Isabella was astonished when Lisette burst in and announced before breakfast that her father’s wife, Charlotte, had ridden over from Falmouth with her groom and was waiting below to see her.
‘Will you show her into the morning room and make sure she is served tea and breakfast, Lisette. I will be downstairs in a few minutes.’
Ten minutes later Isabella went downstairs and saw immediately how nervous Charlotte was.
‘Isabella, forgive this intrusion so early in the day.’
She went towards Isabella and took her hands. Her voice held no hint of censure or coldness and Isabella was surprised at this and the smile she was given. The two women went back to the fire for the morning was chill. Isabella could not think of a thing to say and watched the older woman anxiously, sure she must have come with a message from her father.
Charlotte was shocked at Isabella’s colour. Her eyes were huge and her healthy, rounded body had grown thin.
‘Isabella, I am sorry that we have not been friends or even acquaintances and I hope to remedy that. Your father does not know I have come but when I heard of your predicament I was anxious to see how you were. I thought you might need a friend …’
She looked away and into the fire. ‘My younger sister found herself in a similar predicament and I … let her down because of pressure from my father.’
She met Isabella’s eyes. ‘I know that it is a very lonely place to be.’
Isabella found her voice. ‘I imagine my father would not like you to be here?’
‘He is shocked, Isabella, very shocked. He has been very quiet since Richard’s visit, but he has not said one angry word against you …’
Charlotte smiled. ‘Blood is thicker than water, my dear, and he does not like the way Richard is reacting. He sees no dignity in it and is hurt by condemnation of you coming from the lips of someone who professed to love you so much.’
‘I have hurt and wronged Richard, Charlotte.’
‘You have, Isabella, and of course it is natural that Richard is angry as well as hurt, but you are your father’s daughter and, whatever you think, he loves you and does not like to hear you spoken of badly. This is what I came to say. I have realized in the last few days how much he wishes you had both been reconciled; how much he partly blames himself for what has happened to you.’
Isabella’s eyes filled with tears for she suddenly realized how much she had missed her father all these years and how she had conjured hate from hurt. She looked at Charlotte, who was quite different from the imagined figure she had made her into all this time.
‘Was it Richard who asked my father to take me back to St Piran, away from here, Charlotte?’
‘Yes. But your father did not react in the way Richard expected, or I, for that matter. He refused to condemn you in the way Richard hoped, or to make St Piran pay for what he considers a domestic matter. He will not deprive his own community of work. He is angry that Richard, an outsider in the village, would even contemplate revenge in those terms and on people who have never harmed him but only served him well and faithfully. He will not have his name used. Your family have lived in St Piran for generations and he refuses to penalize ordinary people he knows well.’
Charlotte got up from her chair.
‘Isabella, I do not know what you are going to do, or what is in your mind. I just want you to know you are welcome to your own home, not as childish punishment, but because it is your home.’
‘My father …?’
‘Your father, my dear, did not ride with me this morning, because he hoped that I would do what I had suggested we do together, and come to you. He is a proud man and a man no longer young … he is distressed, not angry, at the way things have turned out for you. He wants you to know his home is open to you.’
Isabella, too, got up. ‘Charlotte, forgive me for judging you. Coming here was brave and I thank you for it, for it means more than you will ever know.’
Isabella walked to the door with Charlotte and they waited for her horse to be brought round.
‘Charlotte, will you tell my father that I am waiting to talk to my husband when he returns. I am uncertain, as yet, what I will do, but I believe I must have a place of my own and I would be grateful if he could look into Mama’s legacy to me so that money may be released for this end.’
‘I will. Goodbye, Isabella, may God guide you.’
Isabella watched the two horses walk away down the drive until they were lost in the trees. She clasped her hands together. Her father did not condemn her. He would not put his name to any revenge Richard might have in mind!
I ask my brother Harry to sail me round from St Piran to Mylor. I know Trathan is riding with Sir Richard to Truro before he goes back to Mylor and I want to reach Isabella before he gets home. The wind is strong but it serves my purpose and we fly along the coast in a heavy autumn sea.
When we reach Mylor harbour I write a note to Isabella and send a boy with it up to the house. Twenty minutes later I make my way quickly up to the woods behind the house and lean against a gate, praying Isabella will come swiftly.
Within ten minutes I see her hurrying along the ha-ha towards the wood and I go to meet her. We turn into the shelter of trees and hold each other for a moment, my hand pressing her head to my chest. I can feel the frightened beating of her heart as she leans against me. A feeling of impotence fills me. I cannot protect both her and my family.
Isabella tells me breathlessly what happened after I left her, and of Richard’s distress.
‘I had to see your husband for my father’s sake,’ I tell her. ‘I saw only anger. Anger and a need for revenge. Isabella, he is never going to let you go. He has threatened to put the whole village as well as the shipyard out of work unless I sail on my own for New England. Worse, he says he has the power to prevent me working in Prince Edward Island if I do not renounce you. Isabella, I can work anywhere but I cannot think of a way of safeguarding the livelihood of so many people.’
‘I cannot believe he would carry out his threats, Tom. He is angry and wants to hurt … Would he tie me to him forever when he knows I carry your child? I do not think so, for I know he does not wish ever to see me again and tried to banish me to my father before he came home.’
‘Believe me, Isabella. He is determined we will never be together and he will hurt people to this end. By keeping you and bringing up my child as his, he saves face and revenges us. He is a proud man and I believe at this moment his pride is paramount to all else.’
Isabella leans against a tree. She looks suddenly weak and sick.
‘Isabella, are you ill?’
‘No, it is just the baby …’ Her face is young and miserable as she looks up at me.
‘So, Tom, you must go away from here and I must live out my days with a man I do not love because of his threats to innocent people?’
I smile. ‘Isabella, how can you doubt me? I will not leave without you. I will not leave you to his anger and threats. I do not want my child brought up as Sir Richard’s, it makes me sick. I lied to him and to my father …’
‘Tom, my father’s wife visited me. She wanted me to know that my father is shocked but will not condemn me, and that he will have no part in Richard’s wish for revenge on any of his tenants or workers in the village and shipyard.’
I look down at her surprised. ‘He said that?’ I close my eyes in relief. I hope my father knows this and I pray he will forgive me, not see my escape with Isabella as a betrayal. I pray also that Daniel Vyvyan’s influence will prevail.
I take Isabella’s shoulders with a sense of urgency, although I do not want to frighten her.
‘Isabella, can you be ready tonight?’
Isabella’s eyes widen but she nods. ‘Yes. Yes, but where will we go, Tom?’
‘The quickest way out of here is by boat. There is one in the harbour. I sailed with Harry from St Piran this morning. If we sail first to Truro and then continue to Plymouth we can see what ships lie there. Isabella, are you sure you can do this? Are you sure you can leave this life behind?’
‘Do you doubt me now, Tom?’ She smiles.
‘No.’ I take her cold hand. ‘It is not going to be easy or comfortable for you at first. And we must travel by dark out of Cornwall, Isabella. Can you wear something plain and warm and bring only what you need …?’
I fold her hand between mine. ‘I will buy you the things you leave behind later, I promise. I do not want you to go without …’
Isabella smiles once more. ‘Do I come to the harbour tonight, Tom?’
‘No, I will meet you here. It is too dark for you to walk the coastal path alone. I will be here at nine o’clock for the tide will be right.’
We stare at one another, wishing the deed was done, that we were safely out of Cornwall.