Episode 15 - Happy family

Monday cont. then Tuesday

Being in love is like being drunk, Cleo decided, though she had never been drunk in her life; a social worker surrounded by alcoholics and drug addicts thinks twice about joining the fray.

Cleo had misjudged her first husband Jay’s character; he had turned out to be a cruel, sadistic bully. Marriage to Robert had been a cosy, convenient sort of arrangement with only a modicum of passion early on; they had looked after one another.

With Gary she was, as her mother had intimated, at last recognizing her own needs and desires. Life would not be easy or comfortable with him, since he was not an easy-going, comfortable sort of person, but life would never be dull and it was  a totally new experience for Cleo to be treated as a desirable woman rather than as a victim or a pal.

Cleo did not want to predict if marriage to Gary was a realistic prospect (though he was sure it was), but she had the feeling that her life had turned a corner. Looking back was not an option. They were as married as it was possible to be without the need of ceremonial to remind them that they belonged together.

***

Gloria had mixed feelings as she walked to her flat above Robert’s butcher’s shop She had already stopped identifying it with home and  had no idea how she would get on with Bobby next day when she had to work alongside him, especially as she would have to tell him that she was moving out of his apartment into Gary’s. There was something indecent about that, she thought. After all, telling Cleo’s husband that she was moving into Gary’s place was the same as telling him that Gary had moved out, and you didn’t have to add two and two together to know where he was now. Could she still work for Bobby under the circumstances? Did she even want to?

The craziness of fate came home to Cleo as Gary sang raucously in the shower. It was a far cry from the mellifluous tones that Robert produced wherever and whenever he chose to sing. When Gary’s tuneless rendering was translated into visuals it reminded Cleo of haphazard lines smeared in haphazard colours on a wall. He was a tuneless minstrel, but a troubadour at heart, serenading the love of his life as best he could.

Her Daddy’s singing that first morning after the family had been literally thrown together brought Charlie into the main bedroom with her fingers in her ears and woke PeggySue, who was immediately hell bent on making more noise than Gary. What would a psychologist have said about that din? Was it a noise or celebration?

“Tell Daddy not to sing,” shouted Charlie above the aria.

“Rescue Peggysue and come for a cuddle, Sweetheart,” said Cleo. “Daddy’ssinging will stop when he’s finished taking a shower. He probably thinks no one can hear him above the sound of the water.

The cuddle-threesome was a success:

“Can I call you Mummy?” said Charlie

“Of course you can. I’d like nothing better,” said Cleo. “I’ll get up and put the coffee on. Would you like cocoa?”

“Yes please. Shall I tell Daddy to stop the noise?”

“You could do that, but if singing makes him happy, let him sing.”

Eventually, Gary emerged from the shower. He drifted into the kitchen with his bathtowen draped round his haunches, and planted kisses on the foreheads of PeggySue, who was now gnawing at something wet and crumbly, Charlie, who was dipping her toast into her cocoa, and Cleo, who was frying eggs. He blessed them for liking his singing, declaring in French that he loved them all and announcing that they were without doubt three of his favourite women.”

The hatch connecting the kitchen with the dining part of the living-room was open so that anyone in the kitchen could be a part of anything going on.

“Who are the others?” Cleo wanted to know.

“Well, for a start there’s .…Dorothy is sweet.“

“Sweet? OK. Message received. Anyhow, what makes you think we like your singing?”

“You didn’t stop me!”

“I wanted to,” said Charlie, “but Mummy said that if singing makes you happy, you should sing.”

“Did you say that, Cleo?”

“Sure, but you could use some voice lessons. Coffee or something else?”

“Coffee, please,” said Gary. “And please turn the eggs over.”

“No sunny side up?” said Cleo.

“The sun is shining in my heart, my love. It does not need to shine on my plate.”

“Do you want a sandwich for school, Charlie?”

“Yes please, Mummy,” said Charlie and rushed to the kitchen to help Cleo.

“You’ll have to hurry, Charlie! We haven’t got much time. You aren’t dressed yet.”

“Talk about the pot calling the kettle black, Gary. The girt loins are meaningful, but not necessarily suitable for the great outdoors.”

After a scramble to get ready, Gary kiss Cleo on the lips and PeggySue on both cheeks, said how smart Charlie looked in her school uniform, grabbed her satchel and hand, and father and daughter drove off at breakneck speed to call in at the vicarage for the two elder Parsnip boys. Once the children had been delivered safely to their school in Middlethumpton, Gary would drive to North Wales.

***

Cleo gave PeggySue the rest of her breakfast, got her washed and dressed and into her playpen along with half a dozen soft toys and a set of plastic building blocks, wiped the high chair free of biscuit and porridge, took a shower, dressed  and then at last sat down to finish her breakfast.

