‘I’m glad you came, Flora, Father’s been asking for you.’
‘How is he?’
Harold looked less than pleased as he told her that Father was making remarkable progress.
‘Is Mother in?’
‘She is, but you know how it is with her. She must have seen you coming up the path, and screamed out that she doesn’t want to see you. Sorry, old thing.’
‘If you are sorry, Harold, why have you got that smirk on your face?’
‘Don’t take it out on me. I’m not Father’s horrible reminder . . .’
Hitting out at him, Flora had to laugh.
‘I’d like to see Father alone – do you mind, Harold?’
‘Why? You’re not going to upset him, are you?’
Flora didn’t answer this, but skipped up the stairs and left Harold. When she looked back, he had an annoyed look on his face. For a moment she thought he would follow her, as his hand stretched out for the stair rail, but he dropped it by his side again and turned away.
Flora’s heart pounded. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door. I have to do this, for Aunt Pru’s sake.
The night before had been agony. Not allowed back into Aunt Pru’s house, she and Freddy had spent the night at Rowena’s. For all that had happened, it turned out to be a jolly evening, helped by another tot of rum each. But through it all, her soul had ached with worry for Pru.
First thing this morning she’d asked the family solicitor to recommend someone who dealt with criminal law. She’d lied and said that she wanted help for a nursing friend. It had worked, and Graham Taylor, of Taylor, Taylor & Brompkins, Solicitors, had recommended one Henry Chamberlain, whom he called an eminent lawyer with a high success rate in wrongly-accused cases.
It turned out that Henry Chamberlain’s office was in the same building as Graham Taylor’s. Flora had found Henry easy to talk to, and very interested in Pru’s case. Hope had filled her, until he’d told her how much he charged. ‘My fee is inclusive – it doesn’t fluctuate with how difficult the case proves to be. It also includes the fee of a private detective, if I need to engage one, as seems likely in this case.’ For all that, one hundred pounds was a fortune and was more than she could afford on her own.
‘Flora, I’m so happy to see you. Look at what you have done for me!’
Her father sat in a chair by the window; his skin had a normal tone, but bluish veins stood out here and there on his face, giving her a tinge of fear, though his eyes shone as he spoke. ‘I feel as fit as a fiddle – and that after just one day on the medication, and with the new nursing regime. Thank you, darling girl. Now come and sit down. I need to ask you something, before you tell me all about your adventures.’ What he asked surprised Flora, and yet paved the way for what she had to say. ‘The boy that Prudence had with her: is he mine?’
‘Oh, Daddy, he is, and I—’
‘What does Prudence want of me? I cannot recognize him publicly, or privately, as my son – that would kill your mother.’
On hearing him say this, Flora finally realized that her father was heartless. She’d always tried to keep faith that somehow she was mistaken about his character, and had tried to forgive him, whilst blaming her mother for everything. But now she knew. Feeling no pity for him, she told him what had happened to Pru. ‘I therefore need you to make out a cheque for me for one thousand pounds, so that I can see to paying for everything Aunt Pru needs, and for bail, if it is set, besides engaging a very good lawyer for her.’
‘But – but . . . Oh my God! Will it get out who the boy is? It – it mustn’t . . . A murderess! I can’t be associated with her, and neither can you. I forbid it, Flora!’
‘Then it will all come out. How you took one of your servants and then banished her, when you were found out by your wife. And how you left her to fend for herself and tend to her young son – your son! Even . . . Daddy! Oh, Daddy—’
Her father had slumped forward. Acting quickly, Flora opened the collar of his nightshirt and began to massage his heart, as she had seen being done in the hospital in Belgium.
Within minutes he sat up. ‘I’m all right. It wasn’t an attack – I had no pain. I just collapsed with the shock of what you said. Flora, you are my daughter, how could you threaten me with all of this?’
Flora hung her head.
‘Tell me, you didn’t mean it.’
‘I did mean it, Father. Aunt Pru and Freddy mean more to me than you do, because you killed my love for you a long time ago. Oh, it came back to me when I saw you in need, but the way you have just behaved . . . well, I don’t think I can ever love you again.’
He was silent for a long time. Flora remained standing by his side. Her stance was resolute; she had to win this battle, she had to.
‘Very well, I will have the money transferred to your account. But it may take a few days. I will have to send for my bank manager. I cannot let Harold get involved in this. I have an account that no one knows of; it is not linked to my business, and is used to make private payments that I don’t want anyone to know anything about. But I am disappointed in you, Flora. That you should put these people before me – that hurts.’
‘They are not “these people”. Aunt Pru is the mother I never had, and Freddy is my half-brother – your son.’
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, don’t be so melodramatic! The boy is nothing to me, and Prudence is even less. She knew what she was doing. She had visions of getting above her station. Her actions since prove that. You say that she slept with this man that she killed, for money? Well then, doesn’t that tell you something?’
