by Ivan B
“Well, what’s happened to you?”
She went and gave her mother a kiss.
“Had enough of brown.”
Her mother looked her up and down.
“Suits you, makes you look happy, not sour.”
Mary raised an eyebrow.
“I never looked sour!”
Her mother smiled.
“No, not sour; withdrawn.”
Mary sighed.
“You never said.”
“You never asked.”
Mary held her hands.
“Where’s your luggage?”
“Left a note telling Jenny to bring it back for me.”
She led her mother to a row of empty metal chairs and sat her down.
“What happened?”
Her mother grimaced.
“Started Wednesday night, they kept going on and on about my will and how I ought to write one. And they said some shameful things.”
Mary held her mother’s hands, furious with her sisters.
“Such as?”
Her mother squirmed in the chair.
“They said that you were only looking after me for cheap board and lodging and to squeeze the maximum inheritance out of me.”
Mary was speechless and her mother gave her a loving look.
“Don’t worry, I know it’s not true, not one blasted word of it. When I fell over and cracked my hip they didn’t want to know, you didn’t hesitate. It’s just one of their schemes.”
Mary rubbed the back of her mother’s hands with her thumb.
“They didn’t hurt you did they, because if they did…”
Her mother squeezed Mary’s hand.
“No, they just shouted at me. Last night I told them that I did have a will and they would just have to live with my decision. I knew if I stayed they would try and get that decision out of me, so I left when they all went to the beach.”
Her mother suddenly changed the subject.
“And what makes you so happy? I haven’t seen you like this in years; found a gold bar under a bush or one of your precious first editions in some seedy book-shop?”
Mary laughed and thrust her hand under her mother’s nose.
“No, I’ve got engaged.”
Her mother examined the ring, eyes agog.
“You serious?”
“Deadly.”
Her mother shook her head.
“I let you out of my sight for a week and you throw yourself at the first man who waggles his finger at you, who is it? Do I know him? It’s not that ghastly salesman who kept sending you flowers is it?”
Mary giggled.
“It’s Josie’s dad, you’ve met him once I think.”
Her mother looked thoughtful.
“Can’t remember, what’s he like?”
“You’ll meet him in a minute, he’s at the coffee bar near platform three. We’re staying in a flat here in London and you can stay with us, there is plenty of room.”
Her mother shot her a withering stare
.“You mean I can play the extra while you two make nookie in the next room.”
Mary smarted.
“It’s not like that at all and I’d rather hoped that you’d know me better than that. We’re in separate bedrooms and Josie is with us.”
Her mother trembled slightly.
“Sorry Mary, it’s just a bit of a shock, I didn’t even know you were seeing him, kept that a bit close to your chest didn’t you?”
Mary rubbed the back of her hands again, they were remarkably cold for a summer’s day. She said quietly.
“I haven’t been seeing him. He invited me on holiday and it’s all gone from there.”
Her mother’s eyebrows rose in amazement.
“And now you’re going to tell me that you love him passionately and your heart is bursting.”
Mary shook her head.
“I’m going to tell you that he’s special, that we get on extremely well together and that we’re seeking love. My heart is bursting, but not how you think.”
Her mother opened her mouth and then shut it, finally she asked brusquely.
“You are sure you’re doing the right thing?”
“Absolutely, well as near absolutely as I can manage.”
Her mother smiled.
“Well you are an adult even if you are still a child to me, it just takes a bit of getting used to.”
Mary sighed with relief.
“Robert and I have discussed it and you’re living with us, I’m not going to leave you out in the cold mum.”
She blustered.
“You won’t want an old woman living with you; I’d get in the way.”
Mary held her hands and looked into her eyes.
“We’re serious mum, you’re living with us. You know that you can’t manage on your own and I’d be worried to a frazzle if you tried. You’re coming with us, and it’s not for any inheritance, it’s because I love you.”
Her mother gazed back knowing that Mary meant what she said. She gave a weak smile.
“Still I suppose that I’ve got a few months to get used to it.”
Mary grinned from ear to ear.
“Four weeks more like, we want to get married in four weeks if we can. Robert thinks he knows a house we can buy that has a small annex on the back so that you don’t have to climb stairs.”
“Got it all worked out have we?”
Mary gazed back into her eyes.
“We wouldn’t buy it if you didn’t like it, but it’s in the next road from your church, so we wouldn’t be moving far.”
“What’s wrong with my house, I like my house?”
Mary started to answer, but stopped when her mother gripped her hand tight
“Of course you don’t want to live in my house, you want your house. I wanted my own house as soon as I could.”
She struggled to her feet.
“Let’s go and meet him then.”
They walked towards the coffee bar and her mother watched her from the corner of her eye, she eventually stated.
“You’re walking different, swinging your right leg out more and not limping so much.”
“I’m wearing a knee brace, Susan said it was about time I did.”
Her mother stopped dead again.
