In the days that followed the kidnapping, Catherine was too worried that something would go wrong at the last minute to snatch her sullen bridegroom away from her, to pay much attention to Jessica’s moods. Philip was too elated at the prospect of having a rich stepmother and too busy mentally spending her money. Once Catherine was a Trenchard, and with his father showing her no real interest, he was confident she could be manipulated to his way of thinking. David was too absorbed in wondering how he was going to tell his father he intended to leave Cornwall for Yorkshire with Simon Peter Blake who was due home soon.
Only Clem realised how unhappy his daughter was. He’d been about the farmyard all morning, putting the finishing touches to the lean-to that was being converted for Kenver and Kerris to live in. He’d watched as Jessica angrily washed clothes next to the well, beating the laundry as if she hated it, tipping water over her feet and looking all the time as though she was about to burst into tears. She didn’t speak when she’d brought him a mug of tea and only grunted when he’d said brightly, ‘Cheer up, my love. You look as if all the worries of the world are on your shoulders.’
‘We don’t want to see that face at our weddings, do we, Clem?’ Kerris chirped, squeezing past Clem in the doorway as she entered to make up the bed fresh for her wedding night.
‘I’m all right,’ Jessica told them with a wan smile.
‘You’ve got your dress all ready for the wedding, haven’t you?’ Clem asked her anxiously.
‘Yes.’
‘And you like it?’
‘Yes, Miss Catherine helped me choose the material.’
‘Well, you could try to sound a bit more enthusiastic,’ Kerris said, smoothing down the bottom sheet over the mattress with long sweeps of her hands. She smiled heartily as she worked; nothing could dampen her spirits.
Jessica wandered away with her head hanging down and Clem followed her into the kitchen.
‘You haven’t drunk your tea,’ she said, looking up from the fireplace where she was attacking the flames with a brass poker.
‘Never mind that, cherub. Sit down. I want to talk to you.’
‘I’m all right, Tas,’ she said, becoming defensive, thinking he was probably getting worried she’d be miserable at the weddings. ‘I won’t spoil it for you and Uncle Ken.’
Clem sat on the settle and beckoned her to join him. He put his arms firmly round her and she rested her head on his shoulder. ‘You’re so unhappy, my love, and I hate seeing you like this. I know you’re delighted for Kenver and Kerris, that they’ve found happiness at last and that Kerris will always be here to help with the work. But are you so very unhappy that I’m going to get married again?’
‘No,’ Jessica stressed. ‘I hated the idea at first. I thought it was ridiculous, you asking a lady to marry you. But now I know Catherine I like her more and more. She’s kind and gentle and she’s understanding. She’s never once tried to play the lady over me or make me feel inferior. And she’s told me often she doesn’t want to try to replace Mother, she just wants to be here and help me if she can. I won’t mind at all having her around. In fact with her and Kerris in the house, I’ll be free to do other things.’
Clem was quiet, momentarily made to think about his bride. Then he asked, ‘Then why are you so sad, Jessica? Are you still upset over Zack Maynard kidnapping you? Are you fearful over something? Maynard can’t hurt you any more. He’ll hang for what he did.’
‘It’s nothing to do with that,’ she said against her father’s shoulder, then she tried to get away from him but he held her there. ‘I’ll be all right,’ she protested, bitter tears emerging. ‘Just let me get on with my work, Father.’
‘It’s those Pengarrons, isn’t it?’ Clem said, anger brewing up. ‘They humiliated you. Don’t let them upset you so much, Jessica. Forget them, forget all the Pengarrons, and don’t take any notice of Luke Pengarron just because he spoke nicely to you. He’s nearly as bad as his rotten father. Forget those women, too, and start a new life with Catherine as your stepmother. She’ll teach you how to behave more like a lady, then you’ll be able to attract a good hus—’
‘Stop it, Father! I don’t want to marry anyone. I don’t want to talk about the Pengarrons or anyone else. I just want to be left alone!’ She ripped herself away but Clem followed her.
‘Why are you so het up? What aren’t you telling me?’ He searched her face and she turned blood-red. ‘Dear life, you’re not… It’s Pengarron, isn’t it? Isn’t it?’
