Chapter 29
‘They’ve arrived, are you going to drop round and open them?’
Mam sounded like an overexcited ten-year-old. So, the dress she was going to be decked out in for Mam’s wedding, chosen by Maxine, had finally arrived. It could go either way: she was an autumn-colouring type and Maxine was winter, so there was going to have to be a compromise somewhere. Frankly, she’d more pressing things to attend to. The Bondarenko twins’ mother hadn’t been able to find a cow costume to fit them, so Cassie had volunteered to make it herself, and time had become dangerously short. She veered left off the N11 and headed up towards Mam’s.
There was a large cardboard box sitting on the sofa, like an unexploded bomb.
‘Don’t touch it while I make tea. I picked up a Black Forest gateau, will you have a slice?’
‘Mam, we’re supposed to be trying to look our best, we can’t be scoffing cake every day.’
‘Ah, well, we’ll all be dead long enough. We can cut down the fortnight before, that’ll do it.’
After they enjoyed a slice of cake and a cup of tea, Mam couldn’t contain her curiosity any longer and approached the box with a pair of scissors.
‘Right, let’s have a look.’ She cut open the sticky tape and folded back the lid to reveal .?.?. pine-green fabric .?.?. with silver piping. Mam’s horrified expression mirrored Cassie’s. It was a July wedding.
She pulled the first dress, her size, out of the cellophane bag and stared at it. The fabric was cheap and shiny, and she could see Mam beginning to panic.
‘I’ll try it on, it may be one of those garments that doesn’t have .?.?. what do they call it? Hanger appeal.’
She slipped out of her clothes and into the slithery polyester dress, which clung to her but definitely not in the right way. Eric bustled in gamely with a full-length mirror. He caught sight of her and there was no mistaking his look of dismay. Mam was starting to cry.
He couldn’t restrain himself. ‘Oh dear, I’ve seen classier-looking fertiliser bags.’
‘They’re awful, just dire.’ Mam sobbed.
‘I’m phoning Maxine, she’ll be around at this time. They must’ve looked completely different online, that’s the only explanation,’ Cassie muttered, aware of rising fury. She video-called her sister’s number and paced up and down, waiting. Surprisingly, Maxine picked up almost immediately.
‘Hey, how’s it going?’
Cassie tried to control her voice. ‘Maxie, you stay right there, don’t move, and I’m going to show you the dress.’
She propped the phone up on the mantelpiece and stepped back into view. It took a moment for the shock to register on Maxine’s face.
‘Oh. I mean, I was a little unsure about the colour, but the dresses looked gorgeous.’
‘Well, they’re not. Maxine, they’re poxy. We’re going to look like Santa’s elves’ mammies.’
‘Oh God, Mam, I’m sorry.’
By this point Mam was helping herself to a second wedge of Black Forest gateau, but Cassie whipped it out of her hand.
‘That won’t help, trust me. OK, what’s going to happen is, I’m going to pack this dress into the box and send it straight back. Then Mam and I are going straight back down to Marian Gale, this very minute, and we’re going to buy two new bridesmaids’ dresses.’
‘Cass, I’m sorry, I was genuinely thinking of your colouring.’
‘I know, stick around, I’ll need you later. It’s all going to be fine,’ she said confidently, feeling the exact opposite. If things didn’t fall into place fast, they were in big trouble.
*?*?*
‘And do you have an appointment?’ enquired the formally dressed assistant, flicking through a large diary. They both shook their heads guiltily.
‘It’s an emergency.’
Cassie relayed the slithery-dress debacle in as few words as possible, more for her own benefit than the assistant’s, who smiled politely but clearly couldn’t give a toss.
‘Well, never mind, let’s see what we can do.’
They were shown a range of bridesmaids’ dresses suited to women closer to half her age.
‘Would you like a little peep at our mother-of-the-bride selection, just for options?’
‘We would not, thank you very much, we’ll make this work,’ growled Mam. She could say what she liked to her daughters, but let anyone else dare to cast shade and they’d feel her wrath. In the end, Cassie tried on a silvery lavender-blue strapless gown which, thankfully, looked great on her slim frame.
‘And what about Maxine?’ said Mam doubtfully. ‘I’m not sure I can see her in strapless.’
‘I have an idea,’ said the assistant, who – having realised she stood to earn some commission – had thawed considerably. ‘We call it the rescue section.’ She pulled out a length of the same shade in tulle and created a halterneck effect which rendered the dress slightly less girlish while maintaining the lightness of the design.
