by June Francis
‘Oh dear,’ muttered Mrs Kelly. ‘Well, I’ll be thinking about her. Let me know what it is when it comes.’
Two hours later there was a telephone call from the doctor’s wife saying that her husband was on his way. Patsy had answered the telephone and she informed her employer. He thanked her for the news and raised his eyes to the ceiling as another scream pierced the air.
Just then the doorbell rang and David went to open it. ‘Doctor Morgan, am I glad to see you,’ he said. ‘According to the midwife, my wife doesn’t seem to be making much progress.’
‘Well, let’s see what we can do,’ said the doctor in comforting tones.
The two men went upstairs.
Time seemed to pass dreadfully slowly and Patsy could not keep still. Mr Tanner had come downstairs twice and asked for coffee and the second time he had fetched the whisky from the drawing room and poured a tot into his own cup. She kept going to the bottom of the stairs and listening but the sounds issuing from Rose’s bedroom were still those of suffering. Patsy prayed that soon she would hear a baby’s cry.
After doing this for about the twentieth time, she decided to tidy the kitchen cupboards and set about doing so. She was wiping out the last one when she heard heavy footsteps coming downstairs. She dropped the cloth and climbed down off the chair and went to the door and opened it.
David Tanner stood there. He did not need to speak for her to realise something was dreadfully wrong. He looked so sad. ‘The baby was stillborn, Patsy,’ he said in a low voice.
‘Oh, I’m so sorry, Mr Tanner!’ Patsy placed a hand on his arm. ‘And Mrs Tanner?’
‘The doctor said that she will be all right but she’ll need looking after. She’s been through a lot. He was a perfect little boy but apparently the head got stuck with him being the wrong way and it—’ His voice broke off and he swallowed. ‘You can imagine how broken-hearted Rose is.’
Indeed, Patsy could. She guessed there were difficult times ahead for all of them.
An hour later the doctor left the house but the midwife stayed on for a while longer, making several trips up and down the stairs. When she finally left the house David came into the kitchen. ‘What an excellent woman that midwife is, Patsy. She saw to everything and seems to have calmed Rose down. The doctor has left her some pills to help her sleep.’
‘Poor Mrs Tanner. Will she be wanting supper, sir?’ asked Patsy.
‘Not at the moment. She just wants to sleep.’
Patsy went outside into the garden and cut some chrysanthemums, removed the bottom leaves and trimmed the stems before placing them in a vase of water. Then she took them upstairs. She could hear David Tanner’s voice but not what he was saying. She waited until there was a silence and then she knocked on the door. He opened it and she held out the vase of flowers to him.
‘That is thoughtful of you, Patsy,’ he said, taking them from her.
‘Is there anything else I can do, sir?’
He shook his head.
Patsy went downstairs and walked round the garden, wishing herself anywhere than where she was at that moment. She wondered what difference the loss of the baby was going to make to the Tanners’ marriage.
Mrs Kelly called over the fence to her. ‘So what was it?’
‘A boy, but he was stillborn, I’m afraid,’ answered Patsy.
The woman’s face fell. ‘What a shame! After such a long wait for the pair of them, too.’
Patsy agreed but wondered if the woman suspected at all that the baby might not have been Mr Tanner’s. Surely she would not have forgotten the kerfuffle the night that Mr O’Hara had brought Rose home to be greeted by Mr Tanner, newly returned from America. Patsy went back inside the house. So far she had not had a chance to speak to Rose Tanner and in one way perhaps that was a good thing. What could she say that would be of any help to her?
So Patsy went to bed without seeing her mistress. Despite all that had happened that day, she slept better than she had thought she would and woke about eight in the morning. She should have been up by now, lighting the fires, but she lay a moment longer with her hands behind her head, watching a shaft of sunlight shining on the wall opposite the window. She thought of the poor baby and how much Rose Tanner had suffered to bring him into the world, only for him to die. A tear trickled down her cheek. Poor little lamb. She wiped her face with the back of her hand and threw back the bedclothes.
