Jack was already up. The fatigue had gone and she was ravenous. He’d laid out her clothes for her, including clean underwear and socks. He really was the most wonderful man in the world. She wasn’t going to raise his hopes about the possibility of a baby but wait another few weeks. By then she would be certain and there would probably be other symptoms as well.
Her period had been due days ago and she couldn’t remember a time since they started when she was twelve years old that they’d ever been more than one day late. Her heart raced at the thought that she would be able to give him the one thing he still wanted.
She wasn’t going to get too excited – not yet – and would make sure she had her sanitary towels with her just in case she was mistaken.
The delicious aroma of toast and coffee wafted up from the kitchen and her stomach rumbled loudly. The sun was shining, no sign of yesterday’s rain, and everything in the world looked brighter than it had before.
‘Good morning, honey, your breakfast awaits.’ His smile was blinding and his kiss passionate. ‘Sit down, I’ll bring it over.’
He placed the coffeepot in front of her but left her to pour it out. ‘This must be the last of the coffee. Soon the Yanks will be gone there will be no chance of getting any more.’
‘By next year there will be things back on shelves that we haven’t had for years. The merchant ships will be able to get here without fear of being torpedoed by a German sub.’
‘Boiled eggs and soldiers. That’s exactly what I fancy.’
She was too hungry for small talk and devoured three eggs and three slices of toast before she felt human again.
When he told her what he’d found out about the possible whereabouts of Mary’s son she immediately agreed that it would be the right thing to contact them.
‘I know Mary never told us about her son but she did leave us her possessions so she must have wanted us to know and do something about it.’
‘I still don’t understand why she never took up her inheritance. As far as we know it was nothing to do with the current holder of the title, but left to her by… Actually, we don’t know who left it to her.’
‘Do you think it could have been from someone that she didn’t approve of? After all, my grandfather was a fascist. I wouldn’t have taken any money from him if he’d left it to me.’
‘Hasn’t stopped your brother George from accepting his inheritance. I suppose if you disclaim what you’ve been left it all goes to the Treasury or something. Much better to keep it in the family and do some good with it.’
‘What little gifts did Ginger leave us this morning?’
‘A large rabbit which I’ve left for Eliza to deal with. Grey was also given one which he ate so I think it best he stays outside today. I can’t believe even his sturdy digestion will be able to cope with an entire rabbit, skin and all.’
‘How revolting. I’m just going to clean my teeth and then we’d better get going.’
*
Today she was collecting fighters from various MUs, operational ready, and delivering them to RAF bases in the south of England. It would be an easy day after flying the massive four-engined bombers. These were like cart horses to handle whereas the fighters were the racehorses.
There was no time in her busy schedule to think about anything but her job. It wasn’t until she clambered off the taxi Anson at seven o’clock that night that she let the possible pregnancy intrude on her concentration. Tomorrow she would be more than a week late. Had Jack forgotten or was he, like her, deliberately avoiding the subject because it meant so much to both of them?
Eliza greeted them with a cheerful smile. ‘It was a good thing you told me to keep that dog of yours outside. He brought back most of the rabbit but before my Stan could take care of it, he gobbled it down again.’
‘How absolutely disgusting. Horrible dog.’ Jack patted the animal who was, as always, under the table pretending to be invisible.
‘He won’t need any supper tonight, that’s for sure,’ Eliza said.
‘How ever did the cat manage to bring in two large rabbits through the pantry window?’
‘It’s not as difficult as you think, Ellie. You’re forgetting that I put an upturned empty barrel under the window so he’s only got to negotiate around eighteen inches.’
‘Then maybe you need to move it so he can’t bring in anymore.’
‘If you do that, Mrs Reynolds, you’ll not get a tasty rabbit stew for your supper again.’
She had rather gone off the whole idea of eating rabbit but thought it wouldn’t be polite to say so after Eliza had gone to so much trouble.
