by Mary Wood
‘No, I couldn’t have been apart from you any longer. I’m sure something will happen; we’ll get through this together. We can always sell the house and live in rented accommodation.’
‘That’s a last resort. I’ll go to the pawn shop today. We need to pay the grocer and coal merchant as soon as possible. We have to eat and be warm over Christmas.’
A heavy feeling settled in Flora. How had it come to this? Her mind went to her parents, and how they and her brothers would have everything they needed over Christmas, while their daughter and grandchildren had practically nothing. But then she and Cyrus and their children had everything, as they had love. With this thought, she cheered up and helped Cyrus dig out what they owned that the pawn shop would be interested in.
When Olivia arrived, it was with more bags than Flora expected her to have. She looked a lot thinner than she had on her visit in September, and her face had a pensive expression.
‘Mother, dear, are you unwell? Why didn’t you let us know? You could have come sooner.’
‘No. I – I have to talk to you, Cyrus. How I am going to say what I have to say, I do not know. You will hate me, and yet what I did, I couldn’t help. And now I have been abandoned.’
Flora sensed that whatever it was that troubled Olivia was going to have a devastating effect on her and Cyrus, but while she didn’t want to hear what Olivia had to say, she felt compelled to facilitate her saying it. ‘I’ll take the children upstairs for a while, and you can talk to Cyrus, Olivia.’
‘Oh, just let me hug them first. Oh? Is Alice not well? What is it, darling? Tell Grandmother.’ Alice had stirred and smiled a weak smile at Olivia as she lifted the child. ‘There, there, have you a cold, my darling?’
Flora’s trepidation at what her mother-in-law had to say to Cyrus left her, as her attention was taken by Alice. Coming out of a hug with her grandmother, the child began another fit of coughing.
‘Dear, dear, Alice, my poor darling. How long has she had that cough? It sounds like the croup! Has she seen a doctor?’
‘No, Mother, but she does need to. Flora has tried everything, but Alice’s cough refuses to respond to all the usual treatments: inhaling friar’s balsam, beef teas, and hot-water pans applied to her chest. We had planned a talk to you, too. My allowance has run out, and we were hoping you can help us out a little, just to get a doctor for Alice.’
‘Oh, my darling son, I can’t.’ Tears filled Olivia’s eyes. ‘I – I need to sit down, I have to tell you . . . I—’
Helping Olivia to a chair, Cyrus asked Flora not to leave the room. ‘I think we should both hear what Mother has to say, darling.’
Flora couldn’t speak. She could sense Cyrus’s fear and it compounded her own. ‘Alice, darling, Mummy and Daddy need to talk to Grandmother in the front room. Do you think you can snuggle on the sofa in here for a short while?’ The coughing bout had passed, but as Flora looked at the too-pale face of her daughter, her heart felt torn with anguish. ‘I can’t leave her, Cyrus. Whatever you have to say, Olivia, will have to wait. I need to be with Alice.’
Olivia nodded. A silence fell. It was fraught with tension. Cyrus sat next to his mother, holding her hand for a moment, but as soon as Olivia calmed, he came to lean over Alice and stroked her hair. ‘She’s very hot, Flora darling. I’m worried for her.’
‘I know. Will you get me a bowl of cold water and a flannel, so that I can sponge her? That might bring her temperature down.’
As Cyrus went through to the kitchen, Olivia stood up. ‘I’ll keep an eye on Freddy, maybe take him for a walk, if that’s all right.’
‘Yes, if you’re feeling better, of course it will be a help.’
‘He’s beautiful. Is he always asleep?’ There was a lighter tone to Olivia’s voice, which gave Flora a little hope. Maybe it’s something and nothing that’s troubling her.
‘He is a sleepyhead, which is just as well, as I’m constantly tired. Oh, and I have some news for you.’ Flora smiled, though she least felt like it, but her news was happy news. ‘You may hear me vomiting in the mornings.’
‘What! No! So soon? It can’t be – it mustn’t be!’
‘Mother!’ Cyrus had come back into the room just as Olivia said this. ‘That isn’t the sort of reaction we expected from you. Flora and I are very happy that another child is on the way. What is the matter with you?’
