Page 42 of Escape to the Country

Mum was so very excited; she’d never been on a plane before. There was me, who flew up to Scotland for work at least once a month, taking the experience for granted, and she was like a toddler, excited about this being her first time. She held my hand as we took off, and I could see the exhilaration in her face as the plane tore up the runway and lifted off the ground. She whooped with joy and the other passengers laughed kindly at her enthusiasm as she explained she was a flight virgin.

It was a really smooth flight, for which I was most grateful. I didn’t want a bit of bumpy old turbulence to put her off ever doing it again. Her smile was bigger than I’d ever seen as we landed. Her delight was contagious and I found myself being more excited about this cruise than I had felt about anything for a long time. A short coach journey brought us into Venice docks.

‘Bloody hell, would you look at the size of that!’ Mum yelled, much to the disgust of the lady in the seat behind who tutted loudly while the other coach passengers giggled. She winked at me, smiled at the lady behind and turned back to the ship. It was blooming massive. The sheer hugeness of it surprised even me. It had sixteen floors, and I had no idea how we were going to find our way around the ship, let alone find our cabin!

The luggage check-in line moved quickly and we got through security smoothly and very excitedly boarded the ship. The first things we noticed were the thick, plush carpet and polished stair rails as we went to find our room. We were in Suite 1404. We loved the fact that they called our cabin a ‘suite’, laughing at how posh it sounded as we made our way to our floor. All we could see ahead of us was one huge, long corridor as we tried to find door 1404.

But what greeted us when we opened the door with the key card left us totally stunned. It really was a suite, with a lounge area, a bathroom with a huge walk-in shower, an enormous bedroom and a balcony with two rattan sun loungers and matching deck chairs.

‘This can’t be right. This is amazing. I’ll ring down to reception and sort it out. There’s obviously been a mix up.’

‘No, Miss Young,’ said the receptionist when I rang. ‘Suite 1404 is definitely correct for you. The competition prize was for a luxury suite for Miss Beth Millington, all confirmed a few weeks ago and gifted to Miss Madison Young just a few days ago.’

I took a few quick snaps of our amazing suite on my phone and texted them to Beth with a huge thank you message. The text that came back was a smiley face emoticon and one word – ‘Enjoy!’

There was an itinerary on the bed. The ship set sail at 4.30p.m., a formal dinner would be served at 7p.m. in the dining room and then by the time we woke tomorrow, we would have arrived in Bari. We were free to leave the ship to explore during the day, then we set sail for Athens the following evening at 6p.m.

‘How do you fancy going to explore before we get ready for dinner, Mum?’

‘I could murder a G&T,’ she replied with a huge grin. ‘Do you think we might find a bar?’

‘I should think there’s a very good chance of that. Let’s go.’ We linked arms as we pottered off to explore. We were just heading for the top deck when over the tannoy came an announcement to report to the dining room for the lifeboat drill. It was all very serious but Mum kept making me laugh and one of the attendants told us off for not paying attention.

Once the drill was over, we made our way to the top deck, which was now starting to fill up, and sat on two stools at the bar and found ourselves drinking Cosmopolitans. Mum wanted a G&T but the waiter, who introduced himself as Lorenzo (bronzed and tall, with floppy black hair, twinkly almost-black eyes, and a very sexy Italian accent) persuaded her to try a cocktail instead. If I had suggested it she would never have had one, but as she took the drink from him, he brushed his hand against hers, and as she sipped at it, she smiled at him and almost purred that it was the best drink she had ever had. She was such a bloody flirt. How had I never noticed this before?

Taking a leaf out of Mum’s book, I fluttered my eyelashes at him seductively but when he handed me mine, he also passed me a tissue, asking me if I had something in my eye. Mum found that so hilarious she nearly fell off her chair. Cheers for that, Mum. It made me wonder how mums have the knack of making you feel like a helpless child all over again, even though you are an adult.

Lorenzo went off to serve a couple at the other end of the bar and Mum and I chatted about what we were going to wear that night to the captain’s welcome dinner.

A bell rang to signify that the ship was setting sail and a huge cheer went up from the deck. Mum was like a child in a sweetshop as she ran from one side of the ship to the other, worried that she might miss something as the ship sailed through the heart of Venice along the Guidecca Canal. As we passed palazzos, churches and St Mark’s Square, I realised why sailing out of Venice was regarded as one of the world’s most memorable cruise experiences.

