A Stranger in Honeyfield

by Anna Jacobs

  ‘He’s certainly planning to get hold of her and she won’t find it pleasant. He’s still furious at her.’

  ‘Good. I hope he catches her and that’ll serve her right. He won’t let her get away again.’

  Spencer was rapidly losing the last shreds of his patience with his mother and was relieved to be called away to the phone before he said something he’d regret.

  ‘Spencer? It’s me, Francis. Can you come round at once? Something’s cropped up, something very important. It’s to do with your sister.’

  ‘I don’t think—’

  ‘Do you want to get her back or not? And her money! And surely you don’t want her to continue spreading lies about us all? Once she marries me those rumours will die down, I promise you.’

  Spencer sighed. He’d better keep an eye on things. He didn’t want Francis going too far with Georgina. ‘All right. I’ll be round in about an hour. Have to settle my mother down first. She’s upset about something.’

  ‘She’s always upset about something.’

  So was Francis lately. Spencer put the phone down and went to tell his mother that Georgina had been sighted and there was a chance of Francis getting her back.

  She stared blankly at him for a moment or two, then said, ‘I suppose it’s better to have her where we can keep an eye on her. I did wonder if we should just leave her be. I can’t make up my mind.’

  ‘Well I can. Francis should be the one to keep an eye on her. He seems very sure he can persuade her to marry him. He’ll have a hard time doing that. She’s as stubborn as they come.’

  ‘He’ll find a way to tame her and serve her right. Now, that’s enough about her. I’d better see Cook and discuss what we’ll have for dinner when your father comes. And I need to make sure his bedroom is absolutely immaculate. He hates anything in there to be disturbed, even though he hasn’t slept in it more than half a dozen times since he left me just after the twins were born.’

  Why did she always keep up the fiction that his father had left her? Spencer wondered. He still remembered the rows, even though he’d only been a child then. If anything, they’d parted company by mutual agreement and with mutual sighs of relief. And she’d never cared two hoots about the twins. Though if what he suspected was true, it was no wonder.

  You didn’t have to go to war to see people fighting one another. He was surrounded by them. No wonder he was a bit tired lately, given all the problems that kept cropping up.

  Oh well, he’d better get round to Francis’s house and see what the latest news was about Georgina. And he’d make sure Francis didn’t go too far.

  Isabella stared at Tez for such a long time that he was convinced she was going to refuse to marry him. Then she nodded and said in a low voice, ‘Yes. I will marry you, Tez. And not just for the child. I’ve grown fond of you.’ She gave a sad smile. ‘I feel as if I know you better than I ever knew poor Philip. Well, no wonder. We’ve spent more time together than he and I did.’

  ‘I’m glad you’ve agreed to marry me.’ She hadn’t said the word love, but what she’d said was more than he’d hoped for.

  ‘We’d better book a wedding as quickly as we can.’

  ‘How quickly can we do it?’

  He frowned, then said slowly, ‘I don’t know much about it because this is the first time I’ve thought seriously of getting married. But some chaps have gone home for a few days’ leave and got married straight away, and I knew they hadn’t had banns called or anything like that. It’ll have to be in a registry office, of course, not a church. Shall you mind that?’

  ‘Not at all.’

  He snapped his fingers as he suddenly realised what to do. ‘I think I should phone my mother and ask her advice. She knows everybody and if anyone can help us fix it all up quickly, she can.’

  Tez went to the phone and was on it for a long time, then came out looking surprised. ‘That mother of mine is a miracle worker. She wants us to go up to London straight away.’

  Isabella was startled. ‘Today?’

  ‘Yes. You won’t believe this, but she’s just fixed up a wedding for another chap who’s home on leave and says she can slip us in with him. It’s something to do with an archbishop she knows or is related to or something. I couldn’t make sense of it all. But if she says she can arrange it, believe me she can. She’s an amazing woman. How long will it take you to pack? If this haste doesn’t put you off, that is.’

