CHAPTER 34
Tammy was apologetic, her Sydneyside accent strong.

“Sorry, all, but we couldn’t carry big stuff, nor things that would crush, ey? So we got you these. Had to guess at the sizes”

Four ‘Jacaru’ brand bush hats in soft brown suede-effect leather, which I guessed came from one or other hoppity beast. Tammy was gushing.

“They crush down flat, mates. Flatmates. Oh, you know what I mean. Best thing is, they are waterproof”

Mam laughed, and it was a profoundly happy sound.

“Oy, girl! This may be Wales, but it doesn’t rain ALL the time!”

Dad took her hand with a grin. “No, just most of it. Thanks, girls. You didn’t need to, you know. Just having our girl’s best friends over here is gift enough”

Bridget smiled back at him.

“That’s a present that goes both ways, Mark. Besides, we get a chance to see whether her getting married was the right decision or not”

Blake snorted.

“And your conclusion is?”

She grinned this time.

“Blake, love, I knew the answer to that when I first met you. Anyway, got this for the boy”

‘This’ turned out to be a gorgeously soft and cuddly toy koala, rather oddly, to my eyes, dressed in khaki shirt and shorts, with a miniature version of our hats attached between the ears.

“Shirt and shorts come off to wash, Di”

I could see the nerves showing as she carried on explaining things in far too much detail, just like several of my arrests.

“What’s up, Bridge?”

“What do you mean?”

“Nerves. I can spot them, isn’t it? Goes with the job. Am I right, love?”

My husband gave a slow nod.

“Yes indeed. What’s up, girls?”

Bridget looked over at her wife, who shrugged. Tammy was clearly the one with whatever issues were stirring. My oldest friend turned back to me.

“It’s a ghetto thing, Di”

“You what?”

“Where we live, it’s a ghetto, in some ways. Gay quarter, pink village, rainbow town, it’s still a ghetto in a sea of testosterone and convention. Yes, I know, Australia’s coming on, but shit---sorry---you should have seen how the equal marriage debate went. Most Aussies live in the cities, or near them, and it’s easy to think you’re in a happy place if you never go out of your safe space or the CBD. Soon as you hit the suburbs, or the wrong part of the town, or RFO, that’s when you see it”

Mam looked puzzled.

“CBD? RFO?”

“Central Business District. Right Effing Outback. Think of one of those yank films where everyone in a bar looks at you as you walk in. ‘Deliverance’ meets the Slaughtered Lamb”

Dad it was who laughed at that one.

“I know village pubs up North like that!”

Bridget nodded.

“Aye. Not really true, ey? Aussies are mostly great people, and in the Outback they’ll go miles out of their way to help a stranger. It’s just that they have some hard lines, and you don’t always see what they are till you cross them. Then, it can get painful”

I looked at my boy playing with his new friend, and wondered how his life would go, which way he might swing, as the cliché went, and knew immediately that I didn’t give a shit. If he could end up with the depth of love my parents had, or the Elliott family, or two elderly gay men in Southport, I would be happy.

“Tammy, tell you what. Blake and me, we’ll get you out in Cardiff this week, maybe New Year, and we’ll show you”

Blake squeezed my hand. “Marlene?”

I couldn’t hold back my own laugh.

“I was after reassuring them, love, not scaring them out of ten years of growth, but yes. I know several of the crew are going there, so we can ring around. You up for that, Bridge?”

“Pink pubs? Alcohol? Debauchery? I’ll have a think… Yup. I seem to have a window in my calendar. Little’un?”

Mam was giggling.

“Our treat, isn’t it? Our grandson all to ourselves, to corrupt and manipulate, mwahaha!”

Every head in the room turned to stare at her, even Rhod’s. She just shrugged.

“With Diane for a daughter, and the friends she brings here, you expected sanity from me? What are we doing tonight, Mark?”

“What we always do, Pinky. Plotting to take over the world”

I nearly spilled my tea. Somehow, without realising it, I had created a pair of monsters, and I loved the result.

As the morning moved on towards lunchtime, Mam and I packed all the others off to the seafront, Rhod in as many layers as I could manage, despite Bridget and Tammy’s protests. Mam was unmoved.

“No. Guests. Our house, our meal. Off!”

Bridget nodded at Tammy, who popped upstairs.

“Thought you might say that, so we brought some other stuff. Should go in the fridge for a while… Ah. Ta, love”

Tammy handed over a couple of clinking bags as Bridget continued gushing.

