Last Christmas (21 page)

‘You know, there’s really no need for you to come with me,’ Mum said crossly as Cat came to pick her up. ‘I’m quite capable of getting to the doctor’s on my own.’

‘Yes, but I think it would be a good idea to have someone to sit with you,’ said Cat. ‘Sometimes there’s a lot to take in when you see a doctor. I know it helped me when I was pregnant having Noel there, there was always something I’d forget to ask.’

Mum still looked mutinous, but at least she got in the car.

‘Now, have you got your keys?’ said Cat.

‘Of course I have my keys. Don’t fuss,’ said Mum. ‘Why wouldn’t I have them?’

Why indeed, thought Cat. One of the hardest things she was discovering about dealing with her mother lately was that she was so adamant about things, and so forgetful, that she really had no idea that there had been a problem in the first place.

They reached the surgery in good time and, having signed themselves in, sat in the large modern airy waiting room among young mums and babies—it was evidently baby clinic today. Cat thought back with a pang to how helpful Mum had been when Mel was born. She’d come in every day doling out tea and sympathy and taking over on baby
duties when she noticed Cat drooping. How things had changed. These days Mum required nearly as much parenting as any one of Cat’s children, and there was no one to prop her up when she drooped. Cat was ever more conscious of a baton being passed to her and it was one that she didn’t want to pick up.

‘Louise Carpenter.’ Dr Miles’ voice came over the tannoy.

Cat and her mum gathered up their things and went into the doctor’s surgery.

‘Hello, Mrs Carpenter, and what can I do for you today?’ Dr Miles smiled at them both.

‘Well, I feel a bit of a fraud really,’ Cat’s mum said, turning on a charm offensive. ‘I don’t think there’s anything wrong with me really, apart from that I’m a bit forgetful. Only Cat would insist on me coming.’

‘And how does this forgetfulness manifest itself ?’ said Dr Miles.

‘It’s nothing, really,’ Mum said. ‘Nothing at all. Just that I sometimes can’t remember where I’ve put things. I’m sure it’s quite normal at my age.’

Cat interposed quickly, ‘Come on, Mum, it’s a little more than that. You rang me up recently because you couldn’t remember how to make pastry.’

‘Did I?’ Her mother looked doubtful. ‘I find that most unlikely. Anyway, I’m sure it’s nothing, and we’re wasting the doctor’s time. I’m sure she has really sick people to see.’

‘No, of course you’re not wasting my time,’ said Dr Miles. ‘Let’s just run through some points about your general health and take your blood pressure, shall we?’

Cat admired the deftness with which Dr Miles teasingly pulled the story out of Mum, clearly not at all bamboozled by the ‘I’m perfectly fine’ approach. When it got to the description of what had happened the previous day, she paused and looked at Cat.

‘Thank you, that’s very helpful, Mrs Carpenter,’ she said. ‘I think I’ve got enough to build a good picture of what’s happening now.’

‘I’m sure I’m wasting your time,’ muttered Mum, ‘there’s nothing wrong with me.’

‘I’m sorry, Mrs Carpenter, but I think there does appear to be a problem,’ said Dr Miles gently. ‘Something seems to be going wrong with the hard-wiring in your brain, which is leading to these lapses of concentration. It may be that you are having TIAs—little strokes—which are shutting off the blood vessels in part of the brain, or it may be something else altogether. I need to run some tests to find out.’

‘Oh?’ said Cat, alarmed. ‘What kind of tests?’

‘They’re nothing to worry about. Just a blood test and an MRI scan to find out if we can get to the bottom of what’s happening,’ said Dr Miles. ‘I just want to make sure we’ve covered all the possibilities. Like I say, the most likely cause of your mother’s problems is that she’s having TIAs. But it’s perfectly normal at her age, and I’m sure we can sort everything out.’ She smiled reassuringly at Cat, who smiled back with a confidence she didn’t feel. Whatever was wrong with her mother, Cat knew it wasn’t going to be sorted out that easily.

‘This feels a bit strange,’ Marianne said as Gabriel ushered her out of the car and into the lobby of the country pub where he was taking her for a meal. It was ten miles from Hope Christmas. They’d both agreed that for Stephen’s sake they should take things slowly, and, for the time being, secret. Marianne hadn’t even said anything to Pippa about it, though she was dying to.

‘What is?’ asked Gabriel.

‘It’s really strange coming on a first date when I feel
I know you already so well,’said Marianne.‘I don’t thinkI’ve ever done that before. I almost feel like I’m dating my brother.’

