One of the Family

Chapter 11

After dinner, we all went into the living room, Miranda taking the sofa, with Jasmine beside her, Lewis in one armchair and me in the other.

Holly sat on a beanbag near my feet. I had hoped the tension over Charles going hunting would have put everyone off having a games night, but they seemed keener than ever.

‘This is actually better,’ Miranda said before Jasmine came down. ‘We’ve got Jasmine on her own, without Dad to protect her. And my husband won’t be there to ruin it with his sour face.’

‘Are you two heading for divorce?’ Holly asked.

‘Of course not. You think I want two failed marriages?’

‘Let’s play,’ Lewis said now, shooting me a quick look, possibly seeking reassurance that I wasn’t going to tell Miranda what he had said to Zack. ‘It’s the truth game, but with a little twist. Two lies and one truth.’

‘That’s a bit weird,’ I said.

He smirked. ‘We like lies around here. All you have to do is tell us three statements about yourself, two of which are false. You’re just not allowed to make them too obvious.’

We were all drinking whisky except Jasmine, who had a bottle of red wine to herself. She seemed a little bewildered and groggy, as if the jet lag had really hit her.

‘Holly, do you want to start?’ Lewis asked.

‘Okay. Fine.’ Holly gave me a quick kiss, then spent a couple of minutes thinking of her statements before starting.

‘I have a third nipple, like a witch.’

‘Oh, come off it,’ Miranda said. ‘That’s way too easy. We’ve all seen you naked. I used to bathe you when you were little, remember.’

‘Also, there was that porn video you made,’ Lewis said.

She reached over and slapped him. ‘Fuck off.’

‘I shudder to think how many people actually have seen you naked,’ Miranda said, and Holly’s mouth dropped open. I think mine probably did, too. Her sister went on: ‘Don’t look so offended, Holly. Didn’t you use to work in a titty bar in Australia?’

‘It wasn’t a “titty bar”! I wore a bikini.’

I knew about this already. How Holly had spent a month working as a ‘skimpy’ in a bar in a Western Australian mining town. It was all part of her colourful past, when she had travelled the world after her mum’s death.

‘Come on, keep going,’ Lewis said. ‘I don’t want to hear another word about my sister’s tits.’

Holly stuck her middle finger up at him. ‘Okay. Two.’ She fixed her gaze on the carpet. ‘I’m upset because all the photos of my mother that were on display in this house have been put in a drawer.’

I glanced at Jasmine, who was clearly shocked. I was shocked, too, but Holly wouldn’t meet my eye. She stared at the carpet, cheeks a pink blaze.

‘Is that true?’ Jasmine asked.

There was a tremor in Holly’s voice when she replied. ‘We noticed earlier that the photos of our mum have been removed from display. It appears Charles asked Morag to do it.’

‘Oh.’ Jasmine was clearly mortified. ‘I promise you that has nothing to do with me. I have no desire to replace your mother or to do anything to erase her. I really don’t want my presence here to cause any of you any pain.’

I could still hardly believe Holly had brought up the missing pictures in this fashion – this wasn’t the kind, thoughtful person I knew – but to her credit, she looked horrified with herself, clearly regretting what she’d done.

‘I’m sorry, Jasmine. It’s just … I’m so angry with Dad for doing it.’

‘Sweetheart, I’m mad with him, too. Like I’m some delicate flower who can’t cope with seeing pictures of my fiancée’s first wife? This is bullshit.’

I was holding my breath. And then Miranda did what I was waiting for. Pointed at the elephant in the room. ‘Do you want to know why he hid them?’

There was a long silence.

‘I already know,’ she said, to my surprise. ‘It’s because we look quite similar.’

‘Quite similar?’ Miranda interjected.

‘Okay, very similar. I found some old photos of her online, which wasn’t easy – I guess she died before we all started posting hundreds of pictures of ourselves online – and none of the pictures I did find were high res, but yeah, I can see we look alike.’

We all waited.

‘It went through my head, of course. Is that the only reason he likes me? But then I rationalized it. I mean, duh, my resemblance to you guys’ mom is obviously what grabbed his attention. But it wouldn’t be enough to make him fall in love with me, right?’

Jasmine went on. ‘It’s not like we’re similar in any other ways. We have different accents, I’m assuming we have different personalities, likes and dislikes. Looks are just skin deep, right? Love is about connection, chemistry, vibes. I’m confident Charles doesn’t only love me because of my face.’

‘Does he know that you know?’ I asked.

‘I haven’t mentioned it.’

