Madeleine was checking her reflection in the mirror and reapplying her lipstick. “No, I haven’t had a chance to go through their bags.” She sighed inwardly. “Why—is something going around?”
He shrugged. “Nothing serious. Chicken pox, apparently.” He threw an eye back at their sniffling daughter, who did look pretty miserable. “But Clara hasn’t had that yet.”
Madeleine knew. “Well, I suppose we’ll just have to cross our fingers,” she said optimistically, for Clara’s benefit. Little ears heard everything and she didn’t want her daughter worrying unnecessarily. While the pox wasn’t too serious, it was uncomfortable all the same, and her heart broke at the notion of her little girl coming out in those nasty, uncomfortable sores and, depending on the severity of the case, perhaps even being bedridden for a few days, poor thing.
Of course, one of the great benefits of working from home was that Madeleine didn’t have to call in sick to take care of the children if need be. It was one of the reasons she’d taken the redundancy package in the first place; Jake had been a sickly toddler and she had been exhausted from making excuses for missed meetings and freaking out over work absences for the first two years of his life. The logistics became even more of an issue when Clara was born, so while Madeleine had been dubious as to whether full-time motherhood was really for her, a much-needed respite from all the running around (as well as the financial package her firm was offering) was ultimately too difficult to ignore.
Still, to her mind, time away from the workplace was always going to be a temporary arrangement—at least until the kids were old enough and she found something else to sustain her creatively and professionally. Thankfully,Mad Mumfilled that role on both counts.
But she worried the family had become a little too comfortable with these domestic arrangements and now her thoughts came full circle and again returned to Tom’s argument for homeschooling. Once again,she’dbe the one having to make the sacrifice and, work commitments aside, why would she want to take on the responsibility of that along with everything else?
She was already overcommitted to not only her business, but also volunteering for various school fund-raisers, her book club, Knockroe Tidy Towns and other community endeavors, not to mention that she could be called for a guest slot to any TV or radio station at a moment’s notice.
In order to grow her business to the level that Madeleine aspired, profile was important—it made a huge difference, as any marketeer worth their salt would tell you.
Not that her kids’ educationwasn’timportant, of course—it was just nice to be able to pack them both off to school each day and have someone else deal with them for a while.
Madeleine sighed again as she wondered if she was a bad mother for thinking that way, but then chided herself. She knew from day one that was she wasn’t going to be perfect. It was a bit late now for stressing about it.
She was only vaguely aware that the car had gone silent and that her family’s attention was on her. “I’m sorry? What was that?” she asked, turning to face her husband. She noticed that Tom was frowning.
“Is it true, Mum?” Clara asked, her nose streaming, and Madeleine gulped. Damn, the poor dear really was coming down with something. Hopefully, it would be a day or two before the worst of it kicked in.
At least until the TV thing is over and done with...
Yep, she was indeed a bad mother. Terrible.
“Is what true, sweetheart?” she replied.
“What Kevin Campbell said—that he’s never had chicken pox, and when people get sick at school that it’sourfault,” her five-and-half-year-old said indignantly.
Madeleine gritted her teeth. Number one, Kevin Campbell was a known brat who liked to start trouble, and number two, the kid had no idea what he was talking about. But number three—and more to the point—Kevin Campbell’s mother was obviously gossiping abouttheirfamily within hearing distance of her child.
Now she understood why Tom looked so annoyed. He couldn’t stand Christine Campbell—not only was she always in everyone’s business in Knockroe, trying to tell them how to live their lives and thinking she was so smart with her “supposed” diploma in sociology from UCD, but she was also a notorious shit-stirrer.
And Madeleine knew that Christine especially hated how, with the increased popularity of her blog and subsequent TV appearances, Madeleine’s profile and thus her community standing had grown and threatened to supersede Christine’s own self-imposed Queen Bee status. Not that she had the slightest iota of interest in celebrity or overthrowing Christine’s “reign”—she was all about expandingMad Mum’s reach.
But it was completely out of order for the woman to make such comments, especially in earshot of her son. Jake and Clara shouldn’t be singled out like that. And moreover, her and Tom’s parenting decisions didn’t need to be questioned—by anyone. It was nobody else’s business.
“Ah, don’t listen to what Kevin says. He has no idea what he’s talking about. Just ignore him.”
“But is it true, Mum?” Jake piped up, interested. “Would it be our fault if other kids got sick? Because we don’t get injections like everyone else?”
“No, it wouldn’t be your fault,” Tom said through gritted teeth. He turned to look at his wife. “I’m going to phone that Campbell woman and—”
Madeleine quickly laid a calming hand on his arm. “Don’t give her the pleasure,” she interjected wisely. “You know Christine relishes getting a rise out of people, and she would love nothing more than to debate with us,again, on the vaccination thing. Just ignore her.” Christine Campbell and her ilk never failed to get her husband—who was fiercely protective of not only his family, but his principles—riled up.
She turned around to face her kids. “Guys, your classmates getting chicken pox is not your fault and never will be. OK?”
To say nothing of the fact that you didn’t usually vaccinate for chicken pox anyway. So at least they didn’t need to worry on that front, and hand-wringers like Christine Campbell could go stuff it.
Clara and Jake nodded solemnly.
“We’re here.” Madeleine smiled as Tom pulled into the entrance of his mother’s home on the other side of town, and she unsnapped her seat belt, mentally crossing her fingers that Clara’s sniffles were just your typical run-of-the-mill cold and nothing more troublesome. At least not anything that would put the kibosh on her plans for tomorrow. “So stop thinking about whatever nonsense Kevin was spouting,” she reassured her children, “and focus on wishing poor Ellie get well soon.”
3
“Put the kettle on and crank up that coffeemaker, it’sMorning Coffeetime! Our panel today is outspokenDaily Recordjournalist and media commenter Gemma Moore, bestselling author Anita Wright, former Miss Ireland and beauty expert Claudine O’Donnell, and the newcomer to today’s gang, mummy blogger Madeleine Cooper, whose no-nonsense and provocative take on motherhood has garnered her a huge following among many Irish women, myself included. Madeleine, welcome to the show.”
