‘You haven’t said “yes” yet,’ Joe said.
‘Of course,’ she said quickly. ‘Of course I’ll marry you.’
2
Amy secured three gold helium balloons to Grandpa Lance’s wheelchair: one, zero, two. Outside the sky was pale. The wind whistled, a branch of Mum’s wisteria knocked against the patio doors.
‘It’s a good job we’re not sitting outside, I might take off.’ He chortled. ‘Mind you, that would be some way to go – whee-hee, up, up in the air!’
Dad laughed. Mum frowned. ‘You’re not going anywhere, Dad, not for a long time.’
‘Doctors only gave me six months, didn’t they? Thought I’d never reach a hundred never mind a hundred and two.’
‘You’ve only reached this age ’cos you’re a stubborn old so-and-so,’ Mum said.
‘That’s true enough.’ Grandpa chuckled. He twisted his neck towards the mantelpiece. ‘Such a lot of cards – marvellous! And that cake, what a treat! I’m looking forward to having a slice, if I may.’
‘And some tea?’ Amy asked. She made to get up but Mum was already halfway to the kitchen.
‘Stay here with me.’ Grandpa patted the arm of the sofa. He glanced towards Mum’s retreating backside and lowered his voice. ‘Shall we watch that video clip again before your mum comes back?’
‘I thought you’d say that.’ Amy picked up the phone Lance had treated himself to on his ninety-ninth birthday. ‘Come and have a look, Dad.’
‘Will you press the buttons for me, love? It’s a bit fiddly with the old arthritis.’
Amy quickly found the footage. A close-up of her younger brother’s face, flushed and happy, flashed briefly across the camera before it cut away to show an expanse of ocean. The picture went fuzzy for a moment then back into focus. Jack was strapped into some sort of seat high up in the air, suspended beneath a red and yellow parachute. He stretched out his arm. The streamer he was unfurling flapped and twisted but there was no mistaking the message printed on it.
Happy 102nd Grandpa Lance!
Grandpa whistled. ‘Parasailing, isn’t that great! His best post yet. I don’t know why your mother wouldn’t take a look.’
‘She can’t stand watching Jack doing anything dangerous,’ Dad said. ‘And she’s still a bit cross with him for not being here. She doesn’t think it’s right he should miss your birthday, gallivanting off round the world.’
‘Nonsense! I told Jack I’d be furious if he arranged his gap-year trip around me. What my daughter doesn’t understand is that our Jack is giving me one last great adventure. I’d never make it back to Vietnam or India now. It’s a struggle to get down the road to the Raj Tandoori. But with Jack’s videos, I almost feel like I’m there myself.’ He tapped his phone screen. ‘Now, let’s put a pin in my map.’
Amy walked over to the bureau. She fished a red drawing pin out from the little box next to the letter rack. Grandpa gestured at the cork noticeboard on the wall behind it with a shaky hand.
‘About here?’ She hovered the pin just above the board.
‘Hmm… Up a bit… right on the coast… perfect,’ Dad said.
‘We’ve got a lot of pins in that wallchart now, makes this lounge look like Churchill’s operations room.’ Grandpa chuckled.
‘Churchill indeed!’ Mum tutted, closing the door behind her with a push of her elbow and putting down the tea tray. ‘Who’s for some cake?’
‘You sit down, Mum.’ Amy busied herself with the china cups and saucers and proper napkins Grandpa insisted upon. Her mother picked up an envelope.
‘You’ve still got another birthday card here, Dad.’
‘Pass it over then, love, I’ll take a look whilst this tea cools down a tad.’
He studied the creamy white envelope. ‘This is a right old scrawl, must be from an oldie like me. Postmark looks like Fife. I only ever knew one fella from there…’ Struggling to open it with his pale fingers, he reached for the cake knife and slid it under the flap. Amy smiled as her mum suppressed a tut.
‘Well, I never… Marty McGlenn, how on earth did he get hold of my address?’
‘You’ve never mentioned a Marty,’ Dad said.
‘He was in my regiment, a bumptious little pipsqueak. We weren’t friends, but when you’ve been through something like that together…’ Grandpa quickly turned his head towards the garden.
