‘I had run out of money again but managed to get work on a farm for just my food and milk or water. The old couple who rented it were very poor and disapproved of alcohol. I suppose it helped to clear my head.’ Laughing wryly, he swallowed from a glass of water at the bedside.
‘Jules and Michelle – that’s where I got our baby’s other name from – were very old and practically infirm. They told me they had had four children, all of whom died in childhood. They’d had a tragic life, yet always they were content. They were so close to each other, their marriage was truly like the Biblical “one person”.
‘They knew I was no peasant, and a foreigner, yet even with my secrets they treated me as their own son. As time went on, although I didn’t realise it, they broke down the barriers I’d put up. I asked them why they were always happy. They replied, just a simple trust in God, and love and trust in each other.
‘Michelle knew her man well, and she soon began to know me. She didn’t have to guess I was married, that it was an affair of the heart I was running away from. Eventually, she got the whole story out of me. She asked me if I loved you. I answered, of course I did. Then she asked if there was any reason on God’s earth why I couldn’t trust you. It only took a moment’s thought to say there was not. Michelle made me see it wasn’t you, my love, who was the problem, or the fact that you had kept a secret from me. It was my own petty pride. Stupid.
‘I used to think I was strong, Kerensa, but all the time I had this terrible weakness in me. I couldn’t bear to think I didn’t have total control of my life, of those I loved and those around me. While I wanted so desperately to have had the opportunity to get to know Samuel and see if we could have got on as brothers, I hated him for having the same arrogant proud behaviour as I had myself, and it was that that made me treat you so badly.
‘The truth stung me for days, but slowly I got used to it and one morning I woke longing to come home to you and the children. It was hard to say goodbye to Jules and Michelle, it was comforting and humbling to have had them as sort of foster parents for a few months. I took the first ship back, a French merchantman, working for my fare. The ship was a smuggler and when she met up with her English partner I transferred to her. The captains didn’t care who I was, they gave me no trouble. One day, Kerensa, if it’s possible I would like to go back and repay all the kindness Jules and Michelle showed me. I’d like you to come with me.’
Throughout his narration Kerensa had barely moved. Now she wound her arms round his neck and kissed him tenderly.
‘I would love to go with you. One day it will happen,’ she said, smiling into his soul. ‘Perhaps we could take all the children with us, even Kelynen, whom they don’t know about.’
He hugged her tightly with tears sprinkling his lower eyelashes. ‘It’s no wonder I love you so very much, Kerensa Pengarron.’
He banked down his fierce need to make love. Kerensa sensed he had more to say.
‘What is it?’ she whispered.
‘When I spoke to Clem Trenchard last evening I realised it must have been him who suggested the baby’s name to you. Does this mean you have a need for him, Kerensa? I’m sorry I have to ask this. I just want everything to be clear between us.’
‘Clem and I have a special friendship, Oliver, nothing more, and certainly nothing that can hurt or come between us. The wonderful thing about me having Kelynen in Trecath-en is it made Clem realise he needs and loves Alice. We’ve both let go of the past, I went my different way years ago, and now so has Clem. There is nothing left of the boy and girl we once were. I didn’t take the name Kelynen to hurt you, Oliver, it just seemed right at the time. But we don’t have to call her that, if you would rather change it.’
‘No, leave things as they are. I don’t feel I have the right to come home and change things as if they had never happened. I’ll live no more lies. I can’t say that I trust Clem Trenchard, but I do trust you. Our baby has four names and each one tells a story. Kelynen says where she was born, Michelle where I was living when she was born, Jenifer tells of the aunt who was dying as she began her life, and Ann of brave, devoted Jack who lay beaten as she began her journey into the world. She’s our special baby, to help us remember what we suffered and how we came out of it with our love all the stronger.’
They kissed and clung together, washed on a tide of passion. Of a sudden Oliver stopped.
‘Did you say Rosie Trenchard is getting married?’
‘Mmmm, yes, why?’ Kerensa murmured.
‘I’m glad.’ Oliver leaned on his elbows and smiled. ‘It’s reminded me of something. Tomorrow, my precious love, I’m going to take you up to the oak plantation where I have a little hideout.’
‘Why?’ Kerensa’s voice rippled through the night air on a note of interest.
‘Because there should be some fox cubs I’d like you to see.’
‘Really? Tell me more.’
‘It can wait until tomorrow…’
The Pengarron Sagas
Pengarron Land
Pengarron Pride
Pengarron’s Children
Pengarron Dynasty
Pengarron Rivalry
Find out more
The Harvey Family Sagas
An emotional and unforgettable wartime family saga, following the women of the Harvey Family as they face life’s trials with strength and determination through two world wars.
Touch the Silence
Moments of Time
From a Distance
Never Just A Memory
A Stranger Light
A Whisper of Life
Find out more
First published in the United Kingdom in 1993 by Headline Book Publishing
This edition published in the United Kingdom in 2018 by
Canelo Digital Publishing Limited
57 Shepherds Lane
Beaconsfield, Bucks HP9 2DU
United Kingdom
Copyright © Gloria Cook, 1993
The moral right of Gloria Cook to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781788630702
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Pengarron Pride Page 40