Chapter 6
SIX
I spent the next couple of hours completing some paperwork – I have to keep detailed records on my patients – and finding out where other things I would need in the house were.
There was a utility room off the kitchen, and I was familiarising myself with the washing machine when I looked out of the window and saw Astrid in the garden, staring at some roses – all stalks now, of course – a pair of secateurs in her hand.
She hadn’t put anything on over her clothes and despite the cardigan, I thought she must be freezing.
Various coats were hanging by a door that led outside, so I pulled one on and grabbed another for her, then opened the door and stepped out, the dank November air immediately wrapping itself around me and inserting its cold fingers down my collar and up my sleeves.
Astrid didn’t seem to notice my approach, so I coughed and stamped a little as I drew nearer, hoping not to startle her, but she still did not turn until I said her name, and then she did so with a jump.
‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘I didn’t mean to disturb you, but I saw you out here and thought you might be cold.’
I held out the coat, which she stared at in bewilderment, not seeming to know what it was or what to do with it. I shook it out and draped it over her shoulders; only then did she draw it around herself and give me a half-smile.
‘Oh, thank you, yes, gosh, I hadn’t noticed, but I’m freezing. Do you think these roses need trimming?’
I looked at them doubtfully. I knew nothing about gardening, but it didn’t feel helpful to announce that right now.
‘No,’ I said, sounding as confident as I could. ‘They’re just right. Why don’t we go inside? We need to start getting ready for the party.’
‘Oh, yes, all right,’ said Astrid vaguely, and followed me back into the utility room, where we removed our coats.
‘Is everything all right?’ I asked casually, going back into the kitchen. ‘Only you looked kind of worried out there.’
That was putting it mildly.
She turned to me and tried to smile.
‘Yes, I’m worried about absolutely everything, but so glad to have you here to help with Marilise.
She does need more care now and it was too much for us.
’ Her voice took on a slightly wild tone.
‘Now, if you could persuade Nick not to sell Lyonscroft, provide a happy Christmas for Sofia when she arrives, decide on the best choices for India and conjure me up an outfit that won’t embarrass everyone for this evening, that would be ideal. ’
She pushed her hands into her hair and bared her teeth in what was supposed to be a smile but looked to me more like extreme anxiety.
I wanted to put my arms around her and reassure her that everything would be okay, but I wasn’t sure how appropriate that would be.
Instead, I did what I do best and went practical.
‘As far as I can see, the only thing we can do immediately is work out what to wear this evening. It’s not costumes anymore, but is there a dress code?’
‘No, but it’s the first event of the season locally, so everyone will pull out all the stops. I haven’t bought a new party dress since about 1997, and I doubt I’d fit into that anymore. Do you think I could wear this?’
‘It’s nice,’ I said firmly. ‘But you might feel more partyish with a different top. Should I come and help you look? I’ve got about ten minutes before Marilise is expecting me.’
Astrid clutched at my hands.
‘Would you?’ she whispered urgently. ‘I’d be so grateful.’
We went to leave the room, when who should come in but the lord of the manor himself, wearing nothing but a pair of black chinos, with his hair damp from the shower and wafting some delicious peppery cologne.
For a moment, I froze; nurses are used to bodies, but in my line of work I don’t often get to see one as toned and muscular as this.
He must have kept up his youthful hobby of swimming, with a side order of weights.
My reverie was quickly broken when he spoke, his voice tight with irritation.
‘Have either of you seen Angela? This shirt needs ironing.’
‘I can do that for you,’ said Astrid immediately, reaching out for it. Mindful of the minutes ticking away, and my hackles rising at this man who apparently couldn’t wield his own iron, I broke in.
‘We’ve only got a few minutes to find you something to wear, so we’d better go up.’
‘But what about his shirt?’
In my head I was shouting well, what about it? Can’t he iron his own bloody shirt? but I managed to keep that particular thought internal.
‘I’m sure it can be sorted out later,’ I muttered, furious that this domestically challenged manbaby might stop poor Astrid finding something she would feel comfortable wearing that evening.
I got the strong impression that her needs came very far down everybody’s lists, including her own.
Nick glared at me, and I looked back at him as coolly as I could, until he surprised me by giving a sudden bark of laughter.
‘Oh! You think I can’t iron my own shirt?’
I shrugged.
‘It’s not that,’ he said. ‘I don’t expect anyone to do it for me. But Angela is very strict about the iron, what water goes in it and so on, and I don’t want to muck it up. That’s why I need her; I don’t usually iron anything, so when I have to, I can never remember the rules.’
