Seventy
A year later Mr and Mrs Collier were officially divorced. As soon as the decree absolute arrived, Don asked if he could have a quick word with Beth in the lounge.
‘What’s up, Dad? This is all very formal.’
‘I have good news, Betty-Boo.’
‘My favourite kind.’ She sat herself down on the sofa, intrigued.
‘It’s just a little gift from your Nanna.’ He smiled.
Beth leant forward in her seat, even more curious. ‘Oh, right.’
Don reached into his pocket and took out a silver keyring. It was in the shape of a butterfly; whose wings were coloured glass. She recognised it as the one she’d given Nanna many birthdays ago. Attached to the keyring was a key to Nanna’s house.
‘What …?’
‘There’s two other keys. One for Megan when she’s older and one for us to keep for emergencies.’
‘Right … but the tenants …?’
‘I gave them notice a couple of months back.’
‘You’re going to let me live in Nanna’s house?’ Beth’s face broke into a grin.
Don could hardly contain his excitement. ‘Sort of.’
‘Dad, will you get to the point?’ She’d never seen him so pleased with himself.
‘OK. Fair enough. I will, indeed, get to the point. About a year before she died, Nanna told me that she’d written her will, and she’d left her house to me.’
‘I knew that bit already.’
‘Nanna said that ideally she’d like to leave it to you, but …’
‘James!’
‘Exactly. We’d already begun to see signs of what was to come, and she couldn’t stand the thought of him losing it.’
‘I don’t think any of us could stand that.’
‘So, she left it to me, but … she did say this, if I ever figured you were in a position where it was safe to give it to you, you know, if perhaps James was in control of his demons or, as was far more likely, you decided to go it alone, she really wanted you to own it.’
‘Wow. So …?’
Don grinned.
‘… it’s mine?’
‘Yep. All yours. Nothing to pay. I’ll sort out the paperwork.’ The smile on his face couldn’t have been wider.
Beth took the keyring from Don. She turned it over in her hand, watching as the sun’s rays burst through the window, and caught the coloured glass, sending rainbows up the wall. Without warning, she welled up. ‘What an amazing person she was.’
He agreed. ‘She loved you very much. I wish she could’ve known about Megan, she’d be delighted to know you were both going to be living there.’
‘Yes, she would. And how clever of her to have left it to you first. Can you imagine what a disaster it would’ve been if James and I had inherited it when she died?’
‘Well, thankfully, he won’t be able to get his hands on it now.’
Beth was incredibly sorry for James. If he’d been able to manage his addiction, the three of us would be living in Nanna’s house, a proper family, happy, loving … She shook her head, there was no point in ‘if onlys’.
‘Why don’t you head over there now? Have a look around. Decide where you’re going to put things?’
‘I could, couldn’t I?’ She jumped up. ‘Megan’s round at Michelle’s, she loves it there. I’ll see if Michelle can hang on to her for a bit longer.’
‘There’s still a couple of Nanna’s things in the house. It might get emotional.’
‘I don’t doubt it.’
‘Want me to come with you?’ Don asked.
‘Oh yes, it’s bound to be less emotional if you’re there!’
‘I take your point.’
She rang Michelle and breathlessly gave her the news. Michelle could hardly contain her excitement. She was more than willing to give Megan her tea. This left Beth a good hour to head over to Nanna’s house and start thinking about living there.
She parked Don’s car on the driveway and approached the front door. This is ridiculous. How many times have I been to this house? Why the heck am I so emotional now?
The truth was, in all the years she’d visited Nanna, she’d never been in her house alone, and she’d certainly never used Nanna’s own key to gain entry.
As she closed the front door behind her, the first thing she noticed was that the house no longer smelled of Nanna. There had always been such a familiar scent, it was sad to think the tenants who’d been living there had somehow changed it. Of course, it wasn’t their fault, they’d merely used a different washing powder and sprayed their own perfumes and deodorants. Nevertheless, Beth missed the smell very much.
She made her way around the house. Memories flooded back to her in each room. The kitchen was the main one. Many, many cakes had been made and consumed in this house. She had such vivid memories of baking with Nanna, Lisa urging her to lick the spoon. Poor Lisa.
She climbed the stairs.
Her dad had been right, around the place there was the odd picture or lamp that had been Nanna’s, but overall it was disappointing how few of her possession were still in residence. Beth remembered Don and Pat clearing out the house after Nanna had died. They’d kept the important things. There were lots of mementos, which now adorned her parents’ house. But it was still sad those things were no longer here, where they belonged.
She walked into the main bedroom and gazed out of the window at the back garden. The tenants had allowed it to become quite overgrown. Oh bugger, I’m useless at gardening. Still, as long as she cleared a bit of lawn and brought over Megan’s swing, that would be enough for now.
Sliding open the door to the built-in wardrobes, she hoped to find something of Nanna’s remaining, but alas the wardrobe was empty. Nanna’s clothes had all gone to the charity shop. She walked on, and was soon in the second bedroom, this would become Megan’s room. There were also fitted wardrobes in here, Beth remembered Nanna using them for extra storage. I expect they’ll be empty too. On impulse, she slid back one of the doors. Yep, as I suspected. Hang on though …
Right at the end of the rail, there hung a gentleman’s suit cover. It was so dark it almost blended into the mahogany formica that lined the old-fashioned wardrobes.
Reaching her hand into the depths of the wardrobe, Beth removed the suit cover. She wondered if perhaps it contained her Grandpa Malcolm’s wedding suit or something similar.
Kneeling, she laid the suit cover on the carpet and unzipped the front. With a gasp, she realised it was the dark purple suit Nanna had worn for her wedding to James. Inside the suit was the lacy white blouse she’d worn underneath. And there it was, the sweet smell of vanilla. It wasn’t so much coming from the suit, that had probably been dry cleaned, but the blouse, yes, the blouse smelled of Nanna.
Gathering it up, Beth buried her face in the soft material. Inhaling deeply, she was transported back to all the times she’d hugged her precious Nanna. It was the most beautiful, the most comforting, the most wonderful smell. Thank goodness she put her outfit from my wedding away. It smells like she just wore it yesterday. Beth was torn, her head said she needed to quickly get the blouse back into the suit cover and zip it up, to preserve the smell, but her heart wanted to kneel here on the floor and sniff it forever.
She called out to Nanna, ‘Thank you for this wonderful house. You can’t imagine how much it means to me. Megan and I will always be safe now. I wish you’d met her. She’s incredible. She was worth the wait. You were right, Nanna, I got my baby. I’m going to make this house the most amazing home for us.’ Each sentence was punctuated by a deep sniff of the blouse. Beth’s eyes were squeezed tightly shut and she could see Nanna. Not as she’d been when she’d died, but as she was every other time of her wonderful life. A half of Guinness in front of her, laughing at a rude joke in the pub, up to her elbows in flour, making the Victoria sponge for Beth’s wedding, or running across the green in Tennison Avenue, shouting, ‘I’m nearly home. Nobody can catch me!’
Reluctantly, Beth clambered from her knees and put the suit and blouse back in the suit cover. Carefully zipping it up, she prayed the heady aroma would linger a while longer.
On her way home, she stopped off at the shops, and, on impulse, bought a doll’s house. It was bigger and better than the one that had been cruelly taken on the day of Megan’s fifth party.
Beth just knew it would instantly become one of her daughter’s favourite things.