Out of Sight (2 page)

‘Come in, come in.' Patrick went to the bottom of the stairs and called ‘Belinda!' just as she appeared at the top. Watching her descent, he couldn't prevent himself glancing at his father, hoping that he too took in her beauty, her sensuality. Belinda, who had previously met her expatriate in-laws only three or four times, greeted them with due consideration.

‘Tea? Coffee?' she offered. ‘Or would you like to go up to your room first? Patrick will take your case. Here, give Daniel to me.' She disappeared with the boy into the
kitchen, leaving Patrick to show his parents the way. Suddenly the staircase seemed narrow and steep, the house small and insignificant, and he a child again. Not that Geoffrey and Agnès had lived in luxury; the procession of rented apartments and houses in Brussels, Geneva, Frankfurt and elsewhere that had been the lot of a middle-ranking multinational company executive had been comfortable, good for entertaining, but somehow never suitable for full-time occupation by a boy or teenager.

Now his parents were house-hunting in Surrey, where a few former colleagues had washed up contentedly enough; and this was the topic of conversation over a cup of coffee and slices of Belinda's banana loaf. Something modern, hassle-free, where they could grow old without having to worry about repairs or too big a garden. The lease on their apartment in Geneva was up in two months, by which time they hoped to have chosen a new home and could decide how much of their furniture and possessions to ship over.

Patrick noted that Agnès nodded blandly to virtually every suggestion, even when contradictory, all the time watching Daniel in his highchair fussily picking minute pieces of walnut out of his loaf. Her hands fluttered nervously as if she might catch the morsels before they were scattered on the floor. Regarding this as a brilliant new game, Daniel instantly sought to outmanoeuvre her, happily pulverising his cake to create new supplies of ammunition. Patrick laughed as his son responded to her
ineffectual attempts to calm his giggles by flinging crumbs even further afield. But, at the point at which Agnès glanced surreptitiously at Geoffrey, Patrick's heart sank. A louder squeal of delight caught Belinda's attention, and, laughing, she whisked Daniel up out of his chair.

‘Little monkey!'

Belinda's obliviousness to Agnès' muted cry of relief caused a sugar-rush of love in Patrick towards his wife, enabling him to ignore Geoffrey's infinitesimal frown. He got to his feet, placing an arm around her shoulders, conscious of the image they presented of the happily united family. ‘Let's go out somewhere!' he cried.

The sea was sparkling, almost painful on the eyes, and the weekend beach crowded. Belinda walked beside Geoffrey, who had taken control of Daniel's buggy. Agnès had linked her arm through her son's. ‘Patrice,' she murmured lovingly. ‘Patrice.'

Out of earshot of his father, Patrick questioned her. ‘Will you be happy in a modern house, Maman?'

‘Oh, I've never minded that much about the roof over my head. You know that.'

‘But it's different this time. This will be your own house at last. A proper home.'

‘It's wonderful that Belinda goes on teaching, with the infant.'

‘She works four days a week. And of course gets the school holidays.'

‘And I suppose you can fit your hours around him, too. That's wonderful.'

‘Would you have liked to work, if you'd stayed in one place long enough?'

‘Me? What would I have been any good at? Besides, I had you to look after. There was always so much to do at home.'

Out of habit, Patrick let it pass unchallenged. ‘So what's your plan for retirement? Are you sure you wouldn't enjoy a garden?'

‘I don't think so. And Geoffrey doesn't want the bother of hedges and grass to cut.'

‘What about a cat? Or a dog?'

‘Didn't I tell you? For our anniversary, he gave me a pair of yellow canaries. The infant must come and see them. They're in a sweet little cage, like an antique.'

Patrick looked at his father and hated him anew. Now Geoffrey was stopping at an ice-cream van, the kind that sold a sugary emulsion extruded from a machine into a cone, and telling Daniel that, because he had been such a good boy and not made a fuss, he could have one as a treat. Belinda caught Patrick's eye. He merely shrugged: let it happen, they were helpless.

