A Cornish Stranger (17 page)

‘Maybe it would be too much.' Gabriella exchanged glances with Fin.

If she didn't go now then Gabriella would find a way not to go. ‘I would love to,' she said firmly.

Gabriella looked at her closely. ‘Are you sure?'

Jaunty wondered if she was. She was safe here, but she must teach her granddaughter that being safe wasn't everything. ‘Yes. I would like to.'

Gabriella nodded. ‘OK, after lunch then.'

‘I'll let him know.' Fin went to the phone in the kitchen.

Jaunty studied her granddaughter. Her hair was not pulled back quite so tightly and a stray strand had escaped, framing her oval face. She didn't look as gaunt as she had done, and her glance kept darting to Fin when she thought she wasn't being watched. This was all good, but Jaunty wanted to know what had changed her mind about singing. This was a seismic shift. Last night when she'd sung it was if an angel had come from heaven. The voice wasn't as rich as it should be, but then singing in a foggy creek was not exactly ideal. Jaunty remembered how her mother complained about various conditions affecting her voice.

Jaunty stood and Gabriella rushed to her side. ‘I'm fine. I just need the loo, which I can manage on my own.'

Gabriella stepped away. ‘Have you finished eating?'

Jaunty turned. ‘Yes.'

‘Tea or coffee?'

‘No, thank you. I'll be ready to go when you are.' Jaunty made her way into her room. She hadn't heard Gabe sing properly in too many years and she had never seen her on stage. A whole life wasted in fear that someone would discover her secret, and now she was going to tell everyone. Had the secrecy been worth it?

 

Jaunty gasped as she walked through the door to Max's sitting room. Above the sofa hung a large canvas she had painted twenty years ago. It was all in yellows.
Philip and Gabriella, summer
. She had never seen her paintings anywhere else but her own domain. The room swayed a bit, but Fin took her elbow and steadied her. He whispered in ear her, ‘I own several of your paintings. Sadly, they are in storage at the moment.'

She turned to him.

He leaned closer to her. ‘No, I didn't let the ex take them.'

Jaunty frowned. Seeing her work on someone's walls shouldn't surprise her. After all, she had been selling paintings for years. The J was painted in burnt umber. J.
Jean
. Jaunty blacked out for a second.

Fin guided her by the elbow to the big sofa under her work and Jaunty turned her head for one last look.

‘Can I get you anything?' Max asked Jaunty as he led Gabriella to the piano.

‘No, thank you. Please forget I'm here.' She turned to Fin, who was sitting next to her.

‘Same here.' Fin glanced quickly at Gabriella then back to Jaunty.

Max waved his hand. ‘Make yourself at home.'

Fin nodded.

Jaunty watched her granddaughter. The vitality that had shown in her eyes this morning had vanished. Another strand of hair had fallen down, softening the features but not hiding her fear. Even from this distance Jaunty could see the small pupils.

Max sat down at the piano. ‘I would just love to hear you sing this first section, to let me see how you have interpreted it. Is that OK?'

‘Could we do a warm-up first?'

‘Of course! I'm sorry I'm so eager. I had the youth choir I'm working with singing parts last night, but I'm just desperate to hear
you
sing it.'

Gabriella's mouth lifted into a half smile then she swallowed. Jaunty noted her hands were clasped tight.

Max ran through some scales to flex his fingers then hit a note when Gabe indicated. She worked through some vowels. Her voice grew with each repetition.

Max shifted through some music. ‘How about Hahn's “À Chloris”?'

‘Good.'

Max began to play and Gabriella sang. Jaunty closed her eyes. She knew the song well. Her mother used to sing it all the time.

Arpeggios . . .

Dietrich's long fingers run across the keys. Mother looks to him and he begins.

Bright hot sun reflects off the lake, bouncing on to the ceiling. A fly circles my head and Dietrich's shoulders flex. He's so handsome. His mother sits beside me with her wrist in a bandage.

Mother finishes. The last note fades.

‘You will go far, Dietrich. The world will be yours.' My mother kisses the top of his head as if he is a toddler and not fifteen.

Dietrich.

‘That was perfect, Gabe.' Max shuffled some papers.

‘I wouldn't go that far. Where are we starting?' Gabriella's speaking voice had dropped.

Max pointed. ‘If we begin here where Nancy has been parted from William and then sing straight through to here?'

