Bartholomew looked at the flag fluttering in the wind on top of the castle on the Mount, across the causeway. ‘Surely not the St Aubyns? They’re in residence, but they have no business with us, have they?’
‘Of course not,’ Jenifer smiled.
‘When are these visitors supposed to be coming?’ Hannah asked, rather impatiently. ‘Have I got time to see to my hair?’
Jenifer glanced at the carriage clock ticking gently on her bedside table. It was two minutes to ten o’clock.
‘They’ll be here any minute now, and your hair is fine, Hannah.’
‘Oh, Mother, if you don’t tell me I shall burst at the seams,’ Naomi squealed; she was also inclined to be dramatic.
‘No, let’s wait and see, let it be a surprise. I love surprises,’ said little Cordelia, and that decided the issue.
At a quarter past ten the younger children began to get restless and Bartholomew was pulling at the window sash when feet were heard coming up the stairs. Everyone held their breath at the tap on the door, and Mrs Parkin, the housekeeper, who looked quite overcome, announced the visitors and quickly departed.
‘We do apologise for our late arrival,’ Oliver said in a grim voice. ‘Unfortunately we were delayed on the road on the way here. The constable was there with some men, clearing away a body. I’m afraid that someone has been murdered.’
‘Oh, not another one,’ Bartholomew said, then remembering his manners he very humbly shook the hand Oliver was offering him.
Immediate concern fell upon Kerensa.
‘What a dreadful shock for you, my dear,’ Jenifer said weakly.
‘Please, Lady Pengarron, do have this chair over here by Mother. Can I get you anything?’ Hannah said, bobbing a curtsy.
‘I’m quite all right,’ Kerensa said, taking the seat and smiling lightly to reassure the company and to stop Bartholomew who was bent on pulling the bell rope for Mrs Parkin to fetch goodness knows what. ‘I didn’t see anything. I stayed on my pony and said a little prayer for the deceased.’
‘Are you sure you are all right though, my dear?’ Oliver was at her side.
Jenifer halted the rush of over-protectiveness. ‘I think the experiences Lady Pengarron has undergone in recent times will have enabled her to cope quite ably with almost anything.’
‘Jenifer is right. Shall we talk of something else?’ Kerensa said firmly.
It was time for introductions and Oliver shook the hands of all the assembled company. Then Luke’s condition was asked after and reported, and the Drannock children waited, respectfully agog, to discover the reason behind this visit from the Lord and Lady of the Manor.
But first Oliver took Bartholomew aside and asked, ‘Did I hear you say “another one”? Have there been other murders of this kind?’
‘Yes, I’m afraid there have,’ Bartholomew answered. And the two men put their heads together so the women and children were spared the gory details.
‘Dear God,’ Oliver said. ‘I saw something of the kind the day I sailed away. How many have there been since then?’
‘This will make five, some men, some women. All lowlife, drunkards, prostitutes and the like, so no one’s been really that bothered about it. I must say I find it rather chilling.’
‘And so do I. It was assumed the three rogues who attacked Her Ladyship and Jack were responsible, but they’re tucked away in gaol so they had nothing to do with this one.’
‘Well, I’ve a belief it could be a sailor coming in and out of port. There’s a long interval between the murders, then usually more than one at a time. You see some rough types abroad in the town.’
‘I think we should keep an eye on our families until the villains are apprehended, Bartholomew.’
The youth was pleased and honoured to be taken into the confidence of the baronet, to be spoken to man to man, as one head of a family to another, almost as a friend, or…
Bartholomew’s eyes opened wide and he blurted out, ‘I know why you’ve come here today.’
Jenifer let out a small gasp. ‘Bartholomew! Where are your manners? That is no way to speak to Sir Oliver.’
But Oliver was amused by the youth’s perceptiveness. ‘Yes, I rather think you do.’ He glanced at Kerensa and raised his brows lightheartedly then looked at his attentive nieces and nephews.
‘Shall we all sit down and let your brothers and sisters in on our secret, Bartholomew?’
