Gold Digger

Lottie

Hayley squeezed my hand so hard I almost winced. Of course, there was a bloody pool. I should have expected that. Posh people have country houses with pools. That’s just a fact of life. And it was a boiling mid-July day. Two kids streaked past us, chucking t-shirts over their heads in their mad dash to get in the water. Hayley stopped dead in her tracks.

“Everything okay?” Ollie asked when he doubled back after noticing our abrupt stop. “I forgot to tell you to bring your swimmers, but we have plenty of spares for you and Hayley.”

“It’s fine,” I whispered through my fixed smile. “You go on and see everyone. We’ll be there in a bit.” Embarrassment flooded me in waves. It wasn’t just Hayley’s fear of the water that was making me feel so humiliated. I wasn’t exactly the Little Mermaid either. The fact was that neither Hayley nor I could swim. There simply hadn’t been the opportunities for us that there were for other children. To be honest, Hayley had more experience than me in water. I’d managed to scrape together the cash for some swimming lessons at the local leisure centre, but it was painfully clear how behind the other kids she was when she was stuck in group lessons with much younger kids. Hayley didn’t do well in groups anyway, but after she’d swallowed some water and nearly vomited on the side of the pool, she cried if I ever even mentioned swimming again.

“Hey, lovebug,” I said, keeping my voice light as I kneeled in front of her. “You don’t have to go into the water if you don’t want to. Okay?”

She looked down at the floor and kicked the perfectly manicured lawn. Everything about this place was perfectly manicured. There was topiary along the driveway, for cheese’s sake. A driveway that went on and on until an imposing house loomed in the distance like something out of Downton Abbey.

Apparently, Buckingham Manor was the Buckingham “country seat”, and this was their annual summer family party. When Ollie had suggested it, I’d naively thought he meant a picnic with maybe a dozen or so peeps. I did not anticipate it to be fully catered with nearly a hundred people, waiter service, a pool and of course, of course , croquet (they were the British aristocracy, after all). A family party for me and Hayley would be the two of us and some cheese sarnies. The difference was staggering. What must it feel like to have this many people woven into your life? This many people you could call family? My heart ached even thinking about it.

Hayley glanced behind her and then back at me, her eyes wide and pleading.

“No, lovebug. We’re not going home. Ollie wants to see his family, okay? We can have some fun. We don’t have to go to the pool. You know I don’t like the water any more than you do, right?”

I felt Ollie’s hand on my back and swivelled my head to look at him over my shoulder.

“Is there a problem with the pool?” he asked softly, frowning in confusion. “We’ve got spare costumes in the house. There’re loads to choose from.”

I pushed up to my feet so that I could whisper to him and not embarrass Hayley. “She can’t swim.”

“Oh. I…” He trailed off, clearly shocked that this life skill had passed an eight-year-old child by, which just demonstrated how out of touch he, and people like him, could be. No doubt he was under the impression that every child in the UK simply had to learn to swim.

“Listen, I tried, but when Hails came to live with me, she’d never been in the water and swimming lessons are expensive. We did some, but it was in big groups and she hated it, then refused to try again. Now she’s dead set against it.” All of this came out in a garbled, frantic mess. I just didn’t want him to think that I didn’t try. “I would have taken her myself but I…” I looked away from him, feeling my cheeks heat as shame washed over me and my voice dropped to a whisper, “I can’t swim either.”Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Hey, hey, hey,” he said softly, his hand reaching for mine to interlink our fingers. “Don’t worry about it. You did the best you could, darling. That you got her to any lessons is amazing.” Then he skirted around me to crouch down in front of Hayley himself.

“So, I hear you’re not that keen on water, stowaway?” he said gently.

Hayley sniffed and turned her head away, shrugging her shoulders.

“I used to hate the water too,” he told her, and her eyes snapped back to his as her head tilted to the side. “No bullshit, I promise.” I rolled my eyes; honestly, what was the point of me substituting all my swear words when she was going to learn them from him now? But the s-word did earn a small smile from Hayley, and that twinkle was back in her eye, so I forgave him. “Mum had to get me two private teachers and bribe me with Fruit Pastilles to get me anywhere near the pool, and I grew up with a pool. What a numpty, huh?” Hayley nodded, and Ollie laughed. “So, maybe you’d let me teach you another day?” She scrunched her nose. “Okay, we’ll leave that for later negotiation involving Fruit Pastilles. But for now, you don’t have to go in the pool unless you want to paddle in the shallow end. So you can just have fun.” Hayley still looked unsure, but her shoulders were no longer up near her ears, and she wasn’t tugging me to go back to the car, so as far as I was concerned he’d worked a minor miracle.

“Hayley!”

Ollie was nearly bowled out of the way by a flash of neon pink as his niece homed in on Hayley like a missile. Then, to my complete and utter surprise, Florrie hugged Hayley. It took a second, but Hayley hugged her back. I blinked. It was the first time I’d seen Hayley hug anyone other than me. Florrie pulled back but kept hold of Hayley’s hands as she rattled on.

“It’s so cool you’re here! There’s a bouncy castle set up near the back paddock, well I hope there is – see, we’ve got a pony called Legolas on loan from Hetty next door, and I was supposed to put him away before the bouncy castle people came, but I might have forgotten and he won’t be caught now cause he likes to be part of the action. So Legolas may have chewed through the bouncy castle by now. But there’s the pool too and—” Florrie broke off and stared at Hayley for a moment, her eyebrows furrowed. After a moment’s pause, she spoke again, but her voice was much softer. “Okay, so no pool. That’s cool. I wasn’t that into it anyway. But we need to get to the bouncy castle before Legolas deflates it.” My eyes started stinging, and my hand went to my throat. Who was this kid? I’d never come across a child as perceptive. “So shall we go?” She grabbed Hayley’s hand and gave it a tug. Hayley was smiling and nodding.

