At Home With The Templetons (21 page)

Charlotte dragged Audrey up from the ground with difficulty and began to pull her through the crowd. ‘Let us through, please. Let us through.’

Audrey was now powerless. She’d rehearsed every moment in her head, imagining herself on the stage bowing after a victorious performance, accepting the bouquets of flowers. Not this, something so terrible. A river she couldn’t cross, a black chasm, so wide and so deep and so frightening. It could never happen again. She could never again set foot in that school, talk about acting, talk about anything, ever, ever again.

At Templeton Hall, Nina’s ‘housesitting’ with Hope was not going well. She had guessed it wouldn’t, within minutes of arriving at the Hall with Tom that afternoon.

‘I’m so sorry, Nina,’ Eleanor had said. ‘Hope was fine this morning, fine at lunch, but she hasn’t come out of her room since just after two o’clock.’

‘Should I go and say something through the door? Just let her know I’m here? She does know I’m here, doesn’t she?’

‘She does. Yes.’ Eleanor hesitated. ‘We reminded her today you were coming. That’s when she locked herself in her room.’ ‘Don’t worry about it,’ Nina said as cheerily as possible. ‘If she wants to come down and join us, that’s great, and if she doesn’t, that’s fine too.’

‘We’ll leave Melbourne straight after breakfast tomorrow,’ Eleanor said. ‘We’ll be back before lunchtime: Before eleven, hopefully.’

‘Take your time. Don’t rush. We’ll be fine.’

Fine? If only, Nina thought now as she walked up the stairs again, calling Hope’s name once more. Since Tom had casually told her that Hope’s bedroom door was open but the room empty, they’d been roaming the house, calling her name. There was no reply.

‘She must have gone outside,’ Tom said. ‘We’ve looked in every room.’

‘I didn’t hear the front door open, did you?’ Nina checked the time. Only nine p.m. It was going to be a long night. ‘Hope?’ she called again. ‘Hope, please, come out.’

It was during their second search of the house that she appeared. Nina and Tom had just come down the stairs once again when the front door opened and Hope walked in. She was wearing a dressing-gown and a shawl. Her feet were bare.

‘Hope, thank God,’ Nina said, unable to hide her relief. ‘I’ve been so worried.’

Hope barely looked at her. There was no acknowledgement that they’d met before, either. ‘Really? Why?’

‘Because Eleanor asked me -‘ She stopped, as Hope gave her a very unpleasant smile.

‘Asked you what?’ Hope said. ‘To look after me? How amusing. Because Eleanor told me that you and your son were here to look after the Hall. And that being the case, I decided it made sense to leave you both to it and take a nice evening walk.’

She smiled as she saw Nina glance towards the phone. ‘Go on, ring Eleanor. Right in the middle of Audrey’s special night. You think I don’t know where they are? I’m her godmother, you know. Nice of them to invite me, wasn’t it?’

‘They didn’t think you were …’ Nina tried to choose the right words, ‘well enough.’

Hope scoffed. ‘You have absolutely no idea what they think, and if you do, you shouldn’t. You’re our neighbour by accident of geography. It doesn’t give you any right to know me, to babysit me -‘ she nearly spat the word, ‘or to know our family business.’

Nina kept her voice neutral with some difficulty. ‘I don’t want to know your family business. Eleanor simply asked me for a favour and I was happy to help out.’

‘Oh, I can just see how she would have done that.’ Hope changed her voice, put on a sweet expression, “‘We do all we can for poor Hope, but I’m afraid it’s just take-take-take with her.” It’s lies. All of it. I gave up my own life for her, for all of them, to come here, design their entire property. Do I get any thanks? Do I get to show people around any more? No!’

Nina turned and gestured to Tom to go into the living room. She didn’t want him to hear this. He wasn’t happy to go, but he did. After he’d shut the door, she

turned back to Hope. ‘Hope, I’m sure Henry and Eleanor would be happy to let you take some groups ‘

‘You aren’t sure. You have no idea. You don’t know us. Stop pretending that you do. She’s just using you, like they used me. They started with your son, trying to keep Spencer out of juvenile detention, but it won’t work, and it’s your son that will be spoiled. You don’t know half of what the two of them get up to, do you? He’s a bad child, that Spencer. Oh, he’s high-spirited, they say. He’s not. He’s bad. Evil. And he’ll damage your son too. I mean it.’

Nina refused to rise to Hope’s bait.

The other woman kept talking. ‘You’ll regret getting mixed up with this family, you know. They’ll suck you dry like they sucked me dry. But don’t say you weren’t warned. You or your son. Get away while you still can. I wish I had.’

