Chapter Forty-seven
2019
It had started to rain. Wet, miserable slashes streaked the glass as the RV reluctantly crawled in front of Minnie’s family home, locking in Ross’s shitty camper van that had parked up on the drive. Truthfully, Minnie would have liked a few moments to collect herself and absorb the somehow terrifying image of her parent’s house glaring down at her, seemingly darker and towering in the downpour. The contents of the woman’s stomach churned and thrashed; acidic bile cruelly teasing the back of her throat. But, before Ronnie had even turned off the engine, Ross was getting out of the camper van and gesturing brightly to her. Paul got out the other side, pulling along a small, skinny figure behind him and racing around the vehicle to the front door.
“What’s the matter?” Ronnie challenged his voice as icy and sharp as freshly cut glass. “Cold feet?” Briskly, he pulled the keys from the ignition and called back into the main body of the RV for the kids. In the passenger seat beside him, Minnie remained frozen rigid, suddenly pregnant with nerves.
“You could say that,” Minnie replied distantly as she watched her brother come towards them through the blur of the window.
*
“My baby!” gasped Julie, her voice a long, drawn-out croak as she clung onto the door frame and half-staggered forwards.
Minnie breathed out, her chest immediately untightening as she stepped forwards and allowed herself to fall into her mother’s embrace, which was slightly frailer than she remembered. Around them, the reception area of their family home hung, different and unfamiliar to how Minnie remembered it.
“My baby, my baby, oh my god…” sobbed Julie into her daughter’s shoulder whilst Ross watched on, his eyes turning watery as he clutched his mouth.
Behind them, the kids stood, privately rolling their eyes at one another, completely sickened by this uncharacteristic display by their mother. Stella was particularly irritated at having to leave her new pet inside the RV. Despite his disapproval, Ronnie shot them all a warning glare. As much as all of this stunk of a terrible, terrible idea, it was not enough to deter him from making his wife happy. In his mind, the entire point of their lifestyle was that they could have whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, regardless of the danger or potential consequences. If anyone pulled any funny shit, he’d concealed one of the guns from the caravan site on the inside of one of his boots and had also snuck one to Zach and one to Stella.
“Where have you been?” cried Julie, holding her daughter at arm’s length, her wrinkled eyes flitting up and down, examining every inch of her. “We thought… we thought…”
“Mum,” Ross chimed in, his voice deepening firmly, “remember. We’re not asking questions, right?”
Julie nodded quickly, “of course… of course, none of that matters. Not any more, I’m just… so pleased to see you, sweetheart…” she pulled Minnie close to her again, squeezing the air out of her lungs with her embrace.
“And Mum, look,” said Ross, gesturing shyly towards the kids and Ronnie, “more grandchildren. And a son-in-law!”
Julie’s mouth fell open as she gazed straight at Ronnie over Minnie’s shoulder. Her pupils flickered with recognition as she absorbed the familiar features that had been etched into her brain, from seeing his photo splashed across newspapers and news reports for so many weeks, many, many years ago.
“Hello, Ronnie,” she said stiffly, lips tightening.
“Hi, Mrs. Walter,” Ronnie coughed awkwardly. “Long time, no see.”
“Please,” said Julie, straightening up, “call me Julie.”
Ronnie nodded and felt his cheeks warm. How could it be, after all, he’d been through, that he still felt weirdly intimidated by Minnie’s mother? This weak, wrinkled old prune standing in front of him that he could snap in half if he really needed to.
“Where’s Dad?” Minnie asked in a small, choked voice.
Ross and Julie exchanged a look.
“Here, Min,” Ross said quickly, “I’ll take you in to see him. Meanwhile, Ronnie, why don’t you introduce Mum to the kids?”
“Oh, yes, please!” gushed Julie, nodding her approval at Ross and Minnie. The woman’s face brightened as she stepped forward and glanced over the four of them, standing in a height-ordered row like the Von Trapps. Ronnie noticed her lipsticked smile widen as she caught sight of Flo. “What’s your name, darling?”
“Fanny,” grinned Flo proudly, eyes twinkling wickedly as Lloyd stifled a snicker.
“It’s Flo,” Ronnie cut in, placing a subtle hand on Flo’s shoulder and pinching the flesh hard between his thumb and forefinger. “She’s a retard,” he smiled apologetically at Julie, whose sweet, grandmotherly smile had rapidly been replaced with a mild grimace.
“I see,” Julie frowned. “Well, Flo. How old are you? You know, you’ve got a little cousin who’s about your age.”
“How delightful,” Flo drawled sarcastically as Julie called out for someone named Annie.
Annie appeared just a few moments later, clinging tightly to her grandmother’s side as she shyly looked at the line-up of her four newfound cousins. Immediately, Flo recognised the girl as the skinny figure she’d watched dashing through the rain a few minutes ago. Looking at her now, face-to-face, Flo could see she was a flimsy little thing, pale-faced with wispy hair that was so fair that it was almost white. A runt.
“Hi Annie,” Flo greeted her, letting her face relax into a sweet, friendly smile. “So nice to meet you! My name is Flo.”
Annie paused and glanced timidly up at Julie for reassurance before she muttered a quiet, barely audible “hello” back at her cousin.
“And you three…” Julie looked over the teenagers with visibly less interest.
“The non-cute ones,” supplied Stella. “Zach, Stella, and Lloyd.” She then turned to her father with a pointed look dominating her features, “when can I go and check on Thumper?”
“I can only apologise for the children’s crankiness,” Ronnie cut in, smiling apologetically at Julie, “it’s all been a bit overwhelming for them. You see, this was all very last minute.”
Julie raised an eyebrow, “so what brought you into town, then?” she challenged, not
