Homecoming Girls

by Val Wood

  ‘No,’ she said softly. ‘And now would be such a good time to go, to escort Clara and see your ma and pa.’

  ‘I know.’ He sat down and contemplated. It would be nice to take her, but I’ve not been here five minutes. It’s too soon to go back and yet in another way it makes sense. I could ask Da and Thomas what they think about me starting up a toy store here. Better to explain face to face than in a letter. This’ll soon be a good-sized town and families will come to live here. I could buy tools, and I could tell Ma that I’m staying here for good but that it doesn’t mean she’ll never see me again.

  ‘Come on.’ He jumped to his feet and held out his hand. ‘I’ll talk to your pa again.’ He jiggled the piece of rock in his hand. ‘And he can tell me if we’ve found gold.’

  ‘Fool’s gold,’ Ted told him, when he was shown the rock. ‘Pyrite. It’s a mineral and looks a bit like gold, though it’s more of a brassy yellow, and see this greenish streak? You don’t get that in gold. But,’ he added, seeing Dan’s look of disappointment, ‘it does sometimes show that there’s gold or copper in the vicinity, so mebbe I’ll go up with Jason and we’ll take a look. But don’t get your hopes up.’

  ‘There was some gold-coloured gravel in ’stream where I found this rock.’

  ‘All right. We’ll have a look in a day or two. There’s no hurry, is there?’

  Dan gave a wry laugh. ‘No, onny for Caitlin. She thinks we can get wed straight away and sail for England if it’s gold.’ He hesitated. ‘I suppose you wouldn’t consider letting her travel before we were married, sir? Clara wants to go home but Mr Dreumel is too busy to go yet, but won’t agree to her travelling alone; and, well, I could escort her, and Caitlin would be a companion.’

  Ted gazed at him. ‘And what about the return journey?’

  ‘Ah!’ Dan said. ‘I hadn’t thought o’ that!’

  Ted patted his shoulder and grinned. ‘You’ve got to learn not to give in to her.’

  ‘Like you, you mean!’ Kitty said sarcastically when he told her that evening of their conversation. ‘You don’t spoil Robert in ’same way as you do Caitlin. Do they have to wait? We didn’t.’

  He laughed. ‘We were in a hurry.’

  ‘So are they.’ She smiled back at him. ‘So why not?’

  ‘He’s only just arrived,’ he argued. ‘Yet they want to go to England now, or at least Caitlin does; they’re making the excuse that they can escort Clara.’

  Kitty put down her sewing. ‘It’d be nice for her to go,’ she said pensively. ‘Clara would show her around Hull and she’d meet Dan’s parents and his brother. She’d know what kind of family they are.’

  ‘And see how we once lived?’

  ‘Yes,’ she said softly. ‘And how Dan’s parents once lived – and Clara’s mother, though not her father. She’d see ’difference in society there as compared with here. There’s no shame in our background, Ted. None at all.’

  He leaned over and kissed the top of her head. ‘You’re right, of course. As usual.’

  Caitlin raced down the main street of Yeller the next morning. She should have been at work at the hotel but this just couldn’t wait. She charged into Jason’s yard shouting Dan’s name. A carpenter looked up and pointed towards a shed and she ran towards it. ‘Dan,’ she called. ‘Dan!’

  The door flew open and Dan came out. He was wearing a bowler hat, a rough cotton jacket and a wool scarf wrapped round his neck. ‘What in heaven’s name – what’s up? What’s happened?’

  She flung herself at him. ‘Oh, it’s wonderful news! Pa said we can be wed straight away if we want. And we do want, don’t we, and then we can go to England with Clara and – and – aren’t you pleased?’

  ‘Of course I’m pleased, but we need money, Caitlin!’ Dan pushed the bowler back and scratched his forehead. ‘Haven’t you thought of that?’

  She nodded. ‘Yes, but Pa showed the piece of rock to Wilhelm and he said it might be worth taking a look at the site where you found it, and so Pa is going to put up the money to sink a small shaft in your name, cos he knows how to go about it, and even if it isn’t gold you can still sell the pyrite!’

  ‘I’ll be for ever in his debt,’ Dan said doubtfully.

  ‘You’ve got to have faith, Dan,’ she said earnestly. ‘You do want to marry me, don’t you?’

