Restoring Grace (33 page)

‘We did when Edward was here. But I do
understand how you feel, Dem,' Grace said awkwardly. 'We must decorate you a
room, get it just how you like it. Put all your things in it, and then you
won't feel you've been replaced by a cross-trainer-stepper combination.’

Demi turned to Grace, and Grace saw that the
tears
were now really threatening to
overflow; she was far more
upset that she'd wanted to let on. 'Thanks,
Grace,' she said in a very small voice.

‘
And I dare say Hermia will get bored with her
toyboy,
too,' said Ellie. 'What would they
talk about when they're
not . . . you know.’

Demi obviously didn't want to think about it.
'Is there any hot water? I really need a bath.'

‘Poor love,' said Ellie when she and Grace were
alone. 'It was bad enough my mother turning my room into a study when I went to
university, but at least she hadn't replaced my dad with a younger model.’

Grace nodded. 'My parents were very relieved
when I
got married, too, although I was so
young. I think they'd
got bored with being parents by then, me being
younger than the other two.'

‘
Well, my
baby can stay with me until he or she's thirty,
no question,' said Ellie.

Grace grinned. 'I'll remind you that you said
that, one day’

Both women subsided into a
warm glow, imagining the
little bundle of cells in Ellie's
stomach becoming first a
baby, then a
toddler, a child, teenager, and then an adult.
It didn't seem possible.

‘You must get a doctor, Ellie,' said Grace.

‘You must get a man,' said Ellie. 'Oops. Sorry,
I didn't mean to say that, I was just thinking . . .'

‘Well, if I want a baby I'll have to,' said
Grace briskly.
'Even if I don't keep him
long. Do you think Flynn would
father
a child for me if I asked him? You're always saying
how kind he is.'

‘
Grace! You
are not to ask him! It wouldn't be fair! He'd
want to be a proper father, in a proper family, not a sperm
donor!'

‘I was only joking, you know,' chided Grace.

‘
Oh. I'm
sorry. My hormones have gone mental. I don't
know what I'm thinking or
saying at the moment.’

She must watch that, she
thought. She mustn't let her
mouth run away with her with Ran, or
she might find herself suggesting they go to bed. That would never do.

‘Flynn's not going to be back for a week, or
probably more,' said Grace. 'He rang and left a message.'

‘Oh, that's a shame!' said Ellie. 'It's funny,
but I'll sort of miss him. Won't you?'

‘
Sort of.'
Grace paused, thoughtfully. Ellie observed her,
optimism creeping in.

‘
Yes,'
Grace went on. 'It's a bit of a bore having to keep
driving over to feed
Cleopatra.'

‘Oh! You!' Ellie threw a ball of kitchen towel
at her.

‘
Only
joking. Now, shall we talk about food? We'll have
six wines, which means
six different courses. Does that sound far too much work? I want to do at least
one pudding wine.'

‘I'll get some paper and make a list. What will
people eat all this food off?’

Grace bit her lip. 'I'll ask Flynn to lend us
stuff. He's got loads.'

‘How do you know? Have you been through his
cupboards?'

‘
Not on
purpose, but it sort of happened,' she
murmured, rather embarrassed.

‘So what's his house like, then?'

‘
I've got to
feed Cleopatra tomorrow morning, you
could come with me. Oh, you're
going to Bath, I forgot. How did it go by the way? Have you learnt anything so
far?’

Ellie made a face. 'That we should never have
dusted
the pictures, especially when the
paint was flaking
because we'll have lost paint. And we should probably
consolidate what we've got before doing much
else. Then
we use a lot of spit. For the enzymes.’

`Oh.' Then Grace said, 'Do you think Demi's
going to be all right? She seems terribly upset.'

‘
I'm sure
she will be. After all, she's not the only victim
of a broken home.'

‘
Oh, Ellie! It's my fault her home is broken! If
Edward hadn't met me, he might have gone back to Hermia!’

Ellie snorted her
disagreement. 'For God's sake, Grace!
He's a
serial monogamist. He didn't make a go of it with you, either.'

‘
He didn't
have the incentive. We didn't have children.’

‘
But
didn't you tell me that he didn't want them?’

‘Yes.'

‘Well then. It's his fault you didn't have
them, and his
fault he left Hermia and his
fault he left you. He prob
ably gets bored easily.’

Grace nodded. 'He
does
get bored easily.' She brightened.
'That's probably it! Perhaps it wasn't all my fault that my marriage broke
down.'

‘Of course it wasn't. It was all his fault.'

‘Oh no.' Grace was scrupulously fair. 'Some of
it must
have been. But it's nice to think
the responsibility wasn't
entirely mine.’

Ellie laughed. 'You are a chump, sometimes.’

Chapter Thirteen

 
When
Ellie rang the bell to Ran's house the following
morning she felt both nervous and excited: nervous
because she was
a bit late and excited by the thought of seeing him again.

He opened the door. 'Good morning. And how are
you today?' he asked as they went up the stairs.

