Chapter 31
Lara’s mum met them from the train and was full of news.
She had evidently had a wonderful day and it seemed was now a firm friend of Becky.
It soon became apparent that Lara’s mum had spoken to everyone who had come into the shop and many who were just passing by.
Lara could well believe it. What took her by surprise was how much her mother now knew about her customers.
‘Well, Mrs Sutton, from the flower arranging group, she’s off to New Zealand to see her son, which will be wonderful at this time of year.
I was telling her about our trip two years ago.
Mr Whitard was in the shop at the time, and he told us how he had proposed to his wife in a canoe on Lake Tekapo.
He was buying her roses for their anniversary.
Forty-seven years he said it is now. And Dr Patil was in for a plant for Lady Porter’s grave, poor man.
He told me she was the love of his life, but they only became closer in the last few years… ’
Lara stared at her mother, marvelling at how her mum always got people to talk about the most intimate details of their lives.
‘He’s retiring you know, I told him the thing is to keep busy, your father…’
‘He’s retiring?’ Lara interrupted, looking at Abby who was walking close to her mother’s side.
‘Yes, sweetheart, it seems his son wants to get things more up to date, but as I said, the old ways aren’t necessarily the worst for being old. Look at hospitals. We didn’t have all that infection running riot, we kept the wards spotless and that included keeping our patients clean….’
By now, they were back at the cottage and Lara was helping her mother in with her case.
‘Oh, and I met your friend Sarah too. I went to the deli to get some lunch for me and Becky. What a lovely shop. They had a fresh batch of Eccles cakes and you know how your dad likes those. Sarah was so welcoming. She told me all about Rory. Very tough on her I must say, but she seems very close to her mum…’
Lara’s mother sounded slightly wistful and Lara felt a pang of guilt.
‘… Well, she’s really looking forward to the dance you’re all going to. And while we were chatting a very nice young man called Joe came in and he seemed to know you too.’
Lara had a vision of all The Pepper Tree’s customers gathered round her mother talking about her. ‘What did Joe say?’ she found herself asking.
‘He seemed very surprised that I was your mother at first. And he did make Sarah and I laugh. He said that I was far too normal! I think he likes a joke that one. Shame he’s just a gardener.’
Before Lara could butt in with a ‘what’s wrong with gardeners’ and that she was normal, her mother forestalled her, ‘Of course, I told him that maybe you weren’t run-of-the-mill, but the world would be a sadder place without people who bring a bit of colour and life to it, and who aren’t afraid to go their own way. ’
Lara was so moved she found she had nothing to say.
Also, she knew her mother’s comment about Joe being a gardener didn’t come from any snobbery.
It was just that her mother had always (not so secretly) hoped that Lara would continue the family tradition and marry a doctor (and maybe run a dress shop).
To stop her mother from launching into another monologue, Lara turned and gave her a hug and presented her with the beautiful box of macarons she had bought for her in Harrods.
‘I know you love these, Mum, and I thought the box was so pretty.’ Her mum was effusive in her thanks and gave her daughter a kiss.
‘I got a special bottle of wine too, for Dad,’ Lara said, ushering her mother upstairs.
Lara got her mother settled in the spare room and showed her the new dress and shoes.
Abby wandered around, smiling occasionally at Lara’s mother.
‘I’m just going to change and freshen up and I’ll be down to help you with supper,’ Lara’s mother said, heading through Abby to the bathroom.
‘It’s okay, Mum, I did it all last night, I’ll just pop it in the oven,’ Lara called over her shoulder, as she headed down to the kitchen.
As she started supper, she and Abby speculated about Dr Patil. ‘Do you think the secret Indian room was their love nest then?’ Lara wondered aloud, waving cutlery at Abby as she laid the table.
‘Who knows? It never ceases to amaze me who is attracted to whom,’ Abby replied, ‘but I believe the most interesting thing about your mother’s recital was the reason for Dr Patil’s retirement. That and the idea that anyone would propose marriage while sitting in a canoe.’
Abby wandered over to the kitchen window and stared out into the wintry darkness. ‘I was also intrigued by something he said previously about Nottingham. I must admit I had been wondering if…’
Their conversation was cut short by the arrival of Lara’s mum. ‘Who were you talking to, dear?’ she asked.
‘No one, it was just the radio Mum,’ she said, hoping that her mum didn’t notice that she had moved the radio into the shop. ‘Come in the sitting room and have a drink, supper will be about half an hour.’
The transformation of the sitting room was startling.
Lara rushed around turning on lamps and setting a match to the fire as she wanted her mum (and Abby) to see the room at its absolute best. All the clutter had been cleared, the painted wooden furniture was now visible and it was possible to see the ceramic bowls and jugs resting upon the shelves.
The larger of these were filled with hellebores, roses and anemones.
Across the top of the dresser, Lara had hung a big swag of bay and she had decorated the insides of the white wooden shutters with wreaths also made from bay leaves.
Into these she had introduced sprigs of other herbs and finished them off with mulberry silk bows.