‘Yes, but it’s not what you think.’ Jessica grabbed her furious father and tried to explain. ‘Listen to me, please!’
Clem pushed her away, the only time in her life he had been rough with her. ‘I’ll kill him, I swear I’ll kill him!’
‘Father—’
‘Just you stay here, girl!’ he shouted, shaking and ugly-faced. ‘I’ll deal with this and when I come back I’ll deal with you.’
He stormed out of the farmhouse and rode out of the yard on Tally without even bothering to saddle her. Jessica ran after him shouting, pleading with him to stop and listen to her.
Kerris rushed out of the lean-to. ‘What’s going on? Jessica, what’s happened?’
‘He wouldn’t listen to me, Kerris,’ she answered miserably. ‘I wish the twins didn’t have the work horse with them. I have to follow him and I’ll have to run all the way.’
As her feet pounded over the ground, her long curls streaming out behind her, Jessica wished she had simply told her father the truth. She was in love with Kane Pengarron and her feelings of hurt and rejection came from the way he had accused her on the ship. She had been about to put herself in his arms and declare her love and need for his protection in front of her father, and then his. But Kane had shouted at her as if he despised her, had no tender feelings for her at all; as if he thought her stupid and worthless, an irresponsible girl who had put his womenfolk in danger. She should have told her father all this, and now, because he’d refused to listen to her properly, he was riding like a madman to the Manor and was about to make things even worse. She prayed no one was at home today.
* * *
Kerensa was contented to see all her family seated round the table. Olivia and Cordelia chatted happily about Olivia’s wedding, careful not to mention the other two marriages due to take place in two days’ time so as not to make their father tut and frown. Oliver was happy too, his main topic of conversation being the baby due in the New Year. Luke teased the girls, saying he would be pleased to have one less female about the place. Oliver laughed and said in that case he hoped the baby would be a girl. Kelynen quietly listened to the conversations while Kane ate automatically, withdrawn and silent. Kerensa was sure she knew who he was thinking about.
They were on the last course and Kerensa was suggesting the family take a stroll around the gardens together when shouting was heard.
‘What’s that all about?’ Oliver said, getting to his feet.
The next instant Clem burst through the door, with a worried-looking Polly O’Flynn on his heels. ‘I’m sorry, m’lord,’ she cried helplessly, ‘but I couldn’t stop him.’
‘I’ll take care of it, Polly,’ Oliver said sternly, facing Clem in anger. ‘You have two minutes to explain why you’ve violated the peace of my house, Trenchard, before I personally throw you off my property!’
‘I’m not going anywhere until I’ve beaten the life out of your blasted son!’ Clem raged, standing his ground.
Kerensa came forward to stand beside her husband. She took in Clem’s appearance; he was untidy, his shirtsleeves were rolled up and he had obviously left his work to come here. ‘Which of our sons?’ she asked coolly.
Clem looked from her to Luke, still seated somewhat stunned with the others round the table. He jabbed a finger at him. ‘That bastard,’ he spat coldly.
Kerensa flinched. Luke looked utterly surprised, then rather amused as Kane got to his feet. Oliver ordered Kelynen from the room and she went without a word. Then he turne
d on Clem. ‘How dare you come into my house and insult a member of my family and in front of such young ears. What’s Luke supposed to have done anyway?’
‘What’s he done?’ Clem said, taking a few menacing steps towards Luke. ‘He’s got my daughter with child, that’s what he’s done, the young swine! And he’s going to answer to me for it.’
Kane exclaimed in horror. Olivia and Cordelia gasped and got up and moved away from the table, leaving Luke to face the farmer’s wrath.
Luke burst out laughing.
‘Control yourself, Luke,’ Oliver warned, seeing that Clem was about to stretch across the table and lay hands on him. ‘This is a serious matter.’
‘Did you?’ Kane demanded of his smirking brother. ‘Did you touch her?’
Luke looked from face to face. The shock on Olivia and Cordelia’s faces. The urgent questions and dismay on his parents’. The amazement on Polly’s as she stood in the doorway. The outrage and challenge on Clem’s. And the blind, jealous fury on Kane’s.
