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“Sorry,” she said. “I had a major wobble. I’m a little better now.” She wiped at her damp cheeks.
“I’m glad you rang me, Sarah. So glad.” Gwen hesitated. “Do you want to talk about it? Or do you need to get right home?”
Sarah leaned her head back against the seat. “Nathan’s left me,” she stated flatly, her eyes closed. “He moved out two weeks ago. I’m sorry, I know I should have told you.”
Gwen shook her head, pushing her own shock to one side to focus on her daughter. “Don’t worry about that—”
“We met tonight, and I was hoping we would talk about how we could work this out. Instead, he told me he wasn’t sure that he wanted to be married to me anymore. Or married, full stop. I wasn’t actually surprised, come to think of it.” A sigh gusted out of her, seeming to come from the depths of her being. “But at the same I was completely shocked, if that makes any sense.”
“It does,” Gwen replied quietly, placing her hand on her daughter’s. “Darling, I’m so very sorry.”
“It’s Mairi and Owen I’m really worried about,” Sarah told her, her voice hitching. “I mean, I am devastated, no question, but I know I’ll recover. Eventually. But the children… Nathan seems like he’s not all that concerned about seeing them. He says he will make more of an effort, so maybe that will change…” She shook her head slowly. “Is he having a midlife crisis? I don’t know. It’s like he woke up one morning and decided he didn’t want our life anymore. Who does that?”
“I don’t know,” Gwen said after a moment, wishing there was something helpful she could say. “He might reconsider, Sarah—”
Sarah shook her head. “Right now, I don’t think so. I’m not saying that just to be pessimistic, but… the truth is, hedidn’twake up one morning and decide that—or if he did, it was well over six months ago, not today or yesterday or when have you. This has been going on a long time, longer than I even realized, I think, because I was so focused on other things. I do hope he reconsiders when it comes to the children, but as for me…” She glanced down at her lap.
“What do you want to do?” Gwen asked after a moment. “Are Mairi and Owen back at home?”
“Yes.” Sarah gave something close to a shudder. “I just couldn’t face going back to them, their questions. That house… I used to love that house, everything so modern and sleek, just as I liked it. Now I think I hate it and everything it represents—this picture-perfect life I never actually had.” A sob escaped her, and she pressed her hand to her mouth. “I don’t know what to do,” she whispered through her fingers, an abject confession, one Sarah—the old Sarah—nevermade.
Once again, Gwen felt that sense of calm, of decision, come over her. “I know what you should do,” she stated firmly. “I’ll drive you back home and you’ll tell Mairi and Owen to get their things. Then we’ll head back to Bluebell and have a sleepover. Tomorrow’s Friday—why don’t they miss a day of school? Take a personal day. Everyone’s allowed at least one, surely.”
“Mairi would go ballistic, to miss a day of school right now—”
“But maybe,” Gwen suggested gently, “that’s exactly what she needs.”
Sarah turned to gaze at her with damp eyes. “Maybe you’re right,” she admitted shakily. “Maybe we all need a bit of a break—from life. Just not like Nathan’s having!” She let out a wobbly laugh and Gwen smiled in sympathy at her daughter.
“All right, then,” she said, and started the car. “Let’s go.”
Just a minute later, they were back at the house, and Gwen walked in with Sarah, who seemed to have gone very quiet and dazed.
“Granny?” Mairi came downstairs, looking surprised, and then suspicious. “Why are you here? And what’s wrong with Mum?” She glanced at Sarah, who tried to smile and didn’t quite manage it.
“Nothing’s wrong with your mum,” Gwen replied, “except that she’s having a bit of a hard time right now, and we’re all going to pull together. How does a sleepover at the inn tonight sound?”
“But it’s a school night—” Mairi protested, sounding both scandalized and confused.
“How about a day off tomorrow?” Gwen suggested. “Revise at home if you need to, but only after pancakes for breakfast, with ice cream and whipped cream.” She smiled at her granddaughter. “I think you’ve been working rather hard, Mairi, and sometimes you need to hit the reset button. Take some time out to refresh.”
“But—”
“Foreveryone’ssake,” Gwen finished quietly, raising her eyebrows meaningfully, and, thankfully, Mairi stopped protesting.
“All right,” she said, glancing uncertainly at Sarah, who hadn’t said a word. “I’ll get my things. Mum…?”
“Sorry, darling,” Sarah said, coming to herself with a weak smile. “I just think it would be nice to be around family right now.”
“Dad…” Mairi’s voice wobbled, making Gwen’s heart ache for her.
“He’s fine,” Sarah told her. “He’s going to see you very soon. We can talk about all that later.” With what had to have been superhuman strength, she gave Mairi a reassuring smile. Gwen gently squeezed her daughter’s arm in quiet support.
Five minutes later, they were all piled in Gwen’s car, heading back to the inn, Mairi still apprehensive, Owen excited for a day off school. As they entered the house, Ellie came out of the sitting room, doing a double take at seeing Sarah, Mairi, and Owen all filing in behind Gwen.
“What… Is everything okay?” she asked, shooting Sarah a probing glance that made Gwen realize, in an instant, that Sarah must have already told Ellie something about what had happened with Nathan. It was understandable that Sarah would find it easier to talk to Ellie than her mother about certain things; she was glad Sarah had had someone to confide in.
“Everything’s fine,” she assured Ellie. “Just having a sleepover.”
