Chapter 27
After her guests had left, Tess collapsed into an ungainly heap on the sofa.
Why she was quite so exhausted, she didn’t know.
Admittedly, she’d had an early start and had spent the whole morning preparing food, but she didn’t usually find it tiring.
Quite the opposite, in fact; she found it revitalising.
She suspected her weariness today was down to the engaging emotional interaction, those extra helpings of roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings and the very quaffable, extra-large glass of red wine she’d enjoyed.
Hannah had disappeared upstairs to speak to Billy so Tess had taken the opportunity for a quiet time with her book, her eyes gently fluttering closed before she even got to the end of the first chapter.
She didn’t sleep for long, maybe thirty minutes at the most, but it had the desired effect, bringing her round so that she felt infinitely more human.
The events of the day played over in her mind as she remembered snippets of the conversations, the easy-flowing banter sparking around the table making her smile and her satisfaction at the way everyone had got along together so easily.
Sometimes, last-minute, impromptu plans turned out to be the most enjoyable, like today, but Tess still felt a pang of regret that her mum hadn’t been able to attend.
She glanced at her watch, wondering what Marjorie might be doing right now at five thirty on a Sunday evening.
Tess hoped that she might have enjoyed a roast dinner with the rest of the residents, followed by a game of cards, but worried that she may have been stuck in her room the whole day without speaking to another soul instead.
It was no good; she wouldn’t be able to relax until she’d checked up on Marjorie herself. She picked up her phone and called the home, reaching the duty manager who she explained the situation to, how Marjorie had cancelled her lunch invitation at the last minute and how Tess was worried about her.
‘Did she join the other residents for a roast dinner today?’
‘Actually, no. We tried to tempt her down, but she was insistent that she wanted to stay in her room. We’ve taken her some light meals during the day, some sandwiches and crisps, but to be honest with you, I’m not sure how much of it she’s eaten.’
‘Oh for goodness’ sake,’ Tess exclaimed, after she put the phone down, right at the same time as Hannah wandered into the room.
‘What’s the matter, what’s going on?’
‘I’ve just been in touch with the home to check up on your grandmother and it seems that she’s hidden herself away in her room all day and even refused a roast dinner.
I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t like it.
If she doesn’t eat properly and if she’s not interacting with people, then she’ll go downhill rapidly.
I need to go and see her.’ Tess jumped out of her chair with urgency.
‘I’ll come with you. I’ll drive; I only had one glass of wine at lunch.’
Within minutes, they were in the car and on their way, both of them lost in their own thoughts wondering if this was the beginning of a decline in Marjorie.
She had always been such a forceful and vibrant personality, and so well loved.
Tess couldn’t bear the idea of her gradually fading away and she was determined to get to the bottom of whatever it was that was going on.
Arriving at the home, they took the stairs to the first floor where Marjorie’s room was located, and Tess knocked on the door. When there was no answer, she looked at Hannah with concern and then knocked again, this time with more urgency.
‘Mum, are you in there?’
When there was no answer, Tess gently eased open the door and popped her head around the corner. The sight that greeted her made her gasp aloud.
‘Mum, Mum, what on earth’s happened?’
Marjorie was slumped in her chair, her head lolling to one side and her mouth open.
Around her was an unmitigated mess. Two mugs of tea had been left to go cold, there was a half-eaten sandwich on a plate, empty crisp and chocolate wrappers littered on the makeshift desk and notebooks, pens and papers all abandoned messily over the top.
‘Mum, wake up.’ Tess shook her mum urgently. ‘What’s the matter, are you not feeling well?’ She peered into her face for some kind of response.
Marjorie stirred, an unhappy groan emanating from her mouth, as she tried to turn her body deeper into the chair.
‘Grandma, what’s wrong?’
Hannah’s voice seemed to have the desired effect because it caused Marjorie’s eyes to flutter open.
‘Oh, hello,’ she said, much to her daughter and granddaughter’s relief. There was a moment there when Tess thought she was totally unresponsive. ‘What’s going on?’
That was a good question and one Tess wanted to know the answer to as well.
‘We’ve been worried about you, Grandma.’
‘Oh, have you?’ she said. ‘There’s no need. I was just having a little nap.’
‘But look at the state of this place,’ said Tess, unable to stop herself.
‘It’s perfectly fine,’ said Marjorie, clearly riled. ‘If you’ve come round here to criticise me, then you might as well go straight home again.’ She wriggled in her chair, sitting up properly, before running a hand through her dishevelled hair.
