It was the last straw, however, when Lilian insisted on accompanying them when Mark made arrangements to view the house in Formby that they had decided was the one most suitable.
‘You want me to stay home, even though I’d be here all alone?’ she questioned in wide-eyed surprise when Christabel told her they would prefer to go on their own. ‘Oh, Christabel, what ever are you thinking of? I’m sure Mark wouldn’t want that.’
‘I’m quite sure he would feel it was for the best since it is a very big decision we have to make and the less distraction we have the better,’ Christabel told her stiffly as she donned her hat and coat.
‘Supposing I have one of my giddy turns, what ever shall I do?’ Lilian asked in a plaintive voice.
‘If you stay sitting down in your chair, then you aren’t likely to have a giddy turn,’ Christabel told her. She felt so cross that she stabbed the hat pin she was holding so viciously into the side of her hat that it dug into her scalp.
‘If you don’t want me passing remarks about the house, I can always stay out in the car,’ Lilian suggested. ‘That would be safer than staying here on my own.’
They argued about it for another ten minutes, by which time Lilian was in such an agitated state that Christabel finally gave in and went upstairs to collect her hat and coat for her.
When Mark arrived and she explained the situation he merely shrugged. ‘There’s no need to sit in the car outside, Lilian,’ he told her with a smile. ‘Another pair of eyes might be all to the good; who knows, you might spot something that we overlook.’
‘What a sensible man you are, Dr Mark Murray,’ she told him with a coy smile.
As they walked outside and Mark held open the rear door for her she hesitated. ‘Oh dear, I forgot to mention it, but I always have to ride in the front passenger seat otherwise I get car sick.’ She gave an apologetic smile in her sister’s direction. ‘I do hope you don’t mind, Christabel,’ she said contritely as she stood to one side so that Christabel could be the one to get into the back seat of the car.
Christabel did mind because she didn’t believe a word of it. She was sure it was a trumped-up excuse on Lilian’s part simply so that she could sit beside Mark. Even so, she decided that it wasn’t worth making an issue of it.
Lilian talked to Mark throughout most of their journey in a voice that was so low that, from where she was sitting in the back of the car, Christabel was unable to hear what they said or take any part in the conversation.
Lilian preceded them down the path when they arrived at the house they intended viewing and was rapturous about their choice. Seconds before they reached the front door she appeared to stumble and if Mark hadn’t stepped forward quickly to grab her arm, she probably would have fallen.
‘Oh dear, that has shaken me up,’ she gasped clinging on to him tightly. ‘I think you’d better allow me to take your arm, Mark, that’s if you don’t mind.’
‘Of course not. Once we get inside we’ll find you a seat so that you can get your breath back,’ he promised.
‘Oh no, don’t do that,’ she pulled a sad face. ‘I very much want to see round the house, Mark, please.’
‘We’ll see how you feel when we are inside,’ he promised as he rang the doorbell.
‘I’ll be quite all right if you will let me hold your arm,’ she assured him.
Their tour of the house seemed to be purely for Lilian’s benefit, Christabel thought as she trailed behind them. She grew tired of listening to Lilian’s comments, her excited coos of approval or the tut-tutting sounds she made to show her disapproval when there was something she didn’t like.
She’d intended making notes of what changes they wanted to make but each time she mentioned any of these to Mark, Lilian would butt in and voice her opinion.
‘You mustn’t change things simply to please Christabel, you know, Mark,’ Lilian told him in a simpering voice. ‘I think your taste is far better than hers and so very much more in keeping with the ambience of this house.’
Christabel could see that although Mark protested that this was not the case, he listened politely to her comments and she had an uneasy feeling that the house might end up being much more to Lilian’s taste than her own. It seemed to Christabel that Lilian did everything in her power to impose her ideas not only on the changes to be made to the house but also on their wedding arrangements.
If there was any sort of discussion Lilian always sided with Mark and because it was so difficult to get him on his own, Christabel constantly found that she never had the opportunity to put forward her own reasons or explain why she felt it was best to do things her way.
She found she was becoming so resentful about what was happening that she wondered if she was going to be able to tolerate Lilian staying with her very much longer. Knowing that Marlene wasn’t due home for another ten days, she even thought about asking Kay to have Lilian for a while so that she could have a break. When she phoned Kay, however, she learned that was quite impossible because Kay had problems of her own.
