Chapter Eight
“Where is mum?”
Viv switched on the indicators to signal a right turn and the wipers squealed across the dry windshield. “In hospital in Hamilton…she went to an appointment there and broke her leg but she’s fine. She just can’t come home for a few days and while she’s away I’m looking after you.”
“Why are you pretending to be her?”
The traffic lights at Fendleton turned red. Viv braked and turned to the passenger seat.
“It’s kinda a game.” She tried to win her suspicious niece over with a big smile. “Can you see it could be fun having an identical twin you can swap with?” Oh, yeah. Fun, fun, fun.
“No,” said Tilly flatly. “I like to be just me. When Harry came things got badder and Dad went to live with Nana Lin.”
“Harry has nothing to do with your parents’ separation, Tilly. Really, it’s not his fault. It’s a coincidence.”
She didn’t look convinced. “Anyway, you hate being a twin.”
Viv was shocked. “What makes you say that?”
The small shoulders shrugged. “Everyone says it—Uncle Dan, Nana, Pops…Auntie Jo, Cousin—”
“Okay, you’ve made your point.”
“And Mum,” said Tilly.
Viv broke that disconcerting gaze. “Well, we’re doing the twin thing now.” Whether we want to or not.
A car honked impatiently behind her, the lights had changed. She concentrated on the busy morning traffic.
“Would Daddy be mad if he finds out?”
“Yes,” said Viv because Tilly had to understand the gravity of telling. Except how did you explain adult screw-ups to a child? Tell her that Daddy might try to take her and her brother away from Mummy out of fear and anger. Tell her that things could get worse, when to her child’s mind they were already as bad as they could be.
“Your mum and I made a couple of poor decisions and now we’re trying to reverse them, Tilly, without making things worse. Keeping this secret is best for everybody—you, Harry, your mum and your dad. Which is why you can’t tell anyone. Not Uncle Ross, not even your friends.”
The little girl was silent a moment. “Mum wants Dad to come home and live with us again. So do I. That’s why not all of me is sad about Nana Lin. Maybe Dad will change his mind now he can’t live with her anymore. He doesn’t like living by himself. I heard him tell Uncle Ross.”
“Oh, honey, don’t get your hopes up. But I think if we can keep this secret your mum and dad will be better friends.”
“Because he thinks that Mum—you—tried to save Nana Lin?”
Viv winced. “Yes. But remember no matter how they feel about each other, Tilly, they love you. That doesn’t change ever.”
“And they buy me anything I want now, to make it up to me. And now you have to, too,” she added cheerfully.
Uh-oh. “Well, I don’t know—”
“I want McDonald’s for dinner,” said Tilly, and it wasn’t a request.
Viv braked at the roundabout, trying to work out who gave way. “I’ll think about it.”
Another impatient toot, then a BMW overtook her. Now that was definitely illegal. “I have a baby on board, idiot!” She flipped him the bird, New York style.
“I can help you get better at being Mum.”
Viv pulled tentatively into the roundabout traffic. “I’m listening.”
“Take out those streaky things in your hair.” “Highlights. Sorry, kid, your mum could have had those done.”
“And your teeth are too white.”
“Laser,” said Viv. “I’ll drink more red wine.”
“And you don’t really act the same.”
“Okay, maybe this is worth McD’s.” Viv pulled into the drop-off bay outside the school. “How can I be more like your mum?”
The little girl’s brow wrinkled as she shouldered her school backpack. “Don’t smile so much. And look sadder.” It was like a punch to the heart.
Tilly opened the car door.
“Does your mum normally hug you goodbye?” Viv managed to ask.
“When I let her.”
Viv opened her arms with a pleading expression. “That’s more like Mum,” Tilly approved. She slid out of the car, landing solidly. “Maybe I’ll let you hug me tomorrow.” She turned, then swung back anxiously. “Who’ll take soccer practice tomorrow, if Mum’s not here?”
“It’s okay, I can manage a simple training session.” Merry was a coach. Not because she was particularly athletic, she’d told Viv, but because there was no one else and she had a chronic problem with volunteerism.
Tilly frowned. “Do you know the rules?”
“A ball, an end zone, touchdowns…” Her niece’s face darkened and Viv relented. “It’s okay, hon, I’m making a joke. I know there’s a try-line.”
“You mean a goal,” said Tilly.
“That’s what I meant to say.” Viv made a mental note to check online sites.
