by Val Wood
‘Would you like to sit fer a minute?’ Larkin said. ‘I’ll jest make sure it’s convenient.’
Bemused, Georgiana sat on the sofa and looked around. There were pictures and mirrors on the wall, shelves with books, but no ornaments or knick-knacks. Comfortable, but a man’s room, she decided, without a feminine touch. She glanced up at the mirrors. Just like Edward to have mirrors, she thought cynically. He was always vain.
Larkin signalled to her from behind the beads. ‘You’ve got a visitor, Eddie.’ He spoke to someone over his shoulder. ‘A lady. She’s bin asking ’bout you.’
‘I don’t know any ladies,’ a low gruff voice answered. ‘Not any more.’
Georgiana pushed aside the curtain. Though the room was dim, lit only by an oil lamp and a fire in the grate, she saw that it had been made into a bedroom. Facing her, a thin man was sitting in a chair with a blanket over his knees. It’s not him! she thought. Not in the least like him, and she was strangely relieved.
‘Who is it?’ The man’s voice was hoarse. ‘Do I know you?’ He lifted his head and peered at her.
‘I fear there has been a mistake, Mr Newsom,’ Georgiana apologized. ‘I’m so sorry to have bothered you. I’m looking for someone by the name of Edward Newmarch, who left England six or seven years ago.’
There was a hesitation, then he said, ‘Come closer.’ It was a polite bidding and Georgiana wavered. Was there something in that slightly imperious accent that could have belonged to the Edward she once knew?
She stepped forward and faced him. The man in front of her was gaunt and most decidedly ill. His eyes were large in his pale face, and his fingers, as he teased his dark beard, were white and bony.
‘I know you,’ he said huskily. ‘How do I know you?’
She took a shallow breath, then, ‘Is it – is it you, Edward?’
‘Georgiana?’ There was a puzzled frown on his forehead. ‘Georgiana Gregory? How in heaven’s name—?’
There was a slight sound behind them, a rattle of the beads as Larkin went out.
There was another chair in the room and Georgiana, unbidden, sat down. She suddenly felt quite weak, unexpectedly emotional and perilously close to tears.
‘Georgiana! I don’t believe it. Can’t believe it!’ Edward’s voice was croaky as if with shock. ‘How are you here? When did you come to America?’
She gave a short nervous laugh, glad to release the tension welling up inside her. ‘I arrived in New York in the spring of ’52. I wanted a new life. I thought that in America women would be equal to men.’
‘Ah! You were always a campaigner, I remember.’ His mouth lifted into a lazy smile and she was reminded that he could be charming. ‘And are they?’
‘Some,’ she said. ‘Though in the cities women still drag behind men and they don’t have a vote either. But there have been improvements,’ she admitted. ‘Women have qualified as doctors, and two sisters founded the New York Infirmary for women and children in ’54.’
‘Did they? You’re very well informed,’ he said. ‘Though I suppose it would be expected of you.’
‘I part-own a Philadelphia newspaper,’ she said. ‘I keep abreast of the news.’
He shook his head in astonishment. ‘You are an amazing woman, Georgiana! So, what does your husband do? Is he an American? You decided against marrying my brother Martin, did you?’
‘Edward!’ she exclaimed. ‘Have you never written or had any news at all since you came out here?’
‘Eddie,’ he corrected her. ‘My name’s Eddie now. The old Edward has been gone a long, long time. But no, in answer to your question, I have not.’ He looked away from her and rubbed his chest. ‘I didn’t think they would want to hear from such a man as I was.’ He examined his long thin fingers. ‘Though I have been tempted recently to write and make my peace, with my mother and May at least. And maybe even Martin. You didn’t want to marry him, then?’ he asked again.
‘No. I did not. He has married someone else.’
The beaded curtain rattled again and Larkin came in, awkwardly carrying a tray with a teapot and cups and saucers on it.
‘Ah! The cup that cheers. See how well trained my minions are,’ Edward joked. ‘Larkin knows that when times are difficult a cup of tea always soothes.’ He peered at the tray. ‘You forgot the lemon, dear fellow, and my guest may prefer milk with her tea. She’s English, you know!’
Larkin muttered something incomprehensible and returned in a moment with half a lemon on a saucer and a jug of milk.
