Marcus now shuffled in his chair. He rummaged for his handkerchief and held it tohis eyes in his own silent misery. Blocking himself off by turning slightly away from the rest in the room, everyone felt his terrible grief. Treasure, sitting between him and Ella, reached over to thread her arm through his in understanding and compassion. As he gained his composure Connor continued on.
“Now Isabella, and I call you this as proof of who you really are.”
Ella thought she would fall off her chair and she hastily moved closer to Treasure and clung onto her arm. Shock and fear etched worry lines across her face, but no words could escape.
“You will remember, the very first time I met you in London with Treasure. Do you remember how startled I was to hear your surname of Dittmar? Well my dearest girl, the reason for that was because Frank Dittmar, the man I thought I loved for all those years, the man who is Treasure’s father, is also your own. Yes my dears, you and Treasure are sisters, half-sisters; you have the same father but different mothers.”
This was the biggest shock of all. But how did Primrose find this out? And how long had she known? Connor now looked at Treasure, who had one arm hooked through her uncle’s and the other through her sister’s.
Ella spoke first. “This is the reason we have always had such a commitment to each other.”
“Yes,” Treasure agreed, “and our eyes are the same color yet it’s not as obvious, because they are shaped differently and our hair is different colors.”
All three related persons in the room felt closer to one other, yet for different reasons
“Treasure,” Connor began again. “Even when I learned Ella was your sister I couldn’t say anything, because it may have caused you to go racing off to your father. I believe that could have caused a problem for the three of you. Life isn’t always simple; I wish it could be, however, many years have passed now since I saw your father, so you may be able to find him, with the help of my lawyer, Connor. Ella will fill you in on life before we met her. Her promise to her father is broken now that I have revealed your relationship. Due to who he was, and who Ella is, I took her under my wing and loved her as my own.. My love to all three of you now. Primrose and Mother. ”
Connor re-folded the letter and placed it back in the envelope, which he handed to Treasure. Well! How many secrets could one person contain, and why? It all seemed so senseless.
Ella had some explaining to do. It was her turn now to solve the rest of why Primrose had kept silent.
“It’s alright Ella.” Treasure reassured! “It must be safe otherwise Mother would never put you into danger.”
Connor cleared his throat again.
“From what Lady Primrose told me, when she went and found your father, Treasure, he told her it wasn’t safe in their village for Ella to remain. Ella’s mother was unwell with a kidney disease and on dialysis, so he couldn’t move them away as a family. He felt obligated to see the last of her life was lived out in as much comfort as possible. Unfortunately in the same community lived a bully whose father was the local bobby. This bully was possibly responsible for the rape of a young girl whose family wasn’t believed he’d done it. Then he began to set his sights on Ella.”
So Ella’s father felt it best she get away and try and find work in London.” Connor stopped here hoping he had given Ella the confidence to continue the story herself.
“It’s a terrible thing to lie,” Ella commenced, “because one lie leads to another. I had to leave my parents and I was only fifteen, and my mother had a friend living near London. Papa thought I would be safe if I could get to her, but the hard thing was how to get me out of the village without that nasty Bill Towers following me. The last bus of the day was at eleven o’clock at night bringing home workers. Most of the village people were settled in bed by then and not many used the return service. Papa got a friend to purchase a ticket, saying it was for himself, and then he came with me to make sure I got on the bus safely. I was dressed like a boy, with pants, a coat, my hair tucked up in a cap, and a wooly scarf around my neck. My father told me, not to talk to anyone and to go straight to my mother’s friend’s address on arrival. I only carried a small bag, and the clothes I wore when I met you Treasure.”
Treasure looked perplexed. “But –, what about your mother’s friend? You didn’t tell me anything about being with her?”
Ella shook her head remembering the hopelessness of the situation. “My father told me not to write him for a while until I was safe and then to just send him a postcard saying –, having a lovely time, June Lawrence. That was my mother’s friend’s name.”
“Well!” Repeated Treasure. Where was your mother’s friend?” She was feeling exasperated!
“She died! Do you remember the terrible flu pandemic in London that year? Well it took mum’s friend. And I was left not knowing what to do. It was then, while I was standing outside that fancy restaurant, I met you and your aunt – er – Mother. It was the strangest thing because I felt like I knew you right from the start and you felt like you knew me.”
She stopped and clutched onto Treasure’s hand. “It was so extraordinary, God made us find each other without knowing we did. Then without my understanding, when your mother asked me the next day where I came from, she took a taxi all that way and went and saw my father. Later, she didn’t tell me who he was to her. She just said she saw him and told him I was safe with her and that’s all I knew. Later we moved to Paris and I sent the postcard saying what he told me to say, in case anyone else saw it. About six months later he wrote me that my mother died and that he had been offered a job as a mechanic. He also said that the bully had been caught out stealing in another town and send to prison, so I should be safe.”
Connor took all of this in and it was his turn to close it all off. “To be truthful Ella, you haven’t contacted your father in three years. Now I know that Lady Primrose had begun to feel unwell, and you and Treasure were busy, but he would have liked to know that all was well with you.”
