Savannah had changed too. Children changed when they grew up. They had their own lives, which was why Meg had created her own life, but, still … It was a subtle pain mothers lived with.
Savannah’s change was different somehow. She seemed fragile, almost bricked up in her own world, and Meg couldn’t reach her anymore. But Savannah had always been an all or nothing person. She’d fallen so hard for Calum. He’d taken her over, almost. Now she had Clary and was running a hugely successful business. All of this would obviously take up so much of her time. But was the distance between them purely a matter of time?
‘I get so emotional about weddings and imagine, you and Dad!’ Savannah said as she wiped away the tears. ‘What lovely news. We’ll have to start planning! I love weddings and how many people get to say they’ve been to their parents’ one?’
‘Thank you, darling,’ said Meg. ‘You might have disapproved.’
‘We all have our own lives to live,’ Savannah said, which sounded like something she’d read on Pinterest.
Rory, of all people, had actually looked shocked when she heard.
‘You and Dad are getting married again? Why? And why now?Now?’
‘Why not now?’ Meg had said, forgetting to be conciliatory.
‘You all have your own lives. Your father and I are free agents.’
She felt guilty as soon as she’d said it. Rory was the youngest and, therefore, she’d been young when Stu’s carousing had been at its worst. It wasn’t like they’d been a dysfunctional family or anything like that. They’d all adored each other and love had been in abundance in their home. But, well, it had been tricky.
Stu was charming when sober and even more charming when he’d arrive home drunk, not that anyone but her ever knew he was: he had a startling capacity to hold his liquor and seem utterly sober. He’d arrive in, hug anyone who crossed his path, beguile the guests, and set the barman to wash up glasses while he, Stu, made elaborate cocktails on the house.
He had never seemed drunk, which was quite an achievement. Just more … more Stu. Like a larger-than-life version of himself. Hugging them all, telling them they were fabulous, the best family ever.
It had never been dysfunctional, Meg told herself. Stu had been a bit chaotic near the end, especially when he was gambling. Still loving but a loveable rogue.
The family had always survived financially but when he really got into gambling, Stu ran through money so quickly that they lost everything.
Rory, the youngest, had probably been most affected.
Meg had tried so hard to make their home a safe haven for her daughter and all her friends, but Rory had screamed that she wanted to be treated like everyone else. Not be the poster child for her mother’s LGBTQ+ movement, as she’d once hissed.
Witnessing her father blazing an unhinged drink-and-gambling trail had made Rory furious with Meg.
‘Why didn’t you stop him?’ she’d shrieked when the marriage was over and the five women were stuck in the Greystones farmhouse with the mice.
Meg had never known how to explain that one person couldn’t stop another once they’d chosen a particular path.
The old arguments had restarted when Meg broke the news that she was marrying Stu. Again.
‘Why get married – why now?’ repeated Rory. ‘My book—’ She seemed on the verge of saying something and stopped herself.
Meg was briefly silent. Parental patience had always been her thing but it waned the older the kids got.
Plus, Rory had been writing the book for years. What had that got to do with anything?
Rory was thirty-five now, so if everything was to stop for said book to get written, they’d all have been frozen in time for quite a while. And what was this blasted bookabout? Why all the interest in old photos.
Still, she felt a tinge of guilt. Rory did look pale, as if she’d had a dreadful shock.
‘It won’t be a big wedding,’ Meg soothed. ‘Just something small.’
Rory, still somewhat ashen, had glared at her.
‘You and Dad never do anything small, Mum. It all has to be an epic production where Dad’s involved. He loves spectacle.’
This was true.
‘Rory, you love your dad and you love me. We’re adults, we have to do what’s right for us,’ Meg said mildly.