“Couldn’t stretch to the posh stiff, but there’s Italian fizz there, plus a couple of bottles of Royal Kir. Needs chilling, so I hope you have room. Got some decent chocs in there as well”

Mam took the bag in exchange for a warm smile.

“Once we start on dinner, there’ll be room, love. Nice thought, it is. Thank you. Now get out of our kitchen!”

It was a slog, but Mam and Dad had prepared some stuff the day before, and to be honest, the only thing I really hated was preparing the sprouts. I am actually one of those allegedly peculiar people who likes sprouts, and broccoli, but spending an age peeling off tiny leaves and cutting crosses in the base wears after a while. Usually about three seconds.

Thank god for Mam and Dad’s double oven, is all I shall say about the rest of our labours. By one o’clock, we were almost ready to plate, the smell of roasting meat and sage and onion filling the air. Our expeditionary party returned, a small boy hyper with Christmas joy, his cheeks pink from the cold, and ten minutes after I had settled them down with my own suggestion of hot chocolate (and what warm memories that brought back) the doorbell rang. Blake left Rhod with Tucker the koala and went to answer it.

I half heard some muttered greetings, and a lot of scraping, followed by the bang of the door shutting, and of course it was the Sedakas. Blake shut the living room door as people shuffled around to make space, and in response to my raised eyebrows, Paul explained.

“Folding chair, Di. Blake’s put it in the hallway, so careful when you go out”

I went to hug him, which was returned emphatically, but I limited my greeting for Paula to a squeeze of the hand and a peck on the cheek.

“Tammy, Bridget, meet Paul and Paula. Yes, I know, and we’ve done all the half-remembered musical jokes”

My traitor of a husband interrupted.

“When Di says ‘half-remembered’, she is speaking about herself”

“Sod!”

“Sod back!”

“Ignore my beloved. Pail, Paula, Bridget is probably my oldest friend. Went to Sydney, stayed, got married to Tammy. Girls, Paul here is a colleague of ours, and his fiancée Paula is a writer. She’s such a good one that she upset someone enough to have a go at her, as you can see”

The new arrivals settled themselves into the settee, as my parents and I moved to dining chairs. Tammy was staring at the sling supporting Paula’s arm.

“You were shot, weren’t you?”

Paula nodded, as Mam snarled out her own answer.

“Aye, she was, and the bastard who shot her tried to shoot our little girl as well. Both lucky to be alive, they are”

Bridget’s voice was quiet.

“And the culprits?”

Mam found her own inner Feral Sammy.

“My honest opinion? I think they are all UNlucky to be alive, if you take my point. Am I right, love?”

Paula answered before I could.

“I agree with Mrs Owens, Bridget”

“Dot”

“Thank you. Knowing who they upset, yes, they won’t have a comfortable life, inside prison or out of it. Me, on the other hand, oh yes!”

She looked round the room, sparing a few seconds for a smile as she watched Rhod undressing Tucker for the hundredth time.

“Bridget, do you know how Diane and I met? I don’t want to have to go through details if I don’t have to”

“She did give me some idea, mate”

“OK. Then you know what I went through, years and years of it, all starting with that pig Evans”

Tammy twitched.

“Ashley Aaron Evans?”

“The very same. He buried me, and Di dug me out again”

Paula turned a gentle smile on me.

“She had to dig herself out first, though, but with people like this around her, how could she fail? With people round me like her, and my beloved here, how could I fail? That is how I am coping with the shooting, as a kind of validation. They tried to kill me because I have hurt them, continue to hurt them, just by living the way I am now”

Bridget was grinning happily, and I could feel my own smile as I remembered a warm evening on a tropical beach, the weight of flying stones gone from my hand, the splash as the two of us dove headlong into the sea. She nodded in recognition of our shared memories, leaving me to explain.

“Paula, love, it’s from the night before my wedding. Bridge and I were on the beach that evening, talking about life, and yes, we damned Evans to hell, but Bridget summed it up for us. For you as well, clearly: the best revenge is a life lived well. That’s what we are doing, and I can see what you mean, because if they have to go to such extremes to hurt us, then by god, we must be doing just that. Sod it. Tammy? Fridge?”

She understood, as did Mam, who sorted out the glasses. Rhod shouted in glee as the corks popped, and once the bubbles had settled, Dad stood up, raising his glass.

“To Christmas. To family, and friends. To lives lived well. Cheers!”