by Anne Bennett
‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘Oh yes you do,’ Celia said. ‘I don’t believe even a person like you is that stupid. You don’t like facing the truth, or hearing what the consequences were of what you did, but I will tell you anyway.’
‘How dare you?’ Lady Lewisham shrieked, pulling the bell rope agitatedly to summon assistance. ‘Get out!’
Celia stood her ground and said, ‘I dare because of Annabel. I stayed by her side for months and she was lovely and kind and very, very frightened. She was a young girl facing the birth of a child she did not want and she was terrified of the birth itself and worried what would happen to the child and her afterwards.’
The butler entered the room and when he put a hand on Celia’s arm to eject her she shook him off. ‘Get your hands off me. I will go when I’m ready. Till then I’ll say what I’ve got to say.’
The butler made a move towards her again and Henry stepped forward. ‘You put one hand on her again and you’ll have me to deal with. Let her speak.’
The butler looked towards his mistress for he didn’t know how to deal with the situation now and she said, ‘Fetch Lord Lewisham.’
‘Oh do,’ said Celia. ‘Then he can hear too,’ and she turned back to face Lady Lewisham and went on, ‘Annabel said the future was like a big black hole. As the pregnancy progressed she stopped eating because she said she was full up of misery. You could have eased that for her – a note from you or a visit would have made all the difference. She felt abandoned by all except Henry.
‘Then the labour was long, arduous and very painful and I was with her through every contraction. I saw her weakening but there was nothing I could do. And then just after she had eventually given birth to Grace, she haemorrhaged. Do you hear that? Can you even begin to imagine her despair and anguish? For your daughter Annabel, who you wouldn’t even acknowledge, bled to death. You have lost a daughter that you should have valued, Henry a beloved sister, me a dear friend and poor Grace has lost a mother.’
‘What is this?’ blustered Lord Lewisham, coming into the room at a rush for such was the volume of Celia’s voice raised above the keening of the baby, he had heard some of what she’d said and imagined the servants would have too and would be agog, especially when the brazen girl, whoever she was, went on, ‘Ah Lord Lewisham, I’m glad you could join us. I have come to show you little Grace. She is your granddaughter and the result of the brutal attack and rape that happened under your roof by a houseguest at the time, a Charles Timberlake.’
Lord Lewisham looked stunned. His face was very red and glistening with sweat, despite the cold of the day, and his rheumy eyes opened still wider and even his moustache seemed to bristle as Celia went on. ‘It was entirely his fault, but he wasn’t man enough to admit that. Not content with filling Annabel’s belly with his bastard child, he went on to blacken her name and you believed him over her. I wondered about that at the time because if you knew anything about your own daughter you’d be well aware she wasn’t at all like the woman Timberlake described. She wouldn’t have had the least idea how to entice and tease a man for she had led a cloistered life here, so where would she learn such things? Ah, but then I learnt that Timberlake was a wealthy man and one with influence and realised that those things are more important than the truth and if that meant casting your daughter aside when she needed you more than ever then so be it.’
Lord Lewisham knew he was beaten. He would tell the servants that if they gossiped about this they would lose their jobs, but he knew that would only fan the rumours and there was no way they could hope to keep it secret now. He would lose his respectability over this and so would his wife. Her stricken eyes met his across the room and he sighed.
He’d thought they could get away with keeping Annabel’s pregnancy a secret, even after she’d wrecked their plans for her to bide at Aunt Agatha’s. Henry had agreed to hide her away and, God forgive him, he had been relieved when she had died. It had been neater that way, drew a line under it, and he felt ashamed of that now because he had to acknowledge that much that the vixen had said had been true. He had also thought it a pity that the child had survived. As it had, he’d presumed Henry would have it housed in some children’s home.
Never in a million years had he envisaged Henry appearing at Manor Park Hall with the child tended by some virago who berated them soundly and shouted their business to the world. She had dealt them both a mortal blow.
‘You had better go,’ he said in defeated tones to Celia. ‘You’ve done your worst.’
