Straw in the Wind

by Janet Woods

  Adam tried not to grin at her skewed logic, though Seth did. ‘Although most of my evidence is circumstantial, I imagine there’s enough of that to convince the authorities of the integrity of her background, should the need arrive. I imagine Marianne has related most of the details to you both.’

  ‘With great enthusiasm.’ Seth gave a wry smile. ‘To be honest, I don’t know why Charlotte won’t allow herself to be convinced. I certainly am. But at least Charlotte is up and dressed today, for which I’m thankful. Marianne tends to stir her sister up like a stick in an ants’ nest.’

  ‘She certainly does not,’ Charlotte stated.

  Marianne was in the drawing room. Charlotte took a seat beside her, looking graceful and lovely, if a little pale. Marianne was, as always, an exquisite creature. He imagined Serafina next to them. There was a subtle, but elusive likeness about her, but Serafina’s elfin looks and her haunting brown eyes registered everything she’d ever suffered or felt. The similarity of the sisters, because there was no doubt in his mind now, lay in their intuitiveness, their passion and their need to be loved.

  From upstairs came shrieks of laughter and the whoops of their children, and Adam remembered the gypsy portent. He’d have three of his own making the same noise if she was correct.

  A terrier dog came to sniff at his ankle as he went in. It gave a short bark of greeting as if it remembered his smell, then retired to its basket, content that he’d do no harm to the occupants of the house.

  ‘Marianne, we meet again, how lovely to see you. Charlotte, how are you, my dear, and the baby? It’s James, isn’t it?’

  ‘Oh, I’m well enough, and James is thriving.’ She gave her sister a quick glance and what seemed to be a reassuring smile. ‘It seems ages since you were last here. Would you like some coffee?’

  Her reluctance was like a wall between them. She was delaying the moment, and he wanted to know why . . . wondered even if Charlotte knew why, or was it instinct nudging at her? Adam didn’t intend to be diverted. Charlotte had strength of mind, but he sensed that he held in his hands the one thing that could find the chink in her armour . . . and so did she, because her glance kept going to the parcel he carried. He was glad that Marianne was there beside Charlotte.

  ‘Thank you, but it’s not long since I had a cup of coffee. I want to show you something.’

  ‘So I understand.’ Her eyes went to the parcel. ‘Is that it?’

  He placed it in her lap. She began to unwrap it, then stopped to gaze at him, introducing a little humour into the situation by enquiring, ‘It won’t bite, will it?’

  ‘It’s not alive, but I can’t guarantee it won’t bite, Charlotte.’

  ‘Oh, dear . . . why do I get the feeling that I’m not going to like this.’

  ‘How can you not like it when you don’t know what it is?’ Marianne said. ‘Open the damn thing. I’m dying from curiosity, and I promise I’ll save you from whatever’s in there.’

  ‘It’s a doll,’ Charlotte said, throwing the cloth aside. She looked puzzled. ‘Am I supposed to recognize it? If I am, I’m going to disappoint you since I’ve never seen it before. She unwrapped the scrap of shawl from the object, gazed at it, then put it to one side and began to examine the doll’s clothing.

  He saw her hesitate, then she picked the scrap of shawl up again and scrutinized it. Suddenly her breath hissed between her teeth and the colour drained from her cheeks. Harshly, she asked, ‘Where did she get this from?’

  ‘The doll was given to Serafina by Constance Jarvis when she was six or seven. That piece of shawl was wrapped round it, but Serafina has always had it. She called the doll Charlotte because of the name embroidered on it. Do you recognize it?’

  ‘Of course I recognize it. It’s mine. I embroidered it for the new baby. It was a gift, and it took me ages because I was only just learning to sew.’

  ‘Oh, Char . . .’ Marianne breathed. ‘What more proof do you need?’

  ‘She was dead, I swear,’ Charlotte cried out. ‘I saw it with my own eyes. The baby was lying on the bed, and she was cold . . . so I wrapped her in the shawl and put her in the crib. Then I heard pa coming, he was ranting and raging . . . I hid under the bed. Our mother’s blood was coming through the mattress, just slowly, so each drip congealed before the next.’ She began to tremble. ‘I remember that Pa hit the crib with his fist and the baby began to cry, so I moved into a dark corner between the wall and the wardrobe, where the light couldn’t reach.’

