Read Never Too Late for Free Online Page B

personality flaw?
    Be honest, Maggie, you never stand up for yourself, never decide anything of any real importance.
    Iain never asks for agreement or permission. He assumes I’ll fall in with his plans. Chloe never waits for permission. She just gets on with it, and woe betide anyone who disagrees with her plans! They’re right to make decisions about the things that affect them. It’s obviously something lacking in me.
    She paused in the hallway, in front of a mirror with a beautifully carved and gilded frame. They had found it in a tiny junk shop hidden down a side alley in Watchet while they were on holiday in Blue Anchor Bay. The children, and the business, were still very young, money had been tight, but Iain had seen how much she loved it and bought it for her anyway. Her reflection showed what she thought of as mediocrity – a middle aged woman of medium height with medium brown hair of medium length and unremarkable grey eyes.
    No wonder I seldom look in mirrors, and people seldom look at me. Thank goodness I didn’t curse Chloe with my looks, my remarkable blue-eyed blonde will o’ the wisp daughter.
    Chloe had phoned earlier letting her know she and James would visit the following Saturday.
    That will be lovely, an unexpected treat. But what on earth had those cryptic comments about Natasha been about?
    Maggie struggled to remember if she had met Natasha but no face came to mind. She couldn’t recall Chloe mentioning her before but lots of things seemed to pass her by when it came to Chloe’s hectic life. What had Natasha and Chloe fallen out about anyway? None of it had made much sense but there was certainly some bad feeling there. Goodness knows what the details were. Maybe she’d find out on Saturday.
    As she went to check that the study windows were locked for the night Maggie supposed that her sigh had been self-pity at her loneliness and lack of direction in her life. Her hopes were proving forlorn that Iain would ease up at work, to start preparing for their retirement by spending more time with her, doing all the things that they had promised each other they would do once the children were grown up. Had he even noticed that she’d been here alone waiting for him all this time? He was now 54, a vigorous, healthy man still, but would she only get a share of his time when the infirmities of old age forced him to slow down? What on earth was she to do with herself in the meantime?
    She had married at 17, straight from college, and knew nothing of the world of work. Iain’s male ego had insisted from the first that he be the breadwinner, and poured scorn on women who left their young children to other people’s care whilst they selfishly pursued their careers. She had the impression he really believed that women shouldn’t have careers, period. Yet how did he reconcile that with his obvious admiration for the career women clients who had been to their house for meetings?
    She’d observed him so many times when hosting business meals for him. If the client was attractive as well as successful she herself might as well have been one of the table decorations for all the attention she got. He’d always been a man of conflicting passions and beliefs, a total enigma at times even to those who knew him well, and, she had to admit, that was part of what she found fascinating about him.
    At least work had never been an issue between them. At first she had her grand new home to try and make comfortable and inviting when they moved in just a month before James’ birth. Then Chloe followed just 18 months later. It was amazing how much time children needed, what with ferrying around to their various clubs and private lessons, help with homework, finding ‘lost’ sports kit, feeding the army of friends they so often brought home, support at school functions...
    Their needs were never ending but there was nothing she wanted to do more than be there for them whenever they called. And now they so rarely called,