The Tulip Girl

by Margaret Dickinson

  Softly, hesitantly, for she had the feeling that the stranger would shy away like a frightened doe if alarmed, Maddie said, ‘Hello.’

  The woman stared at her and now her eyes seemed to focus properly on Maddie’s face. She smiled but did not answer and then she bent her head again, her gaze once more upon the ground.

  Suddenly, Maddie realized who this woman was. She had seen her once before. Only the once, peering out the rear window of a motor car as it passed them by in the market place. This was Amelia Mayfield.

  ‘They are beautiful, aren’t they, in the spring?’ Maddie said gently. ‘Did you plant them?’

  The vacant look was back as Amelia’s shoulders lifted fractionally. A light breeze rustled through the trees and the sunlight faded. Maddie shivered, but the woman seemed impervious to the sudden change. Softly, deep in her throat the crooning began again.

  Maddie was fascinated by her and although she knew she ought to be getting back to the farm, somehow she could not bring herself to rise and walk away from Amelia.

  She looked, Maddie thought, to be in her mid-thirties and yet her manner and actions were those of a child. An innocent, lost child. Poor Amelia. So it was true what they said about her, that her tragic love affair had affected her mind and that she was kept hidden away in Mayfield Park for her own protection.

  Should she be out here, then, Maddie wondered, alone in the woods? Was she allowed out this far alone? She was still debating what she should do when she heard a voice calling and the sound of someone crashing their way through the undergrowth.

  ‘Amelia? Are you there, dear? Amelia? It’s Theo. Don’t be afraid. It’s only Theo.’

  Maddie watched as Amelia took not a scrap of notice. It was as if she didn’t even hear her brother calling. She just carried on singing and smiling to herself.

  Without making a sudden movement that might startle her, Maddie stood up and tiptoed to the edge of the clearing.

  ‘Mr Theo,’ she called. ‘We’re here.’

  For a moment the sounds of movement through the trees ceased and then, beginning again, came towards her.

  ‘Miss March!’ He said, catching sight of her but immediately his concerned glance went beyond her to his sister sitting on the ground. At the sight of her, Maddie saw him relax visibly. Then his glance came back to her and she saw him frown as he took in her dishevelled appearance and her tear-stained face.

  ‘Miss March, are you all right? Is there – anything I can do?’

  Maddie summoned a brave smile. ‘Thank you, Mr Theo, but I’ll be fine now. I – I must be going, but . . .’ She glanced back over her shoulder towards Amelia. ‘I didn’t like to leave her here alone.’

  ‘Thank you.’ So briefly, that later she was to wonder if she had imagined it, he reached out and touched her hand.

  ‘I – must go.’ She turned away from him but at the edge of the clearing she paused and looked back towards the woman still sitting on the grass. Then her glance took in the tree where the desperate young man had taken his own life. Love made you weak and vulnerable, Maddie thought. She had never shed so many tears in her life as she had during these past few days. Strangely, though she could not have explained why, she felt stronger now. Perhaps it was seeing the poor, lost creature, still mourning her beloved, that made Maddie, in that moment, determined to face whatever blows life inflicted upon her. Never, never, she vowed, would she allow anyone to have such power over her that she ended up like Amelia Mayfield.

  ‘They’re all out looking for you,’ was Harriet’s greeting. ‘Running around like headless chickens over a little trollop like you that don’t deserve it. But there, that’s men’s stupidity for you.’

  With a quiet dignity, Maddie said, ‘I’m sorry if I’ve caused anyone concern.’

  ‘Oh, you’ve caused concern, all right. You’d have done us all a favour if you had taken yourself off and never come back.’

  Maddie returned the woman’s look. ‘Perhaps you’re right, Mrs Trowbridge. Perhaps that’s exactly what I should do, because if Michael does go – as he says he will – life’s not going to be worth living in this house. Not for me. Is it? You’ll see to that, I’ve no doubt.’

  She turned and went out of the back door again and walked to the gate. She saw Frank and Michael walking down the lane towards her and she waved. As they neared her she said, ‘I’m sorry to have worried you, Mr Frank.’

