Whispers of Love (17 page)

That had given her something to think about, Christabel thought as she saw the jealous gleam in her sister's eyes. It didn't need any further explanation to let Lilian know that she and Alex had not only been living together but had also been lovers.

It made her feel good. She hoped Lilian was hurting inside as much as she was. One way or another she was determined to win Alex back, and even if it meant causing Lilian distress, she was prepared to do it.

Christabel smiled to herself, remembering how their father had described it as the act of an impulsive child when Lilian had married Dennis Taylor and now, she told herself, Lilian was acting the same way over Alex and it was really only infatuation on her part.

That evening, when Lilian was not present at dinner, she learned that she had gone up to London to be with Alex and that she'd taken Marlene with her. Christabel decided it was time for more direct action. If Lilian wouldn't listen to her, then she would have to try and get her mother on her side and convince her that Alex was not a suitable companion for Lilian.

Her mother sighed. ‘I will try talking to her, of course,' she agreed. ‘I certainly don't want her marrying him on the rebound from that other terrible man. In fact, after what you've told me, Christabel, I'm not at all sure that I should have Alex Taylor in my house ever again. Perhaps when they come back from London we
can think of some diplomatic way of telling him that he is no longer welcome here.'

They were saved from having to carry out what would have been, for both of them, a most unpleasant task by the arrival of a letter from Lilian a couple of days later. Its London postmark set alarm bells ringing in both their minds.

Mabel waited until she had finished eating her bacon and egg and was on her second cup of tea before she opened it. She scanned it quickly before emitting a tiny shriek of dismay and then passed it across the table to Christabel.

Christabel took the sheet of notepaper from her mother's shaking hands and read it with a mixture of shock and disbelief.

 

Dearest Mother,

 

By the time you receive this Alex and I will be married and on our way to America. We're taking Marlene with us because we intend to make a home there for a while.

 

I'm sure now that Christabel is back home she will take every care of you.

 

Wish us luck!

 

Your ever loving daughter,

LILIAN

 

Christabel fought back the sour taste in her mouth as the words seared themselves on her brain. She wanted to scrunch the letter into a ball and throw it down on the table in disgust, but instead she passed it back to her mother without a word.

‘This is a terrible shock,' her mother murmured as she took the note and read it through again. ‘I don't know what Lewis is going to say when he hears about it.'

‘I'm afraid there is nothing he can do,' Christabel said resignedly.

‘He will be so worried, though. He has already explained that business is not good and he is finding it hard enough to maintain this house as well as his own. I dread the thought of having to go and live with him, but it may come to that because he's said I can't afford to employ a full-time housekeeper and I'm certainly not able to cope on my own.'

Christabel went over and put her arms round her mother. ‘You won't have to do that now, will you? I'll take care of you,' she promised, kissing her on the brow.

She'd not only lost Alex for good, Christabel thought sadly, but Lilian had also made it clear by going to live on the other side of the world that, as the spinster, she was the one who was now expected to stay at home and look after their increasingly frail and dependent mother.

1925 started badly for Christabel. A few days into the New Year her mother went down with a chill which developed into pneumonia and left her weak and lethargic. For several months she remained confined to the house, making no effort at all to pick up the threads of her life. She lost weight, she looked tired and drawn, and was so listless and disinterested in what was going on around her, that gradually, one by one, her few remaining friends stopped visiting.

Even when the weather improved she claimed that she felt too weary even to go window-shopping in the city centre with Christabel, something which at one time she'd loved to do. Instead, she stayed in her bedroom day-dreaming about the past or reading the letters she received from Lilian.

On arrival in America Alex had met up with an old colleague, Sam Baldwin, who had a financial interest in film-making, and he'd been instrumental in persuading Alex to move to Hollywood to produce a film he was backing.

For quite some time, apparently, Alex had predicted that films were destined to be the
foremost entertainment of the future, so he had jumped at the opportunity to become involved in the new medium.

‘Lilian's description about all the marvels and intricacies involved in making a film is childlike in its naïveté,' Christabel told her mother. ‘All this rigmarole about sets, cameras and cutting-room floors, is so garbled that I'm quite sure she has no idea what she's talking about. Lilian never has understood anything mechanical which is why she was never interested in learning to drive a motor car.'

Once they had moved to Hollywood, Lilian's letters became less enthusiastic about America. She was desperately homesick and lonely and complained that most of the time she only had Marlene for company. Time and time again she complained that Alex was so engrossed in his new life that she felt neglected. It was a state of affairs that brought a degree of satisfaction to Christabel but heart-rending distress to her mother.

The days came and went, and Christabel found she was becoming almost as lethargic as her mother and unable to find the enthusiasm to reconstruct her life. It was as if she was lulled into a state of complacency that left her impervious to everything around her.

She'd always taken it for granted that as a result of the shipping business that had been her father's and was now being run by Lewis,
the family were comfortably off, but now Lewis was continually warning both her mother and herself that they would have to start making some changes.

One of the first economies Lewis insisted on was that the dark-blue Austin 12 motorcar that had always been the Montgomerys' pride and joy would have to be sold.

Christabel had enjoyed driving it and it had been one way of getting her mother out and about. Now, as her mother insisted on staying indoors, saying that walking tired her, Christabel spent more and more of her time visiting Violet and Kay and then taking Kay out.

She enjoyed Kay's company and took a special interest in her progress at school. She encouraged her to read and helped her with her hobbies. Anything was better than having to listen to her mother either worrying because she had not heard from Lilian, or worrying because she had, and the news was not to her liking.

Lilian eventually wrote to tell them that the film Alex had helped to produce was finished, and was receiving rave reviews from the critics. Christabel once again felt a flicker of alarm about how aimless her own life was apart from her interest in Kay.

