Chosen Child (22 page)

Ella was glaring and she was calm, too, always a sign of
determination.

‘Yes, way. You get the relationship you want, I get the
house. And Soraya. And if you make it impossible for me to adopt her, Rick,
I’ll take you for every last penny you have. You’d lose the house anyway.’

Rick pressed his lips together. Keep calm, man, you have to
do this. ‘You, ah, you can have your adoption. I’ll stay schtum till
everything’s finalised. But this is my home too and I don’t want to leave all
the work I’ve done here – or the garden, the shed…’

She was staring; hell, he should never have mentioned the
shed.

‘This is my home and Soraya’s too. Plus, even when the
adoption’s finalised we’ll still have people coming to check how we’re getting
on.’

‘I’d be there for the visits. You could find a nice flat -’

‘Don’t be ridiculous. If Soraya and I went to live in a flat
it would be immediately obvious to any adoption society worker there was no
Daddy living with us. Here, we’d have a fighting chance of looking like a
normal family even if you weren’t living in. I won’t have them taking her back,
Rick.’

He licked sun-cracked lips. They wouldn’t do that, would
they? But they might. What could he say to get her and Soraya away from the
house? He was still contemplating this when Ella’s mobile rang.

‘It’s Mum. I have to take it. Don’t forget we’re supposed to
be arriving there tomorrow.’ She went out to the garden, and Rick poured a
stiff drink. He had to get out of this, he had to. In a surprisingly short
space of time Ella was back, and her triumphant expression told him he wasn’t
going to like what she was about to tell him.

‘Mum and Dad are coming here for a few days. They’ll arrive
on Wednesday. I said you’d had to go on an unexpected business trip and I
didn’t want to drive all the way to Yorkshire alone with Soraya. Mum quite
understood.’

Rick closed his eyes. Round one to Ella. He stood up.

‘Very well. I’ll go tomorrow. And you can have the house
until the adoption’s finalised and the initial visits are over. Then we’ll talk
again.’

Without giving her time to reply he left the room, taking
the whisky bottle with him.

The following morning Rick was up early. First things first –
what could he do about Gareth while he was away? He couldn’t exactly change the
lock on the shed door. If Ella got someone in to remove the concrete, Gareth
would come to light straightaway.

Nothing came to mind – all he could do was trust they’d
leave the shed alone. June and Steve would be into the Grandma-and-Grandpa
scene; nobody would worry about a bit of concrete, would they? He would lay the
wooden floor panels back on top of the concrete and hope for the best.

By ten-thirty Rick was packed and ready to leave on his
‘business trip’. In reality, he was going to Amanda’s and oh, how good it would
be to get away from the hell he’d created here. He brought his case downstairs,
where Ella was sorting through the accounts folder.

‘Your credit card bill hasn’t been paid yet. You splashed
out in the garden centre, didn’t you? Concrete and lime and heaven knows what.’

Rick retreated into indignation. ‘Have you ever thought your
marriage failed because you were too involved in children and unimportant
things like bills from the garden centre? And it’s hardly sky-high, is it? Just
the stuff I needed for the shed...’ He flinched in horror. There it was again,
the shed…

Her face was uncomprehending. ‘What is it about that shed,
Rick?’

He swallowed, searching for words, then saw she didn’t
expect an answer. She’d said it to annoy him, but he wasn’t annoyed as much as
unsettled. A picture of him and Ella a few short months ago slid into his head
– happy together, preparing for the adoption. At least… Ella had been happy.
His own happiness hadn’t matched hers, and their decline started.

‘By the way, I’ve applied for a part-time receptionist post
at the dentist opposite the station,’ said Ella nonchalantly. ‘I could do that
when Soraya’s at school. And I know Dad’ll help me buy this place from you,
Rick. So you be thinking about that, and we can discuss it when Mum and Dad
have left.’

She swept into the living room and joined Soraya watching
cartoons.

When he arrived at the flat Amanda was folding the washing,
which seemed to be ninety per cent Jaden’s things. She glared at him and Rick
sagged. First Ella – which was in a way understandable – but now Amanda was
looking at him as if he’d poisoned her favourite cat.

