The Fleethaven Trilogy

by Margaret Dickinson

  Fifteen

  The following evening Danny was waiting for her in the lane outside Brumbys’ Farm when she arrived home from work. It was almost dusk for Kate had been obliged to stay late to finish hemming some velvet curtains by hand with her tiny, neat stitching.

  ‘Guess what?’ He came and stood astride the front wheel of her cycle, resting his arms on the handle-bars. He leaned forward and planted a kiss on her mouth. Something had pleased him, Kate thought. He was grinning from ear to ear and forgetting to be cautious right outside the yard gate.

  Carefully Kate said, ‘You haven’t found another job already?’

  ‘Nope – but I’ve got me old one back.’

  Kate gave an exaggerated squeal of delight and hoped it sounded convincing. She flung her arms around Danny’s neck and hugged him. He grasped her arms and they were scuffling playfully when a sharp voice rang out in the still night air.

  ‘Kate! Kate – I want you in. Now!’

  Danny let go of her as if he had been burned, and sprang away, but Kate merely called back over her shoulder, ‘I won’t be a minute, Mam.’ She leaned her cycle against the gate post and turned back to Danny. Lowering her voice, she said, ‘Now, tell me quickly. What happened?’

  ‘Squire sent a message I was to go up to the Grange. I was quaking in me boots, I can tell you, when I went into his study,’ Danny said.

  So was I! thought Kate, but she said nothing, listening as Danny continued. ‘“I was a bit hasty yesterday,”’ he ses. “If you can get the motor put right, Eland, you can have your job back.” So I told him that ya stepdad reckoned he could fix it, and Squire said, “Godfrey’s word is good enough for me. He’s a good mechanic.”’

  Kate’s heart warmed to the Squire for his praise of her stepfather.

  ‘Squire said,’ Danny’s even teeth shone white in the darkness as he grinned, ‘ya dad’s so clever with mechanical things he’s wasted on a farm, even though he comes in handy when we get a problem with the machinery. He put his hand on me shoulder as I was coming out and said, “You could do a lot worse than learn from Jonathan Godfrey.” Oh, Katie, I’m that glad to get me job back, I can tell you.’

  Kate let out a long sigh too. ‘Well, that’s all right then.’ She moved closer to him, her mouth curving into a smile. ‘So when do I get another drive?’

  ‘You don’t!’ he replied shortly and then, obviously hearing the mischief in her tone, he reached out to grab her arms. ‘Oh, you tease, you . . .’

  Kate dodged his grasp and squealing with glee, she began to run, across the lane and into the trees on the dunes, glancing back over her shoulder, inviting him to chase her.

  Danny was not one to refuse such an invitation. Underfoot, twigs cracked whilst overhead, roosting birds fluttered from their resting place as the two youngsters, their laughter echoing in the stillness of the night, chased each other up and down the dunes like a couple of young puppies.

  ‘Sssh,’ Danny said, stopping suddenly. ‘What was that?’ They stood listening.

  Distantly, they heard Esther’s voice, ‘Kate – Kate!’

  Grabbing Danny’s hand, Kate whispered, ‘Come on, let’s go to the beach.’

  ‘You sure, Katie? You’ll only mek ya mam madder than ever.’

  But Kate was already dragging him up the slope and down on to the marsh. Then they were running towards the easterly dunes, splashing through the creeks in the darkness, skirting the deeper streams. They knew every inch of the marsh and could quite literally find their way in the dark.

  Laughing, they flopped down at last in the sandy hollow in the dunes that was their special place. They lay on their backs, close together, just staring up at the vast expanse of darkening sky above them, listening to the musical lap-lap of the waves, somehow louder in the darkness.

  Danny raised himself on one elbow and leaned over her. She could feel his breath, soft upon her face. ‘When are we going to get married, Katie?’

  She touched his face and, with gentle fingers, traced the outline of the features she knew – and loved – so well. She had always loved him. He had been part of her life always, and that was the way she wanted it. It was what they both wanted; to be part of each other’s lives for ever.

