The Fairbairn Fortunes

by Una-Mary Parker

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Diana asked in shocked tones. ‘Your Walter? I don’t believe it. He’s always been devoted to you and it was you, not him, who wanted a separation.’

  ‘Don’t remind me. I think I made a big mistake. He hasn’t had a drink for years and I’m sure he’ll never drink again, but something is definitely going on and I think he’s met another woman. When we were talking on the telephone a woman called to see him and he told the maid to show a Mrs Hamilton into the drawing room. I’m really afraid he wants to get married again.’

  ‘That could have been a neighbour or just a friend, couldn’t it?’ Diana pointed out. ‘When is he arriving in London?’

  ‘Tomorrow, and you know it’s Caroline first night on Wednesday.’

  ‘My dear, we have our tickets and I can’t wait to see her dance again. You know we are here for the summer?’

  ‘Yes. You said you were going to rent a house. Is it nice?’

  ‘It’s perfect and Robert has gone and bought it as a surprise for me. We’re going to be in London for as long as we like and as often as we want because of Emily and Archie.’

  ‘That’s wonderful. How lovely that we will be able to see more of you and Robert,’ Laura exclaimed.

  ‘I know, and think of the shopping sprees we can have and little luncheons at the Ritz,’ Diana added gleefully.

  Laura was up at dawn the next morning because she knew Walter had booked a sleeper on the overnight train from Edinburgh which would arrive at St Pancras in the early morning. She put fresh sheets on her bed, made sure the bathroom and kitchen were spotless and pumped up the cushions in the drawing room where she’d arranged a vase of roses to put on a side table.

  Feeling increasingly apprehensive, she put on a becoming deep blue dress and a smart pair of shoes. When she looked at herself in the long mirror in her bedroom she realized he hadn’t seen her new hairstyle. Instead of having a bun at the back and a curly fringe which was the fashion twenty years ago, she’d taken Caroline’s advice and gone to a hairdresser who had cut her hair in the new short style which Beattie and Lizzie had already chosen to have. Now she wasn’t sure whether Walter would approve. He used to love watching her unpinning her long hair at night.

  ‘Your father will be here any minute,’ she warned Caroline as she emerged from her room with tangled hair and a crumpled nightgown.

  ‘So?’ She shuffled to the bathroom. ‘Why are you all dressed up like a dog’s dinner? Dada is used to seeing us as we really are,’ she protested.

  Laura looked abashed. ‘This is a perfectly ordinary day dress. Now, can I get you some breakfast?’

  ‘I’ll be sick if I eat anything. Why does one get sick when you’re pregnant? And why only in the morning? Today is our third full dress rehearsal so I’d better get on,’ she said. ‘Richard is coming to see the show today as well as on the first night, and I might stay with him at his flat. I can’t bear to think he’ll have gone again on Saturday.’ There was a catch in her voice. ‘Three months is a long time to be apart.’

  ‘I thought you might have stayed in his flat last night.’

  Caroline’s eyes widened and she grinned at her mother. ‘Are you encouraging me to live in sin? Oh! What would the Lord God say? Actually, Richard had to stay with his parents last night. His father said they had things to discuss. I think they’re going to give him a lot of money as well as buying us a house. What with his earnings and mine, we could be very rich.’

  Laura smiled fondly. ‘God is very forgiving and by the sound of it your future father-in-law is very generous.’

  ‘Oh, I do hope so,’ Caroline replied, disappearing in the direction of the bathroom.

  By eleven o’clock Laura was getting seriously worried that Walter hadn’t arrived. Had he been taken ill? Perhaps there had been a train accident? Or maybe the taxi from the station had been involved in a crash and he’d been injured.

  Caroline had left two hours ago and Laura wished one of her sisters had dropped in to see her and take her mind of her worries. Pacing around the flat, she finally decided to phone him; perhaps he was still at Dalkeith House with his lady friend.

  The housekeeper answered the telephone.

  ‘Good morning, Mrs West. Do you know which London hotel Mr Leighton-Harvey booked in to?’ Laura asked.

  ‘I’m afraid he didn’t tell me, milady. He just said it was near where you live.’