‘You’ll never guess who I’ve just had on the phone,’ she
said, shaking out a small t-shirt. ‘Your dear wife. She wants me to babysit for
her while she goes for job interviews. Apparently there might be one next
week.’

‘What did you say?’

She looked at him, a tiny smile pulling at the corner of her
mouth. ‘I said I’d be away visiting friends next week. And then I booked me,
you, and Jaden into a B&B in Edinburgh for a few days. How about it?’

And in spite of the truly terrible situation he was in,
Rick’s heart began to sing.

They were going to get through this.

Wednesday 23rd – Friday 25th July

‘Darling! Lovely to see you! And Soraya! You’re just as
pretty as you look on Skype!’

Ella hugged her mother, who let go almost immediately to
concentrate on her prospective grandchild. Soraya submitted to being kissed,
which made a good impression, though Ella knew that the little girl’s
restiveness might not go down well with her new grandfather, at least.

‘Come in. Rick was sorry to miss you, but it’s great you
could come. Was the drive down okay?’

‘It was lovely. I see Rick’s taken your car?’

Ella blinked. All this lying. But it wasn’t a lie, actually,
Rick had – inconsiderately – taken the car. They hadn’t even discussed it,
either.

‘Yes. I’ll need to get you a booster seat for Soraya. I
should have thought to keep hold of ours.’

Ella’s father swelled visibly, the picture of pride. ‘We’ve
already got one. Can’t have a new granddaughter and no car seat for her, can
we?’

Soraya ran to look and was loud in her praise of the Muppets
design on the booster. Ella began to relax; maybe this wouldn’t be so hard
after all. If she avoided talking about Rick there shouldn’t be any problems.

Her optimism took a dent at lunchtime, however.

‘Wonder what poor Daddy’s doing today,’ said June to Soraya,
while Ella was dishing out the Cornish pasties that were her father’s long-time
favourite.

‘Don’t care. Daddy’s always grumpy.’ Soraya dived into her
pasty as soon as it arrived in front of her, and June frowned.

Ella made a mental note to instruct Soraya on her
grandmother’s version of table manners ASAP. Anything for a quiet life.
‘Daddy’s been working too hard and he’s been a bit, um, distracted,’ she said.
‘Let’s think of some places to go to while Grandma and Grandpa are here.’

After the meal Soraya took June and Steve out to see her
shell garden. Steve began to help the little girl rebuild the back section, and
Ella and June wandered along the flower border.

‘Ella, is Rick all right?’

Ella sighed inwardly. Mum had a nose like a bloodhound, but
she had no intention of telling her parents the true state of her marriage.

‘He’s fine. Just busy. And as you’ve maybe noticed, tact
isn’t Soraya’s middle name.’

Steve was trotting towards the shed. ‘Got a gardening pad?
The old knees aren’t used to crouching down any more.’

‘There’s a brown cushion on the bottom shelf,’ said Ella.

He disappeared into the shed and emerged a few moments later
with the cushion and a perplexed expression. ‘What on earth’s going on with the
floor in there? The left side’s wobbly as a jelly.’

‘Daddy tried to make a new floor but he couldn’t do it.’
Soraya danced off after a bright turquoise butterfly.

‘There’s a concrete base underneath, but it’s uneven. We’ll
get it lifted again,’ said Ella. ‘Rick thought it would be more waterproof or
something. I don’t know why he put the wood back down.’ She went into the shed
and heaved the slabs up again, propping them against the side wall. At least
now people could see what they were walking over.

Steve brightened immediately. ‘I’ll have a go while I’m
here, shall I? Be something to do while you’re all being girly.’

‘Daddy’s silly. It’s a stupid floor.’ Soraya pulled Steve
towards the shell garden.

‘You shouldn’t let her talk about Rick like that,’ said
June, turning back to the flower border.

Ella massaged her hairline. A tension headache was lurking,
and no wonder. ‘I know, but we have to cut her some slack too. Adopted kids
often go through a ‘testing you’ phase. She’s doing very well, considering.’
Considering her new mother and father weren’t on speaking terms and her father
had twice driven off with her. Ella squinted to see if her mother was buying
into the explanation. Don’t rock the boat, Mum.

