‘Oh goodness.’ Chloe laughed.
‘No, Chloe,’ he said, ‘be serious. Quieten down for a moment all of you.’
‘Has Mummy done a good thing?’ Lucy’s childish treble made them laugh again.
‘Yes, Lucy, a very good thing,’ Walter said. ‘This is something I want you to think seriously about, Chloe. You’ve got a real bent for figures and I’d like you to train as a chartered accountant.’
She clapped her hands. ‘That’s exactly what I want.’
‘You need to get properly qualified; your mother would have liked that too. It upset us all when you wanted to leave school and start work. You were in too much of a hurry to grow up.
‘I’m delighted to have you working for me, but it’s proved to be a job you could do with one hand tied behind your back. In the long term you’ll get bored with it, and you’ve got responsibilities. You need a job that brings a good salary to enable you to fulfil them.’
Chloe was bursting with high spirits. ‘Uncle Walter, that isn’t something you have to talk me into. I’ve been thinking about it for some time.’
‘Have you? Excellent.’
‘Rex said much the same to me when Zac was a tiny baby.’ She smiled at him.
‘Did I? I was trying to . . .’
‘Yes, I know. Keep me from sinking into the mire completely. You said all was not lost and I must think about what I wanted to do with my life.’
‘Did you?’ Walter asked. ‘Think about it?’
‘All the time. Rex sorted me out.’
‘In that case, let me suggest something else.’ Walter beamed round at them all. ‘I’ve had a chance now to talk to Tom Cleary. He’s home from his trip to New Zealand and has agreed to come back and be our accountant for another year or two, until you can take over. I’ve told him he’ll find that you know more than the average accounts clerk but that he must treat you as an apprentice to start with and then gradually hand over responsibility to you.’
‘You’re giving me a marvellous opportunity,’ Chloe breathed. ‘Thank you.’
‘You deserve it, Chloe,’ Joan said. ‘Then once you’re qualified, Walter will come to some arrangement for you to help him run the business.’
‘Why, that’s marvellous. I don’t know what to say.’ She couldn’t stop smiling round at everybody.
‘I can’t go on running the firm alone much longer,’ Walter told her. ‘I’ve really needed you these last few months. This is the best thing for all of us. I know you’re capable of doing a good job, and I can trust you.’
Auntie Joan brought in a bottle of champagne. ‘We’re going to celebrate now and seal that bargain.’
‘What a day this is,’ Chloe marvelled. ‘We really do have lots to celebrate. Especially me, I’m overwhelmed.’
Rex sipped his champagne and made up his mind. He was going to take Chloe into the garden when they returned. He was phrasing the words to tell her he loved her and ask her to marry him.
But it didn’t turn out like that. After lunch, Joan suggested they all go for a walk along the beach, which was on their doorstep in Freshfield. It was a lovely autumn day and they were all in the right mood to enjoy the sunshine and the sea lapping against the silvery sand. Rex paddled with Chloe and the children. He couldn’t remember when he’d last enjoyed a day out more.
They were hungry when they returned to Auntie Joan’s house, and she had a light supper ready prepared for them. They stayed on chatting over glasses of wine until Chloe noticed that both her children had fallen asleep.
‘It’s past their bedtime,’ she said. ‘I’m quite shocked, I’ve never done this before.’ They carried them into the car without waking them and Rex drove them all home.
He tried to carry Lucy upstairs when they arrived, but she woke up and was tetchy. Zac too was protesting loudly at being woken.
Aunt Goldie was undressing Lucy to put her to bed. ‘No bath, no bath!’ she was screaming.
‘Not tonight,’ Marigold said grimly. ‘We’ve all had enough now.’
Chloe was trying to put Zac into his pyjamas. Rex felt like a spare part because there was nothing he could do to help. He certainly couldn’t take Chloe for a walk round the garden and leave Goldie to cope with both children. Not while they were making a fuss like this.
Reluctantly he said good night and went home.
Rex worked in the garden for most of the following afternoon, and worried about how Chloe would view the relationship he’d had with her mother. He knew he had to find out before he left that night how she felt about him.
When Chloe came home from work, the children were playing some ball game with Aunt Goldie and wanted her to join in. Rex tagged on and played too. Afterwards Goldie went to her room to rest.
