by Dilly Court
‘You do love that boy, I can tell,’ Sophia said softly. ‘Don’t throw away your chance of happiness with a good man.’
‘You’re right,’ Kitty said, shaking her head. ‘And if I have to make a choice then I would put Jem first. But, Sophia, I hate the thought of spending the rest of my life in Tanner’s Passage.’
‘I know, my dear,’ Sophia said, linking her arm through Kitty’s. ‘Betty and I understand more than you think. You must go home now and speak to Betty. She should be the one to tell you.’
Stunned by Betty’s news, Kitty couldn’t speak for a moment. Wavering between tears and laughter she clasped Betty’s gnarled, rheumaticky fingers until Betty drew them away with a protest.
‘It’s true, ducks,’ Betty said, laughing and crying at the same time. ‘Sophia and me have been mulling it over for weeks, ever since we first heard about the Mermaid. We knew it wouldn’t work with Jem and the captain practically living on board the ship and us stuck here miles away. We knew you was pining for the house in Sackville Street and we couldn’t get that back for you, but we come up with something sort of in between.’
‘But you can’t sell this house. It’s your home, Betty. You and Jem love it.’
‘We love you more, ducks.’ Betty fumbled in her pocket for a hanky and blew her nose. ‘It’s done. This house is up for sale, and me and Sophia paid a month’s rent on the house in Flood Street. It ain’t Mayfair but it ain’t too far to Kensington, and if them rich ladies can shop at Harrods, then they can go the distance down the King’s Road to our establishment in Flood Street.’
‘But this is your home. Your memories are all here. I can’t let you do this.’
‘My memories are all in me head and in me heart, Kitty, love. We got this far together and I ain’t going to let you down now just because I’m a selfish old woman.’
‘You’re never selfish,’ Kitty cried, flinging her arms around Betty and hugging her. ‘You’ve been like a mother to me and I love you.’
‘And I love you and so does my Jem. Whatever happens between you two, or not as the case may be, we’re a family, Kitty. We stick together.’ Disentangling herself from Kitty’s embrace, Betty reached on top of the mantelshelf and picked up a key. She pressed it into Kitty’s hand. ‘This is yours, Kitty, love. The key to the future.’
The house in Flood Street was perfect. Kitty loved it from the moment she turned the key in the lock and entered the hallway. It was neither as big nor as grand as the house in Sackville Street; it needed a lick of paint and a bit of imagination to make it the elegant establishment of her dreams, but the building seemed to wrap itself around her in welcome; she felt at home the moment she set foot inside its walls. Having explored every room from the basement kitchen to the top floor, Kitty found Betty and Sophia waiting for her in the front parlour, their faces positively shining with delight at her happiness. She hugged them both in turn.
‘Thank you both, thank you so much. It’s perfect and I love it.’ Kitty twirled around the room, touching the marble fireplace, running her fingers along the dado and coming to stand by one of the tall windows. She experimented opening and closing the wooden shutters. ‘This room is just right for the salon,’ she said, smiling ecstatically. ‘I can see it all in my mind’s eye. We’ll be famous, Betty, you and I; modistes to fashionable London Society. It’s just wonderful. When can we move in?’
‘Whenever you like,’ Betty said, exchanging satisfied smiles with Sophia. ‘The sooner the better.’
‘Oh, no!’ Kitty cried, clapping her hand to her forehead. ‘I’d forgotten Bella. How awful of me. If we leave Tanner’s Passage she won’t know where to find us. We can’t let that woman take Leonie away from those who love her most, we just can’t.’
Two weeks later, with everything in Tanner’s Passage packed and Betty having sent word of their new address to Jem, by way of the New Zealand Shipping Company Offices in Whitechapel, they were ready for the move to Flood Street. But all the while, Kitty waited for news of Bella, growing more anxious as the days passed and Lady Mableton’s threatened deadline approached. Finally, when it seemed that Bella could not have received her frantic messages, Kitty took the only course of action left open to her. She caught the train from Liverpool Street, getting off at Maldon, and then paid a man with a dogcart to take her to Mableton Manor.
