Chapter 20

Whilst Miriam was visiting her family in England, Margaret and her three good friends were enjoying a trip to Switzerland and savouring a few weeks of cooler weather away from the heat of the southern Portuguese coast. All four of the ladies were inveterate shoppers, and they passed several days in the shops in both Geneva and Zurich. They found other delights as well. They took a day cruise on Lake Geneva with a stop at one of the local wineries for a mid-day meal. Whilst in Zurich, they took a day trip out to visit a cheese factory and a chocolate factory, one of their favourite parts of the trip. Margaret realised as she unpacked when she returned home that she had purchased more chocolate than she could use so she decided to take some to Miriam as a gift when it was time to resume her weekly visits.

Miriam was delighted with her present," Oooh" she exclaimed. "Who doesn't like chocolate?" Closing her eyes, she inhaled the aroma of the exquisite confection and sighed, adding under her breath, "except for old Grumpy Pants."

Margaret caught the reference and raised her eyebrows, "Grumpy Pants?"

Miriam burst out with a hearty laugh as she started trimming Margaret's hair, "That's what I call Martin, my son-in-law. James had a chocolate cake with chocolate icing for his birthday party and Martin refused to have any. I mean really, who doesn't like chocolate? Well, more for the rest of us, I always say."

"Yes, I agree." Margaret bent her head down as Miriam worked, "So, did James enjoy his birthday?"

"He seemed to enjoy the party. Louisa had invited several of their friends and their children. It was on the farm with plenty of room for the children to run and play outside so we adults could relax and enjoy the afternoon. James was quite proud of himself that he was able to blow all the candles out with one breath. Even Martin applauded. Alan was taking pictures and managed to get a really good one of James grinning after he blew out the candles. I'll show you some of the photos after I finish here."

True to her word, Miriam handed Margaret a small album of pictures to peruse whilst she sat under the dryer. Margaret wasn't certain that she wanted to look at these pictures, but the good manners her mother had instilled in her at an early age compelled her to scan them and find something nice to say. There were pictures of all of Miriam's family; she recognised Miriam's son Alan and his family; she had seen them often enough. And there was Ruth, Christopher's sister along with the pictures of Louisa and Martin's children. James certainly was a handsome child; she remembered how polite he was both times she had interacted with him. Robert was an attractive child as well. Too bad she couldn't show these pictures to her friends.

There were several others in these photos that she didn't recognise. One picture had Martin standing next to four other men around what appeared to be a barbeque grill. Really, why couldn't Martin smile for the camera? No wonder Miriam called him 'Mr. Grumpy Pants'. Christopher was always able to put on a happy face for the camera, even when he was in a foul mood. She looked to see if she recognised any of the other men in the picture although she had no reason to expect she would. One of the men looked vaguely familiar, very similar to Martin's friend from medical school; she couldn't remember his name, but if he had some hair and were less portly, it could very well be him. The others were complete strangers to her.

And Miriam was right, there were quite a few children in the group. She briefly gave thanks that she wasn't part of Martin's life and expected to attend a gathering like this. The noise from the children must have been deafening.

One person seemed to be missing and she flipped through the album searching for Joan. If the party was held on her farm, she should have been there. She returned the album to Miriam, commenting politely, "It does look like a happy gathering. Did you enjoy yourself?"

"Oh yeah … great food. Good drinks. Martin's friend Chris brought a bottle of whiskey, the really good stuff. I had several shots, and I slept well that night, I will tell you."

Margaret couldn't contain her curiosity, "I noticed that Martin's aunt wasn't in any of the photos."

Miriam nodded her head, "Ruth was there … oh … oh" She stopped short, and then turned serious, "Oh … Joanie … I suppose I didn't tell you. She passed away earlier this year. All very sad."

"Oh," Margaret mulled over this information wondering if Christopher knew. Did Martin inherited the farm then? Was it possible that Christopher could have any claim, despite his previous assertion that he had signed his share over to Joan a few years ago? She wanted to ask Miriam, but good manners precluded it, however, good manners did require her to offer her condolences. "I'm so sorry. I'm sure she was missed."