Chloe took Rex to the kitchen, where Peggy was dishing up the scrambled eggs on toast she’d prepared for the children’s evening meal. Chloe poured cups of tea for the adults and they sat down to chat. Later, when Peggy had gone home and the children had been put to bed, Rex carried the beef casserole to the dining table, where Aunt Goldie was waiting to dish it up.
Rex wasn’t entirely at ease about continuing to have dinner with them every evening. He thought Aunt Goldie was growing a little frosty towards him, and he found that off-putting.
Tonight he caught her glowering at him across the table, and was afraid she was thinking that now Helen was gone, there was no reason for him to be with them so often.
On several occasions he’d heard Chloe thank her for looking after the children so well, and tell her how much she was loved and needed. He’d thought Goldie had been happier since she’d come to live with them, but tonight she was prickly and looked sour.
‘I do think you’re being over-extravagant,’ she told Chloe. ‘You need to manage your money better. You’re spending far too much on running this house.’
Chloe’s fork paused halfway to her mouth. ‘No more than Mum used to.’
‘Yes, but when Helen was ill she had to be cared for. You could cut Peggy’s hours down now. She isn’t needed five full days a week.’
Rex could see Chloe thinking about it.
‘I don’t want to do that,’ she said slowly. ‘Peggy needs a full-time job, and she makes life more comfortable for you and me. I don’t want you to have to clean and cook as well as look after the kids.’
‘I could . . .’
‘I’m sure you could, Aunt Goldie, but it isn’t necessary. And should you not feel well enough to meet Lucy from her nursery class, Peggy’s here as a back-up.’
Rex helped himself to another potato; he was afraid Goldie was going to have a go at him. He was right.
‘Then there’s this garden,’ she went on. ‘It’s big enough and fancy enough for Buckingham Palace. It’s always been a huge extravagance.’
‘Mum knew that.’ Chloe smiled gently. ‘I enjoy it and think of it as a memorial to her.’
‘It’s no good for children. All they need is a bit of grass to play ball on.’
Rex was uncomfortable. He wanted to cover his face with his hands. He was afraid Goldie meant to cut him out of Chloe’s life.
‘All these flowers and fancy shrubs take a lot of maintenance.’ She flung a dour look at him. ‘Rex works more hours now than he did when Helen was alive. It must be costing you a fortune.’
Chloe’s lavender eyes met his for a moment. ‘It isn’t, Goldie,’ she said. ‘Rex has never charged the commercial rate for the work he does here.’
He felt relief wash over him. Chloe could handle Goldie. He said, ‘For me, it’s always been a labour of love for friends.’
Chloe smiled at him, but Goldie wasn’t ready to give up. ‘All the same, now that Helen’s no longer with us and you have to work, you have less need of Rex or the garden.’
‘Aunt Goldie,’ Chloe gave a little giggle, ‘you’re embarrassing me. Right now, I have more need of Rex, not less. There’s something else I want him to do and I haven’t yet got round to asking him if he will.’
That made Rex look up and meet her gaze. ‘What else can I do for you, Chloe?’
‘I’ve arranged to take driving lessons.’ She smiled again. ‘I’m having the first one tomorrow evening. I was hoping you’d take me out to practise in Mum’s car.’
Rex relaxed, a wide smile spreading across his face. ‘Of course I will. I’ll be glad to.’
He knew that would give him lots of time alone with her. Plenty of opportunity for them to say all they needed to in private. Was that why she’d arranged to have lessons now?
He saw her smile at Aunt Goldie. ‘Once Mum became too ill, Rex had to drive us all round. I don’t feel we should batten on him for ever.’
Chloe had felt Rex’s tension at dinner and understood the reason. Since the night her mother had died, she’d begun to see him in a very different light. It had taken her a while to get over Helen’s death and she felt she’d been on a roller-coaster ever since. Her mind had been swirling round a dozen things, and she’d had to pay special attention to Uncle Walter’s accounts.
But now that was settled, Goldie was prodding at Rex. Only this morning at breakfast she’d said to Chloe, ‘It’s not as though he married your mother, is it? He’s not a relative. There’s no need for us to feed him every night.’
Chloe’s feelings for Rex were changing; she’d always been fond of him, felt close to him, but now she was growing more sure by the day that she’d fallen in love with him.
