Elm Tree Road

by Anna Jacobs

  They puttered more slowly up the narrow lane and into the drive, whose gates were open. Harry stopped the car outside the front of the house. ‘Here you are,’ he called unnecessarily.

  Hugh helped Nell out of the vehicle, and as she turned round to look at the house again, the door opened and there was a loud shriek.

  ‘Nell!’

  She ran towards her sister, sobbing and holding out her arms. ‘Mattie, Mattie, Mattie!’

  The two of them met and twirled round, hugging and hugging again, then leaning back to study and pat each other’s faces. After that they held each other tightly, both sobbing uncontrollably.

  A man came running round the side of the house, limping slightly. He stopped to stare in shock at the two women. He turned to Hugh. ‘What’s happening? Who’s the other woman with my wife?’

  ‘Nell. Mattie’s sister.’

  ‘Oh, thank goodness! I told her she’d find her sisters again one day, but she gets very sad about it sometimes.’ He stuck out his hand. ‘I’m Jacob Kemble, by the way, Mattie’s husband.’

  ‘Hugh Easton. Nell works for me but we’re also … um … getting to be good friends. This is Harry, who drove us here.’ But his eyes were on Nell, who looked radiantly happy, even through her tears.

  Jacob studied him, head on one side, then smiled. ‘You mean, you love her. That’s obvious from the way you look at her.’ Then he frowned. ‘But wasn’t she married? To some fellow called Cliff Greenhill, if I remember correctly?’

  ‘She was, but he was killed. And her child with him.’

  By this time, the two women had calmed down a little and turned to the men.

  ‘Jacob, come and meet my sister.’ Mattie fumbled in her pocket, not finding a handkerchief.

  With a laugh, her husband handed her his. ‘Lost yours again, have you, love?’

  Only then did Nell notice that Mattie was expecting. She couldn’t be far along, but there was no mistaking the reason for the curve of her belly against her slender body. ‘When is the baby due?’

  Mattie beamed. ‘End of March, as far as we can tell. Look at us two, standing out here weeping like fools. Let’s go inside.’

  ‘I think we should leave you two to talk,’ Hugh said. ‘You’ve got a lot to catch up on.’

  Nell hesitated. ‘Would you mind?’

  ‘Of course not. I’ll tell Mr Kemble what’s been happening to you.’

  ‘We can do that over a cup of tea and some of Cook’s fruit cake, Mr Easton. And call me Jacob. I’m not one for mistering.’

  ‘I have to pour another can of petrol into the car,’ Harry said. ‘Though if anyone was to offer me a cup of tea and a piece of cake afterwards, I’d not say no.’

  ‘Cook loves feeding people. You’re very welcome.’ Mattie was already turning away with her sister.

  Jacob watched her go with a fond smile on his face. ‘I like to see her happy.’

  Harry agreed to drive the car round to the back of the house and Hugh followed Jacob and the two sisters inside, crossing the big hall and going through a door at the back to the kitchen.

  Nell lingered to stare round the spacious hallway in awe. ‘I can’t believe you own a house like this.’

  ‘I have to pinch myself sometimes to make sure I’m not dreaming. Miss Newington, who used to own it, was such a lovely old lady. We were both sad when she died suddenly. Jacob had been working for her for a while, so why she left things to me instead of him, I’ve never understood. Still, it doesn’t really matter now we’re married, does it? What’s mine is his.’

  ‘How did you meet him?’

  ‘I got lost in a storm the night I ran away, and Jacob’s son Luke found me lying unconscious in the lane. He thought I was dead and ran for his dad. If he hadn’t found me, I’d have died, I’m sure.’

  ‘Your husband obviously loves you.’

  Mattie’s face glowed with happiness. ‘Jacob’s a wonderful man, and so hard-working. He’s made a big difference to this house already. He has two children from his first marriage, Luke and Sarah. They’re at school at the moment.’

  ‘Do you get on with them all right?’

  ‘I do now, though it wasn’t always easy at first. But they’re nearly as excited about the baby as I am.’ She hesitated, then asked, ‘What about Renie? You haven’t said a word about her.’

