Page 51 of Behind Closed Doors
‘The terrace will be lovely,’ says Janice. ‘We should make the most of this gorgeous weather, especially as it’s not going to last.’
We go through the hall, into the kitchen and out onto the terrace, where cans of cold drinks and fruit juices are sitting in ice. The glasses are already on the table; there will be no going back inside to fetch them and leaving me alone with Janice and Millie. With so many people joining us this afternoon, Jack is going to have his work cut out keeping an eye on me.
We sip our drinks and make polite conversation. Millie doesn’t sit still for long; she’s far too excited and goes off to explore the garden. We catch up with her while we’re showing Janice around.
‘Would you like to see your bedroom, Millie?’ Jack asks.
She nods enthusiastically. ‘Yes please, Jack.’
‘I hope you’re going to like it.’
‘I like yellow,’ she says happily.
The four of us go upstairs and Jack opens the door to the master bedroom where he sleeps and where, this time, items I have never seen before but which are obviously meant to belong to me—a silk dressing gown, bottles of perfume and some magazines—give the impression that I sleep there too. When Millie shakes her head and tells him that it’s not her bedroom, he shows her one of the guest bedrooms, which is decorated in blue and white.
‘What do you think?’ he asks.
She hesitates. ‘Is pretty, but not yellow.’
He moves on to the room I used to inhabit. ‘What about this one?’
Millie shakes her head. ‘Don’t like green.’
Jack smiles. ‘It’s just as well it’s not your room then.’ Janice joins in the game. ‘Maybe it’s over there,’ she says, pointing to the door further down the landing. Millie runs and opens it and finds a bathroom.
‘Why don’t you try that door?’ suggests Jack, pointing to the door to my box room.
She does as he says. ‘Is horrible.’ She frowns, peering inside. ‘I not like it.’
‘It is horrible, isn’t it?’ I agree.
‘Don’t worry, Millie, I’m only teasing,’ Jack laughs. ‘There’s still one door that you haven’t tried, opposite the master bedroom. Why don’t you have a look in there?’
She runs back down the landing, opens the door and lets out a squeal of delight. By the time we’ve caught up with her, she’s bouncing up and down on the bed, the skirt of her pink dress billowing around her, and she looks so happy that tears well up inside me. I swallow them down quickly, reminding myself of all that is at stake.
‘I think she likes it,’ Jack says, turning to Janice.
‘Who wouldn’t? It’s gorgeous!’
He only gets Millie to leave the room with the promise of lunch. We go downstairs and, on the way to the dining room, where we are to eat, Jack shows Millie and Janice the rest of the house.
‘What in here?’ Millie asks, trying the door to the basement. ‘Why it locked?’
‘It leads to the basement,’ Jack tells her.
‘What the basement?’
‘It’s where I like to keep things,’ he says.
‘Can I see?’
‘Not now.’ He pauses a moment. ‘But, when you come and live with us, I’ll be more than happy to show you.’
It’s hard to carry on, but with his hand hard on my back I don’t have much choice. We eat an informal lunch of cold meats and salads and, while we’re having coffee, Millie asks if she can explore the garden again, so we carry our cups out onto the terrace.
‘I hope you approve of the home we’ve provided for Millie,’ Jack says, pulling out chairs for us to sit on.
‘Definitely.’ Janice nods. ‘I can see why you wanted to wait until the work was finished before Millie saw the house. It really is marvellous. It must have been a huge undertaking.’
