True Colours (14 page)

‘Is that all?’ Ian asked. He sounded almost disappointed.

‘Yes. That’s all I need for now. Anyway, your dad tells me that you’re going out for a day at the zoo, so I mustn’t take up too much of your time,’ I told them.

He turned to his father. ‘Dad, can Sophie come to the zoo with us?’

Acutely embarrassed, I shook my head. ‘No, Ian, I can’t. Not today. I’ve got a lot of work to do and besides, your dad wants you all to himself. The three of you will have much more fun on your own.’ I shot an apologetic look at John.

‘Maybe another day,’ he said to his son. As he showed me to the front door he said. ‘You are perfectly welcome to join us, you know. Actually the boys seem to have taken a shine to you.’

But I shook my head. ‘Thanks, John but I do have a lot to do.’ I held up my case. ‘I’m looking forward to going home to work on the portraits. Ian and David are wonderful subjects. It’ll take my mind off – well, you know.’

‘Well, we won’t be setting off for another hour so if you change your mind….’

‘It’s sweet of you to invite me but I’ll pass this time. I’d like another sitting though, maybe later in the week, so that I can check everything.’

‘Of course. Just ring and let me know when.’

Back at Greenings I worked all day on the portraits. I’d never known such easy subjects as Ian and David. Their little faces seemed to spring out of the paper for me with hardly any effort all.
Working at what I loved to do best, I lost myself in the sheer pleasure of it and I decided that I must invest in some new advertising to get more commissions. I’d let them drop off lately but once the house was sold and I was on my own again I’d need some extra income as well as something to take my mind off what I saw as my failure.

I was working upstairs in the little studio I’d created for myself at the back of the house looking out on the rambling garden. Autumn had created a whole new landscape as the trees had turned from a canopy of green to a glorious profusion of crimson, gold and russet. I sighed with nostalgia. Things should have been so different. Now that the house was finished we should have been enjoying it together.

I’d just finished for the day and was thinking about going downstairs to make myself a meal when my phone rang. Picking it up, I saw that the call was from Katie.

‘Hi!’ I said. ‘Nice to hear from you. Everything all right?’

‘More than all right.’ She sounded excited. ‘I’ve got some exciting news, but I’ll wait till I see you to tell you about it. Look, I expect you’re on half term at the moment and I wondered if we could have one of our lovely lunch meetings.’

‘That would be nice,’ I said. ‘But won’t Fran be busy with her son at home from his new school?’

‘I rang her and as it happens her husband is taking Harry to some big IT exhibition on Thursday at Earls Court so she’s happy for us all to meet if you’re up for it.’

‘OK then. Usual time and place?’

‘You bet,’ she said. ‘Looking forward to it no end. Can’t wait to tell you my news!’

Walking through to the kitchen I realized suddenly that this had been my first happy day for months. I thought about my talk with John. He’d managed somehow to put a few things into perspective for me. Could he have been right about my parents and their motives for working so hard? Had I been unduly harsh with them over the money gift? I know Mum had been really upset at some of the things I’d said. Maybe I should apologize. On impulse I went through to the hall and picked up the phone, dialling their number. After a few rings I heard the receiver being lifted.

‘Hi, Maggie and Geoff Bambers’ house.’

I froze, recognizing Rex’s voice. So that’s where he was! Sucking up to my parents again. No doubt putting his side of things and getting their sympathy! Without speaking I slammed the receiver down hard.

‘Damn you to hell!’ I said aloud, shaking with rage. ‘If that’s the way you want to play –
fine
!’

Katie could hardly wait for her two friends to arrive at Napolitano – so much so that she was early. She chose a table where they would see her the moment they arrived, ordered herself a gin and tonic and settled down to wait.

Since her lunch with Drew she’d been waiting for news and a couple of days ago he’d been in touch again, this time by phone. The call had come when she was on the bus on her way home and, seeing his name come up, she’d answered it eagerly.

‘Hi, Drew?’

‘Katie. Good to hear your voice. I was wondering what you were doing on Thursday. I know it’s your half day.’

Her heart missed a beat. ‘Well not a lot really. I’m meeting a couple of friends for lunch, but apart from that….’

‘OK, so what about dinner? As a matter of fact I’ve got some news that I think will interest you.’

‘Oh! What’s that?’

She could hear him smiling at the other end. ‘Ah now, you’re just going to have to wait and see. Dinner then?’

‘Yes. That sounds nice. Where shall I meet you?’

‘Give me your address and I’ll come and pick you up. Can’t have my protégé walking around the streets alone after dark now can I?’

She gave him the address, hoping he wouldn’t think she lived in a slum. She had no idea where he lived but by the look of his clothes and general manner it had to be somewhere posh. And what did he mean by protégé? she asked herself, mystified.