Cleo rang Gloria ato tell her she would be at home all day. She then phoned Dorothy and arranged a meeting to discuss the Hartley Agency activities. Robert would have left Dorothy’s opulent breakfast table and gone to his beloved shop long before, so there was no chance of talking to him, which was probably just as well

“OK, Cleo. Ten thirty all right?” Dorothy said.

“Sure, Dorothy. At the cottage, please!”

“I’ll bring half a bara brith for second breakfast. I did some baking last night.”

Dorothy’s baking was often motivated by stress.

Cleo said she loved Dorothy’s currant bread.

Dorothy avoided any mention of Robert.

***

“Well?” said Dorothy after the coiffee pot had been drained and thick slices of buttered bara brith polished off, “Tell me how you feel!”

“Over the moon,” said Cleo.

“And Gary?”

“The same, but somewhat hoarse judging by his crazy singing in the shower! He drove Charlie and the Parsnip boys to school and now he’s on the way to North Wales to negotiate with Brass and see if there is any progress on the murder cases, but there won’t be unless forensics come up with something.”

“I gather that he stayed the night with you, then,” Dorothy said stuffily.

“Gary is staying altogether, Dorothy, and Charlie already calls me Mummy and had adopted her little sister after saying that what she had been dreaming of. You might as well know that. Robert forced the issue, but I’m glad it happened. So there’s no point in you hoping I’ll turf them out in exchange for a man I could no longer live with.”

“I thought as much. Gloria told me once that even as a child you kept to your decisions once they were made, but were indecisive sometimes until someone else decided for you.”

“I suppose that’s right. I did not decide that Robert should leave me and I did not leave here on Friday with the impression that he was about to. He decided all by himself, Dorothy.”

***

“I think you should know that Robert phoned New Zealand last night.”

“He did what?”

“I think he needed to talk to Rita.”

“But she has a partner in Auckland.”

“Robert was married to her.”

“A long time ago. Do you think he’s been keeping up contact with her despite their estrangement and divorce?”

“He didn’t tell me, and there are presumably things Robert has not told you,” said Dorothy. “For instance, his daughter has been managing some kind of reunion for her parents. He never wanted to be without Rita, after all. He thought she was dead.”

“If there’s one character trait that would describe Robert, it’s his lack of duplicity, I would have thought,” said Cleo.

“Think again, Cleo. He never told you that he was already married. He let you get to the altar.”

“He thought he was a widower.”

“ But telling you was a must, especially after he had been so mean about your first husband without even knowing the facts.”

“His life was damaged by the meanness of his father-in-law, Dorothy. It’s nearly 30 years ago since Rita and Robert’s lives were torn apart by that awful man. At our first wedding attempt that never happened, Rita came because Julie had told her about us and she was still married to him. Robert and Rita agreed that their elopement had been an act of teenage defiance.”

“And you believe that?”

“Yes, but I am still asking myself why Rita did not pass on the information about Julie’s birth to Robert’s family, even if she did believe he was dead,” said Cleo.

“She might have told her mother and not her father for fear of reprisals,” said Dorothy. “Wasn’t Rita’s father capable of anything? He was ruthless. I’m sure that’s why his wife decided to join her daughter, so in the end she ditched him for his cruelty.”

“So the relationship between Robert and Rita is not really over, is it?” said Cleo. “Rita bowed out of her marriage in my favour and it might explain why he moved out of the cottage so fast.”

“In that case it was good timing that Rita’s father died when he did,” said Dorothy. “Rita was bound to travel to the UK with Julie to wind up the estate, and she did, of course.”

“She must have contacted Robert’s family and they told her where to find him, Dorothy. You’ve put a lot of thought into the situation, haven’t you?”

“Yes, Cleo. I know what I went through with Jack,” Dorothy said sadly. “I’m sure that Robert hopes that Rita will help him through his crisis.”

“His crisis? Julie will have put him up to it,” said Cleo. “He can’t have just thought that up on his own. It was definitely a hatched out plan and I never guessed.”

“Your mind was elsewhere, Cleo.”

“Was it that far off?”

“It must have been – perhaps only subconsciously. I’m partly to blame because in th arly daysI told you that Gary loves you and you pretended not to believe me.”

“You were warning me off, Dorothy. Have you forgotten that?”

“No, and I’m sorry. I didn’t really believe that you were unaware of Gary’s feelings, but I was trying to save your relationship with Robert.”

“You can’t go round trying to salvage people’s relastionships, Dorothy.”

“Well, I did and I’m sorry. I suppose I encouraged your affair with Gary.””

“I did not need any encouragement,” said Cleo. “I had been seeing Gary quite often and needed him more and more, but I was in denial.”

