Chapter 2 #2
It was true. I always packed an odd selection of clothes when I stayed with patients because while sometimes we barely left the house, which only needed something comfortable, other times it felt more hedonistic as my patient enjoyed their final fling with life.
And then, who knew where I’d end up going?
Recently, I attended the beautiful wedding of the star of Mayfair Mews, Jacqueline Honeywood, to Sir Douglas Knight, up in Yorkshire with my patient Essy, who had been Jacqueline’s dresser for many years.
Another time I recalled, shuddering, I had gone up in a titchy little plane and been strapped to an instructor to follow my patient in leaping out into the abyss.
He was ninety-two and fulfilling a lifelong dream; I was thirty-six and terrified.
So, I could easily take a party in my stride.
I smiled around at the others, who were darting anxious looks at one another.
Eventually, Nick cleared his throat and spoke.
‘Uh, the thing is, it’s um, it’s a…’
Another awkward silence. My stomach began to churn. What horror was about to be unleashed?
‘It’s a fancy-dress party,’ burst out Angela, jumping up to attend to the now-boiling kettle.
‘But I don’t have any costumes with me,’ I said, probably unnecessarily. I doubted they had expected their grandmother’s nurse to roll up with a case full of sailors’ hats and flamenco dresses.
‘Oh, you don’t have to worry about that,’ said India breezily, with the mischievous grin that was already becoming familiar. ‘We’ve got a family theme, and you’ll have no trouble fitting in the costume.’
‘What’s the theme?’ I asked suspiciously. ‘Something Christmassy?’
‘Not in November!’ said India, who clearly hadn’t visited London any time after July. ‘No, when it was delayed from Halloween, the hosts decided to keep the theme.’
Angela refilled my cup and offered me another macaroon.
‘We’re going as the Addams Family,’ she said, an apologetic look on her face.
A vague image of black and white clothing and pale make-up crossed my mind.
‘Well, that’s all right, isn’t it?’ I said. ‘What costumes do you have?’
‘Astrid, my stepmother, is going as Morticia,’ said Nick, looking determinedly away from India, who had started giggling. ‘I’m Gomez Addams and India is Wednesday. Marilise – if she’s well enough – will be Grandmama, with Greg as the butler, Lurch, and Angela as Morticia’s pet lion, Kitty Cat.’
‘We had the costumes fitted a while ago,’ said Angela. ‘And when we rang them to ask them to add something extra for a nurse we hadn’t yet hired, they said they had something that didn’t need to be fitted, that would be fine for anyone.’
India’s giggles were ramping up, and she turned away in an attempt to stifle them.
‘So, what’s the costume?’ I asked, my brain sorting through images of vampires, ghosts and ghouls. How bad could it be?
‘I’m afraid it’s Cousin Itt,’ gasped out India, then leapt up and ran from the room, tears of laughter pouring down her face.
‘Cousin Itt?’ I asked. ‘Who’s that?’
‘He’s the character who is completely covered in long hair, from head to foot,’ said Nick, whose lips were also beginning to twitch with amusement. ‘And he has a hat and, erm, sunglasses.’
I took my phone out and quickly Googled the character.
It was basically a walking wig. My stomach dropped into my shoes.
I had an immediate urge to say the word that so often sprang to my lips when my own family made unfair demands of me, but that I found so difficult to actually utter: no.
But then I thought better of it. I had been in this house for less than an hour, and if this was what was being asked of me to facilitate my patient’s happiness…
Well, I’d faced worse. I thought of that horrid little plane and tried to be grateful for small mercies, summoning up a sporting smile.
‘Well, at least I won’t get cold,’ I said, rolling my eyes. ‘Maybe I should suggest this get-up to my sister for my bridesmaid’s dress; it’s no worse than that’s bound to be and at least there’s plenty of room to hide cake if I get hungry.’
Angela smiled at me encouragingly, but Nick frowned, then quickly left the room.
