Thicker Than Water Read Free Page B

some sort of ladder if you want to use it; I just stand on a chair and haul myself up.’
    The bedroom décor was similarly understated, and Abigail, noting the large and comfortable-looking bed, felt a shaft of jealousy as she pictured James there with his fiancée. This, too, was a new emotion, and not one she relished.
    ‘There’s champagne in the fridge,’ he said. ‘It’s a little early, perhaps, but this is a special occasion.’
    ‘Never too early for champagne!’
    He retrieved the bottle en route to the living room. Yes, she thought; once that loft ladder is in place, I could happily live here. There was a satisfying pop as the cork was removed, and James poured the foaming liquid into the flutes.
    ‘Here’s to us, my darling,’ he said, handing her one. ‘For ever and ever, amen!’
    ‘Amen!’ she echoed, and, holding each other’s eyes, they drank.
    And in the same minute a buzzer sounded in the hall, making them both jump.
    James swore. ‘Who the devil can that be?’ He left the room and Abigail, the glass still in her hand, felt a frisson of unease. Could the jilted fiancée, recovering from being ‘stunned’, have arrived to make a scene?
    ‘Yes?’ James said abruptly into the entry phone.
    ‘Oh good, darling, you are back,’ came his mother’s voice. ‘Could I come up for a minute? I’ve something rather exciting to tell you.’
    Abigail, watching him, saw him stiffen, and her apprehension increased. He glanced back at her and said carefully into the phone, ‘It’s not – terribly convenient just at the moment.’
    ‘I shan’t keep you, if you’re on your way out. Admittedly it could wait till tomorrow, but you mightn’t want everyone to know.’
    ‘Tomorrow?’ he repeated blankly.
    ‘Oh, darling, you’re coming to lunch, with Tina, Ben and the children. Don’t say you’d forgotten? Look, can you buzz me? My shopping basket’s getting heavier by the minute.’
    ‘Of course,’ he said dully. ‘Sorry.’
    He pressed the entry button, and turned to Abigail. ‘I’m very sorry about this,’ he said rapidly. ‘It’s my mother, and I haven’t had a chance to tell her.’
    ‘Your mother?’ Abigail gazed at him in horror. ‘She lives nearby?’
    ‘The whole family does. Didn’t you realize?’
    Panic fluttered in her throat, all her old doubts and fears resurfacing. She’d not even known he had a mother! she thought hysterically; she’d pictured them living just for each other, cocooned from the world. There was his fiancée, of course, but she was now past tense and, despite Abigail’s initial fear, unlikely to put in an appearance. But a complete family, comprising God knew how many—
    A voice reached them from the stairs. ‘It was pure chance that I bumped into Chloë Bainbridge in Waitrose. She was telling me—’
    Rosemary Markham, having rounded the stairhead, broke off, her eyes going past James to Abigail’s motionless figure, champagne flute in hand.
    James, moistening his lips, said carefully, ‘Ma, this is Abigail. We met in London. Abigail, my mother.’
    His mother – not safely buried in some country churchyard, as she’d subconsciously assumed, but very much alive, and, still more unbelievably, here : slim, attractive, and staring at her in growing bewilderment.
    ‘How do you do?’ Abigail said numbly.
    The older woman nodded acknowledgment. She glanced at the champagne bottle on the table. ‘You’re celebrating something?’
    James looked helplessly from one blank face to the other. He cleared his throat.
    ‘Ma, I’d meant to give you some warning – in fact, I thought Tina – but you’ve – taken us by surprise.’
    ‘So it seems.’
    ‘In which case,’ James continued miserably, ‘I’d better come straight out with it. Abigail and I are going to be married.’

Two
    Andrew Markham was sitting in a canvas chair on his front veranda, a glass of beer at his side. From here, he had a grandstand view of the cricket match, nearing