Cassie glanced at his profile in the light of a street lamp. ‘You do know she’s in love with you, don’t you?’
Of course she loves me, I’m her guardian.’
‘Oh, I think you know you are much more than that to her.’
‘What on earth do you mean?’ he asked, coming to a halt beside her.
‘She’s not a girl, Marc, she’s a woman and she’s in love with you.’
He shook his head. ‘She may think she is but she’ll find out the difference when she meets someone her own age.’
They continued on their way and soon came to the ‘Green Man’. It was crowded, the musical nights very popular, but quickly Marc found them a seat at the side of a raised platform that passed as a stage.
Marc left to get them drinks and shortly after Cassie felt someone’s gaze on her and lifting her head looked around. There were several people with a variety of musical instruments propped alongside them. Alf waved to her from across the room, and she recognised James Munro propping up the bar.
A shiver rose from her feet to the hair on the back of her neck as her glance clashed with Mae’s. The girl was sitting on the edge of the platform with a short bearded man who was talking rapidly. As though sensing his partner’s distraction he looked up to follow her glance. Cassie turned away as Marc returned to the table with their drinks.
* * *
By nine o’clock the place was so full Cassie didn’t believe they could squeeze one more person in. The music started when an elderly man stood up and began to play an Irish jig on his fiddle. People clapped and stamped in time to the tune and he’d only barely finished when a middle aged, well-padded woman stood up and began to sing a lilting ballad.
There was more fiddle music then Mae rose to her feet and her sweet rendering of Love is a Many Splendoured Thing nearly brought the house down. This was followed by a young lad on the Northumberland pipes and by the time he was finished playing The Skye Boat Song there was hardly a dry eye to be seen.
Cassie was enjoying herself immensely when Marc picked up his guitar and hitching himself on to the platform began to strum the instrument. Laughter and chatter faded away, Marc smiled, glanced across at Cassie and began to play. Feeling an ache deep in her chest Cassie closed her eyes and let the music wash around her until she was quite alone in that overcrowded room.
When she opened her eyes Mae was standing by Marc, her voice melding beautifully with his music. Suddenly it was all too much and rising to her feet she sidled away from the table and headed for the ladies’.
* * *
Last year’s hard work came to fruition when first the snowdrops then the crocuses popped their pretty heads above ground. Not long after there was a heavy snowfall and Cassie fretted that she might lose the lot, but no sooner had the snow began to melt than their little heads appeared again. Now it was March and there were daffodils, miniature iris and early tulips to complement the others.
Marc had left in the first week of March on a six week tour of Europe. He rang her up three or four times a week and she found herself waiting for his calls more and more as time passed. Once again Mae had banned the children from coming to visit and Cassie was thrown back on her own company. Barbara, her friend in the next village, was having domestic problems and unavailable for the present time.
She wandered the house looking for small imperfections, different coloured cushions on a settee, or the need of a plant, or lamp in an exposed corner. The woman from the village had turned out to be very obliging and a good worker. So apart from personal laundry and the occasional washing of china and ornaments, the house practically ran itself.
The family history that had occupied her in the early days had come to a halt at a seemingly insurmountable problem and she had yet to venture into another branch of the tree.
She increased her two days at the hospital to four and it was while encouraging a group of children in their maths on a Tuesday morning that a little girl came down from emergency and was put into an empty bed at the top of the ward. Normally this would have attracted only a passing glance from Cassie, but the shock of seeing Mae following the trolley to the bedside made Cassie rise to her feet and excusing herself from the children hurry up the ward.
‘Mae, what is it, what’s wrong?’
Mae gave her an angry look. ‘There is nothing wrong. Ruthie is feeling unwell. I am being careful, that is all.’ And she turned her back cutting Cassie off from the bed.
When the staff nurse left Cassie followed her back to the desk.
‘Excuse me, but can you tell me what is wrong with Ruthie?’
The nurse looked surprised. ‘Do you know her, Cassie?’
‘They’re my neighbours, the father’s away and I just wondered if…’
‘We’re waiting for Mr Parker to come down. She’s complaining of a sore head and her neck hurts her when she moves,’ she glanced hesitantly at Cassie as though deciding whether to say more or not. ‘She also has a rash.’
Cassie swallowed hard. ‘You suspect meningitis?’
‘We don’t deal in suspicions, Cassie. Mr Parker will be down shortly then we’ll see.’
Back in the ward, two more nurses were around the restless little girl while Mae stood at the end of the bed looking on. Cassie went back to the children, quieting them by reading a story. She saw the consultant come on to the ward and watched out of the corner of her eye as he examined Ruthie, then talked first to Mae then to the staff nurse as they moved back to the station together.
After a while she closed the book and leaving the children to draw pictures about the story she went back to the nurses’ station to ask after Ruthie.
‘It’s probably an allergy, it’s definitely not meningitis,’ the nurse said.
‘Will she be sent home?’
‘Not yet, it’s a bad attack and we want to find out exactly what caused it.’
At lunch time Mae left the ward and Cassie, on the point of going for her own lunch, stopped by Ruthie’s bed.
‘Hello Ruthie, how are you feeling now?’