  Charlotte placed her hands over her eyes and Marianne slid an arm around her. ‘Oh Charlotte, how awful for you. You must tell us what you saw, for everybody’s sake.’

  Voice muffled by her hands Charlotte said tremulously, ‘Oh, My God . . . I remember it all now. Pa picked up a pillow and pushed it over the baby’s face. He said . . . he said . . . I’ll see you in hell, you Thornton bastard!’

  Seth went to her. ‘That’s enough, Adam.’

  ‘No . . . it’s not, I haven’t finished,’ Charlotte cried out. ‘Let’s get it settled once and for all. God knows I’ve tried to forget it, but I can’t, Seth. It comes and goes in little snatches, so I have to push it away to stay sane. I knew I’d have to tell someone one day. I want Adam to know . . . I want Marianne to know, and most of all I want you to know, too, even if you despise me afterwards.’

  ‘I’ll never despise you.’

  ‘I tried to run, you see, but pa caught me. He bunched my nightdress in his fist, lifted me off my feet, and he looked at me. His face was dazed and his eyes staring. There was spittle at the side of his mouth. He said, the bastard girl is dead, and she’ll be buried on the heath. If you tell anyone what happened, I’ll kill you and your sister. Marianne will go first, because she looks like the whore I married.’

  Marianne gasped.

  ‘He made me promise on my mother’s blood, saying the devil would take her soul if I told what I saw. When I promised, his eyes cleared and he sent me back to bed.’

  ‘Oh, my poor Charlotte,’ Marianne whispered.

  ‘I locked the door and got back into bed with my sister, but I couldn’t sleep. After a while I heard pa leave on his horse. I crept back to my mother’s room, in case he’d made a mistake and she was still alive. But there was a sheet over her face, and although I watched for the sheet to rise and fall as she breathed, it didn’t. The crib was empty, and I knew he’d taken the baby to bury her on the heath, like he said he was going to. She’s dead, I tell you. Pa smothered her. I saw him do it.’

  Marianne promptly burst into tears. ‘Poor Charlotte, what a burden you’ve been carrying all these years. Why didn’t you tell me all this before?’

  ‘Because I couldn’t remember it all, just bits of it. Seeing that shawl brought it all rushing back.’ Through her tears she gazed ruefully at him. ‘I’m sorry, Adam, but she can’t be our sister, though it would be wonderful if she were . . . you see, our sister is dead.’

  Adam moved to where she sat, and took her hands in his. He thought fast, knowing he must use all his powers of persuasion to make his words credible. He gazed at Seth, who nodded, then he said, ‘Listen to me, now, Charlotte, and I want you to use your reason, not look at this through the eyes and emotions of a terrified child. You as well, Marianne.’

  The two pairs of tear-sodden blue eyes turned his way were hard to ignore. He wanted to grin. The Honeyman women were female with a vengeance. Seth and Nick must consider themselves to be the luckiest men alive.

  ‘No, your father didn’t kill that infant, you just thought he did, Charlotte. On the contrary, you saved your young sister’s life.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘First by wrapping Serafina in that shawl to warm her. Then, when you tried to run from the room you interrupted your father in his moment of murderous passion, and brought him back to his senses.’

  ‘Charlotte always did have a strong mothering instinct,’ Marianne interjected, and taking her sister’s hand into her lap, gently patted it.

  ‘Your fath
er came to his senses because of your intervention. When he rode off it was not to bury the baby’s body. He took the infant to the orphanage at Dorchester and left her there. Constance Jarvis knew where the baby had come from because of the shawl you wrapped her in – the gift you gave your unfortunate infant sister – one embroidered with your name. He may have even handed her directly over to Constance Jarvis.’

  Charlotte made a soft, mewing sound of assent.

  ‘How else would the shawl have come into her possession? Mrs Jarvis intended to bring Serafina up as her own, but she was taken ill when Serafina was quite young. Even so, Serafina has memories of her, and she recognized the house they lived in. Knowing she didn’t have long to live, Mrs Jarvis arranged for Serafina to be raised by loyal servants. Renamed Sara Fenn, she settled happily with them, but when the family perished from a cholera outbreak she was dumped outside a workhouse by a relative. Are you following what I’m saying?’

