Livvy instantly looked shamefaced and rising she crossed to her mother and put her arms about her waist. ‘Sorry, Mum. I deserved that, didn’t I?’
Sunday sighed as she pushed a lock of hair from her eyes, suddenly feeling very old and worn out. ‘Just try and make the best of it,’ she advised and went downstairs to put some of the paperwork she had fetched from the house away in the little escritoire she had brought from the day room. It had been her mother’s and she hadn’t been able to bear to leave it.
Thank goodness you aren’t here to see what’s happened, Mother. It would have broken your heart as it’s breaking mine, she thought as she ran her hand across the intricately inset rosewood lid.
The following Friday was spent transporting the pots and pans, crockery, cutlery and all the last-minute items they wanted to take to the lodge and by teatime they had finished and moved in.
‘I’ll just walk back up to Treetops and make sure everywhere is tidy for Mr Willerby, while the girls put the rest of the things away,’ Sunday told Cissie.
Cissie said nothing. The house was as neat as a new pin as Sunday was well aware but Cissie rightly guessed that she probably just wanted to say her goodbyes to the place. All her happy memories had been made there and Cissie could only imagine how hard it was going to be for her seeing someone else living in what she would always consider her home.
‘I’ll just go an’ check on George while you go in,’ she said tactfully at the top of the drive. ‘I’ll be back shortly, pet.’
Sunday nodded and climbing the steps she walked into the hall. It felt strangely empty, but she was remembering a time when it had rung with the sound of children’s laughter. She only had to close her eyes and she could picture the many children she had loved and cared for racing up and down the corridor when it had been too cold for them to go out to play. She made her way upstairs and stood in the doorway of the room she had shared with Tom. They had been little more than children themselves when they had come here as newlyweds and here, they had grown old together. She crossed to the window and again she could picture them dancing on the lawn in the moonlight on their wedding day. They had been so young and so in love, with their whole lives stretching out ahead of them. Where had the time gone?
Systematically she worked her way through each room seeing in her mind’s eye each of the many children that she and Tom had cared for over the years, and by the time she went down the stairs again her cheeks were wet.
Cissie was waiting quietly in the hall for her and, without a word, she wrapped her arms around her and let her cry on her shoulder.
‘That’s it, pet, you let it all out,’ she muttered soothingly, and it was some minutes before she realised that she too was crying. It was the end of an era.
Chapter Fourteen
The smell of a cottage pie and vegetables cooking wafted around the lodge later that day as Sunday went to the bottom of the stairs and called the girls for their meal. They had spent most of the afternoon putting their clothes away and settling into their rooms, but Sunday was greeted with silence from Livvy’s room.
‘I wonder if she’s dozed off,’ Sunday said to Kathy as she came down the stairs.
‘I’ll go and give her door a knock.’
Kathy turned and climbed the stairs again but when she tapped on Livvy’s door the girl shouted, ‘Go away! I’m not hungry!’
With a frown Kathy opened the door and barged into the room. ‘So, what’s wrong with you?’ she demanded. In truth she was just as upset as the others at having to leave her home, but she didn’t see how feeling sorry for herself was going to help anything.
Livvy was curled into a ball on her bed crying into her pillow and for a moment Kathy felt sorry for her but she hardened her heart and snapped, ‘Mum has spent all afternoon cooking this dinner for us. The least you could do is come down and eat it! Lying there and feeling sorry for yourself isn’t going to get us anywhere. We just have to get on with things and think ourselves lucky. At least we still have a roof over our heads!’
For a moment Livvy didn’t respond but eventually she reluctantly swung her legs over the side of the bed and swiped the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. ‘I know you’re right,’ she sniffed. ‘But I’m going to miss Treetops so much. It’s been our home all our lives.’
Kathy nodded in agreement. ‘Yes it has, but just think how much worse this must be for Mum. She and Dad lived there all their married lives.’
