Eileen had rung and emailed the four of them. And so they’d turned up as requested on a grey damp January morning, three days before the first Afternoon Tea Club meeting of the New Year, sitting in the canteen drinking hot chocolate and coffees, gabbling away about their Christmases and New Years, like a flock of spared geese!
When asked about Stacy’s Christmas, all she’d done was present her left hand and its sparkling diamond, which answered that question.
‘Oh, darling,’ Marjorie had cried, hugging her. ‘I’m so pleased for you. Oh, I think that’s the best thing that could’ve happened to you, sweetheart.’
‘You finally found your knight in shining armour,’ Raymond said grinning. ‘Happy for you.’
‘Well, he found me, I suppose. But I’m very pleased he found me because I was floundering.’
‘You were, sweetheart. But you got there in the end,’ said Dora, giving her a big hug too.
‘I did but it’s been a funny old year, hasn’t it?’
‘Yes, I’ll drink to that,’ said Dora. ‘So how was your Christmas, Raymond?’
Raymond sighed pensively. ‘Oh it was very quiet with just me and our Simon – our second Christmas without my wife. Nothing like the spread Dianne would’ve put on for all of us. His immediate family do their own thing every second year, so he wasn’t included this year and he misses them terribly. Anyway, we had a good talk and made a decision – I’m moving him in with me for a few months as he’s been struggling. It’ll give me a bit of company and we can put him back together before he decides which direction he wants to go in life, again. A bit like you and Marjorie did. So how’d your flat move go, Dora?’
‘Well, I’m in and loving it. And me and Marj have been out furniture shopping and Lauren has chosen which bedding and wallpaper she wants in her room. So that’s really great. And Lauren and I spent the whole Christmas and New Year together, which has been pretty fantastic. I’ve told her she can come stay with me whenever she wants because she’s got her own room now, which’ll be marvellous for us both. It’s wonderful getting the chance to be a mum again at fifty – ha, ha! But it’s better now because I’m much more settled than I was and much happier. And she’s a clever girl. She’s an undergraduate at Bournemouth University, you know, doing a BA Honours degree in Accounting and Business studies.’
‘A-ha!’ spat a familiar voice approaching their table. ‘So I can see yet another family business in the making. Small boutique hotel run by mother and daughter, no less, hey Dora? How ironic!’
Dora nearly choked on her coffee. ‘What the hell are you doing here, Mommy dearest?’
Marjorie laughed at that reference. She could see that some peace had been restored between Yvonne and Dora. Some! But they were as typical a couple as that portrayed by Bette Davis and Joan Crawford in the film Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? According to Dora their New Year’s get-together with the whole family at Philippa’s place had gone swimmingly. Clearly Philippa had given strict instructions to Yvonne about getting over herself for the sake of smooth family relationships. But Dora and Yvonne would probably always have the occasional spat. It was in their blood.
‘Well, you lot aren’t the only ones in Eileen’s address book! I think she even said Jodie was coming. Stacy’s beau is coming – well quite a few of us have been invited, darling. Doesn’t she want us for a group photo shoot or something?’
‘Oh yes,’ said Marjorie. ‘They’ve set up a new website about the Afternoon Tea Club and they want to include all the success stories – you know – people meeting up with long-lost friends, people making new friends, long-lost families and that sort of thing, as well as the activities they provide. They’re billing it as the best place in town to come and make friends and have some fun. I think it’s a pretty neat idea.’
‘It’s a great idea,’ said Raymond.
‘So we’re all going to be famous now,’ added Stacy.
Suddenly more people started arriving. Jodie, who ran up to Dora and threw her arms around her. Steven and Gracie appeared, much to Marjorie’s delight and surprise, and she set about introducing them to all her new friends, especially Raymond. Raymond’s son, Simon, came up to him and shook his hand.
‘Wow, Pops! It’s quite a turnout. Yeah, I’ll have a hot chocolate, thanks. Although I don’t think that machine’s gonna cope with all our demands.’
Eileen and her sons and Taynor arrived, and Stacy’s face was a picture as her mother and father and Peter and Marvin arrived with John.
‘Yay!’ she squeaked at them as she ran up to each of them and showered them with hugs. ‘Come meet all my new friends!’
Andy and Lauren came in with Pat, searching the crowd for Dora.
‘Hi, Mum!’ said Lauren, giving her mother a hug and, spotting Grandma Yvonne, Lauren slipped away to say ‘hi’ to her.
‘Hello, Pat. Good to see you again,’ said Marjorie. ‘I think they’ve given up with the drinks machine. Or it’s given up with us. Someone’s opening the canteen, in a minute. So they’ll serve you with whatever you fancy drinking.’
