An hour later, the audience had heard twenty minutes of Ulysses and seen twenty minutes of Darcy (a boy) Junior being put through his Swan Lake paces at the barre, by his mother, who had announced at the beginning that she believed he was destined for the Bolshoi. Finally, they had all joined in with five year-old Delia’s rendition of ‘How Much Is that Doggy in the Window’.
There was a buzz of conversation and laughter as everyone spilt out of the hall and onto the grass outside. Angela joined Anna as they made their way towards the gates.
‘Amy,’ she said, her eyes skittishly moving across the crowd, ‘do you think I can ever show my face again?’
‘Of course.’ Anna smiled gently. ‘It’s not your doing that Lucinda…’ Her voice trailed off.
‘That Lucinda had a public breakdown,’ Angela finished for her.
‘Yes. Exactly.’
‘No, I’m talking more about the, um, well the…’ She stopped. ‘You know.’
‘The bit about Lucinda being in love with you?’
‘Yes, that was news to me.’
‘Well,’ Anna said kindly, ‘are you in love with her?’
‘I don’t know.’ She smiled. ‘I mean, yes, I am in love with her. She makes me laugh and she looks hot in her yoga outfit, don’t you think?’ She paused. ‘Anyway, I just messaged her but she’s not answering.’
‘Well, she may need time,’ Anna said, scanning the crowd for any sign of her family. ‘Perhaps you should go round to her house, see if she’s OK?’
‘I always thought Rupert was no good for her.’
Anna looked at her. ‘Lucinda never lets on about it, though, does she?’
‘Course not.’ Angela looked at her like she was crazy. ‘We live in Wiltshire, where it’s easier to pretend everything’s fine and play it safe.’
Anna smiled. ‘Boring, though, don’t you think?’
Angela shook her head and then grinned. ‘Yeah, Amy, between you and me, it’s boring as hell.’ She leant in conspiratorially. ‘You know what I’d like to do? I’ve wanted to do it for a long time.’
‘What?’ Anna spotted Diane and the twins and waved.
‘I saw this documentary the other day. Not the nature one I was telling you about, but this one about biking in America.’
‘Oh.’ Anna smiled. ‘That sounds nice.’
Angela looked into the middle distance, her eyes growing dreamy. ‘Yeah, me, the open sky, leathers and the heat of an engine under my thighs.’
Anna jerked her head back. ‘Whoa. You mean motor biking.’
‘Yeah, course.’ She grinned. ‘I’m going to see if Lucinda is OK, then maybe I’ll plan that trip. The kids could ride in a sidecar. It’d be fun, don’t you think?’ She lifted her sack-like bag up on her shoulder and nodded. ‘Thanks, Amy. Good to talk.’ She put her finger in the air. ‘Ah-ha. I can see those pandas out in the wild too.’
‘In China?’ Anna said.
‘No, silly, in America. I just told you. That’s where I’m going biking and that’s where the pandas are.’
Anna was about to launch into an explanation but stopped herself. ‘Yeah, you never know.’
She watched Angela glide off and Diane sauntered slowly over after signing another child’s school notebook.
‘Now, this is what it feels like to be famous. I could get used to this. If I get really famous, I need to think up some crazy name for my kid.’ She pointed to her tummy. ‘I’m thinking Advocat or similar.’
‘Nice.’ Anna started to say something else but stopped when she spotted Simon leaning up against the school gates, his eyes on her. ‘Dee, look.’
Diane turned her head. ‘What the hell?’ She took a step forward but Anna stopped her with her hand.
‘No, I’ll deal with it. Can you take Mum home?’
‘The twins too?’
‘No, I’ll bring them.’
‘OK,’ she said slowly, ‘but I’m happy to stay.’
‘No,’ Anna said, breaking eye contact with Simon and looking at Diane, ‘I’ll be OK. Thanks for tonight, though. You were awesome. Larry too.’ She smiled. ‘You’ve got a good one there.’
Diane nodded. ‘Don’t I know it. Right, I’ll prise your mother away from her adoring fans and take her back.’ Diane left and Anna glanced at the gates, but Simon had disappeared.
