Autumn Dreams at Mermaids Point, page 23
‘I’m going to nip upstairs and get changed. Nerissa’s not back yet?’
Alex shook his head. ‘She was just heading out as we arrived, I’m sure she’ll be here in a minute.’
When Tom went upstairs, Alex followed him. While he stripped off his shirt and tie and changed into a long-sleeved T-shirt and his most comfortable pair of jeans, his brother updated him on what had already been christened Blanketgate.
‘Bloody hell,’ Tom said, sinking onto the end of the bed. ‘Emily will be devastated.’
Alex sat next to him. ‘She was pretty upset when I had a chat with her, but I’m more worried about Max. Pop had a go at talking to him, but the poor kid point-blank refused to say anything other than it wasn’t his fault.’
‘I should’ve made sure he had something of Anna’s too.’ Tom scrubbed a hand across his eyes, feeling wretched and utterly useless. ‘I never even thought about it because the blanket has been Em’s thing for years. I did memory books with them.’ It was something the counsellor had suggested and he’d found it incredibly therapeutic to go through the hundreds of photos on their cloud storage and help the children choose their favourites to print off and mount in a pair of albums. The children had each written their memories under the pictures. Tom had made one for himself – but he hadn’t written anything in his. He hadn’t needed to, because each and every one of the memories was etched into his heart. ‘I got rid of the last of her clothes before we moved because keeping them felt too bloody morbid, but there’s a couple of boxes in the back of my wardrobe with things I couldn’t bear to part with.’ He’d shoved them in behind his shoes and other bits and pieces, not ready to open them up again. ‘I’ll go through them with Max sometime soon and see if he wants to take anything for his room.’ It was all he could think of to do.
‘Don’t fret about it,’ Alex said, slinging an arm around his shoulder and tugging Tom in for a hug. ‘You’ve done amazingly well with them. Give yourself a break. Besides, Emily seemed to think Nerissa was going to find someone to repair the damage, so hopefully they’ll be able to put it behind them.’
Tom allowed himself a moment of indulgence to absorb the comfort and deep abiding love he and his brother shared before he straightened up. ‘Enough of that. Let’s make this the best bloody weekend we can.’
‘Sounds like a plan.’
When they returned to the kitchen, Nerissa was home and any lingering upset Max might have been feeling had been dispelled by his awe at seeing his birthday cake. Laurie had outdone all expectations and produced a perfect replica of the Black Panther’s cat-like mask. She’d even iced the character’s catchphrase of ‘Wakanda Forever’ onto the silver cake board. ‘Can I have a bit now?’ Max was asking Nerissa, who hadn’t even had a chance to take her coat off.
‘Remember what Pop said,’ Tom warned him as he took him by the shoulders and bodily removed him from where he was crowding Nerissa. ‘Besides, I thought we could have fish and chips tonight and I don’t think that will go very well with birthday cake.’
‘Fish and chips!’ Max raised his arms overhead in celebration. ‘I’m having curry sauce on mine, Pop. What about you?’
‘Curry sauce?’ Archie scoffed. ‘And ruin a big fat portion of mushy peas? I think not!’
‘Gross!’ With Max suitably distracted asking everyone what they were having and then pulling faces of disgust whenever they chose something he disagreed with, Nerissa was able to put the lid back over the cake. ‘I’m not sure there’s room in the fridge for it,’ she murmured to Tom. ‘I didn’t expect it to be quite so big.’
Overhearing, Philippa gave Nerissa’s arm a pat. ‘I’ll help you sort it out, shall I?’
‘Thanks. We’re picking up most of the party food from the deli tomorrow, but I’ve still brought more stuff than we can possibly eat in a weekend. And now we’re having a takeaway tonight.’
Tom frowned. ‘I thought it would make life easier. Have I messed up your plans?’
She smiled at him and shook her head. ‘Not at all. A bit of creative thinking and we’ll find room for everything in either the fridge or the freezer. I haven’t had fish and chips for ages, so I’ll add something to the order, if you don’t mind? I can take them upstairs with me.’