  He gave a sudden grin and threw his hat in the air. ‘Course I do.’

  CHAPTER FORTY

  Everything is moving so fast, Jewel thought. Dan and Caitlin were immersed in wedding plans, and she was both delighted and relieved. I hope he never tells her of his obsession with me, she thought. That would not be a sensible thing to do. She wanted to keep Caitlin’s friendship, and Dan’s too, for ever.

  And now I’m losing Clara. They had spent nearly all their time together since they had come to America and she knew how much she would miss her.

  ‘You’ve been like a sister to me,’ she told Clara, and couldn’t help the tears which welled in her eyes. ‘But I realize that you must leave and how much you wish to see Elizabeth, your real sister.’

  Clara put her arms around her. ‘I do long to see Elizabeth, especially now at such an important time for her; but I cannot find words to say how much affection I hold in my heart for you. When I reflect on the time we have spent together, with never a harsh word between us, I know that our friendship has become even more than a sister’s could be. We have shared so much, Jewel, but what comes next in our lives must undoubtedly be shared with others.’ She smiled. ‘Have you heard from Lorenzo?’

  Jewel wiped her eyes. ‘Yes. I wrote to him and Maria to tell them we had arrived safely, and then wrote again once Mama had given permission, to say she needed my company at the present time, thus giving him the reason for our hasty departure. He has written twice since then and says he hopes to see me in the near future.’ She blew her nose. ‘But that could mean anything, Clara. It could be just his abiding politeness. I’ve yet to recognize any sign of passion.’

  ‘But he’s written twice,’ Clara said. ‘And when we were in his company, I saw his tenderness towards you. You must be patient, Jewel. In your absence his love will grow; I have no doubt at all that he’ll be missing you.’ She searched Jewel’s face. ‘You have changed, cousin, since we came to America. Of all of us, you were always the one who was self-assured and confident—’

  ‘And now I am not,’Jewel interrupted. ‘I know. I think it was because, back in England, I knew who I was, or I thought I did; Gianna and Wilhelm gave me the security of a loving family and a good home life. But when I came to the land of my birth I discovered I was someone else entirely. It takes some getting used to – the new me.’ She smiled. ‘But it will come, I’m sure of that, and especially if . . .’ She left the sentence unfinished.

  Clara knew what she meant without her saying it. Especially if Lorenzo really did love her. ‘Will you go back to San Francisco after Aunt Gianna has her child?’ she asked. ‘Will you return regardless of Lorenzo, and live in your little house, the house your father left for you?’

  Jewel wondered. What a dilemma! To leave her beloved parents and their child: it would break her heart. Would she live alone in her house, next door to the man she loved and close to her Chinese family? For that is how she felt about them, even though she barely knew them.

  She shook her head and confessed, ‘I don’t know.’

  There was still a week to go before the wedding of Caitlin and Dan. Many of the locals whispered behind their hands at the haste, but others said Dan was just what Caitlin needed; somebody to calm her, for she had always been a wild child with odd ideas.

  Jewel and Clara were to be Caitlin’s attendants and Dan asked Robert if he would be his best man.

  ‘I’d have asked my brother, Thomas, if we’d been wed in England,’ Dan told him. ‘But as Caitlin’s brother I’d be pleased if you’ll do me that honour.’

  Robert was proud to be asked, even though he felt that he hardly knew Dan, for he was inclined
to be a romantic at heart and thought of this union as a true whirlwind romance. He still had slight yearnings towards Clara, but whilst she and Jewel had been away he had observed how pretty Jason and Rose’s youngest daughter was – something he hadn’t noticed before, even though he had known her all her life. He hoped she’d be impressed when he was decked out in his best on the day.

  Clara had almost finished packing her trunk for the journey home. Dan and Caitlin’s wedding feast and their honeymoon night was to be at the Marius, a wedding gift from Wilhelm and Georgiana. The following morning the three of them were to set off by coach and train to New York, where they would spend two days before sailing to Liverpool.

  Clara had written to her parents to give an estimated day of arrival but she had not told them that Dan and Caitlin would be accompanying her, having been pledged to secrecy by Dan.

