Family Ties

by Family Ties (retail) (epub)

  Jane pulled her husband away without another word, though he still looked as though he would argue. When they had gone, Morwen sank down on the summer-house floor in a rustle of skirts, feeling more lost than before. Ben was gone, and in a month from now, Freddie would be marrying Venetia. Another cycle would begin, yet for Morwen life seemed to stand still. She no longer knew who she was. She had been so proud to be called Killigrew’s lady, but now she wasn’t even that. She was nothing. Without Ben, she was nothing. She leaned her head in her lap and wept.

  * * *

  Ran found her there. Without a word he gathered her up in his arms and held her close. His warmth comforted her. His need for her was subdued, yet she wasn’t unaware of it. He was a haven to her right then, and she needed someone so badly. Without knowing it, her arms reached for him, and he felt a small shiver of relief that she was turning to him at last. When he was able to ask her what had happened, she told him in gasping words.

  ‘The insensitive swine,’ Ran said savagely. ‘You did the right thing, dearest, in sending him packing.’

  ‘Did I? Or should I have settled for the money? It would have paid off some of our debts.’ The bitterness seeped into her again, and he shook her gently.

  ‘I’ve told you what to do about that. Let me buy into the business. Let me discuss it with your father, Morwen. Oh yes, I’ve heard the gossip, darling, and I presume it must be true.’

  She had looked at him sharply. Of course, he would know by now. The news would have spread beyond St Austell.

  ‘I can’t,’ she whispered. ‘It would be letting Ben down.’

  ‘Ben didn’t object to taking a partner, so why should you mind taking a third? Or is it just because it’s me? Does the thought of tying yourself to me in a business sense bother you, Morwen? Perhaps you think I’m becoming too close for comfort.’

  There was a new note in his voice. He thought she was rejecting him in every way, and it wasn’t that at all. It was just all happening too soon, and she was too muddle-headed to give a sensible answer.

  ‘If that’s what you think, I can’t stop you, Ran,’ she said wearily. ‘Have you seen the boys this afternoon? They were going to ride over and ask you to Sunday tea, but now you’re here, I can ask you instead—’

  ‘I think not,’ he said, to her shocked surprise. ‘I think it’s best that we stay apart for a week or so. We’ll meet at the wedding, if not before, but by all means, let the children come over at the weekend.’

  ‘Ran, don’t be like this, please—’

  ‘I can’t be any other way. And I love you too much to watch you killing yourself out of useless remorse and delusions of keeping faith with Ben. He was a rotten husband to you in the months that I knew him, and the sooner you face the fact that you’re better off without him, the better.’

  He gave her a hard kiss on the mouth before he let her go, and she watched him go striding off, just in time to catch the children returning from the beach, who greeted him with ecstatic shouts. If only she could be that uninhibited, that free of guilt… she knew that everything he said was true, and her little burst of anger at him dwindled away.

  At least the children were united in their inheritance, she kept thinking, trying to hold on to some kind of security. Ben had done that for them, and she was grateful. Walter was still unsettled, though she had had reports from Freddie that he was more relaxed in Truro, and going out and about more instead of brooding. Morwen let him be. If he missed school, she didn’t care. None of the children had begun school again since Ben’s death, and she didn’t care about that either.

  And what was she doing, pushing Ran out of her life? She tried desperately to recapture the feelings they had shared, and found it as elusive as the mist on the moors. She knew the love was there, but she just couldn’t grasp it. If she lost him too…

  * * *

  A week later, there was an excursion to Venetia’s home for a dress-fitting. It would have been far easier for Venetia and Bess to go to Killigrew House, but, wisely, Bess had suggested this visit. The shadows beneath Morwen’s lovely eyes had begun to alarm her mother, and Venetia’s jovial father was happy to show the little Killigrew girls, their mother and grandmother, around his newly-acquired stately home.

  The boys had begged to go to Ran’s house, and had been left there on the way. Morwen missed him so. As good as his word, he had left her strictly alone while she recovered herself, but these glimpses of him were bittersweet.

