The significance of Elizabeth’s words suddenly struck Jane. Her response came out in a rush.
‘But… But that means you were the person who took me to the orphanage – and that would then mean that my real name is Ruth Ashington.’ She looked at Elizabeth for confirmation.
Elizabeth’s reaction was almost casual. ‘Well, I certainly took a Ruth Ashington to the orphanage,’ she replied with a slight smile.
Jane was not going to give up. ‘I remember being taken there. I remember crying a lot and I also remember I had a doll with a red dress.’ Once again she waited for Elizabeth to confirm what she had just said.
Elizabeth seemed somewhat taken aback by Jane’s statement. She reacted almost excitedly. ‘That’s right. I bought you that doll.’
The facts were seeping into Jane. Here was virtual proof that her real name was Ruth Ashington. But why, and how? The questions still raged through her thoughts. It seemed to her that it was ages before she was able to respond to Elizabeth. When she eventually spoke, it was slowly and calmly.
‘That does really make it appear as if I am Ruth Ashington, but can you tell me a little bit more about my early life? Can you tell me about my parents? What were they like?’
Elizabeth seemed to be quite happy to talk about this subject. She took a moment, clearly recalling a time past, and then started to chat quite freely. ‘I never knew your father. You were a baby when I was employed by Miles and Ann Ashington to look after you.’ She interrupted herself to explain. ‘You see, dear, I obtained the job through an employment agency in Bristol.’
Jane thought for a few seconds. She remembered something else she wanted to say to Elizabeth. ‘A friend of mine, who is helping me with my family history, has discovered that Ann Ashington was married to somebody called Henderson. I could be from that marriage.’
Elizabeth’s reply was brief and vague. ‘I never heard anything about that, dear.’
Jane decided to change the subject. ‘Can you tell me something about Ann Ashington – my mother?’ she asked.
Elizabeth thought for a moment. ‘She was a very reclusive person, so strange in a young woman. She was incredibly wealthy, yet she lived alone in a huge house with just a few servants around her. She didn’t seem to have any social life.’
‘What about me? How did she come to have me?’
Elizabeth gave a little laugh. ‘That puzzled everybody. Apparently she disappeared for a few months and then reappeared with a baby. Certainly no explanation was given to anybody I knew.’
‘Did she like me? Was I a wanted child?’ Jane asked.
Elizabeth shook her head. ‘It never appeared so. She hardly came near you. She left everything to me. It was quite odd, really.’
There was a few moments’ silence between them, Jane trying to absorb what she had just been told, and Elizabeth waiting for a response from her.
It was Elizabeth who spoke first. ‘I’m sorry if what I’m telling you is upsetting, dear,’ she said kindly.
Jane forced herself to give a reassuring smile. ‘I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m trying to take everything on board. There still seem to be so many unanswered questions… That is…’ she paused for a second. ‘That is, if I am Ruth Ashington.’
Elizabeth was very sympathetic. ‘I’m dreadfully sorry I have to relate all this to you. It must be very stressful for you, but if I can help in any way, I will.’
Jane smiled at her again. ‘Thank you. That’s really very sweet of you.’ She thought for a few seconds and then asked the question that was uppermost in her mind. ‘Can you tell me how I came to be in the orphanage?’
Elizabeth responded quickly. ‘That was Miles Ashington.’
‘How does he fit in?’
Elizabeth fiddled with her teaspoon in the saucer. She appeared to be thinking deeply. There was a brief silence before she answered. As she spoke, she gazed at the cup and saucer she was holding.
‘I understand that he appeared when you were still a baby. Apparently quite suddenly Ann introduced him as her husband and he became the master of the house.’
‘Just like that? There was no previous knowledge of him?’ Jane was puzzled.
Elizabeth shook her head. ‘Certainly none that I and the other staff knew about,’ she replied, looking at Jane again.
Jane remembered another question she wanted to ask. ‘How come he was called Ashington as well?’
