Leaving Ivy-May
The argument had unfolded at the end of a stressful road trip. For eight long hours driving back from Brisbane, Ava had sat next to a seething and mostly silent Marjorie Tate. She had been following Marjorie into the house, offering to make them both coffee and something to eat so they might talk, when the woman turned around and stood in the back doorway of Ivy-May.
‘You should leave, Ava. Clear your things out of the cottage and go.’
‘Marjorie, we can talk about this.’
‘There’ll be no talking. I don’t want you involved with my son. Go.’
‘You can force me to leave Ivy-May, but I won’t leave John. I’m going to wait for him to come home from the hospital.’
‘Home, Ava?’ Marjorie spat the words. ‘This is not your home and, need I remind you, you’re the adult in this relationship. Use that maturity to see that what is best for my son’s fragile state is remaining solely in our care. He’ll never be the John you knew.’
‘You don’t know that. The doctors admit to not fully understanding.’
‘I’m his mother, Ava, and a mother understands. You’ll know that yourself one day. The damage to his brain has affected his memory. John thinks he should be in school.’
‘All the more reason I should stay. If anyone can jog his memory of recent times, I can. He’s in love with me.’
‘Did you not hear what I said, Ava? You’re a twenty-eight-year-old woman. John’s no longer a twenty-one-year-old man. In his mind he’s barely a sixteen-year-old schoolboy expecting to sit his exams next week. Having anything to do with you is not appropriate.’
‘No, that’s not how he is at all. You can’t think of our ages that way. What I have with John is—’
‘Is never, never going to work. Never!’ Marjorie tried shutting the door, only to have it bounce off Ava’s boot and hit her cheek, forcing a pained yelp. ‘For heaven’s sake!’ The woman backed away and Ava seized the opportunity, barging past.
Although she was desperate to stand defiant, Ava had to sit before her legs gave way. She feared her vulnerability was showing. Women like Marjorie – like Lenore – thrived on weakness.
‘Not too long ago you sat at this table and offered me a job. I’ve done my job, Marjorie. You can’t just sack me.’
‘Stop thinking about yourself for once, Ava, you selfish woman.’
‘Me, selfish?’
‘As if this terrible business with John isn’t hard enough for his father and me.’ Marjorie fell into the chair opposite. ‘Don’t make things worse, dear. Leaving is best, certainly in the short term. John doesn’t need the confusion – his brain is struggling and addled enough.’
‘What about my job? You still need a cook and someone who knows how things work.’ Ava had stooped to bargaining with Marjorie Tate. ‘I can help run Ivy-May while you care for John. I can do more. You don’t even have to pay me.’
As quick as a crocodile, Marjorie snapped back: ‘As if I’d be the type of person to take advantage of an employee. No, Ava, we’ll be finding another cook, one who knows the boundaries of their employment. In the meantime, Katie will step up. I’m keen for her to take on more roles here at Ivy-May, especially since she’s invested so much time and energy in the place.’
‘We all know the role you have in mind for Katie.’
‘I’ll remind you that the Ivy-May B-and-B is growing because Katie and John had a shared vision well before you arrived on the scene and seduced my son,’ Marjorie said. ‘They still have that in common and John owes it to Katie to follow through. They’re the perfect partnership, while you have your own dreams to pursue.’
Ava stared at her. What could the woman possibly know about Ava’s dreams?
‘You told me that first day how your father had wanted you to travel far. I’m prepared to help you do that.’
Tears welled in Ava’s eyes as they blinked in silent disbelief.
‘You’ll have a good pay-out and a bonus,’ Marjorie said. ‘Enough to fly to Europe and experience the things he wanted you to do.’
Ava shook her head. Without John she had nowhere to go, nowhere she wanted to be, and no dreams, but the stone-cold look on Marjorie’s face told her she had little choice. ‘I won’t be paid to go away.’
