Woman from Dover

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Woman from Dover Page 26

by Annand, Betty


  Sandy wanted to know why she and Dolly never moved into the lovely big mansion that Tom’s father, Andrew, had built for them and why she didn’t even attend his funeral.

  “His stepson, Peter—actually, Andrew adopted him, so I suppose he was his son—inherited it all, and Dolly and I were forced to move to Sandwich where I found work as a housekeeper. We did return to Dover once though, and we had a little service of our own along with a few more of Andrew’s old friends,” she said. She didn’t say that she had married her employer and was, in fact, still married to him.

  When they were out of the storm and the sea was much calmer, Sandy did his best to return to the galley, but he only managed to stay there long enough to direct the other cooks on how to prepare the food. Thus, the meals were still better than the Captain had ever had at sea, although nowhere near as good as the first four days. When they arrived at New York, the Captain did his best to convince Sandy to remain on board as head cook.

  “Sorry, Bobby, but I know now that I’ll always be a land-lubber, and I don’t intend to get back on a ship until I’m so homesick that I’ve no choice. Then, you can bet that I’ll not be setting foot in any galley!” Sandy replied.

  When Angelo and Victor heard this, they talked him into staying with them until he had time to decide what he was going to do in America.

  “We should be ready to start up our restaurant in at least a fortnight, and we could use a good cook to get us going. You seem to make dishes to suit any nationality, and there’s people coming here every day from all over the world. What do you say?” Victor asked.

  Sandy was happy to accept. He intended to travel across this new world, but he needed a place to stay until he got his bearings, and he liked Gladys’s family.

  On the ninth day of the voyage, they finally got their first look at New York. Everyone was on deck and standing at the railings, even the crew who had seen it more than a few times.

  Angelo came up behind Gladys and put his arms around her. “Well, Gladdy, say hello to your new home.”

  Gladys didn’t say anything. She knew that England would always be her true home.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Victor’s wife, Carlotta, and their twelve-year-old twin sons, Paulo and Louis, had remained in New York when Victor and Angelo returned to London to put on their last performance of Othello before their Shakespearean troupe disbanded. They were anxiously waiting for Victor to return.

  When she was a young woman, Carlotta’s aunt, Theresa, had been a governess for a wealthy Dutch family. When they immigrated to America, they took her with them. One year after arriving in America, Theresa married Peter Rutten, a young, wealthy Dutch businessman who, among his other possessions, owned a few buildings close to the docks in New York.

  One of his buildings had a restaurant on the ground floor and four apartments on each of the other two floors. Although the restaurant was near the pier, an ideal location, the tenants who rented it were not very successful and seldom paid their rent. They also allowed the place to become run down to such a degree that the New York Health Board had threatened to close them down, so Peter had decided it was time to evict them.

  Realizing that all the apartments in the building needed remodelling, he decided to hire some carpenters and began with those on the second floor, along with the restaurant. The repairs were almost complete when Peter suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed. Not wanting him to be bothered with renters, Theresa convinced him to sell the building.

  At that time, Victor and Angelo were still involved with the theatre and had plans to return to England, but Carlotta liked living in New York near her wealthy relatives. She didn’t want to return to England or Italy, so when she heard that her uncle was selling the building, she persuaded him to sell it to Victor and Angelo. Peter wasn’t in need of money so he offered it to them at an attractive price. The opportunity was too good to reject, so Victor and Angelo pooled their savings as a down payment, feeling certain they could make enough income to pay off the rest in a few years.

  Victor had written to inform Carlotta of their travel arrangements, including the detail that he would be joined by his mother, but he neglected to say how long she intended to stay. Carlotta found the woman’s company depressing and prayed it would be a short visit. However, the boys seemed pleased, so she pretended that she was too.

  She knew the day they were scheduled to arrive, but she had no idea what time they would be allowed to disembark. Because their house was only a few blocks from the pier, she sent the boys to see if they could find out what time the ship would disembark. It wasn’t long before Louis was back with the news that the harbinger said the ship had just docked and it wouldn’t be long until the passengers would be allowed ashore.

