‘No, if I thought you looked worse, I’d have packed you off up to hospital again.’ It was the truth, although from her mother’s expression she wondered if it sounded like a threat to her. ‘You really do. I think the week has done you good – a little holiday in the middle of it all.’
‘I’ve been spoiled here between the lot of you. It’s funny, but even the little things like my own cotton sheets and being able to toddle to the loo without having to let a nurse know where I’m going, it’s been nice to have the time.’ Jo sighed. ‘It’s been a bonus having you here; you know I do appreciate it, but all the same…’
‘What are you saying? I want to be here.’ Lucy laughed; she wouldn’t be anywhere else now.
‘Still, the time is passing and if you want to make the most of your time away from the hospital, this wasn’t in the plan.’
‘We both know you’d have been quite content for me to hang about here until I’m as ancient as dear old Mrs Wills. The reason you’re sending me off now is because you’re afraid I’m only hanging about for you.’
‘Well, aren’t you?’
‘Maybe,’ Lucy said. ‘But that doesn’t matter. I’m actually very happy here.’ The words tripped off her tongue easily, but when she’d said them, she stopped, because somehow within them there was certain wisdom. She was very happy here. Actually, she was far happier here than she’d ever been in Dublin. She was much more fulfilled working as a country GP than she could remember being in a big hospital situation. The truth was, now she thought about it that had always been her ambition. The only reason she’d settled into working in a hospital for so long was because it suited them both while Jack worked towards becoming a surgeon. Why had she not seen this before?
‘What is it?’ Jo tried to pull herself up higher on the pillows.
‘It’s nothing…’ Lucy sighed. ‘Maybe it’s not, but you know I’ve dithered about what to do next?’
‘Lucy, it’s what you needed. Time to think…’ she said gently.
‘Yes, I know, but that’s the thing: it’s been so busy here, I haven’t had time to think.’
‘I’m sorry, it’s…’
‘No, you don’t understand. It’s a good thing. I’ve been so busy, I’ve stopped thinking and actually, I just gave myself my answer. I’m happier here than I ever was in Dublin. I don’t want to go back to work in the hospital again. I want to work as a GP and I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather work than here, in Ballycove,’ Lucy said and she couldn’t help smiling. ‘There’s only one small fly in the ointment now that I’ve decided.’
‘Elizabeth has sold on the practice?’
‘No, not as far as I know.’ Lucy laughed. ‘The only thing wrong now is that we can’t celebrate with champagne, not until you have those awful antibiotics behind you.’
‘Well, I shall have something to look forward to then, won’t I?’ Jo laughed and she held out her arms and folded them around Lucy in the warmest hug she could manage from beneath the heavy quilt. Then she held her daughter back, for just a moment. ‘You’re sure, darling, that this is the right thing for you? Moving here to Ballycove and taking over the practice?’
‘I don’t think I’ve ever been more certain of anything in my life, Mum,’ Lucy felt a glow of optimism for the first time since Jo’s cancer had been diagnosed. ‘Now, all I have to do is agree a deal with Elizabeth.’
25
Niall
It seemed to Niall that the summer had raced into itself. It was hard to believe that July was almost at an end and soon he would be packing his bags to start a new life in Sydney with his dad. He was very much looking forward to that, no matter how much his grandmother tried to convince him that far-off fields are not always greener.
‘You think nowhere is as green as Ballycove,’ he’d joked with her earlier as they’d played a final game of rummy before fatigue overtook her.
‘I’m right. I’ll bet when you arrive in Sydney, the only green fields you’re likely to see will be in some posh country club where they have sprinklers going all night long.’
‘Okay, well, in that way, I suppose you have a point,’ he conceded. ‘But there’s lots of other stuff there that I’m really looking forward to.’ And there was, like seeing his dad and the amazing apartment he had bought that looked out over Sydney Harbour.