Of course he didn’t mind. As she usually ate with them, he hadn’t expected her to scurry off to her room just because his family was there, either. ‘Stay down here with us.’
‘Oh yes, do,’ Philippa said. ‘There’s far too much testosterone when these three get together, and I can’t escape upstairs like Emily will no doubt do when they get that blasted PlayStation out.’
‘Max can go without his games for one evening,’ Tom said to her, knowing she was right. It wasn’t only his father and brother who were hideously competitive when they got going. Tom was just as bad, and Max showed every sign of the trait passing into their third generation.
‘And disappoint your father?’ Philippa laughed. ‘He’d never forgive me! You boys can make a racket and Nerissa and I will find a comfortable corner and get to know each other. I brought a couple of bottles of Prosecco with me because everything’s more fun with bubbles,’ she said the last to Nerissa and they shared a grin.
‘We’ll definitely find room for those in the fridge,’ Nerissa agreed.
After a couple of hours of noisy game-playing, which included the most outrageous insults they could come up with that didn’t involve swearing, Tom tossed his controller down and declared it game over. It was already past Max’s usual bedtime, and he would need a bit of time to unwind if Tom had any hope of getting him into bed and asleep before midnight.
‘We can play again tomorrow,’ Archie said, taking the controller from a protesting Max while Alex switched off the game. ‘Give your poor Pop a break, I’m worn out.’
He did look a bit tired now that Tom thought about it, but he’d put it down to the long day and several hours in the car. He found himself studying Archie now, his medical brain kicking into autopilot even after several beers as he catalogued the lines of strain around his father’s eyes, the larger than usual bags under his eyes.
‘I can feel you watching me, boy,’ Archie said as he pushed himself up from the depths of the sofa. ‘And you can knock it off.’
‘I was just…’ At Archie’s quelling look, Tom opted for discretion over valour. ‘Wondering if you wanted a cup of coffee,’ he finished.
‘Like hell you were.’ Archie patted his shoulder. ‘Nothing to worry yourself about, and yes, I wouldn’t mind a coffee. I’ll give you a hand with them once I’ve had a pee.'
Tom headed out to the kitchen and switched on the coffee maker, which had already been set up by some fore-thinking soul – Nerissa, probably. He also filled up the kettle for anyone who wanted tea and put a few stray plates in the dishwasher. Deciding there was room enough for the cups once they’d finished, he popped a tablet in the drawer but didn’t switch it on, making a mental note to do it before bedtime. Archie joined him in the kitchen and when Tom directed him towards the cupboard with the cups and mugs, they worked quietly side by side for a few moments.
Don’t say anything, don’t say anything, Tom told himself over and over, but the instinct inside which had driven him to be a doctor wouldn’t stay silent. ‘Pop…’
Archie sighed irritably. ‘I might have known you wouldn’t let it go. I’ve had a bladder infection, that’s all. Been on the antibiotics to sort it out and it left me a bit drained. I’m getting bloody old and stuff doesn’t work like it should, any more. Satisfied now?’
Knowing what it must’ve taken for a proud man like Archie to admit a weakness, Tom nodded. ‘Thanks for telling me. I worry about you, that’s all.’
‘Well, there’s no need,’ Archie said, gruffly. ‘I’m not ready to turn my toes up yet.’ He reached across Tom for the sugar canister, which he set on one of the trays Tom had put out on the kitchen table, deciding they’d just ferry everything next door and let people help themselves to whatever they wanted. ‘That girl of yours is a pretty piece.’
‘Don’t start,’ Tom said, raising a warning finger towards his father.
‘I’m just making an observation, no need to overreact,’ Archie protested. ‘Unless there is…’ he added, slyly.
‘There isn’t. Besides, she works for me.’ Tom hadn’t meant it as a barb, but he saw the moment he said it that Archie felt skewered none the less.
‘Ah, yes.’ Archie’s tone dripped with sarcasm. ‘I forgot about that halo of yours for a moment. Couldn’t possibly sully your morals and get off with an employee like your monster of a father, eh?’
‘Pop, come on. That’s not what I meant.’