Instinctively Flora picked up the blanket that had been wrapped around Alice and enclosed her child in it once more. Holding Alice close to her, she kept part of the blanket over the child’s ears.
Olivia pulled a chair from under the table and sat down heavily on it. She leaned her arm on the table. ‘I have terrible news for you.’
Flora tightened her grip on Alice. There was no resistance from the child. She seemed weaker than ever, and not interested in anything going on in the room.
Cyrus came and sat next to Flora, his arm around her.
‘I – I’m sorry. So sorry; please don’t hate me. I love you both and need you.’
‘Mother, please!’
‘I have no easy way to tell you. You share the same father. You are half-brother and sister.’
Flora felt a scream rising within her as her world crashed around her, but all that came from her was a hoarse whisper . . . ‘No. no. Please God, no!’
Beside her, she felt Cyrus’s body tremble. ‘Oh God, no! Mother, what are you saying?’
‘I had an affair with George Roford. I was never married. I have been in love with George – and he with me – for thirty-five years. The picture I gave you of your father, Cyrus, was a cousin of mine, and he did die in the Boer War, and it was his parents in the picture with him. I only had my sister left in the world, and she agreed to keep to my story. Our parents had been only children and they died when we were in our twenties; they didn’t leave us a penny, only debts. My affair came to an end when your father was taken ill, Flora. It broke my heart. It was like a bereavement. But, poor darling, his health meant that he could no longer get away from home to spend time with me.
‘He loves your mother, Flora, and always has. He is a man capable of loving two women. When you told me about your Aunt Pru and Freddy, it devastated me. But then I worked out that his affair with Pru happened during the time George and I were estranged. Your mother had found out about me. Her own sons were five and three at the time, and George broke off our relationship. I didn’t see him for years, but he continued to take care of us, paying an allowance into a bank account that I set up for you, Cyrus; and for me too, into my own account.
‘I contacted George through his solicitor when I realized who you were, Flora. All I got back was a letter saying that George was disgusted with me, for not telling you who your father was, Cyrus. He said that if I had done, this incestuous marriage couldn’t have taken place. He said that he was going to cut all ties with me, and stop both allowances. I – I have nothing. No income, and I will soon have no home, as I am unable to keep up with the rent payments on my apartment. I have been given two months to pay up or leave. I – I need help, and you are all I have to turn to, and yet how can you ever forgive me?’
Flora felt as if she would faint. She couldn’t breathe, such was her shock. She stared at Olivia, and then at her beloved Cyrus. This can’t be happening. It can’t . . . Oh God! Oh God, help me! Her body filled with silent screams that she dared not give vent to, for fear of frightening Alice and waking Freddy. Cyrus’s arm tightened around her, the trembling of his body now a violent shaking. Olivia had her head on her arm, leaning over the table. Sobs racked her, as if she were a rag doll being shaken by an invisible hand.
A spasm of coughing from Alice broke the terrible spell that had held them all.
Looking down at her, Flora saw a trickle of blood run down her chin. ‘Cyrus, oh, Cyrus, help me. We have to get Alice to hospital.’
‘What?’ Cyrus was in the grip of shock concerning what he’d heard. He looked at Flora as if she’d gone mad.
‘Darling, our daughter needs us.’
Alice coughed again. Blood sprayed from her. Cyrus jumped up and helped Flora to rise. Not knowing how she stood on legs that trembled beneath her, Flora made herself walk towards the door. ‘Olivia, you have to look after Freddy. Alice is desperately ill. We have to take her to the hospital. We’ll deal with everything else later.’ Flora didn’t want there to be a later. For now, her worry for her daughter consumed her. She could think of nothing else. ‘Run to the end of the street, Cyrus, and get a cab. Go, darling. I know you’re in shock, but we have to save Alice.’
Chapter Twenty-Nine
When the cab came, Flora implored the driver, ‘Get us to Lambeth Road Infirmary, as quick as you can.’
In her haste she hadn’t covered the blood, which was now staining Alice’s blanket. ‘What’s wrong with the child, Missus? I don’t want to catch anything.’
