To say I was a nervous wreck was an understatement, as I loitered on the steps of the annexe. Knocking on the door, I waited anxiously for Connie to appear. Half of me was praying she was out, but her car was parked at the side of the barn and when I heard her whistling her way to the door my heart pounded faster. She greeted me with a full-on beam. ‘Good afternoon. I’m glad you’re here.’
‘Are you?’ I asked, wondering why.
‘Don’t look so worried,’ she smiled, opening the door wide so I could step inside. ‘I’ve managed to pick up numerous dresses for Village Day from the charity shop. With a few alterations and added sequins they will ooze glitz and glamour.’ Connie was thrilled with her findings.
‘Now, that is good news.’
‘I’ll bring them over to the dance school and get to work on them straight away once they’ve been tried on.’
‘Connie, you’re a star.’
I was touched and flattered that everyone was pulling together to support me. The community spirit was heartfelt – well, all except Ben, who seemed hell bent on causing me trouble.
We looked at each other. ‘I do need to speak to you about Rose’s arrival, though,’ said Connie. She eyed me, ‘In fact, you do look kind of pale. Everything’s all right, isn’t it? C’mon dear, it can’t be that bad, a problem shared and all that.’ Her kindness was overwhelming. ‘Tea, we need tea.’
‘Thanks, I’d love a tea. It’s just been a bit of a dramatic morning.’
‘Sit yourself down and you can tell me all about it.’
‘I’m not sure you’d want to hear it,’ I replied fearfully, offering a slight smile even though inside I was far from smiling.
Connie sat down opposite me. ‘In fact, you go first,’ I offered, quietly inhaling.
‘Well, the thing is, I’m quite surprised, Alice,’ she continued.
I knew what was coming. I sat quietly on the edge of my seat and sipped at my drink.
‘Ted hasn’t mentioned Rose’s arrival at all. Half of me was thinking he’d have broached the subject by now, but I suppose he may feel uncomfortable talking about it, and I didn’t want to press him. I’m sure he’s worried and anxious about tomorrow. Maybe I’ll talk to him about it tonight, once he’s had his tipple of whisky and is settled back in at home.’
‘No don’t, you can’t say a word to him,’ the words tripped out of my mouth before I could stop them. ‘Promise me.’ The turmoil flushed through my body.
Connie’s eyes widened as she fixed her gaze on me.
By the look on her face, I could see that warning alarms were probably ringing loud and clear in her mind. ‘I’m not liking the sound of this. Why wouldn’t I mention it to Ted?’
‘Because he doesn’t know she’s coming.’
She breathed out slowly, staring straight at me, then rubbed her hand up and down her upper arm, clearly not comfortable with the situation.
‘He doesn’t know she’s coming?’ repeated Connie, most probably hoping she’d misheard me the first time.
Shaking my head in shame, I said, ‘I kind of lied.’
‘There seems to be no “kind of” about it.’ She was still staring at me.
Utterly ashamed, tears sprang to my eyes. ‘I’ve told Mum that Grandie is asking to see her, that’s why she’s agreed to fly home.’
Connie’s eyes never left mine. Her trembling hand rose to her forehead and she wiped her brow with the back of her hand. The look on her face was pure shock and disbelief. ‘Let me get this straight, you’ve cajoled your mum here under false pretences.’ Connie was beginning to sound impatient.
‘I have to admit, it’s not feeling like one of my better plans.’
‘So, Rose has booked a plane ticket, not knowing the true facts. She’s under the impression Ted is going to fling his arms open wide and welcome her home after all this time.’
‘I don’t think she’s expecting everything to be hunky-dory but … pretty much so,’ I admitted, feeling stupid and helpless. ‘You never know, when they clap eyes on each other, all might be forgiven for whatever went on,’ I said with a little bit of hope in my voice.
