The Woman in the Wood

by Lesley Pearse

  The spacious entrance hall was all painted cream, a thick red patterned rug on the black-and-white tiled floor and a large, highly polished chiffonier to one side holding a huge vase of flowers.

  ‘Good morning, Mr Mitcham.’ An attractive, dark-haired lady in a blue uniform dress came towards them. ‘And these must be the twins. Maisy and Duncan, I believe?’

  ‘Yes, here they are, a little apprehensive. How is my wife today?’ Alastair asked.

  ‘Don’t be nervous,’ the lady said to the twins. ‘Your mother is having one of her better days today. Her nurse told her you were coming. But I’d advise you not to stay long; she does get agitated if there is any change in her usual routine.’

  She led them up to the first floor and along a wide corridor past many rooms, to the one at the far end. ‘I’ll just go in first to see everything is as it should be,’ she said. She opened the door with a key and went in.

  The twins got only a glimpse of a hospital-type bed with a screen partially round it, but they didn’t have to wait long before the door opened again and she beckoned them in.

  ‘Nurse Franklin will let you out when you’re ready,’ she said, then as they went in she closed the door behind them and they heard her locking it.

  Alastair led the way, putting the flowers they’d bought on a chest of drawers by the sink.

  ‘Hullo, Lily,’ he said. ‘The twins have come to see you.’

  The person lying in the bed looked nothing like the mother Maisy remembered. Her face was skeletal, her eyes sunken in and her hair nearly all gone, just wisps of it between bald patches. But the most alarming thing was that there was no recognition on her face or in her eyes. It was as if she couldn’t see them.

  ‘Hullo, Mummy.’ Duncan moved first and took the bony, claw-like hand on the sheets in his hands. ‘Are you going to tell me how tall I’ve grown? That’s what everyone says.’

  Maisy felt a bit bolder with Duncan making the first move, so she went round the other side of the bed and took her other hand. Just the touch of it made Maisy feel nervous, so dry and bony like the legs of a chicken. ‘I’m Maisy,’ she said. ‘This is a lovely hospital. What a super view you have.’

  The room had windows on two sides so the light flooded in. There were shutters folded back, and Maisy got the idea these would be shut and locked over the windows if her mother was having a bad day. The room was a bit bleak, with just a couple of landscapes placed high on the wall, clearly so they couldn’t be reached, and everything else was just like a hospital room. But on the locker beside her bed there was a photograph taken seven or so years ago, of Lily and Alastair with Maisy and Duncan sitting in front of them. Maisy remembered it being taken in a studio in Shepherd’s Bush. Her mother had made a scene that day, she recalled, something about putting on the wrong cardigan. They’d had to go straight home after the photo was taken.

  The claw-like fingers gripped Maisy’s, and the sunken, washed out blue eyes turned to her. ‘Yes, it’s Maisy,’ Maisy said. ‘I’m so pleased to see you, Mummy.’

  ‘You are too old.’ Her mother’s voice was so weak that Maisy had to bend her head to hear her. ‘You aren’t my Maisy.’

  ‘Of course she is,’ Duncan said firmly from the other side of the bed. ‘You just haven’t seen us for a while. I’m Duncan, we’re twins.’

  Their mother’s eyes went from Maisy’s to Duncan’s and back again. ‘My beautiful babies,’ she said. ‘I didn’t expect two.’

  ‘You always used to say that,’ Alastair chipped in. ‘Every time I came home you’d say, “I didn’t expect two.” I used to say it was good, as you wouldn’t have to bother again.’

  ‘My Ally,’ Mother said, and her mouth tried to smile. ‘You came back.’

  ‘Of course I came back,’ he said. ‘I’ve been coming every week since you first moved in here.’

  All at once her eyes began to fill with tears and she squeezed Maisy’s hand so tight it hurt. ‘God save me,’ she exclaimed. ‘The devil is in my head again.’

  ‘I think you’d better go now,’ Nurse Franklin said. ‘When she mentions the devil it’s always the start of an episode.’

