The Sister-In-Law(68)

‘He’ll be fine, Clare,’ she said in a voice that should be accompanied with an eye roll, in fact it probably was – she didn’t look at me. She was looking at Jamie in the pool, both arms up like Freddie was a bloody beach ball to catch.

I rushed towards her, to grab Freddie, but before I could, she’d picked Freddie up under the arms and was now swinging him over the water, causing him to squeal with delight and me to shout, ‘NOOOO.’ But she didn’t flinch, just kept on rocking him backwards and forward and just as I reached out to physically stop her from doing this, she threw him to Jamie.

‘Ella, I asked you not to,’ I yelled in her face.

‘He’s fine!’ she shouted back. ‘Just chill, Clare.’

‘Clare, he’s fine,’ Dan called from the pool. Outnumbered by my own husband.

‘Unbelievable,’ I gasped. It was perilous to dangle a two-year-old over deep water, especially as her own sister had supposedly drowned. But it was about so much more than playing with Freddie. This was Ella making a parenting decision about him that was directly opposed to my wishes. If, further down the line, Jamie insisted on proof that he was Freddie’s biological father, who knew where that could lead. I couldn’t bear to think of the cosy little weekend visits Ella would insist on, even though she clearly had little regard for Freddie. No, I couldn’t let that happen. To her he was just a pretty picture for her Instagram.

Once I saw that Freddie was safely in Jamie’s arms, I went back to my sunlounger to try to think. But I continued watching the pool, Ella and my children like a hawk, especially Freddie.

‘Me and Freddie could go in the shallow end, you could join us then?’ Jamie said to Ella. And I thought, now he takes my child into the shallow end.

‘No, I don’t want to get wet, my hair extensions will be wrecked. I’ll come and sit by the side,’ Ella called, walking towards the pool. As she approached where I was lying, she bent down and picked up a nearby towel. ‘Please don’t tell Jamie how to interact with his son,’ she said, in a voice loud enough for me to hear. It was noisy with the children screaming and splashing, had it not been, someone – Dan – might have heard. Only seconds later, Joy arrived and settled down on a sunlounger not too far from me.

‘Did you enjoy your shopping, Joy?’ I asked. I wanted to gauge her reaction to me, see if there were any signs that Ella had said anything to her about me and Jamie.

She smiled and nodded. ‘Ella and I found some wonderful little boutiques. We’ll have go back with you Clare, if we have time.’

Judging by her reaction I doubted Ella had said anything. Yet. She was walking past us and must have caught the conversation.

‘I don’t think they’re Clare’s kind of shops,’ she said. ‘You’re not really into fashion, are you?’ She glanced over and looked me up and down as she walked by. I looked at Joy to see if she’d noticed, but she was already lying down, reading her book.

My heart sank. All I could think was this could now be my life, the constant remarks, the whisperings, the thinly veiled insults. And Ella wasn’t going to directly tell anyone the real gossip just yet – she would have her sport first.

She wandered towards the pool, hips swinging, carefully sitting down on the side of the pool. A photo, a selfie, the click, click, clicking of those manicured nails on the screen. She wasn’t paying any attention to Freddie, or any of the other kids – she wasn’t interested in them, it was clear to see. Then Violet swam over to her and started talking. Ella showed her pictures on her screen and they giggled together. Violet put her hand over mouth and glanced across at me. I could only imagine what Ella was showing her, but I couldn’t object. If I made a fuss, it would upset Violet and, in everyone’s eyes, I’d be causing another scene.

I was threatened by her around my kids, knowing what she knew and how much she hated me. Might she take it out on them? My insecurity was in overdrive and I suddenly heard myself calling the children. ‘Come on now, take some time out of the pool, it’s not good for you to be in water all day.’ Not surprisingly, they all started whingeing about Mummy’s unreasonable request. But I told myself they needed to rest, they needed time out of the sun, but my timing was no coincidence – I also wanted them away from Ella.

I was fully expecting for Ella to fight their corner, and try and overrule me, and I would have fought even harder. But I should have known, Ella was far cleverer. ‘Come on, you guys, Mum’s right,’ she yelled in an unusual show of support for me. ‘Jamie, you too,’ she said, smiling, and I wondered what she was up to.

Jamie pretended to sulk and threw the pink flamingo at her, which made the kids laugh. ‘I’m not getting out,’ Jamie yelled in a faux tantrum, which the children loved.

‘Uncle Jamie is allowed to stay in, isn’t he, Mum?’ Violet asked.

‘No, your mum won’t let him stay in either,’ Ella sighed, rolling her eyes.

‘Muuuum,’ Violet was saying from the water, ‘but we’re having fun.’

‘And you can have more fun later, but for now you need to get dried, put some more sun cream on and rest – in the shade.’

‘Don’t want to rest,’ she said, folding her arms, her face like thunder.

Dan was ignoring this. He’d taken Freddie from Jamie and was now delivering him at my feet, then collapsing on the sunlounger next to me.