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‘Suspended,’ the girl corrected, shooting an uneasy look at her father’s thoughtful face.
‘Wow...what did you do?’ In spite of her best attempt to hide it, Honor heard a sly trace of admiration leak into her voice. Having been a ‘goody-goody’ all through school, victim of her respect for authority and fear of getting caught, she had always had a sneaking envy for those reckless souls who had flouted the rules.
The girl evidently heard it, too, because suddenly the brown eyes fixed directly on Honor’s for the first time. ‘I was caught with a packet of cigarettes.’
‘On three separate occasions in one week,’ added her father evenly, stressing the ongoing nature of her offending.
‘Help!’ Glad that the crime was of a relatively minor nature, although she hoped the girl was experimenting rather than seriously smoking, Honor composed her expression into what she thought was a suitably shocked look. It evidently didn’t quite make the grade because it brought forth a cheeky grin from the miscreant.
‘That’s what Miss Runcie said I needed. She said I should visit the medical school and have a look at the cancer-riddled lungs they have in jars. Gross! I don’t know what she was so het up about. I only managed a few puffs before I was caught.’
Three times in a week? Once was understandable. Twice was foolish. Three times smacked of either arrant stupidity or a plea for attention. No wonder Adam was puzzled.
‘That isn’t quite the point, Sara,’ Tania interceded, adopting a sternly lecturing tone. ‘You know very well why the headmistress was het up. You were warned of the consequences of you breaking the rules again and yet you still went ahead and did it. You not only let yourself down, you let your father and me down, too. Imagine how shocked and humiliated I felt, as a former head girl of the school, to be rung up and told of your disgraceful conduct—’
‘She didn’t ring you, she rang Dad,’ Sara pointed out. ‘She was just so mad she’d forgotten that he had moved over here.’
‘She is the cat’s mother, Sara,’ said Tania, using the prim cliché that had always infuriated a youthful Honor when adults had used it as a grammatical reproof. Sure enough, Sara rolled her eyes in the silent equivalent of a disgusted snort.
‘Mistake or not, she spoke to me first,’ Tania continued in the same patronising vein. ‘And since your father wasn’t available I exercised my responsibility as your closest adult female relative.’ Nobody remarked on Tania’s overlooking of Joy’s greater claim to a blood-tie as she steamed ahead. ‘In fact it was only due to my influence with Miss Runcie that you weren’t expelled outright. And you haven’t even bothered to thank me for my intervention.’
Sara shrugged. ‘Thanks, Aunt Tania.’ The emphasis was just subtle enough to pass unnoticed, except to Honor who was beginning to realise that this family was anything but straightforward.
Sara’s attitude didn’t seem like the sullen defiance of a hardened delinquent. Honor had seen a few of those at the American high school from which she had graduated. Alcohol and hard drugs had featured prominently in their protests which were invariably self-destructive. Sara, in contrast, seemed to have the serenely martyred air of someone enduring a temporary trial for the sake of the greater good of mankind.
‘Yes, thanks, Tania,’ Adam said, with a similar lack of enthusiasm. ‘I’m sorry you were bothered with our problems—’
‘It wasn’t a bother at all. Who can you rely on to help you if not your family?’ said Tania, giving him a brilliant smile that he deflected with a wry one of his own. ‘I was just surprised that no one seemed to know where you were. When I asked Joy she didn’t seem to know...’
‘But you didn’t tell me what you wanted him for,’ Joy began with a frown. ‘If you’d told me it was urgent I would have tried to find him.’
Tania looked at her. ‘But I did tell you, don’t you remember?’ The old woman hesitated and Tania smiled at her soothingly. ‘Don’t worry, Joy, we understand...your memory isn’t what it was when you were younger. You panicked when I mentioned Sara and probably just got confused. Never mind. No harm done...this time.’
Except to Joy’s confidence. Honor noticed the fleeting fear that invaded the faded brown eyes and the way the elderly hands tightened on her knife and fork. Couldn’t Tania see that her reassurances were having the opposite effect?
‘I’ve got a memory like a sieve, myself,’ Honor said, smiling cheerfully at Joy. ‘Especially for names. This chicken recipe of yours is really delicious by the way, Joy; you must write it down for me because I’m hopeless at remembering lists of ingredients. That’s why I became a reporter—I was always having to write things down to remember them, so I figured why not make a profession of it? It used to drive my sister crazy when I mixed up her phone messages, especially when she’d go out to meet someone for a date and it would turn out to be with someone completely different—usually some nerd she’d been trying to fob off...’
‘You have a sister? Older or younger?’ Joy grasped gratefully at the change of topic and too late Honor realised she should have used a different example. For a blessed moment she had forgotten her own problems.
‘Er—older; she lives in Manhattan.’
‘New York?’ Tania looked interested at the mention of the Big Apple. ‘What does she do?’
‘Helen’s a model,’ admitted Honor reluctantly.
‘A very beautiful, blonde model.’ Adam modified her bald statement in a way that set her teeth on edge.
‘Helen Sheldon...Helen Sheldon is your sister?’ asked Tania sharply. Honor sighed; she might have known that someone as exquisitely dressed as Tania would make the connection.
‘Yes.’
‘Goodness, I would never have guessed,’ Tania drawled with a malicious chuckle. Honor had heard the comment so often that it was water off a duck’s back. She merely smiled politely and Tania’s eyes glittered with speculation as she positioned her next thrust. ‘Is the dress one of hers? Is that why it looks so...unfamiliar on you?’
Great. Now everyone knew she was wearing a hand-me-down albeit an exclusive one. Honor decided there was little point in trying to preserve any of her sartorial pride.
‘Whenever she visits she gives me her cast-offs.’ She looked down at herself ruefully. ‘Unfortunately she and I aren’t exactly the same size... For one thing she’s five feet eleven and thin as a rake...a natural blonde, too. I’m afraid that I must have got my parents’ genetic left-overs.’ She grinned at Sara. ‘You ever see that Arnold Schwarzenegger-Danny De Vito movie Twins? That’s Helen and me...needless to say I play the De Vito part!’
Instead of laughing Sara looked slightly green.