“Er… hi, squirt,” Ollie said with mock disgruntlement. “Where’s my hug?”

Florrie rolled her eyes. “We’re on a schedule here, Uncle Ollie,” she told him as she gave him a quick hug, which he took advantage of to lift her off her feet and spin her around as she giggled. “You’re wasting our time, you weirdo!” she shrieked as he threw her up into the air as if she was still a toddler, caught her and set her back on her feet. Hayley looked on with wide eyes and just a hint of longing that made my heart break.

“Okay, now you can go,” he said.

“Ugh, you’re the worst! You’ve messed with my hair,” Florrie grumbled, but she was grinning. Ollie ruffled her long blonde hair again for good measure as she squealed in annoyance then he turned to Hayley.

“You happy to go with her, stowaway?” he said gently as he ruffled her hair as well. Hayley grinned and nodded as Florrie grabbed her hand again.

“Of course she is,” Florrie snapped. “As if she wants to stay with boring old people. No offence, Lottie, and um hi, by the way.” I smiled at her and dropped down to her level in a crouch.

“Hi, love. Do you have a quick hug for me too? I promise not to mess with your hair.” She smiled and threw her arms around my neck. I hugged her back and whispered, “Thank you,” in her ear. When she pulled away she gave me a small nod, and then both the girls shot off across the lawn hand in hand. They looked so completely different it was almost jarring: Florrie in head-to-toe designer pink and purple with subtle sparkly eyeshadow, pink lipstick, blond waves interspersed with the occasional artful braid; then Hayley wearing an old band t-shirt with black jeans in July and her scuffed trainers, her caramel hair shoved back into a ponytail which was as much styling as she would tolerate. But they were both giggling as they ran, perfectly happy together.

“Your niece is pretty great,” I said as I stood up.

“Yeah, she’s an absolute diamond, that one,” Ollie agreed, deep affection in his voice. “Just like her mum, but don’t you let Claire know I told you that.”

“Told her what?” Claire’s voice cut in, and we both spun around to see her and her husband approach.

“What a little shit you are,” Ollie said without a pause, snatching her into a tight hug. She rolled her eyes as she pulled away, then turned to me and, to my surprise, hugged me too.

It took a second, but my arms closed around her just in time. When we separated, she scanned my face for a moment. “Bit overwhelming, aren’t we,” she said with a small smile. It seemed that she was more like her daughter than I realised. “You’ll get used to it, though.”

A muffled laugh came from her husband, and Claire’s eyes flickered with annoyance before she masked it.

“Something to say, Blake?” Ollie said in a low voice.

“Well, whilst I agree this family is a bit much, I’m not sure why you think this one will get used to it.” He was sneering at me, and his words were slurred. “I thought this engagement deal was all a load of bullshit. She’s not going to have the chance to get used to anything. Unless she starts cleaning for you lot again, I guess.” He snorted again at that, and I felt my face flood with heat. Ollie stiffened.

“What the fuck has got into you, mate?” he growled, taking my hand in his. Blake glanced at our interlinked fingers, and his lip curled. But he wiped his expression clear before Ollie could catch it.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said, forcing a smile. “Always putting my foot in it. Mum’s the word, eh?”

“Blake, we talked about this,” Claire said, glancing at me in discomfort. That was when I felt it. My gaze snapped to Blake, who was now glaring at his wife. The atmosphere had changed. It was crackling with animosity. Shit, something was very, very wrong here. Claire caught his look and her face paled before she looked down at her feet, her shoulders slumping. Then, just as soon as he’d flipped it, his expression went back to smiling, damn good chap .

“Of course, we did, darling,” he said; the fake warmth in his tone actually caused a shiver up my spine. Claire winced, and on instinct my eyes shot to her hand which was held in his. Her fingers were all bunched together and white from the pressure he was squeezing them with. When I looked up again, her face was pale and pinched with pain.

“Let go of her!” I burst out, and everyone started in shock. Claire’s wide eyes flew to mine. Blake didn’t let go of her hand, but he did loosen his grip. I let out a breath I hadn’t realised I’d been holding.

Ollie cleared his throat. “Lottie?” he said hesitantly. “You okay?” He clearly thought I was losing it. Claire was avoiding eye contact now; her colour returned as she blushed.

“I-I-I don’t…” I broke off as I stared up at Ollie’s confused expression. “He was holding her hand too tight,” I whispered. It sounded a bit mad now, I realised, wishing I could claw the words back. Ollie’s gaze snapped to his sister, and he frowned.

“Claire? Everything alright?” he asked, looking between his sister and her husband.

“I’m fine,” Claire said, with a nervous laugh. “I think maybe Lottie’s just a bit overwhelmed with everything. We are a lot to take.” She was grinning at me now, but it was a fixed grin that looked painful to maintain. I tilted my head to the side, silently telling her that I knew what I saw, that I knew what was going on and I was ready to say something. She stared at me for a moment, that fixed grin still on her face, but then she gave a very brief, almost imperceptible shake of her head. Not here , it said. Not now . I glanced between her and Blake, and my lips pressed in a thin line before I spoke again.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” I said lightly. “Must be the heat getting to me.”

Ollie was still frowning in confusion as he looked between the three of us. He was completely oblivious. But I knew a predator when I saw one. I knew a dangerous atmosphere when I felt it. And I could sense fear acutely.

Blake was dangerous. And Claire was afraid.