Chapter 35 Elise
Elise
Elise was in the kitchen, waiting for her relatives to arrive. She’d tried putting them off, explaining how ill Ruth was, but Nonna had refused to listen, so they were coming anyway.
Sam was with her. The previous evening, they’d returned to the Poacher to have dinner and to listen to music.
Once again, Elise had enjoyed it very much.
The food had been delicious, the music easy on the ear, and the company perfect.
Sitting next to each other in the crowded bar, their arms brushed as they ate.
They’d smiled at each other foolishly. Giggled at nothing.
Then the band had come onstage, making talking impossible, so Sam took her hand in his. And it had felt good.
Sam’s arm was brushing hers now as they looked out of the window together.
It was funny; Elise didn’t know for sure if anything was going to happen between them, and yet, at the very same time, she was certain it was going to.
It was too soon to think about it just now, but in a way, it was also exactly the right time.
Sam made her feel cared for in a way Robbie hadn’t done for quite some time.
A car pulled up on the road outside. They were here.
Sam gave her hand a squeeze. “I’d probably better make myself scarce. If I come face to face with your ex, I’m not entirely sure how self-controlled I’d be. And you don’t need violence today of all days.”
Elise nodded, thinking back to how furious Sam had been on her behalf when she’d finally told him about Robbie’s affair.
“I don’t,” she agreed, but she squeezed his hand back, reluctant to let him go, with the result that, when Robbie came into view, their closeness was the first thing he saw through the window.
She let go of Sam’s hand. But she didn’t feel guilty. “I’ll see you later,” she said.
“You will,” Sam promised.
“Sorry to interrupt such a cosy scene,” Robbie said when Elise opened the door to him, but she didn’t rise to the bait.
“That’s okay,” she said, watching Lulu as she jumped up at him ecstatically. “Are Gran and Nonna still in the car?”
Robbie bent to stroke Lulu’s head. “Yes. I think you’d better come and talk to them. Nonna’s refusing to get out.”
“Why?”
“God only knows. She’s the one who wanted to come all this way.”
Making up her mind not to include Robbie in anything connected to her family ever again, Elise made her way out to the front of the house, where she could hear Gran reasoning with Nonna. “Come on, Mum, we’ve driven all this way for you to see Marsh House again.”
Elise pulled the car door further open and popped her head inside. “Hi, Gran. Hi, Nonna.”
Gran turned to look at her. “Hello, my dear. I’m just trying to persuade Nonna to get out of the car. She’s a bit reluctant.”
Nonna’s face was turned away, as if she was, if anything, deliberately trying to avoid looking at the house. “Nonna?” Elise asked softly. “Is everything okay?” But the old lady refused to turn round to look at her.
Gran sighed. “Here, I’ll get out of the way. Perhaps you’ll have better luck than me. I’ll get out so you can get in.”
Soon Elise was sitting on the back seat of the car, holding Nonna’s hand. “Nonna? What’s wrong?”
At last Nonna spoke. “It’s Ruth I want to see. I always hated this place. I thought it might be different now, but it’s not.”
Tears were running down her wrinkled face, and Elise gently squeezed her hand. “I imagine it brings back a lot of memories for you,” she said, wondering how to break the news that Ruth might already have left the nursing home; that it might not be possible to visit her after all.
“It does,” Nonna said.
Elise made up her mind. “That’s okay,” she said. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. Listen, I just have to make a phone call, all right? I’ll be straight back.”
She phoned the nursing home, only to be told that Ruth had been transferred to Kellingham Lodge the previous morning.
“I’m not sure they’ll let you visit, love,” the nursing home manager told her. “It’s normally relatives only. She’ll be on a lot of strong pain relief too; she may not be awake very much.”
Elise thanked her and ended the call before returning to the car.
“I’m so sorry, Nonna; it isn’t looking too hopeful that you’ll be able to see Ruth.
” As she explained about the hospice’s relatives-only visiting policy, she saw Sam take some lengths of wood from his van out of the corner of her eye.
Robbie was leaning against the garden wall with his arms crossed, scowling at him.
Momentarily distracted, Elise didn’t realise at first that Nonna had said something.
“What’s that, Nonna?” she asked, returning her attention to the interior of the car. “Sorry.”
Nonna’s eyes burned fiercely in her heavily lined face. She spoke more strongly. “I said, that’s us. We’re Ruth’s family.”
Elise frowned, not understanding what Nonna meant, thinking about Ruth all alone, dying with nobody to visit her. Surely they’d allow them to visit?
“All right,” she said, deciding. “Let’s go, anyway. I’m sure we can convince them.” And she squeezed Nonna’s hand gently and got out of the car to allow Gran to get back in.
“We need to drive to Kellingham,” Elise told Robbie. “The lady Nonna wants to see is in a hospice there. It’s not too far; half an hour at the most.”
Robbie pushed himself away from the wall, not looking too pleased about it. “All right. Get in, then.”
“I’ll be there in just a minute.” She lingered to speak to Sam as he carried the wood from the van. “We’re off to try and see Ruth. See you later.”
He looked down into her face. “I’ll be here when you get back.”
She smiled. “Good.”
Robbie had already started the car. Now he revved the engine impatiently and called out to her. “Come on, Elise. Let’s get going, if we’re going.”
