plannin’ the weddin’ afore I know it,’ Beatrice chuckled. ‘Which is why I decided to wait a while before I told her.’
Amy was just about to answer when a snowball caught Beatrice full in the face and she gasped before turning towards the children.
‘I think I’d better try an’ help our Mary get these imps under control,’ she said, and so Amy shouted her goodbyes and went on her way, leaving Mary and Beatrice to play snowballs with the excited children. She was pleased to see her friend looking so happy and hoped that Jake would be good to her.
She was halfway across the rolling lawns when the house came into view. There was a pony and trap at the bottom of the marble steps that led up to the front door and Amy instantly recognised it as the doctor’s. Someone must be ill. Gathering up her skirts, she flew across the frozen grass, her heart pounding in her chest. When she drew level with the pony she saw that he was pawing restlessly at the ground but she barely noticed his distress as she raced up the steps to the front door and banged on it impatiently.
Lily opened it, and Amy saw that the girl’s eyes were red-rimmed from crying.
‘Who is ill?’ she demanded as she struggled to remove her coat.
Lily sniffed noisily. ‘It’s the old mistress.’ There was a catch in her voice. ‘She took poorly in the night. The doctor an’ the mistress are upstairs with her now, but the master is in the library.’
Amy nodded, then almost threw her hat and coat in Lily’s direction before hurrying along the hallway. Without stopping to knock, she opened the library door. Mr Forrester was standing in front of the fireplace, staring down into the flames, and when he turned she could see the raw pain in his eyes.
Completely forgetting her place, Amy hurried to his side and asked bluntly, ‘What’s happened?’
He sighed. ‘It’s Mother. She had a bad turn in the night and she’s in a very serious way. I blame myself, Amy. She hasn’t been quite herself for some time, as you are probably aware, and I begged her to let me get the doctor in to have a look at her, but she wouldn’t have a bar of it. She snapped my head off every time I suggested it, but I should have gone ahead and asked him to call anyway. Anyway, he’s here now. He’s been upstairs with her for over an hour and I hope that when he comes down, he will be able to tell us what’s wrong.’
Mr Forrester’s face was ashen. Taking control of the situation, Amy crossed to the bell-pull and tugged on it. When Lily appeared moments later, Amy might have been mistaken as the mistress of the house as she told her, ‘Lily, fetch Mr Forrester some tea please.’
Lily scurried away like a frightened rabbit to do as she was told, and she returned in a remarkably short time with a tray. Amy quickly poured out a cup of hot sweet tea and placed it into Mr Forrester’s trembling hand.
‘Drink this, my gran says it’s good for shock,’ she ordered, and they then sat together in silence, each lost in their own thoughts until at last, Josephine and the doctor appeared in the doorway.
Amy was quick to note that Josephine was even paler than the master. She had been up with her mother-in-law for most of the night and now she looked worn out and drawn.
‘Well?’ Samuel demanded abruptly as the doctor strode into the room and placed his black bag on the table.
The man chose his words carefully. ‘I think your mother may have suffered a seizure,’ he said eventually. ‘It appears to have affected her all down her left side.’ He wished that there was some gentler way to impart his news and watched with sympathy as Samuel’s chin drooped to his chest and he screwed his eyes tight shut.
After a time he raised his head and looking the doctor straight in the eye he asked, ‘Will she survive?’
‘It is possible,’ the doctor said cautiously. ‘I have known people make a full recovery from this condition, but I’m afraid we must take into account your mother’s age. She is going to need constant care and I have a feeling that she isn’t going to be the easiest of patients. I cannot say in truth if she will ever completely recover as yet. That is something that only