Alice would have been utterly heartbroken to have had a child and then become estranged from them. Although, of course, she never knew the circumstances for the estrangement.
Mark quietly perused the menu.
‘Do you have any siblings?’ Alice asked, breaking the silence.
Mark put the menu down and let out a deep sigh.
‘I have a younger sister, yes, and a nephew. He must be coming up for twenty-one now. I don’t see them much. We lost touch,’ he said, answering what he was certain would be Alice’s next question.
Alice finished her meal and placed her knife and fork in the centre of the plate before she spoke again.
‘Why did you lose touch? I would have thought family would be important to you, especially after you lost your wife,’ she asked gently.
Mark drummed his fingers on the laminate table and Alice wondered if she had gone too far with her questioning.
‘Honestly? I don’t know.’ He glanced out of the window, and Alice noticed his eyes moisten a little. ‘Lynn is three years younger than me, yet she looked after me when I was little.’ He allowed a smile to play around his mouth. ‘As teenagers we would sometimes sit together in my room, listening to music, her teasing me over my Debbie Harry posters on the wall, and me teasing her over her Donny Osmond pictures.’ He laughed. ‘She would make us tea and bring it up on a tray with a plate of chocolate digestives. My mother hated her fussing over me, though.’
Alice could see the pain in his eyes.
‘Why?’ she asked gently.
‘Because she couldn’t stand me,’ he said without a trace of emotion. ‘I tried to figure out why over the years but could never understand why a mother would act that way. It was eating me up.’ He sighed. ‘So, after a lot of soul searching, I cut her out of my life.’ He took a moment, then continued. ‘As an adult the coldness and criticism had continued whenever I visited her. She was never like that with my sister. I decided enough was enough,’ he said, as he fiddled with a cardboard drink coaster.
Alice remained silent as he talked, seemingly happy to get it all off his chest.
‘Anyway, the last straw was when she didn’t even bother to turn up for Diane’s funeral. I just thought, what’s the point? Who needs that kind of toxicity in their life?’
He asked a passing waitress for another pot of tea.
‘Oh, Mark, how dreadful. I am so sorry to hear that,’ said Alice sincerely. ‘Did you ever ask her why she treated you the way she did?’
‘Ask her?’ He frowned.
‘Yes. Why not? I’m not trying to excuse her behaviour, but there might at least be a reason why she behaved that way. There usually is,’ she suggested.
Alice could not really imagine why any mother could behave in that way, but then human nature was very complicated. She had lived long enough to realise that.
‘In answer to your first question, she would have denied it. Said it was all in my imagination,’ Mark told her. ‘I remember Diane being furious with her once for belittling me at a family gathering. She cornered her in the kitchen out of earshot of others and gave her a bit of a dressing-down. Mum clutched at her chest, feigning stress and denying everything. She never spoke to Di again after that.’
‘Oh, Mark, that’s truly awful. But why don’t you speak to your sister?’
‘I can’t lie, I do feel a bit ashamed about that. She came to the funeral, and we went out a couple of times later, but things just drifted,’ he admitted. ‘We haven’t fallen out exactly; we just aren’t close anymore.’ He shrugged. ‘She’s busy, still working as she can’t afford to retire just yet. Weeks turn into months, and suddenly you are not a part of each other’s life anymore.’
A waitress appeared then and set down the second pot of tea.
‘Do you miss her?’ asked Alice as she poured tea for them both.
‘Sometimes, yes. But I guess adult siblings often lose touch, don’t they?’ He sipped his tea.
‘Not usually without good reason,’ Alice told him honestly.
‘Maybe you’re right.’ Mark sighed. ‘I think it started when I called her a couple of times to arrange a visit, but Mum was staying with her at the time after a fall so I never went, and somehow we never rearranged.’ He gazed out of the window once more.
Alice felt for Mark. He had a sister who he was once so close to, yet she was becoming a stranger to him.
‘You should contact her,’ said Alice firmly. ‘Your relationship with your sister should not be a casualty of the relationship withyour mum.’ She leant over and placed her hand over Mark’s and heard him take a deep intake of breath.
‘I know, of course you’re right. You usually are.’ He smiled.