  ‘As soon as you like, Danny. But I’ll have to leave me job. Mr Reynolds dun’t – doesn’t . . .’ she corrected herself. Since her recent promotion she was more than ever conscious of the strong dialect in her speech and was making a determined effort to correct it. She had never felt her speech to be a defect until she had been ridiculed for it at the school in Lincoln. Sometimes, in the dead of night, she still shuddered at the memories of that time and her private humiliations were locked away in the depths of her soul.

  ‘Mr Reynolds’, she was saying now, ‘doesn’t employ married women. I’d have to leave if we got married.’

  ‘Well, I’d want you to anyway.’ His head came lower until his mouth brushed her lips. ‘You’ll have plenty to do looking after me – and the kids!’

  Kate giggled and then was lost as his butterfly kiss became more demanding. His arms were around her and he was pressing his strong, muscular body against her. Now she felt his urgency; felt the heat and desire in his kiss.

  ‘No, Danny, no. We mustn’t.’ Kate pulled away from him suddenly and sat up. She sat with her arms wrapped around her knees drawn up to her chest – a chest that was no longer childishly thin; now her breasts were firm and rounded – and desirable! And Danny wanted her, she knew.

  Miserably she buried her face in her skirt. Now Danny would be angry with her, might even hate her, she was thinking. All young men got angry if you didn’t let them – well, do things! At least that was what Sheila, one of the young girls in the workroom, said. Sheila was a pert, petite blonde, who wore make-up and high-heeled shoes and short skirts; she seemed to have a different boyfriend every week.

  But Esther’s warning sounded in Kate’s ears so clearly, she might have been standing over them. ‘Dun’t let him touch you – promise me!’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she muttered. ‘But I dun’t want to – to . . .’

  She felt Danny’s touch on her arm and he sat up at the side of her. ’Tis me who should be saying sorry. You’re right. We mun’t spoil it. We should wait till we’re wed.’

  She reached out to him in the darkness. ‘Oh, Danny,’ she breathed. ‘I was afraid you’d be cross, that you wouldn’t understand . . .’

  ‘Kate – I love you, really love you. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, or – or upset you.’ The grin widened, cheekily, ‘But I dun’t reckon I can wait for ever.’

  ‘Oh Danny, nor me. Nor me.’

  She held his beloved face between her hands and gently kissed his lips.

  ‘Just where do you think you’ve been, Miss? Do you know what time it is? It’s half-past ten.’ Her mother was waiting at the open back door as Kate came across the yard. Silhouetted against the light from within, Esther stood with her feet set apart and hands on hips. It was a stance that meant trouble.

  ‘Hello, Mam,’ Kate said happily. Not even Esther’s anger was going to be allowed to spoil things. Danny loved her – and he had got his job back. The Squire had kept his promise. Danny didn’t know she had a hand in it – but that was the way she wanted it. She loved him too much to belittle him. She would always let him think that he had regained his job because the Squire valued him and not because she had pleaded his cause.

  In her joy, Kate grasped her mother round her slim waist and drew her outside. In the darkness she whirled her mother round the back yard in a merry jig.

  ‘Stop it, Kate . . .’ but Esther was laughing in spite of herself. ‘Do stop – I’m getting a stitch in me side.’ Kate stopped and let go of her. Esther leaned against the pump in the yard, holding her side. ‘What’s got into you, girl? You’re as daft as a brush.’

  Kate stretched her arms skywards and threw back her head. ‘I’m happy, Mam, that’s all. Danny’s not going to get the sack and me dad’s go
ing to get the job of repairing the Squire’s motor. So he’ll be happy with his head stuck under a motor car.’

  Esther snorted. ‘Aye, I might have known – just when harvest is upon us.’

  Kate smiled, “Night, Mam.’ And before Esther had a chance to berate her daughter further for her lateness, Kate gave her a peck on the cheek and ran indoors. She was up the stairs, through the nursery where Lilian now slept, and into her own small back room before her mother had got her breath back.

  Harvest was upon them. Every evening and on her time off from work, Kate hurried into her outdoor work clothes and ran to the fields. Here, the old traditions survived. Neighbour helped neighbour at harvest and the horses from Brumbys’ Farm were in demand.

  ‘I’m not having them new-fangled tractor things in my fields.’ Esther vowed, and Kate would see her stepfather smile fondly and hide his disappointment. ‘It’s bad enough at threshing with the steam engine . . .’

