Love to Hate You: Three's a Crowd

Chapter 4 - An Apology

'Sorry,' Vicky whimpered, as she looked at Rudy with a pitiful grimace. She'd been apologising the entire drive back, and had no compunction about continuing to do so as they arrived home to the open arms of Aunt Vee (who was obviously Rudy's mother, but who seemed to have acquired a double-barred first name of "Aunt-Vee"), who had been babysitting Isla so that Vicky could get drunk on free wine mid-week, whilst Rudy brought himself up-to-date on the Early Years' provision at the progressive independent school the Fielding and Paxton children all attended.

'Trouble in paradise?' Vee asked, as she moved from hugging her son to hugging her daughter-in-law. She held Vicky in her arms a fraction longer than necessary, before whispering, 'laying it on nice and thick, I see?' with a gentle smirk. Vee doted on her son, but she saw so much of herself in her daughter-in-law that she couldn't help but make allowances for her that no loving mother usually would.

'I can't lay it on thickly enough!' Vicky bemoaned. 'Not this time. I've massively f*cked up and I've no idea how to put it right!' That Rudy didn't immediately correct or console the younger woman was worrying.

'Darling?' Vee asked, turning to her son.

'There was an unfortunate misunderstanding with Isla's teacher. An accusation was made and not only did Vicky believe it, but she didn't see fit to tell me about it until we were at the Cheese and Wine event, in front of Raffey and Mattie and God only knows who else.'

'Please!' Vicky cried. 'I can explain.'

'I think you should,' Vee agreed, moving to the living room and pouring herself another glass of wine. 'Will it take long? Should I stay over?'

'If you're going to drink that whole glass, then yes, you should,' Rudy told her, in his best, disapproving doctor's voice.

'But what about Xander?' Vicky asked him with a worried look. 'Shouldn't Aunt Vee... y'know... comfort him or something?'

'Xander?' the older woman asked, her eyebrows rising in surprise. 'What has this little falling-out got to do with Xander?' Rudy sighed before lowering himself onto the sofa beside his mother, leaving Vicky to stand awkwardly in front of the coffee table.

'Isla's new teacher – Amy – saw Xander drop Isla off at school on Monday. She assumed that he was Isla's father – I hadn't met her until this evening – and so she assumed that Xander was Vicky's husband.'

'Right,' Vee said with authority. 'And I assume that Xander has slept with her, and that she thought that meant she'd slept with Vicky's husband, so she confessed and Vicky believed it.'

'Yes,' Rudy agreed.

'And you only found out about it this evening?' He nodded. Vee turned her attention to her daughter-in-law, an indulgent look in her eyes. 'So, you staged a big reveal at school? Maximum impact?' Vicky winced.

'Well, yes, but if he'd actually cheated on me it would have been no less than he deserved!'

'But I didn't and you should have known that!' Rudy said, with quiet exasperation. There was a slightly pleading quality to his voice, which betrayed how hurt he was that his wife had ever doubted him.

'And I would have, but she said she'd slept with you five or six times. She said she stopped seeing you about a month ago because you went away for work, and you did go to that medical conference. Obviously, she meant the contract Xander took in Italy, but how was I to know that when she said she saw you at drop-off? You were supposed to have done drop-off. You let me think you did!'

'Mmmm,' Vee pouted, with a thoughtful look. 'This sounds like a case of "head says one thing, and the heart says another". Painful for everyone, and very difficult to judge.'