‘Are you sure?'

‘Yes.'

Max played and Jaunty let the new music carry her away. She didn't want to look backwards, but the sadness in the opening movement chipped away at her reserve. Gabriella sang of lost love and her voice wrapped itself around Jaunty's heart. Jaunty closed her eyes.

Alex's warmth seeps into me. His body meets mine from shoulder to ankle. The stars sparkle.

‘I love you.' He kisses me and I feel desire but sleep is calling me. Alex holds my hand.

Jaunty grabbed her heart and fell on to Fin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part Two

 

Gabriella

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday for danger,

Tuesday kiss a stranger,

Wednesday for a letter,

Thursday for something better,

Friday for sorrow,

Saturday see your lover tomorrow.

Sneeze on Sunday morning fasting,

Enjoy your true love for everlasting.

 

 

 

 

 

Fourteen

 

 

 

 

G
abe paced the waiting room. They'd been there an hour and Fin watched her from the far side of the room. He was still clutching the white plastic cup from the vending machine and Gabe wondered why waiting rooms in hospitals had to be so dreary.

Fin's phone rang and he stood and stepped outside. She studied him through the glass door. The sun shone, but that cold north wind blew and it pushed his curls to one side. He'd been a rock. When Jaunty had collapsed he'd been on the phone to emergency services in seconds. His quick actions with
CPR
had kept Jaunty alive while they waited for an ambulance.

When Fin walked in a doctor came with him.

‘Miss Blythe?' The doctor looked at her.

Gabe stood. ‘Yes.'

‘Your grandmother is in a coma.'

Gabe nodded.

‘She has also had a stroke.'

She held her hands together, trying to read between the lines. ‘What does it mean?'

‘They may not be connected. She had a minor heart attack last week and she is also diabetic; her blood sugar had dropped too low and we are correcting this, but thus far it has had no effect. Did she hit her head or suffer any other trauma recently?'

She shook her head. ‘I don't think so.'

Fin coughed quietly, then said, ‘I don't know if this is important but she told me she had stopped seeing colour a year ago. I looked it up and it said a possible cause could be head injury.'

Gabe frowned, wondering what else Jaunty had told him that she hadn't told her.

The doctor said, ‘Perhaps. It's possible that she may have had a minor heart attack a while ago and blacked out, hit her head but did nothing about it.'

Gabe sighed. That sounded so like Jaunty, never drawing attention to herself.

‘It could be that a blood clot had formed and it moved to the brain. At this point it is all guesswork.' He paused. ‘I suggest you head home. She is stable for the moment and we'll call if anything changes.'

‘May I see her first?' Gabe swallowed. She wasn't ready for this. There was so much that she hadn't said or done.

‘Of course. Follow me.'

Gabe turned to Fin. He held out his hand. She took it and they walked down the corridor to
ICU
.

 

‘Would you like me to drive?' Fin asked as they came to the car.

Gabe looked at him. She was wrung out so it would be wise to let him drive. ‘I'm not sure I want to go, Fin. What if she wakes?'

‘They'll call. And it only takes fifty minutes to get here.'

‘True.' Gabe looked at her watch. It was already seven in the evening. She opened the door and slid into the passenger seat.

‘Don't blame yourself.' Fin adjusted the rear-view mirror.

‘If only we hadn't taken her to Max's. Maybe it was all too much.' Gabe stared at her hands.

‘Nonsense. She loved it. I could see it on her face.'

Gabe turned to him. ‘Are you sure?'

‘She was very happy.' He took his hand off the wheel and touched hers.

‘If you say so.' Gabe looked out the window at the darkness. The only lights were those of the oncoming traffic.

Fin touched her hand again. ‘I do. Your singing gave her tremendous pleasure. You should make a recording that they could play to her.'

Gabe frowned. ‘Really?'

‘Yes. It could help her recovery.'

Closing her eyes, Gabe tried not to think about the inevit­able. Even if Jaunty woke up she might not be fit enough to come home. What would they do? There was no way that Jaunty would go into a nursing home. Could Gabe take care of her? She would have to get help, which meant reworking finances. She rubbed her temples.

Fin switched on the radio and a violin concerto by Mozart came on. Gabe began humming, then woke with a start when the engine was switched off.

‘Sorry to wake you.'

‘Well, you couldn't leave me here in the car all night.'

