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Edie
When they burst into the kitchen then through to the lounge, they found Gus lying on one of the sofas, Nanou by his side holding his hand. Ace was on the phone, speaking quickly in French so Edie had no idea what he was saying but gleaned from the look of Gus, it wouldn’t be good. He was conscious and trying to reassure Nanou that he’d just had a funny turn, it happened a lot and now he’d taken his spray he would be fine. The thing was, the funny grey tinge to his skin and dark circles under his eyes told a different story.
Edie went to Ace, taking his free hand in hers. Jenny ran over and knelt by Gus’s side while Joe looked anguished and spoke to him.
‘What’s happened? Mate, you look like hell.’ For this Joe received a squint-eyed warning from Jenny.
His question was answered by Nanou. ‘I was dusting, and Gus came down the stairs, but when he got to the bottom he became dizzy, and I only just caught him in time. I helped him to the chair, and he took the spray.’
Gus managed a word. ‘It’s only angina. I get it a lot and shouldn’t have come downstairs so fast, not when I already had pain. There’s no need to fuss. I asked Ace not to call an ambulance, it’s not necessary.’
Ace had ended his conversation and reassured Gus. ‘It’s okay. I called the surgery in the village and the doctor is coming up soon, once he’s finished with his morning patients, but the receptionist did say I should call SAMU to be on the safe side.’
Gus waved a hand. ‘Thank you for not going against my wishes, Ace. I’m happy to see the doctor but I’ve swerved hospital so far and I have no intention of going now. Really, it was just a funny turn and I’m feeling fine now.’
Regardless, Nanou and Jenny remained by his side and as always, in situations such as those where she felt like the fifth wheel, Edie offered to bring drinks and hurried off to the kitchen, catching a smile from Jenny as she went.
Gus was back in his room. The doctor had thoroughly examined the patient and reluctantly, allowed him to swerve hospital once again. After eliciting solemn promises from Gus, backed up by Joe that if he became ill in the night they would ring SAMU, and just to ensure there were no crossed wires he translated, ‘SAMU is what you might call a paramedic.’
In the hours since the doctor had left, Lance had holed up in the office, revelling in his role of Gus’s right-hand man and Oliver’s new best mate. Nobody had any appetite for lunch. Ace was keeping his dad company since Joe had returned to his post on the truck and was now cursing the press for adding to Gus’s stress levels which, according to the doctor, hadn’t helped his angina and very serious heart condition. Consequently, regardless of what was going on with NorthStar, Joe had insisted Gus ring the private clinic on Harley Street to expedite his next consultation or, better still, find a hospital in France.
Nanou had gone for a lie down; the whole Gus thing had upset her. Edie had no idea where Jenny was so to keep herself occupied alone at the kitchen table had begun compiling a message and a cache of photos to her gran. Jolly scenic ones, two of them lifted from Lana’s Facebook page that she hoped would convince her gran that Edie was the photographer. Checking the time, she noticed it was 2pm: three hours to wait before the end of her gran’s shift, when she’d promised to ring.
Her thoughts then roamed to Ace, who she could see through the window, on guard next to Joe. He’d been continually apologising for her holiday being ruined, and Edie had done her best to assure him it hadn’t. It was just an alternative kind of break that you wouldn’t see on Tripadvisor. Joking apart, it had been one drama after another. It began when Gus arrived to tell them the bad news, then Jenny flew in, and the security guys got there just in time before the media descended. The day the rumours started circulating had been the worst, and by Ace’s birthday, all they could do was await the premiere of the documentary, scheduled for that evening.
Edie didn’t even want to think about the letters that added to Joe’s worry, and she wished there was something she could do to stop them. Instead, they waited to see what the police turned up on both sides of the Atlantic, not that anyone was hopeful because it was a needle in a haystack. It had set her mind racing, though, wondering if they’d ever discover the identity of the sender.
It all seemed such a mess in her head and then to make it worse she’d begun her confession to Jenny and now, there was no way she could backtrack. It was the same with Ace because when they’d finally fallen into bed after the party in the yard, he’d asked her if she wanted to talk about her mum, pick up where they’d left off. Feigning exhaustion she’d swerved it, and while he snored the early hours away she’d lain awake wide-eyed, going over it all, again and again.
