The Couple at No. 9(28)
‘Did you ever meet any of your dad’s family?’ I ask Mum.
She shakes her head. ‘No. Your gran always said his parents had died young, like her own, and they were both only children.’
‘And you knew nothing else about him?’
Mum looks up from the box and ponders this. ‘Not really. I suppose I gave up asking. She never seemed to want to talk about him.’ She turns back to the box and then gives a shout of joy, making me jump. She’s holding a brown A4 envelope in her hand. ‘There’s photos in here!’
I crawl over to where she’s sitting by the window. ‘Let me see.’
She pulls out a pile in different sizes and starts flicking through them. Most are of Mum in various stages of growing up, in the garden of the house in Bristol, but then she pulls out five or six square ones. ‘Look at these,’ she says, handing them to me. I’m sitting almost on top of her, so eager am I to see the rare photos. They look like they were taken with one of those old Polaroid cameras and are of Mum when she’s really young, no more than two or three years old. Most are of her sitting cross-legged in what looks like the garden here, the cottage just visible in the background. One is of her and a much younger Gran, slimmer than I’ve ever seen her and dressed in flared trousers and a stripy tank top.
‘Oh, my God,’ says Mum, staring at another photo. I peer over her shoulder. It’s of Mum again as a little girl and she’s standing in front of the cottage, the frothy lilac wisteria visible above her. Bent down next to her is a woman I don’t recognize. They aren’t close up, so it’s hard to distinguish features but it’s not Gran. Mum turns to look at me, her brown eyes wide. ‘Who is this woman? Do you think this could be Daphne?’
‘Maybe.’ I take the photo from her and flip it over. On the back are the words Lolly, April 1980. 9 Skelton Place. I frown. ‘Who’s Lolly?’
‘Me,’ says Mum. ‘It’s how I referred to myself. I couldn’t say Lorna, apparently.’
‘I’ve never heard Gran call you that.’
Mum chuckles. ‘I probably told her off for it. That would have been the sort of thing that embarrassed me, I reckon, as I got older.’
I hand the photo to Tom, who glances at it, then lets out a bark of laughter. ‘Nice pageboy haircut, Lorna.’
‘Mum used to cut it. That fringe!’
I scoot back to the box I was looking through and pull out an envelope, hoping to find more photographs. Instead I find a yellowing newspaper clipping. ‘What’s this?’ I say, as I slide it out. I’m worried it’s going to disintegrate in my hands, it’s so old. ‘It’s from January 1977 in a newspaper called the Thanet Echo.’
‘What?’ This time Mum scuttles over to me and we both read it at the same time.
A BROADSTAIRS WOMAN WHO HAS BEEN MISSING FOR OVER A WEEK IS THOUGHT TO HAVE TRAGICALLY DROWNED.
Sheila Watts, 37, was last seen on New Year’s Eve at her local pub, the Shire Horse. Late-night revellers said she joined them at the beaches of Viking Bay to continue celebrations.
Witnesses told police Miss Watts was on the beach at just after midnight and was spotted getting into the sea. Her clothes were found on the shore although Miss Watts wasn’t seen again.
Alan Hartall, 38, a neighbour of Miss Watts, said, ‘Sheila was a bit of a loner. Kept herself to herself, although I got to know her quite well. Because it was New Year’s Eve she decided to join us for a drink in our local and then came with us to the beach. She was the only one who got in the sea. We were busy drinking and had forgotten all about her. It was only when she failed to return home that I realized what must have happened and alerted the police.’
Coast Guards have scoured the bay to no avail and local police issued a statement to say they believe Miss Watts died of death by misadventure.
I turn to Mum. ‘Sheila! Do you think this is who Gran was talking about today?’
She looks as puzzled as I feel. ‘Maybe she knew her.’
‘In Broadstairs? But I thought Gran was from London.’
‘I think she lived all over before I was born.’
I pass the piece to Tom, who reads it. The fading light from the leaded windows casts a shadow on one side of his face. It has the effect of making his nose look crooked. He hands me back the article. ‘This has to be important,’ he says, glancing from me to Mum and voicing what we’re all thinking. ‘Why else would you keep an article for forty years?’
15
Theo
Theo has been watching his dad closely since he stumbled upon that newspaper article last week, finding excuses to pop over to the soulless mansion in between shifts, plucking up the courage to broach the subject of the couple in Wiltshire. His dad has never been open with Theo at the best of times, but lately every time Theo turns up at the house his dad acts as though he’s an intruder, questioning him on why he’s come over. Just once Theo would like his dad to look even a little bit pleased to see him. But he’s promised Jen he’d ask him. Jen, who wouldn’t be afraid to ask her warm, open family anything.
So here he is again, Tuesday lunchtime, before he starts at the restaurant. Why is it so bloody hard to broach the subject with his father? He’s a grown man. But when he’s around him he feels like that unsure teenager again, obeying his mother’s wishes to keep his mouth shut, to do what his father says so as not to upset him. To keep things on an even keel like she always did. To stop his father getting angry.