An Independent Woman

by Anna Jacobs

  “You did what you could. And the scarves and comforts which were sent out were much appreciated by the men. It got very cold at times in winter. And more importantly, they showed that somebody cared. Some of them had little notes inside.”

  “I used to write notes.”

  “That was particularly appreciated. There were some men who never received letters from home.”

  “You’re being kind to me again, saying that.”

  “I’m telling you the absolute truth.”

  She smiled at him as she picked up the bowl. “Then I thank you for it. Now, would you like me to bring you down some clean trousers so that you can get dressed again or do you need to lie quietly for a while?”

  “I’d like to get dressed.” He smiled at her. “I feel at a distinct disadvantage like this. But I’m feeling a lot more comfortable now, thanks to you. I have some other trousers in the wardrobe if you wouldn’t mind fetching them for me.”

  When she went upstairs, it felt curiously intimate to be going through his things and before Serena took anything out she spent a moment looking at the neat way he had hung his clothes, all the shirts together, two jackets, some trousers, and his uniform—all arranged by length when hung up. The civilian clothes dated from before the war, judging by the styles. She found some brown trousers and took them down to him. “Will these do? They’ll match your tweed jacket nicely, so I brought it as well.”

  “They’ll do fine. Thank you.”

  She edged towards the door, looking embarrassed now. “I’ll just go and tidy up the kitchen.”

  He was dressed before she came back, so he went to stand in the kitchen doorway. Before he could make his presence felt, she turned and jumped in shock at the sight of him, putting one hand to her breast.

  “Sorry. I’m enjoying watching you.”

  She stared at him as if he’d spoken in a foreign language.

  “You work very neatly. I noticed that at your cottage. It’s—attractive.”

  Colour flooded her cheeks and he felt guilty for embarrassing her, but she was smiling as well as blushing, so he smiled back. When he realised they’d been standing there for a while without saying anything, he forced himself to break the silence. “I’m ready to take you across to the Hall now and help you choose a bedroom. This afternoon I’ll come into Tinsley with you, if that’s all right. I’m supposed to see the doctor and the District Nurse, who’s going to come regularly to change my dressings and you need to consult Mr Redway.”

  “Yes. Though I could change your dressings for you.”

  He watched her look down for a moment, frowning and biting the corner of her mouth, and had a sudden inexplicable urge to kiss those soft pink lips, an urge that startled him. It took him a moment to realise she’d spoken and was waiting for an answer. “Sorry. What did you say?”

  “I could do that from now on, if you like. Change the dressings, I mean. If I’m living at the Hall, it’d be more convenient than the District nurse cycling out there, surely?”

  “You wouldn’t mind?”

  “No. It’d be good to put my skills to use, even if the war is over now.” Her father would have a fit if he knew about this, and even her mother would have said it was unseemly for a single woman to see a man’s body, but Serena didn’t care. It would be good to be able to help Marcus in return for her accommodation and he must have had a beautiful body before his injuries, like those of Greek statues she’d studied in books, well-muscled but lean.

  She stopped to stare as they went through the kitchen garden. “How pretty the Hall is!”

  “Haven’t you been out this way before?”

  “No. We didn’t go out of town much.”

  “Not even for holidays?”

  “He didn’t like going on holiday, or so he said, but that didn’t stop him going off alone for weekends in London.” She gave a short, scornful laugh. “Those were our holidays, the times he was away. Everything felt so much more comfortable. Even the servants seemed happier.”

  It occurred to him that her situation had been far worse than his, because he’d only had to face indifference, not hostility and bullying, and that made him wonder what her real father had been like, why he had left so suddenly. Had James Lang run away—or had he been forcibly removed?

  They would never know now.

  Marcus opened the kitchen door, explained briefly to Gladys what was happening and took Serena upstairs to choose a bedroom. As they reached the top of the stairs, Ada came out of the corridor leading to his aunt’s room, so he explained once again what he was doing. “Do you think my aunt would like to meet Miss Fleming?”

  Ada put her head on one side, screwing up her mouth as she tried to work this out, then shaking her head. “It’d be better if I told her about it and then if she wants to meet Miss Fleming, she can ask. Pearl Diggle’s coming to stay here as well, you say?”

  He nodded. “Yes. We don’t want people getting the wrong impression about Miss Fleming.”

  The elderly maid nodded approval. “That’s good. I’ll get on with my work then, sir, and leave you to it. Mrs Lonnerden wants something to eat today, which I take to be a good sign. And I’ll give the bedroom you choose a good going-over later, miss.”

  “Thank you.” Serena chose a room at the front of the house, one looking out over a very neglected formal garden. “This must have been beautiful when you had the staff to look after things.”

  Marcus came to stand beside her. “I lived in the Lodge and rarely came here. I didn’t get on with my cousins, you see, and after I went to boarding school I didn’t always come home for the holidays. Not if my father was going away himself.”

  “You must have been very lonely,” she said softly. “Oh, sorry! I shouldn’t make such personal remarks.”

  “I don’t mind. And yes, I was lonely. You probably were too.” He watched her nod. “But there are worse things than loneliness.”

