Whispers of Love (33 page)

‘She does seem to be improving and is a little stronger every day,' Christabel told him.

‘Well, that is good. She has been very fortunate in that she isn't left paralysed in any way; in fact, she hasn't lost the use of any of her limbs. She still needs careful nursing, of course, but I know you can cope with that all right.'

‘It looks as though I will have to do so,' Christabel agreed, ‘but it does interfere with all our wedding plans.'

‘I think it would be best if we left those exactly as they stand until Lilian is either a lot better or until she has gone home, darling,' he suggested.

‘If I do that it doesn't leave us much time to get everything done,' she warned.

‘No, but at the moment you have too much on your mind and you can't do everything. Looking after Lilian is going to be a full-time job for the next week or so. Let's hope that by then Marlene will be back from America and can take her home.'

‘There are so many things to do,' Christabel persisted. ‘Now that we've decided on the house there is the decorating to organise as well as furniture to choose and buy.'

‘Yes, but it will be quicker and less stressful for you if we do that on our own. I'll attend to all the legal formalities in connection with the purchase of the house and I can also arrange for the decorators to do whatever you want done. As for the rest, we'll attend to that together as soon as possible. If the house isn't ready in time, then we will have to camp out at a hotel or something.'

‘Even if you manage to take care of most of the things to do with the house, I still have my wedding outfit to buy and I haven't decided what Jill is going to wear,' Christabel sighed.

‘If Jill has chicken pox, she's in no state to go shopping at the moment so delaying everything by a week or two is all to the good,' Mark pointed out.

‘I suppose you're right. If necessary, Kay can choose something suitable,' Christabel conceded. ‘I was looking forward to taking her shopping, though,' she added wistfully.

‘There you are, then. Kay will do that and so all you have to do is make sure that Lilian is better in time for the wedding,' Mark consoled her as he took her in his arms for a farewell embrace before he left.

Christabel smiled but said nothing. In some
ways she hoped that Lilian wouldn't be well enough to attend their wedding because she was sure she'd say or do something to spoil everything.

Christabel had never expected Lilian to be a good patient but she was astounded at just how difficult her sister managed to be over the next couple of weeks.

For the first three days she refused even to attempt to get out of bed and expected Christabel to be in constant attendance. Nothing pleased her. She demanded drinks then changed her mind or pulled a face and said there was something wrong with them. She insisted on special foods and then merely picked at whatever Christabel had prepared for her or said it was not what she'd asked for.

She complained that the pillows were lumpy, the under-sheet was creased and uncomfortable to lie on, the bedding was too heavy and then, when Christabel removed the thick woven counterpane, she complained about being cold.

Christabel found that even when she went to bed at night sleep eluded her because she was constantly hearing Lilian's plaintive voice calling for a drink or bemoaning the fact that she wasn't comfortable and couldn't sleep.

There had been no need for Mark to tell her not to try and do anything more about the
wedding arrangements while Lilian was in her care, Christabel thought; she was far too tired and stressed out to think clearly enough anyway.

Some nights she felt so utterly exhausted that she wished she was the one who was being looked after. All the many things that still remained to be done and which she ought to be getting on with went round and round in her head in a never-ending loop. When she finally managed to drift off to sleep it was only to be plunged into a world fraught with problems and she would waken with her heart pounding and her head throbbing.

When she told Mark he was most concerned and told her she was probably suffering from stress and advised her to see her own doctor and ask for some medication.

‘Wouldn't it be quicker if you prescribed something for me?' she suggested.

‘It wouldn't be ethical for me to do that,' he pointed out. ‘I can tell you what you can buy from the chemist's, but patent medicines are not usually anywhere near as effective as something that has been prescribed by a doctor.'

‘I'll settle for something from the chemist's,' she told him. ‘After all, I only need something to calm me down until Marlene arrives back from America and can take Lilian home. I'm hoping that it won't be more than another week now at the most or it is going to stop me from going to Neil's wedding.'

