Homecoming Girls
Page 32
There were just three people in Woodsville wanting to travel on to Dreumel’s Creek; the other two were inhabitants of Yeller who had been away on business and were now trying to get back home. One of these was Ted Allen, the other a victualler. Ted Allen introduced himself to Lorenzo and asked him what brought him to Dreumel’s Creek at this time of year.
‘I’m visiting a friend,’ Lorenzo told him, unaware of how small Dreumel’s Creek was in comparison with San Francisco, or that Ted would know everyone who lived there, being one of the first inhabitants.
‘I hope we can get through,’ Ted said. ‘We opened up a track before I left, but it might well have closed again.’
The victualler nodded gloomily and said that he wished now that he had waited until spring before travelling.
‘No use waiting for the weather,’ Ted said. ‘Life and business must still go on. Somebody will keep the track open, but we might have to walk through. The coach, if we can get one, will only go as far as the mountain pass. Does your friend know you’re coming?’ he asked Lorenzo. ‘If he does, he’ll no doubt get a party together to clear a way.’
‘Erm, no,’ Lorenzo said. ‘And it’s a young lady I’m visiting, not a gentleman.’
‘Ah!’ Ted said quizzically. ‘Perhaps I know her? I know most folk in Dreumel. She could even be a friend of my daughter’s. She got wed recently to an Englishman. They went straight off to England and have only just returned home again.’
‘Are you an Englishman, sir?’ Lorenzo asked. ‘I don’t recognize your accent.’
‘I was,’ Ted said. ‘But I’ve lived in America longer than I ever lived in England, so I regard myself as an American now. And you? Italian, are you?’
Lorenzo shook his head. ‘Extraction, yes, but I was born in San Francisco, so I’m an American.’
‘And the young lady you’re visiting? What did you say her name was?’
I didn’t, Lorenzo thought, but I don’t suppose it matters. ‘Jewel Newmarch,’ he said. ‘We knew each other when we were children. Her father, Edward Newmarch, lived next door to us in San Francisco. I don’t remember him, but my mother said he was a fine and generous man.’
Lorenzo felt Ted Allen’s gaze on him intensify. Then Ted took in a breath. ‘I know Jewel,’ he said. ‘And I once knew her father.’
They had to search out a driver willing to take the road to Dreumel’s Creek and they asked several before finding one who would undertake the journey. They paid him twice the normal fare but all three regarded it a necessity and worth the price.
The road was thick with packed snow and Lorenzo wondered how the coach didn’t turn over, but the driver was adept and the pair of greys steady and sure, and six hours later they were headed for what seemed to Lorenzo to be a mountain wall. The driver slowed and then stopped. ‘Can’t go any further,’ he called down to them. ‘I don’t want to get stuck in the valley for a week. This is where we say goodbye.’
But first of all they helped him turn the team and coach round so that he was facing back to Woodsville and his long return journey. Ted Allen offered him refreshment if he would like to walk into the valley with them but he declined and said he’d rather get back. The horses, he said, would be fine knowing they were on their way home.
The three men shouldered their bags and set off through the mountain pass, which had been kept clear as Ted had predicted.
‘Are you staying at the Dreumel Marius?’ Ted asked. ‘They’ll have vacancies, but you can come and stay with me and my wife if you’d care to. It’s a bit further to walk to Yeller. We’ve got a small hotel too, but there’s nothing else much in the town as it was burnt down last year.’
‘Yes, I heard about that,’ Lorenzo said. ‘May I keep my options open, sir?’
‘Sure.’ Ted smiled. ‘You’ll want to know what kinda reception’s waiting for you first!’
‘Yes,’ Lorenzo said hesitantly. ‘I certainly do.’
An hour later they were standing in front of the Marius hotel and on the porch was a man, not too tall but sturdily built, who was gazing out at the creek, which was full to the brink, the water lapping over the edge. He saw Ted and lifted his hand in greeting, and then came down the steps.
‘The creek’s very full,’ he said to Ted. ‘I think we might have to break through the bank into the meadow on the other side to let it flow out. It’ll come on to the road if we don’t.’
Then he noticed the newcomer and gave a smile. ‘How do you do, sir? You’re a stranger here?’
‘I am, sir,’ Lorenzo said.
‘This is Wilhelm Dreumel,’ Ted broke in. ‘Founding father of Dreumel’s Creek. This is Lorenzo Galli,’ he told Wilhelm. ‘He’s come in search of Jewel.’
Wilhelm invited him in, in his customary welcoming manner, and Ted and the victualler went on their way to Yeller. ‘Jewel has spoken of you,’ Wilhelm said, ‘but she didn’t say that she was expecting you. At least not to me.’
