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CHAPTER 11: Sunday Afternoon at the Dixons'

"Stop fussing Vee."

"Am I?" She knows it's true. She's gone over the details with the housekeeper at least a dozen times, rearranged the furniture on the terrace, made sure the library's been dusted, fiddled with the flowers in the sitting room and double-checked everything she can think of. At last a combination of amusement and exasperation has forced Raymond to make her sit down on the terrace.

"It's not like you. Settle down, everything's ready."

"All we need is the guests." For some reason this comment makes her husband chuckle. "What's so funny?"

"I remembered the first time we did this after we were married."

The memory makes Veronica smile softly. "That was hideous. Your parents!"

"And yours! The vicar…"

"Lucy and Henry, I haven't heard from them in years…"

"Grace and Lawrence."

"A select gathering."

"And you were just like this then. Nervous, fussing about, scared no one would come, that they'd get the date wrong. All the impossible worries."

"And here I am, doing it all again."

"Well we do have one of the original guests coming."

"Dear Grace. I am nervous Raymond."

"I know my dear. So am I. This is important." He takes her hand and they sit in silence for a brief while. About five minutes later they hear the doorbell.

"Oh good, someone's here," Veronica says, getting to her feet as the maid brings the first arrival out to the terrace.

Dressed to kill in deep scarlet and black Linda approaches nervously. Veronica switches on her 'gracious hostess' smile. "Hello. I'm Veronica Dixon. This is my husband, Raymond. You must be a friend of John's."

"Hi. I'm Linda. I'm more a friend of Steve's really."

Veronica and Raymond weren't the only ones to hear the bell. Eagerly John bursts out of the house. Linda is amused to see disappointment flash across his face. He'd hoped it would be Steven. He quickly hides his regret behind a welcoming smile.

"Hey Linda."

"Hi John." She turns back to her hostess. "It's great to see this place at last. I've heard so much about it."

"All good I hope," Raymond says.

"Yes, Steven's raved about it. All I've seen before was the outside. I've dropped John and Steven off a few times but I've never been able to stop.

"That's a pity," Veronica remarks.

"Well first time I was trying to dodge the press."

Raymond's eyebrow rises in question to John, he's not been told about this. How many more surprises has his son got waiting for him?

"Raymond, we must get John a car soon," Veronica says, changing the subject.

"Must we?" Raymond replies, looking at John who is nodding hopefully. The doorbell rings again. "You can stop worrying Vee. They're all coming."

Veronica blushes a faint pink, does he have to tell the world? When she sees who it is she almost laughs with pleasure. Grace is dressed in her best 'distinguished old lady' clothes, almost she could be the Queen Mother. Paul is with her. Both Raymond and Veronica are shocked to see him. He has a deep purple bruise above his left cheek and his right hand is bandaged.

Veronica gives Grace a quick hug, "Thank you for coming."

"I wouldn't have missed this for anything. This is my grandson Paul."

"Hi," Paul says quietly.

"How are the bruises?" Veronica asks.

"Improving."

Raymond, understanding that Paul doesn't want to be fussed over, turns to his son. "John why don't you show Linda and Paul around the house. Don't worry, when Steven comes we'll send him to you."

Veronica waits until they are gone before quizzing Grace about Paul's injuries. "How is your grandson, Grace?"

"He looks worse than he is. He was damn lucky that John and Steven came along when they did. The bastards had started kicking him in the stomach."

"I do not understand it," Veronica says in amazement. "Not liking someone is no reason to hurt them."

"Enough of that for now. Who's coming?" Grace asks.

"Steven and his parents. I'm not sure who else," Raymond tells her.

"Well I've got a surprise guest," Grace replies.

"Who?"

"Well Veronica, it wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, would it?"

"She's got you there Vee."

"Well I've got my own surprise guest," Veronica says with a smile.

"That makes three of us."

"I wonder if we've all invited the same person," Veronica wonders.

"We'll soon find out, here's my surprise now," Grace says as two figures come round the side of the house.

"Why Elizabeth, how delightful." Veronica kisses the new arrival on the cheek. "And Kevin too. John will be pleased."

"I hope so," Kevin says doubtfully.

"Don't be silly Kevin. Go and find him." Elizabeth gives her son a shove towards the house and then turns to Grace. "You must be Grace Hayward. I've heard so much about you from Kevin."

"Good or bad?"

"Very good indeed. I really must thank you."

"You're welcome."

"I'm out of the loop here I think," Raymond hints broadly.

"Kevin and I had a little chat yesterday, he needed someone to talk to about John. He had to work things out."

"He's a bit like his father I'm afraid," Elizabeth says in faint frustration. "It takes a good jolt to get either of them to think at all sometimes."

"Is Wally coming?" Veronica asks.

"No. He had more important things to do." In response to Raymond's quizzical expression she adds "Golf!"

Raymond laughs. "Yes that's Wally. Nothing is more important than golf."

"Well what's the plan?" Elizabeth asks conspiratorially.

Veronica pauses to gather her nerves, at the same time wondering why she is still nervous about this. "I take it you know about John," she asks.

"Yes. I had Cynthia Grenville-Barker on the phone Friday. I thought she'd never shut up. That woman could wax indignant over a broken finger-nail."

"And has," Veronica says dryly.

"She tried to persuade me to join her campaign."

"Did she tell you how far they've got?" Raymond asks.

"Not far at all. She hasn't even committed herself to it yet. You know Cynthia, she won't make up her mind until she sees which way the wind is blowing. She said they're meeting on Tuesday night."

"What did you tell her?" Veronica enquires.

"Nothing at all. I was so surprised when she told me that I couldn't think what to say, so I prevaricated. If you like I could go to the meeting. I rather fancy being a spy."

