‘No, not at all. I remember when I was little, Mum always kept the house beautifully. But after my baby brother died—he was only a week old—she became very depressed. Some days she couldn’t even get out of bed.’
‘Didn’t your father take her to a doctor?’
‘She wouldn’t go.’
Jack nodded. ‘So that’s when the hoarding started?’ he asked.
‘Yes. Not only wouldn’t she get rid of all the things she’d bought for the baby but she started buying more: clothes. Furniture. Toys. Like Brendan was still alive. We could have outfitted half the babies in Australia with what she bought. She used to go shopping every day, till one day she suddenly refused to leave the house. After that, she discovered online shopping.’
‘So your house wasn’t dirty, just full of baby clothes?’
‘It was dirty too. Impossible to clean rooms when they’re full of stuff. There wasn’t a room in the house—or a surface anywhere—which was free of things. The kitchen too. Even the sink. In the end, we lived on takeaway. The delivered kind.’
‘So that’s all you ate? Pizzas and rubbish like that?’
‘Yes. For a long while. But when I started high school and realised I was getting fat, I put my foot down and demanded healthier food. But Mum wasn’t interested in cooking and the kitchen was a disaster area. I tried cleaning it up when I came home from school but the job became overwhelming.
‘In the end, I negotiated moving into the master bedroom which had an en suite and enough room for me to set up my own small kitchen. Just a microwave and toaster, really, and a small bar fridge which Dad had left behind in his den. I got Mum to give me an allowance from the money Dad sent so that I could buy my own food and clothes. When I was home, I lived in just that room and let the rest of the house go to pot. Of course, I couldn’t have any friends over for sleepovers, so I didn’t have any close girlfriends till I left school and moved out. No boyfriends, either, of course. By then, I wasn’t large on social skills where the opposite sex is concerned. I was a virgin till I was twenty-one, which I dare say is some kind of record these days.’
‘I would say it is for someone as beautiful as you. Which you are, Vivienne, inside and out. And brave too. That is a terribly sad story. But you survived, and for that I have nothing but admiration for you. So how long ago was it that your mother had her heart attack?’
Vivienne grimaced. ‘She didn’t actually have a heart attack. She tripped over the stuff she’d piled up on the stairs, fell down and broke her neck. I warned her that she’d have an accident in the house one day but she wouldn’t listen. Of course, after I moved out, things got much worse. The stairs were chock-a-block with things. Not just baby things now, other stuff she didn’t need: shoes. Handbags. Lamps. Ornaments. Silly things. When she didn’t answer the phone one evening—I used to ring her every night—I came over and found her body at the foot of the stairs.’
‘Oh, Vivienne. That must have been dreadful for you.’
‘It was,’ she choked out, the memory still having the power to upset her. She’d loved her mother, despite everything. Not that she’d ever felt loved in return. Maybe that was why she’d been so susceptible to Daryl. Because he’d told her he loved her all the time; had even made her believe it. That was what had devastated her the most, to find out his declarations of love had been nothing but a lie, right from the start. At least Jack didn’t lie to her. She respected that. When she glanced up and saw the concerned look on his face, she smiled a small, sad smile.
‘It’s all right, Jack,’ she said. ‘I’m not going to cry. Frankly, in a way, Mum’s dying was a relief. Let’s face it, she’d been wretchedly unhappy for years and years. I’m surprised she hadn’t committed suicide before that. She often threatened it. Anyway, after the funeral I hired a rubbish removal company to clear the house out, then I hired industrial cleaners to clean it from top to bottom. I couldn’t bear to do anything in there. It hurt too much to even look at it. Once it was fit to sell, I auctioned it off. I wanted it gone and I didn’t care what price I got for it.
‘Strangely enough, it sold for an amazingly good price. The agent explained that, despite its slightly dilapidated state, the house was in a prime location and the block of land was large. I got enough money to buy this place and have it totally renovated, with enough left over to attract the likes of Daryl. Till he met someone seriously rich, of course,’ she added.