‘Please yourself, Ava. You can wait while I write the cheque, or go now and tell me where to send it.’ Marjorie poked around her handbag on the table. ‘Ivy-May is our business and John’s inheritance. He’ll need focus if he and Katie are to take over from Colin and me one day, and he has some recovering to do before that. You’ve been nothing but a distraction since the day you arrived.’ Now she was searching the pockets of her trousers, and finally the breast pocket on her blouse. ‘The sooner we get him back and settled into a familiar routine with family, the better.’
‘I want to be John’s family. It’s what he wanted.’
‘Here, stop crying.’ She liberated a tissue from a pocket and waved it in front of Ava’s face. ‘Tears won’t help anyone – especially John. And what he doesn’t know can’t hurt.’
‘Meaning what, Marjorie?’
‘John doesn’t remember you, Ava. He remembers Katie because she’s meant more to him for longer. They went to school together, they’ve grown up together, planned together.’ Now Marjorie was up and moving about the room, busying herself, like she always did when she was done talking. ‘He’s known you less than a year.’
‘Time is irrelevant. Your son loves me and I love him. The nurse told me short-term memory often comes back.’
‘And which nurse has been giving so freely of a patient’s status?’
‘One who understands how wrong it is to keep me from him.’
Marjorie returned to the table, a cheque book in her hand. ‘If you love my son you’ll want to help him get better. Katie is our best chance of jogging his memory and bringing him back.’
‘You don’t know that.’ Ava heard the pleading in her voice, not that Marjorie seemed to notice. The woman’s expression was as flat and cold as a frozen lake.
‘If, as you say, John loved you, he will no doubt remember you in time. The doctors said much the same. Time, Ava, and gentle coaxing are the two most important things if we’re to get him back.’ She softened. ‘Let me know where you end up. By all means write to me and I promise that the day he remembers and asks about you I’ll pass on your letters. That’s when I’ll know he’s in a state to make up his own mind.’
Ava was confused. Marjorie sounded so convincing. Had the doctors really said those things? How would she know? Immediate family only, the sign had read. One nurse smuggled a note Ava had written into John’s bag, but without his parents’ permission, staff had no choice but to deny Ava direct contact.
‘I promise to let you know,’ Marjorie was saying.
‘I don’t…’ the word trust stayed wedged in her throat ‘… know where to go, or what to do.’
‘Go somewhere new, dear. There’s a whole world out there. Travel, live your life, find new dreams to pursue. Leave John’s care to me. I’m sorry, but you need to pack your bags and leave Ivy-May.’
As Marjorie handed the cheque across the table, something sparked inside Ava, an explosive blend of anger, resentment and desperation. She gathered herself and stood, shoving the chair so hard it crashed backwards and bounced when it hit the floor.
‘I’ll give you until the end of the week,’ Marjorie added.
‘It won’t take me that long to pack. I’ll clear out the cottage, Marjorie, and I’ll go – for now. But I’ll be back.’
‘Ava?’ the woman called after her. ‘You’re forgetting something.’
Ava turned, tears streaming down her cheeks.
‘The ring, Ava,’ Marjorie said and pocketed the folded cheque.
‘What ring?’
‘The family heirloom I gave John was intended for Katie. I want the ring back.’
‘I told you at the hospital when you asked the same thing. John never gave me a ring. Why won’t you believe me?’
‘Please, don’t take me for a fool. That ring is priceless and it’s to be returned to the family.’
‘Marjorie, I don’t have it.’
‘You’re lying.’
‘Why would I lie? If John had given me your precious ring – any ring – don’t you think I’d be shoving it in your face now as proof of his love and his desire to be with me for the rest of his life?’
‘When I discovered John was gone I checked his bedroom. The box and the ring were missing. At the hospital I checked his belongings, the ones you packed up in the hotel.’
‘If there was a ring, and I never saw one, maybe a hotel employee stole it, or a nurse, because I do not have it. Try looking again in John’s bags. And while you’re at it, take a look at yourself in the mirror. You haven’t only broken my heart. You’ve broken your son’s.’