Head for the Hills, page 22
Standing by her pool in a shaft of sunlight Roslyn lifted one leg and then the other, then slowly bent from side to side. She wasn’t totally pain free but the medication was obviously making a difference and she’d attended her first aqua aerobics session. Mid-morning on a Tuesday was a much better time. The group had been all women around her age and no-one was bothered about being seen in their bathers. Roslyn wouldn’t exactly say she’d enjoyed it but she’d go again next week. She hadn’t had much faith in lifestyle changes to help with her condition but perhaps there could be something to be said for the exercise.
She stared into the crystal-blue water of her own pool and bent down to test the temperature. Richard had been the one to swim regularly and she’d join him sometimes but recently, without him urging her, she rarely bothered. Silly to maintain a pool that was only used by family and visitors. She should get back into the habit of swimming in it.
A car rolled slowly down the drive along the other side of her house. Roslyn hadn’t seen Amber since the weekend and she still had the bags of baby items Kayla had left. She hurried towards the sound just as Amber’s car appeared through a gap in the trees. Roslyn put up a hand.
The car stopped suddenly, the wheels grating in the gravel as Amber caught sight of her and lowered her window.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just—”
“You scared me.”
“Sorry. You’re not working today?”
“Keeping tabs on me?”
“No, I just—”
“I’ve had two days off. It was a huge weekend at the pub.”
The purple was fading from Amber’s hair but it was freshly washed and Roslyn realised there was actually colour in her cheeks.
“My nephew’s wife was here on Sunday and left some baby things. She wondered if you might like them…or some of them…”
Amber’s frown changed to a smile. “That was nice of her.”
“Yes…well.” Roslyn stopped. She was not a prevaricator and yet here she was stumbling over her words. “Would you like to come in, have a look, have a coffee?”
“Sure. I’ll unload my shopping and come back.”
Roslyn had put the coffees on the table by the time Amber knocked tentatively on the door and came in. She put a brown paper bag on the table.
Roslyn eyed the name on the bag. “You’ve been to Sheffield.”
Amber shrugged. “Couldn’t be bothered going all the way to Mount Barker and the bakery’s good there. I got some muffins.”
“Have a seat,” Roslyn said. She waved at the three shopping bags hanging on the back of the chair. “Kayla said you’re welcome to take the lot or just what you need.”
“Thanks.” Amber pulled back the edge of one bag and peered in. “I’ve got a few things but—” she shrugged. “How much stuff can one tiny person need?”
“I’ve no idea. My son’s in his thirties and my only grandchild was born overseas but if my sister’s grandchildren are anything to go by, a truckload.” Amber’s eyebrows raised. “Although I’m sure half of it isn’t necessary.”
Amber reached into a bag and lifted out a colourful blanket. Roslyn smiled. “My dad knitted those squares. He called it his hand and mind therapy. He hated sitting in front of the TV with nothing to do so he taught himself to knit. Got a friend to sew the squares together and put the backing on. He gave it to Nick and Kayla when their first son was born.”
“If it’s special shouldn’t you keep it?”
“What am I going to do with it?” Roslyn glared at Amber. “And before you say a knee rug you can zip your lips.”
The spark Roslyn had seen in Amber’s eyes flashed brighter and she smiled.
“My grandson lives in Japan and Kayla said she offered it to my niece when she had her children but she declined. I suspect it’s a bit rustic for Emily’s taste but Kayla found it useful.”
Amber put it to the side, then added milk to her coffee and took a sip. “That’s good.” She glanced around Roslyn’s kitchen. “You’ve got a proper coffee machine.”
“Another purchase of my husband’s. I’m mostly a tea drinker but Richard was a coffee snob.”
Amber glanced around again. “Have you been on your own for long?”
“Almost ten years.”
Amber nodded and they sipped in silence for a while. Then she wiggled a finger towards the wall.
“Were the ducks his too?”
“Why would you think that?”
“You don’t seem like a duck-on-the-wall kind of person.”
Roslyn laughed and the conversation between them came more easily until Amber started to fidget.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’d better go. I really need to pee.”
“But you haven’t finished your coffee. Use my bathroom.” Roslyn waved to the door leading from the kitchen. She was pleased Amber had come in for coffee. She couldn’t believe she was thinking it but she was actually enjoying the girl’s company.
Margot could see Roslyn through the glass. She was sitting at her table staring into her coffee cup. Margot let herself in.
“Good morning.” Roslyn stood abruptly. “Do come in.”
“I could see you weren’t busy.” Margot huffed. “I just came over to let you know tonight’s meeting’s been postponed.”
“Oh, right, okay then.” Roslyn glanced towards the other end of the room.
Margot could tell from her response she’d forgotten all about the meeting.
“There’s too much on at this time of year. I don’t know what I was thinking, suggesting a meeting. I’m cooking every spare minute for the dealership Christmas party on Friday night. The Providore is busy as and we’ve got the school holiday gingerbread session and Christmas lunch…” Margot glanced at the table and reached her hand out to smooth the top of the baby blanket their dad had knitted, swallowing the sharp pang of loss seeing it evoked. “What’s this doing here?”