Tilly was still frowning. “No more jokes about soccer,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Satisfied, the girl walked away, equal parts titanium and vulnerability, sparkly pink scrunchie glittering against the nut-brown hair, the backpack bouncing on her Dora the Explorer velour tracksuit.
“Tell me the truth.” Viv glanced behind to Harry in his car seat, being ignored as he waved goodbye. “Can your big sister keep a secret?”
“No,” he said.
“Of all your seven words you had to pick that one.” She turned her cell off because she didn’t trust Merry not to call while she was with Ross, then pulled into the stream of traffic. “Let’s extend that vocabulary. Say ‘rock.’”
“Dog,” Harry offered.
“How about ‘hard place’?”
“Train,” Harry countered.
“You’re right, hard place is two words, I apologize.”
The day care was only a few blocks away, a wooden building with a sloping sod roof, planted in fat swells of purple and green succulents and swathes of spiky grasses. There was a wide verandah on one side, overhung with an awning.
“So,” said Viv. “This is where Daddy’s squeeze works.”
Harry clapped his hands.
She shrugged off Merry’s fawn trench coat and shivered as the cool air hit the skin exposed by the deep V in the back of the sexy cherry-red dress she’d bought for Merry.
Harry stared at it. “Hey, it was in her wardrobe so technically it counts,” she said defensively. Merry might want to be civilized about this but Viv was in the mood for a little restorative justice.
Charlie might have been more open to forgiveness and reconciliation if it hadn’t been for this rebound opportunist. Viv slipped out of her sister’s practical shoes and stepped into some red satin high-heeled mules.
Apparently Susan was twenty-one and gorgeous. “Well, Mummy can be gorgeous, too,” she said to Harry, unstrapping him from his car seat, “if not twenty-one.” She and Merry hit thirty next birthday. “Let Susan be the insecure one for a change.” If Viv could throw a spanner in the works, she would.
“Ooose,” he said.
“Are we talking about what’s in your diaper?” Breathing through her mouth, she checked for leaks then positioned the baby on her hip and picked up his bag. She jumped as Harry’s chill hand settled on her bare flesh. “What we do for love, hey? Both of us deep in doozy.”
He gave her a drooly grin then laid his head against her breast. “Awww,” she said. “Stinky or not, you’re gorgeous.”
A tall brown picket fence surrounded the center. She unhooked the safety catch, opened the gate and walked into noisy chaos. It reminded her of the chicken house on the family farm a few hours south. Lots of frantic, small creatures underfoot, intent on their business. Something hard slammed into her calves. Viv turned and looked down at her ripped stockings, then at the tiny driver of the pedal car.
“I think we’re going to have to exchange details for the purposes of insurance.”
“You’re on the racetrack,” complained the unsmiling tot.
He backed up and pedaled around her.
“You’ll be hearing from my lawyer.”
Harry agitated to get down and Viv soothed him perfunctorily as her gaze swept the grown-ups for a woman fitting Merry’s description. She settled on a curvaceous tousle-haired blonde in a denim skirt and long-sleeved T-shirt who was handing out toys. Jackpot. Viv headed toward her, lengthening her stride so the split in her sexy dress opened wider. Harry pointed. “Ooose,” he said excitedly.
“Traitor,” she muttered. “Hello, Susan.” She coolly traversed the sandpit then ruined the effect by leaving a shoe behind.
The younger woman picked it up and returned it. “Oh, Meredith, how awful about Linda.” Her big blue eyes radiated sympathy. “When I heard you were with her when she passed, I added you to my prayers.”
Viv blinked. “Yes, well…thank you.” Putting on her shoe, she was suddenly conscious that her dress wasn’t appropriate for a woman in mourning.
Susan looked at it, too.
Feeling the high ground slipping away, Viv thrust the baby forward and said with an evil smile, “Harry needs changing.”
“No problem.” Susan brushed sand off her fingers. “Mind carrying him until I can wash my hands?”
The sweetness jarred Viv, and she started toward the building to hide her scowl. Didn’t this ditz know Meredith was heartbroken over Susan’s relationship with her husband?
“Meredith, did you get a tattoo?” said Susan in an awed voice behind her.
Viv felt her stomach plummet. Calling herself every kind of idiot she said, “Heaven’s no. It’s a transfer. One of Tilly’s fun things to do.”
Susan laughed and the sound was all silvery bells. “Of course, you’d never get a tramp stamp.” She leaned forward. “Close-up I can tell it’s a fake, quite badly done. And how corny, angel wings.”
