Chapter 39

After they’d all showered and changed, Millie walked Lucy and Gabbie over to Dr Melrose’s house at a little after 6pm. As usual, the door was standing open, and they were greeted by the twin scents of a log fire and Heather’s cooking.

Dr Melrose’s welcome as they stepped into his lounge cum office was as warm as the roaring fire.

Sylvie was curled up in one of the big, well-worn armchairs, Lucy noticed she was reading one of Diane’s books.

“Hey Lucy, you’d mentioned your mum was an author, but I hadn’t realised she was someone famous. My niece loves these books.”

“I love them too,” Gabbie replied, “they kept me sane for a long time. Did you know Stacy is based on Lucy?”

“Really!”

“Yeah, mum only just realised as well. Steve did the illustrations, and he drew a slightly older version of me without realising. I guess I made an impression on my family.”

Sylvie closed her book and looked at the cover, holding it out so she could compare the drawing of Lucy holding a longbow with the real-life Lucy, “ahh yes, I see what you mean. You say your brother drew the cover?”

“Yes, and some of the books have illustrations between the chapters,” Lucy told her.

“And he did a painting of Lucy, it’s amazing,”

“Mmm, have you been in the art block lately?” Millie asked quietly.

“What do you mean?” Lucy replied, panicking slightly.

“Well, they changed the displays on Monday, and there’s a large pastel drawing that looks a lot like you, Lucy.”

“Ahh...”

“It is you, isn’t it.”

“It might be...” Lucy replied sheepishly.

“I wouldn’t have recognised you if you hadn’t shown me that photo of your birth mother. Did Steve draw it from memory?”

“Kind of...”

“Lucy posed for Steve’s life-drawing class,” Gabbie chipped in.

“I was wearing a veil, so only Steve knew it was me.”

“You posed nude? In school?” Sylvie asked just as Dr Melrose returned with a bottle of wine.

“Mmm, is this something I need to hear?” he asked brightly.

“Probably not,” Millie laughed.

“There’s a naked picture of me in the art block,” Lucy told him anyway,

“Ahh, that’s you, I wondered who Steve had drawn, he’s a talented lad. Diane explained who your birth mother was, you definitely have her looks, and her attitude. Do you want me to have it removed?”

Lucy thought for a moment, “I don’t think so, I had my face covered, so nobody knows it’s me.”

“He’s named the picture ‘The Huntress Searches’ which I assume alludes to his illustrations in Diane’s books.”

“Yes!” Gabbie replied, “we were talking to Sylvie about how Steve had subconsciously drawn Lucy in the books.”

“Ok, but if anyone works out it is you, and you want it removed, just let me know.”

“Is it a good picture?”

“It’s wonderful,” Millie replied, “I was looking at it for a while, thinking how good it was before I realised it was you.”

“How did you feel when you realised it was Lucy?” Sylvie asked.

“Mmm, I felt proud that one of my girls was self-assured enough to pose for a portrait. Although I have to say I thought Steve had drawn it from memory, I never imagined you posed nude in school.”

“There’s a long and complicated story behind it...”

“And I’m sure it’s not one you want me to hear,” Dr Melrose interrupted, “so maybe save it for when you’re back in the house.”

“Ahh, yes. Maybe later.”

“Heather says dinner will be ready in half an hour, so how about a glass of wine while we wait. I’ve just had a case of burgundy delivered and I’m rather excited to try it.”

They all agreed a glass of wine would be nice.

“Ahh, as delightful as the company,” Dr Melrose announced as he tasted the wine, “I’ll get another case ordered before it sells out. So, down to business, I assume Sylvie has explained why she’s here today.”

“You’ve offered her a job,” Gabbie answered.

“In a way, yes. It’s not, strictly speaking, a job, more an extended placement. I’ve been chatting with Millie over the last few weeks, getting regular updates on your well-being, Gabbie. She’s told me nothing of what you have discussed with Sylvie, or with Millie during your private chats. I don’t know about your treatment, and I’ve no desire to know anything. I emphasise this point because even though Sylvie will be working here, her working practices will remain the same, everything you, or any of the other students, confide in her will stay private, and known only to Sylvie and her patients.”