  ‘I see. Well, thank you very much.’ At that moment Laura heard a taxi draw up outside and she rushed to the window. Out of the cab the tall, handsome figure of Walter emerged, still with military bearing. He looked well too as he turned and walked briskly up the front steps. For a moment Laura felt quite faint as she went to open her front door. The moment she’d been waiting for had arrived and brought with it a feeling of joy mixed with dread.

  ‘Hello there!’ he said cheerfully when he saw her waiting for him in the doorway.

  ‘Hello, Walter.’ Her heart sank. She’d never seen him looking as happy as this since … since they’d first fallen in love nearly twenty-five years ago. Her hunch had been right. He’d obviously met someone else. As she led the way into the drawing room his eyes sparkled and his movements were jaunty.

  ‘I was expecting you much earlier,’ Laura told him. ‘I’m afraid Caroline had to leave for a dress rehearsal,’ she said quietly.

  ‘Good!’ he said unexpectedly. ‘You and I have things to discuss – very important things.’

  Laura sat down suddenly as her legs felt they were going to give way and she felt sick.

  ‘So … who is she?’ Laura blurted out. ‘Do I know her?’

  Walter looked confused as he took a seat opposite her. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘I’m not a fool, Walter. You’ve been acting quite differently since your sister died. The other day when we were talking on the telephone some woman called to see you and you couldn’t wait to see her. You barely said goodbye to me, you were in such a hurry …’ There was a catch in her voice but she rallied, saying, ‘If it’s a divorce you want you can have one. This is not the first time you’ve caused me great pain, but I shouldn’t have refused to live with you in the first place, so it’s partly my fault.’

  Her face crumpled and her breath caught in a sob.

  Walter leaned forward in the chair and dropped to his knees before clasping her hand with a bewildered expression.

  ‘Oh, Laura, Laura, my darling, you’ve got it all completely and utterly wrong. I promise you there is no woman in my life. How could there be when I’ve never stopped loving you? Now, will you listen to me?’ he pleaded.

  She nodded, unable to speak.

  ‘When poor Rowena died I discovered she’d left everything to me including Dalkeith House and all the contents plus a lot of money. I knew she was comfortably well-off but her husband had left her a great deal more than I’d realized. The woman who called on me when I was talking to you was Mrs Hugh Hamilton. She has bought Dalkeith House and then she told me last week that her husband had suggested they buy most of the furniture. That’s why I was in a hurry to see her. Otherwise I was going to have to get an auction house to get rid of it. Neil has gone to Australia where he’s doing very well sheep farming so I’m once again a fairly rich man and I’m here today not just to see Caroline but more importantly to ask you if we can become a couple again. You’re the only woman I’ve ever really loved and I know I let you down with my drinking, but will you give me another chance? Please, Laura. We can stay here or I can buy a nice house in this area, near your sisters? What do you say, darling? Please say “yes” and make me the happiest man on earth.’

  Looking into his eyes, Laura realized there was no doubting his honesty and sincerity. Before she had time to answer he rose to his feet and put his hand in his coat pocket.

  ‘The reason I’m late this morning is because once I’d dumped my luggage in the hotel I wanted to do some shopping in Bond Street, which took longer than I’d realized.’

/>   He’d opened a small leather jewellery case while he was talking, and lying on a bed of white velvet was a wide gold wedding ring, similar to Laura’s original ring. Beside it lay a sapphire and diamond engagement ring.

  ‘May I?’ he asked, slipping off the narrow gold ring she’d bought in a pawn shop so that no one would think she was an unmarried mother.

  ‘Will you share your life with me again, Laura? I can’t live any longer without you.’

  Overcome with emotion, she got to her feet and flung her arms around him as she pressed her wet cheek against his face. Holding her tightly, she heard him say, ‘The woman in my life is and always will be you, Laura, darling. Now that we’re together again I’m never going to let you go.’

  Then he kissed her with passion and a wave of desire swept through her, something that hadn’t happened since she’d been a young woman.

  ‘Why don’t you cancel that hotel and stay with me?’ she whispered. ‘Caroline will be staying with Richard tonight.’

