CAROLINE GOLDTHORPE HAD indeed gone. And didn’t Bracken House know it.
Once everyone got over the initial shock, they seemed to breathe just that little bit more freely. Now, the air felt cleansed, as if a bad poison had left it. Still, they could barely believe it. It seemed almost too good to be true.
However, shaking off Alexander Sutton-Shaw wasn’t as easy.
His visits had increased over the days following her departure. Perhaps he’d become insecure because what had clearly been his main ally had gone? With just weeks until the big day, was he keeping a closer eye on matters, ensuring nothing went wrong?
What he was, what he had a fancy for … there could be no mistaking that he himself was privy to the plan. Why was still unclear. It certainly wasn’t for love. And the one person, now, who could have shed light on it, was as absent as his wife.
Less than an hour after signing Caroline over to the asylum superintendent, Philip had packed a travel case and left to stay with a business acquaintance for a short while ‘to clear his thoughts’. By waking late that morning, Pip had missed his departure – the discovery had left her both saddened and hurt. She could understand his need to get away after all he’d had to deal with but surely he could have informed her, said goodbye? Just as she’d found him, she felt she’d lost him again. How could he just leave her like that? Didn’t he want her after all, was that it? She fretted continually, plagued with insecurity. It was a heavy blow to take.
The one person who made Pip feel closer to Philip was Lucy. Now, as she headed up to the nursery with Mack to spend a few minutes with her, Pip’s smile slowly returned. What she’d do without the girl, she didn’t know.
The master had broken the news to his granddaughter concerning Pip’s true identity, and she’d accepted it in her simple, sunny way. Given the nature of the astonishing discovery, namely Philip’s promiscuity, Albert had given her a watered-down explanation, omitting some things and inventing others that he felt her young mind was able to grasp. Time enough for the complete truth when the girl was grown, he’d explained to Pip, and she’d promised to stick to his version if it meant protecting Lucy. She’d rather die than cause the innocent soul a second’s pain.
They entered the pleasant room, where a fire blazed merrily, to find Lucy sitting up in bed playing with her dolls. Catching sight of them, her face spread in a beaming smile.
‘Good afternoon, you two! Come, sit yourselves down.’ Even she appeared happier since Caroline had gone; a sad fact, really, and proof of her poor ability as a mother.
‘How you feeling, lass?’
‘Excellent, thank you. I shall feel better still when I’m permitted to leave this rotten bed. But, Grandy and Budd will insist …’ Throwing her hands in the air, she heaved a theatrical sigh. ‘I’m bored silly, I am really, and it’s quite unnecessary. I feel perfectly well and fine.’
Perching on the edge of the bed beside Mack, Pip nodded sympathetically. ‘They just want to make certain you’re properly better. That your lungs are cleared of the lake’s contents, like. Plenty of rest is what’s needed for that.’
Though physically, Lucy seemed none the worse for her ordeal, mentally it was another matter, Pip suspected – her mention of the lake had smudged the girl’s smile. That her own mother was behind the attack must be difficult to process. Little wonder she seemed relieved that she had gone. Pip just hoped the trauma would leave the girl in time. It was, after all, a sound healer.
‘Yes, I suppose so,’ murmured Lucy.
‘That’s right, lass. You know it’s for the best. ’Ere, remember the master, when he was poorly? He stopped in his sickbed, didn’t he, and look at him now; healthy as a fiddle. It’ll not be for very much longer, I reckon.’
The girl nodded, then her face creased thoughtfully. ‘Pip?’
‘Aye?’
‘Why do you still address him as Master? Why not Grandfather, or Grandy as do I?’
Eeh, lass, if only it were that simple. The very notion was alien to her; it was doubtful her tongue would ever be able to give life to the terms. She shrugged. ‘Mebbe one day, Miss Lucy. Lucy,’ she amended with a grin when the girl made to protest. ‘The Miss part keeps slipping in, don’t it? Ay well, I’ll grow used to that at least, in time, I’m sure.’
Soon after, the nursemaid informed them kindly that her charge needed to rest and, bidding reluctant goodbyes, Pip and Mack exited the room. They were brought up short when, upon reaching the landing below, they almost collided with Alexander going in the direction they had come from.
Burning protectiveness for the girl upstairs rushed through Pip. She lifted her chin. ‘The lass ain’t fit to receive further visitors. She’s resting.’
Rather than be angry, amusement flickered behind his eyes. ‘I merely planned to pop my head inside to enquire about her health – Josephine’s idea. No fear of my pouncing on her, fret not.’
Pip’s stomach turned over; she shook her head in utter disgust.
‘After all,’ he continued, voice dropping further, ‘she, and you along with her, sadly lack between your legs what I have a liking for. Unlike this one, here.’ His gaze smouldered as it fell upon the boy beside her. ‘Mm. Peachy,’ he murmured.
She willed someone to appear, to overhear him, expose him for who he really was. The master, Josephine, anyone. They didn’t. She yanked a smiling Mack behind her, out of Alexander’s sight: unaware of the meaning behind the words, young as he was, he’d clearly forgotten his previous encounter with this beast. Her voice trembled: ‘You’ll leave them both be, him and Lucy.’
‘Oh, plain old Lucy, is it, now?’ His eyebrow danced. ‘Yes, that’s right. You’re not required to uphold formalities any longer, are you? Josephine has filled me in on the extraordinary developments.’ Glancing around, he leaned in close, smirking when she shrank back. ‘Bravo. It appears you’ve successfully reeled the family into your web of deceit. Perhaps we have more in common than I thought.’
