Later that evening she had a bath, washed her hair and spent a crazy half hour deciding what to wear. There was a green jersey dress with long sleeves and a scoop neck. Being dark with eyes as changeable as the sea, her father had said, she suited bright colours. Blue two piece in a satin cord or a choice of three red outfits.
With time closing fast and the pile on the bed mounting she found a purple suit with a three-quarter jacket and ankle length skirt. Black accessories and a long purple coat with grey lining and she was ready. Marc rang the bell on the front door and when she opened it presented her with an orchid corsage which he insisted on pinning on before escorting her to his waiting Jaguar.
Dinner was at a fashionable country club, a very exclusive, expensive place, and Cassie itched to tell him how much she detested the venue, haunted as she was by evenings spent with Greg in similar venues during his high flying days when ‘living life to the full’ had been his motto and she in her ignorance had followed.
‘You aren’t enjoying this a bit, are you?’
She looked up swiftly. ‘I’m sorry?’
‘You were far away, and not somewhere nice by your expression.’
She glanced down at her untouched Parma ham rolls and melon balls on a bed of lettuce. ‘It’s one of my favourites, honest.’ And she started to eat.
Chicken in white wine followed, then making an excuse against dessert they finished off their meal with coffee and home made sweets.
They were both silent on the ride home. After a while Marc pulled on to the grass verge and switched off the engine. ‘What is it, Cassie? What’s really wrong?’
‘I’m worried about Mae, that’s all.’
Marc sat sideways on, watching her profile against the dark window. ‘Mae will have to learn to accept the inevitable, that’s all. Mae aside, I thought we had some kind of mutual attraction going on here.’
Cassie turned her head to look at him. ‘So did I.’
‘What happened?’
‘Mae happened.’
‘You can’t seriously believe I have any feelings for Mae other than as a parent.’ He sounded genuinely shocked.
Of course not,’ she said, turning back to gaze out of the window.
‘Then I don’t understand.’
‘You believed her.’
He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it, nodding his head as he recognised where she was coming from. ‘She’s my daughter.’ It wasn’t a plea, just a statement.
‘Of course,’ was all she said.
The next day it was once more warm enough to sit out in the garden. The sunshine had brought out the flowers early that year and though it was still cold in the shade there had been no frost for several days. Cassie was waiting for the appearance of the children. The cat lay curled up on the windowsill and MacBeth sat at her feet.
At the sound of their voices the dog’s head came up, then he was on his feet and away across the lawn. The twins were first and fighting as they came through the vestry gate. Then gentle Sam with Ruthie in tow. The cat silently jumped down from the sill and made his way indoors.
Donald had won the argument and was handing her a letter. The twins and Ruthie gathered round wanting to know what it said. The letter was a typed invitation to Sam’s birthday party.
Weather permitting it would be a barbecue with games and fireworks. They all glanced round to where Sam was trying to persuade MacBeth to beg.
‘It’s a secret,’ whispered Ruthie.
‘He doesn’t know,’ confirmed Donald.
Cassie smiled. ‘Well then I had better write my reply.’
‘You will come won’t you?’ Ruthie asked anxiously.
‘I’d love to come.’
Once she had left the children playing in the garden and returned to the house, she wasn’t so sure that going to the party was such a good idea. Then she thought of little Ruthie and knew that whatever happened she couldn’t disappoint the child.
On the night of the party Cassie wrapped the framed portrait of MacBeth across the corner of which was written ‘to Sam with love’ and a paw print. She smiled as she tied a large red bow around it.
The children had every conceivable toy and game she could think of and this idea had come to her on the spur of a moment when she had been studying some portraits in a shop window in town. MacBeth had been a very good sitter and in no time at all it had been done.
The party was in full swing when she arrived. There were several children she didn’t know and she assumed the adults were their parents. Mae was organising a treasure hunt. Cassie, lay her present alongside others on a table by the conservatory door, and wandering inside was grateful for the drink offered by a beaming Mrs O’Connor.
Marc broke away from two fashionably dressed women and came through the conservatory to her side.
‘I’m glad you came, please come and meet some of the neighbours with me.’ He took her arm and led her back out into the garden. It wasn’t long before she sensed Mae watching.
It broke her concentration on what Marc was saying so when he turned to her for confirmation, she was helpless and stumbled through her reply. As they walked away amused and sympathetic glances followed them.
‘I sounded foolish, I’m sorry. I think I should leave now. Please tell Sam I came.’
‘You can’t go yet,’ he said, and taking her hand led her back into the house. ‘You’ll miss the firework display. You’ve never seen the rest of the house, have you? Come and see my studio.’ It was a tower room off the first floor landing and he led her inside and closed the door.
A bare room with a high ceiling and wood floor. There were gold and silver award discs on the wall and trophies on the narrow ledges of three slit windows. Several guitars stood propped against the wall. A piano and a table were the only dominant pieces of furniture in the room. He offered her the piano stool then taking off his jacket and laying it on the top of the piano he picked up an instrument and began to strum.