But Archie was off on one and wasn’t prepared to be reasoned with. ‘Christ, you’re like a dog with an old bone, boy. It’s been thirty bloody years, but you’re never going to forgive me for leaving your mother, are you?’ Archie banged a couple of mugs down harder than necessary as he added them to the tray. ‘Never mind that your mother gave up on me years before I gave up on her – oh no, that doesn’t fit the narrative, does it?’
‘Pop.’ Tom put a placating hand on Archie’s shoulder, replacing it and clamping his grip when his father tried to shake him off. ‘Pop, look at me.’ When Archie relented and turned to face him, Tom did his best to keep his tone gentle, to push down on the protesting inner child who was ready to leap once more to his mother’s defence. It was the second time Archie had made that kind of cryptic comment, he should at least try to hear him out. ‘I swear that I meant no slight to you when I said that about Nerissa and me working together. I promised myself I would try harder this weekend to get along with you – and I really want to do that. I’m sorry if I upset you, I didn’t mean it.’
Archie glared a moment longer before his features softened. ‘Mimi will have my guts if she finds out we’ve been quarrelling again.’
‘There you are then. No one wants to face the terrible wrath of Mimi.’
They both laughed at the absurdity of it. Even at his most resentful horrible teenage stage, Philippa had been the soul of patient kindness with Tom.
‘You’d be surprised.’ Archie shook his head. ‘I’m just tired of fighting with you about the same old things, boy. None of us are getting any younger.’
‘I’m tired of it too. And it sounds like I don’t know the full story.’ Tom let it hang, an opening rather than a direct question. Something Archie could pick up or choose to ignore as he wished.
‘We were never suited.’ Archie turned away and started fiddling with the coffee pot, which was still hissing and dripping through the final stages of the brewing process. ‘We were in lust, but never really in love and then, well, we got married because that’s what you did in those days.’ Abandoning the coffee pot, he turned his back on it, folding his arms as he contemplated Tom for a long moment. ‘She was always such a free spirit – more interested in the world she wanted to capture with her paintbrush than the mundanity of real life. She found the pregnancy hard-going too.’
‘I never realised.’
‘That’s because she never wanted you to. Postnatal depression didn’t get the same kind of care it does today and it was the best part of eighteen months before she could bring herself to pick you up. I think she always felt guilty about that because once she turned that corner she doted on you. She found her love for you, but never for me.’ Archie looked old, and so incredibly sad. ‘I tried, but there’s only so long a man can be pushed away before he gets the message. I never so much as looked at another woman though, not until Philippa. I don’t want you to think I was catting around on your mother. I’ve loved exactly two women in my life – and married them both.’
‘Pop.’ Tom choked on the word, swallowed and tried again. ‘I’m so sorry. I had no idea.’
Archie shook himself the way Toby did after splashing around in the sea. ‘What’s done is done. I’d just like there to be peace between us.’
‘I promise.’ Tom wanted to hug his father, but he was so moved by what he’d learned, he feared he’d start bawling. And Archie was looking a bit watery around the edges himself. ‘Let’s get these drinks next door before they send out a search party.’
24
At the first sound of raised voices from the kitchen, Alex had risen and closed the lounge door, pausing to give Nerissa a reassuring smile as he passed on his way back to resume his seat on the sofa.
‘Pay them no mind, dear.’ Philippa’s tight expression didn’t quite match the lightness of her tone, but Nerissa just nodded and let it go. ‘Now then, you were telling me about the origin of your pretty name.’
‘The women in our family have been named after mermaids for generations,’ Nerissa said.
‘Mermaids?’ Max jumped up from where he’d been sprawled on his belly across the rug and came over to lean against her chair. ‘Like the one that visited the Point?’
‘Not exactly like that.’ Nerissa shifted around in the oversized armchair so she could look more directly at him, creating an inadvertent space next to her, which Max squirmed his way into so they were wedged hip to hip. Twisting even further on her side, she crossed her legs and made a bit of room between herself and Max’s hot little body. Nerissa reached out to brush a damp strand off his forehead. ‘You’re roasting.’
