The Summer Villa

She put her hand on her hips. ‘Kim’s put a huge amount of work into renovating a place that will always hold a special place in my heart. I really want to see how it looks now, and I so want the opportunity to catch up with her and Annie, too. She’s pulled out all the stops, flying us over and putting us up in one of the nicest hotels in the area, and you’re just going to refuse?’

‘I’m not refusing – I just don’t think we can sacrifice so much time to it, that’s all,’ Ed replied, getting to his feet. He reached out to take her by the arm and sighed. ‘Yes, of course I know how much this means to you and I want to be there, too. It’s just work is so hectic at the moment, darling.’ He kissed her forehead lightly.

‘I know work is difficult; that’s another reason why I think we need this trip. This isn’t just for Kim’s sake, Ed, it’s for ours, too. We’ve hardly spent any time together lately.’ She stepped towards him and he pulled her close. ‘I miss you.’

Colette didn’t often let her insecurities show. She didn’t like being a burden on others, especially her husband, who she knew needed her to be strong. How could she put her concerns on him when he had so many of his own?

‘I’m sorry,’ he apologised again. ‘I promise, after things settle with this IPO thing, I will make a conscientious effort to devote more time for us.’ He turned back to the invite. ‘Why don’t we just fly over there on the day of the launch, instead of before? I’m sure Kim wouldn’t mind; the important thing is we’re there at all, isn’t it?’

Colette nodded. ‘OK, sounds fair. But I meant what I said, Ed. This is important – an opportunity to spend time together in a more relaxing way.’

And with luck, she added silently, maybe the necessary break we need in order to conceive.

‘That’s settled then, but first things first, OK? Once the IPO is over, everything will change, my love, I promise.’

She didn’t doubt his words and knew he had nothing but the best intentions. The problem was that things never got easier or settled when it came to his work. He just couldn’t help himself. Being the best was both a blessing and a curse. He didn’t know how to lose or to slow down.

She supposed it was why he was so successful, though. Ed always got what he wanted.

He always had to win.

Chapter 7 (#ulink_a0960d42-5e19-5dd4-a52e-f058409d022e)

Then

‘Mum, what are you doing?’ Colette asked, coming in the back door of her family’s small terraced home in Brighton.

‘What does it look like?’ Miriam Turner replied in a voice raspy from chemotherapy.

It had been four years since her mum’s diagnosis, though for Colette, it had felt like a lifetime.

She could only watch helplessly as cancer ravaged her mother’s body, reducing her from a somewhat plump, pink-cheeked woman into the pale wraith she was now. Still, by some grace, Miriam maintained her smile despite it all.

‘You’re cooking? Why? Let me do it.’ Colette rushed to take over.

Before her illness, Miriam had worked tirelessly at the bakery she set up in the town with her husband, Emmett, and occupied what little free time she had volunteering at the church or hospital near their home.

She’d done her utmost to maintain her way of life for as long as she could, but eventually the chemotherapy and radiation treatment took its toll, her red hair turned light and thin, and eventually began to disappear.

It was then that Miriam had been forced to admit to herself that life wasn’t going to be the same. The whole family had to. Eventually, she let Colette, her eldest, shave her head and handed over the responsibility for the house and business to a girl in her mid-twenties. It was a brave move for them both – until then Colette had spent most her life in books, and was suddenly forced out into the real world.

The adjustment had been uncomfortable and had taken quite a bit of time, but at least her father was there to help her through it.

Until that changed, too.

A few months after Miriam was diagnosed, Emmett began to falter. He spent more and more time away from home, unable to watch his wife deteriorate. Everyone could see it, but no one ever thought he’d just up and leave. Less than a year after his wife’s diagnosis and well into her treatment, he moved out.

And by the time another year had gone by, he’d initiated official separation proceedings.

Now, Miriam shooed her daughter away gently and smiled.

‘Didn’t you hear what the doctor said today?’ she insisted as she continued stirring the contents of the pot she was standing over.

‘Mum,’ Colette challenged, but her mother ignored her entirely.

‘Set your stuff down. How was your walk?’ she asked as she carried on about her business while Colette stood there, dumbfounded as always at her mother’s determination.

When Emmett left, Miriam had wished her former husband well and then refocused her energy on the rest of her family. Colette’s younger sister, Noelle, was about to leave for university and had almost deferred her entry, but Miriam wouldn’t hear of it.

By then, Colette had completed her own time at University of Essex. She missed her sister and she missed college life and her old friends.

Instead, she’d stepped into the kind of responsibility she’d never imagined, especially after her father relinquished his share in the bakery, leaving the running of the business entirely up to her.

Miriam had arranged someone to take over the bookkeeping and day-to-day administration, while Colette baked and worked on recipes with her mother’s guidance, keeping things going when her mother no longer had the strength to stay involved.

Yesterday Miriam wouldn’t have dared challenge her about housework, but today was different. Earlier, incredible news had been delivered by the oncologist. Her cancer was in remission.

Colette could hardly believe it. After four long years of relentless treatment, her mother had finally overcome the disease.

Even though they both could see Miriam looked much better than she had in years, Colette felt running the household was still her responsibility and one she took pride in.

But since today’s news, her mother was apparently ready to dive right back into her life, starting with making dinner.

She slipped out of her jacket and hung it on a hook by the door. ‘It was good,’ she answered with a smile as she inspected the ends of her hair. ‘I went to the beach.’

She twirled the large waves that had wound into curls at the end around her finger distractedly as she took a seat at the heavy wooden kitchen table. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d just sat there and did nothing. It was weird.

‘Why don’t you go get changed into your PJs?’ Miriam suggested as she glanced over her shoulder at her.

‘PJs? Mum, it’s only dinnertime,’ she answered incredulously.

‘Tonight you will do what I say,’ her mother insisted with a smile. ‘Go get changed, have a shower or a long bath, even, eat the lovely dinner I’ve prepared, then settle yourself on the couch to watch a movie and eat popcorn with me.’

Miriam was often tired and went to bed early, while Colette stayed up and read or sometimes wrote in her diary. This would be the first time in years that the pair of them would do something so mundane or simple together, and the idea appealed enormously.

The water heater was working again, allowing Colette to enjoy a warm bath for a change. It had taken her several weeks to get the money together to pay for its repair, but now it was fine.

She lay in the warm water, thinking about the latest turn in events.

Remission. It was a word with a lot of power.

For years her whole life had become a routine centred entirely around Miriam’s illness. Now it seemed that centre was no more, and while of course she was thrilled by her mother’s news, Colette couldn’t deny she felt a bit lost, too.

Tears started in her eyes as she released the emotions she’d withheld for so long. Worry about her mother’s illness, the pain of her father’s abandonment and her sister’s departure. Having no social life or companionship amid the pressure of running a business that was the sole means of her family’s survival.

She’d buried those feelings deep inside and now as she lay in the warm water, they were spilling out uncontrollably.

At that moment, she needed to cry, needed to release herself, so that for the first time in what felt like forever, she could just be Colette Turner, a young woman with no clue about anything and afraid of everything.