  Later, when Lord Hocking had gone back to his beloved horses, Venetia, Morwen and the girls tried on the dresses Bess had made. They all gasped at the sight of one another, and of Venetia in particular, lovely and ethereal in cream taffeta and lace, and Morwen caught her breath, remembering how beautiful she had wanted to look for Ben, all those years ago.

  She realized suddenly how good it was to be out of gloomy clothes and into something light and normal again, and from that moment, Morwen vowed to take the children out of mourning, and to dress herself in soft greys and browns. There was nothing to be gained in looking miserable, and it didn’t make them remember Ben any more than they did already.

  ‘I do love my dress, Mrs Tremayne,’ Venetia hugged her future mother-in-law. ‘I can’t thank you enough for making it so well.’

  Bess went pink with pleasure.

  ‘’Tis my only skill,’ she said modestly, and Venetia laughed indulgently.

  ‘Oh, I think not,’ she said softly. ‘Your real skill is in producing your wonderful family, and I’m so happy to think I shall soon be a part of it.’

  ‘Well, if ’ee don’t want me to blub all over that fine dress, you’d best take it off before ’tis marked,’ Bess said, suddenly busy with the little girls to hide her moist eyes. ‘Are you coming with us to see Freddie this afternoon?’

  ‘No. Daddy’s got some horsey people coming in for dinner, and wants me to be here, so give him my love and tell him I’ll see him tomorrow.’

  It was mid-afternoon when they left. Ran had said he would take the boys home when they were ready, so there was no need to rush away from Freddie’s. They were to call in on Jack too, to see the children and to check on Annie’s welfare. Jack had reported that the gynaecologist was cautiously pleased with her, and their family doctor was frankly astounded that the pregnancy was progressing well so far. Annie herself was frustrated and often bored with spending part of every day in bed, but in her heart she knew it would be worth it, especially if she gave Jack the son they both longed for.

  Freddie greeted them with pleasure, and a hint of annoyance in his voice.

  ‘I’m afraid that son of yours has gone off again. He knew you were coming, but he seems to be absent-minded these days—’

  ‘He’s not ill, is he, Freddie?’ Morwen said quickly. ‘He was so distraught after Ben’s death. I was worried about him—’

  ‘He’s not ill,’ Freddie assured her. ‘In fact, I suspect he’s growing into a very normal young man, from the way he preens himself sometimes. ’Tis probably thinking about girls.’

  He grinned, intending to bring a smile to his sister’s lips. But at his words, a sudden shiver ran through Morwen’s body, the kind of shiver that came more from premonition than from being chilled.

  It wasn’t cold, anyway. It was a lovely May afternoon, and her girls were chattering like magpies about Venetia’s lovely wedding-dress while her Mammie was shushing them and telling them it was bad luck to let the bridegroom know what his bride would be wearing. And all the time, the vague shadow that Morwen couldn’t quite dispel hovered nearby…

  They took tea with Freddie, and time and again, Morwen’s eyes turned to the window in search of Walter. It was bad of him not to be there when he knew they were coming. She was hurt by his absence, feeling that he slighted her.

  ‘What the devil’s that?’ Freddie jumped up at the loud hammering on his shop door. He had closed up, but that was never enough to stop customers banging for assistance if they needed it, knowing him for an obligi
ng chandler.

  He went down the stairs from the rooms above, and minutes later came running back up again. He wasn’t alone, and for Morwen, the premonition of disaster was very strong…

  Jane Askhew’s blotched and tearful face was the first one she saw behind Freddie, and then the furious countenance of her husband, waving a letter about like a flag.

  ‘Dear God, what’s happened?’ Bess breathed.

  ‘These people have found a note left by their daughter, saying she’s run off with Walter,’ Freddie said tersely.

  Morwen felt the room sway. All these years she had known jealousy on this woman’s account, because of her supposed feelings for Ben. The jealousy had been unworthy and unnecessary, it was wicked and a sin, and in her jumbled thoughts at that moment she saw this liaison between Walter and Cathy as a punishment for her own inadequacy… God had found a way to entwine her family with Miss Finelady Jane’s…

  The room steadied a little as she heard Tom Askhew’s penetrating voice.

  ‘You clayfolk have no control over your lad!’ he shouted. ‘God knows what he’s done wi’ my Cathy, but I’ll tan his hide when I catch up with him!’