Viv resisted the urge to slap her. Inside the brightly painted restroom where the toilet bowls were leprechaun-size, Susan washed her hands. “I wasn’t sure if I’d see Harry today after what happened. It’s such a tragedy.” Her eyes filled with sudden tears. “I never met Linda and now I never will.”
“Don’t you think tears are a bit over the top?” Viv couldn’t keep the hostility out of her voice. “It’s not as though you’re family.”
Blue eyes looked at her blankly, then widened. “Oh, no. I’m not tearing up over Charlie’s mother. That would be inappropriate.”
And boinking my sister’s husband isn’t? Viv bit her tongue.
“I’m upset about Charlie.”
“I’m sure he’ll be glad of your support.” All 36D of it.
Taking Harry, the younger woman placed him on the changing table. Viv backed up. This was her second encounter with baby poop and she was in no hurry to repeat it.
Susan sent her a sidelong glance. “I saw Charlie last night.”
Viv folded her arms. “Really.” So her brother-in-law could find time to seek comfort on Susan’s ample breasts but relied on his estranged wife for help with funeral arrangements. Meanwhile Mere was lying in a lonely hospital bed riddled with false guilt.
The younger woman wiped Harry’s tiny bottom clean. “Do you want to hear what happened?”
Incredulous, Viv stared at her. “You are some piece of work.”
“What?”
“You heard me.” To hell with it, the woman needed a reality check. “Isn’t dating a client’s father breaking the preschool equivalent of a Hippocratic oath? I don’t know how you can look at that baby’s sweet face—” actually Harry was presenting another part of his anatomy “—and think I want to hear what you and my husband—because we’re not divorced yet—get up to in the sack.”
Susan looked shocked. “As a committed Christian, I don’t believe in premarital sex.”
Viv narrowed her eyes. “You’re waiting until you’re the second Mrs. Coltrane, is that it?”
Susan’s full lower lip trembled. “You’re upset about Linda, that’s why you’re being so hurtful. And of course you can’t know…” Susan put Harry on his feet and the baby scrambled off to play without a backward glance. “Anyway—” bravely, Susan lifted her chin “—I forgive you.”
“You forgive…” For a moment Viv was speechless. “If you’re the devout Christian how come I’m the one having to turn the other cheek?”
Susan burst into tears.
Viv hardened her heart. This sniveling, pathetic victim mentality from the perpetrator was too much. “You hurt M—me and you hurt my kids and you need to accept some responsibility for that.”
Susan cried harder. “Charlie broke up with me.”
“What?”
“Last night And you’re right, I am to blame. Even when you said you didn’t care when I wanted to ask him out, I guessed that was probably your pride talking.”
And wasn’t that typical of Merry, Viv thought irritably.
Giving up when she most needed to fight. Making it too damn easy for another woman to move in. Susan was still sobbing. Grabbing a roll of toilet tissue, Viv handed it over. “I’m sorry,” she said grudgingly.
“No, you’re not.” Mopping her face, Susan gave her a tremulous smile that made Viv feel as if she’d pulled the wings off a butterfly. “And why should you be? I’m only getting my just deserts. He wasn’t ready to move on and I ignored that for my benefit. But when he dropped Harry off after you guys broke up…seeing that big strong man so vulnerable and brave, week after week…he just got to me, you know?” She started to cry again. “And now he’s broken my heart.”
Viv steered her over to a bench on one wall and sat her down. She’d never been fooled by Charlie’s hulking appearance and he’d always seemed to need too many societal props for his masculinity, such as earning more than his wife and being head of the house. “I know it hurts now,” she soothed, “but you’ll get over it.”
“Like you’re getting over Charlie?” Susan asked skeptically.
Viv tried to channel, but it was hard. Why did people put everything into a relationship? Her mother had given up her own ambitions to marry Dad and though Pat had tried to make the best of it, her unacknowledged regrets had corroded not just her marriage but Viv’s view of it. Not her twin’s, though.
“I’m still in love with him,” Viv declared solemnly. To hell with Merry’s pride, this was too important.
Susan rubbed her eyes. “How you must hate me.”
“I don’t hate you.” No wonder Merry had trouble being mean to Susan, she was so sweet. “Stop crying now. Heavens, someone who looks like you do can win any man she wants. Raise your sights.”
