Page 43 of Snowflakes Over Micklewick Bay

‘And how old were you when you left?’ asked Lark.

Hannah’s gaze fell to the glass in her hand. She swallowed, sensing all eyes on her, the music fading into the background. ‘I was sixteen when I went to live with my Auntie Colleen and Uncle Len over in Beckinthwaite, and I’ve been there ever since, with the exception of a blip when I moved in with a boyfriend – big mistake!’ She gave a small laugh at that.

‘We’ve all made plenty of mistakes when it comes to fellas,’ said Jasmine wryly. ‘Our Stells more than most.’

‘Cheeky.’ Stell hitched a faux offended eyebrow at her.

‘I should add she’s a changed woman since she met Alex, who is the love of her life.’ Jasmine shot Stella a smile.

Stella replied with a shake of her head. ‘Anyroad, you carry on, Hannah.’

Hannah paused; this was the difficult part. ‘I don’t know what you all heard about my reasons for leaving but I can promise you none of it will have been true. I left because I had no choice.’

‘We know that, flower. None of us here doubt that for a second,’ said Lark, her voice soft with compassion. ‘You don’t have to talk about it anymore if you’d rather not, but if you’re okay to share it, then we’re happy to listen. All I’ll say is that it seems to me you’ve been bottling up a lot of negative energy and feelings from your experience with Polly and Darryl and clinging on to it for years. If you ask me, I reckon it’d do you the world of good to share it with us; set it free. That way, it won’t have any more power over you.’

Lark’s words struck a chord. ‘Set it free.’ Hannah liked the sound of that. She felt her emotions rising and bit down on them. She was about to face the part of her story she hadn’t shared with Florrie when they’d FaceTimed, conscious that she’d already dominated their conversation. And not just that, she’d felt exhausted after revisiting that dark, agonising day when she’d lost her mum. But now, after Lark’s simple, but surprisingly impactful, words of advice, she was ready to get everything out in the open. It was time to set it free.

‘I suppose it all goes back to when my mum was still alive. Actually, a conversation I recently had with my aunt’s best friend shed so much light on some of the things I’d witnessed as a child, but which didn’t quite make sense cos I was too young to properly understand.’ She glanced up to see five concerned faces looking back at her and was struck by a pang of guilt. ‘Are you sure you want to hear this? I mean, I don’t want to drag your Friday night down. I know how you all look forward to it. I can tell you another time.’

‘We so do want to hear about you,’ said Maggie.

‘And if you knew the things that have been discussed at this very table on our Friday sessions, you’d know that it’s not only a time we have a laugh together, but it’s when we take the opportunity to offload, seek advice and generally be listened to,’ said Lark. ‘We’re here to support one another through all the highs and the lows and tonight that includes you – and every other night you join us.’

‘Lark’s right,’ said Jasmine, the rest of the women agreeing.

‘Remind me to tell you something when you’re done,’ Stella added mysteriously. ‘Sorry, carry on, flower. Actually – apologies for the grasshopper brain – but I was shocked to hear from Florrie that your lovely nanny got sacked. I can remember admiring her trendy clothes and thinking she was really cool and laid-back. I used to nag my mum to get me a nanny like her. She just disappeared all of a sudden. I often wondered what happened to her, why she was there one minute and gone the next.’

‘Polly strikes again!’ Jasmine said in a dramatic voice.

‘Aimee? You’re right, she was lovely, but she didn’t stand a chance once Polly made up her mind she wanted shot of her,’ said Hannah. ‘Made my mum’s life hell while she tried to manage her work and get me to and from school. I can remember her being really stressed but trying to hide it.’ Looking back, it was easy to see how Polly must’ve been pulling the strings behind the scenes, doing all she could to make Aimee look as bad as possible in her parents’ eyes, while making things difficult for her mum. It meant that when Polly stepped in to save the day, Bronagh and Jon had been beyond grateful.

‘What a piece of work that woman is.’ Jasmine wore an expression of utter disgust. Being a single mum of two for many years before she’d met Max meant she had plenty of experience juggling work and childcare. ‘I can only imagine the chaos that caused. Organising kids and work isn’t easy at the best of times, never mind when someone’s causing mischief like that witch Polly.’

‘So what happened to poor Aimee after she left?’ asked Lark.

‘I’m really sad to say I have no idea. I’d love to have a go at tracking her down though. She’d lived with us for years; I was close to her.’

‘I daresay that’s doable with the internet and social media pages,’ said Maggie.

‘Did you know that Polly actually ended up ousting your parents’ cleaner in her bid for greater power at Midsummer Haven.’ Stella swirled her wine around her glass.

Hannah was stunned to hear this. ‘She did?’

‘I don’t know if you recall, but my mum owns a cleaning company and your parents employed a cleaner through her – Marianne Jackson; still works for my mum. I’m sure it won’t come as a surprise to you that Polly had started saying that she was having to go over Marianne’s work, that it was sub-standard. It’s funny, cos my mum was just talking about this recently – I’ll tell you why they came up later – but Marianne was absolutely devastated. She was one of my mum’s best members of the team, still is, and my mum hated having to mention it to her. Anyroad, my mum’s a real no-nonsense woman⁠—’

‘Like mother, like daughter,’ Jasmine quipped.

‘Proud to be so.’ Stella smiled. ‘And we’re also alike in that we’re loyal to our friends and those close to us. Anyroad, I digress. Between them they decided that when Marianne had finished her next shift at Midsummer Haven, my mum would go round and take a look – not because she doubted Marianne’s work, but because she was suspicious of Polly, who, interestingly, always made herself scarce for Marianne’s shifts. Sure enough, later that evening, my mum received a call from your mum who very politely told her that the house hadn’t been cleaned to a satisfactory standard yet again. From what she’d described, with mud apparently smeared over the kitchen floor, dirty fingerprints over glass, it sounded like a clear case of sabotage. I hate to say it, but our mothers had a bit of an altercation. My mum explained how she’d inspected Marianne’s cleaning at the end of her shift and told her it had been left in an immaculate condition. Your mum couldn’t understand how that was possible with the state it was in when she returned home. My mother told her she suspected foul play and thought it best to end their contract with your parents and suggested they find another cleaner.’ Stella pulled an apologetic face when she’d finished.

‘Cue Polly,’ said Florrie.

‘Which is exactly how she operates.’ Hannah shook her head in disgust. ‘I don’t get how my parents couldn’t see through her – well, my mum started to, but it took a while. They were intelligent people… how did they not see that there was clearly a pattern forming?’

‘She’s a highly skilled manipulator, that’s why,’ said Lark.

‘She was making herself indispensable,’ added Maggie, taking a sip of her wine. ‘Tapping in to what they needed as narcissistic sociopaths do – I was watching a programme about them on the telly the other night. Polly fits the criteria to a “T”.’

‘Oh, she was making herself indispensable all right. With Marianne gone, Polly took on the job of cleaning and doing the washing and ironing as well. She behaved like she was some sort of fairy godmother. I still didn’t like her, though, but I couldn’t work out why. I always had the feeling there was something fake about her. Too good to be true, almost.’ Hannah paused, mulling it over.