The sun was dying, its last rays sliding through the narrow windows to spotlight the player against the white stone wall, a troubadour from a long ago time. Cassie felt the music entering her soul, so beautiful and sad that tears were trembling on her lids when he put the guitar aside and lifting her from the stool kissed her long and hungrily.
As he released her she turned her head.
Mae stood perfectly still in the open doorway. ‘Some of our guests are asking for you, Mare,’ she announced like a society wife that had caught her husband misbehaving.
‘I didn’t hear you knock,’ Marc said.
Mae flinched visibly but held her ground.
‘We’ll be down in a moment.’ He dismissed her.
When she had gone he turned back to Cassie. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t realise just what a problem she’d become.’
Cassie laid a hand on his arm and smiled. ‘Thank you for the music.’
‘There will always be music for us, Cassie, when you care to listen.’
Blue eyes stared into grey ones for a long time then Cassie said, ‘I’ll be listening.’
‘Then I think I had better get back to my guests.’
Cassie stayed for the firework display and to see Sam open his presents. She was pleased to see his expression of excitement when he opened the portrait of MacBeth.
‘That’s different,’ Marc whispered in her ear.
Marc was leaving for a concert in London the next day. They had arranged to meet the day after and talk to Mae together. Cassie was at the hospital that afternoon when an emergency call came through. Ambulances were bringing in four children with smoke inhalation and burns.
Cassie kept to one side in these situations as the ward became a hive of activity. But to her horror she found herself thrown into the midst of this emergency when she recognised not one but all of Marc’s children being stretchered in with oxygen masks on their faces. Last of all came Mae straight through into the ICU.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
In the corrid
or she bumped into a stained and harassed looking James Munro. ‘Lassie, can you tell me how the bairns are,’ he pleaded.
‘James, what happened?’ She took his hands which were shaking and tugged him to sit down next to her.
‘I don’t rightly ken, a box of fireworks left over from last night exploded, why or how, no-one knows. The bairns were in their rooms on their computers an’ such. I was reading in my room and Mrs O’Connor had just left when there was a noise from downstairs.’
He wiped a hand across his brow leaving a dirty smut behind. ‘I didn’t think much on it, until I heard the lassie cry out.’
His voice shook with emotion as he continued. ‘I came out of my room and smoke swept in past me. The wee lassie had Ruthie in her arms and was dragging her leg as she struggled to get the child to safety. I could see there was something wrong with her but she was calling to the others to follow her. By now we were all coughing and choking. I grabbed the other children and we struggled through the smoke and down the stairs.’
Here he let out a great sigh. ‘Mae had fallen and she begged me to get the children out, which I did and called for help. But oh God help me I could nay get back inside to help Mae. Then help came and they got her out, I know she’s hurt bad, lassie, what can I do?’
‘Does Marc know?’
He shook his head and Cassie could see he was too upset to think straight.
‘Do you have a number for him?’ she asked gently.
‘Aye, I do, it’s on this contraption,’ he said, pulling a mobile phone from his pocket. His hands shook as he handed it over.
‘I’ll contact Marc then we’ll go and get you a cup of tea.’
‘I cannot go anywhere, I was told to wait here, the police want to talk to me.’
‘Then they can come and talk to you in the canteen. For the moment I have to go outside to use this phone, it’s not allowed in here.’
She headed outside wondering what on earth she was going to say to Marc. The phone rang and rang but remained unanswered. He must be rehearsing she told herself, she would ring again soon, but now she must get back to the children.
A policeman was standing talking to James as she passed him in the corridor and hurried back to the ward. The twins were sitting up in bed looking none the worse for their adventure. Sam was still on oxygen and Ruthie was having a few tears, but the nurse taking care of her said she was doing fine.
Cassie used her familiarity with the staff to ask after Mae. There was some hesitation but after a while the nurse in charge said she would try to find out.
When she came back her expression told Cassie what she couldn’t say in words. Shaken she went in search of James but he had already disappeared. Assuming he had become sick of waiting for his tea and gone off to the canteen she followed him there, but when she arrived he wasn’t there either.
‘The four younger children can go home in the morning provided there are no complications overnight,’ she was told when she returned to the ward.
‘We’re to stay here tonight,’ cried Donald eyeing up the computer games at the bottom of the ward.
‘I want to go home,’ wept Ruthie.
‘My chest hurts,’ said Sam.
‘Will Mae be all right?’ asked Dorothy.
Cassie sat down between Ruthie and Sam and the twins piled on to Sam’s bed. ‘Mae is very poorly so we must all say our prayers tonight and ask God to take care of her. Soon I have to go and tell Marc what has happened. He will want to know that you are all well and being very good until I get back. OK?’
Four heads nodded in unison.
On her way to try and contact Marc again she nearly fell over James who was back on the bench in the corridor.
‘Where were you?’
‘The police took me into an office over there. Did you get Marc?’
Cassie shook her head. ‘I’m just on my way to try again. Come on, we’ll drop off at the canteen on our way.’ She told him about the children as they went and he told her about his last look at the church before he was bundled into the ambulance.
‘It was well ahold, lassie. I have many doubts that it will survive.’