‘Yes,’ Celia said. ‘I’ll go now.’
‘But the child …’ Henry said.
Celia looked at the now quiet and sleeping child as she said, ‘Henry had this idea that you might have made arrangements for this child to be fostered by someone here on the estate. I can plainly see from your faces that such a possibility had never entered your heads. In a way I’m glad. This child is doubly precious because Annabel lost her life giving birth to her so I would like anyone who’d look after her to love her too like Henry and I do. Even if you were willing to take care of your own flesh-and-blood grandchild, you love yourselves too much to make a good job of it. In fact I would hesitate to leave you in charge of a goldfish.’
NINETEEN
Henry had arranged for the taxi that had brought them to wait and as they settled back into it Henry looked at Celia with amazement. ‘I can’t believe you said all that to my parents.’
‘Why?’ Celia said. ‘It needed saying. There isn’t one word I said back there that I will ever regret saying.’
‘No, but …’
‘I believe in straight talking,’ Celia said.
‘You most certainly do,’ Henry said with a wry smile. ‘I have never seen my father so lost for words. I suppose you know you’ve destroyed them.’
‘I don’t much care if I have,’ Celia said. ‘The way they treated their daughter was unforgivable. Anyway, they will only be destroyed if they allow themselves to be. They cannot be held responsible for what happened to Annabel though from what you say, if Timberlake was invited to their home, then greater care should have been taken of her, because Timberlake’s reputation had gone before him. What people may castigate them for is the way they behaved towards Annabel when the dreadful news was broken to them. The servants would have been aware of much and I was glad to at least set the record straight with them.’
‘You did that all right,’ Henry said. ‘You didn’t see because you were ahead of me but as I left the butler clapped me on the shoulder. He had never done anything like it before and he said, so quietly I had to strain to hear, “Good on you, sir. We always thought that Timberlake a bad lot and we never blamed Miss Annabel. She was little more than a child.”’
‘See, they knew everything already,’ Celia said. ‘And it will be all over the county in no time because whatever restraint your father puts on the staff will only work in the short term and really in my experience a tale grows in the telling, so when it starts seeping out in bits, it will be added to. It would be best to make a clean breast of everything, and take the censure and criticism. When the dust has settled true friends will still be there.’
‘Timberlake won’t.’
‘No loss there then,’ Celia said. ‘Seems to me I’ve done everyone a favour. Oh, I know all about his money and influence, but how many fathers will be willing to take an investment from Timberlake when they know that the price he might exact could be their daughter’s virginity and loss of innocence?’
‘Not many, I’d say.’
‘I’d like to think none,’ Celia said. ‘Anyway, straight talking means for us as well. There is to be no more false names and me pretending I am someone else. I understand why it was done but that reason is no longer valid.’
Henry nodded. ‘I know you’ve often felt uncomfortable.’
‘Well I’m not used to bossing people about, I think you have to be born and grow up in that kind of life to be comfortable with it. A
nnabel for example was much better at it than me. So we will tell Janey and Sadie first and then I have to try and find Andy and explain that I never received the letter and why and you can tell him the real reason you rebuffed him when he came asking for the job you offered him initially.’
‘And what are we to do with the baby in all this?’
‘Why should we do anything with her?’ Celia asked. ‘Isn’t she fine where she is? I know you probably were kept in the nursery but I don’t like that way of going on and if I am dealing with her that’s the way it will be.’
‘All right,’ Henry said. ‘I won’t argue, but you must tell me if it gets too much for you. She will have money of her own anyway for the sum Annabel would have received at eighteen, probably to fund her season in London, reverts to Grace and when I was going through her papers I also came upon the tickets for the jewellery she pawned in Belfast before boarding the boat. I never fussed her about it, but always assumed she’d just thrown them away and those too belong to Grace and I will retrieve them as soon as possible.’
‘Oh, I’m glad she will have some money at least,’ Celia said. ‘It might smooth the path for her when she is older. Maybe give her more choices in her life.’
