“They’re more mum than usual,” Mavis said softly to George as she handed him the serving dishes filled with garden peas and cauliflower cheese. Most of the food was already on the table, but she had noticed that their lodgers—usually a boisterous bunch—were subdued tonight.
“They’ve got summat on their minds, and no mistake,” George replied, bancing the bowls as Mavis gathered the carrots and roasted potatoes.
“They weren’t like this at breakfast,” she said, just before shouldering open the door between the kitchen and dining room. Her smile started out a little forced, but the looks of anticipation on the seven seated faces transformed it into the genuine article.
“There you go, love,” she said—speaking, as always, to Aric as if he were the only one in the room. “Roast beef with onion gravy, Yorkshire pudding, and all the trimmings.”
“Some of this is for the rest of us, right?” Hank murmured to Edith, earning a shoulder bump in return.
“This looks wonderful, Mavie,” Aric said, and Mavis—already blushing—giggled like a girl. Edith shook her head at him.
You are incorrigible, she thought. She wasn’t sure if he heard her, but he turned and smiled all the same. Until he saw her fail to smile in response.
They’d long since given up trying to convince Mavis and George to join them at the table—though Mavis had nearly reconsidered when Aric once suggested, “You could squeeze in right here next to me.” Ed Martell was certain that, tucked away in their private dining room, the couple were enjoying the same excellent meal.
George had been right, of course. They had summat on their minds.
The four children had bid them farewell earlier, lingering longest with Delphine and Aric—both recipients of exuberant hugs from small arms and legs stretched as far as they could go. The entire group had reconvened at the top of the cliff.
“Well,” Edith said, gncing at Aric, “that was certainly exciting.” Delphine looked as if joy had been printed on her face in permanent ink—cheeks flushed, eyes bright. For reasons Edith couldn’t quite name, the sight sent a dull ache through her chest.
Aric did something that made her happy. Why should I be jealous of that?
She’d spent the rest of the afternoon trying to answer that question.
She wasn’t the only one quietly sorting through what they’d seen—or felt. And though George and Mavis were now two rooms away, no one felt quite comfortable speaking aloud about it. Even so, there was plenty to discuss. Before long, the room was abuzz with conversation, the magical events of the day relegated to a comfortable background noise, like a distant waterfall—pleasant, but not distracting. But Edith’s contribution was noticeably lessened.
The sounds from the kitchen attracted Mavis, whose compints that it was her job, not her paying guests, to wash dirty dishes went unheeded. She had to console herself with storing the leftover food, and her promise that everyone would have roast beef sandwiches to take on their trip home.
“Time to go, ds,” George said to the room at rge, “if we want to get a seat.”
“Where are you lot off to?” Mavis asked.
Alex spoke first. “George is taking us to The Red Lion in Newquay.”
“The County Championship is still going on. Somerset vs. Middlesex is starting soon. We’re going to the pub to watch,” Alex expined.
“And for a pint. Or two,” Hank added.
“The County...” Aric began to ask.
“The cricket,” Mavis expined with an eye roll. “Waste of time, if you ask me.”
“Well, we didn’t ask you,” George said half joking. “You’re welcome to come, d,” George said to Aric, “if Mavie’ll let you out of her sight.”
Mavis snapped a damp dish cloth at her husband. “Well I never.”
The room erupted in gentle ughter. Like any good comedian Aric waited for it to dissipate before replying.
“That’s George, but I pn on revisiting a couple of the coves you showed us. Do you have a small bag or sack I can borrow?”
George’s face became serious. “Remember what I said d, not worth your life trying to get into some of those.”
Mavis’ face also became serious as she clutched her hands, the damp cloth squeezed between them.
Aric looked at her and smiled. “I promise both of you, I won’t pce myself in any sort of danger. Besides, if I died you’d never let me hear the end of it.”
“You’re sure you don’t want to come?” Aric asked Edith.
Ed sat in the front seat of George’s 1972 Land Rover Series IIA while Hank, Carlos and Alex sat on the center facing seats in the back, two of them using the spare tire mounted behind the front seat as a footrest as George drove into town and discussed the recent FA Cup Final between Everton and Watford. Aric was the only men who hadn’t gone. Carol had begged off once she discovered that it was not rugby they were going to watch while Delphine y on her bed and revelled in the memories of her experience on the beach.
“I’ll stay as well,” Carlos had said to Carol quietly, so as not to offend. “Not a fan of cricket. Not a sport any self respecting Catan gentleman would py. Or watch.”
“You should go anyway. Male bonding is definitely something a Catan gentleman should practice.”
Carlos looked at her for a moment to see if she was serious. She was.