  He gave her a curt nod and said, ‘Well, as long as you’re all right. But don’t do it again.’ Without another word he went through the gate, across the yard and into the house.

  Maddie’s troubled eyes followed him. ‘He’s angry with me, isn’t he?’

  Michael put his arm about her shoulders and sighed. ‘You had us worried, Maddie. Where were you?’

  ‘I . . .’ She hesitated, not wanting to tell him where she had been. He might read more into her actions than even she had meant. ‘I went for a walk that’s all. I needed to be on my own. To think. Michael . . .’ She twisted to face him. ‘It would be better if I went away. Right away. There’s places for people like me.’

  He touched her cheek with the tip of his finger, trying to brush away the dried salt of her tears. ‘You’ve spent all your life in an institution. I won’t let you go back into one. It’s my fault as much as yours. More, really.’ He put his arms around her and held her close. ‘We’ll work it out, Maddie. But you must be brave if the best thing is for me to go away . . .’ His hold tightened, hugging her to him. ‘Just for a while. Just until after your birthday. Then I’ll come back and we can be married.’

  ‘Are you really sure you want to? You’re not just saying it?’

  ‘’Course I’m not. I love you, Maddie.’ He laid his cheek against her hair. ‘Don’t ever think otherwise. Promise.’

  Muffled against him, she said, ‘Promise.’

  The day Michael left, Maddie thought her heart would finally break.

  They had not made love again since the discovery of her pregnancy, but now Maddie longed to be in his arms, to be loved just one more time before he went away but he had seemed distant, awkward with her.

  ‘Come on,’ he said now, taking her hand. ‘Let’s go for a walk. There’s time before the train goes. I want to talk to you away from the house.’

  They walked to the field and leant over the gate. ‘In a couple of months or so, this will be your very own rainbow field framed in gold, Maddie.’

  They had planted the bulbs in blocks of different colours, pink, red and purple. But more than any other colour, they had planted Maddie’s favourite yellow.

  ‘Hey,’ he turned to look at her, grinning. It was the first time he had really smiled in ages. ‘Remember what the gypsy said that day? Maybe that’s what she meant. Everything you touch will turn to gold.’

  Maddie picked the green mould from the top bar of the wooden gate with her fingernail. ‘She also said, I’d have joy and sadness in equal measure. She was right about that, wasn’t she?’

  Tears threatened again.

  ‘Don’t cry, Tulip,’ he said, putting his arm about her shoulders. ‘I’ll come back, I promise you. Then we’ll get married and be a real family.’ He turned to face her, tenderly cupped her face in his hands and gently kissed her mouth. ‘Whatever happens, Maddie, always remember that I love you and that I will come back.’

  They turned and walked back to the house, their arms wrapped around each other, not caring, for once, who saw them.

  The moment of Michael’s leaving was strained and awkward.

  ‘I’ll come with you to the station, son,’ Frank said, but Michael shook his head.

  ‘No, Dad. I’d sooner you didn’t.’ He nodded stiffly towards Harriet. His easy, teasing manner towards her had disappeared completely now, but to Nick he said, ‘I’m sorry the work is going to fall on you now.’

  To Maddie’s surprise, Nick smiled. ‘S’all right. We’ll manage.’ And the two young men shook hands.

  Michael stood a moment looking r
ound at them all, as if committing their faces to memory, but his glance came back to rest on Maddie. ‘I’ll write,’ was his last promise as he raised his hand and walked away across the yard and out of the gate.

  Twenty-Nine

  ‘Well, I hope you’re satisfied with yourself. You’ve broken up this family good and proper. I suppose next you’ll lose Mr Frank his farm all together with your fancy notions. Flowers, indeed. Whoever heard of a farmer growing flowers?’

  ‘Shut up, shut up,’ Maddie rounded on the woman. ‘The fields are doing well. We’ve a lot of work ahead with the weeding and then the picking and you’d do better to support your beloved Mr Frank than finding fault.’ Boldly, she moved closer to the housekeeper. ‘Why don’t you give him a bit of credit? If he hadn’t wanted to do it, then he wouldn’t have done, would he?’