Elizabeth shook her head. Her reply was vague. ‘I don’t know. I did hear once that he was a distant cousin of the family.’ She added, ‘I know some people thought he had married her for her money.’
‘Perhaps he did,’ suggested Jane.
Again Elizabeth shook her head. ‘I don’t think so. They appeared to be very much in love.’
‘But what about my mother?’ Jane was determined to glean as much information as possible from Elizabeth.
Elizabeth readily continued. ‘A few months after her marriage to Miles she became pregnant. Sadly, she lost the child and after that she always seemed to be ill. She became quite depressive and at times suicidal, I believe.’
‘And Miles – how did he cope with that?’
Elizabeth smiled at the recollection. ‘He was always so supportive and caring. He was a charming man. He was quite distraught when Ann died.’
‘When was that?’
‘You were only two at the time,’ answered Elizabeth.
Jane returned to her original question. ‘But the orphanage,’ she asked. ‘How did I get there?’
Elizabeth answered her immediately. ‘I looked after you for a while and then Miles Ashington felt that it would be better if you spent some time with other children, so it was arranged that I would take you there.’
She looked at Jane with a mixture of affection and sadness. ‘I was very sad. I had grown so fond of you.’
‘I remember that day. I know I cried for a long time and everything was very strange.’ A feeling of sadness came over Jane. It had not been a pleasant time in her life. Her memories of the event prompted another question. ‘But I was there for years and years. Nobody came near me. I thought I really was an orphan with no family.’
‘I left the employment of Miles Ashington immediately after that,’ replied Elizabeth. I had no idea what happened to you. I didn’t see my sister very often, and she never talked about the orphanage when we did meet.’
Elizabeth finished looking at Jane, almost as if she required Jane’s forgiveness, in spite of sounding almost defensive during her explanation.
The sadness continued to cloud over Jane. ‘Did you never think about me?’ she asked softly.
Elizabeth was eager to answer. ‘Well, you see, dear, just after that I met my future husband. We got married and moved to London and I’ve been here ever since.’ Elizabeth smiled at Jane. ‘Are you married, dear?’
Jane shook her head. ‘I was married for a short time, but my husband died.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, dear.’ Elizabeth looked quite concerned.
‘Can you tell us what happened?’ It was Mrs Browne who asked the question.
Jane was surprised to hear her speak. So far she had not joined in any of the conversation. She turned to her. ‘Graham was killed in a plane crash,’ she replied.
Exclamations of sympathy came from the two women, but Jane felt no desire to elaborate and was glad that Elizabeth then changed the subject.
‘I hope what I’ve told you has been of some help, dear.’
Jane did her best to shrug off the melancholy she now felt. She forced a smile. ‘It’s been quite helpful. Thank you very much for seeing me.’
‘Oh, I’m so glad, dear. If there is anything else you want to know, I’ll try and help.’ Elizabeth sounded as if she meant it.
Jane suddenly thought of something else. ‘There is just one thing – Miles Ashington. What happened to him?’
Elizabeth seemed quite surprised. She looked at Jane almost with amusement. ‘My dear! Didn’t you know? He’
s quite well known.’
Jane struggled to comprehend. Then the penny dropped. ‘You mean…’ she stuttered. ‘You mean he’s the businessman and celebrity who’s often in the news?’
Elizabeth smiled. ‘Yes, of course.’
Jane was struggling to remember something. Suddenly it came to her. She voiced her recollection, though it was almost as if she were talking to herself.
‘Now I remember! Just after I joined DiscerningWoman, we did a two-page feature on him. I wasn’t involved myself, but apparently he was very charming.’
Elizabeth and her neighbour nodded as if in agreement. The conversation stayed on Miles Ashington for a while, particularly in respect of his public life, which the two women seemed to have gleaned from the media.
After refusing a second cup of tea, Jane took her leave, explaining that she had only taken a few hours off work to be there. Mrs Browne shook her hand and expressed her pleasure at meeting her, and Elizabeth showed her to the door. Jane thanked Elizabeth again and gave her one of her business cards, with the request that she contact her if she recalled anything else she thought might be useful to her. After a handshake and a rather formal kiss on the cheek from Elizabeth, she went on her way.
