‘Mary!’ The name rang out.
Elizabeth squeezed his hands. This old man had seen her mother in her face!
‘No. I’m not Mary. I’m Elizabeth,’ she tried to explain but Edward wasn’t listening. He just kept repeating ‘Mary!’ over and over again. He seemed distressed.
‘What is it, Edward? Mary isn’t here.’
He threw his head back on the pillow and began to shake violently. Elizabeth didn’t know what to do. He seemed to have gone into a spasm or a fit of some kind. She raced to the door and called out into the corridor.
‘Nurse! Can I get a nurse, please! Please, I need a nurse.’
Around the corner came a plump, dark-haired lady in a nurse’s uniform and behind her the nice ginger-haired boy she had met the day before. They rushed into the room.
‘I don’t know what’s happening. He was fine and then …’
The nurses were gathered around the bed. Gordon, the young one, turned to her. ‘Better go wait in the day room.’ He sounded solemn and firm, so she did as she was told.
It was only when she sat down on one of the high-backed chairs that she realised she was shaking. A girl, surely too young to be a nurse, noticed her and offered her a cup of tea which she gratefully accepted. This couldn’t be how they said goodbye. He had to survive this, whatever ‘this’ was. Had she upset him, or had the convulsions always been going to happen? Trying to steady her hands, she sipped her tea.
After a few minutes, tall, red-haired Gordon appeared. She obviously looked worried, because he smiled to let her know at once that things weren’t as bad as she feared.
‘He’s OK. We gave him a sedative, and the doctor will be out to him soon.’
‘Thank you.’
Gordon sat down beside her. ‘These things look much worse than they are. We see them all the time. I think it’s more upsetting to watch than it is for them.’
Elizabeth nodded doubtfully.
‘I was talking about you last night.’
‘Were you?’
‘It turns out my Aunt Patty went to school with Teddy.’
‘Your aunt went to school with my father?’ It seemed unlikely.
‘Ah, there’s a fierce clatter of them. Twelve kids. My father is the baby, like.’
‘Right.’
‘Anyway, she had the whole story. I couldn’t believe it. The drama. It’s amazing. I mean, we just see these old people sitting in here,’ he indicated the other occupants of the day room, ‘half of them gaga, but you forget they’ve all lived lives. Like, did you know about his brother?’
‘The one that drowned?’
‘Yeah. Wasn’t that fierce sad?’
‘It was, yes.’
‘And then the wife. Was that your mother?’
‘She was, yes.’ Elizabeth was beginning to feel uncomfortable. She wasn’t sure she should be talking about Edward’s life as if it was just idle gossip.
‘Aunt Patty said she probably was. And then the mother to top it all off. Awful.’
Elizabeth was tempted to pretend she knew what Gordon was talking about but her curiosity got the better of her.
‘The mother? What do you mean?’
‘Well, you know. The bad death.’
‘Bad death?’
‘The suicide, like.’
‘Edward’s mother killed herself?’
‘Sorry now, I thought you’d know. According to Aunt Patty, she went out and hung herself from a tree in the orchard. It was poor Teddy found her.’
Elizabeth just stared at him. She didn’t know what to say. This couldn’t be true, could it? Surely someone, old Mrs Lynch, would have told her?
‘I’m not sure that can be …’ she began, but just then Sarah Cahill, carrying a thick pile of files, appeared at the door.
‘Nurse. Are you still on shift?’
Gordon jumped to his feet.
‘Sorry, I was just—’
‘May I borrow you?’ Sarah interrupted him with a tight smile.
‘Of course.’ And the two of them were gone.
Elizabeth thanked the young woman for her tea and stood in the reception area, not sure what she should do. Edward would be sleeping and although she was fairly certain that Aunt Patty had got her wires crossed, she felt she should find out for sure. Mrs Lynch was the obvious person to check with, but if she drove out to Muirinish again she definitely wouldn’t get back to Buncarragh tonight. As she made her way back out towards the car her phone rang. Brian.
‘Hello?’