  Kate listened to the conversations that were repeated every year and smiled, winking at her stepfather behind her mother’s back, knowing he looked forward to the winter days when the huge machine would come into their yard to start the threshing.

  ‘Why don’t you persuade Mam to get a tractor?’ Kate encouraged her stepfather as they walked out to the fields. ‘She would if she knew it would make you happy.’

  Jonathan smiled. ‘Maybe I will when the horses get too old . . .’

  ‘Oh, there’s Danny,’ Kate said suddenly, feeling the familiar ripple of pleasure as she saw him standing high on top of the wagon, spreading the sheaves as they were passed up to him by the men below. In the early evening sun, his muscular body, stripped to the waist, glistened with sweat. She began to run, and then, remembering suddenly, glanced back over her shoulder. ‘Don’t you forget, Dad, when the horses go – it’s a tractor we want.’ She wagged her finger at him and grinned.

  Jonathan smiled too, but then he glanced at Danny and back at her, and she saw the smile fade from his face. ‘Kate . . .’ he began, but, filled with the desire to be with Danny, she waved and said, ‘See you later, Dad,’ and was gone.

  Through the bright days of late summer, the two young people were filled with happiness, revelling in the secret they shared, planning their future.

  ‘Mebbe Squire would let us rent a farm of our own one day.’

  The look in her eyes softened lovingly. ‘Is that what you really want, Danny?’

  He wrinkled his forehead. ‘I reckon. Would that suit the new Mrs Eland?’

  He was teasing yet there was an underlying seriousness. They were deciding their future and he cared about her happiness.

  She nodded. ‘Oh yes, it’d suit me. I could still do dressmaking at home if I wanted.’

  ‘We’d only be tenants, mind. Mebbe he’d let us have Rookery Farm. Tom Willoughby’s getting on a bit now and he’s no family to carry on after him.’

  Kate was doubtful. ‘It’s more acreage than our farm. Wouldn’t you be better staying on the Squire’s estate? Maybe one day you could be bailiff.’

  She leaned her head against his shoulder as they sat beside a stook, nestling against the sweet-smelling corn and hidden from the inquisitive eyes of the other workers. Danny slipped his arm around her.

  ‘I suppose it wouldn’t be a bad job, though I’d sooner have a place of me own. It’s not easy to be put in charge of other folk, specially people ya’ve known all ya life. Ya can soon lose friends.’

  She twisted her head to look up at him. ‘No ambition, that’s your trouble,’ but she took any criticism out of her words by planting a kiss on his cheek.

  He rested his cheek against her hair. ‘I’ve only one ambition,’ he said softly. ‘To marry you and live happily ever after . . .’

  They sat quietly, watching the sun sink slowly behind the horizon, streaking the sky golden-red.

  ‘It’s ya birthday in a couple of days, in’t it? Ya eighteenth.’

  ‘Yes. Why?’

  ‘Shall we get engaged on ya birthday?’

  Kate sat up and looked at him, her eyes shining. ‘Yes, oh yes!’

  ‘Then,’ Danny said slowly, ‘we’ll have to tell them.’

  Some of the joy left Kate’s face as they regarded each other solemnly. ‘Right,’ she said firmly, for it was she who had the most difficult task and they both knew it. ‘I’ll do it tomorrow night when I get home from work.’

  ‘I’ll tell my folks, too, then they’ll all know at the same time. Okay?’

  Kate nodded, feeling the churning of apprehension in her stomach.

  ‘No. No! No!’ Esther Godfrey’s voice rose to an hysterical scream. Kate gaped at her mother, while four-year-old Lilian ran to her father and climbed on to his knee as he sat in the wooden Windsor chair at the side of the range in the kitchen. She flung her arms around his neck and buried her face against his shoulder. Automatically, Jonathan patted the child’s back comfortingly, but his attention was not on his young daughter.

  ‘Esther, love, steady on.’ To Kate’s ears his concerned tone also held a kind of warning. But her mother was in no mood to listen to the voice of reason.

  ‘Steady on? Steady on, you say?’ Esther leaned on the kitchen table, her palms flat down on the scrubbed surface, her green eyes flashing fire, but there was a stillness about her body that was ominous. ‘You will never, never marry Danny Eland.’

