‘Me too. Happy Christmas, Hilary. I’ll call you in the new year,’ Colette said eagerly.
‘Do that,’ Hilary agreed. ‘See you.’
‘Bye, Hilary. I’m glad we’re talking again.’
‘Me too. Talk soon.’ And then she was gone, and Colette heaved a sigh of relief. Hilary was still a bit cool, but at least they were back on track, and that was all that mattered.
‘You’re a big softie.’ Niall shook his head.
‘It’s Christmas and she made the first move and I don’t like holding grudges.’ Hilary resumed chopping parsley and thyme. The kitchen was filled with the aromas of Christmas, herbs, spices, candle wax, pine, and a tape of seasonal songs and carols added to the festive atmosphere in the Hammond household.
‘She won’t change, you know,’ her husband warned her.
Hilary laughed. ‘I know that, Niall. I’m not a complete idiot. Someday we’ll drift apart or she’ll push me so far there won’t be any turning back, but that’s not today, and I’m glad she phoned. It shows she values the friendship at some level, and that’s all that matters for the moment. Now be a good husband and pour me a glass of wine, because you’re driving tonight, and I want to get into the Christmas spirit,’ Hilary instructed briskly.
‘Ho! Ho! Ho!’ grinned Niall, pouring a glass of Merlot for his dearly beloved.
‘Ho! Ho! Ho! to you too,’ laughed Hilary, raising her glass to him. ‘And to absent friends,’ she added before taking a sip of the ruby liquid, glad that there was no longer an estrangement between her and Colette.
P
ART
T
WO
Millennium Year 2000
BOOM!
C
HAPTER
S
EVENTEEN
‘I’m really sorry, Jonathan, I thought we would have been out of here ages ago. Someone collapsed so the clinic’s running way behind and Mrs Hammond’s not been seen yet. I’ll be with you as soon as I can,’ Hilary murmured into her mobile as she stood in the busy hospital corridor outside the warfarin clinic where her mother-in-law was waiting to be tested.
‘Why couldn’t “The Secretary” bring her?’ Jonathan asked snippily, referring to Hilary’s sister-in-law, Sue. He called her ‘The Secretary’ because she was always banging on about being the PA to a busy property developer, or, as Jonathan called him, ‘A-Builder-with-Attitude’.
‘She’s too busy and couldn’t take the time off work,’ Hilary said flatly.
‘Oh and you’re not too busy and it’s OK for you to take time off work and Mrs H is not even your mother,’ Jonathan grouched.
‘Stop giving out, I’ll be with you as soon as I can,’ Hilary retorted. ‘See you.’ She hung up, switched her phone to vibrate mode and slid it back into her bag.
‘Hilary dear, why don’t you go ahead. I know you have a meeting to get to. I’ll get a taxi home,’ Margaret urged when Hilary went back into the waiting room and sat down beside her mother-in-law.
‘Not at all, Gran, I rang Jonathan and told him I’d be a bit delayed and he can do his designer bits until I get there.’
‘He’s a lovely lad, I’m very fond of him.’ Margaret smiled, her grey eyes twinkling.
‘Me too.’ Hilary smiled back, thinking what a beautiful complexion her seventy-five-year-old mother-in-law had. Nivea Crème was her secret, Margaret assured her. She had used it since she was a young woman.
‘I feel bad about delaying you, dear. I know you’re busy,’ the old lady fretted.
‘Don’t worry about it at all,’ Hilary soothed. She didn’t want Niall’s mother feeling under pressure. Margaret Hammond was a kind, gentle lady and a great mother-in-law and grandmother. She had welcomed Hilary into the family with open arms. Early in their relationship she’d confided to Hilary that of all the girls Niall had brought home, Hilary was the one that Margaret had hoped he’d marry. When the grandchildren had been born, Niall’s parents couldn’t have been happier and Margaret had been a very hands-on grandmother. When her husband had died, she had become even more immersed in their family, and sometimes Hilary felt she had two mothers.
Sue, Niall’s sister, could not be more different and the relationship she had with Hilary was superficial and distant. She made fleeting appearances at family events but her lifestyle was so busy and all-consuming, family were way down the ladder. Brash and self-absorbed, Sue took no responsibility for her now elderly mother’s care, and as Margaret grew more frail, needing frequent doctors’ appointments, it fell to Hilary and Niall to do the lion’s share of caring. If she hadn’t been truly fond of her mother-in-law she would have been a bubbling cauldron of resentment, Hilary reflected when Margaret was finally called for her blood test.
Her own mother was recovering from a bad dose of flu and between visiting Sally and cooking meals for both sets of elderly parents, as well as being up to her eyes at work, Hilary was feeling fraught and stretched. It was Sophie’s’ birthday at the weekend and her daughter wanted to host a sleepover for five of her friends. A daunting prospect.
I’ll think about it tomorrow, Hilary thought, doing a Scarlett O’Hara on it and hoping against hope that Margaret might get away with a month before being tested again. She had been taking antibiotics and steroids for a chest infection and they played havoc with her warfarin.
It wasn’t to be, and Hilary’s heart sank when the nurse gave them an appointment for the following fortnight. Sue would have to bring her mother to that appointment and that was the end of it, Hilary decided, not relishing the thought of the phone call she would have to make to her sister-in-law.
‘I know you’re in a hurry so
