Finding Home

us!’
Mim stood awkwardly while Bea squeezed her. She hadn’t been brought up with hugs and didn’t know what to do with them. It felt unfamiliar and strangely comforting. But what was all that about being one of them? From what she’d seen and heard of Bill and Bea so far, her life couldn’t be more opposite to theirs.
‘One of you?’ she asked, as she stepped back from Bea’s embrace. No point in getting too comfortable there. ‘What do you mean?’
‘The name. Miranda. It’s from Shakespeare, isn’t it?’ Bea said. ‘That’s how we chose the names for all our brood. We have Corin, the son and heir, then Rosalind, known as Ros, then Orlando – or Olly – is number three, and Ophelia – Lia – is number four. So you see, my dear, our meeting was meant to be.’
‘Really? In that case, I wish it could have happened on a warm beach somewhere.’ Mim shivered as a gust of wind blew across the layby. The weather was turning and there was hardly any light left. She slammed the boot shut. ‘Are we ready?’
‘Hold fire,’ Bill said, as he dashed back towards his car. ‘I can’t go without my Hornby Dublo. It’s a St Paddy!’ he called to Mim in a baffling aside.
‘It’s a model engine,’ Bea explained, smiling affectionately after Bill. ‘We’ve been in Carlisle on an emergency mission to visit Bill’s brother; he fell on Christmas Day and ended up in hospital. We should have been safely home yesterday, but Bill was determined to detour for this engine while we were in the north. Apparently it’s a rare piece. Don’t you think a man of his advanced years should have grown out of playing with a train set?’ Bea laughed, a peal of laughter that seemed to brighten the gloom like a firework.
At last they were all in the car.
‘Shall I set the sat nav?’ Bill asked. He peered at the dashboard. ‘Ah. This motor’s too old, isn’t it? Do you have a portable one?’
‘No.’
‘Use your phone, do you? It’s the answer to everything for you young people, isn’t it?’
‘Not me,’ Mim said. ‘I don’t have a phone at the moment.’
‘No mobile phone?’ Bea peered forward from between the seats. ‘Oh my, dear, have you lost it? What a nuisance.’
‘Sort of.’ She hesitated, but couldn’t lie. ‘It came with a job that I don’t have anymore.’ She turned on the engine, conscious that both Bea and Bill were staring at her in the gloom, as if waiting for her to say more. She pulled onto the road.
‘And we’re off!’ Bill said. ‘This is an adventure, isn’t it?’
This was an adventure for Mim. She’d never travelled further than the Lake District before, on a school trip where everyone else had paired off, leaving her to sit with the teacher. Now, as she drove down the motorway in the dark, passing signs for places she’d heard of but never been to, it felt as if with each mile she was figuratively as well as literally leaving the past behind. Chester, Stafford, Stoke-on-Trent… Had anyone ever been so excited to spot signs for Birmingham before?
Bill and Bea were like a comedy double act and hardly stopped talking and laughing for the entire journey. Mim loved hearing them, and their stories made her laugh even though she had no idea who or what they were talking about. Bea occasionally slipped in a sneaky question and Mim admitted that she’d worked in a hotel for the last ten years, but it was easy to distract her again before she could ask more. People judged, didn’t they? She was enjoying being herself and not her past for once.
It felt like they had travelled across a continent, never mind a country, and Mim was desperately trying not to fall asleep at the wheel when Bill eventually directed her off the motorway. It was too dark to see any of her surroundings and the road signs now pointed to places Mim had never heard of: Exmouth, Budleigh Salterton, Sidmouth. She hunched forward, gripping the wheel as Bill directed her onto roads that seemed to become twistier and narrower with each turn. She finally turned left onto what seemed no better than a farm track; in the full beam of the headlights, she could see tufts of grass sprouting through the centre of the road ahead and bare hedge branches loomed alarmingly close on either side.
‘What do I do if a car comes the other way?’ she murmured, half to herself. There were no signs of any passing places. Bea only laughed in response.
‘It’s highly unlikely at this time of night. Everyone will be on the Champagne,’ she said. ‘Be careful here; there’s a sharp turn to the right and then you can pull in on the left. There, do you see, behind those other cars.’ She tapped Bill on the shoulder. ‘It looks like everyone has arrived. We must have a full house!’
A security light came on as Mim parked behind eight or nine other vehicles that were lined up in front of a huge barn with three garage doors built into the wall. A tall conifer hedge surrounded it, but there was no sign of a house – and surely, if all these cars belonged to visitors, it would be bulging at the seams rather than merely full? But it was none of her business, Mim reflected with a tinge of regret as she hopped out of the car and opened the boot so that Bill could retrieve the suitcases. Her part in this adventure was over.
‘Now, what are we going to do with you?’ Bea said, as Mim hurriedly tried to stuff her knickers back into one of the carrier bags that had tipped over – probably as they bumped along the lane to this place. She hoped Bea couldn’t see what she was doing. ‘It’s standing room only in the house, so that won’t do. Ros might have a spare sofa bed,