Cinderella Sister

by Dilly Court

  ‘Yes, I’m perfectly fine.’ She was not going to admit that every step she took let in a little more icy water through gaping holes in the soles of her boots. She had intended to take them to the cobbler but there had simply been too much to do since their hasty departure from the dockmaster’s house. ‘Point me in the right direction, and I’ll be home in no time at all.’

  ‘I’ll walk with you part of the way,’ he said firmly. ‘I need some fresh air.’ He settled his top hat on his head with a firm pat and tucked her hand in the crook of his arm. He frowned. ‘Where are your gloves, Lily? Did you leave them in my lodgings?’

  ‘I forgot to wear any.’ She omitted to say that Molly had borrowed her one and only pair and had not returned them.

  He slipped off his fine kid gloves and slipped them over her fingers. ‘My dear little sister, you need a nanny to look after you.’

  Lily looked at her small hand swamped by the soft black leather and she laughed. ‘I need a nanny with much smaller hands than yours.’

  He peeled off his other glove and gave it to her. ‘Never mind how it looks. You must look after those talented fingers, Lily. An artist is like a concert pianist when it comes to their hands.’

  ‘An artist?’ She looked up at him in amazement. ‘Do you really think I’m good enough to warrant that title?’

  He held her arm as they walked along the snowy pavements. ‘I think that given the right tuition you could be an even better painter than your mother, and she is well respected in the art world.’

  ‘Is she?’ Lily cast him a sideways glance. ‘I don’t know, you see. No one ever speaks of her at home and anyway we don’t move in those circles. Ma’s family was said to be a cut above the Larkins, but they’d lost all their money when they fled from France. Grandpa said she was lucky to have married a man like Pa, who was prepared to work hard to keep his wife and children, but it didn’t seem to be enough for her.’

  Gabriel squeezed her fingers. ‘That’s just the way it goes sometimes, Lily. My parents were ill-matched like so many others who are forced to stay together either by convention or necessity. It makes me wary of entering into the marriage stakes. I’ve seen too much misery caused by that particular institution.’

  Lily slipped and almost lost her footing on a particularly icy patch and she would have fallen if Gabriel had not caught her round the waist. He stopped, peering into the driving snow. ‘This is ridiculous. I’m hailing a cab whether you like it or not. You’ll break an arm or a leg if you try to walk all the way home in a snowstorm.’ He raised his hand to attract the attention of a cabby but there was a passenger on board and the hansom tooled past at a surprisingly brisk pace considering the state of the road.

  ‘There’s no need really,’ Lily said anxiously. ‘I can find my way perfectly well and I must get home before I’m missed.’

  ‘It must have taken you an hour or more to walk here. Didn’t you tell anyone you were going out?’

  ‘No, because they would have stopped me. It’s taken me much longer than I thought it would, which makes it all the more important for me to leave now.’

  ‘If you think I’m going to let you walk all that way in weather like this, then you’re mistaken.’ Gabriel hailed another cab and this one also drove past them. ‘This is madness. Your teeth are chattering nineteen to the dozen and your nose is turning blue.’ Without waiting for an answer he took her by the hand, walking on at a brisk pace.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Lily demanded breathlessly. ‘Gabriel, I must go home.’

  ‘You’ll die of pneumonia if we don’t get you dry and warm. It’s not far to go and we’ll kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.’

  Breathless and having to concentrate on keeping upright in the slippery conditions, Lily had no alternative but to allow him to lead her through the streets. The snow was falling in earnest now, obliterating landmarks and swirling around them in dizzying circles increasing in intensity as a wind roared in with the tide. ‘Where are we going, Gabriel? I don’t recognise this place.’

  ‘Save your breath, Lily, we’re almost there.’ He led her on for another hundred yards or so until he came to a halt outside one of the tall terraced houses in a well-to-do street. He knocked on the door, hooking his arm protectively around her shoulders in an attempt to shield her from the blizzard that howled around the houses like a screaming banshee.

  ‘Who lives here?’ Lily asked tentatively, although even before the door opened she knew the answer.

  ‘Good day, Mr Gabriel.’ A prim housemaid bobbed a curtsey, but her formal tone belied the cheeky grin on her pert face. ‘Come in, sir.’