  Morwen felt her nerve-ends bristle with rage. How dare this lout demean her by calling her and her family clayfolk in that common way. She was Mrs Ben Killigrew, and he had best remember that. Her anger fizzled out in shock as Jane suddenly rushed to her and put her arms around her.

  ‘Oh Morwen, I’m so sorry to bring this trouble to you now, when you’re still grieving over Ben. Walter came to the house several times, and he and Cathy seemed to find such pleasure in one another’s company, and I thought I was helping him get over Ben’s death by letting them be together. There was no hint of this, you must believe that, or I would have tried to stop it. Tom’s time away from the newspaper is over, and we’re all going back to Yorkshire the day after tomorrow. We only decided last night, and Cathy threw such a tantrum, screaming that she didn’t want to leave Cornwall, but I never guessed that Walter was the reason for it!’

  She was sobbing the words incoherently, and by the end of them, Morwen was comforting her and holding her close, and it was all so unbelievable to Morwen that this was happening… that she and Jane Askhew should be united in a common fear… whatever Tom Askhew might think of Walter, there was no animosity between the two women. They were both mothers, anxious for their children. In those moments, Morwen felt all the years of jealousy diminish and die, and it was like the releasing of a heavy burden.

  ‘What exactly did the note say, Jane?’ She heard Freddie say brusquely, having no patience with the rough-speaking Yorkshireman. Tom thrust it into his hands.

  ‘You can read, I take it?’ he said, insultingly. Freddie ignored him and scanned the note quickly, handing it to Morwen.

  ‘Walter and I want to be together,’ she read Cathy’s large, childish scrawl aloud. ‘He knows a place where we can stay, so don’t try to find us. Try to understand, Mother. We truly love each other. Goodbye. Your loving Cathy.’

  Jane gave a shuddering sob. Primmy and Charlotte were both crying noisily into Bess’s skirts, and for a second Morwen felt a burning anger against Walter that this day that had started out so well, should be ending in such a nightmare.

  ‘Well? Have you any ideas on this wonderful place where your lad’s taken my lass? We’ve not seen Cathy since early this morning.’ Tom glowered at them all. ‘I warn you, if he’s harmed her—’

  ‘Why don’t you stop your bloody useless surmising, and go and look for them?’ Freddie snapped.

  ‘Where, dunderhead?’

  ‘I know where they might be,’ Morwen said quietly.

  They all gaped at her: Jane tearful; Tom still incensed; Freddie red-faced; Bess astonished at the certainty in her daughter’s voice.

  ‘There’s a secret room at Ran’s house. A round, turreted room that Ran showed me and the children. They were all intrigued with it. Walter may have taken Cathy there. They probably intend creeping out at night to get food and water from Ran’s kitchen.’

  It all sounded delightfully adventurous and romantic and unlikely, and yet the more she thought about it, the more certain Morwen was that Walter and Cathy would be there.

  ‘A secret room, be buggered!’ Tom was past caring that there were ladies present. ‘I’ll give the little bastard secret rooms with my lass—’

  Before he could get down the stairs, shouting at Freddie to come with them to show him the way, there was the sound of more people downstairs. When Freddie opened the door to them, it was to find Ran Wainwright and the two younger Killigrew boys outside. With them, shame-faced and scarlet, were Walter and Cathy Askhew.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Morwen learned later that her intuition about the turreted room had been right. Walter had taken Cathy to Ran’s New World, and they had planned, immature and confused, to stay for a while in the secret room. They had chosen a bad day, unaware that the other boys were visiting the house. And forgetting that a good hiding place for a game of hide-and-seek was the turreted room…

  As Tom leapt at Walter, Freddie and Ran pulled him off the boy. Walter was stiff with fear, and Cathy was crying, running straight to her mother’s arms.

  ‘I’m sorry for all the worry we’ve caused, Mother. Walter’s Uncle Ran gave us a terrible talking-to, but I don’t want to go home. I really don’t. Please let me stay behind with Grandma!’

  ‘You’ll come home with us the day after tomorrow, my lass, and the sooner the better,’ Tom said explosively. He glared at Walter keenly. ‘Have you touched her? You know damn well what I mean. You’re not a child by the looks of you—’

  Walter’s fear dissolved as he glared back.

