The next moment she was sobbing in Albert’s arms, and then she felt him put her gently away from him.
‘Not here, Primmy. Let’s go into the back room.’
Horror filled her eyes. Dear Lord, but he said it as if he thought there might be prying eyes watching them through the windows of the studio frontage. In case he feared that every normal, sibling gesture was to be misconstrued from now on. Whoever this letter writer was, she knew bitterly that he had already destroyed something very precious to both of them.
They spent the next hour in total distress and indecision. Blackmailers should be reported, but if this one did as he threatened and it all came out in the press, it would shame their family and ruin them both. No matter how they denied it, this was the kind of mud that always stuck.
And Cress was coming here today to take possession of the finished portrait to show to Bess and Morwen. Primmy wondered how she could ever face him. How could she tell him? And how could she not? They had become so close that she thought of him as the other half of her. She had been so ecstatically happy with Cress, and now her heart was already breaking for a love that seemed doomed.
When he came to the studio, he was totally unprepared for the reception that awaited him, but one look at his beloved and he knew something unspeakable had happened. It was left to Albie to show him the letter, and Primmy watched his face unblinkingly. If Cress showed by one flicker that he believed it, then all was lost.
In answer to her anxieties, he came to her at once and folded her in his arms. And if Albert had ever doubted their feelings for one another, he could never doubt it now.
‘I won’t dignify this garbage by asking you what I already know,’ Cress said. ‘The thing is, what are we going to do about it?’
Albert shrugged, temperamental and angry now that the first searing shock had worn off.
‘Pay up, I suppose. What the hell else can we do?’
‘That’s what blackmailers expect,’ Cress said, still holding Primmy close. ‘But if you call their bluff, they’ll back off.’
‘You must be bloody mad if you think I’d risk allowing him to take the story to the newspaper, man,’ Albie said angrily.
‘No. We’ll take our own story there instead, and take all the heat out of anything he might think of doing,’ Cress said. As Primmy gasped, he held her more tightly, and continued steadily.
‘You and I will go to the newspaper office, Primmy, with a little piece of information for the social pages. It will state that Miss Primrose Killigrew will shortly be accompanying her aunt and fiancé on a European tour before leaving Cornwall with them for California. What do you say to it, my honey? Will you?’
Chapter Twelve
Now temporarily and comfortably installed at Hocking Hall, Louisa Tremayne had spent a pleasant hour busily assessing her wardrobe, and consulting with her sister-in-law over which clothes should be packed for a European tour, and which could remain. They had quickly become good friends, and now they were ready to go downstairs to where their menfolk were lounging, prior to the early evening meal.
Matt spoke to his wife at once. ‘Jack and Annie have suggested that you and Cress travel to London with them and their family, honey. They’re staying in the city for a couple of weeks now, to see their daughters settled, and to show Sammie some of the sights. It’s a good idea for you all to travel together. There’s always safety in numbers.’
Freddie agreed, but felt bound to add his own comments. ‘It begins to seem as if all of us are shifting about. I hope it don’t all upset Mammie and Daddy too much.’
‘They must be used to the way the world is changing by now, and all the travelling opportunities there are,’ Matt said, far more worldly himself than Freddie could ever be. ‘Times are long gone when folk stayed in the same place from the day they were born until the day they died. Though I daresay your agreeing to take young Bradley off to Ireland was a bit of a shock to them.’
Listening to the amicable chitchat, Cress took a deep breath. Things had been quickly settled between himself and Primmy. They had been busy all day, making their plans, and he’d barely been back at the house more than half an hour.
They all knew that Albie would dearly love to go to Europe with them, to see all the wonderful art galleries. But they also recognized that it could be disastrous to their cause of establishing the far healthier relationship between herself and Cress, than the ugly one the blackmailer had fabricated. But something had to be said here and now, and Cress tried to keep his voice steady as he faced his family.
