Before Kane could speak, Jessica turned on her father. ‘I am not with child! I wouldn’t allow myself to get into that condition. I promised my mother I wouldn’t. She told me all about how she was expecting the twins before she married you and how she suffered for it. How unkind you were to her at the beginning of your marriage because you were in love with someone else. You may have been happy and in love when she died but she never forgot how she’d suffered. She begged me never to do the same, she couldn’t bear to think I might suffer the same pain she had. And I vowed to her and myself that I would never go with a man unless I married him and I swear on her grave that I haven’t! I may be unladylike and rather wild at times, but I’ve always lived under a mother’s influence, my own mother’s influence. There is no need for you to marry again to protect my reputation, Father!’
Clem hung his head in utter shame. ‘Jessica, I’m sorry…’
She moved away from him and spoke to the whole gathering with a stricken face. ‘How could you believe that I was with child? By Luke or Kane? I hate you all.’ She turned on her heel and walked off.
Olivia tried to go to her but Timothy held her back, saying, ‘Now is not the time.’
Kane ran after Jessica. He wanted to tell her he had not believed for a moment she was with child, that he knew she was still pure and untouched. She had done nothing other than kiss him and he would never believe she’d gone further with anyone else. She heard him running and turned momentarily to face him. The look on her face stopped him in his tracks.
She said, as if her tongue was poisoned, ‘I hate you most of all.’
Chapter 27
Unaware of the drama that had been going on at Pengarron Manor, Catherine Lanyon and Nancy Wills were in the parlour of the Parsonage putting the final touches to some of the wedding clothes. Nancy had persuaded her coy mistress to have white sequins sewn down the stomacher of the bridal gown and she was stitching these in herself. Stopping to study her handiwork, Nancy carried the ivory-coloured gown over to the window to get a better light.
Catherine paused in her own needlework. ‘What does it look like?’ she said anxiously.
Nancy laughed and brought it over to her chair. ‘See for yourself. It’s beautiful. Bet you’re some glad I talked you into letting me do it for you, aren’t you now? Just because you’re a little bit older than the average bride doesn’t mean you can’t have a really beautiful dress on the most important day of your life.’
Catherine delicately touched the sequins and smiled with a satisfied sigh. ‘You’re right as always, Nancy. I was just afraid it would be a little too much. I’ve been dreading the thought of walking up to the altar and seeing Clem cringe at the sight of me.’
‘There’s no danger of him doing that. You’ll be as beautiful as any other bride and I’m happy to tell you that being in love ’as made you blossom from having a sweet pale face to one of glowing beauty. You can take it from me, Miss Catherine, Clem will truly appreciate you.’
The glow that Nancy spoke of spread all over Catherine’s face. ‘Do you really think so? I must say I can’t wait to live on Trecath-en Farm; I feel that I belong there already. I wish I could take you with me, Nancy, but you’ll have to stay with Timothy and soon it will be Miss Olivia who will be your mistress here.’
‘Well, I daresay the Reverend Tim won’t mind me coming over to visit you but I’m sure I’ll prefer the smell of salt and even fish from the village below to those of a farmyard. ’Tis some exciting, all these weddings. After yours and the reception here, it’ll be straight over to Trecath-en Farm to witness Clem’s brother and Kerris getting married. I can’t wait to see her, after all this fuss with the murders, that Peter Blake character and that evil little sea captain. I thought there was something passing strange about he, he gave me the creeps the day he came here to see the Reverend Tim, and that was only to further his evil plans.’
‘Don’t, Nancy,’ Catherine said, unable to repress a shudder. ‘Don’t talk of anything horrible. I just want things to be happy from now on.’
Nancy sat down and they worked in silence until she had sewed in the last sequin. ‘There, that’s finished. I’ll hang it up away from prying eyes. Miss Catherine…’ Nancy unnecessarily threaded a needle and kept her eyes on it. ‘I hope you don’t mind me bringing up the subject of the, um, the wedding night, but as you haven’t got a mother
‘I have no qualms about that, Nancy,’ Catherine said, keeping her own eyes firmly on the new shift she was sewing. ‘I have seen far too many illegitimate babies enter the world and helped their unfortunate mothers not to know how they arrived in that condition… I will be all right, I’m sure, in that respect.’ Catherine wasn’t totally sure what ‘that respect’ entailed, but she was looking forward to lying warm and comfortable in Clem’s arms.
