Chapter 15
‘Theo, you made it!’ A tall and very attractive blonde made her way over to us as we went through heavy oak double doors and into a vast hall.
No wonder it was called the Great Hall. Bigger than our assembly hall at school and more spacious even than the town’s fabulous library, the imposing oak-clad walls seemed to go on for ever.
‘Ma said you’d arrived. Where’s Su…?’ She broke off as she noticed me bringing up the rear but at a standstill, having stopped to gawp at the high chandeliered ceilings.
She stepped forwards, holding out a hand.
‘Anna, this is my eldest sister, Vivienne,’ Theo said, kissing the girl’s cheek. ‘Vivienne, this is my friend Anna from university.’
‘Hello, Anna. Do you have a drink?’ She turned, stopping a young girl dressed in black and carrying a trayful of champagne.
‘Here,’ she said, ‘get one of these down your neck. We’re already two in front of you.
’ Vivienne took a long look at me, almost stepping back as she did so, before smiling as though she’d weighed me up and I’d passed muster.
‘I love the dress. Is it an Azzedine Ala?a? I recognise the design.’
I was very tempted to say, ‘Chelsea Girl, actually,’ but on my best behaviour, as my mum had taught me when heading off to birthday parties as a kid, I smiled politely and lied, ‘You’re right, Vivienne. How clever of you.’
‘Ah, I usually am when it comes to designers. Have to say, I’m amazed Theo managed to find anyone willing to come with him from Leeds.
Thought these northern unis were all hotbeds of radical student protest?
Full of damned antis. This is the last place most of them would want to find themselves, without losing face. ’
‘You didn’t go to a northern university yourself then?’ I asked. ‘Like Theo, I mean?’
‘University? Me? Good God, no. Thick as two short planks, me.’
‘Don’t believe a word of it, Anna!’ Theo tutted. ‘Vivienne has now taken over the financial side of the estate…’
‘No, I did North of England,’ Vivienne interrupted. ‘Bit of a bore but…’
‘What? All of it?’ I wanted to laugh. What on earth was North of England?
‘Oh, you are funny.’ Vivienne gave a tinkle of laughter. ‘Half the girls here…’ Vivienne waved a hand as more and more couples entered the hall, ‘…did North of England at some point.’
‘Secretarial college in Harrogate where daughters of the great and good find themselves,’ Theo explained with raised eyebrows. ‘Apparently it’s the place to aspire to after returning from Switzerland.’
‘Come on, Theo!’ Vivienne tutted. ‘You know I refused to be bundled off to finishing school once I’d left Benenden.
Anyway, The-o-dore…’ she elongated each syllable of his name before giving him a little poke in the ribs ‘…I thought you said you were never coming to one of these dos again after last year?’
‘Oh?’ I turned to Theo, curiosity overcoming good manners. ‘What happened last year then?’
‘The same as every year.’ Theo smiled. ‘I’d only been back from New Zealand a while and, after being out there, it all seemed a bit, you know, a bit daft, a bit… oh, I don’t know… superficial? Hooray Henry sort of English, grown men dressed up in white pants and these red coats.’
‘But you’ve changed your opinion again then? About all this…?’ I started.
Theo was saved from answering by the arrival of another sister – Araminta, this time – accompanied by two men, one who was introduced as Duncan, Araminta’s husband, and, in tow, James, belonging to Vivienne.
There was much patting and welcoming of Theo who, I gathered, hadn’t been home from Leeds as much as his family both required and expected.
‘Can’t have the next in line to Mandeville Hall not taking an interest in the place.
’ Duncan laughed with another well-placed slap at Theo’s back.
‘And don’t try telling us you’re down in that library every evening and weekend, your nose in a book.
I hear it’s squash that’s taking up too much of your time these days, Theodore,’ Duncan went on.
‘Don’t let on to your father what you’re up to when you say you’ve too much studying to do to come home. ’
Theo smiled politely but said nothing, either in agreement or otherwise.
‘Where are you from, Anna?’ Araminta asked, turning to me.
‘Rothersley.’
There was a slight stilling of the atmosphere, but Araminta ploughed on, undeterred.
‘South Yorkshire? The miners there are out on strike again, I believe?’
‘Again…?’ I started.
‘Isn’t that Scargill chap always downing tools and shouting: “Everybody out”?’ Arabella air-mimed the words. ‘Odious little man. Doesn’t seem to care a fig for the miners not having enough money to live on.’
‘To be fair, I think it’s this government that doesn’t give a… a…’ biting down the rat’s arse I’d have come out with back at home, I substituted ‘a… fig about the miners in Rothersley and in Wales and in the North East.’
‘Anna’s dad and brother are both miners,’ Theo said calmly.
