'Maybe Lila would like it,' Althea offered. Madeleine drank a fair amount of it, so it must be good wine. "I am perfectly capable of not drinking without the wine being taken away," she insisted almost petulantly. Yes, alright, she tended to drink when notably agitated and that happened a lot regardless, but it wasn't her fault the world was full of morons. The idea that if she wasn't drinking the wine simply did not need to be there had not occurred to her, nor would it ever. Because as far as she was concerned - 'As far as you decided.' - she wasn't pregnant, so it made no difference. To anything. This is just a ridiculous ordeal started by her mother because she was after grandchildren, Jackson was useless and Bethany was too young. And she was susceptible to irrationality and blind panic over certain subjects.
Lila could keep her complaints. That view was Madeleine's. "We've only ever used private doctors," she admitted. She couldn't remember any trips to the hospital except for when Bethany was born. Even then, while her memory was far from perfect she was fairly certain it was a private ward. She couldn't imagine her mother allowing herself to be put in a bed next to just anyone. There was no point in having disposable income if it did nothing for your health. Biting her tongue before she told Lila to fetch the damn thing herself, she brought the phone in from the landing, kicking her heels off as she handed it over. "You don't need to do that. Especially not if you're about to call all of them." Not that she wasn't grateful, because she was. But that wasn't the point. "And I take it you'll be wanting the spare room with the hearth." One of many reasons why she should have sorted her house out earlier. As long as she kept telling herself that room did not require that much work, she'd be fine. Drifting back towards Zaviar, she smoothed out an imaginary crease in his shirt and proceeded to play with them hem of it. 'You need to calm down.' "Stop voicing my anxiety and I'll consider it."