If her visit had been for any other purpose, she would have been overjoyed to see Maggie looking so fit, well and, above all, happy. The children had grown almost out of all recognition even in such a short time. They gambolled about her: a flock of spring lambs, healthy, noisy and so full of life that it made Kitty dizzy just to watch them. She sent them off with the bags of sweets that she had brought with her and, when she was certain that they were out of earshot, she took Maggie and Maria aside to tell them the bad news.
Their reactions were much as she had expected. Maggie burst into tears at the thought of losing Leonie, who had become so much a part of her family, and Maria’s temper flared into a white heat. She stamped about the room raging against Bella for abandoning Leonie while she chased her lover halfway across Europe to God knows where. Then she vented her anger on Lady Adeline and Sir Edward. She was a jumped-up farmer’s daughter and he was a lily-livered, spineless, milksop. Leonie was his half-sister and Maria doubted very much whether, under such circumstances, adoption would be legal. In any event, it would be done over her dead body. Maria stomped out of the room, leaving Maggie and Kitty staring at each other.
‘I never thought she cared quite so much,’ Kitty said, shaking her head.
‘She’s a funny one, all right. But I think she feels bad about the way she treated Bella and if she gives Leonie up to the Mabletons, then she’s doing the same thing all over again.’
‘And Bella would be heartbroken. I know she’s silly sometimes and puts herself first, but she does love Leonie and she trusts us to look after her.’
‘You’re right,’ Maggie said, nodding vehemently. ‘We was trusted to care for the nipper and this is her home, she’s happy here and we all love her. She might have everything what money can buy with the toffs in Mayfair but that don’t necessarily bring happiness. You can tell her ladyship from us that Leonie ain’t leaving Mableton Manor. Whatever her faults, Bella is Leonie’s mum, and we ain’t letting her go.’
Kitty laid a hand on Maggie’s arm. ‘You’re a brick, Maggie, and I love you. But the Mabletons are rich and powerful – what if they was to throw you out on the street?’
‘It wouldn’t be the first time now, would it?’ Maggie said, chuckling. She gave Kitty’s hand a squeeze. ‘Lord love us, don’t worry about me, girl. I’m not afraid of nothing now I’m certain that Sid won’t come back and spoil things.’
‘But you love this place, I can tell.’
‘Aye, I do, but bricks and mortar is just that. If I has to, then I’ll make a home for me and the nippers somewhere else. But Leonie owns Mableton Manor, all legal and above board and I don’t think even Sir Edward could argue with that.’
‘I had to warn you all the same.’
‘I knows you did, love, and you done right. We’re happy here and Maria and me have cleaned the house up lovely.’ Maggie hooked her arm around Kitty’s shoulders. ‘Come with me and I’ll show you what we done, though there’s still a lot more to do.’
‘It’s wonderful to see you all settled and looking so well,’ Kitty said, smiling.
‘And it’s going to stay that way. Bugger the Mabletons and their money. We’ll let Maria calm down a bit and then we’ll have a nice family supper, all of us together. We got fresh eggs from our very own chickens and vegetables from the garden. Our Frankie has turned into a proper little green fingers.’
Next day, Kitty said a reluctant goodbye, kissing everyone, even Frankie, who now considered that at ten he was the man of the house and had wanted to shake hands, but gave in after a bit of persuasion, even if afterwards he ostentatiously wiped his cheek on his sleeve. Kitty kissed Billy and C
harlie, although they pretended that kissing was sloppy and copied Frankie by wiping their cheeks on their shirtsleeves, hooting with laughter. Violet and Leonie clung to her, hugging her and begging her to come again soon and Harry, at five, didn’t mind being kissed and cuddled in the slightest.
Maria held out a dry, weathered cheek and allowed Kitty to give her a peck. ‘Goodbye, Kitty. Tell that woman if she sets foot in this place I’ll let the dogs loose on her.’
Kitty nodded, choking back a lump in her throat as she kissed Maggie and gave her an extra special hug. ‘I’ll come again soon, I promise.’
‘You bring Jem with you next time,’ Maggie said, smiling and crying at the same time. ‘And Betty too. Come again soon.’