Timothy Lanyon arrived home soon after the dust had died down from the Pengarron brothers’ sword fight. He sought out his sister immediately and found her and Nancy in the parlour. Catherine’s heart gave an uncomfortable lurch at the sight of his grave face. She laid aside her sewing.
Nancy Wills rose and made to leave the room. ‘I’d better make a start on the evening meal,’ she said tactfully.
Catherine could not look at her brother. ‘Is Olivia all right? You look troubled, Timothy.’
‘Yes, Cathy. Olivia’s fine.’
‘She hasn’t got up to any more ill-advised adventures?’ Catherine gave a brittle laugh. ‘Is all well at the Manor?’
‘I arrived to find the family and servants assembled at the back of the house and I’m sorry to say Luke and Kane were preparing to fence swords over a fierce altercation,’ he replied.
Catherine sighed with relief. She had thought her brother’s gloominess somehow concerned her. ‘Oh dear, so that’s why you’re so maudlin. Her ladyship must have been most upset.’ Then she looked up with concern. ‘She hasn’t become so distressed that she has lost the child she is bearing, has she? That would be too awful after her losing her last infant son.’
‘No, Catherine. The younger Pengarrons were fighting over Jessica. Apparently Clem was under the misapprehension that Jessica had got with child. Luke intimated that he was the father and it sent Kane into a violent temper – hence the sword fight, which Luke won by drawing blood.’
‘And then? There must be more to this story judging by the dour expression of your face. Was somebody else hurt?’
‘No. Jessica turned up. She had run over to the Manor although we didn’t notice that she was a witness to the fight. She was in a terrible rage. She turned on Clem and told him she had promised her mother she would always stay chaste. She was hurt and furious that anyone could think she was with child, especially after her mother apparently was as a bride. Most of her hurt was directed at Clem but she told all of us that she hated us.’
‘Poor Jessica, I would feel just as outraged if someone questioned my virtue in that way,’ Catherine said warmly. A niggling panicky feeling was filling her stomach and she wished Timothy would air all he wanted to say. ‘But Timothy, there is something about your manner that suggests this somehow concerns me. Do you not wish me to marry Clem now because he got his first wife with child before the wedding?’ Timothy crouched down and took Catherine’s hands in his.
‘What I’m trying to say, my dear, is that because of what Jessica said to Clem, because of her assertion that she knew her duty with regard to her virtue because of her mother’s love and teaching, he must realise that his daughter does not really need a stepmother. The girl said as much to him… I’m very sorry.’
Catherine felt a shocking numbness spread through her. ‘But… but that does not necessarily mean he won’t…’
Timothy gave a long, deep sigh. ‘Clem’s a loner by nature, my dear. He won’t take on anything… that’s unnecessary in his life. A wife would be a huge commitment and he was—’
‘Only doing it for Jessica’s sake?’ she challenged him. ‘How do you know he hasn’t taken a fondness
for me? How do you know he will break off our betrothal? Did he say so? Did he tell you to tell me this?’
‘I didn’t get the chance to speak to him after Jessica left. There was so much else going on. But Catherine—’
‘I love him, Timothy,’ she sobbed, tears of despair falling down her face. She knew her brother was right, she only had to recall the way Clem held back from her when they kissed. ‘It’s not just the shame of being a spinster at thirty-one years of age. I love Trecath-en Farm and don’t consider it a come-down from a parsonage and I’m fond of Jessica and the twins. I get on well with Kenver and Kerris and she seems to rely on me and my decisions. I was looking forward to being some sort of mother and hopefully a friend to them all. I could have told Clem long ago that Jessica is sensible enough not to need the kind of training he thought she did. I’m even fond of Ricketty Jim… we were going to be one big family… and now…’ She cried wretchedly and Timothy held her.
