“Myrtle?” James’s voice came over the phone. “Visiting is over at the hospital.” He watched as the scene around him changed from the hospital to his parents home. “Where is Rose’s Mother?” he asked cautiously.
“She is in her home,” said Myrtle. “And your brother is in his.”
“Why am I here?” asked James.
“It was that or your brothers home,” said Myrtle. “If you would prefer that, it can be sorted,” she added and hung up.
“She’s upset,” said Mary.
“I don’t know why,” said James senior.
“You heard what Rose’s Mother accused her of,” said James.
“It’s what fairies do,” said James senior.
“And it’s the last thing Myrtle would do,” James replied. “Which is why the accusation hurt her so much.”
“She shouldn’t be so thin skinned,” said James senior.
“You think that she should brush it off, like it was never said or something,” James junior asked, turning to his Father.
“I was expected to forget you, like you were never born,” said Mary.
“It would have been less painful for both of us if you had,” said James senior.
“I can’t believe you just said that,” said Mary with a sob, dashing from the room
“See, you’re crying again,” James senior shouting after his wife. “If you hadn’t turned up,” he said turning to James junior.
“If I hadn’t turned up, she would still be missing a son who disappeared just after birth and Rose would have given birth on the way to the hospital, which, given the fuss that we heard going on in the delivery room, could have been dangerous for Mother and babies,” said James junior. “You could be faced with Mark loosing all of them if Myrtle hadn’t been there with a wand to get them to the hospital quickly.”
“Things would have been different if,” said James senior.
“They would have been, but that isn’t the reality we are living with,” said James junior. “We can’t go back and change what happened then, but we can try and sort out the mess we have made of things today.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” snapped James senior.
“Perhaps you need your hearing checked out,” said James junior. “Because your wife is sobbing her heart out, she thought you understood her loss, now she’s found out that you were just humouring her all these years.”
“It’s no good crying over spilt milk,” muttered James senior.
“Losing a child hardly equates to spilling milk,” James junior replied.
“I lost my child as well,” James senior replied. “Or at least I think I did.”
“How dare you even think that,” Mary shouted at him.
“Look these fairies don’t bother asking permission when they get someone to carry their child,” snapped James senior.
“If I was a fairy child,” said James junior. “Enid would have found the fairy parents, not you.”
“Can you be sure of that?” asked Mary.
“Enid was checking up my family tree to make sure that I wasn’t related to Myrtle,” said James junior. “If you had just carried a fairy baby, she wouldn’t have even bothered finding out your names.”
“So why were we told that you were dead?” asked James senior.
“Some people will do anything for a baby,” said James junior.
“But you ended up in an orphanage,” said Mary.
“Maybe something went wrong and I got dumped,” said James junior. “Anyway, you two need to talk and I need to go home and try to save my marriage.”
“Whys she upset with you?” asked James senior.
“She thought I would defend her when Rose’s Mother was so nasty to her and I stood there stunned,” said James junior. “I didn’t think anyone would say anything like that to her, especially after all she did to make today go smoothly.”
“Ivy, Rose’s Mother’s name is Ivy,” said Mary.
“Myrtle has an Aunty Ivy, vicious cow she is,” said James. “Last time we came here she kidnapped the twins, that’s why we had to leave so suddenly.”
“I think we need to talk to Ivy as well,” said Mary. “What she said was pure prejudice.”
“You don’t think that Myrtle would do such a thing?” asked James.
“If you say she didn’t, then I trust you,” said Mary.
“It’s a shame you don’t trust Myrtle,” said James junior.
“We don’t know her,” said James senior. “And you have to admit it, they do have a reputation for that sort of thing.”
“I am going home to try and save my marriage, if I can,” said James. “I’ll be in touch,” he said ringing Myrtle.
“Please can I come home, we need to talk,” James said when Myrtle answered.
“OK,” said Myrtle. “But I reserve the right to send you to wherever I decide to.”
“Ivy,” said Enid
“Have you spoken to Myrtle yet?” asked Ivy, answering her phone.
“Not the most common of names, Ivy,” said Enid, ignoring her question.
“No, I looked around and only found the one,” said Ivy.
“Lives about 500 miles away and has a daughter called Rose,” said Enid.
“Yes,” said Ivy. “How come you know about her?”
“You’d be amazed,” said Enid. “What is your connection with her?”
“When our Mother chucked me out for being such a nasty daughter,” Ivy replied.
“When she realised you were too much like her,” said Enid.
“That as well,” laughed Ivy. “She decided that she wanted a replacement.”
“This would be this other Ivy?” asked Enid.
“Yes, even reused the name,” said Ivy.
“So she’s our sister,” said Enid.
“Half sister,” said Ivy. “Mummy dearest had taken a fancy to the boyfriend of the girl who she chose to carry Ivy. The boy disappeared off somewhere, I think he died, anyway, Mummy decided to leave the girl to carry their child and told her, in a dream, to call it Ivy.”
“Does Ivy know that she is part fairy?” asked Enid.
“Yes, she thought there was enough fairy in her to enable her to foist any baby she conceived onto someone else, didn’t work out that way, as she found out when Rose was due,” Ivy laughed. “Why are you interested?”
“Her daughter Rose is married to Myrtle’s husband’s twin brother,” said Enid.
“And?” asked Ivy.
“That Ivy gave a load of bile out to Myrtle about fairies and their babies,” Enid replied.
“That wouldn’t go down well,” said Ivy.
“Not when Myrtle had speeded them all to the hospital and probably save the day,” said Enid.
“What do you want me to do about it?” asked Ivy.
“I don’t know, other than stay out of Myrtle’s way,” said Enid. “Thanks’ for the information. I’ll be in touch as soon as I’ve got my head around it and worked out how to break it to Myrtle.”
“Does she need to know?” asked Ivy.
“If I don’t tell her she’ll find out,” said Enid. “Nothing is secret for long, not in our world and not when Myrtle is looking for answers.”
“Good luck,” said Ivy hanging up.
“I’ll need it,” said Enid to herself.
By Janice Nye © 2021
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