“Ja que ho has dit així, d’acord.” Since you put it that way, fine.
“I’ll stay here,” she answered Aric ftly. “If you want company you might ask Delphine.”
Aric didn’t need special powers to recognize the song half sung. Edith was closed up tight and Aric, almost by reflex, did likewise. But his hurt feelings couldn’t completely be ignored. His heart began to pound as the blood rose to his face.
His next question bore a hint of accusation. “Delphine? Not Carol?”
“Ask whoever you like,” She said with a note of finality.
Aric simply nodded, swallowing against the lump in his throat. He rolled the sack George had given him into a tight round before walking out the kitchen door. It took Edith a moment to notice he’d left his coat on the hook, and that anyone who saw him would wonder how he could stand the cold brisk breeze wearing nothing but shirt and scks.
Why did I have to say that? Why did I have to act like that?
She knew why, though she resisted admitting it.
“Trouble in paradise?” Carol asked from behind her. She turned to see her best friend leaning against the door frame that led between kitchen and dining room. She’d seen her friend become increasingly quiet the longer Aric and Delphine had spent together on the beach. Carol and Carlos would occasionally share a look, and she saw that he could also see what was happening.
Edith’s mind was only half engaged with her friend. “No trouble. Everything’s fine.”
Carol looked down at her feet for a moment, trying to decide how far she wanted to get mixed up in this.
“If you say so,” She said finally, which earned her Edith’s full attention.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means lie to yourself, but don’t lie to me. I’m not stupid.”
“I’m not stupid either.”
“No, you’re not stupid, you’re jealous.”
Edith prepared to open her mouth to object but stopped.
“I get it. Really, I do. After what we saw. But think about it. What happened, really? What change of conditions are you reacting to? You’re a scientist—analyze the data and give me your conclusion.”
Edith didn’t have time to reply before Mavis, who had been standing quietly in the hallway, listening and waiting for her moment, stepped through the door.
Both women turned to look at her. Edith opened her mouth to offer some excuse—until Mavis walked toward her and opened her arms. As they closed around her, Edith’s mind fshed back eighteen years.
Nine-year-old Edith Hoyles had been pying rough and tumble with three boys (whom she liked secretly and mildly abused publicly) when she fell and gashed her hand badly on a piece of broken gss. She stared at the wound, the blood pouring from her palm in what her young mind believed was a mortal injury. The three boys stood frozen, ashen-faced, as she cmped her good hand over the cut and turned to walk home. None of them followed. None asked if she was okay. She held in her fear, grief, and fury all the way back—steady, silent—until she reached her front door. She turned the knob and stepped inside, leaving a small bloody handprint in her wake. And at the first glimpse of her mother, the dam burst.
“Oh, my poor ss. What’s happened to you?” her mum had asked.
Mavis’s outstretched arms—warm and sure—had exactly the same effect.
“There, there, love,” Mavis murmured as Edith’s sobs soaked her shoulder. “The path of true love never did run smooth.”
She slowly guided Edith to a chair at the table and sat beside her, still holding her hand. Carol sat down as well, the three of them forming a quiet circle of comfort.
“I used to fuss and fume something dreadful when George paid attention to pretty girls like this ss here,” Mavis said, smiling at Carol. “I see now that all that time I spent holding a grudge was wasted—time I could’ve been happy, but wasn’t. Time I’ll never get back.”
She gave Edith’s hand a gentle squeeze as her tears slowed.
“I don’t say it don’t mean nothin’,” Mavis added. “It definitely means summat. But it don’t mean he loves you any the less.”
Carol reached across the table and id her hand over theirs as she spoke.
“It’s that idea we all get stuck on—that love is finite. Like it’s parceled out in quanta, like a conservation principle. As if loving one person more means loving someone else less.”
She paused, then added, “The quality of love is not strained—it droppeth like... something from heaven. I forget what.”
“Gentle rain,” Edith completed the quote for her friend as she wiped the tears from her eyes—her own gentle rain of sorts. “And it’s mercy, not love.”
“It goes double for love,” Mavis replied, smiling back as she patted her hand.
Edith ughed, grabbed a napkin, and wiped her nose.
“I’ve never loved anyone like I love him. No one’s ever driven me crazy like this. When we’re together, it’s heaven. But when I think of losing him—” she shook her head, “—it’s torture. I don’t know if it’s a blessing or a curse.”
“It’s both,” Mavis and Carol said in perfect unison.
The three women burst out ughing.
“Now,” Mavis said, rising with purpose, “I think we could all do with a cuppa.”
Carol—who thought tea tasted like wn clippings—gnced at Edith and silently mouthed:
Help me.