Livvy scowled. She knew Kathy was right. ‘I think the hardest thing for her must be having to come to terms with Ben’s betrayal.’ She shook her head. ‘How could he do this to us? Just go off like that with almost every penny we had.’
Kathy gulped. Even now she couldn’t believe that he wouldn’t come back. He had to!
Once downstairs the girls tried to eat the meal, but the food seemed to stick in their throats.
‘We must be a laughing stock in town,’ Livvy suddenly commented bitterly as she pushed the food about her plate. ‘Fancy being known as the owners of a big posh house like Treetops and then being reduced to living in this!’
‘You should think yourself lucky we’re not reduced to living on the streets,’ Sunday reminded her and Livvy’s eyes widened with shock. It was so unlike her mother to snap at any of them.
‘I … I’m sorry.’ She lowered her eyes in shame, then pushing back her chair she rose from the table. ‘I’ll do the washing-up,’ she told them, hoping to atone for her thoughtlessness.
Sunday meantime bowed her head and once the girls had left the room, she finally let the torrent of tears that had been building inside her gush down her cheeks. This was the start of a new life for all of them and, somehow, they were just going to have to come to terms with it – unless a miracle happened, and she doubted very much that that would come about.
On Saturday large wagons and vans pulled into the driveway laden with Mr Willerby’s possessions and Sunday peeped through the lace curtains to watch them pass. Cissie was there with her sharing a pot of tea and she peeped over her friend’s shoulder.
‘Looks like he’s got a lot o’ stuff,’ she commented.
‘I wonder if I should go along and offer to help?’ Sunday said but Cissie shook her head.
‘You’ll do no such thing. You might have been reduced to living here in the lodge but you ain’t a servant,’ she stated indignantly. ‘Anyway, be the looks of it he’s got more than enough helpers. Let ’em get on wi’ it, that’s what I say. Least till I turn in for me first shift there tomorrow anyway!’
Sunday smiled wryly. Cissie had been her rock throughout the difficult times yet again and she really didn’t know what she would have done without her. At that moment Mr Willerby appeared through the gates driving his motor car, a handsome young man sitting beside him.
‘That must be his grandson,’ Sunday murmured. ‘He’s a good-looking young chap, isn’t he?’
Livvy peeped over her shoulder then with a toss of her head she flounced from the room. She for one certainly wasn’t going to help anyone settle into what she felt was still her home!
Cissie went back to work at Treetops the next morning although now she would only be doing part-time hours. Mr Willerby had brought his own cook so Cissie had agreed to help the maid with the cleaning and she had to admit he had been more than generous with her rate of pay. It had also been agreed that George would continue to work in the stables with Mr Willerby’s grandson and the young groom that Mr Willerby had employed. After all, as he quite rightly pointed out, George knew the horses better than anyone. He had even agreed to Kathy and Livvy keeping their horses there free of charge, so all in all none of them could deny that he had been more than generous.
‘I must say he’s got some nice stuff,’ Cissie informed Sunday as they sat drinking coffee at the lodge following her first day in Mr Willerby’s employ. ‘Though in fairness he ain’t moved much of what you left out o’ the way. An’ Mrs Gay, the cook, is a lovely old soul an’ so is Ed
ith, the maid. They’ve both been with him for years.’
‘And what about the grandson?’ Sunday questioned curiously.
‘Ah, I ain’t properly met him yet,’ Cissie admitted. ‘But he seemed friendly enough. He were just leavin’ to go into town an’ order food for the horses as I got there. He seems to know his stuff when it comes to horses, so I reckon he’ll do well takin’ over the stables.’
Sunday nodded. It was still hard for her to accept that someone else was living in the home where she and Tom had known such happiness, and harder still to think of someone else running the business that Tom had so painstakingly built up, but then she had to grudgingly admit that at least Mr Willerby seemed very kind and friendly. The solicitor had brought her good news as well. It seemed that following the sale of the house, all the debts had been paid and there was still a tidy sum left over, which would at least alleviate any immediate financial worries.