‘Well, that's not for almost a fortnight. They'll be away for two weeks afterwards, of course, and then, a fortnight after they get back, it will be our big day.'

The next ten days dragged by and there was still no news from Marlene. Although Lilian's health seemed to improve each day, her demands on Christabel's time remained as great as ever. She refused to attempt anything for herself. She even insisted on Christabel helping her from the bed to the armchair that was beside it.

‘I feel far too shaky to move on my own and I feel dizzy at the very thought of attempting to come downstairs,' she said, shuddering.

‘You'll have to come downstairs when Marlene arrives to take you home,' Christabel pointed out as she wrapped a dressing gown round her sister's shoulders and put slippers on her feet.

‘Yes, but Bill will be with her and perhaps he can carry me down,' Lilian murmured.

‘Carry you? I wouldn't think for one moment that would be necessary,' Christabel told her. ‘If you attempted to do a little more each day instead of sitting in an armchair all the time then, by the time Marlene comes home, you'd probably be back to normal.'

‘You really are very hard on me, Christabel! I'm sure you have no conception of how ill I've been or understand how weak and shaky I feel,' Lilian sighed as she rearranged the blanket Christabel had placed over her knees.

‘Then why don't you ask Mark what he thinks? I'm sure he will agree with me that unless you pull yourself together and start making some effort you will never get back to normal.'

‘You have only to look at my face to see how unlikely it is that I will ever be normal again,' Lilian moaned. She picked up the hand mirror from the table at her side and peered into it. ‘Look at me, I'm a complete freak! My mouth is twisted and one of my eyelids droops. Even one side of my face is different to the other; surely even you can see that.'

‘Of course I can, and I'm very sorry about it, but that will probably correct itself, given time. It is unfortunate, but it doesn't mean that you have to stay confined to your bedroom, now does it?'

‘No, I could go and join a freak show and let people pay tuppence a time to come and stare at me,' her sister retorted bitterly.

‘Now you are being quite silly, Lilian,' Christabel told her as she plumped up the pillows and straightened Lilian's bed so that it would be ready for her to get back into whenever she wanted.

‘Oh, I know you are trying to chivvy me up because you want to get rid of me,' Lilian sighed.

‘Nonsense! I'm only trying to help you to get back on your feet again before Marlene comes home. Think how distressed she is going to be if she finds you in this state.'

‘If I am back to normal then she will never
know how ill I've been, will she?' Lilian responded smugly.

 

Marlene arrived unannounced early one afternoon and as Christabel had expected she was extremely distressed by the state her mother was in. Christabel tactfully left them together, saying she would make some tea, leaving Lilian to enlighten Marlene about the dreadful ordeal she'd been through.

‘Aunt Christabel, I had no idea that Mum was so ill,' Marlene told her. ‘How can I ever thank you for all you have done and the wonderful way you've looked after her.'

‘I hope you've come to take me home,' Lilian stated as she stirred the cup of tea Christabel had placed on the table at her side. ‘I'm sick to death of hearing Christabel saying how having to look after me is stopping her from getting on with her wedding plans.'

‘Oh, heavens, of course. Your wedding day is not far off now, is it?' Marlene gasped. ‘I'd almost forgotten about that. Is there very much you still have to arrange?'

‘Almost everything. I've had to leave Mark to deal with the house we're buying. I've told him what I want doing before we move in, and he has said that the decorators are getting on with it but I haven't had a chance to go and see for myself.'

‘Is everything else in hand, Aunt Chrissy?' Marlene frowned as she sipped her tea.

‘No, not really. I haven't been able to shop for my wedding outfit yet or decide what little Jill is going to wear as my flower girl.'

‘Flower girl! I never heard of such nonsense when you are getting married in a register office,' Lilian commented.

‘Jill is looking forward to it,' Christabel said mildly. ‘She's had chicken pox so I haven't seen her for quite some time and I expect she's grown. That's why I left it until the last minute to decide what she should wear.'

