Iseult stood at the kitchen window, mug in hand, watching as her sons got to work clearing the mess of branches littering the backyard in the wake of last night's storm. Calum and Patrick were out there as well, together with Calum's girlfriend Aoife and her brother Flynn. Iseult would have joined them, but her arthritis was playing up something chronic, as it always did in damp weather, and her painkillers were the only thing allowing her to stand upright at the moment.
Getting old is a pain in the arse, she thought glumly. But it wasn't her aching joints that bothered her - it was the talk she'd had with her eldest son the night before. They'd both apologised for causing each other hurt, but though Iseult had agreed in principle to chaperone Liam in his first (and hopefully only) meeting with his birth mother, the thought of laying eyes on Kate again was not a pleasant one, and Iseult wished she'd turned down Liam's request. But they'd only just mended their differences, and Iseult loved her son too much to put him through another round of heart-burning. And Patrick had admitted in bed last night that perhaps they'd been a bit smothering when it came to protecting their oldest son. 99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGiAicBiry5
"I hate to say it," Patrick had said, his brow furrowed, "but maybe we shouldn't have tossed Kate's number away. As much as it pains me, the boy's got a right to see the woman who birthed him, even if that woman is a right bitch."
Iseult had agreed. "And we had no right taking his one chance away," she'd said. "I thought we were doing the right thing, but maybe that's why Liam got his sulk on when I told him I wasn't letting him keep Kate's number."
"Iseult?"
Brought back to the present, Iseult turned and smiled when she saw Aoife standing in the doorway. "Finished already, have you?"
The younger woman shook her head. "Got the flashiest, loudest beast of a car in the driveway," she said. "The woman driving it is just as flashy and loud, if not more so."
Iseult swore as she reached for her walking stick. She didn't like showing weakness, but if the visitor was who she thought it was, well, showing weakness be damned. "Lead the way," she told her almost-sister-in-law, mentally steeling herself.
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As it turned out, it was Sophia, and Iseult let out a sigh of relief as she shared a warm embrace with the woman who had once been a bitter enemy. Now, however, they were the best of friends, and Iseult confessed relief once they were sat on the front porch. "I was fearing a visit from Kate or her equally unhinged mother," Iseult said. "I'm glad it was neither; I'd be having to call 999 to retrieve my walking stick from someone's arse."
"Would you want to use it again after that?" Sophia asked dryly.
"Probably not," Iseult admitted. "But I must say, that's a beast of a car you've got going on there."
"Well, sometimes a woman has to show she can keep up with the young ones from time to time," Sophia admitted, smiling as her daughter-in-law admired the Supra. It was, as Aoife had said, quite loud and flashy, but it suited Sophia, Iseult had to admit. 99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi2S5UP576T
"I like it," she said. "How much of a penny did it cost you, then?"
"Too much," Sophia said primly, but with a contented twinkle in her eye, and Iseult laughed. "But I've news for you that won't make you happy," the older woman added, grim now. "I spied none other than the Ladies Kate and Nora Ryan in Belfast, and both looked like harpies. Nora hasn't aged well, and she's got a look about her that's going to be spelling trouble for our shared grandson."99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9FWMBZy1AO
"Oh for God's sake," Iseult said crossly. "I've already had to calm a storm when I refused Liam the chance to contact his mother, and now I have to be calming another storm, it seems." She filled Sophia in on the details of Liam's request, and the older woman sighed.
"I hate to say it," she said, "but you and Patrick came to a smart decision. Deny the boy a chance to see for himself what his birth mother is like, and he'll resent you, for all that he knows about her past!"
"Oh, I know all about that," Iseult admitted. "I don't want to smother him, and God knows I love him as much as if I'd been the one to birth him. I just wanted to protect him, but I pushed too far and almost lost his trust and love. And maybe it will be for the best; he'll see her for who she is and won't want anything to do with her!"
Sophia sighed again. "She'll fight tooth and nail to get him back," she warned her daughter-in-law. "I overheard the pair of them planning to 'drag that bitch through court', and it didn't take much for me to put two and two together."
Iseult swore. "Fuck me," she said. "Is history going to be repeating itself again? I thought we were past all the legal brangles that gave almost every damn generation fifty fits to Sunday!"
"Please God this will be the last one," Sophia said, squeezing Iseult's hand. "And be remembering the boy is my grandson too - I'll do all I can to give those harpies a headache they won't soon forget!"
Iseult hoped so. But she had the nasty feeling that things were going to go south very quickly. She prayed it was her imagination, but there was a nasty, sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that refused to go away.
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