‘Does Larkin work for you?’ Georgiana asked after he had gone out again.
‘No,’ he replied promptly. ‘He’s a good friend. As is Jed. I wouldn’t be alive but for them.’
‘And Dolly?’ she queried.
‘You’ve heard about Dolly? Yes, she does work for me. She runs my theatre saloon down by the waterfront and runs it very successfully. But she’s a friend too. Warm-hearted. Generous.’ He became pensive. ‘The three of them are the best friends any man could wish for.’
‘And who is Matt?’ she asked.
‘Matt!’ He stared at her. ‘How do you know about Matt?’
She told him about the advertisement and the letter received by the New Orleans Gazette.
‘So he made it home after all!’ His voice was choked. ‘Oh, I’m so glad. So very glad. I must tell Larkin and Jed. They’ll be relieved. They all came from the Mississippi Basin, you know.’ He gave a laugh which turned into a cough and he put a handkerchief to his mouth. ‘Swampsuckers, every one of them!’
He said it in such a light-hearted manner that though the term might have sounded derisory, she could tell he held them in great affection.
‘But back to you,’ he said gruffly and glanced at her left hand. ‘So you didn’t marry anyone? Still independent. No man good enough, eh?’
‘There is a man that I love,’ she said softly. ‘And who loves me. But marriage is out of the question.’
‘Married already, eh? Don’t go down that road, Georgiana. Take my advice. Forget him, find someone else.’
‘Like you did?’ she said grimly. ‘You left a trail of havoc behind you, Edward; even here in America, from what I’ve heard!’
He blinked, startled. ‘What? What have you heard?
‘I came looking for you. I went to New Orleans! I met Sofia Rodriguez. Her husband’s cousin, Carlos de Lassus, runs the newspaper.’
He gave a soft groan and shook his head. ‘I knew they’d find me eventually.’ He pressed his fingers to his eyes. ‘Oh, God! What a mess I’ve made of everything.’
‘They’re not looking for you now,’ she said gently. ‘You don’t have to worry about that.’
‘Really?’ Relief showed on his face. ‘Are you sure?’ When she nodded, he said, ‘So, go on. Why were you, of all people, looking for me?’
She poured more tea for them both, and took a sip from her cup before continuing. ‘May wrote to me. You remember May? Your wife?’ She couldn’t help but be acerbic. ‘She wants to marry again and she can’t because she doesn’t know whether you’re dead or alive!’
He gave a sudden exclamation and covered his mouth with his hand. ‘Couldn’t she just have divorced me?’ he muttered. ‘Proclaimed me dead? I might have been. Almost was, several times!’ Then he looked into space and appeared to deliberate. ‘Of course not.’ His voice was muted. ‘It wouldn’t do, would it? Her father wouldn’t allow it. They would worry over what people would think. As if it mattered!’ he added bitterly.
‘It matters to May,’ she said quietly. ‘And her father is dead. I think that is why she wants to make another life.’
‘I’m sorry,’ he apologized. ‘I was always thoughtless where other people were concerned. And – so you travelled across this vast country to find out whether I was still alive? I am amazed, Georgiana. You are a remarkable woman. But why? Are you still tied to May’s petticoat strings?’
She was piqued, annoyed with him. He hadn’t really changed. He was sti
ll blunt, arrogant and outspoken. ‘I owe it to the family.’ She was defensive. ‘They brought me up – at least, they were responsible for me when my parents died. After this, I owe them nothing. Except gratitude. My debt will be paid!’
He was silent. It was as if he was caught up in another train of thought. ‘Of course,’ he said at length. ‘You lived with your aunt, Clarissa Gregory. I’d forgotten about that.’
He seemed suddenly tired and he took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second.
‘You’re not well, Edward. I’m sorry, I can’t think of you as Eddie! Would you like me to come back another day?’
‘Yes.’ He gave a wan smile. ‘I would. I’m tired now. Tomorrow? I’ll send a cab for you if you’ll tell Larkin where you’re staying.’ His eyes were eager, worried almost, that she might not agree. ‘Please come back.’
‘I will,’ she began, when the beads rattled and the little girl who had been playing out in the yard suddenly burst in and flung herself onto Edward’s knees.
‘Papa! Papa! Please may I go and eat at Renzo’s house?’