She padded across the chilly linoleum and washed her face and hands in cold water at the washstand. After getting dressed, she crept down the top flight of stairs and stood on the first-floor landing. All was unusually still and silent. Generally there were some sounds coming from the Tanners’ bedrooms at this time of day: one of them shifting in bed causing it to creak, coughs or sighs. On this sad morning, she half expected to hear Rose Tanner weeping for the loss of her child.
Suddenly, Patsy had the oddest feeling and the hair on the back of her head prickled her skin. She tiptoed over to Rose’s bedroom and placed her ear to the panel of the door and rapped her knuckles gently on the wood and called, ‘Mrs Tanner, would you like some breakfast?’
No response.
She knocked and called to Mrs Tanner again and still there was no reply. Then David Tanner’s bedroom door opened and he stood in the doorway in pyjamas and dressing gown. His hair was a mess and he had dark circles under his eyes. ‘What’s all the noise, Patsy?’
‘I’ve knocked and knocked on Mrs Tanner’s door and she’s not answering.’
‘She’s probably still asleep.’
David walked over to Rose’s room and opened the door. He remained motionless, gazing at the bed where his wife lay curled up beneath the eiderdown. Then he took a deep breath and hurried over to her.
There was a smell in the room that caused Patsy to baulk but she followed him, noticing that there was not just one but two empty pill bottles on the bedside table. She had seen one of the bottles before when the doctor had prescribed the pills for Rose after the accident and thought they had all been used up. She watched as David fumbled for his wife’s pulse.
Patsy was filled with apprehension. ‘Is she…?’
David turned a strained face towards her. ‘I think so. But stay with her, Patsy, while I telephone the doctor.’ Patsy moved out of the way to let him past. She would much rather have gone with him. She sank onto a chair, staring at the face of the woman in the bed. She looked so peaceful, much more so than she had ever seen her in life. Suddenly Patsy noticed a sheet of paper half under the bed. She was about to pick it up when David reappeared.
‘I’m wondering if that’s a note, Mr Tanner,’ she said, pointing at the sheet of paper.
He reached for it and she watched him read it and then tear it into tiny pieces. ‘This note never existed, Patsy. I’m sure it was an accident. What do you say?’
‘If that’s what you want me to say, sir, then yes, I agree,’ she said stoutly.
‘Right. Good girl!’ He patted her on the shoulder and limped out of the room.
Patsy lowered herself to her knees and slowly began to pick up every scrap of paper.
Chapter Twenty-Three
‘Now here’s a shock,’ said Wendy, lifting her eyes from the Echo and staring across at Joy.
‘What is it? What’s wrong?’ Joy moved away from the kitchen sink and peered over Wendy’s shoulder.
‘Mrs Tanner. She’s dead.’
Joy snatched the newspaper from her and began to read the article beneath the headline that blazoned City Solicitor’s Tragedy: Wife Found Dead after Overdose of Sleeping Tablets. When she finished reading it, she sank onto a chair and gazed into space, remembering her conversation with Rose Tanner.
‘What must he be feeling after forgiving her for betraying him?’ muttered Joy. ‘He must have loved her to do so. He must have hoped that this baby could have healed and given fresh meaning to their marriage. Then for it to die. Poor tot.’ Joy pressed her hand against her abdomen as if to protect her own baby from har
m.
‘I wonder what he’ll do now,’ said Wendy.
‘What can he do but get on with his life?’ said Joy. ‘The question is whether he’ll want to continue living in that house with the memory of such a double tragedy taking place there.’
‘What about Patsy?’ asked Wendy. ‘I wonder how she feels.’
Joy glanced at the article again. ‘There’s been an inquest and the verdict was accidental death.’
‘Do you think it was an accident?’ asked Wendy.
‘I wonder,’ murmured Joy. ‘I think I might go and visit tomorrow. If he’s back at his office, I should be able to speak to Patsy. Poor girl, I hope she’s not in a state. It could have brought back memories of her mother’s death.’ Wendy folded the newspaper. ‘Do you want me to go with you? Only Grant has asked me to go into the office today. We were going to attend one of the Armistice services in remembrance of my dad and Grant’s cousins. Did you know that they’re having two minutes silence in the new tunnel they’re digging under the Mersey?’
