Chapter 5 #2
‘As long as you are. Despite all the nagging, we do care about you, you know.’
To avoid any more questions, he began to tell her about the mix-up at Sea Haven House. Licking his finger clean of cream cheese he added, ‘So we’ve ended up sharing.’ He shrugged. ‘Seems to be working out.’
Stella, having been sidetracked by Euan trying to swipe a glass of champagne, turned back to him. ‘You mean you’re sharing the holiday cottage with a complete stranger?’
‘Trust me. In comparison with some of the places I’ve had to kip down in, this is the height of luxury and at least she–’
‘It’s a woman? I say!’ Stella’s interest was well and truly piqued.
Seeing her successfully distracted, Euan saluted his uncle with a brimming champagne flute and disappeared.
‘Yes, her name is Callie and she’s here for the Art Festival.’
Before he could say more Stella had gone out to the terrace and shrieked. ‘Jessica, come here at once.’ Returning to Johnny she said, ‘Jess will know her. She’s had a hand in organising the festival.’
Jessica, their youngest sibling, trotted over carrying baby Inigo. ‘What’s all the yelling about?’ she complained. Spotting her brother, she added, ‘Oh hi, Johnny. Thanks for coming.’ She reached up and kissed him. ‘Here, could you grab hold of the sprog for a second while I eat. I’m ravenous.’
Jessica went to survey the buffet. While she filled a plate Johnny held the baby at arm’s length. He really wished people didn’t do this. He hadn’t a clue what to do with babies. Little Inigo thankfully didn’t pick up on his uncle’s uncertainty and just grumbled sightly, holding out pudgy arms.
‘Hold him closer,’ Stella said, amused. ‘He won’t bite. Make him feel safe.’
Johnny cradled the baby closer to his chest. A waft of baby scent hit him, vanilla sweet.
Before he could stop it, an image flashed into his head of a shattered child he’d seen crushed under an earthquake flattened building.
Screwing his eyes shut he determinedly concentrated on the one in his arms.
Jessica returned, stuffing Kettle chips into her mouth.
She was the prettiest of the Starling sisters with wild curly hair and clear, knowing blue eyes.
As a concession to the occasion, she wore a vividly patterned dress but had temporarily jettisoned shoes to go barefoot.
‘You look the bizz, Johnny. He likes you. He doesn’t settle for just old anyone. ’
Johnny gazed down at Inigo, at his creamy innocence, at the perfect four limbs and undamaged downy head so different to the child whose image tormented him.
With great relish Stella filled Jessica in on what Johnny had told her about his unusual living arrangements.
‘Oh, that must be Calliope Thorne.’ Jessica nodded and bit into a slice of red pepper.
‘She does amazing work. Huge canvasses. Abstracts sort of, but you can still see the flowers that inspired them. She works in clumps of coloured paper to give a 3-D effect too. Adore them. Would love one for the house. They’re the most gorgeous colours. Soft purples and greys.’
Stella suppressed a shudder. ‘Not sure they’d be my cup of tea but you being in the same world would probably appreciate that sort of thing.’
Jessica sniggered. ‘Deffo don’t look realistic enough for you, sis.
’ She rounded on her brother, talking with her mouth full.
‘These are so good. Breastfeeding makes me permanently starvo.’ She pointed a half-eaten cucumber sandwich at him.
‘So why are you and Callie living together? Don’t know why you’re not staying here, to be honest.’
At that moment the footballing boys skidded into the dining room, jackets and ties jettisoned, holding onto one another’s shirts and yelling. The football bounced around the table making the towers of sandwiches wobble. Stella turned on them, furiously.
Jessica pulled a face, laughing as her couture dressed, high-heeled sister chased them out. ‘Well, okay, it might be a bit chaotic with everyone here. But you could have stayed with me and Connor. Only a sofa bed but you’re more than welcome and Inigo only wakes up a million times a night now.’
Johnny jiggled the baby gingerly. ‘Thanks for the offer, Jess, but, tempting as that sounds, I’ll stick to Sea Haven House.’
‘And your Callie.’ Jessica smirked.
‘She’s not my Callie. We just happen to be sharing for a couple of weeks or so.’
‘So you’re staying for a while?’ Jessica looked delighted.
‘Aw, that’s great, big bro. I’ve hardly seen anything of you since I moved here.
