Page 20 of Coming Home to Inishbeg Cove

Chapter 13

Penny

June arrived like a song of blue skies and warm sunshine. The summer season was now in full swing in Inishbeg Cove and, much to my dismay, I was still in the village. There was a new energy around the place, which always arrived with the tourists. Families picnicked in the cove while children swam in the sea. The shops were busier too, and it was hard to get a table in Ruairí’s café and Greg’s ice-cream parlour. When I was a child, Inishbeg Cove’s location off the beaten track meant we only had a handful of tourists compared to what other seaside towns experienced, but in recent years, as word spread about the village’s charms, it had been getting busier every summer.

All around me were signs that time was passing, and I had to decide what Lucy and I were going to do. Although Joe had called a few times, it had only been to ask about Lucy. He had made no reference to our marriage or said that he was missing us. As the days went by, I was becoming less optimistic of things working out between us.

Lucy and I couldn’t live with my parents forever. Although I appreciated them taking us in and all their help, Mam and I would come to blows soon if I didn’t move out. She seemed to have forgotten that I was an adult, and I found myself having to bite my tongue. A lot. I had thought about taking Lucy back to Dublin. I could rent an apartment. It would give Joe space to get his head together and allow Lucy and me to pick up some semblance of our old life. But before I could do that, I had to find a job to support us – and that would mean arranging childcare for Lucy first. All the decisions that had to be made overwhelmed me, and I was crippled by my inability to plan for our future – a future that, if my worst fears came true, might be without Joe.

One afternoon I was sitting in the kitchen with a cup of tea when Mam arrived home from the playground with Lucy.

‘Ook, what I got, Mama!’ she said popping a lollipop out from her mouth and showing it off proudly. ‘Ganny got me lots of sweeties.’

‘Oh, did she now?’ I said, raising my brows at my mother.

‘So what if I did?’ Mam challenged me. ‘If a grandmother can’t give her grandchild a few sweets, there’s something wrong with the world!’

Even though I’d asked her not to, Mam constantly gave Lucy sweets, claiming it was ‘a grandmother’s prerogative’.

‘Did you get me one?’ I asked.

She shook her head. ‘You’re too big.’

I stuck my tongue out at her and she laughed. I pulled her onto my knee and let her head rest in the curve of my neck. Mam began unpacking the small bag of groceries she had got in O’Herlihy’s.

‘Not a bad day out there. The rain held off anyway.’

‘Uh huh,’ I said, not really paying attention.

‘Did you hear the news?’ she asked.

‘No?’

‘Sarah’s pregnant.’

‘They didn’t hang around,’ I said. ‘Was it a shotgun wedding?’

‘Stop that! We’ll have none of that talk in this house,’ Mam said, looking horrified. ‘Anyway, we’re all a lot more open-minded here nowadays.’ She stopped for a breath. ‘Would you believe it, they’re having twins!’

‘Wow, double trouble!’

‘Well, I think it’s a blessing. Sure, Sarah has the energy of a young one and Greg is very hands-on. They’ll be fine.’

She walked over to put a litre of milk in the fridge.

‘Ruairí needs a hand in the café,’ she said over her shoulder as she closed the fridge door.

‘And?’ I asked, wondering why this news was relevant to me.

‘Well, I told him you might be able to spare him a couple of hours—’

‘You did what?’

‘It’s only for two hours a day, from twelve to two, to cover the lunchtime rush. Sure, we can mind Lucy for you—’

‘I can’t believe you did that, Mam! Why didn’t you check with me first?’

She busied herself around the kitchen, her back to me. ‘Sure, what else are you doing? It’ll do you good to get out and about. Sitting in this kitchen staring at the same four walls, day in, day out, isn’t going to help you.’