  ‘I want to see Ma and Da’s faces when I turn up as a married man,’ Dan said gleefully, and although Clara was rather unnerved by the prospect, she went along with it.

  I shall be travelling with two companions, she wrote home, and will be well chaperoned for the whole journey. Uncle Wilhelm is still very busy and also, although he hasn’t said so, I know that he would be uneasy about leaving Aunt Gianna at this critical time. She knew her mother would understand, as Gianna had written to Grace to tell her her happy news.

  I am so pleased to be coming home again, Clara continued, and not after all having to wait until the spring, and I hope that Papa will be able to meet me in Liverpool so that my companions may be relieved of their duties.

  The wedding day dawned bright but sharp and cold and everyone agreed that winter would soon be upon them. Logs were stacked against the houses, under porches and alongside the stores and warehouses, ready for the inevitable snow. There had been a further scattering of snowflakes and there was a nip to the nostrils when a breath was drawn in.

  Caitlin walked on her father’s arm down the aisle of the church where her parents had been the very first to marry. She wore a cream organza gown with a separate apron front, trimmed with bows and long sash ends, with a short train which Kitty had hurriedly made on her sewing machine. In her red hair she wore a headdress of cream lace which had been her mother’s. Dan wore his best and only suit and had brushed away the wood shavings from his father’s bowler; Ted had lent him a cravat and matching handkerchief for his pocket.

  Because there had been so little time to prepare, Jewel and Clara wore gowns they had bought in New York, Jewel’s sheath-like with a low-set bustle in peach and Clara’s in pale blue satin, half-hooped with a bustle pad; they wore ribbons in their hair, which they dressed in chignons, Jewel’s glossy black and Clara’s soft and fair.

  ‘What a lovely day it has been,’ Georgiana said to Kitty as they sat and watched the young people dancing during the evening. Georgiana wore several lacy shawls over her full-skirted gown and a beaver cape over her shoulders.

  ‘Yes,’ Kitty sighed. ‘I can’t believe I’ve seen a daughter wed. It seems like no time at all since you and I came to this country. Where have the years gone?’

  ‘For you they have gone in bringing up a family, starting a successful bakery and running the Yeller hotel. You’ve achieved so much, Kitty,’ Georgiana told her.

  ‘Yes.’ Kitty nodded. ‘Who would have believed it? Will you stay after your baby is born?’ she asked suddenly. ‘Or will you go home to England?’

  ‘When our child is born, this will be our home, Kitty,’ Georgiana said softly. ‘It’s where Wilhelm wants to be.’ She placed her hand over Kitty’s. ‘We shall stay.’

  ‘I’m so pleased.’ Kitty’s eyes welled up with tears. ‘I’ve missed you all these years. In spite of having Ted and Caitlin and Robert, I’ve missed our chats and our – our . . .’ She paused to feel for the words.

  ‘Our links with the past?’ Georgiana smiled. ‘We went through so much together, didn’t we? Now, my dear Kitty, we can catch up again.’

  The next morning the travellers were up early for the coach to take them to Woodsville, where they would catch the train to New York. Caitlin looked flushed and sleepy as they climbed aboard, but she was very excited to be going on such a journey. The furthest she had ever travelled was to Philadelphia with her father. Both her parents and her brother were there to see them off but Kitty was in tears as she gave her last-minute instructions about what to do and what to see when she arrived in England and her home town of Hull.

  The luggage was loaded. Dan helped his wife and then turned to Clara to assist her aboard, but she was still taking her leave of Jewel, Gianna and Wilhelm. They were in floods of emotion, not knowing how long it would be before they met again.

  ‘I’ll write,’ Clara and Jewel said simultaneously, and both wiped their eyes. ‘I’ll come again one day,’ Clara said, sniffling. ‘Aunt Gianna, you must write to tell us of – of your happy event, and we’ll tell you about Elizabeth.’

  Georgiana smiled. ‘We’ll send a telegram. We’re to have a telegraph office here in Dreumel!’

  With that Clara was ushered aboard. Dan got in, closing the door behind him. The driver lashed his whip and shouted, ‘Ho up!’ The two greys snorted and skittered on the dusty road and they were off, two pale handkerchiefs and one bowler hat waving from the window.

