Watching the automatic way in which Constance was cradling her beloved grandson, as if she was only half aware that he was in her arms, Charlotte could not help wondering what could have happened to cause this change in her mother, to make it seem as if this extraordinarily capable woman could no longer cope with anything.
Charlotte decided to continue the cheery approach. She thought she knew of something guaranteed to put her mother in a better frame of mind.
‘So, have you bought yourself a new outfit for the eighteenth yet?’ she asked. ‘I think you should, after all it’s going to be pretty special.’
November 18th was the day of Freddie and Constance’s silver wedding anniversary. The family had decided months ago that this merited a major celebration, and Charlotte had been landed with the job of organising a big party at the family’s favourite hotel in the area, the Mount Somerset at Henlade, a beautifully renovated old manor house with sweeping views across half the country.
To tell the truth, Charlotte hadn’t minded the task at all. She had inherited her mother’s organisational skills and wouldn’t really have trusted anyone else to plan the party properly. In any case, Charlotte loved to please her parents. They were the kind of people who brought out that desire in others, and rightly so, she considered.
But as she spoke, Charlotte realised to her astonishment that her mother looked completely blank. She can’t have forgotten that of all days, Charlotte thought to herself. Then she saw the cloud pass across Constance’s face. It was a cloud of despair, of desperation even. There was panic in her mother’s eyes, pure panic. Charlotte was instantly overwhelmed by a wave of distress and confusion.
‘Mum, whatever is wrong?’ She blurted it out, and that wasn’t what she’d intended at all, but she couldn’t help carrying on. ‘Surely you are looking forward to it, aren’t you, mum? We’re going to have a fabulous party. Helen’s got special leave from school, remember. All the family, most of the village, will be there. It’ll be wonderful...’
She knew that she was burbling and forced herself to stop. She wasn’t going to help her mother by losing control.
There was a short silence. Charlotte could see Constance making an almost physical effort to compose herself. The older woman even managed a big smile, and at a glance it seemed to be the same winning smile that had been so familiar and warming to Charlotte since the very beginning of her life. The smile was not in her mother’s eyes, though, Charlotte could see that clearly. There was still panic in her eyes.
‘Of course I’m looking forward to the party, darling,’ said Constance eventually. ‘I’m just a little tired, that’s all. I’m looking forward to it immensely.’
But Charlotte was not convinced. She was more anxious about her mother than ever. And, like her father, Charlotte was beginning to have grave fears about Constance’s health.
‘She is human after all,’ Charlotte remarked to her father when they had finally got around to properly discussing their worries. ‘I sometimes think we forget that. Mother is so amazing it’s quite easy to forget that she’s only human, like all the rest of us.’
Since the end of October and the first ten days or so of November, which both father and daughter agreed had been her worst time of all, Constance had seemed to recover slightly from whatever it was that had been ailing her. She still looked thin and rather weary, but she seemed to be functioning again, if not with her usual level of energy. And she was beginning to muster a passable show of enthusiasm for the silver wedding celebrations which were now only three days away.
‘You’re right,’ said Freddie. ‘She just needs a bit more nurturing than usual, that’s all. I’m trying to keep her away from all the farm business and I wish she would pull back a bit on everything else. Somebody or other from the village has been on to her every day this week about the blasted pantomime. I wish she’d just tell them she can’t do it this year, I really do, but some chance of that, I suppose.’
He had popped around to his daughter’s cottage to show her the beautiful diamond and sapphire eternity ring he had bought for Constance as an anniversary present. The stones were set in a band of white gold.
‘Well, it should traditionally be silver, but I wanted something better than a silver ring — so I thought platinum would be the perfect compromise...’
‘It’s truly beautiful, dad.’ Charlotte enthused. And she slipped the ring on to her own finger in order best to admire it. As she did so the telephone rang. It was her brother William.
Charlotte, who knew all about William’s near-dismissal from his college, greeted him jovially. She was a firm believer in the jovial approach to life whenever possible, something else she had inherited from her mother although it had not lately been much in evidence in Constance.
‘William! I hope you’re behaving yourself, you villain,’ she scolded affectionately. ‘Or I may have to drive over and sort you out. Then you’d be sorry.’
William, however, appeared to be in no mood for banter. ‘Look, Charlie, I’ve got a problem with the party. I don’t think I can make it.’
Charlotte was astonished. ‘What!’ she yelled into the telephone receiver. ‘Why ever not?’
William mumbled something rather incoherent about having so much work to do, and trying to catch up, and not wanting to make a mess of things again.
Charlotte was furious. She was acutely conscious of her father standing anxiously behind her, aware that there was obviously some new difficulty with his son but not knowing what. That made her all the more furious.
‘So why are you telling me this?’ she snapped. ‘Why didn’t you ring the farm?’
‘Well,’ William hesitated, ‘...I thought it might be better coming from you, I was afraid mother might answer the telephone...’
Charlotte completely lost her temper. ‘I bet you were, you coward!’ she shouted. ‘Well, I’m not doing your dirty work for you. Dad’s here. You can damn well tell him yourself.’
She thrust the receiver at her bewildered father, and she could feel tears pricking at the back of her eyes. What was her brother playing at? Without him, their parents’ party could not possibly be a proper celebration and he must be aware of that.
‘William, what’s going on, son?’ she heard her father ask. And then, when he got his answer, she saw his shoulders slump.
‘Your mother will be dreadfully disappointed,’ said Freddie. That was typical of the man, thought his daughter, he wouldn’t admit to his own hurt.
She listened to a few more minutes of desultory conversation. Apart from the one mild remark about Constance’s disappointment, Freddie, again typically, did not try to persuade his son. But when he hung up the phone and turned to her she could see just how upset he was.
‘I don’t understand it,’ he said. ‘The boy knows his mother idolises him. I can’t believe he would let her down like this. She was worried enough when he was sent home. In fact I think it was all that bother with William which sparked off her depression or whatever it is. You don’t think he’s up to those tricks again, do you, Charlie?’
His daughter replied that she hadn’t the faintest idea, but if she could get her hands on him right now she would teach her little brother a few tricks he hadn’t thought of.
It took Freddie a full day before he plucked up the courage to break the news of their son’s proposed absence to his wife. He had expected Constance to be devastated. But to his surprise she took the news quite calmly.