  Carlotta had dressed with care that morning, and she looked in the mirror to make sure her head of generous curly black hair was tidily pinned up before she donned her cape and bonnet. She didn’t bother getting a cab since she had a good stride and knew she could walk there almost as quickly as she could arrive in a carriage.

  Until a week ago, Carlotta and the twins had been staying with her Aunt Theresa and Uncle Peter Rutten. The Ruttens only had one boy, Mitch, a successful architect who was seldom home, and, since they owned a big house, they had insisted that Carlotta and the boys stay with them while Victor was away. They had also offered to house Victor and Angelo when they returned, but, because they had already been so kind, Carlotta didn’t want to take advantage of them. A week before the boat was due, she had rented a house near the restaurant, knowing that they would be able to accomplish more if they were close by. The boat was later than expected, but Carlotta checked regularly until it finally arrived.

  She was standing on the pier, anxiously waiting, when the passengers began to come down the gangplank. Her heart gave a happy little twinge as soon as she saw Victor. They had been married for sixteen years, but the sight of him among the crowd still excited her as much as the first time she laid eyes on him. They waved at each other as he made his way up the gangplank. Then she realized he didn’t have his mother with him.

  She could also see Angelo amid the crowd, and there was an elderly lady hanging onto his arm, but this lady was dressed in a beautiful purple suit and wore a very chic and saucy chapeau on her head. She didn’t look like the mother-in-law Carlotta remembered, but when one of the twins waved and called out, “Here we are, Nonna! Over here, Nonna, over here!” she knew it had to be Isabella. Then Victor was through the gate and had her in his arms.

  “Hello, Lottie, love,” he said in between kisses. Then he grabbed the boys and hugged them. By that time, Angelo and Isabella had joined them.

  Isabella hugged her two grandsons before she spoke to Carlotta. “Hello, Carlotta. How nice you look, my dear.”

  Carlotta just stared at her for a second, then, she surprised Isabella and herself by holding out her arms for a hug. She was looking over Isabella’s shoulder when she noticed Gladys and Edward. At first she thought they would just walk past, but they stopped and stood beside Angelo as though they were with him. She thought the woman beautiful. She took her to be a woman of quality due to the fineness of her attire. Then Gladys bent her head to address Eddy, and Carlotta looked down at the boy. She almost fainted. He looked so much like Angelo that he had to be related.

  She was trying to figure out how that could be when Angelo saved her the trouble by introducing Gladys as his wife and Eddy as their son. The news was so shocking that Carlotta couldn’t hide a look of disapproval when she shook Gladys’s hand.

  Victor had noticed the look of dismay on his wife’s face, but he thought she was worried about where she would put two extra people, so he apologized, “I am sorry Lottie, we didn’t have time to let you know that Gladys and Edward were coming with us, but you did get my letter saying Mother would be here, didn’t you?” he asked. Not waiting for an answer, he added, “
I hope you rented a house big enough to accommodate us all.”

  Gladys could tell Carlotta didn’t approve of her, so she could have kissed Angelo when he interrupted his uncle and said, “I’m certain we can find lodgings close to the building, Uncle. We don’t expect Lottie to look after us all, and don’t forget, Sandy has to have a place stay as well.”

  “Oh, I had forgotten Sandy. Where is he?”

  “He’s down by the boat, guarding the cooking utensils he brought with him from Dover,” Gladys replied. “He won’t let them out of his sight.”

  “And we shall have to collect his gear as well,” Angelo suggested. “Lottie, are there any rooms ready in the building?”

  Lottie didn’t look at him when she answered, “I think all they need is some furnishings. Uncle had them just about ready to rent when he had his stroke, but I remember him saying there were some beds stored in one of the rooms that just needed to be put together.” Then she asked Victor, “Who is Sandy?”

