Whispers of Love (32 page)

Lilian arrived a week later. Christabel was shocked by the change in her. She looked so frail and her once smooth face was so drawn and wrinkled that she felt quite sorry for her.

Christabel also felt alarmed at the amount of luggage Lilian had brought with her. Marlene had said they would only be away for a month but Lilian had enough luggage for a permanent stay.

As Bill struggled in with the last of the seven huge suitcases and Marlene brought up the rear with two hat boxes, she wondered not only how Lilian was going to get them into the wardrobe in the bedroom she'd put her in but also when she was going to wear it all.

‘Don't worry, Aunt Chrissy, I know it looks as though Mum has come to stay for ever but it's just the way she is at the moment. She insisted on bringing absolutely everything she possesses; there's still a big box of shoes to be brought in.'

‘I'm not sure there's going to be room for everything in her room,' Christabel protested. ‘Couldn't you take some of it back home again with you, Marlene? Surely it won't come to any harm; you'll be locking the house up and putting the burglar alarm on before you set off and there will be plenty of your stuff left there.'

‘I know, Aunt Chrissy, but it's no good telling Mum all that. The doctor said she has some kind of phobia about her things being stolen and it's all due to shock because of Dad dying.'

‘All this luggage, though, when she's only staying a couple of weeks,' Christabel protested.

‘I know, Aunt Chrissy, and we're eternally grateful, but it might end up being six weeks, by the way. It all depends on how speedily Bill's business deals go and if he can get things wrapped up in a month, then of course we will be on our way home again.'

‘Six weeks! Oh no, Marlene, that is quite impossible,' Christabel gasped. ‘You seem to be forgetting that I have a wedding to plan; my wedding.'

‘No, Aunt Chrissy, we haven't forgotten that, and we'll make every effort to come back from
America in plenty of time. If anything goes wrong and we are delayed, then perhaps you can persuade Mum to go and stay with Kay,' she suggested hopefully.

Lilian took several days to settle in. She didn't like the wallpaper in the guest room and insisted on moving into what had once been Kay's bedroom. The moment all her suitcases had been moved in there she claimed that it was far too cramped.

‘I suppose I'll have to use both the rooms,' she sighed, ‘because there isn't room in either of the wardrobes for all my things.'

‘Perhaps we could change the furniture around and then you could use one of the rooms as a sitting room?' Christabel suggested.

‘A sitting room? Why ever do I need a sitting room upstairs when there's already a perfectly good one downstairs?' Lilian asked in a querulous voice.

‘I thought it would give you the chance to be on your own when you felt tired or if I had friends in and you didn't really want to sit and talk to them,' Christabel told her.

‘What you really mean is that it would be somewhere to send me out of the way when you wanted to entertain your fancy doctor friend,' Lilian retorted tetchily.

* * *

Christabel hadn't expected that having Lilian to stay would be easy, but by the end of the first week she was at screaming pitch. She felt so frustrated that she wondered if she could possibly endure a whole month of her sister's company.

The altercation over wardrobe space and the bedrooms was mild compared to all the other things that Lilian considered to be wrong. She didn't like the food Christabel dished up or the times when she served it. The chairs in the dining room were too hard; the ones in the sitting room too soft. The rooms were draughty, but when Christabel rearranged the armchair so that Lilian was directly in front of the fire, she complained that she was too hot.

The only time when she smiled, or was in any way pleasant, was when Mark visited. Apart from the fact that he refused to discuss her ailments, she thought he was a charming man and did her best to hold his attention the whole time he was there.

Christabel struggled to keep her feeling of resentment under control but when Lilian made no attempt to help in any way but sat talking to Mark while she prepared a meal, served it and then cleared away afterwards, Christabel couldn't help feeling rather hard done by.

It was the last straw, however, when Lilian insisted on accompanying them when Mark made arrangements to view the house in
Formby that they had decided was the one most suitable.