‘Please, please don’t refuse us – my child’s life is at stake.’
‘Well, all right, but I’ll ’ave to keep the windows of the cab open.’
In the few minutes it took to get to the hospital, Flora was frozen to the bone, but she took no heed of this and jumped from the cab, leaving Cyrus to pay the driver. When Cyrus caught up with her, she was at the reception desk, imploring the nurse on duty to get a doctor for Alice.
‘There isn’t a doctor here, love. This is a hospital run by the board of the Poor Law. A doctor only visits once a week. We have an isolation ward free; your daughter will be admitted there, and we will take care of her as best we can, but we’re short-staffed and have very little equipment or medication. Your best bet is to take her to the London General, which used to be St Gabriel’s College, on Cormont Road. It’s a military hospital, but they have a sanatorium. They’ll charge you, unless you’re military, sir?’
‘No. I was, but I was discharged.’
‘Well then, try the Royal London on Whitechapel Road. They make a charge, but not as much, and they have everything your daughter will need. Can you afford to pay?’
‘We’ll get the money. Thank you.’
Outside there were a number of cabs. ‘I don’t know if I have enough money to pay for a journey of five miles or so, Flora. Oh God, what are we to do?’
‘We’ll take the cab to my parents’ house first. I’ll beg my father for some money to pay the driver, and for the hospital. Surely he won’t refuse, for his only granddaughter?’
Saying this brought back to Flora the devastating news that Olivia had given them, but she didn’t devote her attention, or any of her emotions, to this. She had to block it all out. Alice’s life was at stake.
With a dread that caused her heart to ache, she admitted to herself that Alice most likely had tuberculosis of the lung. A fatal illness, if not treated properly, but even then, her chances of survival would be slim. No matter what it took, she had to try to give her daughter that slim chance.
As her family home came into view, Flora began to pray for courage. Alice stirred in her arms and coughed. This was enough to drive Flora forward. Shouting at the driver to wait for them, she dashed out of the car to the front door and rang the bell.
To her surprise, Francis opened the door. He jumped back, embarrassment seeming to leave him unsure what to do. ‘Flora! Why have you come? It isn’t a good idea. I – I think, well, Father isn’t well . . .’
‘Oh, so you remember my name, eh? Having a good life, are you, Francis? Forgot you had a sister? Most convenient. I need to speak to Father, and I’m not leaving until I do. It’s a matter of great urgency!’
‘If it is about your incestuous marriage, dear sister, we all know and are disgusted with you, even if we did think it a surprising act of revenge. You seem capable of doing anything to disrupt this family.’
Harold came towards the door and pushed Francis out of the way, as he said this.
Flora looked up at him. ‘Our child is very sick and we need some money for her treatment. That, and that only, is the reason I have lowered myself to step over this doorstep. Now I haven’t much time, please let me speak to Father.’
‘No. I absolutely forbid it!’
Before Flora could speak, Cyrus gently pushed her out of the way. ‘Well, I – as the eldest son – overrule you. Get out of my way. I want to see my father.’
The enormity of Cyrus’s words hit Flora hard. Oh God, I can’t bear it! I didn’t want it to be the truth.
‘So your slut of a mother informed us . . . Hey, let me go!’
Cyrus held Harold by the collar and pushed him against the wall. ‘Do you know what the worst thing is, about what I discovered only tonight? That you are my brother – you disgusting excuse for a man. Now, get out of our way.’
‘Don’t let them in, Harold . . . Francis . . . Stop them!’
‘Mother, please, our child is dying. Please help me.’
‘What is happening?’
‘Go back into the withdrawing room, Mags; please, darling. And you, Mother, I don’t want you involved in this.’
‘But, Harold . . . Flors! Oh, Flors, are you all right?’
‘Help me, Mags, please, please help me. My little Alice . . . she’s dying. I – I haven’t any money for her treatment. I came to ask my father, but they won’t let me in.’
‘My God! Harold? Why not?’
‘It is none of your business, Mags, please leave this to us.’
