Chapter Five

Victor went out into the front garden to hoe the weeds from round his flowers. He was feeling sad because there was a particularly fine show of blooms this year, but his best friend wouldn’t be here to see them. She wouldn’t be able to share her birthday bottle of champagne with him tonight, as she usually did, either. From what he’d been told, she’d never be able to come here again.

Life could be so cruel!

He straightened up, clutching his aching back, surprised to see a taxi stop in front of his house. When he saw Elise get out of the car and wave to him with one hand while leaning on her walking stick with the other, he stared in shock. She looked normal, her old self. As she waved and moved towards him, joy filled him and he tossed his hoe aside.

He flung open the gate and hugged her. ‘Elise? I can’t believe it. I thought you still couldn’t walk and here you are limping brilliantly. I thought—well, never mind what I thought. Happy birthday, my dear.’

She hugged him back and clung to him for a minute as if needing the reassurance. ‘Thank you, Victor. It’s been an interesting birthday so far.’

He studied her carefully. ‘You don’t look or sound any different from usual.’

‘Why on earth should I?’

‘I heard about your fall and was going to come and visit you in hospital, but when I rang your niece, she said you weren’t fit to receive visitors. She told me the hip operation had affected your mind and you wouldn’t recognise me. It does that sometimes with old people, I know. Well, we both saw it with poor Liz Burford. I was so sad about it happening to you as well and I didn’t even try to go, because I couldn’t face seeing you like that.’

Elise couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘Mary told you that? Oh, how wicked of her! Well, you can stop being sad, Victor. The heavy painkillers slowed me down for a few days, and affected me so badly that when I insisted on reducing them, the doctor let me. I’m not taking any of them at all now, just over-the-counter painkillers, and I’m feeling like my old self. I loathed feeling so dopey.’

She stole a quick sideways glance at Victor, shocked at how much older he was looking. ‘I wondered why you’d abandoned me.’

‘I’d never abandon you, my dear, not as long as you can recognise me, anyway.’

As he stood back to let her go through the gate she hesitated for a moment. ‘I’d better confess: I’ve run away from Mary and I’m hoping you’ll give me shelter till I can sort things out.’

He looked at her grimly and she could see his quick understanding of the situation. ‘Is that why your niece tried to keep me away?’

‘Yes. She’s wants to put me in a care home.’

‘You? You’d go mad. Or murder one of the other inmates. Or both. I’ll not only give you shelter, my dear, but help fight off any nieces who come after you. We and our spouses were friends for a good many years, and that hasn’t changed now there are only us two left from the quartet.’ He hugged her again.