Page 15 of New Beginnings At Pencarrow Bay
Unwisely, perhaps, as they sat over coffees later– herbal tea for Rose– Ted asked his daughter, ‘So how’s the love life going?’
Peggy winced.What’s he thinking?Rose was such a private woman. Peggy hoped she had someone in her life, if she wanted that, but it was her information to tell.
Rose stared blankly at her father. ‘That isn’t something I want to talk about,’ she said quietly, but Peggy thought she detected a tiny ghost of a smile playing around her lips. Obviously so did Ted.
‘Oh, come on, sweetheart. Let your poor old dad in for once.’
His daughter frowned. ‘I don’t understand. Let you in to what?’
Ted seemed taken aback, as he often was by Rose’s apparent difficulty in picking up on everyday colloquialisms. ‘Umm, I meant…’ He stumbled over the words. ‘I meant it would be great to know what happens when you’re not working. What you do for fun. You never give us a sense of your daily life.’ He was trying not to sound aggrieved and Peggy’s heart went out to him. Despite being a consummate communicator with everyone else in his life, he struggled with his daughter.
Rose did not reply immediately, her expression very still, giving nothing away. Ted cast an agonized glance at Peggy. But she couldn’t think of anything sensible to say that might improve the situation.
‘I love my work,’ Rose finally spoke. ‘Work is fun for me. It’s what I do every day.’ She raised her eyebrows at her father. ‘Does that answer your question?’ It was a genuine query. Peggy detected no hostility in her reply.
Ted looked nonplussed.
‘You take after your father, then,’ Peggy joked. ‘He never stops.’
Rose smiled warmly. ‘And my mum.’
Maria, Rose’s mother, had been an architect of some note. Peggy had no idea whether she had the work ethic of her husband and daughter, because Ted had told her so little about her or their marriage. It seemed to pain him too much.
There was a very long silence around the table.
‘Your mum would have been so proud of you,’ Ted said, his tone sounding purposeful, as if he were deliberately pushing through a barrier in his mind. The barrier, Peggy knew, that existed between them… with Maria’s name on it.
Rose blinked rapidly, a sign, Peggy knew, that she was upset. But she said nothing.
‘It’s her birthday next week,’ Ted continued. ‘We could do something. I could come over to Plymouth.’
‘I don’t want you to do that,’ Rose replied, her tone firm, suddenly bordering on angry.
Her father twitched. ‘I just thought… Mum would have been sixty.’
‘She isn’t sixty,’ Rose said. As she spoke she rose, dropping her napkin onto the table. ‘She’s dead.’
Ted was on his feet in a second and hurrying round to his daughter’s side. Peggy knew Rose wasn’t particularlycomfortable with hugs, but Ted ignored that and wrapped her tight in his arms, rocking her from side to side and whispering, ‘I love you, Rose. I love you so much.’
Peggy held her breath, praying that Rose wouldn’t reject him. For a moment she appeared to stiffen in her father’s embrace. But then she leaned into him, arms snaking around him, and Peggy saw tears in her eyes. She let out her breath slowly, in relief.
‘Phew,’ Ted said, looking slightly shattered as he and Peggy stood staring at each other in the kitchen. Rose had said her goodbyes and left to drive back to Plymouth. ‘I think that went pretty well.’
Peggy nodded her agreement. In the light of previous visits, when Rose’s hostility or silence had wound everyone up, it had been a fairly uncontentious visit, until the end. ‘I’m glad she responded to your hug,’ she said.
He sighed. ‘I wish I could mention Maria without her bristling. It’s so hard, knowing that if I bring up her name I’ll get some sort of snippy reaction. Like tonight… It’s almost eight years now, and we still haven’t really spoken about it.’
‘You think she’s still angry about how Maria died? Or is it just that she finds it difficult to talk about her emotions?’
‘I don’t know. Both, I suppose. I blame myself, so why shouldn’t she blame me too?’
Peggy put an arm around his shoulders. ‘Youknowit wasn’t your fault. The hospital accepted responsibility. They even said, didn’t they, that they were changing the system because of what happened to Maria?’
Ted gave a harsh laugh. ‘Yeah, right. And then almosttheexact same thinghappens to that poor thirteen-year-old girl.’ He shook his head angrily. ‘Okay, different hospital, but same bungling team of Dr Gods, stubbornly insisting they were right.’
‘Yes, but at least there’s Martha’s Rule now,’ Peggy said.
‘Too late for Maria.’
