My Mum Tracy Beaker Read online

  ‘No, he’s here, but we don’t see each other much. He’s a nurse – he often works night shifts and gets up at midday, when I’m here at Mr Sean’s.’

  ‘You have a hard life, Rosalie,’ I said seriously, but it made her burst out laughing again.

  ‘You’re a funny child, Jess,’ she said.

  ‘Don’t you have a wedding ring?’ I asked, looking at her bare left hand.

  ‘Yes, and an engagement ring, but I don’t wear them when I’m working. I’ll show you.’ Rosalie unbuttoned the top of her shirt and showed me the two rings on a thin chain around her neck, a plain gold band and one set with a little diamond.

  ‘I wonder if my mum will choose a diamond too,’ I said.

  ‘Mr Sean will want it to be big and flashy,’ said Rosalie.

  She was right. Mum came home with a big diamond solitaire sparkling on her finger. Her eyes were sparkling too.

  ‘Oh, Jess, isn’t it gorgeous?’ she said. ‘And it fits me beautifully so I can wear it straight away. You’ll never, ever guess what it cost!’

  ‘A hundred pounds?’

  ‘Much, much, much more!’ Mum whispered the amount in my ear and I gasped. Sean Godfrey was seriously rich!

  He swaggered about proudly, and kept asking Mum if she really liked the ring and was absolutely sure it was the one she wanted.

  ‘Well, it’s not quite as nice as the one I got out of last year’s Christmas cracker, but I suppose it will do,’ said Mum.

  He stared at her, stricken.

  ‘I’m joking, silly. It’s the most beautiful ring in all the world!’

  ‘And you’re the most beautiful girl,’ he said.

  Alfie and I rolled our eyes. Rosalie seemed genuinely pleased and gave them both a hug. She made me feel a bit guilty. When Sean Godfrey drove off to check on things in the gym, I gave Mum a hug too.

  ‘Congratulations,’ I mumbled.

  ‘Thanks, Jess! I couldn’t be happier, really. Imagine, I’m actually engaged. I’m the only girl Sean’s ever proposed to. He’s had heaps of girlfriends in the past, but I can’t object to that, can I, because I’ve had my fair share of boyfriends. And all right, I think he was pretty serious about Sandy Forthright, but he’s sworn to me that it’s all over now. I watched her on i-player the other evening, and she might have a pretty face but she’s the most terrible actress. Her voice! She’s sounds like a Munchkin, all high and squeaky.’

  Mum had to take her ring off to make the fairy cakes for Ava and Alice and me. She put it carefully on the kitchen windowsill. It was still there when Sean came back from the gym.

  ‘Hey, what’s this? You haven’t taken it off already! I thought you promised to wear it for ever and ever.’ He looked genuinely upset.

  ‘And I will wear it for ever and ever, but I can’t keep it on when I’m making cakes, stupid – it would get all gungy with cake mix,’ said Mum, carefully piping a red ‘J’ on the white iced fairy cake. She’d already piped two ‘A’s on two others.

  ‘Don’t call me stupid,’ said Sean Godfrey, with an edge to his voice.

  Mum flushed. ‘Don’t be like that, Sean. I didn’t mean it. I was just joking again.’

  ‘Yeah, well, I get a bit fed up of your jokes at times,’ he said, and he marched out of the kitchen.

  Mum called out to him, but he went on down the hall, out of the front door, back to his car. We heard him driving off.

  ‘Oh, help,’ said Mum.

  ‘Don’t worry, Miss Tracy. Mr Sean flares up like that sometimes, but it doesn’t last long,’ said Rosalie comfortingly, opening the oven to check on her coffee-and-walnut cake.

  ‘I shouldn’t have called him stupid. I know he hates it, because his mum always said he was stupid. And how could I have said it today of all days, when he’s just forked out a fortune on my amazing ring.’ Mum was near tears.

  My tummy was squeezed tight. I wondered if this was going to be another awkward tea session, even though Mum’s fairy cakes had turned out perfectly, and Rosalie’s coffee-and-walnut cake smelled amazing.