‘No, I didn’t read about that,’ said Joy. ‘But you and Grant stick to your arrangements. I’ll be fine. I’ll walk to the house and take Rex with me. We both need the exercise.’
Wendy looked at her anxiously. ‘Are you sure about this? I mean, walking all that way in your condition after having such a shock.’
Joy smiled. ‘I’m not an invalid and I’m feeling really well.’
‘I’m surprised Patsy didn’t ask Mr Tanner’s permission to telephone you. I’m sure she’ll have known that you’d want to know about the baby and Mrs Tanner.’
Joy shook her head. ‘Patsy’s not daft. She’ll have considered that the news of Mrs Tanner giving birth to a stillborn baby might upset me in my condition.’
Wendy bit her lip. ‘Sorry. You’re right. It’s me that’s not thinking straight.’
Joy assured Wendy that she understood. It was true that she did feel upset by the news of the dead child but these things happened and it did not mean that it was going to happen to her baby. She could only hope and pray that everything would go well when it came time for her to give birth.
The following day, Joy arrived at David Tanner’s house in the early afternoon. It had occurred to her that Wendy and Grant were not going to be the only ones paying their respects to the fallen from the Great War and she had taken time out to spend two minutes silence in the garden. No doubt David Tanner would be remembering his brothers, too. She wondered if he had ever wished that he had died due to the injuries he had sustained. She had difficulty getting what his wife had told her out of her head.
There was no answer to Joy’s knock at the front door, so she decided to go round the back to see if Patsy was in the kitchen. The garden was deserted but for a cat sheltering from the cold wind under a bush. It lifted its head when it saw her and Rex before burying its nose in its fur whilst keeping one eye open.
Joy made for the kitchen door and knocked but no one called for her to come in. She tried the handle and the door opened. She tied Rex’s leash to the leg of a chair and told him to be good. Then she left the kitchen and walked up the passageway to the foot of the stairs and called the girl’s name.
There was no answer and she was about to retrace her steps when she heard the sound of a door opening. The next moment David Tanner appeared at the top of the stairs. His brown hair was tousled and even from this distance she thought he looked older than the last time she had seen him. He was wearing trousers and vest and his feet were bare.
‘I’m sorry, Mr Tanner. Did I disturb you? It’s Joy Bennett. I read about your loss in the Echo. I wanted to see how you and Patsy were doing and if there was anything I could do to help.’
‘It’s good of you to come,’ he responded. ‘If you could wait a moment while I put on the rest of my clothes, I’ll be down in a minute. Patsy’s out. Perhaps you could put the kettle on. The way the weather is you could probably do with a hot drink.’
Joy returned to the kitchen and put on the kettle. The room was colder than she remembered it being but perhaps that was because every time she had visited this house there had always been something cooking in the oven.
As soon as he entered the kitchen, David said, ‘Let’s go into the drawing room and drink our tea there.’ He glanced at Rex and said, ‘You can bring your dog.’
She thanked him and followed him into the drawing room. He waved her to a seat by the fire and sat on the sofa. Rex stretched out at her feet.
‘I’m sorry you had to find out about Rose from the newspaper but as you can imagine it’s been a bit grim since it happened,’ said David.
‘Please don’t worry about it. I’m just sorry that you had to go through such a dreadful time,’ said Joy.
He hesitated. ‘It wasn’t an accident, you know. I should have considered the possibility that she might take too many tablets. The birth process had been horrific and she so wanted the child. It was a reminder of him, you see.’ He paused and looked wretched. ‘I should never have married Rose. She was so pretty and I’d been in love with her for a while but thought there was no hope for me. She was in love with my eldest brother, and then when he was killed and I survived, she turned to me. I couldn’t not marry her.’
Joy could feel his pain. ‘You don’t have to tell me all this,’ she said in a low voice.
‘I feel like you’ll understand. You’ve been through bad times yourself. Things weren’t right for us from the start but I had the business and could support her. I tried to make the marriage work but in the end I couldn’t give her what she wanted.’
