‘Better now, darling?’
She nodded cautiously.
‘Enough for me to tell you something exciting?’
‘Yes?’ She laid down her spoon and waited expectantly.
‘I’ve applied for a special licence. How about naming the day?’
‘Licence?’
‘Yes, my love, licence! Unfortunately we can’t just walk into a registry office and demand to be married!’
Her mind jerked like an exposed nerve as Noel, delirious with joy, temporarily loosened her hold and, frightened and struggling, Laura fought her way to the surface.
‘No, Lewis, I can’t!’ She jumped up and the table rocked, spilling the soup as he leant forward quickly to steady it.
‘My dearest girl, you can and I sincerely trust you will!’
He came round and took hold of her arms. ‘Sweetheart, you’re still upset. I shouldn’t have mentioned it this evening.’
She shivered violently under his hands, a tide of panic rising in her throat like nausea. ‘Take me home, please, Lewis.’
‘Of course, darling, of course.’ With his arm round her shoulders, he led her gently out to the car and they bumped their way along the lane to the main road.
‘Don’t let them frighten you, Noel,’ he said jerkily. ‘There’s nothing they can do without your consent. That’s another point in favour of our marrying as soon as possible. With a husband behind you, they won’t stand a chance.’
She shuddered uncontrollably. ‘A chance of what?’
‘Of—sending you away for treatment of any sort.’
They turned into the gateway of Four Winds, and immediately Edward came out of the house as though he’d been waiting and watching for the car. He pulled the door open before Lewis had properly stopped.
‘Laura! Why ever did you go off like that without telling anyone? You had us all worried to death!’
‘Why shouldn’t she?’ Lewis enquired tightly. ‘Is she a prisoner?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ Edward was helping her from the car. ‘Are you all right, love? We were frightened out of our wits.’
‘I’m all right,’ she said through stiff lips. This slow progression to the front door with Edward holding her arm brought back an uneasy memory of her first arrival at Four Winds. But then Lewis hadn’t been behind them. Or had he? Of course, Lewis had always been in the background. It was just that she hadn’t then been aware of him.
Caroline was at the open door. ‘Is she all right?’
Laura smiled faintly and a spark of her old spirit asserted itself. ‘All right enough to answer for myself!’ she retorted, and noted their surprise with satisfaction.
Edward had turned. ‘I’d rather you didn’t come in just now, Castleton, if you don’t mind. We need to devote all our time to Laura, and obviously your presence will complicate things.’
Lewis stiffened. ‘Perhaps you should let—Laura’—he stumbled over the name—‘decide whether or not she needs my support.’
‘Your support?’ Edward repeated furiously. ‘My God, haven’t you done enough? She was perfectly all right all the time we were in Italy, and as soon as she gets back to you, this happens. You can take your “support,” as you call it, elsewhere.’
‘Just a moment, Hardy.’ The whiplash in Lewis’s voice made Edward pause and turn back to him. ‘This may hardly be an auspicious moment to mention it, but it can hardly have escaped your notice that Laura and I love each other. We’re going to be married as soon as it can be arranged.’
Laura swayed a little and felt Edward’s grip tighten on her arm as she registered the choked gasp that Caroline gave. And in the same instant Noel furiously reclaimed her, battling down her feeble attempts to escape from the net that was closing about her.
‘Married?’ Edward sounded dazed. ‘Laura, is this true?’
‘Perfectly true,’ Noel answered steadily, and saw the flash of triumph in Lewis’s eyes. As the rest of them stood unmoving, he bent forward and kissed her firmly on the mouth.
‘Good night, darling; sleep well. I’ll phone in the morning to see how you are. And don’t be frightened. Everything’s going to be all right.’ His eyes swept coldly over Edward and Caroline. ‘Good night.’
He turned and walked quickly back to the car. Edward pulled Laura into the hall and slammed the door.
‘Laura—sweetie, you can’t. You don’t really want to marry him?’
‘But of course I do.’
‘He’s twenty years older than you are!’
‘Twenty-five,’ she corrected automatically. How often did she have to listen to that argument?
