When she saw Lena’s mother, Milly had a shock. She lay on the settee covered by a blanket and a nurse sat in a chair beside her, doing her knitting. It was clear from her features that Angel must have been a beautiful woman once, but now she was emaciated, haggard and her skin was grey. Milly knew she couldn’t be much older than her own mother, but she looked older than Milly’s grandmother, and she was positively ancient.
The nurse rose to her feet. ‘And how is your patient today?’ Charles asked.
‘A little tired now,’ said the nurse, packing her knitting into a bag. She glanced at Angel. ‘Madam has done very well today. She managed to walk from the bedroom to the sofa by herself and she’s been resting here since . . .’ she consulted her watch, ‘since three-twenty.’
‘Stop talking about me as if I wasn’t here,’ Angel gently scolded as she held out her hand. Charles rushed to hold it. Milly stared as her father kissed Angel’s fingers tenderly. She’d never seen him kiss her mother like that. Come to think of it, she’d never seen him kiss her mother, full stop.
As the nurse left the room, Milly shifted her feet awkwardly, unsure of what to do.
‘And who is this?’ Angel asked.
‘Darling, this is Milly,’ said Charles. There was no mistaking the emotional catch in his voice. ‘My daughter.’
Milly gave Lena’s mother a small curtsey. ‘How do you do? My real name is Millicent but everybody calls me Milly.’
‘Pleased to meet you, Milly,’ Angel smiled. ‘And I am very well, thank you.’
Milly’s face suddenly grew red hot as she was consumed with embarrassment. Of course Angel wasn’t very well, thank you. What on earth had possessed her to say that? How could she have been so stupid?
‘Sorry, sorry,’ Milly flustered. She pushed up her glasses and glanced her father’s way, but he only had eyes for Angel.
Angel reached up and stroked his cheek then, turning her head towards Milly, she smiled. ‘What a lovely daughter you have, Charles,’ she said softly. ‘So polite, so kind. You must be very proud of her.’
‘I’m very proud of both my daughters,’ her father said.
All at once, Lena burst back into the room wearing her new dress and cardigan. ‘Look, look, Angel. Ain’t it wonderful?’ She twirled around the sofa, holding out the skirt so that everyone could see. ‘It’s the bestest dress I ever ’ad.’
Sharing her moment of joy, everybody laughed.
As Lena continued to twirl, Angel’s face suddenly clouded and, looking up at Milly’s father, she said earnestly, ‘You will look after her, won’t you, Charles?’
Milly’s father raised Angel’s hand to his mouth and kissed her palm. ‘Upon my honour, I promise I will, my darling.’
Angel seemed relieved. Oblivious to this exchange, Lena bounced out of the room and came back with the toy dog. ‘Look what Milly gave me,’ she said excitedly.
Milly saw the look of surprise on her father’s face. She chewed her bottom lip anxiously. Oh dear, she thought, he thinks I didn’t like it.
‘My father gave it to me,’ said Milly, ‘but Lena really, really liked it so . . .’ She shrugged her shoulders.
‘How kind you are,’ said Lena’s mother and, looking at Milly she said, ‘Are you sure, dear?’
Milly felt her face colour but she nodded vigorously.
Charles Shepherd smiled. ‘You’ve been very generous, Milly.’
After Milly and her father had said their goodbyes, Dixon, who had been in the kitchen sampling one of Nan’s cakes, drove them back to the entrance of Muntham Court and took the car back to the garage. Milly couldn’t wait to get indoors. Her mother’s car was parked in the driveway, which meant she was back home. She had so much to tell her. Milly was about to dash in to show her mother her new shoes when her father caught her arm.
‘Just a minute darling,’ he said. ‘I want to ask you something.’
He walked them towards the fountain, and they stood with their backs to the house. She waited as he took out his cigarette case and opened it. A moment later, he’d tapped one on the case and was searching his pocket for his lighter.
Milly stared into the depths of the fountain. It was beautiful. In the centre, there was a life-sized statue of a boy sitting in a shell which was held up by four dolphins. The boy was blowing through a conch shell, creating a jet of water which fell several feet into the basin beneath. There were other jets, smaller, coming from the noses and mouths of the dolphins. Live fish swam around the lily pads and hid in the recesses on all four corners. Milly trailed her fingers through the water.
‘Listen Milly,’ her father began cautiously, ‘I’d rather you didn’t tell your mother that we took Lena with us to Worthing.’
Milly looked up and was surprised by the troubled look on his face.
‘I’m not asking you to lie,’ he went on, ‘but there’s really no need to mention Lena at all.’ He closed his eyes for a second then took a deep breath. ‘Your mother knows all about her, so we’re not keeping anything from her, but I’d rather she didn’t know Lena was in the cottage. I just don’t want Angel and Lena being even more upset, that’s all.’
Milly nodded.
He sighed and said more to himself than to Milly, ‘I never meant to hurt anybody.’
‘Don’t worry, Daddy.’ Milly looked kindly up at him.
They exchanged a smile and he touched her arm. ‘It was very nice of you to give your dog to Lena.’
‘It wasn’t that I didn’t like it,’ she said. ‘It was just that she wanted it so badly.’
‘I know,’ said Charles, ‘and I’m proud of you.’ He paused as if he were about to say something else but then thought better of it. ‘Come along now. Let’s go in and show your mother those lovely new shoes.’
They turned towards the front door but, as they did, the French windows suddenly burst open. ‘Charles?’ said her mother’s sharp voice. ‘What are you two cooking up? And what’s Millicent doing here? Why the hell isn’t she in school?’
Almost as soon as they went indoors, her mother and father began having a humongous row.
‘You should have told me the child was ill,’ her mother thundered after Milly’s father had explained why she was at home.
‘Don’t you dare play the injured and uninformed mother with me,’ her father said angrily. ‘I must have telephoned you a dozen times but you never once returned my calls.’
