Village Gossip Read Free Page A

don’t do that. Mr Maude is an actor and they’re inclined to be a bit …’
‘Bit what?’
    ‘Well, they’re inclined to exaggerate everything. They go a bit over the top.’
    Alex studied this statement while Caroline unlocked the Rectory door. ‘It was only your hand. So it’s nothing really.’
    ‘You went ever so red, Mummy.’
    ‘Did I?’
    ‘Yes, you did. Red like a beetroot.’
    ‘Thanks. Do you both want coffee, or orange, or what?’
    While they argued with each other as to what they would have Caroline filled the kettle and began to get out the mugs. She heard the front door slam. ‘Ready for coffee?’
    ‘Please.’ Caroline turned to look at Peter. He was standing in the kitchen doorway looking at her. Her heart flipped. She loved him so. Compared with Hugo ridiculous Maude he was a gem. His wonderful thatch of red-blond hair, his vivid blue eyes, his fair skin, the width of his shoulders, his energy and his love for mankind, all set her trembling with love for him.
    Beth pulled out a chair. ‘Sit next to me, Daddy. I’m having coffee too, Mummy, please.’
    ‘And me!’ Alex pulled out a chair the other side of Peter and sat on it. ‘Daddy! Did you know that Mr Maude is an actor?’
    ‘He is indeed. I’ve seen him once, a long time ago. In London. In Macbeth ’
    ‘What’s Macbeth ?’
    ‘A play by Shakespeare.’
    ‘Was he good?’
    ‘Oh yes, very impressive. In fact very good indeed, I think the best I’ve seen.’
‘Mummy says actors behave like that.’
    ‘Like what?’
    ‘Kissing people and that.’
    ‘Yes, they do. Very emotional they are.’ Peter looked up at Caroline and winked as she handed him his coffee.
    She had to laugh. ‘He really did make me feel a fool.’
    ‘I could see that. This coffee’s welcome. What shall we do this afternoon? Do we have any plans?’
    Hugo’s plan to retire to his bedroom and lie down for the rest of the afternoon suited everyone. Harriet, because she’d had more than she could take of him at the lunch table; Jimbo, because Hugo had grated on his nerves and he was forced to admit to a tinge of jealousy which didn’t sit easily on his shoulders; the children, because they couldn’t get a word in edgeways as he wouldn’t stop talking; and Grandmama, because she knew he spelt trouble with a capital T.
    ‘Have you two girls finished? If you have your Grandmama has something for you in her handbag which you can take into the sitting room and play with.’
    Five-year-old Fran jumped up and down with excitement. Flick, at twelve, recognised the subterfuge and wished she couldn’t see through her Grandmama’s every move. But it would only be boring conversation about Hugo and the threat he posed to one and all, so she might as well fall for it. ‘Lovely, Grandmama. Come along, Fran.’ They retired with some magic tricks in little plastic bags, leaving the field clear for Grandmama’s tirade.
    ‘That man …’
    Jimbo hastily said to his son, ‘Fergus, close that door just in case.’ When Fergus had reclaimed his chair, his Grandmama continued. ‘That man is a charlatan, a chameleon and a sham. The sooner he leaves this house the better.’
Finlay chuckled. ‘Wow! You’re getting quite poetic, Grandmama.’
    He received a withering glance. ‘This is not a laughing matter, young man. Jimbo! You must get rid of him.’
    Jimbo caught Harriet’s eye and acknowledged the warning in them. ‘As a matter of fact I quite like the chap. In any case, Mother, it’s up to Harriet and me who stays in our house. He poses no threat here.’
    ‘No threat? You must be blind.’ She thumped the table with her clenched fist. ‘Blind! He wants kicking out. Convalescing indeed. More like out of work or, as they euphemistically call it in the acting profession, resting.’
    Finlay chuckled again. ‘He is.’
    ‘He is what?’
    ‘Resting.’ He pointed to the ceiling. Grandmama, as he was well aware, didn’t have much of a sense of humour. She