‘I love it,’ breathed Mam. ‘Come on, let’s get Maxine on the phone.’
Maxine appeared to be in a grocery store but managed to wedge herself into the quietest corner she could find, so Cassie could model the dresses to the incongruous vision of Maxine framed by beer cans. She looked crestfallen but agreed that the dress would be lovely. Cassie felt sorry for her.
‘On the bright side, Maxine, it’s close as dammit to mauve.’
*?*?*
Following a successful shopping expedition and having deposited the bridesmaids’ dresses safely at Mam’s house, Cassie landed through the door of her apartment and collapsed in the hall.
‘Cass, is that you?’ came a voice from the kitchen.
‘I can’t remember. I’m emotionally drained.’
She pulled herself to her feet and trailed in to find that Ramona had taken over the entire table with a sketch pad and a desktop computer on which she’d created a variety of designs in an astonishingly short length of time.
‘You can’t buy this stuff. Not now. But I’m betting it’s how a truckload of people would dream of dressing if they could. Like, not all the time, obviously.’
Cassie picked up a sketch from the table; it was a top made of what looked like armour, with leather straps, and worn with some sort of skirt and chunky lace-up boots. It looked like something out of one of Gav’s computer games.
‘Wow, these are kind of .?.?. sensational. They’d have a cult following, they really would.’
‘Sure, they’re not cosplay costumes, they’re club clothes. It’s not like I’m planning on opening a shop. These are niche, pricey and highly desirable to a certain clientele.’
‘OK, you really seem to know your market.’
‘Honey, I’ve been secretly dreaming of this for years. What else am I going to think of while spinning upside-down on a pole.’
‘So, how’re you going to get it all made?’
‘I’ve found a manufacturer in China who can source the materials, seeing as they’re not mainstream fabrics.’
‘Sounds like it’s going to need a ton of money.’
‘Grandma’s a feisty old bird. Most of the time she’d freeze your blood on the spot, but when she likes something .?.?. stand back.’
‘And she likes .?.?.?’
‘You betcha, she’s already planning her outfit for the launch. It’s going to include a limited makeup range – very futuristic, male and female – incredible footwear .?.?. I swear to God, you will never have seen anything like it. It’s going to be like Biba was in the 1960s in London. The original.’
‘Ramona, this is so exciting. Are you covering it on TikTok or Instagram?’
‘Are you fucking kidding? And let some other douche get the jump on me? No way.’
‘So, what happens now?’
‘Tomorrow at 6 a.m. I’ve a flight to London and from there to Beijing. I’ve an interpreter meeting me at the airport, so sayonara, baby. But enough about me, what’ve you been doing?’
Cassie’s heart sank a little. How to follow that? She explained about the disastrous bridesmaids’ dresses and their dash to replace them with something decent. In fairness to Ramona, she wasn’t the least bit snobby and laughed heartily at the online slithery horrors.
‘Oh, man. Some people have a neck like an armadillo with the stuff they’ll try to pass off. Just make sure she gets her refund.’
Spoken like a pro, Cassie thought.
*?*?*
The apartment felt empty over the next couple of days, although that meant Cassie had plenty of time in the evening to cut out the black-and-white cow costume from a pattern off the internet and then start the tricky job of piecing it together without accidentally sewing the legs to each other. She was settling in for the evening, when her phone buzzed. It was Finn.
‘Hey, what’s going on?’
There was a rueful laugh from the other end. ‘Guess?’
‘Er .?.?. OK. The guy at work who should be on call tomorrow night was abducted by aliens, so you need me to babysit?’
‘You don’t have to, I can find somebody else. But if you do, I’m going to bring you out for dinner on Saturday to make up for it.’
‘Shut up. You can’t afford to keep bringing me out for dinner every time you get an emergency. That guy seems like a lazy shite, with his endless excuses, and deserves to be fired but apart from that, it’s fine, I’d like to. I’ve been sewing together a cow’s arse all week and I could do with a change of scenery. See you tomorrow at six thirty.’
It was only when she put the phone down that she reflected on how she’d got used to what was actually a pretty weird situation, when you took a step back. Far from being furious that somebody else was stepping in to look after her children, at this moment Marisha didn’t seem to have the energy to care. She was obviously coasting until the end of term. Nonetheless, a wave of unease passed through Cassie, what Da used to call a goose walking on your grave. Come on. Was she just looking for something to worry about when everything in reality was fine?