  Ushering Lily in before him, Gabriel stepped into the entrance hall. ‘Are they at home, Prissy?’

  ‘Yes, sir. Shall I tell them you’re here?’

  ‘No, we’ll surprise them.’ Gabriel divested himself of his hat and greatcoat, placing them in the maid’s outstretched hands. He helped Lily off with her cloak, taking his gloves from her cold fingers with a smile. ‘Don’t be afraid, little sister. They won’t bite you.’

  ‘I’m not ready for this,’ Lily said in an undertone as she untied her bonnet.

  ‘Let me take your wet things, miss,’ Prissy said, smiling. ‘I’ll get Cook to hang them on the airer above the range.’

  ‘Thank you, Prissy.’ Gabriel moved towards the staircase that rose in an elegant curve to the first floor. He beckoned to Lily. ‘You can sit in the hall if you wish, Lily, but I’m going upstairs to the drawing room.’

  She moved slowly, like a sleepwalker. She wanted to turn and run, and yet she desired nothing more than to see her mother. The conflicting emotions made her knees feel as though they had turned to jelly, and she stumbled as she reached the foot of the stairs. She would have fallen but Gabriel caught her in his arms, setting her back on her feet with a sympathetic smile. ‘Come on, be brave. It won’t hurt, I promise.’

  She allowed him to lead her up the thickly carpeted staircase. The walls were papered in fashionable William Morris prints that Lily had seen and admired in magazines. If she had not been so nervous she might have stopped to study the oil paintings in their heavy gilded frames, but they were little more than a colourful blur to her eyes.

  ‘My father did most of these,’ Gabriel said, as if sensing her unspoken question. ‘Some of them are your mother’s, and there are many more in their studio on the top floor.’

  ‘I’m not sure about this,’ Lily whispered. ‘I really should leave now.’

  He paused as he reached the first floor landing. ‘I’ll send Perks with a message telling them not to worry.’

  ‘They mustn’t know I’m here.’

  ‘Are you afraid of your brothers, Lily?’

  ‘No, of course not, but they’ll be hurt and angry. They’ll think I’ve betrayed them.’

  ‘That’s ridiculous. You’re entitled to see your own mother, and there’s nothing they can do or say to alter the fact.’ He crossed the floor in two strides and opened the door into the drawing room. ‘Cara,’ he proclaimed loudly, ‘I have a visitor for you.’

  Lily stood poised for flight. Her instinct was to run to her mother, but a small voice in her head warned her of the consequences, insisting that she should turn tail and retreat before she took a step that might tear her family apart for the second time.

  ‘Lily.’ Gabriel held the door open, beckoning to her.

  Her heart was beating so fast that she felt quite dizzy as she entered the spacious room. Cold north light poured in through three tall windows and a coal fire blazed in the grate, but Lily was only dimly aware of her surroundings. She moved slowly to stand beside Gabriel, but her attention was fixed on the elegant figure reclining on a chaise longue. Even though she had not seen her mother for ten years, Lily could have picked her out in the midst of a crowd. Charlotte’s abundant Titian hair was confined loosely by a green satin ribbon that almost exactly matched her eyes. Her long limbs were barely concealed by a velvet robe richly embroidere
d in gold thread, open to the waist to reveal a filmy gown, frilled and ruffled in a romantic style that was reminiscent of a bygone era.

  ‘Mama. It’s me, Lily.’

  Everard Faulkner turned away from the window where he had been looking out into the snowstorm. A haze of cigar smoke wafted up towards the ceiling as he took a small black cheroot from his lips. He stared at Lily in amazement. ‘By God, it’s you all over again, Cara.’

  Charlotte rose to her feet in one sinuous movement to glide across the Persian carpet with her arms outstretched and her garments flowing around her in a diaphanous cloud. ‘My own darling Lily. My little girl.’

  Before she had a chance to react, Lily found herself clasped in a fond embrace and a cloud of expensive perfume heavy with tuberose, bergamot and jasmine. ‘Mama,’ she murmured, at a loss for anything better to say.

  Charlotte held her at arm’s length, gazing at Lily as if she would like to eat her. ‘My own little girl. How you’ve grown, my darling. You were a skinny little creature all spindly limbs and bright red curls when I was torn from the bosom of my family, and now look at you.’

