Her Mother's Daughter

by Lesley Crewe

  Bay hung up and looked at Dermot.

  “Gertie’s in trouble. She needs our help.”

  “Let’s go.”

  They jumped into Bay’s car and were at Gertie’s in a matter of minutes. She greeted them at the door, dressed in a satin robe. Bay had never seen Gertie in anything but flannel.

  “He’s in the bedroom.”

  Gertie dashed up the hall ahead of them. The three of them ran into the bedroom. Peter writhed on the floor in a pair of boxers with red hearts all over them. His leg was at a funny angle.

  “I’ll be all right,” he moaned. “Help me up.”

  Dermot reached down and tried to hold Peter up by the shoulders, but Peter moaned, sweat pouring off his face. He eased him down again.

  “He’s broken something. We need to call an ambulance.”

  “No ambulance. I’m fine.”

  “Peter, please listen to him,” Gertie wailed. “You need help. Oh my God, I can’t believe this happened.”

  Dermot pointed at Bay. “Call 911.” When Bay left the room, he turned back to Peter. “I’m sorry, but we have no other choice.”

  Gertie flapped her arms around. “What should I do?”

  “Get me a blanket and a pillow. He’s shivering. He’s in shock.”

  She raced around and gathered up the duvet from the bed, throwing a pillow to Dermot who placed it under Peter’s head. Bay ran back into the room.

  “They’re coming.”

  “What should I do now?!” Gertie panicked.

  “Get dressed,” Bay said. “We’ll follow the ambulance to the hospital.”

  Gertie ran around and collected her things before heading to the bathroom to get dressed. Bay knelt beside Dermot. She touched Peter’s arm. “You’re going to be okay, Peter.”

  Peter, his teeth chattering, whispered, “Take care of Gertie. I don’t want her to be upset.”

  Bay reassured him she would take care of her friend.

  The ambulance came and the paramedics had to enlist Dermot’s help to manoeuvre such a giant of a man onto the gurney and out the door. They closed the doors of the ambulance and set off for the hospital.

  “You two go,” Dermot said. “I’ll walk back to the house.”

  Gertie was tearful. “Thank you for your help, Dermot. I don’t know what we’d have done without you.”

  “No problem.”

  Gertie rushed over to Bay’s car, as Bay fumbled in her pockets looking for the car keys. “I’m sorry about our evening, Dermot.”

  “Don’t worry. Take care of Gertie.”

  Bay gave Dermot a hug. “You’re a wonderful friend. I don’t know what we’d do without you.”

  Dermot watched as their car drove away. If he’d been allowed to finish his conversation with her back at his place, she wouldn’t think he was wonderful. He’d come to the realization that if he wanted to remain sane, he had to leave this place for good.

  Bay drove as fast as she dared behind the ambulance while Gertie sniffed into a wad of tissues.

  “What on earth happened?”

  “It’s my destiny to die a virgin,” Gertie wailed.

  “That’s nonsense. It was an accident.”

  “And it wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t bought silk sheets. He slid off the bed and I landed on top of him.”

  Bay didn’t dare look in her direction.

  Gertie snuck a peek at her. “Don’t even think about laughing.”

  Bay kept driving.

  “And now he’ll probably never want to see me again,” Gertie howled. “I’m cursed.”

  “Stop it, Gertie. It’s obvious he’s crazy about you.”

  “Oh, Bay, I think I’m in love with him.”

  “Well, that’s great.”

  “No, it’s not, because when he dumps me I’ll be heartbroken!”

  Gertie was determined to cry until they arrived at the hospital. It was her way of punishing herself, so Bay didn’t bother trying to make her feel better. She let her off at the emergency door and went to park the car. She realized she’d better call home.

  Tansy answered.

  “I’m going to be late tonight, so don’t wait up.”

  “Fine.”

  “I’m not with Dermot; I’m at the hospital with Gertie.”

  “My God, is she all right?”

  “She’s fine. It’s Peter. A tragedy involving silk sheets. I’ll explain later.”

