Chapter 6: The Same Old Louisa

When Louisa greeted her first young patient of the day, the girl's mother returned the pleasantry with a cheerful "good morning, Lady Ellingham!"

"Oh no, Mrs. Wilson, please don't call me that. It's just plain Mrs. Ellingham in a professional setting."

Then after the counselling session she had some time open in her schedule, so she went to the grocery store to pick up some items. The young woman behind the till, one of her former students, was flustered. "I always still think of you as Miss Glasson," she said. "Then I had to get used to calling you Mrs. Ellingham, and now you're Lady Something-or-Other. Why can't you just stick to one?"

"Don't bother yourself about it," Louisa said to her, and also to Caitlin and some customers who were looking at her curiously "I'm still Mrs. Ellingham, just stick with that. Or Louisa, I'll always be just plain Louisa."

She came back to the house expecting to find Janice preparing Mary's lunchtime bottle, but the back door was open and the kitchen was empty. "Hello? Janice? It's time for Mary's lunch. Where are you?"

Someone Louisa hadn't seen in quite some time came into the kitchen. She was an all too familiar figure, with dyed auburn hair, wearing chunky silver jewellery to go with her bohemian dress, and her face showing the effects of years spent in the Spanish sun. She was holding the baby with her bottle. "Hello Lou Lou, or should I say Lady Lou Lou? You could have let me know what's going on, but fortunately I'm still tuned into the Portwenn grapevine. I sent the nanny home. It's time to bond with my new granddaughter. And don't worry, no herbal remedies for the baby this time!"

"Mum! You should have let me know you were coming to visit, it's so unexpected." Not to mention rude to just pop in, Louisa thought, but she kept that to herself. "Word certainly travels fast. But please enough with calling me lady, I'm just not comfortable with it. I've lived in this village all my life and now people I've known for years are looking at me funny, like they don't know what to say to me."

"Well, it's hard to know what to think, now you've certainly come up so far in the world." Eleanor Glasson's tone implied that maybe her daughter thought she was too good for her old mum.

"I'm still just the same old Louisa, which by the way I'd rather you called me instead of Lou Lou. I'm not a child any more."

"You'll always be my baby girl, but of course you're married now and a mother of two, and I understand you've got your own therapy practice too. You've done well. I'm glad you've shed your father's influence."

Yes, Louisa thought, I have done well, considering my own mother abandoned me to take off for Spain with her Latin lover when I was 11. Dad may be dodgy but at least he was there for me when I was growing up. But again, she held her tongue.

"All right, I have the afternoon free. Why don't we go for a walk. It's a lovely day," she said, once Mary was done with her bottle. "I hope you got a room somewhere, we're just bursting at the seams here now."

They went out the back door and started up the hill, pushing the baby in her buggy. "Well, I could get myself a room down at the Crab and Lobster, but I was rather hoping… maybe… to get a chance to stay at your new house," Eleanor said.

"It's still getting fixed up after years of neglect, and I'd have to see what Martin thinks. It's his family property."

"It's fine," Eleanor declared. "The butler said he could accommodate Lady Ellingham's mother, if that's what she wanted. He even said my vegetarian diet would be no problem."

"What? You mean you've already been up to Tremethyk House?"

"I had the cab driver stop there briefly, it's practically on the way from the airport. It was quite a famous old house round these parts, back in the day. Everyone knows it's haunted."

They reached the bench overlooking the harbour and sat. "That's just nonsense," Louisa said. "And even if there was anything to it I would think that would keep you from wanting to stay there."

"On the contrary my dear, it sounds delightful! You know I've always been drawn to the pixies and fairies and spirits of my ancient Cornish heritage."

"Mum, you've lived in Spain for years."

"Well, I'm also a bit of a sun worshipper. I admit I do crave sun-drenched España. Can't stay in grey old Blighty for long."

"You didn't even travel here from Spain for our wedding, or when Mary was born," Louisa couldn't keep it to herself. "But you came to see a haunted house."

"What, the first time you were supposed to get married or the second time when you actually did tie the knot? I came to see James, didn't I? And I'm here now with little Mary. I do want a chance to spend time with my grandbabies, and maybe with some old Cornish ghosts too. And the grounds are fascinating, I hear there's an ancient standing stone formation there that's been off limits to the public ever since I can remember."

"I've seen it," Louisa said. "It's impressive and, yes, very old."

"It has legendary healing powers. You know, holed stones are rare in Cornwall and can be considered a portal to another world. The places where they're located are sacred sites. Now I have the chance to explore it. Unless, of course," Eleanor adopted that tone again, "you're just too posh to have your old mum around, now that you've come up so far in the world, m'lady."

"Oh all right," Louisa conceded. "I suppose there's no harm in it, as long as Martin doesn't object."

To be continued…