Mothers and Daughters by Minna Howard Read Free Book Online Page B

Elspeth, drilled it into me as if I had to pass an exam.’ Laura sighed. ‘There’s quite a list.’ She picked up a photograph on the table beside her and studied it. Julian had it taken by a roving photographer of them all on holiday a few years ago, happy and content together, blissfully unaware about the tragedy about to shatter their lives.
    ‘That’s another person to meet.’ Alice didn’t like the sound of her fellow grandparent, the
real
grandmother who’d probably not welcome a step-grandmother with her lackadaisical methods of childcare. ‘What’s happened to Douglas’s father?’
    ‘Oh, he’s been dead for ages. Couldn’t wait, I’d have thought. Douglas’s mother’s so difficult, not like you with lots of friends, going out and things. She’s miles older than you are anyway, and her house is so clean and tidy you don’t like to ask for a coffee, or even sit down and dent the cushions, not like our house.’ Laura waved her hand at an untidy pile of newspapers and magazines waiting for Alice to go through them before she chucked them out.
    ‘Dull women have immaculate houses,’ Alice quoted from one of the magnets scattered over the front of her fridge, though looking round the cluttered room she thought she’d better have at least a small tidy up before Douglas came again.
    ‘Exactly,’ Laura giggled and things were easy between them again. Their conversation switched to clothes and possible wedding dates and whether they should wait for Evie’s baby to be born.
    ‘I think we should,’ Laura said, ‘or knowing her she’ll have it on the day and ruin it for everyone.’
    Alice ignored her remark; there’d always been rivalry between the two girls.
    ‘So do you want to be married in London or Suffolk?’ Alice steered onto more neutral waters.
    ‘It would be lovely to have the reception in the garden in Suffolk, if the weather’s good, so that means a summer wedding, perhaps next summer as it’s almost June already and the baby’s not due until near Christmas,’ Laura said.
    Next summer, Alice felt a dash of relief, perhaps in a year’s time Laura would have changed her mind over this union.
    ‘There’s no guarantee of good weather so we’d have to have a marquee and…’ With prices rising by the minute and the savings Julian left now dwindling, such expenses for a wedding added to her anxiety. ‘We’ll have to make sure the garden looks nice though in case the weather is lovely.’ Laura paused and looked away and Alice guessed they were both thinking of Nick. Nick, who in other circumstances, would be just the person to transform their garden into a wonderful, romantic setting.
    ‘Nick…’ Laura said her voice slightly wistful, bleakness in her eyes. Alice suddenly saw the truth as if it were flashed in neon lights across her face.
Laura
was in love with Nick, and Evie had nabbed him.
    The three of them had spent some time in the cottage after Julian’s death as he’d been buried in Suffolk. Their friends came round to offer comfort, as did Nick and Freya, but, now as she thought of it, she remembered that Nick came round more frequently, as Freya was busy with their children and her work. Alice had been too deep in the abyss of her own grief then to take much notice, but had Nick flirted with both the girls, played one off against the other until she and Laura had returned to London leaving Evie alone in Suffolk?
    Laura loved Nick, or more likely, had become infatuated with him. Had he seduced her too and then thrown her over her for Evie? No, surely that was too far-fetched even for Nick? He had probably waited until she and Laura had gone and pounced and Evie, broken without her father, was an easy victim.
    Had Laura become involved with Douglas because she couldn’t have Nick or because he was a substitute for her father? Or even to spite Nick or her sister?
    How could she voice all this to Laura? However she put it she’d take it the wrong way.
    It was all so