by Mary Nichols
Kate knew she was drowning; the water was full of weeds that tangled themselves about her legs and her clothes were dragging her down. Something wet and slimy brushed across her face. She struggled to swim, but the current was swift and she could make no headway, especially as she was holding Joe in one arm, trying to keep his head above water. She could hear voices—the voices of her father and Simon. They were calling to her. ‘Kate, where are you?’ she heard Simon shouting. She tried to answer, but no sound came from her throat. She was being pulled down and down; just as she could stay afloat no longer, she woke.
The nightmare had been so real, it was a moment or two before she realised she was lying on the bunk in the cabin with Joe lying across her, his head in her neck, so that she could hardly breathe and the blanket was tangled about her legs. She gently moved him, kicked off the blanket and sat up. The boat was rocking in a strengthening breeze. It was daylight, but the sky was overcast. Were they in for some rough weather? Would it make any difference to what Alf did?
She rubbed the back of her neck and stretched her cramped limbs, trying not to wake the still-sleeping Joe. Today, she realised, would have been her wedding day. Robert had not answered her letter and she wondered what he would do. It was out of her hands now and suddenly she felt almost light-headed. But she did wonder what was happening at home. Was there any chance she would be found or must she do something to free herself. But how? The nightmare had brought home to her that trying to swim with Joe would result in them both drowning.
They had spent the whole of the previous day rocking at anchor in the middle of the lake. She had concentrated on Joe, soothing him, trying to make him eat and talk because Alf had said he would let her go when Joe was happy to stay with him. Not that she would leave the boy. Her plan was to persuade Alf that he should go back to his wife, but he was adamant and became angry when she persisted. Afraid of his violence, she had decided the direct approach would not do.
They had talked on and off all the previous day and she had learned more of his dreadful childhood and how the only person who had any time for him at all was a woman called Martha Bedson who had worked as a cleaner at the charity school. ‘She used to talk to me,’ he said. ‘Brought me little treats and took me out for the day sometimes, more mother to me than me own ma ever was. If’n I were in trouble, she’d always help. But she couldn’t do a thing with Joe. He screamed and beat ’er when she tried to pick him up and he threw ’is food at her and broke her plates. We couldn’t stay there. This ’ere’s ’er boat. Her husband were a waterman afore he died and she kept it. She used to tek me out on it when I was a little ’un. I always enjoyed that. I thought Joe would too.’
‘Perhaps he would under other circumstances. You have frightened him. Take us back, Mr Barber. We can’t stay out here forever. We will run out of food and water.’
He was silent for a long time, then he put up the sail and weighed anchor. She held her breath and the boat slowly turned and they fairly skimmed over the water towards the bank. There were many more craft on the river than there had been the day before and Alf, no waterman, found it difficult to steer between them. He was trying to make for a waterside inn that Kate had not noticed when they arrived in the dark two nights before. It was obviously a place where boat people bought their provisions and filled their water containers. Kate began to hope.
A sudden scream from Joe and a whooshing sound made her turn and dash down the companionway. Flames were shooting out of the galley and into the cabin. Kate’s first thought was for Joe. She dashed into the flames and hauled him out of the galley. His hair was singed and his shirt smouldering. She rolled him in the blanket and put out the flames and then ran up on deck with the boy in her arms.
‘The galley’s on fire,’ she gasped when Alf turned to her.
He let go the tiller and dashed down to look, but was soon back, his face a picture of horror and disbelief. ‘It’s an inferno down there. There’s burning wood all over the floor and it’s set the deck alight. Can you swim?’
Kate’s dream came back to her in all its horror as she nodded an affirmative.
‘Then over the side with you. I’ll hand the boy down to you. Make for the inn.’ She turned to look. They were already sailing dangerously close to the other boats anchored at the staithe.
