Daisy had thought at first she’d show her room to the whole family at once, but in the end she realised that it was Lorraine she wanted to see it first. Her grandpère’s words – “Your Grandmère, she will never lie to you,” – had stuck in her mind. If Lorraine said it was good, then she would know it was true.
“But Daisy, this is beautiful. Truly, I am bouleversée by what you have achieved here. And very impressed that you did it so secretly!”
Daisy wasn’t used to being praised like this. An unexpected floodtide of pleasure rose within her. Praised for her looks, yes, or envied for her clothes – but this was something new.
Lorraine kissed Daisy, French-style, on both cheeks.
“Ma petite, truly you have impressed me. This…” She did one of her complicated Gallic shrugs. “I hoped you had it in you, but I did not know for sure. I tell you what, I make you a gift. Today, the publishers sent me my royalties. And ‘The Only Child’, still it sells well, and so the others do too. Tell me what you need, and I will buy you one thing. And also, tell me why you chose these colours, this style…”
Daisy had been dying to talk to someone about it! They sat down together on the bed, though soon Daisy was striding around the room, pointing at things.
Lorraine kicked off her shoes, relaxed on the bed and listened to her younger grand-daughter with deep interest.
“The wardrobe can go back there, but I need to paint it first, so that’ll take a while – all the sanding down. Though I don’t have to wait for everyone to go out now! I might ask Grandpère if I can do it in his workshop now that he’s finished Josephine. Then I’d like a new desk, a new bedside light, but I think I’ll paint that table. I want a carpet, but I’ve got nowhere near enough for that yet. There’s the other bed to do – I bought enough material for both, in case I couldn’t match it later, which is why I’m spent up at the moment. I chose these colours because…”
This was Daisy as Lorraine hadn’t seen her for years – lively, animated, interested.
“The carpet, I will buy for you. Truly, Daisy, you have earned it. And my respect also.”
“Oh Grandmère, thank you so much! That is so kind of you!”
Daisy was almost moved to tears – not only by her grandmère’s generosity, but also Lorraine’s evident pride in her.
“I’m so glad Grandpère married you and not Griselda Tostead! You’re so much nicer than she is!”
Jonnie had begun to go to the gym – but it was harder than she thought, staying motivated.
“I need company,” she suddenly realised, on her third visit. “But who?” Nearly all her friends were juggling new babies and existing families – she was the lucky one with live-in baby-sitters.
“I wonder if Charlie would come with me?”
“Thanks, Charlie.”
“That’s okay – I could do with coming regularly. And Matthew and Hanako are both busier than normal at the moment, what with their new siblings as well. And this does – oof! – make a difference to my riding. I’ll see you after your run.”
And it became a regular thing, the two of them going off to the gym together, encouraging each other: well, mostly Charlie encouraging me, Jonnie reflected. Charlie had far more confidence than Jonnie did.
“She takes after David – and Lorraine too. I wish I was more like her. And I wish Charlie and Daisy got on better…”
She said as much to Charlie, taking her for a drink after their gym session one day.
“Daisy’s not being half as tiresome as she was…”
Tiresome was one way to describe Daisy’s constant petty insults, Charlie thought, (and they had stopped, now she thought about it) but that wasn’t the real issue that lay between them.
“Mum. Daisy’s still not sorry for what she did to my pictures at the exhibition. I know she said sorry – but she didn’t mean it, and you know that too.”
Jonnie closed her eyes to avoid seeing Charlie’s uncompromising gaze, because in her heart of hearts she knew Charlie was right. This was even harder than she’d thought it was going to be.
Daisy loved her new carpet! It made the room look so much better instantly. And she also loved the fact that this gift from a grandmother was one that she could show everyone. Grandma H’s secret gifts of money – “Don’t tell anyone about this. It’s just between us.” – had made her feel slightly odd, she now realised. Furtive, and a bit dishonest.
“You have, I think, a gift for colour and design, ma petite. I need your help with something – will you give it?”
“Is it to do with your secret sewing project?”
Lorraine had been busy for the last few days on her (much more modern!) sewing machine, and wouldn’t let anyone see what she was doing.
“In part. Viens avec moi.”
Lorraine led the way into her bedroom and headed for the big wardrobe. Daisy caught herself looking round and mentally re-designing the room.
