Wellesley Wives (New England Trilogy) (36 page)

Popsy came in just as she was finishing up. “Well, I woke poor Matilda up. It’s only seven o’clock in the morning at home. She sounded a little upset, but it was because she thought we were in danger. We’re not in danger, are we?”

Sandra smiled and shook her head. “It’s a couple of thousand miles away. The only thing I’m in danger of is not fitting into my jeans if I eat any more of those scones. Popsy if we’re going to spend a few more days here, can you keep the scones away from me, please?”

Popsy said, “I spoke to Lily, too.” She hadn’t woken Lily. At seven a.m., her younger daughter was already at work. “She went straight into panic mode—a bit like me, actually,” she said and laughed. “She said she would get out of work early and head straight over to make sure they were okay.”

“That’s nice of her.” It killed Sandra to say something polite about her husband’s new mistress, but she wanted Popsy to calm down. “Do you think you should phone Rosie?”

“It’s probably a good idea. Would you believe I don’t actually have the name of the hotel she’s at, but, naturally, I have the number of her cell. Silly of her to go away and not give me all her contact details, but I suppose that’s the way the world works now. It’s all mobile phones. Anyway, I’ll phone her later. It’s too early to call her while she’s on holiday. To be honest, I think she’ll be fine if Lily and Matilda are with Natasha. I feel so bad, though. I shouldn’t have gone away.”

Sandra pulled her oversized case off the bed. “Don’t go there, Popsy. Who would have thought a one million-year-old volcano would block our path? That’s so random. It’s not your fault.”

“Hey, you don’t suppose its fate, do you?”

“What do you mean?”

Popsy looked like she was working her imagination hard. “Maybe it’s destiny that we can’t go home yet. The girls are learning to stand on their own two feet without me.”

“Rosie’s in the Caribbean with her husband for a romantic vacation. The last place her feet should be is on the ground.”

“Sandra! That’s my daughter you’re talking about. Please.”

“Well, if you really do think it’s destiny, why am I here, too?”

After a moment, Popsy said, “You’re meant to call Sven!”

“Come on, you can’t be serious. What about the thousands of other people that are stranded all over because of this silly volcano?” She shook her head to say she didn’t believe any destiny notion.

There was a knock on the door. Then a girl’s voice came from the other side. “Housekeeping,” she called.

Sandra headed to the door while Popsy went to get her suitcase. “Sorry, I was so crude about Rosie. Whether it’s fate or just good old-fashioned Irish luck, we’re stuck here for a while so we may as well make the best of it. Right?”

“Right,” Popsy as they left their beautiful suite together.

“So, if we’re going to make the most of it, I have a proposition to put to you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Let’s go to Banagher,” Sandra said, her eyes lit up with excitement.

“What? Where?”

“Banagher. Let’s go to Banagher. You talk about fate. I’d never heard about this place before this weekend, and everybody we’ve met since we came here talks about it. Do you remember Gerald using the expression
that beats Banagher
?”

Popsy wasn’t convinced. “Yes, and the driver before him—the taxi guy who brought us in from the airport. But, Sandra, that’s just two times—two guys. Random incidents. That was just a coincidence.”

They got into the elevator and headed for the ground floor. “Well, you’re the one who was talking about fate. Maybe this is fate, too. We have a few days to kill, and we don’t have a room for tonight. Now, we could look at this as being a scary thing, or we could do a
Thelma and Louise
and go where fate takes us. I say Banagher.”

“Do you even know where it is?”

“No, but we’ll have to rent a car and I’m sure it’ll have a GPS.”

“What if the volcano clears? I do really want to get home as soon as we can.”

“They’ll have TVs there, Popsy. This is Ireland. It’s only the size of the state of Massachusetts. We could be up and down to Banagher in a day if we wanted, but it would be fun to stay there for a few days and just live in a small Irish country town.”

The elevator doors opened and they walked out into the luxurious lobby of The Four Seasons. Sandra kept talking. “All of this has been really amazing, but part of me feels like it’s just another five-star experience. Let’s go to Banagher and stay in a B&B.”

“A what?”

“A bed and breakfast. We can go for long country walks in the real Irish countryside. We’ll meet real Irish people. The folks we’ve met in Dublin have been very nice, like Simon, but he’s almost like a Bostonian. All city people are similar. Let’s get out of town now that we have these extra few days.”

