When Sarah went down to the kitchen the next morning she found Irena already at the kitchen table, dressed and with a lot more colour in her cheeks than she’d had the previous evening. In fact, she was almost buzzing with energy.
Irena pointed to the teapot on the table. ‘I made some tea. I remember from when I lived here that you Scots like it in the morning.’
Sarah poured herself a cup and sat down at the table.
‘I gather you lived here. I also know you completed your medical training at the Polish medical school. I hunted down a Dr Wilinski and he told me.’
‘You’ve been looking into me?’ Irena seemed less than pleased.
‘I was curious. My mother seemed so desperate that I find Magdalena – I mean you.’
Irena joined her at the table and gave her a rueful smile. ‘Sorry if I snapped. Comes from living more than half a lifetime under Communist rule. Until recently when someone looked into your past it was never for a good reason.’
‘I understand.’ But did she? Although the Cold War had been going on as long as she could remember, what could she possibly know about life behind the Iron Curtain?
‘It’s still difficult to talk about the past.’ Irena sighed and rubbed her eyes. ‘I made so many mistakes and yet there is so much I can’t regret. Especially loving Richard and having him love me. I know it’s not easy to tell, but behind this wrinkled face still beats the heart of the woman you saw in the photograph.’ Once again there was glimmer of a smile. ‘Sometimes I look in the mirror and wonder who the old lady staring back at me could possibly be. Perhaps it’s for the best Richard and I only knew each other when we were young and beautiful. At least he was beautiful. As for me?’ she shrugged. ‘He persuaded me I was.’
‘You loved him too,’ Sarah stated.
‘Oh, yes. Very much.’
‘Why do you think Richard didn’t leave me a letter with the photographs?’
Irena thought for a while. ‘I suspect he wasn’t sure if your mother knew she was adopted. Knowing him, he wanted to leave you just enough information for you or your mother to find out, if you really wanted to.’
The sun shone through the large sash window, illuminating the thousands of dust motes suspended in the air.
‘Why don’t I make us some breakfast while you carry on with your story?’ Sarah suggested.
Irena inclined her head. ‘A boiled egg would be lovely. Now where did I get to last night?’
‘You’d decided you had to leave. How did you get out?’
‘Henryk and Stanislaw arranged it all for me. They made sure it looked as if Irena Kraszewska had died, bought papers for me and found a guide prepared to take me. It wasn’t an easy journey but I made it to London and Richard’s father’s house. That’s how I met Richard…’ Irena let out a long sigh. ‘But don’t you have work?’
Sarah glanced down at her watch. ‘Cripes. Yes, I’m afraid I’ll have to abandon you to your own devices. Will you be all right?’
Irena’s mouth twisted. ‘I’ve survived this long on my own, my dear, I dare say I’ll manage another day.’
When Sarah returned to Charlotte Square, after a quick detour to her flat to check for mail, she found Irena in the kitchen, up to her elbows in flour and a pot of stew on the stove.
‘Something smells good.’
‘I found a butcher’s on George Street. I’m making dumplings, too,’ Irena said. ‘I bought bananas and apples for after.’
‘Is there anything I can do?’
‘You can pour me some vodka,’ Irena said. ‘I bought a bottle, seeing as there was none in the house.’
It took all Sarah’s self-control not to raise her eyebrows. She rummaged in the kitchen cupboards. ‘I can’t find it, I’m afraid.’
‘It’s in the fridge. It’s best when it’s cold.’
‘You drink it straight?’
Irena smiled impishly. ‘Of course. There is no other way.’
Sarah poured a finger into a tumbler but when Irena raised an eyebrow she reluctantly added another one. ‘What sort of doctor were you in Poland?’ Sarah asked, placing the glass on the table.
‘A paediatrician.’
‘Can you tell me now how you came to know my mother?’
The sparkle in Irena’s eyes dimmed. ‘It’s not a happy story.’
Sarah poured herself a glass of Chardonnay and took a long sip. ‘Somehow I didn’t think it would be.’
Sarah felt sick as Irena told her how she’d met her mother and what had happened later at the hospital. It was shocking, nauseating, almost unbelievable.
‘To lose her mother and brother like that! Do you think she remembers what happened?’
‘Yes. She might not have been aware of what was going on but she would have known it was something terrible.’
Sarah could have howled for the little girl her mother had been. It explained so much: her over-protectiveness, her fears, the constant sadness lurking behind her eyes. And why she hated being in hospital so much. ‘I have to get her out of there.’
‘My dear, are you sure?’
‘I should have taken her home ages ago.’ She jumped to her feet. ‘I’m going to fetch her.’
‘Would you like me to come with you?’
‘I think it’s something I need to do myself.’ She pulled a hand through her hair. ‘My God, if you could do what you did, I can do this.’
‘Where will you take her?’
‘Home. To my flat.’
‘Is it suitable for someone who’s had a stroke? Are there stairs?’
‘Yes. Damn. I’ll take her home, then – to St Abbs. We’ll manage.’