“Kayla’s been cleaning out her baby things.” Roslyn glanced across her kitchen again, as if she was expecting Kayla to appear. “She thought Amber might find some of them useful.”
“But she can’t give this away.” Margot hugged the rug to her and caught the sharp scent of mothballs. “Dad knitted it.”
“And I’m sure he’d prefer it was used.”
“But it should stay in the family.”
“Emily didn’t want it and Kayla and Nick aren’t having more.”
“How do you know?” Margot snapped. Was this something else they’d discussed with Roslyn and not with her?
“I’m only assuming because they said they wanted to clear out all their baby gear.” Roslyn frowned at her. “What’s going on, Margot?”
“I know we’re sisters and we do lots for each other, but you really shouldn’t have interfered, Roslyn. I don’t know how Dennis will take the news.”
Roslyn held up a hand. “Stop. What are we talking about now?”
Margot gritted her teeth. She hadn’t meant to blurt it out like that but Roslyn’s big-sister superior tone got up her nose. It also stirred the familiar creep of self-doubt. She put the rug down and began before she ran out of resolve.
“I called in on Nick and Kayla yesterday. I know you gave them money for their new van.”
Roslyn frowned. “That’s between them and me. I asked them to keep it to themselves.”
“I’ve been working on Dennis and we’d come up with a solution, then when I called on Nick to tell him about it he said he didn’t need our help. I didn’t want him in more debt to the bank so I pushed him and—”
“Browbeat him till he told you, I assume.”
“I did not—”
“There was no need to—” they barked at once.
“I know you’ve got money to burn but you don’t need to use it to bribe my children,” Margot snarled.
Roslyn reared back as if Margot had slapped her.
“It’s our business,” Margot said, pleased to see her normally unemotional sister react.
“Nick tried you first,” Roslyn said. “But I gather you didn’t hear him out.”
“He sprung it on us.”
“His plan was sound and he’s family. I don’t have money to burn but I am in a position to help. I was happy to be involved.”
“Of course you were.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You failed your own family so you want to meddle with mine.”
Roslyn’s pale complexion faded further.
Margot knew she should stop but she’d worked herself up. Dennis had been out late at a meeting the previous night and she hadn’t broached the subject of Roslyn helping Nick with him so it was still all bottled inside her.
“Work was always your priority. Jerome spent more time with me when he was growing up than with you.”
“Not this old chestnut.” Roslyn sighed.
“What do you mean?”
“Dad told me you worried I didn’t spend enough time with Jerome.”
Margot’s mouth fell open. She’d never imagined her father discussing what she’d said to him with Roslyn even though the reverse had often happened.
“Jerome had two parents, grandparents and an aunty and uncle and cousins right next door. He’s grown into a wonderful man and I’m quite confident that’s partly because he got plenty of love and nurturing.”
“From others while you were off at work and never there for the important things.”
They glared at each other and then Roslyn picked up the blanket and held it towards her.
“I don’t know what’s brought all this on but if the blanket is that important to you, keep it.”
“Huh!” Margot ignored the rug her sister offered. “You’re always so good at deflecting so you don’t have to face reality. Jerome wanted a sibling, Richard wanted another child but not Doctor Roslyn Jesser. No time for family. Your head’s always been too high for the rest of us. You were too busy to even realise your own husband was sick.”
Roslyn blanched.
“And you hardly shed a tear for the poor man when he died.” Margot knew she was in dangerous territory but she couldn’t stop herself.
“We all deal with grief in different ways.”
“And your way is to ignore it. To keep working as you’ve always done. Jerome needed you.”
“And he had me, but he was twenty-two when his father died, not a child.”
“Work was always your priority.”
Roslyn dropped the rug back to the table. “That’s enough, Margot,” she hissed.
Margot’s heart thudded loudly in her ears. There was a louder scuffling sound, then the door to Roslyn’s bathroom opened. She gaped as Roslyn’s tenant strode towards her, eyes ablaze.
“You’re a piece of work, aren’t you?” Amber snarled. “I always wanted a sister when I was a kid. Thought having a sister would be great. Glad I didn’t.” Amber turned to Roslyn. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Roslyn said and Margot snorted.
“I’ll go then.” Amber took the bags that had been hooked on the back of one of the chairs. “Tell Kayla thanks for these. And thanks for the coffee.”
It was only then that Margot noticed the two coffee cups on the table. She looked from the cups to Amber, who had her rockhard face in place.
“You can keep your precious blanket,” she snapped. “I wouldn’t want my baby contaminated by it.”
Margot gasped and she blinked back tears as the door shut with a bang behind Amber. Silence settled around them.
Roslyn was the one to break it. “There was no need for that, you know. Dad would have been happy for the blasted blanket to be used. You get far too sentimental.”
“I’d rather have emotion than be as cold and hard as a rock.”
A low hiss whistled over Roslyn’s teeth. “I think you need to go home.”
