Chapter 29
29
First, Deva had to be put on the train back to Perpignan.
Before he boarded, he handed back the blouse, the tweed jacket and the handbag, as he’d now changed into a t-shirt for travelling.
‘Some outfits aren’t for every day,’ he told her.
‘I’m going to give you the dress, the jacket and one of the bags,’ Lucie decided.
‘Auntie Lucie, you can’t!’ he protested.
‘I can! You have to have the dress you wore when you were singing to the hilltops. It was a very important moment for you…’
‘The most important,’ Deva said.
‘Exactly, so you need to have that one as your inspiration. That dress is your reminder never to let your song stay inside when you need to share it with us all.’
‘Oh my God. That’s amazing. This whole trip has been amazing. Thank you so much. Can I have a hug?’ he asked.
‘I was going to ask you the same thing.’ She smiled and held out her arms.
‘Thank you,’ he told her again. ‘You’re my fairy godmother.’
‘Thank you,’ she told him. ‘Zoe and I loved getting to know you properly. Don’t be a stranger, and we will be coming to your first show. So you better let us know where and when it’s happening.’
Back at the hospital, Lucie led the two boys, one still weak and a little dazed, and the other with his shabby rucksack and collection of plastic bags, to her car. They wanted to sit together on the back seat and keep their precious bags, with all their possessions, beside them.
Once she’d made sure they were safely belted in, she put a bag of food and drinks she’d picked up between them.
‘Something to eat, some water to drink,’ she encouraged. ‘We drive for two hours’ – she held up two fingers to try and convey her meaning – ‘then we stop for a rest. But if you need to stop before, tell me.’
They smiled and nodded, but it was hard to tell if they’d understood much. Nevertheless, she set off, guided by the satnav towards the big toll motorways that would take them directly through France, without any Chanel-themed detours this time, and up towards the north.
She settled into the seat and prepped herself for a long, long drive. It was already two o’clock in the afternoon. Now that the tunnel trains were running again, she wanted to change her ferry ticket for the train and knew that the last train left just before midnight, so if she was going make it in time, she would have to stick to the main motorways, keep her speed up, the breaks short and focus on getting there.
Just before she set off, she checked her phone one last time and saw with a skip of the heart that a new message had come in from her father’s carer, Domenica.
Dear Miss Lucie, I hope you won’t be upset, but we are going to move your dad into HQ, as you know he calls it, later today. He has reached a new stage and we can’t give him the pain meds he needs any more. He is glad you’re not here for this day, as he is saying a long goodbye to his house and his garden and he didn’t want you to be sad for him. He is so cheerful still and looking forward to seeing you, Zoe, Ritchie and family when you all get here. Much love to you, Domenica.
Quickly, Lucie replied to Domenica and sent a message full of love to her dad’s phone. Her dad was going to the hospice today… weeks ahead of what he had expected. Or maybe weeks ahead of what he had wanted her to expect. Now, her reason to get to Calais in time for that last train was even more urgent.
She had been on the road for several hours when a call came in from Zoe.
‘Hello! How is my engaged daughter?’ Lucie greeted her, glad to have something else to think about on this long, featureless stretch through France.
‘How are you, Mum? I was thinking of you driving that massive car all on your own. Are you OK?’
‘Yes, fine, honestly, don’t worry about me. I hated being on the boat, so I’m going to take the tunnel home. Hoping to be on that train by midnight, so gunning it through France. Here’s hoping that mechanic repair holds up well.’
‘You take care of yourself, Mum. Take all the breaks you need.’
‘I will…’ She glanced in the mirror at the two young men, both asleep in the back of the car, and decided she wouldn’t mention them.
‘And how’s Clark?’ Zoe had to ask, sounding like she was trying not to giggle.
‘Oh… well… gone back to his holiday cottage to continue his holiday.’
‘Missing him yet?’
‘Too soon, Zoe, too soon. But it’s all very interesting. I will keep you posted.’
‘You better.’
‘What about you?’ she asked her daughter. ‘How are you and Rafi, and has your maternity leave started yet?’
‘Another week of waddling around the ward. Then that’s it. Me and Rafi are good. Very good…’ She could almost hear the little sigh of happiness that came with this.
‘House hunting again?’
‘Online only, we need this little girl to arrive before we kick into action on that front. Making wedding plans though. I’ll tell you all about that.’
‘Booking the wedding swing?’ Lucie asked, and they both burst into laughter.
‘You know, Jacasta did actually post a swing-breaking video with a #noweddingisperfect hashtag and it’s had… 66k views so far. So good for her.’
‘Yeah, I suppose so,’ Lucie agreed. ‘One thing…’ she began. ‘I know you’re about to have a baby and about to get married and looking for somewhere to live and all those very big things, but you probably want to know that your grampa is being moved into the hospice today…’
‘Oh, Mum, is he?’
And now Lucie found herself struggling to keep her voice level. ‘Yes… and I’m going to be there with him every day, once I’m back. And I hope it’s OK… but Zoe, could you come up and see us? Just as much as you can? Because you are so strong and so amazing with patients,’ Lucie swallowed before adding, ‘I don’t know if I can do this without you.’
‘Yes, of course, Mum, of course. Let’s go together for your first visit because that will be hard. Him not being at home and you being all emotional about it. Do you think that will be tomorrow? Afternoon? You’ll need some time to go home and rest first.’
‘Ummm…’ Lucie tried to work out the timings. And yes, she would need to factor in some rest. ‘Maybe about 3 or 4p.m. tomorrow?’ she decided. ‘I don’t know how long we’ll stay… how long we’ll be able to…’
‘Hospices are completely chill. It’s all about the patient and their family. We’ll be completely looked after, don’t worry about it. There will be food, somewhere to rest, sleep, everything you need. Maybe even somewhere to give birth,’ she joked.
‘What about your work?’
‘Let me call them up and do a bit of rota shuffling. To be honest, they’re expecting me to drop out at any moment, so I should be able to sort it.’
They ended the call, promising to see each other the next day. And Lucie felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Zoe… Zoe was more than fine, she was amazing. And all that mother–daughter tension around Rafi and the baby and what Zoe was doing with her life, it was hard to believe how quickly that had all melted away. They had just needed to spend some time together and really listen to one another. She felt so relieved that what had been strained and difficult between them had eased and, for now, they were totally back on track.
She drove and drove and drove. Only stopping every few hours at service stations to refuel and to take Pete and Fikru with her into the cafés for toilet stops and something to eat and drink. She could see the surprised looks that people at counters and behind tills were giving her when she, all dressed and made up with a posh bag and shades, came in with two tired, shabby young men who didn’t speak much and clutched at the precious bags that they didn’t even want to leave in the car.
They didn’t ask for much, the boys. They seemed to like sugary, milky teas and snack foods. She wondered if weeks of not eating much meant they didn’t have an appetite for anything bigger. Often Fikru had to lean on his brother, because he was still so weak. And when she saw that, she didn’t even want to think about these two young souls drifting about Calais, falling in with gangs, paying whatever money they might have left to gangsters prepared to put them into the back of lorries, or even worse, pack them onto inflatable dinghies to try and cross the Channel.
They were kids – Pete was only just out of his teens and Fikru didn’t look as if he’d left his teens yet. Lucie wondered if she could hand them over to the care of an organisation in Calais, take them somewhere where they could be safe?