Page 17 of Family Secrets in Inishbeg Cove

‘She is driving me mad,’ Lucy hissed when they were alone together.

‘I know.’ Faith sighed over her shoulder as she began unpacking the groceries.

‘She’s sitting in there feeling sorry for herself, like she’s the only person who has problems or is going through a hard time. I don’t know why I’m surprised by her behaviour. She’s never going to change.’

‘She’s really struggling,’ Faith replied, sounding sympathetic. ‘She told me earlier that everybody in the industry has heard about what happened and her name is blacklisted.’

‘Things must be bad,’ Lucy said, putting the milk they had bought into the fridge.

‘I thought she might consider taking some time out for herself, maybe even retiring,’ Faith went on. ‘She’s almost sixty and she is financially very comfortable so she could afford to take a break if she wanted.’

‘Mum will never retire. I feel like I’m going to explode if I stay in the same room as her.’

Suddenly Faith had an idea. ‘I know what we should do today. Why don’t we go get the Christmas tree?’ she suggested, clapping her hands together excitedly. ‘Christmas is only two weeks away. Mum needs to get out of the house, and we could all use some Christmas cheer.’

‘But Mum would never manage to get around the muddy farm on crutches.’

Faith giggled mischievously. ‘I have thought of that and have a plan…’

‘Go on,’ Lucy prompted.

‘Well, we could put her in Nanna’s wheelchair.’

They still had the wheelchair they had used to take Elizabeth to her hospital appointments when she had grown weaker in her final few weeks.

Lucy laughed. ‘She’ll never agree to that.’

‘We won’t give her a choice. We’ll just tell her we’re going for a drive, and when we get there she can choose to sit in the car or get in the wheelchair.’

‘Right, let’s do it then.’

15

The girls left the kitchen and headed back into the living room, which Madeleine had hardly left since she had come home from hospital. She was camped in her usual spot, her leg elevated on a stool, hunched over her laptop.

‘You can break it to her,’ Lucy hissed, nudging her sister as they re-entered the room.

Faith took a deep breath. ‘Mum…’ she began tentatively.

‘Yes, dear,’ Madeleine answered without raising her gaze from her laptop. She had her reading glasses on and appeared to be deep in concentration.

‘We were thinking about going over to the Flynns’ farm to see if we can get a Christmas tree,’ Faith announced brightly.

Madeleine pushed her reading glasses down the bridge of her nose and peered over them through narrowed eyes. ‘A Christmas tree?’ she repeated. ‘Have you both completely lost your minds?’

Faith’s face fell. ‘Christmas is only two weeks away. I don’t want to leave it too late so all the good ones are sold.’

‘Why on earth do we need a tree?’ Madeleine protested. ‘Surely nobody will be here for Christmas. Won’t you both be back in Dublin? And I’m not planning on hanging around here either…’

Faith’s face fell. ‘Oh … it’s just that we thought because you’re laid up that we’d all be spending Christmas together this year.’

‘Well, you thought wrong!’ Madeleine snapped.

Lucy glanced over at her sister, who looked devastated by her mother’s outburst. She knew Faith had been looking forward to the three of them spending Christmas together, and now their mother had just dashed her hopes.

‘Well, even though Nanna is no longer with us, I’d like to stay in Inishbeg Cove for Christmas, just like we do every year,’ Lucy said, backing her sister up.

‘But what about Kyle? Surely you’re spending Christmas together.’