‘Lorenzo’s? Sure, but mind your manners. Don’t forget please and thank you. Wait! Wait! First, come and say how de do to this nice English lady.’ He turned the child to face Georgiana. ‘She’s travelled a long way to come and see us. This is Miss Gregory. Miss Gregory, this is my daughter, Jewel.’
Georgiana gazed at the little girl and smiled as the child gave her a dainty curtsy, which seemed very odd, dressed as she was in her strange clothes.
‘Papa showed me how to curtsy, just like the ladies in England do,’ she lisped. ‘Is that how to do it?’ She looked at Georgiana with dark appealing eyes.
Georgiana stood up and bent her knee and her head in response. ‘That is exactly how to do it, Jewel. I must admit, I have almost forgotten myself.’
‘May I go now, Papa?’ the child said breathlessly, turning to Edward. ‘The pasta will be ready.’
He nodded and she shot out again, the curtain streaming behind her. He faced Georgiana, saw the question which was plainly written on her face, and stated mildly, ‘It’s quite a long story. Shall we leave it until tomorrow?’
‘I think perhaps we should!’ She gathered up her cape and reticule. ‘I’m glad to find you alive at least, Edward. But we should discuss May and what she could do under the circumstances. No matter that it will be distasteful to her, it seems that she must divorce you.’
A thin smile touched his lips. ‘Perhaps,’ he said softly.
‘By the way.’ Georgiana paused as she lifted the curtain to leave. ‘I have a message for you.’ She turned to look at him hunched in his chair. ‘From Sofia Rodriguez.’
‘Ah!’ he sighed and smiled. ‘The beautiful passionate Sofia. Is she still beautiful, Georgiana?’
‘She is indeed, very beautiful. She asked that if I found you, would I tell you – that she has a son.’ She raised her eyebrows in a quizzical manner. ‘Her husband always wanted a son apparently,’ she added. ‘She insisted that I must be sure to tell you!’
Georgiana was haunted all night by the image of Edward as he was now, gaunt and thin with ashen face and pale trembling hands, and the man he once was, handsome, arrogant, a ladies’ man, with a young mistress from the poorest streets of Hull. Even after he had married Cousin May he had refused to give her up, causing May much distress. He had then left them both and sailed for America.
He is different now, she admitted, as she lay awake in her bed. He’s chastened, perhaps. More modest and mellow than he once was. And much nicer, though he is still opinionated! The child! Chinese? But where was her mother? Jewel! An unusual name. Such a sweet child.
When she arrived mid-morning at Edward’s house, Jed opened the door and invited her in, telling her that Eddie was still in bed. ‘I’ll wait,’ she said. ‘I’m not in a hurry.’
‘No, ma’am. He said fer you to go right on in. Would you like some coffee?’
She thanked him and accepted and, after knocking on the door jamb of the room, parted the beaded curtain and went inside. Edward was propped up on several pillows. A jug of water and a glass were on a table by the side of the bed.
‘I’m so glad that you came back, Georgiana,’ he said. ‘I was worried that you might not.’
‘I said that I would,’ she replied. ‘Why would I not?’
‘Well, I’ve made promises throughout my life and not kept them,’ he said wearily. ‘Though not lately.’ He gave a wry grin. ‘I’ve changed. You wouldn’t believe how I’ve changed or what I’ve been through.’
He started to tell her about New Orleans and Robert Allen, and being kidnapped, but she interrupted him in mid-flow. ‘I know about Robert Allen,’ she said, ‘though I didn’t know about you being kidnapped until I met Sofia and she told me.’
He sighed. ‘I guessed that it was Rodriguez’ men who put me on that creaky old tub, though how they got to me so quickly, I’ll never know.’
They talked for an hour, piecing together both their stories. Jed brought in more coffee and said that Eddie shouldn’t talk so much. Georgiana sat in the living room so that he could rest for half an hour. Jed joined her and told her of how he and Larkin and the others had met Edward in the Mississippi swamps, and of their journey to California.
At one o’clock Lorenzo’s mother from the store next door brought in a dish of pasta and a plate of thinly sliced meat, and urged Georgiana in a strong Italian accent to make Meester Eddie eat.
‘Everyone is so good to me,’ he said, forking the pasta into his mouth. ‘And I don’t deserve it.’
