by Jo Meadows
She’d denied hitting him of course, but that was just rubbish. She didn’t want to be confronted with her behaviour. He thought about confronting her and telling her what he suspected. No, I can’t do that. Every time I’ve questioned her or challenged her, or done something she didn’t like, something’s happened. I never thought about it before but that’s it. The glass in the cupboard came straight after I’d been late with the stupid tea that morning.
He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t go out and he had no-one to talk to.
I know, he thought. I’ll wait until she goes out and I’ll call Lynnette. She’ll help; she’ll know what to do.
It seemed an age before she left. David picked up the phone when he was sure she’d gone and was already dialling Lynnette’s number when he stopped suddenly. He put the phone down. What if she checked the outgoing calls? She’d know what he’d done. He reached for his mobile. It was a cheap pay-as-you-go he had just for emergencies and it was hardly ever used. He checked he had enough credit and dialled Lynnette.
Fifteen minutes later he sat exhausted. Lynnette had been at home when he called and they’d had a long chat. He’d become tearful as he poured his heart out to her and she’d tried to calm him down. She told him she would get there as soon as she could. When he’d told her about Georgina’s supposed plan for that night and how terrified he was, she’d told him not to worry and said that she would call later to say she was on her way.
If Georgina knew she was coming, she wouldn’t do anything; she wouldn’t dare. David had thanked her for being so understanding but asked why she didn’t think he was mad. Lynnette had said that she and Leo had suspected that her Mum was unwell but hadn’t been sure whether or not to say anything. She reassured him that everything would be alright and promised to text him as soon as she’d spoken to Leo.
She also told him to make sure his mobile was on silent so that Georgina wouldn’t hear the text come in if she was there.
The mobile vibrated in his pocket as the text arrived just a few minutes later. Lynnette had spoken to Leo who’d managed to get time off by saying that David had had a serious relapse. Planning to leave within the hour, they would be there later that evening. They would be on their own; Emily would be staying with her friend.
David was relieved. He hadn’t thought for one minute that Lynnette would be able to come, he’d just needed advice; someone to talk to about his fears. Perhaps when they came, between them all, they could confront Georgina once and for all.
Chapter 19
‘I wonder who that can be,’ said Georgina as she walked towards the phone. ‘Probably someone trying to sell us something I expect, they should leave us alone; there should be a law against it.’
‘You won’t know if you don’t answer it.’
‘I am answering it. What do you think I’m doing, standing here for the good of my health?’
Just answer the thing for god’s sake; thought David, hoping it was Lynnette.
‘Who was it?’ asked David when she’d put the phone down.
‘It was Lynnette; she’s on her way with Leon. They’re coming to see us.’
‘Is Emily coming too?’
‘No, don’t be stupid. It’s the middle of the school term; she’s staying with a friend.’
‘Oh that’s great news. It’ll be wonderful to see them. When will they get here?’
‘In an hour or two I think. They’re already on their way. Why didn’t she give me any notice? God, this place is a mess, I haven’t been able to get any housework done lately; I’ve been so busy.’
Busy, thought David, doing what? You don’t do anything except go out on your mysterious shopping trips for hours at a time.
Georgina decided she’d better do some housework. She hadn’t bothered to clean up much at all while David had been ill. She normally left most of the cleaning to him, feeling that he made most of the mess so he should clean it up. While she was trying to clean the bathroom, she wondered again why Lynnette had decided to visit without any notice. They never just turned up. Lynnette knew she hated surprises, so why come now?
***
‘Hello Mum, how are you? And how’s Dad?’
‘Come in you two,’ said Georgina as she hugged and kissed them both. ‘We’re both fine. You’ll have to excuse the mess. I’ve been so busy taking care of your Dad I haven’t had the time to do much housework. It’s embarrassing. I haven’t had a minute to myself. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?’
‘Well, Leo got the chance of a couple of days off so we thought we’d surprise you both. Hello Dad, how are you? Let’s have a kiss.’ Lynnette hugged her Dad and kissed his cheek. ‘I must say you look a lot better than when I last saw you. Has Mum been taking good care of you?’
‘You’ll need to speak up Lynnette, he still can’t hear very well,’ said Georgina. David hugged Lynnette and when she stepped away, she saw he had tears in his eyes.
‘It’s so good to see you both; I’ve missed you so much. It’s a shame Emily couldn’t come with you.’
Later as they left to go to their hotel, Lynnette was happy that her Dad would be safe. They’d arranged to go back first thing in the morning.
‘Your Mum seems normal, don’t you think? Apart from being surprised that we’ve come, she’s her usual self. Are you sure there’s been a problem? It’s not obvious.’
‘Oh yes, don’t be fooled. It’s all an act. She puts on her stage face when she wants to give a certain impression. If you could have heard Dad on the phone you’d know, he was terrified. He’ll be alright while we’re here.’
What are we going to do though? We can’t take him away. I suppose we could just have it out with her.’
‘No, that won’t work. She’d just deny everything and be all affronted that we even suggested she wasn’t anything but the perfect wife and carer. Actually, what you just said isn’t a bad idea though. How about asking if we can take them both to our place for a week or two to give things a chance to cool off? It would give us more time to think this through too.’