‘True.'

‘Would you like company or would you like some time alone?'

Gabe paused before she shut the car door. The cabin sat in darkness and suddenly she wondered how Jaunty had lived here on her own for all those years.

‘Company, if you don't mind.'

‘It will be a pleasure.'

‘Thanks.' Gabe led the way down the path. She needed to install some security lights that would switch on when you came past. She nearly lost her footing but Fin caught her before her feet went from under her. He was like her guardian angel at the moment, and boy did she need one.

At the door she fumbled for the key and felt foolish as tears appeared. If she was going to cry it should have been at the hospital, not here, not now that she was home. Fin's breath caressed her neck and she wanted to lean back against him, let him take the strain, because suddenly she didn't feel up to it. Unbelievably tired of fighting, she knew she needed to rely on someone else, but that was more frightening than relying on herself. She brushed her tears away with the back of her hand and fitted the key into the lock.

 

Gabe woke to the sound of someone in the house. She sat up, grabbed her robe and rushed out of the bedroom to find it was only Fin making coffee.

‘Did I wake you?'

Gabe's heart felt like it was about to escape from her chest. ‘Yes.'

‘Sorry. Can I make it up with a coffee?' He smiled and made an attempt at Max's puppy look.

Gabe nodded, not sure she could speak. After a bowl of soup and a whisky she had gone to bed leaving Fin sitting and reading. It should have made her feel unsafe, but it had had the opposite effect – and now she was happy to see him. She had never thought she would feel that way again.

‘I rang the hospital and there's no change. Jaunty is stable so they are moving her to another ward.' Fin handed her a mug. It was what she should have been doing, not sleeping. A glance at the clock on the wall told her it was already nine thirty. She'd slept for twelve hours.

Gabe walked through to the sitting-room window. A soft veil of rain fell, muting the autumn colours and softening the edges on everything outside. She noted the pillow and blankets folded up on the sofa and turned to Fin.

‘I slept in here last night in case you needed me.'

Needed him? Looking at the stubble on his face, the full mouth and bedroom eyes she
wanted
him. The realisation that she was allowing herself to feel this caused the hair on her arms to stand up. Her armour had been broken and she must tread very carefully because he would be gone shortly. He couldn't stay here for ever. It was fine for now because she did need him, but that would pass, as would her wanting him. That was normal. He was good-looking and helpful, a winning combination, but she knew nothing about him. She didn't even know what he did.

‘Fin?'

‘Yes.' He looked up from his book.

‘What do you do?'

He gave her a lopsided smile. ‘A funny time to ask.'

‘Yes, I meant to but never got around to it.' She felt foolish she hadn't found out more about him before.

He put his book down. ‘I'm an art historian of sorts.'

Fin's phone rang. ‘Hello.' He turned from her and walked out of the back door where the reception was better. Gabe was surprised it rang in the cabin. The wind must have changed. She topped up her mug and looked in the fridge. She would need to shop after she visited Jaunty, and Fin's suggestion of making a disc of music for her grandmother might not be a bad idea.

Putting her coffee down, Gabe walked into Jaunty's room and went to the old record player. Beside it was a basket holding all Jaunty's beloved albums. They were almost entirely opera, with the exception of a few collections of piano concertos. Flipping through them, Gabe took a trip through memory lane. This all used to be in the studio and Jaunty would listen while she painted. She would hum but never sing.

‘Sorry about that. Shall I make an omelette?'

Gabe jumped. ‘That would be lovely.' She selected what she was sure was Jaunty's favourite, a collection of arias by Maria Lucia, and put it on. It began with ‘Habanera' from
Carmen
. Carmen was a role that Gabe had longed to play and had never done so. She wouldn't touch it now. As she walked through the bedroom she put her hands on her hips and lip-synced the words. As soon as she reached the sitting room where she could possibly be seen she dropped her hands and Carmen's attitude.

Fin was grimacing as he mixed the eggs when Gabe came up to him. ‘Are you OK?”

He shrugged. ‘Just the ex-wife.'

‘Problem?'

‘Money. Always money. It always has been.' He sliced a tomato. ‘When we were students she was forever struggling with her overdraft and when we were married I never let her near the finances. Since the divorce she has to do it and she's made a mess of it.' He put the tomatoes in the pan with the cheese. ‘Her partner is no better and it appears that the business is already in trouble in just the six months that she's had it on her own.'

