Red Bones - Ann Cleeves [35]
She replaced the phone and heard Ronald open the door into the house.
‘We’re in here,’ she said.
Outside, the light seemed to have faded early and she only saw him as a shadow standing just inside the room.
‘Look at you two,’ he said. He was still wearing his jacket, but he’d loosened his tie at the neck. She hardly recognized him in the smart clothes. He was speaking to himself and his accent was more pronounced than when he talked to her.
How can we get on? she thought. We don’t even share the same language. We come from different worlds. I don’t know him at all.
‘Have you been to see the Wilsons?’ she asked.
‘No. I bumped into Sandy, but I wouldn’t know what to say to Joseph.’
‘You look so smart,’ she said. ‘All dressed up like that.’
He paused, then shrugged. ‘A gesture of respect, maybe. It didn’t seem right to be wearing my working clothes today.’
He came further into the room and squatted beside her chair. He stroked her hair and watched while she prised the baby’s mouth from her nipple with her little finger. She lifted James on to her shoulder and rubbed his back, then held him out to her husband.
‘He probably needs changing,’ she said.
‘We can do that, can’t we, son? We can manage that.’ He was murmuring into the baby’s hair.
‘Jackie’s just phoned to sort things out for tonight.’
‘Are you all right with that?’ He looked at her over the baby’s head. ‘We can always cancel if you can’t face it.’
‘It’ll probably do me good to get out.’ She smiled at him tentatively. ‘I’m sorry I’ve given you such a hard time. It was the shock. I haven’t been much support.’
He shook his head. ‘No. I deserved it all. I’ve been a fool.’
Oh yes, she thought, you’ve certainly been that. But she knew better than to speak out loud.
Later they wrapped the baby in a blanket and carried him up the hill to the big house in his Moses basket. It was the first time Anna had been out that day and she enjoyed the feel of the drizzle on her face. As soon as they walked through the door she realized there would be the new lamb of the season to eat. The smell of it reminded her again of her parents’ home, the calm lunches after church, her father drinking sherry and reading the Sunday papers. Then they were engulfed by Jackie’s hospitality; she hugged them both and would have had James out to play too, if they hadn’t said they hoped he would sleep.
Through an open door Anna saw that the table had been set in the dining room to show this was a special occasion; there were candles already lit and the napkins had been elaborately folded. After Mima’s accident it seemed tasteless, as if they were celebrating her demise. Usually they ate in the kitchen, even if a crowd of guests had been invited. Andrew had been dressed in a shirt and dark trousers and Jackie wore a little black frock, rather stylish and simpler than her usual taste. Anna felt lumpy and under-dressed. She hadn’t bothered changing and there was probably baby sick on the back of her top. She wondered if Jackie’s understated wardrobe was a gesture towards acknowledging Mima’s death.
Apparently not, because she seemed in determinedly party mood.
‘We’ll have champagne, shall we?’ she cried. ‘I’ve got a couple of bottles chilling.’ She led them through to the kitchen and there on the table were bottles of very expensive champagne sitting in an ice bucket. Anna wondered if she’d bought in the bucket especially for the occasion – Jackie had taken to internet shopping with gusto. But probably not. Champagne was routinely drunk in the Clouston household for every birthday and anniversary. Jackie put her arm round her son. ‘Come on now, Ronald, open a bottle for me.’
Anna thought Ronald was going to object. She saw him tense within Jackie’s embrace, then wriggle free from her. But in the end the habit of fulfilling