A Lesser Evil - Lesley Pearse [75]
It was very touching to see so many people cared about her and Dan, yet all the fussing, questions and attention just made Fifi feel worse. She thought she would give anything to be tucked away in a room by herself, where the only visitor was Dan.
The ward door opened and visitors came surging through, smiling and waving as they spotted their mother, wife, sister or friend.
All at once Fifi saw her mother and father among them. She could hardly believe her eyes, for they were the last people she’d expected to visit.
Her father normally wore an old tweed jacket with his pipe tucked into the breast pocket, corduroy trousers and brown leather brogues, and he looked right in them. But today he was wearing what he considered to be his best suit, a dark grey pinstripe. Fifi and Patty had always sniggered about it behind his back for it was a wartime style with wide lapels and very baggy trousers.
That he’d chosen to wear it to visit her was an indication of his state of mind, for he only ever dressed up when he was anxious about something.
Her mother was dressed up too, in a pale blue costume with high heels, gloves and a boater-style straw hat. But this was quite normal for her when she went out for the day.
Fifi didn’t know how she felt about them coming. She’d told Dan not to ring them, but clearly he’d done so anyway.
‘You poor darling,’ Clara exclaimed, swooping over to the bed in a flamboyant display of maternal affection. ‘What a terrible ordeal you’ve been through. We are so sorry.’
‘Why are you?’ Fifi asked sharply. She thought her mother had to be the most insincere woman on the planet. ‘You should be glad there is no baby any more.’
‘Don’t be like that,’ her father said testily. ‘Your mother’s been distraught ever since Dan phoned.’
‘I’m surprised she could even bring herself to speak to him,’ Fifi said sullenly.
‘It was me who spoke to him,’ her father said reprovingly. ‘And I’m sure Dan will assure you that I was very upset to hear about your fall and the subsequent miscarriage. If we’d got the call earlier yesterday we would have come right away.’
‘If only you hadn’t run off in a huff on Friday,’ Clara butted in, ‘this might not have happened.’
‘What you should be saying is, “If only I hadn’t been so nasty to you”,’ Fifi corrected her. ‘I’m a married woman now. If you can’t accept Dan and try to like him, then I don’t want anything to do with you.’
‘I understand how you feel,’ her father said quickly, glancing at his wife as if warning her not to retaliate. ‘But you must try and understand what you put us through by getting married in secret. We couldn’t help but think badly of Dan, it was all so furtive. However, when I spoke to him on the telephone yesterday I was pleasantly surprised by how sensitive he is, and it was obvious to me that he loves you. So I’m very sorry I misjudged him and in future I shall try to get to know him better.’
Fifi was very glad to hear that, but she could see by her mother’s tight expression that this wasn’t a joint change of heart. ‘Well, perhaps you could start by going to see him while you are here?’ she said.
‘Of course we will,’ her father said. ‘I was going to suggest to him that you both come home to recuperate when you leave the hospital. You are going to find it quite hard going without the use of your right hand, and Patty and the boys will be delighted to see you and help you.’
Fifi was very taken aback by this U-turn, and moved that her father was doing his best to make everything right between them. She almost wanted to agree to his suggestion, if only to show him she