I’ll tell you no lies Page 14

  “It’s an expensive present to buy someone for a birthday present, Lucy. I’m sure I’ll love it,” said Jayne, “but I’m a little confused, can you help me out a little?”

  “Well,” said Lucy a little nervously, “I’ve no choice in the matter. If I want to be a model I need to be in London. If you wanted to be with me though, permanently, you could use that ticket. It’s only one way though, I’ve torn the return ticket up, no turning back, and that goes for both of us.”

  “You really can read my mind, this is what I really wanted all along but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything because I didn’t want to hear you say no. This is the best present I’ve ever had, the very best.” Jayne now close to tears hugged Lucy as if her life depended on it and at that point they both burst into floods of tears. Not tears of sadness, that couldn’t have been further from the truth, they’d both never felt so happy in their lives.

  After a short while Lucy, wiping the tears away, reached under the bed and brought out another package. “I’ve got you these too, just in case you didn’t like the first one.”

  An antique silver necklace that looked like it could have been made specifically to go round Jayne’s very pretty delicate neck and a bottle of her favourite perfume. Life couldn’t get much better as far as Jayne was concerned. Kissing Lucy passionately on the lips she decided that school could handle her absence for half an hour at least, she owed it to Lucy to show how appreciative she was.

  So Jayne showed Lucy exactly how appreciative she was, and Lucy showed her own appreciation back at the same time. By the time they’d finished appreciating each other the croissants and coffee were cold, but lying back on their dishevelled bed, they enjoyed the strawberries and cream and bucks fizz just the same. Claudine had taught Jayne a few things about cream during a skiing trip once, she did enjoy cream, not just the taste of it; the feel of it on her skin was what she enjoyed most.

  And who was it that brought us three together, Lucy? Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten that. When have I ever let you down?

  No reply

  Don’t keep blanking me, Lucy. You know you can’t hurt me. If you try you’ll be the only one who ends up getting hurt.

  Some guardian angel you are! A big sister but with added menaces, is that how this thing works now?

  That’s not how I meant it, Lucy. You know I wouldn’t hurt you. You’ll just end up hurting yourself. Trust me. But at least you’re talking to me now.

  Trust is a two-way thing, Sally-Anne. It appears that I have no choice in the matter!

  You’re not still going on about Georgie peorgie are you? Move on, Lucy. Get over it, it was just a giggle and he really did deserve it… Trust me.

  When Jayne did eventually reach school she wasted no time in trawling the Internet sites, educational papers and anything else she could get her hands on that might lead to a job as a PE teacher in or around Central London.

  Having been given the opportunity to move south with Lucy she was going to embrace it with both arms and everything else she had, no turning back for either of them.

  Eighteen

  Lucy’s new life began at three o’clock on Thursday 28th June, when the exam invigilator asked everyone sitting the biology exam to stop writing, put down their pens and please remain seated while all the exam papers were collected. That was to be the last thing Lucy did as a schoolgirl.

  She didn’t celebrate with her classmates. Even though Georgie's murder was to put a bit of a dampener on proceedings, the last exam had come and gone and they were going to enjoy themselves. Some of the boys couldn’t help expressing their joy in the types of celebrations that often follow the last exam of the last high-school year. Some tore up shirts and ripped the arms off their blazers while others were much quieter, looking inwards at how much they’d matured once they’d been allowed to leave the school hall after the last piece of work had been collected.

  There were tears, as you’d expect, mostly from the girls, some were for Georgie Dunston, and some were for the sudden realisation that a big part of their own life had just passed them by, and like Georgie, they could never have it back, no matter how hard they tried. Most wouldn’t understand that yet; that type of understanding only comes with experience for most, when they look back and realise those years really were the best years of their lives.

  The first thing Lucy did was to find a phone and ring John. Steph had gone into labour very early that morning, she was still two weeks early but it seemed that just as Lucy’s new life was about to begin so was the life of her niece. Lucy was so excited, with school already fading into a dim and distant past she picked up the receiver and called John’s mobile.

