‘Not far now, girls,’ Mum said, slowing down as a guy on a motorbike overtook us.
‘Is that Sam?’ Grace asked.
‘Shut up, Grace,’ Bella hissed.
‘Sam doesn’t have a motorbike,’ I said with a yawn.
‘Yes he does!’ Grace insisted. ‘Bella’s ridden on it, haven’t you, Bella?’
I turned to look at my older sister, who was now glaring at Grace.
‘Excuse me?’ Dad turned round in his seat to look at both of them.
‘Paul, calm down!’ Mum said impatiently. ‘It was a short ride and she was wearing a helmet and all the proper protective clothing –’
‘Wait … you mean it’s true? And you knew?’
‘Grace saw them from the window. I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d be upset, and Bella promised that would be the end of it.’
‘It shouldn’t have happened at all! So when did he get a licence? That’s assuming he actually has a licence … and does he actually own this motorbike?’
‘His uncle lent him the money for it when he turned seventeen,’ Bella snapped. ‘And of course he’s got a licence!’
Dad snorted disapprovingly. ‘Bella, have you any idea how vulnerable a motorcyclist is if they’re involved in a collision?’
‘I should have,’ Bella muttered under her breath. ‘You’ve told us often enough.’
‘Paul, that car behind is trying to overtake us,’ Mum suddenly said sharply. ‘And I can’t even see round this tractor!’
She blasted the horn really loudly as the car behind started to overtake both us and the tractor.
‘Nina – take it easy,’ Dad said, reaching up to clutch the handle above his door. Mum gets really cross when he does that but luckily she didn’t see.
‘Don’t tell me to take it easy, Paul!’ Mum snapped. ‘It’s these country drivers that are the problem! Look, here’s another one trying to overtake me – no patience, any of them! So much for life running at a slower pace in the country!’
Dad didn’t comment but I noticed he kept hold of his grab handle.
‘Look – there’s a sign for the school,’ Bella suddenly said. ‘We must be really close now.’
I saw the sign too: St Clara’s School for Girls aged 4 to 18. And I think that’s when my stomach did a flip and our move to the countryside started to feel … well … just a lot more real.
As we turned the last bend in the road and saw the trio of cottages Mum exclaimed in relief, ‘Here we are!’
My sisters and I cheered.
‘Well, at least she’s not here yet,’ Dad grunted.
Aunt Thecla had phoned for another update fifteen minutes earlier, and when she found out how close we were she said she would set off straight away and meet us at the cottage. Mum tried to dissuade her but she refused to take no for an answer. She had bought some shopping for us, plus she wanted to inspect the inside of the cottage herself. No doubt if she didn’t think it was clean enough she’d ignore Mum’s protests and start vacuuming carpets and washing windows around us while we were unpacking our stuff, whether it was convenient or not.
Mum parked up on the grass verge in front of the cottages – ours was the first one of the three – and we all piled out. ‘Mrs Fuller said she’d leave the key under the flower pot,’ Mum said.
While Dad and Bella headed for the front door Grace and I raced round to the rear of the house, hoping to see the horses. The back garden was so overgrown that we couldn’t easily cross it, so we stayed at the top by the house and looked down to the field at the bottom. A couple of horses were grazing at the far side and we could hear a dog barking somewhere nearby.
The sound of a car, together with a yell from Bella caught our attention. ‘AUNT THECLA’S HERE!’
When we returned to the front of the house our aunt was already out of her car and greeting Mum with a peck on her cheek, while Dad stood back, presumably to stop her from kissing him. Mum always says that Dad turns into a bit of a teenager when Aunt Thecla is around, and he certainly looked like one with the stubborn face he was pulling right now.
‘My, haven’t you all grown,’ she exclaimed.
‘Yeah, well … kids tend to do that so long as they’re getting fed,’ Dad grunted.
Bella sniggered and Mum shot him a quick glare.