This was no time for false modesty. She flung off her gown, kicked off her shoes and slipped over the side, hanging on to a rope with one hand while he bent over to put Joe into her arms. Then she took a deep breath and struck out. This was no dream—it was reality. She turned over on her back to hold Joe on her front. She saw the boat move away from her and thought it was simply because she was swimming away from it, but then she saw Alf at the tiller, surrounded by flames, taking the boat back out into open water, away from the other craft and the people on their decks who were watching in helpless horror. ‘Leave it!’ she shouted. ‘Jump, Alf, jump!’
He appeared not to hear her and then, with a sudden whoosh, the whole boat was engulfed in flames and sank in less than a minute. All that was left was floating debris. Kate choked back her sobs and started to swim.
It was further than she thought and, though she had dispensed with her gown, her petticoat was weighing her down. Her nightmare was very real as she struggled against a current with weeds in a green curtain swirling about her, slapping over her face and making Joe cough.
‘Hold on, Kate. Hold on, sweetheart.’ It could not be Simon’s voice; it was all part of the nightmare.
The next minute someone took Joe from her. ‘I’ve got the boy. You take the young lady.’ Surely that was Daniels’s voice?
Someone put his arms under her shoulders and kicked out. ‘You are safe now, my lovely brave Kate. I’ve got you.’ It really was Simon. ‘Kick, sweetheart,’ he murmured in her ear. ‘Help us along. We will soon have you warm and dry.’
A few minutes later, they reached the staithe and he rose out of the water with her in his arms, carried her up the steps and into the inn to the accompaniment of the cheers and applause of the watchers.
The landlady ran out of the inn with a blanket which she wrapped round Kate. Simon smiled as he thanked her. Kate’s flimsy petticoat and chemise were sticking to her skin, outlining every inch of her lovely curves. ‘A room, please,’ he said. ‘Hot water, a bath, a warm drink.’
‘At once, sir.’
‘Joe…’ Kate began. She felt she could have walked, but it was so comforting to be in Simon’s arms and she clung to him, her arms about his neck.
‘He is with his mother. Don’t worry about him any more.’
‘Alf… He died saving the other boats.’
‘I know.’ He was carrying her upstairs behind the landlady as he spoke and now she threw open a door and he took Kate inside and gently put her on the bed. ‘Go and get the hot water,’ he instructed the woman who hesitated in the doorway. ‘And do not worry about leaving her with me. The lady is about to become my wife.’
‘Simon!’ Kate protested as soon as she had left.
‘It is true. You are going to marry me, aren’t you?’
‘But…’
He wrapped his arms about her and silenced her with a kiss, rousing a passion in her she never knew she could experience. It filled her to the exclusion of everything else. She forgot the dreadful ordeal she had just been through, forgot that there were still unsolved problems keeping them apart and let herself go. ‘Oh, Simon.’
‘Are there any more buts?’ he queried with a quirky smile.
Her answering smile was a little wobbly. ‘No, but we are going to have to live down a prodigious amount of scandalous gossip.’
‘I am used to it,’ he said with a wry smile, kissing the tip of her nose and then her forehead and each cheek. ‘And as for you, you will be the idol of the ton for saving little Joe.’
‘How did you find me?’ She was shivering, though whether from her immersion or her emotions, she was not sure.
‘It is a long story and all
down to a lady called Mrs Bedson. I will tell you all about it later.’ He got off the bed as the landlady returned, followed by two men with a bath and two maids with jugs of hot water. ‘They found the boy’s pa,’ she said, as the men put the bath down and left. ‘He’s badly burned, but ’e’s alive. They’ve sent for a doctor. His wife’s with him. And the little boy.’
‘Thank God for that,’ Kate murmured.
‘You’d best go and get dry yourself,’ the landlady said, giving Simon a disapproving look. ‘I’ll see to the young lady.’
Kate watched him go. Simon was with her and he would not let her go again. How he had found her she did not know, but it was a miracle and must surely mean that God was on their side. She allowed the maids to help her bath and dress in a rough skirt and blouse belonging to the landlady. It was much too big, but she pulled it in with a belt and went downstairs to the parlour, where she was enthusiastically applauded by all the boat people who had crowded into the room. Simon, dressed in the innkeeper’s clothes, came forwards to take her hand. ‘You look very fetching in that, my love.’ He could not stop grinning. ‘Are you hungry?’
