Cathy Kelly 3-Book Collection 2: The House on Willow Street, The Honey Queen, Christmas Magic, plus bonus short story: The Perfect Holiday

‘We’ll have to make sure he does then,’ he said. ‘But I don’t want you going out at night with your girlfriends, going to bars. There are rumours starting, rumours about you having fun in bars. Inevitably, sooner or later somebody will pick up on the rumours and start to wonder whether you’re playing around. No Richardson wife plays around. So you be very careful, because I’ll be watching you.’

‘There’s nothing to watch,’ snapped Suki, and slammed the phone down, but she felt frightened. Kyle Senior was not a man to cross.

Chapter Fifteen (#ulink_6a02d25e-99b4-513c-ba26-f8fcd87e3f32)

The days following Kevin’s revelation, outwardly Tess continued to drive Zach to the bus, take Kitty to school, and carry on with her daily business. Inside, Tess wondered was the whole separation disaster all her fault and thought that if only she could have kept her mouth shut, if only she’d been happy with I love him most of the time love, then she, Kitty, Kevin and Zach would still be a family. Then Zach wouldn’t have to put out the bins in an attempt to be the man of the family, Kevin wouldn’t have fallen for Claire, and she wouldn’t be consumed by the most unbelievable rage she’d ever experienced.

Despite her best intentions, a great vat of anger was boiling inside her over Kevin and Claire.

‘I’m so furious with him for doing this to the kids and to me,’ she said to Vivienne. ‘How could he?’ Tess paused because the last bit was the hardest: ‘And I’m angry with myself for almost pushing them together! I made this happen. Me!’

Zach wasn’t talking to her at all, as if it was all her fault.

I didn’t tell Kitty. We need her to get used to the idea of Claire first, Kevin texted.

Wonderful, thought Tess. Now he turns into the concerned parent.

Then she felt guilty – Kevin had always been a good parent. And he loved Zach and Kitty. He probably was doing his best under difficult circumstances. She needed to meet him to discuss what they did next.

The problem was that Kitty was desperately keen to meet Claire.

‘She had to go away,’ fibbed Tess, which earned her a furious glare from Zach.

‘It’s not my fault, Zach,’ Tess said to her son later.

Only to have him hiss: ‘Isn’t it?’

‘If Gerard did that to me,’ Vivienne said, ‘I’d take him to the cleaners in the divorce courts. I’d be more than bitter, I’d be furious.’

Under the circumstances, Tess felt that bitterness was allowed, except that, having met a few bitter divorced women, she wasn’t in any hurry to join their ranks.

They were the women who divided life into two chunks: Before the divorce and After the divorce. Everything in the After category, be it global warming or a stock exchange crash, could be blamed on the departed husband.

We had no holes in the ozone layer until he left me!

Much of the stock in her shop had come from these perpetually enraged women. It was astonishing how many of the husbands had failed to collect their belongings after they left.

‘This was his mother’s,’ one ex-wife said furiously, holding up a particularly fine piece of Chinese pottery.

In the interests of legality, Tess enquired whether the woman was entitled to sell the pottery. It was a valuable piece. Perhaps her ex-husband’s lawyers would need to be contacted …

‘I got the house and everything in it!’ hissed the woman, making Tess think, not for the first time, that the antique business was not your average job.

It was almost easier dealing with bankruptcy sales, much as Tess hated those. Having been through it herself, she found it unbearable trying to make a profit from people who were forced to sell everything they owned.

‘No, Vivienne, I’m going to concentrate on the business,’ Tess said. ‘I need it now that we’re not getting back together. I’ll have to hire someone to work here occasionally so I can attend more auctions and go off round the country to executors’ sales.’

‘You should find a new man. That would show bloody Kevin what a mistake he’s making,’ Vivienne said. ‘There’s that lovely Cashel Reilly, he’s not married. A nice millionaire – or is it billionaire? Either way, you could do worse.’

‘I told you, we dated years ago and it ended horribly,’ said Tess miserably.

