Sybil watched me as all this ran through my head, her expression showing she knew exactly what I was thinking. Rosie had also been a target of Vinnie and Jeni’s malice, which hadn’t exactly endeared them to Sybil or Uncle Jerry, who’d had to have a sharp word with his cousin about her daughters’ behaviour. I think it’s obvious by now that most of my family were not the sort of people I would be socialising with any time soon. Sophie had been right to warn Lori and me to keep away from them.
All too soon it was time to go back to the Hall, Rosie electing to come back with us ‘to help out’, but it was obvious she just wanted to spend more time with Jimmy; she even climbed into the front passenger seat, even though the limousine had more than enough seats in the back. We definitely needed get ourselves sorted out for what could be a prolonged stay; I was on indefinite leave from the hospital, but I needed to get back soon, so Lori needed to start thinking about what kind of house she wanted, and where.
Richard would be retiring soon, and he and Aunt Sophie owned a house in Little Brooking, a village about 10 miles from Denham Hall, so I suggested we pick up a local directory and start calling Estate Agents to start setting up some appointments to view properties near there that fitted her requirements. I asked Lori what she wanted in a house.
“Davey, I want something old, but not decrepit, something interestingly ramshackle I think, in need of some TLC, but with some age and solidity about it, something we can make our own. It must have at least four bedrooms, big gardens, and lots of trees; I want our kids to have somewhere to hunt dragons and be Robin Hood too. We’ll also need outbuildings, a worker’s cottage or coach-house like the Hall, somewhere for Jimmy to live, as you promised him. I also think we need to start thinking about removing and storing the things in the Hall before they start disappearing, and daddy’s bike and your cars are going to need somewhere safe too. If there are some apple trees and a duck pond so much the better!”
I looked in wonder at her; my glamour-girl was becoming a home-maker, her eyes shining as she ticked-off the things she thought the perfect country home would need to make it our own. She grinned back at me.
“Well, you asked, I told you! Anything you want to add to the list, Doctor Man?”
I pulled her close and kissed her.
“You forgot a nursery and a playroom for this baby and all the others I want to have; I want this house filled with kids, and toys, and big soft chairs and big floppy dogs, with big fireplaces for them to lie in front of on cold evenings!”
Lori smiled happily.
“I think I’m going to like living here!”
We arrived back at the house to find a large old car waiting at the top of the lane, Maude’s car, scrupulously outside the limit laid out in the Court Order, and as we swept past, I caught a glimpse of Bella, a face once seen never forgotten; mother had once confided that Bella was final proof that the undead really did walk the earth…
Jimmy looked back at me, wanting to know if he should stop, but I shook my head; I was in no mood to expose my darling wife to the full gruesome reality of what a lifetime of being a bitter old trout could turn a person into, and from the look on Rosie’s face, she was no mood to meet her grandmother either; all I remembered clearly of Bella was that she was a thoroughly unpleasant old woman, and apparently time hadn’t mellowed her, if Rosie’s expression was anything to go by.
Jimmy parked the car and jumped out to open the door for Rosie, making Lori and I grin at each other, then he opened the door for Lori, handing her out with a small apologetic grin. Lori was trying her best to not notice the increasingly intense looks he was exchanging with Rosie, who looked back up the lane and nudged me.
“David, battleaxe alert; look what’s coming in for a landing!”
I followed her gaze and there was Bella, hobbling down the lane toward us, with an expression on her face that would have soured new milk.
Rosie’s face twisted into a grimace of dislike, Jimmy noticing the change in her and moving to stand slightly in front of her.
“Problem, Doc… David?” he murmured.
Rosie fielded that one.
“She’s my grandmother, David’s Great-Aunt Bella, and she’s an obnoxious old cow; daddy couldn’t stand her; he used to say she must have blackmailed my grandfather into marrying her, there’s no other explanation, and that grandfather deliberately died just to escape from her; there have been times when I really did believe that. She’s just rude and nasty to everyone, she’s a disgusting old snob, and she hates David’s family for having what they have; she truly believes it should all belong to her; she’s got that in common with Maude; that’s her car all the way up there; thankfully we won’t see her, she’s banned from coming closer than 500 metres!”
We stood and waited while the miserable old bat staggered up the lane towards the house; I wondered aloud why she didn’t just swoop in on her broomstick, making Lori and Rosie giggle. The old woman obviously heard us laughing, and some instinct told her it was her we were laughing about, which only served to tighten an expression you could already have used for a Hallowe’en mask.
As she approached closer she was able to see me more clearly, and the expression changed to one of active dislike; I didn’t care; as far as I was concerned, she could turn around and bugger off, she wasn’t welcome here. Then she saw Lori, young, beautiful, tall, shapely, all the things she wasn’t, and her normally malicious expression intensified, becoming even more annoyed when she spotted Rosie.
“So you came back, David!” she wheezed, and I nodded; I wasn’t going to mince words with this old harridan, all I wanted was for her to go, now.
“Hiding here, are you? I saw the photographs in the newspapers, you’re a disgrace, brawling in public over this… this… girl, whoever she is!”
OK that did it.
I stepped forward, making her step back, her expression suddenly less confidently malicious as I loomed over her.
“First of all, you’re trespassing, so clear off. Secondly, that ‘girl’ is my wife, and finally, since when has my behaviour, good, bad, or indifferent, or that of any member of my family for that matter, been any of your damned business? I reserve the right to protect my family in any way I see fit, and as you’re not family, you have no right or place to comment. Please leave, we’re busy and I have no time to stand her and bandy words with the likes of you. Go away, Bella!”
Her eyes bulged with fury, and she sputtered, trying to say too many things at once, at which point Rosie stepped in.
“What do you want here, Bella? I mean, really, what did you hope to achieve? David’s right, you have no place here, and no right to be here; anyway, shouldn’t you be in your coffin during daylight hours?”
Bella’s face turned an interesting shade of purple as she sputtered, and for one hopeful instant I really, really thought her head was going to explode.
“How dare you speak to me like that, you insolent little nobody? I am your grandmother, and you will address me as such! And as for you, David Denham, I’m sure the press would be very pleased to find out where you and this so-called wife of yours are hiding!”
Rosie grinned at her.
“Why don’t you tell them, Bella? While you’re about it, why don’t you tell them about your father, or your wonderful uncle?”
She turned to me, still grinning.
“She tells everyone her family was in shipping; the truth is, her father was first mate on a night-soil boat, digging the stuff out of outhouses for the tanneries to make leather dyes; he shovelled shit for a living. And as for her uncle, he was locked up after the war for being a profiteer, a black-marketeer, and a pimp; I’m sure she’d be happy to share that little snippet with the press as well, I know I would, given half a chance!”
Bella had gone pale as Rosie spoke to me, and then Rosie turned back to her.
“Go away, Bella; this is not your family, and no-one here wants to hear what you have to say; David and his wife want to settle-in, and you’re holding them up. Why couldn’t you just be nice, just this once? Why did you and that dreadful Maude creature have to come down here and confront David? What for? He’s done nothing to you, so what are you so het-up over?”
Rosie turned her back on her and walked away before Bella could reply, slipping her arm through Jimmy’s as he escorted her back to the house.