If You Were the Only Girl, page 19
Lucy was sure that she saw the ghost of a smile tug at old Lady Heatherington’s mouth, but then it was gone in an instant and she lowered the paperweight as she said, ‘So I’ve frightened off the nurses, have I?’
‘You have done more than frighten them,’ Lucy said. ‘You have injured Nurse Townsend, and she might need stitches for the cut the pepper pot made.’
‘Serves her right.’
‘No, it doesn’t,’ Lucy countered. ‘Whatever she did, that was no way to behave. You could have killed her and you could have done the same to Clara – Mrs O’Leary – who was only trying to help you.’
The old lady sank back on to the pillows and her eyes appeared as hard as steel as she said, ‘Don’t I frighten you, too?’
‘I don’t frighten easily, madam,’ Lucy said. ‘And I think we understand each other now.’ She hauled the old lady into a more upright position and put the tray on a little table that went over her knees.
‘I often don’t have much appetite,’ she said peevishly.
She didn’t need to tell Lucy that because however tasty the meal, there was always a fair bit sent back to the kitchen. But feeling sorry for the old lady was, Lucy was sure, no way to handle it. ‘Well, you wouldn’t get that hungry, would you, because you’re not using much energy,’ she said. ‘Now, I belong to the school that believes a little of what you fancy does you good and so you eat what you want and leave the rest.’
The old lady definitely did smile this time, the skin stretched across her face as she said, ‘I have seen you collecting trays, but what’s your name?’
‘Lucy Cassidy, my lady.’
‘From Ireland?’
‘Yes, my lady.’
‘Papist, I suppose.’
‘Yes, my lady.’
‘Never could abide Papists.’
‘Can’t help that, my lady,’ Lucy said firmly. ‘And I may as well tell you here and now that I will not change my religion to please you or anyone else.’
The old lady gave a very unaccustomed chuckle. ‘Well, Lucy Cassidy, you certainly know your own mind,’ she said. ‘And it just might be that you and I could get on very well.’
‘Yes, my lady,’ Lucy said. ‘You could be right there.’
Lady Heatherington had taken to Lucy, and it was just as well because no one else wanted to take on the job of caring for the old lady, so Lucy was spending most of her time in her bedroom. Her time off was severely curtailed and so was Clodagh’s because she had extra work to do. Lucy felt bad about that because they had been given extra time off and had enrolled in the dance classes, and now it had been snatched away.
Lucy’s life seemed to be turned on its head and she wasn’t that pleased. She missed the company of the others, for she ate with the older Lady Heatherington at her insistence. She missed the long chats she used to have with Clodagh at night in their attic room because Clara said the old lady might need something in the night so Lucy slept in the room the night nurse had occupied. In fact, the only thing she was pleased about was that Clodagh was appointed to serve tea to Lady Ponsomby and her dreadful daughter. Clodagh found her as unpleasant as Lucy had, and she told Lucy so as she was loading the tray for afternoon tea that she was sharing with the old lady. ‘Glad it wasn’t just me she took against,’ Lucy said.
‘No, I think it’s the whole flipping world,’ Clodagh said. ‘And her daughter is plain, but she would look a whole lot better if she was just to smile. Everyone looks better then, but she has that horrible pout fixed on her face and she never says please or thank you. Mind you, her mother doesn’t either. Glad I don’t work in their house, ’cos I don’t think I would have lasted long.’
‘No one does,’ Lucy said. ‘Cook said they can’t keep staff. And talking of that, I’d better get this upstairs quick or Madam will go for me.’
‘Does she go for you?’
‘Not so often now,’ Lucy said. ‘She doesn’t mean half of what she says anyway, and mostly it’s like water off a duck’s back to me. She did scratch me badly the other day, though, and screamed abuse at me, and I just walked out. She yelled blue murder but I didn’t go back till she stopped.’
Clodagh nodded. ‘We heard her. Clara was all for going up but Cook advised her not to.’
‘I’m glad she didn’t interfere,’ Lucy said. ‘I went into old Lady Heatherington later, when she’d stopped yelling and I really let her have it.’