  So Nell shared her news, crying again. ‘My daughter was called Sarah too, like your stepdaughter. She was such a lovely child.’

  Mattie pulled her into another hug. ‘How dreadful for you! You’ve been very brave. Fancy setting off to walk across England all on your own. I’d never have dared do that.’

  ‘I had to get away until I could come to terms with it. I didn’t look after myself very well. I sprained my ankle and I was completely lost when Hugh found me.’ She shrugged. ‘But I’m here now.’

  ‘You’re still young, only twenty-three. You’ll meet someone else, have other children. Time is a great healer.’ She stopped to stare at her sister. ‘Nell, you’re blushing. Have you met someone already?’

  ‘Hugh.’

  ‘Ah. You’re fond of him.’

  ‘Yes, but things went so wrong with Cliff. And Hugh’s an educated man. What can he see in someone like me? I—’

  ‘Just a minute. I thought Cliff loved you.’

  ‘So did I. He didn’t, though. All he wanted was a woman’s body and someone to do the housekeeping.’ Nell couldn’t help shuddering.

  Mattie’s voice grew softer. ‘Was your marriage very bad?’

  ‘Yes. I’d rather not talk about it. It’s over and done with.’

  Her sister gave her shoulder a quick squeeze in sympathy. ‘All right, love. We’ll talk about some good news instead. You remember how your father always used to talk about saving for his old age? After he’d died, Jacob and I found his bank book in that box he kept on top of the wardrobe. You wouldn’t believe how much money the old miser had saved – over five hundred pounds.’

  ‘No wonder. He took all our wages from the first day we went to work. Even he wasn’t as mean as Cliff, though. At least we ate adequately when I lived at home.’

  ‘Well, you won’t ever go hungry again, not as long as I’m around. I’m well provided for, so I thought you and Renie could share your father’s money and—’

  ‘Actually, I don’t need it. I’ve got quite a lot of my own because Cliff was even more mean with money than Dad. I found out after he died that he’d been saving for years to open his own business. And he’d taken out life insurance as well. I think that was in case I died, but it was one of those husband-and-wife policies, and as it turned out, I was the one to benefit. A thousand pounds I got. He’d have hated that. So if you need any money for the upkeep of this house, you should take some of Dad’s.’

  ‘I don’t need it, either. We’re not money-rich, Jacob and me, but we have the house and land, and he’s a good manager. We’ve started to put a little aside, even with the repairs we’ve had to do. I’m glad you’re not short of money, though. We’ll keep Dad’s money for Renie, shall we?’

  ‘If she ever comes back.’

  ‘We have to believe she’ll turn up again one day, cheeky as ever,’ Mattie said quietly. ‘She will, love, I know she will.’

  ‘I hope so.’

  ‘Well – you did. I’m sure she must have had a good reason for leaving so suddenly, though I can’t imagine what it was.’

  ‘Renie’s idea of a good reason isn’t always the same as mine,’ Nell said. ‘She was a madcap sometimes, wasn’t she? Do you remember that time when she was seven and she and John Gibbins were playing near the reservoir, which was forbidden. When he fell in, she had to rescue him herself because there was no one else around and he kept sinking? I never saw such a bedraggled pair!’

  They both laughed at the memories of their little sister and the atmosphere lightened.

  ‘Have you seen Cliff’s family?’

  Nell sighed, and told her about Mrs Greenhill screeching a
t her, then about Frank turning up in the village the day before. ‘I can’t believe it was a coincidence, as Hugh thinks.’

  ‘Nor can I. People like the Greenhills don’t go out simply for pleasure,’ Mattie said. ‘Anyway, forget about him. Let’s go and join the men now or they’ll be wondering whether we’re all right. Just a minute. Let me tidy your hair … There … that’s better.’

  It felt like old times to have Mattie fussing over her, made Nell feel warm inside.

  * * *

  When the two women rejoined the men, who were sitting in the kitchen with the remains of a fruit cake in front of them, Harry took one look at their tear-stained faces and stood up. ‘I’ll go and have a stroll round your garden, if that’s all right, Mr Kemble. I don’t want to intrude on your family discussions. I had two big pieces of cake, so I could do to walk it off a bit.’