I think we were all stunned. Surely there was some self-persuasion going on here?

We all do it to a degree when we start a new relationship: force ourselves to get past something, whether it’s a character trait, an opinion, a behaviour.

Even with Holly, there had been a couple of things: her blindness to her own privilege and, more importantly, her relationship history.

Most of her exes, like the indie musician, were ‘bad boys’.

The kind of men who treat their girlfriends like shit.

It worried me, because I’m not like that.

If anything, my flaw is that I get too keen too quickly.

I thought Holly might be trying out what it was like to date a nice guy, and that she would soon get bored of nights in with a takeaway and an eighties film.

But she assured me she loved me because I was what she wanted now she was older and more mature.

‘I’m sick of mess and darkness and complications,’ she had said. ‘I just want something uncomplicated and good.’

And so I had learned to believe her, and stop worrying about her past.

Jasmine, it seemed, was willing to look past something that many of us, probably most of us, would see as a red flag that would be way too big too ignore. Was that because she loved Charles so much?

Or – and it bothered me that this popped into my head – was it because he was rich?

‘I do understand that it must be weird for you guys,’ Jasmine said. ‘It’s the main reason I was anxious about meeting you.’

There was a silence, broken by Lewis saying, ‘I think I need another drink. Jasmine, thank you for being open and honest with us. It was a shock seeing you. I’m sure we all acted weird. But I think what you’ve said makes sense. Right, Holly? Miranda?’

I wasn’t sure they completely agreed, but they both said, ‘Yes.’

Lewis left the room and came back with a fresh bottle of whisky, pouring himself a glass and offering the bottle round. I accepted gladly, as did Miranda.

‘Okay, where were we?’ Lewis said. ‘There’s no point Holly carrying on because we already know it will be a lie. I’ll go next.’ He pondered for a moment.

‘Number one, when I was fourteen, I told my dad I intended to make a career as a playwright.’

‘That one is false,’ Holly said. ‘You wanted to be a poet. I’ll never forget Dad’s face.

Mum was really encouraging – she was a lover of the arts, Patrick, and would have loved to have had a son who was a writer – but Dad actually rang the head teacher of Lewis’s school and shouted at her for filling Lewis’s head with “poncey nonsense”. ’

‘So what did you do?’ I asked. ‘Did you rebel?’

‘Oh yes. I pursued all the “poncey” careers. Tried writing, acting, painting.’

‘And then he gave in and joined the company,’ Miranda said.

‘Briefly.’

‘Until he was fired.’

‘I resigned, actually.’

Miranda snorted. ‘Zack told me you were forced to resign.’

‘Talk about me a lot, do you?’

‘Only when we’re really bored.’

Jasmine watched this exchange like someone witnessing a bar fight.

‘Touché.’ Lewis smirked. ‘Back to the game. Number two, the car outside is borrowed from a friend because I’m too broke to even lease my own. And three: I’m really happy that Dad is going to marry Jasmine.’

Miranda made a vomiting noise.

‘You’re such an arse-kisser,’ she said. ‘Why don’t you pull her pants down and give her a smacker right on the fanny.’

‘You’re unbelievable.’

‘I’m using it in the American sense,’ Miranda said, employing what was obviously intended to be a sweet smile. ‘Fanny meaning bottom. I didn’t mean you should kiss her on her c—’

‘Stop!’ Lewis snapped at her. ‘What the hell is wrong with you?

Holly grabbed Miranda’s glass. ‘You shouldn’t be allowed to drink whisky. It always ends horribly. I think you should apologize to Jasmine.’

‘Oh, no.’ Jasmine put her palms up. I couldn’t tell if she was horrified or amused. Maybe both. ‘It’s all good.’

Miranda narrowed her eyes at Jasmine. I was sure she must have been drunk to say these things, but she still sounded completely in control. ‘I apologize. I am very sorry. The very definition of contrite.’

It was excruciating. I tried to catch Holly’s eye to convey this, but she was too busy staring at Miranda, who sat there with a fake smile on her face.

Lewis sighed. ‘I’ve had enough of this. The true one was obviously number three.’

‘Of course it was,’ Miranda said. ‘We’re all delighted about Dad marrying Jasmine. And I’m sure she’s thrilled to be joining our family.’

‘I am,’ Jasmine said, somehow keeping her dignity through all this. I was impressed by how cool she managed to remain.

‘It’s lucky Dad didn’t take Lewis on that holiday to Florida instead of Zack. I bet if Lewis had spotted you first he’d have swooped in before Dad got a chance.’

