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Kate mouthed at her, ‘What?’ before putting her finger to her lips again as Louise carried on talking.
‘I admit I was rather bitter; it wasn’t very nice all round. Ron’s mum died and he lost that dog he loved so much.’ She gave a small laugh. ‘I used to say he loved that dog more than he loved me. Anyway, he insisted I kept the house, and as I didn’t want to move back in with my parents, I agreed. I’m ashamed to say, that at the time I felt I deserved to have the house after everything he’d put me through, but since then I’ve remarried and mellowed quite a bit.’ She sighed loudly. ‘I’m also ashamed to say that I didn’t much care about where he went or what he did with himself. Heisall right, isn’t he?’
‘Er, yes,’ Kate said. ‘He’s well.’
‘That’s good. Every now and again I’ve thought about him and hoped he was OK. Anyway, back to the story. My husband is quite well off and over the years I’ve been feeling more and more guilty because I got everything and Ron got nothing, especially since technically the house was half his. We both paid the mortgage and the upkeep, so by rights he should have had half. There were no children to provide a home for, so…’ She trailed off and cleared her throat before resuming her tale.
‘We’ve been renting it out for ages – my husband and I, that is – but then we decided to sell and we feel it’s only fair that Ron has half the money. It’s worth considerably more than what we paid for it, I can tell you! It’s taken me ages to track Ron down, though. I lost touch with him after the divorce – actually I was at a point where I never wanted to hear his name mentioned – but now…’
Louise cleared her throat again, and Annabelle felt sorry for her. It must have been hard being in love with a man who didn’t love you as much as you loved him. Heck, she’d been there herself with Troy, and she knew how bitter it could make you, if you let it.
Thank God she was over him now, and it sounded like Ron’s ex-wife had moved on, too.
Annabelle realised that Brett had stopped what he was doing to listen and so had Beverley. Even Helen was hanging on the woman’s every word, as she’d come back into the house to see what the delay was with her breakfast.
Louise continued to speak. ‘Eventually I found out through a network of his old army mates and his mum’s neighbours that he’d been living on the streets.’ She blew out a breath. ‘I never knew that. Poor Ron. I also heard that he sometimes comes back to Pershore. The shelter at Pershore mentioned that he occasionally bedded down in the doorway of a charity shop on the main street, which led me to Doris, and here we are.’
‘Wow, that’s some story,’ Kate said, blowing out her cheeks. ‘I can’t promise anything, but if I do see him, I’ll make sure to tell him. I’m sure he’ll be thrilled.’
‘Let’s hope so. He can be a stubborn so-and-so when he wants to be.’
Kate ended the call, then turned to the others and cried, ‘I know, right! Blimmin’ heck! I never expected that.’
‘Neither did I,’ Beverley said, smiling widely. ‘He can make a fresh start with the money – there’s no need for him to take to the streets or to rely on charity. And before you lot say anything, that’s exactly what he was getting off me – charity. I didn’t look at it like that, but he did, I know he did. And I reckon that’s one of the reasons he’s buggered off.’
‘I think I know another,’ Kate said. ‘It’s because of the way he feels about Annabelle. He’s clearly smitten, but he’s not got a home of his own, or a proper job, and I bet he thought he wasn’t good enough for her. Then with Troy coming back on the scene…’
‘I miss Ron,’ Izzie said, and Annabelle started. In the excitement of the phone call, she’d forgotten that her children had been eating their breakfast at the dining room table.
‘So do I, poppet,’ she said.
Izzie got down off her chair. ‘Where’s Pepe?’ she asked, suddenly, her eyes scanning the room.
‘You left it on the sofa,’ Jake said.
‘No, not that Pepe – therealone,’ Izzie said.
Beverley frowned. ‘He’s around here somewhere. Although, come to think of it, he hasn’t been out for a wee yet, so he must be bursting. I’ll go and let him out.’
‘But whereishe?’ Izzie asked again.
‘Still asleep, I expect, the lazy little tyke.’ Beverley bustled off towards the stairs, taking Ron’s letter with her. ‘I was so caught up in this, that I didn’t give Pepe a second thought. I must have shut him in.’
‘He’s not in your room, Auntie Beverley. I checked when I heard Jake shouting at Mummy, because I wanted to give him a cuddle.’
‘Oh.’ Beverley looked surprised. ‘I don’t know where he is, in that case. Pepe?Pepe!’
It was only after the house had been thoroughly searched that it began to dawn on Annabelle, that Pepe had escaped again and must have gone to find Ron.
The problem this time was that Ron wasn’t coming back, and the poodle was out there on his own. He could be miles away by now and thoroughly lost.
Dear God, what an unholy mess this holiday was turning out to be.
