Page 66 of Goodnight
The next day when he brought her a Cadbury’s Creme Egg to apologize, shehadflung that back at him, lying about being lactose intolerant (which was annoying because she sodding loved a good creme egg). She started softening when he brought her a soymilk latte the next day (not something they dished out in the canteen, so she knew he would have had to walk the half a mile to the nearest Costa to get it). By the end of the week he’d caught her eating a full box of Malteasers in the mess, and told her she had to go out with him that night to apologize for lying or he would report her to the General Medical Council for probity issues.
Since then the relationship had moved at warp speed. When August came and it was time to leave the hospital accommodation, they had moved in together. Emma had been shocked that Mikey had managed to find a flat so central, with an actual view of Hyde Park, for such an amazingly cheap rate, but she worked so hard she didn’t have the time or the wherewithal to question it. He’d met her parents, charmed them and the rest of her family to bits, then a month ago he’d asked her dad if he could marry her, and the next day he got down on one knee outside the patient bay where they’d had their first argument and asked her.
So you’d think everything was perfect, and it was. Only she hadn’t met his family, and up until now he hadn’t even offered to take her. She knew they were important to him; he talked loads on the phone to them, often speaking in quiet, affectionate Russian with his mum or his Auntie Tasha, teasing his dad, shouting ‘What ho!’ down the phone to his ‘Mad Uncle Bertie’, bantering with his two sisters and many cousins, making funny voices for his nephews and nieces, talking weird science stuff with his Uncle Ed or horses with his Auntie Tilly and his cousin Arabella. But he never offered Emma the phone, never even mentioned her to any of them.
She’d begun to feel like a dirty secret, and then out of the blue last week he’d asked if she would come and spend Christmas with them. Time off was precious as a junior doctor. Emma had been working last Christmas and had been looking forward to spending it with her family this year, especially with all the recent trouble her mum and dad had been having. She didn’t want to spend it with people she’d never met before, and now that she was outside this bloody great mansion she was feeling even more homesick. Why hadn’t he said his family lived in a massive stately home? Thinking of how proud she’d been to take him along to see her parents’ small terraced house made her feel a little ill now. She paled further when she remembered all the problems they’d had at home over the last few months. She’d been too embarrassed to tell Mikey about it, and now that she knew how loaded he and his family was she was glad she’d kept her mouth shut. There was no way she was taking him back there any time soon.
‘I know, and I’m really sorry, but I wouldn’t have asked if it wasn’t really important. Next year your family could come here if they wanted. That’s how my big sister does it; her bloke’s family thought it was a bit weird at first but they’re used to it now.’
‘Wow, your mum must bereallycrazy about Christmas.’
‘Ever since I can remember she’s been the most obsessively festive person I know, bar maybe Auntie Tasha.’ He shrugged. ‘Dad took us aside one year, it was about the time we’d all figured out Father Christmas wasn’t real and had started wanting to play on our iPads and be grumpy teenage twats rather than join in properly with the family. He’d told us that Mum wasn’t as lucky as us, and at our age there was nobody around for her who gave a shit if she had a good Christmas or even if she was warm enough or had enough food. It’s the most angry I’ve ever seen Dad get.’ He grinned. ‘I still pretend I believe in Father Christmas now.’
Emma let out a nervous giggle. ‘I’m not sharing a room with you if your crazy mum is coming in in the middle of the night with your stocking, you weirdo.’
Mikey laughed with her. ‘Maybe she’ll make an exception this year since you’re new; but I warn you, she still does it for my sister and her husband, and they’ve been married for five years.’ As their laughter faded he turned towards her and took her hand, pulling it into his lap.
‘Ems.’ He looked down at their linked hands and shifted uncomfortably in his seat for a moment. ‘Have you heard of Nick and Anya Chambers, and Ed Southern?’
‘Of course I have I –’ Emma froze before her wide eyes flashed to his. She’d never linked Mikey tothatChambers. Never would have even considered he could be related to the men behind the worldwide energy revolution. ‘Oh my God.’
‘I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,’ he said quickly, squeezing her hand more tightly. ‘It’s just security is so tight, secrecy is drummed into us. Dad got shot once, see, years ago, and then this Russian bloke who lives a few miles away was killed in the night in his own bloody bed. This guy was into oil pipelines and they reckoned it was all somehow linked, so it scared everyone enough that Mum and Dad went security crazy when we were little. Things are better now but it still feels weird talking about what they do.’ He rubbed the back of his neck, frowning up at the house. ‘And look, I know this is going to sound bad but sometimes when people know you have money it can change what they think of you.’ Emma tried to pull her hand away and he gripped it more firmly. ‘Hey,’ he said, leaning across the gearstick to give her a brief kiss. ‘I know that doesn’t matter to you, okay? I’m sorry I wasn’t more honest.’