  ‘It doesn’t put me off. And the sooner we marry the better. It’ll take me fifteen minutes at most to pack. But what shall we do about keeping our departure secret? I wouldn’t be surprised to find Spencer Cotterell had got someone keeping an eye on us.’

  ‘I don’t think it matters. We’ll notice if a car is following us and we’ll be able to give it the slip. And if it’s just someone in the village who’s reporting to him, the person probably won’t have a car. I haven’t seen any new cars around and I’d notice with only half a dozen or so in the area. So you don’t need to worry about anyone following us all the way to London.’

  ‘You’re right. Sorry. I get a bit nervous after someone tried to push my car off the road.’

  ‘Not surprising. Now, I’m back to driving properly now, so we’ll go in my car, eh?’

  She nodded, then hesitated before coming across to him and kissing him on the cheek. ‘You say your mother is amazing, but so are you, Tez.’

  He put his arm round her and dared to return her kiss gently. ‘No. Just one who loves you, Isabella, darling.’

  ‘I feel honoured and I’m truly fond of you, too.’ She moved away. ‘I must pack. I won’t have a fancy wedding dress, I’m afraid.’

  ‘Who cares? I’d marry you if you were dressed in a sack.’

  She smiled. ‘Oh, I think I can do better than that.’

  He watched her run lightly up the stairs, then went out to check his car. As an afterthought, he took a part out and disabled her car – well, he hoped he’d disabled it. He didn’t want anyone trying to drive it away. He’d seen how enviously Spencer looked at it as he left.

  He’d been surprised by how Cotterell suddenly looked as old as his father, whom Tez had occasionally seen in London. And something about Cotterell seemed strange. He was almost but not quite wild-eyed, almost but not quite feverish in the way he acted. Tez hadn’t been the only one to comment on his strangeness and ladies tended to avoid Cotterell.

  Oh, what was he worrying about that for? He was going to marry the woman he loved and the rest of the world could go hang, for all he cared.

  Isabella came rushing out of the house to join him. As she locked the front door, he put her case in his car with his own, then started up the motor and got in.

  He felt truly happy as he drove off. This was what he wanted more than anything in the world.

  He was determined to make Isabella happy, absolutely determined. He’d love Philip’s child too. How could he not?

  And if he hadn’t lost his fingers, he’d not be here to rescue her. He never thought he’d be glad of it!

  The old man digging his garden and keeping an eye on Pear Tree Lane straightened up when he saw the car leave. Once it had passed, he cut across the green to the back lane on the other side and ran down it to the stile. Sitting on the top bar, he waited, looking down the hill at the patchwork of fields and roads spreading over the gentle slope.

  Ah, there it was! He watched carefully where the car went as it made its way from the village along the narrow road that twisted across to join the main road.

  He stayed there till the car was out of sight, then went to use the telephone at the village shop, paying a high price for making a call out of the area.

  He didn’t care. The man who was paying him to keep watch would want to know what was happening as soon as possible.

  Where were those two going?

  He’d been shocked to hear they were living in sin, shocked to the core to know that it was someone else’s baby, not Mr Tesworth’s. He didn’t approve of that
sort of behaviour and had been surprised to think of a nice lady like the so-called Mrs Tesworth acting immorally.

  But he hadn’t said anything to anyone else in the village, and he was in a telephone cubicle at the side of the shop, so the nosey bitch behind the counter couldn’t hear what he was saying.

  Spencer was still out when the call came through, so his mother took it. She quickly realised this must be the man keeping watch on the Jones woman and made him tell her his news.

  Frowning, she hung the earpiece up on its stand and paced up and down, chewing at her gums, wondering what to do about this. In the end, she rang up Francis and asked to speak to her son.

  ‘They’re running away,’ she said as soon as she heard Spencer’s voice.

  ‘Who are?’

  ‘Tesworth and her. Your watcher just rang to tell you they’ve gone off in the car and he thinks they’re going to London. He watched from the hill to see which direction they took.’

