‘Yes, will you do that please?’ I asked, aware I sounded like Joy talking to Bob. But if Dan asked Ella to take the photos down, then I wouldn’t have to tangle with her.
‘Yeah.’
‘When?’ I pressed.
‘What do you want me to do, Clare?’ he asked, irritated. ‘Shall I run into the village now and tear the kids away from the ice cream, make a big scene and drag them back, telling them never to speak to Auntie Ella again?’
‘Don’t be stupid.’
‘No, you’re being stupid. When they get back, we will just calmly ask her to take down the account – if it’s making you so unhappy.’
‘Why do you have to add the caveat “if it’s making me unhappy”？’
‘I can’t win! Whatever I say is wrong. You do what you want to do, Clare,’ he said, and closed his eyes.
I couldn’t get through to Dan, so I stood up and wandered over to Joy, who put down her book.
‘Are you okay, dear?’ she asked.
‘You’ll never believe this. Ella seems to have a whole Instagram account devoted to the kids!’
I showed her on my phone, and she scrolled through. I was so desperate for her to see what Ella had done now I didn’t care what she made of the hashtags, they were open to interpretation and she had no idea, so wouldn’t think twice.
‘That’s a lovely one of all three of them – and that one of Freddie – you should ask her for copies,’ she said.
‘Don’t you think it’s a bit creepy?’ I asked as she handed me back my phone.
‘Why? They’re lovely, you can print them and get them framed. They’d look good on your sideboard in the dining room.’
‘I didn’t even know she was taking them.’ What the hell was going on here? Even Joy wasn’t understanding the gravitas of this. Another woman was passing someone else’s kids off as her own.
‘She’s been taking pictures all holiday, love,’ she said, in the same voice she used to explain to Alfie why he should stop hitting Freddie.
‘Yes, but I think it’s a bit off to set up a whole account with someone else’s kids on and not mention it.’
Joy looked up at me. ‘Clare, I’m sure she didn’t mean anything. They’re beautiful children, she just wanted to photograph them. And I think it’s good they’ve gone for a while today. It’s been like a pressure cooker here since Ella and Jamie arrived.’
Finally, she was admitting she felt the same too and I jumped on it, desperate for her to believe me, to be on my team.
‘This has made me very uncomfortable. I know you want to believe Jamie’s made a good choice, and I don’t want to bring up the earrings again, but I’m just not sure Ella’s trustworthy, Joy,’ I added, not least to pre-empt anything Ella might say to Joy about me and Jamie.
‘Oh, she’s young, she just wants to impress us all. But you don’t see eye to eye with her do you?’
I suddenly felt like Joy was shifting all this on to me. ‘No, I don’t suppose I do.’
‘I really wouldn’t take it to heart, Clare. I’m sure she didn’t mean anything by the photos, she probably didn’t like to ask you because you… well, she’s a bit scared of you.’
I almost laughed in her face. ‘Is that what she told you?’
‘Well, not exactly, she just said she finds Dan easier to get along with. She finds you intimidating – she thinks you don’t like her.’
‘Intimidating?’ I almost laughed at that one, and I was seething that she’d made me out to be the villain. But she’d manipulated the situation and to everyone else that must have seemed plausible. ‘She’s right, I don’t want a relationship with her – she stole your earrings, let’s not forget that,’ I said, rather lamely throwing the worst thing I could think of at Joy. But what else could I say? There was so much I couldn’t talk about, and by skirting around the edges I was aware I was beginning to sound like the jealous older woman in all this. Which I reckoned was exactly what Ella wanted.When Joy didn’t respond, I used a risky strategy and pushed her. ‘Joy, you know she took your earrings, right?’
There was a moment’s hesitation before she launched into this weird, accepting version of Joy that had been present ever since Ella had turned up. ‘Perhaps she did. But I have them back now, so all’s well that—’
It was so unlike her to be passive, and it was all for Jamie, so he’d come back into the fold and stay this time.