When they were sitting together on the sofa she remembered about the phone call Jack was going to make. ‘Did you get any joy with the Hatfield number?’
‘I spoke to someone, sounded like an older woman, but she didn’t identify herself. I just gave her my telephone number and suggested that they contacted Mary’s solicitors.’
‘That sounds like a good idea. I’m going up early as I’m still a bit tired from yesterday.’
He was about to answer when there was a loud knock on the door. It was late. Almost ten o’clock, and the only person she could think of who would call at this time would be Inspector Gardner.
The dog didn’t growl but rushed to the front door and barked. Was it someone he knew?
Twenty
‘Don’t look so worried, Ellie, if Grey isn’t growling it can’t be anyone unpleasant.’ He was on his feet and heading for the door.’ Jack hoped he sounded confident.
‘We have a telephone now so surely whoever it is could just have rung us up?’
‘Maybe it’s the local bobby. Stay where you are, I’ll go.’
He slid back the bolts and turned the key. The dog was wagging his tail. The hall light was out and he had closed the drawing room door so only a sliver of light showed from under it. Just enough for him to move about without tripping over.
He would take his cue from the dog and assume there was no risk to him as he couldn’t see who was waiting on the other side. It might be better to find out the person’s name before he actually came face-to-face with them. He raised his voice so he would be heard through the thick door.
‘How can I help you? Who are you and what do you want?’
There was a muffled response which he couldn’t decipher – all he knew was that the speaker was a man. It certainly wasn’t the inspector. He couldn’t sod about any longer or Ellie would come out and he didn’t want her out here until he knew what was going on.
The door swung open smoothly. ‘I didn’t catch your name, but you’d better come in so I can put the light on and see you properly.’
The figure stepped forward. He was a stranger but looked vaguely familiar, about his own age, and Jack’s immediate thought was that this person should be in uniform, not banging on his door at ten o’clock at night.
Grey was sitting at the stranger’s feet being fussed. If the dog thought this guy was okay then he probably was. The drawing-room door opened and Ellie appeared.
‘Good evening, to whom am I speaking, might I enquire?’ Her cut-glass diction made him smile but had the desired effect.
‘I beg your pardon, I shouldn’t have come, I’m terribly sorry…’
Jack stepped forward and offered his hand. He’d belatedly guessed who their visitor was. ‘You must be Mr Hatfield. I didn’t expect you to come in person.’
‘My goodness! Jack only left the message at lunchtime and yet here you are. Please come in. Would you like a cup of tea and some rabbit stew?’
Hatfield looked somewhat startled by this offer but nodded vigorously. ‘I’ve had nothing to eat since last night. I was away on business and only got back at midday which was when my grandmother gave me your message. I had to come at once.’
‘Let’s go into the kitchen and I’ll heat the stew up whilst the kettle boils.’
‘Hang on a minute. How did you know to come here? I only left the solicitor’s
details.’
‘I spoke to them immediately, Squadron Leader, and they told me that my mother had been murdered. They also said that she had lived here with you and been very happy in her last few months.’
Hatfield didn’t seem particularly bothered about Mary’s death, but hardly surprising as he’d never met her and possibly hadn’t even known who his mother was until today.
Ellie was already in the kitchen moving saucepans about on the range. The young man walked with a pronounced limp. This would explain his lack of uniform. His initial animosity evaporated.
‘Fair enough. Don’t you have an overnight bag?’
The young man blushed. ‘It’s on the porch. I didn’t want to presume. For you to think that you were obliged to put me up.’
‘Of course you can stay here. Go through, I’ll get your things.’
Strange that the dog was treating Mary’s son like someone familiar, but the unexpected visitor certainly had a familial resemblance to his mom. He left the small battered leather suitcase on the stairs and joined the others in the kitchen.
He paused at the door to study the man. Hatfield had sandy brown hair, several shades lighter than his own, muddy green eyes and was slightly shorter than himself. This meant he was just under six foot.
