Page 22 of Trust in Truth
“Sorry, Kat. You know I’d be there with you if I could. You have Anna. You can have a cosy Christmas, just the two of you.”
Katherine cried some more, raiding the tissue box in front of her to mop up.
“What have I said now?”
“We argued last night. She accused me of keeping the seriousness of Harry’s condition from her.”
“Well, you kind of did that but you did it….”
“For the right reason. I know, and we’ve been here before. I apologised, then she shrugged me off and went to bed without dinner. She couldn’t even stand to eat with me.”
“Where is she now?”
“At the hospital.” Katherine opened her dressing gown and wafted it to cool herself.
“In this weather? I don’t know about Nunswick, but it’s snowing heavily here. It’s all over the news about it being a white Christmas.”
Katherine looked out of the window and burst into tears again. The one thing she couldn’t control to make it a perfect Christmas was the snow, yet it was the only thing that had worked out.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know why I feel so emotional at the moment.”
“It’s all right to get emotional occasionally; Christmas hasn’t turned out how you expected.”
Katherine felt that to be true.
“I was so looking forward to it after last year alone.”
“You said it was fine if I went skiing,” Rebecca replied indignantly.
“I lied; it wasn't. I was miserable. All I wanted was for this Christmas to be perfect, with everyone I love around me.”
“Stop, you’re going to make me cry in a minute. Did you fight about Margaret again?”
“She’s fixated, Becks.” Katherine sniffed. “She accused Margaret of shoving her breasts in my face.”
“Was she? Did you do what I said and look at it from Anna’s angle?”
Katherine thought for a moment and shook her head. “I don’t know, maybe she was. Have I got this all wrong?”
“I don’t know, but you need to calmly talk it through with Anna when she returns and listen to her. Whether or not Margaret is hitting on you is beside the point. Anna thinks she is, so you’re going to have to deal with it or you’ll seem like you’re just belittling her thoughts. If you haven’t already, go and put your face on and then have a glass of champers to calm yourself down. Perhaps get the turkey in the oven if you haven’t already. Whoops, sorry, the thought of food has set me off. I’ll call you later.”
As she hung up, Katherine felt Christmas was barely worth bothering with. A bath brought no improvement to her mood. Preparing lunch provided some distraction, especially with the assistance of an insistent Virginia. She sat on the island and mewed instructions at Katherine.
“Yes, I know, Virginia.” She didn’t know at all. She never knew what Virginia was mewing at her, but her reply always seemed to quieten the cat. She’d seen Helena do it so many times in the past. They would hold what appeared to be private conversations between them, more often when Helena was cooking. They joked that Virginia had been a famous chef in a past life and was simply giving instructions on how best to compile a dish.
Virginia had been closer to Helena than herself and felt her absence immediately. She would search the house for her, mewing in hope of a response. Katherine would find her sleeping in places where Helena’s scent was strongest, like her side of the bed or her favourite chair.
Things came to a head during Katherine’s darkest days following Helena’s death when she could no longer stand the sound of the cat reminding her that Helena was gone — she locked Virginia out of the house. It was something she came to regret almost immediately when she realised Virginia was all she had left of Helena. She spent two days searching for her to no avail and had almost given up ever seeing her again when she heard the cat flap click one morning. The relief she had felt was overwhelming, it was as if part of Helena had returned.
Virginia stopped mewing for Helena, and with some extra attention from Katherine, the cat eventually returned to her old self. Where she would sit on Helena’s lap in the evening, she would sit on Katherine’s. They had come to an understanding that although they both missed Helena, they needed each other to get through it.
Katherine felt a twinge of sadness at Helena’s absence and wiped a tear from her eye. She tickled Virginia under the chin and then poured herself a glass of champagne. She usually had a rule of no champagne before twelve; today was different, she needed one now.
The sound of gravel crunching caught her attention, and she raced to the door, hoping to see that Anna had returned. She wasn’t expecting anyone and was hardly in the mood to entertain, so she was particularly deflated upon opening the door to discover Margaret standing on her front step.
“Merry Christmas!” Margaret exclaimed.
“Margaret, what an unexpected pleasure,” Katherine replied monotonically. “Merry Christmas.”