‘They’re not the only ones on the move,’ he said. ‘Mother, I’ve invited Primmy to accompany us to Europe, and she’s accepted, subject to your approval. I’m sorry to spring it on you, but I very much want Primmy along. And I also want her to come to California with us when we return.’
There was total silence in the drawing room for a few minutes, and Cress knew he couldn’t have sprung more of a surprise on them if he’d dropped a bombshell in their midst. Then Matt’s handsome face darkened with suspicion.
‘What’s been going on in Truro, boy?’ he asked.
‘Nothing’s been going on. Primmy and I have a deep fondness for one another, that’s all. She hasn’t been too well of late, and needs to get away for a while. This seemed like a very good way of helping her.’
‘I like Primmy well enough, and I wouldn’t object to her company on the trip,’ Louisa said quickly, seeing tempers beginning to rise. ‘But you say you’ve invited her to California as well! Now, Cresswell, we’ve always given you every leeway in life, but this country is not California. Besides, what on earth do you think her parents will say to such an idea?’
‘Primmy’s not answerable to anyone. She’s a year older than me, for God’s sake!’ he retorted, raising a hand in apology as he forgot himself in the presence of ladies.
He had a desperate need to protect Primmy from any kind of gossip, and he daren’t betray the true reason for their departure. His own father had once been the mildest and dreamiest of men, but he had changed during his years among the Californian gold-miners, and mixing with the toughest of men. He wouldn’t stand for the insult of a vicious slander, and Cress knew that all hell would be let loose if he leaked out the urgency of their plans.
Matt would go storming down to Truro to confront Albert and Primmy, and demand that on no account were they to give in to blackmailers, no matter what. And if they all saw the need to have a family council on the problem, there’d be upsets all round, when none of it was necessary. Cress had already seen the way out, and acted on it.
‘Are you sure Primmy really wants to travel?’ Venetia said in some surprise now. ‘I always thought she and Albert were like two peas in a pod in their Truro place.’
Dear God, thought Cress, but didn’t she know she could be innocently turning the knife of suspicion by such a remark? But of course she didn’t know. Cress shook his head, and spoke directly to his mother now.
‘Primmy’s got a touch of wanderlust in her veins, and as this trip is my birthday gift, I didn’t think you’d object, Mother. You always said you’d have liked a daughter, so you can look on Primmy as the next best thing.’
As his father looked at him with a narrowing of his eyes, Cress went crazily on.
‘While I was in Truro, Albert and I met up with one of the reporters on The Informer. He was interested in the doings of the American Tremaynes. I told him I’d shortly be leaving on a tour, and he wanted to put a small piece about it in the social column. There must be a shortage of real news these days,’ he added, trying to sound casual. ‘I’m afraid I rather recklessly said that my fiancée, Miss Primrose Tremayne, would be accompanying my mother and me.’
Matt leapt up and grabbed his son by the shoulders, his fingers digging into him, bellowing into his face in true Tremayne form.
‘By God, I think you’ve gone completely mad! What the devil do you think Morwen and Ran will say to this? And your grandparents? How dare you do
such a stupid thing?’
‘What is it you’re objecting to?’ Cress shouted back. ‘The fact that it’s all cut and dried without consulting you, or the fact that Primmy and I love each other?’
He heard his mother give a little cry. ‘Cresswell, is this really true?’ she gasped. ‘Do you mean to say the engagement is a genuine one and that your affection for Primmy is returned?’
‘Of course I do,’ he retorted. ‘I wouldn’t invent such a story. And is it so very hard to understand?’
Into the general crackle of consternation, Freddie suddenly gave a wry laugh.
‘It is that, my young bucko, when ’twas young Primmy who made such a screaming to-do when you first let out the truth about her parents all those years ago!’
Cress grimaced, twisting away from his father’s cruel grip. ‘But as you so rightly say, all that was years ago. We’re different people now, and we love each other. I mean to have her, Father, and there’s nothing anyone can say or do to make me change my mind.’