“Don’t worry, I am.” Margot plucked up the blanket. “And I will keep this. Kayla shouldn’t have been giving it away.” She slammed the door behind her and as soon as she was out of sight she barrelled off across the yard towards home full of righteous indignation, tainted just a little by the niggling feeling that she’d acted like the kid who’d taken their bat and left the cricket game.
twenty-five
Roslyn remained where she was, pondering how her great start to the day had gone so pear-shaped. Margot could be passionate, volatile, parochial, evasive, annoying, a whole gamut of things, but she was rarely unkind. It wasn’t true that Roslyn was like stone, but she had never worn her heart on her sleeve as Margot did. She’d learned quickly to keep her emotions in check when she started her medical training in a predominantly male world.
She’d teared up once in the early days, when a senior doctor had badgered her over a diagnosis and then she’d doubted herself and he’d belittled her in front of the other interns, nurses and patients. He’d then gone on to rave about women not being suited to medicine unless they were nurses. Her diagnosis had been right – he’d just been a bully. She’d kept her emotions well hidden after that but she had learned empathy from an early age watching her mother suffer the effects of rheumatoid arthritis. While Roslyn may have shown a leathery exterior in her work, she never lost empathy for her patients. She earned the nickname Frosty from those who knew her well – cold as ice on the outside but soft like ice cream on the inside.
Richard had been the one to want a child and he’d offered to be the one to spend more time at home. Not that Roslyn hadn’t wanted a child but it had taken her thirteen years to finally become an anaesthetist and then she’d had to keep working to build her credentials. She’d been in her mid-thirties by the time she had Jerome and she couldn’t stay away from work for long. Not unusual these days but stay-at-home dads hadn’t been as common back then.
Richard had thrown himself into parenthood and that had given her the scope to focus on her work. They’d been a good team. He’d have liked a second child but she kept putting it off. He’d been ten years older than her and by the time she turned forty and he fifty, she’d convinced him one child was enough. They had a wonderful holiday in the Greek Islands instead. She’d loved her husband and her son and she’d also loved her work. None of that was contradictory.
A sudden wave of pity swept her with such force she put her head to her hands. She’d been retired a few years now and while life had been busy when she first gave up the hectic world of medicine, it had almost ground to a halt these days. Now here she was, sixty-seven, alone, trying to manage a sometimes debilitating disease with no challenges to distract her.
There was a soft tap on the glass door. Roslyn’s head shot up. Amber was peering in at her looking very worried. She opened the door and stuck her head in.
“Has she gone?”
Roslyn nodded.
Amber came inside. “Are you okay?”
“Of course.”
“I know she’s your sister, Roslyn, but that Margot is a piece of work.”
It wasn’t kind but Roslyn smiled. What a good feeling it was to have someone take her side, even if it was a nineteen-year-old who was, Roslyn glanced down, literally barefoot and pregnant.
“I see you’ve been swimming,” Amber said.
Roslyn frowned. “Checking up on me now?”
“You’ve got towels and bathers on the line.”
“I went to an aqua aerobics session this morning.”
“Oh.” Amber glanced behind her. “What about your pool?”
“Another of Richard’s projects.”
“Don’t you use it?”
“Not much any more.”
“But you had the pool man here.”
“The family enjoy it.”
“It’s quite a warm day out,” Amber said.
Roslyn paused and took in the towel over Amber’s shoulder, the singlet top, shorts and bare feet, and realised she was being as thick as two planks. “Would you like to swim? You’re welcome to.”
“If you’re sure it’s okay.”
“Of course.”
“Why don’t you come in too?”
“No, I’ve had my water exercise for today but I’ll come out and sit while you swim.” Roslyn followed Amber outside. In the aftermath of Margot’s assault, which is what her sister’s outburst had felt like, Roslyn had momentarily forgotten Gunter’s legacy. She was surprised at herself, having thought of little else since she’d found out about it. She pulled back her shoulders. That’s what self-pity did to you. Filled your mind with useless melancholic nonsense. Roslyn did have a job and a purpose, and she owed it to her good friend, Gunter, to follow it up and get it right.
Margot sat on the garden bench in the shade of the Japanese maple, clutching the blanket to her chest. She was still shaking from her run-in with Roslyn and that awful girl she’d taken in. She took some long slow deep breaths. It was a strategy she’d been working on to calm herself when she was anxious. Gradually her heart rate slowed and the tremble in her fingers eased.
She’d been stewing over Roslyn’s interference since Nick had told her about the loan. She hadn’t been able to let it go and now she was annoyed with herself for having it out with Roslyn. Her sister should never have got involved with Nick’s problems – it was something Margot and Dennis needed to sort out, although Margot wasn’t keen to discuss it with Dennis. He’d be cross at Nick when it was Roslyn who was the problem.
Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she took it out. There was a text from Cam. Have you seen this? and a link to an article, but before she looked at that she noticed there were notifications of a host of responses on the Jesserton Jabber. She opened the app and scrolled up to the first post for the day, which had been up at 7.30 that morning.
Kath: We’re trialling stocking fresh sourdough loaves in the Providore each morning this week.
Margot blew out a breath. Kath was quick to act on things they’d barely discussed.
Sandy: Keep a loaf for me Kath. BTW I’ve had a cancellation for a cut and colour this arvo. Ring me if you want the spot.
There were then several replies about hair appointments and bread. Margot flicked over them until a post from the Threadgolds caught her eye.