‘This is the business you began together?'

‘Yes.' He expelled a sound that was half sigh, half laugh. ‘By the end of the year the business will be bankrupt.'

‘And this worries you?'

‘No. What bothers me is that she still thinks she can come to me for help.' He turned the cooker off.

Gabe wondered what had happened. He was helpful and kind; the way he turned the omelette out on to plates was skilful; the man could cook – what was not to like?

‘Fin?' Gabe paused, wondering how to ask and even if she should. It was none of her business. ‘Why did you divorce? Was it money?'

‘If only.' He shook his head and turned from her. His shoulders slumped. ‘Money I can deal with, but betrayal was a lot harder to take.' He handed plates to her. She placed them on the table and poured him a glass of wine, longing to know what the betrayal was. As she gave him the glass the pain in his eyes was obvious. In the time he'd been with them he had never revealed so much of himself as right now.

‘I suppose it shouldn't hurt and in a way it doesn't any more, but Patricia left me for her best friend, Joanne.' He gave a bitter laugh. ‘It wasn't that she left me for a woman that hurt, really. It was that the affair with Joanne had been going on the whole time I'd known her.'

Gabe put her hand on his arm, trying to imagine what that sort of betrayal felt like, and she couldn't. ‘I'm sorry.'

He laughed. ‘Yes, me too for the wasted years.'

Looking at the self-deprecating grin on Fin's face, Gabe understood too well about wasted years.

 

After a couple of hours sitting at Jaunty's bedside, Gabe yawned. There was nothing she could do but watch the machines that monitored the state of Jaunty's tenuous hold on life. Having mindlessly chatted away about nothing in particular, she felt so helpless. The nurses were lovely and had said that talking to Jaunty would be good, so she had. Now Gabe sang. She sang the Scottish ballad that Jaunty loved and she sang a lullaby. Her grandmother appeared to breathe easier and she could have sworn she felt her hand squeeze gently. However, Gabe noticed the nurses pausing to listen by the door of the ward and the visitor for the other patient in the room was in tears.

‘That was so beautiful, my dear. So beautiful.' The woman blew her nose. ‘She'll love that. You know, you should be on the stage with your gift. You have the voice of an angel.'

‘Thank you,' Gabe said, then she shuffled out past the nurses who were all smiling at her. ‘If I brought in a CD of music and a small player could it be played quietly for my grandmother?'

‘What a lovely thought. Would it be of you singing to her?' the staff nurse asked.

Gabe nodded.

‘Such a wonderful idea! I'll just check with my manager but I don't see a problem.'

When Gabe walked out into the grey afternoon, it was only four, but with the heavy cloud cover it felt much later. She called the number Fin had given her and arranged to meet him at the superstore. He had come in to Truro with her, but after a quick visit with Jaunty he had headed off to the library to do some research, he said, which seemed odd, but what did she know about him or what he did?

She had a full basket and was staring at the meat section when she looked up to find Fin coming towards her with a sparkle in his eyes. It took a second before she could find her voice. ‘A good day?'

He held out his hand to take the basket from her. ‘Yes.' He peered in it. ‘What are we having for dinner?'

‘Don't know.' All she had been thinking about was what songs to record for Jaunty. When she'd sung, Gabe could have sworn she had felt Jaunty's hand move in hers.

‘I'll cook tonight,' he said. ‘How does a chicken and mushroom risotto sound?'

‘Divine.' Gabe looked up at him.

‘Good, why don't you grab a cup of tea in the café and let me sort the shopping.' He gave her a gentle nudge in the right direction and disappeared down another aisle. Gabe thought he might be too good to be true, but right now she wasn't complaining.

 

In the café, Gabe stood beside the counter and stared at the takeaway cup, trying to decide if she wanted or needed to put sugar into it. Her mind was all over the place. She needed to make the recording for Jaunty so that the nurses could play it to her quietly when Gabe wasn't there. Anything that could reach her grandmother was to the good.

Fin walked through the door into the café and Gabe's heart skipped a beat. His face lit up with a smile and she reminded herself that she was not in the market for a relationship. But that was not what her body was saying. Although she had imposed famine conditions on it for years, it was more than ready to come out and feast. Instead of feasting, she made herself look out of the window at the sudden sun that had appeared rather than watching him.