  Two heads nodded in unison.

  ‘There, her name was misspelled in the register and she became Sara Finn. Somehow she remembered that her first name was Serafina. From the workhouse she went to work as a housemaid to a reverend, then she was offered a position as housekeeper to Mr Leighton. That’s where I discovered her.’

  Charlotte and Marianne gazed at him, then at each other. They exchanged a smile.

  When a knock came at the door Seth opened it a chink. ‘What is it, Annie?’

  ‘Miss Serafina Thornton is here and wants to see Mrs Hardy. She says she won’t take no for an answer.’

  ‘Serafina?’ Adam felt like laughing. Lord, there was certainly a strong streak of Honeyman determination in her. She must have followed him. ‘Of all the times for Serafina to turn up, when I told her to stay at home.’

  Marianne leapt to her defence. ‘Obviously Serafina preferred not to wait any longer, and why should she when she has every right to be here in the house where she was born?’

  ‘Of course she has, but I can’t see her looking like this,’ Charlotte said, drying her eyes on the shawl the doll had been wearing.

  ‘You look wonderful with red eyes,’ Seth said, and along with a grimace, Charlotte hurled a cushion at him.

  Marianne gazed in the mirror and patted the curly tendrils of hair escaping from her bun. ‘You’re not the only one who looks wrecked. Actually, considering all that you’ve been through, Charlotte, it’s a wonder you look so calm and serene. How horrible to have all that on your mind. Why didn’t you tell me? Though come to think of it I’m glad you didn’t, else it would have been on my mind, as well. No wonder you always looked so long-faced and miserable.’

  This time it was Marianne who collected a cushion, and on the bun that she’d just straightened. A lock of dark curly hair fell over her shoulder.

  She turned and winked at him. ‘Adam, dear, you’ve been magnificent. It was so clever of you to work everything out. As for you, Seth, my darling brother-in-law, you are always so solid, and have been a pillar of support, as always. But neither of you are needed now. This moment is for us alone, so . . . shoo!’

  Marianne went to the door and threw it wide. ‘Come in, Serafina . . . welcome home. As soon as you’ve made Charlotte’s acquaintance we’ll go upstairs and you can meet your nieces and nephews and admire them.’

  Adam’s heart went out to Serafina when he saw her, and his eyes were drawn to the white heather pinned to her shawl. She looked so young and anxious as she said, ‘As soon as I realized why you wanted the doll and connected the name on the shawl to Charlotte, I had to come. I was worried for . . . her, and I couldn’t wait any longer,’ Serafina said in her defence as she gazed at him in the doorway. ‘You will forgive me, won’t you, Adam?’

  Giving a faintly exasperated smile, he nodded, then tipped up her chin and gently kissed her before whispering in her ear, ‘I love you.’

  Her smile emerged like a mouse from a hole, cautious at first, then growing in confidence until its luminous beam matched the shine in her eyes. Kissing the tip of her finger she placed it against his lips, a gesture he took as assent as he watched colour wash gently into her cheeks. Her mixture of innocence and mischief was totally mesmerising, her eyes were as wide and as limpid as ancient amber.

  From the corner of his eye Adam saw Marianne and Charlotte gaze at each other and grin, well aware of the effect Serafina had on him. Then the two elder sisters moved close to the third. When they drew Serafina into their arms and hugged her tight, tears pricked at his eyes. Gently closing the door he turned to Seth. ‘I think I just declared myself to Serafina. Do you think anyone noticed?’

  ‘I certainly did, and as for Honeyman women they don’t miss a damned thing. Congratulations, Adam, that was a job well done. I think a cup of coffee strengthened by a dash of whisky might be in order now.’ He nodded to Annie. ‘We’ll be in the study if we’re needed.’

  But they weren’t needed for quite a while.

  Nineteen

  Poole – a year later

  Adam had waited until he could wait no longer.

  Serafina had just turned twenty, and there had been subtle changes in her under the influence of her sisters. She was more graceful, more confident in a social situation, and a little more sure of herself. Her father’s permission had been sought and the best-kept secret in the combined families was about to be revealed in public.

  Having fulfilled the residency requirement, and the bans having been read for three consecutive weeks, Adam now fingered his collar nervously.

