Last Summer in Ireland by Anne Doughty

Author:Anne Doughty [Doughty, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2019-05-15T16:00:00+00:00

17

The phone was ringing its head off as I came back into the house next morning, my arms full of Philadelphus, or Bride’s Blossom; ‘when it’s at home,’ as my father used to say.

‘Deirdre Weston.’

‘Good morning, my dear. This is Uncle Hector.’

‘Ticker!’

‘The very man. How are you, my dear? Mary and I arrived back last night. We are so sorry we weren’t here when you needed us. I’m afraid we didn’t even know about your mother till we arrived in Armagh and it really was too late to phone you then or I most certainly would have done.’

I almost burst into tears as I listened to the dear kind voice. Hector Anderson was another old friend of my father. They had met on field excursions of the Archaeological Society and the Naturalist’s Club and got on well with each other. But their friendship really flourished when they discovered their shared passion for roses. They had both known the McGredys of Portadown and followed the welfare of every new rose the brothers ever developed. I had known Uncle Hector since before I could manage to say the word ‘Hector,’ which was why he’d ended up with a nickname that very few people knew.

‘There was a note waiting for me from Dot. You remember Dot, don’t you? Dear girl. She’s senior clerk with your mother’s solicitors, McVitie, Wilson and Gardiner now. She thought you might be having some problems, so I’ve rung right away just in case you were.’

Hector is a small, rather prim looking man, with a toothbrush moustache. As long as I’ve known him, he’s given the appearance of being rather old-fashioned. But the polite and amenable manner is deceptive. As another character once said of Miss Marple, he has ‘a mind like a bacon slicer.’

Though now seventy-five, he has only just retired from his own firm of solicitors and he only did it for the sake of Aunt Mary who is younger than Hector, but who is still recovering from a major operation some years ago. Mary and Hector are one of the few happily married couples I have ever encountered and the very thought of seeing them really lifted my spirits.

‘Oh, Ticker, I’m so pleased to hear you. I am in a bit of a mess, but I don’t want to bother you the minute you arrive back. Did you have a nice time?’

‘Absolutely splendid, my dear. But Mary will want to tell you all about that, I’m sure,’ he said firmly. ‘I should like to know, if I may, what seems to be the problem.’

I explained as best I could the legal complexities that surrounded Mother’s affairs. I thought I detected a sharp intake of breath at the other end of the phone. There was certainly a moment’s silence after I stopped speaking.

‘Well, my dear, I think we need to have a long talk, but I can certainly make some comments which will ease your mind. Are you quite sure McVitie, Wilson and Gardiner said there was another will of your mother’s? Do you have that in writing?’

‘No, I don’t.

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