  ‘No, I haven’t touched her. I respect her too much for that, which is something you wouldn’t understand.’

  Bess hustled the other four children into a back room while the wrangling went on. Morwen went to her son and looked deep into his eyes. She ached for him. His pain was so obvious to her. He was about to lose his love, and he was slowly dying inside because of it. She knew she had to deal with his emotions very carefully.

  ‘Walter, you know what you did was wrong. Cathy’s parents have every right to be angry and upset—’

  ‘I just wanted to be with Cathy, and she with me,’ he said, awash with misery. The two of them still held hands tightly. Not even facing Tom Askhew had been enough to make them break their hold on one another.

  ‘I’m all right, Mother, really I am,’ Cathy whispered, her pale face flushing.

  ‘That’s as may be, but you’ll not stay in this God-forsaken part of the world a day longer than I say,’ Tom snapped. ‘I’ll have no arguments, Cathy.’

  ‘But Walter will forget me,’ she wailed.

  ‘You know I won’t. I’ll never forget you,’ his young voice was vibrant with unrealized passion. There might have been no one else in the room but the two of them.

  Ran had stayed silent all this time, but now he spoke up, the one calm and sensible voice amongst them all.

  ‘There’s nothing to stop you writing to one another, is there? Letters can bring people close. Ask your mother, Walter. For many years she never saw your Uncle Matt, but he wrote to her, and she read you his letters, and you knew plenty about the Californian gold-fields, long before Matt came home. You know that’s so. It’s a special privilege to get letters from the people you love. They can often say things in letters they find difficult to say out loud.’

  Morwen listened to his voice, the sharp American accent so dear to her now, and prayed that Walter and Cathy would be as enchanted by the idea of writing to one another as Ran suggested. She saw the look of uncertainty in Cathy’s eyes, and swiftly added her own thoughts.

  ‘And you’re not going to be parted for ever, Cathy. I’m sure there will be other times when you’ll be visiting your grandparents.’ Her eyes dared Tom to spoil this fragile moment, and Cathy flashed a look at Jane.

  ‘Mother?’ she said hesit
antly.

  ‘I think it’s the best idea, and of course you can write to Walter, darling, as often as you like. And perhaps he could come to Yorkshire to visit us sometime.’

  Tom threw up his hands at the flare of hope in Walter’s face at her words.

  ‘God help me from women’s interference!’

  ‘Just be glad that your daughter’s come to no harm,’ Jane said sharply. ‘First love can be a painful business, and perhaps you’ve forgotten just how much you wanted me to be with you, Tom! You can hardly blame your daughter for taking after her father.’

  To Morwen’s relief, there was the glimmer of a smile on Tom’s face now. He would be remembering, as Morwen was too, of the times Ben Killigrew had come to Truro, supposedly courting Jane Carrick, when all the time Jane and her newspaperman were meeting secretly in Tom’s rooms. And there was nothing very innocent about those meetings either. At last he gave a decisive nod, and spoke as though the whole idea was his.

  ‘That’s setttled then. Cathy comes home with us, but there’s no objection to the two of you writing to one another. And if Walter’s mother allows him to come on a visit north in due course, well, we’ll think about that too. I’m not saying I’m pleased at today’s little escapade, but as long as no harm’s come of it, maybe it’s best forgotten.’

  By the time Ran had escorted the family back to St Austell, Morwen felt utterly drained. They hadn’t even been to see Jack and Annie, but Freddie was going to let them know all that had happened. Walter was allowed to stay on at Freddie’s, providing he gave his word that there would be no more dramatics, and he would be able to see Cathy, properly chaperoned, until she left for Yorkshire.

  The boy was even more crushed than he had been at Ben’s death, and Morwen was fearful for him. But she knew she was helpless to do anything. It was something Walter had to get over by himself.

  Ran took Bess home when he had left them all at Killigrew House. Morwen watched him go with tears stinging her eyes. Was she being such a fool to reject him when she needed him so much? All the love was still there, yet it seemed somehow as if it was held in a block of ice. She couldn’t touch it, couldn’t reach it.