RACHEL
Carla was already in bed when Rachel arrived in response to Johnnie’s last-minute plea for her to babysit for an hour.
‘Thanks for this,’ Johnnie said. ‘I shouldn’t be long. Just need to support my sister at her first-ever exhibition. Help yourself to coffee or there’s wine in the fridge.’
‘No problem,’ Rachel said. ‘I hadn’t anything special planned for this evening.’ The fact that she’d promised herself not to get involved with Johnnie or Carla, had seemed irrelevant when Johnnie had phoned sounding desperate. Besides, she’d grown quite fond of Carla in the short time she’d spent with her. Couldn’t help wondering how her new life with Johnnie was shaping up.
Once Johnnie had left, quietly closing the front door behind him, Rachel tiptoed upstairs to check on her charge. Carla was fast asleep on her back, one arm tightly clutching the pink rabbit to her chest, a thumb in her mouth. The floor beside the bed was piled with cushions and a folded-up duvet. Johnnie was obviously afraid of Carla falling out of bed. He really needed to buy her a cot, Rachel thought. One of those that converted into a bed at a later date would be ideal.
Leaving Carla to her dreams, Rachel wandered out to the small hallway. Johnnie’s bedroom door was open and she peered inside. In contrast to the tidiness he’d displayed on board his boat, the room was a mess. The wardrobe door was open, socks were spilling out of a chest of drawers, the bed unmade. Carla was clearly keeping him busy during the day. Rachel smiled to herself remembering the distant days when Hugo had been a full-time job and she’d been too exhausted to do housework. Johnnie must be on a real roller coaster of experiences right now. Must be doubly hard with no partner to help.
Back downstairs she wandered into the sitting room. After straightening the cream throw on the settee and plumping up the cushions, she picked up some toys and put them in the large cardboard box that appeared to be serving as a toy box before looking at the various pictures Johnnie had on display. Lots of him and a happy, smiling women who had to be his wife dominated the mantelpiece. A faded picture of a Johnny Onion man and his bicycle stood on a small table alongside a picture of the same man with two young children perched on his knees. Johnnie and his sister Sabine, aged about eight, she’d guess.
The kitchen when Rachel walked in was a mess too with the sink piled high with dishes. A quick glance told her there was no dishwasher so, after filling the kettle ready for a cup of coffee, Rachel set to. Twenty minutes later, when the sink was cleared and everything was on the draining board drying, she decided a glass of wine was in order rather than coffee, and went back into the sitting room. Pulling her iPad out of her bag, she settled down to read until Johnnie returned.
He let himself into the cottage quietly just after ten o’clock. ‘Good, you’ve had a glass of wine. Join me in another?’ Without waiting for an answer, he fetched the bottle and another glass from the kitchen and poured her one. ‘Cheers. Thanks for tidying the kitchen. I don’t seem to have conquered the dual art of child-minding and domesticity yet.’
Rachel laughed. ‘You will.’
‘Carla behave?’
‘Not heard a peep from her.’
‘Which means I will at approximately one o’clock.’ Johnnie sighed. ‘Any idea when she’ll start sleeping through the night?’
Rachel shrugged. ‘Children are all different. I remember Hugo slept through from about a year old but I had friends whose children did it a lot earlier – and some a lot later.’ She hesitated. ‘You’ve got to remember too, her mother disappearing from her life and being with you, a stranger, is a major event in her young life. Bound to unsettle her.’
Johnnie nodded. ‘A big trauma for everyone.’ He glanced at her. ‘I realise I’m probably pushing my luck, but can I ask another favour? Will you come shopping with me? Sabine’s told me to get myself to the nearest Mothercare and given me a long list of things I need to get.’
‘Can’t she come with you?’
Johnnie shook his head. ‘Too busy working the kiosk at the moment. Please say you’ll come. I really have no idea what is good or bad when it comes to things like cots and stair-gates, which are top of the list. At least you’ve been there, done that.’
‘A long time ago,’ Rachel said. ‘It’s a different baby world out there these days.’
‘So come and help me explore and get to grips with it one day next week, please.’
‘OK.’ Rachel said. A couple of hours shopping for things for Carla could be fun. ‘Now, how was the exhibition?’
‘Good. Lots of people turned up – both locals and some from the art world. Tristan seemed pleased and Sabine couldn’t believe the amount of paintings that sold.’ He took a swig of his wine. ‘So pleased for her. She deserves a break.’
He took his phone out of his pocket. ‘I took a couple of photos.’ He moved across to sit by Rachel on the settee. ‘Mainly of guests rather than the paintings. Here’s Sabine hobnobbing with some London critic. ‘Here she is with Tristan.’
As Johnnie swiped through the photos, Rachel pointed to one of Sabine laughing with an attractive dark-haired woman.
‘Who’s that?’
‘That’s Tatty, sorry, Harriet Lewis. Sabine’s best friend from years ago. She’s just come back to live in town. Seeing the two of them laughing together is like turning the clock back more years than I care to think about,’ Johnnie said. ‘I’m hoping she’ll agree to be Carla’s godmother. Need two, of course,’ he paused.
‘I was thinking, hoping, that you … I know we don’t know each other that well yet, but would you be her second godmother? Seeing the way you are with Carla, I know you’d be a wonderful godmother for her.’