"Yeah. I think she was. Still it was a good party." Miriam leaned over to pick up a comb from her station and started to chuckle. "Ruth, that's Martin's other aunt, told us the best story that night. Not everyone knew each other so they were telling stories of how they all met Martin and Louisa. Two of the men were married to friends of Louisa from university. It seems that they all got together for a wedding a number of years ago … this was before Louisa married Martin. Halfway through the reception, Martin was in a fight with Louisa's ex-husband."

Margaret moved restlessly in her chair at this news flash. She had so many questions, but she needed to maintain her patrician reserve. She responded with tempered curiosity, "Louisa was married before?"

"Oh yeah, to a Portwenn local. Well he's not local anymore, big shot London solicitor, but he grew up there."

'I don't think you ever told me that."

"Yeah. They got married right out of university. She went to work teaching there in London whilst he was in law school. The tosser cheated on her almost from the beginning. Once she found out, she divorced him. That was years and years ago."

Miriam put the final touches on Margaret's "do", gave her a hand mirror and started to slowly turn her chair so Margaret could examine her handiwork, but Margaret put her foot out to stop the chair. "Wait. You said Louisa's current husband was in a fight with her ex-husband?" Margaret couldn't control the sly grin that crept onto her face. "This sounds like a delicious story. Tell me more."

Miriam looked at the clock on the wall. "Well okay, I do have a few more minutes before my next client arrives." She braced herself against her station table and leaned over in a conspiratorial posture to relate her story. "One of the men, Walter, he's a GP. Well … he looked after Martin's wounds after the fight; he didn't really know how it all began, but Ruth did." Miriam shook her head as she continued, "She's one clever lady; not much gets past her."

Ruth knew the details. That shocked Margaret; Joan had always been the one to know every little detail of the family's business. Ruth was always above it all. "How did Ruth know about it."

"She had brunch with Louisa and Martin the next day. Seems Martin had a whopper of a black eye and she managed to wangle the whole story out of them. Denny, that's Louisa's ex, said something about Louisa that Martin found offensive so he threw some wine in Denny's face. Then Denny punched him. That's how Martin got the black eye. But Martin got his revenge by tripping Denny as he walked away and Denny hit his face on a table and got pretty banged up as well."

"That quite a story. Louisa's husband doesn't seem the type to get in a fight. Did Ruth say what made Martin so angry?"

"No, she didn't know. Neither Martin nor Louisa would tell her. Makes you wonder doesn't it?" Miriam paused for a moment and leaned back. "You know, I wouldn't have thought Martin the type to get in a fight either, but he does have a quick temper. I could see it happening."

She started to laugh again, "What's even better than the story itself is what happened after. Martin and Louisa were upstairs bathing the boys when Ruth was telling her story and they walked in just as she was finishing. We all clapped and cheered as he walked onto the terrace. Both of them looked very confused until his friend Chris explained that Ruth was just telling them how he had defended Louisa's honour all those years ago." Miriam continued, pulling herself up straight and tall and puffing out her chest, "He started spluttering and huffing and puffing, 'Ruth, that is nobody's business. How dare you tell that story.' It was actually quite sweet. Louisa walked up to him and put her arm around his waist and gave him a kiss. 'Yes, he is my knight in shining armour.'"

"I do believe he turned beet red. He finds any kind of public affection very embarrassing. If it weren't for those two children you might think he never touched Louisa." She gave Margaret a conspiratorial grin, "But I know for a fact that he's very affectionate when they are alone, very attentive, I can tell you."

"Really?" Margaret was interested. Normally she would give Miriam's assertion little credence, but the memory of Martin and Louisa kissing in the garden at the resort the previous year flashed across her mind, giving it credibility. She was curious to hear more, but Miriam was going to make her wait.

"A story for another time. I need to get ready for my next client." She turned Margaret around in her chair. "Everything look alright?"

