Page 6 of Family Secrets in Inishbeg Cove

As Madeleine sipped the sugary tea, she spotted a phone charger plugged into the wall. She jumped up and was overjoyed when she saw it was the right fit for her phone. She immediately plugged it in and waited for it to come to life. As soon as the screen lit up, she forgot about her sandwich and went straight into her emails. The internet was patchy. Only after she had climbed onto the counter to lean out the window did she manage to get a signal. Emails slowly began to land in her inbox; she could see their subject lines, but the full messages weren’t downloading. Her heart thumped as she gleaned from the gist of the subject lines that there was a problem with the books for the launch. Eventually they finally downloaded. Panic shot through her when she learned that the shipment of Howard O’Brien’s books that he was due to be signing at the launch on Thursday was stuck in customs. Apparently, there was some issue with the paperwork, and they would not release the books. Fear engulfed her. How would she tell Howard O’Brien and his agent that there was an issue with the books? As marketing director for the firm, ‘the buck’–or, in this case, ‘the book’ –literally stopped with her. Her reputation would be ruined if she didn’t fix this. She listened to her voicemails then: there were seventeen messages, each one getting increasingly impatient. She had several texts from her team asking her to call the office urgently. Her earlier headache started to intensify. How was she supposed to sort this out from here? The internet wasn’t reliable. She didn’t even have her car so she couldn’t drive back to Dublin. The Garda had told her she could collect her car when she produced her driver’s licence, but as that was in her house in Dublin, she wasn’t going to be able to get her hands on it easily and she couldn’t hire a car without her licence either.

If she had known about this earlier, she might have had some hope of sorting it out, but nobody would be working in the customs office at this time of night. Suddenly she had an idea – she could borrow Lucy’s or Faith’s car, drive to Dublin, be at the customs office when it opened in the morning, try her best to sort out the issue and, if necessary, plead for them to release the books. Then she could drive back to Inishbeg Cove by tomorrow evening. She knew the girls wouldn’t be impressed, but she was sure they would understand once she explained the situation. And besides, Elizabeth had already passed on; it wasn’t as though Madeleine could do anything here anyway. She knew she was risking being caught driving without a licence again, but it was a risk she was prepared to take, given the exceptional circumstances. Her breathing began to slow and her heartbeat calmed down as she felt a sense of control once more. She had taken back the reins of the runaway cart and had it all in hand again. Madeleine Brennan would sort this out – she always did. That was how she had worked her way up the ranks. She stood up, smoothed down her trousers and went to tell the girls about her plans.

4

Faith was exhausted but she knew she’d never sleep. It was after midnight and they were still sitting with their grandmother, wanting to soak up every last minute they had left before they had to say goodbye to her for good. She looked over at her older sister, who had dark circles shadowing her eyes. The last few days spent caring for Elizabeth, sitting at her bedside round the clock, had been physically and mentally exhausting. They had taken turns to sleep so that one of them was always with her, but now fatigue was catching up like a train slamming into them.

‘It feels surreal, doesn’t it?’ Faith said as she clasped her grandmother’s now cold hand in her own. ‘I keep wanting to tell Nanna about what’s happened, to get one of her squishy hugs, but then I remember that I can’t.’

Lucy placed an arm around her younger sister’s shoulder. ‘I know – I can’t imagine our life without Nanna in it. We’ll have to lean on each other more than ever now. It’s just you and me, sis, against the world.’

‘I still can’t believe Mum didn’t get here in time,’ Faith said, shaking her head.

‘The one time we needed her, and she couldn’t even be here for us!’ Lucy hissed. ‘And she never even got a chance to say goodbye to Nanna. After everything she did for us growing up, I don’t understand how Mum can be so selfish.’

‘I don’t know why you’re surprised,’ her sister grumbled, her voice heavy with resignation. ‘You know what she’s like. Her job always comes first. You should know that by now.’

‘I know… She’s been doing this our whole life, so it shouldn’t be a shock to me.’ She shook her head. ‘But I thought … given the circumstances and how close we were to Nanna, that she would drop everything to come. Just when I think she can’t disappoint me any more with her behaviour, she manages to outdo herself yet again,’ she added bitterly.

Faith shrugged. ‘That’s our mother.’

Just then the bedroom door opened, startling them. They saw Madeleine standing there. Judging from the expression on her face, she had overheard them.

‘Oh … Mum!’ Faith cried, jumping up. ‘W-we didn’t know you were there.’

‘Clearly!’ she said, looking wounded. ‘I’m sorry if I’ve interrupted your latest Mum-bashing session.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Faith began. ‘We’re just⁠—’

‘Why are you apologising?’ Lucy cut in. ‘It’s the truth. She needs to hear this.’ She turned back to their mother. ‘You’re never there when we need you, Mum. Never have been and never will be.’

‘That’s not true! I have a demanding job, but that doesn’t make me a monster.’

‘But you always put work first,’ Lucy insisted.

‘No, I don’t,’ Madeleine choked out in disbelief.

‘Yes, you do. You’ve done it our whole lives. You’ve never been there for us when we needed you.’

Just then Madeleine’s phone started to beep, startling them. She fished it out of her pocket to check it.

‘Can’t you just leave your damn phone alone for five minutes?’ Lucy snapped.

‘I’m sorry… It’s been dead all day,’ Madeleine explained, ‘and I’ve just found out that there’s an issue with the books ahead of the launch.’

‘You see – yet another example,’ Lucy cried, throwing her hands into the air in exasperation. ‘Nanna has just passed away, Mum! The launch doesn’t matter.’

Their mother replaced her phone in her pocket contritely.

‘Look, Mum,’ Faith said, her tone softer, ‘we’re all upset and tired. It’s been a tough few days.’

‘Of course it has…’ Madeleine nodded sympathetically. ‘Have you let the relatives know?’ She wanted to change the subject away from the topic of her work. Elizabeth had had two sons: the girls’ father, John, who had passed away almost thirty years ago, and his brother, Richard, who now lived in Australia. Richard was waiting for a kidney transplant and his doctors had advised him not to travel, so they had spent a lot of time FaceTiming their uncle from Elizabeth’s bedside over the last few weeks. The girls knew it was difficult on him being so far away from home at a time like this. Elizabeth’s sister, Kate, was in her nineties. She lived in Cavan and had Alzheimer’s, but the girls had spoken to Kate’s children and had kept them updated on Elizabeth’s condition.

Faith nodded. ‘We called Uncle Richard and some of the other relatives.’

‘We’ll need to contact the undertakers in the morning,’ Lucy said grimly. ‘I’d imagine the wake will be Wednesday evening, with the funeral on Thursday.’

‘T-Thursday?’ their mother echoed in a funny voice. ‘Why so soon? Would Friday not be better?’