  Maisy retracted her hand and kissed her mother’s cheek. ‘Bye, Mummy. I love you.’

  Nurse Franklin took hold of Maisy’s arm and made it quite clear they had to go now. She practically pushed them out the door and locked it again, then as they stood there, a trifle stunned at the hasty exit, they heard a roar.

  It didn’t sound human, more like the sound cows made when their calves were first taken away, only louder.

  ‘Come on,’ their father said. ‘There’s nothing we can do. They’ll give her something to calm her down.’

  They were outside back in the car before Maisy spoke. ‘Did she make that noise because we’d been taken from her?’

  She was in the passenger seat, Duncan behind. Alastair took her face in his hands and kissed her nose. ‘No, sweetheart. It was the pain coming back. That’s how it is now, a few short minutes of calm and recognition, then the storm comes, and each time it’s stronger and lasts longer.’

  ‘Isn’t there anything they can do?’ Duncan’s voice was shaky.

  ‘No, son, sadly they’ve tried everything. It’s just a matter of time now, and it will be a blessed release for her.’

  The twins barely spoke on the way home. They stopped near Arundel for some lunch in a pub, but they just ate the food mechanically, not even tasting it.

  ‘I’m sorry I put you both through that,’ Alastair said suddenly when they were nearly home. ‘I thought you ought to see her, but now I wish I hadn’t taken you.’

  ‘Don’t think that,’ Duncan said. ‘She knew who we were, even if it was just fleetingly. But I think the most important thing to come out of today was for us to know you never abandoned her.’

  Maisy turned to her brother, so glad he’d been able to put into words what she had thought, but couldn’t say.

  ‘Yes, Dad. Duncan’s right. We were guilty of thinking that.’

  Alastair shook his head and smiled sadly. ‘I’ve been my own worst enemy, haven’t I? Never talking about things like this to you. Never asking you what you thought. But let me tell you now, I married your mum because I loved her, whatever nasty little ideas my mother might have put in your head. And you two came out of that love. Never doubt that.’

  Maisy spent all of Saturday afternoon getting ready for the dance. She had a leisurely bath and washed her hair, then set it on the new big rollers she’d spotted in the chemist’s. Her new blue dress had a dropped waist, with a pleated skirt. The lady in the dress shop said it was the ‘Twist dress’ and she’d seen girls on television wearing ones just like it.

  As she waited for her hair to dry under the plastic cap attachment to her hair dryer, she painted her toe- and fingernails baby pink.

  Duncan had looked in from time to time, laughing at her preparations. ‘Do all girls do this for a date?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes, well, I think so,’ she said.

  ‘You mean Linda might be polishing herself up too?’

  ‘She’s bound to be, so make sure you are equally well groomed,’ Maisy replied. ‘Let me look at those fingernails.’

  He had scrubbed them, and by the smell of Attar of Roses soap, he’d scrubbed his whole body too. ‘You’ll do,’ she said.

  Their father was going to drive them to Linda’s house, and Alan would join them there. When they came down the stairs at six thirty, ready to go, Alastair whistled.

  ‘Take a look at this handsome pair!’ he said to Janice. ‘All grown up and far too attractive for their own good.’

  ‘You look so pretty,’ Janice said to Maisy. The blue dress brought out the colour of her eyes, her blond hair was shiny and falling into loose curls on her shoulders. She thought Maisy looked like a beauty queen, and if that boy Alan didn’t fall in love with her tonight there was something wrong with him.

  Duncan looked like a matinee idol, tanned, broad shouldered and so
handsome in his navy suit. No girl would be able to resist him.

  ‘Outside for a photograph,’ Alastair said. ‘I’ve had my camera in the car for weeks, meaning to get a really good picture of you both. Now’s the moment.’

  He took several pictures in various places around the garden, and when his mother came out to see what was going on, he took some of her and Janice too.

  ‘Let Janice take one of you, me and Duncan too,’ Maisy said. ‘We need family ones for when we’re very old and our children ask about their grandfather.’