Astrid’s shoulders dropped in relief.
‘Oh well, I can’t help you with that,’ she said. ‘I once put some lavender essential oil in it to make the sheets smell nice and she was cross with me for weeks.’
‘Look, here she is now,’ I said gratefully, seeing her come through the door at the end of the corridor. ‘Should we go and look in your wardrobe?’
Astrid and I hurried upstairs and she took me into her bedroom, another grand affair but impossibly messy. There were clothes, books and magazines scattered everywhere, and the bed was unmade.
‘Sorry about the state of it,’ she said nervously, twitching the duvet and making it look worse than it had before. ‘I never seem to get time to sort it out.’
I didn’t comment, instead going to the large wardrobe and opening it. To my surprise, it was stuffed with clothes.
‘Sorry again,’ said Astrid, coming to stand next to me. ‘I hardly ever shop, but I also find it hard to throw anything away. Some of this is my mother’s, and most of it doesn’t fit, I don’t think.’
I glanced at my watch discreetly; I only had a few minutes until I needed to be with Marilise.
‘Well,’ I said, ‘your skirt is beautiful, so why don’t we find a top that would work with it?’ Panic gave me laser focus. ‘Look, what about this?’
I pulled out a pearl grey silk blouse with long sleeves.
‘Oh!’ exclaimed Astrid. ‘That was Mum’s, I forgot it was there. I couldn’t possibly wear it, I’ll only spill something down it.’
‘Try it on,’ I said firmly. ‘I promise that I am an expert at getting out stains, so it doesn’t matter if you do.’
I could see her looking with excitement at the gorgeous garment and I pushed it towards her.
‘I need to go. Please, at least try it on.’
She took it and I hurried out of the room, hoping that she would dare to do this one nice thing for herself.
I tapped lightly on Marilise’s door, then pushed it open. She was still asleep, so I moved quietly around the room preparing the things we would need when she awoke. Checking my watch, I was about to gently wake her when I heard her say my name, and hurried over to the bed.
‘Laura,’ she said again, clutching for my hand. ‘Is it time to go? Have I overslept?’
‘It’s fine,’ I reassured her, helping her to a sitting position. ‘No rush at all.’
She smiled at me.
‘I have always loved to get ready for parties. When I was young, my sisters and cousins and I would spend hours preparing, purely for the joy of doing it, as much as to look nice, which of course we also liked. We would sometimes have a drink of schnapps, weakened down with water on my mother’s instructions, fruity in the summer and minty in the winter.
We were impossibly giggly before that, anyway, and it made us worse. ’
‘It sounds like fun,’ I said. ‘My friends and I, sometimes, never even made it out because we were having so much fun getting ready.’
That felt like a long time ago.
‘Well, we will not do that tonight. The Westmans throw very good parties, and I wish to go.’
‘Of course.’
I helped her out of bed and through the steps needed before she could get dressed, then when she was ready in her robe and underwear, she directed me to the wardrobe.
‘I have a gown I have been looking forward to wearing again for many years, Laura. You will find it on the right-hand side, the red one.’
Carefully, I moved aside the fragile clothes until I found a beautiful, beaded, cranberry dress and lifted it out, heavy on its hanger.
‘This one?’
‘Yes! That is the one. I wore it once to an ambassador’s reception and she was pea green with envy in her navy silk. Carefully now, don’t snag the beading.’
I helped her into the dress, and she leant on me as I did up the zip and hook and eye fastening, then tugged gently until it sat straight.
‘It’s a perfect fit!’ I said with delight, helping her to the mirror so that she could admire herself.
‘Of course,’ she said calmly. ‘My body may not work the way it once did, but I have not lost or gained an ounce. Good. Now, my make-up.’
I watched as she applied powder, eyeshadow, mascara and lipstick, each in heavy golden packaging, their glamour putting my plastic-cased drugstore buys to shame. Maybe it was time I treated myself. Then I brushed her hair and put in two circular clips she handed me.
‘I am all but ready,’ she said. ‘Now, what about you?’
‘It won’t take me long,’ I answered. ‘Don’t worry, we won’t be late.’
‘If only I did not need so much help,’ she sighed. ‘We could have got ready together with some schnapps, like the old days.’
I smiled.
‘Maybe we can do something about that next time.’
‘Maybe, now go, go, or we’ll be late.’