Repentance by Alison Gibbs

Author:Alison Gibbs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FIC000000, FIC000000, FIC066000, FIC045000
Publisher: Scribe Publications Pty Ltd
Published: 2021-01-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

It had become something of a running joke. Throughout the week that James and Amanda were staying with them, Jean had been working her way through the international food section of her cookbook. Every night, another country. Sandy had found it interesting, a bit of fun, and the young ones seemed quite impressed by Jean’s adventurousness. They’d had cannelloni one night, and chicken and almonds from China. Sandy hadn’t been so keen on the Scandinavian lamb dish she served up on Wednesday — too much cabbage for his liking — but Amanda had asked for the recipe, so Jean saw that as a winner. While she’d never admit it, she was constantly seeking the girl’s approval. It was to Amanda that her eyes flitted during every meal.

Sandy sat at the head of the large dining-room table, his shower-damp hair combed over his scalp like the tails of sardines.

‘Where are we off to this time, love?’

‘Hawaii,’ Jean said.

It was ham steaks with pineapple. It smelt very good.

‘You marinate them first in pineapple juice,’ Jean told Amanda. She’d gone to extra lengths with the table setting that evening too, it being the kids’ last one. She’d picked hibiscus flowers from the garden and arranged them as a centrepiece around the candlesticks. ‘Next time you come, we’ll have the highchair out,’ she said brightly. It’s still out in the shed. You’d better get cracking and paint it, Sandy, and the cot.’

‘Can it wait until after the birth or do I have to paint them lemon?’

‘Stop it!’ she said, slapping at his hand. ‘Everyone’s sick of that joke.’

Sandy poured them all a glass of good claret, and they drank to the baby’s health. They discussed their plans to go down to Sydney when Amanda was home from hospital.

‘James is going to be at the birth,’ Sandy said. ‘Did he tell you that?’

‘Of course he is,’ Jean twinkled. ‘All the young dads help out these days.’

‘Help out?’ Sandy took a gulp of wine and wiped his mouth with his napkin. ‘You didn’t want me around, did you?’

‘I wouldn’t have minded a bit of support. I think it’s only fair. Not that he would’ve been much help,’ she said to Amanda. ‘He faints at the sight of blood.’

‘Only my own,’ Sandy protested.

‘That’s so funny,’ Amanda said. ‘James does too.’

‘That’s right!’ Sandy pointed at his son with his fork. ‘He fainted after that leech bite. I was just telling Amanda about that today, about that leech he got when he was little, on his willy, remember?’

‘Don’t go telling her things like that. The poor boy,’ said Jean. She stabbed her fork into a pineapple ring and sawed through the meat beneath it. ‘I can’t believe you took Amanda out to the forest today. It’s too rough underfoot for someone in her condition. She’s lucky she didn’t slip and fall.’

‘She was all right, weren’t you, love? She only got out at the causeway. She stayed in the car up the top.’

‘No, I didn’t,’ Amanda said. ‘You were gone for ages.

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