  ‘I must say, you two look splendid,’ Grandmother said when they were finally leaving. ‘You have a wonderful time at the dance. Your father will be back to get you at twelve thirty. I’m sure that gives you enough time for a spot of canoodling.’

  ‘Canoodling!’ Maisy whispered to her brother as their father drove off from Nightingales. ‘Is that the same as snogging?’

  ‘I think so, and it’s a nicer word,’ Duncan said. ‘I do hope I get to do some.’

  Maisy squeezed his hand. She guessed that if he could say he hoped to kiss someone he really was on the mend.

  As they walked into the hall, together with Linda and Alan, Maisy was swept back to that first dance here. It seemed like a lifetime ago, and so much had happened since then. But there were changes. Although the decorations were much the same, the music was coming from a young four-piece group who played Neil Sedaka, Bobby Vee, Elvis Presley and Ricky Nelson. There were far fewer older people here too, perhaps because ballroom dancing was now out.

  But the feeling when Alan held her in his arms was the same: shivers down her spine, wanting to press closer to him, and yet sheer happiness at being out on a warm summer’s night, with everything to look forward to.

  When she glanced at Duncan and Linda they seemed to be having a ball too, laughing as they clowned and sang along with the song by Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry: ‘I Don’t Know Why I Love You But I Do’.

  Alan was surprisingly good at jiving, for someone who claimed he couldn’t dance, and not bad at the Twist either.

  It was almost the end of the evening when the band played ‘My Kind of Girl’ by Matt Monro. Alan held her tightly and sang the words to her as they danced. Maisy shivered with pleasure and wished the night could go on and on.

  Alan promised he’d walk Linda home after Maisy and Duncan had been picked up by their father, but they had half an hour, and they spent it in the churchyard kissing.

  Maisy heard her brother and Linda laughing; they seemed to be clowning around on the gravestones. She wondered fleetingly if Duncan was a bit scared or shy; after all, he’d never had a girlfriend before.

  But being kissed by Alan put such thoughts out of her head. Sweet, tender kisses that made her feel she was fizzing inside like shaken up lemonade. Somehow she knew this was a romance that would stay the course; everything about it felt right.

  All too soon Duncan was calling to her saying they must get back to the hall for their lift home.

  As they walked back down the High Street, Duncan paused by a board outside the newsagent’s where people advertised things they had for sale.

  ‘Look, sis,’ he called out. ‘Collie puppies for sale.’

  ‘You really need a collie puppy right now,’ Alan joked.

  But Maisy knew what her brother was thinking, and looked at the card.

  ‘It’s the farm that used to be Brady’s, where she worked during the war,’ she exclaimed. ‘Well, that’s it, Dunc, we have to go and see them tomorrow.’

  ‘Who worked where during the war?’ Alan asked.

  ‘Grace.’ Maisy grinned. ‘And it’s the most perfect housewarming present we could buy her.’

  ‘I love the way a puppy wipes out our lovely evening together,’ he said, with a mock mournful face.

  Maisy leaned in to kiss him. ‘It doesn’t, it’s been the best night ever. But we’ve got the rest of the summer hols to have more fun together.’

  ‘But no more tonight, because there’s your dad,’ he said gloomily.

  ‘Ring me tomorrow,’ she said, and looking round for Duncan she saw he was kissing Linda as if his life depended on it.

  ‘Was it a good evening?’ their father asked.

  ‘The best,’ they said in unison, then started to giggle.

  ‘Mine was fun too,’ he said. ‘Your grandmother insisted on me going through a box of old photographs to write on the back who was in each of them. This was for your benefit.’

  ‘Thanks, Dad, wonderful,’ Duncan said.

  ‘Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit,’ he retorted, and all three of them laughed.

  ‘Do we take the puppy there before or after the fridge arrives?’ Duncan said on Monday morning.

