Chapter 54
As Kate steps into the meadow, she has to fight back tears as she sees how many people are gathered on the grass.
The August sun beats down on the river, bees and butterflies drifting lazily in the hot air. There’s music coming from the Kingfisher and her heart catches as she recognises ‘What a Wonderful World’ – her mum’s favourite song.
‘Kate, let us help you with those bags,’ comes a voice and then her old friend, Frank, is stepping away from the huddle of her London friends and taking the bags out of her hands, his husband, Jermaine, helping and their dog, Sprout, leaping about at their feet.
‘Thank you so much for coming,’ she says, hugging them all in turn. It takes a while: they each squeeze her very tightly and are not quick in letting go.
‘You know we wouldn’t have missed it,’ says Emma, nursing her five-month pregnant bump.
‘Yeah, we wanted to be here to support you,’ adds Leonie, kissing her on the cheek.
Hope and her daughter, Jamila, and granddaughter, Aiesha, are here too.
‘We brought these,’ says Hope, handing Kate a tight bouquet of dahlias. ‘But it looks like you’ve got a whole flower garden here.’ She gestures to the meadow and the colourful riot of wildflowers.
‘They’re beautiful, thank you,’ she says, her voice choked at their thoughtfulness.
Although her London friends have all individually been to visit over the course of the past year and Kate has seen them in London when she’s been there for work, it’s the first time they’ve all been together like this in a long time. It feels surreal to see them here in the middle of a Somerset field instead of in London, as though her two worlds have finally collided.
Kate spots her family down by the water. Jay is holding Rosie on his shoulders and talking to Brian. Erin and Mark are working together to wrangle their boys, who are dashing about in the grass. Hope catches Kate looking in their direction.
‘You go be with them,’ she urges, giving her hand a warm squeeze. ‘We’ll catch up properly later.’
‘And we’ll set this food up,’ Frank adds, ‘don’t you worry.’ Jermaine is already reaching into the bags and pulling things out onto one of the fold-up picnic tables. There are other tables that are already laden with food: cakes she recognises from the Kingfisher and large bowls of salads from Giuglia’s. Everyone has chipped in to help share the load and make today special.
‘OK,’ she nods, hearing her daughter’s voice and feeling the sudden urge to hold her close. ‘Thank you. And thank you again for being here. It means a lot.’
As she makes her way down to the water, she says a brief hello to people, thanking them for being there. She spots her mum friends from the Tired Mums Club and those made at her weekly swimming lessons with Rosie, feeling touched that they made the effort to be here. They have been such a support over the past year and she now can’t imagine her life without them.
Jay looks up as she approaches.
‘Look who it is,’ he says to Rosie.
‘Mama!’
Kate scoops her daughter into her arms, resting her on her hip. ‘Hello, darling.’
‘Mama!’ repeats Rosie, clapping her hands together.
Kate kisses Jay, grateful as ever to have him by her side on a day like this.
With Rosie still nestled snugly at her side, Kate hugs her sister, brother-in-law and stepdad in turn, giving Brian an extra little squeeze. They’ve grown closer over the past year. He’s needed them and it has helped with Kate’s own pain to be able to focus on looking after him.
‘Hey, Kate, do you think we’ve got time before the ceremony?’ Erin gestures towards the water.
Kate checks the time. Maybe she should be focusing on what’s to come and the speech she shortly has to make, but, suddenly, a swim feels like exactly what she needs. And she suddenly recalls that their mum suggested they do this – a swim before the ceremony. Because a swim is always a good idea.
While Kate and Erin get changed, Jay pulls Rosie’s sundress over her head. Beneath is a sunshine yellow swimsuit that matches Kate’s. He zips her into a little wetsuit decorated in flamingos.
‘Cute,’ says Erin.
They head down the meadow to where the river is shallower and the bank slopes gently, creating an easy spot to access the water. Ever since the water was declared clean enough to swim in, Kate has been coming here every day. She even swam all the way through the winter. Even on the days when she really, really doesn’t feel like swimming, it always makes her feel better. So the days when she doesn’t want to swim are the days when she knows she really needs to swim.
Erin strides into the water and pushes off in a confident breaststroke, Brian, Mark and the boys waving to her from the bank. Kate steps in next, planting her feet firmly in the gritty riverbed.
‘Are you ready for her?’
Kate nods up at Jay, reaching out for her daughter, who stretches towards her too. Carefully, Kate pulls Rosie close and then slowly crouches down until the water reaches her. Rosie giggles, splashing her hands on the surface of the river.
‘Mama! Swim!’ says Rosie, kicking her legs behind her and circling her arms. ‘Rosie! Swim!’
Holding her daughter in her arms as the river flows around them, Kate thinks about everything she has been through over the past eighteen months. The words of ‘What A Wonderful World’ float in the air around her, making her eyes sting and her heart ache. Because the world doesn’t always seem wonderful. Sometimes it seems awful. But over the past couple of years, as well as the very worst moments, there have been wonderful ones too. Often when she has least expected them. A friend managing to make her laugh even when she didn’t think she could. Jay kissing her forehead and letting her know that she is loved. The sun peeking out from behind a cloud and shining down on a river. And this girl. No matter what else happens, and no matter how hard their beginning may have been, the world will always feel wonderful because of this girl.
‘Yes, that’s right, darling. Mama swim. Rosie swim.’
‘And Granny wants to swim too!’ comes a voice from across the meadow.
Kate turns at the sound, a smile spreading across her face. Her mum strides through the grass, a bag slung over her shoulder and a wide-brimmed sun hat flopping on her head.
‘Hi, Mum, the water’s lovely!’ calls Erin, waving.
‘Granny!’ cries Rosie, splashing eagerly.
‘That’s right, darling. It’s Granny.’ Kate tries not to let her voice shake too much. It still catches her when she thinks how close Rosie came to growing up without her grandmother. But she’s here, thinner than before since the final round of chemo, but regaining her strength day by day. And she’s going to be OK. Kate still can’t quite believe that her mum is going to be OK. They found out the good news just last week that the treatments did their job and she is now cancer-free. Every time Kate thinks about it, she doesn’t know whether to cry or cheer.
Miriam hugs Jay, Mark and the boys and gives Brian a lingering kiss.
‘Eww! Granny, Grandpa, yuck!’ cries Ted, shielding his eyes. But Kate’s parents don’t seem to care.
‘Sorry I’m late, darlings. My yoga class overran. But I came prepared!’ She whips off her yoga top to reveal a blue swimsuit. Then she steps down into the water, Brian standing on the bank and offering her his hand for support. ‘Ahh! This is wonderful as always,’ she says with a smile as she sinks into the water, a happy, peaceful expression spreading across her face. Swimming in the cold water was one of the things that helped when she was dealing with the nausea from the chemo. The three of them started doing it regularly and haven’t stopped. Sometimes, their swims are less swims and more dips, just bobbing about in the water and chatting. With cake at the Kingfisher afterwards, of course. Because, as Kate’s old friend Rosemary always said, a swim isn’t a swim without cake.
Erin kicks over towards them until they are all standing in the shallows of the river, Kate’s mum in the middle, Erin on one side and Kate and Rosie on the other.
‘My girls,’ her mum says, wrapping an arm around the three of them.
And who knows what will come next in the winding rivers of their lives? But right now, right here in this place and with these people, Kate’s world is wonderful.