Chapter 23 #2
‘A quarter of a million?! Bloody hell, I’ll have to check him out,’ laughed Helena.
‘Don’t tell me you believe in all that nonsense?’ Margery asked.
‘Not really,’ Helena said. ‘But my mother was as “woo-woo” as they come.’ She smiled. ‘He would have been right up her street.’ Helena paused momentarily, deciding whether to tell them about her own experience with the psychic reading. ‘I did see a medium once, actually.’
‘No!’ Margery leant closer. ‘Were they any good?’
‘I’m not sure. She predicted I’d meet a handsome stranger and have a curly haired child…’
‘Noah and Raffy?’ Margery gasped.
‘Maybe. Perhaps I should have clarified whether they’d suddenly disappear on me one day with no notice,’ Helena said wryly. ‘Not exactly the happy ever after I was hoping for.’
‘Maybe it wasn’t them?’ Johnny shrugged. ‘Perhaps that’s all yet to come.’
‘Or maybe it’s all a load of nonsense!’ Helena plastered on a smile. ‘Just a clever woman who’s good at guessing what people want to hear.’
‘Perhaps we should get Malcolm to make one for you?’ Margery asked. ‘A love potion, I mean?’
Helena noticed Johnny looking at her surreptitiously, as if trying to suss out exactly how heartbroken she was.
‘No bloody chance,’ Helena said. ‘I think I’ve well and truly been put off men for life.’
‘That would be a shame,’ Johnny said, looking as though he genuinely meant it. ‘We’re not all bad, I promise.’
‘Well, I think it all sounds completely bonkers,’ Margery said, her eyebrows hovering near her hairline. ‘I mean, whatever next?’
‘He wants to expand his herb garden on a grand scale, all for use in his potions. We are talking about installing a greenhouse. Apparently, the demand from his online store is through the roof.’
‘Fascinating!’
‘He showed me his altar, complete with spell book, cauldron and wand.’
‘Wow. Can I see a picture?’ Helena asked.
Johnny pulled out his phone and loaded an image of an older man with bright purple hair and heavy eyeliner.
‘What do you reckon Aunty Marge? Should I set you up on a date?’ Johnny’s laugh was infectious.
‘Don’t be ridiculous Johnathan!’ Margery scolded. ‘I might get him to make me a love potion though…’
At this they all burst out laughing. Helena realised how long it had been since she had felt even a shred of happiness like this. It had been weeks since a smile had passed her lips, let alone laughter spilling out of her. She was so grateful to Margery for coming to her rescue.
That afternoon, she phoned her landlord, who was not best pleased at her disappearance.
Then Margery and Johnny helped her move her stuff upstairs into the box room.
As predicted, Johnny had insisted on giving her the spare room but Helena had managed to hold her ground by threatening to go back to the flat share if he wouldn’t let her take it instead.
With Helena’s help, Margery had cleared out the wardrobe and chest of drawers for her to put her things in, boxing up everything she could and leaving them out for Johnny to take up to the loft.
Afterwards, while Margery took the dogs for a walk, Helena decided to tackle her unpacking.
She placed the pink rose Margery had bought her on her bedside table.
From her bedroom window she could see Johnny working in the garden.
He looked as if he belonged outdoors, in a salt-of-the-earth, rugged kind of way.
She would love to know how to garden. She adored being in nature and thought it must be such a rewarding skill to have.
She knew it was meant to be so good for your mental health.
She was clueless about any of it, pretty much everything she had planted at Banham Cottage had died, but she was determined to learn.
Perhaps Johnny would be able to teach her.
Helena hauled the suitcases onto her bed and started unpacking, hanging her dresses and trousers in the wardrobe, folding jumpers and tops and stacking them neatly in the chest of drawers, along with her underwear.
It was a tight squeeze trying to get all her clothes into such a small storage space.
Luckily she didn’t have too many, these past few years there hadn’t been any money left over from her allowance for her to spend on herself, and she had wanted to keep the last of her savings for a rainy day.
Her heart wrenched as she thought back to the torture of packing up Raffy and Noah’s things, of giving them away.
She bit back tears as the crippling loss hit her for the millionth time, like being winded by a sharp jab under the ribs.
There were two boxes left with things she had been unable to part with.
Not ready to face going through them quite yet, she left them in the corner of the room, one on top of the other.
Lastly she opened her tote bag and pulled out Raffy’s dog-eared teddy.
She breathed in the smell and her heart pined for him.
She pictured him asleep, holding it tight each night as she kissed him goodnight on her way to bed.
Tears glistened in her eyes as she placed it on the bed.
Hating herself for doing it, she pulled Noah’s jumper out too and buried her face in it.
Tears spilled over as she smelt the musky scent of his aftershave.
She tucked them under her pillow. That night she fell asleep curled up with them both.