Chapter 34
Veronica’s party the following day was being held in Lakeside Inn in Willowdale – a large hotel, bar and restaurant which overlooked Derwent Water and stretched from opposite The White Willow to just beyond our proposed pop-up shop.
Milly picked me up as agreed and I smiled at the clear bags full of balloons bobbing about on her back seat.
We’d arranged to meet Laughlin and Paulette an hour early and waved at them crossing the road by the corner shop as we pulled into Lakeside Inn’s car park.
‘They’ve got the conservatory booked,’ Laughlin said as Milly distributed bags. ‘Oh! Looks like she’s beaten us here.’
We all looked towards the large conservatory at the back of the building. The vertical blinds on the windows weren’t fully open but there was enough space between them to see Veronica in there.
‘Who’s she with?’ I asked. There was at least one other person in there but I couldn’t see them properly.
‘I can’t tell,’ Laughlin said. ‘Could be one or both of her daughters but could be staff. We’ll soon find out.’
The conservatory was accessed from a wide corridor inside the hotel.
The double doors were closed and Laughlin was about to reach for the handle when Milly grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
At the same time, I heard raised voices inside but wasn’t close enough to the door to hear what was being said.
‘It’s her girls,’ Laughlin whispered. ‘Felicity’s coming!’ He ushered us all backwards.
The door opened a few inches and Veronica’s voice came across strong and clear. ‘Don’t walk away! Please, Felicity, we need to talk about this.’
‘There’s nothing to talk about.’
‘There is!’ Veronica called. ‘I’m not stupid and I’m not blind. Something has soured between the two of you and it’s affecting all of us. I want to know what it is.’
We were trapped. The door to the corridor had a loud squeak so if we opened it to try and beat a hasty retreat, we’d alert them to our presence and possibly make a bad situation worse.
‘Then ask Rebecca,’ Felicity snapped.
‘I don’t care who tells me but one of you has to. You used to be so close but something changed and I’ve had my fill of it. Talk to me! Whatever it is, we can work it out together.’
‘Just leave it, Mum.’ That voice had to be Rebecca’s. ‘It’s your birthday. Enjoy it!’
‘No! This ends now. Call it my birthday gift. So who’s going to tell me what went wrong? I know when it happened, but I don’t know why.’
‘Does there have to be a reason?’ Rebecca cried. ‘Why can’t you just accept that we got on as kids and we don’t as adults?’
‘Because I don’t believe that’s the problem,’ Veronica responded, her voice strong but controlled. ‘So what’s really going on?’
A pause before Felicity said, ‘I think we should tell her.’
‘Don’t you dare!’ Rebecca yelled.
‘She has a right to know.’
‘Felicity! I mean it! Don’t even think—’
‘Stop trying to be the boss of me!’ Felicity yelled back. ‘I listened to you then because you were my big sister and I looked up to you but you were wrong then and you’re still wrong now.’
The pair of them hurled words and insults back and forth, Rebecca clearly trying to stop whatever her sister was about to reveal and Felicity insisting their mum knew the truth. And then the truth spewed out.
‘Dad was having an affair!’ Felicity shouted. ‘She told me I couldn’t tell you but I thought you had a right to know.’
My stomach plummeted to the floor and my heart shattered for Veronica.
Looking at the expressions on the faces of my friends, this was as much of a shock to them as it was to me.
I could hear voices, but not raised this time so I couldn’t tell what was being said.
Next moment, the door was shoved wide open and Veronica stormed out.
She paused in front of us, an expression of confusion flickering across her face.
What a sight we must look blocking her path with brightly coloured helium balloons when the bottom had just dropped out of her world.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Paulette murmured.
Veronica shook her head. ‘I need to…’
We parted to clear her route. There’d been further shouting in the conservatory but I’d been too concerned about Veronica to tune into it. Rebecca rushed out and headed towards the door but Laughlin blocked her way.
‘I think your mum needs some time, don’t you? I’ll check on her.’ He passed me his bag of balloons and went after Veronica. Paulette, Milly and I instinctively closed the gap so Rebecca couldn’t follow.
‘Oh, for God’s sake, let me through. I’m not following her.’
We couldn’t exactly keep her trapped so we moved aside.
‘Anyone else feel ridiculous holding these now?’ Milly asked, grimacing at us. ‘Might as well dump them in there.’
Inside the conservatory, Felicity was slumped on one of the chairs, sobbing. Paulette indicated with a nod of her head that we should ditch the balloons while she comforted Felicity. I hoped Laughlin had managed to catch up with Veronica and that he could be of some comfort to her.
It didn’t feel appropriate to decorate the room as planned so Milly and I placed everything at the end of the conservatory and hastened to the bar.
‘Well, that was unexpected,’ Milly said when we sat down with drinks. ‘Poor Veronica.’
‘I can’t even begin to imagine what she’s going through right now.’
The bar was filling up and, as they could well be guests, we decided it was best not to discuss what had just happened.
Milly sent a text to Paulette asking her to let us know when Felicity had gone as we’d join her then.
Ten minutes later, Paulette texted back to say the coast was clear and she needed wine.
‘How was Felicity?’ Milly asked as we joined Paulette in the conservatory and handed over her drink.
Paulette took a gulp of wine before answering.
‘Devastated. She’s scared her mum won’t ever speak to her again.
I’ve assured her Veronica wouldn’t do that, but she might need some time to process the news.
She clearly wanted to spill out the full story but I told her it wasn’t fair to Veronica that I hear the details first. I felt bad closing her down like that. ’
‘It was the right thing to do,’ I said, and Milly threw in her agreement.
‘Where is she now?’ Milly asked. ‘Is she coming back?’
‘She’s gone back to her room, but she says she won’t be returning for the party. How can she after that? I doubt Rebecca’ll return either. Felicity saw her leaving in her car and told me her family are staying somewhere in town.’