  ‘I say, steady on, old girl,’ Everard protested. ‘As I recall there wasn’t too much tearing involved. As I recall you galloped off like a filly at the beginning of a race. You couldn’t get away from that dreary house quick enough …’

  ‘Oh shut up, Everard,’ Charlotte said good-naturedly. ‘It was a traumatic time for us all, and I shed copious amounts of tears on leaving my beloved children.’

  ‘I didn’t notice you being too upset when we left on the boat train for Paris,’ Everard said with a wry smile.

  ‘Darling, don’t be horrid.’ With one arm draped around Lily’s shoulders, Charlotte blew him a kiss. ‘I suffered in silence, if you must know.’

  ‘Do you ever do anything in silence, Cara?’ Gabriel asked with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

  ‘Don’t tease me, you bad boy.’ Charlotte drew Lily over to the chaise longue and pressed her down on the seat. ‘Everard, sweetheart, ring for Prissy and order some champagne. We must celebrate the reunion of mother and daughter. I might even make a painting of it, with myself as model of course and my dearest Lily sitting at my feet.’

  ‘Gazing up at you with adoring eyes,’ Gabriel added, winking at Lily.

  She looked away, catching her breath on a sob. ‘You broke my heart when you run off like that, Ma.’

  ‘Ran off, darling. Don’t you remember anything I taught you?’

  ‘I remember how the house went quiet when you left. You took the laughter with you, and nothing was the same again.’ Lily searched in her reticule for the handkerchief that Gabriel had given her. She blew her nose.

  ‘Stop that at once, Lily,’ Charlotte said, frowning. ‘You’ll make yourself look a perfect fright and you know I can’t stand to look at ugly things.’

  ‘Have a heart, dearest,’ Everard said mildly. ‘Can’t you see the poor child is upset?’

  ‘As am I, dearest.’ Charlotte reached for a silver vinaigrette and flicked it open, wafting it beneath her nose. ‘A mother’s heart is a delicate thing and easily bruised if not broken. I think that will be the subject of my next painting, with myself as the bereaved mother, of course.’

  Gabriel tugged at the bell pull. ‘Heavens above, Cara. Can’t you think of anyone but yourself? Lily is the injured party here.’

  Charlotte dropped the vinaigrette; her lips trembled and teardrops sparkled on the tips of her long eyelashes. ‘My poor baby girl.’ She wrapped her arms around Lily, rubbing her cheek against her hair. She drew away with an exaggerated shudder. ‘Good heavens, child, you smell like a chimney sweep’s boy.’

  Lily leapt to her feet, glaring at her mother as she tried desperately to control an alarming jumble of emotions. ‘So would you if you lived above the fire station and a tobacconist’s shop, and had no water to wash with because the pump in the stable yard was frozen solid.’

  Charlotte recoiled visibly. ‘There’s no need to take that tone with me, Lily. I remember very well what it was like to live in that old ruin of a house so close to the river that it practically floated at high tide.’

  ‘We don’t live there any more,’ Lily cried passionately. ‘We were forced to leave, and now we live crammed into two miserable rooms.’

  ‘That’s unfortunate,’ Everard said, clearing his throat. ‘Bad show.’

  Gabriel stared at Charlotte with a frown puckering his brow. ‘You have no idea how your family have been living, Cara. I’ve seen the place and you wouldn’t house your pet pug dog in those dismal rooms.’

  She clutched her head with both hands. ‘Stop, stop. You’re bringing on one of my heads.’ She paused as someone rapped on the door. ‘Enter.’

  Prissy breezed into the room with a broad grin on her face. ‘You rang, missis.’

  ‘Ma’am,’ Charlotte said wearily. ‘How many times must I tell you that, you stupid country wench?’

  ‘It’s all right, Prissy.’ Gabriel gave her an encouraging smile. ‘Ask Cook to show you where to find the champagne and which glasses to bring.’

  Prissy’s full lips had trembled visibly at Charlotte’s brusque tone but she smiled again and bobbed a curtsey. ‘Yes, master. Right away. Toot sweet as me dad says.’

  ‘Thank you, Prissy.’ Gabriel closed the door behind her as she gambolled out of the room like an eager puppy. ‘She means well, Cara. Have a little patience with the poor child. She’s new to city ways.’