  He gazed into her eyes. ‘That, my darling Laura, is the most intelligent thing I think you’ve ever said.’

  ‘Look at these reviews,’ Walter exclaimed triumphantly. He’d gone to a local shop as soon as it opened and bought a copy of every newspaper in order to see what the critics had written about the first night of The Fairy Queen.

  ‘Do read them aloud to me,’ Laura replied excitedly as she made their breakfast.

  Walter cleared his throat. ‘“The prima ballerina, Caroline Harvey moves with exquisite precision and grace and shows promise of a great future.”’ He put down the newspaper and picked up another one. ‘“The young solo dancer, Caroline Harvey, gives a breath-taking performance as the Fairy Queen …” Now listen to this one in the Telegraph,’ he said with pride. ‘“Caroline Harvey’s performance was magical, a blend of poetic grace and beauty. New on the scene, she could become another Anna Pavlova.”’

  He looked up at Laura as she toasted the bread.

  ‘You’ve made her what she is today and I’m so sorry I was such a rotten father. If I could have the last few years over again I would have handled everything differently instead of leaving it all to you.’

  Laura reached out and took his hand. ‘You were there for her, Walter. She loved going to stay with you and it’s wonderful for both she and me that you’re well and with us now. I’ll never forget her excitement when we told her we were together again. It’s the best thing that’s happened to both her and me.’

  Walter held her hand and looking down at the rings he’d given her the previous day he spoke with sincerity.

  ‘I have to do a lot to make up for the lost years we could have shared together. I never stopped loving you and I want to buy you a house and look after you which I should have done all along. Will you ever really forgive my madness and my badness?’

  She smiled and looked into his eyes. ‘I think I forgave you a very long time ago although I didn’t realize it. You were in the clutches of a demon and didn’t realize you were killing yourself.’

  ‘It’s all in the past now so let’s live for today and the future.’

  At the Drury Lane Theatre the previous evening her sisters had been staggered to see her looking twenty years younger, hanging on to Walter’s arm as she beamed with happiness. Beattie had been the first to notice the sapphire and diamond ring next to the wide gold wedding ring.

  ‘Where did they come from?’ Lizzie had asked accusingly.

  Diana had exclaimed, ‘They really suit you, Laura.’

  It was with serene pleasure that Laura was able to say, ‘Walter and I are together again and he gave them to me.’

  Caroline lay exhausted in Richard’s bed as he read aloud the reviews of The Fairy Queen. All her dreams had come true and yet she had a feeling of anti-climax. For years she’d studied ballet dancing and now that she’d succeeded she began to wonder if it had all been worthwhile? Having this baby was going to ruin her figure and age her in general and she suddenly felt angry with Richard for letting it happen. She’d no longer be the slim and lissom ingénue who had stormed to the top of her profession.

  Feelings of discontent still swept through her, as they’d done all her life, and she refused to believe what her father had said when she was fifteen that her expectations were pitched too high.

  ‘If you aim for the stars you may hit the barn roof,’ Walter had told her, ‘and be grateful you got that far.’

  Nothing was ever enough to satisfy Caroline. Tomorrow morning she’d become Mrs Richard Montgomery, and her future husband was handsome, loving and his parents wealthy enough to buy them a house in Mayfair, so what more did she want in life? Not a baby, for a start, and she felt blighted by her pregnancy. The truth was that nothing in her life had lived up to her expectations and now she felt that nothing ever would.

  ‘What marvellous reviews,’ Richard said warmly. ‘I’m so proud of you, darling.’

  Caroline sat up in the bed and punched a pillow angrily. ‘It’s easy for you to sit there and read the newspapers. I’ve got to perform every bloody night no matter how sick or tired I am and it’s all your fault.’

  ‘I don’t think you can blame me for everything,’ he retorted. ‘I’ve had to adjust to our present circumstances too, you know.’

  ‘So you think I got pregnant in order to make a good marriage, do you?’ she snapped pettishly. ‘All I wanted was a career in ballet and now I’m landed with a baby and marriage.’

  Her face was pink with anger and Richard saw a side of her that shocked him.

  ‘Am I to understand that you’d rather not marry me?’ he asked coldly.

