Mothers and Daughters by Minna Howard Page B

over-the-top honeymoon and usually in serious debt. But she wanted Laura to have a day she could look back on with pleasure, but that didn’t mean it would have to be expensive.
    ‘I do, but it should be special,’ she said.
    Douglas went on talking about venues and numbers and she stopped listening, his voice droning on like a bee caught in a window. There was a huge question looming in the room and no one seemed to pick it up. With Julian gone and no brothers, who would give Laura away?
    Before she could think how best to mention this, Zara announced she was hungry and they all trooped into the kitchen/dining room for tea.
    It was Douglas who was the most appreciative. His eyes lit up when he saw the laden table. ‘I haven’t had a proper home-made tea in ages,’ he declared, smiling at Alice as though delighted, and perhaps surprised, she had this talent. Alice suspected that Elspeth would never do such a thing; she’d noticed that really tidy people didn’t cook much as cooking made so much mess and no doubt she’d think it dangerous to unleash so many additives into her space. Douglas turned to Laura. ‘How lucky you are to have a mother who bakes.’
    ‘Yes, I am. Thanks, Mum.’ She smiled at Alice and glanced at the children to see what they made of it.
    ‘Great cakes, I want that pink one with silver balls.’ Zara stretched for it and put it on her plate before sitting down.
    Douglas told her to wait until everyone else was sitting down and to have a sandwich first, but she took no notice of him and bit into the cake, wriggling on her chair and talking at the same time.
    ‘My friend Becky had cakes like this at her party. They were all piled up on a plate, oh, there were hundreds of them.’
    ‘Goodness,’ Alice said, ‘and did she have a birthday cake as well?’
    ‘Yes, of course, it was like a pink handbag with things inside,’ Zara went on then catching her father’s expression she said, ‘but these cakes are very nice.’
    ‘I’m glad you like them,’ Alice said not overly keen on this child but perhaps she was finding it difficult to cope with this new situation in her life, her mother gone, a new step mother and now a new step granny.
    Alice went over to the kettle to make the tea, urging Douglas, who hovered like an awkward heron, to sit down. While the kettle boiled she watched Johnny, who sat next to his father, regarding the cakes and biscuits warily as if one might jump off the plate and bite him. She ached to hug that fearful little boy, try and soothe away his fears. Couldn’t his parents have stayed married long enough for him to grow up a confident person? If two adults found they couldn’t live together that was one thing, but once you had children surely it was your duty in all but exceptional circumstances to make a secure home for them. As far as she could see Johnny’s only problem was not knowing how to deal with the drastic changes in his family.
    Laura came over to help her make the tea and pour out milk for the children.
    ‘Happy for me now?’ Laura said, her eyes hesitant, reminding Alice of when she was a child, yearning for approval, though why she craved it so much she never knew, as both of them, but especially Julian, was always praising ‘his girls’.
    ‘As long as you’re happy, I’m happy,’ Alice said, glancing across at the others at the table. Zara was holding forth about something and Douglas was listening dutifully to her.
    ‘They won’t be your real grandchildren, not like Evie’s baby.’ Laura’s voice was flat.
    They would not be the same, though she would try her best to care for them. Johnny had already touched her heart, with his insecurity. She felt closer to him than she did with Zara, who seemed very together, but then this was only their first meeting.
    ‘Grandmothers come in all shapes and sizes and have different names depending on their culture, we are just a part – I hope an important one, as your grandparents were to you