“So, Daisy. No-one can hear us here. This question, it is not a trick. Just tell me truthfully – who is prettier: you or Charlie? Imagine you are talking about two strangers.”
Grandmère would have her reasons for asking, Daisy figured. “Me,” she admitted after a moment or two. “But I don’t mean Charlie’s not…”
“I know. So – arrange your hair for pretty, take off your glasses, perhaps a little make-up – and then I have a dress for you to try on. I come back in ten minutes. All right, fifteen,” she added, catching sight of Daisy’s face.
“And so – you look lovely.”
“I wish I didn’t have to wear glasses though. I look so much nicer without them."
“You could always try contact lenses a little later on – if you save your money. You are too young now, a little, but later…” Lorraine paused, and then went on.
“Daisy. You have, I think, much talent lying hidden, and now it begins to show itself. But to use it, you need also much honesty, integrity. I want to ask you some hard questions next – but it is because I believe in your abilities. And because I love you. Will you trust me? And answer me honestly?”
Daisy swallowed hard. What was her grandmère about to do?
It was Charlie’s old party dress from last Christmas. The one Grandma H had made for her. That was what Lorraine had been altering – and it now fitted Dasiy very nicely. But that was about all you could say for it.
“Grandmère – why?” Dasiy was willing to admit that her grandmère might have her reasons – but only just. And they’d better be good ones.
She walked away from the mirror, unable to bear looking at herself any longer.
“You, ma petite, are much prettier than Charlie. And with your hair so, and your face made up, you look lovely. But not in that dress. Even you cannot redeem it. So – what does it do to Charlie?”
“It made her look dreadful.” And there was a relief in admitting it.
“C’est vrai. I do not know why Cynthia wished to do that, and I do not ask you to say: that would not be fair. But it is of your mother I wish to speak – her party clothes: do they become her?”
Grandma H had made those as well – Daisy had to fight to view her mother’s wardrobe dispassionately.
“No. No, they don’t do they?” Daisy was thinking hard now. She shied away from wondering why Grandma H had made Charlie such awful clothes – she couldn’t have done it on purpose, surely? She must have thought Charlie looked nice in them.
“No. They’re not Mum’s style at all.”
“And so she has no confidence. But I think you could help her – help her to choose something nice for this formal dance she goes to later on in the year.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. Not Charlie – she needs Hanako with her, though she is learning. Not your father: he has no idea. I will persuade Jonnie to go shopping with you – I have a plan for that. And you can see what you can do, to help her look lovely.”
“And what do you want to do about this Daisy? It cannot live here forever…”
This was Daisy’s dressing table – still out on the landing at the moment. Daisy looked at it with new eyes, picturing it in her bedroom.
“This is actually ugly,” she thought. “All unnecessary frills and ornamentation. Though if Grandma H hadn’t given it to me when she did, Charlie would have got the big bedroom in the other house instead of me.”
“I think I’ll sell it on ebay,” she said aloud. “If Grandpere will put it up on his account for me.”
“I think he will do that, yes. It will have to be buyer collects, though – this we cannot post!”
“And if it doesn’t sell, then I’ll try Freecycle.”
“It’s time for your bath and bed, young man,” Jack said, scooping up his grandson with capable hands.
“You’re so good with him,” Jonnie said admiringly.
“Well, I had plenty of practice with you when you were a baby. Your mother wasn’t too keen on the nappies and washing bits, so I did a lot of it. I’m enjoying doing it again – and he’s not heavy.”
“How is she?” Jonquil asked, watching the odd bubble float over the edge of the bath.
“Well, I told her I wasn’t going to ignore my grandson, and she wasn’t too happy about that! She doesn’t know that I also come and do the committee work with Jonathan – she really didn’t want me to do that!”
“Why not?”
“Who knows, with your mother? She was probably miffed because they didn’t ask her instead.” And Jack made silly noises at the baby, who responded with gurgles of his own.
“Anyway, she’s out tonight at a meeting of her own, so Jonathan and I have a good stretch of time in which to do some work.”
“Finally – we’re ready to start on our own old papers!”
Jack looked more cheerful that Jonathan had seen him look for a long time – like since they were at school together.
“Talk about a walk down Memory Lane!”
