Cherry Blossom Dreams Read online

  ‘Look,’ Mum said, placing the engagement photo from Blossom House on the page beside it. And I had to agree that my grandfather bore a striking resemblance to the young man in the photo, though it must have been taken about ten years later.

  ‘Have you shown Granny yet?’ I asked.

  ‘Not yet.’

  ‘You should, Mum. It’s weird. It’s like there’s a link between Blossom House and Granny that she hasn’t told us about.’

  ‘I’ll show her tomorrow. Now go. You’d better not leave it too late if you want to see Priti.’

  The look on Priti’s face when I turned up at her house that evening wasn’t especially welcoming, but that changed when I handed her the parcel I’d made up for her.

  ‘Here, this is for you! To prove that you’re very important to me – even if I haven’t been making you feel that way recently,’ I said in a rush.

  Priti gasped in surprise when she discovered the red dress inside. ‘You really want me to have this?’

  ‘Yes,’ I said, hearing my voice tremble a little as I added, ‘I just want us to be friends again. I’ve really missed you. I’ve been such an idiot, Priti.’

  In response Priti gave me a hug and told me that she had missed me too.

  ‘Thanks,’ I said, ‘but you know I’ll understand if you don’t want to hang round with me at school until all the gossip dies down.’

  ‘Don’t worry about that, Sasha. Of course I’ll hang out with you.’ And she immediately started gushing about how Leo was the best teacher she’d ever had. ‘I just can’t believe he might actually be there at your house when I come round to yours. I’ll get to see him outside of school and chat to him about books and … and …’

  ‘Discuss poetry with him across the dinner table?’ I suggested with a grin.

  And as she gave a delighted giggle I really wished I didn’t have to tell her the bad news.

  The next day at school Priti stayed by my side, even though it meant getting picked on along with me. I didn’t so much as look at Leo during registration and I tried to completely avoid him for the rest of the day. To be honest, the teasing about Leo and Mum had started to subside. And Priti kept her promise not to breathe a word to anyone about Mum and Leo’s falling-out.

  ‘You must be feeling upset that they’ve split up,’ she said sympathetically as the two of us stood together in the playground.

  ‘It’s stupid really,’ I said. ‘I mean, I probably should’ve seen it coming. None of Mum’s relationships ever last … But somehow with Leo it seemed different … and I was starting to hope …’

  ‘Listen, we have to think positively,’ Priti said. ‘OK, so they’ve had this terrible row! But if they still love each other then maybe they’ll sort it out.’

  I sniffed. ‘Oh, I don’t think that’s likely to happen.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because Mum never sorts things out. When her relationships end, they just … well … end.’

  ‘You shouldn’t be so pessimistic, Sasha. Maybe this time will be different. My mum and dad have a big row about once a month. They shout and then they don’t speak for a bit, and then Dad buys her flowers and Mum cooks him a special dinner, and then it’s all OK again. Leo and your mum might still get back together … and even if they don’t … well … maybe that’s a sign that it wasn’t the right thing for any of you.’

  ‘You know, you’re beginning to sound just like Lily,’ I interrupted her with a weak laugh. I got a horrible twisty feeling in my stomach even saying Lily’s name. We still hadn’t spoken. This was the longest we’d not talked to each other since we were about five.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Priti asked me.

  ‘Nothing,’ I said quickly, knowing I couldn’t tell her that I was missing Lily – not unless I wanted to upset her when she’d only just become my friend again.

  When I got home after school I was surprised to find Mum sitting cross-legged on the living room floor, staring at photographs.

  ‘What’s wrong, Mum?’ I asked, because I instantly knew that something was. For one thing, she was never usually home this early. ‘Did you show that photo we found to Granny?’