  The start of the sea voyage was rough. There had been a heavy storm and the waves were still running high, the troughs deep. Clara and Caitlin kept to their cabins, Clara’s single, being hot and airless, adding to her discomfort. Dan took a brisk walk round the deck every morning, and apart from mealtimes, when he ate heartily, and mostly alone, in the dining saloon, he spent the rest of the day administrating to Caitlin, giving her cool sips of water and holding her hand.

  When the sea became calmer, Clara and Caitlin and the other passengers finally emerged, pale and unsteady, to drink in the cold invigorating air; they had only three more sailing days to Liverpool. I can’t wait to get home now, Clara thought as she leaned on the deck rail whilst Dan took Caitlin on a walk round the deck. I want to see my mother and my sister and my darling papa. And Thomas, of course. Will he be changed, she wondered? Or will he be his steady, sweet self? Dear Thomas, the nearer I come to seeing him again the more I realize how much I’ve missed him.

  She looked out over the ocean, where there was as yet no sign of land. Nothing in the distance but more of the same lashing white-crested waves topping the blue-green watery waste. But will Thomas have missed me? For the first time ever she began to have a flicker of doubt. They had always had a rapport, drawn together by a common bond even when they were children. She thought they had had a special, affectionate relationship, but did Thomas think that too, or did he consider her only as his childhood friend? Precious as that relationship was, was she right or wrong in thinking that there could be more than just companionship in his feelings for her?

  Her confidence had been broken by Federico’s anger – no, scorn – being directed towards her, by his mistaken presumption and conceit that she had encouraged him. And yet – I’m confused! What is expected of a woman? James Crawford – she touched her mouth as she recalled how he had tenderly kissed her. There was no boldness or arrogance in his actions, and he had then humbly begged forgiveness. He was a natural gentleman, yet driven by a compelling emotion.

  She sighed and turned her back on the restless waves, and saw Caitlin and Dan walking towards her.

  ‘Would you like something to eat, Clara?’ Dan asked. ‘I’m trying to persuade Caitlin to come for something, a slice of beef or ham mebbe.’

  Clara shook her head. ‘I’m not hungry,’ she said. ‘I’ve had porridge this morning; maybe something later.’ She glanced at Caitlin, who still looked pallid and washed out. ‘Why don’t you go, Dan? Caitlin and I will sit out here for a while and wait for you.’

  Dan eagerly departed and Clara called a passing steward to bring two chairs and blankets and put them in a sheltered spot so that they might enjoy the pale sunshine and recover from t
he seasickness.

  ‘Clara,’ Caitlin said softly, ‘can I ask you something?’ She sighed and gazed wanly at Clara, who nodded. ‘Do you think that Dan’s mother will like me?’

  Clara gave an astonished murmur. ‘Whatever makes you doubt it?’

  ‘Well, you hear that mothers are protective of their sons, and Mrs Hanson won’t be expecting Dan to have married so soon after leaving home. It worries me that she’ll think I’ve ensnared him.’

  Clara hid a smile and thought that that would be the last thing that Aunt Ruby would think. She was more likely to think that Dan had caught and captivated Caitlin. As for Dan’s father, he would perhaps be pleased that his eldest son was settling down at last. But as she sat and looked and listened to Caitlin, she realized that Caitlin’s unrestrained manner and boisterous ways had diminished over the last few weeks and she had become calmer; yet she was obviously very happy.

  How could that have happened in such a short time, she wondered; I would never have thought that Dan of all people could have had an influence on anyone, especially someone as volatile as Caitlin was. There again, she thought, Dan too seems less brash and antagonistic, more caring and thoughtful than I would have thought it possible for him to be. They are good for each other, came Clara’s enlightening discovery. They have opened their hearts and minds to each other and found friendship as well as love.

  ‘Caitlin,’ she said, ‘Ruby will love you. Once she overcomes the shock of hearing that Dan is married, she will think of you as the daughter she always wanted.’

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  Clara could see her father waiting on the quayside, his hand to his forehead as he searched for her in the crowd of passengers waiting to disembark, and she waved her arms frantically. Finally he spotted her and enthusiastically waved back. She was one of the first down the gangway and fell into his outstretched arms.

  ‘Oh, I’m so pleased to see you,’ she said, and burst into tears.