‘Do you think she’d go for that?’
‘I doubt it but I’m going to ask. You don’t mind do you?’
‘Of course not, we can do anything you like. It’s your Dad we’re talking about and if what you’ve told me is right, he needs our help.’
‘Thanks Leo. Tomorrow, what do you think about seeing if Mum would let you take her out? Just the two of you, you know. It would give me a chance to have a good chat with Dad and I may be able to get to the bottom of exactly what’s been going on.’
‘Sounds like a plan. I could see if she’ll let me take her to the garden centre, you know how she loves that.’
‘Great idea. And, if you treat her to something nice and have a coffee while you’re out, that’ll give me plenty of time.’
***
The next morning went to plan. They arrived early and after a coffee and a chat, Leo asked Georgina if she’d like to go out sometime. She was really pleased and they agreed to go out after lunch.
‘It’s so nice of you to think of me Leon. I must say, a trip to the garden centre will be lovely. All I’ve been able to do for weeks is have the odd little trip to the shops for groceries. I haven’t been able to leave David alone for very long. It must be worse for him of course, all he can do is move around the house a little. He doesn’t even go outside very much.’
‘Well, while we’re here we’ll make sure you both get a chance to relax. If there’s anything we can do to help you just let us know.’
‘Thank you so much Leon.’
As they drove away later, Leon asked her how she was and if she was managing alright.
‘Yes, I’m alright Leon, thank you. I do get very tired though. I thought I’d be used to it by now but I have to keep my eyes on David all the time in case he falls or something.’
‘It must be very hard for you. Are you sleeping alright?’
‘Not really but I manage to get a couple of hours
usually.’
‘That’s not good, you need your sleep. You could get ill.’
‘Oh, I’ll be alright. David is slowly getting better, it won’t last forever.’
‘Even so, you need to take care of yourself in the meantime.’
‘Thanks Leon,’ said Georgina, putting her hand on his leg. ‘It’s so nice of you to be concerned for me. Everything’s been about David lately and rightly so of course, but it’s really nice to have someone ask after me.’ As Leo put his hand on top of hers and looked across at her, he could see she was welling up with tears.
‘’Now, now, no need for those. Come on; let’s have a good time while we’re out. Lynnette will take good care of her Dad and we can relax and enjoy ourselves.’
‘I’m sorry, I can’t help it. It’s so nice that you’ve come to see us.’ Leo pulled over into a lay-by and gave her a hug while she cried softly into his shoulder.
***
At home, Lynnette had a long and emotional talk with her Dad. At first he was reluctant to say very much more than what he’d told her on the phone. Eventually, she persuaded him to open up and he told her everything that had happened since he’d come home from hospital. He also told her about the way things were before he had the stroke and about his suspicions. The glass in the cupboard and how he’d suspected Georgina of that all along, the bird bath and light and all the other little accidents he’d had.
Lynnette was shocked, but when she thought about what she’d read online and discussed with Leo, she realised that, other than the violence, through her behaviour, her Mum was showing many of the traits of someone with Narcissistic Personality Disorder. It was almost text book. The most frightening thing was the unprovoked violence her Mum had been using against her Dad. Then she remembered what she’d read about malignant narcissists and how violence was all part of their arsenal.
Before, when she’d thought her Mum was, in effect, just a glorified control freak, she hadn’t been too worried. That was something her Dad had lived with for years. But, now her Mum had started to attack him, things had changed and were in danger of getting out of control.
She explained to her Dad what she thought was wrong with her Mum and, initially, as expected, he wouldn’t have any of it. But, when she told him about the condition and how common it was, he agreed that it did sound as though Georgina had some form of it.
‘What can we do about it? I told her to go to the doctor’s and discuss her behaviour.’
‘And did she?’
‘Yes, he gave her some anti-depressants to take when she felt things were getting on top of her.’
‘Does she take them?’
‘I don’t know. I’ve never seen her take them.’
Lynnette went into her Mum’s room and looked where she kept her medication. There were no anti-depressants, in fact there were no pills to speak of, just paracetamol and her cholesterol tablets.
Coming back she asked, ‘Are you sure she went to the doctor Dad?’
‘Well, she said she did, she went for women’s problems and after I spoke to her about her moods, I told her to ask the doctor about them. She told me he was very nice about it.’
‘I don’t think she went at all. There are no pills in her room. I think she just said she’d been to keep you quiet and stop you questioning her behaviour.’
‘Why would she do that? She needs help, surely she knows that.’
‘There’s no explaining anything she does Dad. She thinks differently from us. She’s got her own agenda and she’ll manipulate us all to get what she wants. She can’t help it, it’s the way she’s become.’
She made coffee and they sat and tried to decide the best way forward. They agreed that confronting Georgina would be a bad idea that would most likely fail anyway. She wouldn’t accept there was even a problem, let alone feel there was a need to do anything about it. She told her Dad about the idea of going home with them for a holiday of sorts, and explained it would be easier to keep an eye on her Mum if they were all together. Her Dad thought that was a great idea but said Georgina probably wouldn’t want to go.