‘What did she say?’
‘Said she’d have me dismissed and I told her to go ahead, that she’d be doing me a favour. I said that I would get a good reference from Lord Heatherington and from Cook, and would soon get another job, and this time I would take care that it didn’t involve looking after a bad-tempered old lady who thinks it’s her right to bawl and slap people who are trying to help her.’
Clodagh’s mouth dropped open. ‘You didn’t?’
‘Oh, yes, I did,’ Lucy said with a wry smile. ‘I surprised myself, but the old lady was staggered because I don’t think that anyone has ever spoken to her like that before.’
‘No, I’d say not.’
‘Well, maybe it should have been done because she has been much better behaved since, and though I do understand how frustrated she must get, I told her it was unacceptable to lash out at people and scream at them the way she does at times.’ She gave a slight chuckle as she went on, ‘I told her to let me know when she felt like screaming and we could do it together.’
‘Oh, I’d like to see that,’ Clodagh said with a laugh. ‘And has she?’
Lucy shook her head. ‘No, not yet. Time does drag for her, though. I do understand that and I had her bed moved across to the window so at least she can look out, and I brought some flowers from the garden to brighten up her bedroom. That pleased her. She said I was like a breath of fresh air.’
‘You are,’ Clodagh said. ‘In fact, you’re even better than that. You’re a flipping marvel, that’s what they are all saying in the kitchen.’
‘Shut up,’ Lucy said, lifting the tray, her face flushed crimson. ‘You’re embarrassing me, and old Lady Heatherington will want to know what’s what if I go in with a red face.’
‘I’m only saying the truth,’ Clodagh said. ‘But you’re right. If you go in to her with your face the colour of a beetroot she will think you are up to no good.’
‘Ha! Maybe I would be if ever I had the chance,’ Lucy said grimly, and Clodagh’s laughter followed her up the stairs.
THIRTEEN
Lord Heatherington returned two evenings later and the news he brought was good, though Lady Heatherington noticed that his eyes were red and his face was grey with fatigue. She passed him a glass of brandy while he told her of the search for news of their son.
‘It seemed that everywhere, we were hitting a brick wall, and we were ready to give up and come home when Rory suggested trying the hospitals.’
‘He is injured!’ Amelia exclaimed, leaping to her feet. ‘Clive is injured?’
‘No, no,’ Lord Heatherington said. Sitting beside her again, he took hold of her hand as he said gently, ‘Clive is fine. I met a man in one of the hospitals who not only knew Clive, but had spoken to him just two days before. Then the man himself was injured and shipped out.’
‘Did he say how Clive was? Is he well?’
‘He said that he is as well as anyone is when they are fighting a war,’ Lord Heatherington said with a sigh. ‘But, my dear, he is alive and that’s all that matters. He also said that the International Brigade are being rounded up and will be sent home shortly, so soon our son will be home where he belongs.’
‘Oh, thank God!’ Lady Heatherington said fervently. She saw the tears of joy welling in her husband’s tired eyes and she regretted having to mar the moment, but Charles had to know what his mother had done.
As she told him, he listened open-mouthed, and then he dropped his head in his hands and asked, ‘What are we to do with her?’
‘We’ll have to engage more nurses, that’s all,’ Lady Heatherington said. ‘Mrs O’Leary has already put an ad in the Birmingham Mail.’
‘But who will see to her meantime?’
‘The girl who has taken over so far, I’d say,’ Amelia said. ‘It’s Cassidy, the between maid.’
‘Cassidy …’ Lord Heatherington said, wrinkling his brow as he tried to remember. ‘Oh, yes, isn’t she that wee strip of a thing?’
‘That’s right.’
‘Surely she will never manage my mother?’
‘Mrs O’Leary assures me she can,’ Lady Heatherington said. ‘In fact, Mrs O’Leary says she seems to be the only person that can cope with your mother at the moment. And it will only be for a week or two.’
Lord Heatherington got to his feet. ‘I must see this for myself. Rory will have told the other staff the news about Clive by now and my mother will not be best pleased if she thinks she is the last to be told, and anyway she has some serious explaining to do.’