“Thank you, I’m reassured by that,” Gabbie replied.

“I was impressed by what I heard about Sylvie, and I have to say, you seem to be benefiting greatly from your treatment, so I contacted her a couple of weeks ago, to see if she would like to come to school to talk to some of our students.”

“I thanked Eric for his kind request, though I told him that I didn’t think I had time to spare in my schedule.”

“Which is understandable, as you are so well regarded. So I spoke to our nurses over at the health centre, they gave me a few names of people I could approach to help our students. Every person I contacted advised me I’d be better speaking to Sylvie, as she has the best understanding of teen mental health issues in the area.

“So when I contacted Sylvie again on Saturday after I’d heard about the fire at your house, I asked her again if she could offer us a few hours of help a week, she agreed, with a couple of conditions.”

“I’ll come for two days, but you’re my key patient, Gabbie, so our time is sacred, and nothing can interfere, and I won’t move from our 2pm Wednesday slot, because having that fixed time each week is something for you to focus on. My second condition is that I’m going to ask everyone I see if they will allow me to use our sessions in my thesis. Obviously, everything will be anonymous, and I would need their parents’ permission...”

“What if the girl, or boy, you speak to doesn’t want their parents to know they’re talking to you?” Gabbie asked.

“Then I won’t use them in my thesis, same for you Gabbie, I need Diane’s permission to use what we’ve spoken about.”

“I’ll speak to her later, I’m sure she’ll agree.”

“I’ll completely understand if she doesn’t, a parent’s job is to protect their child, even one that’s only just arrived in the family. And my final condition, is that I get to stay in your boarding house on my overnights.”

“Oh really, I thought visitors stayed at the gatehouse.”

“Well, normally yes, we have three guest bedrooms there,” Dr Melrose replied, “or there’s the guest room in this house, where Diane stays when she’s here. You tell them the rest, Millie.”

“This is the best news, at least from your point of view.”

“Oh really,” Gabbie replied, looking expectantly at Millie.

“Mrs Heald is retiring, she leaves us at Christmas.”

“So, the room next to us will be empty?” Gabbie asked.

“We can, err, not worry about our music quite so much?” Lucy added.

“Not entirely no, that room will be a guest room for the Spring and Summer terms, and will be used by Sylvie on Wednesday nights, maybe other nights as well.”

“Ahh, we don’t play our music loud anyway, and we’ve got AirPods...” Lucy rushed to put Sylvie’s mind at ease.

“You’re forgetting who you’ve poured your hearts out to these last few weeks,” Sylvie laughed, “I’m a very sound sleeper, so don’t worry about your, err, music. Anyway, I’ll be next door because Millie mentioned a lot of your – shall we say incidents? – happen in the evening, so if I’m around at least one evening a week, I can perhaps see one first hand.”

Millie turned to Dr Melrose, “it’s not like I want to tell you what you to do in your own house...”

“But it’s best if I go and see how Heather’s getting on,” he replied with a broad smile, “speak openly for a few minutes, I shall whistle as I return.”

“That’s why we love him, he’s so understanding,” Millie whispered as Dr Melrose departed, “so, yeah, we thought that if we had another night of music and chat, this time with Sylvie around...”

“I’ll try to get less drunk next time, and keep my pants on,” Gabbie whispered, in case anyone was listening at the door.

“The lack of pants was accidental,” Millie assured Sylvie, “Gabbie was tipsy and fell as she tried to run while changing into her pyjamas.”

“That’s understandable, so yeah, if we have an evening of wine, music and laughter, maybe you will be relaxed enough to slide into a trance state again, and I can see what happens.”

“I was relaxed because I had my head in Lucy’s lap...” Gabbie told Sylvie quietly.

