Restoring Grace (12 page)

‘I couldn't put you to the trouble. I don't
know you—’

‘For God's sake, woman! I am offering you something
you need! Could you not just say thank you?’

Grace confronted him. He had the very slightest
Irish accent which was more to do with the order in which he
used words than anything else. He was not as
handsome
as Edward, not anything
like, but he had a certain energy
which she found somehow challenging.

‘Tea?' repeated Ellie, unaware until that
moment how
deep her middle-class roots went.
'It's a reflex action with
me. I make it all the time.'

‘What a good idea,' said Grace, trying to live
up to her name just a little.

‘
What room is above the kitchen?' asked Flynn.
Grace had to think. 'The bathroom, I think.'

‘
Excellent. Would you
mind if I had a look? Presumably
your
hot-water tank is up there somewhere, too?’

‘
I'll
show you,' said Grace.

‘No, don't bother. I'll find it myself.'

‘
I'm a bit
fed up with all these men poking about in my
house,' said Grace when he
was out of earshot, wanting to explain to Ellie why she'd been so
unenthusiastic.

‘But you really want a Rayburn! You said you
wanted
an Aga - Rayburns are just as good,
if not better,' insisted
Ellie. 'I
know it's a pain having people hanging round,
but a Rayburn would make a huge difference. They
produce gallons
of hot water. Or at least, my granny's does.' Ellie briefly thought about her
grandmother, who lived in a certain amount of rural squalor, was despised
by her daughter, but didn't care. She and Ellie
had always
got on and if her little
cottage hadn't been so tiny and so
unhygienic, Ellie was sure she would
have let her have the baby there. 'It's a slightly different way of cooking,
and of course you have to get used to dealing with the fuel - you mustn't put a
great wet log on if you want to
boil the
kettle - but you get used to that too. Do you have
a wood supply?'

‘Actually, one of the old stables is full of
it. A big tree
came down when my aunt still
lived here and there's still
masses
left, as she didn't bother with fires much.' Grace
grinned suddenly. 'I
remember after she died, when my brother and sister were clearing out the
furniture, they
looked long and hard at the
wood. Fortunately my brother
lives in
London, in a smokeless zone, and my sister
doesn't have fires either -
too much mess. She was just
about to
suggest getting a log-dealer along to sell it, when
Edward appeared. He gave her such a look, she shut
up.’

Ellie put a sympathetic hand on Grace's arm.
'But Flynn's nice.’

Grace frowned, not
misinterpreting the meaning
behind this
simple statement. 'I'll take your word for it,
but even
if I agreed with you, it's far too early for me. I told you. Why don't you have
a crack at him?'

‘
Because it's you he's interested in. Quite
obviously.'

‘
We'll have to manage
without men,' said Grace firmly. 'Oh!' She turned round, surprised, as Flynn
re-appeared
far too soon. 'Was the bathroom in the right place?'

‘
Perfect.
You could have a radiator in there and another
couple along the hallway,
or in the bedrooms.'

‘That would be like central heating. My aunt
didn't approve of it. Said it was bad for the furniture, and my ex-husband was
aesthetically opposed to radiators.’

Flynn raised a sceptical eyebrow. 'Doesn't seem
to me
that there is much furniture. And
your aunt's dead, isn't
she?'

‘Yes!' Grace said defensively, aware that she
sounded
absurd. 'But that doesn't mean she
can't haunt me from
beyond the grave, if I do something to her house she
doesn't like.'

‘Don't talk bollocks,' he said firmly, and
Grace was horrified to discover she found his robustness oddly
attractive. She turned away to make the tea that
Ellie had
offered with such abandon.

‘And it will be better for the baby if it's a
bit warmer,' said Ellie.

‘
Oh!' said Flynn. 'Are you pregnant?’

Grace turned round. 'Are you talking to me? No,
I'm not pregnant.'

‘I am,' said Ellie, and realised she felt proud
of her condition.

‘
Oh,' said Flynn again. 'It doesn't show.'

‘
It wouldn't,' said
Ellie. 'It's approximately the size of
a broad bean.’

Flynn
grunted, probably to avoid saying 'oh' again.
'Here's
the tea,' said Grace, putting mugs on the table.

‘
We're getting a little short of milk, I'm afraid.’

Flynn drank his tea rather fast, as if he
hadn't really wanted it but good manners compelled him to accept. Then he
stood. 'Well, I'll be off then. Would it be convenient for me to bring the
Rayburn round later this week? r
^y
e got a builder who could help me
with it. They're extremely heavy.'

‘Yes, that would be fine,' said Grace. 'Thank
you.' She Forced herself to get up so she could show him out,
although she didn't want to be alone with him. Not
because she was frightened he'd do
anything: it was just
the expression in the back of his eyes which she
didn't understand but couldn't ignore.

‘Well, I think he's gorgeous,' said Ellie, when
Grace got back to the kitchen. 'Why were you so off with him?’

Grace sighed, feeling silly. 'I don't know
really. I think
it's partly because he asked
me out, and then that woman,
Margaret, came in and called him darling.
Edward had
his faults, but he didn't pick
up women while I was actu
ally there.' Although it wasn't that, really.