Ella stared at him. “How do you know this about my father, Connor?”
Treasure leaned forward. “Yes,” how do you know?”
“Lady Primrose told me to write to him and tell him you were settled back at her home in Sydney. She also sent the money for his passage to come back here to see you. His boat docks a week before Christmas, that’s just two weeks from now.”
He watched Ella’s reaction, and a multitude of expressions crossed her face. Then he turned to Treasure.
“Your father still doesn’t know about you, Treasure. Your mother felt he had enough on his plate without learning about you when she went to visited him. His wife was dying and his young daughter would be going away to Paris with you both, so she just said she had her niece with her and left it at that. So he will get a shock to discover he has two daughters instead of one, and he has lost so many years with both of you. Can you deal with that?”
Uncle Marcus, who had remained silent through all these, interacts, stood up.
“I think I need that cup of tea. I had a niece who was like my own daughter, and now I have lost her to a man who has never had anything to do with her life. I need time out, so if you all don’t mind, I’ll have a cuppa while you sort yourselves out, and then I’ll take a walk for a breath of fresh air.”
This was so unfair to her Uncle Marcus; Treasure could now see he’d always seemed to get the raw end of the stick. Treasure was glad that at least her mother had written of her love and appreciation for him; she owed him much more than that. There were fathers who conceived a child and fathers who nurture them, and considering how her uncle never let her down and rushed to her side when she needed him, he was more her father than anyone else. She decided there and then, that she would acknowledge her natural father for who he was, but he still had Ella whereas Uncle Marcus only had her.
Treasure also stood. “I don’t know about you two, but I am going for a cuppa as well, and then I am going to talk to my uncle and convince him t
hat nothing changes. I love him and from now on he is the one I consider as my closest. Ella, I am the happiest woman in the world to know you are my little sister. I love you very much and nothing changes between us except that we now understand the puzzle of our close connection.”
Then taking on a lighter note she added with a cheeky smile, “But! I’m still the bigger sister, so remember to respect that.”
Both laughed and hugged, knowing that life was getting better and hopefully, Frank and Uncle Marcus, would somehow find a way to be friends.
17
Stories to warm the heart.
Treasure discovered a strangely silent, kitchen! Nellie knew they’d want a cup of tea after all of the talking. Everything waited on the table. A tea-cozy covered the teapot, keeping it hotand ready. So where were Uncle and the other two, Nellie and Kelvin? Walking out onto the verandah near the new work, Treasure still saw no one. Then she spied Paris sniffing around near the back of the garage. The dog looked up; seeming to realize someone was looking for the others. She looked at Treasure and then towards Kelvin’s. Treasure hesitated for a moment unsure whether to intrude or not. But Kelvin came peeking around his door, beckoning her to enter. Yes, Uncle was there and he looked up sadly as she stepped inside.
“Can we go for a walk, Uncle? I feel we need to talk.”
Rising from his chair as the gentleman he was, he ushered Treasure outside before him. Walking to the back paddock together, where the cow munched happily on grass, parrots screeched overhead, and Paris followed, they ventured over to an old fallen log and sat down. Treasure wasn’t quite sure how to begin. So she put her hand over his where it rested on his knee.
“I call you Uncle, and now at my age it would be hard to change from saying that, to saying daddy! But, you are the only daddy I have ever known and I love you with all of my heart.”
His hand clutched at hers as if for life support. His head bent low, and he began to cry in earnest. His shoulders shook with the pent-up hurt of many long years. As he turned toward her, they clung to each other, and it felt good to know that he loved her this much.
When he could talk again he asked. “What will you call your real father when you meet him and he discovers you are also his daughter?” He pulled one arm free in an attempt to dab at his face with his hanky.
What would she call him? And what would he or Ella feel comfortable with her calling him? Ella called him papa, but that was too intimate for Treasure.
“I believe I will call him, father if he feels comfortable with that. That is who he is, and it’s not his fault that he has never been told about me. But calling him father will not mean that you are not my uncle and a part of my heart. You will always be close to me, and I want you to forever remain that way, no matter what the future brings.”
She rose to her feet. “Let’s go and have some morning tea. I think with something in our stomach these nerves will feel much more settled. And as Connor said, we now know the Lord, and we know that he says he only gives us good things. Today you have learnt my mother always loved you, although it took her a while to realize that, I am sure it was good for you to hear those words.”
They walked towards the house with Marcus resting his arm around her waist. So Treasure informed him. “I was thinking of being baptized on New Year’s Day. What do you think? Could it be a double event for the both of us? I know you were thinking of being baptized at some time.”
“I think that would be the nicest way to celebrate the New Year with my dearest niece, and perhaps we can have a picnic on the riverside after.” He gave a laugh at the thought and wondered what he’d wear. Goodness; he’d need to talk to Thomas about that!