Her feelings about her brother-in-law were mixed. She’d learned enough over the past couple of days to sympathize with him, but she was far from empathizing. He was still an idiot for ending his marriage and she didn’t approve of him inveigling her—his wife—into doing so much work on his mother’s funeral.
Puzzled, Susan lifted her head. “What?”
“There’s a whole world of great guys out there. And you’re young. Don’t be in such a hurry to get stuck with one for the rest of your life.”
“I don’t think you love Charlie at all,” Susan said hotly.
Viv shut up.
* * *
“About time,” Ross muttered under his breath as Meredith’s Subaru finally pulled into her driveway. She got out looking flustered and hot, which made it odd that she double-knotted the belt on her trench coat before walking over to the curb where he sat waiting in his SUV. He’d noticed yesterday that she moved differently these days.
He averted his eyes from a flash of leg as she climbed into the car. He’d never been aware of his sister-in-law as a woman before. Maybe being separated was causing her to send out pheromones? Or maybe he’d just been celibate too long. Whatever the hell it was, he didn’t like it.
“Sorry I’m late.” Settling into the front seat, she reached for her seat belt. “Traffic was a nightmare.”
He tried to read her expression, keeping his own neutral. Had Susan told her? Bloody Charlie and his drunken truths. Susan had been pretty upset when she left last night; maybe she hadn’t gone to work this morning?
“Everything okay…at day care, I mean?”
“Fine. Why do you ask?”
“No reason.”
He started the engine and gestured to the women’s clothes draped over the backseat. “First on our list is to drop off one of Linda’s outfits to the funeral director’s.” Charlie had left at seven to make sure a residential building site was ready for the concrete truck’s arrival at nine-thirty. The foundation pour would take until midafternoon.
Meredith glanced over her shoulder, then frowned. “Oh, no. That won’t do. Linda can’t be buried in a winter wool skirt and summer floral blouse.” Unfastening her seat belt she turned in her seat to take a closer look. “And the red and olive color combo…” She shuddered. “Is Charlie colorblind or something?”
“Is that supposed to be funny?”
“What?” She shot him a blank look. “Oh. That’s right, he is. Well, you should have weighed in with a second opinion.”
“You do remember Linda is being cremated right? Not going to a garden party with the Queen? The clothes don’t matter.”
“They did to her. Drive to her place and I’ll choose something else because she can’t wear that.” She resettled as though the matter was closed.
“Meredith, there’s too much to do without—”
“She died without dignity, Ross.” Her expression was raw. “This is one thing I can fix for her.” Without another word he did a U-turn. “Redress,” she said with a shaky laugh. “To put it in military terms.”
Eyes on the road he gave her shoulder a brief squeeze, and then was annoyed because he didn’t want to commiserate with his sister-in-law. Those days were gone. But, yeah, he definitely understood redress.
“By the way, you and I need to get something straight,” Meredith said. “I’m not seeing that doctor.”
“So who was sending you air kisses?” She hesitated and frustration got the better of him. “Don’t bullshit me, Meredith. What I can’t work out is why you’ve been acting all heartbroken over Charlie and Susan when you’ve been dating Doctor Dick all this time.”
“Luke,” she corrected. “And we didn’t—”
“So you just wanted to make Charlie feel like a heel?”
“Of course not! Look, it’s too complicated to explain. All you need to know is that I’m not having a relationship with anyone.”
“So the air-kisser on the phone was a one-night stand?”
“You’re the most cynical guy I’ve ever met.”
“Is that a yes?”
“Everything’s black or white for you, isn’t it? It must be so nice sitting in your tower judging the poor idiots who screw up occasionally. Why don’t you try seeing the breakup from my side—walk in my shoes?”
He glanced down and said drily, “Those would be the slutty red ones you’re wearing.”
“God, it’s like talking to a brick wall. Okay, leaving my marriage aside, no one could be a more devoted mother than me. You said it yourself yesterday, so why—”
His car phone rang. “It’s Charlie,” he said, and answered on speakerphone.
“Is Meredith with you yet?” His brother didn’t wait for a greeting. “Her cell’s switched off and I need to talk to her urgently.” In the background, Ross could hear the graunch and grind of heavy machinery and the gravelly whoosh of pouring concrete.
Viv answered, “I’m here, Charlie. Is something wrong?”
“Tilly’s school has been trying to contact you. Why did you drop her off when the rest of her class are still at camp?”
