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The memory made her cheeks flame with embarrassment. Shewanted to ask Gabriel something, but it was several minutes before she could summon enough saliva to be able to speak.
“Joseph’s not coming back to work for us, is he?” she asked.
Gabriel turned to her, his eyebrows raised, and she knew how odd it must have sounded, that she was talking about Joseph when she’d barely said two words to him since Pierre’s funeral yesterday.
“Yes, he should be there now. I asked Hugh on Sunday if we could have him back to finish the garden and he said he would send him around this week. He was probably there on Tuesday too. I should have asked Beth if he turned up.”
“Why?” Iris tried to hide her panic. “I mean, why can’t you finish it yourself? There’s not much to do now, is there?”
“No, but I want it finished before Beth leaves for university and if I don’t have Joseph to help me, it won’t be.”
“Does it matter if it’s not finished?”
“Yes, it does.” Gabriel lowered his voice. “I promised Beth it would be ready for when she came home and, because of everything, it wasn’t. So it’s important to me that she can enjoy it for the few weeks before she leaves.”
“How long? How much longer is he going to be with us?”
“I don’t know, a couple of weeks probably. Look, I know things might be a bit difficult between you, but I’m sure if you explain, it will be fine.”
“I would have thought he’d want to avoid being where he spent so much time with Laure,” Iris hissed, causing the woman opposite to give her another look before turning back to the book she was reading.
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Gabriel said. “So maybe he hasn’t been around.” He dug his phone from his pocket. “I’ll message Hugh and ask.”
Iris leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes, silently praying that Joseph had been so traumatized by Laure’s death that he’d refused to come back to work for them.
Gabriel’s voice cut through her thoughts. “Hugh just confirmed. He’s at the house.”
Iris blinked back tears. She had hoped never to see Joseph again. But there was nothing she could do about it except stay out of his way on the days he was there.
51
Gabriel paced the sitting room, waiting for Maggie Ingram to arrive. He glanced at himself in the cracked mirror; his face was deathly pale, but hopefully Maggie would put it down to the trauma he’d been through, and not to his dread at their meeting.
He and Iris had never got around to replacing the mirror, maybe because subconsciously, it had represented their relationship at that point in time, and they would put up a new one only once they were back on track. For a moment, Gabriel wondered if he should smash the mirror to smithereens, because he sometimes felt that he and Iris were broken beyond repair. Once Beth left for university, he wasn’t sure how they would survive. She filled the silences between them.
The doorbell rang, rooting him to the spot. He gave himself a mental shake. Compared to everything he’d been through in the past few weeks, this was nothing.
Walking into the hall, he opened the door. He was grateful that Maggie hadn’t changed much in the intervening seven years or so since he’d last seen her. Her smile wasn’t quite so wide, and her eyes were tinged with sadness. But she was instantly recognizable, which made it suddenly easier.
“I’m so sorry to intrude at such a terrible time,” she said, as he led her into the sitting room. “It’s kind of you to see me when you have so much else to deal with.” She hesitated. “How are you?”
He searched for something that would sum up the utter desolation he felt.
“Bereft. Lost. Unsure if I’ll ever feel whole again.”
She nodded. “It doesn’t get easier,” she said softly. “It just gets different.”
“Please, sit down. Can I get you tea, coffee?”
“No, thank you.”
“I’m so very sorry about Charlie,” he said, sitting down opposite her. “I have such good memories of him. I hope he carried on playing football at St. Cuthbert’s?”
“He did, and rugby, and tennis. He was sports mad.” She gave him a quick smile. “I’m so grateful that you were there with him at the end, that he was with someone he knew, someone he’d liked and admired very much. You can’t imagine what a huge comfort that has been.” She paused. “I-I’m not sure I’d have been able to bear it if he had died alone. And if you hadn’t been there, I would never have known that he’d forgiven me. We’d had a huge row, and he was angry with me, so angry that he wouldn’t let me explain. He stormed out of the house and I never saw him again.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thank you. Now, tell me about Beth. How is she?”