*****
The ring box jangled in his pocket and Connor felt somewhat forgotten. Treasure spent the rest of the day by her uncle’s side, forgotten to her was his asking for them to spend the day together. In one way he understood her desire to affirm her uncle’s position in her life. In another sense there was sadness when his fingers touched that velvet box, and he thought about the pleasure of buying it for her and her excitement at seeing it. What was he to do? Every story had more than just one character, and in Treasures life those others to consider, kept extending. Soon she would have a father for him to share her with. Was he selfish in wanting her all to himself, or was the timing wrong? He would need to wait and see. Making the best of it, he hung around with everyone else that day; there was still plenty to do, in getting Ella’s salon to rights. Yet no one seemed interested in work, so they all just sat around talking and listening to some of the funny tales Treasure and Ella took the time to share.
Mother Primrose became the topic, and her delirious way of captivating people – and then getting them to do things her way without them hardly realizing it. She was a great mimicker of different accents. Treasure remembered the day they landed in their apartment in Paris and her mother phoned different newspapers pretending to be a maid, and divulging that a certain famous model had come to stay in Paris. Her French was articulate, but so was her way of puffing as if in a hurry, and as if to tell a secret before getting caught by the manager, and possibly reprimanded.
She would have made a brilliant actress. Then, the day she waited for the morning papers to be delivered to the newspaper stand. She suspected the paper contain a story about Treasure. How she glided passed that stand, and then stopped in her tracks to backtrack a few steps. Then grabbing up a paper she screamed at the top of her voice, that she would have to own one of the beautiful creations worn by this spectacular model. She showed the page to other women walking by until many of them were snatching a paper for themselves, afraid of missing out on the action. Ella and Treasure had been peering out of their upstairs window down on the commotion in the street, and giggling at Primrose’s antics.
Telling these stories was a help, as not only did it make Primrose alive to those who had never met her, but it soothed the contents of the letter with its revealing secrets read that morning. Uncle added his own little stories of how she came into his life, and the day he was supposed to have proposed marriage to her. He couldn’t remember the words for the life of him! But all of a sudden, shehad thanked him for asking for her hand in marriage. In his confusion, he said he felt it might not be a bad idea after all. So they went to the Register Office and made it official. Then off she went again to Brisbane where no one knew her, to have her baby. It was there that her sister and husband arrived to collect the baby as their own. Not to allow for any confusion, Primrose had used her sister’s name in the hospital. She cleverly ensured that all the documents would be beyond reproach by having her sister sign them, and Treasure Desiree Gilroy would never be seen as an adopted child. Nor would she be seen as a disgraced child born too soon after her mother’s marriage.
Yes, Primrose was a deviate that was for sure, but she was a kindly one as she never intentionally hurt anyone by her actions. The one regret Treasure felt, was that her mother never allowed herself to get close to the Lord.
As she voiced this, her uncle shook his head.
“You are wrong my dear, very wrong. Toward the end when she lay dying in that palliative hospice care, a lovely Salvation Army lady used to visit the patients. It was through this special godly woman that your aunt gave her heart to the Lord a few short weeks before the end.” He smiled in remembrance. “It was due to this, and the things your mother told me on my visits, which allowed me to open up more to Connor when he witnessed to me. You see my dear; your mother planted the seeds of interest into my mind. Then Connor came and nurtured the Word of God into my heart! And that’s the reason, if you remember, the Salvation Army band played at your mother’s funeral.” This certainly was a day for astonishing revelation.
Treasure and Ella stared at each other in awe! How wrong could they have been in their assumptions, it just went to prove how much they took for granted concerning Primrose and Marcus.
“Uncle, I am now so sorry for us not being at mother’s wake. I thought it wa
s a show, and I wanted no part of it, but Ella and I should both have been there and stood by you.”
Uncle Marcus placed both of his hands together, entwining his fingers and nodding. “No! you two weren’t wrong at all, it was a show. The Sallies wanted to be there to mingle with the guests and bring comfort and love, but I was ashamed to have them around society people in their soldier uniforms. I have always regretted that mistake. We all need to understand we are loved, and true Christians are very good at demonstrating that with grace. I will always have time for the Salvation Army, and I gifted a piano to the hospice, so it could bring joy to the dying to hear the beautiful old hymns played.”
Nellie nodded in thought, Yes, the Salvation Army, known in Australia as the Sallie’s were always at the front line helping the poor in Ireland. “As a child, I used to stand on the street and enjoy their open air meetings,” she confessed now. “As soon as we heard that brass band coming down the street all us children scampered to them, knowing they gave out little books. We all wanted one, and that’s how I became a Christian, from reading that New Testament.”
It was Kelvin’s turn to add his bit. “I lived for a time in Brisbane as a young bloke, and I remember some people’s deep opposition when the Sallie’s conducted open meetings in the street. You’d hear the drum beat and knew they were coming; I am ashamed to say I was one who threw eggs at them with other youth on an occasion. Yet they never gave up being blameless, and then just after the war they opened soup kitchens to feed the hungry. Their motto, if I remember rightly was –. To save souls, grow saints, and serve suffering humanity.”
Ella jumped up. “I have just had the most wonderful idea. We will have to get permission off Thomas, of course but why don’t we form a Trimble Brigade where the women all learn to play with the hymns each Sunday? That would be jolly.”
Discovering Treasure Page 12