‘So how long are you in town for?’ Jack said, trying to steer the conversation away.
Henry brightened. ‘I’m going to be based here for a brief spell. But I’ll be doing short hops into Madras. You’re still enjoying life in KGF – work going well?’
Jack nodded. ‘Senior engineer,’ he replied.
‘I wouldn’t doubt that for a second, Jack,’ Henry replied, smiling nervously at Iris. ‘Anyway, I’m at the club for now. I expect to be seeing you regularly, old chap.’
‘Any developments with Eugenie Ross?’
Henry blushed immediately and his nervous tic reappeared. ‘I’m deeply aggrieved to say she married some roughhouse Australian mining magnate and they’re disgustingly happy, horrendously wealthy and living in Melbourne, I believe, with two young children to boot.’ He gave a sound of feigned despair. ‘I don’t even have a budgie to welcome me home.’
Jack had to laugh. ‘I’m sorry, Henry.’
‘Don’t be. Eugenie and I write often. We’re dear friends, to tell the truth, and that’s almost as good.’
‘Jack?’ came a sullen voice.
They all looked around.
‘Bella!’ Iris exclaimed. ‘Oh, I’m sorry. Are we late?’
‘I guess you were both distracted.’
Jack heard anger in her voice. ‘Bella, this is a good friend of mine, Mr Henry Berry.’
Henry looked instantly mesmerised. ‘Enchanted,’ he said, taking her hand and bowing over it. ‘I didn’t know Cubbon Park attracted angels.’
Jack groaned but at least Henry’s comment won a smile from the near-scowling Bella.
‘I hear you’re visiting?’ Henry continued.
‘From Madras, yes,’ she replied, regaining some composure and remembering her manners.
‘Well, well, Miss Sinclair. I shall be in Madras in the next few weeks. May I take you out for afternoon tea, perhaps a picnic at the lake? I’ll have a car and driver at my disposal. All chaperones are welcome,’ he said, darting a glance at Iris.
‘That would be lovely, Mr Berry. It appears I might be returning sooner than I’d planned,’ she said and Jack heard the unmistakeable barb in it. ‘My stepfather is Dr Arthur Grenfell, married to Amelia … Millie. We live in Georgetown and our family would be glad to receive you.’
‘Excellent! It’s a date, Miss Sinclair,’ he said, even daring to kiss her gloved hand. ‘Well, if you’ll all excuse me,’ he said, no doubt sensing the tension as he tipped his hat to the ladies. ‘I’ll continue my walk. Stay in touch, Jack. Telephone the club.’
They murmured farewells and watched Henry disappear around the next path.
‘Everything go smoothly, Willie?’ Jack asked.
‘I think I showed Miss Bella everything she needed to see, and no doubt a few sights she didn’t,’ he answered. It was said with levity but Jack’s heart sank.
‘Right. Time for your treasure to be revealed,’ he said, loading on the false brightness.
Bella’s mouth twisted. ‘Jack, if you don’t mind, I’m not feeling terribly well. Could we please go home?’
‘Home? Bella, there are three amazing ice-cream flavours awaiting you at the Lakeland Milk Bar … and I’m sure you’ve guessed that my tailor wants to measure you up for a beautiful dress.’
Her sour look refused to budge. ‘Perhaps the dosa has upset me. I do think it’s best to return home. I had a lovely morning, though,’ she said, adding a not very sincere, ‘thank you so much.’
There was nothing for it but to return to the station and take the two o’clock train home, the journey mostly silent. There was so much Jack wanted to say to Iris but he maintained the frigid quiet in their carriage and even in the horse and cart taxi he hailed at the station to drop the ladies back at Oorgaum. After he helped Bella down from the wagon, she barely paused to whisper a hurried farewell before she was running into the Walker house.
‘She knows,’ Iris said, alighting the carriage.
‘What does she know?’ Jack asked, angered now by Bella’s childish behaviour. ‘At worst she saw us dancing.’
‘Yes, cheek to cheek.’
‘So what?’ Jack said and paid the driver. He waved the man away. ‘It’s her word against ours. Say nothing, Iris. Don’t give her accusations room to breathe. Treat them with contempt. You’re the adult. Act like it.’
