Chapter 22
The one Mrs Clayton hides from everyone
Clara
“What even is gravy?” asked Rafe.
Poppy put her hands on her hips and tilted her head to the side. “Oh, I’ve never really thought about it. I’ve only ever seen it in the gravy boat. Never considered how it was actually made. Isn’t it just sort of meat juice?”
Lily snorted. “Meat juice? Holy crap! Save me from spoiled aristocrats who’ve never had to lift a finger for themselves their entire lives. No, Lord and Lady Sterling, it is not just meat juice.” Lily sighed. “Where’s your flour? I’m a shit cook but I’m better than you two numpties.”
“Lily, let me do it,” I said, stepping forward and taking the flour out of her hands.
Lily gave a sigh of relief. “Thank God for that. Clara is a brilliant cook.”
“Yes, I know,” said Rafe, through a smile.
Lily lifted an eyebrow. She looked between Rafe and me. “So you’re cooking for Lord of the Manor on the reg, are you, Clara?” she asked.
I attempted a casual shrug which was not casual in the slightest. “Well, I’m living here. It’s the least I can do. I mean, Ozzie likes my meatballs, so...”
“Yeah, I love Clara’s meatballs,” shouted Ozzie as he sprinted into the kitchen, straight to me, colliding with my legs and sending me back onto one foot.
I just about managed to keep hold of the flour, but some of it puffed up from the open top, settling in a cloud over me and Ozzie, so we were covered in a light dusting of white.
“You’re here!” shouted Ozzie as he looked up from his tight hug around my middle.
I smiled down at him, my heart tugging painfully. “Of course I’m here, Oz.”
“And George is here!” He ran to the small fish tank on the granite surface and pressed his nose up against the glass. “Hi George. I’m gonna feed you every day until you’re massive!”
“Careful, you don’t make that fish explode, Oscar Sterling,” said Lily.
Ozzie’s gaze shot to her and his eyes flew wide. “Miss Summerfield,” he breathed as he took a step away from me and pointed straight at Lily. “Miss Summerfield is here.” He was staring and pointing at her as if she were a lion that had escaped from the zoo.
Poppy laughed and came over to scoop him up, ruffle his hair, and give him sloppy kisses on his cheek, which he reluctantly accepted. “Don’t be rude, you little squishball,” she told him.
“Auntie Poppy,” he said under his breath, “you can’t call me squishball in front of my teachers.”
“Oh, come on, everyone can see how squishy you are,” she said, tickling him until he laughed.
“Hey, Oz,” said Lily, “I hope it’s all right that I—”
“For Christ’s sake, Rafe!” A cut-glass posh accent cut through what Lily was going to say and I heard high heels clicking across the tiles of the kitchen. “Your fucking guard dogs tried to oust me from my own bloody house again.”
Ozzie moved back into my side and I automatically reached to brush some of the flour out of his hair.
The most glamorous woman I’d ever seen in my life stopped a few feet from the kitchen island, thrust out her hip and put her hand on it.
She had a tall, willowy frame, her hair perfectly styled in blonde waves.
I suddenly felt distinctly underdressed in my baggy jeans and sweatshirt combo.
This woman was wearing a beautiful, what looked like cashmere jumper, combined with a mid-length silk cream skirt and a structured blazer, and was carrying an Hermès bag.
She could have walked straight off a Paris catwalk and not have looked out of place.
“Sophia,” Rafe said through gritted teeth.
Of course, this was Rafe’s ex-wife. I’d seen photos of her in various magazines. To be honest, in real life, she was even more glamorous and intimidating than she looked in the society pages.
“Hi, Soph, always a pleasure,” Poppy muttered. It was the first time I’d ever heard Poppy less than her one hundred and ten percent enthusiastic self. If I were honest, I didn’t think it was possible for her to sound like that.
“Yes, quite,” Sophia said through a fake smile. Then her eyes snapped to me.
I realised that my hand was still in Ozzie’s hair. I quickly let it drop to my side.
“Who are you, and what are you doing in my husband’s house?” she said, taking a couple of steps towards me.
I automatically took a step back and saw a flash of triumph in her eyes. This woman was a bully. I could recognise bullies easily. I’d been around them all my life, after all.
