‘Seriously, Dad, I can’t ice skate.’ Madeleine protested as her father opened the car door. ‘I really can’t, ask anyone. Ask Jess.’
‘Of course you can. Everyone can skate, it just takes practise, doesn’t it, Jess?’ He held out his hand and both Jess and Poppy jumped out of the car giggling.
Madeleine was amazed at how quickly he and Jess had got along. They’d greeted each other with hugs at the hotel and had chatted about anything and everything during the drive to Whitby, while Madeleine had happily allowed herself to be demoted to the back seat of the Range Rover to keep an eye on Poppy.
‘Mummy, come on. It’ll be fun,’ Poppy screamed as she dragged her grandfather towards the door. ‘Grandad says we can have chocolate ice cream. Two scoops.’ She held her two fingers up in the air in a gesture that made everyone giggle.
Madeleine grabbed her hand and shook her head at how easily bought her daughter was with promises of ice cream and followed them into the building to line up for skates.
‘Jess, I can’t do it. Seriously, I’m like Bambi on ice, both of my legs want to go in different directions at the same time.’ Madeleine pulled on the boots that had been offered and watched as her father helped Poppy with hers.
Jess supressed a giggle. ‘Maddie, don’t be a spoilsport, you’ll be fine. Just hold onto the wall until you feel more confident, or hold onto my hand. I’ll show you.’ She stood up and stamped her feet. ‘I skate all the time on the cruise ships as most of the liners have a rink,’ Jess said as she stood back and waited as Madeleine reluctantly finished pulling on the boots.
‘Hold my hand, don’t leave me,’ Madeleine squealed as she stood up for the first time, wobbled precariously and followed Jess towards the ice. ‘I can’t believe I let my father talk me into this,’ she said with a frown. ‘He said something about the fact that we should have done it years ago and that it’d be a great bonding day; well, let me tell you this, if my backside bonds with the ice just once, especially after falling on it the other night, I’m out of here.’
‘Come on, Mummy, you’re so slow,’ came Poppy’s shrill shriek, but Madeleine couldn’t see her and almost ran to the edge of the ice. ‘Mummy, look at me, Mummy, I’m here,’ she shouted as she raced around the ice holding onto her grandad’s hand. ‘Go on, Grandad, spin me again.’
Madeleine watched as her father repeatedly spun Poppy around on the spot, he turned effortlessly and made each move look easy and she began to wonder where and when he’d learnt.
‘You coming?’ he asked as he passed Poppy to Jess. ‘Come on, I’ll help you.’ Her father held out a reassuring hand and Madeleine took it and stepped onto the ice. ‘One foot, then the other, just slide them, you don’t need to pick them up, not at first.’
Madeleine could feel her nerves as the concentration overtook her mind and she slowly moved one foot and then allowed her father to pull her until she dared to move the other, while all the time, he travelled backwards. Her legs began to wobble and suddenly she felt her father’s hand steady her. ‘I just can’t do it, Dad. Maybe I’m too old to learn. Maybe, just maybe, someone with two left feet should stay on dry land, or maybe I should go buy the coffees and ice cream. Didn’t you promise Poppy ice cream?’ She looked into his eyes in the hope that he’d give her a reprieve and allow her to get off the ice, but instead she saw a deep, disturbing sadness cross his face.
‘I really thought that by bringing you here, you’d remember.’ He held her with one arm around her waist as though dancing a waltz, pursed his lips and sighed. ‘You could skate, Maddie, don’t you remember?’ He looked up and tears filled his eyes. ‘I used to take you all the time when you were Poppy’s age. We’d go every week. I used to spin you around, you even had a pair of your own boots that I bought for you. You loved being on the ice.’
Madeleine looked at her surroundings and tried to think back. She racked her mind as she felt herself moving over the ice and then looked back at her father’s hopeful face. It was then that she remembered. He’d looked the same then as he did now, fresh and relaxed on the ice, travelling backwards and smiling as she’d wobbled precariously as a child. ‘Daddy, don’t let go. Daddy, look at me, watch what I can do. Daddy, spin me round and round. Daddy, Daddy, am I an ice princess?’ The words went over and over in her mind. She remembered constantly shouting to him, wanting his approval and then she remembered skating alone, travelling around the edge of the rink, with him skating beside her. She looked down at her feet, they’d relaxed and so had her body and suddenly, without thought, she was skating unaided.
‘That’s my girl, you’re doing it, you’re remembering.’
Madeleine nodded her head and once again took his hands, her feet began moving faster and faster. She began to laugh and looked around to where Poppy now stood, watching her in amazement. She then looked back at her father, who took her in his arms and spun her around and around as though dancing a quickstep.
‘Do you remember, Maddie? Do you remember us dancing on the ice?’
Maddie smiled and in that moment felt at peace with both her past and her future. She had her father, and Poppy and Jess. She loved them totally and was loved in return and at that moment she felt completely happy for perhaps the first time since Michael had died.