The following day was overcast and June suggested taking
Soraya to buy a new dress for that evening’s meal out. Steve folded his
newspaper and winked at Ella.

‘I’ll leave you girls to do that. I can make a start on the
shed floor.’

Ella felt as if she was the punch bag between two warring
parties that morning. Her mother’s idea of a dress suitable for a small girl
was not the same as Soraya’s, and neither was prepared to compromise.
Eventually they found a mid-green tunic with a white lace border that was
feminine enough for June, and Soraya was persuaded that Kermit the frog was the
very same colour. They continued towards the supermarket, grandmother and
granddaughter pleased with their purchase and Ella fighting another headache.
Her mother was so full on. Keeping up the ‘Rick on a business trip’ pretence
was wearing, too, and Ella couldn’t imagine what June would say when she
learned what was really going on. They returned home with a cheese and onion
quiche for lunch, and found Steve washing his hands in the kitchen.

‘Rick’s no builder,’ he said. ‘I don’t think he even
levelled the ground before putting that concrete down. I’ve been hacking round
it – should be able to lift some like that.’

Ella went out to look. The concrete was frayed round the
edges as well as patchy and uneven.

‘Be nice when it’s finished,’ she said dryly, and Steve
chuckled.

‘I don’t promise to finish it. But anything that makes for a
quicker job for the experts will be less expense for you.’

Ella was leafing through Steve’s paper after lunch when a
job advertisement caught her eye. School secretary in the local secondary. Now
that would be well worth thinking about. She went online and filled in the
application, tears pricking in her eyes. The dream of being a stay-at-home mum
had taken a battering. But if – when – her marriage ended she would need the
money, and this job came with school holidays.

And it would show Rick she was serious about keeping the
house, too.

The overcast weather turned to heavy rain, and Ella was glad
her parents were there to occupy Soraya. The four of them spent an hour at the
garden centre, and came back with some new parts for Rick’s drill, and a candle
decoration set. With Soraya and Grandma decorating chunky candles in the dining
room, Ella had some me-time, and spent most of it trawling adoption websites
trying to find out what happened when a couple adopted and then split up. There
were so many instances of single people adopting, surely she would be allowed
to keep Soraya? The problem was, she was afraid to ask. If she mentioned it to
Liz there would be a big fuss and the adoption would be delayed at best. Ella
shivered. The best way forward was to arrange her life into a place where she
was financially independent, and in a pleasant, settled home with her child.

Her thought of a couple of weeks ago niggled at the back of
her head.
An adopted child is never your own child
…
But nobody would remove a kiddie from a settled, happy home – would they? And
how sick-making it had come to this. Grief for her marriage welled up inside
Ella, taking its place beside the bitterness that Rick had changed so much.
He’d cheated on her and deceived her – and possibly he’d deceived himself, as
well, that he’d wanted to adopt.

‘Pooh! More rain,’ said Soraya on Friday morning.

Ella had to agree. Being cooped up in the house wasn’t her
idea of a fun summer either. She’d spent the past half hour teaching Soraya
their phone number, as well as Lindsay’s and Owen’s, as contact people in
an emergency. After thirty minutes of sitting still, Soraya was rarin’ to go,
but the rain couldn’t have been heavier. The buddleia was bereft of
butterflies, and the shell garden had sunk several inches.

Steve appeared in the kitchen looking for coffee. ‘The
forecast’s terrible all weekend. Ella, your mum and I were thinking about going
over to visit Mary in Helston today, instead of on the way home. We’d come back
at the beginning of the week when it’s supposed to be summery again, and stay
another couple of days. We want to go to the beach with Soraya and hunt for
more shells. And I think you said Rick would be back next week? Be nice to
catch up with him too.’ He ruffled Soraya’s hair and she squealed.

‘Sounds like a plan,’ said Ella. ‘I’m not sure about Rick,
but I’ll call him and find out.’ She smiled at her father. Rick was under the
impression that the house would be guest-free by Sunday, but that didn’t
matter. It would do him good to realise that her life and Soraya’s didn’t
revolve around him. And presumably he wouldn’t say no to staying on with his
girlfriend, whoever she was. A new thought struck Ella – did she even want Rick
back here to live? It was scary how her feelings about him were changing.