Chapter Forty-Four

The next day, Helen caught Rosie and the rest of the women as they were leaving work. No one needed persuading when she suggested a drink at the Admiral.

‘You and Bobby were right,’ she said to Dorothy. ‘It was my grandfather.’

Even though it had seemed obvious to them all that Charles Havelock was indeed the one behind the poisoning of Henrietta, it was still shocking.

Between sips of their drinks, Helen told them how she’d arrived at her grandfather’s house just as he was burning the evidence. And that judging by the panicked and guilt-stricken looks on Eddy’s and Agatha’s faces, they had been instrumental in lacing her grandfather’s so-called ‘treats’ for his wife with poison – treats that had then been transported to the asylum and given to Henrietta by Miriam on her now more frequent visits. Helen said she still wasn’t sure who was responsible for the note, although she was determined to find out.

‘Do yer think yer mam knew about it?’ Angie asked rather bluntly.

It was a question they’d all wanted to ask, but had held back. Miriam might not have a decent bone in her body, but she was still Helen’s mother.

‘No,’ Helen said, looking at the faces of the women, ‘I’m pretty sure she didn’t. My grandfather’s done a good job on her. She’s still choosing not to see him for the man he is – helped by the fact that he’s told her he’s leaving everything to her in his will.’

‘Really?’ Gloria was shocked. ‘When did she tell yer this?’ She was surprised Helen hadn’t told her – and even more that she hadn’t told her father.

‘Oh, the other week,’ Helen said, not wanting to make an issue of it.

‘Won’t that mean you’ll end up with nothing?’ Rosie asked. Out of all the women, she was the most astute when it came to financial matters.

Helen nodded.

‘Well, what will you do?’ asked Polly. She had always had the protection of her family around her – both financially and emotionally – and couldn’t imagine not having either.

‘Well, I won’t starve.’ Helen laughed lightly. ‘I have a job. I take home a decent wage.’

The women didn’t say anything, but thought all the more. Dorothy, in particular, related to what was in store for Helen. She had not heard hide nor hair from her parents. The tenuous link she had maintained with her family had been broken. She was on her own. Not that she minded.

She had learnt so much of late. About herself and her family. And about Bobby. She had come to realise that her initial insecurities about him had really been about her fear of being rejected – because that was what she had come to expect from life: rejection. Her real father had rejected her; her mother had rejected her after meeting Frank and having more children. And Frank had quite simply never accepted her or anything about her or her life. Bobby, though, was not going to reject her. Quite the opposite. He knew everything about her and still loved her for the person she was.

‘Anyway,’ Helen said, changing the subject back to Henrietta, ‘I made it clear to Grandfather that I knew exactly what he’d done.’

‘I hope you also told him exactly what you thought of him,’ Martha said. She had not been able to think about anything else since hearing that Helen’s poor grandmother had been purposely poisoned. She kept thinking how her own mother had done the same to her children.

‘Oh, I most certainly did,’ Helen said. ‘And better still, I have managed to secure Henrietta’s release from the asylum.’ A wide smile spread across her face. ‘When she’s discharged from the hospital, she’s coming to live back home with me.’

‘That’s brilliant!’ Hannah said. ‘How did you manage that?’

Helen pulled out the admissions report from her handbag and showed the women.

‘Where did yer get that from?’ Gloria asked.

‘Let me guess,’ Dorothy said. ‘Dr Eris.’

Helen nodded.

‘The one she had over yer – the one stopping yer from telling Dr Parker how yer felt?’ Angie asked.

‘The very one,’ Helen said.

‘Does that mean you can tell Dr Parker how you really feel?’ Dorothy asked, her eyes wide.

‘I’m afraid it’s not as straightforward as that,’ Helen said. ‘But the most important thing at the moment is that it’s forced Grandfather’s hand. Henrietta is coming home.’

Seeing that more questions were forthcoming, Helen put paid to them by raising her glass.

‘So, a toast to Henrietta – to her recovery, and to her release back into the real world.’

‘To her recovery and her return,’ Gloria said as everyone clinked their glasses.

Over the next few days, Helen split her time between work and visits to the hospital. Henrietta was making huge progress and was now sitting up in her bed, chatting to the other patients on the ward and winning over the changing shifts of nurses and doctors to become their star patient. Dr Parker had returned to the Ryhope but was keeping tabs on Henrietta’s progress with regular calls to the ward. In turn, he passed on those updates to Dr Eris, with whom he was spending any free time he had. They had worked as a team to save Henrietta. And it had been thanks to Claire that an antidote had been found. If he had waited for the expert in London to call back, Henrietta would now be dead. Something, he felt, had changed between himself and Claire. It had been an almost imperceptible change, one he couldn’t quite put his finger on, but a change all the same.

As Dr Parker tended to a growing number of wounded soldiers arriving at the hospital, he kept thinking of the conversation he’d had with Claire when he had arrived back from the Royal and asked her why she had given Henrietta sugar pills. He had initially presumed it was as a placebo – part of Henrietta’s treatment. But it soon became clear there was more to it. Much more. He had listened and his blood had started to boil as Claire had told him how Mr Havelock had orchestrated the meeting with her a few weeks earlier to demand that Henrietta be put back on her previous heavy medication or, one way or another, Claire would lose her career. Perhaps it was then the change had happened. Claire had risked her job and her future for her patient.

They had both talked about the evil of a man who could try to poison his wife. They had both agreed, however, that it would be impossible to prove. It was a relief that Claire now knew about Charles Havelock’s real relationship with Henrietta. And that she supported Helen in her need to keep Henrietta’s true identity a secret, although he was fairly sure that Helen had not told her of the wider implications should it become public knowledge.

Henrietta’s near death had brought their love to life in a way they had not experienced before. He had loved Claire, was attracted to her, but something had been missing. Something that had caused him to hold off doing what he now knew he was going to do. He just had to pick the right moment – and he had a good idea exactly when that right moment would be.