“You really enjoyed your schooldays, didn’t you?” Jonathan said gently.
“Yes,” Jack answered simply. “We were all such good friends back then.”
“This is odd.” Jack put down the papers he’d been looking through. “What do you think, Jonathan? I’d swear this was Archie’s handwriting – you remember what it was like?”
“Yes – like a spider had fallen into the inkwell and then danced across the page, drunk, on occasions! He swore he was going to be ultra-neat for the exam though.”
“But it’s not Archie’s number on the script. Here – you have a look.”
Jonathan moved closer and pulled the various papers towards himself. Archie’s handwriting all right – and also his turns of phrase too: they leapt out at him from across the years.
“You’re right – this is Archie. Once heard, never forgotten. So whose number is it? Here – you check that list, I’ll do this one, and we’ll find out.”
It was Jack who found the match.
“Cynthia?” he said unbelievingly – and Jonathan stiffened in his chair.
“But then – which paper ended up with Archie’s number on it? Was ther a total mix-up? It would explain why Archie didn’t get in…” Jack was running through the data as he spoke – and then he fell silent, rose from his chair and went to stare out of the window.
“So this is why she didn’t want me to get involved with all this. She was afraid I’d find out.” Cynthia’s paper, her handwriting still recognisable, with Archie’s number at the top of it.
“She swapped numbers with Archie, took the credit for his work and left him with her scores. Take a look for yourself.”
Jonathan looked with deep sympathy at Jack’s bowed shoulders.
“How could she? Jack asked. “How could she be so dishonest? And then to look down on Archie and Flora because they didn’t go to the Grammar School. When she only got there by a cheating trick.” He paused. “You don’t seem surprised.”
“I thought she was about to do something. I didn’t realise she’d already done it – or I would have spoken up, changed things.”
“What do you mean?”
“Years ago – I caught Cynthia about to look into the exam papers – she shouldn’t have been in the office at all – and she said she hadn’t touched anything, please don’t tell anyone, she was just so worried…So I held my tongue. I thought there had been no harm done. The only time I ever reminded her of it was when she wasn’t going to let Jonnie marry David.”
“It was you who got her to change her mind? I always wondered – I didn’t think it had been me, even though she said she thought I might have a point after all…I’m so glad. Jonnie and David are so good for each other. But – what do we do about this?”
“Jack, it’s your call. You found the error – and this is your wife. Do you want to talk to her about it?”
“Maybe I do…maybe I do.”
“Go clothes shopping with Daisy?” Jonnie wasn’t really sure that this was going to be a good idea.
“But yes. Daisy – she has a good eye for colour and style – you have seen her room. Ask her advice, her help. She would be flattered. And also – you go to the gym with Charlie, but what do you do with Daisy? A little time with her would not hurt.”
Jonnie was still wary but, reluctantly, agreed.
“So – you have finished sanding the wardrobe?”
“Yes. All ready for Daisy to paint.”
“And I have sent Daisy and Jonnie off shopping – and told Daisy to make her mother beautiful. I know she can do it.”
“Daisy is becoming a different person.”
“But yes. I agree with you. I think also away from Cynthia she becomes better. Have you heard from Jack?”
Jonathan became grave. “No. And I don’t like that. Poor Jack – he’s such a kind and honest person. He would never do a thing like that. And then to discover that his own wife has betrayed one of his oldest friends…”
“Mum. Let me pick something for you. Please! Honestly, I can find something you’ll look good in.”
Jonnie was all set to give up and go home – everything she’d tried on had made her look awful. She hadn’t needed to ask Daisy for her opinion – though she’d done so, bearing Lorraine’s words in mind. And she had to admit, Daisy hadn’t been too scathing – she’d stuck with things like “That’s not really your colour” or “I think the neckline’s too fussy.”
“Oh very well then. One thing only – we need to get back soon, Jack’ll be due a feed.”
“Are you sure?” But Jonnie had seen what the mirror was telling her – this looked good on her.
“Positive. You look great in blue – you’ve got fabulous eyes and it emphasises them. And it’s not cut clingy-tight, but it’s not all frills and ruffles and bows either, which don’t suit you at all.”
“Daisy – thank you. I’d never have found this on my own. This is sheer genius!”
