* * *
‘Hello!’ Espie beamed when Claire walked into her private room at the nursing home in Blackrock. It was large and bright, pleasant enough as these places went. Great efforts had gone into making it cheery and welcoming, more resembling a room in a hotel than a hospital. But there was no disguising the pall of sickness and infirmity that hung over the place.
Her mother was sitting up in bed, and Claire felt fleetingly reassured by how well she looked. But she knew her mother’s robust appearance was just a cruel illusion. Even now it was sometimes hard to remember how ill she was when she seemed so unchanged in every way. Illness was supposed to alter people beyond recognition, but Espie Kennedy was as plump and rosy-cheeked as ever – except that now her complexion owed more to steroid flush than good health. She still had a mischievous glint in her eye, though, and a curve to her lips, which seemed always on the brink of laughter.
‘So how are you feeling?’
‘Fine. Bored, but fine. I missed you yesterday.’
‘I went to that party with Yvonne from work, remember?’ Claire said, as she took off her coat and sat in the chair by her mother’s bed. ‘I told you about it.’
‘Did you? I think that bloody anaesthetic’s knocked everything out of my head.’
‘Oh, sorry. I thought you knew. You must have been expecting me,’ Claire said, immediately feeling guilty.
‘It’s fine. I’d much rather you were out enjoying yourself. You don’t have to come every day. I know you’re tired after work.’
‘Did you have any other visitors yesterday?’
‘No.’ Espie sighed, putting on a childish pout. ‘I was bored out of my gigantic incontinence pants. No inner resources, that’s my problem.’
God, Claire thought. Couldn’t one of her brothers have made an effort, justonce? She had purposely told them that she wouldn’t be able to make it yesterday in the hope that one of them would visit. Why did everything always fall to her?
‘I thought maybe Ronan or Neil would come in.’
‘Oh, they’re far too busy on weekdays. They have jobs, you know.’
‘True,’ Claire said. ‘Unlike the rest of us.’
Neil was a senior executive in a major insurance company and behaved as if he were the only person in the family who had to work, which let him out of all social and family obligations. Ronan, who was a solicitor, was well-meaning but scatty, relying on his wife, Liz, to organise his life. Claire sighed. She should have known they wouldn’t come.
‘And let’s not forget they’re very busy with the children,’ her mother said, a mischievous glint in her eye.
‘Like Michelle would ever let us forget.’ Claire rolled her eyes. Neil’s wife was just as self-important as her husband and acted like she was the only woman in the world who had ever given birth.
‘Anyway, don’t worry about me,’ Espie said. ‘At least I’ll be home in a couple of weeks. It’s the lifers in here I feel sorry for. Poor bastards. They treat them like children. They can’t make any decisions for themselves, and they have no privacy. Today someone brought in a dog for them to pet as a treat. If I ever get to that stage, just shoot me.’
‘Okay.’ Claire smiled. ‘I’ll put a gun on the shopping list.’
‘So, tell me about the party last night. Was it fun?’
Claire shrugged. ‘It was okay.’ Her mother would probably have enjoyed it more than Claire had. Espie loved company, and had an insatiable appetite for meeting new people.
‘Come on, I want details. Entertain me. Did you meet any nice men?’
‘Mum.’
‘You can’t be mean to me when I’m laid up in hospital. You have to indulge me. You’ve a lot to learn about visiting the sick, young lady.’
‘I’m not being mean to you. There’s nothing much to tell, that’s all.’
‘Make something up, then.’
‘Well, let’s see… There were turquoise cocktails to match the furniture.’
‘Did you make that up?’
‘No, that’s true.’