I sighed heavily. ‘What a mess. Do you think Veronica will come back?’
‘Would you?’ Paulette asked.
‘Not a chance.’
* * *
A birthday party with no guest of honour was an unusual experience.
We’d still been in the conservatory when Laughlin phoned Paulette to say that Veronica had headed home but he’d managed to catch up with her halfway and she’d let him accompany her inside.
She hadn’t said much as she was clearly in shock but she’d let him make her a sweetened tea and said he was welcome to stay so long as he didn’t try to get her to talk as she wasn’t ready for that yet.
Her request was for us to go ahead with the party without her and to apologise to her guests for her absence again.
We were to say that it was a family emergency which, given the absence of Rebecca and Felicity, seemed plausible.
With heavy hearts, we displayed the balloons, put the birthday banners up and sprinkled the table confetti to make everything look as ‘normal’ as it possibly could.
Paulette made the announcement and the guests were clearly disappointed but it didn’t stop them enjoying the food and having a great afternoon. They had no idea what had gone down earlier. It was only Milly, Paulette and I who struggled to relax, worried about our friend.
‘It feels like such a waste,’ Paulette said as we burst the balloons after everyone had left, ‘but we can hardly show up at Veronica’s with these.’
We loaded the cards and gifts into the boot of Milly’s car and, when we dropped Paulette home, we took everything into her house for when Veronica felt ready to collect them.
‘Out of the frying pan and into the fire,’ Milly said as she pulled up outside my house a bit later.
I stared at her, not getting her meaning for a moment. ‘Oh, my gosh! Harry’s at your place.’ It had completely gone out of my head thanks to the unexpected turn of events at the party. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘More churned up about Veronica than I am about asking my husband for a divorce. I thought I was going to spend today fretting about it but that was one heck of a distraction.’
‘I hope he takes it well. If you want to talk about it later, you’re welcome to come round.’ It had been a heavy day, so I decided to lighten the mood. ‘Trevor’s a good listener. All you have to do is tell him he’s a pretty boy and slip him a slice of fruit.’
‘I might take him up on that,’ Milly said, smiling.
She did. The doorbell rang shortly after 7 p.m. and Milly thrust a bottle of wine at me the moment I opened it. ‘Don’t know about you, but I could do with this after today.’
‘How did it go?’ I asked, returning from the kitchen and handing her a large glass of wine.
‘Remember how I said before that my biggest fear was that he might refuse? Turns out the thing I should really have feared was him saying an immediate yes.’
‘Immediate?’ I asked.
‘Immediate. I got home and he had the telly on watching a football match. I said hello and asked how his flight was and do you know what he did? He put his finger up to silence me. The game was nearly over and he wanted to watch the ending uninterrupted. Four months abroad and another five minutes of football was of more interest to him than his wife.’
‘Oh, Milly, that’s awful.’
‘Isn’t it? So I grabbed the control, switched it off and told him we needed to talk.
I had this speech all prepared about how unhappy I was and had been for a while because we barely ever saw each other and, when we did, I felt like we’d grown apart.
After I delivered it he said, so I’m guessing you want a divorce?
I said yes and he said okay and took the remote back from me, switched on the telly and watched the final minute of the game. ’
She paused to take a large glug of wine.
‘I’m lost for words. I mean, I didn’t expect him to beg me to reconsider but I did anticipate at least talking about it.
I thought he’d have questions. I stupidly thought he might apologise but he didn’t seem to care.
Honestly, Yvonne, I have never felt more insignificant in my entire life. ’
‘I’m so sorry he reacted that way, Milly. That’s really hurtful, but I can assure you you’re anything but insignificant. If he can’t appreciate you for the smart, funny, beautiful, kind woman that you are, he clearly can’t appreciate anything.’
She gave me a weak smile.
‘What’s he doing now?’
‘I’ve dropped him off at Lakeside Inn and he’s coming back to pack up his stuff tomorrow.
His brother’s collecting him and his belongings tomorrow and he’ll stay with him for a while.
Can I ask a huge favour? Can I work from here tomorrow?
I won’t be able to work while he’s clattering about and I don’t really want to be there anyway. ’
‘Of course you can. I can clear the dining table for you.’
‘Thank you. He’s said I can keep the cottage and he’ll keep the Manchester flat. Assuming he doesn’t change his mind about that, the divorce should go smoothly.’
‘That sounds really positive to me, but you don’t look too enamoured.’
She sighed. ‘It is positive. I love my cottage and I’m thrilled I get to keep it. It’s just that it was all too easy, like we were dividing up our CD collection or something.’
‘And you’d have preferred him to put up a bit more of a fight?’ I suggested.
‘I guess. It’s daft, isn’t it? I want a divorce and now I’m moaning because he’s granted me one.’
‘It’s not daft. Your marriage is ending and, even though that’s the right thing for you, you’re bound to be feeling all sorts of emotions about it.
This is the man you loved who you chose to spend the rest of your life with.
He’s the father of your daughter. Your feelings for him might have changed but that doesn’t mean that calling time on your marriage isn’t going to hurt.
You’re grieving for what you used to have and what you hoped you’d have in the future and it’s only natural to want him to grieve for it too. ’
Milly smiled at me. ‘You missed your calling in life. You should have been a counsellor or a life coach.’
‘I think I’ll stick to patchwork quilts but thank you. So what else do you have in your journal to look forward to? Let’s focus on the good things ahead. Tomorrow starts today, just like Paulette said.’
‘Absolutely that!’ she said, clinking her glass against mine. ‘This is a good day. Well, not for Veronica, but it is a good day for me. I should have done this a long time ago.’
‘But you’ve done it now and that’s the important thing,’ I assured her. It was never too late. I knew that now.