Second Time Around (16 page)

‘Yes, maybe, oh, I’m not sure,’ Sharon said, looking slightly weepy. ‘I’m tired.’

‘Hey, don’t worry, it’ll be fine,’ Jess assured her. ‘You look so much better than you did.’

‘You’re a bit peaky,’ Suzie said, ‘but that’s the beige top. Never wear beige, Sharon. It’s really not your colour.’

Sharon sighed. ‘Jeez, thanks, Mum.’

‘What? I’m just saying,’ Suzie said, wondering why such simple comments annoyed her daughters. Noel wasn’t so touchy.

‘I hope they’re going to let me go home or Bobby will be really upset.’

‘Forget about Bobby for the moment,’ Jess said, gently. ‘Lying here worrying won’t help bring your blood pressure down. If anything, it might delay them letting you go
home.’

‘Will you help with Bobby, Jess? If I’m kept in longer, I mean?’

Sharon stared at her sister, something passing between them that Suzie didn’t understand.

‘Of course I will,’ Jess promised.

‘And haven’t you got me?’ Suzie said, trying to sound more positive than she felt.

‘Thanks, Mum, but Jess has the car,’ Sharon said, ‘and I’m not happy with you taking on too much too soon.’

‘I suppose,’ Suzie said, feeling relieved if a little guilty, ‘but Jess’s right: you must stop worrying.’

There was a buzz and Suzie watched Jess dig out her phone and redden.

‘Everything all right?’ Sharon asked.

‘Yeah, just work.’

Suzie stared at her and, when Jess wouldn’t meet her eyes, she just knew that the message was from that bastard, Louis Healy. ‘How is work going, Jess?’ she asked.

‘Busy,’ Jess mumbled.

Suzie tried to quash the bubble of hot anger building inside. ‘You do too much. I think you should drop one of the papers. The
Gazette
, for example.’

‘I get to write the articles I want to write for the
Gazette
, Mum. It’s good experience and could lead to bigger things.’

Suzie lost it. ‘What? You screwing more editors?’

‘Mum!’ Sharon looked horrified.

‘Sorry, Sharon, but I’m not stupid. Your sister’s getting that work because of her body not her talent.’

‘Mum!’ Sharon hissed again. ‘Stop it – now.’

Jess stood up and faced her. ‘Yes, Mum, stop it. You’re not doing Sharon any good. If you have anything to say to me, at least have the decency to leave her out of it, instead of
attacking me in a hospital ward.’

Suzie was suddenly conscious of the silence from the other patients in the room and Sharon’s face, crimson with embarrassment. Suzie looked back at Jess, who was glaring at her from cold,
hard eyes, her mouth set in a grim line. Lovely Jess, who was always smiling and kind, who’d sat by her hospital bed every day.

‘Go home, Mum,’ Sharon said.

Suzie met her eyes and saw the same coldness there.

‘Go on, I’ll call you later,’ Sharon added, her voice softer.

Suzie looked round the room and watched the occupants hastily avert their eyes. She looked back at Jess, but she’d turned her back on her mother and now sat on the bed by her little
sister, who took her hand and squeezed it. Suzie felt like the outsider and realised she’d overstepped some mark. Yet again. She didn’t understand how; she’d only spoken her mind.
‘You know where I am if you need me.’ Suzie’s smile faltered when neither of them replied. ‘Take care, then,’ she said, with forced cheerfulness and, ignoring the
curious stares, walked the length of the ward and out of the door, shaken by the joint dismissal by her daughters. Why would they turn on her like that? Maybe she’d been hard on Jess, but it
was only because she loved her and didn’t want to see her waste herself on a scumbag and get a bad reputation. Then, no matter how talented she was or how hard she worked, people would always
think she’d risen through the ranks on her back rather than her own two feet. Was it wrong that she cared about that? Wasn’t it her duty as a mother to try to do the best for her
child?

Suzie felt confused and cross but was surprised, on the bus home, to find her cheeks wet with tears.

Four days later, the obstetrician smiled at Sharon and Keith and disappeared through the split in the curtains. Sharon put her head in her hands and groaned. She felt the bed
give as her husband sat down beside her and stroked her hair.

‘Hey, this is good news, you’re coming home.’

‘Yeah, to go to bed.’

‘Stop exaggerating. You just have to take it easy.’

‘How am I supposed to do that?’ She heard her own voice rising and took a deep breath. The doctors and nurses had made it clear that her stress and anxiety would hurt her and the
baby and, though the news of her pregnancy had come as a shock, once she got used to the idea, she was quite excited about it. She stroked her still-flat stomach. ‘Sorry, Baby. Mummy’s
sorry.’