‘Oh, that was years ago. People move on. He’s been married since, he’s got over you. And besides,’ Vivienne said, returning to a well-worn theme, ‘if you made even the slightest effort, Tess, you’d look fabulous. I’ve never seen a woman less interested in her appearance.’

Tess wasn’t even mildly insulted by these words because Vivienne had been saying them for years. Ever since they’d been shop neighbours, she’d been pushing Tess to have her hair cut properly, wear make-up and, obviously – befitting advice from a woman who owned a clothes shop – to dress beautifully.

‘I could do so much with you, Tess,’ Vivienne would say regretfully. ‘Look at you, you’re slim and tall. Most women would kill for long legs like yours, and such a narrow waist. And heavens, Tess, your hair! You’ve got to stop going to Eileen’s to get your hair cut. Eileen can only do blue-rinse shampoos and sets. Her version of the pixie cut makes you look like someone went at your hair with sheep shears.’

‘Stop with the compliments,’ said Tess drily. ‘I don’t think I can take any more of it.’

‘I’ve only got your best interests at heart,’ said Vivienne. ‘Now that you’re a single woman, you have to make more of an effort. At least go to the beauty salon and get your eyelashes tinted, seeing as you won’t wear any eyeliner or mascara or anything. You’re like my sister-in-law, Gladys, determined to live her life without a bit of lipstick passing her lips.’

‘You hate her! You always say she’s a complete cow,’ said Tess, finally insulted.

‘Oh, you know what I mean,’ sighed Vivienne. ‘You’re anything but a cow. You’re one of my best friends and I love you dearly, but I don’t know why you persist with this sheep farmer from the back of beyond look. You’re beautiful; you could be so stunning if you made even the slightest effort. It’s as if you want to look like some old boot so that no man will ever look at you again.’

And there it was finally, the thing that really hurt Tess.

She quickly moved the conversation on to something else because Vivienne had touched a nerve. Kevin had never said anything to her in all the years of their marriage about dressing up or wearing eye make-up, and that had suited Tess. Suited her too much, she realized now.

‘Of course, hunky Cashel is going to be around much more now that he’s bought the house.’

‘What house?’

Vivienne paused. ‘Avalon House,’ she said reluctantly.

Tess nearly dropped her cup of tea.

‘You hadn’t heard? Oh hell, I’m sorry, Tess …’ Vivienne flailed around, trying to find the right words. ‘I honestly thought you’d know, that someone would tell you …’

‘Why would anyone tell me?’ Tess said. ‘It hasn’t been my home for years. It’s nothing to me now.’ She put down her cup and gave Vivienne a brief hug. ‘Sorry, love, I’m going next door to shut up shop. It’s been a tough few days.’

She almost ran out of the shop and into her own. Silkie, who’d followed her into Vivienne’s, ran after her and looked up in alarm.

‘Come on, darling,’ said Tess, getting to her knees and burying her head in the dog’s silken coat the way she had with her animals as a child, ‘let’s go home.’

She’d had enough.

But the wheels of business move on and the next day, Tess knew she couldn’t miss the year’s biggest antiques auction. She had to find some fresh stock – as cheaply as possible.

In the past few years, Tess had got used to closing early when she needed to go out to an auction because she could no longer afford to hire anyone. But with Christmas only a month away and the books looking so bad, she was nervous of losing a day’s trading. Danae’s gorgeous niece, Mara, whom she’d loved on their night out, seemed like the perfect stopgap: she was looking for work, and she was happy to fill in for one day.

Mara said she had worked in property, and Tess prayed she’d be OK holding the fort for a small, unusual antique business. Though it helped enormously if the person had even a vague knowledge of antiques, Tess had descriptions of everything in the shop on the tiny luggage labels she used for the prices.

She was due at nine. Bang on time, there was a knock on the door.

Tess looked up to find a vision in the shop doorway.

For the occasion, Mara had dressed in an exquisite arrangement of vintage, figuring that this was one job where old clothes would be an advantage. She wore a 1950s butter yellow dress with a Peter Pan collar, a tiny waist and whirling skirts. She had a fluffy white mohair cardigan draped over her shoulders and carried a white hard-frame handbag.