‘I don’t know if that was the best idea,’ she ventured, ‘you can’t run out, run away, hide when things get tough. This isn’t a soap opera, it’s your life, and if you are going to spend it with Iris, you can’t sort things out if you aren’t present.’
She thought of Dominic, hiding in his boat shed, moving bit by bit into his flat so as not to detract from his daughter’s big day.She guessed this news might hasten that and felt another ladle of guilt at the fact that this was where her mind went. A quick sweep of the room and she double blinked, still no sign of Jonathan, even now, when she could really use the backup.
‘I just wanted to come home.’ He sounded young, so young, a reminder of his lack of life experience, of relationships.
‘You can always come home, you know that. Whether you are twenty-seven or seventy-seven, you can always come home. Although come to think of it, when you’re seventy-seven it will be your house anyway, or you will have sold it.’
‘I came here for you to cheer me up.’ He gave a wry smile.
‘Oh, you should have said! I can do that magic trick if you like, the one you used to love when you were little, where I got you to close your eyes and count to ten, then I’d disappear by hiding in the cupboard under the stairs, and then you had to count to ten backwards before I reappeared in front of you.’
‘Well, there’s no point now I know how you did it. Where’s the magic in that?’
It was her turn to smile.
‘I wish I could make it all better for you, Aiden, I really do. What’s happened to cause the big change of heart, what did you row about?’
‘It escalated really quickly. I finished work, logged off my computer, sat with Iris on the terrace and she asked me what would happen if we were to have a baby and Holly asked me to haveherchild for Christmas, and I kind of froze and said we’d find a way to manage it. The first thing that popped into my head was that I could have alternate Christmases, one with Holly and the next with her, or maybe we could all go out together, and she went... crazy!’
‘Right.’
Enya could see that for a young woman envisioning her lovely life with her new husband, the prospect of sharing him so uniformly with his ex would be far from appealing.
‘I mean, what did she want to hear? That I’d tell Holly to get lost?’ He snorted his disbelief that this could ever be a possibility. It was nice to hear this commitment, comforting.
‘Maybe, and probably not in such a harsh way, but if I had to guess, I’d say Iris is looking for reassurance and that’s understandable. Usually, this early in a relationship, you start to question if the person you’ve fallen for really is as wonderful as you first thought or were you just dazzled!’ She couldn’t help but return to the topic, knowing it was something she was still weighing up when it came to Dominic. ‘It’s that questioning and discovering the answers that builds a foundation, leads to longevity. I think it’s all quite standard, but you guys are gettingmarried. You’re going from nought to one hundred very, very quickly. And I’m not trying to smash your dreams or tell you what to do one way or another and it’s certainly not atold you somoment, but it’s all quite predictable because you’re moving so quickly.’
‘That actually sounded a lot like a “told you so” moment in disguise.’
She pulled a face at him. Maybe it was.
‘Anyway, you don’t have to worry about any of that because we’re not moving at all. It’s done. She doesn’t want to get married and that’s absolutely fine with me.’
‘It doesn’t look like it’s absolutely fine with you. Judging from your expression, it looks like the bottom has fallen out of your world.’
He looked up at her, clearly deep in thought. ‘I just love her so much,’ his voice quavered, ‘I want to marry her, and I want her to want to marry me!’
Enya stared at her son’s face, this the moment of crisis that, were it simply infatuation, might mean things unravelled quite quickly, his get-out-of-jail-free card, the instant where the scales fellfrom his eyes. The row that blew things up. It didn’t seem to be the case – the opposite, in fact. He looked heartbroken, inconsolable, and like a man searching for the answers so he could put things right with the woman he loved.
‘I know, love. So talk to her. That’s the only way, talk to her!’
‘I know.’ He stood. ‘I’m going to have a quick shower, change.’ He plucked at his shirt. ‘Nan called me earlier to ask what we wanted as a wedding present. I’ll give her a shout.’
‘Don’t scare Nan with the detail, tell her you’ll let her know. No need to say anything rash. A shower will make you feel better. When you come down, I’ll make you something to eat.’ Her son stood with a reluctance to his posture. ‘This will all sort itself out, Aiden. I have no doubt it will have a different complexion by the morning.’
He gave a single nod before heading off to shower.
‘Oh lordy,’ she whispered, trying to understand how the prospect of her peaceful evening had been so ruined in such a short space of time.
She headed to the kitchen and outside, with the intention of diving back into the book she was reading. The garden such a beautiful haven at this time of year. It struck her then how easy it was to give the advice. Maybe itwouldbe a good idea to speak to Dominic, to hear his voice, tie up loose ends, just to be connected, knowing how wonderful it made her feel. There was so much unfinished business between them it was excruciating. It sounded so simple and yet was anything but. The last thing her son and Iris needed was more complications. And whatexactlydid she want to talk to him about? She shook the idea from her head and listened to the voicemail her sister had left.
‘Both dresses sound bloody awful, why can’t you go for something more “mother of the groom” and less “hippy on a break from the commune”? I mean, seriously, cerise or tangerine? It’s like you do it on purpose! I’ll come over and we’ll go find you something nice and suitable. Call me back.’
It made Enya laugh, she dreaded to think what something nice and suitable might look like to her sister, but suspected the word peplum might be used. She shuddered at the thought. Not that she needed a new frock now, not that anyone had to worry about her suitability as mother of the groom. As per her conversation with Aiden, there wasn’t going to be a groom as there wasn’t going to be a wedding. She’d wait, however, to see how things developed overnight before she broke the news, or indeed believed it to be their final decision, reminding herself that young people were gloriously impetuous, and that young love, for that was what it was beginning to look like, could be spectacularly volatile and that it might be a case ofall change please, all change!before sun up.
Her phone buzzed in her hand. Angela, it seemed, couldn’t wait to be called back. ‘What the bloody hell?’
Enya drew breath. ‘It’s not you who has to wear it. Cerise and tangerine are my colours of choice, even if they’re not yours.’