‘A little, but I want to see Mr and Mrs Barber and little Joe.’
He understood. Children would always come before her own comfort. ‘Come, I will take you.’
Alf was lying in bed in another room. His hands and face were swathed in bandages and he was barely conscious. Janet was on one side of the bed, nursing Joe, one of whose hands was also bandaged. On the other side was a plump woman who was introduced to Kate as Mrs Bedson. ‘Mr Barber spoke very lovingly of you,’ Kate said. ‘How is he?’
‘He’ll be better bye and bye,’ Janet said, reaching out to touch his arm. ‘He were a brave man to risk his life to save everyone else. I thank God he was thrown into the water. It saved his life.’
‘And Joe?’
‘He is fine and for that I thank you.’
‘And do you think you could all be happy together now?’
‘Yes, oh, yes, thanks to you and Dr Redfern.’
They did not want her gratitude and quickly took their leave. ‘I want to go home,’ Kate said as they went downstairs.
‘Of course. But have a bite to eat first and then we will be on our way. Your father’s carriage is in the inn yard.’
‘What about the others?’
‘They will stay until Alf is well enough to be moved. I have left them enough money to tide them over. We do not need to worry about them any more.’
‘I am glad, but we should not forget they brought us together.’
‘I am not likely to forget and for that reason I shall try to find work for Alf that will keep him out of mischief. Now let us eat, I am as hungry as a hunter.’
An hour later they were in the Morland carriage, being driven at a sedate pace back to London by Daniels, who had also been fêted as a hero. Kate was sitting snugly against Simon, her head on his shoulder and his arm about her. If it were not for her concern for her father and grandmother, she would have liked the journey to last forever.
‘Simon,’ she murmured, as he kissed her for the hundredth time, ‘tell me what happened after I disappeared.’
So he told her about the search and the unexpected arrival of Mrs Bedson. ‘She was incensed by Alf’s tale of his treatment at the hands of his wife and as soon as he left her house, she hurried to Mrs Barber, intending to tell her exactly what she thought of her, but when she realised what was really going on, she decided she had to do something to reunite them, so they came to me. I borrowed the coach and away we came. It was late when we started and dark as pitch when we arrived at the place the boat was usually moored and it had gone.’ He stopped speaking to kiss her. ‘We had to wait for daylight to go looking for it. We were standing at the staithe debating whether to hire a boat to come looking for you, when we saw you coming back. And on fire at that. You can imagine how I felt. I dived in and Daniels with me.’
‘Thank God for it,’ she said fervently.
‘How did the fire start?’
‘It was my fault. I left Joe on the bunk in the day cabin while I went up to try to persuade Mr Barber to take us home. I think he wandered into the galley and poked the fire. When I rushed down to him, there was burning wood on the floor and it had set the deck alight. We could all have gone up in flames.’ She shuddered at the memory.
He stroked her wet hair from her face. ‘All’s well that ends well.’
‘But it hasn’t ended, has it? We shall have to live through a deal of gossip.’
‘Shall you mind?’
‘Not for myself.’ She tilted up her head to be kissed again and it was some time before the conversation was resumed. ‘I am worried Viscount Cranford will sue you for enticing me away from him. He said he would.’
He was thoughtful. Now he understood why Kate was so determined to go through with the wedding. ‘Why did you not tell me?’
‘You had enough problems without me adding to them, what with Mr Barber’s accusations and the inquiry…’
Now he understood what the business of Janet Barber was all about. If Barber sued, then Cranford would be saved the humiliation of doing so himself. ‘I think, my love, Viscount Cranford is too proud to admit anything like that could happen.’
‘But why was Captain Feltwell so obnoxious?’