“Has your affair been going on so long, Cleo? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“We  decided not to tell anyone. I was already frustrated with Robert and needed someone to give me the feeling that I was still worth something. Gary did that. I was flattered at first, but soon realised that I was in love with him. I was in an intimate relationship with Gary because I love him, Dorothy.”

“You were often so negative about him, Cleo. It used to bother me because Gary is nice and I could not go along with what provoked you.”

“All that negative talk about him was faked and I’m ashamed of it now.”

“And I didn’t cotton on to what was going on.”

“No one was supposed to cotton on, Dorothy. I had never felt such intense emotions since the death of my unborn child. I feel exhilarated and excited when I am with Gary. I want Robert to be as happy as I am, but without me. So Rita coming back isn’t such a bad idea.”

“And Robert leaving you is the best solution to the dilemma.”

“He wanted it that way, Dorothy. When I think how often I tried to shut Gary out of my life although I wanted him in it, I am disappointed that I lacked the curage to admit it, even to myself. We are more alive together than apart. I can’t explain our closeness any other way.”

“I’m not sure you should be telling me all this, Cleo. You don’t owe me an explanation. Robert told me more than once that he thought Gary would oust him, and I always told him it was rubbish,” said Dorothy.

“Rita is one of those miracle solutions, isn’t she,” said Cleo. “But if he was already in contact with Rita, why didn’t he tell me?”

“Tit for tat, maybe, since you had Gary. The moment it became clear that Robert was not free to marry you, you should have backed out of your marriage to him.”

“I thought it was going to work out and I needed social acceptance.”

“That is not a reason to marry someone. I thought you were a modern woman, Cleo.”

“Gary told me it had been hard to watch from the side-lines, but he was still married at that time, Dorothy.”

“I thought that your marriage to Robert was made in heaven.”

“And I never thought I would leave him, however I felt.”

“You didn’t leave him. He left you.”

“But it was more of the tit for tat, wasn’t it?”

“No. I don’t agree. Robert wasn’t exactly playing the game by the rules, either, was he, Cleo?”

“Now I know he wasn’t, I feel much better.”

***

“Rita arrives tomorrow,” said Dorothy. “Robert asked me to make up a bed for her on the sofa because her plane gets in late and they have a long drive from the airport. I suppose Julie cried off meeting her mother so that Robert would be forced to.”

“That does not bode well for the future if that’s really the situation,” said Cleo.  “He sould be sleeping on the sofa, if anyone.”

“I can’t manage that situation, Cleo.”

“Remember that night at Vera’s recently, Dorothy? I want you to know that I made the first move by going to Gary. It was like opening the door to the real me ….Oh dear, it’s so difficult to explain.”

“You don’t have to explain, Cleo.”

“But I want you to know that nothing was planned. We had agreed to go on just being good friends and working together. But that was not enough. Quite out of the blue it was simply not enough.”

“How I envy you, Cleo. Gary is a nice, kind person and he loves you, not just himself,” said Dorothy. “Seeing Robert grumpily getting used to having walked out on you while blaming you for the break-up opened my eyes.”

“And I thought you were biased! Thanks for your support, Dorothy. We’d better get on with the agency stuff now.”

“That’s a good idea. Tell me what happened in Frint-on-Sea!”

“It’s convoluted. We need Gary for that. I couldn’t go with him today because PeggySue and Charlie need me.”

“Talking of Charlie, what has happened between you and Gary is a godsend for that little girl, Cleo.”

“Robert never needed me the way Charlie and Gary do. I love Charlie. She is so glad to be near her Daddy and she already sees PeggySue as her sister. After only a few hours we are her family. She calls me Mummy.”

***

Cleo’s mobile rang.

“I’ve arrived and je t’aime,” said Gary. “I’ll get my mission over and head for home, my love.”

“Great! Moi aussi,” replied Cleo, and pressed the red phone icon on the display.

“That was Gary.”

“Do you always speak French?” Dorothy asked, surprised at the brevity of the call. “Didn’t he want to tell you anything?”

“He told me enough.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“I’ll explain, shall I? Gary said ‘Je t’aime’, which means I love you, and I said ‘moi aussi’ which means I love you too. Before we started saying that to one another, I didn’t even know that Charlie had taught him the phrases after a French project at school. A bit crazy for juniors. I was puzzled about the origin until I heard Gary and Charlie exchanging the same words. Then I knew that Charlie and I are special people for him.”

“That is so beautiful, Cleo. I’m so sorry I was not sympathetic at first, but I am now,” said Dorothy, and to Cleo’s surprise added “I love Gary in my own funny way, and I want him to be happy. He’s a bit like the son I never had.”

“I think he feels the same and I’m glad you are giving us a chance, Dorothy.”

“Are you going to continue with the agency?”

“We are going to continue, Dorothy.”