Rumours and Red Roses
fine. It’s just a house, Mum. And they’re just ordinary people. You’ll see. Esther’s very homely,’ she added, trying to put her at ease because she looked scared stiff.
    ‘Yes. She sounded very nice on the phone the other day. She said she’d asked you to bring me along to see them umpteen times already,’ she added, a hint of reproach in her voice. ‘You’re not ashamed of me, I hope, Becky?’
    ‘Don’t be daft. It’s just that … after all the other times, Mum, I wanted to be quite sure that it would be all right this time before I brought you into the equation,’ she said, aware it sounded ridiculous, aware also she had picked up on some of Simon’s business speak. Equations indeed.
    ‘It had better be all right,’ her mum said firmly. ‘Esther was tellingme she’s got it all arranged so there’d better be no slip-ups this time. If you pull out now, Becky, I’ll not be responsible for my actions. There’s a limit to how many times you can get yourself engaged. Spring is a lovely time for a wedding and I’ve got my eye on this lovely silk suit.’
    ‘I’ll come shopping with you,’ Becky said, remembering the last time.
    ‘You will not. I can’t be doing with other people sticking their oar in when I’m trying to make my mind up. I need to focus.’
    Becky smiled.
    ‘Esther said she hoped I didn’t think she was pushing me out in wanting to do the organizing herself and that she’d be pleased if I chipped in with some help. Not financial, mind you,’ her mum added. ‘She was adamant about that. She’s forking out the cash or rather her husband is. She’s insisting on that. Johnny can afford it, she told me. Water off a duck’s back to him, she said, and she wasn’t skimping on their only son’s wedding.’
    The Blundells’ house, a one-off architect-designed house, was extravagantly furnished, Simon’s mother having a penchant for rich deep colours although, oddly, that didn’t extend to her wardrobe, which seemed to be mainly black. She was a small cheery woman who seemed happy to let her husband do all the talking, gazing up at him all the while with adoring eyes. She had, however, made Shelley feel immediately welcome, kissing her on the cheek and saying how lovely and exciting this all was and how much she liked Rebecca.
    ‘There’s nothing wrong with my daughter,’ her mum had said at once. ‘He’s a lucky man to get her.’
    For the first meeting with the in-laws, after an agony of indecision, Shelley was wearing a longer length skirt with leather boots and a demure frilly-necked blouse with all the buttons done up, and she had made such an effort to calm herself down that Becky was moved by it. It hadn’t quite worked for she couldn’t resist some outrageous diamante drop earrings which shot off sparkles whenever she moved her head, nor could she control her raucous laugh, nor stop from telling some of her tales when she loosened up, particularly the beauty pageant one, but Esther had seemed tickled by it rather than shocked and Johnny had laughed out loud.
    ‘I remember that guy,’ he said. ‘And I can’t say I’m surprised. Didn’t he sink into oblivion after the papers picked up on a scandal? That’s it.He cheated on his wife, wife number three or so, and went off with a girl young enough to be his daughter.’
    ‘Or his granddaughter if I recall,’ Esther said. ‘He was a horrible man. You had a lucky escape, Shelley.’
    ‘I could never watch him afterwards on television,’ Shelley told them with a shudder. Somehow, Becky noticed, in the telling of the tale, the top button on her blouse had come adrift. ‘If I looked at him, all I could see was …’ She stopped, flustered, looking towards Esther apologetically .
    ‘We know what you could see, so spare us the details,’ Johnny had said, laughing again. ‘Those television people are all the same if you ask me. Morals shot to pieces in that sort of business. Mind you, it goes on everywhere,

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