Spotting Ace and Joe on the move, she suspected they were feeling the effects of missing lunch so quickly pressed send and saw her photos zoom off into cyberspace, on their way to her poor, innocent gran. Smothering the swell of panic that was becoming an ever-present emotion, banishing her mounting list of problems to the furthest corner of her mind, Edie painted on a smile as the handle turned and they entered the kitchen. But within seconds it was wiped off her face and her expression mirrored that of Ace and Joe as they listened to the raised voice of Jenny, almost screaming at Lance as they both clattered down the stairs and towards the kitchen.
‘Lance, stop! You have no right… I can’t believe what you’re doing. Stop right now! This is so wrong.’
Edie’s heart plummeted and she looked from Ace to Joe who both wore frowns. Lance’s voice came next. ‘No, I need to show Dad… He deserves to know, and I knew I was right. Jenny, let go…’
As they both burst into the room, Lance was pulling away from Jenny who had a firm grip on the sleeve of his jumper, and both looked surprised to see they had an audience. But far worse than the raised, angry voices was what Lance was holding tightly in his arms, pulled close to his chest as though protecting them from Jenny. Edie’s books.
How she managed to stand she had no idea because her legs were like jelly, and her whole body was trembling; a swooshing sound in her ears made her feel unsteady so she gripped the back of the chair, her lips numb from fear, her mouth so dry that her tongue couldn’t move.
Joe had no such problem. ‘Lance, what the fuck is going on?’
Without a second’s hesitation Lance turned and homed in on Edie, pointing his finger her way. ‘She’s what’s going on. The weirdo you let into our house. I knew something about her was off, her flaky backstory, the ban on talking about her folks. It didn’t add up but because Ace was loved up, we played nice and all the time we’ve been living with a freak, right here under our roof.’
Still Edie couldn’t speak or look at Ace or Jenny through eyes that swam with tears. They were locked on what Lance was holding on to, but when Ace leapt forward and marched around the table to confront his brother, she gasped in horror as Jenny threw herself between them, arms outstretched, keeping them apart.
Joe was livid. ‘Right, that’s enough. Lance, shut your mouth right now. Jenny, what’s going on?’
Her voice was shaky, but she held firm, a barrier between two angry young men. ‘I caught Lance coming out of Edie’s room and asked him what he was doing, and he showed me the books, said he’d seen her looking at them a few days back so took it upon himself to go snooping and found them in her case. He’s adamant you need to see what’s in them… you heard the rest as we came downstairs.’ And then despite her best efforts Ace lunged at Lance, causing Jenny to topple backwards, her body thudding against the door as her son yelled and cursed.
‘You fucking cheeky bastard… How dare you go through Edie’s things.’ He was on Lance in a second, grappling the books from his grip as he forced his brother against the wall, the thump must have winded Lance because he let go and as they tumbled to the floor, a tussle broke out, both men cursing one another. Ace had Lance by the throat, pinned against the wall and it was Joe who broke them up, gripping Ace by the collar of his jacket and yanking him away then holding Lance in place, his anger, strength and bulk no match for either of his sons.
‘Fucking pack it in. Now. I mean it.’ Joe glared at one, then another and in the moment of reprieve Jenny stepped forward and retrieved the three books from the floor, carefully pushing the envelopes back inside the smallest, and placed them on the table.
Calm restored, Joe let go of Ace and Lance then turned to look at the cause of all the commotion. As he did so, he asked Edie a simple question. It was as though she’d been invisible, a silent witness to a terrible family scene and they’d suddenly remembered she was there.
‘Edie, do you know what’s going on, what Lance is talking about?’ He hadn’t turned the cover of the scrapbook that lay on top, there was one underneath and to the side, nearest to her and face down, envelopes peeping from the inside; it was her precious textbook. With visibly shaking hands she reached over and grabbed it, then clutched it tightly against her heart and all the time, Joe’s eyes never left hers. And then she felt Ace by her side, then his hand around her shoulder and this act, so simple and trusting, of such faith, caused her to sob, chin on chest, unable to look at any of them. Nobody spoke.
When she somehow managed to control the convulsions that made her body shake, she forced herself to meet Joe’s gaze and as she did, looked straight into eyes that looked sad, maybe disappointed. And what could she expect?
