Phantom Marriage

‘She doesn’t mean literally,’ James murmured jokingly, so that only Tara could hear, adding, ‘Don’t worry, you’re quite safe. I’ve reached the age where I restrict my indulgence in water sports to swimming and sailing.’

‘You’re in your normal room, James,’ Sue told him as they reached the landing. ‘And these are your rooms,’ she told Tara, pausing outside a heavy oak door. ‘This part of the house was once the barn, but it’s been converted into living space.’

James had disappeared, into his own room, Tara presumed, and she felt free to echo Mandy’s sigh of pleasure when Sue opened the door to reveal an attractive bedroom with open beams and a tiny mullioned window.

‘We’ve tried to keep as much of the country atmosphere as possible without being too earnestly authentic,’ she explained.

‘It’s lovely!’ Tara enthused admiringly. The room was decorated in pastels and soft greens; pretty fresh cotton curtains at the windows and a traditional American patchwork quilt on the bed.

‘James brought that back from one of his trips,’ Sue told her. ‘Do you find him very changed?’

‘A little older,’ Tara said cautiously.

‘I was thrilled when he called to say he was back in England. We don’t see as much of him as we’d like—the companies take up most of his time. It’s funny really, in many ways he means more to me than my mother, although he’s scarcely the traditional father figure.’

‘You must have been very sorry when their marriage broke up,’ Tara said, hoping that her voice wouldn’t betray her.

Sue shrugged. ‘Not really. I could never understand why James married my mother.’ She frowned. ‘There was always something odd about it, and not just because he was younger than her. You know, when I look back I can’t believe that he ever loved her or that she loved him.’

‘There are other reasons for marriage,’ Tara said emotionlessly.

‘I know, but somehow I could never imagine James marrying without a deep emotional commitment—he just doesn’t strike me as that kind of man. Look, I’ll go downstairs and ask Mrs B., our treasure, to make us a pot of tea and some orange for the kids, and you come down when you’re ready and I’ll introduce you to Alec. We’ll be in the sitting room. It looks out over the gardens, first left in the hall.’ She walked towards the door, paused and then said impulsively, ‘I’m so glad you and James could both be here together. It’s almost like old times…’

They viewed ‘old times’ differently, Tara thought tiredly as she unpacked for the twins and herself; Simon and Mandy had made themselves at home almost immediately, and within twenty minutes of Sue leaving them they were ready to return downstairs with Tara; their hands and faces washed and the clothes they had travelled in exchanged for dungarees and tee-shirts.

Everyone else was already in the sitting room, as Sue had called it, but what in actual fact was a generously proportioned room furnished in tones of pale lemon and soft blue, with huge french windows opening on to the gardens.

Misty the dog fanned her tail gently on the floor when she saw the twins. Simon beamed with pleasure, twisting round to tell Tara in hushed tones, ‘I think she likes me.’

Alec, Sue’s husband, turned out to be a pleasant, sturdy-looking individual in his late twenties, obviously devoted to his more effervescent wife. He greeted Tara enthusiastically, telling her with a smile that he had heard a good deal about her from Sue over the years.

‘I always regretted losing touch with you,’ Sue added. ‘I couldn’t believe it when I came back from that duty holiday in New York with my mother to find you’d left the village, and then when your mother told me you’d married…’

‘You’re a widow, Sue tells me,’ Alec continued, his smile sympathetic.

Feeling a dreadful fraud, Tara nodded.

‘It can’t have been easy for you.’

Again that quiet sympathy.

‘I’ve been lucky,’ she replied huskily. ‘Especially in my job.’

‘You work for Chas Saunders the photographer, so Sue says.’ James interrupted.

His tone rather than his words made Tara flush. She was well aware of the reputation Chas had, the number of affairs he was reputed to have indulged in, and she could tell without him putting it into words that James suspected she was one of the many strings to Chas’s bow.

‘You must lead a very glamorous life,’ Sue commented with a trace of envy, ‘mixing with models and celebrities.’

‘I don’t know so much about “glamorous”; it’s certainly hard work,’ Tara told her ruefully, accepting a cup of tea. Mandy was crouching on the floor, distracting the attention of young Master Piers, who had been busily engrossed in unravelling the thread sewing a small motif to his velour jumpsuit, while Simon was quite happy stroking Misty.

Alec and James resumed the conversation they had obviously been having before her entry, and Tara grimaced a little when Sue said softly, ‘You’ve got two great kids there, Tara. It must have been terribly hard for you—and them. I can remember exactly how it felt only having one parent.’

‘Yes, I worry about it sometimes,’ Tara admitted. ‘You know,’ she pulled a face, ‘all the usual things—is Simon being deprived of a masculine influence to pattern himself on; are both of them suffering emotionally from the lack of a father and the fact that I have to work.’

‘You know even now, I can hardly believe it,’ Sue marvelled. ‘I never thought you’d marry impetuously like that. You always used to talk about having a career and…’

‘Girls of seventeen are notorious for changing their minds when they fall in love,’ James commented sardonically behind them, making Tara start. She hadn’t realised he was listening to their conversation and covered her momentary confusion by saying evenly, and truthfully, ‘Having the twins is something I’ve never regretted.’