‘The snake! Trying to get you to do his dirty work!’
‘It’s not dirty work! They want to be together; William wants you to be happy about it. That’s perfectly reasonable and he’s not a snake. He really loves Mum.’
‘Mum? Or her very expensive real estate?’
Helena swallowed hard, shocked that he should mention ‘real estate’. After all, he and Cressida had set Gilly up with a man who had tried to persuade her to sell her house. She wondered what kind of kickback they’d offered him? And had they thought through the implications of Leo inviting Gilly to live with him? Bang went their free nanny-cum-gardener! Maybe they’d reckoned his property was so fantastic that Gilly would happily move into it, having sold hers and given them the money, which would at least have got them their new mansion. Although of course Gilly didn’t want to sell and he didn’t actually own his property. Gilly had explained all this to her. They probably hadn’t bargained on him wanting to live in Fairacres when he couldn’t convince her to sell – that scupperedalltheir plans. And wouldMartin have been happy for Leo to live in his old family home?
But now wasn’t the time to ask him. She forced down her fury at the way he and Cressida had behaved. She was here as a peacemaker and it wouldn’t help to rake up those things. ‘William has a very nice house of his own. He doesn’t need Mum’s house; he just wants to live with her. And she wants to live with him.’
‘I’m surprised at you, Helena. You’re the sentimental one. Aren’t you bothered about there being another man in Dad’s place? What about respecting the memories?’
‘What memories, Martin?’ asked Helena softly. ‘Were there many good ones?’
‘Of course there were good ones! Christmas! When we were little and all the cousins came to stay. It was brilliant.’
‘But more recently, I remember some really awful times—’
‘Like what?’ Martin came back quick as a flash.
‘Sunday lunches when nothing Mum did was right …’ Helena quailed as she thought about it. ‘He was on at her all the time. Had her jumping up and down to fetch this, that and the other. Never letting her finish a sentence, interrupting her …’
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, all couples bicker.’
‘It wasn’t bickering, Martin, it was bullying.’
‘Not as I remember it.’
Martin had inherited some of his father’s characteristics; Helena had only come to realise this fact as she grew up, although they had got on well when they were small.
‘Anyway,’ she said. ‘We’re all grown up now. We have relationships of our own. And Mum wants another chance of happiness. Is that so wrong?’
‘Yes! I’m not having another man in Dad’s place at home.’
Helena opened her mouth to tell him how ridiculous he was being but remembered again that she was not here to have a row with Martin, she was here to make life happier for her mother. ‘Well, just think about it, Martin. Mum’s a relatively young woman—’
‘She’s a grandmother. She should just concentrate on doing what she does well and not mess about like this. Our family home should be for her family, not for any Tom, Dick or Harry.’
‘William isn’t any of those,’ said Helena in a desperate attempt to stop her brother being so angry.
‘Oh, don’t be ridiculous!’ Martin was shouting now. ‘Why can’t Mum just be a grandmother and stop all this nonsense? She’d have been perfectly happy and fulfilled if she’d agreed to our plan.’
‘OK,’ said Helena quietly. ‘I’m sorry you feel like this but I don’t think I can do anything about it.’
‘How did you get on?’ asked Jago when she got home, handing her a glass of wine.
‘Utter failure. He’s in complete denial about Mum. He thinks she should just be a grandmother and not have a life of her own. So unfair!’ She pulled out a chair at the kitchen table, watching him stir something on the stove.
‘You might feel differently about it when you have children yourself,’ said Jago.
‘You think?’
He nodded. ‘Yup. I think when you’ve got a little one you’ll be forever running over to Gilly with your baby.’ He tasted something and then threw down the spoon. ‘I won’t be able to be around all the time during the day. You’ll need your Mum.’
‘I’m sure I will, but I hope I won’t expect her to sacrifice her entire life for me and my babies.’
Jago smiled in a way Helena thought was distinctly soppy. ‘You want to have lots of babies?’
She was feeling fairly soppy herself just then. ‘Think so. I’d see how it went after the first.’