‘You’re out of order,’ Lewis said. He tried to apologize to Jasmine, but Miranda talked over him.

‘But Dad would never take Lewis on holiday with him, just like he wouldn’t take him hunting. Poor Lewis. He wants Dad to love him, and that’s why he hates Zack. Zack’s the son Dad never had.’

Lewis glowered at her. ‘I hate Zack because he’s an arsehole.’

‘Guys, please,’ Holly said. ‘This is horrible. You’re both drunk.’

‘Shut up, Holly,’ Miranda said, sitting up and opening her eyes. ‘Your new boyfriend’s not much better than Lewis. Another artistic type, although at least he’s actually prepared to go out and do a shit, embarrassing job and isn’t a parasite like you.’

I was too stunned to speak. But I was also fascinated. I wanted to know what she would do next, while also dreading it. Jasmine stared at her, too.

‘Are you calling me a parasite?’ Lewis asked. ‘You’ve never even had a job.’

‘That’s not true. I’m a mother. A homemaker.’

Lewis blew air through his lips. ‘What kind of home? Your husband spends more time with our dad than he does with you. You’re the parasite.’

Without warning, Miranda screamed the next sentence. ‘I’d rather be a parasite than a gold-digger.’

As she said these last two words, she pointed directly at Jasmine.

Boom. There it was. Forget the doppelg?nger thing. This was the true time bomb in the room. It had always been there, ticking away, but had been fully primed when Jasmine told us she didn’t care that she looked like Elizabeth. It had even crossed my mind, hadn’t it?

‘That’s it,’ Holly said. ‘Game over. I’m so sorry, Jasmine.’

Without another word she hauled Miranda to her feet and escorted her, swaying, from the room. Lewis followed them, stumbling as he went, leaving me alone with Jasmine.

‘Wow,’ she said after a moment. ‘I guess we both took a hit then, but I think mine was worse.’

‘That was mortifying. Are you okay?’

She looked a lot less upset than I expected. I could hear her inhaling and exhaling through her nose, trying to stay calm.

‘I’m okay,’ she said. ‘I deal with a lot of assholes working at the hotel. Rich folk who think people like me are beneath them.’ She stopped herself and took a deep breath.

‘Charles warned me Miranda might be hostile. He said she was always the most protective of him and the family, being the oldest daughter and all. He just didn’t tell me she was such a bitch. ’

She closed her eyes and, I think, counted to three beneath her breath. ‘I don’t mean that. I’m going to bed before I say anything else I regret. Goodnight, Patrick.’ She paused. ‘You sure you want to stay here for Hogmanay? I’m kinda stuck here, but you could go home.’

‘I just want to be with Holly.’

She nodded. ‘At least you picked the nice sister.’

She had a Louis Vuitton bag that I assumed had been a gift from Charles. It was on the floor in the corner of the living room, and she went over to pick it up, grabbing the handles.

She made a horrified, gasping noise and recoiled.

I hurried over. ‘What is it?’

‘In my bag. There’s a … there’s a snake.’

I froze. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Of course I’m sure!’

And as she said it, I saw it. The adder, curled up inside her expensive bag, red and brown, twitching in that horrible way snakes move. I still couldn’t move.

But Jasmine was less scared than me. She went over to the patio doors, slid them open, then grabbed the bag and threw it outside. In the light from the room, I saw the bag tip over and the snake emerge, slithering away into the shrubbery. Jasmine retrieved the bag and shut the doors.

‘I bet it was Miranda,’ she said. Her voice was surprisingly steady.

‘No, it was here, the snake, when we first got here. We thought it had gone outside, but …’

I trailed off. I could hear Holly and Lewis returning.

‘Don’t tell them,’ Jasmine whispered. ‘I don’t want Miranda to know she scared me.’

‘But I don’t—’

Holly and Lewis entered the room, and Jasmine shot me a look: don’t say a word.

I stayed quiet, even though I was sure it hadn’t been Miranda’s doing. Surely even she wouldn’t do something like that.

‘Goodnight,’ Jasmine said in a clipped tone, leaving the room.

‘That went well,’ Lewis said, after we’d all heard her go upstairs.

‘I blame you,’ snapped Holly. ‘Why do you and Miranda always have to act like children? Miranda goes on about being the person who keeps this family together, but it’s always me who has to smooth things over.’ A shake of the head. ‘We didn’t even get Jasmine to tell us anything about herself.’

‘It could have been worse,’ Lewis said.

‘How?’

He paused. ‘Think about all the truths we could have told.’