Jenifer had asked Mrs Parkin to put extra chairs in the room and Oliver waited for the older girls to sit in a row next to Kerensa. Their eldest brother sat on the wide window ledge where he was joined by Charles, while Jack and Cordelia climbed up to nestle by their mother. He had a sea of faces all looking at him.
Jenifer was ravaged by the malignancy that was sapping her life, but she looked strangely content. She cuddled her two youngest but held on to Kerensa’s hand and he knew the revelations he was about to impart would have the same effect on Jenifer as if she was about to set out on an exciting journey. Hannah and Naomi, aged fifteen and sixteen, looked something of what Jenifer had as a girl, fair, medium build, good figures, and with their mother’s influence they held themselves well. Charles was eleven years old now, he had Samuel’s moody countenance but owned a good sense of humour. Jack and Cordelia were most like Bartholomew to look at, and thus most like their Pengarron relations.
‘Well, shall I tell them or will you, Bartholomew?’ Oliver asked his nephew.
Heads all turned to Bartholomew, but suddenly overcome with embarrassment he motioned the task back to Oliver.
‘Your brother,’ he spoke to the others, ‘as you probably know, has for years, on the strength of his physical resemblance to me, wondered whether he might have Pengarron blood in him. I know that he has even made some inquiries into the possibility.’
Bartholomew coloured but gave his two grown-up sisters a superior look.
‘The truth of the matter is that he has, and not only him, but all of you have. My father, Sir Daniel Pengarron, was in fact the father of your father, Samuel, not Caleb Drannock. You are all Sir Daniel’s grandchildren and my nieces and nephews.’ Oliver looked from face to face. The younger ones just stared at him, not really taking it in. Naomi and Hannah were obviously stunned and Bartholomew beamed all round the room. Jenifer smiled confidently and Kerensa took Naomi and Hannah’s hands.
‘I hope you will welcome joining the family,’ Kerensa said encouragingly.
‘But it’s incredible,’ said Naomi, dramatically waving her other hand about. ‘Us! Related to you, Your Lordship.’
‘I’m rather hoping you will call me Uncle Oliver,’ Oliver replied, coming across the room and standing in front of her and Hannah.
‘But you don’t have to acknowledge us, Sir Oliver,’ Hannah said, meeting his eyes squarely. ‘We know all about gentlemen having illegitimate children. We don’t expect you to feel obligated. It’s just one of those things, as folk do say.’
‘But I want to acknowledge you, my dear,’ Oliver returned, ‘and not just privately. I want to announce you as my kin, and I’m hoping you will all agree to my doing so. I also want any of you, at any time you may desire it, to come and live at the manor house on equal standing with my own children. There are plenty of empty rooms, plenty of space to be yourselves if that is what you want.’
Cordelia tugged at Oliver’s coat. ‘Are you really my uncle, Mr Sir?’
Oliver laughed and lifted her up into his arms. She was as light as a feather and stared at him uncertainly from large dark eyes.
‘Yes, young lady, I am your uncle. Ask your mother, she knows all about it.’
‘All that Sir Oliver has told you is completely true, my dears,’ Jenifer said, and in a breathless voice she filled her children in on all the details.
‘But Mother,’ Charles spoke up, his face screwed up anxiously, ‘if we’re not really Drannocks then the money great-uncle Obadiah left doesn’t actually belong to us. We’re not entitled to it. The rightful heirs will have
to be found and we’ll have to give everything back!’
‘No you won’t. Have no fears about that, Charles,’ Oliver said quickly. ‘There is no such person as Obadiah Drannock. It was I who arranged to have that money sent to you. As I was away at the time I wanted to be certain you’d accept your “inheritance” so I invented a great-uncle for you.’
‘You did that?’ Bartholomew exclaimed and blew a short whistle. ‘I never guessed it, it never crossed my mind.’
‘Well then, you don’t know everything,’ Jack said cheekily.
‘Are you my aunty then?’ Cordelia chirruped, wriggling towards Kerensa and holding out her arms. Oliver passed her over, and Jack, who missed having his father about, plucked up his courage and shyly held up his arms to his uncle. Oliver cheerfully obliged.
