Hope at Holly Cottage (27 page)

‘Yes, I can understand that. Carrie said you’d been through a lot. Lost both your parents tragically before all the business with the chap who left you with Charlie.’

Anna chewed on her lip and was glad that they had come to the point where the track ended at another farmyard. The footpath ahead went through a couple of gates and Jack held them open for her. Their initial meeting aside, he couldn’t have been nicer to her. Surely it wouldn’t hurt to tell him what had happened in her life? They paused as they crossed a bridge over a bubbling, cascading brook, and Anna took a hold on herself.

‘I used to live in Ford,’ she began. ‘It’s an area of Devonport where the naval dockyards are.’

They walked on, up through the wood and following the path as it wound between ancient trees and strange rock formations dripping with emerald moss. It was a place of mystery, and somehow it seemed unreal as Anna related her story to Jack. She even told him the truth about her mother’s death. What did it matter who knew now that her dad was dead, too? They came to a standstill when she finished, the still, uncanny silence of the wood sighing around them.

‘Fate’s not been kind to you,’ Jack said at length. ‘I hope things turn to the better from now on. You deserve it.’

Anna smiled wanly. ‘Thank you. I hope so, too. For Charlie’s sake.’

‘And for your own. Having to leave school when you could have had a proper career must have been awful for
you. I mean, it wouldn’t have been so bad for an idiot like me who was so useless at school—’

‘You’re hardly an idiot …’

‘Well, I felt like one. Jeered at by the other kids half the time.’ Jack faltered, glanced at her darkly and then lowered his eyes to his feet as he ground the toe of his shoe into the earth. ‘I left on my fifteenth birthday. No point in staying a day longer. Dad managed to get me a job at a nursery growing seedlings for farmers. Didn’t matter that I couldn’t read and write. Or when I did my service. But it was through my CO that I got the horticultural apprenticeship afterwards. I loved every minute of it. I was able to bury myself doing exactly what I wanted with my life. No one to pass snide remarks behind my back.’

Anna felt her heart soften, and the weight that had been dragging her down seemed to lift and float away. Hadn’t she done the same thing as Jack by hiding the secret of her father’s behaviour from everyone except Ethel? ‘You said once you never had any girlfriends or anything,’ she ventured as her confidence strengthened.

Jack gave a wry snort. ‘No, I didn’t. Never wanted to leave myself open to ridicule again. No. I kept myself to myself. So coming down here to start a new life was a big step for me. But I felt I had to for Carrie’s sake. Dad could hardly leave his job in the same way I could leave mine. I sometimes wish, though, that I could have another go at reading and writing. I’m older now, and maybe without the pressure of others around me …’

The words were out of Anna’s mouth before she had a chance to stop them. ‘I could teach you,’ she said, amazed by the force with which the idea had struck her.

Jack’s eyes stretched wide. ‘You? But—’

‘I told you I wanted to be a teacher. I’ll never be able to do my training now. Not with Charlie. But I’ll give it a go with you if you like.’

Jack still seemed dumbfounded. ‘Would you really?’

‘Of course. No idea how good I’ll be,’ she found herself laughing.

‘And I’ll probably be a useless pupil.’

‘Then we can be useless together! So that’s settled, then. And now I think we should start heading home.’

‘Yes, you’re right. Thank you, Anna. And maybe I can help you.’

‘Oh, yes?’ Anna raised an enquiring eyebrow as they set off back through the wood.

‘Yes, indeed. Wendy – that’s William and Deborah’s daughter, the one who’s a secretary for a solicitors’ – well, I heard her mention that they need a part-time clerk at her office. Maybe you’d be interested. It’d be better pay and far more interesting than waitressing. And better hours. And you’d be with Wendy and she’s quite a scream from what I’ve seen of her. She’s best friends with Lily. It was through the Franfields that Lily and Daniel met, you know.’

‘Oh, I didn’t realise that. You’ve only been working at these places a few weeks, and you’ve got to know all about everyone, haven’t you? But I would be really interested in the job.’

This time, Anna grinned back, her heart fired with optimism. She felt more pleased than she could ever have imagined having broken the ice with Jack. All her doubts about living at Carrie’s house with him seemed to have dissolved into thin air.