  “He is going to be our cook as soon as the restaurant is ready,” he replied.

  “Uncle Vic, it shouldn’t take long to put a few of those beds together, and that would be a great place for us and Sandy to stay. We would be right there to work on things every day. What do you think?” Angelo asked.

  Victor agreed, but he insisted his mother stay with Lottie and him, and then he asked Lottie if she would go home to make a hot meal for them all while he helped Angelo and Sandy prepare the rooms in the apartments. Gladys offered to go along and help, but Lottie said that her aunt had asked her cook to prepare a meal for them all, so she should go and tell her there would be three more. She started to leave then looked around for the twins. They were over by the railing looking down at the boats with Eddy.

  “Boys, come along now! I can use your help,” she said rather sharply.

  “Can Eddy come with us, Mom?” Peter called out.

  “No!” she snapped. Then, realizing how abrupt her answer sounded, she spoke a little more softly. “I imagine his mother will want to get him settled in his own place. You will see him later at Aunt Theresa’s. You had better come with me too, Isabella. Auntie will make you a nice cup of tea.”

  Isabella didn’t want to leave Gladys. She had never cared much for Carlotta, but not wanting to cause a fuss, she complied.

  The boys left reluctantly. They had taken a liking to their little cousin and he to them. Although they had sailed to England and back once, they had never been invited to visit the captain or touch the ship’s wheel, so when Eddy said, “I’m going to be a captain when I grow up!” they didn’t doubt him. Instead, they wanted to know if his friend Sandy could take them on the ship to meet the captain.

  Carlotta was usually a very warm and loving person. She did, however, like to be in complete control of all her family, and Angelo was a member of that family. Now here he was with a wife and a son, and he and Victor had only been gone for four months. That she had nothing to do with it was not what angered her the most; it was that the boy looked to be about five years old, which meant he had to have been conceived while Angelo was married to Carlotta’s sister, Rosa. It was all she could do to remain composed as she sat beside the twins on her way to her aunt’s. What she really wanted to do was go back and tell Angelo and Gladys to catch the next boat back to England and stay there.

  The building Victor and Angelo bought was on Maiden Lane, only a few blocks from Peck Slip, where they had disembarked from the ship, so they all walked to their building after Victor hired a carriage to transport their luggage. Maiden Lane was one of the busiest streets in the neighbourhood, and there were so many people on the street that they had to walk single file to get to their apartment.

  New York wasn’t at all what Gladys thought it would be. There were no open spaces dotted with log cabins and Indian tepees, and most of the buildings, like those in England, were made with bricks. Even the streets were paved and equipped with streetlights.

  When she first saw their building, Gladys was a little disappointed. She had envisioned it with its own uniqueness, like the Scots Inn in Dover, but this building was sandwiched between a row of buildings that all looked alike. However, it was only a block from the pier, which reminded her a little of the quay where her father-in-law had had his office in Dover.

  She recalled how she had enjoyed visiting Andrew on stormy days and having a cup of tea while sitting in one of his big leather chairs in front of the big window overlooking the water. She had loved watching the ships sway back and forth like graceful dancers.

  Some ships tied up at the pier had their bowsprits hanging over the dock so far that people walking by could look above them and see the sailors at work tying down the jibs. The scene brightened Gladys’s spirits. She took hold of Eddy’s hand and gave it a little squeeze, which caused him to look up at her. They grinned at each other as though they were sharing a secret.

  There was a different entrance leading to the apartments than the one to the restaurant, so they went directly up to the first floor. As soon as they entered the hallway they were welcomed with a pleasant smell of fresh paint and plaster. This floor had a one-bedroom and a two-bedroom apartment at the front of the building and another pair at the back. Victor said the top floor was the same. He explained that, since Carlotta’s uncle hadn’t begun renovating that floor, the tenants were still there.

  Gladys and Angelo chose the two-bedroom flat at the front, and Sandy took the one-bedroom one at the back, thinking it would be quieter for him when he began working.