‘You want me to stay home, even though I'd be here all alone?' she questioned in wide-eyed surprise when Christabel told her they would prefer to go on their own. ‘Oh, Christabel, what ever are you thinking of? I'm sure Mark wouldn't want that.'

‘I'm quite sure he would feel it was for the best since it is a very big decision we have to make and the less distraction we have the better,' Christabel told her stiffly as she donned her hat and coat.

‘Supposing I have one of my giddy turns, what ever shall I do?' Lilian asked in a plaintive voice.

‘If you stay sitting down in your chair, then you aren't likely to have a giddy turn,' Christabel told her. She felt so cross that she stabbed the hat pin she was holding so viciously into the side of her hat that it dug into her scalp.

‘If you don't want me passing remarks about the house, I can always stay out in the car,' Lilian suggested. ‘That would be safer than staying here on my own.'

They argued about it for another ten minutes, by which time Lilian was in such an agitated state that Christabel finally gave in and went upstairs to collect her hat and coat for her.

When Mark arrived and she explained the situation he merely shrugged. ‘There's no need
to sit in the car outside, Lilian,' he told her with a smile. ‘Another pair of eyes might be all to the good; who knows, you might spot something that we overlook.'

‘What a sensible man you are, Dr Mark Murray,' she told him with a coy smile.

As they walked outside and Mark held open the rear door for her she hesitated. ‘Oh dear, I forgot to mention it, but I always have to ride in the front passenger seat otherwise I get car sick.' She gave an apologetic smile in her sister's direction. ‘I do hope you don't mind, Christabel,' she said contritely as she stood to one side so that Christabel could be the one to get into the back seat of the car.

Christabel did mind because she didn't believe a word of it. She was sure it was a trumped-up excuse on Lilian's part simply so that she could sit beside Mark. Even so, she decided that it wasn't worth making an issue of it.

Lilian talked to Mark throughout most of their journey in a voice that was so low that, from where she was sitting in the back of the car, Christabel was unable to hear what they said or take any part in the conversation.

Lilian preceded them down the path when they arrived at the house they intended viewing and was rapturous about their choice. Seconds before they reached the front door she appeared to stumble and if Mark hadn't stepped forward quickly to grab her arm, she probably would have fallen.

‘Oh dear, that has shaken me up,' she gasped clinging on to him tightly. ‘I think you'd better allow me to take your arm, Mark, that's if you don't mind.'

‘Of course not. Once we get inside we'll find you a seat so that you can get your breath back,' he promised.

‘Oh no, don't do that,' she pulled a sad face. ‘I very much want to see round the house, Mark, please.'

‘We'll see how you feel when we are inside,' he promised as he rang the doorbell.

‘I'll be quite all right if you will let me hold your arm,' she assured him.

Their tour of the house seemed to be purely for Lilian's benefit, Christabel thought as she trailed behind them. She grew tired of listening to Lilian's comments, her excited coos of approval or the tut-tutting sounds she made to show her disapproval when there was something she didn't like.

She'd intended making notes of what changes they wanted to make but each time she mentioned any of these to Mark, Lilian would butt in and voice her opinion.

‘You mustn't change things simply to please Christabel, you know, Mark,' Lilian told him in a simpering voice. ‘I think your taste is far better than hers and so very much more in keeping with the ambience of this house.'

Christabel could see that although Mark protested that this was not the case, he listened
politely to her comments and she had an uneasy feeling that the house might end up being much more to Lilian's taste than her own. It seemed to Christabel that Lilian did everything in her power to impose her ideas not only on the changes to be made to the house but also on their wedding arrangements.

If there was any sort of discussion Lilian always sided with Mark and because it was so difficult to get him on his own, Christabel constantly found that she never had the opportunity to put forward her own reasons or explain why she felt it was best to do things her way.

She found she was becoming so resentful about what was happening that she wondered if she was going to be able to tolerate Lilian staying with her very much longer. Knowing that Marlene wasn't due home for another ten days, she even thought about asking Kay to have Lilian for a while so that she could have a break. When she phoned Kay, however, she learned that was quite impossible because Kay had problems of her own.

