Chapter 9
Madeleine stood in the bedroom and looked out through the sash window at the charcoal sea, brooding and swollen, blending into the leaden sky that hung overhead.
Her head was thumping. She placed her fingers on her temples and began massaging in a circular motion.
The situation was going from bad to worse.
What was she supposed to do now? Her entire career was in jeopardy, but Lucy just didn’t understand.
She had never seen her daughter so upset or more determined than she was today.
There was something about the way she had spoken that had chilled Madeleine and made her nervous to put her words to the test. It seemed that their bond was far more fragile than she had realised.
When had that happened? And how had she not noticed?
She thought they had a perfectly healthy mother–daughter relationship, but clearly not.
They met for lunch once a month, they went out for dinner whenever it was one of their birthdays, they spent Christmas together most years – except for last year, when Madeleine had had strep throat and was too sick to travel to Inishbeg Cove so had spent the day at home in bed.
Maybe she was missing something? Lucy had always been a stubborn child: once she made her mind up about something, there was no changing it.
Madeleine had been on the receiving end of that often enough when Lucy was growing up.
She recalled one time when she had told Lucy that she would sit there all night until Lucy had finished the stew Madeleine had made for dinner, but Lucy had called her bluff.
She had sat at the dinner table for hours, refusing to eat it.
Madeleine had eventually buckled, but she knew Lucy would have stayed there all night if she had to.
Poor Faith, on the other hand, had looked devastated by the exchange – she hated conflict of any kind, especially within her family.
How were her daughters so different? They really were chalk and cheese.
What should she do? she wondered. If she went to Dublin, there was no guarantee that she could resolve the issue with the shipment of books, but at least she would feel like she was doing something to fix the problem rather than letting her team pick up the slack.
However, she also knew that Lucy didn’t make idle threats.
She risked losing her daughters altogether if she ran out on them now.
Perhaps she should just ring Jerry and tell him the truth.
Maybe she needed to come clean and admit that she didn’t have things under control and they needed to postpone the launch.
It wouldn’t be pleasant, but it would be better to do it now and give people notice.
Yes, Howard O’Brien would be furious, they could probably kiss goodbye to ever working with him again, but the longer it went on, the harder it was going to be to postpone.
But no, she thought, she was Madeleine Brennan – she never let people down.
She was sure she could sort it. She picked up her phone and called Anna, one of the marketing assistants on her team, who she had tasked with following up with the customs officers.
‘Are you on your way back, Madeleine?’ Anna wailed as soon as she picked up.
‘Everyone is up the walls here. I keep telling Jerry it’s all fine, but I can’t keep the charade up for much longer.
I don’t know what to do. I can’t get hold of anyone on the phone in the customs office.
I keep being put on hold and passed around in circles. ’
Madeleine’s heart sank. She had held on to a flicker of hope that Anna might have good news for her, but no. And now they were running out of time.
‘Look, Anna, I can’t get back to Dublin.’
‘What?’ Anna sounded like she was going to cry. Although she was a hard worker, Anna was young and lacking in life experience, which sometimes showed at times of stress – like right now. Madeleine needed her to remain calm and not panic.
‘I’m sorry. My mother-in-law has passed away and I need to be here with my family, but please just keep trying. Explain to the customs officers who the books are for, and if they won’t help you, demand to speak to a manager – someone with authority, someone who could expedite matters.’
‘Okay.’ Anna gulped. ‘I-I’ll do my best.’
‘I know you will.’ Anna was her last chance to salvage this launch. ‘The network here is awful, but I’ll have my phone on and I’ll be keeping a close eye on it, so call me and let me know as soon as you have an update.’