‘But he’s only forty-three,’ Caroline said shakily. ‘He—told me once.’
Fool, they were talking about Lewis, not Clark, but he was only eight years older. It seemed pointless to argue with them.
‘He’s a very attractive man,’ she said instead. ‘Surely you agree, Caroline?’
Caroline shot her a startled glance. ‘Yes, yes, he is, but—’
‘Well, one thing’s certain,’ Edward said firmly. ‘You’re not marrying anyone till you’re very much better than you are now. Caroline, take her up to bed and give her one of the pills the doctor prescribed. At least it will give her a good night’s sleep.’
Meekly, keeping her confused thoughts to herself, she let herself be taken upstairs.
Paul phoned the next morning, as Edward was leaving for the office. Laura sat with hands tightly clenched, listening to the one-sided conversation.
‘Didn’t she? Well, there was no reason why she shouldn’t have written from Italy, but frankly we’ve been very worried about her since she came home . . . Yes. She’s not at all well at the moment . . . Could you? Well, frankly, yes, I would. But, Paul, I think there’s something you should know and it might make a difference. She told us last night she’s going to marry Castleton. I’m sorry . . . God knows. Will you? Tomorrow? It’s very good of you. Yes, come straight round any time. Right, see you then.’
Edward appeared at the dining-room door. ‘That was Paul, worried because you hadn’t replied to his last two letters. He suddenly had the feeling last night that something was wrong and rang at the first opportunity. When he heard you weren’t well, he said he’d come straight back instead of waiting till term starts next week.’
Laura said flatly, ‘It’s kind of him, but there’s no need.’
‘And I might as well tell you,’ Edward went on heavily, ‘that I phoned Richard and Toby while you were out last night. They’re both coming over tomorrow too.’
‘Isn’t it gratifying, Laura,’ Caroline said caustically, ‘to have four strong men rushing to form a protective barrier round you? Anyone would think you were being forced to marry Lewis against your will!’
‘You know quite well that this was arranged before we even heard about the proposed marriage,’ Edward said tiredly. ‘It’s Laura’s health that’s our prime concern.’
‘Is Laura getting married?’ Helen asked suddenly, surfacing from her comic. She wasn’t usually allowed to read at table, but this morning she had taken advantage of her parents’ obvious preoccupation.
‘Yes,’ Laura answered in the same expressionless voice, ‘I’m going to marry Mr. Castleton.’
‘And Mummy and Daddy don’t want you to?’
‘Get on with your breakfast, Helen,’ Caroline said sharply.
Edward said awkwardly, ‘Laura, will you promise me not to go out today? Not alone, anyway.’
‘All right.’ She wanted to comfort him, pitying his drawn face and anxious eyes, and in any case she felt tired and lethargic, totally unable to cope with the spinning universe that lay in wait for her beyond the walls of Four Winds. Edward and Richard, Toby and Paul, all of them ranged against Lewis and herself. Why? Had they any idea what was happening to her, or did they just instinctively sense danger?
‘Phone if you need me, Caroline.’ Edward turned away and a moment later the front door closed behind him.
> The next phone call, half an hour later, was from Lewis. ‘Darling, are they trying to put pressure on you?’
‘All they’ve got!’ she answered with grim humour. ‘There’s to be a full-scale family conference at the weekend.’
‘Will there be any counsel for the defence?’
‘I can manage,’ she said quietly.
‘Noel, I can’t see you today after all. I have to go up to Norfolk on one of those seaside assignments. The deadline’s looming. I should have gone last week, but I didn’t want to leave you just after you’d come back. The devil of it is I’ll have to stay over the weekend. I was going to suggest you come with me, but in the circumstances you obviously can’t. I’ll ring you the minute I get back. Just hold on, darling. That’s all you have to do.’
Thoughtfully Laura replaced the receiver. She felt very, very tired and the prospect of three days without the strains and stresses of Lewis was undeniably comforting. Quite suddenly, the idea of the nursing home Dr. MacIntyre had mentioned took on the guise of a refuge rather than a prison. Just to be left in peace, to be able to rest—After a moment she lifted the telephone again and began to dial.