Daniel buried his little face in the creamy confection, and Geoffrey tried to instruct him how to lick, not suck. Belinda laughed, while Agnès hunted in her bag for a clean tissue. Patrick left them, walked over to the railing that edged the promenade and looked out to sea. In both directions,
hundreds of people – families, couples – covered the beach: did all of them, he wondered, find life so hard, so overwhelming? The gears of life always grinding and clashing, never meshing perfectly so one could effortlessly accelerate ahead and get clear? He fought the temptation to thread his way through the crowds and simply walk into the sea, let the waters meet over his head, enclosing him in silence. He felt a hand on his back, heard Belinda laughing: ‘I wish I'd brought the camera! Just look at him!' He turned, smiled at their son's incredulity at the joyous mess he was making, and chided himself. He was being ridiculous!

Re-joining the others, he ignored Daniel's futile protests and wiped his face clean. They strolled on along the sea-front. Patrick returned the pleasant half-smiles from strangers who wished shyly to acknowledge the harmonious group they presented, three generations enjoying a day out together, and resolved to view his family as others clearly did.

At dinner, Geoffrey jovially introduced the inevitable topic that Patrick dreaded. ‘So, found a cure for cancer yet?'

‘Homeopathy doesn't really deal in cures. It has more to do with healing.'

‘The placebo effect!' declared Geoffrey, delighted to win the first point so easily.

‘I'm not going to fight with you, Dad.'

‘Who's fighting? Don't tell me your ideas can't withstand some healthy debate, a little honest scepticism.'

‘Nearly everyone in France uses homeopathic remedies,' murmured Agnès.

‘Absolutely,' crowed Geoffrey. ‘Billion-euro industry. There's big money in astrology, too, I daresay.'

‘Patrick is having to turn away patients,' said Belinda proudly. ‘People come from miles away to see him.'

‘If he's that good, then all the more shame he threw away a medical career. He could've been a top surgeon by now.'

‘I like what I do. The way I do it.'

‘You never would be told.'

‘No.'

‘Your fish pie is delicious,' Agnès addressed Belinda. ‘You must give me the recipe.'

‘Thanks. It's very easy. I'll write it out for you.'

‘You wouldn't treat Daniel your way, though, if he was ill?' demanded Geoffrey, adding, out of politeness, ‘Or Belinda, either, of course. You'd take him to a proper doctor?'

‘Of course he would!' declared Agnès.

‘We're perfectly responsible parents,' said Belinda lightly, starting to clear the dishes. Patrick pushed his plate towards her, wishing for silence to engulf him.

‘Children go down with things so rapidly at that age,' fretted Agnès. ‘You used to get so ill when you were little.'

‘I didn't, Maman. No worse than any other kid.'

‘But I used to worry so.'

‘I left my glasses upstairs.' Geoffrey pushed back his
chair and walked out of the room. Agnès looked at Patrick wide-eyed.

‘It's all right, Maman. Everything's okay.'

They heard a door close upstairs then, a few moments later, the chirruping sob of Daniel woken from sleep.

‘He's disturbed the baby!'

‘No,' soothed Belinda. ‘He'll turn over and go back to sleep.'

‘He won't be used to hearing strange people in the house! He may be afraid.'

‘No one's afraid, Maman.'

‘But—'

‘Everything's fine. Nothing's happened. Dad's only gone to get his glasses. He'll be down in a minute for his pudding.'

‘It's fruit salad,' offered Belinda. ‘Or there's some cheese,' she added hopefully.

‘Why is she like that?' Belinda asked as Patrick got into bed beside her. ‘Does he beat her, or something?' He sighed, not saying anything. ‘What's she so scared of?'

‘Nothing. He's never hit anyone. He hardly ever even shouts. He means well, he just can't imagine anyone not desperately wanting precisely what he wants. And he's so incredibly tense all the time. They both are. They think it's normal.'

‘How on earth did you cope as a kid? All by yourself, not even a brother or sister?'

He made a joke of it. ‘Who says I coped?' Before she
could say more, he pulled her to him, covering her mouth with his, his hand already stroking her hip. Both relaxed into the kiss, in no hurry to take it further. He twisted round to switch off the light, then let his conscious mind contract into the single easy focus of his desire for her. But, as they touched each other, he picked up the murmur of his father's deep voice through the wall, a couple of feet away from his head, heard the bedhead knock lightly against it as one of his parents moved. He groaned, rolling away onto his back.

‘Never mind.' Belinda kissed his cheek and turned over, snuggling her behind close against him. ‘Sleep well.'

