Chapter 41
TARA
Billy had a chemo session on Friday so the twins were staying with Jed’s parents for a few days.
When Jed told me they were going to need to cancel some longstanding plans with their friends Peter and Joyce for Friday daytime, I stepped in and offered to look after Piper and Savannah instead.
Zoe said she’d help me which turned out to be just as well because keeping two excitable three-year-olds entertained turned out to be way harder than I’d imagined and I’m not sure I’d have managed it on my own.
We took them down to North Bay first thing and I spent a small fortune working round the various kiddie rides outside the arcades.
We visited The Sundae Shack for an ice cream before catching the bus round to South Bay to visit the Sea Rescue Sanctuary.
The smiles, giggles and cuddles were ample reward for the effort and the cherry on the top was the last couple of hours in the flat hearing their squeals of delight as they crawled across the floor following Hercules.
I left Zoe in the flat and took the twins back to Jed’s parents’ in time for their tea and was so touched when the pair of them smothered me with hugs before I left. They really were the sweetest.
On my way back to town, a call came through on the Bluetooth from Mum’s phone. Exactly a week had passed since I last saw or spoke to them so, anticipating it could be emotional, I pulled over to accept it.
The conversation was light at first – what had I been up to?
– but I could hear the worry in Mum’s voice and knew she was leading up to telling me something I wouldn’t want to hear.
Sure enough, the rental period on Leanne’s holiday cottage was up and, rather than have her move to another cottage and waste money on that or a hotel, Mum and Dad had invited her to stay with them for a while.
I could see that it made sense not to waste money when they had more than enough space. I could also see that it was better for Leanne not to be so far away in Claybridge as, while it was only half an hour from Whitsborough Bay, it was more like an hour from Whitby.
But then came the part that really hurt.
They’d given Leanne a tour inside Whispering Winds.
Dad had specifically said that, when they got some keys, I’d be the first to see inside after the builder and I hadn’t been.
Even though I told myself that circumstances had changed and they had a right to show their new home to whomever they wanted whenever they wanted, the words second best kept creeping into my mind.
I didn’t say anything to Mum about how I was feeling but I didn’t encourage her to expand on it either.
When the call ended, I sank back in my seat with my eyes closed, a feeling of weariness overwhelming me.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Leanne had already earmarked the room she wanted.
Make that rooms because I could just imagine her wanting her own suite.
She’d done it. The baby hadn’t arrived yet and she’d already found her way back into their current home and probably their new one.
I just hoped that, for their sake, I was wrong about her.
I’d been working on the email in snatched moments all week and all it needed now was a final read but I wasn’t sure there was any point sending it.
If she’d already moved in with them, was it better to accept that they were grown adults capable of making their own decisions, to just let them get on with it and to keep my relationship with them and their relationship with her as two entirely different things? Or try to.
Michael from Bay Trade had given Jed a heads up that the first of the bluebells were out and he’d be in touch again when they were at their best. The pair of them had hoped to meet up for drinks one evening but it had been impossible to coordinate with everything going on.
Instead, Michael had joined Jed in his studio a couple of times and they’d talked about the parallels between art and photography over a coffee.
He’d offered to take Jed to the woods as soon as the bluebells were at their best and talk him through his thoughts on the best angles for the light.
As soon as Jed told me about Michael’s message, I wanted to visit the woods so we headed there on Sunday morning.
After a long week or so of worrying about Zoe and Leanne, some alone time in such a beautiful, peaceful setting was exactly what I needed.
We walked through the woods first, admiring the stunning flowers, before settling on the bench under the giant oak tree, Jed’s arm around my shoulders, heads resting together.
With the birds chirping and the light rustle of leaves, I felt so much peace and contentment that I could happily have stayed in that exact spot all day.
‘Have you dozed off?’ Jed asked after a while, his tone teasing.
‘Nearly. I feel so relaxed here. Can we build a log cabin and stay here forever?’
‘The other visitors might object but we could always give it a try.’
‘Nah. I can’t see a lighthouse from here. We’ll keep looking.’