“I can see how that would help you relax.”

“Is there a Mr Peters, or a Mrs Peters who you’ll be leaving behind when you come up here.”

“Haha, now Gabbie, you know we don’t talk about me during our sessions.”

“But this isn’t a session, this is a social interaction.”

“True,” Sylvie replied, nodding as she acknowledged Gabbie had a point, “there’s no Mr, Ms or Mrs Peters, I’m way too busy to sustain a relationship right now, but I appreciate your concern.”

“I can’t imagine what it would be like to be away from Lucy one night a week, I’d be heartbroken.”

“One day you’ll be strong enough to spend time away from Lucy,” Sylvie told her.

“I don’t want to be away from Lucy.”

“When you’re adults, it will be necessary.”

“I guess,” Gabbie replied sadly.

“We’re separated in Maths,” Lucy told her brightly, “and we can still connect when we want to.”

Gabbie cheered up with this reminder.

“Are you still helping Gabbie with her maths work?” Millie cautioned.

“Oh no, after your warning I don’t help, I try not to even look at her work. It’s just I can feel when she’s stressed, so I give her a little kiss.”

“It’s nice when she does it, just a little kiss on my ear, it makes me feel calm.”

“How far apart are you during these lessons?” Sylvie asked.

“I’m in room 53, Gabbie’s in 55.”

“What’s the distance between you, roughly?”

Lucy and Gabbie conferred quietly before Lucy answered, “about 12 metres, our classes are on opposite sides of the Maths building, with the foyer between the rooms.”

“That’s quite impressive. You said you don’t even need to hold hands now when you share a trance, have you seen how far apart you can be and still communicate?”

“No, we haven’t,” Lucy mused, “maths is the only time we’re apart like that.”

“Why don’t you try it some time.”

“What about Sports,” Millie offered, “Gabbie does athletics and netball, and you watch from the stands. You could try to contact her then, obviously not while she’s competing, but you could do it while she’s resting, or waiting to start.”

“Now, that’s a great idea,” Sylvie enthused, “especially if Gabbie’s at the other side of the field. When you’ve tried that, and it’s worked, why don’t you take it one step further, one of you could go to the shop, then ask the other what they’d like, look through the other person’s eyes.”

“Oh wow, that would be so much fun, I could try to read a magazine through Lucy’s eyes. I like that idea. I think the shop is about half a mile away from our boarding house, will we be able to connect over that distance?”

“You could try it two ways, you could link up as Lucy leaves, then stay linked as long as you can, or you could wait until Lucy gets to the shop, then try to link.”

“We’ve never stayed linked for more than a few minutes, it’s about a 10-minute walk to the shop, we might not manage to stay connected for so long.”

“I think it’s a great idea Gabbie, we’ll try it tomorrow lunchtime, we’ll do the connected while we walk thing, and do that while I walk the longer way through the school grounds, it’s safer that way, I don’t want to get distracted chatting to you in my head then get killed by a passing car.”

“Oh no, that would be bad, very bad,” Gabbie replied, “I think your mind is stronger than mine, so we’d better try the second way with me at the shop, then you contact me by mind.”

“And if it works, girls,” Sylvie told them, “you’ll never be apart, even when you’re separated, you can talk to each other.”

“Yes! Instead of FaceTime, we can have MindTime!” Gabbie replied.

“And we’re trademarking that name before Zuckerberg gets his greasy mitts on it,” Lucy laughed.

There was no talk of school, or therapy, over dinner.

Dr Melrose poured a fresh bottle of his new burgundy while Heather served up a delicious steak and kidney pie with buttery mashed potatoes and steamed veg.

After saying Grace, Heather opened the conversation by asking Gabbie about their wedding plans.

Gabbie looked up, a forkful of pie hovering before her lips, she looked from side to side, “we’ve no plans,” she replied warily, “should we be planning stuff? I kind of thought we just turned up, said I Do and ran away hand in hand.”