Connie cocked an eyebrow at me. ‘So, what’s the plan of action when Rose arrives tomorrow? How do you think she’s going to react when she discovers Ted hasn’t asked to see her and she’s travelled all this way? It’s not as if New York is just around the corner! And then what do you think Ted is going to do when he discovers Rose is here, and you’ve lied to them both? Alice, this situation goes back years and neither one of us knows the root cause of it. Some things are best left alone.’
‘But how can any of this ever be sorted if they are in different countries?’
‘What do you think this is going to do to your grandfather, and to Rose? He’s only been out of hospital for a matter of hours.’
‘I’ve not really thought that far ahead,’ I admitted, feeling a pang of guilt.
‘Obviously,’ Connie sighed, ‘it’s not for us to meddle in anyone’s business, and believe me, I know it’s frustrating. I lost my best friend all those years ago but we need to respect their decisions – they might not want to sort it out. It’s their choice, not ours. Yes, of course it would be fantastic if everyone got on, played happy families, but I think we need to face facts. The probability of that actually happening is low, especially after all this time.’
‘But I don’t want to give up on either of them and I want to stay in England. And I can’t do that if my mum is living in New York! I know I’ve lied, but can’t you see how desperate I am?’
Connie seemed to take pity on me and squeezed my hand. ‘I know your heart is in the right place. But you could jeopardise your own relationship with both of them, and what is Ted going to think of me? He’s been good to me, always looked out for me and Grace. I’ll tell you what I think – he’ll think I’ve been a willing party in all this deception, especially when he discovers I’ve picked Rose up from the airport. He’s going to know I knew about this little charade. How’s it all going to look?’ Her voice was now unsteady and full of anguish.
I nodded my head shamefully. ‘I’ll tell Grandie, I’ll tell him it had nothing to do with you whatsoever,’ I offered, swallowing down the lump in my throat and feeling absolutely dreadful about it all.
Connie sighed, ‘We can’t change it now and all we can do is try to handle this situation as best we can.’
I nodded in agreement, not trusting myself to speak.
‘What I’m suggesting,’ Connie carried on, ‘is that we don’t tell Ted tonight. Let him settle back in without any extra worry. He needs a good night’s sleep in his own bed. Then once Rose has landed, she needs to know the truth and you need to own up to your grandfather.’
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘I’m not sure how Mum is going to react either.’
‘I can hazard a guess,’ Connie answered in a slightly unsympathetic tone. ‘But you need to be straight with her too. Tell her how much you want to stay here and how worried you are about her staying in New York. Whoever was right or wrong all those years ago, let’s just hope that after the initial shock of them finding out they are both in the same village …’ Connie took a breath, ‘you never know, a miracle may just happen.’
‘Do you think?’ I said, hopeful.
‘I’ve no idea,’ Connie said simply.
‘I am sorry,’ I said, feeling absolutely wretched about the whole situation. I’d played with fire and I knew I was about to get burnt. ‘But there’s another dilemma.’
‘Go on …’
‘Sam.’
‘Sam Reid?’
I nodded, feeling myself beginning to tremble. ‘He’s helping me out with Village Day. I managed to talk Dorothy round but I’ve not had a chance to talk to Grandie about it … I’ve no idea how he feels about Sam and I was waiting until he was out of hospital and things had settled,’ I took a breath, ‘and we’ve been getting close,’ I blurted. ‘Ben doesn’t like it, he’s implied he’s going to tell Grandie and I’ve no idea how he’s going to react.’
Connie listened intently. ‘Ben can be hot-headed at times,’ she declared. ‘But don’t you worry about him, we’ll figure it out.’
‘Thank you,’ I said gratefully. ‘I’m sorry to have let you down.’
‘You’ve done it for the right reasons. Let’s sit tight and see what happens, wait until the morning.’
There was nothing else I could do now except exactly that, but I was grateful for Connie’s reassurance and relieved to get it all out in the open. It was comforting to know that even though I may have got things wrong, I had both Connie and Grace for support.