Very, very slowly, Luke put his fingers into a breast pocket and produced from it a long golden curl tied tightly in the middle. He grinned wickedly and twirled it between his finger and thumb. Then, gazing into Kane’s startled brown eyes, he drawled, ‘I suppose one should not lie.’
‘You bastard!’ Clem exclaimed and went to pounce on the jeering young man. But something in Kane’s voice made him halt.
‘Where did you get that?’ Kane hissed.
‘You do recognise it then, brother? Didn’t she give you one? What a pity. She gave me this when we spent one delectable afternoon together, alone, in Trelynne Cove.’
Kane gave a howl of rage and jumped on the dining table. Plates, glasses, cutlery and a bowl of flowers were sent flying. Kerensa cried out and grasped Oliver, who looked as if he couldn’t believe what was happening before his eyes, under his roof, between his sons. Olivia and Cordelia clutched at each other and moved further back. Clem was rooted to the spot where he stood, his eyes wide, his expression one of utter bewilderment.
Luke leaned back in his chair in a lazy manner as Kane crouched before him with his hands held like claws in front of his throat. ‘I’ve done something to annoy you, brother?’
‘She wouldn’t go with you! Tell the truth or I’ll be the one to beat you to pulp! You’re lying, you’re lying, aren’t you? Aren’t you?’
Luke held the curl under Kane’s nose. ‘Then why did she give me this?’
Kane slapped the curl out of his brother’s hand, then roared, ‘You’re lying! She wouldn’t go with you and you have no right to say so.’ He clutched Luke’s collar. ‘Outside! I’m going to beat the life out of you just for saying it. You won’t get away with your spiteful tongue this time, brother.’
‘No!’ Kerensa lurched away from the others and pushed Clem out of her way. ‘Stop it! I won’t have you fighting each other.’
‘Keep out of this, Mama,’ Kane said, through clenched teeth. ‘This time he’s gone too far and he’s going to pay for it.’
Kerensa looked helplessly at Oliver and pleaded silently with him to do something. He came to her and Clem moved aside, feeling he was quite forgotten. ‘It’s their fight,’ Oliver said quietly, and pulled her away.
Luke jumped to his feet, casting his chair aside. He looked triumphant. After years of being taken pity on as a cripple, someone was treating him like a man at last.
‘But Luke has only one good arm,’ Kerensa muttered.
‘He’s an equal with the sword,’ Oliver said. ‘They can fight as gentlemen.’
‘No!’ Kerensa screamed. ‘I won’t have it.’
‘Kane can fence with one arm tied to his side to ensure absolute fairness,’ Oliver said, his voice grim as he overruled his anxious wife and took charge of the situation. ‘I trust them not to kill each other. The winner will be the one who first draws blood or gets the other to yield. Is that agreeable to you both?’ he asked his sons.
Kane jumped off the table and nodded, his face still dark with rage. Luke smiled, his eyes glimmering with excitement, and nodded too.
Oliver looked at his wife and then at his daughter and niece. ‘You ladies stay in the house. This is men’s business.’
‘We will not!’ Kerensa held his eyes defiantly. ‘At least I will not. If my sons are going to fight and try to hurt each other, then I shall be there to watch it.’
The company, including the two younger ladies and Polly who felt it was her duty to stay close to her child-bearing mistress, trooped outside to the back of the house and took up positions on the lawn. Other folk about the Manor were sidling up behind, and on receiving no orders from their master to go away, they resolutely joined the family, standing in a semicircle. Jack was there and Conan and Michael, the stable boys. So were the gardeners, Ruth and Esther King, and Nathan O’Flynn, who much to Polly’s disapproval was holding their son, Shaun. Kelynen came rushing up with Cherry, both holding on firmly to Rex’s collar. Beatrice shuffled up last, rasping breathlessly, ‘’Ere, wait fer me. I don’t want t’miss this.’
Oliver tied Kane’s left arm flat against his body, and then his sons, who had collected their fencing weapons on the way outside and removed their coats and neckcloths, faced each other. Oliver warned them that he wouldn’t hesitate to step in and stop them if things got out of hand.