Matt spoke with a grudging sliver of admiration in his voice. ‘Christ Almighty, if I ever thought there was any doubt about your being a true Tremayne, I don’t doubt it now. I don’t know one of ’em yet who didn’t go all out for the love of their choice. You’ve got more guts than I gave you credit for, boy.’
‘Then don’t you think it’s time you stopped calling me boy, and recognized that I’m a man?’ Cress said crisply.
‘Well said, Cress,’ Venetia said softly. She went to him and kissed his cheek. ‘You have my congratulations and my approval, but I do think it would be wise to get yourself off to New World as soon as you can, before Morwen and Ran read all about it in the newspaper. You won’t be the most popular of young men if that should happen.’
‘Albert and Primmy will already be at New World now, and I said I’d meet them there after supper,’ he said quickly. ‘But as I don’t have much appetite, I think I’ll go now and have a bite later.’
‘One more thing, Cress,’ Matt said sharply. ‘There’s no other need for all this haste, is there? Something you’re too shamed to tell us?’
Cress felt his face go hot. Speed to get the information of Primmy’s departure in the newspaper was essential, as was news of her engaged status, because it was a sure way of letting the bastard blackmailer see that they weren’t giving in to him. But the kind of haste his father was referring to, was farthest from his thoughts right now. If anything, all this incestuous suspicion would be enough to emasculate a lesser man, he thought. But thankfully he was a stronger man than that.
‘No, Father. I have not defiled Primmy, and nor would I do so,’ he said bluntly, disregarding the ladies’ scarlet faces. ‘I love her and I respect her, and I intend to tell her father the same.’
He escaped as soon as he decently could, knowing that for all his fine words, he loved Primmy with a fierce and hungry passion that was worthy of any man who had spent his years gouging out the wet clay from the earth. And why he should even think of it in such terms was beyond him, and he tried to forget it as he set out for New World, his heart thudding uncomfortably in his chest.
* * *
Albert and Primmy were already there as he had expected. They were with their parents in the drawing room, and the door was firmly closed until he was announced and allowed entry.
He could tell immediately that the parents had been told of Primmy’s plans, and his heart sank. He had intended this to be his task, not only to beg Ran to let the girl accompany him and Louisa to Europe, but also to ask for her hand. She might be of an age to please herself, but there were still family rules to follow, and Ran’s face was as black as thunder as Primmy moved swiftly to Cress’s side and stood with her fingers touching his.
‘I don’t like this carry-on, young man,’ Ran said at once. ‘You’ve hardly known one another two minutes and yet you profess to love one another, by all accounts – and what does your mother say to your whisking Primmy off to Europe?’
‘My mother has agreed, sir, and I apologize for the unorthodox way it’s come about. But, as you know, we leave early next week, and so it had to be a hasty decision.’
Ran looked at him thoughtfully, and Cress prayed he wouldn’t ask the same intimate question that his own father had done. It was a natural question for a concerned parent to ask, but it was excruciatingly embarrassing, all the same, especially when there was no truth in it. The temptation and the desire might be there, but he’d had the strength to restrain himself, and intended to as long as Primmy decreed.
To his surprise, his Aunt Morwen leaned forward and caught her husband’s hand. He’d never thought that she might plead his cause, but he saw the way she looked at her husband now, and heard her soft, melodious voice, and he realized he had an unexpected ally here.
‘Ran, whether folk have known each other for two minutes or two years, it counts for nothing when they’re struck down by love. We both know that, don’t we, dar?’
She pleaded with her eyes, willing him to remember the moment they had first set eyes on one another when Randell E Wainwright had come to Cornwall, and called on the family of his cousin Louisa.
Some of Ran’s first words to her had been to tell her she was beautiful. She had seen the admiration in his eyes, and known that here was a man of some stature. When he left the house, they had made a formal handshake, and her hand had felt so small and delicate in his. She remembered the absurd feeling of pleasure at knowing they were no longer a bal maiden’s hands, but those of a lady. She had wanted him to know the softness of her hands, just as she had known the strength in his… and if she hadn’t fully recognized it then, she had known the heady excitement of falling in love at first sight. And so had he.