‘My business or not, I’m not standing by and letting a child die! Nor am I going to refuse to help my dearest friend. Flors, I’ll come with you. I have some money, and I can arrange as much finance as you need.’ Mags turned to the maid, who stood, white-faced, looking on. ‘Please bring my coat.’
As the bodies in the doorway parted, Flora saw who the maid was, and for a fleeting moment felt triumph over Harold as she said, ‘Oh, I see you still have Susan in tow?’ But she felt immediate remorse as Mags looked from the cringing maid to Harold, and a shadow of doubt and hurt crossed her face.
‘You vixen! And you wonder why none of us wants you near to us. Get out! Get out, do you hear me? You have broken the law, dear sister, and I am going to inform the police that you are cohabiting with your half-brother! You’re disgusting!’
‘No, Cyrus!’
Cyrus had raised his fist, but stopped at this shout from Flora.
‘Leave him, I shouldn’t have said what I did. All of this is wasting so much time, and Alice has so little. Will you help us, Mags? I don’t know what else to do.’
‘Yes, I will, dear Flors.’ Mags turned and took her coat and purse from a mortified Susan.
‘I forbid you to, Mags. As your fiancé, I forbid you to go with these . . . these . . .’
‘Your sister, Harold?’
‘She has never been like a sister to me.’ He turned and took their now-sobbing mother in his arms. ‘Nor a daughter to our mother. She has always caused pain and trouble.’
‘I – I haven’t. I haven’t, I was never allowed to be your sister . . . I—’
‘Oh, don’t come up with that trash; you were destructive and had to be sent away, or our mother would have become even more fragile than she already is.’
‘Harold, I think we have a lot to talk about, but in the meantime I am not turning my back on Flors, or her husband and child. If that goes against your wishes, then I am sorry, and you will have to do as you see fit. Come on, Flors. Let’s get Alice to the hospital.’
Alice was taken from them when they arrived. The sister in charge told them they must wait while an assessment of Alice was made. It might be that they would have to call in a specialist, but whatever their decision, they would inform the family as soon as they could.
With Alice taken from her, Flora collapsed inwardly and gave vent to all the pent-up feelings that had strangled her heart.
‘Oh, Flors, what a mess. How did it all come to this? Though the way Harold acted was driven by how his mother shaped him. Well, shaped both her sons. She is manipulative in the extreme. If she doesn’t get what sh
e wants, she feigns illness.’
‘I know, but I thought Harold had her under his control.’
‘He does, but what has gone on down the years has made Harold what he is. He bats for the side that he thinks most beneficial to him. I believe, when he was all right towards you, that he saw you as a weapon he could use against his father, to get what he desired – to be put in charge of the mill, and so be in an essential job that didn’t require him to go to war. But he’s made some bad decisions, and he is failing. That is where I come in. I have what he wants – a successful mill that will prop up his mill. Or at least my father does and, as his son-in-law, Harold will get what he needs to boost his business.’
‘And, knowing all of this, you still love him, Mags?’
‘Love is something we cannot help. I would have thought you would understand that, Flors.’
‘Oh, I do. And I know that it can surmount everything, but . . .’ She reached out and took Cyrus’s hand. ‘How we will surmount the bombshell that has landed in our laps today, I just don’t know. I haven’t been able to give my mind to it at all. I’m so very worried about our little Alice.’
‘You mean you truly didn’t know until today? Nothing that either of you said to the other even gave you a clue?’
‘No, why should it?’ Cyrus replied. ‘We met out of the blue, and in a foreign country. We had an immediate and very strong attraction to each other, which hit us both hard. Yes, it was love, but not brother–sister love. Oh, there were a few coincidences in what we learned about each other later on: my music, and how Flora’s father was gifted at playing on the violin, as I myself am. Me having been to the same school as those I now know are my half-brothers. But I completely believed that my father had been killed in the Boer War and that my allowance came from my late grandfather’s will, which is what my mother told me and my aunt confirmed. As did the picture they gave me, of my supposed father and grandparents. I didn’t have an inkling that I wasn’t who I was told I was. It is devastating news.’