‘Ah, hello, Marjorie.’ One of the carers came into the room. ‘Are you talking to us now?’ The woman turned towards Tess. ‘She wouldn’t let us in earlier to clear her plates so I’ll do that now if I can.’
‘I am here, you know,’ said Marjorie fiercely.
‘We were disappointed, Mum, that you cancelled our lunch. It’s so unlike you, and hearing that you’ve not been eating and you’ve been holing up in your room, what are we expected to think?’
‘Oh for goodness’ sake, can you hear yourselves?
You’re treating me like a child. If I say I want to spend time on my own or that there’s something I need to do, then people, including my family, should respect that decision.
Honestly, I’m so fed up with it all that I might check myself out of here and go and join a commune somewhere. ’
‘Mother, does this have something to do with those new online friends of yours?’ Tess asked, looking aghast.
Marjorie gave a wry chuckle.
‘Well in a way, I suppose it does, although I’m not really going to disappear off into the sunset even if I might feel like doing so. No, if you must know, the reason I missed lunch was that I had a deadline. Today. And I was right up against it.’
Hannah and Tess shared a puzzled look.
‘A deadline for what exactly?’
‘A competition. My new online friends are in a writers and readers group and I’ve been trying my hand at writing a novel.
They’ve been terribly supportive and encouraging, and it’s something I’ve been enjoying sinking my teeth into.
I didn’t realise I would find it quite so compulsive.
I must admit it’s taken over my life a bit, but anyway, it’s all done now, so I promise not to break any more lunch arrangements. ’
‘Blimey, Grandma, that’s amazing. I’m so impressed.’
‘But why didn’t you tell us?’
‘Well, because it was something I wanted to keep just for me. I thought people might pooh-pooh the idea if I told them and think that I wouldn’t be able to do it.
I didn’t know if I could do it myself. So I now have a huge sense of satisfaction knowing that I have completed my very first novel.
How about that?’ she said with a note of glee to her voice.
‘I’m not sure that it’s any good, but for me, it’s about the journey rather than the destination. ’
‘Well, that would certainly explain it,’ said Tess, full of admiration as her gaze travelled around the room, taking in the untidiness. ‘And you’re sure that this is all it’s been about?’
‘Yes of course, what else would there be?’
‘Well, it’s good to know at last what’s been going on.
And I’m sorry that you felt you weren’t able to tell us about your endeavours.
You know we would support you in anything you wanted to do.
’ Marjorie and Tess shared a look of understanding.
‘Anyway, Mum, you must be starving if you’ve been working hard all day. ’
‘Ravenous,’ she said, with that old familiar smile on her face. ‘I can get one of the girls to bring me up a sandwich.’
‘No need. I’ve brought you along a roast dinner if you fancy it? I didn’t want you missing out.’
‘Ooh, have you darling? That’s sounds divine.’ Marjorie was closing her laptop and tidying away her notebooks to one side, trying to restore some order to her surroundings. ‘We can ask them to pop it in the microwave for us.’
As Tess went to find someone to help reheat the meal, she was still shaking her head, hardly believing, but hugely relieved, that it could be something quite so straightforward as being preoccupied with a new demanding hobby, when all along Tess had been imagining the worst.
‘Well, I’m really proud of you, Grandma,’ Hannah was saying when Tess returned to the room with her heated dinner on a tray. ‘I could never do something like that.’
‘Ooh, thank you,’ said Marjorie, her eyes lighting up at the sight of the food, eager to tuck in. ‘Now, don’t go saying that. It just goes to show you that if I can do something like this at my age, then you two have no excuses for achieving your own dreams, whatever they might be.’
Tess smiled, understanding that sentiment entirely, knowing that at her age, her life was opening up in so many directions that she hadn’t even thought possible.
‘So, Grandma, tell me, what sort of book is it?’ Hannah asked trepidatiously.
‘Well, it’s romance, dark romance, set in New York with an undercover cop infiltrating the mafia.’
‘Blimey.’
‘It’s the sort of book I’ve been reading and enjoying lately. I’ve had to do a fair bit of research, but I’ve learned a lot in the process.’
‘And dare I ask, does it have any sex in it?’
‘Absolutely loads, darling!’ Marjorie threw back her head and laughed. ‘Would you like to read it?’
Hannah grimaced. ‘Oh God, Grandma, sorry, but I’m not really sure that I do!’