Chapter 15: Lifestyles of the Rich and FamousAs planned, Tom moved out after graduation and Joe focused on his tasks. He’d registered as a self-employed gardener as a teenager and now he was working hard to develop the skill and earn promotions.
He’d soon reached the top of that career and looked for something else to do – after all, he was a workaholic. He still wanted to be a scientist but there was no need to rush into things; he came from a long-lived family. He could learn useful skills for later while working in a different job.
The way Joe saw it, if he was trying to woo and win a fire ghost, “I’m a firefighter” would be a particularly good chat-up line.
It worked well – although so did talking about science. Or almost anything else.
The Clays had never intended to have children. He was a successful businessman, a self-made millionaire; she was young, cultured and beautiful. In a later period, she would have been called a trophy wife. So when she found herself pregnant it was a minor disaster. When the baby finally arrived, it was twins. They named the girls May and Lucy and immediately handed them over to a succession of nursemaids while Mummy concentrated on getting her figure back. As soon as the twins were old enough, they were packed off to boarding school.
Some months before they left, their mother fell ill. She visited famous spas and tried alternative therapies, to no avail. Then she realised what she’d been denying: she was having another baby. This time it was a boy. They called him Harwood, an old family name.
At first, no-one at school could tell the twins apart. They had fun swapping roles to confuse people and soon the other girls took to calling them both ‘Macy’. Even after their personalities became more distinct as teenagers and they started dressing slightly differently, they didn’t quite get their own names back. They were Macy and Lacy for ever more. (Except to their parents, naturally).
Meanwhile at home, Harwood was growing up. His parents had realised early on that he was… different. He’d never fit in at boarding school: they’d have to keep him at home. Still, they could always pretend he didn’t exist. There were more eminent families than theirs who kept ‘special’ children hidden away.
It was a considerable shock when they realised what a talented artist he was. Suddenly he was their son again. Journalists and critics were invited over to meet him (under strict supervision, naturally) and admire his work.
After completing their studies at the Academy for Young Ladies, May and Lucy were sent to an exclusive finishing school to better prepare them to be good, ornamental wives like their mother. It was towards the end of that year that they heard that both of their parents had been killed in an air crash.
After all the formalities had been taken care of, the three siblings decided to leave Bridgeport and live quietly somewhere else. Harwood was tired of being on display as a prodigy and the girls, inspired by a brilliant, feminist teacher at the Academy, certainly didn’t want to start on the round of parties and presentations that was expected of debutantes. They chose to relocate to Twinbrook, moving into a ramshackle old house in the centre of town. It was a perfect spot for the artistically inclined, looking out over the new reservoir.
Soon after they moved in, Lacy met another new arrival in town. Juan shared their love of art and, even better, he shared Lacy’s passion for inventing. Best of all, he was about as far from her mother’s concept of the perfect spouse as you could get. The grapevine whispered that he was a gypsy – his looks certainly fitted. Half of the women in Twinbrook were smitten with the dashing young stranger but he only had eyes for Lacy. After a whirlwind courtship, they were married.
No-one was entirely clear how the accident happened – or even exactly what it was that had happened. All they knew was that Juan, poking around in the junkyard in search of interesting materials, heard a loud bang from the top of the hill and looked up to see his house on fire. He called the fire brigade and then ran up the hill shouting his new wife’s name.
It was too late by the time he found her. Macy, who must have called in to visit her twin, was still alive but only just. She was rushed to the local hospital, along with Juan, who hadn’t even noticed his own extensive burns in his efforts to save them.
Juan insisted on burying Lacy in his junkyard. He said he couldn’t bear to think of her being in the place where she must have suffered so horribly but he still wanted her to be nearby. Macy, who followed her sister a few days later, was buried in the family’s garden, in a spot where she’d loved to sit and paint.
Harwood stayed on alone in the big old house but eventually realised it was too large and too dilapidated for him to cope with. New houses were being built on the island in the lake and he moved into one of them. His old house was pulled down and replaced with a launderette but Harwood insisted that Macy should remain undisturbed.
She stayed there for a long time. She would sometimes venture into the gym next door for a shower but she was too shy to visit other ghosts. Lacy drove over to chat from time to time, especially after Juan grew old and died, and she sometimes popped over to the cemetery to chat with the ghosts there. It was Lacy, of course, who told her about the strange family who were marrying and resurrecting ghosts from around town – and that one of the fire ghosts would be the next to join them.
So she wasn’t too surprised when the ghostly young man turned up at the launderette one night. The ghostly young fireman. In his uniform. With hair she wanted to run her fingers through. She’d never fallen in love while she was alive. Opportunities are a bit limited at a girls’ school, after all. Now, in death, it seemed to be happening to her. Before long, they were watching the stars together.
Joe and Macy were Will and Tina all over again. Their relationship progressed rapidly – until she disappeared with the approach of morning.
That was OK. Joe had been a scout, after all. He was prepared.
A few hours later, Macy joined the household.
They spent the day at the fire station (well, almost anything counts as a date if you’re in love). Joe maintained the fire engine and alarm and upgraded his extinguisher; Macy dabbled at the inventing bench and tried to regain her old painting skills.
When night fell, they moved on to Hollowlog Springs. What could be more romantic than a proposal with a unicorn in attendance?
Ana had reached a decision: it was time to retire. Her family needed her more than her patients did.
Her descendants had done so much to help her – they had devoted their whole lives to breaking her curse. Now that her life was drawing to an end, it was time to start thinking about what she could do for them. Clearly, William and Isabella needed her most. It had reached the point where they couldn’t meet without fighting.
She encouraged William to take up the guitar again: it was years since he’d played for them. Then she reminded him of how much Tina-Patricia had enjoyed singing. Maybe he should work on his vocal skills, too.
Isabella needed an interest outside the home. If she and Will saw each other less, there would be fewer opportunities for disagreements. Maybe she could get a job? Isabella was nervous at the idea of leaving the house but finally agreed that it would be good for her to get out and meet new people. Journalism would be another way to apply the skills she already had.
With that problem at least partially solved, Ana turned her attention to plans for their future. It was time to dust off her old chemistry set. She should probably have a word with Christabel, too – some of their descendants would definitely benefit from her expertise.
And then there was Deirdra. Ana was aware of how much she owed to the genie and she wanted to ask for even more help. Still, she knew how to repay that debt.