‘It's a wonder you didn't decide to have page-boys as well and then Marlene's two could have joined in,' Lilian commented.

‘I don't think they would be very happy about doing something like that,' Marlene chuckled. ‘I can't see either of them taking kindly to dressing up in velvet suits.'

Lilian attempted to put her cup and saucer back on the table but managed to place it so near the edge that as she tipped it the spoon fell to the floor with a clatter.

Christabel was so used to this happening that she simply ignored it but Lilian burst into tears. ‘I'm so helpless,' she wailed as Marlene bent and picked up the spoon and moved the cup and saucer into a safer position.

‘Come on, Mum. It's not all that bad,' Marlene said, trying to comfort her. ‘We all drop a spoon now and again.'

‘I do it all the time, I can't seem to manage to lift anything or hold anything. I even drop
my food down the front of my dress when I am trying to eat and I know it makes Christabel cross. She doesn't say anything but I can tell by the look on her face.'

‘I can see that Aunt Christabel has had a lot to put up with,' Marlene commented dryly.

‘I'm the one who has had to put up with things,' Lilian protested. ‘I hope you have come to take me home. Where are Bill and the children? Has he taken them off somewhere for an hour or so because he doesn't want to be sitting here with a sick old lady?'

‘No, Mum, Bill is still in America because he still hasn't completed his business deals over there.'

‘Where are the children, then?'

‘They're staying with Bill's mother for a few more days and then they'll come back to London with him. I came on ahead so that I could collect you and take you home.'

‘I'm not sure that I feel well enough to travel all that way, not if you are doing the driving,' Lilian told her ungratefully.

‘I rather thought you might say that, so I've arranged for a taxi,' Marlene told her. She looked at her watch. ‘It will be here in a little over an hour so we'd better start getting your things together.'

‘A taxi, all the way from Liverpool to London, whatever has got into you?' Lilian asked in horror.

‘It was that or the train, and from what I had
heard you weren't well enough for the train and now that I've seen you, I'm quite sure you would prefer to be in a taxi.'

‘It's a ridiculous expense, though, Marlene. I hope you're not expecting me to pay for it,' Lilian grumbled.

‘It will cost even more if we keep the taxi waiting so shall we start getting your things together?'

The next hour was spent collecting up Lilian's clothes and all her belongings and packing them into her numerous suitcases ready for going home.

When they were finally all packed and ready Lilian started protesting that she wasn't sure she was going to be able to stand such a long car journey after all.

‘You'll find it much more comfortable than travelling by train,' Marlene reminded her.

‘Yes, and I might find it even better if I stayed on here for another few weeks. By then I'd be feeling a great deal stronger and I could come home with you after Mark and Christabel's wedding,' Lilian suggested.

‘That's quite a long time away,' Marlene pointed out, ‘and Aunt Chrissy has a great deal to do before then. I think Aunt Chrissy said that Mark's son Neil was getting married before them and she will want to attend his wedding; I think she said it was in Scotland.'

‘I know that, but I am so much better that from now on she wouldn't need to do anything
like as much for me. She could stop fussing over me and get on with preparing whatever she feels is necessary for this wedding of hers. Bill will be coming back from America in time to attend that, won't he?'

‘We hope so,' Marlene told her.

‘If he doesn't, then how are we going to come back up here again?' Lilian asked.

‘By train, I suppose; we'll make all those decisions when the time comes.'

‘You could come on the train, but I'm not sure if I could cope with it. All that pushing and shoving at the station. I do hate all the crowds and noise and everything,' Lilian protested, shaking her head from side to side. ‘I don't think you realise how this stroke has taken it out of me, Marlene. I really do think it might be best if I stay right here where I am,' she persisted.

Christabel said nothing, even though she was in agreement with Lilian that it was going to be an arduous journey whatever form of travel she used. The thought of Lilian staying on any longer depressed her, so she left it to Marlene to persuade her that it was a good idea to go home with her now.