Annie sat in class and looked out at the playground. The sun was shining and the day looked warm but there was crispness in the breeze that meant coats at playtime. An October sharpness Ruth called it sometimes Annie thought with a secret smile. Max would be home from hospital in a month, Ruth had told them at breakfast that morning and the children cheered, for all of them missed their grandfather and his accident had heralded a particularly odd month in their lives.
Annie hoped that things would calm down now Rory was dead.
It was his funeral that morning but Annie had gone to school as if it was a normal day. She had not really known Rory Powell and she didn’t see the point in going to his funeral; Ruth had agreed. They had sat on Annie’s bed while Annie got ready for school and Ruth told her that none of them were going because they wanted too, but because they had to. Annie knew what she meant by that and she had not asked for an explanation. Sometimes things didn’t need to be said.
For now Vanessa and the children were living in the big house and the bungalow was for sale but Nessa was planning to stay in the village and she talked in a livelier voice than Annie had ever heard from her, about her plans for the future and she had hugged Annie and promised she would be the first overnight guest when they bought a new house.
They were burying Rory today like Annie had buried Selina. They were doing the right thing. And then they would get on with life because that’s what you do.
Jace and Jessie walked down the cliff path behind Vanessa and Ruth on their way to Rory’s funeral. Vanessa walked steadily and with her head held high and Jace had to admire her for that. Jessie held his hand tightly and he smiled down at her and kissed her hand tenderly. He didn’t want to go to the funeral of the man who had hurt Jessie, but she needed to go and she needed him with her. Jace would go with her and watch the curtain draw on the final act and then he would take her back to the pub and make a new life with her and Kia together.
He had a family now and he was the happiest man in the world. He was in the village he loved with the woman he had adored all of his life and their beautiful daughter, doing what he loved doing. He needed nothing more in his life now.
He was complete.
Tom Powell stood at the front of the church with his wife, daughter-in-law and his grandchildren. The expensive coffin Edith had insisted on seemed much smaller than he thought it should have been and it was all he could think about as he studied it. Surely Rory had been a bigger man than that Tom thought puzzled but then he hadn’t known anything about the man his son had grown into.
He glanced down at Stuart who stood holding his hand and he smiled up at his granddad. Stuart had stayed with Tom and Edith a lot in the week since Rory’s’ death and Tom was pleased for it was what Edith needed. He admired how unselfish of Vanessa it was to share the children with them when Rory had wronged them so badly. She could have kept the children away but she hadn’t and she had phoned them every day since the awful news of their son had broken.
Tom had put the surgery up for sale and he would leave it six weeks after the new practise doctors took over. The patients had been nothing but supportive and Tom had had nothing but good wishes from them but he was tired now. He was fifty-eight, he was weary and there was no heart in the place now his son had gone. He would sell up and he and Edith would love their three grandchildren and live peacefully beside the ocean that had taken their son.
Ruth’s mind was not on Rory even though her eyes were fixed on his coffin. Lee had phoned her from Australia that morning and told her that he and Colette were moving in together and preparing for the baby that would be born in June 2001. His voice was happy but there was flatness in it that Ruth could not describe. She hoped that he would heal in the sun and be happy with Colette and his child. He had saved Jessie and now it was time for him to move on. Ruth hoped he was making the right move.
Max would be home in four weeks and she was counting down the days. He would be in a wheelchair to start with and in preparation Ruth was turning one of the downstairs reception rooms into a temporary bedroom for them but by summer 2001 Max would be fully recovered and ready to play on the beach with his son, daughters and grandchildren.
Bryan squeezed her hand and she thanked God for the family she had been given when she met Max on that cruise boat eight years before. Annie would do well at school and make them proud and Bryan was a handsome lad who would settle down one day and make more babies for Ruth and Max to dote on until they died of old age in each others arms.
Vanessa stood tall and proud in a black tailored dress. She had tied her hair away from her face and she wore simple but elegant jewellery. She had chosen the flowers for the coffin and picked the hymns for the service and now she stood with her blue eyes on his coffin and her hands held by Steven and Susie.
She did not look at her children, or her family or the villagers, and she did not look at Reg Chandler who had found Rory’s bloated bruised body washed up on the beach six days before. She stared only at the coffin and thought about how different her life would be now.
She had heard whispered rumours that Rory had killed himself and she figured that they would probably record that verdict at the inquest but she didn’t believe Rory had killed himself. She knew he had been waiting to take his revenge. He would have made her and Jessie very sorry; and for that she could not be anything but glad that he was dead.
His death was the end. She was free now in a way that she would never have been free before and for that she was thankful. It was time now for her. Time to recover and live again. Time for laughter and joy and fun. Time to be a proper family and rediscover Vanessa Harper all over again.
So she would do this, she would watch his coffin go behind those curtains and then she would leave and it would be finished. Tom and Edith would take his ashes and bury them, and Vanessa sincerely hoped that now he could rest in peace. And if in her nightmares she saw the bad Rory; when she woke up she would try to remember the kind gentle Rory who had loved her so well in the years of their courtship and the first months of their marriage.
Maybe then she could find her own peace and the nightmares would stop.
I am sitting at the back of the church waiting for this farce to be over so we can go home. The allegations against Rory Powell have been dropped, after all he can’t do anything to us anymore now he is dead, and his parents have to live here in Porth Kerensa still. So we have dressed in smart clothes and we have come along to support Tom and Edith and Rory’s children who love him deep down, even if they think they don't.
Vanessa sits so still at the front of the little stone church and I am reminded of a porcelain doll when I look at her. She is pale and ethereal, her blonde hair tied back and her eyes dry. She reminds me of how she looked when she stood at the front of the church all those years ago dressed in white instead of black, and promising till death do us part. She has upheld her vow and now there is an inner strength in Nessa that had been missing for a long time. The coffin holds the earthly remains of her husband and she wears a look of freedom. She is free of him and ready to make a life for herself after she has seen this through for Edith and Tom’s sake.
There is money in the bank for Nessa left by Mother and some money that Rory had got stashed away, plus the sale from the bungalow so Vanessa and the children will make a new home for themselves in Porth Kerensa and the legacy of Rory Powell will be buried here today in the graveyard.
I snuggle in closer to Jace who is sitting with his arm round my shoulders and he drops a light kiss on my forehead. I breathe in the scent of him and I sigh for just being near him like this is enough sometimes and I wonder how I lived seven years away from him. He is my sun, my moon, my stars and I will never leave him again. How often do we get given a second chance?
I haven’t told him yet that I think I’m pregnant. I thought I’d wait for a few days and let this all be over before I do that. I have told him I accepted a job on an established BBC drama filmed in Bristol though and that I have started divorce proceedings. Contrary to what I said to him I actually quite like working in the pub in the evening. At least I know I can earn some money if the acting dries up now I’m back in England for good. Back with my parents and my brother and my sisters.
The coffin disappears behind the curtain and the congregation stand up to file out now the service is over. Vanessa stands with Tom and Edith at the door as people greet them and murmur condolences but it is brief and uncomfortable and only Tom and his wife are going on to bury Rory’s ashes. I stand with Jace watching until I am sure Vanessa is finished and then I go to her and lead her down the stony path. Together we walk out of the churchyard and back to the big white house on the cliff.
“It’s over now” I say quietly.
She is silent for a long time and when I ask her what is the matter she looks at me with tears in her eyes and says: “It’s a hard price to pay to be free.”
But I know that already.
The End
by Mary Atkins 22/06/04