‘Look … maybe this has gone on long enough,’ Luke says at last. ‘I’d like to … start again.’
As the words leave his mouth, I practically collapse in relief. Elinor doesn’t move very much at all, but I’ve learned to read her too. The two lines at her jaw have relaxed, which is the equivalent of her going ‘Phew!’
‘I would like that,’ she says in a low voice. ‘I meant what I said.’
‘I know. And I didn’t mean what I said.’ Luke smiles, a rueful boyish smile that makes my heart constrict. It hasn’t been easy for him, losing one mother and loathing the other. ‘Come here.’ He pecks Elinor on the cheek. ‘You’ll stay for supper?’
‘Well …’ Elinor shoots a questioning look at me and I nod.
‘May I have the key back now?’ Luke says to me.
‘I suppose so,’ I say teasingly, and hand it to him.
‘And you must meet Minnie,’ he adds to Elinor. ‘She won’t be asleep yet; I’ll get her up. Minnie!’ he calls, unlocking the kitchen door. ‘There’s someone for you to meet! You haven’t seen her since she was a baby,’ he adds to Elinor as he strides out. ‘You’ll get such a shock.’
Minnie.
Shit. Minnie. As far as Luke is concerned, Minnie and Elinor are strangers. Elinor and I meet eyes, and I can tell we’ve had exactly the same thought.
OK. Don’t panic. It’ll be fine. I just need to think quickly … I need to head this off … think … think …
I can hear Minnie pattering down the stairs, and Luke following her and saying, ‘Now, Minnie, I’ve got a surprise for you.’
‘Surprise!’ replies Minnie. ‘Present?’
‘No, not a present, a person, and here she is …’
The kitchen door opens and Minnie stands in the doorway, a tiny figure in her frilled white nightdress and rabbit slippers.
‘Ladeeeeee!’ she cries joyously.
‘This is your grandmother!’ says Luke with a flourish. ‘Minnie, this lady is my mother. Would you like to say hello?’
Minnie isn’t listening. She rushes over, flings herself at Elinor’s legs and then starts trying to open her bag.
‘Ladeeeeee!’ she says. ‘Daddy, is Ladeeeee!’ She finds a puzzle in Elinor’s bag and pulls it out in triumph. ‘Puzzle, Ladeee! Do it at the table,’ she enunciates carefully as she climbs on to a chair. ‘At the table.’
Luke is staring at them both in utter bewilderment.
‘She … knows her,’ he says. ‘Minnie, darling, do you know your grandmother?’
‘Not “gran-mudder”,’ says Minnie scornfully. ‘Is Ladeeee.’
‘She knows you.’ He addresses Elinor directly. ‘How could she know you? She hasn’t seen you since she was a baby.’
‘She doesn’t know Elinor!’ I say quickly. ‘Don’t be ridiculous! She’s just being friendly.’ But my voice sounds false even to my own ears.
I can see the truth dawning on Luke’s face.
‘She used to talk about seeing a “Lady”,’ he says slowly. ‘We didn’t know what she was talking about.’ He whips round to me, suddenly pale with fury. ‘That was my mother, wasn’t it? Becky, what have you been doing behind my back? And no more lying.’
He sounds so self-righteous, I feel a surge of outrage. He has no idea. No bloody idea.
‘OK, I did take Minnie to see Elinor!’ I cry. ‘Because she’s her grandmother and they should get to know each other! But before you get so high and mighty, do you want to know what else we were doing, Luke?’
‘Rebecca,’ says Elinor, in a tone of dreadful warning, but I ignore her.
‘We were planning your surprise party! You thought that was Suze and Tarquin? Well, it wasn’t! It was your mother. She organized the whole thing and paid for it, and she wouldn’t take any credit, but she should! Because it was her. It was Elinor.’
I break off, breathing hard. At last. At last. I’ve been carrying that secret around like a heavy weight, ever since the night of the party.
‘Is this true?’ Luke sounds shaken. I’m not sure if he’s asking me or Elinor, but in any case, Elinor doesn’t answer. She looks dry-frozen. All the warmth has vanished and her eyes have dwindled to dark, burning points.
‘That is not why I came here, for you to discover that fact, Luke,’ she says, her voice an angry rasp. ‘It is not why I came here. You were not supposed to discover … you were never supposed to know …’ Her face is trembling and as I watch I’m suddenly appalled. Is she—