‘Can we, Dad? Can we really go?’
Sam made a noncommittal reply and the moment passed, but Vee was watching him more closely now. When they were in the pub, he’d seemed dejected when he said his previous relationship was over. Now, Sam’s eyes were shining as he helped Finn and Elsie to put the playing cards away, and Vee’s newly honed motherly powers of observation noted the split second when Sam’s hand brushed against Finn’s and the two sprang apart as if, once again, electricity was involved.
So that was the lie of the land. She’d wondered why her sister had never reported Finn having more than a couple of dates with girls. Well, if Sam was going to strike up a relationship with someone from across the pond, he would have a lot to contend with. Vee realised that her mind had been foolishly thinking ahead to a closer relationship with her son, and then with his future wife, and possibly even with the babies they would produce. She let the vision slip away, replaced it with a somewhat different one, then inwardly berated herself for being so ridiculous. She’d witnessed a moment or two of intense attraction. It could come to nothing. But if it did develop… if Sam and Finn were to get together… Finn might even move to England.
‘What are you thinking about?’ Rick asked Vee, as he passed her chair and bent to top up her glass.
‘Oh, nothing much. Just daydreaming,’ she answered, blushing. How ridiculous to be acting like this.But that’s how regular mums sometimes think, I suppose, a silent voice in her head said.I’m starting to feel as if he’s mine again after all these years. I mustn’t let it happen. He’ll be going home soon.
The thought was depressing, and Vee forced herself to get up and go to the kitchen. It must be time to start helping Beryl to serve the puddings that she’d spied on the worktop earlier. But even as she passed round dishes and spoons, chatting on autopilot with the Saga Louts and the other guests, her gaze kept returning to where Finn and Sam were sitting on the sofa with Elsie between them. Finn was reading to Elsie from a book that Beryl had produced. With a pang, Vee realised that it must be an old one that had once belonged to Patrick. She hoped Rick had made time to speak to Beryl as he’d planned. The older woman certainly looked relaxed and cheerful as she listened to the story.
‘This is a great book,’ said Elsie, as Finn finished reading. ‘Did you like it, Dad? The girls in it were a bit wet though, weren’t they? They let the boys tell them what to do all the time. I don’t do that, do I? I play football with the boys most break times and I’m always the captain.’
Sam didn’t answer immediately, and Vee saw that he was having trouble focusing on his daughter’s comments, having been watching Finn intently for the whole time he was reading. This hadn’t gone unnoticed by her son, Vee observed. He was grinning at Sam over Elsie’s head.
‘Boys and girls are a bit different these days, I guess,’ he told Elsie.
‘Which do you like best, boys or girls?’ Elsie asked, leaning on Finn as she leafed through the pages to get back to the beginning.
‘That’s a tricky one,’ said Finn, his eyes still on Sam. ‘I like you, Elsie, and you’re a girl. And I like your dad, and he’s definitely a boy. You’re both very cool. So my view is that it doesn’t matter whether you’re one or the other, it’s what kind of person you are that’s the important bit. Same with the colour of your skin. We’re all the same underneath.’
‘We’re not actually the same though, are we?’ said Elsie, frowning. ‘I mean, boys have willies and girls have?—’
‘I think we’ll leave the biology lesson there, love,’ said Sam. ‘We’ve got the picture.’
Several of the others had stopped their conversations to listen in to the story and the following conversation. Frank was the first to comment.
‘That’s a very fine way of putting it, young man,’ he said. ‘I wish more people thought like you.’
‘I couldn’t agree more,’ said Winnie. ‘Girl or boy, black or white, rich or poor – we’re all family if we want to be. And you lot are definitely my family now. Life’s always better when you’re with people you love.’
‘Don’t give Winnie any more Prosecco,’ Beryl said rather gruffly. ‘She sometimes gets soppy when she’s had a few.’
‘Cheeky mare,’ said Winnie. ‘I’m as sober as a… as a… well, anyway, I’m perfectly sober, thank you. I can’t say the same for Anthea though. She’s a bit squiffy, if you ask me. Oh, my goodness!’
This exclamation had been triggered by Anthea rummaging in her handbag and then quickly putting on a pair of stylish diamanté-trimmed spectacles to have a look at the book Elsie was showing her. Anthea glanced up and grinned at them all. ‘Well, I suppose you had to see them sometime. I had an eye test a couple of weeks ago and not only am I getting very short-sighted but apparently, I’ve got cataracts that need attention. So…’
‘…so that’s why you’re not driving!’ cried Beryl. ‘We were all wondering. I must say you look the dog’s b—’ She glanced at Elsie. ‘…the dog’s biscuits in them,’ she finished.
‘Thank you, Beryl. And for your information, Winnie, I’m not at all squiffy,’ said Anthea. ‘Mind you, I can’t say the same for the rest of you.’
The party degenerated into a babble of good-natured arguments about who was and who wasn’t squiffy, and Vee had just sat back in her chair to observe this entertaining spectacle when she realised that Rick was watching her intently. The look on his face was an unfamiliar one. It seemed like admiration mixed with a kind of puzzlement.
Vee raised her eyebrows at him in the hope that he’d explain the look. She was still trying to get her head around the fact that he’d liked her so much back in 1985, when she hadn’t even known he existed, except as an unappealing person in the same year who didn’t make any effort to talk to her group. Now, Rick had somehow morphed into the kind, generous man she’d come to rely on, but since the revelation about his version of what happened at the campsite and in the churchyard, they’d been avoiding any conversations that touched on those sensitive subjects.
‘You’ve pulled it off, haven’t you?’ Rick said.
‘Pulled what off?’ Vee asked. ‘I’m not a conjurer. I’ve not been doing tricks. What are you getting at?’
He smiled. ‘I was paying you a compliment, actually. You’ve already managed to integrate your son into Willowbrook society, or at least the part of it that matters to us, and I can see you’ve got a good relationship with him. The friendship must have been there before, but you’ve developed it really quickly without trying to smother him. It can’t have been easy.’
‘Thank you.’ Vee wanted to say more but she was suddenly too emotional to think straight. She watched Finn and Sam organising a game of Consequences, asking Beryl for paper and pencils, sorting everyone out and explaining how the game worked to Elsie, who was hopping up and down on the spot.
‘Those are two very good blokes, you know,’ said Rick. ‘You don’t need to worry. Just let things happen. It’ll either work out, or it won’t. No harm done.’
‘You saw it too,’ said Vee. ‘I thought it was just me.’
Rick shook his head but didn’t expand on his previous advice. Vee let the soothing words sink into her mind as a strip of paper and a pencil was pushed into her hand by Elsie.