‘Thanks a bunch,’ said Gabriel.

‘My brother isn’t nearly as good looking as you,’ said Marianne. ‘It’s just—well, this will take some getting used to.’

‘In a nice way, I hope?’ Gabriel said, giving her a little thrill as he took her hand.

‘The nicest possible,’ said Marianne.

They were ushered into a small lobby area with dark oak panels and a fire burning in the hearth. The early spring weather had turned cold and heavy rain was forecast for that evening. The friendly owner came over and gave them menus, and they ordered their drinks.

Marianne, feeling a little nervous, ordered a G&T, but Gabriel, who was driving, ordered a Coke. They perused their menus in silence before Gabriel declared he’d have the dover sole and Marianne plumped for duck.

‘It’s lovely here,’ she said. ‘I’ve never been before.’

‘It’s a well kept secret to all but the locals,’ said Gabriel. ‘Can’t have outsiders coming here, can we now?’

‘Oh, stop it,’ said Marianne. ‘Don’t tell me I need to have lived in Hope Christmas for three generations before I’ll be accepted properly.’

‘Five at least,’ said Gabriel solemnly. Marianne threw a beer mat at him.

‘Cripes, we’d better duck,’ said Gabriel. ‘There’s Miss Woods and, good lord, is that Ralph Nicholas with her?’

Miss Woods was indeed being helped up from her seat by Ralph Nicholas.

‘This is a bit cloak and dagger, isn’t it?’ said Marianne, giggling from behind her menu.

‘You still haven’t cottoned on to how a small village works
yet, have you?’ said Gabriel. ‘By the time they’re back in Hope Christmas, everyone will know we’ve had dinner together. And I’d rather Stephen found it out from me than from the village gossips.’ Miss Woods had her coat on and was leaving the restaurant. ‘Phew, I think we got away with it,’ continued Gabriel.

‘It’s all right,’ said a twinkling voice over their heads. ‘I won’t tell if you won’t.’

Marianne wanted the ground to swallow her up. What would Luke’s grandfather think of her?

‘I think,’ said Ralph, uncannily reading her thoughts again, ‘you’ve made a much better choice this time around.’ With that he doffed his hat to them, winked and was gone.

‘Blimey,’ said Marianne, ‘I’ve gone weak at the knees.’

‘And you haven’t even had your entrée yet,’ grinned Gabriel.

‘Oh, do shut up,’ said Marianne, laughing. Her nerves had vanished. She was with Gabriel, and there was nowhere else she’d rather be.

‘How did it go with your mum?’ Noel had gone out for the day, purportedly to work but, while he had gone into the office, there had been so little to do, he’d left fairly quickly, particularly when he spotted Julie making a beeline towards him. He’d wandered down Oxford Street and done some desultory window shopping but, despite the temptation to spend, had decided now really wasn’t the time to inform Cat they’d just got a new LCD TV, and so eventually found himself in the pub. He’d rung up a couple of ex work colleagues, but they were all busy and had only been able to have a couple of pints each before shooting off, which only served to make Noel feel even more despondent than before.

‘Tell you later,’ said Cat, who was standing in the kitchen
folding the washing while simultaneously reciting the eight times table with Paige. He marvelled at her ability to do that. It was all he could do to get the washing out of the machine, let alone do maths homework at the same time. Something was bubbling on the stove.

‘Something smells good,’ said Noel.

‘Shit, I nearly forgot about that,’ said Cat, rescuing the pan before it boiled over. ‘It’s only spag bol. Mel!’ She called up the stairs. ‘Your turn to set the table.’

‘Do I absolutely have to?’ Mel clumped heavily down the stairs, looking for all the world as if she’d been asked to walk over hot coals.

‘Yes, you absolutely do,’ said Cat. ‘Your littlest sister has done it three nights running.’

‘It’s so unfair,’ sulked Mel, but a look from Noel stopped the rebellion in its tracks. Even Mel knew when not to push it.

‘Crikey, you stink of booze, Dad,’ she said.

‘You’ve been to the pub?’ Cat looked incredulous. ‘It’s all right for some.’

Noel looked away. How to say that he’d been in the pub because his job was dwindling away to nothing? How to let her know she was married to a man who was worse than useless? Who very soon might not be able to provide for their children? How to begin to say all that?

‘So, how did it go?’ Noel chose a quiet moment when Mel had gone off to call the others for tea and Paige had gone to put her books away.

‘Okay, I suppose,’ said Cat. She looked a little teary before saying, ‘Dr Miles thinks she may have had a minor stroke, but she’s going to run some tests to make sure. I just don’t know how serious it is, or how worried I should be.’

