“Okay, okay. You put the directions into your Satnav correctly, didn’t you? You know where you’re going?” This was my mother trying to get information out of me in a roundabout way and not entirely sure how to ask what she wanted without me hanging up.
To be fair, I’d left in a hurry, and hadn’t given her too much of an explanation, aside from I needed to get to Seph to tell him something.
“I know where I’m going. We’re okay. Rose is excited about being a princess in a castle.” Fear ripped through me. What if I wasn’t going to be a welcome guest? What if the Callaghans decided that I’d hurt Seph enough and they didn’t want me around? I wasn’t sure how my mother would be in Marie Callaghan’s position. Or how I would be.
“And are you excited about being a princess in a castle?”
“My Mummy would be a pretty princess. Seph told me that she could rescue him, she would be that pretty and clever.” Rose sounded awfully excited.
“What was that, Rosie?” Only my mother called Rose ‘Rosie’.
“Seph said Mummy was his princess. When we read a book about a princess who saved a prince, Seph said that was Mummy. Only Mummy was prettier.” My daughter giggled.
“When did Seph say that, Sweetie?” I kept both hands on the wheel.
“When he helped me with homework and you stayed in the kitchen and you were both being weird. He made me promise not to tell you so do you think he’ll be mad?” Her tone changed to worried.
“No, because Seph knows that you can tell me anything, even if someone makes you promise not to. It’s the mother and daughter rule. Isn’t that right, Mum?” I was getting this in when I could. Nothing like brainwashing your child for the right reasons.
“Too right, Miss Rose. Unless it’s about presents. Then you can always keep a secret. Now, close your ears. I need to speak tomydaughter.” My mum’s tone was fierce.
“What’s up?”
“A word of wisdom.”
Oh, hello. This was what every child wanted to hear.
“Don’t be scared. Taking a jump off something high doesn’t mean you’re going to hit the ground hard. Sometimes you do a graceful swan dive into the arms of a partner capable of catching you, if you know what I’m saying.”
I checked my speedo as a way of distracting myself from what I wanted to say to her, which was a lot of teenaged angst combined with adult uncertainty and a desperation I hadn’t felt before, even after Rose’s father had given his parting speech.
“I do.” It was the easiest answer.
“Good. Be brave. Olivia and Rose speak highly of him. If they thought he was a rotten appendage, they’d have said.”
“Mummy, what’s a rotten appendage?”
I bit my lips together. “Mother, would you like to explain to your granddaughter what a rotten appendage is?”
“Of course.”
At least this was one way to make the journey pass quickly. Almost.
The castle was a castle,an actual castle, built mimicking the sorts of buildings that could be seen in the Loire Valley. It’d been hired in full by Ava and Eli, for both a wedding and a holiday, offering privacy and downtime for a family that I knew first-hand never stopped.
There was a gated driveway that I gave my name to get through, half surprised I was still on the list.
I drove down it, fields and trees seeming to sparkle in the late afternoon sun, the sea twinkling in the distance. Where my mother had moved to was beautiful, but this was the dream. Even without looking, I knew Rose’s eyes were popping out of her head.
I pulled up in a small car park, recognising Marie and Grant’s car. They’d chosen to drive here, stopping off at various places on the way, including a vineyard that I knew they were looking to invest in.
I took in the architecture, or kind of, trying to take my mind off finding Seph and seeing a look of disappointment that I was here on his face.
“It’s like a story!” Rose started to run round the side of the building from where the sounds of familiar voices were coming.
I followed her, walking fast, leaving the luggage in the car boot until I’d made sure that this was okay, until I’d spoken to Seph and showed him in person my response to his pictures.
I turned around the building into the gardens, where a large pool was surrounded by lush grass.
