Village Secrets (32 page)

‘Stomach upset, they said.’

‘That’s right.’ Linda leaned as close to the post office grille as she could get and whispered, ‘Well, actually, it wasn’t really a stomach upset. I’m expecting.’

‘No! Are you pleased?’

She blushed even redder. ‘Oh yes. And Alan’s thrilled to bits.’

‘I am glad. Congratulations!’

‘Thanks.’ She was about to launch herself on the story of her pregnancy when they heard Jimbo’s voice booming out from his office at the back.

‘Mother! This I do not believe!’ There was a silence and then they heard him say, ‘Very well. Of course I’m not saying I don’t want …’ The rest they missed as he had lowered his voice, then they heard the slam of the receiver and he stormed through into the Store. He’d left his boater somewhere, his bow tie was askew and as he marched thunderously up and down between the shelves muttering to himself, he constantly ran a hand over his bald head.

Linda kept her head down and busied herself with her accounts. Bel Tutt, to escape his wrath, plodded away into the storeroom for further supplies for her shelf-filling. Jimbo almost ran Kate down by the ice-cream freezer.

‘So sorry.’ He went to raise his boater and found to his amazement it wasn’t on his head. ‘I do beg your pardon. Running the customers over isn’t quite the thing, is it? So sorry.’

‘Is there something the matter, Jimbo? You seem very agitated.’

He seemed surprised. ‘Do I?’ He considered this for a moment. ‘Well, I am. Very. What Harriet is going to say I do not know. May God have mercy on my soul because I’m going to need it.’

‘Is it something I can help you with?’

He gazed distractedly at her and then said, ‘Would that you could! Linda, I’m going home. I could be back in ten minutes, on the other hand if I’m not, you’d better order flowers; sprays preferably, I don’t like wreaths.’

He rushed out of the Store and Kate watched him dash down Stocks Row. Suddenly his footsteps slowed and he stopped, undecided. He turned back, changed his mind, and walked slowly in the direction of home.

Kate said, ‘I wonder what on earth is the matter.’

‘Well, he did say “Mother”, didn’t he?’

‘Yes, he did.’

‘See – his mother’s a right you-know-what. “Old cow” comes to mind. Been to stay a few times, she has. Mrs Charter-Plackett can’t bear her. They have stand-up rows. Trouble brewing, by the sound of it.’

Kate laughed. ‘Well, well, I’ve never seen Jimbo so upset. Didn’t think anything could ruffle
him
.’

‘No? You should have seen him when …’ But Linda had a customer who was in a hurry and wouldn’t wait. What was the matter with everyone today? They usually liked a gossip. It was always so much more interesting if the customers lingered a while. Sometimes it took her an hour to tell Alan all the news she’d garnered.

Kate took home her luxury ice cream, and her cheese and her eggs and all the things she’d denied herself for so long, put them away in the fridge and the cupboards and then sat at the kitchen table and ate a whole tub of pecan and toffee ice cream and felt sick. But somehow, released.

‘Mummy? Mummy?’

Jimbo snapped. ‘Be quiet, Flick, please.’

‘Daddy!’

‘I mean it. Just go away and watch TV or something, but don’t bother Mummy right now.’ Jimbo stood looking out of the window. Harriet sat on the sofa. In reality, the actual distance between them was small but it felt like a million miles. When Jimbo had broken the news about his mother, Harriet had stared at him in disbelief.

‘I shan’t. Just tell her I shan’t.’

‘I know, but she’s already sold her own.’

‘I don’t care. As far as I am concerned, she can sleep in a cardboard box in a shop doorway in the Strand. She can be a bag lady. That’s right – a bag lady. Serve her right.’

‘Now, Harriet.’

‘And don’t look so reproachfully at me. You don’t want her either.’

‘I never said that!’

‘You didn’t need to. Well, I shan’t sell Mother’s house to her. Definitely not. My mother wouldn’t rest easy
ever
, with her in the house.’

‘That is ridiculous.’

‘No, it’s not. Ring her – no, I’ll ring her. I’ll tell her she’s not buying my mother’s house. It
is
mine so I can choose who buys it.’

‘Now, Harriet.’

