Whispers in the Village (13 page)

One person he didn’t see arriving for the party was Dean Jones because he’d approached from the Big House and through the churchyard. As soon as he’d heard that Anna was intending to go, Dean made sure he had a ticket. He’d dressed up in his mother’s pyjamas, which were much too short in the leg and the arms, a doll’s hot water bottle pinned by a ribbon to the right-hand side of his jacket and a giant dummy also pinned by a ribbon to the left-hand side. He waited in the queue to get his hand stamped when he presented his ticket. He’d never been inside Glebe House before and was overwhelmed with the display of good taste coupled with apparently unlimited money. The whole house downstairs was alive with people. The music was throbbing, and the highly charged conversation and the excitement of the crowded rooms added to the buzz. The adrenalin rush he got when he spotted Anna spun him almost out of control. He stuttered and stammered with embarrassment, until Anna said, ‘Rhett! You look great.’

‘I didn’t realize you were coming. You look perfect.’

She did. She was wearing a cream satin nightdress, which reached the floor in a swirl like an evening dress. The straps were thin like shoelaces and sent all Dean’s hormones into overdrive. He struggled to control his voice. ‘I’m going to get a drink. Can I get you one?’

‘Oh, no. Please let me. My turn.’

To Dean’s extreme embarrassment, Anna searched for her purse by lifting the hem of her nightdress and exposing her leg well above the knee. Her purse was tucked into a frilly blue garter that secured it to her leg. ‘Thought carrying a purse would spoil the effect of the nightdress, so I tucked it into a garter.’

Dean’s temperature rocketed and he was glad Michelle had rouged his cheeks before he left otherwise the blushing he was undergoing would have given the game away. Hell’s bells! He persuaded himself he was adult and well able to cope but … Anna stood in front of him at the bar and asked him what he wanted to drink. He said the first thing that came into his head. ‘White wine spritzer.’ Then wished he hadn’t because it sounded girlie. Too late, she’d ordered the same. Standing close behind Anna because of the crowd, Dean got a close-up view of her neck and he studied the way her dark hair curled itself around her ears. He thought it was beautiful.

What was happening to him? He was behaving like a teenager when in truth he was twenty-two. He and Anna should have a meeting of minds not this base emotion he was experiencing. Did she feel the same? Of course she didn’t. Facts were facts: he was a gauche, mumbling idiot, not the bright, debonair, man-of-the-world he imagined himself to be. How could he be debonair wearing his mother’s pyjamas?

‘Here we are, Rhett, white wine spritzer. I like them; they’re so refreshing but you get the alcohol buzz.’

They squeezed their way out of the crowd at the bar and Dean muttered, ‘I’m Dean.’

‘Of course, I don’t know why I keep making that mistake. Of course you’re Dean. I do apologize. Let’s put our drinks on this window sill behind the curtain and go for a dance. Would you mind? I’ll find someone else if you don’t want to.’

‘Of course I would like to.’

He surreptiously wiped his sweating palms on the legs of his mother’s pyjamas, just in case she fancied him holding her while she danced. He never felt comfortable dancing, those two left feet he felt grow as he took the floor always hampered his performance. Why couldn’t he be like Rhett? Laughing and confident and not caring a fig if he stood on his partner’s feet or made a fool of himself; now that was something he couldn’t bear. But what had he done already? Chosen to wear women’s pyjamas? Why hadn’t he thought of doing what Neville Neal had done, bought smart men’s pyjamas and a matching dressing gown? So much more suave.

The parquet floor in the dining room lent itself beautifully to dancing. The dining table had been pushed to one side, the chairs lined up against the walls, the French windows opened to the autumn sky, the music, slinky kind of, with a hint of the orient in the rhythm. What more could he ask? Anna really threw herself into the dance and some of her enthusiasm rubbed off on him and he began to relax, until Rhett caught his eye and gave him the thumbs up. Immediately he stiffened up and those two left feet came back. He stumbled, causing Anna to say, ‘I’ve had enough. Let’s go outside.’

‘I’ll get our drinks.’