Iris nodded. ‘I’m surprised. It sounds as though you actually care what others think.’
‘Of course I care! Listen, Iris, if you choose me, it’s because you love me. But I’m not prepared to rub Ned’s face in anything or make trouble for him if you don’t. Not like this.’
‘What about Henry?’
‘Henry’s a man of the world,’ he said, as though that answered a wealth of questions. ‘Stop worrying. We did nothing.’
‘Jack! How can you say that?’ she said, distraught, but turning her back on her parents’ house in case her mother was watching. ‘I can see taking my virginity was meaningless to you.’ Her face was pale with anger.
Jack ached to reach out to her but knew he couldn’t. ‘I mean, what we shared privately remains private,’ he said in a firm, low voice. ‘I will never forget our time together at the house. Never!’
Iris fought back tears.
He took her hand politely and bent to kiss it, saying in a low voice, ‘Make a choice, Iris. Don’t think about others, or how it will look. Make a selfish choice. It’s the rest of your life. And it’s no good living a lie.’ He gave her one final hard look. ‘And know that I will never love another woman as I love you.’
He turned and left her at the gate.
Iris knocked on the door of Bella’s room but there was no response. She opened the door. ‘Bella?’
‘Go away.’
She walked inside and closed the door. Bella was lying on her bed, staring through her mosquito net to the ceiling. ‘What is this all about?’ Iris inquired.
‘As if you have to ask.’
‘I do, because I want to understand.’
‘Why are you acting so innocently, Iris?’
It was time to be firm. ‘I really don’t know what you’re talking about, young lady.’
‘I’m talking about you and Jack, behind my back, but worse, behind Ned’s back.’
Iris felt her alarm take wing like a flock of birds rising as one. But she kept an outward control, feigning confusion. She had to. This was too dangerous. She wasn’t ready to lose Ned. ‘What are these delusions?’
‘Iris, did you think I didn’t see you dancing cheek to cheek with Jack?’
Iris laughed scornfully, despite the fear crawling up her spine. ‘Cheek to cheek? You are delusional. Poor Bella. While killing time waiting for you I agreed to a single waltz with Mr Bryant, that’s all.’
‘Oh, Mr Bryant, is it? Well, it looked a lot less formal from where I was standing.’ Bella was all but shouting.
‘Girls, girls! What’s all this noise?’ Flora exclaimed, rushing into the room.
‘Sorry, Mum. I think Bella’s upset stomach is more of an upset head if you ask me,’ Iris said. ‘She’s got it into her mind that Jack Bryant and I are lovers.’
Her mother’s shocked expression stunned both women. ‘Bella! I hope you can back up such a wicked, wicked accusation.’
Bella looked less certain of herself, Iris was pleased to see. ‘Well,’ she hesitated. ‘I know what I saw,’ she said, ripping aside the mosquito net and swinging her legs down from the bed. ‘Iris and Jack were dancing as though they were engaged.’
Iris turned away from Bella’s pointing finger to her mother with a scathing look of disdain. ‘Yes, we were dancing. Since when was that a sin? Mum, Bella might have seen me sharing a waltz at the bandstand, in the open air, in the middle of the afternoon, with dozens of onlookers, but that doesn’t make us lovers! Her claim is as ridiculous as it is hurtful and this is plain mischief-making.’
‘What?’ Bella screamed. ‘Why would I?’
‘Listen to me, you
spoilt little girl!’ Iris said. ‘You’ve acted half your age since you met Jack. Your flirtations with him today were sickening – and not just to me. I can assure you he was very uncomfortable with your juvenile behaviour. But everything about today was for your benefit, Bella, and your actions are unforgivable. The sooner you go back to Madras, the better for everyone, especially Ned, if this is how you reward all his love.’
Iris stomped from the room and into her own, breathing rapidly, hardly daring to believe what she’d just said, what she’d just done. It was only when she’d closed the door that she permitted herself the tears of shame that freely came and streamed down her face to cleanse her skin of Jack’s soft kisses.
36
Ned returned early the following evening to find his sister’s belongings packed in her trunk and a pall of tension hanging over the household. Bella was first to see him striding up the drive and was out of the door, running down the garden path before Iris could even leave the sitting room where she’d been watching for him.