Marjorie noticed the way Andy brushed Dora’s cheek with his hand and how Dora looked at him. He followed Lauren to say hello to Yvonne and Philippa.
‘You didn’t tell me about, um, this …?’ Marjorie said provocatively, as she approached Dora.
‘I didn’t know there was a this until just recently,’ Dora said with a wicked smile. ‘In fact, it’s quite a big this now actually, I’m thrilled to say! But I’ll tell you everything when you come over to mine, next week. Oh and can you make it earlier? About 6.30 p.m.? I start work at my new job the next day. It’s so exciting!’
‘Yes, sure. Gosh it’s all happening for you, isn’t it? Your family storylines are better than EastEnders, I must say! Oh, and would you look at that.’
It looked as though members of a film crew were arriving. There were eight men and women dressed in black T-shirts and jeans making a clattering entrance with microphones, sound and recording equipment.
Eileen stood in front of the chattering crowd. ‘Okay, everyone! Hello there! Can you all hear me?’
No one really took any notice of Eileen until Yvonne did a piercing wolf whistle, which made everyone stop but then start laughing.
‘Quiet, people! This lady is trying to talk to you!’ Yvonne said.
That did the trick. Dora looked embarrassed. Lauren put her arm around her mother’s waist and nestled her head against her shoulder.
‘Thank you, Yvonne. Well, everybody. Hopefully you’ve all met up with each other and had a nice hot drink or two and a jolly good natter. Like I said in the email, this get-together is for our new website, so what we’re going to do is make our way into the main hall and have a collective photo. Afterwards, some of you are going to be interviewed regarding your amazing stories because of the Afternoon Tea Club. Right, so if you’re ready? Come this way,’ Eileen said, leading everybody next door into the main hall.
She started positioning everybody with the tallest at the back and she found a chair for Taynor to sit on. Michael was wheeled next to Taynor with Eileen’s mother in her wheelchair on the other side. Then she went back to the camera crew to give them instructions. Dora sighed and moved to the front of the gathering.
‘Well, this is not working for me, people,’ she stated, pacing.
Everybody started looking at one another.
‘What’s not working?’ said Yvonne, folding her arms.
‘Well, if this photo is going to represent the Afternoon Tea Club in the guise of “the best place in town to make friends and have some fun”, then a photo of a sombre group of people with weird grins on their faces is not going to cut it. Wouldn’t make me rush to sign up, is what I’m saying!’
‘So what do you have in mind, Dora?’ said Raymond.
‘Well, it needs more drama; more action. Happy, engaging faces. Or something more impactful or creative. Hmm. Not sure what. I’ll be back in a second,’ she said, walking out of the hall.
‘She’s nuts, that one,’ muttered Yvonne.
The camera crew moved their equipment into the hall and started setting up. Dora came back and started talking to them in a hushed voice. Eileen was watching her. Then Dora left again. When she returned she had a large bowl of what was most probably water, judging by the laboured way she was walking with it. She gave it to one of the crew members and then hurried back into the midst of the crowd.
‘Right, I think that should do it,’ she told everybody.
***
She found Andy and Lauren and stood between them with her arms around their waists. Andy kissed her cheek, as the opportunity presented itself, and Dora hugged her daughter. Yvonne and Philippa linked arms next to Lauren, with Grandma Pat next to Andy. Dora felt blessed to have her wonderful family all around her, as did everybody, that day.
‘Wait for it!’ She grinned at them both, holding them tight.
‘Right, so are we ready now?’ said Eileen.
‘Yes, we are,’ said Dora. ‘So come on. Get in here with the rest of us, Eileen!’
The camera crew member winked at his mates and then shouted, ‘On the count of three I’m going to chuck this bowl of ice-cold water over the lot of you and then we’re gonna snap your response!’
Everybody jumped nervously.
‘W-what?’ said Eileen.
‘They’re doing what?’ said Raymond, looking nervous.
‘Ooh! No wait! My new frock!’ yelped someone else.
But the crewman didn’t wait for the audience to compose themselves nor did he give them the chance to bottle it and run off.
‘One, two, three!’
The cold water formed an arc of droplets as it left the crewman’s hands and splashed down onto the heads of the astonished assembly in Borough Community Centre.
There was a moment’s silence as the dripping water slopped over them and then a cacophony of cries as the icy water soaked into their clothes.
‘Aargh! Nooo!’ yelped the crowd, collectively; mouths open, raised eyebrows, hands grasping, faces cringing …
But Dora was right.
The result made one hell of a stunning photograph on the new Afternoon Tea Club website.