  ‘Do what you bloody well like. As it is, you’re going back to New York as soon as we’re married where you will no doubt chase after every girl you meet!’ As she gave vent to her anger she was struggling into her clothes and gathering up her make-up before stuffing it into her large handbag.

  ‘What are you doing?’ he asked angrily.

  ‘Getting out of here. Your parents look down on me because I’m on the stage so they’ll be delighted if I call off the marriage …’ Tears were flowing down her face now and, wrenching open the door of his flat, she fled the scene, leaving Richard aghast. They were supposed to be getting married the next morning and he shuddered at the thought of the ensuing chaos if she didn’t turn up at Caxton Hall.

  Laura and Walter had finished breakfast and were settling down to read the newspapers when Caroline came hurtling into the flat, her face blotched with crying.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Laura asked in dismay.

  ‘Everything is such a mess,’ Caroline sobbed. ‘I think I’ve cancelled the wedding tomorrow.’

  Walter winked at Laura before saying, ‘Is that all? I thought for a moment you had a serious problem. So you really don’t want to marry that nice young man who loves you? Is that it, my darling girl?’

  Laura watched as Walter led Caroline to the sofa where he sat down beside her, talking to her quietly and calmly.

  ‘You’ve got a lot on your plate what with the stress of being the solo ballerina every night as well as expecting a baby and getting married tomorrow.’ He stroked her hair as he’d done when she’d been a child.

  ‘Does Richard really want to marry me, though?’ she asked.

  Walter smiled. ‘Well, I don’t think he hurriedly crossed the Atlantic to buy himself a new suit. Of course he loves you, and you love him too. Isn’t that right?’

  While Laura went to the kitchen to make cups of tea for them all she marvelled at the way Caroline’s father handled her and soothed her so that after a while she was smiling again as she leaned against Walter with her head resting on his shoulder.

  Their close relationship made Laura realize – and not for the first time – that maybe she’d been too lenient with her daughter, partly for the sake of peace, but also because she’d been deprived of everything her rich cousins had taken for granted.

  Walter joined Laura in the kitchen while Caro
line went to have a bath. Sliding his arm around her waist, he whispered, ‘It’s all quiet on the Western Front. She’s telephoning Richard to apologize and assure him that she’ll be at Caxton Hall.’

  ‘Thank God.’ Laura breathed a sigh of relief.

  ‘Too much has been happening in her life so I’m not surprised she became overwrought. It’s probably a good thing that he’s returning to America. By the time he gets back she’ll have stopped performing and her life won’t be so hectic.’

  Laura gave him a knowing look. ‘I hope you’re right,’ she whispered back.

  In a show of family loyalty all the Fairbairn sisters arrived in good time at Caxton Hall accompanied by their husbands and children. It was, after all, the marriage of the late Earl and Countess of Rothbury’s first grandchild, so no one mentioned the expected baby. Laura had been desperately keen to make the whole day a joyous affair so after the marriage she’d arranged a buffet lunch in Beattie’s house and Walter had secured tickets for The Fairy Queen, which added to the excitement.

  Georgie and Shane had been the first to arrive with their family, which now numbered two daughters and four sons.

  Then Diana and Robert arrived with Emily and Archie, joined minutes later by Lizzie and Humphrey accompanied by Isabel, Rose and Emma. Margaret, it was explained, was ill in bed with influenza, which nobody believed. Flora, Alice and her husband Colin had travelled down from Scotland, to be warmly greeted by Beattie and Andrew, who were accompanied by Henry, Kathleen and Camilla.

  ‘We didn’t bring Philip,’ Beattie explained. ‘We were afraid he’d start yelling.’

  ‘And he’s got a strong pair of lungs,’ Andrew added proudly.

  When Richard stepped out of a Daimler followed by Sir George and Lady Montgomery there was an outbreak of nudging and whispering among the Fairbairns. The Montgomeries had only invited a dozen friends, and both George and Honor looked appalled at the packed registry office.

  ‘What an enormous family,’ Honor whispered in dismay. Georgie heard the remark and, leaning forward, she spoke in a loud voice.