“Ex-husband, Sophia, remember,” Rafe said again through gritted teeth.
“Semantics,” she said with a wave of her hand.
Rafe shook his head. “Not semantics. Very legal, Sophia. Very, very legal.” He sighed. “Sophia, this is Clara and Lily, Ozzie’s teachers from school.”
“And they’re in your house. Why?” she said, narrowing her eyes at both of us.
“Because I invited them, Sophia.”
“Hey, Oz,” Poppy put in as she took Ozzie’s hand. “Why don’t you show me your new Lego set? Daddy said you’d built a bat cave or something.”
Ozzie snorted and rolled his eyes. “Not a bat cave, Auntie Poppy. It’s an Avengers Assemble Age of Ultron Base.”
“Sorry, my mistake, squishball. Come on then, show me this masterpiece.”
Sophia turned her attention from me and Lily to look at her son and the transformation was instant. Her face warmed and her expression softened.
“Come give Mama a hug before you run off, darling,” she said in a tone so gentle and loving that she seemed like a completely different woman.
Ozzie ran to her as she squatted down and she folded him into her arms. “Don’t be mean to Miss Clara and Miss Lily, Mama,” I heard Ozzie whisper. “Miss Clara’s the one what helped me read good.”
She stroked his hair as she pulled back to look into his eyes. “I won’t be mean, baby boy.”
“’K. I’ll miss you.”
“Miss you too, gorgeous little man.”
As Poppy led Ozzie out of the kitchen and Sophia straightened, I could see a sheen of tears over her eyes, but she blinked them away rapidly.
“Hello,” Lily said bravely, stepping forward and holding out her hand to Sophia.
“I’m Lily – Miss Summerfield. I don’t think we’ve met.
I think you might have been away for parents’ evening.
” Sophia looked at Lily’s hand for a long moment.
I thought she was going to leave Lily hanging but in the end she did deign to touch her fingers to hers very briefly.
“Sophia doesn’t tend to go to parents’ evenings, do you, Sophia?” said Rafe.
Sophia rolled her eyes, her cold mask slipping back into place.
“Some of us have to travel for work, actually.” Her eyes shot back to me and narrowed.
“Oh, you’re the teaching assistant, aren’t you?
The one Mrs Clayton hides from everyone.
My son talks about you all the time. He tells me that you’re staying here. Is that true?”
“It seemed expedient for Clara to stay here, Sophia, as that nanny you recommended was a complete bitch. I needed childcare. Plus, Clara is helping Ozzie. You know that.”
Sophia’s lip curled and I could see she was gearing up for a fight. But Rafe and Sophia fighting wasn’t productive. It was the last thing Ozzie needed.
“Oz talks about you as well,” I told her quietly. She tore her gaze away from Rafe and blinked at me.
“W-what?” she asked, totally thrown.
“He tells me about his beautiful, kind mummy. About how you give the best hugs in the world.” I smiled at her.
All of this was true. Whatever Sophia was like to everyone else she was definitely loving with her son.
“He also told me that you got very cross with him when he said he thought he was stupid. That you think he’s the smartest little boy in London. ”
“Oh…” She turned away and smoothed her hair back over her shoulders, clearly trying to gather herself. “I…” she cleared her throat. “I’m sorry. I was rude just now.”
“Not at all,” I told her. “If living arrangements change, it’s important for everyone to be aware.”
“Yes,” she agreed.
“You should have told Sophia I was living here,” I told Rafe.
Rafe looked between me and Sophia and then gave a stiff nod. “Yes. I should have done. I apologise, Sophia.”
She nodded back, then turned to me again. “Miss Clara, I… thank you.”
“What––?”
“For what you’re doing for Ozzie. He read with me last week so… thank you.” That sheen was over her eyes again but she blinked rapidly to clear it. “And I’m sorry I was rude before. I just… I’m finding it difficult after the divorce.” She turned to Rafe. “If you’d just talk to me about us, I––”
“Sophia, we’ve been over this,” Rafe said firmly. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
Sophia shook her head. “Rafe, please. I––”
“Sophia, darling,” a posh voice sounded from the doorway of the kitchen and we all turned that way to see the Earl and Countess of Dorset standing there with an elderly lady that must have been Rafe and Poppy’s Granny. “I think it’s time to run along now,” the countess continued.