‘I was sitting right next to the fire.’ Max shoved an impatient hand through his sweaty hair so it stood up all over like a hedgehog’s prickles. ‘Don’t fuss.’
Well, that’s me told. Biting back a grin, Nerissa returned to what she’d been saying. ‘The mermaid over the summer was a publicity stunt, but Aurora Storm chose the Point because the village has such a strong connection with mermaids. Including my family. We have a story that says one of my ancestors brought a mermaid back from a sea voyage and made her his wife, that’s why we have the names that we do. Now, I’m sure the truth of it is he probably married a woman from the Caribbean or somewhere like that and she was so different to everyone else here that a rumour started about her. Folks believed all sorts of things back in the day. Still, there’s lots of other legends and lore linked to the Point. We have a saying that when we need them the most, the mermaids will come to our aid. And I suppose that’s true for Aurora – because without her videos going viral, we wouldn’t have had half the number of visitors we had over the summer. She stopped a lot of people from going out of business, so I guess you could say she saved us when we needed it most.’
‘And where do they live?’ Max prompted. ‘The mermaids, I mean.’
Nerissa smiled at his eagerness. ‘Some say they make their homes out on the Seven Sisters. They’re the string of islands out beyond the bay,’ she said to Philippa, who’d probably never heard the reference. ‘Others say they live in the caves underneath the Point.’
‘The ones behind the fence?’ Max asked, eyes growing wide.
Worried she’d reignited his interest in the caves, she patted his leg. ‘It’s all just silly rumours and superstition. The caves aren’t safe, remember? That’s the only reason the fence was put up.’
At that moment, the door swung open and Tom and Archie staggered in bearing two laden trays. Tom cast a quick look in her direction and though he didn’t say anything, she was suddenly conscious of how she must look. He’d been really kind including her in the family’s dinner plans and it had been lovely to chat with Philippa, who she already liked, but she was overstepping the mark again.
Stretching her mouth open, she simulated a yawn. ‘Well, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m done in. I’ll say my goodnights and leave you to it.’
‘You don’t want a cup of tea?’ Tom swung around with a mug in his hand. ‘Not even to take up with you?’
‘I’m fine, thanks though.’ And with that she beat a hasty retreat and left them to enjoy what was left of their evening.
The following morning, Nerissa barely had time to think as they launched into the final preparations for that evening’s party. Max was the most hyper she’d ever seen him, and the recycling bag stuffed with discarded wrapping paper that was waiting by the back door for someone to put it in the outside shed was testament to the incredible haul of gifts he’d received. Nerissa’s own gift of some book tokens she’d tucked inside his birthday card looked modest in comparison to the stacks of clothes, games and even a brand new bike Tom had been hiding in one of the spare rooms in the surgery for the past week, but she’d felt it was appropriate. Enough for Max to know she cared without being intrusive. When she’d mentioned they could take a wander over to Cavendish’s, the village bookshop, he’d beamed and given her a quick hug.
When a knock came at the back door, she rushed to open it, expecting to see Luca from the deli with their party food delivery. She yanked it open and stopped in surprise at the sight of a slender redhead dressed in what looked to be a gentleman’s velvet smoking jacket belted over a pair of faded jeans tucked into fire-engine red wellington boots. Ivy Fisher had always had an individual style, which was most easily summed up as eclectic. Nerissa remembered when Laurie had been a dedicated follower of whatever had been the must-have trend when the girls had been growing up. In contrast, Ivy had gone her own way, her clothes a mixture of hand-me-downs and charity-shop finds which she’d altered to fit. ‘Oh, hello!’ Nerissa stepped back to let Ivy into the kitchen.
‘I’m sorry to just show up like this, but I was passing, so I thought I’d pop in.’ Her eyes strayed to the stacks of paper plates, cups, family-sized bags of crisps and other party paraphernalia piled up on the kitchen table. ‘Sorry, it looks like you’re busy. I can come back another time.’ Pale cheeks flushing, Ivy retreated a step towards the door.
‘Stay.’ They both turned at the sound of Alex’s voice, who’d just entered the kitchen and was staring at Ivy like he wanted to devour her. ‘Forever, if you like.’
