Read Online Revenge in the Cotswolds by Rebecca Tope - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Rebecca Tope
Ads: Link
it.’
‘He? Uncle Damien told you? When?’
‘Yesterday evening. I think he was working through the family. I imagine Jocelyn will say all the right things. She likes babies.’
‘Everybody likes babies when they’re your own relations. I think it’s lovely. Don’t be such a curmudgeon about it.’
‘I’ll try. It’s just such a surprise. I can’t really imagine it enough to be happy or excited about it.’
‘It’s good to have plenty of people in that generation. They’ll have to keep you in your old age, remember.’
‘So they will. I’d better buy it a lot of educationaltoys and books, then, to make sure it gets a good job.’
‘You’ll have to pretend to be pleased. They must be terrified. How old are they?’
‘He’s forty-nine and she’s forty-four. Nearly. You must admit that’s awfully old to be first-time parents. I was twenty when I had you.’
‘And now you’re old enough to be a grandmother. Yes, I know. So what?’
‘I don’t want to be a grandmother. And your gran’s got plenty of grandchildren, so she doesn’t need another one.’
‘Well, I think it’s lovely,’ insisted Jessica. ‘Now tell me where you are, and I’ll be there before lunch on Tuesday.’
‘Great.’
The idea that her brother and his wife might be frightened had not occurred to her. Damien had never shown fear in his life. He had embraced religion in his early thirties and sustained an unshakeable faith ever since. This had given him a patina of complacency that caused irritation, bewilderment and occasional envy in his sisters. The message he put out was –
I have everything sorted, and if you are so blind and stupid as to reject what I have to offer, then that’s your problem
.
‘It’s not proper religion,’ Jocelyn had complained once. ‘Really religious people have doubts and dark nights of the soul, and endless moral dilemmas. He doesn’t do any of that. He’s so bloody
certain
all the time.’
Thea had agreed. So perhaps this baby was God’s way of showing her brother that the way was not always smooth, and that he’d had it much too easy up to then.
What would they do if the baby was found to be defective on the scan? She had no idea what Damien thought about abortion, but the assumption had to be that he was against it. Thea herself, with her low levels of maternal passion, would have found it a gruesome decision to have to make. In the end, she thought she’d have ducked it and kept whatever child fate landed her with. While not actively seeking to have a second baby after Jessica, she believed she would have accepted an accidental one with good grace. She wasn’t sure people should have quite that much control over something so fundamental – which she supposed was very much out of line with orthodox thinking. Going against nature, as Carl very often remarked, could rebound on you rather painfully at times.
And then a small voice whispered to her –
Just be careful the same thing doesn’t happen to you and Drew, then
. That would be a very neat revenge on her, she realised. It would ally her with Damien, and probably separate her from Drew. The idea gave her the shivers. She was only a year older than Judy. It could happen. But of course it wasn’t going to, even if – as everybody knew – births and deaths always came in threes.
She made herself a modest and rather late lunch, and began a list of shopping for the following day. Cirencester was close by, and well worth an hour or so pottering up and down the streets. Except she’d be lucky to find anything so mundane as bread and milk in any of the town-centre shops. There would be a Waitrose somewhere – she knew she’d visited it on previous occasions, but had forgotten exactly where it was.
The afternoon loomed ahead of her, as Sunday afternoons so often did. The risk of loneliness and self-pity made her feel cross and determined to ensure they didn’t take hold. She wanted Drew. She could see his face
‘He? Uncle Damien told you? When?’
‘Yesterday evening. I think he was working through the family. I imagine Jocelyn will say all the right things. She likes babies.’
‘Everybody likes babies when they’re your own relations. I think it’s lovely. Don’t be such a curmudgeon about it.’
‘I’ll try. It’s just such a surprise. I can’t really imagine it enough to be happy or excited about it.’
‘It’s good to have plenty of people in that generation. They’ll have to keep you in your old age, remember.’
‘So they will. I’d better buy it a lot of educationaltoys and books, then, to make sure it gets a good job.’
‘You’ll have to pretend to be pleased. They must be terrified. How old are they?’
‘He’s forty-nine and she’s forty-four. Nearly. You must admit that’s awfully old to be first-time parents. I was twenty when I had you.’
‘And now you’re old enough to be a grandmother. Yes, I know. So what?’
‘I don’t want to be a grandmother. And your gran’s got plenty of grandchildren, so she doesn’t need another one.’
‘Well, I think it’s lovely,’ insisted Jessica. ‘Now tell me where you are, and I’ll be there before lunch on Tuesday.’
‘Great.’
The idea that her brother and his wife might be frightened had not occurred to her. Damien had never shown fear in his life. He had embraced religion in his early thirties and sustained an unshakeable faith ever since. This had given him a patina of complacency that caused irritation, bewilderment and occasional envy in his sisters. The message he put out was –
I have everything sorted, and if you are so blind and stupid as to reject what I have to offer, then that’s your problem
.
‘It’s not proper religion,’ Jocelyn had complained once. ‘Really religious people have doubts and dark nights of the soul, and endless moral dilemmas. He doesn’t do any of that. He’s so bloody
certain
all the time.’
Thea had agreed. So perhaps this baby was God’s way of showing her brother that the way was not always smooth, and that he’d had it much too easy up to then.
What would they do if the baby was found to be defective on the scan? She had no idea what Damien thought about abortion, but the assumption had to be that he was against it. Thea herself, with her low levels of maternal passion, would have found it a gruesome decision to have to make. In the end, she thought she’d have ducked it and kept whatever child fate landed her with. While not actively seeking to have a second baby after Jessica, she believed she would have accepted an accidental one with good grace. She wasn’t sure people should have quite that much control over something so fundamental – which she supposed was very much out of line with orthodox thinking. Going against nature, as Carl very often remarked, could rebound on you rather painfully at times.
And then a small voice whispered to her –
Just be careful the same thing doesn’t happen to you and Drew, then
. That would be a very neat revenge on her, she realised. It would ally her with Damien, and probably separate her from Drew. The idea gave her the shivers. She was only a year older than Judy. It could happen. But of course it wasn’t going to, even if – as everybody knew – births and deaths always came in threes.
She made herself a modest and rather late lunch, and began a list of shopping for the following day. Cirencester was close by, and well worth an hour or so pottering up and down the streets. Except she’d be lucky to find anything so mundane as bread and milk in any of the town-centre shops. There would be a Waitrose somewhere – she knew she’d visited it on previous occasions, but had forgotten exactly where it was.
The afternoon loomed ahead of her, as Sunday afternoons so often did. The risk of loneliness and self-pity made her feel cross and determined to ensure they didn’t take hold. She wanted Drew. She could see his face
Similar Books
