Chapter 14
BOXING DAY
The call came at a quarter past five in the morning, but Peg was already awake.
It was Boxing Day, how could she sleep? She had gone downstairs half an hour ago to make a cup of tea and had taken it back to bed with her, intending to read.
But although she had drunk the tea, the book still lay unopened on top of the duvet beside her.
There were another nineteen hours or so left of Boxing Day to be got through, but Henry was still alive.
He had come through the night and woken briefly.
It was early days but the nurses were pleased with his progress.
Peg closed her eyes and offered up a silent thank you to the universe. No one else would be dying today.
From the other end of the phone, Sofia’s voice was almost inaudible and Peg realised she had stopped listening, lost in her own thoughts. ‘Sofia, can you say that again? I can hardly hear you…’
‘Sorry, I know I’m whispering, but Adam has only just dropped off to sleep and I don’t want to wake him. Is everything all right? Is Mum okay?’
Peg smiled, thinking about the previous evening. ‘She’s fine… In fact, she and Mim would have stayed up half the night if I hadn’t sent them to bed. They could talk the hind leg off a donkey.’
‘Really? Oh… that doesn’t sound like Mum at all.’
Peg frowned. Admittedly, she didn’t know Blanche very well, but she certainly didn’t seem to be the shy, retiring type. ‘It’s nice for my aunt, too,’ she replied. ‘I think she’s rather enjoyed having two people fussing over her. Speaking of which, how are you holding up? Have you managed to sleep?’
There was a long pause, and Peg wondered whether they’d been cut off. She was about to ask the question again when Sofia replied, even quieter than before. ‘Not really, I…’ Peg waited for her to finish, but as the seconds ticked by, she realised she wasn’t going to.
‘It’s a very worrying time,’ said Peg. ‘You’re worried about Henry, but you’re also worried about Adam. So it wouldn’t hurt you to get a bit of rest. The next few days are going to be long ones.’
‘All I could think of yesterday was that Christmas was never going to be the same again. I think there must be something wrong with me…’
‘I imagine it’s just the shock,’ said Peg, trying to be kind.
‘We none of us know how we’d react in situations like these, do we?
When we become aware that forever after things might be different.
Even without Christmas, that’s always a scary thought to process.
I’m not going to tell you that everything will be okay, but Henry has done the hard bit.
Why don’t you get some rest and then see how things are looking in a few more hours?
’ She winced at what she was about to say.
‘And then you must come and have something to eat. A proper meal. You and Adam both need to look after yourselves and I expect making food is the last thing you feel like doing.’
‘I’m not sure Adam will want to, but…’ There was a pause as Sofia considered her offer. ‘Thank you, that’s very kind of you.’
‘No problem,’ said Peg lightly. ‘I’ll be here whenever you want to come over, just let me know how things go.’
After saying goodbye, Peg ended the call and held the phone against her chest for a moment. She must be mad inviting Sofia and Adam over, but she wasn’t sure what else she could do. A little kindness went a long way at times like these.
She turned her phone over again and stared at the screen.
It was far too early to call Izzy and Phoebe, but she suddenly longed to hear their voices.
Given what she knew about skiing holidays, the après-ski was almost as important as the time on the slopes, and she doubted they would be rising early.
She knew they would call her at some point today, but it could be hours yet, and she didn’t want to ring them before they were ready.
The last thing she wanted to do was spoil their fun.
Sighing, she slid her phone onto the bedside table and lay back down, pulling the covers up around her ears.
What she wouldn’t do for a few more hours’ sleep herself…
By seven o’clock, however, she decided it was useless to stay in bed hoping she would drop off.
She’d had all night to do that and had hardly managed it; she might as well get out of bed and do something useful.
A big breakfast might be just the thing – she hadn’t eaten much herself yesterday and the fridge was groaning with food.
To her surprise, Blanche was already up and dressed by the time Peg arrived in the kitchen, and was sitting at the table nursing a cup of tea.
‘I’ve made a pot, I hope you don’t mind?’
Peg sank into a chair opposite. ‘I don’t mind in the slightest. As long as there’s some left for me?’ She gave Blanche a sympathetic smile. ‘Couldn’t you sleep either?’ she asked.
Blanche’s return smile was sheepish. ‘I feel bad saying it, but I slept like a baby,’ she replied.