Another person turned up to watch the fight. Having obtained no admittance at the front of the Manor, Timothy Lanyon had wandered round the back of the imposing house. He raised his eyebrows, greeted his future parents-in-law in whispers, then went to hold his fiancée’s hand.
Kane and Luke locked eyes. Kane’s were full of latent fury, Luke’s brimming over with excitement and enjoyment, and this made Kane angrier. They moved about the grass, Kane stalking, Luke strutting.
Kerensa clung to Oliver, but she was furious with her menfolk. Clem was looking at her and caught her eye. She stared back with a face of immobile hardness. Clem’s head was full of anguished thoughts. Kane had kept insisting to Luke that Jessica ‘wouldn’t go with you’. Did that mean she had lain with Kane and he had sired her child? He wasn’t concerned about Oliver Pengarron’s reaction to his bursting in at their meal table, but Kerensa looked at him as if she despised him. He hated that. He thought of Alice, his late wife. She had dreaded the thought of Jessica getting with child out of wedlock; she would have been distraught over this. Clem had failed his late wife and his beautiful, spirited, beloved daughter.
Kane lunged at Luke’s right shoulder but Luke’s blade was up and foiled the move. Luke thrust hard at Kane’s left side. His blade was stopped and their swords pointed to the ground, steel grinding on steel.
Timothy whispered in Olivia’s ear, ‘Why are they fighting?’
She whispered back with a little sob of emotion in her voice, ‘Clem Trenchard burst in on us with the news that Jessica is with child. Kane became furious and this is the result.’ She shrieked as steel clashed in a flurry of darting movements as her brothers fought for supremacy, both on the attack, but equally matched. They moved apart to size each other up again.
‘’Aven’t seen nothin’ like this fer years ’n’ years,’ Beatrice said joyfully, her piggy eyes following each thrust and withdrawal, her head rolling and arms extended as she followed the fencers with her own movements. ‘Come on, me ’an’some!’ she shouted to both men.
The swords met and clashed for several minutes, the fencers gaining and losing the advantage in equal measure, their feet scoring the wide, short-cut lawn. Luke leapt up onto a low wall that divided some flowerbeds and Kane swept up his weapon in an effort to unbalance him. Luke was confident and completely steady and with one mighty swipe of his sword succeeded in sending Kane’s flying from his hand. Luke smiled blissfully. He pointed his blade to the top of the wall so his brother could retrieve his weapon. He didn’t want to finish yet. He was thoroughly enjoying himself and had two advantages. Kane’s fury was making him just a little less cautious, and Luke, having had the
use of only one arm for so long, was used to the restriction where Kane was not.
Kane turned his back to fetch his sword. He knew that despite Luke’s deviousness, he would not take unfair advantage. But win or lose this match, he would wring the truth out of his brother somehow. He would not have Jessica’s reputation sullied.
When Kane’s sword was back in his hand, Luke sauntered over to him, close to the spectators. The dancing for position started again. Kane slashed out rather wildly to unhand Luke’s sword and the movement left him vulnerable. Luke made a short, sharp movement with his expert hand and with a cry from Kane a thin red line appeared across his chest.
Kerensa screamed and Luke shouted in triumph. Kane said ungraciously, ‘You win, brother,’ and threw his sword down.
The two brothers expected a hubbub of voices to break out and discuss the points of the fight. They expected their mother to ran up to them and declare, ‘Thank God you’re both still alive!’ But all eyes had suddenly turned to someone they had not noticed before, standing silently alone, ashen-faced, against the backdrop of the Manor house.
In silence they watched as Jessica Trenchard came forward. She went up to the fencers. ‘Were you fighting over me?’ she asked, her voice icy.
Luke glanced at the ground, unable to meet her eyes.
Kane stepped towards Jessica and explained, ‘Your father said you were with child by Luke. Tell them both it’s not true.’
‘It isn’t,’ she said, loud enough for all to hear while staring at Kane.
‘Then it’s you!’ Clem shouted. ‘I thought I could trust you, Kane Pengarron.’
Pengarron's Children Page 37