The Back Road

2

Indicating left, Leo Harris swung her Audi Cabriolet from the main road onto the high street of Little Melham. Most people thought she was mad having a soft top and living in Manchester, but tonight the Cheshire air was warm and muggy and it was great to have the roof down. The drive from her home had only taken about half an hour, and once out of the city traffic and into the countryside the wind in her hair felt good after the stuffy heat of town. Rain was threatening again though, and the dark sky belied the fact that it was a summer evening. It had been stormy off and on all day, and it suited her mood. The odd flash of distant lightning against a black and turbulent sky was almost a mirror of her emotions.

As she drove slowly through the village she looked at the pretty shop fronts, noticing the new wine bar with its aluminium tables and chairs outside on the wide pavement, a line of huge planters separating customers from pedestrians. There was even a trendy looking restaurant squashed between the greengrocer’s and the baker’s, and she glimpsed high backed dark red chairs and white tablecloths through the soft light in the window.

A perfect place to live.

Smiling at the irony of her thoughts, she turned off the main street and down the lane towards the house.

As she saw the open gates ahead, her foot jerked off the accelerator. An automatic reflex. Fighting the compulsion to turn the car around and go home, her foot found its way back to the pedal, and the car moved steadily forward. She hoped that the driver of a lone car parked in the lay-by down the lane hadn’t noticed this strange behaviour. She turned into the bottom of the drive and stopped.

A chilling thought struck her. The first time she had arrived here by car had been twenty-two years ago. She had been with her father, and they had stopped in almost this exact position. She remembered feeling as if she’d been crying for days, but it had only been a few hours. Her father had tried to talk to her but she had refused to acknowledge what he was saying, and in the end he’d left her out here in the car while he went into the house alone.

She remembered that her weeping had finally subsided into occasional hiccupping sobs. That was when she’d heard the scream. She had never heard anything like it in her young life, but it sounded as if somebody’s soul was being ripped from their body. It went on and on.

Leo closed her eyes as the memory stabbed at her gut.

Seven years later she had walked down this drive for the very last time without a backward glance, shunning both the house and everybody in it. For a while that had even included Ellie, but her sister had refused to give up on her and for that - and so much more - Leo owed her. She had never imagined for a minute that after all this time she would be back here, sitting in this exact spot, trying to find the courage to walk through the front door. She’d put the visit off for so long, but tonight, driven by a strange and compelling impulse, she had thrown some clothes into a bag, grabbed her car keys, and set off, not knowing whether she would make it to her final destination or not. Just the thought of Ellie’s inevitable astonishment and relief when she opened the door was enough to spur Leo on.

The one good bit of news was that the house was impossible to recognise from the horrors of the early years of her life. Clever concealed lighting provided subtle illumination in the gardens, which were a picture with open lawns and wide beds filled with roses; a far cry from the neglected and unloved garden of her childhood. The cracked tarmac had been lifted and the drive re-laid with old cobbles, and the window frames were painted a pale cream that sat beautifully against the old red brick. But the biggest change of all was an impressive new atrium, linking the long low house to the adjoining barn. Flooded with light to compensate for the dark and gloomy clouds, it looked warm and inviting even to Leo.

She leaned back heavily against the headrest. She couldn’t just sit here, though. She had to get a grip of herself.

She flicked the switch to operate the electric roof. Even if she failed to make it through the front door and had to beat a hasty retreat, rain wasn’t far away. And anyway, it wasted a few more moments.

With the roof firmly in place, she completed the journey up the drive and parked in front of the house. Acting more decisively than she felt, she swung her legs out of the car, grabbed her bag from the back seat and walked determinedly to the front door to ring the bell. She didn’t have long to wait.

‘Leo! God, Leo! What a fantastic surprise. I was beginning to think we would never see you again.’

Leo looked at Ellie, and knew that her decision to come had been the right one. Ellie’s long chocolate brown hair framed her oval face and fell in waves to her shoulders. Her brown eyes were shining, but not with the pleasure that Leo had been expecting. The remnants of tears hung in slightly red-rimmed eyes, and although her wide and generous mouth was smiling, it was clear to Leo that this was an effort. Usually her smile could light up a room.

‘Come in, come in - it’s so great to see you. Welcome to the transformed Willow Farm.’

This was the moment Leo had been dreading. She had expected her senses to be bombarded as she stepped over the threshold, but was amazed that - for the moment - she felt nothing. No racing pulse, and none of the once familiar unease.