Anna went to stand by the floodlit pond and when Dean joined her she smiled and his heart turned over. God! He’d got it bad. What to talk about?

‘Dean, how did you feel about helping at the youth club last Friday night?’

‘I quite enjoyed it.’

‘Good, you appeared to be quite comfortable with it. Kate and Venetia thought you were splendid.’

‘Oh! Thanks.’

‘As for your table tennis … Well! County standard, I thought.’

‘Huh! I don’t know about that. It’s just one of those things I can do without having to think about it. Always have been able to.’

‘Dean, do you know, I wonder why someone with your degree is doing their accountancy qualification in a small town accountant’s like Neville’s. I don’t mean they’re a two-bit outfit, they’re obviously doing rather well, but you could have got a job with any of the leading companies up in London, couldn’t you?’

‘Never thought about it actually. Just came home and he offered me the job. Seemed a good idea at the time.’

‘I like people to reach their full potential and you could be up there amongst the movers and shakers.’

‘I’d miss everyone here though.’ Dean thought about her, and how he’d miss …

‘But they’re not all going to disappear, they’ll still be here when you come home for a visit. However, I don’t know why I’m suggesting it when you’re so good with the youth club. They need role models like you.’ She grinned at him and if he’d died at that moment he would have gladly gone without a single regret.

‘Another drink?’ Was that his voice he heard, gruff and croaky?’

‘Yes, please. Same again.’

When he came back with their drinks, a crowd of people had come out onto the terrace to dance. Anna thanked him and put her glass on a stone beside a gnome fishing in the pond. ‘Here, give me yours; we’ll try dancing out here, much more fun than that stiff and starchy dining room.’

‘Let’s hope the gnome hasn’t drunk them before we get back!’

‘You never know – he might even fall drunk into the pond.’

So they danced, and it gave him the closeness he wanted. It felt daring and dangerous, but wonderful and satisfying. He threw himself into action.

When the music stopped, Anna said, ‘Wow! Thanks for that. Must go get my drink and circulate. See you soon!’ And left him standing there.

Dean felt badly let down. He waited a while to give Anna a chance to find her drink, because he couldn’t face having to think of something to say to her, then he went into the garden, retrieved his drink from beside the gnome and looked at the empty space where Anna’s drink had been. Good at table tennis. God, what a pathetic talent, almost as bad as being good at tiddleywinks. All it was good for was impressing the youth club, nothing more and nothing less. It moved him not one notch closer to Anna. Then the worst of it, he saw Anna was dancing with Rhett and having lots of fun. Blast Rhett! Blast him.

In fact, everyone was having a good time. The party was a brilliant success. Most of them threw any sophistication they might have to the winds and leaped and bounced on the bouncy castle like five-year-olds. But Dean had to draw the line at that. He just wasn’t designed for the abandonment a bouncy castle needed. Then he saw Anna having the time of her life. Dean hesitated. Dean prevaricated. Dean half moved towards it, half moved back again. Decided he just couldn’t then thought: Damn it! I will. Slipped off his shoes, and hurled himself onto it. In no time at all he and Anna were hand in hand, jumping and laughing, breathless, abandoned, till Anna slipped and hurt her ankle and had to retire.

He sat her down on a fancy garden chair away from the crowd and went to find her another drink. But it was announced over the loudspeaker that the buffet was open and there was a concerted rush to eat, and he lost his chance with Anna and spent the rest of the night watching from the sidelines. She was never without a circle of people interested in chatting with her. He was desolate. He knew them all, Fergus, Finlay and Flick, Hugh and Guy, Rhett and most of the others, but he was too tongue-tied to join them.

It had been decided by Neville that the party must finish at midnight and at five minutes to midnight Wee Willie Winkie put his lighted candlestick on a window sill to free his hands because on Neville’s insistence they were all going to join hands to sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’, much to Hugh and Guy’s embarrassment. Why did dads insist on old traditions long abandoned by the young set? they wondered. But no, he wouldn’t be denied. Well, he had footed the bill so they’d better humour the old chap.