Daisy blushed with pleasure. I can see what looks good, she thought. And hard on the heels of that thought came another one. So can Grandma H. She knew what she was doing when she made all those awful clothes for Charlie.
“Hair, make-up, the lot,” Daisy had insisted, comb in hand. “I want Dad to be really like, wowsville when he sees you. I want him to see how beautiful you can look.” Jonnie paused for a moment in the upstairs kitchen, still nervous despite what the mirror told her.
“Go on,” she told herself. “They’re not going to eat you.”
“Wow,” David said, as his wife came into their family room. “You look amazing! Fantastic! Unbelievable! As good as you looked on our wedding day!”
Lorraine smiled over at Daisy. “Well done, Daisy.”
“I’ll say this for you Daisy, you’ve got better taste than Grandma H when it comes to clothes for Mum,” Charlie admitted.
“Dad, get a room!” Charlie said, as David swung Jonnie round and kissed her with some enthusiasm. Lorraine and Jonathan merely smiled fondly – and Daisy thought about Charlie’s earlier comment, about Grandma H’s choice of clothes for Jonnie. She felt almost betrayed. She’d always thought Grandma H knew just what to make for people.
“But she always looked good. And so did I.”
“And I’ve definitely made up my mind,” Jonnie announced. “I am going to go ahead with my plans.” David, Lorraine and Jonathan knew what she was talking about, but the girls didn’t.
“I’m going to do child-minding – part-time or full-time, depending on what people want – and I’m starting with Jenny Waterfold’s son pretty soon, and also Elinor Lavenham’s toddler – with only the baby to look after, she can work from home, but not with a lively toddler as well! I always did want to work with young children.” And she was suddenly wistful, though only David knew that Cynthia had talked Jonnie out of training as a kindergarten teacher and persuaded her to go into an office instead.
“We’re like, totally coolsville with that, aren’t we Charlie?”
Charlie pulled a face at the words, but agreed with the sentiments. “If that’s what you want to do, Mum, go for it!”
Lorraine came knocking at Daisy’s bedroom door as Daisy was nearly ready for bed.
“Well, ma petite, are you proud of yourself? Because me, I am very proud of you.”
“Oh Grandmère!” Daisy was visibly moved – if her grandmère was proud of her it was because she deserved it.
“Yes. Mum looked beautiful. And Dad was totally wowed by her. I didn’t know I could do that, didn’t know I was that clever. I mean, Charlie’s always been the clever, talented one, and I’ve been the stupid one. Pretty, but nothing else.”
“And now, my Daisy? Now who are you?”
“Someone else. I’m not quite sure who yet, but I’m someone else. And I think I like this person better.”
“Me also, chèrie. Me also. This Daisy, she will do well.”
Another total glitch - he's a level 4 singer and every time he changed into his sing-a-gram uniform, this is what he wore!
Dawn was just breaking as Jonnie sat and rocked her son gently after feeding him. They’d called him Jack, after her dad, who’d been thrilled, pleased and proud in roughly equal measures.
There was just one corner of the garden at Rattlesden House that harked back to its former Victorian glory – and Jenny Waterfold was rather attached to it! Though it was hard to keep it more or less intact when all four children were on holiday – for seven weeks at a stretch!
It was a glorious early autumn day. The baby was dozing peacefully in his chair (though he was showing more and more signs of wanting to crawl now), the children were all safely back at school, and Jenny was busy preparing the ground for the plants Lorraine Saxtead had promised her – at least this part of the garden would look like something come the spring.
The rest of the garden was definitely showing signs of a long summer’s wear! Never mind, Jenny thought, the grass will grow again. It’s not as if we go for the perfectly manicured lawn look. She’d filled up the apple bobbing tank and put some apples in it – they always got more than they could eat from their trees – the children could play out before doing their homework.
“Yes, of course we’ll get changed before we go in the garden! We always do!” Emily was all animation.
“Hmm. I know what you need.” Jenny’s children waited hopefully.
“How about school meals through the centuries? With samples to taste?” That was Harry, of course (still slightly damp from the apple-bobbing they’d done earlier).
“Would you mind? Babysitting Jack while I went to the gym? There’s this fancy formal dinner in a few months, and I’d like to lose a bit of this post-baby weight before it.”
Jonathan left the table and came back with a tray of hot drinks.