And then she got it. The house didn’t smell the same. Gone were the musty odours of neglect, and the sense that the house was short of air. A cool breeze was blowing through an open window, carrying the light perfume of roses. She looked at her sister, and waited for Ellie’s usual hundred watt smile. But it didn’t come.

Leo picked her small suitcase up to avoid the inevitable sisterly hug and leaned forward to peck Ellie on the cheek.

‘Oh, before I forget. I found this on the step,’ Leo said, holding out a yellow rose.

Ellie stared at it with a look that Leo couldn’t interpret. She didn’t take the rose, but she seemed mesmerised by it.

‘Are you okay, Ellie?’ Leo gave her sister a concerned frown.

Ellie waved her hand in front of her eyes, as if fanning away the tears.

‘Oh yes - the eyes. Sorry - I’ve been peeling onions, and they got to me a bit. Chuck that rose on the garden, will you. It’s probably one I dropped when I was cutting some for the house earlier. Anyway, I’m fine. And I am so pleased to see you. I can’t tell you what it means that you’ve come, and I hope you’re going to stay for a while.’

‘I’ve brought a few things with me, in the hope that you could put up with me for a few days,’ Leo said, lifting her case a bit higher as evidence. ‘I couldn’t keep making excuses - at least not if I wanted to see you and Max more often. Not to mention the twins. Where are they all?’

‘I’ve only just put the twins to bed - but we can pop up in a minute and see if they’re still awake. They’ll be delighted to see you. Max is at his school’s end of term barbecue. Staff only. No partners allowed. It’s at the rugby club and it will go on forever, so God knows what state he’ll be in when he comes home. For a load of teachers, their behaviour can sometimes be pretty appalling. A good job the students don’t see them.’

Leo gazed around her, and was staggered by how beautiful the old house was looking. The wide hallway was no longer full of clutter, and instead of the dreary faded wallpaper that had adorned the walls when she had lived there, they were now painted a pale honey colour, and hung with a couple of large modern landscapes. A tall side table stood against one wall, made from a dark wood that seemed old, but was fashioned with clean straight lines. And the alcove that had previously housed a battered roll top desk, piled high with dusty old correspondence and torn envelopes, now had a new floor to ceiling window looking out over the garden, with a comfortable armchair and a low table displaying a huge vase of apricot and yellow roses, the source of the delicate fragrance she had noticed.

Leo glanced at Ellie, who was looking at her with a nervous expression. She probably wasn’t sure if Leo was going to turn tail and run.

‘It’s okay, Ellie. I’m all right. Really I am. This is quite stunning, and I would never guess that it was the same house. Relax.’

Ellie smiled with relief. She grabbed Leo’s hand and pulled her farther in.

‘This is only the start of it - if you like the hallway, wait until you see the dining room and the kitchen. I’m delighted with the whole place. I’m only just getting used to it, and it’s sometimes hard to remember that it’s our house. We nearly didn’t do it, you know. I think Max wanted to sell it, but I couldn’t - you know that. It had such huge potential, and we’ve exorcised the ghosts - and I mean that quite literally. Max danced around, demanding that all spiritual entities be evicted, in the name of a higher power - that higher power, of course, being him. You know what he’s like. He even found some Islamic verse that is supposed to repair the damage caused by witchcraft, and given that he always referred to my mother as The Old Witch it seemed very appropriate. I laughed so much I could never again think of there being a single spook left.’

Leo could well imagine this scene. Always the clown, Max could bring a smile to anybody’s face.

She dumped her bag at the bottom of the stairs as Ellie dragged her forward past open doorways through which she glimpsed rooms that she barely recognised. There was nothing here to remind her of the past, and although she hadn’t been here for such a long time, she could remember every inch of how it used to be.

‘It’s amazing. You’re right. You have transformed it.’ Never one for going over the top, Leo did her best to reassure her sister that she loved the place. But her words didn’t accurately convey her astonishment at the difference.

The room in which they were now standing was completely new in every way. If you could call it a ‘room’. They were in the atrium that Leo had noticed from the drive. She remembered the old barn, of course, but she didn’t recall it ever being used for much because in her lifetime this had never been a working farm. And now Ellie and Max had created this incredible atrium dining room, complete with old flagged floor, to connect the barn to the main house. Its pitched roof was constructed of aged oak beams, with huge panes of glass between. The dark and sombre clouds gave way to a burst of sunshine, which bounced the warm tones of evening light from the walls for a moment, and Leo could imagine the parties that Ellie and Max would host.