  ‘I will. You can’t stop me.’

  ‘Oh yes I can, my girl.’ Her mother’s voice was quiet now, but that very quietness was more menacing than the screaming.

  ‘Esther . . .’ came Jonathan’s deep voice, but now the two women – mother and daughter – were locked in their private battle of wills and scarcely heard him.

  Esther moved suddenly and swiftly towards the door. ‘I’ll put a stop to this once and for all.’

  ‘Esther – no! You can’t. You mustn’t!’

  She whirled to face her husband. ‘Keep out of this, Jonathan. It’s nowt to do wi’ you.’

  She could not have hurt him more if she had slapped him physically. Kate saw her stepfather wince, but his voice was calm as he rose from his chair, still cradling Lilian in his arms. ‘Esther – I’m warning you. You’ll hurt too many people and do something that can never – ever – be undone.’

  Esther flung out her arm, gesturing towards Kate. ‘And what do you suggest I do? Let her get on with it, eh?’

  ‘No, but . . .’

  ‘It’s got to be stopped, Jonathan. You know it has.’ And with that she almost ran from the house.

  Kate stared at her stepfather in anguish. ‘Dad – what’s going on? What is it?’

  Jonathan sighed and sat down heavily in his chair, shaking his head. ‘It looks as if you’ll find out very soon now, love.’

  ‘You tell me, Dad.’

  ‘No. It’s not my place to do so.’

  Kate left the house and ran towards the Point. She crested the Hump and stood staring at the scene below her. In the distance she could see Danny and his father, Robert Eland, walking away from the cottages up towards the headland where the river joined the sea. The older man had his arm across Danny’s shoulders and their heads were slightly inclined towards each other as if they were talking earnestly. At least, as if one were talking and the other listening.

  Kate’s gaze swivelled and came back to the cottages. She drew in a breath of surprise. Her mother stood outside the Elands’ cottage and Beth Eland was in the open doorway, standing quietly while Esther Godfrey flung her arm out in the direction of Danny’s departing figure, and then pointed at Beth, stabbing her finger towards the woman’s breast to emphasize whatever it was she was saying.

  Then Kate felt her heart go out to Danny’s mother for suddenly Beth Eland covered her face with her hands and sagged against the door-frame for support. With a shock, Kate noticed that her mother made no move to help Beth, did not even put out her hand to steady her, but appeared only to bend towards her to press home her point even more forcefully.


  Kate wanted to run forward, wanted to shout to Danny, wanted to stop whatever it was that was happening.

  For all of a sudden, the most dreadful feeling of foreboding flooded through her.

  She waited for what seemed an age and yet it could only have been minutes in reality until her mother turned away abruptly, leaving Beth still standing in the doorway, clutching at the door-jamb for support. And although she could not see the woman’s face clearly from this distance, Kate knew instinctively that Beth Eland was weeping.

  Danny and his father were at the headland, standing side by side, close, yet not touching now. They stood outlined against the sky, just staring out to sea. They did not seem to be speaking now.

  Esther was coming towards Kate, her stride swift and purposeful, anger in every movement. Her head was bent and it was not until she began to climb the Hump that Kate saw her glance up and notice her daughter.

  They stared at each other for a long moment until Kate burst out, ‘You won’t stop us, Mam. We love each other, and . . .’

  ‘I warned you, Kate. For years I’ve been trying to keep you apart. I even tried to get you away from here.’

  Kate gasped. ‘You mean – you mean – that was why you sent me away to that school? Because of Danny?’

  Esther nodded. She was quieter now, and strangely there was sadness in her tone as she said, ‘I’m sorry, Kate, but you can never marry Danny Eland.’

  Tears sprang to Kate’s eyes. ‘Why, Mam? Please tell me why.’

  Kate saw her mother take a deep, unsteady breath. ‘Because – he’s your half-brother!’

  Sixteen

  The world revolved. The scene before her danced and blurred. It was like a knife being thrust in just below her ribs. Her heart seemed to stop and then begin to thud painfully. Fear prickled her scalp. She gasped for breath, clutching a hand to her chest, while with trembling fingers she reached out. ‘Mam . . .?’

  But her mother was walking away, striding down the Hump back towards Brumbys’ Farm.