Page 14 of The Inn on Bluebell Lane
“Boys!” she said again, louder this time, her voice rising to a shout, knowing she should handle this better, but in the moment unable to. “Boys, boys, this won’t do!”
Just then, Ellie came into the room, so, unfortunately, it was Gwen’s near-screech, not Josh’s, that she heard. Her eyes narrowed and Gwen suppressed a weary groan. Of course, Ellie was going to think the worst of her now, that she was being cross and unreasonable toward her children behaving like, well, children.
“What’s going on?” Ellie asked in a voice that sounded rather dangerously neutral. “Ben? Josh?” Her narrowed gaze swung to Gwen. “Gwen?”
“I don’t know,” Gwen replied wearily. “Something…” She gestured to the boys, unable to explain, or maybe simply too tired. “They were bickering about something. I don’t know what.”
The kettle switched off then, and Gwen moved gratefully to make herself a cup of tea, her back to the boys and Ellie, but she felt her daughter-in-law’s frustration and impatience, and she suspected it was directed primarily at her.
“Ben, why don’t you tell me what’s going on?” Ellie asked in that same neutral voice.
Briefly, Gwen closed her eyes. She wanted to go lie down in a dark room, preferably somewhere very quiet, but now Matthew had started up what sounded like a circular saw and Josh had, inexplicably and with no further provocation, burst into noisy tears.
“Ben.” Ellie put her arm around her younger son as Gwen turned around, clutching her cup of tea to her. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything! You always blame me, just because Josh is such a baby—”
“I’m not!”
“I don’t,” Ellie said, sounding exasperated. “But why is Josh crying?”
Ben blew out a breath, looking annoyed. “How should I know?”
“Ben—”
“It was something about a card.” Gwen blurted the words, mainly to get everyone to stop shouting. Her head was beginning to ache abominably. “Josh wanted some sort of card back.”
This earned her a sulky, resentful look from her older grandson, and, belatedly, Gwen realized she’d essentially become a telltale. Oh, this was all so difficult.
“Ben?” Ellie asked quietly. “Did you take his card?”
In reply, Ben flung the card at his brother, so it fluttered to the ground, while Josh whimpered and sniffed, scrambling onto his knees to clutch at the precious paper.
“It’s my best one,” he said, fighting more tears, and Ben shook his head and rolled his eyes, clearly dismissive of the cards, whatever they were.
“You’re such a crybaby,” he sneered, and Josh let out another whimper.
“That’s enough, Ben,” Ellie said severely, her voice close to snapping. “You’re off electronics until tomorrow.”
“What? That’s not fair—”
Ellie straightened, giving her son a level look, while Josh half-hid behind her and Gwen looked on wearily. “You heard me.”
Gwen thought she sounded rather tired. Perhaps it was just jet lag… or something more? She wished she could think of some way to help, but she always felt as if she were more of a hindrance to Ellie than anything else.
Ben scowled and stomped out of the kitchen, slamming the door behind him.
Goodness. She took a much-needed sip of tea.
“Josh, go on, now,” Ellie said more gently. “Put your Pokémon cards away and stay away from Ben for a bit. He’s not in a good mood, as you can see. Next time, you don’t need to get so upset, all right? Just ask for it back—”
“I did,” Josh replied, sounding aggrieved, and Ellie sighed.
“All right, then come and get me instead. Okay?” She smiled at him, giving his shoulder a pat, before, still clutching his card, Josh slipped out of the kitchen. The silence that followed, with just Ellie and Gwen in the room, didn’t feel as peaceful as she might have hoped. Gwen tried to think of something to say, but after the events of the day, her mind felt completely blank.
Ellie heaved a large, gusty sigh. “I’m sorry about that. My children aren’t usually quite this badly behaved.”
“It’s a new situation,” Gwen murmured. Her head was really pounding now, and she wanted only to lie down. “They’re bound to find it difficult, especially at first.”