CHAPTER 26
Natalie entered the living room and sat on the sofa next to Donald. He smiled at her in a friendly fashion.
’It’s very good of you to spend so much time with Gabby,’ he remarked.
’The pleasure is all mine,’ she answered. ’She’s really amazing but of course you know that already.’
’So what was the topic of conversation today?’
’Oh, this and that, the meaning of life. She told me a bit about her mother, as much as she can remember and about Tom. He featured quite prominently in the conversation. She told me how they had met. Now that was quite a story. It was lucky he came along.’
’Oh that. Yes,’ said Donald. ’Actually, there’s a connection there, albeit a rather tenuous one, with my wife. Did I tell you she was a teacher? Well, she held down a job in one of our local schools, a rather tough one, full of anti social types. She would have recognised at least one of Gabby’s attackers. I caught a glimpse of him myself as he was disappearing at high speed along the street, impelled by Tom’s righteous anger. My wife would have known him, a younger brother, or something like that to one of her pupils, the bane of the school. We’ve been bothered by various members of the family at different times, though luckily they don’t come to the village very often. Gabby’s a fairly natural target for the feeble minded. I suppose it must happen to others in a similar position too.’
’You mean they pick on her just because she’s in a wheelchair?’ asked Natalie. ’But that’s awful.’
’Everyone gets their kicks in some way,’ said Donald. ’In fairness, when you look at the parents, it’s not too surprising that the offspring turned out the way they did. Nowadays, we don’t see too much of any of them, but when we do, you can be sure that Gabby is on the receiving end of whatever passes for wit amongst them. I must admit, though, they’ve been remarkably subdued since Tom appeared on the scene.’
’Do you know what I like most about this family?’ mused Natalie. ’It’s the sense of fun, the ability to look on the lighter side of life. You’ve all been very good to me. I never realised it before but I was getting in a rut. To be honest, I was deep down in one, getting to be old before my time. That’s the result of being on my own so much I suppose.’
’It probably is,’ Donald agreed. ’Still, you don’t have to be on your own now. Not any more. As long as you can put up with us, we are always here. You are welcome to come back as often as you like.’
’Am I, really?’
’Of course. Gabby’s always chirpy but never so much as she has been this week when she’s had you to keep company. No doubt she’s already ordered you to pay another visit.’
Natalie gave a brief laugh. ’Yes, she has.’
’I thought so. Well, mind you do.’
’I’d like that,’ she said softly. ’Thank you Donald. Gabrielle said something about Christmas, but I’m not sure.’
’Christmas? I think that’s a very good idea if you can’t get back sooner.’
’I’d love to, but unfortunately I have to work. Are you sure? About Christmas, I mean?’
’I’m sure. We’ll be on our own otherwise, except for Tom and he’s counted as a family pet anyway.’
’In that case, I’ll come.’
There came a long, companionable pause, broken when Natalie indicated a photograph standing on top of a low bookshelf.
’Your wife, I know,’ she said. ’How did you meet her, Donald? May I ask?’
’If the truth be known, she came looking for me,’ Donald said. ’That’s not as egoistic as it may sound. At the time, I was a struggling young author. Writing is something I’ve always enjoyed doing, even as a youngster. I’ve kept all my stories. Some of them make interesting reading, although few are worth publishing naturally. I can even tell you the text of my first effort: ¨John went down the garden in his red boots and saw a rabbit.¨ Of course, you have to imagine the misspellings and inverted letters, but it’s not a bad effort for a five year old. Funny, it seemed so much easier to write then than it does now, but of course, I didn’t have to think about publishing deadlines.’
Natalie laughed delightedly. ’Go on. I don’t suppose your wife came after you on account of that deathless prose. What happened?’
’I stopped struggling. To be accurate, I had just had my first novel published. It wasn’t exactly a runaway success, not at first anyway, but it did well enough over the years and has been the means of paying the bills. As a result, I was interviewed by the evening newspaper. You might guess the sort of thing - Local Boy Makes Good - together with a none too flattering photograph. Anyway, the picture didn’t put my wife off. She came to ask me if I would give a talk to her English classes in school, though she afterwards confessed that she had first come to the shop where I was signing copies of my book to see if I was a respectable character.’
’Obviously you were.’
’She seemed to think so. At any rate, we started talking over coffee in the staffroom during the lunch break and found we had quite a lot in common. One thing led to another and before I really understood what was going on, we were engaged to be married. I think I did the actual proposing but even now I’m not too certain about it. Marie, my wife, was a strong character and had a habit of getting what she wanted. Gabby takes after her, as you can guess. I never understood just what it was she saw in me. As the photograph shows, she was a real beauty and could have had the pick of any man. I mean, she didn’t have to satisfy with an almost penniless author. Funnily enough, her family approved. I never knew why.’
Natalie smiled. ’You’re too modest, Donald. It’s obvious to anyone who meets you. It’s obvious to me at any rate.’
’Why, thank you. Well, it wasn’t long before we got married. That was at Marie’s insistence. She always said she’d worked hard enough to find a man and she didn’t want me to get away. I had little money at the time but a certain amount of potential. She came from a reasonably wealthy family and had money of her own, as well as a stable working income. Whatever is said about two living as cheaply as one, it simply isn’t true and while I had enough for my own needs, I couldn’t really support a wife, but it didn’t bother me to be kept and more importantly, it didn’t bother her to keep me. I’ve done better than that since, of course, to the extent that she was able to give up full time work when Gabrielle was born. Truth to tell, she never really needed to work, at least not for financial reasons. As things turned out, that was just as well, because she fell ill shortly afterwards and died when Gabby was five. Marie’s parents were very helpful after that and I’ll always be grateful to them. When they died, they left Gabby a substantial amount of money. She was the only grandchild, you see and they obviously thought she had suffered enough.’
’Money hardly makes up for what Gabrielle has been through,’ said Natalie thoughtfully.
’It doesn’t. Nor was it intended that way. It was a symbol of love on their part. Just the same, I can’t deny the help it has been. As Gabby got older and weaker, her needs became ever more expensive. Many families can’t afford to fulfill those needs. Luckily we can.’