Keith lifted her chin and smiled at her. ‘We’ll figure it out. Hey, we’ve a new baby on the way.’

His eyes shone with happiness and Sharon gave a grudging smile. ‘Yeah.’

He leaned forward and brushed his mouth against hers in the softest of kisses. ‘Everything will be perfect.’

‘But how will we manage? I’m not allowed to drive or carry anything heavy. I have to rest for a couple of hours during the day.’ Panic threatened and she kept rubbing her
tummy, willing herself to stay calm.

‘I told you, we’ll work it out. I can drop Bobby to school and we could arrange for him to go to the after-school club at the crèche next door until I’m finished
work.’

‘No. That would be a disaster. Not only would we be changing his whole routine, he’d have to deal with lots of different adults and children, all strangers. You know he
couldn’t cope with that.’ She could see Keith fighting to hold in his frustration but she wouldn’t give in on this. She knew that it was wrong for Bobby and would be a huge
setback in their son’s development.

‘We don’t have many options, sweetheart. My mother has her hands full looking after Dad, or you know that she’d be happy to help.’

‘I know that,’ Sharon assured him. Neither of Keith’s parents were in good health and certainly wouldn’t be able to cope with Bobby.

Keith looked at her, his eyes beseeching. ‘We need your Mum, Sharon. We need to get past whatever is going on between her and Jess and do what’s best for
our
family.’

She knew that he was right, but the thought of entrusting Bobby to her mother’s care still scared the hell out of her. She needed to have some control, some way to keep a tight rein on her
mother. She’d been a great mum to them, so surely, somewhere beneath this new, hard shell, the softer woman was still in there. Sharon finally met her husband’s eyes. ‘If she does
it, she does it in our house, where I can keep an eye on her.’

‘Absolutely not. You would never relax. Every time you heard her raise her voice you’d be running down to check up on her. He goes to your mum’s house. I know it’s not an
ideal solution but it’s all we’ve got.’

Sharon closed her eyes and racked her brain for a better one, but she felt so incredibly tired, and it would be a relief to let someone else take control for a while. She nodded in resignation.
‘Okay, but we need to put some controls in place.’

‘Controls?’

‘We need to explain the situation to Bobby’s teacher so that she can watch out for any change in his behaviour.’

He nodded. ‘Makes sense.’

‘And I’ll ask Jess to drop in from time to time to keep an eye on Mum.’

‘Remember, Noel lives there too,’ he pointed out.

Sharon brightened. She was pretty sure that Noel’s exams ended next week and he’d be free for the summer. ‘That’s true. We could give him a few quid to hang around and
keep an eye on Mum. He’d be glad of the cash.’

Keith laughed. ‘I’d be happy to line his pockets rather than a stranger’s, and, remember, love, it’s only for four to five hours, five days a week. The rest of the time
Bobby will be with us. It will all be fine, you’ll see.’

And Sharon felt herself relax for the first time. Maybe this could actually work. It might even mean that Keith would develop a better relationship with their son.

‘Get your stuff together and let’s go home, Shaz. Then I’ll go and see your mum.’

‘Shouldn’t I do it?’ Sharon asked although she had no real wish to. She hadn’t seen her mother since that dreadful scene when she’d been so awful to Jess.

‘No. You look after junior and leave your mum to me. I’ll handle it, I promise.’

Tears filled her eyes, as they did so often these days. At least now she knew the reason for them and her huge appetite. She fondled her tummy and smiled at her husband. ‘I love
you.’

He hugged her. ‘I love you too.’

Suzie tutted irritably as Keith stood at the window, jangling his keys. She banged down the kettle and glared at him. ‘For fuck’s sake, will you stop fidgeting,
Keith? You’re worse than Bobby.’

‘Sorry.’ He pocketed the keys and sat down at the table. ‘It’s been a difficult few days.’

Suzie put the coffee in front of him and sat down. ‘Is Sharon’s condition worse than you’re letting on?’

‘It’s probably more serious than even she realises,’ he admitted. ‘It’s not really the baby’s life they’re worried about.’

Suzie gasped. ‘What do we do?’

‘Sharon needs to be stress-free and have total rest for the remainder of the pregnancy. I wanted Bobby to go to a child-minder after school and then I’d pick him up on my way home
from work, but Sharon won’t hear of it. She says changing his routine and sending him to a stranger would be even worse.’

‘I suppose that’s true,’ Suzie admitted.

‘Which is why I was hoping you would take him.’