  ‘Oh, hell! It doesn’t rain but it pours. Who’d have thought they’d get out so quickly? Well, there’s nothing I can do about them at the moment and really, unless they skip the country, which is just about impossible in wartime – and who’d want to risk being torpedoed anyway? – they’ll probably come back to the village.’

  ‘What do you think they’re going to London for?’

  ‘To see if they can get married, I should think. But it won’t affect the custody of the child, because he isn’t the father and she won’t dare claim that he is under oath. And anyway, you can’t just get married. There are all sorts of formalities to be gone through first, like calling the banns or buying a special licence. No, the only thing they can do is start the process.’

  ‘You’re sure of that?’

  ‘Yes, of course I am. I checked it all out before I went to see them. Now, if that’s all?’

  ‘For the moment. Will you be home to dinner?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘We’ll talk further then.’

  Francis looked up when Spencer rejoined him. ‘What was your mother fussing about?’

  ‘The Jones bitch and Tesworth have run off. I reckon they’ll be trying to get married, but that takes time. And anyway, they’ve nowhere else to go, even if they do marry. No, they’ll go back to Honeyfield and then we’ll all have to wait for the baby to be born.’

  ‘We’ve a more urgent matter to deal with first. Your sister. I want to snatch her tomorrow night.’

  ‘No can do. My father is coming down for a visit, goodness only knows why. He hardly ever does that, so my mother is panicking.’

  ‘He’s coming tomorrow?’

  ‘Either tomorrow or Saturday, arriving in the afternoon, apparently.’

  ‘Well, I need you tomorrow, so you can just tell him you already had an engagement.’

  Spencer whistled softly. ‘You don’t tell my father anything of the sort. He usually tells you what to do.’

  ‘Tell him the truth then, that we’re going to bring back your sister.’

  ‘No, I don’t think so. It’s not the sort of thing he’d approve of.’

  ‘I was going to bring her to Westcott to hide her, because your house is so big.’

  ‘What, with my father there? Definitely not.’

  ‘All right, but you’d better help me. I know too much about you.’

  There was dead silence, then Spencer gave in. ‘He might come tomorrow or Saturday. Let’s hope it’s not tomorrow. Everything will be easier if I don’t have to make any excuses to him. Go through the details of what you’re planning and we’ll see if there’s any way of making things happen more easily. I don’t want to get into a damned battle! You should have joined the army if that’s what you’re after. Apart from anything else, fighting would attract the attention of the local police and we don’t want that.’

  ‘If we have enough men, it’ll be over and done before the police can get there. I’m good at planning things. You’re right. I’d have been good in the army. Pity I didn’t pass the medical.’

  Spencer had heard all this before and though he admitted Francis was quite good at planning things, he didn’t think his friend was as good as he thought he was. And Francis would never have coped with the physical side of things in the army. He wheezed whenever he had to exert himself.

  ‘I’m waiting for a call from the chappie who’s keeping watch on this Honeyfield House for me.’

  Spencer rolled his eyes but said nothing. How many spies could there be in Honeyfield?

  ‘Norman’s prepared to help us get into it. He seems to have some sort of grudge against the chap keeping watch there.’

  ‘Heaven help us, what next?’

  Francis grinned. ‘Amazing, isn’t it, that both of the women who’re causing us trouble are living in the same village and don’t know it?’

  ‘Well, they’re not close friends or anything, are they? They only met a couple of times. Why should they have kept in touch?’

  When Tez and Isabella arrived in London, they drove straight to his mother’s house, parking in the mews behind it.

  Mrs Tesworth was a tall, elegant woman who looked as intelligent as her son. There was something similar about their eyes, a sort of awareness and understanding of the world, Isabella thought. But his mother seemed pleasant enough, thank goodness.

  Tez outlined the situation quickly, but emphasised that he had been wanting to marry Isabella anyway when the time was right.

  His mother studied the young woman her son wanted so badly and nodded slowly. ‘You don’t seem like a gold-digger, Isabella.’

