Page 35 of New Beginnings At Pencarrow Bay

Peggy woke, after a restless night, to the sound of voices outside the open window that gave onto the terrace. Half asleep, she rolled onto her back to hear better.

‘Just wondering how long you might be planning on staying, Liam?’ she heard Ted say, his voice not unfriendly. She stiffened, waiting for her son’s reply.

Liam didn’t answer immediately. When he did, his tone sounded cagey.

‘Not sure, if that’s okay? Don’t have a plan yet.

’ He hadn’t reappeared the previous day.

But his hung-over presence in the guest room had cast a pall over Peggy and Ted’s evening, neither sure if he might want supper or company.

‘But I’m very grateful to you, obviously, for having me to stay.

If I can do anything to help while I’m here…

’ His gratitude and offer of help sounded a little half-hearted to Peggy.

There was silence for a moment, and she held her breath.

‘Thanks.’ Then a pause. ‘Listen, I know your mum is thrilled you’re here,’ Ted went on, ‘and I realize you needed a break. But your behaviour yesterday seemed a little disrespectful to her, if you don’t mind my saying.’

God , Peggy thought, wincing as she got out of bed. This careful politeness, bordering on hostility from them both, was agony to listen to.

‘I would never be disrespectful to Mum,’ Liam insisted fiercely. ‘I’ve apologized. I don’t know what else you want me to do.’

Ted did not reply. There was a loud scraping of chair legs on stone as Peggy reached the window. She saw the back of Liam’s head as he stalked off towards his room and thought she heard him mutter, ‘Can’t deal with this.’

Peggy leaned out of the window. ‘What was all that about?’ she hissed down at Ted, who was standing by the table, arms crossed tightly across his chest, looking out across the bay.

He spun round at the sound of her voice and looked up at her. She thought he seemed annoyed, his grey-green eyes dark, his mouth pressed in a stiff line.

When he didn’t speak, she said, ‘I’m coming down.’

Grabbing his phone from the table, he replied, ‘I’ve got to go to work.’

‘Wait, please. I’ll be right there.’

‘I need to open up,’ Ted said briskly, turning to walk back into the house.

She scooted downstairs in her bare feet, still dressed in the T-shirt and pyjama bottoms she wore for bed. Ted had made it to the front door and was collecting Bolt’s lead from the coat hook by the time she got to the kitchen.

‘Ted!’

He stopped and she heard him let out a long-suffering sigh.

Peggy went up to him. ‘What just went on out there?’ she asked.

He looked a little sheepish. ‘I know it’s generally none of my business how your son behaves.

But he’s currently in our house. Getting drunk and staying out– we’ve all done it in our time.

But coming back in such a state on the first day he’s here, not even bothering to let you know he was okay…

’ Flicking an eyebrow in a resigned manner, he added, ‘I knew you wouldn’t say anything. ’

‘Liam asked if I minded him going to the party. I said I didn’t,’ she said, feeling the irritation building in her chest. ‘And I don’t need to say anything. As he just reminded you, he already apologized.’

There was a standoff as they gazed fixedly at each other, Peggy knowing this was stupid, that they should talk about the problem rationally, not snipe at each other.

It seemed Ted was of the same mind because his face softened.

‘Sorry, Pegs,’ he said, letting go of a long breath and reaching to stroke her bare arm.

‘It’s just I came down this morning and Liam had let the coffee pot boil dry– practically wrecked the thing.

He didn’t notice the smell because he’d gone outside to light a cigarette. And you know how I hate smoking.’

‘Fair enough.’ Ted’s morning coffee was messed with on pain of death.

Bolt was getting impatient, giving small barks at the sight of his lead and scrabbling on the floor in his eagerness to be off.

‘I’d better get going.’ Ted kissed her cheek. ‘Sorry,’ he repeated, as he opened the door.

Confused and upset by the events of the morning– and it was not yet seven thirty– Peggy wandered disconsolately over to fill the kettle, finding the parts of the Italian moka pot, rinsed out but charred by Liam’s carelessness, in the sink.

There was still the bitter odour of burned coffee on the air.

She knew Liam wouldn’t be asleep, but needed a minute to compose herself, after the row with Ted, before she tackled her son’s behaviour.

She was making a cup of tea, when she heard footsteps on the terrace.

‘Morning, Mum,’ Liam said cheerfully, as if nothing was amiss, although she thought his tone a little forced. ‘Ted gone to the van?’

Peggy glanced up as she removed the teabag from her cup. ‘I heard it all.’

She saw his face fall. ‘Yeah, well…’

‘We need to talk.’

Liam glanced around the room, his expression hunted, as if searching for escape. Finding none, he nodded reluctantly. ‘Can I make coffee first?’

She raised her eyebrows. ‘I don’t know, can you?’

