The Darkening Hour Read Online Free Page A

him!’
    ‘No, Dor, but you can’t meet his every need while you’re working.’
    ‘I think I’ve done a pretty bloody good job so far,’ I snapped.
    Anita held her hands up, and Simon gave her a look. Luckily Terence, our elder brother, came over then. He was the Successful One, occasionally metamorphosing to Ruthless when he strayed too far
from the family fold.
    ‘The sooner we get Dad’s house on the market, the better,’ he said. ‘I’ve researched the cost of care homes and we’re talking a grand a week. Looks as though
selling’s the only way of funding it.’
    ‘There’s no need for a care home,’ I said. ‘We can talk about the future when we’re not all ragged with the funeral. It would upset Daddy to mention it tonight. It
would throw him completely. He’s staying with me for the time being.’
    I was Theodora, the Selfless One, doing the right thing and I could hear the relief in their sighs.
    ‘Has anyone checked that the pub has put out the food?’ Anita asked.
    ‘Yes. Terence checked earlier,’ said Simon. ‘Perhaps it’s time we made a move.’
    We gathered in the Mayflower in Rotherhithe, Daddy’s favourite pub, passing round sandwiches and discussing how Mummy would have enjoyed this reunion – something we had failed to
arrange in recent years. We’d all been blinkered by relationship crises, worries about our children. It was only when Mummy fell ill that we noticed how she and Daddy had aged, how it was too
late for the family gatherings our mother had spoken of, the holidays she’d planned.
    How ironic that it had taken her death to bring us all together at last.
    What I didn’t appreciate at that moment was how her death would also smash us apart.
    We shook the hands of her old friends and some distant relatives who had turned out, thanked them for coming. Leo slouched out to the deck for a cigarette.
    Daddy was agitated about the time, as if he had an important appointment to get to.
    ‘Dora,’ he said, ‘it’s high time we were off. We don’t want to be late. It’s frightfully dark.’
    ‘It’s OK.’ I put my hand on his arm. ‘There’s no rush. There’s nothing to get back for.’
    And he gave me that bewildered look, the one that said,
Are you trying to fool me? Or am I losing my mind?
    Anita was battling with her two young children, arguing with Richard about who was the more exhausted. As soon as the whisky had been downed, they’d strap Jack and Jemima in, plug them
into the screens installed in their Audi Estate and be off to their cosy life in Muswell Hill.
    By seven o’clock, as I predicted, they were saying their farewells.
    ‘If we go now, we’ll make it to Ben’s for dinner,’ I overheard Richard mutter. Did he lack any shred of sensitivity, or was this his way of ‘dealing’ with his
mother-in-law’s death?
    Terence and his new partner Ruth were checking they had enough cash for a taxi.
    ‘Dora,’ Terence said, placing his hand on my shoulder, ‘Daddy needs to get home. He’s shattered.’
    ‘I know.’ I tried not to sound irritated. ‘I’m going as soon as I can prise Leo from the bar.’
    He raised his eyebrows, but didn’t say anything.
    My siblings refused to understand Leo. They thought, as Roger did, that I indulged him, that if I spoke to him firmly he’d go out and get himself a job instead of spending all day every
day smoking and gazing at car chases on screens. Right now he was back on the deck with a Red Bull and a Marlboro. It would be a battle to get him away. But I didn’t want to leave without him
– I never knew where he might end up.
    Simon was chatting to his companion. They had snuggled into an alcove and were settled in for the night.
    I helped Daddy into his coat, playing for time, avoiding the confrontation with my son.
    ‘I know,’ I heard Simon chuckle. ‘In your language you say “open” and “closed”. Here we say “dark” and “light”. Yes, even when
we talk about colours. So