When we got back to our room, there was a mini bottle of champagne on the dressing table in an ice bucket along with two flutes and a bowlful of chocolate-dipped strawberries. I poured us a glass each and smiled, listening to Mum in the shower singing ‘It’s Amore’. She asked me to put her make-up on for her and I realised that I had never spent time doing things like this with Mum and it was lovely to be doing it. Feeling warm and gushy, I vowed to myself there and then that I would make more of an effort to be friends with Mum as well as her daughter.

We were both ever so slightly tipsy as we negotiated our way to the dining room. All the floors looked the same when you were sober, let alone half sloshed on champers, and we had no idea how we managed to locate both the dining room and our table, and lo and behold, we were only on the captain’s table. Mum couldn’t believe her luck when she found herself sitting next to the man himself as she fell into her seat. It wasn’t the most graceful entrance she’d ever made, and we both tittered like teenagers as she dropped her handbag on the floor and the clasp came open and her lipstick and a packet of indigestion tablets fell out, along with a pair of pop socks. She giggled as she gathered them back into her bag and winked at me as all the other diners stared at us. We certainly weren’t subtle in our arrival. We paced ourselves with a glass of water between each glass of wine, and as we had started to eat too, we didn’t feel the effects too much.

The captain introduced himself to Mum and asked her what she did for a living. She explained that she was a dinner lady at the local primary school. Mum once confessed to me that the reason she took this was because she loved being around young children. She had admitted that because I was now single and with no sign of Mr Right on the horizon, she wasn’t sure if she’d ever be a grandmother, so this was her way of getting to watch school plays and be part of the school community, which she’d missed out on so much when I was a child because she was always busy working, trying to keep a roof over our heads. She was such a proud lady and wouldn’t have dreamt of accepting hand-outs from anyone, and she had brought me up to be hardworking, honest and to have integrity. Back then, she worked part-time in an office during the day and then did the odd shift in the local pub. She also did a couple of cleaning jobs and took in ironing, which she could do at home, frequently standing and ironing late into the night. I never appreciated until I grew up just how hard she worked and how much she relied on Aunty Jen and Uncle Tom, who would always look after me when Mum needed them to.

Mum’s parents had both died in the last few years and even though they’d disowned her when they found out she was pregnant, she’d inherited enough money to pay off her mortgage. She took the dinner lady job mainly for enjoyment but also for a little bit of pocket money. She didn’t want for much in her life so it suited her just fine and the local children and parents totally adored her. They made her a guest of honour at their school plays and concerts and always saved a seat for her in the front row. She also helped with a reading group at school too. Some of the children were struggling with their reading skills and as an avid reader, it was something that was incredibly important to Mum and she loved being able to play her part in helping the local children to read.

Watching Mum charming the pants off the captain all the way through dinner made me realise that I didn’t really know her at all and I was determined to find out more about her on this holiday.

* * *

Swishing curtains and blinding brightness woke me, and Mum exclaiming ‘Oh my word!’ made me sit up and look out of the patio doors. ‘Oh my word’ indeed. The sun poured through the windows and the view of white-washed buildings with blue roofs told us that we had arrived in Greece.

‘Come on, Maddy, get your dressing gown on. We can drink our tea out on the balcony.’ I hadn’t even heard Mum making any tea; obviously the swaying of the boat had lulled me into the land of nod where I’d stayed till this time. I looked at my watch. How on earth had I slept till 8a.m.? And despite having had a little drinkie or two… OK, three – maybe four – last night, I was feeling relatively rejuvenated.

Mum read out the tours for the day, but they all sounded a bit energetic so we agreed that once we’d docked, we’d go into Athens and have a wander around on our own, then have a late lunch before heading back to the ship. We found a wonderful restaurant hidden up a side alley that the taxi driver had recommended after giving us a whistlestop tour. Tucking into chicken kebabs, pitta bread and tzatziki, while bouzouki music played in the background, we enjoyed a glass of chilled rosé as we watched the world go by. We were making such amazing memories on this trip and I took a quick photo on my phone and WhatsApped it to Beth. She replied with a smiley face. It was so nice to be sitting, whiling away some hours with Mum, and I was finally starting to relax, and Mum and I chatted more easily than we’d ever done before.

‘Can I ask you something, Mum?’

‘Of course, darling.’

‘How do you feel about Edward?’

‘Ah, Edward. He’s lovely.’

‘He is lovely, Mum. Do you see a future with him?’

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