Twenty-Six
‘You look beautiful, Mum.’ Rosie comes up behind me and puts her arms around my waist while I stare into the long mirror in our room at Claire’s house.
‘No, you’re the one who looks beautiful,’ I tell her. ‘This is such an old dress now, I’m not sure it suits me any more.’
I bought the dress I’m wearing tonight a number of years ago in a sale when we were having a gala event at the gallery. A three-quarter length, sleeveless black gown. It’s fitted on the body, until the long chiffon skirt extends into loose waves around my calves. Tonight, I’ve teamed it with black velvet shoes with a small heel, and a black velvet clutch bag with colourful flowers embroidered on to the front – both of which I’ve also had in my wardrobe for several years.
‘Of course it suits you,’ Rosie says. ‘You can wear anything.’
I kiss the top of Rosie’s hair. ‘I’m so pleased you’re coming with me tonight. It’s like having my own personal cheerleader boosting my confidence.’
Originally, I didn’t realise that Rosie was invited to the party as well. Both Claire and I made arrangements for Alice to look after her this evening. But when Claire came back from the café this afternoon, she said that Eddie and Dexter were keen to make this a family affair, so suddenly both Rosie and Alice were joining us. The boys both passed on the invite, preferring to stay home and play computer games, rather than attend some ‘old folks’ do’.
But Alice was surprisingly keen.
‘She’s only coming so she can meet Rob,’ Claire told me with a wink. ‘All her friends are jealous that her mum knows a Hollywood movie star.’
‘Isn’t he a bit old for her?’ I responded. Something about Alice liking Rob felt a bit weird.
‘Of course he is – in real life. But superheroes don’t age, do they? When Rob made his first Danger Man film, he was a lot younger. People remember him like that’.
‘I suppose.’
If everyone remembers me as I was ten years ago, they’re in for a shock
, I thought. The last few years haven’t been kind to me.
‘Can I be your personal cheerleader too?’ Claire asks now, popping her head around the door. ‘You look great, Frankie. And I won’t hear you say otherwise. You both do. I’m so pleased some of Alice’s old clothes fit you, Rosie.’
‘I love them,’ Rosie says, spinning around. ‘It’s like nothing I have at home.’
Alice is of average height for an eighteen-year-old girl, but Rosie is tall for her age, so she fitted easily into some of Alice’s clothes from a few years ago that Claire found stashed away in her attic.
In fact, there were so many that Rosie liked, that Claire promised to courier them up to us when we left, as there were just too many for us to manage in a suitcase.
‘Thank you,’ I told Claire quietly as we watched Rosie try them on and then parade through Claire’s house like a catwalk model. ‘I could never afford to buy her clothes like this.’
‘Don’t be silly,’ Claire said. ‘You’re doing me a favour. Now I don’t have to find a charity shop that will take them.’
Claire is now frowning at me slightly. ‘Will you be warm enough like that, Frankie?’ she asks. ‘It’s all right out there at the moment, but it might get chilly later.’
‘I’ll be fine,’ I say hurriedly. There is no way I’m putting on my Primark puffer jacket with this lovely outfit.
‘Wait there.’ Claire disappears again.
She reappears a few moments later with something in her hand in a deep shade of purple silk.
‘It’s a pashmina,’ she says, handing it to me. ‘Jonathan bought it for me years ago, so I never wear it – for obvious reasons.’
I open up the folded fabric, which is incredibly soft to touch, and place it around my shoulders. I don’t want to wear it, knowing that Jonathan bought it, but I have to admit it does set the dress off beautifully.
‘Perfect,’ Claire says, smiling. ‘I knew it would work. What do you think, Rosie? Isn’t your mummy beautiful?’
Rosie nods. ‘We’ll be the belles of the ball,’ she says, smiling at us both. ‘ Beauty and the Beast
is my favourite Disney film,’ she tells Claire. ‘And we’re all just as beautiful as Belle is when she dances with the Beast. You too, Aunty Claire, you look very
pretty tonight in your dress.’
Claire looks at Rosie and I’m sure I see her blink away a tear.
‘Thank you, Rosie,’ she says quietly. ‘It’s been a long time since anyone told me that.’
‘Right then,’ I say, feeling myself beginning to well up. I can’t cry now – it’s taken me far too long to do my make-up tonight to have to redo it all again. ‘As long as there’s no beasts tonight at Eddie’s birthday party, then we’ll all be quite safe, won’t we?’
The café looks beautiful when we arrive at Morvoren Cove that evening.
The sun has just started to set, so the soft white twinkling lights that are hung all around the outside of the restaurant look even prettier as they light up not only the party venue, but the surrounding beach as well.