‘I usually do, but what is annoying is waking up so damn early. All those years when I was working and had to get up at the crack of dawn, and then the minute I retired and could stay in bed as long as I wanted, could I heck? Wide awake at dawn.’ She shook her head.
‘Bloody ridiculous state of affairs.’ She got up and collected a mug from the draining board. ‘One cup of tea coming up.’
‘I’ve heard from Sofia,’ said Peg, watching as Blanche poured her drink. ‘And Henry’s still with us. He woke briefly, but the nurses seem to think he’s doing okay.’
Blanche slid the mug across the table with an audible sigh of relief. ‘Thank God. Adam would never have been able to forgive himself. When Henry is back in good health again those two need to have some proper conversations. Sort out whatever’s gone wrong between them.’
Peg nodded. ‘I think Sofia’s feeling it too. She was very quiet on the phone. Adam was asleep, so she was trying to keep her voice down, but I could tell she’d been thinking things over too. There but for the grace of God comes to mind.’
‘It does. Families are such horribly complicated things, aren’t they?
My daughter has something on her mind at the moment that she doesn’t want me to know about, and it’s been that way for the past couple of years.
No matter how hard I try to get to the bottom of it, she just pretends all the harder that everything is fine.
She and Adam weren’t always the way they are now.
This materialistic social climbing is a relatively new thing.
Sofia’s business doesn’t help – pandering to people with more money than sense, or worse, to people with no money but who are desperate for some kind of validation of their worth.
I wish they could see it doesn’t lead to happiness.
It’s like they’re on a hamster wheel they can’t step off. ’
‘Ah, but it’s the stepping off that’s the problem, isn’t it?’ said Peg. ‘While you’re on it everything is fine – you can keep on keeping on – but try to jump from it while it’s still moving and you end up in all kinds of trouble. Perhaps that’s what they’re trying to avoid.’
Blanche narrowed her eyes. ‘You could well be right. Although I’ve no idea what could be so bad.’ She swallowed a mouthful of tea. ‘I’m changing the subject completely, but would it be weird to have pigs in blankets for breakfast?’
Peg leaned towards her, hair spilling over her shoulders as she did so. ‘Weird possibly… but very, very good.’ She grinned. ‘I’ll go and see if Mim’s awake. She’ll need a hand to get dressed.’
‘I’ll go,’ said Blanche, placing her hand over Peg’s to still her from getting up. You finish your tea, dear.’
Peg had always loved this kitchen, and she especially loved it at this time of the morning when it was still early, and it was hushed and expectant, waiting for the day to begin.
One of the windows faced east and Peg had seen many a sunrise through it, enjoying her first cup of tea of the day, and the opportunity to let her thoughts slide and quietly think things through.
And having Blanche take care of Mim was exactly what had brought her current thoughts to mind.
Because Mim lived over two hours away, and if Peg were to look after her, that was something which needed to change.
Either Mim needed to move closer to Peg, or Peg needed to move closer to Mim, it was as simple as that.
And Peg knew that only one of those options was the right one.
What troubled her was that if this was truly going to be her last Christmas in this house, then so far it had been memorable for all the wrong reasons.
‘I’ve had a thought,’ she said, when all three women were tucking into their breakfast.
Mim frowned. She was cross at having her food cut up for her. Like a baby, she’d scorned. She speared a piece of sausage. ‘Well I hope it’s not about me,’ she said.
Peg ignored her. Given the direction of travel of her recent thoughts, Mim’s comment was a little too close for comfort.
And it was not a conversation she wanted to get into.
She stuck out her tongue instead, her way of teasing her aunt.
‘No, it’s not about you, Mim. I was just remembering when the girls were little – I think it was the year Phoebe was born, so she would have only been about six months old – Julian and I decided to postpone our Christmas dinner because the day was just running away from us.
I don’t think I even managed to brush my hair the entire day.
Anyway, that’s not the point. The point is that we had the dinner on Boxing Day instead, when things were a little calmer.
And it was lovely. It didn’t really make any difference, and I wondered if we should do the same thing this year.
I’ve invited Sofia and Adam over for some food when they’re ready, but perhaps we should make it a definite arrangement.
Provided all is well at the hospital, of course. ’