"I trust that won't be necessary," Raymond says hopefully. "Ah, here's the man of the moment. Hello Steven, Graham, Sarah. Have you met Grace and Elizabeth?"

"I'm Grace."

"And by a process of logic I must be Elizabeth."

"Good to meet you both," Graham says. Sarah smiles cheerfully, she is happy to find supporters. They will need more, but this is a good beginning.

Elizabeth gazes interestedly at Steven. "Well young man I didn't get a chance to talk to you on Prize Day." The thought of Prize Day makes Graham pale with embarrassment. His loss of colour is noticed both by his wife, who is extremely annoyed, and by Elizabeth, who is a little puzzled. Thinking she understands the cause of Graham's anxiety Elizabeth decides to get straight to the point. "That was quite some speech you gave Steven. Congratulations."

"Thank you."

"It was such fun watching all those fools. I haven't seen so many shocked faces in one place since my mother announced she was marrying the under-gardener. Graham, Sarah, you must both be very proud of him."

"We are," declares, glaring at Graham, daring him to disagree with her. Graham remains quiet, highly surprised by Elizabeth's words. Steven blushes bright red.

"Don't worry Steven, we won't embarrass you any more," Raymond tells him. "Go and find John, he's inside somewhere.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While they have been talking Kevin has been looking for John. Eventually he hears John's voice coming from his bedroom. Linda is the first to see Kevin coming down the corridor.

"Oh God, here comes Kevin Groin-ger."

"What's he doing here?" John wonders. This is not the time for a confrontation, not with Kevin anyway.

"If he tries anything stupid I'll tear him to shreds."

"I don't know what he's done, but give him a chance. He did me a big favour." Paul reminds them.

"Kevin?" Linda exclaims.

"He helped fight off the bashers."

"Okay I'll give him another chance, just one."

"Hey Kev," John calls out. "What brings you over?"

"Heard you were having a party. Thought we'd crash it."

"We? Is Dave here?"

"No. I mean me and mum."

"Did my mother ask you?"

"No, his gran did," Kevin says, indicating Paul with a look. Paul looks worried, have they done the right thing?

There's something about Kevin's stance that makes Linda realise something's changed in him. For once he's not aggressive. "Paul I think we're extraneous. Let's get downstairs and leave the boys to chat." Kevin's look of gratitude surprises her even more. "If you want us we'll be by the pool. I wish I'd brought my swimming things."

As Linda and Paul leave John sits down at his desk while Kevin walks over to the window and leans on the windowsill, looking out at nothing in particular. "She's an amazing woman," he says.

"Linda?"

"Grace Hayward."

"I'm beginning to think so."

"I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. Since you told me."

"Kev…"

Kevin turns to stop John, "Please let me have my say." He looks back out the window. "I've been a bastard these last few years. I've been so good at footy and running and stuff that I stopped thinking much. Didn't bother to think for myself, just did what everyone else did, laughed at anyone odd, pushed them around, didn't give them a chance."

"You weren't the only one."

"No, I just made myself the best at it. That's why I fucked up with Jess. I really liked her a lot but I couldn't keep my mouth shut. Everyone bragged about their sex lives so I did too. I didn't see the difference between a quick shag and a girl I really liked… Then there's Steven."

"We all hounded him."

"Not you. You were always the one who stopped us, called us off. And it wasn't just him, you did it with everyone. You made it seem like you didn't want to waste your time with them, but you never bullied them. Of course Steven was different."

"Only the last few months."

"Since the damn Ball."

John looks up in surprise. "How did you know?"

"You didn't go home that night. You didn't stay with me or with Dave or anyone else from school. I knew something had happened. Of course I only worked out what last week. It was so clear if I'd only stopped to look. But that's unimportant. What is important is…" He turns to look John in the eyes. "John it's going to take me a while to really get used to it. We've been mates a long time and I still want us to be. If I've got to change to make it happen I'll change."

"Thanks Kev, thanks. I was beginning to think I'd lose all my friends."

"You've lost a few but most of them don't seem to care."

"I wish I'd known that a year ago."

"A year ago we were different people."

"Not really."

A light knock on the door attracts their attention. It's Steven. The fire that leaps from John's eyes to Steven's and back again quite dazzles Kevin. How could he have been so blind? They've been looking at each other like this for months. It is so obviously love.

"Steven," Kevin greets him.

"Hi Kevin," Steven replies warily.

"We've been talking," John tells Steven.

"Look, sorry I've been such a prick," Kevin apologises.

"That was BPD."

"BPD?" Kevin asks in puzzlement.

"Yeah, BPD. It's my new dating system. I've got BPD and APD."

"You've lost me," John says.

"Before Prize Day and After Prize Day. It's the day I had my epiphany."

"I hope it's not catching," John replies with a smile.

"What sort of religious education have you had?" Steven asks.

"Obviously not much."

"So if you've had an epiphany does that mean I can stop being a prick," Kevin enquires.

"I highly recommend it."

"Stop it you two. We've got guests," John reminds them. "Let's get back down there."

They head out through the back door to the pool where they find Linda and Paul waiting. John looks over to the terrace where he can see several new arrivals.

"Hey Johnny who are all those people?" Linda asks.

"The woman with my mother is Margaret Grazebrooke, she's the local M.P. I don't know the man though."

"Oscar something or other," Steve tells them. "He's dad's accountant and something to do with the Council. The couple talking to Grace are friends of mum's."

"This gets better and better," John says gleefully.

"Who else is coming?" Linda asks.

"I'm not sure. Alcock of course."

"Who's the cute guy with Brunhilda?" Paul asks.

Steven looks past the terrace to the two figures coming round the side path. The boy is rather good-looking and the woman does look like a Valkyrie, swooping into battle.

"What's that bitch doing here?" John exclaims angrily.