‘Goodness. Really?’ All eyes turned in my direction, taking in every aspect of me as though I were some strange creature, never before darkening the doorstep of Mandeville Hall. I probably was.
‘Come on, James.’ Araminta grinned in her brother-in-law’s direction. ‘Do you have an answer for Anna?’
‘An answer?’ I glanced warily at Araminta and then towards Theo. I really didn’t want to be getting into any political argument the minute I’d been introduced to his family.
‘James is a member of the government,’ Theo said, eyebrows raised.
‘One of Mrs Thatcher’s bright young things,’ Araminta teased. ‘We all know how our prime minister likes to surround herself with attractive young men who’ll do her bidding.’
‘Do you mind, Minty?’ Vivienne was clearly put out. ‘You’re making James appear to have no mind of his own. He’s very junior,’ she added, shaking her head slightly in my direction. ‘I doubt our leader even knows who James is.’
‘But we’re all very proud of him, aren’t we, Jamesie?’ Araminta soothed, patting his arm. ‘Even if he’s not quite caught the eye of Mrs T just yet.’
‘The thing is, Anna,’ Duncan now said, turning to me, ‘it’s in the interests of the UK as a whole that there should be a healthy and competitive coal industry.’
‘Absolutely.’ I nodded vigorously. ‘I couldn’t agree more.’ Here was someone who appeared to be on the side of the miners.
‘And there has to be high investment in modern competitive capacity and, as in any extractive industry, uncompetitive and old capacity should be closed. It’s quite simple, Anna, and what your lot don’t get…’
My lot?
‘…is that in any industry, and particularly the coal industry, there has to be live progress…’
‘Live, yes,’ I interrupted. ‘Not closed, not taking away the livelihood of thousands of families. Destroying communities…’
‘I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree on this,’ Duncan said, patting my arm and turning away.
‘Yes,’ I said politely, ‘I guess so. The last thing I want is to make anyone feel uncomfortable when I’ve been invited here as a guest…’ But Duncan had obviously finished the conversation and was now talking to another woman who’d joined the group.
‘Sorry,’ I said to Theo, feeling close to tears. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Why should you be sorry?’
‘I seem to end up arguing with people.’
Theo laughed. ‘I wouldn’t call that an argument. Come on, have another drink and meet my friends. They’re probably a lot easier to cope with than some of my family.’
He took my hand and we moved through the crowd, Theo stopping every now and again to say hello and introduce me to people, and I began to relax.
I loved the feel of my hand in his and, as we stood slightly apart from the others near a richly curtained window at the far end of the hall, every now and again he glanced down at me, moving his thumb gently and reassuringly across my own.
‘Where’s your other sister?’ I asked. ‘I thought you had four?’
‘Georgina’s in New York. Working there. You’d like her, Anna. She reminds me of you for some reason.’
‘Oh?’
‘She’s lovely for a start and great fun.
Doesn’t put up with any crap from this family of mine.
Just says it as it is. I suppose it always used to be me and Georgina pitted against the other two.
’ Theo glanced back towards his older sisters and their partners.
‘She was at Durham – always been Dad’s favourite – and now she’s living in the States working for a magazine over there. ’
‘My brother David wants to write,’ I said. ‘Sees his future as a political journalist.’
‘He escaped going down the mine then?’
I nodded. ‘He’s very bright. Got a first from Newcastle.’ I hesitated. ‘I suppose Dad and I have always sort of known it, but David’s… well, he’s… just come out.’
‘He’s gay?’
‘Hmm. Bit of a shock to Mum and Les who don’t really understand it all. Well, Mum’s OK, I mean, he’s her beloved firstborn, but Les seems to think it some slur on his own masculinity. Something not to own up to – you know, having one of them as a brother.’
‘Can’t be easy, coming out in a small mining community.’ Theo frowned.
‘No, I don’t suppose it is. I can’t see him ever coming back to Yorkshire.
He’ll end up in London. Where he needs to be, I guess, if his political voice is to be heard.
’ When Theo didn’t say anything, but appeared to be mulling over what I’d just told him, I took a big glug of champagne as well as a deep breath and said, ‘Everyone seems to have expected someone called Susannah to have been here?’
‘Yes.’
‘And?’
‘And?’ Theo turned, taking a couple more glasses from a passing waitress and then relented. ‘Susannah and I got together last year. She came home with me a couple of times.’ He shrugged, never taking his eyes from my own.
‘The squash player? She was with you down at the squash courts once.’
Theo nodded. ‘She’s a very good player.’
‘And you’re not with her any more?’
‘Anna, I wouldn’t have invited you here this evening if there was still anything between Susannah and me.’
‘I wouldn’t have come if there was.’