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‘She is upset. Go after her,’ Bea Hunter urged from the doorway, where she had positioned herself after Kirsty left the room with her parents. ‘I will stay here and see if I can save the situation. It has obviously not gone well.’
Martha reached the hall as Kirsty barged through the front door.
‘Come, Ethel,’ she said. ‘Kirsty needs us.’ Clutching the hem of her skirt so she didn’t trip, Martha raced after the distraught form of her young friend. By the time she and Ethel caught up with Kirsty, she was leaning against the balustrade, sobbing.
‘We must get you home.’ Martha led Kirsty over to the carriage and helped her inside, gesturing to Ethel to follow her. Martha climbed in to join them once both girls were settled.
‘I’m sorry to be a bother to you,’ Kirsty said, with a smile which didn’t quite succeed, as she wiped tears from her cheeks with a handkerchief.
Ethel slung an arm around Kirsty’s shoulder and hugged her while Martha leaned forward from the seat opposite. Kirsty kept her eyes on the direction the coach was travelling and did not look back at the house she was leaving forever.
‘Was it very traumatic?’ Martha grasped Kirsty’s hand.
‘It wasn’t pleasant. I don’t know what my father will do. He forbade me to be a suffragette – he expected me to obey him.’ Tears glistened on Kirsty’s eyelashes. ‘But I defied him, and he threatened to put me in an asylum.’
‘Can he do that?’ Ethel asked.
‘I don’t know.’
‘He would need to convince a doctor that your mind was disturbed.’ Martha tightened her grasp on Kirsty’s hands. ‘That might not be so easy.’
‘No doubt he would say I was hysterical.’ A single tear rolled down Kirsty’s cheek. ‘He brought up what he calls my “misdemeanour”. He’d use that, as well.’
‘Your misdemeanour? What do you mean?’
Kirsty twisted the handkerchief around her fingers.
‘I have a child,’ she said at last. ‘A daughter. Ailsa.’ Her voice was so low, Martha had to strain to hear it. ‘But I’m not allowed to acknowledge her, and that’s agony. My mother is bringing her up as my sister.’ Kirsty gulped in air as if she hadn’t breathed for days. ‘But she’s not my sister. She’s mine.’
Ethel pulled Kirsty into her arms and shushed her while her friend sobbed into her shoulder, releasing years of held-back pain and anguish.
After a few moments, Kirsty looked up.
‘You must think me terrible, but it wasn’t my fault. He was a family friend, and he forced himself on me. My father blames me.’
Martha’s mind whirled. This was something she hadn’t anticipated.
‘This changes things, Kirsty. Your father could make a case you were in moral danger, and that would be enough for a doctor to commit you to the asylum. We cannot let that happen. We must stop at your aunt’s house to collect your belongings and you will spend tonight with me. But there is one thing I must know first, and that is how you feel about leaving your daughter behind.’
‘That’s my main reason for deciding to leave. I can no longer tolerate living in the same house as Ailsa and being unable to be a mother to her. Even if I did claim her, what life would she have as my illegitimate child?’ Kirsty struggled for breath. ‘It’s far better for both her and me that I remove myself from her life.’
‘Very well,’ Martha said, satisfied that Kirsty had reached her decision with reason. ‘Tomorrow, we will make plans for your departure from Dundee.’