A small Christmas tree decorated with clear glass baubles and draped in white sparkling lights sat in a deep pot halfway down the room.
‘Cheers, Mum, thank you for everything you’ve done today,’ Lara said, clinking glasses with her mum.
‘Anytime, it was so nice to be useful,’ her mother said, walking down the room to smell the flowers on the dresser.
While she was there, she moved a few of the ornaments and rearranged the photo of her and Lara.
Some habits were just too hard to break.
‘I do like the new wallpaper you’ve put up,’ she said, walking to the end of the room, which up until two days ago had been a dumping ground for ladders and wheelbarrows.
The end wall was now re-decorated: the top half of the wall painted a pale linen colour, the bottom half covered with creamy paper with what looked like a thin grey horizontal stripe.
Abby joined Lara’s mum at the far end of the room.
Abby then turned around and looked at Lara. She did not say a word. It occurred to Lara that not many people could say they had robbed Abigail Rossmore of the power of speech.
‘It’s very nice, dear,’ Lara’s mum said uncertainly, ‘did you see this in a magazine somewhere?’
Lara tried not to laugh. ‘Yes, that’s it,’ she lied.
‘I saw someone had decorated a room with the pages of an old book, so I thought I’d try it.
’ She pointed from the top of the paper to the floor.
‘There you have the complete story of Far from the Madding Crowd. It took me a while as I suddenly realised I’d need two books to get it right as I’d need both sides of a page.
’ Her mother was looking slightly puzzled but Lara soldiered on.
‘So if you find you can’t sleep tonight you can always come down here and read it,’ Lara said jokingly to her mum, but she was smiling at Abby.
Later on that night when she was tucked up in bed, Lara thought about the evening.
In some ways nothing had changed. Her mother had talked non-stop over supper and had fluctuated from trivia to strange advice to insightful comment with apparent ease.
But there was no doubt she was pleased to be there.
Lara began to appreciate the faraway look that came into her father’s eyes when his wife got going.
Lara knew her dad loved her mum (as did she), but she wondered if he had just found a way to live with her by retreating into himself and letting the incessant conversation wash over him.
Lara had tried it this evening and found it much more restful than trying to keep up or argue with her mum, which until now had been her normal response.
Lara had left her bedroom door open and before she turned off the light she thought she might just tiptoe down the stairs to see if Abby was reading her book.
It had worried her that with Christmas fast approaching she was going to have less time for reading to Abby, and she knew Abby was as fascinated by Gabriel Oak’s love story as she had been the first time she had read it.
Now Abby could finish it herself. As Lara popped her head around the door she could see Abby was sitting on the chair she had left out for her, reading one of the pages in the glow from the Christmas tree lights.
She turned as Lara came in and smiled. ‘This has been one of the most enjoyable days of my life,’ she said seriously. ‘Thank you, Lara McGregor.’
Lara smiled at her and came to sit on the floor near the wall.
‘It was especially rewarding to meet your mother again,’ Abby said.
‘Again!’ Lara exclaimed in surprise. Although as she said it a few things fell into place. Abby had seemed to know quite a lot about her mother and Lara was sure she had not told her all of it. ‘So were you her Kindred Spirit?’ Lara asked, baffled.
‘No, not that,’ Abby said swiftly, ‘but as you can imagine, as a Kindred Spirit I have spent a fair amount of time in hospitals. Sadly one murder can lead to another.’
Neither spoke but Lara suspected they were both thinking about her ‘accident’ in the theatre. ‘So how do you know my mum?’ Lara asked.
‘In ’87 I was investigating the murder of Deacon Matthews and this took me to Durham.
During that time, I had occasion to visit Newcastle hospital with his wife, Agnes.
Your mother was on duty and I have rarely seen such kindness.
I had watched her earlier that evening and she was clearly exhausted.
I believe at that time your brother would have been about twelve and you would have been a toddler,’ Abby said, counting out the years in her mind.
‘Married life and bringing up children is not always the idyllic haven that some think it is,’ Abby said significantly, looking hard at Lara.
‘In the same way,’ she said more kindly, ‘that running a flower shop is not the tranquil oasis of calm that some believe it to be.’
‘Not wrong there,’ said Lara, with feeling.
‘Anyway,’ Abby continued, ‘your mother was due to go off duty but one of the victims was admitted to the hospital. He had not died but he was dangerously ill. Your mother stayed well into the night helping to nurse him. It was your mother’s skill and persistence that saved him, I am sure of that.
’ Abby now turned her whole body towards Lara.
‘And all of that time your mother talked to his wife.’ Lara half-smiled.
‘She talked of this and that, of you and your brother, of home and sometimes of nothing in particular. But she calmed that distracted woman and soothed her and made her feel safe.’ Abby stood up and reached for her hat which she had placed on the dresser.
‘Your mother is a very special woman, Lara. And she has done a very good job in raising her daughter. A daughter who now needs to get some sleep. For tomorrow, Lara McGregor,’ she paused for dramatic effect, ‘you can go to the ball.’ And with that Abby was gone.