‘Besides being the Viscount’s friend, he is Mrs Withersfield’s cousin by marriage. She was living in luxury at Cranford Manor, acting the lady of the manor, pretending it was all hers, and your arrival did not please her. You stood between her and the comfortable life she had been enjoying at the Viscount’s expense. She saw herself being sent to live in a cottage with a tiny pension and no power at all, and the prospect did not please her, or Feltwell, who had been sponging off her ever since he left the army. By spreading gossip about you and me, they hoped the Viscount would change his mind about marrying you. Unfortunately that did not work. Cranford could not afford any scandal to touch either him or the lady he planned to marry. He was not interested in his sister’s motives, only his own reputation. That little fracas with Barber gave him the opportunity he was waiting for. Feltwell had to do as he asked and get Barber’s co-operation and that was not difficult with a little bribe.’
‘So everyone was using everyone else for their own ends?’
‘It looks like it.’
‘How can people be so wicked?’
‘I do not know, but they could not have done it if I had not been so foolish as to visit Mrs Barber. I had no idea what was in her mind. Thank God, I was able to convince her while we were travelling that her future lay with her husband. Mine is with you.’
They jogged along, stopping to change the horses and to eat at wayside inns and Kate slept a little with her head on his shoulder, secure and content.
‘What about the Hartingdon Home?’ she asked, as they neared the metropolis. ‘Will it continue?’
‘I imagine so, though whether I will be allowed to be part of it is another matter.’
‘Of course you will. Mr and Mrs Barber will retract their accusations and you will be exonerated. And even if you do not go back to the Hartingdon, there are other children, all over the country, all over the world, who need you.’
He laughed. ‘Oh, darling, I am beginning to understand how Cranford felt, having to play second fiddle to a mob of children.’
‘You think I should forget them?’
‘Certainly not. It is what I love about you. Your tender heart. We will do something for the children, I promise you, but I sincerely hope we shall have children of our own in the not-too-distant future.’
‘Oh, so do I. It is my dearest wish.’ She stopped herself suddenly, realising where that wish had taken her before and added, ‘Only second to my wish to be married to you, of course.’
‘Mine, too.’ He laughed and gave her a last kiss as they turned into Holles Street and drew up at her door, which flew open almost before the wheels had stopped turning and Lady Morland ran o
ut, arms outstretched.
Kate jumped out and ran into them and was hugged so tightly the breath was almost squeezed from her body. ‘Oh, Kate, thank God you are safe.’ She stood back and looked at her granddaughter. ‘How did you come to be dressed like that?’
Kate laughed and reached behind her for Simon’s hand as Daniels took the coach away. ‘It is a long story, Grandmama.’
‘Come indoors, you can tell it to me while you have some refreshment. You, too, Doctor.’
Her father was waiting for her. He looked suddenly old and drawn and Kate felt a pang that she had been instrumental in worrying him. But he beamed with joy at seeing her and hugged her tightly. ‘Thank God, you are safe,’ he said, repeating his mother’s words.
While food and drink were fetched, Kate, sitting beside Simon on a sofa with her hand in his, explained what had happened to her and Simon gave his side of the story, which so astonished them, they were full of questions and the tale had to be repeated over and over again.
At last Kate was able to ask her own questions. ‘Did you cancel the wedding?’
‘I did,’ her grandmother said. ‘But some of the guests arrived. They would not go home when I told them what had happened, but must wait for you to be brought back. And as the food was prepared…’ She shrugged. ‘It seemed a pity to waste it.’
Simon laughed. ‘It is the first time I have heard of having a wedding breakfast without a wedding.’
‘The Viscount?’ Kate queried.
‘Oh, he did not come. But you will never guess what has happened. Lady Redfern came to tell us. He has gone off with Lady Isobel.’
Simon burst into laughter. ‘Oh, that is rich. A Viscount is a far better prospect than the heir to a baron. I wish them well.’
‘Kate, I am persuaded you are not heartbroken,’ her father said.
‘Not at all. She will make a much better diplomat’s wife that I ever would and I have found my match.’ And she turned and smiled up at Simon.