Her sister must have been reading her mind.

‘We’ve invited a few people over for dinner tomorrow to celebrate the fact that the house is now finally finished, and I’m looking forward to christening this room.’

Leo’s heart sank. Ellie loved to entertain, but she preferred to deal with people one at a time, and the idea of a big dinner party the following day filled her with dismay.

‘Oh, Ellie - I’m sorry. I should have called before just turning up. I can always either go back home tomorrow or stay in my room while your guests are here. I’m good at keeping quiet, as you might remember!’

Ellie smiled and looked is if she were about to try for another hug. Leo took a step backwards, and saw a flicker of disappointment in her sister’s eyes.

‘Don’t be silly, Leo. There’s no way that you are going to rush straight off now that we’ve got you here. Stay as long as you like. There’s plenty of food, and we already have an odd man coming. I don’t mean that he’s odd-odd, just that he’s an odd number. He’s actually rather nice, but he’s on his own and only recently moved into the cottage next door. He’s a policeman, so you’d better watch your step,’ Ellie said with a smile. ‘Come on. The kitchen’s through here now, in the old barn. And beyond my dream kitchen is Max’s dream media suite. But I’ll let him show you that tomorrow.’

Leo could just make out the vague smell of onions, and persuaded herself that they really were the cause of Ellie’s tears. She couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed that she wasn’t going to have Max, Ellie and the twins to herself all weekend, but perhaps this was a better reintroduction to her old home. She certainly couldn’t remember a single party of any description in the years that she had lived here.

* * *

What bloody awful timing, Ellie thought. She had waited so long for Leo to break through the barriers that had prevented her from visiting during the renovation. Now she was here - and Ellie couldn’t help wishing she wasn’t.

She loved her sister, and Leo’s dreadful memories of her life in this house had almost been enough to stop Ellie from moving here. Almost. Max hadn’t been madly enthusiastic either, although he had gone along with it. Perhaps he simply didn’t care where they lived anymore. In the end, neither of them had fought her. They knew why it was so important to her, even though they thought she was chasing rainbows.

She opened a drawer and pulled out a couple of napkins and grabbed some cutlery to put on a tray. They could take supper through to the sitting room - away from the kitchen and the memory of the earlier phone call - and she would open a decent bottle of wine. For the first time in her adult life, Ellie felt that she didn’t need to worry about money, and yet life didn’t seem better. It felt infinitely worse.

Their newfound riches were all thanks to her mother. If that hadn’t been so sad, it would have been enough to make Ellie laugh. Her mother had pleaded poverty since their father had disappeared all those years ago, but when she died she had left Ellie not only the house but a vast sum of money that she had clearly been squirreling away for God knows how long. But not a penny for Leo.

Ellie mentally shook herself. Leo would be down any moment, and she needed to get her head together. The twins had been overjoyed to see their aunt, and Ellie could only imagine how many stories they had demanded. Leo was totally unlike her cynical and unyielding self with the children, but Ellie couldn’t watch tonight. It would have made her emotional, and that would have been hard to explain.

She moved to the fridge and opened the door, hunting out some bits and pieces for supper. They could eat the paté, even though it was still a bit warm, and she’d made some houmous for the twins at lunch time. There was still some of that left.

Her mind drifted.

She stood gazing into the fridge, feeling a cool draught of air on her cheeks and staring blindly at the shelves of food. Nobody could see into the kitchen now, but she could sense him, skulking outside in the darkening night. She could feel his eyes penetrating the closed blinds, and was sure that if she drew them back, his face would be pressed hard against the window, his features distorted as they crushed against the glass. She glanced over her shoulder, almost expecting to see him lurking in a dark corner somewhere.

Snap out of it. Her eyes came back into focus, and she surveyed the contents of the fridge. Cheese. They had a ton of it, bought for the dinner party the following night. They could eat some of that too, and she would get some more tomorrow from the deli in the village.

Uncovering dishes and unwrapping cheese, Ellie thought about her predicament. Why wouldn’t he accept that it was over? She just wanted him out of her life.

She knew Leo would help her if she asked. But for the last twenty odd years Leo had been secure in the knowledge that she could rely on Ellie; the one person she believed was beyond reproach. Ellie couldn’t be responsible for destroying the last of her sister’s illusions.

Putting the final plate of food on a tray, Ellie threw a last nervous glance at the closed blinds as she switched off the lights, painted a smile on her face, and went in search of Leo.