  Gladys was delighted to find that, besides the two bedrooms, they had a kitchen/living room and a pantry. The beds Carlotta mentioned were soon found and set up, but there was no bedding or other furnishings. The kitchen cupboards and the pantry were empty as well, but when Victor went upstairs to talk to one of the tenants, they told him that Mr Rutten had a lot of boxes delivered to the restaurant before he took ill, and there might be furnishings they could use in them.

  Fortunately, two of the boxes contained bedding and an assortment of other linens. There were also boxes of china and cooking utensils. When Gladys saw the kitchenware, she said, “Mr Rutten must have sold all the old items and bought new ones. By the look of the china and the linen, it appears as though Carlotta’s aunt must have advised him. Everything is just lovely.”

  The kitchen had a sink with cold running water and a two-burner gas stove. Gladys heated enough water so they could all have a quick wash, but they didn’t have time to change their clothes before they had to leave. She hated to go. It would have been wonderful if she, Eddy, and Angelo could buy some food and spend their first night in New York in their own home, even if it meant using her trunk for a table and sitting on the floor. She envied Sandy, who refused to go with them, insisting that he had intruded on the family enough.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  After receiving such a cold reception from Carlotta, Gladys didn’t know what she could expect from the Ruttens. When she saw what a grand home they lived in, she wished she had had the time to dress more appropriately.

  Although the building was constructed mostly of brick, it had a warm and happy look. The bricks were such a light colour that they were more dark pink than red. The blue shutters on all of the rectangular floor-to-ceiling windows gave the mansion a warm cottage look, even though it had three stories above ground. The third floor had three attractive dormer windows, and, although Gladys didn’t get a very good look at the side of the house as they drove up, she did notice that it had a large glass solarium. The yard was encased by a black cast-iron fence, not high enough to discourage visitors but high enough to add neatness.

  “Oh, Eddy, isn’t this a lovely home?” Gladys asked, but all Eddy could think of was how hungry he was and how nice it would be to see his cousins again, so he just nodded his head.

  Having heard that slavery had been abolished in New York, Gladys was surprised when a b
lack butler answered the door and ushered them into a nice little sitting room where Carlotta and her aunt and uncle were waiting.

  Aunt Theresa rose and held out her hand to Victor. “Ah, it is good to see you again, Victor.”

  “It’s good to be back, Aunt Theresa,” he replied. He took her hand but added a hug before speaking to her husband who had remained seated, “And how are you, Uncle Peter?”

  Peter’s stroke had left him partially paralyzed on his right side, and he was still having a little trouble with his speech, so he used as few words as possible. “Can’t complain,” he replied before pointing to Angelo with his cane and adding, “Know this one. Angelo, right?”

  “That’s right. You have an excellent memory, Mister Rutten,” Angelo replied.

  Peter just nodded then used his cane again, pointing to Gladys and Eddy. “Who are they?”

  “This is my wife, Gladys, and my son, Edward.”

  Peter beckoned Victor to help him up. Once standing, he said, “Come closer, my dear. You too, young man.”

  Gladys went over to him, smiled, and shook his hand. “It is pleasure to meet you, Mr Rutten.” She was surprised by how tall he was. Although the stroke had left him with a permanent slump, she was able to look directly into his bright blue eyes as she greeted him.

  “Not Mister! Name’s Peter. Now, I want a hug.”

  Gladys hugged him before she introduced Eddy, who Peter insisted should call him uncle.

  Theresa also insisted on a hug. She laughed and nodded toward her husband, informing Gladys, “He really is harmless you know, but he does enjoy flirting with pretty women!” She brought his wheelchair from the corner of the room, lined it up behind him, and jokingly said, “Well, Don Quixote, now that you are up, we may as well have our dinner. Carlotta, will you please tell Bess that we are ready?”

  Carlotta didn’t appreciate the warm welcome Gladys had received, and she left the room without answering.

 

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