‘Where is Jewel’s mother?’ Georgiana was unable to contain her curiosity any longer.
‘Dead.’ He wiped his mouth on a large white serviette. ‘She left one day and didn’t come back. I didn’t know that she was expecting a child. I would have looked after her,’ he said pensively. ‘I was very fond of Tsui. But for whatever reason she chose to leave. A Chinese woman brought the child to me twelve months later. She told me that it had been a difficult birth and Tsui had died two weeks after Jewel was born. This woman, I never knew her name, had looked after the baby until she was weaned, but now her husband had said that they must sell her.’
He saw her shocked expression and nodded. ‘It does still happen sometimes with a girl child. They become slaves or prostitutes when they’re old enough. Tsui had told the woman that I was the father, and she wouldn’t have lied. The woman said that I must take the child if I wanted her to live.’ He shrugged. ‘What could I do? I got a woman in to help me, and Dolly, though she’s not what you’d call the motherly type, did what she could.’
He smiled contentedly. ‘She’s a happy child and I’ve never once wished that she wasn’t here. I love her more than anyone else in the world, and she’s changed my life.’
‘Her name?’ Georgiana asked. ‘It is most unusual. Why Jewel?’
He put his head back against the pillows and closed his eyes for a moment, then he opened them and looked at her. ‘I loved someone else once. Still do, I suppose. But she didn’t love me. Not enough anyway.’
‘Your mistress. The young mill girl?’
‘Yes.’ He nodded. ‘Ruby. I was completely and utterly obsessed by her and maybe I stifled her, I don’t know. But there was never another woman, not May, not Sofia, not Tsui, who could ever make me forget her.’ He sighed. ‘I called Jewel after her. Ruby was like a precious gem, vibrant, sparkling – but Jewel loves me,’ he said, almost fiercely and possessively. ‘She belongs to me as no-one else ever did or can. I am her father and – and I hope that she remembers how much I loved her.’
‘What is it that’s wrong with you, Edward?’ Georgiana asked quietly. ‘What ails you?’
‘Nothing now.’ He reached for the glass with a trembling hand. ‘Nothing at all.’ He drank and swallowed as if it hurt. ‘I am over my illness; now I am only waiting. I’ve had all the medicines that the doctors can give me, English, Indian, Chinese. I’ve had herbs from the forests,
opium, everything.’
She sat silently, knowing that there was something more he had to say.
‘Another month, Georgiana, and you would have been too late.’ He gazed at her from sunken eyes. ‘As it is, you have come in time. Someone has answered my prayers by sending you here just when you were needed. I feel – reprieved, as if I have been forgiven for my wrongdoings after all.’
‘I don’t understand,’ she said. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I’m dying, Georgiana, you can surely see that?’ There was a plea hidden behind his husky voice. ‘I’m not afraid, though I feel it’s unfair. But I badly need your help.’
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
‘I’m so very sorry.’ Her voice broke. He was right, it didn’t seem fair. ‘But how can I help you? You said you had seen doctors?’
‘I don’t mean help me with my malady,’ he said patiently. ‘There’s no cure for that. No, I’m on my way to eternity for sure. But I’ve been fighting it, Georgiana. Fighting so hard because I wasn’t ready to go, not until I had resolved my dilemma.’
‘Which is?’ she asked softly.
‘It’s as if—’ He didn’t answer her directly, but seemed to be searching and deliberating in the furthest reaches of his mind. ‘As if,’ he continued, ‘I’ve been waiting for something to happen. Or waiting for someone.’ He lifted his eyes to hers and gave a weak grin. ‘And then you walked through the door! Thousands of miles have divided us and I haven’t thought about you in years, yet you came just when I needed you most.’
‘I don’t understand you, Edward,’ she said. ‘What is it you want of me?’
He sat forward in bed. His face was flushed, his eyes bright. ‘Jewel!’ he said. ‘I want you to take Jewel!’
‘Take Jewel? Take her where?’ She was astonished and not a little alarmed, for she feared he was feverish.
‘Back with you,’ he whispered. ‘Don’t you see? It’s as if it was ordained! She can’t go to Larkin, he’s a single man and doesn’t know about children – I know, I was too, but she is my child. Jed is married with a wife who is expecting a baby, and Dolly, darling Dolly, she’d teach her all the wrong things.’