Page 5 of Snow Falls Over Starry Cove

I baulk at his tone. Stephen isn’t the most tolerant man on the planet, but even I have to admit he’s right about that. Mum and Dad had never exactly been bursting with love and patience for me, the only accident they ever had, as mum had so lovingly put it.

At first I’d thought she was joking, but a second glance in her direction had confirmed that not only had she been speaking in earnest, but also that she had no idea of the effect her words had always had on me at such a young age. To be unwanted. Simply to be tolerated as an inescapable fact. A done deal that must be accepted.

‘In any case, it’s just my grandmother now. My grandfather has just died.’

‘Oh. Sorry to hear that.’

‘Thank you. I’ve been invited to the funeral.’

‘Really? The cheek.’

‘Cheek or no cheek, I’m glad she’s contacted me. Better late than never.’

The tapping stops. ‘Wait a minute. Are you saying that you want to go?’

‘Uhm, I guess that would be the right thing to do. For my grandmother, I mean. She’s my only living relative.’

‘Whom you don’t even know.’

‘Well, I have to go, Stephen.’

‘Sod her, Emmie. She doesn’t sound any better than your parents. Why would you want to put yourself through all that again? Besides, you already have a family – Mum and me.’

He means his mealy-mouthed mother who’s gradually wheedled her way into our private life. She knows everything she shouldn’t, like how much money he has in the bank, all of his passwords and even how old he was the first time he had sex. I hate to think what he tells her about us. Try as I might, and however sweet she tries to sound while manipulating me and telling me that she’s the closest thing I’ll ever have to a mother, it just doesn’tfeelright.

‘If this woman cared about you, she’d have tried to meet you at least once but never did,’ he adds.

‘Oh, I don’t know, Stephen,’ I argue, eyeing my pile of work and feeling more and more depressed by the second. ‘Who knows anything about others and why they do what they do? It’s just too easy to judge, isn’t it?’

‘So you really do want to go?’

How can he even doubt it? ‘Of course.’

‘When is it?’

‘Well, that’s the thing, Stephen. It happens to fall on the same day as our engagement party…’

The tapping stops. ‘Well, that’s a moot point, then. You can’t go.’

‘What? No. It’s my grandfather’s funeral. I can’t miss it.’

‘Well, tell your grandmother to reschedule.’

‘Are you serious? I can’t ask the woman to reschedule the interment of her beloved husband just for me.’

‘Why not? If you’re so important then she should do just that.’

‘But I can’t, Stephen. Surely other mourners will already have made plans.’

‘So have we! We’ve got an engagement party, remember?’

‘Which can be rescheduled.’

‘But what would everyone think? And do you know how much trouble my mum has gone to, to get that venue for the day?’

‘A venue neither you nor I chose.’

‘It was the only one available, Emmie.’

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