  John had been in the hospital canteen taking a breather while he could and had just turned his mobile on to check for any messages when the phone rang.

  “Hi, Lucy, finished your exams?”

  “Forget exams, what’s happening there?” Lucy said impatiently. “Am I an auntie yet or not?”

  “I wish you were,” replied John, “Steph’s been in labour for over twelve hours now and no sign of an heir apparent just yet.”

  “Don’t worry, John. These things take time, so they tell me. How’s Steph bearing up?”

  “I’ve seen her looking better,” said John, but then everyone knew twelve hours into labour wasn’t the time to re-apply your make-up just in case the paparazzi are waiting outside. “They’re actually giving her an epidural at this very moment to deaden the pain. They’re telling me we’ll be parents before the evening is out.”

  Promise me you won’t let a man, any man, cause us so much pain just by using his sweaty little dick. No forget that, you just stay irresistible to women, I’ll take care of the men.

  “Good, keep me informed, John.” said Lucy. “As soon as I’m an auntie I want to know, okay?” it wasn’t really a question, more of a threat to John if he kept her waiting any longer than was absolutely necessary. “And the exam went very well thanks, now go back to Steph big brother, or I’ll poke your eyes out when I see you next.”

  “Okay okay I hear you, I’m going, little sister. I’ll speak to you soon… hopefully.”

  “Give my love to Steph, and tell her to keep pushing,” said Lucy, “that little niece of mine is going to be just fine, trust me.”

  Lucy had sounded so sure that his soon to be firstborn was going to be a girl. John didn’t know how though, not even he and Steph knew that. The opportunity had been there but they didn’t feel the need to know, a healthy child was all they wanted, girl or boy it didn’t really matter to them. It had probably just been wishful thinking on Lucy’s part, like wanting the sister she’d never had.

  She’s going to be a beautiful baby when she’s born Lucy, let’s face it, beauty plays a big part on both sides of her family.

  At eighteen minutes past nine that evening Lucy got the call, John had just stepped out of the delivery room to make the call. Rosie Marie Wilkins Kirkpatrick had come into this world at four minutes past nine, a healthy six pounds seven ounce baby with powerful lungs if the noise she was making was anything to go by.

  John and Steph both felt that she was the most beautiful thing they’d ever seen, but then they should, she was their first born.

  Lucy couldn’t believe how good life had just become when she took the call. Apart from the Georgie Dunston incident she was really happy. There wasn’t much she could do to alter Georgie’s fifteen minutes of fame.

  It seemed that now was as good a point as any to move onto the next stage of her life. Before she could do that though she needed to see John and Steph to explain to them that the next stage of her life would be spent living with Jayne in a loving relationship and not living with them as she’d agreed twelve months earlier. And anyway, she could now see that three’s a family, four’s a crowd. She was also desperate to meet Rosie, her new niece.

  The following Saturday morning, two days after Rosie’s birth Jayne’s Vauxhall Astra pulled into John and Steph’s driveway
and parked up behind John’s 1962 Aston Martin DB4.

  John’s love of classic British sportscars had come from Stein, “If you’re going to turn up anywhere by car, make sure you do it in style. You won’t go far wrong buying British, nothing less than twenty five years old or it’s barely broken in.” Stein would say.

  Stein had owned plenty of cars over the years, most of them worthy of a grand entrance. Of late he restricted himself to two of his all-time favourites, he owned a 1959 Jaguar XK150 fixed head coupe for everyday use, and for special occasions he would bring out the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud, a two tone, two tonne lump of motoring history. A car that the spirit of ecstasy could have been made for, a car fit for a queen. This last point had attracted Stein to it in the first place; he thought it was quite appropriate under the circumstances. It tickled him to think that a member of the royal household wasn’t the only queen being driven around London in a Silver Cloud.