  The three men were in the lookout in Nick and Marianne’s spacious new home. Nick was gazing through a telescope at the heath.

  ‘Have they left yet?’ Adam asked him.

  ‘No, but the carriages are outside.’ He moved the telescope down. ‘You’ll never believe this, but there’s a small crowd of people outside the house, gypsies by the look of them.’

  Seth took the telescope from him. ‘Charlotte and Marianne have just left the house, looking like princesses. They certainly know how to put on a show.’

  ‘No wonder . . . Aria hired the best, and most expensive dressmaker in town,’ Nick said gloomily. ‘And she insisted on matching white horses to pull the carriages. It cost Erasmus a fortune, but he didn’t turn a hair.’

  Seth glanced at Nick. ‘I understand that you’re shortly to become a father again.’

  Nick chuckled. ‘Aye. George Honeyman would turn in his grave like a rat on a spit if he knew how well his daughters were managing without him.’

  ‘Here comes Erasmus with Serafina, we’d better get going.’ He handed the telescope to Nick. ‘Now there’s a virginal beauty.’

  ‘Not for much longer. You know, you’re a lucky man, Adam. I wonder if Serafina is wearing those fancy pantalettes that Aria sent her.’

  ‘She won’t be, Nick. Charlotte bought her an outfit to wear on her wedding night. It beats me that you have to pay so much for a few scraps of white satin and lace. I hope you can handle the strings on a corselette, Adam. Let us know if you need a hand.’

  Adam grinned at the thought. ‘You shouldn’t be thinking that way about my bride.’

  ‘Don’t tell us that your manly tongue has never drooled over the thought of our women in flimsy underwear.’

  Adam grinned even more. ‘There might have been a couple of thoughts heading in that direction, but I kept my manly tongue and drool under strict control.’

  ‘Saving it for Serafina, were you?’

  ‘Can I see her?’

  ‘No, it’s unlucky for the groom to see the bride. Erasmus is looking quite the dandy in his new suit. He didn’t hand Serafina over without a struggle, did he?’

  ‘He said we hadn’t known each other long enough, and insisted on a proper courtship. I’ve been back and forth on the London train so often that the train seat is moulded to my backside. How is Erasmus getting on with Charlotte now?’

  ‘They managed to get the name issue sorted out between them without coming to blows. Look, the carriages h
ave just started off.’

  ‘Come on then, we must get there before them,’ Adam said anxiously.

  ‘We will. Seth and I have timed it to the last second.’

  But Adam was already out of the door.

  ‘He’s eager to get himself shackled,’ Nick said, ‘and who am I to argue. It’s not a bad state to be in.’

  ‘I agree.’

  The pair soon caught up with Adam, and the three men strode rapidly towards the church. Marianne had insisted on pale-blue jackets with velvet collars over white waistcoats, and with pale-grey trousers and top hats to match.

  Tall and handsome they drew the eyes of women, but the Honeyman sisters had chosen their mates well, and not one of them had a roving eye.

  It was a fine day for a wedding. The gypsies had seen them off with shouts of good luck and best wishes, and a horseshoe was tied with bunches of heather and ribbons to the back of the carriage.

  Serafina’s happiness was threaded through with nerves. Not about her wedding night, because her sisters had taken on the role of mentors, and had dispelled her fears. She understood exactly why she felt like she did when Adam was around her, and she was looking forward to her wedding night with some eagerness. She was nervous about being the centre of attention, though.

  ‘You look like an angel,’ her father had said before she left the house.

  Her gown was made of chiffon over cream silk. The sleeves and trim were of delicate lace, as was her veil, which was kept in place with a garland of creamy roses. She wore the skirt over stiffened petticoats.

  Erasmus in the seat opposite was humming to himself, but his eyes were on the sea, and she knew that he’d missed it in the past year.

  ‘Are you looking for Daisy Jane?’

  ‘Aye, lass.’

  Leaning forward, Serafina placed her hand over his. ‘I’ll miss you, Pa. We will see each other again, won’t we?’

  ‘Try and keep me away. But neither myself nor the Daisy Jane is ready to retire from the sea yet. Your man will keep you busy, I reckon, and that’s how it should be. I come to London from time to time with cargo, so I can call on you.’