‘Oh, dear. Does he know?’
‘No, I’ll probably tell him tonight. He asked yesterday, but I just wanted one night, the two of us together, without it hanging in the air between us.’ She laughed now, but it was a hollow sound. ‘And then, I was so tired, I just fell into bed and Niall disappeared up into his room, so I probably should have told him. Maybe it’ll make him happier. I don’t know anymore.’ She shook her head, as if it was her last stand and she was just about to concede the battle.
‘Look, maybe if Niall gets to spend the summer down in Sydney – winter there, I suppose – he might be delighted to come home in September and settle into village life here in the west,’ Elizabeth said lightly. She hoped she was right. The idea of Lucy returning to Dublin wasn’t one she even wanted to think about.
They spent over an hour in the little antiques shop. It turned out they had unexpectedly similar taste when it came to a lot of things. At four, the little town of Ballybrack would yield no more so they decided to head home and soon they were trundling back into Ballycove again.
‘You know,’ Elizabeth said mildly, as they were approaching Jo’s house, ‘I’ve always loved these cottages. Years ago, I used to think it would be lovely to live down here, next door to your mother…’ It was the truth. On many of those days that she’d spent happily cocooned in Jo’s kitchen, she’d have given anything to have a little cottage all to herself rather than return to the depressing mansion on the hill.
‘Yes, I could see you here all right, with roses about the door and a wild flower garden at the back.’ Lucy smiled. The springtime sun was inching out across the land, as if it had somehow stood on its tippy-toes so it could reach a little further to cast off the winter cold that clung stubbornly in darkened corners still.
‘It’s such a pity they never come up for sale anymore…’
‘You know there’s no guarantee you’re going to lose your home,’ Lucy said gently.
‘But that’s the thing, dear – after all these years it’s just dawning on me, I’m not sure it’s ever really been my home.’
18
Lucy
‘What is it?’ Lucy’s antennae were already on high alert. It had been a busy morning in the surgery and she hadn’t slept properly any night since the visit to the oncologist with her mother. She was too drained not to pick up on even the slightest little cue.
‘Oh, nothing. Not a thing at all,’ Elizabeth said a little too brightly.
‘There is something and if you don’t tell me now, I’m going to assume the worst, so you might as well just say it.’ She smiled at Elizabeth. They had met each other when they were both, to say the least, at low ebbs of their contentment scales. It broke down some of the usual nuances around blunt honesty.
‘There’s absolutely nothing wrong.’ Elizabeth was smiling now, but there was still a trepidation playing around her eyes. She took a deep breath. ‘Really, it’s nothing, well, not on the scale of the worries you’ve been carrying about the place for Jo and Niall.’ She stopped for a moment, perhaps trying to fix the correct phrasing in her mind for what was coming next. ‘No, it’s just I got my first payment demand this morning from one of the banks.’ She passed the letter across the table to Lucy, topping up their coffees while she read.
‘Oh, dear, they’re not exactly subtle, are they?’ Lucy said.
‘I’m not worried about it– no more than I was a week ago, anyway.’ She sipped her coffee. ‘It’s addressed to Eric, so they’re not talking about drawing down on his estate, such as it is.’
‘No?’
‘Well, no, and you see, I’ve been looking about the village and there are plenty of small houses I could pick up for very little. They’re not exactly what I’ve set my heart on, but at least I’m fairly sure that I wouldn’t be without a roof over my head. For now, if we can just keep ahead of the banks, perhaps I can make some small dint on the repayments with the money from the surgery, just to keep the wolves from the door for long enough for a cottage that I’d like to come up and then…’
‘You’re thinking of moving?’ Lucy said and she clapped her hands. ‘But, that’s the best news ever.’ It was exactly what Elizabeth needed: a new start, a place to call her home. And it would be an actual home – as opposed to the mausoleum that the grand old Georgian had become around her.