‘I’m sorry, Cathy,’ he said tenderly, stroking her hair which had fallen out of its careful arrangement. ‘There was no easy way for me to tell you. I only thought to soften the blow before Clem tells you himself. Would you like me to send Nancy in to you?’
‘No… I’d rather be alone.’
* * *
When Clem got home, riding droopily on his plodding mare, there was no sign of Jessica. Kerris was on the way to the well to draw water and stopped to tell him Jessica had gone off to be alone, taking Gracie with her.
‘Was she very upset, Kerris?’
‘Aye, she told me and Kenver all about it. She’s very upset and deeply hurt. If only you had listened to her, Clem. Then you wouldn’t have gone off in a huff and none of that business at the Manor would have happened. She was humiliated in front of her friends, the two young ladies, on top of what she’s gone through already.’
Clem ran anguished hands through his hair. ‘Oh Lord, I feel terrible. I only wanted to help her, cheer her up out of her despondency, then when we were talking I got the wrong end of the stick and now I’ve made things worse. How will she ever forgive me for what I believed of her? I should have known better. But Luke Pengarron is a blatant womaniser and he spoke so kindly to her on the day of the kidnapping. I thought there had been something between them. It was typical of him to pretend he was responsible for what I’d accused him of. Then I accused Kane. I should have known I could trust him, of all people. I’ve liked and trusted him since he was a small boy. By his reaction today it’s obvious he’s in love with Jessica. Now I wonder if she was about to tell me she loved him too before I went charging off like an angry bull. She must have been miserable over the way he spoke so harshly to her at the kidnapping and I told him he’s not welcome here. Oh, it’s all such a mess, Kerris. I’ve made a mess of everything this year. Somehow I’ve got to start putting things right.’
Kerris put a hand understandingly on his shoulder. ‘You’ve only got a couple of days to do it in, Clem.’
‘Yes, I know.’
Clem stalked off dejectedly. He couldn’t forget his daughter’s stricken face as she’d left the Manor. He’d stood in a daze as the servants went back to work and the family dispersed, all except one. Oliver had nudged his arm.
‘Are you all right, Trenchard?’ he’d asked in a flat tone.
‘What? Aye… I owe you an apology. I’m…’
‘You’re stunned,’ Oliver summed up for him. ‘Yes, you do owe me an apology but the matter wouldn’t have got so out of hand if Luke had told the truth at the beginning. I won’t tolerate people bursting into my house but I don’t condone my son’s behaviour either. I shall be talking to him.’
Clem blinked heavily and shook his head as if he was trying to adjust his hearing. ‘I didn’t expect you to be this calm, Sir Oliver. I thought you’d be threatening to thrash me by now.’
Oliver shrugged. ‘I think I understand how you feel. If I’d thought someone had deflowered one of my daughters or my niece and left her with child, I would have behaved in a similar manner.’
‘Well, I am sorry. I’m man enough to offer you my apologies and to ask you to pass them on to your family, particularly… your wife.’
Oliver looked at Clem curiously. He had not referred to Kerensa as his wife before now; he’d always infuriated him by calling her Kerensa in an intimate manner.
‘There’s no real harm done to my family. Kane’s only got a flesh wound. It’s Jessica you need to show how sorry you really are. In fact we’ve all done her a grave disservice.’
Clem had nodded wistfully. ‘It’s going to be damned difficult to make it up to her after this.’
Clem went into Kenver’s workshop-cum-bedroom. Kenver was sitting at his workbench with half a dozen nails hanging out of his mouth as he hammered the soles onto a pair of shoes he was making for Kerris. Clem sat down dejectedly on his bed ‘At this moment I wish I was you,’ Clem told him mournfully.
Kenver took the nails out of his mouth. ‘Why’s that then?’
‘Because your life is so uncomplicated.’
Kenver tapped in another nail. ‘Yours doesn’t have to be complicated, Clem.’
‘So it’s all my fault it’s complicated, is it?’ Clem asked his calm-faced brother.
‘Aye.’ Kenver banged another nail into the brown leather.
‘You’re right,’ Clem sighed. ‘What am I going to do, Ken?’
‘Only you can decide that.’
‘I feel so bad about what I’ve done to Jessica. All these months I thought I was doing right by providing her with a stepmother and all the time she had her own strength to live her life decently on her own.’
