Chapter 37
Abigail looked at Ulysses sprawled along the sofa, his head on her lap. ‘So, we’re all set. Now, would you like to meet Toby?’
He lifted his head and woofed once.
She smiled. ‘I’ll take that as a yes.’
Abigail had set up the old projector in the corner of the living room. She was pleased she’d brought it back with her from the cottage, along with the movie reels. Although it was late, and she’d had a long day, she needed to do this. She needed to see Toby and tell him the incredible news:we’re having a baby.
‘Sorry, Ulysses, but I just need to get up and start the projector.’ She’d already threaded the reel. It was the very last one that Toby had made. She knew that if Lili was here, she’d think she was loopy, speaking to her husband on a home movie. But he just seemed so real, sitting there. She needed to do this.
‘Right. We’re all set.’ Abigail re-joined her dog on the sofa. ‘Here we go …’ The projector whirred.Ulysses’ears twitched at the unusual sound.
Abigail smiled as she stroked the top of his head to calm him, thinking he’d have to get used to it, because she intended to film all the home movies of their child in cine 8 film, just like Toby would have wanted.
Abigail was smiling at the thought when the white screen flickered to life. She frowned. ‘Oh, bother, I’ve threaded the wrong reel. How did that happen?’ She soon discovered it was one of Daphne’s movie reels. That was why she didn’t recognise it immediately. She wasn’t sure at first. It was one she hadn’t seen before. Abigail knew what had happened. In her haste to pack everything up and leave the cottage, she’d dumped all the reels in a box without thinking, Daphne’s included, and now they were all mixed up together. She’d have to sort through them and find the one she wanted.
Abigail was about to switch it off when Somerville Hall came into focus. That stopped her in her tracks. She sat back down. All the other reels she’d seen of Daphne’s were filmed at her cottage. Intrigued, Abigail resumed her seat. She didn’t know who was filming, but it was shot from a car, the movie footage slightly jumpy on the approach to the Hall. She guessed it had been taken late in the autumn. The trees were almost bare, and autumn leaves littered the grass on the approach to the house. A scarf flapped occasionally in front of the camera.
Abigail leaned forward in her seat as the footage jumped to inside the Hall. The camera zoomed towards a table that appeared to be set up for a children’s party. On the table was a vanilla sponge cake with icing and five candles. There were sausage rolls, crisps, jelly, and finger sandwiches. The camera panned out as four children, stiff-backed and lined up like little soldiers, marched into the room and took their seats. There were two girls and two boys.
The eldest child sat down first. With dark hair and dark eyes, she smiled confidently at the camera. Abigail guessed she was the eldest because she was taller than the other children. The two boys were next. A dark-haired boy sat down next to the girl, followed by a blonde boy with freckles. The last child, a girl in a pretty floral dress, walked in holding an adult’s hand. She hesitated before she sat down.
Abigail was reaching for her tea when she stopped. Staring at the little girl, she said, ‘No, it can’t be.’ She watched the little girl, still hesitating at the table. The adult who was with her, his top half obscured, a hand on her shoulder, knelt to speak to her and his face came into view, whispering in the child’s ear, encouraging her to take a seat. That’s when Abigail knew for sure. It was her stepdad, Gerald, withher. ‘That’s me. I’m on Daphne’s movie reel at Somerville Hall!’
Abigail picked up her cup of tea. She glanced at Ulysses. ‘Look, it’s me when I was little. But what am I doing there?’ She watched someone move the birthday cake in front of the blond boy sitting next to her. The camera panned in as the cake was lit.
Abigail’s eyes went wide when she realised who he was. ‘It’s Oliver! It must be his birthday,’ she said out loud. ‘So, the older girl who took a seat first must be Carys.’ She watched closely. ‘So, who’s the boy sitting next to Carys?’ she asked Ulysses.
Abigail reached for her phone and scrolled through to find Gerald’s number. Despite the time – it was ten in the evening on a work day, and she imagined he’d be in bed – he answered on the second ring. ‘Abigail, sweetheart, I tried to call. I heard you’ve returned to London.’
She pursed her lips, aware he’d tried to reach her; she had ignored his call. She furrowed her brow. ‘Who told you?’ She hadn’t had a chance to call her parents or Lili. That wasn’t strictly true. The truth was that she didn’t want to.
‘Look, Dad, I just …’ She was watching Oliver on the screen. ‘I needed to get away from …’ Abigail didn’t want to talk about what had happened at Somerville Hall that precipitated her packing up her things and heading back to London.
‘We’re worried about you.’
Abigail stroked Ulysses. ‘I’m okay.’ That was all she guessed he needed to hear. She heard him sigh in relief down the phone, before he said, ‘I popped round and the old guy next door said you left in a hurry. He saw you loading your suitcase into the car. I was just surprised you returned to London without letting us know. We were worried something had happened.’
Abigail’s eyes flickered to the home movie again, watching Oliver take a big breath before blowing out his candles. She counted five candles on the cake. Try as she might, Abigail couldn’t remember the party. ‘Gerry, do you recall taking me to a birthday party at Somerville Hall when I was little. I believe it was Oliver Somerville’s fifth birthday?’
He chuckled. ‘Oh, yes. I remember that all right. You didn’t want to go, but we kind of made you.’
‘Why?’
‘Why didn’t you want to go? Or why did we make you?’
‘Both – I guess.’
‘It isn’t every day that somebody gets a personal invitation to Somerville Hall. You got an invitation to go to Oliver’s fifth birthday.’
Abigail frowned. ‘Why?’
‘Can’t you guess? It was the fifth anniversary of the Great Storm, and so on Oliver’s birthday they invited children from the local area who were born that same night to have a joint birthday party up at the hall.’
Abigail was watching the home movie as another cake, this time pink, was brought out and placed on the table in front of her. There were five candles on the top. Abigail smiled when she saw Gerald kneeling again, a gentle hand on her shoulder. He was pointing at the candles, encouraging her to blow them out.
‘We couldn’t let the Somervilles down.’ There was a pause down the line before Gerald asked, ‘What’s brought on all the questions about that party?’