This was just the beginning. She was only forty-three andthis was her big chance to start over. For the first time in years, the futurewas something to look forward to, rather than fear.
Chapter Sixteen
December 1985
When Kay woke up on Christmas morning, all was well with herworld.
Alan and Lucy had departed swiftly the previous day,stuffing what they could into three suitcases. Making sure they both handedover their keys, Kay took great pleasure in escorting them from the premises.They were arguing furiously as they left, blaming each other for the unexpectedmishap that had befallen them.
They were both as bad as each other as far as Kay wasconcerned. If they fell out with each other, that suited her just fine, rememberingthat old expression, divide and conquer. He would be weaker without her to helpfight his battles, that was certain.
Once they were gone, Kay set about removing all trace ofthem from the house.
She bagged up the remainder of their clothes in black binliners and took them out to the garage. The same went for all of Lucy’s make-upand most of the toiletries, though she couldn’t resist keeping some of her poshMolton Brown stuff for herself. Alan had never allowed Kay to have expensivetoiletries like that, so it was payback time for all his years ofpenny-pinching.
Once that was done she set to work cleaning the house fromtop to bottom. The thought of flakes of Lucy’s skin and bits of hair all overthe house disgusted her, particularly when she discovered the shower trayclogged up with ginger pubes. She didn’t even want to think what part of heranatomy they had come from, but she was pretty sure it wasn’t her head.
The worst part was changing the bed. It obviously hadn’tbeen done for a while and Kay recoiled at the crusty yellow stains on thesheets, the source of which was obvious. It was a set of sheets that Kay hadbought a couple of years before, but she really couldn’t face sleeping in themagain, even after a boil wash. Stripped off the bed, they went straight in thedustbin, leaving Kay to replace them with a fresh set from the cupboard.
Remarkably, little had changed around the house in the ninemonths Kay had been away. It didn’t look as if Lucy had made the slightesteffort to put her own stamp on the place. The vast majority of things, from thecurtains to the towels, were just as Kay had left them. It took no time at allfor her to settle back in.
At 4pm, just as it was getting dark, she heard a key in thelock and the front door opened. Her daughter was home.
It had been a while since Kay had seen Maddie, and herappearance had changed considerably. She had been going increasingly gothicover the past year or two, but it was still a shock to see her blonde hair dyedjet black, not to mention the tattoos and piercings she was now adorned with.
Things were awkward between them to begin with. Alan hadcalled her daughter, as per Kay’s instructions, but Maddie was still strugglingto understand the situation. Over tea and mince pies in the living room, theyhad a long heart-to-heart about the events of the past year.
Kay was careful not to slag Alan off, even though that wasexactly what he had done to her. In her eyes, that was the worst thing anyparent could do during an acrimonious divorce. She simply explained thesituation as best she could. It transpired that he had done as Kay had askedand admitted to Maddie that the vile stories he had told her were lies. Clearlyhe was taking Kay’s threat to expose his illegal activities seriously.
Kay decided that it was time she was honest about a fewthings, too, including the truth about how she had lost her teeth. Yes, she hadbeen foolish and shouldn’t have slept with a married man, but when sheexplained how crushingly lonely she had been, Maddie seemed to understand.
It seemed Kay hadn’t been the only one having a hard time oflate. Maddie had a few tales of woe to tell about her somewhat underwhelmingfirst term at university. These were problems that she had not felt able todiscuss with Alan. Grateful to have her mother back in her life, she explainedwhat had gone wrong for her at Durham.
Maddie had suffered a bad experience with another studentwho sounded remarkably similar to Glen. It seemed that making bad choices ofmen was something that Kay had passed down to the next generation. Empathisingwith her daughter’s problems, she shared the story of what had happened in herpast, not leaving anything out, including the abortion. Thankfully, in Maddie’scase, she hadn’t fallen pregnant.
The wedge that Alan had driven between Kay and her daughtercontinued to melt away as they talked. There were more than a few tears and alittle laughter, too. Most importantly, there were hugs. Mother and daughterwere reunited at last.
In the evening, Maddie went out to catch up with her oldschool friends, advising her mother not to wait up. Remembering the boozyChristmas Eve pub crawls of her own youth, Kay imagined her daughter wouldn’troll in until the early hours. This gave her a chance to relax and reflect onall she had achieved so far through her travels and where else she might liketo go.
She had no intention of going to the pub tonight. She hadonly just got the house back, and whilst she didn’t imagine that Alan might tryand return, she wasn’t going to risk leaving the place unattended just yet.Besides, she felt tired. The events of recent days had been quite exhausting,and she could really do with a quiet night in.
Now that she was back in the comfort of her own home, anight in would be a pleasure, compared to the confines of the cold, lonelyflat. Enjoying the luxury of hot water again, she treated herself