‘Jill has chicken pox, Aunt Christabel,' Kay told her. ‘She's so poorly that there is no way I could have Aunt Lilian here.'

‘Oh, I am sorry to hear about Jill, the poor little dear,' Christabel sympathised. ‘I do hope she is going to be better in time to be my flower girl. The wedding is not all that far off now.'

‘Oh, she'll be better in plenty of time for that, Kay assured her. ‘I'm sorry about not being able to take Aunt Lilian off your hands, but I'm sure you understand that Jill needs so much attention at the moment that I couldn't cope with Aunt Lilian as well.'

‘Of course I understand,' Christabel assured her. ‘Well, it is only about another week before Marlene is due home so I must grin and bear it, I suppose,' she sighed.

Two days later she received a cable from Marlene to say Bill hadn't yet completed his business in America and it would be yet another ten days before they would be home.

Lilian gave a smile of satisfaction when Christabel told her about the delay and said there was nothing she could do about it, but Christabel felt quite frustrated.

The next day when her sister complained of not feeling very well, Christabel commented that it was probably because she had overdone things with all her interfering.

‘Interfering, whatever do you mean?' Lilian stared at her in hurt astonishment.

‘You've done nothing but oppose whatever I want to do ever since you've been here. I never have a minute alone with Mark to discuss things. You're always there putting your point of view forward or agreeing with him when he wants to do something slightly different to what I want,' Christabel pointed out.

‘Oh really? I had no idea you felt like that. All I've been trying to do is help you both,' Lilian insisted. ‘I realise my taste is so much closer to Mark's than yours appears to be, but even so, there is no need for you to be so high-handed about it.'

‘In future, perhaps it would be better if you kept your thoughts and opinions to yourself and stopped interfering,' Christabel told her. ‘Mark will be here any minute so, for once, can you go up to your room and leave us to finalise some of our arrangements on our own? Go and have a rest and you will probably feel all right again after that.'

Tears welled into Lilian's eyes and trickled down her lined cheeks. ‘Why are you being so very unkind to me, Christabel?' she sobbed.

By the time Mark arrived, Lilian was in full flood, sobbing and crying as if her heart would break.

Mark was immediately concerned and wanted to know what was wrong.

‘When I told Christabel that I wasn't feeling very well,' Lilian gulped, ‘she implied that I was being a nuisance and that I had outstayed my welcome.'

‘Really!' Mark looked at her in astonishment.

‘I said nothing of the sort,' Christabel said wearily. ‘I said that I wanted to have some time alone with you and that if she wasn't feeling well, then it would be best if she went up to her room and had a rest, that was all.'

Before he could reply Lilian gave a long, shrill moan and crumpled to the floor.

Christabel rushed to her side to help her up but Lilian seemed to be incapable of standing up. As she tried to speak her face became distorted and she started making strange guttural sounds.

Mark moved Christabel to one side; he felt Lilian's pulse and loosened the tight neck of her dress. His face was grave as he looked up at Christabel.

‘Phone for an ambulance,' he said crisply. ‘Lilian has had a stroke.'

 

Lilian's stroke was a relatively mild one and four days later they brought her home from the hospital. Although her face was still slightly lopsided she was able to speak and, apart from looking extremely frail, she seemed to have suffered no other ill effects.

Christabel had cabled Marlene in America to let her know what had happened. The reply had been that they were extremely concerned and that they would be coming home as soon as possible but had not given any specific date.

Mark maintained that he was unable to prescribe anything for Lilian because she wasn't one of his patients but he did keep a close eye on her progress. He came over each evening after he'd finished surgery to make sure she
was all right. He also advised Christabel about what was the best course of action to take to pacify Lilian whenever she became unduly agitated.

‘Lilian is bound to feel frustrated because she is now so weak that she really does find it difficult to walk or even move and do things for herself,' he explained. ‘Even speaking is probably a tremendous effort.'