheerful buzz of conversation in the room. Alison Forrester chatting with Jill Hammond in one corner, their heads together over the coffee cups, deep in private conversation. Shirley left them to it and went to see how the bring and buy was going.

“I see you've put your house on the market,” Jill was saying. “So you've really decided that you've got to sell? Hasn't Paul managed to find anything to suit him yet?”

“Well, we've decided to move anyway,” Alison said. “This is certainly not common knowledge yet,” she went on softly, “but we're going to Belmouth, and Paul is going to set up on his own.”

“Is he? As an estate agent? Well done him!” Jill exclaimed. “Can he do that? I mean, is there enough work there to make living?”

“Paul thinks so,” Alison said. “He's got all the right qualifications and things, so he's going to try. We've seen a house in a lane off Front Street which has a garage already converted into a workshop. We're going to re-convert it into an office. I can do the paperwork and answer the phone and things, and Paul will do the surveys, valuations, sales and stuff.”

“It all sounds very exciting,” Jill said, “but isn't it a bit of a gamble?”

“Yes it is,” Alison agreed, “but it's better than sitting around doing nothing. We shall have the money from the sale of the house, and the pittance Johnson Fountain have paid in redundancy money, but our overheads shouldn't be too much as we're in our own premises.” She gave a wry laugh. “Sort of living over the shop.”

“Well, I think you're both very brave,” Jill said, “and I wish you every success.”

“Freddie Jones has been very sympathetic,” Alison confided. “He couldn't offer Paul his old job back of course, obviously he's got someone else, but he says he'll put any work that he can't cope with our way. That should help. He has a very good name in the business.” She gave a small triumphant smile. “And Johnson Fountain never thought of Paul opening up on his own account, so they didn't bother to put any restriction on where he can practise.”

“Could they have done?” Jill was surprised. “If they made him redundant?”

Alison shrugged, “Probably not,” she admitted, “but they won't be very pleased if any of their clients go with Paul, and some might. Some people would rather work with someone they know than with a big company where you speak to a different person every time you ring.”

“When does all this start?” Jill asked. She would have liked to support Paul by giving him their house to sell, but she doubted that Anthony would want it with the fledgling business Paul's was going to be. He'd want it sold quickly.