Free The Ripple Effect by Elisabeth Rose Page A

long.”
    “Only a week or so, Mum.” She followed her mother to the kitchen. Plastic wrapped plates and bowls of food covered every available flat surface. The waitress was restocking her tray with juice and wine. She smiled at Joelle and offered her a drink.
    “Have some champagne instead, darling,” said her mother. The waitress picked up her tray and headed out the door to the back terrace.
    “Thanks. Is Dad all right?”
    “Absolutely. His latest results showed nothing to worry about; he’s outside wrestling with the barbecue even though I insisted the caterers could do it. You know what he’s like. Your Uncle Phil’s helping.” A little trilling laugh accompanied the information.
    “I haven’t seen Phil and Marge for ages.”
    “Gran’s here. She came down with Tom and Kelly from Newcastle and Callum and Susan are here too. Susan’s pregnant.”
    “Really. First Paice grandchild. Takes the pressure of Bridget, Mel and me to produce one.”
    “I’ve never pressured you to make me a grandmother,” said her mother. “I can wait, don’t you worry.”
    She took an opened bottle of champagne from the fridge, filled a flute to the brim and handed it to Joelle.
    “Bridget rang me this morning. She sounds happy but I miss her.”
    “So do I. But apart from her, the whole family’s here,” said Joelle. “Cool.”
    “Well, we thought we should make it a big one. You never know, do you, when things will change?” Her mother’s smile wavered slightly.
    “No.”
    The cancer had frightened them all. Terrified them, to be precise. No-one could envisage the family without William at the helm keeping his all-girl crew on course, safe and secure. Joelle still didn’t like to think about it, what might have been.
    “Is Mel here?”
    “Not yet. She’s coming though, she promised. I spoke to her yesterday.”
    More guests arrived and crowded into the kitchen with cries of, “Happy birthday, Natalie.”
    Joelle escaped with her champagne to the relative peace of the garden. It was too hot to sit in the sun. Most of the guests stood or sat in the shade of the large umbrellas on the terrace. Gran was ensconced on a cane garden chair in the shade of the large broad-leafed tree in the corner. Aunty Marge and Joelle’s cousin, Kelly, sat with her. The waitress was offering them drinks.
    “Hello Joelle, dear,” said Gran. “You just get prettier and prettier.”
    Joelle kissed the soft, powdered cheek, then her Aunty Marge’s tanned leathery one. They both had the same beaky nose and angular build as her father. Somehow she’d missed out on that Paice feature. Bridget had it. Mel had it in a modified fashion but Kelly had ducked it as well. She resembled her father, Phil, with plumply rounded arms and soft comfortable body.
    “Mum said Susan’s pregnant,” said Joelle. “How is she?” She glanced around the garden but couldn’t see her cousin Callum and his tall, willowy wife.
    “She’s sick every morning,” said Kelly. “Must be horrible. Puts me right off having babies.”
    “I was sick in the mornings with you,” said Aunty Marge, “And the evenings with Callum.”
    “Does it follow in families, I wonder?” asked Joelle. “That’s something to look forward to, Kel. I remember Mum was sick a lot with Melanie. I was only small but I still have memories of her lying down a lot and a blue plastic bucket by the bed.”
    “Yes, she had a difficult pregnancy,” said Gran. “We were all terribly worried. I carried babies very easily. Not a day’s illness with Margie or William. So did my mother, she popped all four of us out like piglets. I think it may run in families.”
    “I wish I was more like your side of the family Gran, but everyone says I look more like Mum than Dad.”
    “Anyone like another drink? I’ll find that girl.” Marge leapt to her feet and strode across the lawn to the house despite the fact everyone’s glasses had just recently been replenished. Joelle watched her