‘“Now, Harriet” nothing! Watch my lips: I shall say this only once.
Your mother is not living in my mother’s house. I won’t sell it to her
.’

‘Now, Harriet.’

‘If you say that once more …’

‘All right, all right. But she is an old lady and getting very frail.’

‘Frail – your mother? God, that’s a laugh! Frail – huh!’

‘Now, Harriet!’

‘Right, that’s it. You’re not listening to what I’m saying. Sitting on the fence you are and waiting to see which way to jump. Well, I’m not having it.’ She got up from the sofa and went to get her coat from the hall cupboard. ‘The meal’s all ready in the oven. I’ll leave you to it.’

‘Harriet, please! I haven’t agreed anything, you know.’

‘No, but you soon will. She’ll steamroller you like she always does.’

‘She doesn’t!’

Harriet looked sadly at him. ‘Jimbo, she does. It’s not fair. I was so looking forward to Flick being May Queen. Now I shan’t enjoy one minute of it, thinking about her coming to live here. It’s all ruined. Ruined!’ Her eyes brimmed with tears and threatened to spill over onto her cheeks. She shrugged on her coat, picked up her handbag and stormed out of the front door. Flick and Fran were crying and so too, almost, was Jimbo.

He heard the car rev up, watched her drive away, and sent up a silent prayer for her safety. Jimbo scooped up Fran and took hold of Flick’s hand. ‘We’ll get the boys their drink and biscuits out, come on.’ He looked down at Flick and her grief-stricken face broke his heart. For her sake he had to stop his voice shaking when he reassured her. ‘Don’t worry, she’ll be back. Mummy’s just a bit cross, that’s all. She’ll have to come back, ’cos she hasn’t got her toothbrush with her.’

Flick smiled through her tears and squeezed Jimbo’s hand. ‘Of course, she’ll have to come back. She’s so particular about her teeth, isn’t she?’

Jimbo discovered Harriet cleaning her teeth when he went to their bathroom. He had been sitting in Fergus’ bedroom talking with him man to man about women and the problems they could cause men.

‘When all’s said and done, Dad, are they worth all the trouble?’

‘Definitely. Oh yes. Can’t manage without ’em. Bless their hearts.’

‘Well, with the problems you’ve got with Gran and now with Mum.’

‘Ah, well. There you are.’

Fergus settled down to sleep and asked as Jimbo was switching off the light, ‘She will be back, won’t she?’

‘Of course.’

Jimbo stood in the bathroom doorway enjoying the sight of Harriet bent over the washbasin. As she rinsed her mouth for the last time she brought up her head and saw him in the mirror. They looked at each other for a moment and he broke the silence.

‘You’re back.’

‘I am.’

‘The best I can say is that she can’t buy your mother’s house, but if she really wants to come and live here, she can buy another house when one becomes empty. How about that?’

‘I’ll think about it.’

‘Thank you.’ He paused. ‘Where’ve you been – if I can ask, that is.’

‘At the rectory with Caroline.’

‘All this time?’

‘A lot of it.’

‘I see.’

‘Do you?’ Harriet turned to face him as she spoke.

‘I try.’

‘I’m going to give the children a goodnight kiss.’ Harriet tucked Fran in more tightly and smoothed Flick’s hair away from her face and, in the half-light, saw the sleepy smile on her face as she felt her mother’s kiss. She took some books off Finlay’s bed and straightened his duvet for him, and kissed Fergus who gave her a hug and said, ‘Glad you’re back, Mum. It’s Dad who’s been really upset.’ Then she too went to bed.

When Jimbo emerged from the bathroom she was sitting up making a list. ‘This is my list for Thursday.’

‘What’s happening on Thursday?’

‘May Day.’

‘Of course. I’m thrilled Flick’s going to be Queen. Who’s doing the crowning bit?’

‘Muriel.’

‘Oh great! It’s a lovely thing for Flick and she’ll do it superbly. Just like her mother, everything she does, she does well.’

‘Jimbo! Flattery will get you nowhere with me.’

‘It’s true! I shall record the whole event on the old camcorder.’

‘Oh, of course! What a good idea. Mother would have gloried in her being Queen. Oh, I do miss her.’