Fran arrived first. Katie saw her as soon as she walked through the door. She thought she looked tense. Last time it had been Sophie
who was preoccupied. Fran spotted her and waved, quickly adjusting her expression.

‘Hi!’ she said, taking the chair next to Katie. ‘I thought I might be early. I travelled up to town with Harry and Charles on their way to this exhibition at Earls Court.’

‘How are they?’ Katie asked. ‘How does Harry like his new school?’

‘Oh, they’re fine,’ Fran said dismissively.

Katie noticed that she left the enquiry about Harry’s new school unanswered and wondered if it might be significant, but before she could pursue the question Sophie appeared and came across to the table smiling.

‘Hi there you two. I’m not late, am I?’ She took off her jacket and sat down. Seeing that the three had assembled, the waiter came across with menus and for a few minutes they were absorbed in making their choices. When they had ordered Sophie looked at Katie.

‘So, what’s this fantastic news?’

Katie took a deep breath, her cheeks turning pink with pleasure as she relayed her recent meeting with Drew and the events that followed.

‘Now he says he’s got some exciting news!’ She giggled. ‘I can’t wait!’

Fran and Sophie exchanged glances. ‘I’d be a bit careful if I were you,’ Sophie warned. ‘He could be some kind of con-merchant. Have you checked out his credentials?’

Katie’s face fell. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Is he known at any of these fashion houses he says he’s working for? Surely you’ve checked up on him.’

Katie flushed a deep crimson. ‘No. I trust him. He knew the name of one of our customers and that’s good enough for me. He likes my designs, says I have a big future ahead of me. And he thinks Imogene is exploiting me.’ She didn’t mention that she had no idea what Drew’s surname was and so couldn’t check him out even if she wanted to.

Reading Katie’s defensiveness Fran touched her arm. ‘You have to be vigilant in business, Katie. Sophie is only thinking of you. There’s such a thing as industrial espionage. He could be planning
to steal your designs and pass them off as his own.’

‘Drew would never do that. I’m sure he wouldn’t,’ Katie said.

The waiter brought their main course and they applied themselves to their food. Katie ate with her head downcast. She had looked forward so much to telling Fran and Sophie her fabulous news, thinking they’d be pleased for her but all they’d done so far was pour cold water on it. Could it be that they didn’t believe her, or were they jealous? Surely not? How mean of them to begrudge her this one little bit of excitement. But she swallowed her resentment. Last time they met Sophie had seemed preoccupied. Maybe her life wasn’t as rosy as it seemed. She looked up.

‘How are you, Sophie? Last time we met you seemed a bit under the weather.’

Sophie smiled wryly. ‘Was I? Rex and I have been having a few problems. It’s all to do with the house. It’s costing far more than we expected it to. But apart from that I’m fine,’ she said. ‘My headmaster asked me to do pastel portraits of his two young sons. I’ve been working on them during this half-term week. I’ve got one more sitting with them tomorrow before they go back to their mother.’

Fran looked at her. ‘Go back? Have he and his wife split up?’

Sophie nodded. ‘Unfortunately, yes. Par for the course these days, isn’t it? At least Rex and I don’t have any kids, thank goodness.’

Katie picked up on the remark immediately. So that was why she’d looked so depressed last time. ‘Are your problems that serious then?’

Sophie nodded. ‘I’m afraid they are. Rex walked out and he’s been incommunicado ever since. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next time I hear from him it’s through his solicitor.’

‘Oh dear!’ Fran turned to look at her. Outwardly Sophie’s tone was flippant but she guessed that the light, offhand attitude was covering a deep hurt. ‘I’m so sorry, love,’ she said softly.

Sophie shrugged. ‘It’s OK. I’ve come to terms with it now.’

‘What about the house?’

‘On the market,’ Sophie said briefly. ‘Can’t afford to live there on my own. Besides there’s a massive loan to pay back.’ She sighed.
‘Not one of my better ideas, I have to say.’ She looked at Fran. ‘What about you, anything new on your horizon? What about the job you were offered. Have you decided to take it?’

Fran nodded. ‘Yes. I start training after Harry goes back to school next week. I’m going to the office after lunch to arrange the final details.’

‘Good for you. Was Charles all right about it?’

Fran paused just a beat too long before smiling brightly. ‘Fine,’ she said. There was a pause then she looked up at the other two. ‘No, not fine actually. Something horrendous has happened.’ She looked at her friends, trying to assess how they would take what she was about to tell them. ‘I have a confession to make to you both. Neither of you ever knew about it, but I got pregnant in my last term at school.’

Sophie looked shocked. ‘
Fran
! I never even guessed. Why didn’t you say anything?’

‘I was too ashamed. The boy I thought loved me didn’t want to know. I tried to keep it from my parents too, and I did for months. When they found out the balloon went up. They were even more horrified than I’d imagined.’ She sighed. ‘You knew of course that I was adopted?’