‘Why don’t you bring her here? We could make up a bed for her in the drawing room. I could help you take care of her.’
‘Mum’s not your problem.’
‘My dear, don’t you think I owe something to her too? I should have gone with her – I knew how terrified she’d be without me. And if you do take her home, you’re going to need help.’
‘Let’s go get her, then.’
Sarah’s insides churned with anxiety and excitement as she led Irena towards her mother’s bed. What if the shock was too much for her?
Her mother was sitting up in her chair, hair neatly brushed, staring out of the window. Irena stopped a short distance away and signalled Sarah with her hand to go forward.
‘Mum,’ Sarah said softly, and when she turned round she bent down and kissed her cheek. ‘You’re looking great today.’ She sat down on the bed and took her hand in hers. ‘Mum, I’m taking you home. At least, I will. Firstly, though, we’re going to stay in the house in Charlotte Square.’
Her mother’s eyes lit up.
‘I should have got you out of here ages ago. But I’m going to take care of you now. Oh, Mum I know what happened to your birth family. I’m so very, very sorry.’ She wrapped her arms around her mother’s thin shoulders and held her close. To begin with her mother resisted but then she relaxed into Sarah’s embrace. It was the first time in her adult life that Sarah had held her like this. Her mother’s thin shoulder’s started to shake. ‘Oh, Mum. It’s all right. I’m never going to let anything happen to you again. Not ever.’
She waited until her mother had stopped crying. ‘Mum, there’s more. I’ve brought someone to see you.’
She looked over at Irena and smiled. ‘Mum,’ she breathed, ‘Magdalena is here.’
Irena stepped forward and Sarah jumped up, pulling a chair over for her. Her mother looked up at Irena, then back at Sarah, frowning.
‘Leah,’ Irena said softly, ‘It’s me, Magdalena.’ She added something in Polish.
Sarah watched her mother’s face closely, seeing puzzlement turn to realisation then joy. She stretched out her good hand and Irena clasped it, bringing it up to her own cheek. ‘Oh Leah, it is so good to see you again.’
Tears were streaming down her mother’s face as she gazed at Irena and then at Sarah. It was only then that Sarah realised she was crying too.
She heard the sound of a throat being cleared and looked up to find Sister Haggerty glaring down at her. ‘What’s going on here? I’m afraid you’ll have to leave. It’s not time for evening visiting yet.’
‘Could you give me a few minutes with my mother, please?’
When Sister Haggerty hesitated, Sarah stood. ‘Alone.’
She turned to her mother. ‘You trust me to look after you, don’t you?’
Her mother frowned. ‘Ob?’
‘Bugger work. I’ll go freelance if I have to.’ They were probably going to fire her anyway.
Her mother smiled. It was lopsided but it was a smile.
‘Magdalena will stay with you, while I tell the doctors you’re coming home,’ Sarah said. ‘I’ll be back in a moment.’
She marched along the corridor and up to the nurses’ station. Sister Haggerty was giving the report to the other nurses who were sitting around her in a semicircle, pens at the ready to take notes. She frowned when Sarah rapped on the desk.
‘You really do have to leave,’ Sister Haggerty said.
‘I’d like to see my mother’s doctor. I plan to take her home with me.’
The nurses looked aghast. Sister sighed and said a few words to her staff who scuttled off in different directions.
‘Your mother isn’t ready to go home.’
‘Is she getting better?’
‘There has been some improvement.’
‘Yes, there has. And I’m grateful.’ She noticed the small appeasing note that had crept into her voice and took a breath. Chicken Licken was gone for good. ‘Is there anything you’re doing for her that I couldn’t do at home?’
Sister pursed her lips. Linda had come to stand by her side. ‘No,’ the staff nurse said quietly. ‘And in my opinion your mother will benefit from being at home – as long as someone comes in to put her through her passive movements and give her her speech therapy.’
‘I’ll do her physio myself. I’ve seen them do her exercises with her often enough. And as for her speech therapy, I believe my mother’s speech – if it’s ever going to improve – will do so more quickly if I spend more time with her.’
‘You can’t just take your mother out of hospital,’ Sister said. ‘There are procedures.’
‘So tell me what they are and I’ll do them, but trust me, I’m not leaving here without my mother.’
It took several hours. The doctor had to be called. Forms had to be signed and medication ordered from the pharmacy but at last, Mum was in the front seat of Sarah’s car, her stick held between her legs and her lopsided smile wider than ever. Irena was in the back.
‘Okay, Mum?’ Sarah asked, turning the key in the ignition.
She nodded. ‘Hap-py… ’ank you, Sa-rah.’
Together she and Irena looked after Lily. They made her a bed on the downstairs sitting-room sofa. Then Irena and Lily talked long into the night. At least, Irena did the talking while Sarah’s mother responded with taps of her stick, nods, smiles and tears. Many, many tears.
The next morning they packed their bags and left for Lily’s house in the Borders.