Nina could only stand open-mouthed as Hope stalked past her and up the stairs.

Tom went up to bed not long after. Nina talked down her own nerves as she walked around turning off the lights, ignoring the creaks as the Hall settled itself at the end of the day. The altercation with Hope echoed around her. Her words had struck too many chords with Nina.

She suddenly didn’t want to be at the Hall any more. She wanted to be home, just her and Tom, in their own small house, as far from the whole Templeton family as possible. Hope was right. It had been a mistake to let Tom play with Spencer, a mistake to let Gracie visit her so often, a mistake to allow herself to be pulled into their orbit. She should have trusted her instincts and kept her distance.

By the time she’d finally locked all the doors and climbed into bed in one of the spare rooms - twice the size of her own room at home and furnished with so many antiques she was nervous to touch anything - her mind was made up. It was time to pull away from them all. It was the best thing, for her and for Tom.

A noise woke her at three a.m. Her heart started beating faster as she lay trying to work out what it was. A door opening. Footsteps. Low voices. Instantly wide awake, she got out of bed, tiptoed to the doorway and glanced down the hallway. Hope’s door was shut. She quickly checked Tom, in Spencer’s room, also furnished - incongruously - with antiques. He was asleep. She heard more whispers downstairs, the creak of a floorboard. Then a deeper voice. Henry Templeton’s voice.

She came to the top of the stairs and looked down just as the lights came on. In the entrance hall were Eleanor, Gracie,

Spencer, Henry and a young woman Nina knew had to be Audrey. Nina hadn’t realised she was coming back with them. She moved quickly down the stairs, pulling her dressing-gown around her. ‘You’re back already?’

‘An unexpected change of plan,’ Eleanor said, with the quickest of glances in Audrey’s direction. ‘Did everything go all right here?’

Nina noticed Audrey’s miserable face. Gracie looked like she’d been crying. Henry and Eleanor were tense, Spencer tired and mutinous. Something bad must have happened, with Charlotte, perhaps. Something Eleanor couldn’t share yet. Fine, Nina thought. If she was going to try keeping her distance from this family, she’d start now.

She found a smile from somewhere. ‘Everything was just fine,’ she lied.

Less than twelve hours later, Nina was back in her own living room, trying and failing to do some work, tired and nervy from lack of sleep. She and Tom had left the Hall before the others woke, leaving a note on the kitchen table. Tom wasn’t happy, even when she explained that something had happened in Melbourne and the family needed time alone.

‘But Spencer and I had plans for this morning. I don’t have to be at cricket until after lunch.’

Nina stood her ground. He took out his anger on her by spending an hour throwing a cricket ball against the rainwater tank. Good for his cricket practice, bad for her nerves. It would have to be like this to begin with, she told herself. He’d forget about Spencer and the Templetons eventually. She was quietly relieved when he was collected for the match by her friend jenny, leaving her in peace to do some work at last.

It was short-lived. She’d just started work when she heard her name being called. Moments later, the front door opened and Gracie walked in without knocking, immediately launching into a detailed account of the night’s events in Melbourne.

‘… so it’s just a tragedy, Nina,’ Gracie said as she finished. ‘Audrey’s big dream to be an actress is in ruins and she’s inconsolable. Mum has tried bringing her breakfast in bed, magazines; Dad even brought a TV into her room to distract her, but nothing has worked. She won’t speak, she won’t eat, she won’t stop crying. I can see why, the poor thing. As I said to her, what can she do with her life now that her dream has been shattered?’

Nina kept her reply matterof-fact. ‘Gracie, her dream isn’t shattered. It was just a bad case of stage fright. She’ll have another chance in another play at school.’

‘She won’t. She wrote Mum a note to say she can never go back there again. They all hate her now. It’s a very competitive school, you see. Cut-throat. Charlotte told me all about it today.’

‘Charlotte’s home too?’ Nina asked. She didn’t remember seeing her with the others.

‘Oh, no. We spoke on the phone this morning. She’s still insisting she won’t come back while Hope’s here.’ Gracie lowered her voice. ‘Can I tell you a secret?’

Nina’s vow not to get caught up in the Templetons’ lives any more wasn’t going well. She nodded.

‘I think Charlotte’s up to something,’ Gracie said. ‘Something exciting. I asked her what she was going to do when she finishes school this year, once she turns eighteen, and she whispered that everything was organised, it was a very exciting plan and she’d tell me as soon as she could. I think it

might have something to do with going away. She said to me in a very mysterious voice, “Have passport, will travel, Gracie.” What do you think she means? She hasn’t got any money, none of us do, so where could she afford to go?’