Francesca tripped lightly down the staircase of Ashcroft Hall, her heart fluttering at the prospect of escaping the lugubrious confines of the great house for a few hours. But her chest tightened in familiar anguish as Gilbert came out of the drawing room and sprang up the stairs to meet her.

She mentally gritted her teeth. ‘Right, I’m off then,’ she declared, not daring to meet Gilbert’s scowling face.

‘Why is it the minute we get down here, you fly off to Tavistock?’ he growled irritably. ‘We’re supposed to be here to look after my mother.’

‘We’ve been here nearly a week and Lady Prue’s perfectly all right,’ Frankie retorted, sweat oozing from every pore at her own defiance. ‘The doctor said it was a mild stroke, just a warning. And I happen to love Tavistock and all its lovely little shops. I thought I’d start my Christmas shopping.’

‘You can do your shopping somewhere decent like Harrods or Selfridges. If you were to spend less time gadding
about and put your mind to giving me a son, I’m sure it would hasten my mother’s recovery no end.’

Frankie caught her breath at the dart of sadness in her own heart. ‘Oh, Gilbert, please don’t keep bringing that up,’ she begged. ‘It hurts so much. You know I want a child as much as you do. And if there was—’

‘Oh, you do, do you? Prove it then. Let’s go back upstairs now.’

Frankie felt the thump inside her ribcage. ‘What … now? But it’s the middle of the day.’

‘So?’

‘Gilbert, I really don’t think—’

The hand that whipped through the air came at her with such speed that she didn’t have a chance to dodge out of the way. Gilbert’s palm slammed across her cheek so that she staggered sideways, almost losing her balance on the stairs, and pain shot through her scalp as he started to drag her back upstairs by the hair. She was too stunned even to scream, directing all her concentration on stumbling after Gilbert without falling down the stairs.

‘Well?’ he demanded, releasing her with a jerk once they were inside their bedroom.

Frankie swallowed. ‘All right. If that’s what you want.’

‘It is,’ he glowered, though the anger on his face slackened as she began, with bitter resignation, to unbutton her coat.

He wasn’t rough. She had to give him that. His assumed dominance was enough to boost his ego, and though she was reluctant, she did her wifely duty and it wasn’t unpleasant. When it was over, Gilbert seemed happy and relaxed, and made no objection when she dressed again and took the car keys from the table.

Gilbert lay back in the bed, hands clasped behind his head and his body purring with satisfaction. He loved Frankie, really he did, and if his temper got the better of him sometimes, well, he was truly sorry. But he was desperate for a son – if only to get his mother off his back.

It was odd, though, the way Frankie beetled off to Tavistock whenever they came down to his mother’s. It was a quaint old market town, granted, but surely it wasn’t
that
fascinating? So what was the attraction?

Gilbert suddenly felt as if he had been shot through with a bullet. Surely Frankie wasn’t
seeing
someone? No, surely not! But his heart blackened with suspicion as the image of his meek little wife in bed with another man exploded in his head. He catapulted from the bed, every nerve stinging with jealousy. He threw on his clothes and, storming down the staircase, barged his way below stairs.

Mr Jackson sprang to attention at the unprecedented invasion. ‘Can I help you, Sir Gilbert?’ he asked, driving the amazement from his expression.

‘Give me the keys to the Rolls,’ Gilbert demanded gruffly. ‘I want to go out and Lady Francesca has taken the Jag.’

‘Would you like me to drive you, sir?’

‘No, there’s no need. Just give me the keys, man.’

An astonished Mr Jackson reached into his pocket and Gilbert fairly snatched the keys from his hand. Within a minute, he had wrenched open the car door and started her up, crashing the unfamiliar gearbox in his maddened haste. He skidded round the corner of the house, scattering gravel, and hurtled down the drive.

He turned left towards Tavistock, for surely Frankie wouldn’t be stupid enough to be actually going in the
opposite direction? Gilbert put his foot down, and damned any animal that might be on the road. The other side of Two Bridges he had to swerve around a black bullock that had wandered away from its herd grazing on the verge, and Gilbert swore under his breath. But as he breached the top of the hill, he could see the Jag in the distance. He slowed down. He didn’t want Frankie to see him in her mirrors. After all, you didn’t see Rolls Royces on the moor that often so she’d know it was him. But as the road descended into Tavistock, he accelerated. He had to take the chance if he didn’t want to lose sight of her.