‘
I'm fine.
Could I just . . . ?' She indicated the bathroom.
'Oh, yes. Frequency of
micturition.’

Ellie halted in horror. 'What?'

‘It's a symptom of pregnancy. Means you go to
the loo a lot.'

‘
For God's
sake!' said Ellie, running. 'As if I didn't know
that!’

While she was drying her hands she realised she
had completely blown her plans for seduction. She really should have found a
Ladies on the way and not had to
rush to
his loo like that, but she had been late and there
wasn't anywhere, and
she would never have found a parking space if there had been. She flicked at
her hair, pulled back her shoulders and practised her sexy smile. Just as well
she did, she thought, not smiling any more. For sexy read scary - not a good
look! She sniffed at his bottle of aftershave, wondering if he would notice if
she came out smelling of it, and then tidied the towel and
generally made the place look respectable. She
might well
have to clean it properly, later.

How did he know that
constant peeing was a symp
tom of pregnancy? Did he have
children of his own? Perhaps he was married! There were definitely some
important questions to be asked before she
embarked
on her seduction.

‘Sorry about that,' she said as she joined Ran
in the kitchen. 'But you didn't seem surprised I needed to go. Does that mean
you're a father yourself?' Then she wondered if she'd been a bit blunt. Perhaps
she should have worked round to a question like that, and not just jumped in.

He shook his head,
unfazed. 'Nieces and nephews, but
my sisters didn't spare me a single
symptom from the moment they got pregnant to the moment they held the
baby in their arms. Would you like me to relate
how long
they were each in labour for?'

‘No, thank you!' Ellie was horrified at the
notion, but enormously relieved that his knowledge was not even
second-hand. However, she didn't want details;
she didn't
want to connect Ran with pain and suffering, but with
romance, sex, and good hotels. Or even just his double bed. 'What would you
like me to do today?'

‘I thought I ought to show you what I do.'

‘Brilliant! Some real work experience! I know
you're
going to look at the pictures and do
all that for me, but
I am really
interested in picture conservation, so if I could
actually do something . . .' Her words tailed
away as she
saw him shaking his head. Oh well, he had warned her he
wouldn't let her touch anything - ever, probably.

‘I meant, I'd like to show you some work I've
already done. There's an antiques fair not far from here, and
there's a picture for sale in it that I restored.
I'd quite like
to see it. I thought we'd go along.'

‘Lovely!' A day out with her beloved. What
could be
nicer? Then she mentally scrubbed
out the word
'beloved'; she must
not, under any circumstances, fall in
love with him. He was strictly for
sex only.

‘
Come on then. Have you got your coat?'

‘
I'm wearing it.' She
indicated her gilet, which was
lined with fake fur and very warm.

‘
Sorry. I
didn't recognise that thing as a coat. In my day
coats had sleeves.
Let's go.’

Ellie preceded him down the stairs and stood
aside
while he opened the front door. What
was wrong with
her gilet? She opened her mouth to ask him, but shut it
again. She'd got away with being blunt when she asked
him if he had children, she didn't want to push her luck.

He unlocked a
sturdy-looking Volvo estate and opened
the
passenger door for her. 'Heave yourself in.'

‘
I do not
need to heave myself!' she declared indig
nantly. 'My pregnancy hardly
shows!'

‘It doesn't show at all. I was just preparing
you for what's ahead.'

‘Thank you, but please don't bother,' she said
primly. 'Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof"?' he quoted
questioningly.

‘Probably,' she snapped, and looked firmly out
of the window, which mostly involved studying the gutter and was not a lot of
fun.

Neither of them spoke until they were climbing
up out of the town into the countryside. Now the view from the
window was well worth looking at. Spring was just
begin
ning to assert herself, decorating the trees with enough
green fuzz to make one believe the rest would
follow, and
one day the world would be green again. The sun was shining,
and although it was still extremely cold the air sparkled. Ellie felt a burst
of optimism go through her.
Perhaps they
would get enough money to pay for the dry rot in Luckenham. Perhaps Grace would
see what a nice
man Flynn was. And
perhaps, although it was a very long shot, she and Ran would end up having a
glorious affaire.

‘
That is
a fantastic view – across the valley,' she said.

‘
It is
indeed. What's the countryside like round Lucken
ham House?'

'Oh, that's lovely too.
Lots of trees, but it's a bit flatter.’

‘
Tell me
about the house.’

As it was a safe subject
and would stop her making
any huge
social gaffes which could mess up her chances
with him for ever, Ellie obliged. 'William and Mary, I
think.
It has a sort of Sleeping Beauty quality to it. Most
of the rooms are empty, and it does have this dry rot, but
it's
lovely. Perfect proportions. Which is why I wanted to paint a picture of it.’

He changed gear, giving her a questioning look.

‘Oh, that's how I met Grace,' Ellie explained.
'I take photographs of people's houses, paint them as watercolours, and then
sell them to the owner of the house.
Grace
couldn't afford a painting so I gave it to her. You'll
see it when you
come.' Then she subsided. That might not be a good thing. It might shoot her
credibility down in flames.