For all his resolute words, though, Lord Heatherington paused outside the bedroom door, for he knew only too well just how difficult his mother could be. But on the threshold he stood and stared and wondered what was so different about the room from when he had last seen it. The bed was by the window, he noticed, and yet it wasn’t that alone. The whole room seemed lighter somehow, and the air was fragrant from the two vases of spring flowers placed on the dressing table.
His mother looked much better too, he thought, and she was laughing at something Cassidy had just said to her. The girl herself looked calm and professional in the white coat she had covering her uniform.
However, his mother had lost none of her spirit and her bright eyes regarded him coldly as she said, ‘You took your time. I saw you drive in and you know how anxious I was about news of Clive.’
‘Were you, Mother?’ Lord Heatherington said. ‘Well, it might surprise you to know that his mother was most anxious too, and she was the one I had to tell any news to first, but you can stop worrying now for the news is good. Clive is alive and as well as can be expected.’
Lucy let out the breath she hadn’t even been aware she was holding, in a gasp of blessed relief, as Lord Heatherington told them how he had found out about Clive. He watched astounded as his mother dabbed at her eyes with a pure white hanky, for he had never seen his mother cry before. However, he had other matters to discuss with her that couldn’t wait, however upset she was, and he brought up straight away the attack she had made on Nurse Townsend, which had resulted in both nurses leaving.
‘Serves the damned woman right,’ old Lady Heatherington snarled. ‘Foisted them damned nurses on me. I had no say in it, and they treated me with a total lack of respect and talked to me as if I was six. And,’ she added threateningly, ‘if you engage people like that again they will be treated in a like manner.’
‘Mother, you cannot get away with insulting and hurting people,’ Lord Heatherington said. ‘And certainly not people in my employ.’
‘Then don’t engage nincompoops,’ old Lady Heatherington spat out. ‘I want to have the final say in anyone else you propose to care for me.’
Lord Heatherington threw his hands in the air helplessly and, with a deep sigh, said, ‘As you wish, Mother.’
‘Good,’ old Lady Heatherington said. ‘Now, Charles, do not harass me further. I would like young Lucy to fetch my dinner now. I’m sure you have matters to attend to and I should not wish to detain you.’
‘In other words, you’re dismissing me?’ Charles said.
Old Lady Heatherington nodded. ‘Yes, that’s right.’
There was really nothing else he could say, and he stepped out of the room, followed by Lucy. ‘How do you stand it?’ he said to her as they stood on the landing.
‘Oh, she’s not so bad,’ Lucy said. ‘And when people are helping you, especially in sensitive areas, then it helps if you like the person doing it, I should think.’ And then, before she could stop herself, she went on, ‘You probably can imagine how she feels, being reliant on other people, as you had a taste of that yourself.’
Immediately, she clapped her hand over her mouth, but Lord Heatherington seemed amused rather than annoyed. ‘Do you usually speak your mind like that?’
‘No, sir,’ Lucy said, and added, ‘Servants are not supposed to have opinions, or at least if they have them not express them. Sorry, sir, for speaking out of turn.’
Lord Heatherington actually gave a low chuckle before saying, ‘And you’re right when you say I hated asking for help to do things I used to do myself without a thought. Fancy you noticing that.’
‘Oh, servants notice a lot about the families they work for,’ Lucy said. ‘But most keep their mouths shut and I shouldn’t have opened mine.’
‘I’m glad you did because it has made me think,’ Lord Heatherington said. ‘I mean, everyone gets old and it is just something that happens. I never gave a thought to how it must feel to be getting stiffer and more infirm with each passing year, especially for my mother. When she was young she was so very beautiful and, people tell me, a wonderful dancer.’ He looked at Lucy directly. ‘How did you tame my mother?’
Lucy flushed and stammered, ‘I’d … I’d rather not say, sir. You may not approve and I value my job.’
‘You’ll not lose your job, whatever you have done or said, I promise,’ Lord Heatherington said.