‘So, all in all I reckon things are lookin’ up again,’ Cissie said optimistically as she drained her cup. Then as something else occurred to her she frowned. ‘Though I’ve noticed Kathy ain’t been lookin’ too grand lately,’ she commented.
Sunday nodded in agreement as she poured her friend out another cup of coffee. ‘I’ve noticed too,’ she admitted worriedly. ‘She’s right off her food and I’m sure she’s lost a bit of weight, but then it’s hardly surprising really, is it? She was so close to Ben and with everything that’s happened it’s no wonder she’s looking peaky.’
As she pushed the cup across the table Cissie scowled as she began to spoon in sugar. ‘Hm, yer probably right but I’d keep an eye on her all the same, if I were you. Perhaps suggest she gets herself off to the doctor’s fer a check-up?’
‘I’ll give her another few days for everything to settle down and then if she looks no better, I will,’ Sunday promised, and the two women lapsed into silence as they enjoyed the rest of their break.
‘Aw well, I have to say today’s gone far better than I thought it would,’ George admitted that evening when he joined Cissie in their cottage after he had finished work. ‘Mr Willerby seems a nice enough chap an’ Billy Harper, the young groom he’s employed, is a pleasure to work wi’. He ain’t got that much experience of workin’ with horses as yet but he’s keen as mustard to learn an’ that’s everythin’.’
‘Then as I said to Sunday things might be lookin’ up fer everybody now, wi’ a bit o’ luck.’ Cissie carried a large steak and kidney pie to the table and paused to say, ‘I’d still like to get me hands on Ben though! I swear I’d throttle him wi’ me bare hands if I could!’
‘I understand what yer sayin’ but yer know what they say, pet. What goes round comes round,’ George reminded her as he lifted his knife and fork and licked his lips in anticipation. There was no one could turn out a pie like his Cissie! ‘He’ll get his comeuppance, you just mark my words. Now, get some o’ that pie on me plate afore I faint wi’ hunger.’
With an affectionate smile Cissie did as she was told.
Across in the stables, Livvy was stroking her horse. She had got changed immediately she got home from work and hurried to check that her little mare was all right. Just as her mother had assured her, she found that Willow was quite happy, but then she should have known that George would make sure of that. If asked, Livvy would have been forced to admit that she was nowhere near as mad about riding as Kathy was anymore, but she’d had Willow for some years now and she was very fond of her, so it went sorely against Livvy’s pride that she was now being housed in a stable that no longer belonged to her family.
‘There’s a good girl,’ she crooned as she removed a carrot from her pocket and fed it to the animal as she stroked her silky mane.
‘Ah, hello there, you must be Kathy?’
Livvy started as a voice came from directly behind her and, whirling about, she found herself face to face with a very attractive young man. His hair was thick and dark with a tendency to curl and his eyes were the bluest she had ever seen. He was tall and muscular and dressed in very old clothes.
‘Oh, hello. You must be Billy,’ she answered, assuming he was the groom George was training. ‘And no, I’m Livvy, Kathy’s younger sister.’
‘Ah, well I’m not Billy either,’ he told her with an amused twinkle in his eye. ‘I’m Giles Willerby, the new owner’s grandson.’
The smile instantly slid from Livvy’s face and she deliberately ignored his outstretched hand.
Jumped-up snob, she fumed to herself, who did he think he was? Was he trying to rub salt into the wound? Just because he and his grandfather now owned her home!
She fed Willow another carrot before turning abruptly to tell him primly, ‘It’s very good of your grandfather to allow me and Kathy to keep our horses here, but have no fear, as soon as we can find somewhere else to stable them, we will.’
He frowned. ‘But why would you want to do that? They’re perfectly content where they are.’