  The previous day they had gone to the farm and found there were just two boy puppies left, both adorable. But one had all black ears and a white bib, and they decided he was the one. They paid the farmer’s wife and asked that she keep him till the next day because they knew Grandmother would complain about a puppy in her house, however small.

  Janice looked round from washing up at the sink. ‘I’ve just seen the van from Tinkers Electricals go down the lane, so it will be delivered by now. You ought to whizz round there and show her she has to plug it in. When your dad left this morning he was a bit worried about that. Then you can get the puppy to her later. I just hope her heart can stand so much excitement in one day!’

  Maisy and Duncan did as Janice had suggested – just as well, since Grace was looking quite perplexed when they got to the cottage.

  ‘I don’t know anything about refrigerators,’ she said. ‘The man that delivered it said to put it in the kitchen, but surely something that keeps things cool doesn’t like being by a cooker?’

  They assured her both things were well insulated, but anyway there was a better place to put it, opposite the sink, and a power plug there ready for it. They heaved it into position and plugged it in. Grace peered into it as if she expected something to happen.

  ‘You put your milk, butter, meat and anything else that goes off in it,’ Maisy explained. ‘Let’s do that now. It’s warm today and that pantry isn’t very cool at all.’

  Grace didn’t have that much to put into it. She was so used to planning and eating meals in one day, it was going to take a while before she saw the advantages.

  ‘I used to give all the leftovers to Toby,’ she said. ‘But just this morning I had to throw out some ham cos it had gone off.’

  She had made a start on arranging her new home, but she looked hurt when they said they had to go. ‘I thought you would help me put down the rug, and things,’ she said.

  ‘We will later in the week,’ Duncan said, trying not to laugh at her expression.

  ‘That was mean,’ Maisy said as they cycled away. They planned to put the puppy in the basket in front of Maisy’s bike, and tuck a cloth over it to keep him safe. Duncan had found an old picnic rug of Grandmother’s for him to sleep on, and the farmer’s wife had said she would give them enough food for the next couple of days.

  ‘Back already? Got nothing better to do with yourselves after all,’ Grace said churlishly when they appeared at her door again.

  ‘We have a special delivery for you,’ Duncan said. ‘You’ll have to come outside.’

  ‘Not some other new-fangled gadget?’ she said. ‘You know what they say about not being able to teach old dogs new tricks.’

  ‘Just come with us.’ Duncan took her hand and led her back to where the bike was in the front garden. ‘How do you feel about teaching new dogs old tricks?’ he said as he whisked off the cloth.

  The puppy jumped up so its front paws were on the edge of the basket, his ears like little egg cosies trying to stand up too. But the twins barely looked at the puppy, only at Grace’s face.

  It was lit up, eyes wide with astonishment and a smile like a slice of water melon.

  The puppy whimpered.

  ‘Pick up your new baby,’ Maisy said. ‘He needs to
get to know his new mum.’

  ‘He’s for me?’ she asked, her voice going all squeaky.

  ‘He certainly is, a token of our affection for you and a huge thank you for everything.’

  She picked the puppy out of the basket and buried her face in his fur. She began to cry, but at the same time was laughing with joy.

  ‘I don’t know what to say. Thank you doesn’t seem enough.’

  ‘You might not say that when he’s peed all over your new house,’ Duncan said.

  ‘We’ve brought an old blanket and enough food to tide him over till you get organized,’ Maisy said.

  Holding the puppy over one arm and stroking him with the other hand, Grace smiled at the twins. She suddenly looked ten years younger, her eyes bright, her skin glowing.

  ‘It was the best day’s work I ever did when I let you two into my life,’ she said.

  THE BEGINNING

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  MICHAEL JOSEPH

  UK | USA | Canada | Ireland | Australia

  India | New Zealand | South Africa

  Michael Joseph is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com

  First published 2017

  Copyright © Lesley Pearse, 2017

  The moral right of the author has been asserted

  Cover images: Woman © Craig Fordham; forest © Trevillion Images

  ISBN: 978-1-405-92107-7

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  By the Same Author

  Dedication