The taxi drew up in front of the door as Celia said, ‘And talking of Grace, my nose tells me she needs changing and she could probably do with a wee feed too so our talk with Janey and Sadie will have to wait.’
‘A few more minutes won’t make any difference,’ Henry said as he paid the taxi driver. ‘Sadie is probably busy with the dinner anyway. She said she’d have it all prepared and put it on when she heard us arrive back. If you change Grace now, I’ll go and get her bottle organised.’
So Celia had Grace clean and sweet-smelling and Henry had just returned from the kitchen when there was a knock on the door. They never had visitors and with Janey busy in the kitchen, rather than call her, Celia, still with the baby in her arms, opened the door herself, but cautiously, and then she screamed in delight and surprise.
‘Norah,’ she cried. ‘Oh Norah.’ And she threw her free arm around her sister while tears rained down her cheeks as she realised how much she had missed her. Henry, carrying a baby’s bottle in one hand, came in upon the distressed sisters still in the hall, for Norah was crying too. Knowing it would all be explained later, he scooped the baby from Celia’s arms and carried her away.
‘Come in,’ Celia urged Norah, throwing the door wide open. ‘Please come in.’
‘I will but I must tell Andy first.’
‘Andy? You mean Andy’s here?’
‘Yes, waiting till I check you are in this time because we came before, but you were out.’ And Norah wrinkled her nose as she added, ‘Don’t think your maid likes me much. Looked at me like something that had crawled out from under a stone and definitely would have no dealings with the likes of Lord Lewisham, who I asked to see.’
‘Janey is all right when you get to know her,’ Celia assured her sister. ‘She’s a bit protective of us. So where’s Andy now?’
‘Just up the road,’ Norah said. ‘We took a turn around the park before I came to try the house again.’
‘Not really the weather for parks,’ Celia said. ‘Why didn’t he come to the house with you?’
‘He said that he didn’t know you’d want him here.’
‘What nonsense,’ Celia said and then, remembering that Henry had sent him away before when he had come to ask him for the job he had offered him initial-ly, thought he might have reason to feel unwelcome. ‘There have been so many misunderstandings and so much to explain it’s important that I see Andy. I thought I would have to go searching for him. Let me go and tell him he must come to the house. I’ll just get my coat.’
‘No,’ Norah said and it came out louder and sharper than she intended. She saw Celia recoil slightly and went on more gently, ‘You might frighten him to death with your fine clothes, or at the very least make him uncomfortable.’
Celia looked down at her tartan plaid dress and jacket and smart leather boots. ‘D’you think so?’
‘Yes I do,’ Norah said emphatically. ‘Celia, Andy is a boatie and though he has a suit on today under his overcoat because it’s Sunday, both have seen better days. I imagine it will be hard enough to get him to come through the front door of an establishment like this.’
Celia nodded. ‘You’re right and I felt a bit like that myself initially, but please tell him I really need to see him. There are things I must explain to him.’ As Norah scurried down the road, Celia was able to go into the sitting room and tell Henry, who was feeding the baby, who Norah was and she also said Andy was waiting for her down the road. Henry quite agreed with Celia that they be brought to the house, though he felt a little uncomfortable meeting Andy again for he knew the first thing he had to do was apologise to the man.
In the meantime he popped into the kitchen to see if Sadie could magic up some sort of meal for their unexpected guests. However, Sadie had been used to much bigger establishments before she came to work for Henry and had got into the habit of always keeping a stock pot on the go that she could use as a base to rustle up soup in a jiffy and she told Henry so.
‘I don’t want to put you out.’
‘You haven’t, sir,’ Sadie assured Henry. ‘In fact I would like the opportunity to cook for a houseful.’
Celia expected Norah to return with Andy in a matter of minutes but Andy was proving reluctant.
‘You saw her then,’ he said, when he saw the smile on Norah’s face.
‘Yes, I saw her and she wants to see you too.’
