Jessica's Life Journey (5) - Mother's Memoirs

I am a nervous wreck.

I haven't had any news from the British contingent in Ukraine for over a week and fear the worst.

The evacuation of the Mariupol steelworks fighters has been announced and I hope that Will is not involved in that exodus.

I wonder when, and if, this plan of mine about a detective agency will ever get off the ground.

I would not be able to imp[ement it on my own.

“Where the hell is he?”, I ask myself, agonising.

As I said I'm not the jealous type but I start imagining implausible scenarios; he has become infatuated with Katja, the sexy press correspondent, and eloped with her.

Come to think of it, I know very little, if at all, about his family background. Only what is has told me.

Does he have any skeletons in his cupboard that he doesn't want to reveal? Has he got a secret wife, illegitimate children or a shady past?

Pull yourself together and start thinking rationally, I tell myself.

This is exactly what Uncle Jeremy says when I ring him to tell him of my emotional turmoil.

To put my mind at rest he says he'll get in touch with his friend Matt at the MOD to find out what the situation is regarding the mission in which Will is taking part.

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An hour later, good news at last. The boys are coming home. They will have to be debriefed by officials to report on the sensitivity of their military assistance.

At bedtime, to calm my nerves and to help me to sleep, I make myself a camomile tea and grab a leather volume from the bedside to read while waiting for Morpheus.

At first glance, it looks like a book from the Folio Society but when I open it I discover that it is a proof copy of a novel or an autobiography.

It is the personal account of the author whose name, or pseudonym, is Francesca della Quercia.

From the name, I assumed it was a historical narrative but it deals with contemporary events.

A lot of the content seems familiar. I remember that I read something similar in my mother's diary and realise that this is actually her memoirs.

I know that Uncle Jeremy burns the midnight oil and will still be up.

I send him a text to confirm my mother's maiden surname and his reply is that it was Querchi but used della Quercia as a professional sobriquet.

He asks me what mischief I am up to and I put him straight on the purpose of my query.

I learn from him that mother was still editing the manuscript but her death intervened and the book never reached the shelves.

I can see that there are annotations on the margins which confirms that it was still work-in-progress.

My instinct tells me that this is too important a document to be left to disappear into obscurity and resolved to carry on the unfinished task so that her opus can see the light of day.

For a moment any thought of a detective agency takes second place.

© Luigi Pagano 2022