“And you didn’t argue?”
Mary shrugged.
“Taking the long term view, less damage to the knee now and it’ll be longer before I have to face an artificial joint operation.”
Her mother didn’t move.
“Has he seen you, naked I mean?”
“He’s seen my legs.”
She nodded.
“Good, if he really loves you he won’t care what you look like.”
Mary held on to her mother’s arm.
“He’s a good man mother.”
Her mother turned to her.
“He’d better be, because if he wasn’t good to you I might just kill him.” She gave a wicked grin. “And if he’s anything like Jenny’s husband Howard I’ll kill him in advance.” She looked around. “Well where is he?”
They arrived at the coffee bar and Josie said shyly.
“Hello Mrs Webb.”
Helen Webb did a double take.
“Good grief lass, what on earth have you done to your hair?”
Josie grinned.
“Mary dyed it for me yesterday, but I’ve got to wash it out tonight.”
Helen turned to her daughter.
“And are you washing the blonde muck out of your hair?”
Mary scowled at the indignity of her mother’s tone.
“No, mother I’m not. As I said, I’ve had enough of brown.”
Josie suppressed a grin. Mary looked around.
“Where’s your dad?”
“Gone to get you a coffee and Mrs Webb a tea. I told him that she has it white with one sugar.”
Helen looked at Josie, she couldn’t have her continually calling her Mrs Webb, not if Mary was going to becom
e her mother, on the other hand it didn’t seem right if she was allowed to call her Helen.
“You can’t keep calling me Mrs Webb young lady, not if my daughter is going to marry your dad.”
Josie considered for a second.
“But I always call you Mrs Webb.”
“Not anymore, chose something else, but don’t even think of calling me granny.”
Mary thought quickly, she knew that Jenny’s children called her ‘Grandmama’ and she hated it.
“How about ‘Nan.’”
Helen screwed up her face.
“Makes me sound like a piece of bread, but it’s probably better than any other alternative.”
Mary looked at her mother.
“When did you last eat, did you have any breakfast?”
Helen snorted.
“Course not, breakfast is too much trouble for that pair.”
A look of horror crossed Mary’s face.
“Your tablet’s did you…”
Helen laughed.
“They’re in my handbag, I’m not going dolally just yet.”
Mary got up.
“I’ll get you something.”
She headed for the counter and Helen turned to Josie.
“What do you think of your dad marrying Mary.”
Josie’s face practically split in half with and enormous smile.
“I think it’s brill.”
Helen had no idea what brill meant, but her face said it all. Helen, using the directness that is only available to old people, asked.
“Do you see your own mum?”
Josie shook her head.
“Never. I know she’s in Egypt and daddy says that she is very happy, but I never see her.”
Josie face suddenly changed back to the wide smile.
“But Mary said that she’d never leave us, she’s got a tattoo to prove it.”
Helen’s eyebrows rose a long distance.
“A tattoo?”
Josie nodded.
“On her arm, it’s got my dad’s name on it and my name in it.”
Helen looked across the café to her, now non-brown, daughter; she was proving to have hidden depths that Helen had never suspected.
They arrived back at the flat and Helen flopped into an armchair, clearly worn out by the journey. Mary fussed around her.
“Do you want a lie down mum?”
Helen squirmed in the chair, Mary reached down beside her and pulled out the control box. “These chairs are fabulous, the white buttons move the footrest up and down and the grey ones move it in and out. Find a good position and then press and hold the back button and it will remember how you like it. The yellow button moves the backrest and the brown button remembers where it is.”
Helen sniffed.
“I prefer my lever on the side, and what’s the red button?”
“When you want to get out of the chair you press it and the footrest goes home, the backrest goes upright and the cushion gives you a lift.”
“Does it serve tea as well?”
Mary laughed.
“No, Robert does that and he’s in the kitchen right now.”
Helen indicated that Mary should come closer and she whispered.
“He’s quite nice, but he’s terribly short.” She grabbed hold of her daughter’s arm. “You are happy with him?”
“Very.”
“And you don’t mind him having a daughter?”
“I’ll never have one of my own mum, she’s already growing on me.”
Her mother increased her grip.
“You’re not just interested in him because of her?”
“No mum, I’m not that stupid.”
Helen smiled.
“Is there horse-racing on?”
Mary flicked through the channels and found some horse racing and left her mother marvelling at the sudden transformation of the picture into a TV screen. She found Robert in the kitchen, he whispered.
“She’s a nice old bat, while you and Josie were in the station toilet she told me that if I break your heart she’ll have a contract taken out on me and a nasty man in a black suit will break my neck.”
Mary laughed.
“She loves whodunits.”
Robert nodded.
“And she obviously cares for you. What was up with her staying with your sisters.”
Mary sighed.
“They have this bee in their bonnets about mum’s house. They’re trying to convince mum that I’m only looking after her for her money; if they only knew.”
Robert cocked his head to one side.
