Mothers and Daughters by Minna Howard Read Free Book Online Page A

sat down beside her on the sofa and said gently, ‘You must admit, darling, that the news of your engagement came as quite a shock. It’s not at all like you to produce your fiancé without even hinting about him beforehand. You used to bring the men home you were interested in. Why haven’t we… I seen him before?’
    ‘I… I know this sounds weird, but I too wanted Dad to be there… so I kept putting it off, and also Douglas wanted his children to get used to the idea. We both agreed if they hated the idea we’d put it off for a while. Anyway…’ Laura gave a tiny shrug of hopelessness that clutched at Alice’s heart. ‘Douglas was there for me when I most needed him, you and Evie were so unhappy, as I was, and Douglas was not involved, he was outside it all. Do you understand, Mum?’ She turned to her in anguish.
    ‘Yes, I do.’ Alice hugged her. The three of them had been so locked up in their own grief and anxiety over Julian’s sudden deterioration and death it was difficult to reach through the deluge of their own pain to comfort each other. Douglas may well have been just the person Laura needed then and Alice was glad he’d been there for her, but did she really want to be with him for life and take on his children, one of which was meant to have ‘something wrong’ with him?
    ‘Now we’re back you must see him again and meet the children,’ Laura went on.
    ‘Of course, let’s make a date, but… I… I am a little worried about him having children. That’s quite a lot to take on at your age, you are only twenty-four, darling, and really you have no experience with children.’
    ‘You don’t say that about Evie, and she’s two years younger than me and having Nick’s child who’ll have dozens of half-brothers and sisters scattered about the place.’
    ‘I’m not comparing you, I…’
    ‘Your generation are never happy about your children. Half of your friends moan that they’ll never become grandparents as their daughters seem so set on their careers and their sons don’t want to commit, and here you are with three grandchildren already, or you will have when Evie’s baby’s born, and you’re not happy either,’ Laura grumbled.
    Alice gave up. There was some truth in Laura’s remark and it was wishful thinking to expect one’s children to marry a lovely person who gelled well with the whole family and have angelic, perfect children and everyone live happily ever after. Only princesses in fairy stories did that, and anyway their stories finished on the wedding day so no one knew if their marriages worked out or not. With social values so different today, family set-ups came in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and if Alice didn’t accept it she could lose her children and that was the last thing she wanted.
    ‘I only want you to be happy, darling,’ Alice said weakly.
    ‘You must get to know the children.’ Laura got up and paced the room. ‘Douglas could bring them here, my flat’s too small and his… well it would be better here, they need to get to know here. Tea’s best, they have so many allergies that a cooked meal could be difficult.’
    Her heart sank, but this is how it was going to be and she must accept it if she wanted to keep her daughter in her life.
    ‘Whatever you think best, the supermarkets are stuffed with more kinds of foods than we had when I was a child, but most of it appears to be poisonous – threatening obesity, cancer, heart problems and all. If you tell me what they’re allergic to, I’ll try and avoid it, though you know I’ll bake most of it myself,’ Alice said.
    Her children and, as far as she could remember, their friends were never plagued with food allergies. She’d read the occasional article about it and it seemed that the lives of today’s children were in constant danger from nuts, eggs, honey and all sorts of food that her generation and Laura’s ate without a care.
    ‘I didn’t know about it before. Douglas’s mother,