‘Jill has chicken pox, Aunt Christabel,’ Kay told her. ‘She’s so poorly that there is no way I could have Aunt Lilian here.’
‘Oh, I am sorry to hear about Jill, the poor little dear,’ Christabel sympathised. ‘I do hope she is going to be better in time to be my flower girl. The wedding is not all that far off now.’
‘Oh, she’ll be better in plenty of time for that, Kay assured her. ‘I’m sorry about not being able to take Aunt Lilian off your hands, but I’m sure you understand that Jill needs so much attention at the moment that I couldn’t cope with Aunt Lilian as well.’
‘Of course I understand,’ Christabel assured her. ‘Well, it is only about another week before Marlene is due home so I must grin and bear it, I suppose,’ she sighed.
Two days later she received a cable from Marlene to say Bill hadn’t yet completed his business in America and it would be yet another ten days before they would be home.
Lilian gave a smile of satisfaction when Christabel told her about the delay and said there was nothing she could do about it, but Christabel felt quite frustrated.
The next day when her sister complained of not feeling very well, Christabel commented that it was probably because she had overdone things with all her interfering.
‘Interfering, whatever do you mean?’ Lilian stared at her in hurt astonishment.
‘You’ve done nothing but oppose whatever I want to do ever since you’ve been here. I never have a minute alone with Mark to discuss things. You’re always there putting your point of view forward or agreeing with him when he wants to do something slightly different to what I want,’ Christabel pointed out.
‘Oh really? I had no idea you felt like that. All I’ve been trying to do is help you both,’ Lilian insisted. ‘I realise my taste is so much closer to Mark’s than yours appears to be, but even so, there is no need for you to be so high-handed about it.’
‘In future, perhaps it would be better if you kept your thoughts and opinions to yourself and stopped interfering,’ Christabel told her. ‘Mark will be here any minute so, for once, can you go up to your room and leave us to finalise some of our arrangements on our own? Go and have a rest and you will probably feel all right again after that.’
Tears welled into Lilian’s eyes and trickled down her lined cheeks. ‘Why are you being so very unkind to me, Christabel?’ she sobbed.
By the time Mark arrived, Lilian was in full flood, sobbing and crying as if her heart would break.
Mark was immediately concerned and wanted to know what was wrong.
‘When I told Christabel that I wasn’t feeling very well,’ Lilian gulped, ‘she implied that I was being a nuisance and that I had outstayed my welcome.’
‘Really!’ Mark looked at her in astonishment.
‘I said nothing of the sort,’ Christabel said wearily. ‘I said that I wanted to have some time alone with you and that if she wasn’t feeling well, then it would be best if she went up to
her room and had a rest, that was all.’
Before he could reply Lilian gave a long, shrill moan and crumpled to the floor.
Christabel rushed to her side to help her up but Lilian seemed to be incapable of standing up. As she tried to speak her face became distorted and she started making strange guttural sounds.
Mark moved Christabel to one side; he felt Lilian’s pulse and loosened the tight neck of her dress. His face was grave as he looked up at Christabel.
‘Phone for an ambulance,’ he said crisply. ‘Lilian has had a stroke.’
Lilian’s stroke was a relatively mild one and four days later they brought her home from the hospital. Although her face was still slightly lopsided she was able to speak and, apart from looking extremely frail, she seemed to have suffered no other ill effects.
Christabel had cabled Marlene in America to let her know what had happened. The reply had been that they were extremely concerned and that they would be coming home as soon as possible but had not given any specific date.
Mark maintained that he was unable to prescribe anything for Lilian because she wasn’t one of his patients but he did keep a close eye on her progress. He came over each evening after he’d finished surgery to make sure she was all right. He also advised Christabel about what was the best course of action to take to pacify Lilian whenever she became unduly agitated.
‘Lilian is bound to feel frustrated because she is now so weak that she really does find it difficult to walk or even move and do things for herself,’ he explained. ‘Even speaking is probably a tremendous effort.’
‘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.
Chapter Thirty
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.’
Whispers of Love Page 25