Charity Begins at Home, Chapter 5 – Sunday Lunch

Lorna looked around her kitchen in satisfaction. She had got up early for a Sunday, just to ensure that everything was as good as it could be for Richard’s visit for Sunday lunch.

Vegetables prepared, waiting to parboil the potatoes and parsnips before roasting, beef joint out of the fridge and seasoned, ready to go into a hot oven to seal, apple pie made and ready to go into the oven. All she had to do now was to make the batter mix at the last minute, so it was time for a quick shower and tidy up the rest of the house.

She quickly lit the fire in the sitting room; it was another cold and stormy day and a real fire made all the difference. As she was placing the fireguard around the fire, there was a heavy knocking at the front door. “Who on earth could this be?”. She checked her watch – 10.30, far too early for Richard. Lorna opened the front door, to be confronted with the vision of her younger sister, Karen, looking like a drowned rat and carrying a large suitcase.

“I’ve left him, he’s a pig, and I’m going to stay with you until he begs me to come home”, was Karen’s opening statement. “Come in”, said Lorna grudgingly. This had been a regular occurrence some years back, as Karen’s husband, Bob, was a gambler and serial womaniser, and Karen left him from time to time then went back to him when he ran out of baked beans or underwear and phoned her to ask where they were! For the past two years, things seemed to have improved, or Karen had decided to put up with it, but now it seemed that things had come to a head again. “What has he done/not done this time?”, Lorna asked. “He’s been seeing this blonde bimbo at the club and now he tells me she’s pregnant and he’s going to stick by her”.

Lorna sighed, “Well, you’d better take your case upstairs, get dried off and sit in front of the fire with a coffee, while we decide what we’re going to do about this”. Karen did as she was told and Lorna sat down at the kitchen table, head in hands. Why was it that her family only turned to her when they were in trouble or needed money? It would nice to have a visit just for the sake of seeing her and having a laugh. Was she too soft with them? No, as she often told them exactly what she thought and they stormed off back home, vowing never to visit her again. This time was serious, though, and something had to be done. The problem was that Karen was the baby of the family, 10 years younger than Lorna, and had always been “babied” by everyone, so had never learned to take care of herself.

Karen came back downstairs and settled in the most comfortable chair in front of the fire, waiting for her coffee to be made. Once she had her coffee, she asked for some biscuits, as she’d had no breakfast in her rush to get away from Sheffield. Biscuit barrel duly provided, she sat there dunking her biscuits and staring into the fire. Lorna was quiet, wondering whether or not to phone Richard and put him off lunch today – “No, I’m not going to do that, I’ll give him the choice”, she thought.

She went into the kitchen and phoned him – bother, voicemail – “Hello, Richard, just to let you know that my sister has turned up unexpectedly – family crisis – so there will be three of us for lunch. If you want to leave it and come over another day, I will quite understand, but would love you to come today – roast beef and all the trimmings, plus apple pie and custard for pudding! The dinner will be ready at 1pm, so please let me know whether or not you will coming at 12.30 as arranged.”.

Karen came into the kitchen, her interest piqued by the phone call she had overheard. “What’s this, you having a man over for lunch? Who is he? Why don’t we know about him? All men are bastards! Why do you want a man at your time of life, it’s disgusting!! They only want one thing and you’re too old for that!”.

Lorna looked at her in absolute amazement, “Just because you’re married to a weak man doesn’t mean that all men are the same, you know. And I am entitled to have any friends I want without asking or telling any of the family; I have my own life and am usually left alone to get on with it, so I don’t appreciate your comments, young lady! My relationship with Richard is none of your business but I will tell you that he is newly widowed and just looking for friendship to help him come to terms with it.”

Karen went back into the sitting room in high dudgeon and carried on with the coffee and biscuits, sulking at being told off. Lorna felt like putting on her raincoat and going out for a long walk to get rid of her temper, but took a deep breath and put the beef joint into the hot oven, otherwise dinner was going to be late.