  Mum looked up at me and that’s when I saw she had been crying. ‘Oh yes. I showed her this morning. She said she didn’t think the man in it looked all that much like my father.’ She scowled and I knew there was more to come. ‘So I took it into work today and gave it to Miranda. It turned out she actually had a photograph album she was keeping for the owner – one that got left behind in the house. She had it in the office so she got it out and showed it to me. There were more photos like that one in there, so there’s no doubt it was a picture of the couple who lived in Blossom House. But then at the back of the album I spotted this …’ She picked up another photograph that had been lying beside her on the floor. ‘Miranda let me bring this one home to show Granny …’

  She handed it over and I saw what had to be another picture of the young man from the engagement photo. Only this time he was dressed as a magician in a red waistcoat and purple cape, and he was holding a top hat with a rabbit inside. It was obviously a publicity shot of some kind.

  ‘So this has to be the old lady’s husband a few years later,’ I said.

  ‘The thing is,’ Mum continued. ‘This one is definitely a photograph of my father. I know because I’ve actually got a copy!’

  I stared at her, totally confused. ‘Huh?’

  ‘See for yourself!’ Mum pointed behind me to where her own photograph album – the one she had shown me the evening before – lay open on the coffee table.

  I went over to look and straight away I saw the identical photograph staring up at me.

  ‘But I don’t understand,’ I mumbled. ‘What does this mean?’

  ‘It means,’ Mum said tensely, ‘that my father and the man who lived at Blossom House must have been the same person. My father was basically leading a double life – when he wasn’t at home with us, he was living at Blossom House with his wife and son.’

  ‘But that’s impossible!’ I protested. ‘Granny was his wife!’

  ‘Apparently not legally,’ Mum said. ‘This afternoon she told me the truth at last. She said that when she married him she had no idea, but he already had a wife and child. God knows how, but somehow he must have managed to set up a fake wedding.’

  ‘But isn’t that –’ I broke off, not entirely sure what it was, apart from clearly being very wrong.

  ‘It’s a criminal offence called bigamy, Sasha. Granny only found out when he died, and she decided not to tell anyone – not even me. Since I was away travelling at the time it was easy enough for her to cover it up.’ Mum’s eyes were filling with tears now. ‘At the time she told me she’d scattered Dad’s ashes in the park. Turns out they buried him in a graveyard just down the road from here. Apparently she nearly had a fit when she realised your dad and I were looking at houses in this neighbourhood when I was expecting you and Sean.’

  ‘But this is …’ I broke off. I didn’t know what to say. ‘No wonder Granny freaked out when she saw the pictures of Blossom House,’ I murmured.

  Mum nodded. ‘Granny told me this afternoon that she actually went there on the day of my father’s funeral. Only a handful of people were at the funeral – both wives, which must have been very strange! The first wife already knew about my mother and me. Granny says she was a tiny, pixie-like little thing, extremely eccentric … and she was wearing that dress you had on the other day because it was a favourite of my father’s apparently. After the ceremony Granny was invited back to the house with the lawyer to discuss the will. The other wife spoke to my mother quite kindly. Her son was there too and they asked after me and even invited us to stay in touch if we wanted. Granny declined of course.’

  My head was spinning with all this unexpected and unbelievable information. ‘So the old lady’s son … the owner of Blossom House … Miranda’s friend … he’s your brother?’

  ‘My half-brother … yes
.’

  ‘Wow … So does he know about you? That you work for Miranda, I mean?’

  ‘I don’t know. Miranda’s going to talk to him and find out a bit more for me.’

  ‘Mum, where’s Granny now?’ I asked, suddenly realising that she hadn’t appeared the whole time we’d been talking.

  ‘Oh, well, Miranda gave me the afternoon off so that I could speak to her before you two got home. I must say I managed to stay quite calm until she told me my dad was buried in a graveyard just down the road from here. Then I told her she’d had no right to lie to me for all these years. She tried to say she was protecting me. I said she had just been protecting herself as usual and that in any case she’d been blind not to see at the time what was going on with my father!’ Mum sniffed. ‘I said a lot of other things … things I’ve bottled up for years. Anyway, then she packed her things and left. Again.’

  ‘Oh, Mum …’ I didn’t know what to say. ‘Poor Granny. How must she have felt discovering that her husband had lied to her all those years?’

  ‘Well, she’s had plenty of time to get used to it, keeping it secret from me! And to think she was so mean to me about Michael!’