Kenver left his work and wheeled over to Clem. ‘You were always fearful of Jessica getting into Alice’s condition out of wedlock, weren’t you?’
‘I’ve never forgot how horrible I was to Alice when we first married. At one point I even wished her dead… so I could be free for Kerensa again, in case Pengarron died. I couldn’t bear to see Jessica treated in the way I treated Alice.’
‘Jessica has always lived by what Alice taught her. And of all the unlikely people to choose to keep Jessica on the straight and narrow, you had to pick the parson’s sister to marry you.’ Kenver shook his head hopelessly.
‘Aye,’ Clem replied, giving a short laugh.
‘Clem, have you ever thought,’ Kenver said carefully, ‘that if you stayed a widower, and if one day Kerensa is widowed, you’d both be free again? Sir Oliver is a lot older than she is.’
Clem got up and looked out of the window, leaning heavily on the sill. ‘I had to face something today, Kenver. The fact that Kerensa will always be Lady of the Manor. She stood up against me at her husband’s side. At that moment I never felt so lonely in all of my life, not even when Alice died. Kerensa will always be Pengarron’s, as his wife, or as his loyal grieving widow and mother of his children. After all these years, my hopes have finally come to an end. Kerensa is totally his.’
‘What will you do now?’ Kenver asked gently.
‘I know one thing, Ken.’ And Clem shuddered. ‘I don’t ever want to be that lonely again.’
He moved to the kitchen and helped himself to a large tot of rum. He took it outside and drank it as he went round the yard with his two male dogs following at his heels, thinking over the events of the last few months. He was angry at himself for upsetting Jessica so much, desperate to see her and put things right. But for once he was putting his own feelings first.
A few hours ago he had asked Jessica if she minded him marrying Catherine Lanyon. He had thought that was the reason for her melancholy. If that was what had been making her so unhappy, then out of his love for her, and the fact that he didn’t really want to get married again anyway, he would have called the whole thing off. He had been rather surprised at Jessica’s replies about his bride-to-be. She had said she liked Catherine, that she was looking forward to having her here with Kerris so she could do the things she preferred. His marriage would in fact suit Jessica, a
nd Philip and David for that matter.
But would it suit him? Jessica had said Catherine was kind and gentle and understanding. He thought about those words and realised he agreed with them. Jessica had said she didn’t play the lady or try to make her feel inferior. It was true. Catherine had a way of making him feel important, that he really mattered to her, that she was putting his feelings before her own. And probably the strongest point that Jessica had said in Catherine’s favour was that she had no wish to replace her mother. Clem did not want a replacement for Alice.
He did not want a replacement for Kerensa either. He swigged back the remains of his rum and bent to pat Halwyn and Gawen. Gawen had a silky, pure white blaze on his head and it reminded Clem of Catherine’s soft snowdrop-white skin. He thought about her physical attributes as the dogs nearly bowled him over in their eagerness to be made a fuss of. Her hair, the colour of nature’s earth, was now always arranged in gentle, feminine styles. There were the few times they had kissed, when he had held her or touched her, when she had touched him. He thought about them and realised she felt as good to be near as any other woman. In fact she felt remarkably soft and tender and he only now realised her shyness, her hesitancy as a maiden unused to men, and of late her responsiveness to him and slight possessiveness. Clem was suddenly overwhelmed. Ordering his dogs aside, he ran indoors.
‘Kenver!’
‘Yes, what is it?’
‘I’m going out.’
‘If Jessica comes back, where shall I say you’ve gone?’
‘Tell her I’m going over to the Parsonage.’
* * *
Catherine was in the parlour standing looking out of a window when Clem came up behind her. She knew he was there, she saw his reflection, but did not turn round. She held her wedding veil twisted round her hands.
‘I know why you’ve come, Clem,’ she said in a tight voice.
He moved up close behind her. He wanted her to turn round and look at him but could see she was holding her body rigid. He knew what she must be thinking, what she believed to be true. Nancy Wills, who had let him in, had coolly told him the Reverend Lanyon had spoken to his sister and he needn’t be long about his business!
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