Ran’s hard eyes softened as he looked at his wife. Still so beautiful, so fey and mysterious in many ways, and so obviously willing him now into giving into this craziness. And as her calmness penetrated his anger, he hesitated. Why was it so impossible? Grudgingly, his businessman’s head propelled him into seeing both sides of the argument. They were young, they were in love, and they had to travel life’s journey for themselves. Nobody else could do that for them.
Primmy left Cress’s side and moved towards Ran, tentatively putting her arms around him. She smelled of the countryside. She smelled like Morwen. She was soft and sensual, and now that she had discarded those ghastly shapeless garments she used to wear, Ran saw her for the beautiful and highly desirable young woman that she was. And who better to entrust her to than someone she loved, and who obviously adored her?
‘Please, Daddy Ran, don’t be difficult. I’ll never ask you for another thing in the whole world if you’ll agree to this,’ she said in a breathless little voice.
He gave a half-smile, transported back to the past, when Primmy the child had begged for a new toy, and the adolescent Primmy had begged for a new pony, and each time the plea was the same. She would never ask for another thing in the whole world from Daddy Ran if he would agree to it. And he always did, knowing that he was a fool to believe it, but completely smitten by her guile…
‘I guess if you must have your way as usual, then I must give in to you as usual, honey,’ he said, his voice as soft as hers. She gave a joyous little cry and hugged him close, and then she whirled around and flew into Cress’s arms.
* * *
They didn’t get the same reaction from Bess. Morwen promised to break the news to her early the next morning, and Bess was openly upset. Her face creased into a frown of some proportions, and Morwen knew she had a battle on her hands.
‘’Tain’t right,’ she said forcefully. ‘I said it before, and I’ll say it again, Morwen. What will folks think at the two on ’em going off to foreign parts together?’
‘Mammie, what is it you don’t like? If ’tis the fact that they’re cousins travelling together, then there’s nothing to fret about, since Aunt Louisa will be accompanying them!’ Morwen said, just as heated. ‘And if you’re worried about the two of them wanting
to be together for other reasons, well, you might as well try to stop the tide as stop that!’
‘So you approve on it, do ’ee?’ Bess said, her country ways becoming more obvious at every bit of this obstinacy from her strong-willed daughter.
‘I approve of two people who love one another being allowed to show it, and not having to hide away in corners because of it,’ Morwen said bluntly, knowing this degree of intimate talk would stop Bess in her tracks.
‘As for what folk will say,’ she swept on, ‘when did that ever stop a Tremayne doing whatever he wanted to do? It didn’t stop our Matt going to America, and it didn’t stop Daddy moving on from being Works Manager to bein’ a clay boss. It didn’t stop me marryin’ Ben Killigrew, neither, and that was enough to make folk raise their eyebrows to the skies at the time.’
Bess’s lips were clamped tight together now, but her eyes were steely blue, and then she lashed out something that Morwen had never expected to hear.
‘It didn’t stop ’ee lusting after Ran Wainwright, even afore your husband was cold, neither, did it, my girl? And don’t pretend it didn’t happen, because I know it did.’
Morwen couldn’t have been more shocked if her mother had said outright that she’d seen her and Ran in the little London hotel where they’d pledged their love, no matter how long it took for them to be together. No matter how long it took for Ben Killigrew to die…
She felt her face flame, arid she snapped at Bess, in a way that was quite unlike her.
‘I was a grown woman then, Mammie, and capable of making my own decisions. And Primmy’s a grown woman too, and I won’t stand in her way.’
‘And you’m both still daughters, and there’s no changing that, neither,’ Bess snapped back, with what Morwen thought was a quite illogical statement.
But she was inflexible, and Morwen left her with nothing resolved between them. She hated falling out with her mother, and it rarely happened, but Primmy had her whole life ahead of her, and she wasn’t going to spoil things for her.
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