My Husband's Wives by Faith Hogan

Author:Faith Hogan [Hogan, Faith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781784977153
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Published: 2016-04-04T04:00:00+00:00

10

Evie Considine

‘Let’s go back to Carlinville,’ Evie said more brightly than she felt, more for Kasia’s benefit than her own. The men who had come to fill in Paul’s grave were ready to begin. They could come back when it was all done. ‘I haven’t organized anything, didn’t get anything in; I never thought…’

‘It says enough that you’ve asked,’ Grace said at her side, ‘and anyway, we can order in something to eat, maybe have a cup of tea. I think it would be a good thing to do.’ They were unlikely allies in a time of mutual distress, but they both put Paul first – in life and in death. They’d organized his funeral with no thought to what might happen once the damp clay had coldly covered his coffin. Truthfully, Evie couldn’t imagine what they would do, but somehow Vasile had forced them to stand together in a kind of brief solidarity that she’d never have believed possible before.

Carlinville sat in the afternoon sun, a handsome, if shabby sanctuary, welcoming them warmly after the long day. Even Annalise arrived with her parents and the boys, although Evie suspected that was down to her mother more than any desire of Annalise’s to spend more time with them. Grace, true to her word, organized sandwiches to arrive almost before the kettle had boiled for tea. They were an improbable group, their only common ground a minefield of loss and sadness. In time, maybe, if things were different, they might look forward to sharing happy memories of the one person who linked them together.

Kasia managed to mingle through the disparate threads and link up a faltering conversation. It meandered from the hospital to Grace’s paintings, to car sales and eventually to a rally club that Annalise’s father spoke about enthusiastically. The Connollys were the first to leave and Annalise was quick to join them. ‘A long day for the boys, but thank you for inviting us.’ Madeline was a genuine warm woman. Evie knew that when Madeline enquired about how she was holding up, the words were not just to fill what might be uncomfortable silence between them. There was a substance about her that, as yet, Annalise lacked but perhaps, Evie thought, she might grow into it.

‘Well, that’s that,’ Grace Kennedy said as she sank into the soft sofa. ‘I suppose we should think about leaving Evie to it, Delilah.’

‘Just a little while more?’ Delilah was looking through an old photo album.

‘Thanks for today, Evie,’ Grace said. ‘It meant a lot to Delilah, to all of us. I don’t know why we hadn’t thought of what would happen after.’

‘I didn’t do a lot, apart from make the tea.’ Evie waved a hand, but she was glad that they’d come back here, couldn’t think how she’d have faced the house on her own. ‘It’s funny, but having people here, it makes the house feel different; on my own, sometimes it feels…’ She closed her eyes for a moment; she wouldn’t tell them how lonely she was.

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