Kay frowned, puzzled by the bitterness in Marlene’s voice. ‘I always understood that Uncle Alex was terribly successful. I thought he would have left Aunt Lilian so very well provided for that she wouldn’t want for anything.’
Marlene gave a sharp, bitter laugh. ‘You’re so naïve, Kay,’ she said scathingly. ‘You believe everyone is full of good thoughts and kindness. The world isn’t like that – leastwise, not the real world, the one we have to live in.’
Kay stared at her, bemused, wondering what she had done or said to bring on such an onslaught. Marlene was usually so frothy and bubbly, so laid back, as if she hadn’t a care in the world. Now, judging from her outburst, what she presented on the surface was totally different to what she was feeling underneath.
‘I don’t understand what you are trying to tell me,’ she admitted awkwardly. ‘Are you saying that Aunt Lilian is in some sort of financial difficulty?’
‘Thanks to Bill she isn’t. Dad died penniless. In fact, he died owing money. He was such a great guy.’ She sighed. ‘He lived life to the full, drank vintage wines and spirits, and ate only at the top restaurants. He had so many friends in high places, but it costs a lot to keep up a lifestyle like that. It took every penny he earned and some. It wasn’t until after he died that we found out how little there was left, or how much he owed. If it hadn’t been for Bill, I don’t know what would have happened to my mother. Their house was mortgaged up to the hilt, and every bank account he had was over-drawn. Creditors swooped on Mum like a flock of magpies.’
‘You mean that Bill had to bail Aunt Lilian out?’ Kay said in a shocked voice.
‘Not only bail her out financially, but we also had to let her come and live with us. I love her, don’t get me wrong. It used to be wonderful seeing her from time to time, but having her living with us . . . well, I’ll leave that to your imagination!’
Kay shuddered. She could feel the tension, sense the strain.
‘What can I say?’
‘Not a lot! Watch your own step, though. Don’t let Aunt Chrissy impose on you or you might find yourself in a similar situation. Imagine having her move in with you!’
‘Why don’t you suggest to your mother that she stays with Aunt Christabel for a while?’ Kay suggested brightly. ‘They are sisters, after all.’
‘I had thought of it, but that would put us under an obligation to Aunt Chrissy and then I would have no way of refusing to let her come here for a visit whenever she wanted to. No, it’s not so bad, really. Mum has her own room and spends quite a lot of her time up there, especially in the evenings. She’s very good with the children, and if ever we want to go out on our own, then we know she will keep an eye on them.’
Marlene’s outburst shattered Kay’s equanimity. She found herself looking at Marlene and Bill’s set-up with completely different eyes.
Bill was like Marlene’s father in so many ways, Kay thought reflectively. He was tall but rather paunchy, even though he was only in his early thirties. He had a round face with a small nose and a rather sharp chin. His brown eyes shone like bright beads behind his gold-rimmed glasses and his thin dark brown hair was sleeked back from his high forehead, almost as if he had just stepped out of the shower.
He had a suave, plausible manner, always dressed impressively, and had personalised number plates on his state-of-the-art-Mercedes. She had never been able to pin down precisely what he did for a living, except that it was something to do with promotions and publicity in the film world.
Living up to his flamboyant lifestyle with all the entertaining it entailed had certainly had dire effects on Marlene over the years, Kay noted. Whereas Aunt Lilian was only a shadow of her former self, Marlene was a round ball; her dumpling figure overflowed from her dresses, which were bursting at the seams.
Perhaps that was why the strain was not noticeable on Marlene’s face, she reflected. It was full and round and she had no wrinkles or worry lines. She wondered if she indulged in comfort eating.
As they drove home at the end of their weekend jaunt, Kay took an impartial look at Stuart, and felt thankful that she wasn’t in Marlene’s shoes. Her cousin’s outburst had opened her eyes to how lucky she was.
Stuart might prefer the quiet unsophisticated life of a country village to the glitzy glamour of London, but then she did as well. With Stuart you got what you saw. His manner was the same on the golf course as it was in the back garden, or when he was behind his estate agent’s desk.
Whenever they entertained, Kay thought with a degree of satisfaction, they thoroughly enjoyed the company of the people they’d invited. They didn’t invite them because they had to or because they were trying to create an impression, or curry favour in order to strike a business deal.
As she drifted off to sleep that night, Kay remembered that Aunt Christabel would be visiting them the following weekend and wondered what it was that her aunt wanted to talk to her and Stuart about. She had certainly seemed to be worried about something and had made it sound as though it was important.
She wondered if perhaps Aunt Chrissy was beginning to find that it was becoming rather too much for her living on her own in such a big house. Or perhaps she was finding it lonely there all on her own.
Remembering Marlene’s warning she really did hope that she wasn’t about to suggest that she should come and live with them. That was one thing she wouldn’t be too happy about, especially where Jill was concerned.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
In a contemplative mood, Mark looked round his lounge with its two huge armchairs and matching settee all upholstered in dark red plush, and the highly polished glass-fronted bookcase and radiogram in matching wood as he sipped his glass of whisky and thought about the future.