There could be no argument with this. And to Flora’s chagrin, she knew that the way her father put it was exactly how Pru’s life would be perceived – a son born out of wedlock, and a kept woman who eventually killed her ‘innocent’ lover. Oh, Aunt Pru, how can I save you?
Looking down on her father, she wanted to say that it was all his doing. But she could see that he was shaking in every limb. ‘Father, let me help you to bed.’
‘Don’t touch me. Leave! Leave my house now, and never come back! You have chosen a whore and a bastard boy over your father, who has loved and cared for you. I no longer have a daughter. This payment, to which I will add a further sum, will be your last from me. I will cancel your allowance.’
Pain zinged through Flora’s heart. But she stood tall. She didn’t care about the money, but to lose whatever threads she had of her father, and of her home, broke her heart.
‘Daddy! No! Don’t do this. I – I . . . you’re all I have. I will be an orphan.’
‘Of your own doing. You are heartless. Yesterday I was dying, but that doesn’t matter to you, does it? Oh no, only that precious whore matters to you. All your life you have caused your mother heartache, and now me, when I am at my most vulnerable. Get out of my sight!’
The door opened. ‘What is happening? What have you done, you wicked, evil girl?’
‘Mother, I—’
‘Flora! What the blazes! Mother, send for the doctor – Father doesn’t look at all well.’
‘Just get her out of this house, Harold. She is never to step foot in here again.’
‘Father!’
Harold’s reaction would have been comical, if it wasn’t for the tragedy of Flora’s situation, as his head bobbed on his neck and he looked from one person to the other, completely dumfounded. ‘Flora, why?’
‘I can’t explain, Harold. I have given Father a shock, but I didn’t expect this. Oh, Harold.’
‘I’m appalled, Father. Appalled at Flora’s treatment. Come on, old thing.’ Flora was grateful to take Harold’s arm. An ally that she least expected, but a welcome one. ‘I’ll get my driver to take you back to Pru’s, old thing. But look, give me the address, so I can contact you.’
Flora hesitated, but then decided against doing so. ‘Here, this is my Red Cross address – they accept post for us all.’ She handed Harold a card with the address written on it. ‘Let me know how Daddy is, won’t you?’ She turned and opened the door, as Harold came to the doorstep with her. ‘And, Harold, I had to do what I did to Daddy, for Aunt Pru’s sake. You will read about it in the paper. I can’t tell you any more, but keep in touch and give this address to Francis.’
‘But, Flora, what is it all about? Tell me. Don’t let me get another shock, on having to read about it.’
Briefly she told him what had happened to Pru. ‘I needed to get her a lawyer, Harold, she’s innocent.’
‘And you took the risk of harming Father, for that slut? How low have you stooped, Flora? “Aunt Pru” . . . ? For God’s sake, she was your nanny, a lowlife; and she’s gone further into the gutter, by the sound of it. I forbid you to get involved. And I will forbid Father to help her out financially, as I guess that’s what you wanted from him.’
‘You can’t forbid me anything, Harold.’
‘Then I will have to take the same stance as Mother and Father. Here, keep your poxy address – it is nothing to me. I can’t think why I wanted to get on better terms with you. All it has done is show me who you really are. Goodbye, Flora.’
The door slammed shut.
Flora stood there, looking towards the gate. Behind her the closed door signalled the end of any life with her family – no matter how tenuous that thread had been, it cut a deep hurt into her. And in front of her, the only family life she’d gleaned any happiness from had now been fragmented. Inwardly, she folded, unsure what to do. But then a picture of Freddy came to her. Freddy needed her. She would have the money now to pay for help for Pru’s defence, and to set up home for her and Freddy, because neither of them could go back to their old home. They wouldn’t be able to bear it, after what had happened there. No, she’d see to it that it was closed down, once the police let her in; and she would begin to make a new life for Freddy. How long that would be for, she didn’t know. And there were so many other considerations, too. The Red Cross, for one. And Cyrus.
Yes, she’d only met him the once, and for a few minutes at that, but he was a consideration in whatever happened from now on. Tomorrow he would be here. Tomorrow she would have to face him, with all that was going on in her life. More than likely he would turn away and leave her. No man wanted the troubles that she had, put onto his shoulders.
As she closed the gate, a tear plopped onto her cheek. Looking up, she saw her father’s bedroom curtain move. He was watching her, she was sure of that. Watching his only daughter walk out of his life. Well, it was his sins weighing her down as she went.
Something in her wanted to scream at him, but instead she lifted her shoulders and put her head back. She would go forward without them all. She would seek her own happiness. Would that be with Cyrus? Oh, I hope so. For it doesn’t matter that we only met the once. I know our lives are entwined more deeply than they could be if we’d known each other a lifetime. Because, with one look, Cyrus has embedded himself in my heart.
As this thought died, Flora knew that any future happiness would be less than perfect, if she didn’t manage to get Aunt Pru off all the charges. That would be her aim. That and taking care of her lovely half-brother, Freddy.