Chapter 33
The next three days passed in a haze similar to the week after the TV Awards.
I should have been planning, probably even packing, but I felt paralysed.
I walked Ernest, head ducked into the wind, huddled inside my warmest coat, but, apart from that, mostly shuffled from the bedroom to the sofa to the fridge and back again.
Messages on the Friends Wanted chat went unread.
I had a gut-wrenching phone call with Bronte, who was initially furious I’d not told her what was happening, but after an hour of honest conversation, promised she’d help with the kids whenever she could.
Tuesday, I got up while it was still dark, spruced myself up in my favourite businesswoman suit, threw a few things in my overnight bag and dropped Ernest with Darya before heading over to Leicester Crown Court.
I picked up Lacey on the way. Bronte had taken the kids to Zendon’s house.
Mum and Dad had opted to stay at home.
Hana’s barrister twin was already there.
He took Lacey off for a private meeting while I sat in the waiting area and tried to keep it together.
My sister returned red-eyed and sombre. Tom Ikeda gave me a discreet thumbs-up as he glided past, disappearing for thirty minutes until he asked Lacey for another discussion, this time offering me a wink so fleeting I wondered if I’d imagined it.
Unless he’d uncovered a shocking new piece of evidence, I couldn’t find the tiniest scrap to wink about.
And then I looked up, and immediately had to squeeze my eyes shut, take a deep breath and open them again.
‘What are you doing here?’
Will came to sit beside me. ‘I couldn’t not come. I knew you wouldn’t have anyone here to support you.’
‘That’s because I’m the support.’
‘No. It’s because you don’t have any support.’
‘I have the barrister.’
‘Okay. How about while they’re busy doing their job, I keep you company.’ He said it as a statement, not a question, so instead of replying, I simply allowed his hand to tenderly take mine.
Lacey returned a minute later, having no more time than to give me a fierce hug, before pulling back to glare at me. ‘I love you, Alexis. I’m so flippin’ proud of my awesome baby sister.’ Her eyes darted briefly to Will. ‘You deserve happiness. Never forget that.’
When Ms Lacey Nixon informed the court of her plea, I almost fainted.
‘Guilty.’
She turned and looked at where I stared open-mouthed from the public gallery and gave the tiniest of nods. Whether primarily for my sake, or for her children, this meant more than any of the childhood sacrifices she’d made to protect her little sister.
I found it impossible to focus as first Tom Ikeda, then the prosecuting barrister went back and forth regarding what would happen now.
Lacey shakily read out a statement about how she’d ended up in this situation, and all the steps she’d taken to redress her mistake, since.
Nobody mentioned Tad Butcher, but Tom did state Lacey’s intention to relocate, to cement her fresh start.
The rushing about earlier had been the two sides working out an agreement, so instead of making everyone come back for a sentencing hearing, the judge made her decision then and there.
A suspended sentence. My head was buzzing too loudly to hear the details that followed.
I nudged Will. ‘Doesn’t that mean…?’
‘She’s not going to prison.’
It would be a long time – years – before my sister would truly be a ‘free woman’, in all senses of the word, but as she walked out of that courtroom, her journey finally began.
Will slipped away while Lacey was completing the necessary forms and I was crying on the phone to Hana, then I drove Lacey to collect the children, with a quick stop-off at Crandon Fried Chicken first. My sister was silent in the car, her face ravaged with a raw vulnerability that made my heart ache.
It made me think of shell-shocked men returning home from the war.
It was extraordinary seeing how she put her tough, no-messing mum mask on the moment we pulled up outside Zendon’s house.
Once we’d finished our celebratory burgers and Zendon had taken Harley and Lennon to play with his new lightsabre, Bronte had her own announcement to share.
‘Okay, so since you’re not being locked up, I’m still moving in with Zendon, but it’s not here.’
Lacey gave a half-hearted huff. ‘Really? And where else can the two of you afford to live?’
‘Derby.’
‘What?’ My sister’s focus sharpened like a laser.
‘I think you’d better explain,’ I added, diplomatically. ‘Your mum’s been through enough stress today already.’
‘Zendon has got an engineering apprenticeship, starting next week. It’s really good money. Flo, his cousin who lives in Derby, said I can work at her nail bar. She’s even letting us stay in her house until we find our own place.’
‘So, what, you’re dropping out of college to follow your boyfriend?’ Lacey snapped, her fraying nerves unravelling a few more threads. ‘Almost two years wasted?’
‘Flo doesn’t care if I finish college. She said my TikTok designs showcase my natural talent.’