  By the time she got to the waiting room, Gertie was nowhere in sight. Bay settled in for a long wait. She must have dozed off, because it seemed like no time at all before Gertie shook her awake.

  “They have to operate on Peter. He’s broken his leg in two places.”

  “Oh dear.”

  “They’re prepping him now. I’ve got to get back to him.”

  “Do you want me to come with you?”

  “Would you mind?”

  “Not at all.”

  They went to the third floor and tiptoed into the room where Peter lay waiting to be wheeled to surgery. He was hooked up to an IV. Gertie immediately took his free hand and held it up to her cheek. He gave her a weary smile. Bay stood to the side, not wanting to interfere.

  “You’ll be fine,” Gertie whispered to him.

  Peter nodded and closed his eyes.

  A doctor came through the door wearing surgical scrubs. Bay could’ve sworn he was George Clooney. She was obviously overtired and took a second look. He wasn’t anything like the actor. He was much taller.

  The doctor nodded to them and walked over to the patient, putting his hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Peter?”

  Peter opened his eyes. “Hey, Michael.”

  “I couldn’t believe it when they gave me your chart. Have you been bungee jumping?”

  “No, but I did fall for someone. This is Gertie, the girl I told you about. Gertie, this is Michael Williams. He’s my brother—well, my half-brother.”

  Michael held his hand out across the bed to shake Gertie’s. “Peter has talked of no one else since he met you.”

  Gertie blushed. “Hi.” She turned around. “This is my best friend, Bay. I don’t know what I would’ve done without her tonight.”

  Michael nodded in Bay’s direction. “Bay.”

  “Hello.”

  “Michael, I don’t want you to tell Mom about this until it’s over, okay? She’ll only worry.”

  The doctor looked at his patient. “Okay, if you think that’s best. Listen, Pete, I’ve looked at the X-ray. They’re going to put a couple of pins in your leg, but once it heals, you’ll be as good as new.”

  “Good to know.”

  “You’ve got the best ortho surgeon in town. He happened to be on call tonight, so you lucked out. And now that he knows you’re my brother he’ll be extra good to you. I let him win at poker the other night.”

  “You always were lousy at cards.”

  “Okay, the nurse will be in to give you your shot before you go downstairs, and I’ll see you when you get out of surgery.” Michael put his hand on Peter’s arm and gave it a squeeze.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” Peter said.

  “No problem.”

  “I want to talk to Gertie for a minute,” Peter told him.

  “Not too long. You need your strength.”

  Bay took a step forward. “Good luck, Peter.”

  He smiled at her. “Thanks.”

  Michael and Bay walked out of the room and let the other two say goodbye in private. Michael pointed down the hall. “You and Gertie can wait in one of the family rooms.”

  “It must have been a bad break if he needs pins,” Bay said.

  “It’s pretty nasty, but he should recover nicely. If he lost a few pounds it would help him in the long run.”

  “I know Gertie would do her best to help him with a diet. She’s trying too.”

  “Gertie seems like a nice girl. I know Peter thinks the world of her.”

  “She thinks he’s pretty special too.”

&nbs
p; “I’m glad. Peter’s always been a gentle giant, not one for dating women.”

  “I bet he left that up to you.” The minute she said it, she wanted to rip her tongue out.

  Michael gave her a quick look and checked his watch. “Tell Gertie I’ll be back to give her an update halfway through the surgery.”

  And with that he walked away.

  Bay leaned against the wall. She banged her head against it once for good measure. A nurse went into the room and a minute later Gertie came out. Bay took her arm and led her down the hall. “We have to wait down here.”

  They sat down together on a couch in a small room.

  “Can I get you something to drink?” Bay asked.

  “No, I’m okay. You should go, Bay. I don’t expect you to sit here for hours with me.”

  “Don’t be silly. I’m not going to leave you alone.”

  “I’m so worried. If anything happens to him…”

  Bay patted her arm. “Nothing’s going to happen. He’ll be fine.”

