‘Let’s hear about it now,’ said Gilly, her words and expression jolly, her feelings obviously less so.
‘Better get your tablet,’ said Martin, who hadn’t said a lot up until now except to goad his sister.
Cressida came back to the table and sat down next to Gilly, pulling her chair in close. She laughed again. ‘You may not know this, but I have a terrible Rightmove habit!’ she tinkled.
‘Really?’ said Gilly, obviously genuinely surprised.
‘Yes!’ said Cressida. ‘And I’ve found something really rather exciting. Let me find it for you.’
Helena got up, determined she wasn’t going to miss out on any excitement going. Besides, the sooner the plan had been shared the sooner they could go home.
‘Look!’ said Cressida. ‘Isn’t it to die for?’
Revealed on Cressida’s favourite website – one which Helena was quite fond of too – was indeed a lovely property.
It was a mansion, with seven bedrooms, four reception rooms and multiple bathrooms. There was a tennis court and lovely grounds. There was even an outdoor swimming pool and accompanying pool house. Unsurprisingly, it was very expensive.
‘But you could never afford this, could you?’ asked Gilly, looking at her son, who had a very good job but surely not good enough to support the sort of mortgage they’d need to buy this enormous house.
‘And look!’ said Cressida, ignoring this question. ‘It has a granny annexe!’ She clicked along to the picture.
Helena leaned in. She peered at the double bedroom (double doors on to the garden), kitchenette, and living room which was big enough for a three-piece suite if the furniture was arranged more or less sideways. There was a huge television on the wall. ‘Hmm,’ she said, ‘I wouldn’t care to put my granny in there. If I had one.’
‘You could let it,’ said Gilly. ‘Airbnb, or just bed and breakfast. Would you want to do that?’
Cressida looked annoyed and disappointed. ‘Well, no, we wouldn’t want to do that. We’d want you to live in it, Gilly.’
‘Me? Why?’ Gilly sounded confused.
‘It would be so handy. You could see so much more of Ismene than you usually do,’ explained Cressida. ‘You’re always saying you don’t see enough of her.’
‘That is true, Grandma,’ said Ismene. She was a solemn, truthful child. Helena liked her but found her a little unnerving.
‘But you already live quite near,’ said Gilly, ‘I don’t see why you moving would make me see more of Issi – Ismene,’ she corrected herself quickly.
‘Cress wants to go back to work full time,’ said Martin.
‘Then you’d need this space for a nanny,’ said Gilly quickly. ‘But I still don’t see how you’d afford this house.’ She smiled at Cressida. ‘Unless you’ve been offered a really well-paid job, which of course you so deserve and could obviously do.’
While Helena was privately vomiting at her mother’s obvious sucking-up to Cressida, she did wonder if there was a hidden message in her flattering words.
‘Ah!’ said Cressida. ‘Although I have got a job offer with a very good package, this is where we come to our exciting plan!’
‘Which is?’ said Gilly.
Helena recognised a hint of steel in her mother’s gentle enquiry.
Some of Cressida’s confidence left her. ‘Gilly, we think it’s time you thought about downsizing. Although you’re amazing for your age, you’re not getting any younger.’
‘Not even you are doing that, Cressida,’ said Helena.
‘My age?’ said Gilly, her tone a combination of bemused and affronted. ‘I’m still in my fifties! Surely I don’t have to be thinking about my age yet!’
‘The bed and breakfast is a lot of hard work,’ persisted Cressida. ‘You often say so.’
‘But Mum loves her B & B!’ said Helena. ‘Are you suggesting she gives it up? And even if you are, there’s no reason why she should move into a granny annexe.’ Helena was aware she was being disingenuous; she knew what was coming but she wanted Cressida and her brother to say it.
‘It’s about repurposing her property,’ said Cressida.
‘What?’ said Helena, no longer bothering to sound polite. ‘I do wish you’d speak in plain English sometimes!’
‘That is English,’ said Ismene. She was looking confused now.
‘It is English, darling,’ said Gilly, ‘but the meaning isn’t exactly clear.’
‘What exactly do you mean by “repurposing”?’ said Helena. ‘Do you mean convert it into executive second homes?’
‘No, of course not!’ snapped Martin. ‘Get off your hobby horse, Hels.’
‘We would never suggest doing anything to your lovely home!’ said Cressida. ‘But you are sitting on a lot of very valuable real estate and if you sold it, you could help Helena buy somewhere to do her weaving and we could buy our new house and you could live with us!’
Helena suddenly felt sick. Surely Cressida wasn’t suggesting that her mother sold the family home, the house she had struggled so hard to keep after her divorce, so Martin and Cressida could go and live in a mansion? Keeping her rage under control made her sweat slightly. She helped herself to a glass of water. ‘I’m not sure Mum would like that,’ she said.
‘I was reading an article in the paper just the other day about how baby boomers are sitting on millions of pounds’ worth of property and their children are struggling to get on to the property ladder,’ said Cressida.
‘But you are on the property ladder,’ said Gilly.
‘And Mum helped you get there!’ said Helena.
Cressida gave her a withering look. ‘Five thousand isn’t exactly a deposit, Helena. Not these days.’
Helena saw the hurt flash across her mother’s face. Giving her children five thousand pounds at that particular time had been a real struggle. She’d had to give so much to her ex-husband to stop him forcing her to sell the family home there had been hardly anything left over. ‘It was worth a lot more then,’ Helena said. She’d only discovered afterwards how hard it had been for Gilly or she wouldn’t have accepted the money.
‘Anyway,’ said Cressida, looking a little uncomfortable. ‘We just wanted to share our plan with you, and offer you a home with us for your – older years.’
Gilly took a breath. ‘Had I been in my eighties or nineties I’d probably have been grateful,’ she said.
‘But we need the money now, Mum,’ said Martin, ‘not when you’re dead.’
‘Martin!’ Cressida snapped. ‘There’s no need to talk like that.’
Helena cleared her throat. She felt if she stayed any longer she was likely to say something that would cause a permanent family rift. ‘You’ve given Mum a lot to think about, but now I think perhaps I’d better get the poor old dear home.’ An exchanged glance told her that Gilly knew she was being sarcastic.
Gilly got to her feet. ‘Yes, I need to think about what you’ve said.’
Cressida stood up too, evidently happy to get her guests out of the house. ‘But don’t leave it too long. That to-die-for house won’t stay on the market forever!’