  Harriet’s mouth was a sneer. ‘Oh, you’ve a lot to learn about men, girl. They’re weak, the lot of ’em. They always make a mess of things and leave us women to pick up the pieces. And then blame us for it happening in the first place. You caught him when he was down and not knowing which way to turn. And up you come with a fancy notion and he grasps at it, like a drowning man. And Michael, too. If he is the father of your child, and I for one don’t believe he is, but if he is, then I expect you caught him when he wanted a bit of comfort.’

  Maddie gasped as the tirade went on.

  ‘And what’s he done now but run away, leaving us to face all the gossip? Aye, and maybe a visit from the police an’ all. And what’ll they do to Mr Frank? They’ll likely think he’s the father of your bastard and throw him in jail. Oh, I know about you. You’ve bad blood in you and bad blood will always out.’

  ‘You know nothing about me. How can you?’

  ‘Oh, I know what I know,’ Harriet said smugly and began to turn away. Maddie caught hold of her arm.

  ‘What do you mean, you know about me?’

  ‘Let go of me this instant . . .’ Before Maddie had time to loosen her hold, the woman raised her right hand and dealt the girl a vicious slap on her left cheek, then she gripped Maddie’s shoulder so fiercely that her fingers dug into the girl’s flesh. She bent forward, pushing her face close to Maddie’s. ‘Why don’t you do us all a favour,’ she hissed. ‘And hang yourself from that tree in the woods?’

  Shocked by the woman’s venom, Maddie pulled herself away and ran out of the back door, across the yard and into the lane. She was shaking and her cheek stung. She couldn’t go back to the field to help with the hoeing. Mr Frank would want to know what had happened and she didn’t want to tell him. He probably wouldn’t believe her anyway. He would never believe that the woman he had taken into his home when she had been destitute could say such a thing. Even Maddie could hardly believe it herself now. She knew Harriet hated her, but even she had not realized quite how malicious the woman was.

  She found herself walking towards the village. She quickened her step. Jenny. I must see Jenny.

  As she opened the shop door, Mrs Grange behind the counter and her one customer turned see who had come in.

  Maddie’s heart sank as she saw who the customer was.

  ‘Well, well, look who it is?’ Mrs Potter’s voice was thick with sarcastic glee. ‘I’ve just been hearing about you. Got yourself into trouble even quicker than I thought.’

  Maddie, her jaw hardening, glanced at Mrs Grange, whose face turned pink. She lowered her head, hiding beneath the brim of the blue hat she always wore.

  ‘I’ve come to see Jenny.’ Maddie held her head high and returned Mrs Potter’s stare.

  ‘Well, now,’ Mrs Potter folded her arms under her ample bosom. ‘I don’t know if we ought to let her see the likes of you. You might lead her into your bad ways. What do you say, Mrs Grange? I’m only thankful I got rid of you afore you brought shame on my orphanage.’

  ‘ ’T’isn’t your orphanage. If it’s anyone’s, it’s Sir Peter’s.’

  ‘He’s ill now and Mr Theo might have been voted on to the Board, but he hasn’t the say-so that his father had. Besides, I can twist that young man round my finger any time I want.’ Mrs Potter turned to Mrs Grange, ‘I shouldn’t let her see young Jenny, if I were you.’

  Anger flooded through Maddie. She was back on familiar ground, facing the woman she had never been afraid of because she didn’t care a jot what Mrs Potter thought about her or what she could do to her.

  ‘I will see Jenny. Just try and stop me . . .’ And before either Mrs Grange or Mrs Potter could even move, Maddie was around the counter and through the brown curtain into the rear of the shop.

  ‘Jen? You here, Jenny?’

  There was the sound of footsteps on the stairs and a door opened and she was there.

  ‘Maddie! Oh Maddie!’ Jenny’s excited squeak left Maddie in no doubt as to the girl’s pleasure at seeing her. They hugged each other and both began to speak at once and then laughed together. Then Maddie’s face sobered as she held the girl at arm’s length and said quietly so that the two women in the shop could not hear, ‘I wish you hadn’t told Mrs Grange about me. The whole village will know now.’