“You’re too funny, Sandra. You should hear yourself—so enthusiastic. I guess we’ve done Dublin. Maybe you’re right. I haven’t been outside Dublin for years and Banagher is as good a place as any. Where is it again?”

“I think it’s in county Offaly. That’s in the midlands. So we can do it?” Sandra asked.

“Heck yeah, why not?” Popsy laughed. “But wait, you know they drive on the wrong side of the road here, and the cars are stick shifts.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Sandra said and threw her arm around Popsy’s shoulder.

“I think you mean
you’ll
figure it out. If we do this, you’re driving. Deal?” Popsy said.

“Deal.”

Chapter 29 

Supermoms: Fact or Fiction

“You can’t be serious,” Caryn, Lily’s assistant, said. “It’s only three o’clock. You’ve been missing in action so much around here, that last week somebody asked if you’d left. I know it’s been tough with your dad, and then your health problems, but reports are piling up on my desk. I need about two-hundred signatures before end of business today, and you have a conference call with the Hong Kong office in two hours. They won’t be happy if you skip that.”

    The threat hung in the air. Caryn was telling Lily what she knew already—that she was neglecting her job. Ironic that this was the first time she really needed to hold onto it, what with Jack being broke and her trust fund vaporizing, but that only seemed to bother her.

She covered her ears. “It’s my niece. My mother was supposed to take care of her and she’s stranded in Europe, thanks to a volcanic eruption. Her babysitter left a message on my voice mail saying she has a problem. There’s nobody else. I have to go.”

“That won’t be the only eruption if Jones hears you left early again,” Caryn grumbled.

“You don’t have to tell him. In fact, if I pick up Natasha fast and get her settled with some game or DVD she likes, I bet I can swing the conference call, too. What do you think?”

“I think you’re crazy. I have twin nieces. They’re seventeen now, but I remember when they were five, like your niece. It was as if they were telepathic. They were always at their worst just when I wanted to watch something on TV, and when you’re on the phone? That’s when they go really crazy. Trying to take a conference call with a five-year-old around is just insane.”

Lily wasn’t convinced. Natasha was easy to bargain with. She would do anything for candy. If she made the bribe big enough, Natasha would give her peace for a five-minute call. She decided it was worth the risk. Better than doing a no-show and Mr. Jones getting wind of it.

“Just put the call through to my cell phone. It’s scheduled for five, right?”

“Right,” Caryn agreed reluctantly.

Lily didn’t wait for her approval. This was too serious. It was her chance to redeem herself. She swept out of the office.

The last few months had been hell for Lily. She’d enraged her mother the day of her dad’s first heart attack, and they’d been at loggerheads ever since. It was eating her up inside. Lily loved her mother, but her problem was simple: she loved Jack more. No woman should ever have to choose between the love of her life and her family. It was just wrong. The only other person she could think of who’d been faced with this kind of decision was Juliet of
Romeo and Juliet
fame, and that hadn’t turned out too well for any of them. Lily shuddered. Was she a Montague or a Capulet?

Jack had tried to convince her that her father’s death wasn’t her fault. He’d been working too hard and had put his body under too much stress. It was just “one of those things.” If Jack was right, why was she still harboring so much guilt? Maybe if she saw a psychologist for a few sessions, it might help.

As she got into her car, Lily felt paranoid as she looked at all the security cameras. There was no way her early departure would go unnoticed, but there was a chance that Mr. Jones wouldn’t hear—a small chance.

An advantage of quitting work early was that she missed rush-hour and got to enjoy some daylight. The evenings would get longer soon, thank goodness, and the snows would disappear. Everything felt better with the arrival of spring, she decided as she pressed harder on the accelerator. Lily rarely drove too fast, but she had a strong need to get to Natasha. With Rosie and her mom away, she was the child’s closest living relative in Boston. She drove faster.

“Auntie Lily!” Natasha squealed and rushed at her legs to hug them. Lily winced as her pure silk magenta skirt got pawed by chocolate hands and a face covered in white sugar icing. “Tilly and I are baking. Do you want to taste our cake? We were making it for Grandma, but her plane is late.” She said it so matter-of-factly, like it didn’t matter at all.