‘Huh, and what if I don’t want to see her?’ Andy said slightly belligerently. ‘She has no right to order me about any more.’
‘I don’t think she means it that way,’ Norah said. ‘She said she has a lot of explaining to do.’
‘Well she’s right there, she does.’
‘Well she might tell us about the baby for one thing, because whatever you think it can’t be Celia’s.’
‘And you’ve seen the baby?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well why can’t it be Celia’s?’
‘Because you didn’t arrive in Birmingham until late on in May and babies take nine months to be born. This one is here. I’ve seen her and though she is small she is a few weeks old.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Course I’m sure,’ Norah said. ‘Now are you coming or not?’
‘I can’t go in there dressed like this.’
‘Look, this is Celia we’re talking about. She won’t care how you’re dressed.’ But she remembered her conversation with Celia and knew he had a point. ‘Come on, Andy, she said she had things to tell you, to explain.’
‘Explain, huh?’ Andy exclaimed. ‘Maybe she can explain why that Henry Lewisham likes treating ordinary people like shit.’
‘How he behaves is nothing to do with her.’
‘She must know about it though. How can she stay working for a man like that?’
‘Oh that’s not fair,’ Norah said. ‘You must know better than anyone that jobs are not ten a penny. Anyway, if he has done nothing to her she might even like him. I mean, all right so he did something nasty to you once, but before that it was all right. He offered you a job, didn’t he? But you thought jobs were easier to get than they were and your stiff-necked pride wouldn’t let you accept it, but you didn’t stay and explain, you just took off. In a way, you were throwing his offer back in his face and, yes, maybe he was cross and wouldn’t have you back on principle.’
‘Well if he makes one snide comment to me, just one, then I will punch him on the nose.’
Norah almost bounced on the ground in temper. ‘Andy McCadden,’ she cried. ‘I am not going into that house with you when you are threatening to assault the master of it. He would have you arrested and you would badly hurt Celia. She’ll definitely be upset and might find herself out of a job because of your actions. Is that what you want?’
‘Course n
ot.’
‘Well come on then,’ Norah said. ‘And behave while you are there, for heaven’s sake.’
Norah thought for a moment Andy was going to wheel away from her and return to the canal, and he did think of it. But the need to see Celia was strong and with a shrug he fell into step beside Norah and she sighed inwardly with relief, and as they walked he said, ‘If it’s not Celia’s baby it has to be Lady Annabel’s.’
‘It might belong to neither of them.’
Andy shook his head. ‘No,’ he said. ‘The boy who delivered the note said she was expecting a baby, only he got the wrong person. No wonder there was no message back. Wonder how it happened for I told him he had to give it into the hand of Miss McCadden and no other. Point is, if it is Miss Annabel’s, I’m pretty certain that she’s not married.’
‘Oh that would set the cat among the pigeons.’
‘Even with the gentry?’
‘More especially with the gentry, I would say,’ Norah said.
In the house Celia was wondering what had happened to them and would have gone looking but Henry advised her to wait and so when the knock came on the door it was Janey who answered it, but Henry had told her they were guests invited to dinner and she blushed with embarrassment as she remembered the rude way she had spoken to the woman just an hour or so before. And so the first thing she said to Norah was how sorry she was for the way she had spoken to her earlier.
‘It’s when you asked for Lord Lewisham,’ she said as she led the way to the sitting room. ‘I couldn’t think what you could want with him.’
‘Well I did think of asking for Celia but I thought I should ask for the master of the house.’
Janey had her hand on the handle of the door of the sitting room when she turned with a slight frown on her face and said, ‘I think there has been some mistake, miss, for we have no Celia here. The mistress’s name is Lewisham, Anna Lewisham.’
Andy looked from one to the other in total confusion. ‘Maybe,’ he thought, ‘that was another thing to explain,’ but Norah stated firmly, ‘I don’t understand this and why Celia has chosen to call herself another name, but I do know that the young woman I spoke to just a few minutes ago is my sister Celia that I lived with for eighteen years.’