‘You might be a fake and a fraudster but I ain’t.’ Her knees shook yet she stood her ground. ‘I know your game, aye. You don’t love the mistress as you claim, not a bit, do you?’
His hand shot out and she winced; however, the expected blow never came. His long fingers were cold and clammy as he stroked her cheek, making her skin crawl. ‘Aha, but she adores me. And that, young flea-bitten rat, is what matters.’
Sickened to the core by his smug smile, she retorted, ‘She’d not were she to learn the dirty truth, what you’ve a taste for—’
‘Alas, proving your wild claim would be akin to wading through thick mud: difficult and very, very messy. You don’t honestly imagine for a moment, do you, that Josephine would believe you?’ He laughed low in his throat. ‘If you were to so much as breathe such an accusation, I’d ensure you were cast from here so fast, your feet wouldn’t skim the ground.’
Would the lady call her a liar? Knowing she couldn’t answer that with absolute certainty brought frustrated tears to her throat. He’d won and he knew it. For now. She lowered her head.
‘Hm. I thought as much. Now, get out of my sight.’
Grabbing Mack’s hand, Pip hurried for the kitchen.
‘What’s wrong?’ Simon asked the instant they joined him at the table. Holding back her emotion, Pip gave him a quick account.
His jaw trembled with rage. ‘Bastard.’
‘I hate him, hate him. If only Mr Philip were here. He’d believe me, I know it. He’d tell me the truth behind this whole queer set-up.’
‘Huh! You reckon?’
Somehow, she did. There was no hesitation this time. ‘Aye, I do.’
‘I’m going to sort this once and for all,’ the lad whispered after a long pause.
‘Sort what? How?’
‘You’ll see. Stay here.’
Before she could question him further, he rose. Shrugging on his jacket, he headed out through the back door.
After some minutes, her curiosity got the better of her and she followed. She scanned the garden but Simon was nowhere to be seen. Wrapping her arms around herself against the cold, she skirted the bushes and made her way to the street.
Pip saw him right away, hovering by the steps of a nearby residence. Frowning, she remained where she was, hidden from view at the side of Bracken House, and continued to watch.
When the opening and closing of her own front door shattered the stillness, she jumped. Alexander sauntered down the steps and turned right – to where, up ahead, Simon stood waiting. For what? Where was the lad’s mind at? she fretted, biting her lip. She hesitated a moment longer then, seeing Alexander halt at something Simon said, stole in their direction.
‘… And aye, I’ve had a bloody bellyful of you and I’m warning yer now for the last time,’ Pip heard as she neared, catching the end of Simon’s speech. ‘Leave us and the rest of the household be or you’ll regret it.’
‘Is that so?’ Alexander clamped a hand to Simon’s arm which, with one cruel twist, he forced up his back. The lad flinched in pain as he was dragged into the secluded street corner’s shadows. ‘I’m willing to let your threat slide,’ he hissed. ‘In return, I have a proposition of my own that you’d do well to accept.’
‘Leave go of him.’
The man glanced over his shoulder at Pip, smirked, and returned his attention to Simon. ‘You can thank your friend, here, for this: flaunting the boy in front of me, getting my blood all aflame … I’ve been unable to get him from my thoughts since.’
Mack. Flaunting him? Why the deluded, disgusting … ‘You make me sick,’ she rasped.
‘You scuppered me once; there shan’t be a repeat of that, I can assure you,’ he continued to Simon as though he hadn’t heard her. ‘I want the boy. A mere hour will suffice. I trust you don’t deem that unreasonable? It isn’t asking too much, hm?’
Simon puckered his lips to spit in his tormentor’s eye, but realising what he meant to do, Alexander grabbed his chin, killing the attempt. He brought Simon’s face inches away from his, scrutinised him then shook his head. ‘No, you’re a little too old for my liking,’ he murmured, as though actually contemplating it. ‘It must be the other one. It will be the other one. I mean to have him eventually, regardless: once you come to live with Josephine and me after the wedding, he will be readily available at all times whether you cooperate or otherwise. In fact, I’ll simply dispose of the two of you … Yes, yes. Then he’ll be mine entirely.’
‘And if I say nay?’
Pip’s brow creased. What did Simon mean, if? If didn’t come into it!
‘Well, then the girl here will do nicely instead.’
Simon’s face fell – Alexander smiled slowly.
‘Ah. She’s your favourite, I see. What, you had hoped you’d be the first to break her in, is that it?’
Simon’s eyes widened with black rage but he remained silent.
‘Accept my demands and you still can. How does that sound?’
Trying to shut out the man’s hideous words, Pip watched Simon’s expression drop even further; she couldn’t believe he was swallowing all this! ‘He’s lying, lad. He told me but minutes since how he’s not gorra taste for lasses—’
‘Well?’ Alexander’s interjection sliced the air like the cracking of a whip.
‘All right. Tha can have the lad.’
Simon’s words struck Pip like a kick to the guts. ‘What!’
‘You don’t hurt him, mind. And I want paying.’
‘Deal.’
‘Lad—!’
‘Sunday, when the house is away at church. You’ll not be disturbed. I’ll have him waiting.’
Sinister lust filled the man’s eyes. He nodded once. Straightening his tall hat, he struck the ground with his cane and strode away.
Pip could barely get her words past her lips: ‘What in God’s name …? How could you? Why?’
Slowly, slowly, Simon’s face took on an expression she’d seen only once before – the night Caroline had forced his hand with her threats. A dark smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. ‘One down. One to go.’