‘Cassie, my tummy hurts, can I come and stay with you?’
‘No darling, you have to stay in the hospital until your tummy gets better.’
‘But my head’s better now,’ and tears welled in the large blue eyes. Taking the little hand in her own Cassie said, ‘Would you like me to stay with you until Mae returns?’
‘Uhuh.’
‘Would you like me to read you a story?’
‘About MacBeth.’
‘You want me to tell you a story?’
‘Uhuh.’
So Cassie began to form into a story all the funny things the little dog had done in the past few days and soon Ruthie had fallen asleep.
Cassie tried to leave but two fingers of her hand were trapped tightly in the small fist so she sat down again and watched her sleep. Was this what was missing in her life, she wondered.
Had she allowed past nightmares to dictate only an empty future? Wasn’t that what she wanted, no more fear, no more hurt, no more pain? Only the dream to go back, back into a time of safety and security, where there had been only love and warmth. A thumb had found its way to the soft mouth and the sound of unconscious sucking could be heard.
She came to with a start. Mae was standing beside her, brows drawn down in a frown. ‘What are you doing here?’
Ruthie woke and started to cry.
‘Now look what you have done, please go away.’
Cassie eased her fingers from the little hand and stood up.
Mae made to sit down in her place but Ruthie wanted Cassie.
‘Ruthie behave yourself. Cassie must go home now. She has all those animals to look after.’
Ruthie’s tears ceased. ‘Will you come back?’
Cassie nodded, smiled and left.
* * *
That night Marc phoned and Cassie told him about Ruthie’s scare. ‘I’ll be home on the next flight.’
‘No, really Marc there’s
no panic. The doctors are convinced it is an allergy, it’s just a matter of finding out what she is allergic to.’
‘The last concert is in Paris tomorrow night. I’ll be home on Thursday. Take care of her for me. I don’t understand why Mae didn’t ring me.’
‘She wouldn’t want to worry you once she knew it wasn’t anything really bad.’
‘I suppose not. I’ve missed you, Cassie I hope we can get together when I get back?’
‘I’ve missed you too and the children.’
‘See you soon then.’
Cassie was working on Thursday and the first she saw of Marc was when she walked on to the ward just after lunch to collect Ruthie, who was much better and ready to go home. Cassie had offered to have Ruthie play with the other children, but Mae would not allow it and Ruthie was made to sit on her bed and wait for her father.
When Marc arrived the little girl rushed to his side where she was plucked up into his arms. After a few words with Mae and a curious glance at Cassie the trio left. Cassie had been prepared for a welcome and was deeply concerned when he left without a word.
That evening she sat in the kitchen and waited for a call, a knock on the door, some word to show that he had meant what he had said on all those night time phone calls. She prepared and ate a dinner of baked salmon with broccoli and lemon sauce, washed her dishes, watched the news on television, and waited. By ten-thirty she was ready for bed, made herself a hot drink and waited.
CHAPTER NINE
Next morning she dismissed the cleaner, packed a bag for herself and food for the animals. Then she cornered Marquis and pushed him into a cat basket. The bags were placed in Daffodil’s boot, the cat on the back seat and MacBeth without permission seated himself in the passenger seat.
Now they were ready to go. She had no idea where she was heading, it seemed sensible to go south into warmer climes but after a while they were travelling north. Finding accommodation not only for herself but the animals as well might present her with a problem and she thought about this as she drove.
They ended up in a log cabin by a lakeside a short walk into a small village surrounded by wonderful countryside. Walks were many and varied and after the first day Marquis insisted on accompanying them everywhere. They walked in a line, MacBeth first then Cassie and lastly the cat at a more leisurely pace.
Cassie ate at the village inn with MacBeth beneath the table, while Marquis sat on the wall outside and waited for them, then together they would stroll back to the lodge. She called the hospital on the second day and told them she would be away for a few days and that she wasn’t quite sure when she would be back, but she would let them know.
Cassie had been teaching for four years when she met the languages teacher who stole her heart. He was every woman’s dream come true and within a few short weeks they were married. They were madly in love and at first while the flame of passion burned bright, everything was perfect.
Then the dream turned and became a nightmare as friends tried to warn her about other women and the possibility of a wife in France. Debts crawled out from the shadows and the good life began to fray around the edges. When asked about the French wife, he’d simply shrugged it off.
In the end she left him and life became a bit of a struggle then, one day, a lottery ticket provided her with unlimited funds. She was rich, she was free. But she wasn’t, for within a few days of her win he was back, insisting that he would divorce the French wife and make their union legal. When she refused either to have him back or hand over half her winnings, he’d pushed her to one side in his anger and frustration to get out and slammed the door behind him.
She was older and wiser now, but it would appear still vulnerable, she had thought to have learnt her lesson never to trust anyone with her heart again, yet here she was crying into her soup like the ‘mock turtle’ as her mother would have said. On the fifth day she decided to go home.
Once home, MacBeth and Marquis dashed off into the garden and soon the sound of children’s voices brought her to the bedroom window. Sam and Ruthie were playing with the dog. Cassie returned to her unpacking then back downstairs to the kitchen. Here the twins were sat at the table awaiting their pop and biscuits.
