The Way We Were_ A Novel - Marcia Willett [107]
1977
It is nearly Easter before Angela comes visiting again at Trescairn. Unannounced as usual, with Cat in tow, she appears just after lunch one wild, windy afternoon, with lambs crying in the fields below the house and an untidy party of rooks circling above the church tower.
Julia opens the door, Zack astride her hip, and Charlie following behind, pushing himself along on a small wooden tricycle. She'd seen the car pull up on the drive and experienced the familiar twinge of apprehension but now, standing at the door, looking at that narrow, slant-eyed face, she feels a new, unusual surge of confidence.
‘Hi,’ she says amiably ‘Have you ever heard of the telephone, Angela? Isn't it rather a bit off your road to come all this way only to find that I'm out? Trescairn isn't exactly on the direct route between Minions and Rock.’
‘Oh, but you're never out,’ observes Angela, smiling. ‘You're always here, doing your motherly thing. The original earth mother, Pete once called you. The prototype. Such a good example to us all.’
Julia stands aside to let them come in but she smiles too. ‘I suspect you've often called when I've been out,’ she says. ‘And you've peered through all the windows and then driven away again. Isn't that so, Cat?’
The question is so quick and natural that Cat answers automatically. ‘Yes,’ she says, ‘and Mummy gets cross and drives very fast afterwards. But she looks in through the windows like you said.’
Julia laughs, genuinely amused. ‘Just to make certain we're not all lying on the floor trying to avoid you, like Uncle Matthew in The Pursuit of Love.’
Angela puts her bag on the kitchen table and takes out her cigarettes; she is disconcerted but still in control. ‘Nonsense,’ she says lightly. ‘I think that happened once. I banged on the window in case you hadn't heard but I was in a hurry anyway so it didn't matter. So how are you? Great news about Perisher. Pete's just so thrilled, isn't he?’
‘Oh, yes. Pete's thrilled. We're all thrilled.’
‘When he came to see me he could hardly stop talking about it. He was really worked up. Mind you,’ she gives her subtle, secret smile, ‘Pete gets worked up pretty quickly, doesn't he? Anyway, that's my experience. He's hoping to get a boat in Faslane, did he tell you? He hardly talked about anything else the whole time he was with me.’
‘Well, given you must have had barely five minutes on the doorstep it's hardly surprising, is it? Not long for an in-depth discussion about anything. He was pretty irritated to have to get a taxi that morning simply to collect some books that Martin could have dropped off here any time. And as for Celia phoning up specially to tell me that she'd seen him, well, I thought Pete was going to implode when I told him.’
It is clear that Angela is taken aback; for the first time in their relationship the balance of power shifts. Julia knows quite surely that Angela suspects that she's lost control, that her subtle hints and allusions no longer have the power to hurt, and Julia's own feeling of triumph contains an unexpected tinge of compassion.
‘Do you want some tea?’ she asks, putting Zack into the high chair and giving him his brightly coloured teething ring. ‘I can't be too long because I've got to fetch the twins from school.’
‘Thanks.’ Angela sits down. She looks thoughtful, as if she is already planning a new line of attack. ‘I've been seeing the new tenants in. Nice couple, no kids, thank God.’ She glances at Zack, as if this has triggered an idea. ‘Zack's grown. You know that rumour is still going round that he's Pete's. I suppose it just seems so amazing that you should be prepared to bring up someone else's baby.’
Julia begins to laugh. ‘You don't give up easily, do you? I told Pete that you'd said that to Tiggy and he was disgusted. Any-way, Zack's not someone