Mom, I can hear it in your voiceyoure exhausted. What happened?
Emily pressed the phone to her ear while wrestling with the surgical clogs that had fused to her feet after a twelvehour operation.
Emily, I cant go on any longer, Valeries voice trembled, breaking into sobs. Maxie has run away from school again. The class teacher called, Ive been scouring the whole neighbourhood looking for him My heart was pounding as if Id have to call an ambulance.
Did you find him?
He was on a construction site, hanging about with some well, a bunch of drunks, the mother stammered, choosing her words carefully. I shouted at him, but he just stared at me like I was a stranger.
Emily finally freed herself from the clogs and flopped back in her chair. Eight hours over the operating table, another four on ward roundsher eyes were sticky, but a mothers tears work better than any espresso.
Maybe we should get him a psychologist? Or a tutor to keep him busy after school?
What psychologist, love? I cant make him listen. He treats me like an old nag. He even called me that today, right into my face.
Emily closed her eyes, rubbing the bridge of her nose. Outside, a relentless drizzle fellfine, irritating, endless. The story with her nephew felt just as endless.
Ill ring Kate, she said at last. Talk to her.
Go on, call, Valerie sniffed, but will it help? She she wont come back.
Emily said goodbye, set the handset on her lap, and watched the screen go dark, reflecting her pale face, dark circles, and the permanent furrow that had settled between her eyebrows over the past two years.
Three years
Kate had flown away almost three years ago, in November, when Max was barely nine. Shed landed a contract with an international firm, first in London, then in Manchester. Every six months a new posting, a new horizon, a brandnew life. And the boy? He stayed behind in Birmingham, in his grandparents cramped terraced house on Church Street.
Emily remembered Kates departure: a fuchsia suitcase, a dazzling smile, promises to call every day. Mum, Dad, this is the chance of a lifetime! I wont abandon you; Ill be back all the time!
All the time turned out to mean twice a year. Two weeks in summer, when Kate strutted around the flat like a sunkissed European bird, bringing Max pricey trainers and the latest iPhone. Two weeks in winter, over Christmas, when she showered everyone with presents, laughed at the festive table, and vanished on the first flight home on January3rd.
Between those visits lay months of silencerare calls, modest transfers to a bank card, and a complete deafness to what was happening to her own son.
Emily curled her legs in, hugging her knees. A year and a half ago, the father was gone
ArthurPeterson was a sturdy, dependable man who, up until his sixtyfive, jogged every morning and could lug sacks of potatoes from the garden without a single complaint. Then his heart gave out. The doctors never managed to save him.
Kates only unscheduled appearance was at a funeral, standing by the grave in a sleek black dress from some Italian designer, crying beautifully, looking pictureperfect. Three days later she was on a plane back, leaving her mother and grandson to sort through grief, paperwork and the hollow that settled in the house.
Dad had been the familys cornerstone. He drove Max to school every morning, rain or shine. He took him to football, chess, fishing. One look from him could halt a tantrum without a shoutjust a stare that said, Stop it now.
Now nobody could give that look.
Valeries health crumbled almost a decade ahead of schedule. Her blood pressure spiked, joints ached, insomnia turned nights into torture. The woman who once could host a dinner for twenty now struggled to muster the energy to pop out for a loaf of bread.
And Max Max grew, but crookedly, without a fatherslet alone a grandfathersguiding hand. At eleven he started snapping back; at twelve he began skipping school. Suspicious friends, secretive behaviour, a cold, adultlike cruelty that only teenagers can muster.
Youre not my mother! he shouted one evening when Valerie tried to snatch his phone. My mothers out there, living a normal life, not whining with you!
The next day Valerie recounted the outburst to Emily, and Emily heard something new in her voice: weary obedience, the resignation of someone whod given up.
Money arrived like clockwork. Transfers hit the card on the 15th each monthenough for tutors Max kept sabotaging, for clubs he abandoned after a month, for clothes he tore, for gadgets he broke or lost.
But you cant buy what a boy truly needs with cash. You cant buy a father who would set him straight. You cant buy a mother who would hug him after school and ask about his day. You cant buy a grandfather who would teach him how to hammer nails without fearing the dark.
Emily dialed Kates numbereight rings, then an answering machine. She tried again half an hour latersilence. A messenger ping: We need to talk. Urgently.
Kate called back the next day, just as Emily was about to start another shift.
Emily, love, whats happening?
Mom cant handle Max anymore. You need to sort something out.
Oh, here we go again with your whining. Moms always complaining, you know that.
Kate, shes really sick. Her blood pressure is through the roof. Max hes out of control. He needs someone who can deal with him.
And what, you expect me to drop everything and come?
Why not? Its your son, not mine.
A glass clinked somewhere on the lineperhaps a toast.
Listen, Kates voice softened, Ive thought about it Youre on your own. Bored, I bet. Maybe you could take Max in for a while?
Emily stared at the screen, as if she couldnt believe her ears.
Youre serious?
Well, youre a doctor! Youre responsible, you can manage. The boy needs stability, and I I have a boyfriend, Henry. He isnt ready for a child. Were just starting to build a life, and if I bring Max home
Then Henry will bolt.
He wont bolt. Its just complicated. You dont get it.
Emily leaned against the wall of the registrars office. A gurney rattled past the door, taking someone to the theatre. Somewhere a monitor beeped. Life went on while she listened to the absurd.
I work, Kate. Surgeries from six to eight oclock. When I get home I can barely stand. A child? How am I supposed to look after him?
Hes twelve now, practically an adult. He walks to school, feeds himself. Youd just be watching over him.
Are you hearing yourself? This is your son! And you want to dump him on an aunt because some bloke is more important?
Youve always been harsh, Kates tone cooled. Youve always judged me. At least Im living a full life, and you? Youre stuck in the hospital, chopping people up and thinking that makes you better.
Emily fell silent. All the things shed pretended not to see were now laid out on the table, stark and exposed.
If you dont sort Maxs situation by the end of the year, Emily said evenly, Ill go to social services. Ill say the child has been effectively abandoned by his mother, that the grandmother cant cope healthwise, and that his real mother lives abroad with a lover and refuses her parental duties.
You you wouldnt! Kate gasped, outraged.
Well see, Kate. This isnt an idle threat. Im a surgeon. Do you know how many lives Ive saved? Who I know? You have until December.
Youre just jealous! Jealous that I have a normal life and youre still a spinster!
Until December, Kate. Emily hung up.
The weeks that followed were a nightmare. Kates messages ranged from furious, to pleading, back to furious. Valerie cried on the phone, clueless about the sisters feud. Max, having somehow caught wind of the drama, escalated his misbehaviour.
Emily didnt back down. She knew her sister well enough to understand that only a real threat would move her.
Kate turned up in Novemberexactly three years after she leftno fuchsia suitcase, no smile, just hollow eyes and a quiet hatred she made no effort to hide.
Emily made a decision.
She forced Valerie to sell the terraced house. Kate got a third of the proceeds. Emily sold her onebed flat and bought a bright twobed flat for herself and her mum.
Away from the grandsons chaos, Valerie flourished. Her complexion returned, blood pressure normalised, sleep improved. Peace settled over her life.
Kate kept Max in Birmingham, apparently in a new flat. She stopped answering calls, ignored messages. Grudges proved stronger than blood ties. But Emily knew this would pass, or at least that she had done what she could. She had protected her mother, forced her sister to finally grow up, andby some twisted logicgave Max a mother again.