Minutes later, she watched Diane send the twins in her direction and usher her mother and Larry towards her car. She caught Anna’s eye and mouthed ‘love you’ over the roof of her Citroen before she got in.
The twins were now hanging on to either side of Anna.
‘Mummy,’ Antonia said, yawning, ‘I want to go home.’
‘Me too.’ Freddie nodded.
‘Yep, just a second. It’s just that I thought I saw…’ She moved around, keeping her eyes peeled for Simon, but he was nowhere to be seen. ‘OK, let’s go.’
She fumbled around in her handbag for her car keys, thinking about the relief she would feel when she could take off the towering gold heels and put on her pink, fluffy slippers. But when she looked up, she saw Simon again, now leaning against her car.
As they approached, he smiled. ‘Hi, guys.’
‘Who’s that?’ Antonia said.
Freddie looked at her. ‘That’s the silly man I told you about. He’s our dad.’
‘Oh.’ Antonia nodded.
‘Got your email,’ Simon said to Anna. ‘Not sure I’m ready to crawl back under that rock yet.’
‘A pity.’ Anna unlocked the car and opened the back door for the twins. They clambered in. ‘Belts, you two.’ Freddie helped his sister with her belt and then did his own up before staring out, with wide eyes, at his father.
She shut the door. ‘Why do you want to do this, Simon? Is it to spite me?’
‘No,’ he shook his head. ‘I want to get to know my children.’
She nodded. ‘You know, when I saw you last week at the race, my heart ached, but not because I realised how much I missed you or loved you, because I don’t, I really don’t. Not any more. No, my heart ached because it’s my job to protect my children and I love them more than you will ever understand and, when I saw you, I knew you would do this. I knew you would want a piece of what you think is rightfully yours.’
‘Well, they are.’
Anna’s chin started to quiver. ‘That’s the thing, Simon. They’re not property to be owned. I don’t own them and you don’t own them. They must be allowed to do as they please. At first, I was going to fight you in court. Then I realised that, if you’re a decent enough human being…’ She paused. ‘That you will allow them to make their own decisions. Why do we need to put them through all that? We don’t.’
Simon looked at the twins and back at Anna. ‘So, you’re saying you’ll let me see them?’
‘I’m saying, let me talk to them and I’ll ask them what they want. If they say yes, I will let you see them, but if, for any reason, they seem unhappy with that, then I stop it. Stop it all. If they say no, I will not push them because that’s their decision.’
‘But,’ Simon said, before sucking in his cheeks and exhaling slowly, ‘they might change their minds. They’re only six, for God’s sake, Anna, so maybe in a few years’ time, they’ll think differently.’
‘Five,’ she said quietly.
‘Pardon?’ He looked at her.
‘They’re five.’ She felt a new wave of sadness hit her. ‘You don’t even know how old they are.’
Simon bowed his head.
‘Anna,’ came a voice behind her, and she turned to see Richard storming up the road. ‘I need to talk to you.’
‘Here comes trouble,’ said Simon.
Richard came to an abrupt halt in front of them. ‘I’ve just spoken to one of your neighbours and find out you’re pregnant? What?’ Spittle formed on his lower lip. ‘The other day, you and your mother are banging on about my seeing someone behind your back and then I find out you’re pregnant?’
Anna stared at him, lost for words.
Simon put his hand on Richard’s chest, forcing him to keep his distance from Anna. ‘Back up, mate.’ Then he looked closer. ‘Oh, you’re the guy at the race who gave me Anna’s address. Horatio, wasn’t it?’
‘This is Richard, Simon.’ Anna said, her head reeling as she glared at Richard. ‘You gave Simon my address?’
‘He told me he was a friend visiting.’ Richard removed Simon’s hand. ‘Who is this buffoon anyway?’
‘This is my ex-husband.’
Simon scowled. ‘I told you who I was. I told you I’m the twins’ father.’
‘Oh, did you?’ Richard raised his eyebrows. ‘I don’t remember.’ He looked back at Anna. ‘More to the point, whose child are you carrying?’
‘Are you being serious?’ Anna shook her head. ‘I’ve known you for all of about four weeks and you think you can talk to me like this?’
Simon looked at her. ‘Are you pregnant?’
