ROS - Character profile

Caroline looks good for her age.  Although she is over fifty she doesn't admit to being more than forty five and most of the time she doesn't feel or look that old.  Regular visits to the gym ensure that her body is well toned; but a glance in the mirror, in the wrong light, can tell a less flattering  story.  On these occasions Caroline books herself an appointment with the hairdresser and contemplates the surgeon's knife.  Her friend, Grace, talked her into having her first botex treatment.  Caroline had to admit that Grace looked great, quite natural , and her face still moved when she smiled. Caroline  took a couple of days off work on the pretext that she was visiting a friend so that she didn't have to tell Neal.  He did look at her curiously when she got back but he didn't say anything.

Neal rarely questioned his wife.  He was proud of her, her good taste and her excellent sense of style. Her wardrobe was packed with sylish, and presumably expensive, clothes.  He didn't know how much she spent and why should he worry?  Her salary as chief executive of a stationery company was generous,  considerably more than he earnt.  He just wished that she accepted his compliments at face value.  She had no reason to be insecure.  So, she was a few years older than him, but hadn't he pursued her, inspite of the attention he received from several other, younger, women?  He could have married any number of other females but he had chosen Caroline.  Surely she wasn't jealous of Holly?  Poor pretty, blind Holly?

Caroline's attitude to her daughter, his stepdaughter, worried him but on the rare occasion when he had tried to discuss it, Caroline's response had been so extreem that he had backed off.  He didn't want the two boys to live in an unpleasant atmosphere and after all she was an excellent mother to them.  He would have liked to have talked to her about Keith, Holly's father, but he daren't.  It was rough that there was so little contact beween Caroline and her mother, and Holly and her grandmother for that matter, but he had accepted that that's the way things were.  The little he knew about Caroline's early life had all come from Caroline's only sister who had her was only to happy tell him.  Apparently Caroline had been a wild child, which Neal found hard to imagine when he thought of his wife's self control and love of order.  Keith had been Caroline's first serious boyfriend.  She had been besotted with him.  Her parent's disapproved of him and tried to discourage the relationship, but Caroline was, as now, headstronged and not to be deterred.  Keith, a free spirit,  couldn't cope with the intensity of Caroline's feelings and disappeared, leaving Caroline heartbroken and pregnant at seventeen.  She refused to have an abortion or to have Holly adopted as the family had wished and they made it clear that she must live with the consequences of her actions with no support from them.

If Caroline was in the mood she could be excellent company.  They both enjoyed entertaining friends and in the summer they sailed and in the winter they skiied.  It was a shame that Holly couldn't join them.  He had to agree that the idea of an au pair to keep Holly company was an excellent one.  He at least wouldn't feel so guilty when she was left out of these family holidays.Yes, thank goodness for Marie,  Her presence in the homw would  make all the difference.