  ‘That young man is a pleasure to feed,’ Cook said after he’d left. ‘Will your sister be staying to luncheon, Mrs Kemble?’

  ‘I hope so.’ Mattie looked at Nell and Hugh, who both nodded. ‘Thank you, Cook. We’ll go and sit in the breakfast room, shall we? There’s a fire in there and the front parlour takes ages to warm up.’

  ‘Have you set the world to rights now?’ Jacob asked as they all sat down.

  ‘Partly,’ Mattie said. ‘It’ll not be fully right till we find Renie again, though.’

  ‘Knowing her, she’ll probably find us,’ Nell said.

  Jacob smiled at Nell. ‘I just want you to know that you’ll always have a home with us.’

  ‘Thank you, but I’m all right for the moment. I’ve got a job and I’m needed at the farm.’

  ‘And I very much want you to stay on with me,’ Hugh said warmly.

  She blushed hotly, and no one spoke for a minute or two, though Mattie gave her sister a knowing smile.

  Over luncheon they talked about other things, thank goodness: what Nell had seen on her travels, Hugh’s job, Jacob’s plans for the land which formed part of his wife’s inheritance, and which seemed to matter to him much more than the house did.

  All too soon, it was time to leave and the sisters were in tears again.

  ‘Why don’t you come over to visit us?’ Hugh asked, guessing Nell wouldn’t feel she could be the one to invite them to his house.

  Jacob frowned. ‘It’d not be easy going cross country. We’ve not got a motor car and I’m not so sure I’d want one, either. Perhaps you could come and see us again instead? Come at the weekend and bring your niece, Hugh. She can play with my Sarah.’

  ‘I can’t ask Hugh to—’ Nell began, embarrassed.

  ‘You don’t need to ask. I’d love to come again and I’m sure May would enjoy the outing. Didn’t we say we needed to get her out and about more?’

  She could only nod and wish he didn’t fit in so well with her family. If only things were different! Whatever he said or did, she simply couldn’t believe it would all work out. Or that she deserved such luck.

  When they collected May from Pearl’s house, she was so rude to Nell that he scolded her.

  ‘You always take her side!’ she screamed at him. ‘I hate her! She’s spoilt everything, taken you away from me. No one loves me any more.’

  He looked at Nell aghast, but the child was sobbing so hard, looking such a pitiful lonely little figure, he had to cuddle her.

  ‘I think you need to talk to her,’ Nell said. ‘I’ll go and tidy my bedroom.’

  Upstairs she plumped down on the bed, feeling like crying herself. What had got into May? Well, she knew, didn’t she? May had lost the two most important people in her world and now she felt she was losing her uncle to Nell. And in a sense, she would be if …

  No, it was yet another reason why this wasn’t meant to be.

  She stared bleakly out of the window. She’d known that from the start, hadn’t she? Hugh might like being with her now, while he was living so far away from all his friends, but once he got back to London, she’d not fit into his life and he’d soon grow disillusioned.

  No, she had to face facts squarely. She wasn’t going to run away, though. She’d done enough running away. She’d work on here till a suitable time came to leave, but was going to tell him straight out that it was better to end their relationship now, before they tore one another apart, and before they ruined that poor child’s life.

  She shivered at the memory of how terrible her marriage to Cliff had been. She still had nightmares about it. Once you were wed, you couldn’t escape.

  She wouldn’t do that to Hugh, spoil his life by tying him down to someone unsuitable. She loved him far too much.

  He came up to find her, of course. ‘I’m sorry. I can’t get May to realise that my caring about you doesn’t affect how I feel about her. As for apologising to you for her rudeness, she threw another tantrum at the mere idea of doing that.’

  ‘There’s no need. She’s a child, and an unhappy one at that.’

  ‘Nonetheless, you don’t deserve to be treated like that, my darling, and—’

  She held up one hand. ‘Leave that for the moment. I have something of my own to say.’ She swallowed the lump of anguish in her throat and said baldly, ‘It won’t work between us, Hugh.’

  ‘Yes, it will! Nell, we love one another.’