I hesitate as Claire, Alice and Rosie move forward to enter the party.
‘Mum?’ Rosie looks up at me.
‘It’s going to be fine, Frankie,’ Claire says with a confidence I’m not feeling at all. ‘You look fabulous tonight. Hold your head high. Our achievements are those accompanying us, remember?’
I nod and take a deep breath.
‘Let’s go.’
We walk together into the party. Inside there are already a lot of guests milling around. Most of them are holding drinks in their hands, chatting in small groups, or sitting at tables with pristine white cloths and small posies of flowers on the top. The dining tables that usually fill the restaurant space have been pushed back and a temporary wooden dance floor has been erected in the centre of the large room.
‘Gosh, this is fancier than I expected,’ I say, looking around. ‘It looks more like a wedding than a fortieth birthday party.’
‘Frankie!’ Eddie comes bounding across the wooden floor. ‘I’m so pleased you made it.’
He gives me a huge hug, then he kisses me on each cheek.
‘You look fabulous, darling. As do you, my lovely Claire. And Alice . . . You got it goin’ on, girl!’ he says, waving his hand over her as Alice grins at him. ‘And this must be little Rosie? Golly, not so little now. How are you, beautiful girl?’ He shakes her hand formally. ‘It’s so lovely to see you again.’
‘This is for you,’ Rosie says solemnly, holding up my painting still wrapped in brown paper. ‘Mum did it.’
‘Let’s just put it on the table over there with the other gifts,’ I say hurriedly. ‘I’m sure Eddie doesn’t want to look at it now.’
‘On the contrary! I do want to look at it now. A painting by the one and only Frances Harris? Come, let’s put it over there on the table near the dance floor so I can see it in all its glory.’
Feeling like everyone is staring at us, I quickly follow Rosie and Eddie across the dance floor. Eddie places my painting on top of the white cloth and begins to carefully unwrap it, all the time talking about how he’s always wanted one of my paintings to hang on his wall, and joking that if it’s terrible he can just hang it in his downstairs toilet.
But when he finally gets all the protective paper off, Eddie is silent for once.
‘Don’t you like it?’ Rosie asks, slicing through the silence like a knife through butter.
I close my eyes. I knew this would happen. Why couldn’t Eddie have waited until he opened all his other gifts? Now everyone would know he hated it. I just want to drop through the floorboards and escape this embarrassment. I knew I should never have given Eddie this as a gift, I should have just brought a bottle of something like everyone else did by the look of all the bottle bags on the gift table.
But when I open them again. Eddie is holding up the painting so he can get a better look at it.
‘It . . . it’s wonderful,’ he says, his voice quivering. ‘It’s everything I love. All there in one painting.’
My heart lifts from where it’s been stuck in my black velvet shoes for the last few seconds. ‘Do you really like it?’ I ask quietly. ‘You’re not just saying that?’
‘No, of course I’m not. Honestly, Frankie, it’s amazing.’
The picture I’ve painted is of Morvoren Cove. The café features heavily in the foreground, against a backdrop of the beach and the sea.
‘You even put Dexter in there serving a customer,’ Eddie says, still examining the painting. ‘And is that me clearing one of the outside tables?’
‘It is.’
Eddie continues to examine the painting. ‘Wait until Dexter sees this – he’s going to be just as amazed and delighted as I am. Oh . . . ’ Eddie’s eyes stop scanning my painting for a moment. ‘Is that what I think it is in the sea?’
‘Yes.’
‘Oh, Frankie,’ Eddie says. ‘You have no idea how perfect this is.’
I thought long and hard about adding the addition of a mermaid’s tail in the sea. In fact, I painted over it twice and then added it again when I changed my mind. The tail is small, and you have to look quite closely to see it poking out over the top of one of the waves. But it’s there, and now I’m pleased I let it stay.
‘It’s like us, isn’t it?’ I tell him. ‘The Mermaids of St Felix.’
‘I thought you were called the Misfit Mermaids?’ Rosie pipes up.
‘We were, darling,’ Eddie says. ‘In fact, we always will be – won’t we, Frankie?’
I nod.
‘But that’s not the only reason why that little detail is so important,’ Eddie continues.
‘Oh my goodness, is that our restaurant?’ Dexter is hurrying over towards us.
‘Tell you later,’ Eddie whispers to me. ‘It is!’ he says to Dexter, holding up the painting for him to see. ‘Isn’t it wonderful?’
Dexter kisses me on each cheek and says hello to Rosie. Then he examines the painting. ‘This is superb, Frankie,’ he says. ‘Why aren’t you doing this professionally?’