'Yes, quite nice as usual. See you again next week?" Margaret rose from the chair and made her way to the changing room to remove the smock and don her own blouse and scarf.

As she drove home, she thought about the tale that Miriam had just told her. She had always thought of her son as closed off, an impassive automaton. He was a fussy baby, clingy and whingy, but by the time he had reached three, he had become quiet, awkward and strange, keeping himself apart, always watching, but never saying anything unless directly spoken to. Even then he kept his answers brief, never offering more than was necessary. He seemed more open with his grandfather who had the time to share some of his interests with him. Grandfather Henry even gave him a frog to dissect on his fifth birthday. She was aghast when she heard of their encounter in Henry's study. Martin merely replied "The insides of the frog were very interesting. I want to be a doctor so I can fix people's insides like Grandfather."

Once he was off to school, he kept to his books when he was home. Of course, Christopher had insisted that he be the best in all his classes and Martin tried to comply with all that his father demanded. Joan claimed that he was quite boisterous when he was with them on the farm, helping out with the chores and gadding about with Phil in the fields or helping her with her deliveries and telling them all about his day when they had supper in the evening. Margaret thought about how she had never seen that side of him.

He never brought friends home for school breaks like other boys did. Of course, she and Christopher were often travelling during those breaks and he spent many of them at the farm or at school. Odd as that seems now, she knew she was grateful that he never asked to bring anyone home to visit. It would have been extremely inconvenient to have another child in the house making noise and getting in the way.

Things were no different once he started medical school; she was certain that Christopher would have enjoyed regaling Martin's fellow medical students with tales of the operating room, but Martin spent very little time at their home, preferring to keep to his rooms near the school. There was that woman he brought round while he was in medical school. What was her name? Margaret searched her memory. She was quite lovely, elegant in a refined way … came from a good family … her father was an MP as she recalled. Montgomery … yes … Edith Montgomery. Martin seemed quite smitten, and Edith would have made him a perfect wife. She would know just how to groom him to function in society and make his way up the career ladder. Unfortunately, she had career ambitions of her own; Margaret was certain that she would have pushed Martin to be a more successful man despite that. What had happened there, she wondered. One moment they were together and the next she had disappeared. Perhaps their relationship was merely a convenient medical school liaison. It was at the same time Martin announced his decision to take a position in the NHS and not the Navy, which infuriated Christopher. He had never forgiven him for that and they hadn't spoken since.

Now over the past two years she had learned more of her son's life from her hairdresser than she had known in the previous forty plus years of his existence. She had observed that he seemed fond of his family when she made that trip to the resort two years ago, and that kiss he gave his wife certainly demonstrated that he had a healthy carnal appetite. Evidently, he had other emotional depths that she never could have imagined. To think that he would confront another man who had disparaged his wife was almost beyond belief. Well it was beyond belief, but Ruth was the source of the story; she wouldn't make up something like that. And Ruth had heard it directly from both Martin and Louisa the very day after the event.

How was it that Ruth was in Martin's life and not his own mother? From Miriam's description of him, it was possible that he could have been a successful addition to their social circle, but he had never shown any interest in spending time with them. Even when she and Christopher were living in London, he rarely joined them for brunch or dinner and never attended any of the parties they threw for their medical colleagues. Once he and his father had fallen out over that Navy business, they never saw him again. And she was the one to pay the price, alienated from her son and unable to enjoy the benefits of having grandchildren. It wasn't that she herself wanted that relationship particularly, but she certainly didn't want Ruth to have it instead. Life was not fair, truly not fair.

Margaret grimaced as she parked her car next to their villa and pressed her head against the steering wheel. Why was she singled out for unhappiness? How was it that first Joan, and now Ruth, had taken the place that was rightfully hers? Ruth … aah … she remembered the pictures that Miriam had shown her. Those photos of Ruth! Wizened and wrinkled … she really had not aged well. She gazed at her own reflection in the car mirror and brushed her fingers against her own still smooth cheek. That was some consolation, at the very least.