Ellie made a dismissive gesture. 'Well, you
shouldn't worry about Margaret! She probably wasn't with him at all! Calling
him darling doesn't mean a thing.'

‘
It does if
I say it,' said Grace crisply. 'Now put the
kettle on, and I'll wash the
mugs.'

‘When you've got a Rayburn you'll have plenty
of hot water . .

‘Oh, shut up!' Grace threw a tea towel at Ellie
who, annoyingly, caught it.

Chapter Five

‘
Why don't we go to my house in Bath and get my
stuff,'
said Ellie later on, feeling the
need to get up and do some
thing.

‘
Do you feel
up to it?' asked Grace. She was feeling flat
for some reason too, but hadn't said anything in case Ellie
linked
it with Flynn.

‘
Yeah, I
think I do. I think I'm a lot shallower than you are, Grace. My broken hearts
don't last nearly so long as
yours do.'

‘
It's not a
competition! Anyway, it doesn't mean you're
shallow, just that the relationship wasn't all that durable.
Marginally
less durable than mine with Edward was, anyway.’

Ellie laughed. 'Come on, let's get some stuff.
I'm really looking forward to having some of my things around. I think you'll
like them too.'

‘You can't transport murals, can you?' Grace
asked.

Ellie pushed Grace's arm affectionately and
they went upstairs to get ready. They were back downstairs in the hall about to
go when the doorbell rang.

‘It can't be Flynn again,' said Grace,
uncertain how she'd feel if it was, and opened the door.

Standing on the doorstep was a tall young woman
wearing a rucksack. It was possible she had
been on the
doorstep, on the point of
ringing, for some time: she
looked very cold.

‘Oh! Demi,' said Grace, who took a moment to
recog
nise her stepdaughter. Aware that she
had been about to
add, 'What are you doing here?' she stopped herself.
Whatever she was doing there, she did not look happy. 'Come in. How did you get
here?’

Demi was Edward's daughter. Grace didn't know
her
well, but they had always got on all
right when she came for visits. She had grown quite a lot since Grace had last
seen
her and was very thin now. She had a look of an orphan foal which Grace found
quite touching. But why on earth was she here?

‘This is Ellie,' introduced Grace, when Demi
and her
rucksack were through the door. 'She
lives with me now.'

‘Hi,' said Ellie,
realising that this news was not entirely
welcome;
Demi was regarding her defensively. 'Shall we move out of the hall? Would you
like a cup of coffee, or something?'

‘Don't mind,' murmured Demi, gazing at the
flagstone floor, stroking the edge of one of the stones with the toe of her
trainer.

Grace didn't know what to do. She didn't know why
Demi should have suddenly appeared, but felt
she
couldn't ask – at least, not
immediately. And Demi didn't
seem
exactly communicative. She glanced at Ellie for help,
but got none.
Grace had led a solitary life for some time, now suddenly her house was a
people magnet and she was expected to organise them.

‘Well, let's dump your stuff here,' she said
cautiously,
wondering too why Demi should
have so much stuff with
her. 'Are you OK?’

Demi sniffed again. 'Can I crash here for a
bit?' she
asked nervously. 'Will there be
room for me and . . .' Demi
had obviously forgotten Ellie's name, and
although she
wanted to refer to her as 'her',
her good manners went
too deep.

Grace forced a laugh. 'Um, well, there's just a
bit of a
problem because we haven't actually
got any beds.’

‘
I don't
mind sleeping on the floor.' Demi sounded sopathetic, Grace's heart lurched;
she must have noticed
how cold the house
was, yet she still wanted to stay. Why
wasn't she at home?

‘I've got to pee again,' said Ellie, sensing
that Demi wanted Grace on her own. 'Why don't you guys go into the kitchen? You
probably need to talk.’

Once there, Grace filled the kettle again. 'I'm
practically waterlogged, so I won't join you,' she said to Demi,
'but it looks like you need a cup of something.’

‘
You
haven't any vodka, have you?'

‘
No,' said
Grace, hiding her shock at Edward's
daughter
asking for vodka in the middle of the day.
'It's just that life's been
quite shit lately, and I don't
want to cry,'
Demi explained, looking intently at the table. 'It's probably better to cry
than drink vodka at this time
of day. In the long term, at least.'

‘
I'll have
black coffee then, if that's all right,' she
added, her rebelliousness
fighting with years of conditioning.

Ellie came back from the
loo and hovered in the
doorway. 'Would you two like to be
alone?'

‘
No,' said
Grace, suspecting that whatever was up with
Demi, she might need Ellie's
help.

‘I wasn't expecting anyone else to be here,'
said Demi.
'Well, Ellie is here, and she's
staying,' said Grace gently,
but
firmly. 'She's my friend, and I want her here.’

‘
But I have to stay too!' said Demi to Ellie. 'I'm Grace's
stepdaughter!
I'm family!'

‘
Are you?'
said Grace. 'I'm not sure you still are,
because Edward and I are
divorced.’

Demi put her arms on the table and banged her
head down on to them. 'Oh, that's so crap!'

‘But it doesn't mean you can't visit me,' said
Grace,
putting an ineffectual hand on her
shoulder. 'It's just that
technically—'