*
Elizabeth Barton was worried about Jane’s visit. It was something she had not expected to happen, but on the whole she felt that she had handled things very well. Nevertheless, she felt perturbed. After Jane left, Beth wanted to chat, and Elizabeth indulged her, even to the point of making another pot of tea. When Beth eventually departed, Elizabeth became more and more agitated. She tried to take her mind off things by doing the washing up, and then she glanced through the copy of Discerning Woman Jane had given her, but it was no good – trying to read it only increased her concerns even more. She knew what she had to do, but she found it difficult to accomplish the task. She picked up the old exercise book she kept all her telephone numbers in and searched its pages for the number she knew was there somewhere. She found it in the end, almost obliterated by the dog-ears at the bottom of the pages. She picked up the telephone several times and replaced it. At last she found the courage to initiate the call she had never anticipated she would have to make.
Chapter 25
Back in the office, Jane found it hard to concentrate on her work. The information that she had received from Elizabeth made her both sad and preoccupied with her past. She had desperately wanted to find out about her ancestry, but now that she was a step nearer to finding out her true name, she found it difficult to relate to the circumstances of her early life. From what Elizabeth had told her it certainly looked as if she was born into the Ashington family, but rather than simplifying things, that discovery seemed to bring up more unanswered questions. Why the secrecy over her birth? Why did Ann Ashington, who was apparently her mother, not want to acknowledge her? Why had her name been changed in the orphanage records? The questions whirled around in her head. On top of that was the problem of her new identity. How was she to prove that? And what would happen then? Would she have to go to some record office and say ‘I’m not Jane Carroll any more – I’m now Ruth Ashington’? And where did the Henderson bit fit in? It was all too complicated to work out.
At last it was half past five, and Jane was relieved to leave the office and make her way home. Usually it was Amy who left first, but tonight Jane felt that she needed time and space to be on her own. Even the journey home she did automatically, scarcely noting what was happening around her. She picked up an evening paper, but it failed to hold her interest until she found a page relating to a gala night that had been held the previous evening. One photograph immediately grabbed her attention. It was of a white-haired elderly man with a much younger woman on his arm. Both were in evening dress, the woman in an extremely revealing gown and rather high heels. The caption identified the couple as Miles Ashington and his wife Gail. Jane stared at the photograph. Am I really related to that family? she asked herself. It seemed hard to believe.
It was almost half past six when she reached her apartment. She followed her usual routine of kicking off her shoes and changing out of her business suit into a more casual shirt and jeans. Somehow this evening she could not even stir herself into making a meal. She made do with a tin of soup she had bought ages before as a standby. After washing up the dirty utensils, she made herself a mug of tea and wandered into the lounge. She stretched full length on the settee, clasping the mug and relaxing back into the cushions. Her mobile was close at hand on the coffee table. She knew there were several phone calls she should make. She had to ring Bob to let him know what had happened on her visit to Elizabeth. Then there was Gerald. She had also promised to keep Lucy up to date on what was happening. She felt she had to contact all three that evening, but just for the moment it was nice to sit quietly and go over the events of the day.
It was a good half-hour later that she phoned Gerald. It was Anna who answered. Gerald was out for the evening and wouldn’t be back until late, but would Jane like to come and wait for him? Jane declined the offer, explaining that she was rather tired that evening. Of course Anna wanted to know all about her visit to Elizabeth, and Jane did her best to explain without going into too much detail.
Anna’s reaction to learning that Jane was most likely a member of the Ashington family was rather amusing. ‘Goodness!’ she exclaimed. ‘Coming from a wealthy family like that you could be worth a fortune.’
The comment made Jane laugh. She had never thought of that. She conversed politely for a few minutes with a chatty Anna and then managed to extricate herself.