He looked so happy, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. It was probably Iris’s mind playing tricks, too, but he also looked taller, even broader. After all her soul-searching, it only took this single glimpse of Ned to settle at least one aspect of her anxiety very swiftly. She did love him. Of this she now had no doubt, yet she’d been doubting that love since Jack’s lips had found hers. The dark truth was that she loved Jack too.
She wished she could split herself in half and devote one half to each man. Then she would feel whole.
Ned’s love was safe, reliable, adoring; Jack’s would always be passionate, stormy and probably dangerous. She wanted the solid ‘rock’ Ned offered, but she also loved Jack’s crashing seas.
Jack had told her to choose. And she knew he meant it. Neither man would wait – both too proud. And both injured in their own ways. She didn’t fully understand Jack’s hurt but she sensed something had gone wrong at home. Why else would he be in the colonies earning what he could as a miner, when there was clearly money in the family?
If she closed her eyes, she could instantly recreate the sensations of Jack touching her, kissing her, moving inside her. Iris had to stop doing that for suddenly the notion of losing Ned – and it was a very real possibility – seemed unthinkable. Ned believed he was the luckiest man alive to have her in his life, whereas Jack believed it was his right to go after anyone he wanted … and he’d chosen her. Would his burning passion cool now that he’d stolen her virginity from Ned? Jack had ruthlessly come after her and he had won – would he now move on to the next conquest? If she believed Ned – and all the other talk around KGF – then Jack would not stay long at her side. Was she prepared to risk Ned’s love? To break his heart? Was Jack worth the sacrifice?
She watched Bella’s theatrics, shattering Ned’s good mood as she crumpled into his arms, sobbing. She could hate Bella in that moment and yet Iris had come to terms with the youngster’s savagery over the last day and night. Bella was hurting – Iris understood that.
Iris heard their servant open the door and welcome Ned back and then she heard Ned speaking softly to Bella, urging her to give him some private time.
‘Hello, Ned, dear,’ she heard her mother say. ‘I’m so sorry about all this. Iris is waiting for you in the sitting room. I’ve ordered some tea.’
She heard his steps crossing the hallway and then he paused at the door.
‘Iris?’ he said, softly.
‘I’m here, Ned,’ she answered, close to tears herself. How could she have done this to him? Suddenly she wanted everything back to how it had been. Now her heart was torn over two men, but it was bleeding only for Ned – for the pain she was causing him, for the irrevocable damage she had inflicted on their relationship, for the hurt she knew would be in that sad face of his. She had to make it right with him somehow. Jack would survive. So would she. Ned was the fragile one. They had to protect Ned.
He stepped inside. ‘Hello,’ he said, warily. ‘I guess you know what I’ve been hearing.’
‘Yes. Bella’s been making accusations. She’s made sure both my parents think me some sort of tart.’
She watched him flinch at the harsh word.
‘Bella’s talking about returning to Madras.’
Iris stood, unsure of whether to kiss him, suddenly too guilty to move. ‘I think she should, Ned. She’s being quite poisonous here. She must be bored or homesick for the Grenfells because nothing we can do makes her happy.’
‘But she’s only been here a few days,’ he appealed, still standing a long way from her. The divide felt so wide. She had to bridge the gap if there was to be any future for her and Ned. And suddenly their future felt important.
‘I know, I know. But she’s unhappy and taking out her frustration on us.’
‘Can I hear it from you?’
She didn’t need him to explain what he was asking.
‘Are you asking me if Jack and I are suddenly lovers?’
‘That’s not at all what I’m asking. I want to hear your perspective, that’s all.’
‘Did you know when Rupert and Jack were in hospital that I visited them both? I dropped by to thank Jack.’
Ned nodded.
‘I recall saying something like I don’t know how I can ever repay you for saving my brother’s life. Jack was dosed with morphine, but he made some silly remark that he would exact the payment of a single waltz. It was a light-hearted attempt to save our whole family from this overwhelming feeling of being hopelessly in his debt.’
‘So you repaid the family debt?’ Ned sounded cynical. And she didn’t like it. Not from him. Not from her romantic, idealistic Edward, who thought the very sun shone from her.