  Sean Godfrey stayed out for hours. He still wasn’t back when Marina drove up with Ava and Alice. They’d brought us a little potted palm for a house-warming present.

  ‘Thank you so much! It will look great in the conservatory,’ said Mum.

  ‘You have a conservatory!’ said Marina. ‘I’ve always fancied one, but we haven’t really got room at the back of our house.’

  ‘Shall I show you round?’ Mum offered.

  She gave them a grand tour of the house and the grounds and the conservatory and the swimming-pool extension.

  Even Ava was impressed. ‘You are so lucky,’ she said to me. ‘Your house is a million miles better than ours. I wish my dad was a footballer with his own gym. Mine’s just a boring old lawyer.’

  ‘Sean Godfrey’s not my dad,’ I said quickly.

  ‘Yes, but he will be soon,’ said Alice. ‘Can we come to your mum’s wedding? Can I be a bridesmaid as I’m your best friend?’

  ‘Can I be a bridesmaid too?’ Ava begged. ‘What colour will the bridesmaids’ dresses be?’

  ‘I thought slime-green would look cool,’ said Mum, which was my joke.

  Ava took her seriously. ‘Well, it’s your choice of course, but don’t you think blue would be prettier? Blue suits me, doesn’t it, Mum? It’s because I have blue eyes.’

  ‘Tracy’s kidding you, silly,’ said Marina. She caught hold of Mum’s hand. ‘Oh my Lord! Look at your ring! It’s huge – and so sparkly! So where is this fantastic guy, eh? Aren’t we going to get to meet him?’

  I looked at Mum.

  ‘Well, he’s had to go to his gym. I’m not quite sure when he’ll be back,’ she said.

  But just as she was saying this we heard the car coming up the driveway, and within seconds Sean Godfrey was in the sitting room. I held my breath, wondering if he would have a go at Mum in front of Marina and Ava and Alice – but he was smiling.

  ‘Hi there! You must be Marina. Pleased to meet you. And you two gorgeous girls have to be Ava and Alice,’ he said, giving them a kiss on the cheek. All three went pink and giggled.

  Then he kissed Mum, and held her close. ‘How’s my lovely fiancée?’ he said.

  Then he looked in my direction. I rushed back to the kitchen, mumbling that I had to help Rosalie because I wanted to avoid him giving me a kiss. Rosalie was setting out the cakes on pretty plates, a red rose one for the fairy cakes and a jade-green leaf one for the coffee-and-walnut.

  ‘They haven’t brought a cake too, have they?’ she whispered.

  ‘No, a potted palm,’ I said.

  ‘And I see Mr Sean’s back. Is he still in a mood?’

  ‘He’s all smiley and chatty.’

  ‘There! I said he’d cheer up soon,’ said Rosalie. She put her arm round me. ‘So you can relax now and enjoy having your friends to tea.’

  I did enjoy it, but I was starting to wish that Sean Godfrey had stayed away. He was being Mr Charm, and Marina and Ava and Alice were practically fluttering their eyelashes at him. I had hoped that Alice at least would find him creepy – then we could have had a secret session dissing him upstairs in my bedroom – but she hung on his every word. Ava told him that the girls in her year at school all did football, and asked if he could give her any tips. Marina asked him about the nightclubs and posh restaurants he’d been to, and marvelled at all the celebrities he’d met. He showed off horribly, but had enough sense not to mention Sandy Forthright.

  ‘My, Tracy, you’re going to be in all the magazines soon!’ said Marina. ‘In fact, you could do a rags-to-riches story for us! How do you feel about that? I’ll find the right person to ghost it for you.’

  ‘Why can’t I write it myself?’ Mum asked.

  ‘It’s a matter of getting the tone right. And knowing how to pace things. And of course we’ll want Sean’s side of the story too. I love the childhood-sweethearts angle. And Sean’s deprived background and his fight to get recognized a