“I wish Mum didn’t boss Dad around so much.” Jonnie picked up her mug. “Living here with you two has made me see things differently. I thought it was just normal when I was growing up, but it isn’t, is it? I don’t know how he managed to get her to drop her opposition to David’s and my engagement – or why he hasn’t gone on standing up to her.”
“Blackmail?” Jonnie said, mildly shocked.
She’d finished the sanding! Another morning to herself before Jack had been born (they’d been fitting in as much out and about as possible!) and she’d got that done without anyone being any the wiser. Now she was stripping the wallpaper – at least that was something she could do quietly. To Daisy’s delight, the plaster underneath was still sound: she’d seen and read enough to know that she hadn’t a hope of plastering well.
Without her glasses on, the bedroom’s ugliness softened and blurred – but even without them on the tattered curtains and ugly bedclothes irked Daisy.
One good thing about living in Saxtead Villa instead of their old house, Daisy thought, was that there was several generations’ worth of stuff lying around in odd corners – to say nothing of the attic. She’d found an old but still working sewing machine – in fact, it ran very smoothly, as Jonathan had stripped it down and serviced it when he needed a break from doing up Josephine. It wouldn’t do any fancy stitches, but that didn’t matter: she didn’t need them for curtains or bedclothes.
As Daisy got on with her homework, the books began to pile up around her. She needed to understand this maths: she wasn’t going to fall behind again. Maybe Dad could help her over the weekend – but she also wanted time to look at material! She’d worked out how much she needed (more maths), and now the thought of choosing colour, patterns, styles, was a hugely pleasing one. She’d worked out a budget too (yet more maths!) and was finally beginning to understand why her parents sometimes said they couldn’t afford things.
“Did I tell you I’ve been asked to be on a committee as well?”
“Out of the question. There’s far too much for you to do round the house and in the garden. And in any case, you simply aren’t committee material.”
However, he didn’t ring up and decline. Jonnie’s right, he thought. We have to stand up to her. And when he found a letter addressed to Cynthia with the school logo on it, he slipped it into his pocket. What if it gave the game away? 
Daisy had been wondering how she was going to hide the smell of the paint, once she had started on her room – the smell of the top floor decorating had long since faded. She couldn’t believe her luck when her father announced that he was going to start decorating the room that opened off their upstairs kitchen! Right next door to her room! That should account for any odd paint smells – and if she kept her window open lots, then it would fade fast too.
Primer and undercoat on the wood first. Daisy had to do her painting late at night – she’d head for bed as early as seemed reasonable, and then paint until she could hardly keep her eyes open. But the job was getting done. All her furniture was in the middle of the room – she had to climb into bed over and around everything!
If everything had been normal, Daisy would never have managed to do what she did. But there was a new baby in the house – Jonquil was more than a little busy. And she quite happily accepted Daisy’s explanation of why she was locking her door during the day – Charlie had wanted to show Daisy’s room to Hanako and Matthew, and it wasn’t hard for Daisy to act like she was still afraid of that.
“And I get a chance to see Jonathan at the same time: we can have ad hoc committee meetings. We’re starting on sorting out examples of work for displays: the school has some real archive stuff, but Jonathan and I are going through the less valuable stuff from this last century.”
“Are you all set, then? Ready for your first ride on Josephine?”
“This is pretty amazing,” Daisy admitted, as they drove past the park at the end of the road. “And Josephine actually goes!”
“That’s the last house,” Jonathan said, pointing up to the Tostead place, dark, gaunt and forbidding on its hill. “Sorry about the hike up to the front door.”
It was quite a walk up the hill though – good job she’d be quicker coming down! And Daisy had to admit, she was a little nervous too. Both she and Charlie had been frightened of Griselda Tostead when they were young. Whenever they’d come across her in the town, she’d always seemed to glare at them in a really menacing way.
Griselda, Daisy had to admit, did look as witch-like as ever – maybe even more so. And as Daisy went to hand over the leaflets, with the usual explanation, the old lady suddenly recognised her, and hissed in her face.
“What’s this lot? It looks like a barricade!”
She’d finished it! She’d actually finished her room! Curtains, bedclothes and all. She’d like a carpet, but she couldn’t afford that yet. She’d tidy it all up, move some of the furniture back in and show everyone. She couldn’t wait!