  ‘Mother!’ he protested.

  ‘I had wondered a bit about that after I got your call,’ she said mildly. ‘I didn’t know whether Isabella realised how little money you’ll have.’

  ‘I have some money of my own, anyway,’ Isabella said stiffly. ‘More than enough to live on. Philip left me everything.’

  ‘Good. Because we aren’t rich and Tez is my third son. Anyway, we’re not here to chat. I like the looks of you and my son isn’t a fool.’

  Isabella was amazed at her frankness but on the other hand, she felt she knew where she stood with Tez’s mother, and that wasn’t a bad thing when something happened so quickly.

  ‘We have to go and see the archbishop’s secretary at once.’ Mrs Tesworth studied her visitor openly. ‘Who’s your dressmaker?’

  Isabella was surprised by this non sequitur. ‘A woman in the village.’

  ‘She’s good. Your clothes will serve for today but not for the wedding. We need to do something about that.’ She rang the bell and a woman answered it.

  ‘This is Lacey, my maid. Lacey, this is my son’s wife-to-be, Isabella. Can we find her something to get married in tomorrow morning?’

  The maid studied the younger woman. ‘Yes. I think so, madam. I can adapt one of your old frocks from when you were expecting.’

  ‘Thank you. You are, as always, a miracle worker.’ She turned back to her son. ‘Well, let’s go.’

  Tez winked at Isabella and she felt comforted. She clutched his arm as they were swept out of the house by Mrs Tesworth. She felt like a fish out of water here in this quietly luxurious house, but she tried not to let that show. She’d do anything to keep her child safe.

  And Tez was a great comfort to her in many ways, large and small. Such a lovely man.

  The interview was very brief. The archbishop’s secretary asked them a few questions, scribbled down the answers, and said fretfully, ‘This is all very irregular, Mrs Tesworth.’

  ‘There’s a war on, my dear cousin. We can’t always stick to the rules if we’re to keep our fighting men happy.’

  ‘Yes. And that’s the only reason you’re getting away with it. Well, they’ll have to get here at seven-thirty in the morning. There’s no other time they can be fitted in.’

  She gasped. ‘Good heavens! For a wedding? I can’t remember the last time I got up so early for any reason.’

  He gave her a dirty look and she si
ghed. ‘All right. We’ll do it.’

  When they stood up to go, she kissed the secretary on the cheek. ‘Thank you, coz. Tez deserves to be happy, don’t you think, after what he’s been through?’

  He looked at Tez’s injured hand and his expression softened. ‘Yes. All our brave lads do. Tomorrow at seven-thirty in the morning. Do not be late, either, Marguerite.’

  ‘We won’t.’

  On the way home she said feelingly, ‘I hope you appreciate what I’m doing for you, Tez darling, the favours I’m calling in.’

  Chapter Seventeen

  To Spencer’s relief, his father didn’t turn up at Westcott on Friday afternoon. He waited till six o’clock then went to find his mother, who had been dithering and fussing all day.

  ‘Since Father hasn’t turned up today, I’m going over to see Francis this evening.’

  She grabbed his arm. ‘You can’t! What if he turns up after you’ve gone? And anyway, you’re looking terrible today. You need to rest.’

  ‘I’m bored with resting! As to my father, he said afternoon and he usually sticks to what he’s arranged. But if he does turn up this evening you’ll have to give him my apologies and tell him I had a prior arrangement. He won’t want you to entertain him; he’ll probably want to work on some papers, knowing him. He’s always busy with paperwork!’

  It had been the excuse most often given to Spencer during his childhood for his father not being able to spend time with him and he had never believed that to be the real reason.

  He unclenched her fingers from his arm. ‘I really don’t think he’ll come now, Mother.’

  She dropped into the nearest chair. ‘I hope you’re right. But this means that I’ve got all the hanging around waiting to do again tomorrow. Do you think there’s any chance that one of his staff will ring to cancel the whole visit?’