Chapter 2

“Aunty Mary!” Shelly reached up to kiss her mother’s sister on the cheek.

Mary was almost the opposite of Maureen, she was dark haired and dark eyed, and at just over six foot, she towered over Shelly and her mum ... had always towered over them.

“Thank you all so much for coming,” she turned to look around the lobby, and then looked back with a little scowl. Bill is around somewhere,” she said uncertainly.

“Oh, I am sure that we will bump into him at some point.” Pete said reassuringly, as he kissed her lightly on the cheek.

“How are you Pete ... it’s always good to see you ... in fact we don’t seem to see enough of you these days?”

The reprimand was clear for them all to hear, and Shelly winced sympathetically, Aunt Mary could be a real tyrant if she felt snubbed by someone.

“Sorry that I’ve not been around much lately, but I have been busy,” Pete said easily.

“Don’t tell me that you are getting ready to leave again?” Mary said, and Shelly and Maureen exchanged a quick horrified look.

Uncle Pete had been around for so long now, that they had gotten used to him being there.

It never even occurred – to either of them, that at some point he would like to pick up his travelling lifestyle once more.

Shelly was in no doubt that Pete had only stayed since her dad’s death, so that he could be there for his late brother’s widow and her daughter.

But now maybe he felt that he had been there enough, and had done enough for them, something which neither of them could argue about.

“Well, I will need to go away for a while...” whatever he had been about to say, was cut off by more people coming in through the main entrance.

“Is Kelly here yet?” Shelly asked as people began to call out in greeting.

“Yes, she’s been in charge of the seating ... I should think that she will be in the dining hall.”

Shelly looked at her mum and saw that some of the vibrancy had died in her face.

She shot Uncle Pete a quick glare, and he just shrugged apologetically.

“I meant to tell you both,” he said in a low voice. “But I wanted to talk to you properly about it – to explain.”

Maureen cut him off with a fixed bright smile. “You have been so good to us in this past couple of years, you don’t owe us anything, Pete; certainly not an explanation!”

She turned away from the both of them, to greet the newcomers, and engage in a bright conversation with a woman who looked vaguely familiar to Shelly, but only vaguely. It seemed that her mum had decided to act as co-host, in Uncle Bill’s absence, and Shelly just knew that she was doing it in order to avoid talking to Uncle Pete.

The day had started with such promise, but now Shelly thought it was going to be hard work all the way, and she just hoped that the afternoon and evening could go fast, and they could make their escape without one of them breaking down.

“I am going to go and look for Kelly,” she said and stormed away from Uncle Pete before he could say anything more.

Cousin Kelly was not hard to find, since she was exactly where her mum – Aunt Mary had said she would be.

The family tended to favour this hotel, whenever someone wanted to throw a party of some sort, and although they often had a straightforward buffet style spread, sometimes like now, they would make use of the dining room, and sit down to a more formal three or four course meal.

Kelly had just finished putting out the name cards, at the various tables, and was standing and admiring the setting.

Kelly was tall and willowy – like her mother, with the same dark hair, and eyes and her dimples made her look younger than her twenty-five years, when she smiled.

Shelly and Kelly had grown up together, as the daughters of two sisters, and were almost the same age, although Shelly was slightly older. They had always been close, and the two of them had always speculated that their mothers must have collaborated over their daughters naming, because of course the play on their names had always been a source for fun and laughter – and general mocking and mix-ups.

“Hi there!” Kelly grinned when she spotted her, and of course those dimples flared to life, and animated her face, and Shelly felt old and plain and dull in comparison.

Kelly strode across the room and stopped in front of her.

The smile wavered and then faded completely.

“I was so sorry to hear about Malcolm, and I am really sorry not to have got in touch with you sooner, but...”

Shelly forced a little smile. Don’t worry about it Kel, I know you’ve been busy helping your mum with arranging this party today, and preparing for your...”

“It’s all off!” Kelly cut in abruptly as Shelly was about to mention her impending nuptials

“What?” she blinked her blue eyes up at her cousin, who simply sniffed defiantly and tried for a grin but only managed to achieve a grimace.

“Rick had been lying to me, I found some things out the other day, and one of those some things was that he had a bit on the side – had had a bit on the side for months, or so I gather.”

“You mean that you were cheated on too?” Shelly demanded in an appalled tone.

Kelly blushed and scowled uncomfortably. “Well you don’t have to shout about it, I mean I am almost certain that everyone on the planet doesn’t need to hear about my relationship woes.”

Shelly blushed too. “Sorry,” she muttered. “It’s just that ... well what’s the matter with the two of us?” it was such a plaintive tone that she said it with that Kelly had to sympathise and agree.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she sighed. “I guess that we are just too trusting ... and we both obviously have awful taste in men!”

“I have to agree with you there, in fact I don’t think that I will bother with a man ever again!” Shelly said grumpily as she thought about her mum and Pete, about Malcolm, and now Kelly’s partner Phil as well. “They are all just complete let downs!”

“So, what will you do then?” Kelly challenged scornfully, as she fought not to let the hurts drag her down – especially not today.

Shelly had the grace to blush, okay she had been a bit of a wild one in her day, had been accused of being a nymphomaniac and a man eater on more than one occasion, although she had always thought of it as simply having a healthy sex drive.