‘Yes. I remember,’ Katie said. ‘I always felt it was a bond between us.’

‘So how did your adoptive parents take your pregnancy?’ Sophie asked.

‘As you’d expect. It was made clear to me that there was no question of my keeping the baby unless I wanted to be a single mother and alone at sixteen. They bundled me off to Dorset to Dad’s sister, insisting that the baby was to be given up for adoption as soon as she was born. Only on those terms was I to be allowed home after which it was all to be forgotten, never to be spoken of again.’ She bit her lip. ‘I need hardly add that Charles has never had the slightest idea.’

Katie looked from one to the other, wondering where Fran’s dramatic revelation was leading. ‘Are you saying that your daughter has turned up?’ she asked.

Fran shook her head. ‘No. She’d still be too young. It was actually my birth mother who suddenly turned up.’ She smiled
wryly. ‘All adopted people fantasize about their birth mother. Some people resent the woman who gave them away, and some – like me, especially after I went through it myself – see her as a sad victim of fate.’

‘And yours?’ Sophie prompted.

‘Well, she’s certainly no victim. It turns out she was a friend of my adopted father’s sister which is how she knows all about my baby.’

‘So what was her reason for coming to find you?’

‘Putting it bluntly, to blackmail me,’ Fran said. ‘She’s down on her luck and she thinks I’m rolling in money and that I owe some of it to her. She’s threatening to tell Charles about my teenage pregnancy.’

Sophie gasped. ‘You’ll go to the police of course.’

Fran shook her head. ‘How can I? It would all have to come out if I reported her. I’d lose everything including Harry. My life would be shattered. I’m going to have to pay her somehow. She refuses to believe that I have no money of my own, which is why I have to take the job.’

‘Oh, Fran! Maybe if you confessed to Charles he’d take it reasonably. After all, he loves you. You’re his wife and the mother of his son.’

Fran shook her head. ‘You don’t know him. He’d never forgive me for lying to him, besides, my – this woman is threatening to go to the papers. Losing face is Charles’s worst nightmare.’

‘Then he must be a very shallow man if you don’t mind me saying so.’ Sophie covered Fran’s trembling hand with her own. ‘And you didn’t lie; you just didn’t tell him. So when you told him you were taking the job, what did he say?’

Fran’s eyes filled with tears. ‘Don’t even ask! I’ve had the most horrendous week. I can’t begin to tell you….’

Katie looked from one to the other. It seemed that her friends didn’t have the charmed life she’d imagined. What she’d heard over lunch today made her feel for the first time in her life that she was the lucky one. Not that her news had aroused the interest she’d hoped for. In fact it had gone off like a damp squib. She looked at her watch and was shocked to see how late it was. She was going to have to go or she wouldn’t have time to wash her hair before
meeting Drew. She looked at Fran apologetically.

‘I’m really sorry, love, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to go.’ She laid a hand on her friend’s arm. ‘I wish I could help in some way. I hate to leave you right now but I’ve got this urgent appointment and I can’t be late.’ She opened her bag to put her share of the meal on the table. ‘Look, Fran, Soph, you know where I am if you want to talk – any time,’ she added.

Sophie looked up. ‘Oh, Katie, you’re not meeting this Drew person, are you?’

‘No,’ Katie lied. ‘It’s a really important appointment though. I can’t be late.’ She stood up and gathered her bag and coat together. ‘I do hope everything works out for you both.’

‘For you too, Katie. Good luck.’

‘Maybe we’ll meet again soon.’

‘Yes, we really must. Have a nice evening.’

‘And remember what we said about being careful about this Drew of yours,’ Sophie warned again.

They watched Katie whisk out through the restaurant door then looked at each other.

‘Do you think we upset her?’ Fran asked.

Sophie shook her head. ‘She can be so naïve. I had to warn her. I hope this Drew guy isn’t stringing her along.’

‘Me too. Poor little Katie.’ Fran smiled wryly. ‘I’m afraid we rather pricked her balloon. I wish I hadn’t gone on about my own problems now.’

‘So do I. I suppose we could have shown more enthusiasm. It must have made us look like a couple of pessimists pouring cold water over her plans.’

Fran looked at her. ‘Is there really a serious problem between you and Rex?’

Sophie sighed. ‘I’m afraid so. The trouble started when he went to my parents for a loan, behind my back.’

‘I’m sure they were only too happy to help you out.’

‘Oh, they were, but I wasn’t. I wanted this to be our project – achieved without any help from anyone, least of all them. I reacted by insisting on putting the house on the market to pay them back.’

‘Oh, Sophie!’ Fran looked incredulous. ‘That must have been so hurtful.’

Sophie bit her lip. ‘I realize that now. At the time all I could think of was my own hurt.’

‘And now?’

‘I don’t know.’