‘I noticed that you have a dodgy leg.’ He waved his stump around. ‘Lost this in Africa. Was it the same for you?’
‘Unfortunately, I was born this way. Not a war hero like yourself, Squadron Leader Reynolds.’
‘Just plain Jack Reynolds now, but call me Jack.’
‘Thank you, and please return the favour.’ He looked hopefully at Ellie and she smiled.
‘I’m Ellie. We’re delighted to meet you Jonathan. You said you were away on business – what line of work are you in?’
‘I’m a civil engineer—’
‘Bugger me! I’m going to Oxford to study civil engineering in September.’
Jonathan laughed, unbothered by the swearing although Ellie frowned. ‘I studied at Cambridge. Goodness me, that smells delicious, Ellie, are you sure you can spare some?’
‘Our cat brings us a rabbit most days so we have plenty and we’re self-sufficient for vegetables.’ She placed a steaming plate of stew in front of their guest and added several slices of bread. ‘Jack, I’ll sort out the spare room if you’ll pour the tea.’ She nodded at Jonathan who was devouring the food with relish. ‘Would you like to sleep in your mother’s room?’
He paused long enough to answer. ‘That would be splendid, thank you so much. I can see why she was so happy living here with you.’
Ginger banged in through the pantry window, dropped something heavy on the tiles and then began to meow and kick up a fuss demanding that someone go in and admire his gift.
‘Excuse me, better go and see. I hope it’s a rabbit, not a rat.’
Jack went to investigate. There was no sign of the cat or whatever he’d dragged in through the window. Then Grey barked and blundered out from under the table sending two of the chairs crashing to the floor. The dog shoved past him and charged at the vegetable basket sending the contents cascading over the floor. The resulting racket brought both Jonathan and Ellie rushing in to investigate.
The cat appeared at the pantry window and dropped down to the floor hissing and spitting and adding to the general chaos.
‘Ellie, grab the dog, he’s causing mayhem in here.’ No one with any sense would attempt to pick up the cat who was a whirling dervish of ginger fury. For a moment he thought the animals were fighting but then realised they were both trying to catch the missing gift.
The pantry led into the scullery and both the cat and dog were now in there. Jonathan pointed. ‘It’s a rabbit. It’s alive and heading this way.’
With the three of them milling about, what happened next was inevitable. The rabbit went through his legs pursued by Grey and Ginger. He overbalanced. Jonathan tried unsuccessfully to grab hold of him and they both cannoned into Ellie. All three of them ended up in a tangle of arms and legs on the floor.
‘Keep still, Ellie, you’re making things worse,’ he told her, trying not to laugh.
‘Remove yourself, you great lummox, I’m not enjoying being squashed.’ She didn’t sound nearly as amused as he was.
Jonathan was the first to extricate himself. He then pulled Ellie to her feet, leaving him to struggle up unaided.
‘From the racket, the animals are now pursuing the rabbit upstairs. I’ll turn off the lights and open the front and back doors and maybe they’ll take the chase outside. I hope the rabbit manages to escape after all this.’
‘I’ve gone right off rabbit stew, Jack, after that nonsense.’ Ellie was now laughing, as was Jonathan. ‘If you go upstairs and try and scare them down then I’ll open the front door,’ she said, still giggling.
He called the dog but Grey ignored him. He was baying like a hound and totally involved in the chase. Jack just reached the upstairs landing when the rabbit tore past him. He deliberately stood in the way of the dog but had the sense to hang onto the balustrade so he wouldn’t be sent flying a second time.
This gave the bunny a much-needed few seconds and it escaped safely through the front door and Ellie had just enough time to slam it shut before either the cat or the dog could follow. Ginger went off in a huff but as soon as the rabbit was out of the house Grey reverted to his normal, friendly, obedient self.
‘That was fun. If you’d be kind enough to give me a hand, Jonathan, I’m going to move that barrel away from the wall so that doesn’t happen again. I don’t think even a cat as big as Ginger could jump high enough to scramble through the window with a rabbit in his mouth.’