She also phoned Lucy, but Lucy’s husband answered. Lucy was also out for the evening, but he agreed to let her know that Jane had called.
Jane clicked off her mobile and lay back on the cushions. It was too early to phone Bob. He would most likely not be home yet. She knew he was working in London that day.
The sound of her mobile ringing awoke her with a start. She grabbed it, at the same time stealing a quick glance at her watch. She had been asleep for over an hour.
‘Hello.’
‘Hi. It’s Bob.’
Jane was embarrassed and apologetic. ‘Darling, I’m dreadfully sorry. I intended to ring you, but I fell asleep.’
‘Ah, that’s the high life at the weekend catching up with you.’
Jane could sense Bob laughing as he said it. ‘When can we do it again?’ she joked breezily.
‘Any time,’ he quipped. Then he became more serious. ‘How did the meeting with Mrs Marshall’s sister go?’ he asked.
‘She was quite sweet really, but from what she said…’ Jane paused. ‘Well, it looks as if I am Ruth Ashington, though we still don’t know how the Henderson bit fits in. I might even be a Henderson.’
‘Tell me more.’
Jane related in as much detail as she could remember her conversation that afternoon with Elizabeth. Bob interrupted from time to time to ask a question.
‘The problem as I see it,’ concluded Jane, ‘is to get some proof.’
‘That will be the next step,’ replied Bob.
‘But how?’ she asked.
As usual Bob was logical in his review of the subject. ‘There’s got to be someone somewhere who can vouch for your birth. A midwife or hospital, or even somebody who knew Ann Ashington well,’ he explained.
‘Hmm. I suppose so.’ Jane was still unsure.
Bob was quick to recognise her concern. ‘Don’t worry. We are making progress. It’s only a matter of time before we crack everything.’
His encouragement made Jane feel better. ‘I’m a bit of a misery, aren’t I? I’m sure you’re right.’
‘Absolutely.’
While she was speaking to Bob, something occurred to Jane. She was immediately prompted to voice her thoughts with a mixture of concern and humour.
‘Bob, I just had a thought.’
She waited a second for him to respond.
‘I’m all ears,’ he chipped in.
Ja
ne smiled as she formulated a reply. ‘Well, I was just thinking. That beautiful ring you gave me at the weekend. You gave it to Jane Carroll. Now it seems you may have given it to Ruth Ashington. How does getting tied up to a Ruth Ashington grab you?’
Bob chuckled. ‘I think that’s the best idea I’ve heard in years,’ he said. ‘Coming from a family like that you must be a very wealthy woman. I can’t go wrong.’
Jane took up the humorous tone. ‘Of course if I’m so wealthy I’ll have to review my options. There could be more eligible men out there, more suitable for my status.’
She heard Bob sigh.
‘I know. It’s a hard life for a mere male these days.’
It was Bob who brought their conversation back to a more serious level. ‘I’ve just had a thought.’ There was a slight pause. ‘I think you – or we – should contact Miles Ashington. After all, he was married to Ann Ashington. He must know something about you.’
The suggestion immediately excited Jane. ‘Of course! Why didn’t I think of that? You’re quite right. He must know something.’
‘Have a go. Try and contact him,’ Bob encouraged.
‘I will.’
Jane was taken up with the idea, but already uncertainty was creeping in. ‘But do you think he will talk to me? I mean, he’s such a well-known person, and so busy. I don’t know if he’ll want to be bothered with such a trivial matter.’
‘Have a try. It’s not so trivial. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.’
Jane was thinking again. ‘I’ve just thought of something else. Just about the time I joined Discerning Woman they were doing a feature on Miles Ashington. We must have the files somewhere, and there must be some contact details.’
Another doubt surfaced. ‘Of course, it was over three years ago, so everything may have changed.’ She spoke almost to herself.
‘It’s a starting point,’ urged Bob.
‘OK. I’ll make it tomorrow’s job to dig out the old files and see if there is a phone number or address for him,’ replied Jane with conviction.
The Golden Anklet Page 23