She left him drinking a cup of strong tea and went outside to phone.
This time it was answered. ‘Say no more, Cassie, I’m on my way home. The police called me fifteen minutes ago. Is James there?’
‘Yes, he’s shaken but fine. I’ll be waiting for you.’ She switched off and made her way back to the canteen.
Cassie could not believe her eyes when she stepped out of the car and stared at the ruins of what had been Dominic’s’ home. The stone walls still stood but part of the roof had fallen in. Windows like empty eye sockets still smouldered. All the beautiful stained glass lay in sparkling shards on the ground, crunched under the muddied chaos of firemen’s leftovers.
Cassie could have wept but there was too much to do. The children were due out of hospital and it didn’t need an expert to know that they had no home to return to. She would have them here, at least while Marc was to spend all his time at Mae’s bedside.
Her condition was giving cause for alarm. There was talk of a leg amputation should she get well enough to withstand the operation. She had severe burns to a large area of her body and the doctors were not hopeful.
There were three spare bedrooms in the house, if she put Ruthie and Dorothy in one then Donald and Sam could have the other one and that left the other one for Marc should he need it. She made up the beds quickly, then put the heating on to counteract any leftover shock the children might be suffering, before lighting the fire in the kitchen and putting a pan of soup ready on the stove.
After staying in the hospital all night she was in need of some sleep herself but the children were expecting her back to pick them up and bring them home. James, after gaining permission from the police, had gone home to Scotland. Marc had arrived at the hospital in an incredible short time from London and after speaking to the children to assure himself that they were all well on the way to recovery had gone straight through to Mae’s bedside.
He was waiting beside the children when she returned to pick them up. He stood up and taking her into his arms kissed her.
‘Thank God you were here,’ he said.
Four pairs of eyes, round as saucers, stared in silence before following her out to the car.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Are you and Marc an item?’ Donald wanted to know as soon as they were settled in the car. ‘No, we’re just good friends.’
‘Everyone says that, but it’s just an excuse to make things sound proper.’
‘Well in this case it’s the truth.’
‘Is Mae going to die?’ asked Ruthie.
Cassie sighed. ‘We hope not, darling.’
‘Can I come and live with you now?’
Cassie smiled at the little girl’s persistence. ‘Yes, darling, you are all coming to live with me for now.’
‘Marc as well,’ Donald asked, and Cassie could see trouble ahead.
‘Marc is at the hospital with Mae as you very well know, Donald.’
* * *
Once home she showed the children their respective bedrooms then led them down to the kitchen. They were familiar with the kitchen and settled in at once. Sam played with MacBeth, Ruthie climbed into the rocking chair and began to sing to herself, while the twins plonked themselves at the table and watched expectantly as Cassie stirred the soup.
‘I have a room of my own,’ Dorothy voiced to no-one in particular.
‘That’s right she does,’ Donald stated, ‘Ruthie sleeps with Mae.’
Cassie dished up the soup and they were joined by the other two before Cassie said, ‘Well I’m sure Dorothy won’t mind looking after Ruthie while Mae is in hospital.’
‘I don’t mind really but she does cry sometimes.’ Dorothy looked rather apprehensive so Cassie asked her, ‘Does she cry at night?’
‘She has nightmares,’ said Donald, ‘that’s why she sleeps with Mae.’
Oh dear, Cassie thought. ‘Then she had better sleep in my room.’
Dorothy looked relieved.
If Cassie thought she was tired before the incident of the fire she was too busy to realise just how tired she was now. The family had lost everything. They all needed new clothing from underwear to shoes and Cassie’s meagre pantry could not cope with the demands of a hungry family so there was more shopping to do. Then they began to complain at lost possessions, toys, bikes, books and games.
After two hectic days, Cassie managed to get them back to school with the help of some neighbours who offered school runs. The cleaner from the village agreed to work more hours for which Cassie was grateful. Then Alf turned up one morning with two bicycles and a box of games he said his lads had grown out of.
She had called in at the hospital to check on Mae and tell the staff she wouldn’t be back teaching for a while. They were very understanding and sympathetic.
One nurse that she had been rather friendly with suggested that Marc could do with some rest. ‘He’s looking rather worn out it might be a good thing if you could get him to go home for a while.’
Cassie didn’t like to remind the nurse that he had no home to go back to.
‘He’s in the canteen grabbing a cup of coffee.’
Cassie nodded and headed for the canteen. He was sitting just inside the doorway. She chewed on her lower lip as she watched him.
Unaware of her gaze he was slumped around the cup of coffee. His skin had the unshaven greyness that extreme tiredness and worry brings, he’d obviously slept in his clothes and seemed not to have eaten for some time.
Did he blame her or himself for Mae’s condition? She could only guess for he hadn’t said more than a handful of words to her since the fire. She’d told him she had taken the children in, and he had thanked her.
Moving forward she sat down at the table opposite him. He looked up and gave her a weary smile. ‘She came round during the night, and they took her off that machine, she said a few words then lapsed back into unconsciousness again, but they seemed to think she is improving.’
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