‘I’d better check upstairs in case they broke anything,’ Ellie said. ‘I didn’t hear anything fall over so we should be okay.’
Later, sitting companionably in the drawing room, Jonathan explained why he’d come.
‘I’ve always known that my parents were unmarried, that my father died in the first war and understood why my mother thought I’d be happier being raised by my grandparents.’ His smile was sad. ‘I sometimes think she gave me away because of my leg…’
‘I’m certain that wasn’t the case. We didn’t know Mary for very long, but she would have parted with you reluctantly and done it for the reasons you were given.’ Ellie looked at him for confirmation and he nodded.
‘Did you know that she was a witch?’
‘Good God! How exciting. I’ve always been interested in the occult but have never dared to dabble. Do you have any of her paraphernalia, books and so on? I would love to see them before I leave.’
‘I’m sure she would have wanted you to have them. There’s a shed full of things so you won’t be able to take them with you, but we can arrange to have them delivered to you when the war’s over.’
‘Thank you, Ellie, that would be splendid. My grandparents were very tight-lipped about her. I think they only took me in because they had no other children or grandchildren. If there’d been any offspring from my father’s first marriage then I think things would have been different.’
‘If that had been the case then I’m certain Mary would have kept you regardless of the consequences.’
Jack agreed with Ellie. ‘We’ve got a box with letters your father wrote to Mary, your birth certificate and a few odds and ends. But more importantly there’s a trunk full of ancient documents and ledgers belonging to her family that you should have as well.’
‘I know absolutely nothing about her side of things. As far as my father’s family are concerned, she was a scarlet woman and not to be mentioned in public.’
Ellie realised at that moment that Jonathan didn’t know he was the grandson of an earl. ‘Your mother was Lady Mary Sinclair. Your grandfather was the Earl of Silchester. Jack, why don’t you get him the piece of paper so he can see for himself what this means.’
He nodded and left her alone with Jonathan for a moment whilst he fetched the deed.
‘I�
�m stunned. It must have been a horrible shock to her family for her to become involved with a married man and not even a very grand one at that. My father was a stockbroker in the city, as was his father before him. Boring, conservative and predictable in every respect.’
‘Well, Mary certainly wasn’t any of those things. I do wish you could have met her.’
‘As do I. It’s a tragedy that I only discovered, several months later, who she was and that she’d died in such a horrible fashion.’
‘You didn’t know about the murder until yesterday?’ She was horrified to think that he’d only just learnt about Mary’s death. What was he going to make of the fact that he was now a very rich man?
Jack returned with the box of letters and other documents. This was where the information about his inheritance had been put.
‘Here you are. We’ll leave you in peace to look at these,’ he said as he handed them over.
‘We usually have a cocoa before we turn in. Would you like one?’ Ellie asked.
Jonathan was nursing the box on his lap, a strange expression on his face, but he looked up and nodded. ‘That would be nice, thank you.’
She closed the door behind them as they went out. ‘That poor man’s head must be spinning after finding out all this about his mother in so short a space of time. Strange that he’s a civil engineer too. He can’t have been qualified for very long, can he, if he was only born in 1918?’
Jack took the dog for a last stroll around the garden whilst she put a saucepan of milk on the range, found the tin of cocoa and spooned some into three mugs. She added some cold water and mixed the powder to a smooth paste ready to receive the milk when it was hot. As neither she nor Jack took sugar in tea or coffee, they saved their allowance for their nightly cocoa.
It was very quiet in the drawing room. Should she go and investigate on the pretext of asking if he wanted sugar in his drink? She pulled the milk to one side so it wouldn’t boil over and hurried through the house. She was about to knock on the door but thought that would be silly so pushed it open and walked in.
‘Jonathan, do you have sugar in your cocoa… my goodness. I’m so sorry, we shouldn’t have sprung this on you like that.’
Over and Out Page 19