Chapter 2
Two
Gemma
We pull into Clover Lane and my heart pounds.
Ethan brakes quickly, and we almost hit a car that has been parked in the middle of the lane.
A man with a red bulbous nose comes out, shouting, but we can’t hear him.
I open the window. ‘You nearly killed us,’ I yell.
I turn my head to check the children are okay and they are, thankfully.
‘No, you nearly killed your family. Stop speeding.’ He points at Ethan. ‘Just watch your driving in future. Idiot.’ He shakes his head and frowns at Ethan. ‘You again. I thought I’d seen the last of you.’ He gets into his car while rudely shaking his head then he turns onto his drive.
Ethan closes the window, and Cora stirs. I glance back at the man, wondering if he lived here when I visited my aunt.
‘Ethan, what did he mean by “you again”?’
‘I almost hit his car last time. He leaves his car in the lane. Forget him.’
‘No, we can’t forget him. That wasn’t your fault. We could have crashed and it would have been his fault, and he came out shouting at us.’
Ethan takes a breath and pulls onto Aunt Dorette’s drive. ‘Let’s drop it, shall we? It doesn’t matter. It really is nothing. I’m tired and I need to get us moved in. We’ll deal with him another day, when we’ve had some food and a sleep.’
I look at him, not sure if I can drop it.
We have two children in the car who could have been hurt because of one entitled neighbour who thinks he can park where he likes, when he has a huge drive.
Ethan is right, though; there will be time later to deal with that problem.
We need to settle the children in. They’re exhausted.
While turning onto our drive, I look down, not wanting to catch sight of the entrance to the woods.
I take several deep breaths. It’s time to be strong, for my daughters.
As I get out of the car, a youngish woman is peering at us from the window above. She quickly slips away and I can’t see her anymore. One of the neighbours, a woman with what look like old acne scars on her face, runs over with a huge bunch of flowers.
‘Hi, I’m Tessa. I saw you pull up and just wanted to welcome you to the neighbourhood. I met your husband last month when he was working on the house and he said you had planned to move in today.’
My husband, the social butterfly. He’s already been out there making friends, which given my past is not what I wanted, but I smile regardless.
‘Lovely to meet you,’ I say as I unclip Cora from her car seat.
I feel a mess in my wide-leg jeans and jumper as she stands there in a leopard print jumper dress and cropped jacket.
Though it’s lovely to be greeted with a friendly face after the altercation we’ve just had.
‘She is so cute. Cora is such a pretty name and your other daughter must be Morgan.’ Tessa smiles at Cora with her plump pink lips.
I want to ask how she knows their names but I guess Ethan told her. ‘Yes, that’s our two. Do you have children?’ I hope she does. Morgan could do with some friends while we’re here.
‘No, we were never blessed.’
Damn, here for five minutes and I’ve already put my foot in it. ‘I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.’
‘It’s okay, honestly.’ She holds the flowers out. ‘Oh, these are for you to say welcome to the neighbourhood. Anyway, I won’t keep you. I know you must be busy but we should talk soon. I’m sorry for your loss too. Your aunt was much loved around here.’
‘Thank you, and the bouquet is beautiful.’
I nod to Morgan to get out of the car. I have my hands full and Ethan is wrestling to open the main door.
Morgan finally puts her phone away and steps out of the pickup. Tessa passes the flowers to her.
Tessa waves before heading off. I wonder if she lived here when I used to stay with my aunt.
She looks to be about fifteen years older than me.
I don’t remember her but I barely took any notice of the neighbours back then, and I’ve changed with age.
I’m not that skinny kid with tightly pulled back hair; I’m a little on the ample side now with my hair falling freely over my shoulders.
The past needs to stay well and truly there.
I can’t see the four-leaf clover plaque outside the main door.
My aunt obviously got rid of it. Ethan ushers me through the entrance hall and up the stairs.
I figure he’s not ready for me to be too shocked by what lies outside the apartment yet.
He promised me weeks here, not months, and I’ll hold him to that.
As we step into the apartment, it’s like being back home.
Our furniture has been carefully placed into the main space with love and care.
I’d almost forgive myself for not believing we weren’t back in our Bristol snug.
The only giveaway is the old floral wallpaper and eighties-style pink lampshades.
Ethan hasn’t touched the walls, floors or ceilings.
He brings his arms up behind me. ‘Well. What do you think?’
I shiver. It’s freezing and I’m still struggling to forgive him for allowing our finances to spiral without telling me.
As we drove up north it got colder and colder.
Here, there is snow on the ground and from what I read in the local paper online, this area can be prone to power cuts.
That’s why Ethan has left torches everywhere and we have a generator, so work will continue through anything the weather gods throw at us.
‘It’s better than I thought it would be. ’
Morgan dumps the flowers on the worktop at the far end before picking Cora up and storming into one of the rooms off the main living space. She’s barely spoken to either of us on the drive up.
‘I guess she’s still giving us the silent treatment.’ Ethan glances over his shoulder.
I shrug. ‘I get why. I’m not sure if I should still be giving you the silent treatment.’
He faces me and takes my hands in his. ‘Thank you for doing this. I know you didn’t want to and I am so sorry for everything. I’m going to make this right.’
My heart pounds. ‘Hide anything like that from me again, Ethan Houghton, and that’s it.