  I didn’t say anything, but Granny hadn’t been mean to Mum about Michael – she’d been there for us like she always was when Mum fell apart. But Mum was in such a bad mood with Granny that I knew it wouldn’t help to defend her.

  ‘Anyway,’ she continued, ‘Miranda’s going to tell Greg. That’s his – my half-brother’s – name. I wonder how he’ll react to the news.’

  ‘I can’t believe this, Mum,’ I said. ‘The owner of Blossom House is actually our uncle! How weird is that?’ I frowned as I thought about everything she had told me. ‘And the weirdest part is us ending up living just one street away. I mean, you didn’t even know this area when you moved here with our dad, did you?’

  Mum shook her head. ‘Granny and I lived on the other side of town. I’ll tell you something though, Sasha. When your dad and I started looking around here for a house to buy, your granny did her best to put us off. And the bossier she was about it, the more I felt like doing the exact opposite! I’ll tell you something else as well. I vaguely remember, when I was very young, my dad taking me to see some friends of his – a lady and an older boy who lived in a very big house. I even have some fuzzy memories of a garden with a lot of blossom. I think maybe my dad used to take me to Blossom House sometimes when I was very small.’

  My mouth had fallen open at this revelation. ‘Does Granny know?’

  She shook her head. ‘And I don’t intend to tell her. She’s already furious enough with my father as it is! Promise me you’ll keep quiet about that, Sasha.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Mum,’ I said. ‘I won’t breathe a word to anyone.’

  Not even Lily, I thought. Then I remembered. Of course I wouldn’t be telling Lily.

  Suddenly Mum’s phone rang.

  ‘That’s Leo,’ Mum said, looking at it without answering the call. ‘I was so upset when I found out about my father this afternoon that I phoned him in a bit of a panic and left him a message asking him to call me back.’

  ‘Then talk to him, Mum.’

  ‘I don’t think I need to any more. I feel a bit better now I’ve talked to you.’

  ‘Mum!’ I reached out and grabbed the phone from her hand and before she could stop me I was speaking into it. ‘Hi, Leo. Mum’s right here. She’s had a really big shock today and she needs to speak to you. I’ll just hand you over.’

  I gave Mum the phone and left them to talk while I went to the kitchen to make us both a cup of tea. Maybe Priti was right. Maybe they’d work it out after all.

  The following morning, which was Saturday, I got up at six o’clock to use the bathroom and couldn’t get back to sleep again.

  Everything was happening so quickly that my brain was fizzing. The night before, Mum had told Sean all about her dad and after discussing it for a while Sean and I had decided to call Granny to make sure she was OK. She insisted that she was but she’d definitely been a bit frosty with us.

  Leo had come round to see Mum just after Sean and I had gone to bed. I could tell he was still here because Mum’s bedroom door was closed and Leo’s washbag was back on the shelf in the bathroom.

  On my way back to my bedroom I peeked into my brother’s room to find him sitting on his bed, fully dressed, tying up the laces on his trainers. ‘Sean, where are you going?’ I asked in surprise, because he was never usually up this early.

  ‘Blossom House.’ My brother and Zack had already gone round there after school the day before, to set up their snake trap for Monty.

  ‘I’m coming with you,’ I said. ‘Just give me a minute to get dressed.’

  ‘Well, get a move on. I don’t want Mum and Leo waking up.’

  ‘You saw he stayed the night then,’ I whispered. ‘Do you think this means they’re back together?’

  ‘Who knows?’ Sean did his best to sound casual but I could tell that he was every bit as hopeful as I was.

  ‘You know, I really don’t get the point of that cage,’ I said as we closed the front door carefully behind us and set off along our road. It was pretty chilly and I quickly did up my jacket. The only other person we could see on our street was the milkman.

  ‘How do you mean?’ Sean asked.

  ‘Well, OK, so Monty will slide in through the bars to get to the mouse … I get that bit … but then he’ll just slither right out again, won’t he?’

  ‘Will he?’ Sean gave me a quizzical look.

  Then it dawned on me. With the mouse inside him Monty would be too fat to squeeze out through the bars again.

  ‘Of course!’ I exclaimed. ‘That’s wicked!’

  ‘In more ways than one,’ Sean agreed with a grin.