“Yes, sod off,” put in the elderly lady. “Bloody Knightsbridge riff-raff. Honestly Rafe, you should have known better.”
Neither the countess nor the dowager were wearing the kind of red-soled, high-fashion heels as Sophia.
Their shoes were far sturdier and the countess had teamed hers with perfectly fitted trousers, a twin set and pearls, whilst the dowager wore a headscarf and, bizarrely, a wax jacket.
Rafe’s father had streaks of grey in his hair and the same lordly air as Rafe, but was wearing a tweed coat which on anyone else would have looked ridiculous.
On him, it only enhanced his old-money aura.
“This is my home,” Sophia said, her face flushing and her expression twisting with anger.
“It hasn’t been your home since you decided to shag that actor fellow, darling,” said the earl and I blinked in shock. These people were clearly the level of posh where zero fucks were given. “Run along and do give your father my regards. I understand his estate has been faltering of late.”
Sophia’s eyes snapped to the earl and her face paled.
His voice changed subtly with his next words, dropping just that little bit lower with a hint of menace threading through the words. “It would be a shame if the estate went under completely, don’t you think, Sophia? It can be difficult to protect these old legacies. Such a shame.”
A shiver went down my spine. I was very attuned to sensing danger. There was something about this man, behind the gentlemanly exterior, that was almost scary.
“So important for everything to be pleasant after a divorce, isn’t it?” put in the countess, her smile more like a baring of teeth now. “For Ozzie. It would be terrible if that weren’t the case.”
Sophia looked afraid now. The way the earl and the countess were looking at her was almost sinister, more like members of my family would look at people they were intimidating.
I swallowed nervously. The comparisons were making me feel unsettled.
“Right, I’ll just be going,” Sophia muttered as she hurried to leave, bobbing a curtsy as she went past the earl and the countess.
Oh shit, was I supposed to be curtsying as well? I grabbed onto Lily’s arm and she gave me a confused look, clearly not understanding what I was panicking about.
But then the front door slammed and it was too late.
The earl and countess were descending on Lily and me.
The sinister look in the earl’s eyes was completely gone now.
He looked just like an affable older gentleman should on a Sunday.
Kind smile on his lips, one hand in his pocket, totally relaxed.
“The amazing Clara. I’ve heard so much about you,” he said as he crossed the kitchen towards me. “And Miss Summerfield, I presume.”
“Lord Sterling,” I stuttered out as I performed an inexpert curtsy complete with comical wobble.
“Oh, darling,” said the countess as she moved to me, took me by my shoulders and then air-kissed either side of my head, before giving Lily the same treatment.
“You don’t have to bother with all that.
Sophia only does it because my husband scares the bollocks off her.
She’s a good mum when she’s actually here, but she can be a raving bitch otherwise and it’s best to keep her reined in.
Now, no Lord or Lady bollocks. We’re George and Eleanor. ”
“And you can call me Granny Sterling, dear,” put in the dowager as she gave me her own air kisses. “Every other bugger does.”
Lily let out a high-pitched, squeaky laugh. Her hand flew to her face, which went red.
“So you’re the dynamic duo who’ve been sorting out my grandson,” the earl said. “We owe you a debt of gratitude, I understand.”
“I—well, we—it’s Ozzie who’s done all the work. We just—”
“Clara, honestly,” Lily cut me off. “Don’t listen to her. Clara’s an absolute wonder when it comes to working with the kids with dyslexia and bringing them out of themselves. And Oz is a great kid to have in class. He’s so bright.”
“Yes, he really is bright,” I managed to get out in a quiet voice.
“Well, of course,” the countess said. “I’ve always known that. Jolly good show, smoothing things over with my ex-daughter-in-law, by the way.”
“Rafe,” the earl said. “If Sophia is giving you trouble again, we could consider––”
“Dad, not now,” said Rafe.
I had no idea what Lord Sterling was about to say, but I did notice that sinister quality come back into his eyes.
If I were honest with myself, I would admit that this family scared the bollocks off me as well.