Jeanne already had grandchildren when she joined The Desperate Readers fifteen years ago, so we were used to her stories about some of their more amusing escapades while they were growing up. As they lived in Sweden, we seldom actually saw them unless our visits to the local supermarket happened to coincide with a period when Jeanne’s son and his family were escaping the Swedish winter.
Andrea brought a different dimension to sharing her grandchildren by bringing wads of glossy photographs to the book club meetings. She would delve into her large leather handbag and pass them around almost as soon as we had sat down, making them difficult to ignore. These monthly offerings continued for about a year and might have continued had Sylvia not arrived at one meeting with her iPad already switched on. Andrea graciously oohed and aahed over the bright pictures that could be flipped back and forth with the tips of one’s finger.
Mary, Tilly and Candice boasted about the arrival of their respective grandchildren in quick succession and quite overshadowed my news of my daughter’s wedding. My cell phone photographs of the event remained unseen. Everyone enthused over the photographs of the wedding of Pauline’s son – especially as she also handed round squares of wedding cake. Diane brought everyone a sachet of herbs from her daughter’s wedding and their enthusiasm over this unexpected treat “to share our joy” dimmed the news of the arrival of my first grandchild to the point of it immediately being forgotten.
Tessa was usually the most enthusiastic of the members whenever weddings or grandchildren were mentioned even though she had personally experienced neither. It was Tessa who squeezed my hand as we made our way to the tea table near the end of another meeting when, once again my ‘news’ had been overshadowed by something else. “I’m so pleased you have two grandchildren now.” She said quietly. “Won’t you bring us pictures of them?”
I never did – well, I did but I never brandished them about because to our collective joy Tessa quietly announced a few weeks later that “It has been a long wait, but I’m to be a grandmother at last!” Her cheeks glowed with a pink flush and her broad smile impossible to control.
“When?” Andrea demanded.
“Is it to be a boy or a girl?” Jeanne wanted to know as she crossed the room to give Tessa a hug.
“Will the baby be born here?” The questions flowed thick and fast. Tessa clearly valued every one of them, fully aware that her friends knew very little about her daughter, who travelled the world as part of her job in the travel business.
“Katy plans to settle here now. She says she’s done enough travelling to last a lifetime.”
Tilly vaguely remembered an engagement had been mentioned and racked her memory for news of a wedding. “When did Katy get married?” She addressed Mary, who was sitting near her. Tessa was on full alert though and answered brightly.
“I used to worry about Katy and Conrad. They’ve been together for five years already and have been trying so hard for a baby. Nothing seems to have worked until now.”
Once we had discussed and distributed the books we settled ourselves around a table groaning with sweet and savoury food – Candice outdid us all in the catering department. Quite unexpectedly, she opened a bottle of chilled sparkling wine and poured it into generous flutes half-filled with crushed ice. “We must celebrate this special news,” she announced as she raised her glass and turned towards Tessa. “Now, Tess, when can we all expect this baby?”
Tessa smiled demurely. “Katy’s only just pregnant,” she admitted, “so we have a long way to go still.”
Other news came and went: Pauline had joined a tour to see the spring flowers in Namaqualand; Andrea enthralled everyone with a dramatic account of a daring break-in at her neighbour’s house; Jeanne showed off her new car … As the year passed Tessa grew quieter. Even though she still enthused over the books she had read, she seldom contributed to the conversations as spontaneously as she used to.
I drew her aside one afternoon as the others were entering Mary’s house for the latest meeting. I hadn’t bothered to tell anyone that both my children had left the country for on both occasions the death of a dog or the arrival of a kitten had absorbed everyone’s attention. I couldn’t compete with that. “What has happened, Tessa?” I asked quietly as I touched her shoulder to hold her back for a moment.
“What is supposed to have happened?” She looked at me blankly.
“Tessa, I saw Kate enjoying what looked like an intimate dinner with the son of a colleague a while ago and –“
“You might as well know.” Tessa’s eyes brimmed with tears. “Kate lost her baby early on. It had all been such a strain and proved to be the last straw for her and Conrad. He moved out and she sold her engagement ring to start her nursery business.” She shuddered involuntarily. “She’s forty two now. There will be no grandchild for me.”
“Come on you two! Is something the matter?” Mary was still holding her front door open for us to enter.
“No problem,” Tessa called back. “Gillian has just saved me from falling over my own feet!” She linked arms with me as we negotiated the stone steps at the end of the cement path.
I was aware of Tessa throughout the afternoon and wondered if it was my imagination, or did she really look a little more at ease?
“Such news everyone.” Tilly held up her glass of wine to propose a toast then she looked into her lap for a moment. She raised her glass again with a brittle smile. “Well, it’s sad news in a way. In fact, part of me feels devastated. The rest of me is so excited. Guess what?” She looked at us all expectantly. We couldn’t imagine what she was on about. “We’re leaving town!”
“What?”
“Oh Tilly, we’ll miss you so much!”
“Where are you going?”
“Are you serious?”
As the questions flew back and forth before the answers could even be given or absorbed, I caught Tessa’s eye and smiled. I leaned towards her and whispered, “Somehow our news is never headline material. Thank you for sharing yours.”
“I feel so much lighter,” she replied and drained her glass.
Something Over Tea 