‘I hope all of you are happy with what I have told you,’ Oliver said. ‘Your Aunt Kerensa and I will be glad to have you over to the manor to spend the day as soon as your cousin Luke is well again.’
‘I don’t think any of us have any objections, but it takes some getting used to,’ Hannah said, and tears were forming in her eyes.
Bartholomew looked out of the window and wondered how the good people of Mount’s Bay would view him now. ‘I always knew it,’ he murmured.
‘I would like you and Charles and Jack to receive a proper education,’ Oliver said, joining him and holding up Jack so he got an excellent view of the people milling about below. ‘And I’ll ensure Hannah and Naomi make good marriages.’
‘Thank you… Uncle. After that I want to travel,’ Bartholomew went on, his voice low, ‘all round the world. But what about the time when Mother has gone, what about little Cordelia? Could she, and the boys, when they’re not at school, come and live with you? I’d like to keep this house open as a base for us all to return to, somewhere to come back to and remember Mother.’
‘It will all be done, Bartholomew,’ Oliver answered, falling into Bartholomew’s quiet, serious mood.
‘But what will your children think about us?’ Charles asked, adding himself to the male gathering and standing importantly with his hands clasped behind him. ‘Will Masters Kane and Luke and Miss Olivia want to have anything to do with us? We might have come into money and live in a big house but most of the gentry folk still think we’re beneath them and make no bones about it.’
‘My children will accept you as their equals, have no worries on that score, Charles, and my servants will treat you as Pengarrons too,’ or I shall have something to say about it! Oliver thought privately. ‘As for the gentry, you will find some will always spurn you, but they are of no consequence. The others will fall over themselves to have society with you. I will make each of your brothers and sisters, and you, a person of position and high standing.’
‘Sounds some exciting,’ Charles said, puffing out his chest.
Bartholomew’s was already well puffed out. ‘You can say that again, brother.’
Kerensa sat and watched the roomful of happy, excited faces. Oliver and his new male kin were conversing like equals already. Naomi and Hannah laughed and chattered about the new social life they were going to be able to take part in. Cordelia, too, had caught some of the new vitality pulsing in the room but she was content to sit on Kerensa’s lap and receive a long cuddle.
‘I was going to ask if all is well with you, my dear,’ Jenifer said to her in her weak voice, smiling more than she had since Samuel had died, ‘but I can see your contentment, it’s clearly written all over your lovely face.’
‘I don’t care how silly or sentimental it sounds, Jenifer,’ Kerensa smiled from deep within and gazed at the tall dark man talking to Jenifer’s sons, ‘but you could say my paradise has come home.’
Jenifer followed her gaze. ‘And if I am any judge, he’s here to stay for ever.’
Kerensa sat quietly. She was tired from her months of heartache, the events of those months, Kelynen’s birth and Luke’s accident. But Oliver was home and she would never have to bear anything alone again. Here he was, not only back from a long absence but from the hurts of the past, and with an enlargement of the family that meant so much to him.
Jenifer grew pleasantly sleepy. She let herself drift away, and soon she would not fight to come back. She could die content, knowing that she had taught her children their manners and the etiquette of society. They would have little trouble mixing in genteel company and while Samuel had rejected the idea that he belonged in it, his children would take their rightful places. And she was glad that they would have opportunities their father had refused.
* * *
‘Bartholomew and the others took the news very well,’ Kerensa said, reaching over the bed and retrieving a pillow that had fallen on the floor.
‘Mmm, they did,’ Oliver agreed in a husky voice.
‘Why are you smiling like that?’ she asked pertly.
‘Why do you think?’
She pretended modesty by covering herself with the sheet. ‘Anything else?’
‘I’m just very, very happy, my dear. Luke is much better, Kane and Olivia are happy to have me back home, my baby daughter is as beautiful as her mother and Bartholomew took the news just as I hoped he would.’
‘I wasn’t surprised,’ Kerensa said, hammering the battered pillows into shape and lying back on them. ‘I had a few words with him back along and he’s grown up since and seen sense about a lot of things.’