I mean it.’ I decided to forgive him. He’d dealt with unexpected subsidence and several other catastrophes on the properties we chose together – all bad luck.
When Ethan explained how things had snowballed out of control, I understood, but what I didn’t get was him hiding it from me.
He draws me in and hugs me. ‘No more lies, I promise. If we’re in trouble, I will talk to you immediately. We are going to make this place amazing in a matter of weeks, then we are going to sell it and move. We’re going to get our life back.’
I enjoy being snuggled in his arms and I do trust him not to mess up again.
He made a mistake and I need to let go of the past. There are people in much worse positions than we’re in.
We have a place to live, a chance to earn money from this house and we love each other. I still believe love conquers all.
He pulls away. ‘Right. I’m going down to turn the water mains on so we can make a coffee and have a shower.’
He leaves me in the lounge area. It’s not so bad.
It’s like our house in miniature. We had a collection of rooms before and now we are open plan.
I have a look around. The kitchen is at the far end and it’s cobbled together from what Aunt Dorette had downstairs in the main kitchen.
We have a snug area and log burner. The bathroom has the tiniest shower cubicle that was my aunt’s ensuite for this room.
Then there is our bedroom on the opposite side, left of the TV, which I don’t go in because Morgan and Cora are in there.
A little further down, what I can only describe as a super large cupboard is the only room available for Morgan to sleep in.
Ethan has already put her bed up and made it.
As I stand in the middle of the main living space, I imagine Aunt Dorette doing the same thing a few months ago.
She treated this little section at the one end of the house like her apartment, while the rest of the building fell apart.
I’m just grateful that we’re living on the complete opposite side to that dodgy balcony room and I can lock the door to keep our children safe from it.
Morgan follows Cora back in from the bedroom. Cora walks like a drunken person which makes me laugh, then she falls on the floor and sits.
‘Come here,’ I say as Cora beams up at me from the floor. She holds her hands up for me to lift her. Though she can run and climb now, she still likes to be picked up when she’s tired.
‘How long are we going to have to stay in this flea pit?’ Morgan removes her large headphones and hangs them around her neck.
‘It’s not that bad, Squidge,’ I say to her.
‘Mum, stop calling me that. I’m fourteen, not four.’ She lets out a sigh. ‘I’ve walked around the whole house. I can’t believe anyone ever lived here, and the Wi-Fi isn’t working which makes it extra crap.’
‘Language, Morgan.’ I nod towards Cora who is starting to pick up words nicely. The last thing I want is for her to start shouting the word ‘crap’ out loud.
‘But I need to speak to Mai. I said I’d call her when we got here, but I can’t. This place sucks.’
‘Have you tried phoning?’ Cora pulls my hair and she’s about to put several strands into her mouth. I gently wrestle them from her and she starts to cry.
‘I’ve run out of data, minutes, texts. I need Wi-Fi, Mum.’
‘We’ll sort it, okay, but it won’t be for a short while.’
Morgan casts one of her death stares my way. Her long black hair is framed by an attempt at creating a blonde streak at each side, but to her dismay, they turned orange.
‘How about you borrow my phone to call Mai?’ I ease Cora over to my other side so I can get my phone out of my pocket. I pass it to Morgan, and she snatches it from me.
‘I’m going to my cupboard so don’t come in. Did I say I hate this place?’
I go to say yes but Morgan has already slammed the door to her ‘new cupboard’ as she calls it – and I agree with her.
That room isn’t suitable for a teenager.
I swallow my feelings down. I want to say to Morgan, I get it, Squidge.
I hate it here too. Cora starts wriggling and sporadically crying.
She’s tired and we haven’t even put her cot together yet.
She’ll be sleeping in our room while we’re here.
I bob her up and down in the hope that she’ll give up the fight against the inevitable sleep that’s coming her way.
Her body gets heavier and she begins to snuggle against my chest.
I walk across the room and the floorboards creak underneath the carpet.
I glance out of the leaded windows at the lane I tried to ignore as we pulled up.
So far, I have done a good job of pretending we’re not actually in Clover House, but reality is kicking in.
I catch sight of the woods and look away.
The past needs to stay where it is. I wish we had a car as well as the pickup because I feel trapped here.
Darkness is starting to fall but I won’t turn the lights on yet.
The only giveaway that we’re here is the pickup on the drive, but no one can clearly see it because Aunt Dorette left the hedges to overgrow.
I kiss Cora’s soft head and rock her a little. I can’t help but glance out again despite how fast my heart is racing. We can never go into the woods and I need to tell that to Morgan. I shudder at what happened and force myself to look at the rest of the lane.
The two houses opposite are lit up. I glance across the street and catch sight of a woman in a pure white, furry-edged winter hat.
She’s tall and elegant, wearing high-heeled cherry-coloured boots and a white coat that falls over her hips like a perfectly fitted dress.
She stops as if she feels my gaze, or maybe she’s reached a gap in the hedge and can just about see the glint of a streetlamp bouncing off our pickup.
I feel like I should hide, even though I’m in darkness here, but I can’t.
I pick up a glass of water with my free hand and take a sip.
I wait patiently, wanting to see if it’s who I think it might be.
Morgan barges out of her cupboard room and turns the main light on, and the woman looks directly up at me. I drop the glass.
‘Mum, I got cut off. The phone’s all crackly.’
My gaze locks on the woman’s. She knows who I am and I know who she is.