Suzie stared at him, realising she’d completely snookered herself. She tried to come up with an excuse, but how could she say no? Her daughter’s life was at stake. If anything
happened to Sharon, she’d never be able to forgive herself. It would be damn near impossible to keep her temper with the little brat, and she knew that minding him would exhaust her, but
she’d just have to get on with it. There was no other option. She took a deep breath and looked Keith in the eye. ‘Of course I will.’

‘I’m really grateful, Suzie – only there’s something else. Sharon will only agree to this if you treat Bobby . . . well, the way she does.’ He held
up his hand as she opened her mouth to tell him where to go. ‘I know that you, like me, think that she’s far too soft on him. But the fact is, Suzie, if you’re hard on him and he
comes home upset, then it defeats the purpose. We have to keep Sharon calm so that her blood pressure stays under control. If that means both of us biting our tongues for a few months and letting
Bobby get away with murder, it’s a small price to pay for a healthy wife and baby. It would only be for a few hours, five days a week. Think you can manage that?’

Suzie thought of how she lashed out, lost her temper and swore, and felt real fear for a moment.
Could
she control herself? She looked up at his anxious expression as
he waited for her answer. ‘I’ll do my very best, Keith. That’s all I can promise.’

‘That’s good enough for me. Thanks, Suzie. I can’t tell you what a weight you’ve taken off my shoulders.’

She looked at him, surprised to see that his eyes were bright with tears.

‘You’re a good lad, and Sharon is lucky to have you,’ she said, grudgingly when he was leaving.

‘And I’m lucky to have her and the best mother-in-law in the world.’

‘Ah, now, less of that bullshit,’ she said, flapping her hands at him. ‘When do I start?’

‘Wednesday?’

So soon? Suzie felt panicky but she managed a grim smile. ‘Grand. And you don’t need to collect Bobby from school, Keith. I’ll do it. I’m supposed to be taking
exercise.’

He frowned. ‘Let me run that by the boss and I’ll get back to you. But thanks. Oh, there was one other thing. I’m pushing my luck now but can you babysit tomorrow
night?’

Suzie felt herself blushing. ‘Oh, no, sorry, Keith. I’m going out.’

‘No worries, I’ll ask Jess. Bye, Suzie.’

‘Bye, love.’

Jess checked her ringing phone and let it go to voicemail. She wasn’t ready to talk to her mother yet. She was fed up of the barbs and insults and making allowances for
her bad behaviour because of that brain injury. There was no reason why she had to pretend she liked the woman her mother had become. She didn’t. Mum had become an insensitive, hard bitch and
that was an end to it. Jess wasn’t going to let her hurt her any more. And as Suzie was so keen on straight-talking, Jess decided, the gloves were off.

The phone rang again and, when she saw it was her sister, she answered. ‘Hi, Sharon? How are you feeling?’

‘Better, thanks. I’m home but with strict instructions to rest.’

‘I’m glad you’re home but exactly how do you get to rest when you have a child?’ Specifically Bobby. Ten minutes in his company when he was in one of his moods was
exhausting.

‘I can’t, not alone,’ Sharon agreed and proceeded to tell Jess the plan. Which was all very well and Jess had offered to help, but spending time with both her nephew and Mum
was asking a hell of a lot. She realised that Sharon had stopped talking and was waiting for an answer.

‘I know that you probably don’t want to see Mum at the moment, but I would feel so much better if you could drop in and out and play spy. Please?’

Jess closed her eyes and let her head fall back against the cushions. ‘Of course.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah, but don’t blame me if your son is scarred for life when he sees his aunty throttle his granny.’

Sharon laughed. ‘Thanks, Jess. Thanks so much.’

She went on to tell Jess about asking Noel to help, which made sense. If they were all involved in Bobby’s care, it shortened the amount of time each of them had to spend with the child,
which would make it less likely any of them would blow a fuse. She felt bad thinking that way about her nephew but it was a fact. How would Sharon cope with him when she had a baby to look after,
too? Jess shuddered.

She stared at the phone in her hand and debated whether to call her mother or just drop in. They had to talk and they couldn’t do it in front of Sharon. She decided to go round there. It
would be harder to say what needed saying face to face, but Jess had found out that there was more chance of getting through to Suzie if you were looking her in the eye. Not bothering with makeup,
she threw on jogging pants and a hoody and tied her long hair back into a ponytail before setting off for her mother’s house. Though it was May, it was a chilly morning and she took the
shortest route along the busy main road. She’d come home along the coast when it was warmer. She’d probably need the longer walk to blow off steam after this conversation.