But he couldn't sleep. He lay there, almost expecting to hear, as he had done in his childhood when his father was abroad on business, the sound of his mother getting up and tiptoeing around the house, checking the locks, making sure the kitchen taps weren't dripping, that the gas was off. Repeatedly. Sometimes eight, nine times, up and down the stairs, in and out of the kitchen, before she finally remained in bed long enough to fall asleep. The more Geoffrey stayed away, the worse it got. Or, as it had finally occurred to Patrick to wonder after he'd left home, was it the other way around? That the worse it got, the more his father chose to stay away?

The next morning, the family set off to climb the Downs. Patrick led the way, Daniel in a carrier on his back, smothered in sunscreen and wearing a cute cotton hat.
The footpath was steep, but he preferred this route because it was less frequented than the more popular trails, especially on a Sunday in July. The sky was cloudless. The hot weather had held for several days now, and was forecast to continue for the rest of the week. Patrick enjoyed the exertion, feeling the muscles in his calves and thighs begin to stretch and relax. Agnès came up beside him, catching at Daniel's waving hand.

‘You like being up high, with your papa!' she said to him brightly. Patrick smiled at her. Perhaps today they'd all relax and begin to enjoy one another's company. ‘You're a lucky little boy,' she continued. ‘I never even met my papa.'

‘We're hoping maybe this year we'll start a brother or sister for him,' Patrick told her happily.

‘Oh!' As usual, he could see that her genuine delight was almost immediately clouded by a rush of anxiety as all the catastrophes that might attend a pregnancy and birth engulfed her.

‘Wouldn't that be great?' he instructed her firmly.

‘Yes. Oh, yes, Patrice, of course.' Bravely, she banished the dread, yet he watched her hand flutter to the buttons on her shirt, then pat her pocket to ensure the handkerchief was not lost, before checking both earrings were still in place.

‘Maybe I could give you a remedy that would boost your confidence, Maman. You deserve to enjoy yourself once you're all settled here.'

‘A remedy … yes. Not that I need anything, I'm really quite all right. But if you'd like me to have one, I'd like that. I'm sure it would help, if it came from you.'

When they reached the top, there was the slightest of breezes and, with the detail lost in the heat haze, a view of Sussex that seemed timeless. Belinda gratefully removed her own backpack, which contained the picnic, then lifted Daniel out of the carrier. While she handed out cups of water, followed by a splash of white wine, Patrick kept watch over his son's explorations. He was amused at how swiftly Daniel became engrossed in an investigation of the striped snail shells and dried-out rabbit droppings he discovered in the cropped grass.

Tired by the hot climb, the adults were content to pick at the food – French bread, Brie, green olives and tomatoes – and enjoy the view in companionable silence. Conversation resumed as Daniel napped on his special blanket in the shade of an umbrella propped up on the grass beside him, and Patrick was pleased that their quiet talk of music and concerts and changes in the countryside flowed in an easy way, skirting any potential rocks that might have sunk their pleasant Sunday afternoon torpor. At that moment he felt proud of them all for being a normal family; then, with a cynical laugh to himself, reconsidered the thought: surely no real ‘normal family' would ever give themselves a pat on the back for being one.

Once Daniel woke up, he wouldn't sit still. Stumbling on
the uneven turf, the toddler discovered that he could roll a little way down the slope. Shrieking with theatrical fear, he began to throw himself down deliberately, rolling over two or three times before Patrick, stationing himself below, caught him and placed him back on his feet, ready to do it all again. Geoffrey watched approvingly: a proper boy, he'd be a good sportsman one day, but each time Daniel began to roll a little further, Agnès became alarmed. She tried to hide it, to join in the laughter, but eventually was overwhelmed. ‘He might tear his clothes!' she protested anxiously.

‘Won't matter,' answered Belinda, not appreciating the scale of her mother-in-law's distress. ‘He's nearly grown out of them anyway.'

‘Surely that's enough, now?' Agnès pleaded. ‘He'll be sick.'

‘He's never sick,' Belinda responded stoutly, still unaware.

Agnès kept quiet, but her hand flew to her mouth when it looked at one moment like the child might wriggle out of Patrick's grasp. Finally her fear escaped her: ‘What if he hits his head on a stone?' she cried.