Page 5 of The Forever Cottage

‘Being a lawyer, Charles will have all the angles covered so you need to find your own solicitor. A good one. Has Charles said what he intends to do about the house?’

Tess’s open-mouthed expression gave away her dismay.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, having a mistress is an expensive hobby. I’m guessing he’ll need to free up some money to fund his new lifestyle. All I’m saying is that he might suggest selling the house.’

‘No! He couldn’t. He wouldn’t do that. Would he, Suzy?’

Her friend simply shrugged, looking towards Gina as though she held all the answers.

‘No, I wouldn’t let him!’ Tess protested.

‘Well, just have your senses about you and don’t let Charles dictate what he’s going to take from this marriage,’ Gina said.

Tess felt her breath catch in her throat. She’d been consumed with the thought of going into the future alone, without Charles at her side, wondering how she would cope, but she hadn’t even considered that she might be forced to move out of her beloved home, Hollyhocks Cottage. No, it seemed Charles was capable of many things, but surely not that? She felt a resolve travel the length of her spine. She might not be able to do anything about Charles’s decision to bring an end to their marriage, but she would do everything in her power to hold on to the home that she loved.

5

‘Hello stranger! Where have you been? I was about to send out the search parties for you?’

Was it really only a week since Tess had last visited? Then she’d been carefree and happy, entirely oblivious to what was about to unfold in her personal life. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

Tess leaned down to kiss her mother Marjorie on the cheek, inhaling a heady scent of vanilla mingled with antiseptic. Her hair, almost completely white now with a few flashes of grey, had been cut short in a gamine style that accentuated her still pretty features. Her nails had been newly manicured, painted a fetching coral colour, and she sat perched on a cushion in the winged-chair that was in the bay window of her room at the residential facility.

Tess still felt guilty that her mum had been forced to leave her own place to live in a care home, even though the decision was taken entirely out of her hands when her mum had suffered a series of falls, followed by a stroke, which had resulted in her needing around-the-clock care. With the best will in the world and despite exploring several possible options, including moving into Hollyhocks Cottage, Tess had been forced to accept that she wouldn’t be able to provide the level of help and support her mother needed. Charles had been a tower of strength during that period, guiding her with kindness through some difficult decisions, accompanying her on visits to the hospital to see Marjorie, and reassuring Tess when it all got too much, wondering if she was doing the right thing by her mother. That was only a couple of years ago. Was Charles already leading his double life then?

‘Sorry, Mum. I messaged you, but it’s been a bit of a hectic time. I’m here now, though. So how have you been?’

In truth, Marjorie looked remarkably well. She had made a good recovery since those dark days when it was uncertain whether she would pull through and although she still struggled to get around, needing the aid of a walker to shuffle along, her speech was back to normal, and she had adjusted to her physical limitations and embraced her new life at the care home.

‘Well, I’m hanging on in there!’ she said with a smile that lit up her face. ‘Although there are plenty of reminders of your own mortality around here,’ she said with a grimace. ‘You know Brian Downey from along the corridor? Well, he popped his clogs last week.’

‘No,’ said Tess, making a suitably stricken expression as she pulled up a chair and sat down beside her mum.

‘Yes. You have to come to expect it here. It’s like a revolving-doors policy. One in, one out!’ she said breezily. ‘Mind you, you can’t dwell on it. That way lies madness. We’ll miss Brian, though. He was a lovely chap.’

Tess admired her mum’s sunny disposition and ability to look on the positive side of almost anything. Her long illness hadn’t dampened her joie de vivre. If anything, she had taken a pragmatic approach, much more so than Tess, who had reacted emotionally, hating to see her strong, intelligent and vivacious mother reduced to a shadow of her former self.

‘So tell me all the news? How’s that granddaughter of mine? She sends lots of photos through of all these gorgeous young people, it’s hard to keep up.’

‘She’s great, having the best time, making lots of memories. She seems to work for a couple of weeks, earns some money, and then goes off on her next adventure. There’s a great supportive community of backpackers out there, she tells me. It’s the trip of a lifetime, something she’ll remember forever. Although, honestly, I’ll be pleased when she’s back home again.’

‘Ah, well, you’ve always been one of life’s worriers.’

‘It’s hard not to when she’s on the opposite side of the world. At least when she was at uni, she could hop on a train home again, if she needed a break. Still, thank goodness for video calls. Seeing her smiling face and hearing her voice always makes me feel better. I’m not sure where she gets her adventurous streak from. It’s certainly not her mother!’

‘No, you’ve always been a bit of a homebird, haven’t you?’

It was true, Tess was never happier than when pottering about at Hollyhocks, gardening, baking, crocheting, and helping out at village charity events, doing the flowers for the church, being a good wife and mother. She inhaled a sigh. Was that why Charles had tired of her? Because she’d become dull and boring, and no longer stimulated him in the way she once had?

‘Not that there’s anything wrong with that,’ Marjorie trilled, as if reading Tess’s thoughts. ‘We can’t all be the same, but you know, I think Hannah must take after me.’ She gave a wide, beaming smile. ‘I was a great traveller in my younger days, as you well know. Your father and I always loved to head abroad whenever we could; I’ve still got the albums here, full of photos from sunnier climes. Such happy times.’

Marjorie had a wealth of wonderful memories from her time with Malcolm, they’d lived a full and exciting life together, right up until the end when Malcolm was cruelly taken by an aggressive form of cancer about ten years ago now. Her parents’ marriage had been the blueprint for her own, but Tess shuddered to think what her father might have said about Charles’s recent actions. She leaned across to the windowsill and picked up the silver framed photo showing a picture of Malcolm and Marjorie, dressed up to the nines, caught in hold as they danced at a party many moons ago. Emotion caught in her throat as she glanced across at Marjorie, who smiled wistfully, the pair of them lost in their own memories.

Her mother and father had always cut a glamorous pair as they took up his various postings with the RAF, both in the UK and abroad. It had meant that Tess and her brother Hugh had moved around a lot when they were growing up, usually every couple of years, leaving behind friends and memories, and then having to make new ones. Tess suspected it played a big part in her desire now for a secure and settled existence in Lower Leaping.

‘But then again, Charles is the intrepid type too, isn’t he?’ Marjorie said now, breaking into Tess’s thoughts.

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