  Stein’s first British sports car had been a 1967 Triumph TR4 bought new and thrashed to within an inch of its life, it was well past ever being driven on the road again, he just couldn’t bear to see it go. He’d knocked the restoration idea on the head shortly after being told about the cancer. He knew he didn’t have the time or the energy to get into a project so big. The Triumph would meet its maker at the same time as Stein, it was written into his will. It could never be said that Patrick Stein didn’t have a true sense for history and drama.

  Steph drove a twelve month old Porsche 911 Turbo, bought new, German engineering at its finest. John and Stein thought she was a philistine when it came to cars.

  Jayne felt a bit intimidated in her four-year-old Vauxhall Astra diesel, nice enough car as it was she just couldn’t see herself turning heads in it. Lucy thought Jayne could turn heads driving anything, and she was probably right.

  John and Stein both thought most women were philistines when it came to cars. They’d both made it their profession to photograph things of beauty, why shouldn’t they surround themselves in a thing of beauty every time they put the key in the ignition? They believed most women would never understand this guttural urge, so they didn’t get into an argument they knew they could never win. After all, women buy clothes, men buy cars. In John and Stein’s world they cost roughly the same anyway, so who’s counting?

  “I hope you know what you’re doing, Lucy.” Said Jayne, sat in the car, unwilling to go any further at that particular moment. She’d been dreading Lucy’s ‘confession’ to John since they’d set out at six o’clock that morning.

  “Don’t worry, Jayne. I know what I’m doing.” Replied Lucy with confidence, “John only wants what’s best for me, and you’re what’s best for me. I know how to handle my brother, he’ll be okay. Trust me.”

  You do trust us don’t you, Jayne?

  “I do trust you, Lucy. I just don’t think John’s ever going to trust me again after you’ve dropped your little bombshell in his lap, that’s all.” said Jayne. “After all is said and done, he trusted me to look after you in Manchester and now he’s going to find out what’s really been going on, he’ll probably throw me out of the house and I wouldn’t blame him.”

  “There’s no denying you looked after me though,” laughed Lucy, “taught me everything you know, took care of all my needs. Wasn’t that what you were supposed to do? Come on let’s see this niece of mine, check out the family gene pool of the future.”

  With that they both got out of the car just as the front door opened to show mum, dad and daughter Rosie waiting patiently. Not exactly your average family, when you looked at who they were, but as John was going to find out shortly that same day, very few families are average, especially when you’re brother to a person such as Lucy.

  “Oh wow, look at those chubby little arms and cute baby feet.” Lucy had never held a baby before, never been so close to another human being that was so dependent on her. That is unless you counted her dad, Terry Sandford and Georgie Dunston. They’d all been totally dependent on her; they just hadn’t known it at the time.

  “I know,” said Steph “I could just put her feet in my mouth and suck on them for hours, they’re so cute.”

  “Not if she’s inherited John’s feet you wouldn’t.” said Lucy.

  “Oh well, I see Jayne’s not been able to cure you of that dreadful sense of humour then.” said John turning towards Jayne “I was hoping you might at least have done that while you’ve had the chance, Jayne.”

  Jayne uncharacteristically blushed, not a good sight in most red heads, no matter how beautiful they might be.

  “She’ll have plenty of opportunity in the future, John.” said Lucy, “Jayne’s moving down to London when she changes job.”

  “Great,” said John, “but teachers are always complaining about the cost of housing compared to wages down here though Jayne, It’s not the cheapest place to live London, make sure it pays well.”

  “She’ll be okay on that front, John. She’s coming to live with Me.” said Lucy, “we’ll rent a flat.”

  “I thought you were going to stay here with us,” said John, “for a year or so anyway, until you find your feet.”

  “Find my feet in what sense?” said Lucy, “Financially? I’ve got more money than most people dream of, remember, the same amount of money that you got left.”

  “Yeah I remember, Lucy. I’m not likely to ever forget.” John said trying desperately not to raise his voice and just about managing.