Lilian's letters suddenly were filled with glowing accounts about the film stars she was meeting, and the social life she and Alex were enjoying. As letter after letter arrived full of
details of the Beverley Hills parties, the First Night premières, the lavish cocktail parties, the exciting soirées, the glamorous poolside barbecues and the fabulous balls, Christabel felt envy, jealousy and anger churning inside her. She should be the one in Hollywood, being escorted to these events by Alex – not Lilian.

Instead, she was vegetating in Liverpool and achieving nothing. Love and marriage seemed as far away as it had ever been and she felt more frustrated and lonelier than ever. Her chagrin reached a new height when a letter arrived from Lilian telling them that she was pregnant again.

Mabel immediately became dewy-eyed and sentimental. She talked incessantly about her own pregnancies, and about Lilian's babyhood in particular, because Lilian had been the prettiest, the cutest, the smartest and the most loveable of her three children.

Christabel tried to shut out her mother's reminiscing but it was not easy. Mabel would constantly find things that reminded her of when her own children were small, and would dwell on what lovely little girls Kay and Marlene were. She deplored the fact that Christabel was not married with a family of her own.

‘Lilian must come back here to England, to her own home, before it is too late for her to travel. I don't want my grandchild to be born
in America; I want it to be born here, in Liverpool,' Mabel kept saying.

‘Why? This isn't their home now; they have their own place in America,' Christabel pointed out.

‘That has nothing to do with it,' her mother protested and insisted on writing to her and ordering her to come home.

She became extremely agitated when Lilian wrote back and said that was impossible because Alex was already involved with his next film and they wanted to be together when the baby was born. Minutes after reading this, she had a massive heart attack and collapsed, still clutching Lilian's letter.

Christabel immediately sent for the doctor although, from her nursing experience, she knew that there was nothing he could do; she also summoned Lewis, who was stunned and shocked at the news.

They telegraphed Lilian although they knew she was hardly likely to return for her mother's funeral. Lewis took control and arranged the service and interment and afterwards, once again, reminded Christabel that there would have to be changes. He had delayed them as long as possible because of the state of their mother's health but now the large family home would have to be sold.

In a state bordering on panic, Christabel began to weigh up her own personal situation and carefully to consider all her options. She wished
she had kept up with her friends in Liverpool, people of her own age who would understand her dilemma and be able to offer valid advice about what she should do.

The idea of going back to nursing sent a shiver through her. Since coming back home to live she'd come to appreciate the difference a comfortable home could make. A hospital environment with its stringent rules and rigid routine was certainly not the sort of lifestyle she ever wanted again.

In an attempt to cheer her up, Lewis invited her to a dinner held by one of the shipping companies. There she happened to meet an old school friend, Jessica Thompson. She seemed surprised when Christabel said she was living at home even though her mother had died and asked her if she would be interested in taking a trip to Argentina with her.

Christabel stared at her in astonishment. It seemed as if Fate was holding out a helping hand and helping her to reach a decision about what she ought to do with her life

‘How long did you have in mind?' she asked tentatively. ‘You do mean as a holiday?'

‘More or less.' Jessica smiled. ‘If you are not working, it wouldn't matter how long it was, would it?'

‘No, not really,' Christabel admitted.

Jessica sighed. ‘I recently had an operation and my specialist is against me going back unless I have someone who has medical training
with me, but I find the thought of hiring a stranger extremely off-putting. With an old friend like you, it would be quite different. It could be good fun, in fact! And you do have nursing experience, Christabel, so now, what do you think of the idea?'

‘Why Argentina?'

‘Well, I'm married now, to Freddy Newland, and he is part-owner of a polo club out there. I only came to England for my operation because I thought the treatment here would be better.'

‘I see.' Christabel tried to sound noncommittal, but her thoughts were spinning like a whirling dervish, she felt so excited. Freddy was about ten years older than her and she remembered him from when they'd all been members of the tennis club years ago.

‘How about it, then, Chrissy?' Jessica's voice brought her back to the present. ‘Nurse or travelling companion, or whatever you want to call yourself. You'll have a generous salary, a room of your own, your own maid and all expenses paid. As soon as I'm feeling fit again, I can promise you a super social whirl. You'll love it! Now, do say you're going to come with me?'

‘Well . . .' She hesitated. She very much wanted to take up the challenge, and to set her life in motion again.

‘I'm sailing from Liverpool in ten days' time, so you'll have to make your mind up pretty damn quick. Shall I go ahead and book your passage?'

‘If you're quite sure you think it will work out.'

‘Of course it will! It'll be absolutely perfect.'

‘Then I'll come!'

‘Wonderful!' Jessica hugged her enthusiastically. ‘Here's my telephone number; get in touch if there is anything you need to know. I'll phone you and arrange final details.'

Lewis was astounded when Christabel broke the news to him. He begged her to think about it carefully before deciding. He even warned her that, if they didn't get on, she might find herself stranded in Argentina.

‘I have thought about all that and if it doesn't work out, then I'll think of it as a holiday.'

‘That's all very well, but shouldn't you find a place of your own here, first of all, so that you have somewhere to return to if things don't work out in Argentina?' he questioned.

‘There simply isn't time for me to do that,' she pointed out. ‘Jessica said they sail in a few days' time.'

‘Couldn't you follow on afterwards?' he suggested.

‘No, I have to travel with Jessica. That's the whole purpose of her inviting me – I'm to be her companion,' she pointed out. ‘As a businessman, you must realise how important it is to keep your promises.'

‘I do, but there is the question of our family home. There's all the furniture and possessions to be disposed of, as well as the property.'