‘I’m sorry, I just —’
‘I knew my daughter better than you ever did in that year you two…shacked up.I knew her and I knew what was good for her and I would have gotten my way had you not interfered!’She pointed a bony finger at him with force.
‘Youdidget your way.She married the man you had chosen for her.’Vincent felt his stomach churn with upset and frustration.
‘But she wasn’thappyabout it.’Eleanor let out a sob before she turned away.Vincent heard her breathe deeply, composing herself.‘I didn’t want her to work because she didn’t need to.We had everything in the world in this house.’She gestured to the walls and Vincent realised he was sitting in the Snows’ living room, that this was the house Evie had grown up in.Suddenly, he felt it was a less cold and unfriendly place to be.‘No worrying about the next pay cheque or the next meal,’ Eleanor went on.‘She even had a good-looking man from a respectable family who loved her, who was willing to be hers for ever.She had everything, but was she grateful?Ofcoursenot.’
‘Evie wanted to be independent.’Vincent said.‘She was twenty-seven, not seventeen, but you tried to make all the decisions for her, like she was a child.Anyone would feel suffocated and I’m surprised she didn’t crack sooner.’
‘The way she acted was ridiculous!Having everything wasn’t enough if she hadn’t got those things for herself.She was too proud, too stupid and too selfish —’
‘Too selfish?’Vincent said.‘Tooselfish?Evie gave up everything she’d ever wanted because of you, because of the way you treated her – and don’t get me started on the way you treated Eddie.’Vincent sat forwards in his armchair.The anger was bubbling through his blood but he was careful not to lose his temper.
‘Eddie…?’she said.
‘You would have disowned him because of his sexuality and Evie wouldn’t have been able to support him if she’d stayed with me.We would have had no money and potentially no roof over our heads and that was OK with her – we would have managed somehow, just the two of us.But when she found out Eddie’s secret… she had no choice but to marry Jim.She needed to be able to look after her brother, independently.’
A gust of wind blew more snow down onto Vincent.The flakes were larger and colder than before, and they didn’t melt as soon as they landed.
‘No… I…’ Eleanor stuttered.
‘She needed to marry into money and stability in order to give Eddie the life he eventually had because Lord knows what would have happened to him had he stayed with you.’
‘HE WOULD HAVE BEEN HAPPY!’Eleanor screamed.
The walls warped, stretching the room.The fireplace opened, mimicking Eleanor’s mouth, and roared, the flames licking at the edges of the hearth like a tongue.The heat and ferocity sent Vincent tumbling out of his chair, cowering under the collar of his coat to protect his face.Eleanor exhaled and the room calmed instantly, returning to its usual shape, but the wallpaper was now severely torn and scorched leaving eerie, jagged gaps.
‘Eddie would have been fine.He was my son and I loved him.’Eleanor made her way to the other armchair, shakily easing herself into it.‘My husband didn’t understand and never would have but I —’ She sobbed again.‘I would have kept him safe.He was my boy.I would have made sure he was all right.’
Vincent felt his heart ache.If what Eleanor was saying was true, then Eddie would have been OK after all.It was so hard for him to know that Evie could have stayed with him, that they could have built a life together.But she couldn’t have taken that risk – she didn’t trust her mother.Vincent understood that but it didn’t make it any easier to know.
‘I never saw my son after the night he ran away.I always hoped —’ Eleanor sniffed, ‘— but I never did.’
‘You could have called him, you could have written letters.Visited Evie and Jim.Anything!’Vincent said, standing up again.‘Anything to let Eddie know you were there for him.’
‘I KNOW!’Eleanor shook as she spoke.‘I wish I had,’ she whispered and Vincent wondered if that was what was keeping her here.Her guilt.‘I just want to see him again.’
‘Judging by the way he looked when I saw him last, you may be waiting a long time.’Vincent remembered Eddie’s cheeky face and the way he gazed at his husband, Oliver.He was an old man back in the land of the living but he had a good few years in him yet, of that Vincent was sure.
‘You knew my son?’Her black eyes glinted in the light of the flames.
‘I only met him the once but he’s well.’Vincent smiled.
‘And happy?’She smiled back through tears at Vincent’s nod.
To Vincent, the Eleanor that had once existed was merely a hardened shell around a soft centre.So shedidhave a heart after all – it seemed there was so much more going on inside that no one had ever known about.It may have been small, but it was there and it was working.Vincent wondered if this might be his chance.
‘Eleanor.’She didn’t look up as she wiped at her tears but appeared to be listening.‘I loved your daughter.More than anything on Earth.Had she stayed with me, we may not have had anything to call our own but we would have had each other.Your obsession with money, connections and stability were old-fashioned, overrated and cost your daughter her life’s happiness.’Vincent paused.He thought he’d heard Eleanor whisper, ‘I know,’but he wasn’t sure, so he continued.‘I made mistakes in my lifetime but I would have given your daughter the moon if I could have.Hell, I would have thrown in the stars as well!’Eleanor smiled into her lap.‘But I was never given that chance and just like you didn’t fight for Eddie, I didn’t fight for Evie and that’s why I’m here.’Vincent shivered.The snow had started to come down heavily and was collecting on his coat and chair.
‘Jim made her happy, though,’ Eleanor said, frowning.
‘Eventually.Mainly through the children they raised, but he wasn’t what she wanted.The life you and he gave her wasn’t the one she wanted.She made the best out of a bad situation because that’s what Evie did.But I want you to know that we’re both here in this world now, fighting to be with each other once more.We will get the happy ending we should have had.The happy ending you took away from us.’Vincent couldn’t stop talking.It was as if a tiny pin had pricked his heart and all the things he’d wanted to say to Eleanor Snow were slowly leaking out, word by word.Eleanor didn’t flinch at his harsh words.
‘I know,’ she said.‘But I’m not sorry.I believe I was doing the right thing for my daughter and I had to see it through.Eventually she got everything she deserved.’
‘But not what she wanted.’Vincent clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms.
‘Sometimes a mother knows best.’Her lips were pursed again, the hard exterior reforming.