Richard stepped out of the shower and checked the time – 11.00, plenty of time to get ready and drive the short distance to Lorna’s cottage. He’d picked up a good bottle of red wine when he was in York during the week; the salesman had assured him that it was rich and smooth and would go beautifully with roast beef or lamb. He certainly hoped so, as it had cost more than he would usually pay for a bottle of wine. Who was he trying to impress?! She might not even notice that it was a good wine, but somehow he knew that Lorna knew and appreciated her wines. Should he have told her that he had got it, as it would need to breathe before they drank it and she might have opened one of her own.

He picked up his mobile and noticed that there was a message waiting for him. His initial response on hearing Lorna’s message was to postpone the lunch, but he had nothing in the house and was really looking forward to some home cooking after his amateur attempts. If her sister was anything like Lorna, then it would be an interesting luncheon. He called her number, “Lorna, it’s Richard, just to let you know that I shall be with you at 12.30 as planned and am bringing over a bottle of red wine which will need to be opened as soon as I get there, if that’s OK with you.” Lorna sighed with relief and assured him that she would be ready with the corkscrew as soon as he arrived. “My sister has some difficulties but she should have calmed down a bit by the time you arrive. We can have lunch and then perhaps go for a walk if the weather isn’t too bad.”

Unfortunately, Karen’s temper seemed to get worse as she sat by the fire ranting about Bob and the other woman, even with Lorna giving her all of the sympathy she could whilst sorting out the cooking, laying the table and plying Karen with coffee. By the time the front door bell rang, Lorna was all for putting on her coat and dragging Richard down to the local pub for lunch. She pinned a welcoming smile on her face as she opened the door to him and ushered him into the hall. “I’m so sorry about this, but she turned up unexpectedly and is in a bit of a state, so I didn’t feel that I could turn her away.”

Richard assured her that it was fine and went into the sitting room to be introduced to a still sulky Karen. He sat opposite her and attempted to make small talk to cover the embarrassingly hostile silence after Lorna’s introduction but his social skills were not good enough to counteract Karen’s rudeness. He got up and went into the kitchen with Lorna. “It’s very difficult, would you like me to go?”, he asked. “No, if anyone is going, it will be Karen, up to her room. She’s behaving like a spoilt child so she will be treated like one!” Lorna thought longingly of the local pub, with its huge open log fire and beautifully cooked Sunday lunch, with only Richard for company. Unknown to her, Richard was having the same thoughts!

Luncheon was served on time at 1 p.m. and Karen joined them, although still unwilling to be sociable. The beef was tender and just pink, the roast potatoes crisp on the outside, fluffy in the centre, the Yorkshire pudding was delicious, as were the accompanying vegetables, and the gravy was a delight of meat juices and red wine (the one Lorna had opened earlier). Richard and Lorna chatted easily as they ate, Karen shovelled in her food as if it was her last meal and they all enjoyed the bottle of Hermitage which Richard has bought in York, although Richard was upset to notice that Karen was drinking more than her share of it, treating it as if it were Ribena.

After the roast beef, Karen pushed back her chair and announced that she was going to bed, then disappeared. Richard and Lorna cleared the table and Richard stacked the dishes while Lorna made the custard and served up the apple pie. Nothing was said about Karen’s rudeness and they pretended she wasn’t even there.

Lunch over and washing up done, they settled in front of the fire with coffee and the Sunday papers, chatted and dozed intermittently, Classic FM on quietly in the background. “This is more like it”, thought Richard happily. Lorna looked at him through half-closed eyes – she liked seeing him there, looking so comfortable. She knew that it was early days for him but she liked to think that there might be a future for them together, in one form or another; she would leave it up to him to decide what that form would be.

The sound of the front door slamming at 5 p.m. woke them both up. Lorna jumped up to see Karen storming away from the house, suitcase in hand. Luckily for Karen, the rain had just stopped, but Lorna still idly toyed with the idea of getting the car and picking her up to take her to the station. It was only a passing thought, however, and she closed the curtains and turned back to the cosy sitting room and Richard. “How about a nice cup of tea and some home-made scones?”, she asked brightly.

Written by Laura Wickham

Chapter 6