‘I lost the man I loved in the war. Then I married a man I didn’t love. I was fond of Robbie but I would have been content to have continued as his housekeeper if my mother hadn’t died.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Still, life has a habit of throwing up the unexpected. Now I have a responsibility that I can’t cast aside. I’m wondering how I’ll cope bringing up a child on my own.’
‘I’m sure you will,’ said David. ‘You appear to be a very capable woman to me, Mrs Bennett. Rose wasn’t. Not her fault. Her mother always favoured her brothers and treated her as if she didn’t have a brain in her head. I’ll say no more on that score but it does lead me in to telling you about Patsy. I’ll be selling this house. I just hope that you’ll agree when I tell you that I’ve tried to do my best by her.’
‘So what have you planned for Patsy?’
David reached for his cup. ‘I don’t know if she has mentioned to you that Rose’s mother lives in Seaforth with her grandchildren and her foster son. Trouble is, Mrs Smith is getting too old to manage the house and the children. I have suggested that a young all-purpose maid who is good with children might be a temporary answer to the problem.’
‘How old are the children?’
‘Nelson is ten and Helen is eight. It’s a matter of Patsy looking after them before and straight after school and during the holidays. Her wages will be paid from a trust fund that the children’s father set up before he left to join his ship at the beginning of the war. He was in the Royal Navy.’ David paused. ‘I hope you agree with me that it is a position that Patsy could fill?’
‘Yes. This foster son. How old is he?’
‘Twenty. He’s an apprentice ship’s fitter. Patsy has already met him a couple of times. You can trust Greg Molyneux to treat Patsy with respect. Of course, when the old lady dies other arrangements will have to be made.’
Joy sighed. ‘The war really has upset so many children’s lives.’
‘Indeed. That’s why I wanted to see Patsy settled before going any further with my own plans.’
She was curious about his plans. ‘Will you be moving to a smaller house?’
‘I don’t plan to look for another one yet. For ages I’ve been wanting to visit the spot where my brothers died. It’s over ten years since the Battle of the Somme and it seems to me that now is the right time to make that journey.’
‘I see.’
‘After that I’m c
onsidering going to America. I have a client in New York. At least, he was my father’s client when he lived in Liverpool. Now he would like to see me to discuss his affairs. Letters aren’t always satisfactory.’
‘Couldn’t he come over to Liverpool to see you?’ asked Joy.
David smiled and, getting up, put some more coal on the fire. ‘He seems extremely reluctant to do so and, as I’d like to get away for a while, then I’m prepared to comply with his request.’
‘So you’re going to France and then New York,’ she said as an idea struck her.
He stared at her. ‘Is there something about my going there that gives you cause for thought?’
Joy wondered if it would be in terribly bad taste to discuss with him Brendan O’Hara and the shares in the silver mine that he had sold to Robbie. ‘Yes, but…’
‘There’s an expression on your face that makes me think you’ve something on your mind that you want to say to me but are dithering about it,’ said David.
Joy took a deep breath. ‘It’s just that if you’re going to New York, I wonder if you could do something for me? Of course, if you don’t have the time I understand. It’s a lot to ask of you. I have mentioned my dilemma in a letter to a family member who lives in New York with her American husband but I haven’t heard from her about it.’
‘What is it you would like me to do?’ asked David.
‘There’s a woman, a Mrs McIntyre. She’s Brendan O’Hara’s sister and lives in New York.’ Joy paused and added hastily. ‘I understand if you want me to go no further.’
David frowned. ‘I can understand your reluctance to talk about O’Hara to me but you’ve roused my curiosity and I haven’t forgotten that he was an old friend of Mr Bennett. What is your problem?’
‘O’Hara sold my husband shares in a silver mine in America but I can’t find the share certificate and neither do I know the name of the mine or its exact location. I guess without the certificate I mightn’t have a leg to stand on when it comes to claiming any money for them. On the other hand, the situation at the time was unusual in that O’Hara and Robbie both died suddenly within days of each other. Your wife told me that she believed that the mine was out west. I know that it was worked by some of O’Hara’s male kin. Hopefully Mrs McIntyre would know their address and the situation of the mine. The trouble is I don’t know her address.’