‘We’ll tell her it’s more for her than you. She loves being the centre of attention and if she thinks we’re doing it for her, she’ll be over the moon. I know this sounds terrible, but I’m a bit nervous of her being around Emily.’
‘Why? She wouldn’t hurt Emily.’
‘No, I know.’ Lynnette told her Dad about what had happened during their visit earlier in the year. She also told him about Michael’s kids and what her Mum had said to them. Her Dad was appalled.
‘Why would she do that? That’s awful. You can’t do that to children. My god, are you sure?’
‘Yes Dad. I’m sure. Anyway, it won’t be a problem; we’ll just make sure Emily’s not left alone with her for long.’
‘This is all well and good but what are we going to do in the long term? The problem won’t go away by itself.’
‘No it won’t. I don’t know what to do Dad but try not to worry, we’ll sort something out. We’ve got to.’
***
Georgina had thoroughly enjoyed her time alone with Leo. He’d bought her a pair of garden ornaments for the patio and they’d had coffee and cakes in the café. As they prepared to leave he asked her if she’d had a good time.
‘Oh yes Leon, thanks again for bringing me. We don’t get to come here very often even when David’s well.’
‘How many times have I got to tell you Georgina? It’s Leo. If you want we can see if we could go somewhere else another day. Would you like that?’
‘Oh, that would be lovely, er… Leo. But where could we go?’
‘See that wasn’t too hard was it? What about that new shopping mall just outside the city? You could go clothes shopping or look for something special for yourself or, what about something nice for David? I bet he could do with cheering up a bit.’
‘That would be nice; I haven’t shopped for clothes for so long. Are you sure you don’t mind taking me, it’s a long way and we’d be leaving Lynnette on her own to take care of her Dad?’
‘She’ll love it, besides as we said, you need some time for yourself. It’ll do you good like today. It has been fun hasn’t it?’
‘It’s been wonderful; you’re such a lovely man Leo.’ Georgina leaned across and while she hugged him, she kissed him on the cheek. Holding onto him she looked into his eyes and then took his hand as they walked towards the car.
‘Hey, I’ve pulled,’ laughed Leo.
‘Don’t be so cheeky, young man. But, I must say, if I were a few years younger you might have.’
‘Why Georgie, what are you saying?’
‘Alright, that’s enough. And, don’t you go saying anything to David or Lynnette.’
‘Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me,’ said Leo as he gave her a peck on the cheek.
***
When they arrived home, Georgina was very upbeat. She spent a good five minutes describing their trip and how marvellous it had been and how lovely Leo was for taking her. She was in her element when she said that they were going out again to the shopping mall. It was clear how much she adored the attention she’d been getting. This pleased Lynnette and in her mind she decided she would wait until they’d returned from their next trip out before she asked about taking her Mum and Dad home with them for a holiday. At the same time she noticed her Mum hadn’t even thought to ask about her Dad since they’d got home.
‘Why don’t you take Mum to the mall tomorrow Leo? After all we’ve only got a couple of days and we’ll have to be going home soon.’
‘That’s true, how about it Georgina? Are you up for a trip out again tomorrow?’ Georgina was beaming.
‘Oh yes, I’d like that. Will you be alright with your Dad Lynnette?’
‘Yes, don’t worry about us. You go and have a good time. Dad and I will be fine; we might even go to the pub.’
‘You’d better not, he can’t walk far.’
‘I’m jo
king Mum, we’ll be fine.’
The next morning, Leo took Georgina off to the shopping mall nice and early, giving Lynnette the chance to discuss her plans with her Dad.
‘When they get back and when Mum’s finished gushing about what a wonderful time she’s had, I’ll ask her about you coming home with us. Leo has to go back to work soon so we can’t really stay here much longer. Once you’re at home with us we’ll decide what we’re going to do about her. Although it will probably be a waste of time, I think we’ll have to confront her at some point and make sure she understands her behaviour is just not acceptable. I expect we’ll have a battle on our hands but it’s the only way I can see us getting anything sorted out. You can’t go on living like this I won’t have it.’
‘I’m not looking forward to that but I suppose it’s got to be done. I’ve had enough of being scared and treading on eggshells and watching everything I say.’
‘Have you noticed Dad, Mum hasn’t said anything about your hearing? Surely she realises it’s fine now?’
‘Yes, you’re right, but did you notice she didn’t ask how I was when she got back yesterday? She hardly ever asks about me anyway, so if she says anything I’ll tell her it’s been getting better slowly the same as everything else.’
‘I’m so sorry, I bet you’ve been feeling abandoned over these last few weeks. I’m sorry we didn’t think to come and check on you sooner. It must have been terrible for you.’
‘No don’t be silly, how were you to know? I’m just grateful you’re here now. Thank you Lynnette, thank you for caring so much.’
‘Well, now we are here I’m going to make sure you’ve got no reason to be afraid anymore. If I have my way, you won’t be left alone with her again. Now, let’s have a cup of coffee. Do you fancy a few biscuits?’
‘Yes please, that would be very nice. I suppose I’d better get on and do a few exercises as well.’