’ Face mischievous, she took Inigo’s tiny hand.
His fingers gripped her thumb. ‘Babysitter on tap, baby boy. Your daddy and me might actually be able to have a night out.’
Johnny tried not to panic. ‘Trust me, you wouldn’t want to leave your precious firstborn in my care. I don’t know one end of a baby from the other.’
Jessica spluttered through a cracker laden with hummus. ‘’Bout time you learned then. Always does my head in how you can be the second eldest and not know anything about children.’
Playing up to Jessica’s view of him as an unreconstructed male, he teased, ‘Our mother is many things, one of them, an incredibly capable woman.’ At her scandalised gasp he added, ‘Stella and I never got a look in. And, as you well know there’s quite the gap between me and Stella and you and the others.
We were sent off to school by the time your second shift came along.
Have you eaten enough? Ready to have him back?
’ He sniffed tentatively. ‘He doesn’t smell quite as fresh as when you foisted him on me. ’
‘Give him here then, you sexist pig.’ Jessica inhaled.
‘Thank goodness I married a proper man who knows how to change a nappy. Probably needs a feed then changing.’ Her tone softened and her face crumpled, suddenly looking exhausted.
‘Think you’re right though, big bro, to avoid sprogging. It’s bloomin’ relentless.’
Johnny smiled. He handed Inigo back, brushing hair off his sister’s face and kissing the top of her head.
‘And I could have done without this ruddy great palaver,’ she rolled her eyes. ‘I would have been happy with a picnic on the beach. It’s always lovely to see you all but this fuss. I mean, what was Mum thinking?’
‘She loves a party, does our mother.’ He paused and then added tenderly, ‘You know you’re doing great, Jess.’
‘Oh I know that,’ she replied airily. ‘I’m a regular earth mother.’ Hoisting the protesting baby up she turned to go and wiggled her fingers in a little wave over her shoulder.
Johnny watched as she wove between the guests to disappear into the bowels of the house.
He smiled. He loved his youngest sister deeply, even though they were separated in age by over twenty years.
Stella was, in some ways, a carbon copy of his mother.
Isabel a trophy wife to her corporate businessman husband.
And Lesley was some kind of accountant who did something unknown and incomprehensible.
But Jessica had always forged her own path.
She’d avoided any well-meant but pressured insistence on a career in money or business and had pursued art school.
She was now a sought-after illustrator. Much to their mother’s horror.
In Dorrie’s eyes, art was an acceptable hobby, not a livelihood.
Despite being horribly spoiled by her older siblings, Jessica had evolved into a loving, competent human being and, most of the time, bore the unremitting pressure and interrogation from their parents with a serene indifference.
Both siblings knew it came from a place of love, but it didn’t make it any easier to deal with.
Johnny suspected that Dorrie’s antipathy to a career in the arts had its origins in her own experiences in showbusiness.
Back in the late sixties and along with two of her sisters, she had been part of a girl group.
They’d had some success as a British version of The Supremes, riding on their tailcoats before prog rock took over in the seventies.
Dorrie had retired to concentrate on bringing up her family but her sisters, Becky and Maria, had continued for some time singing on cruise ships.
Although none of them had ever forgotten their years in the entertainment industry and when pressed shared their mini-skirted and beehive memories, Dorrie always made it clear how precarious a life it had been.
Becky and Maria had no such qualms and could always be relied upon to break into one of their song and dance routines, with Dorrie joining in if she’d drunk enough champagne.
She’d made it clear to each one of her offspring that they should have careers which guaranteed absolute financial security.
Stella and Isabel had married wealthy men and propped up their careers by supporting them with impeccably run homes.
Lesley made her own money in her own mysterious unfathomable way.
It was just Jessica and himself who did anything creative.
The only low-key aspect to Jessica was how little she needed to exist. For himself, he’d been content with what his journalism career had provided; a reasonable salary when employed and the chance to travel the world.
The cost, for him, had been paid in another way entirely.
His reverie was interrupted by the spectacle of his mother’s three sisters as they hove into sight.
Maria led the charge, with Becky following on.
The eldest, Sybil, who eschewed anything so superficial as showbusiness and had embraced a life in academia, puffed behind.
Even now they were, in their different ways, a formidable trio.
Panicked, he looked for an escape route but was trapped.