She raised her chin and sniffed. ‘But they would be, wouldn’t they? They’ve been born and raised here. But of course, now that we no longer own the place, I wouldn’t dream of imposing on your good nature for any longer than I have to!’ And with that she gave a toss of her head and strode past him without so much as glancing in his direction.
Giles watched her go with a bemused expression on his face. All he could hope was that her sister might be a little friendlier than her. They certainly hadn’t got off to the best of starts, though he couldn’t for the life of him think what he might have said to offend her. But then that was women for you, he thought with a shrug, putting her from his mind as he got on with his work.
Chapter Fifteen
Early in April Kathy emerged from the toilet in the nurses’ staff room at the hospital and leaning heavily on the edge of the sink she stared at her pale face in the small mirror above it. She looked, as Cissie would say, like death warmed up and she felt it too. And now she could no longer deny what she had feared. She had missed her third course and without any doctor confirming it she knew that she was carrying a child – Ben’s child.
Fear gripped her as she thought of the effect this was going to have on her life. Matron would insist she resign the moment she found out and her mother … What would her mother say? On top of everything else she’d had to endure over the last months she would be presenting her with an illegitimate grandchild. Just for a moment panic overwhelmed her and she wondered if she should visit a certain lady who lived on the outskirts of the town, but she dismissed that thought almost immediately. The woman was well known for helping young ladies get rid of unwanted babies but only the year before a girl had been admitted to the hospital after visiting her and it had cost her her life when she had haemorrhaged and bled to death. It had been terrible for Kathy and the staff to have to stand helplessly by and watch the girl die and she knew she would never forget it for as long as she lived.
Sadly, there had been no evidence for the police to link the death to the woman who was responsible and as far as Kathy knew she was still performing the illegal abortions. But no matter what happened, she decided, she would not be one of her victims. She was carrying Ben’s child and despite what he had done she still loved him. And of course she knew that she herself had been illegitimate before Sunday and Tom had adopted her and, after all the children her mother had helped, Kathy knew that if her mother ever found out she’d aborted a child, she would never forgive her.
Her mind went on to thoughts of David and despite the warmth she shivered. He still visited the lodge at least once a week and she still went out with him occasionally. He had been kindness itself to the family since they had left Treetops and she was aware that her mother was expecting them to announce their engagement any time soon. Up to now it had suited Kathy to let her think that – it was better than have her mother keep rambling on about how it was time she and Livvy thought about settling down. How would he take the news? They had never shared more than a perfunctory kiss, but he would
be devastated at her betrayal. Still, that couldn’t be helped now. She must decide what she was going to do, because it was obvious she wouldn’t be able to keep the terrible secret for much longer. The dire morning sickness she had been suffering meant that she had lost weight, but even so, already the waistbands on her skirts were becoming uncomfortably tight and when she had glimpsed herself in the mirror the night before as she got out of the tin bath her slightly swollen stomach had looked out of proportion with the rest of her now skinny frame, which she had thought rather strange, as to her reckoning she could only be a little over three months pregnant. Surely the baby shouldn’t be showing this early? Perhaps she could go away? Tell her mother that she was being sent to work in another hospital for a time? But no, Sunday would want to visit her if she was going to be away from home for any length of time so that wouldn’t work. Panic gripped her then. What was she going to tell her mother? It would be a big enough blow for her to discover that she was about to be presented with an illegitimate grandchild but if she were ever to find out who its father was …
Her thoughts were interrupted when the door swung open and one of the other nurses strolled in.
‘All right, Kathy. Ooh, if I don’t get to the toilet soon, I’m sure I’m goin’ to wee meself.’
Kathy managed a weak smile as the girl shot off into one of the cubicles and after hastily washing and drying her hands she went back to work, not that it would be easy to concentrate.
For Kathy, April passed in a blur of worry. Outside the world seemed to be coming back to life after a long, cold winter. The tender green buds on the trees were unfurling, primroses and daffodils were blooming but Kathy barely noticed them.
Time to Say Goodbye Page 9
