Page 166 of Wife After Wife

Charles pretended not to notice his difficulty and carried on into the kitchen.

The two families were watching the royal wedding on TV. Prince William was marrying Kate Middleton, and London’s habitual gray and green was overlaid with red, white, and blue. Chess and Helena hadstrung up Union Jack bunting, and all the children were wearing homemade crowns.

“Who was Bloody Mary again, Dad?” asked Eliza.

“England’s very first queen. A seriously scary lady.”

“Are you sure she was the first? What about Boudicca?” asked Eliza.

“Ah, the fearless Celt. A redhead, of course. So many of our great leaders have been redheads, have they not?” He winked at the children. “Boudicca was queen of a tribe, not the whole of England.”

“Why was Mary scary?” asked Chess.

“She got rather carried away when it came to religion. Burned heretics at the stake. Hundreds of the poor blighters. And my staff think I’m harsh.”

He made another attempt to get out of his chair.

“It’s OK, Harry. You stay where you are,” said Megan. “Girls, can you help Dad with the drinks? Off you go.”

Now there was just Harry and Megan, and Eddie busy with his toy cars over in the corner.

“Harry...”

He knew what was coming. “I know, Megan. I could be in better shape. Give me a break, though. It hasn’t been a great year so far.”

“Look, most people are too scared of you to speak frankly. But I’m your sister—”

“Scared? Don’t be ridiculous.”

Megan lowered her voice. “Maria says you’ve been losing your temper at work, bawling people out. Verbal abuse, she called it. This isn’t you, Harry. What’s going on? Is it Caitlyn’s suicide? The pills? Have you not managed to cut down?”

“This isn’t the time for this conversation.”

“It’s well overdue, Harry. How are we going to get you back on track?”

“All right, don’t nag. I’m seeing the doc this week, usual checkup. I’ll ask him to take me in hand, crack the whip.”

“Promise?”

“Yes, yes.”

“And... Milly and Arabella saw Katie over Easter. It sounds like she’s not so good. Maybe you should go and see her?”

Something snapped inside him. He gripped the arms of the chair and leaned toward her. “Stop bloody telling me what to do! If I want your advice, I’ll ask for it. Right now, I don’t.”

She flinched, then frowned. “Well, that’s as may be. But take a look at yourself, Harry, and think about your children. Eliza and Eddie lost their mothers, now they’ve lost a stepmother they loved. And Maria might lose Katie soon. How do you think it would be for them, losing their father too? Because that’s where you’re headed. You’re stressed, unfit; you’ve put on weight. God knows how many pills you’re popping. You’re heading for an early grave if you don’t sort yourself out.”

She paused. “Look, you’re my darling brother and I adore you, and I hate seeing you go downhill like this. Please, for all our sakes, do something about it. Get help.”

Harry’s anger was overtaken by self-pity. Look what life had done to him.

“Daddy,” said a little voice from across the room.

Eddie was too young to have understood any of that, wasn’t he? Especially the part about dying mothers?

“Yes, Eddie?”

“Can we get a hamster?”