A tall, wide-shouldered man in his late fifties, he still had thick fair hair, a lean, good-looking face, and deep intelligent brown eyes. He had changed out of his suit into comfortable grey flannels and a dark blue cashmere round-necked sweater.
When dealing with patients he always sounded competent and professional as he explained in a crisp, impersonal way what their ailment was and outlined the treatment he recommended. In his private life, he was much less confident.
Meeting up with Christabel had been like turning the clock back almost twenty years. He had been attracted to her when they’d first met at Hilbury hospital because of the competent way she’d done her job. Dealing with casualties from the Front and administering to their terrible injuries must have been harrowing for such a young girl.
He’d been young himself in those days, he reflected, and newly married with a young family to worry about.
He had been happy in his first marriage and getting married again at his age, he reflected, would be like starting all over again. It had taken him quite a while to be sure that it was what he wanted. His main problem was wondering whether his two children thought it was the right thing for him to do, or would they resent him replacing their mother in his life?
He knew he didn’t really have to consider their opinion since they were adults now and both with good career prospects, but they’d been a close-knit, loving family. Their mother’s death from cancer while she was still in her mid-forties had come as a shock for all of them. They’d relied heavily on him and he’d done his best to be both mother and father to them until they’d left university.
Since then, although they’d become independent, they still remained close and confided in each other about what was going on in their lives. Leastwise, they’d done so up until now, but so far he hadn’t told them that he was about to marry Christabel although they knew that the two of them had been going out together on a regular basis for several years. It was why he was so anxious for them all to meet and it had taken some careful planning to make sure that both of the boys would be at home the same weekend.
He knew they both liked Christabel and that she got on well with them. Nevertheless, their forthcoming meeting might be challenging and he was anxious to have it behind him.
The two boys would be staying with him, of course, and he resolved to tell them over breakfast that he was planning to be married again. This would give them the rest of the day to digest his news before they all met up in the evening for dinner at the Adelphi Hotel. He hoped it would be a celebratory meal that would set the seal of approval on his forthcoming nuptials.
One of the problems he had anticipated was that they wouldn’t want him to give up the family home in Formby, the house where they’d both been born and which had been the hub of their family life for so many years. At the same time he could understand that Christabel didn’t want to live there and possibly be haunted by memories of his old life there.
Of course he couldn’t possibly move to her home on the other side of the Mersey, even if she wanted him to do so. His practice was well established and it would be highly inconvenient to have to travel from Wallasey to Formby each day.
Once Hilbury had closed at the end of the war he had formed a partnership with Cecil Roberts, who’d also been a doctor there. He’d taken a fairly large house and the surgery and waiting room had been attached to the main building at the side of the property, but completely separate.
Over the years he and Cecil Roberts had built up a very solid family practice and he didn’t want his new lifestyle to interfere with that any more than was absolutely necessary.
He had already suggested to Christabel that they should start their married life in a completely new house in Formby. So far, though, they hadn’t found one that they liked and that could provide reception and consulting rooms completely separate from the main living area.
When they did find one, he realised that it would mean disposing of most of the things he was familiar with; furniture which he’d chosen with his first wife so many years ago, which had become almost part of the fabric of his life but which he couldn’t expect Christabel to want to keep.
Over the weekend he intended to ask his boys to take any pieces they wanted as mementoes; anything from furniture to ornaments and pictures. He hoped they would do so because it seemed dreadful to simply dispose of everything that had once meant so much to them all.
He knew Christabel was going to have to do the same but she had only been acting as a housekeeper to her brother so he didn’t think that giving up her place in Wallasey would be quite as traumatic as it was for him to give up the home where he’d raised a family.
‘Once we’ve told everyone we are going to get married and have found a house we like, then I’ll invite Kay to come for the weekend so that she can take anything she might want,’ she’d agreed. ‘As well as all the furniture and so on there are a lot of papers and documents, including things like Lewis and Violet’s marriage certificate, that will be needed to be sorted. I think it is Kay’s responsibility to decide whether they should be destroyed or placed in safe keeping somewhere.’
Christabel had gone on to tell Mark that she wanted Jill, Kay’s little daughter, to be bridesmaid, but he was not sure how he felt about that.
‘Since we’re having a civil ceremony, not a grand church wedding, I don’t think there is any place for a bridesmaid,’ he’d pointed out.
Christabel would not give up on the idea, however. ‘Perhaps we should call her a flower girl instead, then,’ he’d suggested half in jest.
Christabel had seemed quite pleased with that idea.
‘I do so want her to be part of things because I think it will mean a great deal to her,’ she’d told him.
He still wasn’t sure if he’d done the right thing in agreeing to it, but he hoped for the best. It always seemed strange to him how attached Christabel was to the child. She seemed to take an incredible delight in the fact that Jill occasionally called her Granny.
When he’d asked Christabel if it was right to let her do this she immediately claimed that it was only a game.
This was a very minor problem compared to all the others they had at the moment, he reflected. Another three months and he hoped it would all be over and they would be settled in their new home, enjoying life together.