Another car got between him and Frankie as they came into the town, but he was able to follow at a distance across Bedford Square and up the steep hill opposite. But then she turned into a narrow street on the right, and as the road began to sweep uphill, the Jaguar pulled in and stopped. Gilbert slammed on the brakes, terrified that Frankie might glance back down the road and see him. She didn’t. As she got out of the car, she made a beeline for one of the houses and knocked on the door.

Gilbert’s heart was pumping furiously, his muscles coiled and ready to spring out of the car and punch his wife’s lover in the face. But astonishment felled him as the door was opened not by a man, but – dear God above – by his Little Smoky Eyes. And in her arms was a child of about two years old. By its clothes, it was a boy. Gilbert froze as the penny dropped.

His son.

It had to be. She hadn’t been lying about being pregnant. He had never doubted it, to be honest, and it was his. She wouldn’t lie about something like that. Her innocence had
been refreshing. That, together with her pretty face and slender figure, was what had attracted him to her. She wasn’t unlike Frankie in that.

Frankie. How long had she been deceiving him? Visiting Anna when she claimed to have been going shopping? Gilbert was poleaxed and, for the first time in his life, sat drowning in indecision. Bloody little minxes, both of them. And as the shock subsided, rage swirled into its place and the need for revenge flared into his throat and throttled him.

Anna and Ethel linked arms, heads bent together as they walked up the hill to Tavistock North Station, their breath mingling in a halo as it collided with the sharp, frosty night air.

‘This yere ’ill don’t get no easier, do it?’ Ethel grumbled good-heartedly.

‘You’re just unfit,’ Anna chuckled back. ‘You should get more exercise.’

‘Don’t ’ave much bloody time, does I, working all week at Dingles an’ now serving in the pub of an evening?’

‘Well, it was good of you to find the time to come and see Charlie and me,’ Anna teased. ‘I’ve really enjoyed it.’

‘So ’ave I, my maid,’ Ethel replied, sounding so much like her mum that Anna gave a secret smile. ‘An’ it’s good to see you looking so ’appy after all you’ve bin through.’

Anna nodded with a rueful arching of her eyebrows. ‘Yes. I’ll always miss Queenie, just like I’ll always miss Mum and Dad. But I can’t bring any of them back, so I’ve got to look forward. And it’s great that Carrie has said I can stay on when Jeffery comes home next week.’

‘Just in time for Christmas, eh?’

‘Yup! A double celebration! Carrie’s mum and dad are coming down, and then after Christmas, Carrie and Jeffery want to put Polly back in her own room, which you can understand. So Jack’s moving out next weekend. Only two doors down, mind. The lady there’s a widow and she could do with the company as well as the rent.’

‘Just as well. Jack still being so near, I means, when ’e’s so mortal keen on you.’

‘What?’ Anna halted in her tracks. ‘What d’you mean?’

‘Oh, Anna! Poor chap’s in love with you, and you’s no idea? It’s there in ’is eyes whenever ’e looks at you. An’ ’is eyes follow you about the room. Hook, line an’ sinker for you, ’e is!’

‘Don’t be so ridiculous,’ Anna huffed as she started up the hill again. ‘And come on, hurry up or you’ll miss the train.’

‘Now you listens to me,’ Ethel puffed in her endeavour to keep up. ‘Not all men is like that Gilbert. My Bert, for instance, an’ my dad an’ my brothers. An’ Jeffery from what I knows of ’im. An’ that Jack’s a good sort, I sees that. Only ’e’s too darned shy to say ort. You think on it, maid. Now.’ She stopped decisively as they finally arrived at the station. ‘Don’t you wait for the train, not in this snipey weather. An’ you’ve got your posh job in that there solicitors’ office come morning. That’s not summat you ever thought you’d be doing, is it, learning about the law?’

‘No, it’s not,’ Anna agreed. ‘I’m only a clerk but it can be really interesting. And Wendy’s a great laugh. Takes her work utterly seriously, mind. Well!’ She drew in a huge breath and released it in one go, relieved that the conversation had moved away from Jack. ‘It’s been a wonderful afternoon. Have a super Christmas, and give
my love to Bert and your mum and dad and all the family, won’t you?’

‘Certainly will. ’Appy Christmas to all o’ you, an’ all. An’ you remember what I said about Jack. Better get in some mistletoe.’