‘I don’t know, Gracie.’

Gracie looked up at Nina with a sad expression. ‘I think we need a cup of tea, don’t you? Can I make you one, Nina? You must be tired after your late night too?’

Nina’s resolve faltered. Gracie was right. She was tired and she would like a cup of tea. It looked like she’d have to put off her withdrawal from the Templetons for one more day.

hey were just finishing their tea when they heard the sound of a car. Seconds later the back door opened and Tom ran in, dressed in his cricket whites. Nina glanced at the clock. He was home early. Before she had a chance to ask why, he threw his arms around her and to her astonishment tried and nearly succeeded in lifting her up off the ground.

‘I’m in, Mum. I’m in the team!’

‘You are?’ For a second she didn’t know what he was talking about, until she remembered that he and his friend Ben had been involved in cricket trials today. With everything happening at Templeton Hall, it had slipped her mind.

‘Ben got picked too! Both of us!’ He threw his cricket gloves up into the air and caught them with a leap.

‘Tom, that’s fantastic! Congratulations!’ Nina pulled her son into another, proper hug. He let her, any tension between them now gone. He turned and noticed their visitor then, stepping back from the hug immediately. ‘Gracie, hi. I didn’t see you there.’ ‘Congratulations, Tom!’ Gracie beamed at him. ‘You’ve made a team for something?’

He nodded, shy and proud at once. ‘It’s part of a national competition. I’ve been picked for the junior country team. If we win against the city team next month, we get to play against all the other states, maybe even internationally.’

‘Tom, that’s fantastic!’ She threw her arms around him too. ‘What sport is it?’

‘Gracie,’ Tom said, all shyness now gone. ‘Cricket, of course. I’m a fast bowler.’

‘Oh, I love cricket! We all do, Dad especially. When’s your big match? Can we come and watch too? Will you come over to the Hall now and tell everyone? We need cheering up.’

Nina stepped in. ‘He can’t, Gracie. Sorry.’ ‘Sure,’ Tom said, at the same time.

Nina tried again. ‘I don’t think so, Tom. Not now. And perhaps you should head home too, Gracie. Your mother must be wondering where you are.’

Gracie’s face fell. ‘She knows I’m here. Don’t you like me visiting? I won’t come again if you don’t want me to.’

‘Gracie, I didn’t mean that.’

‘What did you mean, then?’ Tom said.

Nina was now floundering. ‘I meant to say that just because we’re neighbours doesn’t mean we should spend too much time in each other’s pockets. We all need our own space now and then.’ She was echoing Hope’s words, she realised. But the other woman had been right. It was only geographical coincidence that they’d all met.

‘You just want a bit of a break from us, is that what you mean?’ Gracie said. ‘A few days? Longer? Would you prefer I made my visits more formal? If I rang first?’

‘Gracie, no, you’ve misunderstood.’ Both children were now looking at Nina with great interest. Where was the sense of adult wisdom and superiority she was supposed to feel in situations like this? ‘We’re all so busy, perhaps it might be better if we don’t ‘

Gracie’s face cleared. ‘It’s Hope, isn’t it? Do you feel like Charlotte does? You don’t want anything to do with us while she’s there?’

Oh, why not accept the lifeline, Nina thought. ‘Yes, that’s part of it. I think we - Tom and I - might have upset her in some way last night and that’s not fair on the rest of you.’

‘It wasn’t your fault, I promise. Everyone upsets her. She upsets everyone. That’s just the way it is with her.’ She beamed at Nina. ‘And I’d hate to have to book ahead to see you. I love visiting whenever I feel like it. Everything’s more fun if it’s sponta-‘ She frowned.

‘Spontaneous?’ Tom suggested. ‘That’s it!’ Gracie said.

‘You’re right,’ Tom said. ‘I’m spontaneously going out to practise my bowling.’

Gracie turned eagerly to him. ‘Can I help?’ ‘Are you a good batsman?’

‘I might be. I don’t know. I could try.’

‘Okay, then. But if I hit you with the ball, you’re not allowed to cry.’

An hour later, they were still outside playing. Nina had returned to her painting, periodically glancing out the open window to see Gracie bravely standing in front of the rainwater tank brandishing the cricket bat, while Tom pelted ball after ball at her. As Nina watched, a particularly fast delivery missed the bat and hit her on the leg. Nina held her breath, waiting for the scream. It didn’t come, even though Gracie’s face was bright red and her hands clenched tight on the bat, obviously in pain.