Oliver chuckled, and catching her chin turned her head to look at him. ‘My wife, the wise woman of West Cornwall. You spoke to Bartholomew while I was away, I presume.’
‘No, actually it was a day or two before you left. I had reason to believe he was about to seduce Ameline. As she was under our care I decided something ought to be done about it. I was also concerned with the way he was neglecting Jenifer and the children.’
‘You are a brave little thing.’ He kissed the tip of her nose. ‘Fancy a little bit of a thing like you taking on a strapping youth like Bartholomew.’
Kerensa kissed the tip of his nose and said teasingly in a superior voice, ‘Perhaps you big brave men should stop looking on your women as “little bits of a thing” and realise just how tough and intelligent we are. And anyway, you’re all little boys deep down when your thick skin is rubbed away.’
‘Is that how you thought of me a few moments ago?’
The dangerous gleam was back in his dark eyes and she lowered her eyelashes provocatively. ‘Not… exactly…’
‘I still pride myself on some things even if I have changed a great deal,’ he laughed at himself.
Kerensa moved to face him fully. It was time to be serious. ‘A lot of things have changed here, Oliver. We have another child and we’re going to have to help Luke grow up and cope with a possible disability. Ameline is contentedly married to James Mortreath. Rosie Trenchard is to marry Matthias Renfree very soon. But I want to know how you have changed. Can you tell me? Some of it? All of it? Or do you just want us to forget all the bad things that have happened and make a fresh start?’
Oliver let his hands fall away from Kerensa and clasped them on his firm stomach. ‘We won’t be able to have a completely fresh start if I don’t tell you all about my months away and I want you to know everything, my love. My story is quite simple. I couldn’t come to terms with myself or my reaction to learning about Samuel until I got away on my own. So I sailed with Hezekiah, leaving the Free Spirit at Roscoff. In France Hezekiah passes as a Frenchman, as you know. I had to be very careful, I didn’t want to run the risk of being executed as a spy or putting Hezekiah into any danger. So from there, so as not to be conspicuous, I wore peasant clothes for the journey to— You’re frowning, Kerensa. What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing is wrong, dearest, but it can’t be easy to go unnoticed when you’re six feet, five inches tall, broad-shouldered, dark-featured – and exceedingly handsome.’
‘Well, yes, all right,’ Oliver conceded lightheartedly. ‘I don’t know about the handsome bit but I did
occasionally attract attention. I moved on, working for my food and passage until I arrived at Dettingen in the Low Countries.’
‘The place where Arthur Beswetherick died in battle…’ Kerensa said softly.
‘I needed to lay Arthur’s ghost. You were right about that. I stood on the very spot where nineteen years ago he was hit in the throat by a splinter of metal that had shirred off a wagon’s wheel.’
‘My dear Oliver, was it very awful?’
‘Much less awful than what you were going through at the same time, but yes, it was painful to visit the place the field hospital had been. To go back over every minute as I watched his lifeblood ebb away while the Army surgeon was too drunk to be of any use at all.
‘I camped out for days in the place where he was buried beside the river. There is no mass grave as is the custom when burying the military dead after battle. Ironically there was only one man killed in my regiment at the battle of Dettingen – my friend Arthur.’
Kerensa knelt up on the bed and hugged Oliver to her breast. ‘It seems all the more terrible for that.’
‘The King, the old King, had led us into battle. He was grieved when the news reached him. He sent his personal condolences to Martin and Lady Ameline, but it’s hard to take the death of a youngest child… the death of your only close friend.’
Oliver pulled Kerensa down so he could hold her. ‘I stayed there and mourned Arthur until I felt a sense of peace. Sometimes it was as if he was there with me, telling me to forget him, to go on with my life, and then… then I had to work out my feelings for you. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life. I wandered about the countryside like a lost soul, moving from village to village, from country to country, keeping away from people except to buy food and wine. I ended up in Brittany where there was so much to remind me of my own beloved county. It was there, my precious love, that I began to get things straightened out in my mind.
Pengarron Pride Page 39