‘Of course you do. We all do.’ He sat silent on the edge of the bed for a while and then said, ‘She was a pearl of great price.’

‘She adored you.’

‘Did she? I didn’t know.’

‘I’m sure she’d have married you if you’d have had her.’

Jimbo laughed. ‘No! I’m glad I married her daughter.’

‘So am I.’

‘Forgiven?’

‘Almost. But I must let it be known now this minute and then I shall never refer to it again, that I do not get on with your mother. Never have done, never will. But I do appreciate that she isn’t getting any younger and needs family about her, but I can’t, I
won’t
sell her my mother’s house. In any case, it’s far too big for someone your mother’s age.’

‘Thank you. I’ll warn her off, right? I can’t brook her interference either. She’s keeping out of the Store, which I know she’d love to reorganise for me, and she’s to be kept out of our family affairs. I won’t have the boys upset by her constant criticism. And she’s not having a key to our house like your mother did, that’s definite. Mother did suggest she took over the mail-order now we’ve no longer got Sadie, but Mrs Jones is doing such a good job, way beyond anything I’d expected, that there’s no way I’m putting Mother in charge. So that’s the agreement.’

‘Right, it’s a deal. Oh Jimbo, why didn’t you have brothers and sisters, then they could have taken their turn?’

‘Having me nearly killed her, she says. Couldn’t believe childbirth could be so appalling and so
uncivilised
. So that was that. My father was extremely disappointed.’

Harriet rolled her eyes. ‘Some men do have a lot to put up with, don’t they?’

Jimbo turned off his bedside light and sighed. ‘Indeed they do. Look at me for instance. Slaving from dawn to dusk. Money to find for two sons at Prince Henry’s, and soon even more for a daughter at Lady Wortley’s
and
she’s being May Queen so there’s the dress to pay for, an incredibly pretty small daughter to feed and clothe,’ he paused, ‘and sadly, truth to tell, the biggest fly in the ointment is the wife. I can see there’s going to be no end to my troubles … ever.’ In the darkness at his side of the bed he grinned, thumped his pillow and laid down. Harriet kicked him.

‘Ow!! That hurt.’

‘I’m glad.’

There was a silence while Jimbo rubbed his leg. ‘The children were very upset.’

‘I’m sorry. I was just so angry and you didn’t seem to be listening.’

‘I was and I am. I’m torn, you see.’

‘I know. But if I can be assured you’re on my side, then that’s all right.’

‘I am.’

‘Good. I’ll finish this list and then …’

‘Right.’

Harriet wasn’t the only one with a list. Kate had one, too. Thursday was proving a hectic day. She’d worked all week with the children – cajoling, inspiring, organising. There wasn’t a stone left unturned. Hetty Hardaker had to admit that for organisation Kate couldn’t be bettered. ‘I thought Mr Palmer had everything at his fingertips, but you …’

‘Thanks, Hetty. Thanks for all your help, too. Without you we couldn’t have managed.’

Hetty flushed with pleasure. ‘I’m sorry I was so awkward to begin with. But some of it was justified, wasn’t it?’

Kate smiled. ‘Yes, it was. But I think now we’ve come to an understanding.’

‘You’ve changed since you came. All the witchcraft business, it wasn’t right. It felt so lovely going into church on Friday for prayers. You have to admit Peter is good with children.’

‘He is. Very good.’

‘Now, back to basics. Margaret wants to know how she will know when to commence playing the piano when she’s out on the Green and can’t see for all the parents. We could do with a couple of mobile phones.’ They walked away together discussing the whys and wherefores. With only two hours to go there was still a lot to do.

Mercifully the sun had decided to shine. Occasionally a cloud came over but it remained dry which was as well because the piano, and the maypole, and the children’s chairs awaiting the parents and friends were already out on the grass. Someone, somewhere must be smiling on them, Kate thought.

Mr Fitch had given permission for a couple of his estate-workers who were parents to give a hand, and as Kate and Hetty went back into the hall they were heaving the large wooden boxes which, fixed together, would create a dais for the Queen and her attendants to sit on for the crowning and where Flick would sit to preside over the dancing.