The Sister-In-Law(60)

The children joined us in the water and for a while it was just the five of us. There was so much laughter – it was one of those golden times I’ll always remember, even when the kids are grown and gone. The pool was the bluest blue, the sun high in the sky; we were all together in this lovely place on a family holiday – and I felt very lucky. But there was a shadow across the sun, and I knew that in the middle of all this lovely yellow light, something dark was waiting for us.





CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR





Later, Joy and Bob went to Positano for a few hours and we were left behind – the four of us and the children. I’d asked Ella if we could have a quick chat; she’d said there was no need, but I owed her an apology. It stuck in my craw to say it, but I was doing it to keep the peace, so we could all enjoy the remainder of our holiday without an atmosphere.

She was alone, on her phone. I didn’t want an audience, I just wanted to get it over with, so I went over to where she was. ‘I’m sorry I caused such a scene last night,’ I said, kneeling down next to her sunlounger. ‘And I’m sorry if I upset you,’ I added, careful not to say I was sorry for my accusation of theft. I wasn’t.

She stayed gazing into her phone and barely took her eyes from the screen, just nodded slowly and said, ‘It’s okay, Clare. I guess, at your age, hormones play a big part… you were confused. But I’m afraid now I’m going to have to tell Dan what I know.’ Her voice was icy.

‘What do you know?’ I asked, trying to breathe, the panic rising in my throat, threatening to engulf me.

She glanced lazily over at me, like she couldn’t be bothered to even look in my direction. ‘Everything,’ she said, and then went back to her phone.

‘Okay,’ I sighed. The threat was real. I couldn’t risk it. I wasn’t going to fight back. I’d caused enough trouble. I just had to hope that if I stayed away, kept under her radar, she might spare me, at least for the holiday. I’d taken a risk in accusing her of the theft, but I’d been so sure I was right I thought she’d leave in shame, or Joy and Bob would ask her to go. I didn’t think anything she said would be believed, but it was me that no one believed – and now I’d made things worse for myself. She was hurt and, after almost ruining everything for her, I had to be ready for her to take her revenge.



I stood up and walked back to my sunlounger. Dan was with the children, so I was free to do whatever I fancied, a luxury, but when almost every waking hour is filled with children or work, it’s like you forget how to relax. And given what Ella had just said, how could I ever relax again? I just sat there watching Dan and the children.

‘Violet – bring Freddie over here. I’ve got this hilarious video that will make you guys laugh,’ Ella called, and I was immediately on alert.

Dan was relieved of two of his charges as Violet dutifully carried Freddie over to where Jamie had now joined Ella and the four of them sat together laughing at something on her phone. Alfie was more interested in climbing over Dan as a launch pad in the pool, but Violet adored Auntie Ella. She drank her in and, that summer, if you’d asked Violet what she wanted to be when she grew up, I know she’d have said ‘Auntie Ella.’

A little later, when I’d put Freddie indoors for an afternoon nap, I waved to Violet getting out of the pool. She waved back and went to lie on her tummy on a nearby sunlounger with her iPad, and, looking at her, I suddenly spotted that she’d hitched up her bikini bottoms. To my horror, her buttocks were on full display and, within a few feet, was Ella, lying on her tummy, on her phone, exactly the same. This wasn’t good, my little girl was just nine years old, so I got up from where I was sitting and wandered over to Violet for a little chat.

‘Hey, sweetie, do you need some sun cream?’ I asked.

She just shook her head slightly and I realised she was pouting into the camera, obsessed with taking selfies ever since Ella had arrived.

‘Darling, wearing your bikini bottoms like that must be very uncomfortable,’ I said, sitting on the edge of her lounger.

‘No, it’s super cool,’ she answered, not looking up from her screen.

The subtle approach clearly wasn’t working, and I didn’t want to embarrass her, but worried if she thought it was okay to do it here, she might do the same at swimming lessons, or at school games. ‘Sweetie, I think it’s a little inappropriate for you to be wearing your bikini bottoms like that.’

She whipped her head round, her face completely closed, eyes like Dan’s in anger. ‘But Auntie Ella does it!’

‘Darling, Auntie Ella is a grown-up. You can wear your stuff how you like when you’re older, I just don’t think—’ But before I could finish, she’d turned back to her screen. ‘Violet, I will never force you to do anything, but I will make you aware if I think what you’re doing is wrong, might harm you or makes you look silly.’ With that, I stood up and walked away, aware of Ella following me with her eyes.

‘You okay, babe?’ she called to Violet, who just nodded without turning round.

I was angry that Ella had tried to push her way in, but that seemed to be her ‘brand’, as she would probably call it. Still, by the time I sat back down, my daughter had reverted to wearing her bikini bottoms as her mother intended.