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Then came a terse phone call from Martin’s aunt, that informed Bobbie merely out of courtesy that he had been killed in a fall whilst on holiday, tumbling from the deck of a yacht onto a jetty, the blow to the head fatal. Neither Bobbie nor Venus were particularly saddened by the news, and, after being told to stay away, they didn’t attend the funeral and their lives went on. Then a few months later, Venus was asked by a rapper friend if she would take part in his music video and never having done one, she was ridiculously excited to be heading to his hometown of Leeds to take part in the filming. She had a forty-eight-hour window because she was booked to attend a charity auction at some stately home in Berkshire. Marvin said it would be an easy gig, paid well and then after a shoot for Harper’s, she’d have a whole glorious month off with Edie.
When Bobbie heard the news it immediately made her nerves jangle, knowing that Venus was heading home, even though she didn’t know it. She told herself it would be fine, she was overreacting, it was merely a coincidence. It hadn’t even occurred to her that Venus might do something stupid while she was there, but she did.
Whether it was out of some kind of misplaced loyalty to a vindictive woman who had probably been waiting a lifetime to get her revenge, or not taking rejection lying down, once the shoot was over, the record company sent a car and Venus asked her driver to take a detour, to an address she remembered from pictures in her head. The sign on the corner that she would read as they turned in, and the number of the house as they walked up the path, and how fed up her mum always looked when they went to visit, 6 Laburnum Crescent.
With a bunch of flowers in her arms, Venus had decided to pay her respects to a grandmother she hadn’t seen or heard of in fourteen years.
It’s the least I can do, say hello, and pass on our condolences.
That was the text she sent to Bobbie. Whereas Bobbie suspected that Venus, being Venus, might have had some ulterior motive, perhaps on a bit of a high, adrenaline or something out of a packet zapping through her veins. Bobbie imagined her daughter, in a moment of madness, a wicked smile on her face, fancying a bit of devilment and the chance to say Hey, you miserable old cow, even though everyone turned their backs on me and mum, we did okay. So fuck you!
However, on this occasion, Venus got more than she bargained for. When she rushed from the house and stumbled into the car she almost screamed at the driver to take her to the station, then apologised for being rude. After asking him to put the glass partition up because she needed to make a call, Venus sucked in her temper and with trembling hands, rang her mother who, oddly enough, answered on the first ring.
Venus didn’t even give Bobbie a chance to speak. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
A pause. ‘Tell you what?’
‘Don’t play dumb with me. You know very well what I mean but in case you’ve had some kind of memory lapse I’ll explain, nice and slow. Why. Didn’t. You. Tell. Me. That. Martin. Isn’t. My. Father?’
Bobbie closed her eyes, holding in her tears, fear making her hands shake. ‘Because I didn’t know how to. And I didn’t want to hurt you more. It’s as simple as that. I take it that old witch has been stirring and seeing as it was supposed to be our secret the only person who could have told her was Martin. Am I correct?’
‘You haven’t even said you’re sorry.’
Bobbie heard the ice in the voice at the end of the phone and knew this came before the rage. Once the frozen veil of shock began to thaw and her heart began to heat up, Venus would lose the plot. It was always the way and this time she was hundreds of miles from home.
Bobbie tried to keep Venus calm. ‘Of course I’m sorry, love. I’m just very shocked and angry that you’ve found out like this, and I was going to tell you now that Martin is dead. It seemed the right thing to do but I was waiting for you to come home, during your time off when we’d have a chance to talk it through properly.’
‘I don’t believe you. How can I believe anything you say ever again, when you’ve been lying to me for all these years? Best friends forever, that’s what you said. Best friends don’t lie.’
Bobbie wished she was in Leeds, so she could make sure Venus didn’t do anything stupid and also, go round and throttle her ex-mother-in-law. ‘Sweetheart, it’s true. I swear I was going to tell you and there are other reasons why I haven’t mentioned it… I was thinking of you, always of you. Please believe me.’
‘And what would that other reason be? That you have no fucking CLUE who my real dad is so instead you let me believe that that thing, that wife-beating callous piece of shit was my dad? How fucking dare you let me hanker after a man like that? Someone who, as I’ve just been informed, despised my common bastard bones and couldn’t wait to be rid of me.’
‘Oh, dear God… the evil bitch…’ Bobbie was shaking with rage.
‘Well, that makes two of you then, doesn’t it!’
Bobbie’s gasp fell on deaf ears because the red mist was coming off Venus – she didn’t need to be there to see it. The flames had been fanned, her heart was on fire and Venus was almost out of control. Bobbie had seen it many times before.
‘Venus, you need to listen to me. I want you to come home and we can talk. Don’t do that job tomorrow, get a different train and come straight here. Please, sweetheart, I’m begging you. I know you’re angry and I understand why. You’ve had a terrible shock and been told something life-changing in a very cruel way, but I promise, if you come home I will explain it all and I’m sure you’ll understand.’
‘NO. I can’t bear to look at you right now… all I can see is the look on Gra… that fucking snidey cow’s face when she told me. She said she’d always suspected I wasn’t her blood and then when you got divorced, Martin told her the truth. So I threw the flowers at her and left her sitting there, covered in lilies and leaves. I fucking hate her and right now I’m close to feeling the same way about you.’
‘Venus, no, please don’t hate me. All I’ve ever done is want the best for you, tried to keep you safe and from being hurt… I can’t tell you, say it enough times how sorry I am but I will give you answers if you come home. Sweetheart please, come home to me and Edie and let me make it right.’ There was silence for a second or two and then the line went dead. And Bobbie knew that meant trouble.
For the next twenty-four hours, she rang Venus constantly and sent text after text but had no reply so in the end she contacted Marvin and insisted he went to check that Venus was okay. As it happened, just as he arrived at the hotel where she was staying, Venus finally decided to answer her phone and after an awkward conversation, agreed that as soon as she’d finished her shoot, she would come home.
It had been the longest forty-eight hours of Bobbie’s life and while she waited for Venus, she kept Edie occupied and gathered together all the photos, everything she could get her hands on about Joe Jarrett. She even had their song, ‘Venus’ by Shocking Blue, ready to play. When the doorbell rang that Friday morning, while the carrot cake she was baking for Venus rose in the oven and Edie watched Teletubbies, Bobbie rushed down the hall, hoping it might be her daughter, home early to surprise them.
Instead, it was two solemn police officers, and as her legs gave way and her knees connected with the bristles on the hall mat, spiking her skin, Bobbie knew she wouldn’t get to explain about her dad, her name or any of it, or see her beautiful Venus ever again.