‘Yes,’ she said, tiredly. ‘Except you make it sound so ugly … just like your sister. Firstly, Ned, my mother made me tag along that day to make sure Bella was properly chaperoned. Do you honestly believe with that in mind I’d let my family down in the way Bella is suggesting?’ Iris felt sickened by her own ingenuity. She hated herself but pressed on. ‘Jack took a day out of his life to treat Bella and she threw it right back in his face.’
Ned ran a hand through his sandy hair but it flopped straight back into the same position. She noticed he’d started growing a moustache; perhaps to offset the boyish looks he still possessed. It tweaked at her heartstrings.
‘Don’t you see, Ned? It’s Bella who believes herself in love with Jack. She was flirting outrageously with him. Frankly, she made me blush.’
Ned turned now to gaze out of the window, sighing. ‘She’s still so young and impressionable. I should have guessed Jack’s presence would be like touching a lit taper to dry kindling.’ His voice sounded resigned. He was blaming himself. Iris had never felt so wretched and still she pushed on with her story.
‘But she saw us sharing a dance.’ Iris fixed him with a stare; this was where she needed to be her most convincing. ‘One-thirty in the afternoon, Ned, people everywhere. When a particular tune came on and I happened to remark that it was Mum’s favourite, Jack naturally and politely asked me if I’d like to dance. I made some offhand response that I did owe him a dance … and that’s what Bella saw. Now she’s contrived some cock and bull story because she’s a jealous little girl who probably felt slighted. I’m sorry, Ned, that you have to hear this. I know you wanted us all to be one big happy family but Bella’s been indulged for years and she expects everyone to spoil her. Have you heard the way she talks to the servants?’
This last comment seemed to register.
She breathed deeply, took a few tentative steps forward and softened her tone. ‘Look, the truth is, I think Bella has some growing up to do. But this accusation of hers is damaging.’
‘Bell is not a liar, Iris,’ Ned said, quietly.
She hadn’t expected that. ‘So I am?’
‘I didn’t say that. But something’s really upsetting her if she’s clinging to this story after all that you’ve told me. I can’t explain it.’
‘Me either. But, Ned, with the greatest of respect, this is the first you’ve seen her in a very long time.’
‘Bella and I have shared plenty over the years. I think I do know my sister. A leopard doesn’t change its spots. Remember that,’ he said. Ned was giving her a clear warning.
‘But it’s my reputation and Jack’s that are being damaged.’
A smile ghosted across his face and she sensed a fresh gust of cynicism. ‘Oh, I think Jack’s shoulders are broad enough. Besides, he’s used to it.’
‘Well, I don’t have broad shoulders, Ned Sinclair, and I refuse to accept that sort of tarnish even once.’ She was breathing hard now. The anger was not contrived but the guilt was heavy.
Ned looked resigned. ‘We won’t argue any more about this, Iris. It’s ugly, as you say, and one person’s word against another’s. I have no desire for us to be at loggerheads. I’ll speak with Bella; if she’s still unhappy, she can go home. Perhaps we can bring her back for the wedding … if there is to be one.’
Iris’s bent head whipped up to glare at him. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Simply this, Iris. Wear my ring. Prove you’ve chosen me. And if you haven’t, then stop dithering and make a decision. There’s nothing more I can do. I love you. I’ve told you that every way I can and I’ve proved it every day since your arrival. I’m no hero, Iris; I’m just an ordinary fellow. Not especially handsome, not tall, not strapping, not wealthy. I’m also not stupid, or especially patient. Make a decision!’
How his words stung her. So filled with accusation. Ned knew, but he was giving her a way out while keeping his own pride intact.
He turned on his heel and left the room. She didn’t try to stop him.
She heard sister and brother talking in the hall, then footsteps and new voices. People were on the move. Iris dried her tears and knew she had to be strong now. She walked into the hallway.
‘Goodbye, Bella,’ she said, as Joseph carried the young woman’s trunk outside. ‘I’m so sorry your trip has ended like this.’ She saw gratitude in Ned’s expression; at least he appeared impressed by her graciousness, which was probably more than he could say for his sister.
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