  Jenny’s eyes widened. ‘I didn’t, Maddie. I haven’t said a word to anyone. Really, I haven’t.’

  Maddie stared into her eyes and saw the truth there. ‘I’m sorry, I couldn’t think . . .’ Then she stopped. Of course. Harriet Trowbridge. Although the woman rarely left the farm, the only place she did visit occasionally was the village shop. In fact, she was quite friendly with Mrs Grange who often did shopping in Wellandon for the housekeeper from Few Farm. Hadn’t it been she who had bought those dreadful second-hand clothes from the market stall? Maddie reminded herself. No doubt, she thought wryly, she had been instructed by Harriet to buy the dreariest, most shapeless clothes she could find.

  ‘Oh well,’ she sighed. ‘It was bound to get out eventually, but, you see, because I’m not sixteen ’til next month, Michael could get into dreadful trouble. He could be arrested.’

  ‘But he’s gone away now, hasn’t he?’

  Was there nothing the village shop didn’t know? Maddie wondered. She nodded.

  ‘Well, then, that’s all right. Isn’t it?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Maddie said heavily. ‘If everyone knows now, then sooner or later the local bobby’s going to hear of it, isn’t he?’ She almost added, And I know someone who’ll probably make sure he does.

  ‘Oh Maddie, don’t worry. It’ll be all right,’ Jenny smiled. ‘Just think how lucky you are. You’re going to have a little baby to love. A baby all of your very own.’ Then, as other thoughts crowded in, her first delight faded. ‘You are all right? I mean, they’re not throwing you out at the farm?’

  Maddie shook her head. ‘No, but now Michael’s gone, it’s awful. Mr Frank hardly speaks and Mrs Trowbridge only opens her mouth to be nasty. She’s vicious, that woman.’ Maddie wrinkled her brow thoughtfully. ‘I know she doesn’t like me, but I can’t understand what I’ve done to deserve such hatred.’

  ‘What about Nick?’ Jenny blushed even as she said his name. ‘He’s not nasty to you, is he?’

  ‘No. Funnily enough he’s been nicer ever since Michael went. But he’s under his mother’s thumb. What she says, goes, as far as he’s concerned.’

  Jenny was thoughtful. ‘I don’t see quite why everyone’s so worried. You’ll be sixteen by the time the baby’s born, won’t you?’

  ‘Yes, but I wasn’t when – when it happened. You know?’

  They all knew the facts of life. It had been explained to them by Mrs Potter who had left the girls in her charge feeling that the whole business was not only distasteful, but sinful too, even within marriage, let alone outside it.

  Jenny hugged her again. ‘Don’t worry, Maddie. As long as you can stay at the farm, it’ll be all right.’

  ‘If only I knew where he’s gone. What he’s doing. If he’s all right. I can’t sleep at night for thinking about him.’ Maddie gulped back the tears that threatened.

  ‘He�
��ll write soon. When he’s got settled somewhere,’ Jenny comforted. ‘And then, when you’ve had the baby, Michael can come home and you’ll be so happy.’

  As Maddie rested her cheek against her little friend’s hair and closed her eyes, she sent up a silent prayer that Jenny might be right.

  But somewhere, deep inside her, she dared not even hope that she would be. The words of the gypsy came back to her: ‘joy and sorrow in equal measure’. Well, she had known the joy, had touched the heights of ecstasy with Michael. Even through the days and weeks of the foot and mouth disaster and struggling against the harsh winter, even through all that, his love had given her faith in the future. Their future. Together.

  Maddie’s very soul shuddered as she realized that though the hell of the last few weeks had been dreadful, it did not equal the heaven she had known. If the prophecy were true, then Maddie March would have to face a great deal more anguish yet.

  No letter came from Michael in the first week.

  ‘He’ll be busy getting settled in,’ Frank said and added, unable to keep the anxiety out of his tone. ‘Wherever he is.’

  Nor during the second week and by the third week the disappointment was showing in Frank’s eyes too.

  Maddie plunged herself into work, trying to stave off the sickness that still gripped her each morning and the ache in her heart.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Nick said as they worked side by side. ‘He’ll get in touch as soon as he can.’