Page 13 of Family Secrets in Inishbeg Cove

‘Mum, you won’t be going anywhere,’ Faith said nervously.

‘Why not?’

‘You broke your ankle in the fall. You landed awkwardly on it, fracturing several bones so you’ve just had surgery to piece it back together. The doctors have said you won’t be able to walk properly for weeks, let alone drive,’ Lucy said with a self-satisfied look on her face.

‘What?’ Madeleine cried in disbelief. She pulled back the bedsheets and was startled to see a cast stretching over her foot, around her ankle and a good distance up her shin. So that’s why her leg was so painful.

‘You also have a nasty gash on your head,’ Faith added. ‘You had to get it glued together.’

Madeleine raised her hand and felt around. Beneath her fingers she could feel a padded bandage at the back of her head. She sank back against the pillows and closed her eyes. This was worse than she had thought.

‘Do you either of you have my phone?’

Lucy shook her head despairingly. ‘Obviously her phone is her number-one priority,’ she grumbled to Faith.

‘I picked it up, Mum,’ Faith said gently. She rummaged around in her handbag before producing it and handing it to her. Madeleine saw the screen was cracked, and she guessed it too had been damaged in the fall. She quickly scrolled through her emails and saw an email with the subject ‘Contract Termination’.

What the hell? Then fragments of her phone call with Jerry came back to her. You can kiss goodbye to your career, Madeleine. She felt her chest tighten. The monitors beside her bed started to beep frantically and an alarm sounded.

‘Mum, are you okay?’ Faith wailed.

Lucy stood up and ran into the corridor. ‘Nurse? Nurse?’ she called.

A nurse came running into the room and began checking Madeleine’s vitals. ‘Her blood pressure is very high – did something happen?’ she asked, looking from one sister to the other.

‘She had just woken up but she seemed to be doing okay,’ Faith sobbed. ‘She asked me for her phone and then she went pale and the alarms started to go off.’

‘It’s my job – they’ve terminated my contract,’ Madeleine announced in disbelief. ‘They’ve fired me.’

‘What?’ Lucy cried. ‘They fired you just because you weren’t able to go to the book launch?’

‘Well, no, they fired me because I told them I had it all under control. I didn’t let them know there was an issue until it was too late. That was why I took the phone call during Elizabeth’s funeral mass. I’m guessing that’s why I collapsed…’

‘Okay, I’m taking that phone off you,’ the nurse said, snatching the phone out of Madeleine’s hand and wagging her index finger. ‘Hospital orders. You need to concentrate on getting better.’

Madeleine didn’t even put up a fight. She was too tired, too weary. Maybe it was finally time to accept that she had been defeated.

13

Lucy silenced the engine and the girls climbed out of the car. It was the day after Elizabeth’s funeral. Madeleine had been released from hospital, and her daughters had brought her back to the cottage to recuperate.

‘Easy now, Mum,’ Faith instructed as she opened the passenger door and helped her to get out of the car. Madeleine was still trying to get used to using crutches.

Her arms already ached after hobbling the short distance from the car to the cottage. How on earth was she going to survive on crutches for the next few weeks?

Lucy put her key in the lock and they went inside. The emptiness, the lack of Elizabeth’s presence, hit them hard. The house seemed so different without her waiting to welcome them home. They made their way to the kitchen, where the Aga had kept the room cosy and inviting.

‘I know what Nanna would do right now,’ Faith said, clapping her hands. ‘She’d put the kettle on and make a nice cuppa, so why don’t I make us a pot of tea?’

Lucy smiled. ‘That would be lovely, thanks, sis.’

Madeleine went to sit down at the table but found the movement awkward with the crutches. ‘Damn things,’ she complained.

After a bit of faffing around, Lucy came to her aid and guided her into a chair. Maybe the girls were right. If she couldn’t even sit down at the table without help, how on earth would she take care of herself alone in her house in Dublin?

Lucy pulled out a chair and sat opposite her while Faith filled the kettle from the tap then put it on the Aga to boil.

When the tea was made, Faith placed the pot in the centre of the table and covered it with Elizabeth’s hand-knitted tea cosy. She poured three mugs and passed them out. Madeleine clasped the mug between her hands. She preferred coffee, but she was grateful for its warmth all the same.