It was a distressing weekend. Paul arrived soon after Richard and Toby on the Saturday afternoon. His hand gripped Laura’s reassuringly, asking nothing, offering everything. She found she couldn’t meet his eyes. When they were all seated solemnly in the sitting-room, she said hesitantly, ‘I rather fear you’ve all been brought here under false pretences. I told Edward last night that I’d asked Dr. MacIntyre to book me into Moorlands Nursing Home.’
‘What kind of a place is that?’ Richard asked sharply.
‘Psychiatric,’ answered Edward briefly, avoiding his eyes.
‘He phoned me this morning,’ Laura went on. ‘I’m to go in on Monday. I think he rushed it through specially so I should be in before Lewis comes back from Norfolk.’
Paul said in a low voice, ‘Do you really mean to marry him, Laura?’
‘I rather think I have to.’
Toby said violently, ‘Good God, girl, this is the twentieth century!’
‘It has to be played out to the end.’
They stared at her, their faces mirroring their individual unease. She turned to Caroline. ‘I know you haven’t felt welcome in this house for some time and I’m sorry. It won’t be for much longer.’
‘What the devil is she talking about?’ Richard demanded hoarsely.
Caroline said rockily, ‘It’s true, you know. There’s been an awful feeling of resentment here for months. I don’t know where it comes from, but I’ve hated it.’
Edward reached out and drew her to his side.
Toby jumped to his feet. ‘Are we all going mad? For pity’s sake, why didn’t someone tell me what was going on? One thing’s clear, at least. When she leaves the nursing home, she mustn’t come back here. She can come to us, willingly, or go to Richard—’
‘It’s no good, Toby,’ Laura said gently. ‘I thought of that, too, when we came back from Italy, but I realized it wouldn’t work. I’ll never be free of Lewis now as long as he lives. Try to accept it. It won’t be for much longer.’
Caroline’s trembling hands went to her mouth and it was left to Edward to say incredulously, ‘You mean—you know he—?’
Laura covered her face with her hands and began to sob hopelessly. They all made an instinctive movement to go to her, but it was Paul who reached her first. His arms went round her, oblivious of the rest of them.
‘Hush, sweetheart, it’s all right. If it won’t be for long, at least that’s something, and we must just hold on as best we can.’
Edward repeated in a shaking voice, ‘You really believe she knows—?’
Paul held her closely against him. ‘Probably, she’s known things before. Clairvoyance isn’t unique, when all’s said and done. The important thing is not to let it frighten her.’
‘Not frighten her!’ muttered Toby under his breath. ‘It scares the pants off me!’
‘What else has she known?’
Paul’s eyes went up to Richard’s steady, interrogative gaze. ‘I’m sorry; she made me promise not to repeat them.’
‘When was this?’
‘Oh, months ago, when she first met Castleton.’ His face hardened. ‘My God, though, if I’d realized—’
‘What is this hold he has over her?’ Richard demanded.
‘Don’t blame Lewis,’ Laura said in a whisper. ‘He fought against it as hard as I did at first. He wouldn’t accept it for a long time, until Noel—’
‘Noel!’ Paul and Caroline had spoken together and the others stared at them in surprise. Caroline flushed. ‘I believe that was the name of a girl Lewis was once in love with.’
‘Paul? You recognized the name too.’
He hesitated and glanced at Laura. She gave an almost imperceptible nod and he said briefly, ‘Laura dreamt about Castleton a few days before she first met him. In the dream, he called her Noel.’
‘Before she met him?’ Toby repeated.
Richard said gently, ‘What do you want us to do, Laurie? How can we best help you?’
She lifted her head suddenly. ‘She’s coming back! I’m surprised she waited so long. Noel, just a moment—Oh, please!’ Her voice rose despairingly and then a tremor passed over her and she freed herself from Paul’s tightened hold.
‘I really don’t know what all the fuss is about,’ she said, and there was a faint but unmistakable American accent in her voice.
