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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Things fall apart, things come together

Only a few weeks after Kate and Hugh separated, things started to go badly wrong for Hugh. He had moved into their small flat in London, and Kate hadn’t spoken to him since their final argument. And, to make it worse, Jeremy and Caroline had turned their backs on him too.

Kate simply tried to get on with her life while the divorce was going through. Then, one evening, Hugh called her. His voice sounded strange, as if he’d been drinking, and Kate wondered how much he’d had this time.

‘Listen, Kate,’ he said. ‘I’m in deep trouble. Everything has fallen apart. Clerides found out about Melpa and me, and took all his money out of the fund. Then he persuaded Mazumdar to do the same. When Manningham found out, he took his money out too. The whole fund has collapsed, and now the others are coming after me for the money they lent me. I have nothing left. Even the house. I had to offer it as security and now they’ll take it away from us.’

‘You what!’ shouted Kate. ‘You gambled with our house without telling me. and now you’ve lost it. What am I supposed to do now? Where am I supposed to live?’

‘It’s all my fault, I know,’ said Hugh. ‘I was a fool to borrow so much. I thought it was safe, but now-‘

‘Now you’re in a hole,’ said Kate in a hard voice, ‘and you don’t know how to climb out of it. So why come to me? What do you expect me to do? You’ve ruined my life too. especially if they take the house. My God, I wish I’d never met you.’

‘I can’t think straight,’ said Hugh in his thick, drunken voice, ‘and they may call in the police too. There were some things I did-‘

‘Look, Hugh, I have enough to do to save what I can of my own stuff - I can’t get involved with yours too. You made your choice, now you can live with it. Don’t bother me again, understand?’ And she put down the phone.

Kate was a quick-thinking, realistic woman. She realised that there was no hope of saving the house, so she had all the contents packed and put into store. Then she and Corrie moved into her mother’s old house in Lewisham.

Jan only found out about this when they met in the local supermarket by chance one Friday evening.

‘What are you doing here?’ Jan asked, completely surprised by this unexpected meeting.

‘Something happened. I needed to move out of the house in Marlow. So I’ve moved into Mother’s place. Strange, isn’t it? I never expected to find myself living here again.’

‘But.’ For once, Jan couldn’t find any words. She wanted to complain that Kate couldn’t just move in like that, but of course she could. The house was hers. It wasn’t Jan’s business any more.

‘Well, I wouldn’t have chosen to move back here, but I had no choice. Hugh’s investment fund has collapsed and he’s being chased by everyone who lent him money. At least I have somewhere to live. And actually the old house is really quite comfortable, and there’s plenty of space. It needs to be repainted and modernised, but it’s got lots of possibilities. And the garden is still lovely.’

‘Yes, the garden,’ said Jan. ‘I was going to contact you about that. I’ve still got Mother’s ashes at home. We need to arrange to scatter them in the garden. That’s what she wanted.’

‘So when do you want to do that?’

‘Well, I suppose now that you’re there, it will have to be at a time that suits you,’ said Jan.

‘Well, how about next weekend - Sunday afternoon? Is that OK?’

‘I’ll need to invite a few people too: Cindy and Giovanni - her new boyfriend - my boss Dave, Corrie if she’s with you. What about your kids?’

‘I don’t think so, Jan. But I’ll be there, of course. Do you want Corrie to prepare something to eat or anything?’

“That would be nice. Just some snacks and drinks will be enough. Don’t go to too much trouble.’

‘OK, let’s say four o’clock on Sunday afternoon then?’

‘Right. I’ll tell the others, and I’ll bring Mother’s ashes with me.’

It was a perfect June day when they all gathered in the garden of Sarah’s house. There was a light breeze. Jan took the heavy pot containing Sarah’s ashes and threw a handful in the air. The breeze caught them and blew the white cloud across the grass and the flowers. She handed the pot to Kate, who did the same. Then it was Cindy’s turn. They took turns until the pot was empty. Sarah had gone back to her garden, just as she had wanted. No-one spoke for a while. Everyone was remembering Sarah in their thoughts.