‘Will Flo care when you’re applying for jobs in the future and have no qualifications on your CV? Or perhaps Flo is guaranteeing a job for life?’
Bronte scowled. ‘Would you rather I stayed in Crandon forever like you?’
‘This sounds like an amazing opportunity,’ I said firmly. ‘For you and Zendon. I think it would do you good to get away from Crandon, at least for a while.’
Lacey swallowed. ‘Next week, though? Why are you springing this on me now, Bronte, when my head is already wrecked? I need time to think about it.’
‘I don’t know, Mum, I thought that’s how we rolled in this family. You know, keeping major secrets about where we might be living, then springing them on each other last minute.’
She got up and stomped out, Zendon appearing in the doorway a minute or so later.
‘It’s my fault she didn’t tell you,’ he said. ‘I kept it to myself until yesterday. I was waiting until Bronte knew what was up with you. If you’d been, like, dying or something, I’d have turned it down without saying anything so she didn’t feel bad.’
Lacey swivelled her laser beam stare to Zendon. ‘You’d have turned down a well-paid apprenticeship, providing an incredible opportunity to escape this hole, so your girlfriend could stay with her dying mother?’
He shrugged. ‘Well, yeah. I mean, where she goes, I go. Her fam are my fam. You know how it is.’
‘No. Three partners, four kids and I really don’t know how that is.’
‘Come on, Mrs N. Money, a career, is nothing compared to the love of your life, innit? Something else would have turned up.’
Lacey sighed. ‘I don’t know if that’s the stupidest or most romantic thing I’ve ever heard, but if you get my daughter out of here, I will be eternally grateful.’
Zendon scratched his head. ‘You want Bronte to move away?’
‘She’s told you about her dad?’
He nodded. ‘Of course.’
‘Without going into details, that’s why. You have my complete blessing.’
‘Sweet.’ Zendon tried to maintain his serious demeanour but couldn’t help breaking into an enormous grin. ‘While you’re giving your blessing… it’s traditional to ask the father, but under the circumstances, I was wondering if you’d—’
‘No. Ask me again once you’ve completed the apprenticeship and have a steady job.’
To his credit, Zendon matched her gaze. ‘Bit sexist, that, if you don’t mind me saying so.’
‘And asking my blessing for my daughter’s hand in marriage isn’t?’
‘Fair dos.’
‘How about this – ask me again when you’ve both got a steady job.’
He nodded vigorously.
‘And don’t you dare get her pregnant in the meantime.’
‘Will you come in with me?’ Lacey asked once we’d pulled up outside the house, having asked Bronte and Zendon to watch the younger ones for a while longer now that Bronte’s move had made another decision easier. ‘I don’t know if I can do it without my wing-sister.’
‘You’re sure me being there won’t make it worse?’
She screwed up her nose. ‘You think it could be any worse?’
Point taken, I followed her inside.
‘You’re back, then?’ Mum said, struggling to sit up as we walked into the living room.
‘I knew you’d get off,’ Dad said. ‘The Nixon charm. Like father, like daughter.’
Lacey grimaced. ‘I pled guilty.’
Mum and Dad exchanged derisive glances. ‘Why?’
‘Because that’s the truth. They gave me a suspended sentence with community service.’
‘What, cleaning up litter or something?’ Mum pursed her lips. ‘Better than prison, I suppose.’
Lacey cleared her throat, the rare expression of nerves securing our parents’ attention.
‘I need to talk to you about something.’
‘Go on,’ Dad said, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
‘We’re moving away from Crandon.’
‘Who are?’ Mum asked.
‘Me and the kids.’
‘Okay. If that’s what you want. We’ll have some peace and quiet again, at least.’
‘The issue is, it’s my name on the lease.’
‘And don’t you make sure we never forget it,’ Dad grunted.
‘So, you can ask about replacing it with your names, or alternatively find somewhere else to live.’
‘Like hell we will,’ Dad bit back, his temper flaring.
‘You know those greedy farts won’t have us on the lease,’ Mum said, her voice rising to match Dad’s.
We did know. They’d failed to pay the rent on time so often, the landlords only agreed to let them stay on because Lacey replaced them on the contract and she had been an impeccable tenant.
‘Then you’ll need to move. One of the flats in Brook Court is available. It’s specially adapted for people with limited mobility.’
‘And how are we meant to pay for that?’ Dad said. ‘I’m too old to be delivering dodgy packages for your psycho ex.’
‘I’ll pay the deposit and first month’s rent,’ I chipped in, because Lacey wasn’t up to handling statements like that today. ‘The flat is lovely. Fully furnished. There’s a courtyard with benches and—’