She skipped off into the station, turning to wave cheerily before she disappeared inside. Anna waved back, and then stood for a moment. Dear Eth. Despite her other fantastic friends, Eth would always be her soulmate. But … was she right about Jack?

Anna turned back down the hill. Yes. Despite their initial clash, she had to admit that she and Jack had got on extremely well in those months they had both been living in Carrie’s house. That walk on the moor together had really cleared the air. But was the tension she had felt before that simply because she had indeed been attracted to him? She didn’t
want
to be attracted to anyone ever again, so was it denial that had made her feel like that?

Jack was a lovely person, she had soon learnt that. He was kind and gentle, and the way he talked about his now full list of clients proved how thoughtful and considerate he was. He was passionate about his gardening, but as winter had come on and there was less work of that nature to do, he had begun helping his customers in other ways instead.

Up at Fencott Place, which seemed to be attracting business out of season as well, he helped Daniel with the maintenance of the house and outbuildings. Apparently Daniel had also written a novel based on his own experiences in Korea. The book had been snapped up by a London publisher and had just been released in time for Christmas. He had been obliged to go off on a promotional tour just
at the wrong time as far as the hotel was concerned, so Jack’s help had been invaluable to Lily. Indeed, the previous weekend, there had been a houseful of guests wanting the full Christmas works who had been booked in before Daniel knew he would have to be away. Jack and Anna had gone up to help. It had been great fun but it had been Carrie’s idea that she should go and her friend had offered to look after Charlie for her. So … had Carrie seen what Eth had, and was trying to push her brother and Anna together?

Anna turned pensively into Exeter Street. Almost every evening, she and Jack sat up at the table together. She had made teaching cards for him, using a thick, dark crayon to write large, bold letters that wouldn’t run into each other in the way he had explained normal-sized print did. While Carrie was engrossed in
Dixon of Dock Green
or was dancing around to
The Billy Cotton Band Show
, Jack would pore over the cards and was beginning to master simple words. It seemed that large, well-spaced letters were the key. Whether or not Jack’s brain could ever be retrained to read normal-sized print, only time would tell. But at least he would be able to read certain things he had never been able to before.

And he was certainly keen – or was there another reason for his enthusiasm? Later that evening, Anna studied him furtively as he slowly and carefully copied one of her cards in an exercise book. He wasn’t strikingly handsome like Daniel was, but he was still good-looking enough to set any girl’s heart beating. A tense muscle twitched at his strong jaw, his generous mouth set with concentration, and his sapphire-blue eyes were riveted on his work. Anna’s heart made a frenzied
leap in her breast. Yes, she
could
be drawn towards Jack. But could what Ethel had said about Jack’s feelings towards her possibly be true?

‘Hello, Anna. Have a good morning?’

‘Oh, hello, Jack,’ Anna smiled back as she came in to investigate all the chit-chat she could hear in the sitting room. ‘Popped in for a lunch break?’

‘I have indeed. But I mustn’t be long. Mrs Baldicott expects me at two on the dot.’

‘Mummy!’

Charlie ran over to her and she swung him into her arms. ‘I hope you’ve been behaving yourself for Auntie Carrie,’ she grinned. ‘And Jeffery, how did you get on at William’s?’

‘He’s proper pleased with me. Reckons I should be able to go back to work by March. Part-time to start, anyway.’

‘Oh, that’s excellent news! I’m so pleased!’

‘Here, there was a letter for you this morning,’ Carrie said, handing her an envelope.

Ah, good. Perhaps it was from Frankie. Anna hadn’t heard from her since she called in a couple of weeks before Christmas. She had seemed almost over happy, as if her contentment was forced. At least, that was how it had appeared to Anna, and the worry of it had been niggling at the back of her mind all over the festive period. But the envelope was typed and Anna sat down disappointedly in one of the comfortable armchairs.

A few seconds later, a horrified cry escaped her lips. She vaulted to her feet, opening her fingers with a shudder and dropping the sheet of paper as if it were on fire. Her bolting eyes stared about her, the anxious faces of her friends blurred and
distorted. And when the room began to spin and she swayed precariously, there were suddenly, miraculously it seemed, strong arms around her, and someone was holding her tightly against his chest. Someone who smelt of fresh air and good, solid earth.