Later that afternoon she tried calling her sister. Still no luck. She decided to phone her mum instead.
‘Hello?’
‘Hi Mum, it’s Lib.’
‘Oh hi, darling. Hang on, let me just come inside. I’m knee-deep in the rose garden doing the dead-heading and the line is terrible on this portable phone.’
Libby waited for her mother to get inside to the kitchen phone. Ever since her father had passed away, ten years ago now, her mum had taken over the care of the rose garden in his memory. It had been his pride and joy. She took it very seriously, and to her credit it was just as splendid as it had ever been under his notoriously green fingers. As ever when Libby thought of her dad she felt the familiar ache of pain deep inside her, just as raw as it had been the day that he died.
‘OK, here I am!’ Her mum’s voice sounded much clearer on the landline.
‘Hi Mum, how are the roses getting on?’
‘Jolly hard work, especially in this heat!’
‘Haven’t you still got Gavin helping with the garden?’
‘Normally I would, but he’s in Tenerife with his girlfriend this week, so I’m trying to keep on top of things myself. It’s good exercise for me anyway – good to get out in the fresh air.’
‘Absolutely.’
At the thought of her beloved dad, Libby blurted out the question that had been running round her mind. ‘This might sound a bit weird, but I’ve been doing some thinking about relationships, wondering what it will be like to finally meet someone and settle down…’
‘Right, darling…’ her mum said curiously.
‘When you met Dad, did you have any doubts in your mind at all that he was the one? How did you know for certain?’
There was a pause as Miriam dragged her mind back to those bittersweet memories. She and Ronald had met at school, but they hadn’t started courting, as she called it, until their twenties.
‘I must say, darling, I don’t think I had a single doubt in my mind. He was the one and that was that. I knew I couldn’t be with anyone else.’
‘I think that’s what I’m going to need, Mum. That certainty. I have never met anyone that has made me feel that way.’ Libby wondered whether she ever would.
‘Well I hope that you meet this elusive Mr Right soon, darling. You are thirty-two! And with Helen in the state she is in, you might be my only chance of being a mother of the bride, or a granny.’ Libby knew that under the jovial tone her mother was deadly serious.
‘Yes I know that, thank you Mother! Only too well! When I have a spare moment from working around the clock in the law firm, I will make sure I squeeze in a few dates, all right?’
‘I’ll do some investigating myself… maybe I can do a little matchmaking with some of my friends. Maureen was telling me just the other day about her lovely son Dominic—’
‘Right, Mum, knock yourself out. No promises though!’ Libby laughed as she hung up the phone. She thought about Helen and her desire to have a baby. She knew she wanted a family of her own one day as well, but there seemed an infinite number of hurdles to get through first. She knew she needed to work on herself, to make sure she was happy and independent and sorted, before she embarked on that kind of journey. For now she just had to focus on sorting out her career. Perhaps when that was in hand a relationship would follow, and then, who knew, maybe she would have a baby of her own. She fell asleep in the shade, daydreaming about Luca.
A while later her dreams were interrupted by the buzzing of her phone. ‘Libby? It’s Helen.’
‘Good to hear from you at long last, stranger.’ Libby smiled at the sound of her sister’s voice. ‘I’ve missed you!’
‘I’ve missed you too. Sorry it’s taken me so long to call,’ Helen said.
‘Don’t worry. I bet you’ve been manic settling in to your new life. How are you? Mum has been worrying – she says she hasn’t spoken to you for ages. How’s it all going?’
‘I feel bad for not calling her, but you know how she drives me nuts with her worrying. I just needed to have a break for a few weeks while I tried to settle in.’
‘I understand. Maybe just send her the odd email, though, just so she knows you are OK.’
‘I will, you’re right…’
‘Where are you staying?’
‘I’m in an apartment provided by the school. It’s tiny and pretty central so it’s easy to get around. It’s perfectly fine.’