If I was Aunt Thecla I certainly wouldn’t have tried to kiss Bella at that moment, but of course Aunt Thecla isn’t known for her super-awareness of other people’s feelings. Bella stood rigid as she flung her arms around her, and they ended up in a really awkward collision rather than an embrace.
I would have laughed, but I knew it was my turn next.
As our aunt approached me she gushed, ‘Look how much you’ve grown, Elisabeth … goodness … you’re quite the young lady now …’ She was staring at my chest as she spoke and I felt myself blushing. My boobs aren’t that big but they’re definitely there now, whereas they probably weren’t the last time she saw me. ‘Do you know, I can see you looking more and more like your grandmother,’ she informed me. ‘I believe she was quite a big girl too at your age.’
Bella gave a little snort while I flushed scarlet. Aunt Thecla is always coming out with things that make me cringe, even when she’s trying to be complimentary. (Mum says it’s because she verbalises everything she’s thinking without stopping to filter it first. Dad says she’s just plain tactless.)
I was named Elisabeth after my grandmother, who died when Dad and Aunt Thecla were teenagers. I know they both loved her very much, and I know my aunt thinks she’s paying me a compliment when she says I’m like her. The trouble is I’ve seen photos of my grandmother, who was a plain plumpish lady with wiry reddish hair and freckles, who I’m not that wild about being the spitting image of. Bella thinks it’s hilarious of course.
‘And, Grace, your face has changed again,’ our aunt was observing now. ‘I really think I’m starting to see your grandfather’s chin.’
Finally Dad couldn’t keep quiet. ‘I think you need to get your eyes checked, Thecla,’ he said in an irritated voice. ‘Grace looks nothing like our father.’
Mentioning our grandfather in front of Dad is never a good idea. Like I said before, Dad broke off all contact with him before any of us were even born. He’s always refused to tell us why they fell out, except to say his father was an ‘utterly ruthless and selfish man’ and that he doesn’t want to talk about him.
Dad went back to battling with the front door of the cottage, which he still hadn’t managed to open.
‘I expect the wood’s swollen with all the rain we’ve had,’ our aunt said in her usual know-it-all voice. ‘If I were you I’d give it a good kick.’
Dad scowled because he hates Aunt Thecla telling him what to do. He kicked the bottom of the door and it made a sort of squeaky scraping noise. Then he kicked harder and it opened. At the same time we could hear a dog in one of the other cottages barking loudly.
‘Girls, you need to watch where you’re walking,’ our aunt warned us in a loud voice as she pointed to a pile of dog poo in the grass. ‘The dogs next door don’t care whose garden they do their business in, and I’m afraid not everyone around here is as committed as they should be to “poop and scoop”.’
‘Come on then, girls,’ Mum said swiftly. ‘Let’s take a look at our new home.’ I suspected she was as anxious as we were to get our aunt inside before she totally offended our new neighbours.
I was the last person to enter, aside from Aunt Thecla, who was busy inspecting the garden for more dog poo. I found Bella, Dad and Mum standing absolutely still in the middle of the living room.
‘Oh …’ I murmured as I took in the faded threadbare carpet and the ancient green velvet-covered settee. ‘It looked a lot smarter in the pictures, didn’t it?’
Mum’s face couldn’t hide her disappointment, and nor could Dad’s. Bella was looking frankly horrified.
Grace had gone to check out the upstairs, and now she came hurtling back down the steep staircase that went straight up from the room we were in. ‘Careful!’ Mum called, but even as she spoke the ancient-looking wooden handrail shifted under the weight of Grace’s hand. She screamed as the top end gave way and she only just managed to let go in time as the whole thing swung outwards.
Dad rushed over to her, and after he’d checked she was OK he looked at the broken handrail with disgust. ‘That should have been fixed before we got here.’
Suddenly Aunt Thecla arrived in the doorway. ‘I suppose I’d better take off my shoes before I come in –’ she began, breaking off abruptly as she took in her surroundings. She crinkled her nose as her gaze settled on the grubby-looking carpet. ‘Or perhaps I’d better keep them on.’