He sighed. ‘Mum, please. Don’t start. I’ve never used one of those contraptions before and I didn’t realize it boiled so quickly.’

Peggy relented and went to reassemble the coffee-maker– this time showing him how it worked.

When they were seated outside in the early-morning sunshine with their mugs, neither said anything immediately.

Peggy’s thoughts were churning inside her brain.

She wanted to make an impact, to say something that would really get through to her son, not just increase the tension between them all, to no effect.

Liam was the first to speak. ‘Listen, Mum, I’m sorry about this morning. I’m still not feeling so great and I felt Ted was getting at me.’ He sighed. ‘Yeah, my behaviour yesterday was a bit rubbish, but I did apologize.’

‘I understand. But I can see Ted’s point of view, too.’

Liam took a second. ‘Yeah,’ was all he said.

Frustrated, Peggy exclaimed, ‘Ted’s not the bad guy here, Liam. Sometimes I think you and Dan treat him as if he single-handedly destroyed our family and broke your father’s heart. And you know perfectly well that’s not the case.’

‘Okay, okay.’ Liam held up his hand in protest. ‘I’ll be good.’

‘Whatever the rights and wrongs,’ she replied, not entirely convinced by his declaration, ‘the fact is, sweetheart, as I said before, if you and Ted can’t get on, then it’s not going to work, your being here.’

Liam nodded. ‘I know what he said was not unreasonable. I suppose I just overreacted.’ He gave her a sheepish grin, looking contrite. ‘Sorry, Mum.’ He paused. ‘I don’t want you being upset. I really will try with Ted… if he’ll let me.’

‘Right,’ she said brightly, feeling she’d done as much as she could to smooth things over. ‘Let’s change the subject. Did you get a chance to talk to Felix at the party?’

Liam looked a little puzzled by her question. ‘Felix? Umm, yeah, sort of.’

‘And?’

‘Not sure what you want to know, Mum. You’ve probably talked to him more than I have. I haven’t seen him for at least a year. He just disappeared from all our lives.’

What do I want to know? A full confession that he’s abusing his mother-in-law? ‘He just seems a bit lost, that’s all. I worry for him,’ she said, almost truthfully.

‘Rightly so, I reckon,’ Liam replied. ‘He says Kim’s mum has started being a bit weird. He used to get on with her, but now, apparently, she barely speaks to him, seems almost to loathe him, he says. He’s not sure what he’s done wrong. Or what he can do about it.’

Peggy sat up. Felix had said he was getting on fine with Lindy when she and Ted had dropped in that day.

Had things deteriorated so fast? Or was he not telling them the truth?

She realized, of course, that Felix might be more comfortable confiding in an old friend– especially one who didn’t live in the village.

‘I suggested she might be going a bit… you know?’ her son added, twiddling his finger to his forehead. ‘But Felix just went quiet when I said that.’

She considered her reply. ‘I tutor Ada every week, so I see Lindy quite often. I’ve never noticed her being anything but totally on the ball, to be honest.’ She took a breath.

‘But she has been saying things to Ted recently.’ Peggy hesitated, not sure she should be sharing anything to do with Lindy– it was such a big thing.

But she also wanted to get Liam’s reaction to her accusations.

‘Look, you have to promise not to breathe a word to anyone about this. But she thinks Felix is gaslighting her , trying to make it look like she’s losing her mind. ’

Liam’s eyes widened and he laughed. ‘Felix gaslighting his mother-in-law? Are you kidding, Mum?’ He paused, clearly thinking about what she’d said. ‘What’s he supposed to have done?’

When she didn’t immediately reply– there were so many things– Liam went on, ‘You don’t believe her, do you?’

Peggy sighed. Believing was the whole problem.

‘Obviously a lot of drink was involved,’ Liam was saying, ‘so I can’t remember the conversation word for word. But I got the impression Felix was quite unnerved by what was happening to Lindy.’

‘So you don’t reckon he’s capable of maybe manipulating her, threatening her… for financial gain?’

Liam looked shocked. ‘Felix? Oh, please! No way. He’s a proper softy. I don’t believe the man has a mean bone in his body.’ He raised an eyebrow. ‘Manipulating her how?’

Peggy sighed. She didn’t want to go into details– they would probably sound ludicrous to Liam, anyway, judging by his assessment of his friend. ‘Look, I shouldn’t have mentioned this to you, sweetheart. I’m just finding it very tricky, knowing what’s actually going on.’

Liam was clearly intrigued. ‘You can trust me to keep a secret, Mum.’

She nodded, knowing she could. ‘It’s not really my secret to tell, that’s all.

’ She got up from the garden chair . It’s always going to be Lindy’s word against Felix’s , she thought, stretching her arms upwards, feeling stiff and tired.

Either way, she was not looking forward to her visit to Lilac House later that day, for her tutoring session with Ada.