So they all crowded onto the terrace where there was more room and treated the village to a rather thin wavery rendition of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ because no one knew the words apart from the first couple of lines. Except for Neville, who sang it lustily if a little drunkenly.

Thank heavens for that, the village thought. Now, at last, we shall be able to sleep. But before a single car door had slammed or engine started up, there was a cry of ‘Fire! Fire! Fire!’

With windows and doors open, the wind had blown Wee Willie Winkie’s candle flame. It had caught the curtain, then the heavily draped pelmet above, then an oil painting beside it, then the draught had billowed the flames and in a moment the dining room was ablaze. Wee Willie Winkie, returning to retrieve his mother’s Victorian candle-holder, fell back at the door shouting, ‘Fire!’ as loud as he could.

Anna, remembering she’d noticed a reel hose screwed to the outside wall of the house, grabbed Dean by the arm. ‘Come with me! We’ll get the hose.’

Between them they rolled the hose out to full length, turned the tap and, as the water was released, they both held on tightly and directed the nozzle into an open window. It was a far more powerful hose than they had imagined and it took all their strength to keep it directed onto the flames. There was much shouting and filling of buckets and daring attempts to beat out the flames, but the flames would not be denied their victory.

They’d been fighting it for twenty minutes before the fire engine from Culworth could get there. Hastening along the straight bits, surging round corners, cutting across grass verges, it came hurtling into the village down the Culworth Road, scattering the onlookers. Never had it been more welcome.

Eyes weeping with the effects of the smoke and their skin feeling scorched by the flames, Anna and Dean were glad for Rhett and Guy to take over the hose.

‘Where’s Michelle? Where’s Michelle? Anyone seen Michelle?’ Dean rushed about amongst the party-goers searching for her. Then there she was and he flung his arms round her and gave her a big hug. ‘All right?’

‘While you’ve been doing your hero bit, I was trapped in the downstairs loo and had to climb out of the window. I’ve torn this new nightie and I wish I hadn’t. I’ve had such a great time.’ Then Michelle burst into tears and Dean had to hug her even harder.

Eventually the fire was extinguished but not before the dining room and part of the hall were gutted.

Liz stood, full of despair, watching the horrific end to their fun evening. ‘Neville! I can’t believe it. We shall have to begin from scratch. There’ll be nothing worth saving.’

Neville said, ‘Well, at least everything’s insured. And no one was hurt, thank goodness. And we’ve made over five hundred pounds and that doesn’t include the profit on the bar takings. So I call that a successful night. Added to which, we’ve all had a great time.’

Anna shouted above the hubbub, ‘Three cheers for Neville and Liz, everyone. Hip hip hurrah! Hip hip hurrah! Hip hip hurrah! Goodnight. God bless you all.’ She found herself being kissed and hugged by everyone for being the heroine of the hour and that included Dean, who, in the excitement of the moment, kissed and hugged her like everyone else. But he wasn’t thinking about her quick reaction over the hose, more how much he was enjoying having a reason to kiss and hug her. It ignited Dean’s feelings for her all over again, and left him more intent than ever on pursuing her.

Most of the guests stood around in the garden, more out of curiosity than anything, to see the firemen checking the fire was definitely out, making notes, asking if they knew how it started, had everyone been accounted for? They looked at each other in surprise. Had anyone counted? Blank faces all round. No, they hadn’t done a count, it never entered their heads.

‘Why not?’

Neville became authoritative. ‘In the heat of the moment it never occurred to us. We were all out on the terrace, you see, when we noticed the fire. And certainly no one was in the bedrooms. I’m positive. I was very strict about that.’

The fire officer raised a sceptical eyebrow. ‘I’ll check.’ He disappeared and returned in a few minutes, escorting two friends of Guy’s, both laughing their heads off. ‘These two were upstairs, sir, in one of the bedrooms. It could have been a tragedy, it could. However …’

Neville was speechless. As for the couple, the girl was almost hysterical with amusement when she looked at their faces, and the young man, at first acutely embarrassed, also began to laugh, which infected all the others and soon they were all roaring. How to get your lovelife advertised! Far more effective than sending out emails.