  ‘So does Zack think he’s still in the house somewhere even though we haven’t seen him for all this time?’ I asked. I had to admit I’d been starting to think he must have escaped outside by now.

  ‘Zack thinks he might have been sleeping under the floorboards somewhere. He says it’ll be cold for him without any heating, especially at night, and that snakes tend to be less active when they’re cold.’

  ‘Well, last night was a bit colder than it’s been since we got back from Greece,’ I pointed out. ‘We actually had the heating on, remember?’

  ‘Yeah, well that’s the thing. So did Monty!’

  ‘What?’

  ‘It was Zack’s idea. He said if we made that room really warm then Monty might go back there. And that he might smell his dinner and realise he was hungry and … hey presto!’

  ‘HEY!’ Suddenly we heard a voice behind us and we looked back to see a bare-footed Leo standing on the pavement in front of our house, wearing a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. He’d clearly just got out of bed. I felt a gush of warmth at seeing him.

  Sean and I gave him a quick wave, then looked at each other. I could tell we were both thinking the same thing. Sean glanced down to check what I had on my feet.

  ‘Cool,’ he said when he saw I was wearing my trainers instead of my flip-flops. ‘Come on.’

  And without looking back we broke into a run.

  Five minutes later we were letting ourselves in through the back door of Blossom House. It felt different, knowing that our grandfather had lived here. As if maybe we had a right to be there.

  ‘It’s not very warm in here,’ I said.

  ‘It will be in the bedroom. The whole point is to entice Monty back in there, so we turned that radiator on full blast and switched off all the rest.’

  I followed him upstairs and held my breath as we entered the front bedroom – which was lovely and warm compared with the rest of the house.

  ‘Oh!’ Sean exclaimed excitedly, as he stopped dead right in front of me.

  ‘Oh, wow!’ I gasped. There was Monty – his head and the top part of his body (complete with mouse-sized lump) – trapped inside the cage, while the rest stuck out through the bars.

>   ‘Monty, Monty, Monty!’ Sean rushed over to kneel on the floor beside the snake, fumbling to unhook the cage door.

  I watched my brother carefully move the cage round to allow Monty’s upper body, complete with mouse-sized lump, to slip out through the wider opening of the door.

  ‘Is he all right?’ I asked anxiously. ‘He’s not hurt, is he?’

  ‘Not that I can see,’ Sean replied as he gently stroked the snake’s coppery brown back. ‘Monty, where have you been? Have you any idea how worried we’ve been about you?’

  Just then we heard a car door slam and I went over to the window to look out. ‘It’s them,’ I told my brother.

  We had expected this of course – just not quite so soon.

  ‘Now we’re for it, I suppose,’ Sean murmured. ‘Still …’ He gave me a grin as he added, ‘Mission accomplished, eh?’

  And it seemed like nothing could spoil his good mood as he draped Monty carefully round his neck.

  Leo arrived upstairs first. He took one look at Sean with Monty round his shoulders and let out a terrified, ‘OH MY GOD!’

  ‘It’s OK, Leo. We’re looking after him for Zack,’ I explained quickly. ‘Don’t worry – he’s not poisonous.’

  ‘And you know that how?’ Leo rasped.

  ‘Because he’s a python,’ Sean answered – a bit too smugly in my opinion. ‘Don’t worry, Leo. Ball pythons have very friendly personalities – especially when they’ve just eaten.’ And then he started jabbering on about how Indiana Jones was scared of snakes too, and that it was nothing to be ashamed of.

  ‘Stop showing off and put that thing away, Sean!’ Leo barked as we heard Mum coming up the stairs.

  Mum let out a piercing scream the instant she spotted Monty and even Leo had a hard job trying to get her to calm down.

  ‘I’ll just fetch his box from the shed, shall I?’ I said, trying not to grin as I darted out on to the landing. ‘Don’t worry, Mum … Sean will explain everything!’

  I took as much time as I dared fetching Monty’s box and by the time I got back upstairs again, Sean had just finished explaining to Mum and Leo how Monty had come to be there, how he’d escaped and how we had just managed to recapture him.