*?*?*
Only Cici and Con were there when she arrived. Finn stopped her in the hallway.
‘Just to let you know, Samantha is expecting her period so she might be a little salty when she gets back. Don’t be surprised.’
‘Got it, it’s a tricky time,’ she said, while what was going through her mind was, Feck that! Teenagers could have particularly dramatic period symptoms, true. Nonetheless, this smacked of a Samantha Special. She was being granted a pass to hold the family to ransom. How was she getting away with it? Imagine if she’d tried a lark like that with Mam or even Da at fourteen? Cassie had vivid memories of being given two Feminax and a hot-water bottle, and told to lie down and stop moaning.
She slipped into the routine. Cici’s homework seemed to consist mostly of drawing pictures of what her summer holidays would be like. Yikes, she thought, here’s hoping all the kids had something exciting planned. Con glanced at her neutrally and then continued with his maths, which wasn’t unusual for him, and not to be taken personally, she’d recognised.
Cici vanished for a moment and returned with St Teresa, who was kitted out in a dress made entirely of tinfoil, including a tinfoil hat. Cassie knew better than to even crack a smile but there was no doubt the doll had a new and important role.
‘It’s armour,’ she explained gravely. ‘She has to protect my daddy.’
‘I see .?.?.’
‘Samantha says we have to protect him from you because you’re the wicked stepmother.’ Cassie was not totally surprised, but something about Cici’s innocence made the situation even more upsetting.
‘Cici, I’m not trying to take anything away from anyone. St Teresa is very special at protecting the family, and I’ve no doubt she does, but she doesn’t need to protect it from me.’
Cici’s round hazel eyes were unsure. ‘Is that true?’ she whispered.
Cassie felt a surge of fury. What did the teenager think she was doing, manipulating the younger children? And yet, she’d to remind herself, Samantha was technically still a child too.
As though on cue, the buzzer sounded and a minute later Samantha flounced into the hall and flung down her bag, coat, hockey stick and a bottle of Lucozade in a jumbled pile.
‘Hi, what’s for dinner?’ she called breezily.
Feck that, she wasn’t going to get away with causing devastation and then pretending it’d nothing to do with her.
‘Samantha, have you a moment?’
Cassie followed her into the bedroom that used to be Finn’s but was now Samantha’s, although there was little evidence she’d actually moved in, apart from an oversized yellow check duvet cover.
‘What?’
‘I think you know what, Sam. You’ve been saying rotten things about me to the younger ones and upsetting them.’
Cassie could see her bristling.
‘You’re not my mother and I can say anything I want to my own little brother and sister.’ This was veering way off target; she needed to change tack or she was only going to make things worse.
‘Look, Samantha .?.?.’ The girl had exactly the sort of defiant look she could imagine her giving a teacher. ‘I know it’s tough when your parents split up, and even more so when they meet somebody else. I’m sorry this is how you feel, and in your shoes, I’d have probably felt something similar.’
‘Well, you’re not me and I don’t care what you’d have done at fourteen, so fuck off and leave my family alone. And don’t think you can get to my dad behind my back, because he’ll always pick me over you.’
Cassie picked up that, underneath, the girl was very unsure of herself, but another part of her recognised that what she said was true. No wonder Marisha could afford to be so magnanimous – she’d somebody far more effective to fight her battles for her. On the other hand, if Samantha thought that Cassie coming into her dad’s life was bad, just wait for what was coming down the tracks from her sainted mother.
For the rest of the evening, Cassie kept very quiet, serving the food and helping Cici with her night-time routine. Con still wouldn’t meet her eye. She busied herself tidying away the dinner things – because apparently teenagers didn’t do chores anymore – but the truth was, she felt like shutting herself in the bathroom and breaking down in tears. Teenager or not, Samantha was old enough to know exactly how to wound an adult but had learned nothing of the complexities of life that might have softened her attack.
Finn arrived back at eleven and Cassie met him in the hallway, already in her jacket.
‘Hey, why the big rush, what’s wrong?’
Cassie briefly explained to him the conversation with Samantha, who no doubt was straining her ears to the max behind her door.
‘And you know what, Finn, maybe she has a point.’
Right now, Cassie felt too exhausted to talk any more about it. Finn looked disturbed, though he certainly didn’t jump to her defence with a burst of indignation, but then, had she really expected him to? Stop me leaving , a little voice inside her was crying out, tell me she’s wrong . But nothing happened. Cassie stepped out into the corridor and the door closed behind her like the end of an era.