Alfie’s meltdown had now caused Freddie to try out some attention-seeking behaviour by pouring his glass of juice on the floor, so Dan yelled at him too. All this gave Ella the perfect opportunity to console Freddie by lifting him on her knee and stroking his hair, which he was a little unsure about because ‘Auntie Ella’ hadn’t so much as looked at him until now.
‘Shall we go for a little walk?’ she asked Freddie.
I immediately bristled. ‘We don’t have time, Ella. The taxi will be here soon,’ I said, thinking: no way are you going wandering around outside with my baby.
‘It’s fine, there’s plenty of time. It’s only half past seven, the taxi isn’t due until eight.’ She said this like I was being fussy, stupid, so I had to put her in her place.
‘He’s tired, he won’t want to walk now.’
‘He’ll love a little walkies, won’t you, Freddie?’ she said.
‘He’s not a dog,’ I snapped.
Her face went quite pink. ‘I’m sorry, Clare. If you’d rather I didn’t take Freddie for a walk, I understand,’ she said. She was playing the victim for the others’ benefit. They were all taking in the scene, it was impossible not to.
‘It’s not that I—’
‘I’ll come with you, we’ll both go,’ Jamie said, picking Freddie up, putting him on his shoulders, and putting me in my place. I felt embarrassed. Why had I been so mean to her, in front of everyone too?
‘Are you sure you’re okay with this, Clare?’ she said, making it an even bigger deal.
‘Yes, yes, it’s fine…’ I said.
‘Oh Clare, I do wish you wouldn’t worry so much, it isn’t good for the lymphatic system, you know? It’s what causes the bloating,’ she said earnestly, like she was addressing Jabba the Hut.
‘My lymphatic system is fine, thank you,’ I said, unsmiling.
Dan shot me a look, but I ignored him. He had no right to chastise me when he’d just caused the boys to go into total meltdown.
Within minutes, Joy was back and danced into the room, doing a twirl. ‘Will I do?’ she asked in a really irritating coquettish way. But having offended Ella, and probably pissed off Jamie, tonight I needed Joy’s support. So I raved about her dress and told her how young she looked, which went on far too long, but I had some making up to do.
Ten minutes later, Jamie and Ella walked back through the door, having taken Freddie for his walk. She was holding him in her arms; he’d clearly been too tired to walk, as I’d suggested. ‘He’s just the sweetest little thing. Can Jamie and I have him?’ Ella asked, with a giggle.
‘No,’ I said too quickly.
The others turned to look at me. My face burned.
No one spoke until Jamie piped up. ‘Just as well. Freddie weighs a tonne, too heavy for me to carry. I’m glad Ella works out – she can carry our kids,’ he said, trying to lift the mood. But I didn’t laugh, and he damn well knew why.
Chapter Nineteen
We all sat looking at each other awkwardly until Joy quickly rallied round and, landing on safe ground, asked Violet, ‘Do you like my dress, darling?’
‘Yes, Granny. It’s such a lovely blue,’ Violet answered, always the diplomat.
‘Violet’s right, it’s a lovely blue,’ I heard myself say. ‘And you know what would look gorgeous with it?’
‘What?’ Joy’s head was to one side. She was smiling. If there was one thing Joy loved talking about more than herself, it was talking about what she was wearing.
‘Your diamond earrings – the ones Bob bought you for your anniversary – they will be stunning against that blue.’
I flashed a look at Ella, who was staring at the floor.
‘I’ve got some eyeshadow that shade too – come on, I’ll do your eyes,’ I said excitedly.
‘There really isn’t time…’ Ella started.
‘Oh no… the taxis will be here soon,’ Joy added.
‘There’s plenty of time,’ I said, warming to this. ‘Come on, Joy, if we’re quick we can turn you into Helen Mirren’s younger sister.’
Joy couldn’t resist. She loved being made a fuss of and as she was one of Helen Mirren’s biggest fans I knew I’d hit a sweet spot. As we left the room, I smiled at Ella, who looked suddenly worried, and, over my shoulder, repeated a similar sentence to one she’d used on me earlier – ‘Oh Ella, don’t worry so much! Think of your lymphatic system,’ I said and followed Joy up the stairs, two at a time.
I popped into my own room to grab the blue eyeshadow and to give Joy time to discover her earrings weren’t in the jewellery roll, and as I headed into her room clutching my make-up bag, it seemed she had indeed failed to find them.
‘Oh, they must be here, Joy,’ I said, gently taking the roll from her hands and looking through it. ‘You always bring those earrings on holiday. Only last year you were saying how they go with anything.’
Her fingers were pushing into the silk pockets of the roll. ‘I may have left them at home, Clare,’ she offered, but I could tell she didn’t believe that. I even wondered if she was perhaps telling a white lie to save any embarrassment.
‘No, you didn’t leave them at home – you had them with you… Don’t you remember – you wore them on our first night here?’
‘Oh… oh yes, that’s right. I probably put them down somewhere.’ But Ella was now calling from downstairs to say the taxi had arrived. Unsurprisingly, she seemed to want us distracted from our search.
‘It’s a mystery,’ I said loudly for Ella’s benefit as we walked downstairs. ‘I mean there’s only us. And it’s not like anyone here would take them.’ I let it hang, as Ella muttered in agreement and hurried the others out of the front door.
‘It’s fine,’ said Joy, ‘we’ll find them, I’m sure.’
The kids piled into the first taxi and I was about to get in with them when Ella gently touched my arm. ‘Sorry, Clare, but I need to go in the first one. I booked the table and I want to make sure it’s the right one. I want it to be really special for you guys.’
I didn’t care, I just didn’t want to be in the same one as her, so I started to get the kids out of the taxi so they could come with me and Dan in ours when it arrived.
‘No, no, don’t move them, the kids can come with me and Jamie,’ she said. ‘We can get them seated at the restaurant, and give you guys a little break.’ This sounded like she was being caring, considerate, but I didn’t trust her, and since when has a short taxi ride sans kids been a little break?
‘No, really,’ I said, still trying to move the children out of the taxi.
‘Clare, they’re fine,’ Jamie said as he joined us. ‘We can look after three children, we’re not idiots.’
I stood back, and didn’t say anything. Jamie had never been rude or cutting like this before. Jamie and I had always had a special friendship: we shared a sense of humour, we had our little in-jokes, usually affectionate jibes about Joy or Bob, nothing mean, just smiling at the way Joy took over, or how she bullied poor old Bob. But since he’d arrived there’d been nothing, not a glimmer of recognition in something that happened, something that was said. I’d looked at Jamie, tried to catch his eyes, waiting for that secret smile, the acknowledgement that we both knew what the other was thinking – but nothing. He never met my eyes any more, and only seemed to talk to me when Ella wasn’t around. I wondered if, despite her attractiveness and apparent confidence, she was the jealous type? Was Jamie not allowed to chat to any other women, even his sister-in-law?