Briefly, Ross took his eyes off the road. The expression on his sister-in-law’s face was priceless. “I…I guess we both forgot.” Ross shook his head and she averted her gaze. “What’s the number? I’ll arrange to pick her up. Uh-huh…okay. No, I can take care of it. Bye.”
Ross cut the connection. “So you were telling me what a good mother you were.”
“Hey, you’re the one who should be questioning himself,” she countered, switching on her cell. “The only reason she went to school was because she didn’t want to spend time with mean old Uncle Ross.”
“That’s because I don’t put up with any of your daughter’s spoiled-brat behavior,” he retorted, swinging onto Stoke St. But her accusation stung.
“She has become a handful,” she admitted, keying in the school’s number. “I’m not sure how that happened.”
It surprised Ross that Meredith seemed to be inviting his viewpoint but he wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity. Tilly was too important to him for that. “You and Charlie used to be good at setting limits.” He slowed to give way to a bus waiting to pull out of a stop. “Since the split, you tend to cave in and give her everything she wants. I know it’s to make up for living apart but that kid’s inherited Linda’s genes, Meredith. Absolute power isn’t good for her.”
She nodded. “Thanks, that’s helpful.” Ross filtered her tone for sarcasm but found none. Normally his sister-in-law was defensive about her eldest.
Meredith phoned the school and talked them into keeping Tilly until morning break so the little girl didn’t have to go to the funeral home. It was halfway through the call, that Ross became aware she was studying him.
He pulled into Linda’s driveway, switched off the engine and faced her. “What?”
“You won’t do it,” she said, returning the cell to her bag. “Encourage Charlie to go for custody.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Why won’t I?”
“Because you won’t do anything that will hurt those kids.”
Ross frowned. He didn’t like being read that easily by a woman he no longer trusted.
“Look, I get it,” she added. “You want to protect Charlie and shepherd him through the next few days without any more drama. Believe me, I do, too. And I’ve got enough troubles without your threat hanging over me. Can we call a truce, please?”
“Maybe I could have been less confrontational,” he acknowledged.
“You think?” His sister-in-law wasn’t normally this sarcastic. Lips curving, she climbed out of his SUV. She’d changed somehow…was more frank, less earnest…. It was like some kind of straitjacket had been taken off her. Ross hated noticing how much being on her own suited her—it felt disloyal to Charlie.
Helping his inebriated brother to bed last night, he’d seen last year’s family photo on Charlie’s bedside table. Everyone smiling, even Tilly. Charlie with his arm around Meredith. He’d forgotten what his brother looked like when he was happy.
He followed Meredith. “Charlie broke up with Susan last night.” He wanted to gauge her reaction before he agreed to anything.
“Yes, and she’s devastated.” Meredith turned to level a look at him. So his first instinct was right. Susan had told her. “You should have made Charlie wait until he was sober.”
“Oh, so now you’re feeling sorry for Susan?”
“I feel sorry for any woman who has to deal with Coltrane men.”
Using the spare key, Ross opened the front door. “He’s susceptible right now and I don’t want him doing anything stupid.”
“Like trying to reconcile with me, you mean?” She laughed, as if at some private joke. “I highly doubt that, but I promise not to encourage him. In fact, I’ll try not to be alone with him for the next few days if it makes you feel better. Be my chaperone.”
She sounded sincere.
Thoughtfully, Ross stepped inside. He’d cleaned up after putting Charlie to bed, too much the soldier to leave the mess until morning. Realizing Meredith hadn’t followed, he glanced over his shoulder. She’d paused on the threshold. It took him a moment to realize why.
“You okay with coming here?”
Swallowing, she nodded and stepped inside. “How’s Charlie coping with the fact that his mother died here?”
“What bothers him is having people over after the funeral…all passing through the hall.” An idea occurred to him. “Will you have it at your place? The food’s going to be catered, so there’d be no work involved.”
“No, it’s out of the question.”
Her flat refusal annoyed him. “Technically it’s Charlie’s house, too,” he reminded her. “He still pays the mortgage…and before you jump down my throat, remember the only way he could afford payments was by moving in with his mother. Don’t tell me that wasn’t a sacrifice.”
“No, I won’t tell you that,” she said. “But think about what you’re asking. It’s going to be bad enough seeing his relatives for the first time since the breakup.”
“Yeah, but if it’s in your house, they’ll be forced to behave themselves. Say yes and I promise to run interference.”
“I don’t know.”
“You want a truce,” he challenged. “Make a goodwill gesture.”