  ‘Oh, heavens!’ Charlotte reclined against the buttoned back of the chaise longue with a martyred expression. ‘One cannot get good servants these days. I was just saying the very same thing to dear Effie Millais.’

  Not wanting to incur another rebuke for being ignorant, Lily cast a questioning look in Gabriel’s direction. He raised his eyebrows with a resigned sigh. ‘Save your name-dropping for people who are easily impressed, Cara. Lily has had little chance to become acquainted with the art world, and the fact that she has pursued her talent at all is a great credit to her.’

  ‘I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,’ Charlotte said, pouting. ‘I was simply speaking of a personal friend.’ She leaned forward, gazing intently at Lily. ‘Effie is the wife of John Everett Millais, a very well-respected artist and a personal friend. Everard and I move in exalted circles now, my dear. I was so very bored with firemen and the smell of the docks.’

  ‘Your sons are firemen and proud of it,’ Lily said sharply. ‘Matt, Mark and Luke risk their lives daily to save others. They are brave and true and you shouldn’t speak of them like that.’

  ‘Dear Matt,’ Charlotte mused. ‘He must be quite grown up now. He was always such a serious boy, and then there was Mark who always made me laugh and poor Luke who as I recall cried rather a lot.’

  Lily was incensed by this casual reference to her brothers. She loved them dearly even if their mother did not. ‘My brothers are fine men, but you hurt them deeply, which is why I am forbidden to paint because they fear I will turn out like you.’

  ‘I say, steady on, old thing.’ Everard moved swiftly to Charlotte’s side and clasped her hand in his. ‘Your mother has had a shock today, seeing you again after all this time, Lily. Let’s take things slowly so that you two can get to know each other again with no recriminations.’

  ‘She has every right to feel as she does, Father,’ Gabriel said, laying his hand on Lily’s arm in a protective gesture. ‘And as for you, Cara, you wanted me to bring her here, so I think you could be a little more sensitive to her feelings. She will have to face her family when she gets home and they won’t make things easy for her.’

  ‘It’s all right, Gabriel,’ Lily said with a grateful smile. ‘I didn’t want to come here today, but now I’m glad I did because it will make the separation from my mother easier to bear.’

  Charlotte uttered a moan and closed her eyes. ‘Tell her not to be so cruel, Everard.’

  ‘I am not the one who is cruel, Ma. I didn’t abandon my
children to run off with a married man.’

  ‘Now that’s a bit harsh,’ Everard protested.

  Charlotte held up her hand. ‘No, let her speak, dearest. I daresay some of what she says is warranted, and I admit that I may not be the best mother in the world, but I had my reasons.’ She turned her lambent gaze on Lily. ‘I followed my heart. One day you might know what it is to love a man to the exclusion of everything else in life, at least I hope you do, and then you will understand your mama and forgive her.’ She covered her eyes with her hand. ‘I feel faint.’

  Everard threw himself down on the sofa to take her in his arms. ‘My poor darling,’ he crooned, rocking her like a baby. ‘Don’t cry, my love.’

  ‘Crocodile tears, Cara,’ Gabriel said angrily. ‘Lily and her siblings are the ones who suffered as a result of your actions, and I think you owe them all an apology.’

  ‘I am unwell,’ Charlotte moaned. ‘Are you going to allow your son to speak to me in that tone, Everard?’

  ‘That was a bit harsh, old boy,’ Everard murmured, casting a worried glance at his son. ‘Say no more, please. Can’t you see how hard this is for Cara?’

  ‘I should go now,’ Lily said, making for the door. ‘You should never have sent for me, Ma. I would rather have kept my childish memories of you.’

  ‘No, wait,’ Charlotte cried, pushing Everard aside and leaping up from the chaise longue with amazing agility for one who moments before had professed faintness. She rushed over to Lily and enveloped her in a maternal hug. ‘Don’t leave like this, child. I did want to see you if only to tell you that you must not hide your talent from the world as I did for so many years.’ She grasped Lily by the hand. ‘You have inherited my gift and I want you to use it. Never mind your brothers and sisters. What do they know of art and literature and all the finer things in life? You are the only one who has inherited my talent, so don’t waste it, Lily. I beg of you don’t listen to Matt, who is his father all over again. Follow your heart, my dear girl.’