‘Have I annoyed him again?’ I asked, beginning to feel irritated by this mercurial man. After all, I had just agreed to their stupid costume with a good grace. Did he ever stay in one mood for longer than two minutes?
Angela shrugged.
‘Don’t worry yourself about him, he’s rather…’
She stopped talking quickly, leaving me curious as to what she had been about to say, when the door opened and he returned, India behind him, looking sheepish.
‘Tell her,’ he said curtly, nodding at me.
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘They dropped the Halloween theme when they had to postpone the party. I thought it would be funny if we all turned up dressed as the Addams family.’
‘Did you know?’ I asked Angela and Nick.
She shook her head furiously.
‘No, of course not.’ Then she tutted. ‘Now, I’m going to have to find something else to wear – I was relying on that costume.’
‘I didn’t know either,’ said Nick. ‘But I had my suspicions. Sorry, India doesn’t always know when a joke’s over.’
‘It’s okay,’ I replied, too relieved to feel annoyed. ‘Thanks for getting to the bottom of it. Maybe India would like to wear the Cousin Itt costume as a penance?’
‘Not likely,’ she replied pertly. ‘I’ve got a dress ready in case I was rumbled. Laters!’
She darted out of the room before anyone else could tell her off and Nick, whistling to Steve, followed her. I had to smile: it was nice having someone young around, even if I might have to watch out so I wasn’t pranked by her again.
‘I’m so sorry about that,’ said Angela. ‘You’ve only been here for five minutes. When you interviewed, I didn’t think I’d need to warn you about India.’
‘It’s fine,’ I said. ‘To be honest, I’m just relieved that this house is warmer than the one in London.’
A mental image of that house came to me.
It had been at least five storeys, including a basement, and rendered in immaculate white stucco.
I could barely afford even to park in that area of London, so I couldn’t begin to imagine how much a house of that size must be worth.
Ten million pounds? Twenty? I remembered standing awkwardly in the chilly black and white tiled hallway with its décor of gleaming marble, polished stone and gigantic mirrors, and shivered.
It had felt colder inside there than it was outside.
‘We wouldn’t have it any other way,’ replied Angela. ‘Especially Marilise – she likes to be cosy. I was only up in London for a couple of days, and it wasn’t worth firing up the central heating for the entire house, so most of it was arctic.’
‘The sitting room was toasty, though,’ I said, remembering the room, which overlooked the quiet square of enormous Georgian mansions outside.
A fire had blazed away in the large, iron grate and the space was completely different from the austere hallway.
It was painted a deep shade of red with a thick, cream carpet and two invitingly squashy sofas and I had been immediately more at ease.
Angela had plied me with tea and chocolate chip shortbread while explaining a little about the set-up at this house, in Somerset.
She was the housekeeper and her husband, Greg, looked after the grounds and did all the little “bits and bobs” around the house.
‘It’s the nicest room in that house,’ said Angela, finally sitting down next to me and taking a macaroon herself.
‘I pretty much live in it when I have to go down to London on business.’ She must have seen me looking curious, because she added, ‘I’m a chartered accountant as well as doing all the dusting. ’
I thought I had managed not to let the surprise show on my face, but she must have been used to people underestimating her and smiled gently. ‘People do find my role unusual, but it works for me, and I love this family.’
We had, of course, talked about Marilise’s needs and what my job would entail, but I was eager to find out more about the people I would be living with over Christmas, particularly my patient.
‘So Marilise is nearly ninety, how wonderful.’
‘That’s right, dear, and she’s been fit as a fiddle until recently, but she’s had a series of infections and viruses which have slowed her down.
The family normally goes up to London for Christmas as Nick can’t bear being here for it.
But Marilise isn’t well enough to travel this year.
I’ve been doing all her non-medical care – we’ve had nurses who come in for that side of things – but it’s getting too much for me with the rest of the house to look after and now Christmas coming.
