‘You couldn’t!’ said Miranda with surprising bitterness. ‘She wouldn’t let you. You weren’t allowed in the house. When you did the shopping, you had to leave it at the doorstep—’
‘She was like that?’ said Mary.
‘Oh, yes,’ said Miranda. ‘That was my mum.’
‘Well, she was old,’ said Ahmed. ‘Some of them find it difficult to change.’
‘Don’t make excuses for her,’ said Miranda. ‘She doesn’t deserve it. You did the shopping, you repaired my computer. I even sneaked you into the house once—remember?—to repair that door.’
‘I did what I could.’
‘For fourteen months, we haven’t had a night out together, not even an hour together…’ Miranda sighed, then looked at Mary. ‘I knew she wouldn’t leave me any money, we watched her savings drain away.’
‘I tried to help, Miranda,’ said Mary. ‘I did my best…’
‘I know, it’s not your fault, Mary. I don’t know whose fault it is! But, you see, in the end there was only one thing left that she could give me.’
‘What?’ asked Mary. She was puzzled.
‘Yesterday afternoon. I finally told her we were going to marry and I said that I wanted her to meet Ahmed, before she—she went. You know, she hadn’t even met Ahmed? I told her I was going to bring him back to the hospice.’
Ahmed shook his head. ‘It wasn’t a good idea.’
‘We argued about it throughout the evening, didn’t we? But I insisted. It was the one thing she could give me—her blessing for our wedding… We argued and then finally Ahmed agreed. It was late, but I thought, well, the hospice allows you to visit any time and she doesn’t really sleep anymore…’
‘It wasn’t a good idea,’ repeated Ahmed.
‘We drove along the wet roads, but they weren’t flooded. And I felt really determined and even—even happy. Because at last I’d get something back from my mum, not money, but something, as she’d accept me for who I am.
‘When I got to the hospice, I could tell straight away that something was wrong, as all the lights were out. But I knew the way to the wards and I took Ahmed along, using my phone as a torch. When we got there, she was awake.’
Miranda stopped and stared up and down the road. The water gurgled between them.