“Touching,” Robbie said scathingly when she got in, driving quickly away, but once again, she didn’t rise to the bait.
“I really appreciate you bringing Nonna and Gran up here.”
“Well, I could hardly ignore a request from an almost hundred-year-old.” He looked in the rearview mirror, addressing Nonna. “Could I, Nonna?”
Elise glanced into the back and saw that Nonna was looking out of the window, absorbed in her own thoughts. “She didn’t hear you.”
“Her hearing always has been on the selective side,” Robbie retorted, stopping as the car reached the main road. “Which way? Left or right?”
“Left. Head towards Holt.”
“So,” he said, turning onto the main road, “I was right to be suspicious of you and Sam, then, was I?”
He couldn’t bully her into feeling bad about anything any longer. “We’re just friends,” she said. “That’s all.”
“Yeah, right,” he said bitterly, but she still didn’t respond, not even to remind him about Kate. What was the point?
“Let’s just focus on Nonna for the moment, shall we?” she said instead. “I hope she can get to see Ruth after coming all this way.”
“I have to see her,” Nonna piped up, proving she’d been listening all along. “You must insist on it, Elise.”
Elise sighed, smiling at her great-grandmother over her shoulder. “I’ll do my very best, Nonna. I’ll do my very best.”
At Kellingham Lodge, Elise went in alone to explain the situation to a sympathetic nurse.
“What an incredible story,” she said with a smile.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had an evacuee reunion here before.
I’ll just go and check with Ruth. But if she’s feeling up to seeing your great-grandmother, then I don’t see why not.
She’s awake; or, at least, she was a few minutes ago. What’s your name?”
“I’m Elise, and my great-grandmother is Nadine. Nadine Smith.”
She waited in the entrance hall, admiring the building, which had obviously once been a grand manor house.
A stained-glass panel above the entrance door was letting in bands of red and blue light.
Elise went to stand in it, looking down at the colours on her bare legs and thinking of Charlie’s rainbows.
And for the first time, instead of a confusion of pain she could barely deal with, her thoughts and memories felt like something to cherish.
Like company. As if Charlie were here with her, holding her hand.
The nurse returned. “She would like to see you both,” she said. “It’s the second room on the left. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you she’s very frail.”
“Elise?” came Ruth’s faint voice the moment Elise entered her room. “Is it really true? Is Nadine your great-grandmother?”
The curtains were almost completely closed, and it was dark in the room, despite the bright, sunny day outside.
Elise sat on the chair next to the bed and gently took Ruth’s hand.
It felt like Charlie’s hand had towards the end—lifeless and over hot—and she sensed the old lady didn’t have much longer to live.
Elise felt unbearably sad but did her level best to keep the emotion from her voice when she spoke.
“Yes. Isn’t it incredible? I had no idea she’d been evacuated to Marsh House, otherwise I’d have told you.
She’s out in the car. She’s come all the way from London to see you. ”
Ruth gave a ghost of a smile. “She must be every bit as ancient as me.”
Elise smiled. “She’s almost a hundred, yes.”
“Well,” said Ruth dryly, “you’d best bring her in before one of us dies.”
Elise wanted to reach out to stroke Ruth’s hair back from her face but didn’t quite dare to. “Are you sure you’re feeling up to it?”
“My dear, I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Go on, go and get her.”
It took a while. Nonna had to be very carefully helped into her wheelchair, then taken to the toilet and settled back into the wheelchair again. Then, at last, Elise was pushing her towards Ruth’s door. Gran was looking at her mother with concern.
“Are you all right, Mum?”
Elise stopped pushing and saw that Nonna’s fingers were pleating the fabric of her dress.
“Yes, yes,” Nonna replied impatiently. “Take me in.”
She didn’t sound all right; she sounded as if she were in a bit of a state. But Elise began to push the wheelchair again, not wanting to cause her any further distress, and soon they were in Ruth’s room.
“Nadine?” Ruth said from her bed. “Is that really you?”
Elise pushed the wheelchair over to Ruth’s bedside and bent to put the brakes on.
“Yes,” she heard Nonna say. “It’s me. And . . . this . . .” Nonna broke off, and, as she straightened, Elise saw she was pointing at Gran. “And this is . . . Marie. She . . . she’s your niece.”
Elise frowned. Had the journey confused Nonna? Perhaps she oughtn’t to have complied with her wish to come on this trip down memory lane, after all.
Gran was at Nonna’s side, speaking gently. “No, Mum,” she said. “That’s not right, is it? I’ve never met this lady before. We aren’t related.”
But Elise saw how intently Ruth was staring at Gran, and her hands flew to her mouth.
“Lilias,” Ruth whispered. “You have a look of Lilias . . .”
“She didn’t,” Nonna said, her voice quiet but clear. “Not when she was born. She was one hundred percent Harry then. She had his mouth. There was no doubt she was his. That’s why it felt right to do it. I’d lost my own baby, and she’d stolen one from me. That’s how I saw it.”
Gran was staring at Nonna, horrified. “What exactly did you do, Mum?”
Nonna looked first at Ruth and then at her daughter. “I took you,” she said. “I took you from Lilias after your brother died.”