When they’d finished their coffee and Rex stood up to say good night, Chloe stood up too. In the hall, he unhooked his coat from the peg, and as usual thanked her for the meal. ‘I must tell Peggy how good her rhubarb tart was,’ he said. He opened the front door and paused. ‘Chloe . . . ?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’m afraid Goldie thinks I’ve overstayed my welcome. She’s trying to stop me coming so much. I’m glad you didn’t let her.’
‘Don’t worry about Goldie. I’d never let her do that.’ Chloe walked out with him to his van. ‘You’ve always understood how things are with me and tried to straighten me out. We should gang up against Goldie, let her see she can’t part us. Not after all this time.’
His dark eyes stared down at her. ‘D’you feel like a little walk in the garden? We could get started on that right away. And there are other things I need to say to you.’
The house was a black shadow except for the golden light beaming from the windows. Everywhere else was bathed in silvery moonlight. He saw Chloe nod. He unbuttoned his coat and draped it round her shoulders, then, reaching into his van, pulled out a pullover and put it on.
‘I don’t often come into the garden at night.’ Chloe led him through the side gate and away from the house; they strolled down the path towards the pond. It looked very peaceful and very beautiful. Some months ago, they’d sited a garden bench here because Mum was tiring easily and needed somewhere to rest when she took her little walks.
Chloe sat down and tugged Rex down beside her. ‘What d’you need to say to me?’
‘I was going to lead up to it gracefully, but . . .’
She smiled. ‘Never mind the graces.’
‘I love you, Chloe. Have done for a long time. I want to marry you. How d’you feel about having me as a husband?’
‘I love the idea, but . . . there are things I should point out to you first. I’m flattered to be asked, but I haven’t exactly been what Aunt Goldie calls “a good girl”. I’ve had two children out of wedlock, and she’s told me several times that no decent man would look at me after that.’
‘I know all that.’ Chloe could see Rex hesitating, ‘Marigold might not think of me as decent either,’ he said. ‘I’ve done things that are morally wrong.’
‘Me too, but I did them for selfish reasons. I wanted fun and thrills. If you did them, it was out of love and compassion for others. Not the same thing.’
‘Then let’s say we’ve both done things we regret, but the best thing to do is to put them behind us and forget them. Nobody could love you more.’
She felt his arm go round her shoulders and pull her closer. She offered up her lips to be kissed and felt his crush down on them.
A little time later, Rex said, ‘I want everything to be open between us, no secrets. I’m not going to list out all my sins, but if there is anything you need to know about me, I want you to ask.’
‘Rex, I’ve know you so long, I think I know everything about you.’
He kissed her again, and it was some time later that she asked softly, ‘D’you remember? The night Mum died?’
‘I’ll never forget it. It was traumatic. I want to explain about me and your mother. I want you to understand how things were between us.’
Chloe hesitated. ‘There is one thing I’ve wondered about. Did she ask you to help her die?’
She knew he was shocked. ‘How did you know?’
‘I didn’t, I guessed. I couldn’t help but see that Dorothy bag when I made her bed. She kept it close to her always. One night I asked her what she kept in it, and she said “necessities of life”. She showed me a handkerchief, but I think it was just to cover pills. I asked her outright if they were to help her die and she said that I must put that idea right out of my mind.’
‘She was trying to protect you, she didn’t want you to be worried.’
‘I know that.
Did
you help her die?’
She felt him straighten up as though with remembered pain.
‘No, but I promised I would. I had to promise, Chloe, because I was afraid she’d ask you if I refused. I didn’t want you to take on that responsibility. And also, she was in such pain.’ His voice was low and full of compassion as he told her about her mother’s plan.
‘She knew you’d make me a cake to celebrate my birthday and have a little party round her bed. She told me it would give her a chance to say goodbye to you all and be a happy occasion for you to remember. Later that night she meant to swallow the contents of the Dorothy bag to end her life.’
‘That would be a dreadful thing for you to remember. It would give you nightmares.’ Chloe took a deep breath, ‘She was very brave. So were you.’
‘But I’ll be eternally grateful,’ Rex said, ‘that nature took over before she did it.’
‘Yes.’ Chloe shuddered.
‘I was afraid that if she put her plan in action, you and everybody else would think I’d killed her.’
‘Rex, no. We all know you’d never do anything to hurt anybody. That’s not your way. And certainly you’d never hurt Mum. We could all see you were devoted to her.’