Today was Philip’s seventy-first birthday and he and Jeremy were coming in later to drink to the passing of yet another year. She really wasn’t in the mood for company, not after the events of last night and this morning, but it would have been churlish to disappoint the two old friends.
However, within no time of their arrival on the dot of three o’clock, and armed with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot and some of Jeremy’s delicious homemade cheese straws, her mood was pleasantly improved as they traded insults with one another in their customary fashion. They continued in this way for some minutes while topping up their glasses until Jeremy turned his attention on Nina.
‘So what’s happened to the delectably handsome young Jakob?’ he enquired. ‘We enjoyed having him around again, he brightened the place up a treat.’
Nina winced at the word ‘young’. ‘He’s in Oslo for a while,’ she said, non-committally. Then more teasingly, ‘And are you saying I don’t brighten the place up enough for you?’
‘Darling, you’re the brightest star in St Anne’s Court, and always will be,’ replied Philip, ‘but please say that Jakob is definitely coming back to us.’
‘He is, indeed,’ she said, ‘he’s working at Lavelle’s on a permanent basis now.’
‘That’s excellent news!’ said Philip, helping himself to another cheese straw.
‘Now, now, don’t you go getting any ideas about him,’ Jeremy said warningly. ‘You’re far too old for the likes of Jakob.’
‘You silly old fool,’ Philip remonstrated, ‘I’m not in the slightestbit interested in him, why would I be when he only has eyes for our darling Nina?’
Nina spluttered on a mouthful of champagne which she’d just been about to swallow, narrowly avoiding spitting it across her desk.
Philip laughed. ‘Touched a nerve, have I, sweetie?’ he said with a playful drawl.
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she replied.
‘Come off it, Nina, we all know that the boy is besotted with you, and who could blame him?’
‘He’s not aboy,’ she said firmly. A little too firmly. ‘He’s a grown man.’
‘To a pair of old duffers like us, he’s but a fledgeling, as are you, petal,’ remarked Jeremy. ‘Now tell us all. Are you as madly in love with him as he is with you?’
Conscious that she was blushing furiously – this was the very kind of ‘going public’ she still wasn’t ready for – Nina shook her head. ‘Honestly,’ she said with a tut, ‘what have you two been drinking before coming here, a magnum of crazy-juice?’
Philip clapped his hands. ‘The lady doth protest too much!’
‘Spill the beans, dear one,’ encouraged Jeremy. ‘Don’t make us beg, not when we’re so fond of you.’
‘I wouldn’t dream of making you beg,’ she said, ‘but seriously all I can share with you is that—’ She broke off.
‘Go on,’ Jeremy urged, leaning forward in his chair.
But Nina didn’t. Because there in the pouring rain out on the street looking in through the window was a pitifully bedraggled Hilary. Next to her was a man in a high-vis jacket and he appeared to have a hand placed firmly on Hilary’s arm.
‘Is that Hugh’s mother?’ asked Jeremy, following her gaze and frowning.
‘Somebody should tell her about timing,’ muttered Philip, ‘because hers is decidedly off!’
Sensing that something awful must have happened, Nina went to the door.
Hilary sat in stony silence while Nina drove her home to Madingley. To anything Nina said, the woman kept her mouth rigidly shut and her gaze ahead of her. On her lap, she clutched her handbag as though terrified it might be snatched from her grasp. It reminded Nina of Venetia that morning in the woods when she had held on so tightly to the wooden box which had contained her beloved dog.
On the drive at The Maples, she brought the car to a stop in front of the garage, switched off the engine and released her seatbelt. She looked at Hilary, expecting her to do the same, but the woman continued to sit there staring blankly at the garage doors.
‘The doors need repainting,’ she murmured vaguely. ‘Keith said he’d do it. He’d been saying that ever since … ever since Hugh died.’
‘Come on,’ Nina said encouragingly, ‘let’s get you inside and changed out of your wet clothes. I’ll make you a hot drink and light the fire in the sitting room. You’ll feel better then.’
Hilary shook her head. ‘I’ll never feel better,’ she said bleakly. ‘Never.’
Deciding she had to be more resolute, Nina stepped out of the car and went round to the passenger side. She opened the door and after leaning across and releasing Hilary’s seatbelt, she took the woman’s left arm and eased her to her feet. Locking the car, Nina then very carefully, as though her mother-in-law was now a fragile old lady who couldn’t walk without support, helped her to the front door. Once there, she pointed to Hilary’s handbag and asked for the front door key.