Lucy, thinking old Lady Heatherington might take it upon herself to tell her son anyway, said, ‘She lifted a paperweight into her hand. She had already thrown one at Mrs O’Leary and I told her if she threw it at me then I would throw it straight back.’
Lord Heatherington’s eyes widened in amazement and he gave a bellow of laughter. His eyes still twinkling, he said, ‘I bet that took her by surprise.’
‘It did,’ Lucy said. ‘But I was angry because I had just seen the cut on Nurse Townsend’s forehead and then she threw a paperweight and she only just missed Mrs O’Leary, and I saw red, I’m afraid, sir. I wouldn’t have done it, though, sir. I wouldn’t really have thrown something at an old lady.’
‘But she didn’t know that,’ Lord Heatherington said. ‘And don’t you ever tell her. We will keep this whole conversation to ourselves.’
The whole atmosphere in the kitchen lightened with the news about Clive being alive and well, and, even better, that the International Brigade was finally being disbanded.
‘Won’t it be grand to have Master Clive home again?’ Cook said. ‘I must look up his favourite dishes. He’ll likely need building up after all he’s been through, and in foreign parts too, and you, Clara, will have to make those choux buns he is so fond of.’
‘Don’t worry, I will,’ Clara said. ‘And take joy in it, just as soon as he is back with us again.’
However, there was no further news, though Lady Ponsomby and her daughter, Jessica, seemed to be seldom away from the house, anxious for news of ‘Dear Clive’.
Late April was so warm and sunny that Lucy could open the bedroom window sometimes and so give Old Mrs Heatherington some fresh air, and she tried to interest her in the gardens she could see below.
She was hard to distract, however, because, since Lord Heatherington had come back from Liverpool, she had expected Clive to turn up at the house any day. It was hard for Lucy to calm her when she felt as anxious herself and, fond as she was of the old lady, it wasn’t as if she could see light at the end of the tunnel because there had been four nurses arrive for the old woman’s inspection and she had rejected them all out of hand.
Lord Heatherington too was a troubled man. He was worried about his son, and his wife, who had gone into a decline as the days passed and there was no communication from Clive, and he had no idea what to do about his mother.
‘What about asking the doctor?’ Lady Heatherington asked one day. ‘He might know of nurses seeking employment that your mother could take to?’
Lord Heatherington’s face brightened. ‘What a good idea, my dear,’ he said. ‘He is calling in to see Mother today anyway and I’ll have a word then.’
So Lord Heatherington was waiting for the doctor as he descended the stairs, and explained to him the difficulty he was having in employing nurses that his mother approved of.
‘What about the wee lass in there with her now?’
‘Oh, she’s just a housemaid filling in until we could get qualified people. She has no nursing skills.’
‘Well, your mother doesn’t really need nursing, and the two get on well together from what I could see,’ the doctor said. ‘You could look further and fare worse. I could pop in every week and if you need me in between times I’m at the end of the telephone. Would the girl take on the care of the old lady on a permanent basis?’
‘I don’t know,’ Charles said. ‘We’ve never discussed it.’
‘Put it to her and see what she says.’
Lord Heatherington sought Lucy out as soon as the doctor left. He found her taking trays back to the kitchen. ‘Can I have a word, Lucy?’
‘Certainly, sir,’ Lucy said, wondering if the doctor had given him bad news.
‘I have a proposition to put to you,’ Lord Heatherington said.
Lucy nodded, but she was totally unprepared for him asking her if she would consider working for his mother on a permanent basis and that they would engage someone else to do her old job.
Lucy hesitated, not entirely sure she wanted to be at the beck and call of old Lady Heatherington all day every day, for all she was becoming fond of her. ‘But I have no nursing skills,’ she said at last.
‘The doctor said she doesn’t need nursing, just basic care,’ Lord Heatherington said. ‘He recommended I ask you, actually.’
‘Did he? Golly.’
‘Yes, and I will be straight with you. My mother hasn’t got long and I don’t want to upset her by installing nurses that she might not take to if she only has months left. If you took this job on the doctor will come every week – and more often, if necessary – and it would please my mother because you are one of the few people she has taken a liking to.’
