by Dilly Court
Her thirst had been slaked temporarily by the rain but as the morning dragged on her throat became more and more parched. Her stomach cramped with hunger and every bone in her body ached. She began to feel light-headed and as the afternoon faded into dusk she was beginning to hear voices in her head and see phantasmagorical shapes looming over her. She tried to call out but all she could manage was a hoarse croak, and anyway there was no one to hear her cries. She dared not fall asleep for fear of never waking to see the light of day again. She thought of Georgie who would be a poor orphan, and Tom who would have to shoulder the responsibilities of a man when he was still little more than a boy. She thought of Toby and tears trickled down her cheeks. Was he a free man? Or had the appeal failed and he had been sent back to prison to endure the rest of his sentence? She might die here tonight and never know the outcome. She might never see his face or hear him calling her name.
‘Effie.’ Someone was shaking her. She moaned in her sleep, afraid to open her eyes and discover that she was dreaming yet again.
‘Effie, for God’s sake speak to me.’
She knew that voice. She must have died and gone to heaven.
The shaking grew more insistent. ‘Effie, open your eyes. It’s me, Toby.’
The touch of his lips on hers was real. The warmth of his body gave her new life. She opened her eyes and found herself looking into his anxious gaze. ‘Toby? Is it really you?’
With a muffled groan, he wrapped her in his arms. ‘My love, my only love. I thought you were dead.’
Effie winced with pain as the ropes gouged into her raw flesh. ‘Untie me, please.’
He drew away from her, uttering a string of expletives as he examined her bonds. ‘She’ll pay for this, I swear she will.’ He seized the knife that Sal had left out of reach but within Effie’s sight as if to torment her even more, and he slashed the ropes that bound her.
‘Where is Sal?’ Effie murmured.
‘In custody with that villain Salter.’ Toby threw the knife away and bent down to take Effie in his arms. His lips found hers, gently kissing away the pain, all her doubts and fears dispelled in his tender embrace.
‘Is she all right?’ Tom’s voice broke the spell and Toby rose to his feet, lifting Effie in his arms as easily as if she were a small child.
‘I’m fine now,’ Effie croaked, her voice breaking with emotion. ‘But I’m parched and I’m starving and I want to go home.’
Washed, changed into warm dry clothes and with her hair towelled dry and hanging loose in a shining cape around her shoulders, Effie sat by the kitchen range with Georgie on her lap and Toby seated by her side, holding her hand as if he were afraid to let her go.
‘So that’s how we knew where to find you,’ Seymour said, filling his pipe with tobacco. ‘Ben overheard Sal boasting about how she’d got you where she wanted you, and that she’d see her old man released without a stain on his character. Ben sent for the police and she spent the night in the cells.’
‘But how did you know where to find me?’ Effie asked, rubbing her cheek against Georgie’s soft curls.
‘When she was told that we’d won and that Salter was facing jail, she broke down and confessed everything. She told the police where you were and the rest you know,’ Toby said, raising her hand to his cheek and holding it there. ‘I’ve missed you so much, Effie. Every minute of every day you were in my thoughts and in my dreams.’
Nellie had been stirring a pan of stew on the range but at that she turned her head, waving the ladle at Toby. ‘Save the soft talk for later, boy. Effie needs sustenance, or d’you want her to fade away like a ghost?’
Tom grabbed a bowl and handed it to Nellie. ‘She needs building up.’ He cast a reproachful eye in Toby’s direction. ‘Have you any idea how hard my sister’s worked to keep us all fed and warm?’
Toby lifted Georgie from his mother’s lap, giving him a hug as he put him down on the floor beside his small pile of toys. ‘I’m learning, Tom,’ he said sincerely. ‘I always thought she was a wonderful mother and a good sister, and I’m well aware that she’s too good for me.’
‘She is too,’ Seymour said, winking at Effie. ‘But I’m praying that she will overlook the failings my son has inherited from me, and do me the enormous favour of taking him in hand.’
Toby turned on him in mock anger. ‘Just because you’re my father doesn’t give you the right to beg Effie to marry me. That’s my privilege.’
Nellie tossed the ladle into the pan. ‘You men!’ she exclaimed. ‘You can’t be trusted to do even the simplest things without a woman’s help.’ She seized Tom by the scruff of his neck and propelled him, protesting loudly, out of the door into the hallway. She beckoned fiercely to Seymour. ‘You too, master. This may be your house but you’re coming with me and Tom to give these young people a chance to do things their way.’
‘Marsh House no longer belongs to me,’ Seymour said, turning to Toby and Effie with a broad grin. ‘I instructed my lawyer to draw up the deeds and I’ve signed the house and estate over to you, my son. I’m going back to Argentina to help Forster manage the mining company.’
‘You are?’ Effie murmured, rising to her feet. ‘But this is your home.’
‘And always will be,’ Toby said, slipping his arm around her waist and drawing her close to him. ‘My future wife and I will keep your room just as it is, Father.’
Seymour threw back his head and laughed. ‘You are a chip off the old block after all, but take a tip from your old man and ask the lady first. You may find that Effie has other ideas.’
‘Oh, for heaven’s sake,’ Nellie said crossly. ‘Come away, master, and leave the boy to it.’
‘Say yes, Effie,’ Tom shouted from outside the door. ‘Marry him and I’ll stay and work for you both, and one day I’ll wed Agnes and we’ll be one big happy family.’
‘Yes,’ Georgie said, tugging at his mother’s skirt. ‘Yes, Mama.’
Nellie darted into the room and snatched Georgie up in her arms. ‘You heard the boy,’ she said sternly. ‘Don’t start acting coy, Effie. You know you’ve been pining for young Toby all these long months. Don’t keep him in suspense.’ She hurried from the kitchen, closing the door firmly behind her.
‘Well?’ Toby said, smiling deeply into Effie’s eyes. ‘It seems that everyone has proposed marriage except me.’
‘Do you really think you could settle down here?’ Effie asked tentatively, but she could read the answer in the depths of his eyes and it was like drowning in a happy sea of blue.
‘I would live anywhere with you, and Georgie, of course. I love you, Effie. I always have and always will. Does that answer your question?’
‘Yes,’ Effie said simply.
‘And will you marry me, please?’
Effie sealed his lips with a kiss. ‘Yes. With all my heart, I will.’
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Epub ISBN: 9781409099093
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Published by Arrow Books 2010
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Copyright © Dilly Court 2009
Dilly Court has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work
This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental
First published in Great Britain in 2009 by
Arrow Books
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9780099538776