Willow hadn’t experienced any sleepless nights, but as they stood in the kitchen waiting for the kettle to boil, she suspected her sister had.She wasn’t her usual immaculate self, her hair needed washing and her nail varnish was chipped, and she definitely looked tired. ‘Everything all right, Martha?’ she asked.
‘What an absurd thing to ask! Of course I’m not. I’m worried sick about Mum. I mean, what’s got into her? Dad hasn’t been dead two minutes and she has some new man in bed with her.’
‘He’s been dead two years,’ Willow said gently, ‘and we don’t know that he’s … that they’re—’ she broke off, unable to say the words that would conjure up the unwanted image of her mother having passionate sex.
‘Two years without Dad feels like two minutes to me,’ said Martha adamantly, ‘and she’s replaced him with a man whom we know nothing about.’
The kettle now boiling, she set about making two mugs of instant coffee. That was another sign that proved to Willow that Martha wasn’t herself. Normally she would make proper coffee and fuss about with a cafetière, timing exactly when to push down on the plunger. Or she’d use Tom’s expensive machine that was just like the one Rick had.
‘Where’s Tom?’ asked Willow, aiming for something commonplace to say when they went out to the garden to drink their coffee.
‘He’s gone for a run. He’s of the opinion that I’m making a mountain out of a molehill and need to calm down. And since I can’t do that, pounding the roads in his running gear gives him the peace and quiet I’m not giving him at home.’
‘You don’t think he might be right? What if it had been Mum who’d died, and Dad had found somebody new?’
‘He wouldn’t have done it the way Mum has. He’d have been totally upfront and introduced us to the woman from the start.But Mum … Mum says she’s been seeing this man since the end of February and not said a word. She’s deliberately kept him as a secret from us. Why?’
‘Perhaps to avoid what’s going on now.’
Martha tutted and shook her head as though Willow had just said something particularly stupid. ‘Don’t you care? Doesn’t it upset you that she’s lied to us?’
‘I hadn’t really thought of it like that. You won’t like it, but I’m more curious. I think we should arrange to meet him. And soon.’
‘Wellduh,of course we’re going to do that. I’ve already insisted that we do. We need to make our position very clear to him and demand to know what they’re planning to do.’
Not sure exactly what her position was, Willow said, ‘What if he’s nice and we really like him?’
Martha snorted. ‘You always did want to hang on to the hope that Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy were real.’
Remembering how Martha had sat her down one day and told her the truth about Christmas, that Santa didn’t exist and it was Mum and Dad who filled her stocking and put the presents at the end of her bed on Christmas Eve, Willow drank her coffee and said nothing. She was glad now that Rick hadn’t come with her. She wouldn’t have wanted him to see her sister like this. Come to that, she didn’t like it either; it was unnerving seeing Martha so angry and upset. So not herself.
‘And what the hell did Mum mean when she said we weren’t to bully her like Dad did? Dad never bullied her. He was just impatient at times.’
‘He did have a tendency to shout and be a bit dismissive,’ Willow said. ‘Maybe that’s what Mum meant.’
‘He wasn’t dismissive, he just wanted to get things done. Somebody had to make the important decisions for the family and frankly if it had been left to Mum, she would have dithered around for ages trying to decide what to do. You’re just the same.’
‘Thanks for that.’
‘You know what I mean, you’re so busy sitting on the fence trying to please everyone, you’re unable to make up your mind about anything. It’s why you’ve had so many boyfriends, one minute you like them and the next you’ve decided you don’t. Give it time and you’ll probably do the same with Rick, won’t you? And talking of Rick, I’m surprised he didn’t come here with you so he could stick his oar in like he did at Mum’s.’
Stung that her sister was taking out her frustration on her, Willow said, ‘Please don’t start all that again. He was merely trying to add some objectivity to the discussion.’
‘I’d feel better if it was someone we knew that Mum has fallen for,’ said Martha, ignoring Willow’s defence of Rick, ‘like one of Dad’s old friends who we’ve known for years. At least then we’d trust him, wouldn’t we?’
Chapter Twelve
‘What I find so extraordinary,’ said Naomi as she stared disconsolately out of the kitchen window, ‘is that I don’t think it ever crossed their minds that I might meet somebody. Or that I might have a life of my own.’
Standing behind her, Ellis’s hands gently massaged her shoulders. ‘That’s because they see you through a very narrow lens,’ he said. ‘You’re their mother, therefore you have only the one dimension as far as they’re concerned.’
She turned around to face him. ‘I know that. I just didn’t expect Martha’s censure to be so wounding. It was perhaps foolish of me, but I had harboured a fragment of hope that they might be pleased for me, and to have that hope so thoroughly dashed makes me fear the worst.’
‘Don’t think of it as dashed, merely a little bruised. They need time to come to terms with your news, that’s all.’
‘You’re right, of course, but what I can’t get out of my head is that look of horror followed by utter disgust on Martha’s face. It was as if I’d just confessed to being a child-killer, or something equally heinous. And now this text from her demanding that she and Willow meet you.’
‘Is it a demand?’ queried Ellis. ‘Or have you turned her request into something more unfriendly?And isn’t it better that they want to meet me? We always knew this moment would come.’
