cheerfully as he was lifted onto the stretcher. The second medic was about to phone an emergency number to report a spill of toxic waste when Charlie arrived to check what needed to be done.
Jack’s condition remained stable throughout the hour- long journey to Cork. ‘Don’t bother driving here,’ she said when she phoned Victor from St Philomena’s Hospital. ‘He’s under observation in the intensive care unit and I’ve been told there’s nothing more I can do for him tonight.’
‘You were right to wait for the ambulance,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry if you thought I was taking over your responsibilities. Despite his contrariness, I care deeply about his welfare.’
‘I know you do. How are the girls?’
‘Sleeping soundly. My doctor came and checked them out. No ill effects, thank goodness. I made an appointment for you to see him in the morning.’
‘Thanks, Victor, but that won’t be necessary. I’ve been checked out here and all’s well.’ She yawned. Her skin felt itchy. She hoped she wasn’t getting a reaction to the toxic waste. She would shower as soon as she reached Mount Eagle.
The journey back seemed to take forever. Suddenly, she swerved dangerously towards the grass verge, her eyes drooping closed momentarily. Stopping the car, she opened the window and drank from a water bottle. The night air was cold against her face. The tears came without warning. She allowed them to flow. No one to hear her except the wind and an owl hooting in the distance. The emptiness of the countryside, the impenetrable darkness.
Until tonight, she had not entered a hospital since Maddie’s death. The atmosphere of sterile efficiency had instantly swept her back to those long, waiting days when she had sat by her mother-in-law’s bedside. She and Luke had taken shifts, their lives on hold, anxious that Maddie would never be left alone during those final days as she drifted in and out of consciousness.
On one occasion, in the small hours of the morning, she had heard Maddie whispering her name. Her eyes were bright and her words coherent. She was due morphine relief and even though she was in pain she shook her head when Sophy offered to call the night nurse.
‘Look after Luke,’ Maddie said. ‘He’ll be in a bad way when I’m gone. I’ve tried to be both mother and father to him and he’ll feel as if he has lost both his parents at the same time.’
‘You’re even more special than that to him.’ Sophy pressed Maddie’s hands reassuringly. ‘You’re also his best friend. I love Luke and I’ll do everything I can to help him after… afterwards.’ The time for pretence was over. Maddie knew she was only going in one direction and had asked Sophy and Luke to stop pretending otherwise. Even so, such conversations were difficult.
‘His father…’ Maddie sighed. ‘I need to talk about him.’
Sophy hid her surprise. In all the years she had known Maddie, her mother-in-law had never once mentioned Luke’s father. Nor did Luke ever want to discuss him. Shortly after they met, he told Sophy he had made a decision to airbrush this unknown entity from his consciousness. He made it sound so easy and Sophy had never allowed her curiosity to intrude on that decision.
‘When Luke was young and asking questions, I told him his father was dead,’ Maddie said. ‘I invented a character who never existed. I even gave him a name. Darragh O’Malley. It had a nice roll to it, I thought. I told Luke he’d died in a South African gold mine and was buried over there. When children are young it’s hard to imagine them as adults with minds of their own and that a day will come when they stop believing in the lies that we invent. Luke was eighteen when he told me he planned to visit South Africa and search for his father’s grave. I was forced to tell him I’d lied. I tried to explain the reasons why. In truth, I had no excuse. I invented a lie to stop him tormenting me with questions I was unable to answer.’
Unable? Sophy had bitten down on the word. To be unable to name the father of her son, what did that imply? She had no wish to add to Maddie’s distress yet she sensed her mother-in-law’s determination to continue the conversation. Maddie, guessing her thoughts, had sighed. ‘I know it’ll sound strange to you but even still, after so many years, I find it hard to talk about