We had a table booked for lunch at The White Horse in Little Sandby so we needed to get going.
‘Are you looking forward to your trip to the woods with Michael?’ I asked as we set off back along the woodland trail.
‘I am. It’ll be good to get a photography perspective.’
‘We still need to have that night out with Nia and Michael.’ Michael had suggested it early on and Jed and I had both been keen but there hadn’t been the opportunity.
‘I hate having everything on hold. I feel like we’re fobbing them off.
Maybe we could go out for a drink before the next Bay Trade meeting if Nia can get a babysitter for Kayla.
It’s not a meal but it’s probably the best we can manage right now. ’
I dropped Jed back at home in Great Sandby after a delicious lunch and stayed for a coffee.
Aaron and Richie were sprawled across the floor propping up dominoes blocks for Piper and Savannah to knock over although they weren’t managing to get long runs in before the twins dived in.
While Jed distracted them with a teddy bears’ picnic, Janice and I helped Aaron and Richie create something bigger, eliciting squeals of delight from the twins later as they sent the dominoes toppling.
I smiled at how great Jed was with the girls and wondered whether there could be a scenario where he ended up looking after them on a more permanent basis if, say, things did miraculously work out for Ingrid and Declan.
Jed and I didn’t want children of our own but sometimes life took unexpected turns and I rather liked the idea of playing a role in raising Piper and Savannah.
When I returned to The Chocolate Pot shortly before closing time, Maria told me the police had gone upstairs with Zoe a couple of minutes earlier but I wasn’t to worry – they had an update on Griff.
Griff had fled from Whitsborough Bay after assaulting Zoe, knowing that she’d taken things too far and that there was no way she wouldn’t be reported.
She’d arrived in East Yorkshire where she’d been arrested for assaulting a retailer who’d confronted her for stealing.
The police there discovered she was on parole so she’d been shipped back to prison and wouldn’t be a problem for anyone anymore.
The look of relief on Zoe’s face was priceless.
As they prepared to leave, one of the police officers asked Zoe if there was anything else they could do. Zoe looked at me and I saw the question in her eyes. I nodded encouragingly.
‘Yes, actually,’ she said, her voice strong, her shoulders back. ‘I’d like to report an old case of sexual and physical abuse.’
The officers listened to Zoe’s story and assured her that they took allegations like that very seriously – it didn’t matter that several years had passed. She needed to go to the police station to give a formal report and Zoe asked if she could do that now.
‘The police will need me to go into more detail and I’d rather not subject you to the specifics. You know enough and I’d rather we left it there. Does that make sense?’
It made perfect sense. I’d wanted to spare my parents the specifics of what Leanne did to me, to protect them as much as myself. With one of the officers assuring me that they’d bring Zoe back later, I accepted her wishes to go solo on this one.
When she’d gone, I wandered over to my laptop and opened up the email sitting in my drafts. I’d questioned earlier whether it was worth it but it was. If Zoe could be courageous enough to outline the harrowing wrongdoings at the hands of people who should have cared about her, so could I.
To: Kirsten Sanderson, Tim Sanderson
From: Tara Porter
RE: The Truth
Hi both,
I pride myself in always telling the truth but I haven’t been completely honest with you. I told you that I mainly blamed Leanne rather than Garth for what happened. You asked me why and questioned whether I’d told you everything. I hadn’t.
When we reunited in December, I assumed you knew the full story but it soon became apparent that you only knew parts of it.
With Leanne cut out of your lives at that point, I saw no need to hurt you and embarrass myself by filling in the blanks but, with Leanne back, it’s time to bite the bullet.
I can’t soften the blow but I hope this helps you understand why I can’t have anything to do with Leanne because the truth is so much worse than her setting me up with a man who didn’t love me…
I idolised my big sister – you know that – and I thought she loved me too so I lapped up her advice and would have done anything she asked.
So when she presented me with a rather unusual congratulations-on-finishing-your-exams gift after my final GCSE, I was surprised and unsure but I genuinely believed she had my best interests at heart.
The gift? A drop-dead gorgeous man called Isaac.