She glared at Simon and then at Richard. ‘No, I’m sodding well not.’ Her jaw quivered with anger.
Freddie knocked on the window. ‘Mummy, I want to go home.’
Anna drew a deep breath. ‘I can’t believe I’m having this conversation. In front of the children too.’ She prodded Simon in the chest. ‘You can crawl back under your rock and you’ll be lucky if you ever see the children.’ Then she poked Richard in the chest. ‘And you storming over like we’re even in a proper relationship… You can crawl under that very same rock.’
Simon squared up to Richard. ‘You’re not joining me under my rock.’
‘Oh yeah?’ Richard said, puffing out his chest. ‘Let’s just see about that.’
Their eyes met, their faces inches from each other’s. Anna looked down the road and saw Horatio emerging from the school gates. He delivered a half-smile and then, his facial expression changing to pure panic, started gesturing madly at her. She put her hand up, confused, and gave a small wave back.
Seconds later, a flash of movement caught her eye and she turned. To her horror, she saw that her car was rolling forward, increasingly faster, down the hill, towards the school entrance. She started to run after it, grasping at thin air as she tried to grab the door handle.
‘Oh God,’ she shouted, ‘help me! Help me!’
Simon and Richard moved alongside her, jostling each other out of the way.
Anna, her heart pounding, called to Freddie. ‘The handbrake! Pull the handbrake up.’ She was sobbing as she kept losing her grip on the door handle. ‘Help me!’
Horatio now stood in the car’s path, his body tensed as it looked as if he was prepared to take the impact.
She shouted wildly to him. ‘What are you doing?’
As the car hurtled towards him, he waited, his face screwed up, intense with concentration. When the car had reached barely a few feet from where he stood, he rounded the bonnet and yanked the door handle open before sprawling himself across the front seat and shoving the handbrake upwards.
The car came to a sudden halt. Silence descended on the gathering crowd before the remaining parents and children, who had formed a crowd on the pavement, applauded the spectacle.
Horatio slithered back out of the car as Anna ran to open the rear door. She climbed in between Freddie and Antonia, pulling them towards her and kissing the tops of their heads over and over again.
‘What happened?’ she said, both angry and relieved.
‘I played with this,’ Freddie said, grinning and pointing to the handbrake. ‘It worked the same like when the car went into the chicken house.’
Anna closed her eyes and slowed her breathing. ‘Don’t ever touch anything like that in the car again. OK?’
Horatio stuck his head in. ‘Are you guys OK?’
The twins nodded and Anna smiled gratefully. ‘I am so thankful, Mr Horatio, for what you just did. I told you I was a bad mother.’
He smiled back. ‘Don’t worry. I’ve had plenty of practice. Jeremy’s always letting the handbrake off.’
Anna burst into laughter. ‘I will never be able to repay you. That was really,’ she paused, ‘brave.’ Overwhelmed with emotion, she bit down on her trembling lip. ‘Amazing.’
Simon and Richard appeared on the other side of the car with Mrs Beecham.
‘Is everyone OK?’ Mrs Beecham said. ‘Do I need to call an ambulance?’
Anna shook her head. ‘No, thank you, Mrs Beecham. I think these two just need to go home to bed. They won’t be doing that again, will you, Freddie? Antonia?’
They shook their heads, smiling. Anna climbed out of the car. She looked at Horatio. ‘I also have to apologise for accusing you of telling Simon here where I live.’ She looked at Richard. ‘Turns out there was some sort of misunderstanding.’
‘Don’t worry,’ Horatio said, shutting the rear door and opening the driver’s side for Anna. ‘Just glad you’re OK.’ He closed the door gently and gave a small smile.
Anna started the engine and drove away slowly. She glimpsed Horatio, Richard and Simon standing side by side, in her rear-view mirror, as they watched her car retreating down the road.
‘Mummy,’ Antonia said. ‘Don’t cry.’ She leant forward and handed her a used Barbie tissue off the back seat.
Anna hadn’t realised she had been and took it gratefully.
A few minutes later, she said, ‘How would you two like to go back to London?’
The twins didn’t say anything and she peeped at them over her shoulder. They were fast asleep.