Nina must have heard the crack of her voice as she said that. ‘Mum, we’re both going to be by our phones all night and you know you just need to call and we’ll be there to support you. I know what Dad can be like but he wouldn’t dare speak out of turn if we were there. What time is he due home?’
‘In an hour or so. But honestly, there’s no need to come over. I promise I’ll be fine. I’ll call you later and let you know all is okay.’
‘Okay Mum. I’ll be thinking about you and if you change your mind, just call. Love you.’
‘I love you too, pet.’
She’d no sooner hung up than the phone rang again.
‘Connor and I want to come help you, Mum.’
‘Son, I’ve just had your sister on the phone and she said the same thing.’
‘I figured that. I was trying to get through and it just kept going to voicemail. Mum, let us come help. There must be something we can lift. Or move. We’re really useful for that kind of stuff.’
It broke Bernadette’s heart to hear him trying to lighten the mood. How had she managed to end up with these two incredible adults?
‘Stuart, I appreciate it, I really do, but there’s nothing left to lift or move. Your Auntie Sarah and I have sorted it all. We’ve just got one final drop-off to do and then I’m going to come back and wait for your dad and break the news to him. Then, we’re going to agree to part like the mature adults that we are…’ She didn’t believe a word of this, but it somehow helped to paint a positive picture. ‘And then I’ll go back to Auntie Sarah’s and this will all be over with. You need to stay out of it, Stuart. I’d hate your dad to think you were picking sides…’
‘But I wouldn’t be. I just want to be there to make sure you’re both okay.’
‘I know, Stuart, but it wouldn’t work out that way. He’d say something, or I’d say something… Look, I’m not kidding myself that it’s going to be easy. Your dad and I have been together for over thirty years and that’s a long time to unravel. But we’ll get there – and I’ll do everything I can to make sure that it all stays as amicable as possible. It’s going to be fine, it really is.’
She had a flashback to every time her children had ever hurt themselves, every broken bone, every aching stomach.It’s going to be fine, she’d promise them.It’s going to be fine.As shehung up with more assurances and a promise to call later, she knew she was kidding herself if she thought it was all going to be fine this time.
Year after year she’d thought about this day, hoped that it would come, and now it was here and she was as scared as she’d been when she’d first contemplated it.
She remembered it well. A medical conference. Not long after Stuart was born. Bernadette had been feeling tired, frumpy, frazzled after spending months alone with a young child and a new baby. Kenneth had spent the whole night chatting up the attractive doctor who was sitting on the other side of him during dinner. He was so practised, so smooth, that Bernadette realised he’d done this before, and probably many times since. Somewhere along the line, she’d stopped wondering if he was unfaithful and accepted that he probably was.
Back then, that night, she could see that the woman thought he was attractive, charming, a real prize. It wasn’t until after dessert, that Bernadette bumped into her in the toilets.
‘I’m Georgina Wilson, Head of Gynaecology at Inverclyde,’ this gorgeous lady had said.
‘Bernadette Manson,’ Bernadette had said, expecting to be swiftly brushed off.
‘Which hospital are you from?’
‘Oh. I’m not. Well, I am – I’m a nurse at Glasgow Central.’
Bernadette registered the confusion. The attendees at this function were senior doctors and consultants.
‘I’m actually here with my husband. Kenneth Manson.’
‘But I’ve been chatting…’ the other woman broke off, immediately getting an understanding of the situation. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she went on. ‘I’ve been hogging your husband’s company all night. I didn’t realise…’
‘No, no it’s fine,’ Bernadette said, trying to brush it off. She hated to cause a scene. Besides, humiliation was nothing out of the ordinary. She’d learned over the years that it came with the territory.
‘Are you coming back through?’ Georgina had asked.
Bernadette nodded. ‘Yes. I actually just popped in here to phone my mum and check on the kids.’
‘What age are they?’
‘Our daughter is seven and our son is ten weeks.’
The pity on the other woman’s face nearly broke Bernie and she felt a wave of tears sweep up to her eyes. She blinked them back, desperate to avoid making a fool of herself in front of this beautiful creature.
Too late.