‘I wrote to say I’d like to call,’ Lorenzo said. ‘But I didn’t give a time or date, which was just as well because I’ve had a most horrendous journey. I’d no idea that I should encounter such snow! There were times when I thought I’d never get here.’
Wilhelm laughed. ‘You live in San Francisco! My wife remembers you from when you were a child.’
‘Oh!’ Lorenzo suddenly remembered. ‘Of course. It was your wife who took Jewel away to England. How is she, sir? Your wife, I mean.’
‘She is very well indeed.’ Wilhelm beamed. ‘As is our infant daughter. Come, take a seat and rest yourself.’ He led him into a small sitting room and signalled to someone to bring a hot drink and food. ‘Jewel is sitting with Georgiana now to ensure that she rests, and I suspect watching over the baby, Clarissa.’
‘You must be very proud.’ Lorenzo offered his congratulations, thinking despondently that Jewel wouldn’t want to leave this happy family to return with him.
‘I am,’ Wilhelm said, drawing up a chair beside him. ‘We never thought that it would happen.’
When the maid brought hot coffee and bread and chicken, he asked her to slip upstairs and ask Miss Jewel if she would come down. ‘Please just tell her that I wish to speak to her urgently. Don’t say anything about a visitor.’
The girl glanced at Lorenzo and gave a little grin. ‘No, Mr Dreumel. I won’t.’
They heard Jewel’s voice calling to someone on the top landing and Wilhelm, rising swiftly, said, ‘Excuse me a moment. I’ve just remembered that there’s something I must do.’ He headed in the direction of the reception area.
‘Papa! Where are you? Papa?’
From his seat Lorenzo saw Jewel come down the stairs into the hall and look about her. The maid who had brought the coffee appeared and pointed towards the sitting room. Jewel turned to come in and saw Lorenzo, who rose from his chair, almost knocking over the small table which held the crockery.
She stood stock still in the doorway. ‘Lorenzo?’ she whispered. ‘How – how did you get here?’
He walked towards her and held out his hands for hers, drawing her into the room. ‘By railroad. By walking. By coach. Through snow and blizzards. And it was worth every minute of discomfort, every chilblain, each and every frozen finger, every snowdrift and icy blast just to see you again. I’ve missed you so much,’ he added softly. ‘I haven’t smiled since you left, nor uttered any glad word; and yet I couldn’t write what was in my heart. Words on paper were not enough to convey what I feel for you.’
‘Lorenzo!’ she breathed. ‘I’ve missed you too, so much, yet could not be so forward as to say so without some word of affection from you. How could I? It’s not for women to display their feelings, no matter how strong.’
He drew her close and kissed her cheek. ‘That must change immediately, for I want – need – to know what you feel for me. I need to know that you love me as much as I love you. That you’ve thought of me every day since you left me, as I have thought of you.’ He swallowed hard. ‘I cannot wait to mak
e you my wife so that I can show you every day how much I care. Tell me that you feel the same.’
‘I do,’ she murmured. ‘I think I have loved you for ever, and I never knew that you were always there, waiting for my return.’
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
And so, my dearest Clara, I come to the conclusion of my letter. My darling Lorenzo has asked me to be his wife and I have so joyfully accepted; we are to be married in two months’ time here in Dreumel’s Creek. Papa gladly gave his consent and will give me away, and Mama said how strange life is, and who would have thought that all those years ago when she and I left San Francisco and Lorenzo and I both wept at the losing of a childhood friend that we would come together again so happily.
You’ll be pleased to hear that at last I know who I am! I am Jewel Newmarch-Dreumel, born in America of an English father and a Chinese mother, adopted daughter of the dearest parents in the world, and soon to be the wife of a beloved Italian American, who, after our marriage, will take me home to San Francisco, where we will have another wedding. We shall be blessed in St Mary’s Cathedral and I will wear my red Chinese cheongsam in honour of my Chinese mother and family; Pinyin will stand by my other side for my father, Edward Newmarch, and my mother, Chang Tsui.
I wish you could be here with me, my dear Clara, as I also wish that I could be with you when you wed your faithful Thomas in St Mary’s Church in Hull. But we will be together in spirit as we each celebrate our homecoming.
Yours for ever in love and friendship,
Jewel.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Val Wood was born in Yorkshire, where she still lives. Her first novel, The Hungry Tide, was the first winner of the Catherine Cookson Prize for Fiction.
Table of Contents
Cover
Title
Copyright
Dedication
Also by Val Wood
Sources
Map
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
About the Author