‘Oh, Cat.’ Noel gave her a hug. ‘Try not to worry. It might not be anything to worry about.’

‘No, it might not be,’ said Cat, but she didn’t look convinced.

She pulled away from him wiping her tears away as the children thundered down the stairs for their tea.

Noel stared out of the kitchen window. It seemed there was never going to be a good time to come clean.

It was chucking it down as Gabriel and Marianne left the Feathers. The pathetic excuse for an umbrella that Gabriel had taken out with him had turned inside out in the wild wind that was whipping furiously across the car park, so Gabriel abandoned it and they ran giggling through the rain like a pair of school kids.

They were soaked through by the time they climbed into Gabriel’s ratty old Land Rover, but he rooted around in the rucksack he kept in there for emergencies and soon produced a towel to dry them off slightly.

‘Sorry it’s a bit rough and ready,’ he said.

‘No sweat,’ said Marianne, who genuinely didn’t seem to mind the shabbiness of the interior, or the fact that it smelt of dog.

The rain was coming down so heavily, the windscreen wipers were barely making any difference. Flick, flack, flick, flack they went, making little impact on the sheets of rain pouring down the windscreen. Soon the windows were all steamed up despite Gabriel having the blower on full pelt. It felt oddly spooky in the car, driving down the dark road, barely able to see the white lines thanks to the huge puddles that lined their route. Gabriel slowed down to a steady thirty.

‘Sorry, it’s going to be a slow old drive home,’ Gabriel said. ‘The road to Hope Christmas is a bit hairy at the best of times but in these conditions it’s going to be lethal. I’m sorry, I hadn’t realised quite how bad it was going to be.’

‘Do you want to ring Pippa, to let her know we’re on our way?’ said Marianne.

‘Good idea,’ said Gabriel, but just then the phone rang. ‘Oh, that’s her now,’ he said. ‘Great minds think alike. Pippa…you what? Are you all okay? We’ll be there as soon as we can.’

‘What’s the matter?’ said Marianne.

‘The river’s burst its banks and Hope Christmas is flooding. Pippa’s got water coming through the front door. Bloody hell. They’re closer to the stream than we are, but for all I know my house is flooding too, and Benjy’s inside on his own. I know they issued flood warnings, but nothing like this has happened in living memory. I bet it’s something do with that sodding eco town. They’ve been dumping silt into the river for weeks now. Damn. I daren’t drive any faster than this. It’s going to take ages to get home.’

The rain was showing no signs of letting up and soon Gabriel found himself slowing down to twenty. They passed an abandoned Land Rover at one point, but there were no other signs of life on the road. A few minutes later, a deer ran out in front of them, gave a a startled look into Gabriel’s headlights, and ran off into the dark.

Neither he or Marianne spoke as they inched their way further towards Hope Christmas. Why had he decided to come out to the Feathers tonight of all evenings? Gabriel was cursing himself for not realising how bad the rain was going to be. But who could have predicted this? As he drove through Ash Bourton, the village before Hope Christmas, he could see the roads there were awash and people were sandbagging like crazy. A policeman put out his hand to slow him down.

‘Where are you trying to get to?’ he asked.

‘Hope Christmas,’ said Gabriel. ‘How’s the road?’

‘You’ll be lucky if you make it all the way,’ said the policeman. ‘They’re telling me the High Street’s flooded.’

‘Well, we have to get back,’ said Gabriel. ‘I have a son…’

‘Take it easy then, sir,’ said the policeman, and waved them on their way.

‘You okay?’ Marianne gave Gabriel’s hand a quick squeeze.

‘I just want to get back,’ said Gabriel. His stomach was a ball of tension and he realised he was gripping the wheel harder than it warranted. It was just as well he was, because a car coming in the opposite direction lost its grip on the road and was spinning towards them. Instinctively Gabriel swerved into the bank to avoid it, narrowly missing a tree. The Land Rover came to a juddering halt and he and Marianne were flung forward with the impact. Quickly establishing that everyone had escaped uninjured, Gabriel got going again. They were now a mile from Hope Christmas, but the distance seemed interminable. The rain continued to teem down and, as Gabriel crouched over the wheel, concentrating as hard as he could on what little he could see of the road ahead, he had the most peculiar feeling that he and Marianne were the only two people left on the planet.

Eventually, to his relief, the sign for Hope Christmas flashed up, and the road bent round to the left towards the High Street. Nothing could have prepared them for the sight that greeted them.