  She shuddered slightly. “Indeed.”

  But she didn’t tell him any more about her life and he didn’t press the point. He’d find out, he was sure. Fate seemed to have pushed them together and he liked being with her. But he wished she’d take down that damned bun and wear nicer clothes. When she’d been defying the two men, she’d seemed quite slender. With her clothes on she seemed—lumpy.

  He couldn’t remember when a woman had last interested him so much.

  That afternoon Vic drove them into Tinsley, dropping Serena and Marcus off at the end of Bridge Lane and going to wait for them in his usual place near the river.

  She walked slowly up the hill towards her lawyer’s rooms, enjoying the feeling of freedom and being outside with no need to go back there spoiling her pleasure. She turned before she went inside to see Marcus still watching her from the bottom end of the narrow street, so waved again.

  He waved back and smiled. It made him look very attractive, that smile did. She felt warmed by it as she went inside.

  Justin must have been waiting for her because he came out of his room even before the clerk had time to let him know she was there. At the sight of his worried expression, her heart began to thump. “What is it? I can tell something’s wrong.”

  “We’ve got an appointment to see Marley, so I’ll explain on the way.”

  As they were striding briskly up Bridge Lane towards the main street, he said abruptly,

  “Marley has the contracts you’re suppose to have signed. He wants to take a few samples of your signature then he’ll show them to us.”

  “Oh.”

  “You’re sure you didn’t sign anything at all?”

  “Certain. My father wouldn’t even discuss my inheritance with me, let alone show me any papers. I gave up trying. He could make things—uncomfortable if you displeased him.”

  “Yes, I’m sure he could.”

  They were shown in straight away to see Mr Marley. He studied Serena quite openly. “How are you feeling now?”

  “Very annoyed.”

  “No he
adaches or dizziness?”

  She looked at him in puzzlement. “No, of course not. Why do you ask that?”

  “Your father claims you haven’t been well since your mother died.”

  “Oh. I pretended to have influenza, but I wasn’t actually ill. I just wanted to avoid seeing him until after my birthday, because he kept insisting I give him my mother’s jewellery to look after.

  She left it to me, you see. So I took the line of least resistance, I’m afraid.”

  “Did anyone else know you were only pretending to be ill?”

  “One of the maids, Ruby. But she’ll lose her job if we involve her so I don’t want to do that.”

  “We may have to. Your father’s claiming you need looking after, that you’re—not yourself.”

  “Looking after?”

  “In a mental hospital.”

  She gasped in shock as this sank in and it was followed by a shiver of fear. But she felt indignant, too, and that helped her to answer steadily, “I’m more myself than I have been for years.”

  There was silence, then Mr Marley pushed a piece of paper towards her. Could you give me several copies of your signature, please? One underneath the other would be best, on alternate lines.”

  She took the pen he was offering, an elegant, gold-plated fountain pen, and began to sign her name. When she’d finished she pushed the paper towards him without a word.

  He looked at it and blew out a little puff of air, as if disappointed, then turned another piece of paper over and pushed it towards her and Justin. The contract. They studied it in silence, but there was only one conclusion to be drawn.

  “It looks exactly like my signature,” she said. “Only I know I didn’t sign this.”

  “It’s been witnessed, too. By his clerk, Hudd.”

  “Hudd isn’t his clerk, he’s his right-hand man. He’ll do anything for Fleming.” She bit her lip, determined not to break down in front of them but she felt like weeping. Fleming had been so clever, must have practised her signature to get it so close.

  “We’re not conceding that the signature is hers,” Justin said, “but in case we can’t prove that, what about the money, both from the sale of this last cottage and from the others, as well as the income from the annuity for the past ten years? Can you get that for her?”

  Serena looked at the magistrate. “He told me he’d invested the money from the sale of other cottages—which I also didn’t agree to sell—and presumably the income from the annuity over the years. I’ve received nothing. He said the investment had turned out to be a bad one and he’d lost all my money.”

  Marley frowned. “He said that? When?”

  “This morning. Captain Graye was there. He can confirm that.”

  The magistrate looked at Justin. “I can definitely give you an order to view his account books and records, then. You’ll want to make sure of this for yourself.”

  “Thank you, Gerald. Can you do it now? I’ll serve it on him first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “Right. If you’ll wait a moment or two, I’ll have it drawn up.” He rang a hand bell and gave some quiet orders to his clerk, than looked back at Serena. “I’m sorry, Miss Fleming. I’m afraid there’s nothing else I can do for the moment to help you. Are you all right for money and somewhere to stay? Good, good . . . Now, I have another piece of business I need to discuss with Mr Redway. I wonder if you’d mind sitting in my waiting room for a few minutes?”

  She went outside to sit in an armchair stuffed with horsehair, which might be hard-wearing but was prickly to sit on. Her thoughts were just as prickly.

  Justin came out to join her ten minutes later. “Sorry to keep you waiting. Will you come back to my rooms for a few moments? There are a few bits and pieces we need to sort out, and I need your signature on a couple of letters giving me complete authority to act on your behalf. My clerk can witness them.”