The silence which engulfed them was tangible, holding them fast in a total, horrified suspension of belief. ‘Who are you?’ Paul demanded urgently. Her eyes rested on him with something like pity. ‘Paul, I’m sorry, really I am, but I did warn you. There can never be anyone but Lewis for me.’
‘And for Laura?’ he whispered.
She opened her eyes very wide. ‘Why, Paul, I’m Laura!’ she said, and as her eyes went round their frozen faces, she gave a low laugh of triumph.
Epilogue
Laura
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
During the two weeks she spent at Moorlands, Noel, sensing danger, kept entirely away, and in her absence Laura slowly struggled through to a new understanding. It was very restful to lie back in the narrow bed and look up at the painted blue ceiling, letting the thoughts come and go in her head without worrying how they would seem to other people. The embryo of her love for Paul, free to grow unhampered for the first time, strengthened daily, but it wasn’t until almost the end of her stay that she came to realize, with a dizzy sense of overwhelming relief, that in it lay her antidote to Noel. She had as much right as Noel to fight for a love of her own. At last they were on equal ground.
She tried to explain some of this to Edward on his visits. He listened gravely.
‘You’re quite sure you’re free of her? Permanently, I mean?’
‘Quite, quite sure. I don’t know how I know, but I do. She’ll never be able to come back again.’
‘Then this place really has helped you?’
‘Oh, yes, Edward. It’s such a wonderful relief to be able to stop fighting it, just to lie back and let it all come pouring out. The doctors and staff are wonderful, they never so much as raise an eyebrow. Of course, I’ve no idea what conclusions they’re coming to about me, but I know in my own mind that the worst is over now. And Paul’s letters are a great comfort. He writes every day, you know. The knowledge that he’s waiting for me helps enormously.’
‘And what about Lewis? Have you thought what you’re going to tell him?’
Her face clouded. ‘I’ve been trying not to think about that. The difficulty will be in trying to convince him that she really has gone for good. I haven’t the strength to face him, Edward. I feel—drained, totally incapable of surviving anything that would involve any effort at all. In fact, I was going to ask if you’d mind if I went straight to Richard’s when I leave here after all? Then I could write to Lewis from there and tell him the position. It will take t
ime to live down all the associations Four Winds has had for me, and quite apart from that, I think Caroline deserves a rest. She’s been under a strain too.’
‘Yes, apparently she was much more aware of what was going on than I was. I can’t imagine why she didn’t tell me, except—’ He glanced across at her. ‘Well, you’ve probably realized, living in the same house, that Caro and I have been going through rather a difficult patch. It’ll sort itself out, given time.’
It was eventually arranged that Edward should collect her on the Saturday morning. Richard would drive down from London, have lunch with them all at Four Winds, and take her back with him. In that way they hoped to get her to London before Lewis learned of her leaving the nursing home. Paul would go straight to London and be waiting for her at Richard’s flat rather than give rise to any suspicion by going to meet her at Four Winds. They would spend the Sunday together before he drove back in time for school on the Monday morning.
‘What was the doctor’s final verdict on me?’ Laura enquired with interest as they drove out of the nursing home gates.
‘A very cautious one, I felt. Jacobson made the point that if he’d merely read your case history, he would probably have been convinced that you were suffering from a paraphrenic illness such as schizophrenia. But having spoken to you, he’s satisfied that your attitudes and responses are not those of someone who is mentally ill. All he would say was that your “perceptions appear to be genuine” and that he believes you did actually hear and see what you said you did.’
‘Well, I suppose that’s something.’
‘The fact remains, of course, that he can’t explain how. We had a rather more general discussion on ESP and the psi factor and he quoted Isaac Newton and Lord knows who else. I can’t say it was enlightening but it was certainly interesting.’
Robert and Helen had returned to school while she was away and Peter was spending the day with some friends. Richard and Caroline came out to welcome her and they all went in together, but as Laura crossed the threshold, she was conscious of the house seeming to hold its breath. The drama wasn’t quite over yet.
Laura Possessed Page 20