  “One bedroom flats are cheaper than two,” replied Lucy, hoping that a light would suddenly come on in John’s head and he’d realise what she was trying to tell him without actually having to say it outright. “We won’t need more than one bedroom; we haven’t for a while now.”

  The light did come on in John’s head, he realised what she’d been trying to tell him. Steph had just had her suspicions confirmed, suspicions she’d held for a couple of months but hadn’t mentioned to John, thinking she might have just been “experimenting” as girls Lucy’s age sometimes do.

  You’ve dropped the bomb, now run to a safe area and watch it go boom.

  I don’t need to, Sally-Anne. I know my brother better than you do. It’s time for you to trust me.

  John got up out of his chair, said nothing and made his way out of the room, his face expressionless. Jayne was speechless, not because of John but because of Lucy. She’d seen her opportunity and jumped on it; no subtle “John can I have a quick word alone” like she’d expected, it was the full on we’re here so you’re going to hear this now or never approach.

  It didn’t take too long before John re-entered the room, Jayne couldn’t bring herself to look at him. She knew it would be her he’d be aiming his fury at now, and rightly so.

  “I was saving this for later, we were going to wet Rosie’s head with it, but we’ve got something else to celebrate first.” Said John turning to look at Lucy, “I’m not mum or dad, Lucy. I never will be, your life’s your own and if you’re happy I’m happy. I felt like I was turning into a bad parent for a minute back there and I never want to be anything more than a brother to you, that’s enough for me. Okay?”

  “That’s all I could ever wish for.” replied Lucy just as the cork popped out of the bottle of Krug and the champagne began to flow.

  I’ll never fail to be surprised by your brother, are you sure he didn’t start off life as your sister?

  He’s all man, Sally-Anne. You just need to trust me when I say I know him better than you do. Not all men are the lowlife pond scum that you think they are.

  Okay, just the majority. He must have been a woman in a previous life then. I can’t think of any other reason for it, there’s definitely some woman in there somewhere.

  The relief on Jayne’s face was palpable; she wasn’t being thrown out of his house like she’d thought she would be; she was being firmly welcomed into it.

  Life was picking up its pace for Lucy, but at least she had the backing of her brother, the only real family she had. No more fib
bing to John when she needed to hide a relationship, not regarding Jayne anyway. Sally-Anne was a different prospect altogether, she’d never lied about Sally-Anne before, she didn’t need to, nobody knew Sally-Anne existed apart from Lucy. And if she did tell John about her ‘guardian angel’ what would he think of his little sisters state of mind?

  Least said soonest mended.

  On the Sunday morning John took the opportunity to drive Lucy and Jayne to some areas where they might consider renting a flat, the sort of locations with excellent access to the underground system. Owning a car in London wasn’t necessarily a good thing, the DB4 was nice to look at and Lucy and Jayne were enjoying the experience but parking could be a bitch in the capital city, and Lucy couldn’t drive yet, she wasn’t even old enough to take a lesson yet.

  In the afternoon Stein glided up the driveway in his Silver Cloud, this was after all a special occasion. Everyone thought he’d come to pay Rosie a visit, and in part that was true; his main reason for visiting John and Steph that afternoon though was to visit Lucy, and the fact that Jayne was also there made the visit so much more of a pleasure and less of the chore it might otherwise have been.

  He’d heard so much about Jayne since the day he’d guessed Lucy’s sexuality nearly twelve months earlier, he was dying to finally meet her in person. After he’d spent a politely long enough time congratulating Steph for looking so fantastic on only her fifth day ‘out of prison’ and cooing over Rosie he was able to give some attention to his ‘big girls.’ John and Steph didn’t mind this, they knew he wasn’t a baby type of person; if he couldn’t hold an intelligent conversation with the person in his company he became bored very quickly. These days conversation was all he could manage. He was becoming more tired. The cancer was certainly making him slow down. He had never realised the value of his health like he did now.