“If they only knew what?”
She glanced at the doorway.
“Mum hasn’t got any money, I should know. Dad left her a little, but not enough to clear the mortgage and that wasn’t insured. I only found out when I moved back in and she was in hospital and insisted that I become a proxy for her while she was inside.”
Robert took a guess.
“So you’ve been paying the mortgage?”
She nodded.
“It’s not very large, they bought the house years ago.”
Robert was confused.
“Surely they’ve lived there more than twenty-five years?”
Mary sighed.
“Too true, she’s lived there for virtually all her married life, but for some reason dad re-mortgaged the house when I was at university, about six months before my accident. I have no idea why he did that or what happened to the money he got from the deal; all I can find out from the paperwork is that he took out a twenty-five year mortgage, goodness knows how he got it as he must have been in his early fifties at the time.”
Robert smiled.
“And let me guess, you’ve never had the heart to tell your mother you want your name added to the deeds as you’re paying the mortgage.”
Mary shrugged.
“Sounds so mercenary.”
Robert poured out some tea.
“Your sisters don’t seem to mind.”
“My sisters are evil.”
Robert winced at the language.
“That’s a bit strong isn’t it?”
Mary looked him in the eye.
“They bullied me nearly all my young life. They bullied me so much that I though it natural that older sisters beat their younger ones.”
Robert was taken aback.
“How did you survive?”
She shrugged.
“You just had to get on with life, they weren’t around all the time and I became an expert at evasion. But believe me I shan’t be inviting them to our wedding.”
She reached out and touched him.
“I'll tell you about it sometime, but not now.”
Robert took the tea into the lounge and reappeared within a few seconds and made a sleeping motion.
He looked around.
“Where’s Josie?”
“In my bedroom watching a DVD.”
“There's a DVD player in your bedroom?”
“I didn’t know either, Josie showed me; you put the DVD in a slot in the top of the screen.”
Mary wiggled herself onto the stool.
“Look, there's no need for you and Josie not to go out, I’ll stay here till she wakes up and then come and meet you.”
Robert laughed.
“No thanks, I think that we’ll stay in, if Josie’s happy I’d rather just sit and talk to you.”
“Here?”
He shrugged.
“Good a place as any.”
Mary smiled.
“Let’s make some coffee and sneak into Josie’s room and use the armchairs.”
They did just that; Mary told Robert all about his sisters and Robert told Mary of his childhood and about some of his five years backpacking round the world. They would have continued all afternoon, except they were interrupted by Josie who proclaimed that she was hungry.
After the four of them had eaten Helen turned to Mary.
“You don't need to baby-sit me, y
ou young ones go out and enjoy yourselves.”
Robert smiled.
“We were thinking of going to the new global cinema, you know the one where you sit inside the film. You’re welcome to come.”
Helen smiled.
“I’m sure you mean that Robert, but I’d rather stay here and watched TV, I’ve had enough excitement for one day.”
Mary reached out and touched her.
“You sure mum?”
“Go, just tell me where the telephone is in case you need to phone me, nothing in this place seems quite right.”
Josie smirked.
“It’s the little statue on the table, his chest opens out for the buttons and you speak into his feet.”
Mary smiled.
“Well I didn't know that, there’s also a phone her in the kitchen on the wall behind you, it’s quite normal, almost like the one at home.”
She showed it to her mum, who just nodded.
Half an hour later Helen was in the flat by herself. She went to the lounge and sat in the armchair. She'd been totally surprised by Mary's engagement and still didn't quite know what to make of her relationship with Robert. They seemed happy enough, together, but obviously didn't know the first thing about each other. However, they were being honest in describing themselves as seeking love. Helen was already convinced that given time, and space, they would find it. She closed her eyes, over the past few years her greatest desire had been for Mary to find a decent man; it had been her one prayer and her one hope. She, of all people, knew that Mary should not live alone, it wasn't that she couldn't live alone, just that she shouldn't. She sighed, a great weight had been taken off her mind, but now what?
Mary, Robert and Josie arrived at the Globeview Cinema to find that the programme had been changed and that the film now being shown – Vampire Romp IV – was totally unsuitable for Josie and was definitely not on Mary’s hit list as a film worth watching. After a little family discussion, and a phone call, they went to a different West End Cinema and watched the latest Walt Disney movie. It followed the familiar formula, but was fun all the same. Frankly Robert and Mary could have watched anything and found it equally enjoyable; just being in the cinema holding hands was good enough for them to have a wonderful evening.
Chapter 17
Sacrifice
Mary woke with a start and realised that it was still dark. She wondered why she had woken up when Josie moaned beside her; she was fast asleep, obviously dreaming and not enjoying the dream. Mary carefully wiggled her arm under Josie and then cuddled her, she moaned once more, and then stopped. Mary lay awake for some time wondering what had caused the bad dream and then fell asleep with Josie still cuddled against her.