Still Emmy remained calm. ‘I’m sure that isn’t right. Anyway, we’ll let the doctor be the judge of it when he calls. Aggie has already gone for him so I can’t stop him now. And while we wait for him to come, I’m going to get you a tray of tea. You should have a drink inside you at least or you’ll waste away.’
‘Pah! Interfering little hussy,’ Imogen muttered beneath her breath as Emmy headed purposefully for the door with a smile on her face. She was getting to know her aunt quite well now and was aware that she’d rather die than admit she was in pain.
The doctor arrived just over an hour later and after showing him into her aunt’s bedroom, Emmy went to stand on the landing, leaving him to examine her. She was still there waiting for him when he came out.
He shook his head. ‘I’m afraid there’s nothing to do to halt the disease,’ he told her. ‘But what you can do is give her this if you feel she’s in pain.’ He withdrew a small phial of liquid from his bag and handed it to Emmy. ‘This is laudanum and it will help with the pain but you must use it sparingly and only when absolutely necessary. A drop or two in half a glass of water to start with and as she gets worse you can slowly increase it.’
Emmy chewed on her lip and plucking up her courage she asked, ‘Is this a terminal illness, doctor?’
He nodded gravely. ‘I’m afraid it is, my dear. The time she has left is not going to be easy for her because she’s such an independent woman.’
‘And how long do you think that might be?’
He shrugged. ‘Everyone is different; she could deteriorate quickly, but there again she could go on for a few years. But were you aware that on top of this disease she also has a heart condition so it could be that that finishes her before the muscle disease. There’s no way of knowing.’
Blinking back tears Emmy nodded. ‘Yes, I was aware of it, but what about travelling? She was hoping to go to her second home at the coast for the summer. Will she be well enough?’
‘Ah, now that’s a difficult one to answer,’ he admitted. ‘But what I would say is, if she wants to go and she feels up to it then let her.’
‘Thank you, doctor. I’ll see how she is in the next few days,’ Emmy answered.
‘What did he say?’ Aggie asked anxiously when Emmy returned from showing the doctor out.
Emmy explained what he’d told her and Aggie sniffed sadly. She was fond of her mistress and hated to think of her being so ill. ‘It’s up to us to make sure that whatever time she ’as left is ’appy then, ain’t it?’
Emmy nodded.
It was decided that Emmy should have the next weekend off just in case they decided to go to Lytham St Anne’s and as she packed a small valise on the day she was leaving she was full of instructions for Aggie.
‘Look, I’ll take good care of ’er, don’t you worry,’ she promised Emmy. ‘You just get off an’ spend a bit o’ time wi’ yer ma. You’ve been runnin’ up an’ down the stairs like a blue-arsed fly after the missus all week so a break will do yer good.’
Emmy couldn’t help but grin. Aggie had proved to be a rough diamond with a heart as big as a bucket and she knew her aunt was in good hands with her, so she went to say goodbye to her aunt and set off on her journey with an easier mind.
It was late afternoon before she turned on to the track leading to the cottage and the first thing she noticed was Hetty fetching in the dry laundry from the line that was strung across the yard between the outside shed and the kitchen wall.
Hetty let out a whoop of joy when she spotted her and dropping the clothes into a large wicker basket, she scooted to meet her. ‘Eeh, it’s lovely to see yer,’ she greeted her with a warm smile. ‘Yer mam will be well surprised, but why didn’t yer let us know yer were comin’?’
‘I didn’t know myself until a couple of days ago,’ Emmy admitted. ‘So I would probably have got here before my letter did had I written.’ She stopped and stared then as a lovely black and white puppy with his tail wagging furiously raced forward to meet her. ‘And who is this?’ She laughed as she bent down to him and he began to wash her face with his tongue.
‘That’s Bruno.’ Hetty grinned. ‘Your mam said she’d feel safer, what wi’ us bein’ here on us own, if we had a dog about the place, so me brother fetched him for us a couple o’ weeks ago. O’ course he’s only a few months old so he ain’t much of a guard dog yet but he will be when we’ve trained him. I think me brother said he were a Border collie.’
Emmy was shocked at her mother’s change of heart but delighted. For as long as she could remember she had pleaded with her mother to let her and Abi have a dog but her mother had always insisted that they were dirty smelly things and far too much trouble.
‘He’s beautiful,’ she told Hetty as he rolled over for a belly rub in the dust.
‘Aye, he is that, and the missus is right taken wi’ him,’ Hetty chuckled. ‘But come in now an’ I’ll make yer a cuppa. Yer must be parched after that long journey.’ She took Emmy’s arm and almost hauled her into the kitchen where she had yet another surprise when she saw her mother, clad in a voluminous apron, taking a golden-brown steak pie from the oven.
When Dorcas spotted Emmy she almost dropped it in her surprise, but then she slammed it on to the table and raced across to her to enfold her in her arms. ‘Why, darling, how lovely it is to see you,’ she said breathlessly. ‘But is everything all right?’
‘Everything is fine,’ Emmy assured her, trying to get used to the sight of her mother in a plain gown with flour on her cheeks. ‘I just thought it was time to pop home and see how you were. But what’s this?’ Emmy gestured towards the pie.
Dorcas blushed and grinned. ‘Hetty has been teaching me to cook and she says I have a flair for it. I just got a bit fed up of sitting about and I quite enjoy cooking now,’ she confided.
‘She does an’ all,’ Hetty agreed with a nod of her head. ‘And she’s gettin’ to be a dab hand at helpin’ out in the vegetable patch an’ all.’
Emmy was beginning to wonder if she’d come to the right place, although she was very happy with what she was seeing. Her mother had colour back in her cheeks and had gained a little weight, and with her long hair tied loosely in a ribbon at the nape of her neck instead of the neat chignon she usually favoured, she looked years younger. Softer, somehow, than Emmy remembered.
‘How long can you stay?’ Dorcas asked and when Emmy told her she looked vaguely disappointed. ‘Aw well, we’ll just have to make the best of the couple of days we have then. But first we’ll have some dinner. These are all vegetables and potatoes that Hetty and I have grown in the garden.’
