A Keeper(48)

Finally he heard the crunch as the bottom of the boat hit the sandy gravel and he stepped out into the cold water. Ahead of him he could see his mother’s face, like a Halloween head, lit up by the torch. She was shouting across the noise of the surf.

‘I thought you were lost. What happened to you?’

Edward couldn’t speak. He just heaved the boat behind him, dragging it up onto the shore. His mother picked her way across the edge of the waves to help him, but then she froze. The torch jabbed at the darkness, poking into each corner and pocket of the boat. Her voice was thin and high as she called his name. ‘James? Where’s James? Edward, where is your brother?’

Edward dropped the rope and stood with his arms hanging by his sides. The waves swirled around his ankles. He opened his mouth to speak but was engulfed by grief and guilt. He let out a cry and it seemed to cut through the night, like an animal caught in a trap. He rushed to his mother, but stumbled so that he found his arms were wrapped around her knees.

‘No! No, no!’ Her voice decreed that this was not happening. Her son was not gone. She had not lost her baby.

Edward’s weight against her legs and the shifting wet shingle meant she had lost her balance and she fell backwards with a scream, her arms splayed out on the beach like Christ on his cross.

The waves rolled in and out. The two heaving bodies lay entwined with hearts that would be forever broken.

That was when everything changed.

Back in the bedroom, Patricia was staring at Edward, still waiting. He cleared his throat.

‘We were fishing out on a boat. It got choppy and James fell overboard. It was all fierce fast. I think Mammy has always blamed me.’

He raised a hand to wipe away a tear.

Patricia put her hands around his shoulders to comfort him and he fell against her. They lay on the bed, Patricia shushing him like a baby till they both fell asleep.





NOW


They didn’t sleep together. After about ten minutes of passionate kissing and roaming hands, Elizabeth pushed Brian away.

‘I can’t.’ She was panting slightly.

Brian reached up and cupped her face in his hands.

‘Are you sure? You seem to be enjoying it and, well,’ he moved a few strands of hair from her face, ‘you’re a fine-looking woman.’

She didn’t make eye contact. She liked him but the kissing had really just been a way to silence the noise in her head. A distraction from dealing with Zach’s news. ‘Yes. It’s too much. I should head back. I have to call my stupid fucking son.’

Brian made no move to start the engine but put his arm around her and pulled her back into an embrace.

‘Yeah, what was all that about? What’s happened?’

Elizabeth let out a long slow sigh.

‘My seventeen-year-old son has got his thirty-something girlfriend pregnant.’

‘Fuck,’ was Brian’s brief response.

‘Fuck, indeed.’

He made a whistling sound and added, ‘I’m so glad I’m not a parent. What are you going to do?’

‘I don’t know. Try to talk sense into them both?’ Elizabeth sounded very unsure.

Back at Aunt Eileen’s, Brian gave Elizabeth one last slow kiss and then watched her walk up the path before driving away. Retrieving the key from under a metal hedgehog that doubled as a boot scraper, she let herself in. The house was in darkness but she managed to find the light switch for the bathroom and then a bedside lamp. Sitting on the low, soft bed, she pulled out her phone and stared at the screen. This was not a call she wanted to make. Deciding that it was best to speak to Elliot first, she dialled his number.

‘Yes?’ Elliot’s voice barked down the line. He sounded as if he was answering the door to Jehovah’s Witnesses. This was the side of Elliot that Elizabeth liked the least, when he went into full teacher mode.

‘It’s me, Elizabeth,’ she replied.

‘Why are you whispering?’ he snapped back.

‘It’s late here, and I’m staying in a bed and breakfast.’

‘Why aren’t you at your mother’s?’

‘It’s a long story. I’ll tell you when I see you. Nothing bad. How’s Zach?’ she asked, trying to get the conversation back on track.

‘Upset.’

‘Of course. It’s a lot.’

‘With you. He’s upset with you!’ Elliot was the teacher talking to his dimmest student.

‘What?’ Elizabeth asked in an indignant whisper.

‘He rang you to share his news and you wouldn’t talk to him. Of course he’s upset.’

Elizabeth couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

‘Our seventeen-year-old son is going to be a father and this is what we’re talking about? Seriously?’

‘We have to support him through this, Elizabeth. He’s so young.’

‘I know he’s young,’ she hissed angrily down the line, ‘that’s why I’m upset. How pregnant is she? What’s their plan?’

‘Options are limited. She is very pregnant. I can’t believe you failed to notice, I mean, when did you last see her?’

Elizabeth tried to remember.

‘I don’t know. Before Christmas, but it’s winter in New York. She was covered in coats and scarves. So they’re planning to have this baby?’