Chapter 41
On the Friday evening of the following week, The Crafty Crew went out for a meal in Keswick to celebrate our first four weeks of trading.
Saffy had been invited but Felix had asked her out on another date so, understandably, she’d ditched us for him.
We were seated at a round table and, after our drinks arrived, Veronica led us in a toast.
‘Congratulations to us all on a wonderful start to our pop-up shop. Created With Love seems to have gathered a lot of love from both tourists and the local community so far and I, for one, am delighted to have some storage space back at home.’
We all laughed and threw in our agreement.
‘It’s nice being in my workshop without dozens of wooden animals staring at me,’ Christian said.
‘There’s something else I wanted to add,’ Veronica said when the laughter and chatter died down. ‘A huge thank you to you all for how supportive you’ve been during an exceptionally difficult couple of months for me. I have an update.’
She glanced at Laughlin and he gave her what appeared to be an encouraging nod.
‘It feels a little uncomfortable holding an audience about my personal life but, as my business partners and good friends, I do want you to know what’s been happening and it’s perhaps a little easier to get it all out in one go rather than having several individual conversations. Is that all right with you all?’
There were murmurs of agreement coupled with reassurances that she didn’t need to tell us anything that made her uncomfortable.
‘I knew you’d all be lovely about it, but I think it’s only fair that you have the full picture.
There’s still a lot to be resolved with Rebecca and Felicity and I’m going to need some time away from the business to do that.
As you already know, it was my youngest, Felicity, who discovered what was going on… ’
Veronica shared that a party had been held at the army base in Germany to celebrate her fortieth birthday.
Felicity had been twelve at the time, Rebecca had recently turned sixteen and the sisters were close with just the occasional bout of sisterly bickering, mainly caused by Rebecca pulling rank as the eldest. After spilling a drink down her top, Felicity had told Rebecca she was going home to change and it was there that she found their dad with another woman, although she didn’t see who.
She ran back to the party to find Rebecca and ask her what to do.
Rebecca had always been a daddy’s girl and didn’t believe her so Felicity dragged her back to the house to see for herself.
As they drew close, the door opened and they ducked behind a wall, spotting their dad and the woman coming out and sharing a kiss.
Both girls recognised her as Anita Westwood – the wife of another senior officer.
‘Felicity wanted to tell me that night,’ Veronica said, ‘but Rebecca convinced her not to ruin my birthday. Felicity reluctantly agreed as long as they told me the next day. The next day, Rebecca asked Felicity to give her a bit longer to think. She wanted to get the timing right but how is the timing ever going to be right for news like that?’
‘A difficult position for your girls to be in,’ Milly said.
Veronica nodded. ‘Absolutely! I don’t envy either of them for that, especially at such a young age.
They debated confronting Carson and getting him to come clean but the more time that passed, the more aware they became of hiding a huge secret, and the harder it became to say anything.
Felicity remained adamant that I needed to know but Rebecca told her I wouldn’t stand for it and we’d divorce.
Felicity claims that Rebecca told her it would be all her fault if we did.
Rebecca claims she said no such thing. Either way, the difference of opinion on something so enormous drove a wedge between them.
Felicity admitted she never saw Carson and Anita in a compromising position again but she said it was obvious from the looks they gave each other that there was something still going on. ’
‘For how long?’ Paulette asked.
Veronica shrugged. ‘We returned to the UK fourteen years ago. I was forty-nine then and, for all I know, it could have been going on for the whole of my forties. Anita was at our previous base too and we knew her from the UK before that. They could have been seeing each other for the whole of our marriage – the whole of our relationship, even.’
The last part of the sentence was delivered with a croaky voice as Veronica blinked back tears, apologising for getting emotional. Laughlin gave her hand a squeeze and we all offered our condolences. I was devastated for her.
Veronica took a sip of her drink before continuing.
‘I had questions – many, many questions, as I’m sure you can imagine.
It didn’t take long to track down Anita.
She was back in the UK and I was all for getting in touch with her and demanding she tell me the details but Laughlin helped me look at the downsides of doing that.
If I spoke with Anita on the phone or in person, she could say anything she liked.
She could tell me that Carson never loved me and that he wanted to leave me for her.
Truth or lie, where would it get me? Carson isn’t around to corroborate or deny anything. ’
She glanced at Laughlin who took over. ‘I’m convinced that the only reason I was able to accept and move on from Noreen’s affair was because she was there to answer questions and we had a professional to guide us through them.
Vee wouldn’t have that and I was worried it would do her more harm than good. ’
‘He was right,’ Veronica said. ‘Up until my birthday this year, my memories of my marriage were happy. I’ve taken the rose-tinted glasses off and I can see now that it wasn’t perfect but it was still good.
I’m shocked and saddened that my husband must have felt differently to me, but I can’t change that so why torture myself with hurtful details?
I’m going to focus on what I can control which is building bridges with my daughters.
That can’t be done effectively over the phone or a video chat so I’m planning to go to Scotland first to spend some quality time with Felicity then Germany to do the same with Rebecca.
I’m not planning to stay with either of them.
We need to have some honest, difficult discussions and I think we’ll all need the space.
It’s bound to be upsetting so Laughlin has offered to accompany me as my emotional crutch. ’
She turned her head to Laughlin and it was obvious to me that the smile they exchanged held more than empathy.
