‘Well, that’s what I wanted to ask you about. You see, Marjorie seems well enough physically, but she is definitely not her bright and bubbly self these days. She’s spending a lot more time in her room, which, of course, she’s quite entitled to do, but it’s not like her. Normally, she’s at the centre of the activity, as you well know, the life and soul of the party, but she seems to be distancing herself from her friends here.’
‘Oh…’ Tess exchanged a glance with Hannah, and felt her stomach tumble. Marjorie was strong and stoical, and was always at the ready with a choice phrase to buoy everyone up, so it troubled Tess to think that she might be feeling down herself.
‘I wondered if anything was going on with Marjorie that we should know about? If she has any worries or concerns? I tried asking her, but of course, I get short shrift,’ the duty manager said with a knowing glance. ‘If there is something wrong, then obviously we would want to know about it so that we can try and help in any way.’
‘Thanks for letting us know. She hasn’t mentioned anything to us, but I’ll see if I can have a quiet word with her and find out what’s going on.’
Tess inhaled a sigh, wondering if she would ever get to a point in her life when she would be able to stop worrying about the people she loved – her mum, Hannah, Charles and Rob – or if, as she suspected, it was a lifetime’s commitment, all part of being a mother, daughter and partner.
‘Hello, Mum, it’s only us!’ Tess knocked on the closed door to Marjorie’s room, which was unusual in itself as usually it was open, as she enjoyed waving and chatting to everyone who walked by.
‘What are you doing here?’ she asked, not looking wholly pleased to see them. She was sitting at her small desk at her laptop, her glasses perched on her nose. She pointedly pulled the lid down on her computer and turned around to look at them. ‘I wasn’t expecting you, was I?’
‘No, but we thought we’d surprise you! I hoped it might be a good surprise.’
It was only then that Marjorie’s face lit up in a smile and she pushed herself up from her chair to greet them.
‘It’s always lovely to see my daughter and granddaughter.’ She held her arms open wide as the three generations of women hugged. ‘Only next time, give me a bit of warning. I would have changed into something a bit more appropriate and put some make-up on.’
It was unlike Marjorie not to be immaculately groomed and dressed in stylish and coordinating clothes, but today, she was in a pair of comfy slacks and a jumper, without her usual full face of make-up.
‘You look fine, Mum,’ said Tess honestly. Still as beautiful as ever, if a little weary, thought Tess, who was looking for any signs that might suggest that Marjorie wasn’t her normal self. Mind you, it was a Sunday and why shouldn’t Marjorie indulge her casual side, like everyone else did, even if it was something of a novelty for her mum. Although Tess would refute any idea that she now needed to make an appointment to visit her mum. ‘I thought you might be down in the lounge watching the film or at least partaking of the tea and cakes.’
‘No, it’s not my scene. They all nod off within five minutes of the opening credits down there, which isn’t very inspiring, so I prefer to do my own thing.’
‘Fair enough. I see you’ve got your old laptop out?’ It had been a present from Charles and Tess when Marjorie had first moved into the home and after an initial bit of feigned interest, it had disappeared into the back of the cupboard, until now. Tess had actually forgotten all about it. ‘What are you doing, writing your life story?’ she quipped.
‘No, why would you say that?’ Marjorie barked defensively. ‘I was just doing a bit of surfing, isn’t that what they call it?’ she asked, looking at Hannah.
‘That’s right, Grandma. I’m glad to hear you’re joining the technological age. You’ve got the world at your fingertips now.’
‘Oh, I know that all right. It’s really opened up my world and I’ve already made lots of new friends online. In different groups.’
‘What sort of friends?’ Tess asked with a hint of alarm.
‘People who share my interests, those I can connect with. Don’t look so horrified, Tess,’ said Marjorie, laughing. ‘I won’t do anything too reckless. Not this week at least. Anyway, shall we get some tea and cake organised?’
‘It’s all arranged, Mum. I spoke to the duty manager on the way through and she said she’d get some refreshments sent over. Or we could go into the lounge, if you’d prefer?’
‘No, let’s stay here. It’s much cosier.’
‘Before I forget, Grandma, there’s a carrier bag of paperbacks here for you to read. I hope you might find something there to enjoy, although…’ Hannah paused, her eyes alighting on a paperback on the small table next to the bed. She leaned over and picked it up. ‘Well, this looks interesting.The Billionaire’s Dark Betrayal.’ The cover showed a shirtless man with rippling pectoral muscles and Hannah scanned the back of the book avidly, reading the blurb. ‘Blimey, have you actually read this, Grandma? It looks pretty spicy,’ she said with raised eyebrows and an element of admiration to her voice.
‘I have, yes. It was quite an entertaining read, but not one of her best ones. You can take it home with you if you fancy it.’
‘Right… thank you.’ Hannah glanced at her mum, who was looking at her equally perplexed. ‘I’ll have a read and report back. You can borrow it after me, if you like, Mum?’ Hannah had a mischievous smile on her lips.
‘Hmmm, I’m not sure it’s my kind of thing, but you go ahead and enjoy. You can tell me all about it later, sparing me the finer details.’
With a tray of tea and a selection of cakes delivered to the room, Tess was relieved to find that Marjorie was in good spirits, regaling Tess and Hannah with the latest goings-on in the home, giving a run-down of the recently arrived residents and a quick summary of those who had departed, peppered with a brief summary of their medical history, by way of explanation for their demise.
‘Oh dear,’ said Hannah with a slight grimace. ‘It must be sad to lose your friends like that.’
‘You have to come to accept it around here,’ said Marjorie wryly. ‘Best not to dwell on these things as that way lies madness.’
Tess wondered if it was the reason why Marjorie had withdrawn into her own world because she was finding the reality of her situation hard to bear. Living in a care home, seeing the people around her fading away and facing her own mortality, it couldn’t be an easy situation, even for someone as stoical and pragmatic as Marjorie.
‘Irene caught me on the way in,’ she ventured cautiously.