  Gertie looked at her. “Do you know what he said just now?”

  “What?”

  “That he loved me.”

  “Oh, Gertie, that’s wonderful.”

  “I know!” Gertie started to sob.

  Michael popped his head in a couple of hours later to say things were going well. He didn’t stay long. When he left, Gertie looked at Bay. “He’s quite something, isn’t he? And he just got divorced to boot.”

  Bay scowled. “No wonder he can’t take a joke.”

  “Huh?”

  “Never mind.”

  It wasn’t until November that Dermot sold the Porsche for Tansy. He’d hoped it would never happen, because then he wouldn’t have to see her. He’d been doing a good job of avoiding both Gillis sisters. He had to; leaving town was not as clear-cut as he’d hoped. It wasn’t easy selling a house that needed so much work, and his business was thriving. It was hard to walk away.

  Fortunately the few times he had talked to Bay, she seemed preoccupied with Ashley and the baby. And as the days grew colder and nights longer, there weren’t as many opportunities to run into each other. It was almost as if a time-out had been declared between them.

  He wasn’t going to risk seeing Tansy alone, which is why he decided to tell her at the diner. On his lunch hour, he ducked in before she saw him and sat at a booth so he could watch her for a few minutes. He didn’t like what he saw. She seemed thinner, if that was possible, and pale, with dark circles under her eyes. Certainly not the woman he first met all those months ago. He wanted to walk over, put his arms around her, and protect her from the ogling eyes of the men who came in to chat her up.

  She eventually saw him and frowned before walking over with a notepad and pencil.

  “What can I get you?”

  “Hi, Tansy. How are you?”

  “Fine.”

  “I’ll have a club sandwich, no fries.”

  “To drink?”

  “Tea, please.”

  She started to walk away.

  “I sold the Porsche.”

  That stopped her dead.

  “Tansy?”

  When she turned around her face looked lost.

  “I’m sorry, I thought that’s what you wanted.”

  Tansy shook her head, as if realizing he was still there. “Yes, of course. Thanks.”

  “If you don’t want to do this, it’s okay. I’ll call him back.”

  “No. No. We need the money.”

  “Sit with me for a minute.”

  “No…”

  “Please.”

  She sat on the edge of the seat, her back to the door. “What do you want?”

  Dermot reached across the table and took her hand. “Something’s bothering you and you need to tell me. If there’s a reason you don’t want to part with the car, you don’t have to.”

  She looked away.

  “Tell me.”

  “I can’t escape.”

  “What? What do you mean?”

  “I can’t leave.”

  “Do you want to leave?”

  “No. Yes. I need the money. I have to invest it for Ashley and the baby. She’s too young…”

  Why did she seem so frightened? “Tansy, I want to promise you something. I know you’re selling the car because you want to help Ashley, and that’s fine, but if you ever need a car for anything, whether it’s to leave here or for whatever reason, I’ll get you one. Okay?”

  “You’d do that?”

  “Yes.”

  “Even if I wanted to go and never come back?”

  “Even then.”

  She looked at him and whispered, “Thank you.”

  He reached over and wiped away a tear that threatened to fall down her cheek. They sat together for a moment longer before they looked up and saw Bay watching them from outside the diner window.

  Ashley liked one thing about November: When she went outside she could wear a coat. It saved her from the overt stares people gave her when she walked by. Since she wasn’t a big girl, she carried Fred like she’d swallowed a basketball, all out in front.

  It was important for her not to get discouraged, because maybe Fred could read her mind and she didn’t want the little guy to know that his mother was sort of afraid of him, even though she did love him. But there were times when the situation threatened to overwhelm her. And today was one of those days.

  She ran into Matt’s mother at the drugstore.

  Ruth pretended not to see her, but Ashley knew she damn well did. She and Matt usually avoided the topic of his mother because it only caused friction. Matt was obviously torn between wanting to throttle his mother and feeling the need to defend her. It bothered Ashley no end.