  “All right.” She felt strange and distant, so upset about the way things were turning out that she could have lain down and wept. She was quite sure her so-called father had stolen the money from the row of cottages, not to mention the annuity money, and didn’t know what she was going to do if she had no income. But after years of long practice at holding in her feelings she didn’t give way, just concentrated on walking beside Mr Redway, setting one foot in front of the other until the turmoil of fury and disappointment inside her had subsided a little.

  At Justin’s rooms he quickly wrote two letters of authorisation and she read them through carefully before signing them in front of his clerk. Then he asked for more sample signatures, in case he needed them, so she wrote another column of them on a clean piece of paper. Again, this was witnessed by the clerk.

  After agreeing to do nothing until she heard from him, she took her leave.

  He came to the door. “I’ll escort you back to join Vic and Marcus.”

  “No need. Vic is waiting with the cab at the bottom of the street and it’s only a short stroll.”

  Justin escorted her to the door, went inside again and couldn’t resist peering out of the window just to make sure she was all right. She’d looked so pale, her whole body stiff with disappointment, but she hadn’t complained once. You had to admire her fortitude.

  As he watched, he saw a man who’d been lounging in a doorway across the road move out of it and follow her. There could be no doubt of what he was doing because his eyes were fixed on her with a kind of gloating look, and anyway she was the only other person in that part of the street.

  Suddenly feeling more than worried, Justin rushed out of the door, by which time she’d turned the corner at the bottom of the street and the man had speeded up to run round it after her.

  Just as Serena rounded the corner at the bottom of Bridge Lane, a large motor car pulled up and Fleming jumped out. Without a word he grabbed her arm and tried to drag her into the back of the vehicle. The chauffeur sat looking straight ahead, as if nothing untoward was happening. Serena began to struggle and call for help, scratching and kicking.

  A passer-by hesitated and Ernest yelled, “She’s my daughter and she’s lost her senses. Stay away. She’s dangerous.”

  The man walked on, shaking his head, even though Serena yelled, “It’s not true! Help me!”

  She bit the hand Ernest tried to put across her mouth so hard that he yelped.

  Then someone yanked her head back by the hair, growling, “Shut up, you stupid bitch!” and she saw out of the corner of her eye that Hudd had joined them. He and Fleming tried to shove her into the car, but she managed to slow them down by bracing her feet against the running board and screamed again.

  Suddenly Justin appeared beside them, yelling, “Let her go!” Hudd muttered a curse and shoved him back so hard he fell over, but by then Vic had reached them and he squared up to the bigger man.

  The latter grinned. “I can deal with these two, Mr Fleming. You get your poor deranged daughter home again.”

  Then Marcus appeared, thrusting past Hudd to drag Serena from her father’s grasp. “What the hell’s going on?” He pushed her behind him and braced himself, raising his clenched fists as if expecting a fight.

  “I’m trying to rescue my daughter,” Ernest said, his voice as cold and chill as ever, “before she does herself harm. And you, Graye, are interfering in something that doesn’t concern you.”

  Justin was on his feet by now and went to stand beside Marcus, straightening and dusting off his clothing. “You were trying to kidnap her. We intend to make a complaint to the police about that.”

  “You’ll leave well alone, if you know what’s good for you, Redway!” Ernest’s gaze went to Serena. “Look at her! She acted like a wildcat just then, as my two men will bear witness. That’s not reasonable behaviour.”

  “Only because of what you were doing,” she said.

  Justin made a sign to her to be quiet and said in a more normal tone of voice, “Miss Fleming is my client and she’s of age, not a child under your control. What you were
doing was illegal—

  sir.”

  “She clearly lost her senses and since she’s my daughter, it’s only right that I look after her—

  as the court will agree. After all, there is no one else to do it. And since I’m taking her to see our doctor, you can hardly call it kidnapping.”

  Realising she’d been cowering against Marcus’s chest, Serena pulled herself together, sucking in a shuddery breath then straightening her shoulders. “I would never have believed that even you would treat me like that,” she told Ernest, her voice steady and her tone as icy as his. “You know perfectly well there’s nothing wrong with me. Shame on you!” She turned to the three men who had saved her and said, “Thank you for your help, gentlemen.”

  “You should sue him for assault,” Justin pointed out.

  “I just want him to leave me alone!” Her voice wobbled in spite of her efforts to stay calm.

  “We’ll take out a magistrate’s order to make sure he does,” Justin promised. He looked at Vic.

  “You saw what they were trying to do. Will you testify to that?”

  “I’d be delighted to.”

  The look Fleming gave him said he’d regret that.

  Vic looked back at the older man and said pointedly, “I didn’t fight for the freedom of our country during the war to stand by and let things like this happen in England itself. There’s no threat you can make which will stop me testifying.”

  Fleming brushed his hands down the front of his coat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t threatened you in any way. I’m simply a father, doing the best I can for my daughter.”

  He smiled then, a cruel curve of thin lips that made Serena’s blood run cold. “And as her closest living relative, I have certain rights in that respect once I’ve proved my point . . . which I shall do very soon. This matter is only postponed and you know it, Redway.”