Playing by the Rules: The feel-good heart-warming and uplifting romance perfect for Valentine’s Day. Rosa Temple
and I grinned at each other as Mother led us to the sitting room. My two elder sisters had arrived, without their husbands in tow. Amber’s two children spent their day with the au pair and Indigo refused to have children. A choice she’d made when I turned two and, from what she saw of me, decided that children were not for her. I still didn’t get what she meant. I’d seen pictures of me at age two and I was adorable.
I decided to make cocktails for everyone while Mother fussed over Anya. My sisters both talked business. Ebony arrived shortly afterwards and started downing the long cocktail I handed her like it was the last glass of water in the desert.
‘Tough day?’ I asked her. She held out a finger and didn’t answer until the last drop.
‘Something like that,’ she replied and gestured for me to make a refill.
‘Ebony, you work too hard,’ Mother said with concern in her voice. ‘You’ll make yourself ill.’
‘Only following in your footsteps and you did just fine,’ Ebony said and slumped onto a sofa.
‘Let’s go through.’ Mother headed for the dining room.
‘But Father isn’t –’ I began.
‘He’s late,’ Mother snapped and we all trailed after her in silence. My sisters rarely spoke about one parent in front of the other; it was usually a recipe for disaster. I, on the other hand, did the exact opposite, telling Father what Mother might be up to and vice versa in the hope they would start having regrets about being apart.
Just as we all sat at the dining table and just as the caterers began to serve starters, the doorbell sounded. I noticed Mother’s shoulders rise with tension in her white, silk top. We all looked at each other. It was always hard to gauge what might happen when Mother and Father were under the same roof, but the fact that he’d bothered to show up was a good thing in my opinion.
‘I’ll get it!’ I said in a happy voice. Secretly I was hoping that a happy occasion, such as me getting a job, might instigate the start of the reunion between them I’d been longing for.
At the front door I had to do a double take. Father hadn’t come on his own. He was with her. Suma, the African princess. What the f –. But I couldn’t finish the thought because Suma hugged me in a tight embrace so that her face was plastered against my chest and her African headdress was thrust up my nose.
‘Congratulations on your new job, Magenta,’ Father said and pulled the clamp-like Suma away from me. He handed me a present.
‘Oh, you didn’t have to do this.’ I reached up to kiss him and looked down at the neat packaging.
‘It’s a necklace!’ Suma exclaimed clapping her hands together. ‘Carl and I chose it together. Where is everyone?’ She had already started walking along the hallway, peering around doors, and when she heard the chatter coming from the dining room she marched her way through. I looked at Father. He shook his head.
‘I tried to put her off,’ he said under his breath.
‘You brought her here?’ My eyes bulged.
‘She insisted. She’s only ever met you all briefly and she loves you girls and wanted to get to know you better.’
‘But here?’ I said in a loud whisper, grabbing his hand and heading for the dining room before Suma could attack anyone else with her headgear.
Suma was pinching Ebony’s cheek when we got to the dining room. Ebony’s cheek was pink and Mother’s face and neck were like her name – scarlet red.
‘This was supposed to be family only,’ Mother said looking daggers at Father. ‘Not you, Anya dear.’ She reached to pat Anya’s hand. ‘But you know what I mean, Carl.’
‘Scarlett, don’t make this any more awkward than it needs to be,’ Father said as he sat down and pulled Suma’s hand away to stop her from stroking Ebony’s hair.
‘You girls are all so beautiful,’ Suma gushed. ‘I wonder what our children will look like, Carl.’ Suma picked up a water glass and started to drink, not noticing the deathly silence that had hit the room. At age forty-two, Suma was childless and obviously had plans to rectify the situation but I was quite certain that at sixty-two, there was no way Father wanted to travel that road again. One look at him confirmed that. Beads of sweat sprung to his brow and he hastily got the caterers to serve him and Suma up a starter each. I didn’t dare look at Mother but I did cast an eye at all my sisters after Suma dropped the ‘children’ bomb.
Amber had just put food into her mouth, which promptly fell out because she forgot to close it. Indigo had leaned her chin on her hand, elbow on the table and gawped at Father. Ebony was trying not to either laugh or cry – I couldn’t tell which – and Anya was taking some of her starter off her plate and putting it onto her bread dish.
I lifted my wine glass.
‘To me,’ I said loudly. ‘To my new job. To my wonderful little sister for sorting out the job for me and to Anya for shipping me over a Ferrari.’
They all raised their glasses and the clink of crystal never sounded more like tumbleweed rolling down a deserted street. I drank the whole glass in one hit. Mother just stared into hers.
‘You are very lucky, Magenta,’ said Suma. ‘To have a little sister who is doing so much better than you and can help you out in such a situation. I mean, a quarter of a million pounds is a lot of money.’
‘Yes, I realise that,’ I said, looking at Father.
‘Magenta is a talented artist you know?’ he said turning to Suma. ‘If she wanted to she could go far with her art.’ We all knew that was bullshit but I was thankful to Father for trying to make me appear less of a hopeless case in Suma’s eyes.
‘But you don’t want your younger sister to surpass you,’ Suma continued, tucking into the starter and not pausing to finish her mouthful before blundering on. ‘You know, both your older sisters are married and you should be next but at this rate your little sister will beat you to it.’
‘I have no intention of getting married,’ Ebony piped up.
‘But do you have a boyfriend, Magenta?’ Suma persisted. ‘Ever been in love?’
How could I answer that at this strained dinner table? I’d need a week to tell Suma the story. I simply smiled, shrugged my shoulders and stabbed at a prawn. My mind went back to the night I met Hugo. That first long walk with him was a revelation. At eighteen, I didn’t know what a soulmate was but I knew Hugo was mine. I discovered he was a musician. He played the drums. His band was doing fairly well on the indie circuit.
I had always had a weakness for men in bands but that wasn’t the reason I went back to his place and made love to him that very night. No, there was something else, something more, and I thought I would find it in the unmade bed in his warm bedroom, the sheets falling onto the floor, my arms and legs wrapped around Hugo’s body.
We slept with our bodies in a neat knot all night and in the morning I discovered a million and one missed calls and texts from the friends I’d been out with the night before. They wanted to know if I was still alive, kidnapped, savaged by wolves or abducted by aliens. Either way, could I fucking well call or text back. I couldn’t wait to tell them I had been entranced by a tall stranger with broad shoulders, a slim face, a scraggy goatee and spiky hair. After a morning of hungry sex I texted them furiously from his bathroom and told them all I was in love. I didn’t leave Hugo’s flat for three days.
‘This food is great, Mother.’ I turned to her and tilted my empty plate to her the way I did when I was little girl and wanted to be excused from the table.
‘Why did you call in caterers?’ Suma shouted across the table to Mother. ‘Can’t you cook?’
‘And can’t you mind your own bloody business?’ Mother shouted back.
‘No, I didn’t mean