What a relief, Lily thought. She’d been nervous that Natasha might have been upset by the change in plans but it appeared not. The two of them went back into the kitchen where Matilda was sitting down and wiping her forehead with a dish towel. Lily could see she was in pain.

“Tilly, are you okay? You don’t look too good.”

Matilda looked at her. “Oh, Lilita, I am getting too old for this.” She sighed.

Lily laughed. “Has she exhausted you? You’re not sick or anything, right?”

“It’s my back.” Matilda rubbed it and looked pained. “I think I pulled it last night lifting Natasha. I’m taking a strong anti-inflammatory, but it is still so bad. I have to lie down. You have to help me with the child.”

“Oh God.” Lily went over to Matilda and hugged her. “Do you want me to call a doctor or get you to the hospital?”

Matilda waved her hand. “No, no nothing like that, but I have to lie down. I really can’t walk around. It hurts too much. Natasha wants me to run and play catch. Usually is no problem, but not today with my sore back.”

This was not what Lily wanted to hear. She’d only really seen herself as backup, but with Matilda out of action, the entire twenty-four hour caring for Natasha would fall to her. What would she do about work? She glanced at her watch. Still over an hour before her conference call. She was okay there.

“First things first.” She turned her attention back to Matilda. “Have you taken something for the pain?”

Matilda nodded. “My things are in the guest bedroom upstairs, but I cannot climb up steps. If you get them and bring them to the guesthouse, I will be okay. It’s all one level. I will manage there, but you have to take Natasha with you.”

Lily couldn’t believe her bad luck, but what choice did she have? Then she remembered pre-school. “Natasha goes to some sort of pre-K in the mornings, doesn’t she?” Lily asked hopefully, but Matilda shook her head. “It’s February vacation.”

Lily was beaten. She had no choice but to step up.

They got Matilda settled back into the guesthouse and Lily turned on the television for her. Natasha went back to the main house to get her a large slice of chocolate cake while Lily made her a cup of strong tea, just the way Matilda liked it.

“Will you be okay if I take Natasha back to my house with me?” Lily asked, worried that she might have to look after two people, but Matilda allayed her fears.

“Oh yes, Lilita. I know my back. If I rest all evening and overnight, I’ll be able to get around tomorrow. After a few days I’ll be fine again. It was just an accident. But you? Can you do this and work also?”

Lily forced a laugh. “Yeah, no problem.”

“I think you are some sort of supermom,” Matilda said proudly.

She almost laughed. How hard could it be to balance work and a child? Millions of women do it. “We can come by tomorrow to see how you are,” Lily said, wondering how exactly she could be in the office while taking care of a five-year-old and visiting Matilda. If only there was three of her.

Natasha came back in to the house. “I got the cake,” she announced, holding up a plate with a large wedge. It looked like half the cake.

“So I see.” Lily laughed. “You did a great job. Leave it here on the table next to Tilly’s tea. I think we’d better clean up the kitchen a little now. What do you think, Natasha?”

“Aw, I don’t want to clean. Let’s play chasing instead.”

It was a reminder to Lily just how much work a child was. Time to start bargaining. “Tell you what. If you help me clean the kitchen, we’ll have a big slice of cake afterward, and I might even find some ice cream to put on top of it. What do you think?”

It was all the incentive the little girl needed, and she ran toward the main house. It made Lily laugh. “I see what you mean about needing a lot of energy to keep up with her.” She got down and kissed Matilda on the cheek. “You stay here and rest, and I’ll check in on you before we leave. Then we’ll come back in the morning. Okay?”

Matilda nodded. “Thank you for taking her. This is a big help.”

“No problem,” she said. “It’s the least I can do.”

“Lily, you are a very good girl. You remember that, and don’t ever believe anything else.” She pointed at Lily as if to make her point stronger. “You are a very good girl.”

The years washed away and Lily felt like she had when she was small and Matilda told her how good she was. Somehow, she’d forgotten. No matter how hard she worked now, she never felt like a good girl. To hear Matilda say so almost made her cry. How could Tilly think she was good? She’d invoked the unrestrained wrath of her mother, had probably caused her father’s death, and her sister hated her. No. The last thing Lily was, was good.