I’d noticed them getting steadily closer since the incident at Veronica’s birthday, although I wasn’t going to embarrass them by voicing that.
If something had happened and they wanted to share it with us, they’d do so when they were ready.
‘So I need some time away from the business too,’ Laughlin said. ‘We appreciate the extra pressure that places on you all and that’s not what you signed up to, so we’re both happy to fund a part-time member of staff if that would work for you.’
‘There’s no need to do that,’ I said. ‘I don’t mind working full-time while you’re away.’
‘I can work extra hours,’ Christian said, and Paulette added that she could too.
‘I can cover quieter days like Mondays,’ Milly offered, ‘provided nobody objects to me bringing in my laptop and doing some work when there are no customers in.’
Veronica held her hand to her chest, tears brimming in her eyes once more. ‘What would I do without you all? Thank you so much. I promise I’ll make it up to you when things are settled.’
‘There’s no need,’ I said. ‘If it was any of us who needed the time away, you’d step up. You take however long you need to get things back on track with your girls.’
Our starters arrived at that point and the conversation changed direction.
Milly told us how much she was enjoying having Coral home for the extended Easter holidays and how she couldn’t quite believe she was taking her back to university on Saturday for her final term when it felt like only yesterday that she’d dropped her off for her first. That led into a conversation about how far through the education system we’d each progressed, which then moved into some hilarious anecdotes from Milly’s and Christian’s years as teachers.
They were both brilliant raconteurs and, by the time we’d finished our desserts, my sides were hurting from laughing so much and Veronica did give way to her tears, but they were tears of laughter this time.
‘I needed that,’ Veronica said over coffee. ‘Laughlin and I do have one more piece of news.’
They exchanged glances and smiles and I held my breath.
Were they going to admit that there was something going on between them?
I hoped so. When I’d first met them, I’d never in a million years have put them together as a couple as they seemed like chalk and cheese but having seen how supportive Laughlin had been to Veronica and how his confidence had grown since spending more time in her company, I thought they were perfect together.
‘We’ve been spending a lot of time together since my birthday and the connection between us has deepened and, well… it’s… we’re…’
I’d never seen Veronica struggle for words before and it was adorable the way she looked at Laughlin for help. He placed his hand over hers and kept it there this time.
‘We want to take things slowly,’ he said, ‘but we do have feelings for each other – something neither of us ever expected. We’re taking it a day at a time, ever so steady.’
‘I’m thrilled for you,’ Paulette said, and we all added our support and congratulations.
Looking at the pair of them side by side, the warm glow of love so obvious between them, my heart filled with joy.
The drama at Veronica’s birthday and the fallout from it had been awful but it had paved the way for Veronica to start mending her broken family and it had taken her down an unexpected but glittering path towards love.
Laughlin and Veronica had both been through so much.
They both deserved a second chance at love and I was delighted for them that they might have found it with each other.
Although, as I drove home after the meal, I couldn’t help hoping that I’d find my second chance at love too – with the first and only man I’d ever fallen for.
I wished Will had called but patience was a virtue and I’d spent my whole life being patient.
A few more days or weeks wasn’t going to kill me, especially when I’d already waited for twenty years.
Back at the flat a little later, I wanted to spend some time with Trevor before going to bed so I put the television on and lay on the sofa with him strutting up and down my arm, half-heartedly watching a quiz show.
My phone buzzed with a text notification from an unknown number and my pulse raced as I read it.
From Unknown
Hi Yvonne, it’s Will. I really do want to talk but I’m still dealing with a lot of issues right now and I know they’ll cloud what I think might be one of the most important conversations of my life.
I appreciate that’s really cryptic but it’s the best I can do for now. Apologies again. Please bear with me
It was a relief to hear from Will and to know he hadn’t ghosted me, but his text also brought frustration for a further wait as well as worries for him.
A lot of issues, he’d put. When I’d seen him, he’d looked stressed and distracted and I hoped whatever he was going through could resolve itself without causing him much more distress.
I re-read the bit about a conversation with me being one of the most important conversations of [his] life.
That had to be positive. That had to signal thoughts of exploring a future together.
Or did it simply mean closure for him after wondering what had happened for two decades?
There was nothing I could do until he was ready so I tapped in a reply.
To Will
Great to hear from you but really sorry about whatever you’re going through. I can offer you a listening ear if you need it so do let me know if that would help, but I otherwise respect your need for time
He responded with a thumbs up and I stared at my phone for several minutes, looking for the telltale dots that he was typing. Nothing came. Sighing, I switched my phone to silent, turned it over so I couldn’t see any notifications and focused back on Trevor.
‘Let’s see if we can answer this question, eh, Trevor? I don’t think that contestant’s going to manage it.’
‘Stupid!’ he said, making me laugh.
‘I agree. Not the sharpest tool in the box but a brave man for applying for the show and trying something different and exciting.’
Trevor turned his head to me. ‘Stupid!’
He meant nothing by it. To him, it was just one of the many words he’d learned, but my heart sank at that moment.
Was I being stupid about this whole thing with Will?
Had a lifetime without romantic love made me cling on to the memories of one day and night – albeit incredible ones – and turn them into an epic love story when it wasn’t that at all?
But then I pictured Will’s expression as he handed me the framed sheet music and shared what I’d told him about my mum.
He’d never have retained that information if he hadn’t still cared about me. If I was clinging on, so was he.