Not Your Cinderella

Chapter 4 - Part 5: Drive safe

On Saturday morning, early, Jess picked up her holdall from the hall floor and strode through the front door of the cottage and out to her dad's car for the second time. Her dress was already hanging from the grab handles in the back seat and was protected by a black bin bag. She opened the boot, put in her holdall, closed it and went round to the driver's side. She turned back to face her dad who had come into the yard with her and he threw her the keys. She caught them deftly with a sweeping underarm and they both smiled.

'Howzat?' Jess said, as she always did at the end of this newly formed ritual. She'd only passed her driving test a year ago. It was the only test she'd had to do twice and her first failure still annoyed her.

'Take good care of the old girl,' said her dad patting his battered silver Honda. 'And you've got the breakdown number on your phone, yeah?' They'd been through this already. 'Not that she'll give you any problems. And remember to take a break if you get tired.'

'It's only a three-hour drive, Dad. I'll be fine.' Jess was sure she would be fine but the upcoming drive to north Northamptonshire would be the longest she'd done solo. She'd insisted on driving herself even though her dad had offered to drop her off and stay at a pub. She was a big girl, now, she reminded herself with a mental chuckle. 'See you tomorrow.'

'You don't need to come back straight away, you know. We're here till Tuesday.'

'Are you kidding?' Jess said without looking him in the eye, 'How could I miss one of Aunt Lucy's famous Sunday roasts?' She turned to grin at her aunt who'd come outside to wave her off and was now leaning against the garden gate.

'Have a wonderful time, my love. I can't wait to hear all about it,' her aunt said, her head tilted to one side.

Jess smiled at them both and then swung herself into the driving seat and closed the door. She turned on the engine and executed the smoothest U-turn she'd ever done. But just as she slowed to go past the cottage and give her dad and Lucy a final wave, her dad held up his hand and flagged her down, motioning for her to open the passenger window.

'What's up, Dad?' Jess said as she did so.

She hoped he hadn't spotted anything wrong with the car, it might be too late to get a train now. Her dad was fumbling in his back pocket then he reached into the open window and put something on the passenger seat. Jess looked at it slightly bewildered. It was an oblong box covered in rather tarnished burgundy velvet and it had a tiny copper clasp.

Without waiting for Jess to ask, her dad said, 'It's something for you to wear at the ball, if you like ... And if it goes with your dress and whatnot.'

Her gruff dad seemed nervous all of a sudden. Jess was immediately delighted and then immediately worried. She reached towards the box, but her dad held his hand on top of it.

'Don't open it now, love, eh? Wait until you're there.'

Tears sprang into Jess's eyes. She had never doubted her dad's love but he wasn't one for gestures and this box clearly held jewellery.

'Dad, you shouldn't have,' she said softly.

'I didn't. I was going to wait until your twenty-first or maybe your wedding day ... I don't know. But it feels right to give it to you now. It was your mum's.'

Jess stared at the box and then up at her dad. Her mind a blank. Then her dad had stepped back from the window and slapped his hand twice on the car roof – the universal sign of dismissal for dads everywhere.

'Drive safe,' he half shouted as he turned his back and walked towards his sister at the gate.

Not knowing what to do, and her mind filling with remembered images she didn't want to relive, not now, not ever, Jess faced the track ahead, her vision blurred, and put her foot on the accelerator.