  “How can you ignore your own grandchild?”

  “I don’t know, do I?”

  “She’s not even curious about the baby at all?”

  Matt would roll his eyes. “I don’t talk about it with her because it gets her too upset.”

  “Well, she’s not being fair to you, is she? What does your dad think?”

  “I think he wants everyone to shut up.”

  “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? I suppose you’d like me to shut up too?”

  “That would be nice.”

  She’d thrown a box of raisins at him.

  And now here was his mother, standing at the drug counter pretending to be a nice person.

  Ashley wasn’t sure how she got so brave. Maybe it was because Fred needed to be protected from miserable cows like Ruth.

  She walked over to the counter. “Hi, Mrs. MacLean. How are you?”

  Ruth gave her the slightest of glances. “Fine.”

  “Would you like to know how Fred is doing?”

  Ruth looked at her. “Who?”

  “Fred. Your grandchild.”

  “Fred is my dog, not my grandchild.”

  “Yes, and he’s very nice, unlike his owner.”

  Ashley noticed the pharmacist kept herself busy and didn’t look up at them.

  Ruth glared at her. “You’re a spoiled brat. What you do with your own life is your business, but don’t even think of involving me in this fiasco.”

  “You are involved. You’re Matt’s mother and he needs you right now. Haven’t you even considered what you’re doing to him by behaving this way? He loves me. He loves Fred. And he still loves you for some reason. Why are you making him choose between us?”

  Ruth stood there like a statue.

  “Wonderful. Be like that. But I’ll tell you one thing: I’ll treat Fred a million times better than you treat your son.” And with that she turned around and left the store.

  Ashley was still fuming when she got home, and even madder when she realized she’d forgotten the stuff she was supposed to buy. She made herself feel better by hugging Merlin. Looking at his silly face put a smile on hers.

  Since no one was home, she thought she’d look at the paint chips she’d brought home a couple of days before to see
what colour the baby’s room should be, but when she got to the upstairs landing, the stuff they’d taken out of their bedrooms was still in the hallway. She should go through the boxes and decide what to keep and what to throw out. Ashley knew that would be a help, since both her mother and aunt worked long hours and were tuckered out at the end of the day.

  As the afternoon wore on, Ashley forgot about the paint chips. She was lost in a haze of her childhood. Everything she took out of a box had a memory attached to it. A toy pig her nana had given her when she broke her arm one summer, a diary she kept in fourth grade. It made her smile to think that Maribeth was her best friend even back then. She put it to one side so she could show Maribeth when she came home for Christmas. Then there were the drawings her mother had kept, and old scribblers filled with math and writing exercises.

  At the bottom of one box, she found a bundle of papers and photo albums, old ones she’d never seen before. She took them out and wiped the dust off them, taking them to her bedroom so she could sit on the bed and go through them.

  There were pictures of her nana and the grandfather she never knew. Her nana was slim, not like the roly-poly woman she used to hug. Ashley looked closely at her grandfather. He had a nice face, wrinkled even then. She remembered her mother saying that was from being in the sun all day hoisting lobster traps. There were pictures of her mother and Tansy up in a tree fort. They both had long braids and missing teeth and they were smiling at each other. Ashley kept it out to show them later.

  She turned the pages and came upon a picture of her mother and father. They looked young and in love. It made her happy to know that her parents had loved each other, but her heart ached to think that they had so little time together. No wonder her mother was sad most of the time. It wasn’t fair. Now that she was in love with a baby on the way, Ashley felt her mother’s pain for the first time.

  She owed her mother a lot.

  Ashley kept going through the pictures and then started to root through the bundle of papers and letters. She was so absorbed in this treasure trove she didn’t hear her mother and aunt come home.

  They happened to arrive at the house within a minute of each other. Bay was busy giving Merlin his supper when Tansy walked in. Bay glanced at her and then looked away.

  “You might as well ask me,” Tansy sighed.

  “Ask you what?”