I didn’t know what she’d been saying to my daughter, but I decided there and then that not only were they going to help Lorraine with the beautification, but Caitlin had to stay for the party.
Dan’s mother was in our house by the time I was back from all my errands, to help me organise the place.
Sweet, shy and clearly petrified of the wealthy Markham family, I have to sit her down in the kitchen and explain how it was all going to work.
‘Betty,’ I say, ‘you have two sons you love?’
‘Yes ...’ says Betty nervously, twisting a duster in her hands.
‘They’re decent members of society, have good jobs and Zed’s going to get married one day and have beautiful children.’
‘I hope so.’ Betty crossed herself at this plan, which would clearly only work with Divine intervention.
‘Do you have any hopeless kids hidden away who’ve run off from their children and ignored responsibility all their life?’
‘Holy God, no!’
‘Great. Adele and William Markham have. And it doesn’t matter how much money they have in the bank or what sort of car they drive, they have that pain to deal with. That has kept Lexi out of their lives for years. So which of you have the most gifts in life?’
Betty smiled at me. She was a pale woman, gentle and often anxious and I could imagine her being terrified of the Markhams during the wholespeed-wedding procedure all those years ago.
‘You’ve been Lexi’s gran, and Liam’s and Teddy’s. That’s not going to change. We’re opening the door a chink and ...’ I put a pot of tea on the table in front of her, ‘we’re trying to make Lexi feel better about Elisa telling the world that she’s about to have her “first wonderful baby”. That is the aim of this. To help Lexi.’
‘Tell me what to do,’ says Betty firmly, taking a sip of tea, putting it back down and getting the duster out again.
I take it from her.
‘Drink that tea slowly and then go out to meet Scarlett. She’ll be here in a few minutes and she’s taking you to get your hair and nails done,’ I say.
‘I couldn’t.’ Betty’s worn hand immediately goes to her chest. There have been few manicures in her life. Not that my mother had been a great woman for the beautician’s either, but then, my mother chose not to go.
I should have arranged for Betty to have manicures before, I think guiltily.
You’re doing it now, Mildred points out.
Who are you and what have you done with Mildred? I retort.
By the time Dan brings Liam and a remarkablypaint-free Teddy back, our home is utterly beautified.
Lorraine, who has had many careers in her time, did a bit of floristry once and can hand tie a bouquet – with a certain amount of swearing. Every bowl or cup not already in use has been pressed into service and is full of flowers, hiding all the bits of the walls where the plaster is gone and really transforming the place. I’ve even done a deal with the devil and risked using modern sticky things to hang heavy paintings.
‘This one takes four pounds’ weight,’ reads Lexi slowly.
I hold a giant poster from a Rothko exhibition in New York in one hand. The frame might be four pounds or it might be heavier ...
You measure ingredients for a living, says Mildred.Are you kidding me?
Only for baking. I use great skill for cooking and measuring is only for the recipe books, I remind her as the Rothko goes into place, superbly hiding an ersatz Picasso lady with a giant nose and one eye that Teddy must have needed a chair to crayon onto the wall.
Lorraine takes over the hanging up once she’s flowered every surface and tells me to finish cooking.
‘I want a doggy bag of the scallops to take home,’ she says later, peering into the fridge, where scallops lie ready to be sizzled briefly in butter before dropping into lamb’s leaf salad with honey dressing.
‘Stay,’ I say. ‘The more the merrier. It’s not as if we don’t have chairs.’
As we’ve never had enough room to open up our huge leaf dining room table fully, we never had enough chairs but Lorraine, used to organising shoots, has called in French restaurant ones along with glassware, flatware, candelabras, ice and magnificent ice buckets that look as if an antique shop will be screaming soon that they’ve been robbed.
‘Oh, do,’ says Lexi, who is flushed from her efforts. She and Caitlin are dancing round now, delighted with their party, adjusting the pink lemonade just so in the ice buckets, giggling and discussing the music.
