Page 77 of A Family Affair
They weren’t perfect, not by any means, and there had been some bumps in the road where Clarissa and Eleonora were concerned because after their joyous reunion at Melba Villa came the questions and recriminations.
At first Eleonora was amused by the fact her father had reinvented her as some kind of war hero who’d been parachuted into France to fight the Nazis, when all the time she was working in a munitions factory a few miles north in Manchester. Her bitterness at being left childless and bereft, in shock at her father’s words, losing her mind as half-frozen she’d wandered the streets of the city was never far below the surface, though.
It was Ernie who’d gone head-to-head with the second-most stubborn person in their family, and miraculously persuaded her to accept Clarissa’s invitation and visit Chamberlain Manor. That momentous day, attended by Honey, Levi and Ernie, had ended in tears and an act of rebellion.
Following her banishment, Eleonora had sworn never to step foot on Chamberlain soil again, but as Ernie pointed out, those were her father’s words. Clarissa was mistress there now, and Eleonora’s return would mean a lot to a loyal sister who’d never given up hope.
They’d all lived under the cloud of Percival Chamberlain’s bigotry and suffered as a result of his actions, so wasn’t it time to put that right? Right some wrongs. Make the most of the time they had left by doing things their way.
It was all going so well, until Clarissa had shown Eleonora the memorial in the rose garden. When she’d read the words, barren of truth and emotion, she took another slap in the face and all the hurt and twisted lies came flooding back.
It was seeing her sister so distraught that made Clarissa act. ‘Chuck, dear man. Would you run and fetch the largest hammer you can find. There should be one in Yosef’s tool shed in the yard.’
Nobody spoke. Because the intention was clear and when Chuck returned she pointed to the stone memorial, ‘Please destroy it. That monstrosity has no place here.’
In a surreal moment of respectful silence, everyone looked on as Chuck smashed it to pieces and it reminded Honey of how her grandad had reacted to another monument that was erected on lies. The destruction of Eleonora’s fake memorial had been so moving and symbolic it had taken Honey’s breath away.
It wasn’t a one-way street though, where hurt and confusion were concerned, because Clarissa had things she needed to get off her chest, too. Why and how could Eleonora have wiped her own sister out of her life? She could have made discreet enquiries, waited until their parents were dead even, then written a letter to explain everything. Had Eleonora never been curious? Had she even missed Clarissa like Clarissa had missed her?
Whatever was said during that meeting, the reasons or excuses Eleonora gave remained between the sisters. But from what Ernie had told Honey, his mother thought it was for the best where Clarissa was concerned. She’d even seen sense in some of her father’s words so allowed her to get on with the life she’d been accustomed to.
Having a fallen-from-grace sister, married to a lowly doctor, an ex-factory worker with two step-children and one dead baby she’d had by the local schoolteacher, turn up out of the blue wasn’t the upper-class way.
The greatest stumbling block, the one thing Eleonora simply couldn’t surmount, was a very primal emotion called hate. And from raw hate was borne a simple fact. She could neither forgive nor forget; and the casualty of that sorry state of affairs was Clarissa.
In the end they’d agreed that their past was a hornets’ nest of whys and what-ifs and that regrets were a waste of energy that both of them preferred to reserve for the here and now. The Percivals, Francescas, Oscars and Mollys were ghosts and should have no grip, no presence, or space in their minds. Not anymore.
So together Clarissa and Eleonora were reunited and resolved in one last mission. To enjoy what time they had left together and make sure that those who would carry the Chamberlain legacy forward were people they trusted.
CHAPTER58
They spotted Ziggy and Chuck sitting on the terrace steps, surrounded by Levi’s little cousins from the outlaw side of his family, who were playing with the croquet set on the lawn.
Chuck was laughing at something Ziggy was saying and it made Honey smile, too. He was wearing a similar outfit to Levi, plus a Stetson which everyone thought was very sensible considering the heat of the day.
Ziggy looked completely lovely in her column bridesmaid dress, and it matched Levi’s waistcoat and the tinted dreadlocks in her hair. It also matched her and Chuck’s identical blue cowboy boots. Apparently they’d had a pig of a time finding some and eventually got lucky on eBay. They were like peas from the same pod.
Thankfully, Clarissa and Eleonora didn’t bat an eyelid at the less formal wedding arrangements and attire, or at Ziggy when they first met. In fact they were smitten, and the sentiment was mutual.
Ziggy was just Ziggy and treated everyone the same, because according to her, no matter where you came from everyone’s got bum-holes, boobs and willies and grim things going on with their bodies and down belows. Poo was poo and sick was sick, and if you wanted to do things with the hoover pipe and end up with it stuck to your pecker, who was she to judge.
Her gung-ho attitude to life and getting the fuck on with it, as she’d told them both while they ate a Greggs’ meal deal on the dining room table at Chamberlain, had caused near hysteria and a full-fat Cherry Coke cheers.
The duchesses, as Ziggy called them, loved their loony friend so much that Honey wouldn’t be surprised if they’d go through with their plan to get matching tattoos. They’d discussed many options, some of them rather rude and others a bit odd, well for one pushing a hundred and the other well over the line. Eleonora wanted the CND symbol and Clarissa opted for the name Spirit.
Nah, they were winding everyone up… but then again…
‘I think Ziggy’s got a crush on Chuck, don’t you?’ Honey twiddled the stem of her parasol as she watched her friend laughing with her many times removed cousin.
‘I’m not surprised, he’s a nice bloke and it’s a shame he’s going back to the states… do you think he’ll come back? I want him to, don’t you?’
Levi was rolling the cuffs up on his shirt and Honey thought it was time they headed back otherwise they’d melt, and everyone would think they were being rude.
‘I really do because you can tell he’s happy here and Clarissa adores him, but she’s right. He has to decide for himself where he wants to be, and the only way he’ll know is if he goes home and gives it a go. I hope he hates it because I want him to be a part of all this and our family… is that selfish and bad?’ Sometimes Honey wished she could keep some of her thoughts in her head and not just blurt them out.
‘No, you’re just being honest, and I get what you mean about Chuck but, either way, he’ll be okay. Clarissa has seen to that so don’t worry, and we’ll Zoom him all the time.’
They lapsed into silence while Levi fiddled with his other cuff and Honey watched Chuck and Ziggy as her mind went into overdrive imagining alternative futures for them both.