I blush. ‘Stop, please. It’s not that good. It’s just a hobby and I don’t even do it that often.’
‘ Au contraire!
’ Dexter says. ‘It’s magnificent. You must stop doing whatever it is you do up in Bonnie Scotland and take up painting as a profession immediately!’
‘Ha, the chance would be a fine thing,’ I say, playing along. I assume Dexter is being his usual exuberant self. ‘I don’t think it would quite pay the bills, though.’
‘Frankie, I’m serious, darling,’ Dexter says, actually sounding serious for once. He’s lowered his voice and he puts his hand on my arm. ‘You have a talent. You must do something with it. Listen, I know a couple of people. I’ll put in a word for you.’
‘Thank you,’ I reply lightly, sure that this will be the last I hear on the subject. ‘I won’t give up my job just yet, though, if you don’t mind. I’m really pleased you both like the painting, but enough about me – let’s talk about you two. You’re both looking very smart this evening. Is something going on we don’t know about? This place is set out like it’s a wedding we’re attending, not a fortieth birthday party, with you two in fancy suits and the flowers on the tables and everything.’
Eddie smiles secretively at Dexter. ‘Shall we tell her?’
Dexter nods.
‘It’s not just a party for my fortieth,’ Eddie whispers. ‘We’re going to be getting married tonight too.’
‘What?’ I exclaim loudly. ‘Sorry,’ I whisper hurriedly. ‘You’re getting married? That’s amazing news.’
‘Isn’t it the best?’ Eddie says, his eyes shining with joy. ‘We didn’t want to make a big fuss about it, because some people are still a bit funny about gay weddings. So we thought we’d get all our nearest and dearest together on the pretence of my birthday, and surprise everybody.’
‘Wow, I can’t believe it. This is incredible, Eddie. It’s what you always wanted.’
Eddie nods. ‘When they changed the law, I couldn’t wait to propose to Dexter. Funny thing was, he was planning on doing exactly the same thing on the same night – we both had rings in little boxes tucked inside our jackets.’
‘How lovely,’ I say, smiling at them both. ‘I’m so pleased I’m going to be here to witness it.’
‘We’re going to tell everyone in a little while,’ Dexter says. ‘Keep it a secret for now, won’t you.’
‘My lips are sealed.’
‘About what, Mum?’ Rosie has returned from her examination of the rest of the gift table.
‘See you later,’ Dexter says, as Eddie props my painting up in pride of place along with the other gifts. ‘Eddie, some more people have just arrived. You’d best go see them.’
Eddie blows me a kiss, and then he and Dexter hurry across the dance floor to greet their guests.
‘Eddie and Dexter are getting married tonight,’ I tell Rosie. ‘It’s a secret, for now anyway. We mustn’t say anything.’
‘Why is it a secret?’ Rosie asks.
‘I think they wanted to surprise everyone. And some people are still a bit funny about gay weddings.’
‘Why? Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do if you love someone – get married?’
‘Er . . . ’ I’m torn. ‘You don’t have to get married if you love someone, not if you don’t want to. But until recently some people who have wanted to get married to each other haven’t been able to.’
‘Why?’
‘Because it was against the law. It’s only recently things have changed so that two men or two women are allowed to get married.’
Rosie thinks about this. ‘What does it matter if it’s a man and a woman or both the same? Love is love, isn’t it?’
I put my arm around her shoulders and give her a squeeze. ‘It is. Of course, it is. And it doesn’t matter who you love – if they love you back, it’s the most special feeling ever.’
‘Have you ever been in love?’ Rosie asks.
‘I have.’
‘But you didn’t get married?’
‘No.’
‘Why?’
I sigh. I thought Rosie had grown out of the ‘why?’ stage years ago.
‘Because we were far too young at the time. Now, shall we go and get a drink from the bar?’ I say, hoping she’ll forget about this line of enquiry.
‘Do you ever get too old to fall in love?’ Rosie continues as I guide her towards the bar.
‘No, of course not.’
‘I hope you fall in love one day, Mum, and that person loves you back. I’d like you to feel special again.’
I take a breath. How could the words of one so young be so very powerful?
‘That’s a lovely thought, my darling. But you are the only person I need to love right now. And as long as you love me back, that’s all that I need.’
Relieved that Rosie has stopped asking me difficult questions for a while, we queue up at the bar to get some drinks, and, as we wait, I notice a bit of a kerfuffle at the entrance of the restaurant.
I glance over to see what’s happening, and as I do I notice that everyone else in the room is looking too.
The other guests stare with excitement and interest at the famous film star who has just made an entrance to the party.
But all I see when I look at him – is Rob.