Lena looked contrite. ‘I know. I’m sorry.’
‘I hate it as much as you do,’ Milly said helplessly, ‘but my mother is totally focused on making a glittering marriage for Pearl.’
Desperate to help them find a solution, Seebold frowned thoughtfully. ‘Didn’t you say Angel was hidden away somewhere around here when she was ill?’
‘In a cottage in the grounds,’ Lena said dully.
‘Well . . .?’
There was a pregnant silence, then Milly said, ‘He’s right, you know. We could do it, Lena. You and I. Hide Father in the cottage. And even if my mother knows he’s there, she won’t come near the place.’
Lena looked up sharply.
‘It wouldn’t be quite the same as being at home,’ Milly went on, ‘but he’d be in the same place where Angel spent her last days, and we both know how much he loved your mother.’
‘Your mother will be very angry with you,’ Lena whispered cautiously.
Milly chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. ‘D’you know what?’ she said defiantly. ‘For the first time in my life, I don’t really care.’
The next two days were hectic. With her mother and Pearl in London, Milly had a free hand to make all the arrangements. Nan mustered a couple of women from the village to spring-clean the cottage and, of course, Milly and Lena were there to lend a hand too.
The girls had already boiled water and they’d come with plenty of buckets, bleach, carbolic soap and brushes from the house.
‘Thank you all for coming,’ said Milly, tying her apron at the back, ‘I think you all know my father.’
The women nodded.
‘I’m afraid he’s very ill and there is no hope . . .’ she took a breath, ‘but he doesn’t want to die in hospital. That’s why we’re here. The cottage hasn’t been used for some time, so everything will have to be cleaned to within an inch of its life.’
Everybody spread out and worked solidly all morning. Every cobweb, every patch of mildew and the dirty skirting boards were thoroughly scrubbed; before long, the cottage took on its bright atmosphere once more. There wasn’t time to wash and dry the curtains, but Elsie found some spare pairs in an old trunk and, after beating them on the washing line, they were deemed fit for the job. Mrs Cunningham, bless her heart, had already set about cooking nourishing food in the kitchen, even though she knew there was little chance of Mr Shepherd being able to eat any of it.
While Seebold took Lena back to the fairground to tell Rainbow George she would be taking time off, Milly went to see Dr Jennings to arrange for the hire of a nurse. She was hoping that she might get the same nurse who had looked after Lena’s mother, but sadly the woman had long-since retired to Eastbourne to live with her widowed sister.
‘Nurse Revell is highly respected,’ Dr Jennings assured her, ‘and I myself shall pop in every day.’
An ambulance brought Charles home in the afternoon. He looked frail but they could tell that he was pleased to be out of hospital.
Milly guessed it must have been hard for Lena to see him in the same bed her mother had lain in. It would have brought back some bitter-sweet memories, but the two sisters took comfort from each other. Charles was getting the best of care and, thank God, they had managed to give him what he’d wished for. It also reminded Milly that she really needed to come clean to Lena and her father about what she and Pearl had done all those years ago. Looking at the two people she loved most in the world, she wondered if she could she really tell them now.
Perhaps not.
Later that same day, Agatha and Pearl returned from London. When Elsie saw their car pulling up she hurried across the ha-ha to tell Milly they were back. Although Milly had known this time would come, it was still an anxious moment when she went back to the house to tell her mother what was happening.
‘You’ve done what?’ Agatha spat. ‘How dare you take it upon yourself to—’
‘Mother, he’s dying,’ Milly interrupted. ‘He wanted to come home, and it seemed only right that we should help him do that.’
‘We have half the county arriving on Saturday,’ Agatha began again. ‘They don’t want to see ambulances, and nurses running around the place. I won’t have—’
‘You won’t see a thing,’ Milly said firmly, as she mustered a courage she didn’t know she possessed. ‘The cottage is completely hidden from the house. We’ll come and tell you when it gets nearer the time.’
‘You needn’t bother,’ said Agatha turning to leave. ‘I’ll know soon enough.’
Milly blinked as she felt tears pricking the backs of her eyes at the depth of her mother’s anger. But she wasn’t going to argue. Not now.
‘Fine,’ she said quietly as she began to close the door behind them.
Her mother suddenly turned. ‘We,’ Agatha challenged. ‘You said “we”.’
Milly froze. If her mother found out that Lena was in the cottage with their father, there would be hell to pay. She looked to the floor so that her mother wouldn’t see her scarlet face. ‘Dr Jennings booked a nurse,’ she said coolly.
They heard a footfall and Pearl was standing there, her face wreathed in smiles. ‘You haven’t seen my engagement ring yet, have you?’
She waggled her hand under Milly’s nose. The enormous rock on the third finger of her left hand glistened in the late-afternoon sunlight. ‘Freddie proposed last night,’ she cooed. ‘I’m to be married to a baron. I shall have a title.’ She paused. ‘What is the wife of a baron called, Mummy?’
Neither woman spoke.
‘Well?’ Pearl demanded. What do you think?’
‘Very nice,’ said Milly.
‘Very nice,’ Pearl cried. ‘Is that all you can say?’
‘Our father is dying,’ Milly said in a measured tone, ‘and all you can think about is that ring.’
Pearl looked stricken. ‘Oh no, he can’t be dying. He can’t.’
Surprised by her sister’s reaction, Milly felt guilty. Perhaps Pearl hadn’t taken on board what was happening. Maybe she hadn’t understood just how ill Charles was. Milly moved to put her arm around her but Pearl turned to Agatha with a scowl on her face. ‘Oh Mummy, this is too awful,’ she cried out. ‘I couldn’t bear it if he died now. It would completely ruin my engagement party.’