One step at a time, he told himself. The coming weekend was the first big step and if that went according to plan then he was sure it boded well for the future.
As he waited in the foyer of the Adelphi for the taxi bringing Christabel over from Wallasey, Mark wondered what other shocks he was going to encounter that night.
Maybe he hadn’t been giving his two boys as much of his time as he should have been doing. Since he’d met up again with Christabel she’d occupied most of his attention when he wasn’t on duty, he thought guiltily.
Still, he reflected, when he’d told them about his forthcoming marriage, they had accepted it quite happily, almost as if they were pleased to hear the news. Perhaps they were beginning to worry about what was going to happen to him as he got older and whether he would feel that they might one day be expected to have him to live with them.
He almost laughed out loud at such a preposterous idea but then, he mused, he supposed he was old to them. It was a wonder they hadn’t raised the question of his age and the fact that he was well into his fifties when he’d said he was getting married.
Still, it was all out in the open now, so hopefully there would be no more shocks of any kind.
As she studied her reflection in the long mirror on her wardrobe door, Christabel wasn’t at all sure that she’d chosen the right outfit. The ankle-length slinky black dress and the white fur wrap made her look a little too sophisticated for someone who was about to become stepmother to two grown men.
They might have preferred someone plump and motherly, she thought ruefully. Well, they’d have to accept her as she was, because it was too late now to change into anything else because the taxi that was to collect her and take her to the Adelphi was due in ten minutes.
She wished she didn’t feel so nervous. Colin and Neil would either accept the fact that she was marrying their father, or they would resent her, feeling that she might divert their father’s affection away from them.
She was relieved to have Mark alone for a few minutes when she arrived at the Adelphi. He helped her out of the taxi and paid the driver, and she took a deep breath as he took her arm and hugged her before they went into the hotel. His two sons were waiting in the foyer and as they came forward to greet her, as always when they met, she was struck by how like their father they were. Neil, the elder of the two, was taller than Mark, but he had the same colouring and even the same timbre in his voice. Colin was almost as tall as his brother but not as broad shouldered, but she had no doubt that in time that would change.
As they took their seats in the restaurant Christabel relaxed and wondered why she had been so nervous. The conversation was easy and friendly. She was taken by surprise when Neil explained that he was about to get married.
‘Your father never mentioned it to me,’ she commented.
‘That was because he didn’t know until today.’
‘Well,’ she looked questioningly at Mark, who was indeed looking equally surprised, as her fingers closed round the stem of her wine glass, ‘perhaps we should be drinking a toast to Neil?’
Mark nodded and raised his glass and Colin did the same.
When Christabel followed it up by asking, ‘Where will you be living?’ there was a moment’s silence before Neil cleared his throat and said a little diffidently. ‘I’m not sure yet. Where are you and Dad going to live?’
Again there was a slightly awkward silence which lasted until after the waiter had cleared their plates from the first course and served their main dish.
Mark waited until they were all concentrating on the food in front of them before he said, ‘I was going to tell you after our meal that I’m planning on giving up the house, so if there is anything you would like to keep, then perhaps you’d let me know before you leave tomorrow.’
Colin and Neil exchanged perplexed glances.
‘How can you move, Dad? The surgery is there as well as your hom
e,’ Colin said bluntly. ‘Old Cecil won’t like it if you move because you’ve been running the practice from there ever since you’ve been partners. You’re not retiring, are you?’
‘No, I’m good for another few years yet, although we are contemplating taking on a younger doctor full time, instead of employing a locum.’ Mark smiled. ‘At the moment, I’m trying to find a new home for the practice and then I’ll buy a smaller house. I thought that in future it would be better for our home and workplace to be separate.’
Neil laid down his knife and fork and took a sip of his wine. ‘I’ve got an even better idea,’ he said. ‘I’m fully qualified, I’m fed up with hospital routine, so why don’t I join you and Cecil Roberts and then I can move into the house and the practice can stay exactly where it is?’
‘That sounds a first-class idea,’ Colin enthused, ‘and when I’m qualified as a dentist I can join you, and the patients will have everything under one roof.’ He grinned.
Mark refilled his wine glass and took a drink before replying. ‘I don’t know,’ he shook his head doubtfully, ‘it certainly sounds like the easy way out for me, but I would have to talk to Cecil about it, of course.’
‘He’ll say yes,’ Neil said confidently. ‘Especially when he hears that he will also be getting the service of a qualified nurse at the same time. I know you haven’t met Mandy yet, but when you do, I know you’ll like her. It would be an excellent arrangement; she could work part time and be a great asset to the practice,’ he said thoughtfully.
‘She’s a corker,’ Colin enthused. ‘You’ll love her and so will the patients. It sounds perfect to me. Can I still keep my room?’ he asked, looking across the table at his brother.
‘Of course, that’s if you can afford to pay the rent I’ll be charging you.’ Neil grinned.
‘What do you think of the idea, Christabel?’ Mark asked. ‘So far you haven’t said a word.’
Whispers of Love Page 23