Steam from the engine blew past the train windows in great, cotton wool clouds and the wheels made a rhythmic clackety-clack sound as they sped over the iron rails. Kitty closed her eyes and let her mind drift to a peaceful dreamlike state. Maggie and the children were well and happy and, if the Mabletons caused trouble, Kitty knew that her sister would fight like a tiger to protect her children, and that included Leonie. The Mabletons may have wealth and power but, Kitty thought with a wry smile, with Maggie and Maria united against them, they would have more than a battle on their hands. Kitty opened her eyes, disturbed by the snores of a portly farmer sitting in the opposite corner of the carriage. His wife nudged him in the ribs, giving Kitty an apologetic smile.
Kitty stared out of the window at the fields flashing past in stripes of brown and lime green, confined by hedgerows covered in white hawthorn blossom, reminiscent of bridal lace; this time it was Jem who filled her thoughts.
Betty had checked with the shipping office when she sent word to Jem, and they had confirmed that the Mairangi was expected to arrive within the week. Kitty’s heart gave a bunny hop inside her chest at the thought of seeing him again. It was something of a shock to realise that her feelings for Jem had slowly, very slowly, been changing. She had directed so much time and effort in pursuing her ambition, and in caring for those around her, that she had never given herself time to examine her own feelings. She must have been blind, so blind that she had not realised that her childish affection for Jem had gradually been deepening into love. Kitty fingered the half of the gold sovereign that was still warm from contact with her body. Jem had always been kind to her, patient and understanding, especially when memories of Sid’s brutal attacks had made her shy away from physical contact. Maggie had been right in putting Sid well and truly in the past. If Maggie and Bella could both move on, then so could she. For the first time, Kitty felt the past slipping back into history where it belonged. She had only to hold out her hand, unafraid, and grasp the future.
Kitty watched the platform of Stratford Station slide away as the train moved on towards Bethnal Green, then it would be Liverpool Street, the end of the line and she would be almost home.
Kitty hefted her overnight bag off the luggage rack as the train came to a halt beneath the vaulted glass roof of Liverpool Street Station. The compartment was empty now, the farmer and his wife having got off way back down the line in Shenfield. Tugging the leather strap to let the window down, Kitty reached out and unlocked the carriage door. Stepping onto the platform, she took a deep breath of the sooty London air; the country was lovely but a bit too green and quiet for her liking. This was where she belonged. With her head held high, she walked briskly along the platform, a fluttery, excited feeling in her stomach, as if a thousand butterflies were flying around inside, ready to burst out in a rainbow of bright colours. A loud whistle and a cloud of steam enveloped her as she went past the huge iron beast of a steam engine and, as the vapour cleared, she saw Jem standing behind the ticket barrier. At first she thought it was a mirage, just wishful thinking, but he stood head and shoulders taller than most of the crowd, his lean, tanned face split with a huge grin.
Slipping past the ticket collector with a wink and a smile, Jem strode towards her, lifting her off her feet and kissing her on the lips with no holding back.
Gasping for air, Kitty was half laughing, half crying as he set her down on her feet.
‘Kitty, you’re a sight for sore eyes,’ Jem said, holding her tightly, regardless of the people milling about them.
‘Jem, I can’t believe it. What are you doing here?’ Kitty cried, holding onto her straw hat, which had tipped over one eye with the force of Jem’s embrace.
‘I arrived home last night, didn’t I?’ Jem said, grinning. ‘And found you’d gone to blooming Mableton Manor. Ma said you’d be back today, so I’ve been here to meet every train since first thing.’
‘Oh, Jem, that’s so like you.’ Kitty wound her arms around his neck, smiling into his eyes. ‘I’m so glad to see you.’
Jem’s eyes darkened and his arms tightened around her. ‘Them’s the words I’ve been waiting to hear. I love you, Kitty.’
Kitty pulled his head down so that their lips were touching. ‘And I love you too, Jem. I really do love you.’ The words came tumbling out like diamond drops, precious and true.
The shadows of the past had slipped away; the future was yet to come. The one thing Kitty knew for certain was that they would face it together.
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Published by Arrow Books in 2006
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Copyright © Dilly Court 2005
Dilly Court has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work
This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
First published in the United Kingdom in 2005 by Century
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 09 949097 5 (from Jan 2007)
ISBN 0 09 949097 8
