Moving day dawned bright and clear. Annette arrived early to collect Tess to keep her out of the way of vans and strange people.
‘I’ll see you both at the new house about one o’clock,’ she said as Tess jumped into her car. ‘Everything should have arrived by then. I’ll bring lunch for everyone.’
‘Thanks,’ Jodie said, picking up her own car keys. She and Ben had decided the best plan was for Ben to supervise the loading of their stuff and she would go over and wait at the new house, ready to tell the removal men where to put everything. It also meant she would be there to let the delivery men with the table and desk she’d bought at the auction into the house.
‘You sure you’re OK today?’ Ben asked. ‘Not feeling sick? You still look a bit on the pale side.’
‘Much better today,’ Jodie assured him. ‘Think I’ve finally got rid of the virus.’ She reached up and kissed his cheek. ‘See you soon – and hopefully your belated birthday present will be in situ to greet you.’ She didn’t add that she needed time to give it a bit of a polish before he saw it, but that was her plan.
Jodie hummed happily to herself as she drove to the new house. She had so many ideas for turning it into a proper home for her and Ben. A forever home for the two of them. She couldn’t wait to get started.
Parking the car by the front door, she unloaded the few boxes from the kitchen she’d put in the boot onto the doorstep, before driving the car down the side of the house to leave space for the delivery lorries, and then carrying the boxes indoors. The van with Ben’s desk and the kitchen table was due around 9.30 according to the email she’d received confirming the delivery, so could arrive any time now.
Scrabbling in the box she’d put all the cleaning things in, she found the packet of antiseptic wet wipes, the polish and a duster, which she took upstairs to Ben’s new study, ready to begin immediately the desk was in place. The master bedroom was opposite and she wandered in and stood in front of the window overlooking the drive and front lawn, deep in thought.
Tomorrow morning she and Ben would wake up in this room for the first time and their new daily routines would begin. It would be good to be settled and secure in their own home. Thoughtfully Jodie fingered the pendant around her neck. If only her mum could have been here. If only she could talk to her and show her around the house. If only she could ask her the truth about what had happened between her and her father. If only… Jodie gave herself a mental shake. She had to stop this. The dull ache of missing Jacqueline was never far away but now it was compounded by sorrow that she’d never hear the truth about her father from her mother’s lips.
All this business with Travis Saville had brought home to her just how big a space in her life her mother had left when she died. There had been so many times recently she’d longed to talk to her – ask questions that only she knew the answers to. But it was all wishful thinking on her part. If only Travis Saville had never turned up. If only she’d never found the Decree Absolute. There was that phrase again – if only. That well-known saying – if is such a big little word – was proving to be true.
A deep sigh escaped her lips. It was pointless playing the ‘if only’ game. Life was how it was. She was lucky – so many good new things had happened to her since she’d met Ben. There was no way she could allow anything from the past to cast a shadow on her – their – future.
A van tooted as it turned into the drive. The desk and table had arrived. Half an hour later, the table was in the kitchen, looking as if it had always been there, and Jodie went upstairs to start giving the desk some richly deserved attention.
Cleaned up, the desk was in better condition than she’d realised from its previous grubby condition. The scratched and damaged leather inlay showed the most sign of wear but Ben’s computer would hide the worst of that until they could find a craftsman to replace it. As she began to polish, a deep mahogany colour began to shine through the wood.
An hour later, Jodie tiredly pushed herself up off the floor and stood back to look at the result of her hard work. Standing there she smiled happily and congratulated herself on a job well done. Picking up the cleaning debris, she closed the study door and made her way downstairs. Throwing the rubbish in the bin she heard the removal lorry turning into the drive. Perfect timing.
When Ben arrived a quarter of an hour later, the men were manoeuvring the sitting-room furniture in through the door.
‘Come with me,’ Jodie said, catching hold of Ben’s hand. ‘Your birthday present is upstairs.’ Outside the study door she said, ‘Close your eyes.’ She opened the door and said, ‘Happy Birthday. I hope you like it.’ Anxiously she waited for his reaction as he opened his eyes.
Ben walked slowly into the room towards the desk. He stretched out a hand to stroke the top. ‘It’s beautiful.’
Jodie breathed a sigh of relief. ‘I’ve given it a clean and a bit of a polish but it will need more. The leather inlay will have to be replaced too.’
‘Best birthday present ever,’ Ben said, turning to her and giving her a hug. ‘Thank you. My computer is in the car. I’ll go and get it with the rest of the stuff from my old study.’
‘Annette should be here soon with lunch and coffee for the men,’ Jodie said. ‘I’ll just go and reassure them they’ll get a drink soon.’
It was mid-afternoon before the removal men left and the sorting out of the house could begin in earnest. Jodie left Annette unpacking boxes in the sitting room and went upstairs to find duvets and sheets to make up their bed, ready to collapse into that evening.
Ben was in his studio, busy sorting out a tangled mess of computer wires, and called out as he heard her on the landing.
‘I put your black bags with your mum’s boxes in the third bedroom, by the way. They almost got thrown away with the rubbish.’
Shocked, Jodie stood still. Too heavy for her to lift, she’d assumed Ben would realise anything in a black bag was rubbish.
‘I wanted them thrown away,’ she said.
There was a short silence before Ben came out onto the landing and looked at her curiously.
‘You can’t be serious about throwing them away – without at least checking the contents?’
‘That is exactly what I planned to do,’ Jodie said, looking at him defiantly. ‘I decided I didn’t need to know about whatever else is in the boxes. The Decree Absolute was enough.’
Ben sighed. ‘Ma cherie, you would live to regret that decision. I know it’s hard for you but you need to go through the boxes and talk to Travis. He is the only blood relative you have, after all. I think you’d like him if you’d only talk to him. I do,’ he added hesitantly.
‘You’ve been talking to him?’
‘We’ve had a brief conversation. He rang when you were walking Tess the other day. He’s got a box of papers from your father that could maybe answer some of the questions your mother’s boxes raise. Why don’t you ring him and suggest you go through both the boxes together? Please?’ Ben looked at her intently as he took her gently in his arms. ‘Then, like I’ve said before – we can put the whole episode behind us and get on with our lives.’
Standing there secure in Ben’s arms, Jodie felt the urge to fight leave her. Why was she really refusing to talk to Travis? Fear of him destroying her remaining illusions about her parents – her mother in particular? She knew her mother had loved her unreservedly and nobody could take that away from her. Or erase the wonderful memories she had of her childhood – all courtesy of her mother.
She took a deep breath. ‘OK. I’ll phone Travis later and invite him for lunch one day and together we’ll go through the boxes. But right now,’ she said, moving out of Ben’s arms, ‘I’m going to be sick again.’
Jodie made a dash for the bathroom, leaving Ben standing there with a worried look on his face.