  ‘You think you love me, but once you’re back in London with your fancy friends, you’ll notice my faults, my lack of education. People in Lancashire laughed at the way I speak with a Wiltshire accent. And they would in London too.’

  He took hold of her hands and wouldn’t let go. ‘Nell, I—’

  ‘I won’t let the way I feel spoil your life – and mine. And you can’t force me to. Let me go.’ She tugged her hands away.

  He looked horrified. ‘I wasn’t trying to force you to do anything.’

  ‘Then why will you not take no for an answer?’

  ‘Because I know you love me and I know you’re wrong about it not working out.’

  ‘It’s my choice. If you won’t let the matter drop, I’ll have to go and live with my sister.’ She heard his breath hiss inwards as she said that, but hardened her heart, for his sake.

  ‘Nell, don’t do this!’

  ‘I must. I’ve been in one unhappy marriage and I can’t bear the thought of another. So what’s it to be, Hugh? Will you stop pestering me, or must I leave?’

  His eyes searched her face and she could have wept at how sad he looked, but she didn’t give in. ‘Well?’

  He spread out his hands in a gesture of helplessness and took a step backwards. ‘I’ll stop pestering you. But that won’t stop me loving you.’

  She held back the tears till he’d left her bedroom, then she locked the door and wept into her pillow, fighting to muffle the sound of her pain.

  In the bedroom next door, May was wide awake, though it was long past her usual sleeping time. She couldn’t help hearing the two of them start arguing. Well, she wasn’t going to apologise. That woman wasn’t going to take her uncle away from her, if she could help it.

  But what she heard surprised her. It was her uncle who was asking Nell to give him a chance, and Nell who was refusing.

  When May heard her uncle go downstairs again, he was walking slowly and heavily. She was glad that woman didn’t really want him but she didn’t want him to be upset, and he’d sounded so sad.

  Perhaps if they went to live in London, it’d happen the way Nell said it would. He’d start seeing his old friends and forget about her.

  May scowled into the darkness. She didn’t want to go and live in London, was frightened of finding her way around in such a big city, where no one knew her.

  A sound caught her attention. She couldn’t at first make out what it was. It was so faint she could hardly hear it, but her mother had always said she had excellent hearing. The sound went on and on, faint and soft and sad. Suddenly she realised what it was. Nell was crying again.

  But Nell had just said she didn’t want to marry May’s uncle, so why was she cr
ying?

  It took a long time for her to stop. May was worried now. People only cried like that when something had upset them badly. She’d cried for days after her parents were killed. And she’d heard her uncle crying too.

  It must mean … Nell must be unhappy about what had just happened. She wouldn’t have cried if she’d meant what she said … so she must love him after all.

  Well, May was sorry that she was upset, but she couldn’t have Uncle Hugh. May needed him too much herself.

  Over the next few days, May watched her uncle and Nell carefully. They both looked unhappy and that made her feel bad.

  He watched Nell when she wasn’t looking at him, and she watched him too, sneaking glances, blinking away tears.

  May heard the crying again. Every night. She didn’t like to hear it.

  One morning she tried to talk about it. ‘Your eyes are red and puffy, Nell. Are you all right?’

  ‘I think I’ve got a bit of a cold, that’s all.’

  May caught a glimpse of her uncle’s face in the mirror on the wall, and wished she hadn’t. He’d been looking at Nell so longingly.

  It was all very confusing.

  They were so upset, she didn’t want to make things worse, so didn’t tell them about the man who’d come to the school yesterday and stared at her. She knew it was her he was looking at because she always stood on her own in the playground and there was no one else near her.

  He was the same man who’d stopped in a car last Sunday to look at them. She didn’t like him.

  Still, he hadn’t done anything to her, had he? And he’d gone away again, so it was probably nothing.

  She’d tell them if he came back again, though.

  When May had left for school on the Friday, Hugh looked at Nell across the kitchen and risked asking, ‘Are you happy with what you’re doing to me, to us?’

  ‘No, of course I’m not. But it’s the right thing to do. I know it is.’

  ‘It isn’t. Only I can’t think how to convince you. And if you carry out your threat and leave, I’ll follow you, and keep turning up at your sister’s till I’ve made you change your mind.’