She poured the pop and brought the tin of biscuits to the table. ‘Where have you been?’ Donald wanted to know.
‘On holiday.’
‘We thought you’d gone for good,’ Dorothy said, picking out a biscuit with a ‘thank you’.
‘People don’t normally take their pets on holiday with them,’ Donald said.
‘They do sometimes,’ Dorothy intervened.
‘No they don’t silly, that’s what they have boarding kennels and catteries for.’
‘The animals had a lovely time,’ Cassie interrupted before it came to a full blown argument.
‘Everyone’s been cross since you left,’ grumbled Donald.
Dorothy was nodding her head, like a wise old sage.
‘Marc is very cross with Mae,’ Dorothy said in a hushed voice.
‘Ruthie spilled,’ pronounced Donald. ‘Said you looked after her in hospital, not Mae.’
Cassie was shocked. It was true that she had taken Ruthie under her wing whenever Mae wasn’t around, reading her stories and staying late to sing her to sleep at night, but Mae had been there every day.
Had Mae told Marc differently, was that why he had failed to contact her the night he brought Ruthie home? She wanted to hear more from the children but knew she couldn’t ask them to gossip. She must be patient, if Mae had been found out in a lie, then surely he would be around to clarify the situation.
Children and dog came in from the garden and Cassie was kept too busy to worry.
* * *
The next two days passed without any sign of Marc, and Cassie tried to concentrate on other things. Telling herself she had a good life, a beautiful home, work she loved, the pets for company and the borrowed children from next door, what more could she ask.
Mae was scolding the twins for pulling daffodils that Cassie had planted just the previous autumn. She hadn’t seen Cassie, who was down on her knees preparing a summer bed further up the garden.
‘They’re not for you, they’re for Cassie,’ Donald was shouting.
Cassie pulled off her gardening gloves and stood up. Mae saw her now and made to grab the children.
‘It’s all right, really. I’ll put them in a vase and they’ll look very nice in the window.’
Donald handed over the flowers then he and his sister tore off across the garden. Cassie and Mae were left standing face to face. Mae turned to follow the twins but Cassie spoke out. ‘You have nothing to worry about from me, Mae, please don’t be angry.’
The girl turned her head and gave Cassie a look so full of hate that Cassie fell back. ‘You think to take Marc from me,’ she spoke in a quiet, flat voice, but none the less threatening for all that, ‘but you will not, I will kill you first.’ Then she was gone.
Cassie wasn’t sure what to make of it all. That Mae was jealous was obvious and acceptable even if unnecessary, but that she should hate with such a passion was, Cassie admitted to herself, scary to say the least. She turned to go back to her gardening and found Marc coming across the lawn towards her.
‘Do you have a minute?’
Her heart skipped a beat but she nodded her head. ‘Would you like to go inside?’
‘Thank you.’ He looked harassed, his overlong hair was unkempt and his eyes were puffy and dull. He followed her into the kitchen where Cassie put on the kettle before sitting down in the rocking chair, leaving him to straddle one of the chairs from around the table.
‘I have asked Mae to come and apologise to you for her recent behaviour. That she flatly refuses to do so I cannot for the world understand. So I have come to apologise on her behalf.’
Cassie stared into the fire. ‘Why don’t you understand, Marc. Mae is a woman in love and, rightly or wrongly, she believes me to be her rival. Her feelings for you are
very strong.’
He ran his fingers through his hair making it stand up worse than ever. ‘I talked to her about that after you mentioned the possibility on the night of the music venue at the “Green Man”. She was really sensible about it.’
‘Of course she was, you aren’t her enemy, I am.’
‘What on earth are we going to do? I’ve been scared to death to come over here after you disappeared like that, and then, when the children told me what had been happening I felt so damn stupid for believing everything Mae said. But she’s always been so honest and reliable.’ He shook his head in despair. ‘Ruthie never stopped talking about you and I missed you. Will you accept our apology?’
‘You have nothing to apologise for and Mae can’t help her feelings.’
The chair creaked as he rose from it to stand alongside Cassie’s rocker. ‘Then I’ll leave you in peace.’
‘Goodnight, you can see yourself out.’
The door closed softly behind him.
CHAPTER TEN
The children were crying and shouting, but Cassie was afraid to look over her shoulder. Now Mae was there in front of her with a knife in her hand and a terrible look on her face. Cassie spun round, Marc was watching, she flung out her arms and was falling, falling. She woke up with a jerk, groped for the lamp by her bed, switched on the light and lay trembling in the aftermath of the dream.
It was Sunday and Barbara had rung to ask her out for lunch.
‘We could meet at the “Black Bull” and stroll along the riverbank later.’
‘I’d like that, thanks Barbara, twelve-thirty then.’
Half-an-hour later the phone rang again. It was Marc. ‘Any chance I could take you out to dinner this evening?’
On the point of saying she already had an arrangement for lunch she changed her mind and found herself accepting his offer.
She ate sparingly at lunch and listened attentively while on their walk as Barbara unburdened all her problems with elderly parents, a wayward son and a husband who refused to help.
A Dream Come True Page 6