There are bound to be guests turning up and I can’t be pulled in so many directions, although I would still like to be involved with her care, and I’ll cover you when you’re not working.
Hence the details the agency gave you, for day-to-day nursing care and companionship.
I was very impressed by your CV; you’re exceptionally experienced.
Most of the applications were from people with only a year or two’s work behind them, and that didn’t seem the right choice for Marilise. ’
I nodded. I had been a nurse for nearly twenty years and reached the level of band six specialist ward nurse.
‘Yes. And I probably would have continued in hospital work, but my husband fell ill.’ I sipped my tea slowly before continuing.
It hadn’t been necessary to divulge all this at the interview, but I felt instinctively that I could trust Angela with the story of my past. ‘It was a short illness, and I looked after him until… the end.’ Angela gave me such a sweet and sympathetic smile that I had the courage to continue.
‘That’s when I retrained as a companionship care nurse, and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since, living with patients in their homes to provide treatment and support. ’
I didn’t add that a large part of the reason I did this was because I couldn’t bear to live in the house that Paulo and I had bought together.
That was rented out, and if I had time in between jobs, I either gritted my teeth and went back briefly to my childhood home to stay with my mother, father and sister, or took a trip away.
‘It sounds as though you’ve had a difficult time,’ said Angela, pushing the plate of shortbread towards me again.
‘But the agency said we were very lucky to have the opportunity to employ you, with your excellent reputation and willingness to work over Christmas. Don’t your parents want to see you? ’
‘They live in Somerset as well, so I can visit them on my days off,’ I said, hoping that this noncommittal response would not invite any more questions on the subject of my family.
‘I think the agency passed on my request for the Saturday before Christmas specifically, as that’s when my sister is getting married. ’
‘Oh yes, of course,’ said Angela, beaming. ‘How nice, a winter wedding! You said you were going to be a bridesmaid?’
‘Yes,’ I replied shortly, then rushed on before the wedding talk set in. ‘Is Marilise happy to have a nurse come to work with her?’
‘She is,’ said Angela, smiling fondly. ‘She’s a lovely person, very gracious.
She’s bona fide royalty, you know; we all call her Marilise and she wouldn’t hear of anything else, but her full name is Princess Marie-Elise Colombo della Rovere.
The royal family was abolished between the wars and she came to London with her parents, then met her husband when she was a deb in the fifties.
He was the one whose family owned the London house and all this.
’ She waved her hand around. ‘But he never got over the fact that although he had the money, it was all from trade – dog food, it was – whereas it was she who had the real pedigree.’
This was a world known to me only by the occasional flick through a society magazine at a patient’s house, and it did sound intriguing.
‘She must have some fab stories.’
‘She does, but not many people to share them with these days, so if you’re willing to listen, she’ll be only too glad to tell.
Her son, Nick’s father, died about seventeen years ago and the dowager widow, Astrid, who was his second wife, not Nick’s mother, has all her time taken up with India, the garden and her fiancé, Philip, who lives in Texas. ’
I laughed.
‘My head’s spinning already! It sounds very complicated.’
Angela nodded.
‘It always is with these families,’ she said sagely. ‘But you don’t need to worry about any of that; you’ll pick it up as you go along.’
‘I hope so,’ I replied. ‘And Marilise was happy to employ me without meeting me first?’
‘She trusts my judgement,’ said Angela, picking up the plate of treats and giving me little choice but to take yet another. ‘And you’ll fit in perfectly at Lyonscroft. We’re very lucky to have found you.’
I smiled. Despite the dog, the bush, Nick’s grumpiness and the Addams family joke, I felt just the same.
‘Oh, look at the time!’ exclaimed Angela. ‘Marilise should be waking up around now – shall we go upstairs?’
Glad to be getting started on the real reason I had come to Lyonscroft, I rose quickly and followed her out of the room, eager to find out what my princess patient would be like.