2 January 2014 (1st)

Angela meets Sioned in the street, and is told that Sioned does not want the deception dragging on;  then Eileen arrives, so Angela invites her in to talk.   Eileen does not wants to start the year on bad terms;  Angela suggests that this would be the ideal time to tell Sioned the truth, but Eileen prevaricates again, despite Angela’s suggestion that she start the year with a clean slate, as she cannot put it off forever.   Sioned has a call from Eileen, inviting her over for lunch.   

When Eileen arrives at the Deri, she helps Ed with a crossword clue, then goes upstairs.   Sioned says that she adores Courtney, and that her mother is nice too, when she is given a chance.   As they enjoy the carrot and ginger soup, with a hint of orange, Sioned tries to provoke her mother to admit the truth,  saying that Ed has picked himself up after what happened with Hywel;  he could have made excuses, blaming the steroids, but accepted the blame, took responsibility and did not hide anything from her.   When this hint fails to get a response from Eileen, Sioned plainly states, “I know about Angela.   I know she’s your daughter!”

“I know about Angela.   I know she’s your daughter!”

Eileen guesses that Angela told her, and thought something was wrong.   She explains to Sioned that she was 16, only a little older than Courtney.   Tudur was a friend of the family, and they used to walk home from chapel together.   She was infatuated, and became pregnant, to which her mother’s response was, “It’s too late to get rid of the baby now, so we shall have to hide it.”   As soon as she was born, the baby was taken away without a word being said to Eileen, and never mentioned again.   The child was supposed to have been brought up by “respectable” people, although she knows this was not the case from what Angela told her.

She tells Sioned she was afraid this revelation would cause a rift between them, but Sioned is angry that she was kept in the dark for so long.   Sioned pours out her anguish that it was unbearable that after John’s death, she was never good enough and could do nothing right.   If she had been told in her teens, she would have understood.   “How many times have I opened my heart to you, and said that I’d treated you badly?   You said I’m not fit to be your daughter.   You let me think I was a failure and you were perfect!   You never forgave me for John’s death – he should have lived, not me!   All my life has ever been is one disappointment after another!”

Sioned shuts herself in her bedroom, and tells Eileen, “Go away;  I want you to go – there’s nothing else to say.   You betrayed me, and I don’t know if I can forgive you, ever!”   

She breaks down in tears.