Emma looked up at the steps again. ‘You didn’t get that flat for the same rent we were paying in hospital accommodation, did you?’ She looked back at him and he grinned sheepishly.
‘Okay – no. It’s Uncle Ed’s old place. He bought a house down here so Auntie Tilly could be with the horses full time. I paid all your rent back into your account pretty much as soon as you paid it in so –’
‘You didwhat?’
He grinned. ‘It’s not my fault you and online banking have a weird existential relationship.’
Emma huffed and punched his arm. ‘I’ve got better things to do than check my balance every five minutes, Mr Moneybags.’ Mikey laughed, then they sat in silence, Emma still looking up at the door and Mikey keeping a firm grip on her hand. She jumped in her seat when she saw the door open and a large dog come hurtling down the steps followed by two smaller ones. The biggest dog jumped up on Emma’s side of the car, barked in through the window, and then just stared at them, its tongue hanging out and its tail going bananas. Mikey laughed and turned from Emma to fling open his door. The dog barked again and then charged around the car to jump up on Mikey and start licking his face with a vengeance.
‘Alright, Alright, Myska,’ Mikey said through his laughter, rubbing the dog’s neck. ‘You coming?’ he asked Emma as he pushed the dog down and planted his feet outside the car. Emma took a deep breath and opened her door.
As they walked up the stone steps Mikey took her hand and gave it a squeeze; Myska bumped her other hand with her nose and started licking it, causing her to let out a nervous giggle. She looked up to the doorway and saw a blonde, middle-aged, stunning woman standing there, her eyes fixed on their joined hands. Next to her was a tall, dark-haired, middle-aged man with his arm wrapped around the blonde’s shoulders. Of course Emma recognized them, there wasn’t a human being on the planet who wouldn’t. As they arrived at the top step Anya Chambers reached out and caught hold of Mikey’s free wrist, wrapping her hand around it. She laid her other hand over his heart and then closed her eyes for a moment and smiled. When she opened them she lurched forward and wrapped her arms around him.
‘Mum,’ he muttered into her hair, dropping Emma’s hand to hug his mother back. ‘Mum, this is Emma,’ he went on softly as she pulled back and looked over to where Emma was standing. Myshka barked again, nudging Emma’s hand so that she was stroking his head, but Mikhail’s mum made a hand gesture and the dog trotted to her side, then dropped to the floor.
As the dark-haired man started hugging Mikey and slapping him on the back, Emma opened her mouth to say something coherent, but closed it again. The beautiful blonde was studying her silently, her head cocked to the side. When their eyes met, however, the blonde stepped forward, smiled such a beautiful smile it almost took Emma’s breath away, and then pulled Emma in for a hug herself.
‘I am so pleased to meet you finally, Emma,’ the blonde said, pulling back slightly and framing Emma’s face with her hands. ‘And I’m sorry about Myshka; he has been thoroughly spoilt by my offspring I’m afraid. Dog training is not one of their strong suits.’
‘Thanks, Mrs Chambers, I’m happy to be here,’ Emma said. ‘And … and I love dogs.’
‘Please call me Anya.’
‘Uh … okay.’ Emma smiled to mask her confusion. She had been sure Mikey had not told his family about her yet. What was this ‘finally’ business about?
‘Emma,’ Mikey’s dad’s deep voice broke through her thoughts. ‘I’m Nick. Thank you for giving up your Christmas with your family; it means so much to us.’ He pulled her into another brief hug, muttering, ‘My wife suffers from a little Christmas psychosis I’m afraid. You’ll get used to it.’
‘What ho, chaps!’ boomed a loud, posh voice from down the hall. ‘You lot going to stand out there forever or do we all get to meet the new lady?’ Nick rolled his eyes as he was shuffled to the side to accommodate a red-faced but attractive middle-aged man, who by his greeting could only be Uncle Bertie.
Uncle Bertie took Emma’s hand and said, ‘May I say that’s a frightfully nice blouse you’re wearing.’ Emma looked down at her jumper, then back up at Uncle Bertie’s earnest expression, before she burst out laughing along with everyone else.
* * *
‘Uh … hi.’Emma was standing on the front step of her family home looking down in shock at an immaculate Anya. Anya’s head was turned to the side, her narrow-eyed gaze on next-door’s terrace. Emma’s heart sank. Some of the windows next door were boarded up, there was a broken down car in the driveway and the front lawn was strewn with rubbish, including, if you looked hard enough, condoms and used needles. The contrast with Emma’s parents’ small front garden was stark; the chaos on the other side of the fence made her dad’s manicured lawn and painstakingly weeded tulips look faintly ridiculous.
