Now temporarily and comfortably installed at Hocking Hall, Louisa Tremayne had spent a pleasant hour busily assessing her wardrobe, and consulting with her sister-in-law over which clothes should be packed for a European tour, and which could remain. They had quickly become good friends, and now they were ready to go downstairs to where their menfolk were lounging, prior to the early evening meal.
Matt spoke to his wife at once. ‘Jack and Annie have suggested that you and Cress travel to London with them and their family, honey. They’re staying in the city for a couple of weeks now, to see their daughters settled, and to show Sammie some of the sights. It’s a good idea for you all to travel together. There’s always safety in numbers.’
Freddie agreed, but felt bound to add his own comments. ‘It begins to seem as if all of us are shifting about. I hope it don’t all upset Mammie and Daddy too much.’
‘They must be used to the way the world is changing by now, and all the travelling opportunities there are,’ Matt said, far more worldly himself than Freddie could ever be. ‘Times are long gone when folk stayed in the same place from the day they were born until the day they died. Though I daresay your agreeing to take young Bradley off to Ireland was a bit of a shock to them.’
Listening to the amicable chitchat, Cress took a deep breath. Things had been quickly settled between himself and Primmy. They had been busy all day, making their plans, and he’d barely been back at the house more than half an hour.
They all knew that Albie would dearly love to go to Europe with them, to see all the wonderful art galleries. But they also recognized that it could be disastrous to their cause of establishing the far healthier relationship between herself and Cress, than the ugly one the blackmailer had fabricated. But something had to be said here and now, and Cress tried to keep his voice steady as he faced his family.
‘They’re not the only ones on the move,’ he said. ‘Mother, I’ve invited Primmy to accompany us to Europe, and she’s accepted, subject to your approval. I’m sorry to spring it on you, but I very much want Primmy along. And I also want her to come to California with us when we return.’
There was total silence in the drawing room for a few minutes, and Cress knew he couldn’t have sprung more of a surprise on them if he’d dropped a bombshell in their midst. Then Matt’s handsome face darkened with suspicion.
‘What’s been going on in Truro, boy?’ he asked.
‘Nothing’s been going on. Primmy and I have a deep fondness for one another, that’s all. She hasn’t been too well of late, and needs to get away for a while. This seemed like a very good way of helping her.’
‘I like Primmy well enough, and I wouldn’t object to her company on the trip,’ Louisa said quickly, seeing tempers beginning to rise. ‘But you say you’ve invited her to California as well! Now, Cresswell, we’ve always given you every leeway in life, but this country is not California. Besides, what on earth do you think her parents will say to such an idea?’
‘Primmy’s not answerable to anyone. She’s a year older than me, for God’s sake!’ he retorted, raising a hand in apology as he forgot himself in the presence of ladies.
He had a desperate need to protect Primmy from any kind of gossip, and he daren’t betray the true reason for their departure. His own father had once been the mildest and dreamiest of men, but he had changed during his years among the Californian gold-miners, and mixing with the toughest of men. He wouldn’t stand for the insult of a vicious slander, and Cress knew that all hell would be let loose if he leaked out the urgency of their plans.
Matt would go storming down to Truro to confront Albert and Primmy, and demand that on no account were they to give in to blackmailers, no matter what. And if they all saw the need to have a family council on the problem, there’d be upsets all round, when none of it was necessary. Cress had already seen the way out, and acted on it.
‘Are you sure Primmy really wants to travel?’ Venetia said in some surprise now. ‘I always thought she and Albert were like two peas in a pod in their Truro place.’
Dear God, thought Cress, but didn’t she know she could be innocently turning the knife of suspicion by such a remark? But of course she didn’t know. Cress shook his head, and spoke directly to his mother now.
‘Primmy’s got a touch of wanderlust in her veins, and as this trip is my birthday gift, I didn’t think you’d object, Mother. You always said you’d have liked a daughter, so you can look on Primmy as the next best thing.’
As his father looked at him with a narrowing of his eyes, Cress went crazily on.
‘While I was in Truro, Albert and I met up with one of the reporters on The Informer. He was interested in the doings of the American Tremaynes. I told him I’d shortly be leaving on a tour, and he wanted to put a small piece about it in the social column. There must be a shortage of real news these days,’ he added, trying to sound casual. ‘I’m afraid I rather recklessly said that my fiancée, Miss Primrose Tremayne, would be accompanying my mother and me.’
Matt leapt up and grabbed his son by the shoulders, his fingers digging into him, bellowing into his face in true Tremayne form.
‘By God, I think you’ve gone completely mad! What the devil do you think Morwen and Ran will say to this? And your grandparents? How dare you do such a stupid thing?’
‘What is it you’re objecting to?’ Cress shouted back. ‘The fact that it’s all cut and dried without consulting you, or the fact that Primmy and I love each other?’
He heard his mother give a little cry. ‘Cresswell, is this really true?’ she gasped. ‘Do you mean to say the engagement is a genuine one and that your affection for Primmy is returned?’
‘Of course I do,’ he retorted. ‘I wouldn’t invent such a story. And is it so very hard to understand?’
Into the general crackle of consternation, Freddie suddenly gave a wry laugh.
‘It is that, my young bucko, when ’twas young Primmy who made such a screaming to-do when you first let out the truth about her parents all those years ago!’
Cress grimaced, twisting away from his father’s cruel grip. ‘But as you so rightly say, all that was years ago. We’re different people now, and we love each other. I mean to have her, Father, and there’s nothing anyone can say or do to make me change my mind.’
Matt spoke with a grudging sliver of admiration in his voice. ‘Christ Almighty, if I ever thought there was any doubt about your being a true Tremayne, I don’t doubt it now. I don’t know one of ’em yet who didn’t go all out for the love of their choice. You’ve got more guts than I gave you credit for, boy.’
‘Then don’t you think it’s time you stopped calling me boy, and recognized that I’m a man?’ Cress said crisply.
‘Well said, Cress,’ Venetia said softly. She went to him and kissed his cheek. ‘You have my congratulations and my approval, but I do think it would be wise to get yourself off to New World as soon as you can, before Morwen and Ran read all about it in the newspaper. You won’t be the most popular of young men if that should happen.’
‘Albert and Primmy will already be at New World now, and I said I’d meet them there after supper,’ he said quickly. ‘But as I don’t have much appetite, I think I’ll go now and have a bite later.’
‘One more thing, Cress,’ Matt said sharply. ‘There’s no other need for all this haste, is there? Something you’re too shamed to tell us?’
Cress felt his face go hot. Speed to get the information of Primmy’s departure in the newspaper was essential, as was news of her engaged status, because it was a sure way of letting the bastard blackmailer see that they weren’t giving in to him. But the kind of haste his father was referring to, was farthest from his thoughts right now. If anything, all this incestuous suspicion would be enough to emasculate a lesser man, he thought. But thankfully he was a stronger man than that.
‘No, Father. I have not defiled Primmy, and nor would I do so,’ he said bluntly, disregarding the ladies’ scarlet faces. ‘I love her and I respect her, and I intend to tell her father the same.’
He escaped as soon as he decently could, knowing that for all his fine words, he loved Primmy with a fierce and hungry passion that was worthy of any man who had spent his years gouging out the wet clay from the earth. And why he should even think of it in such terms was beyond him, and he tried to forget it as he set out for New World, his heart thudding uncomfortably in his chest.
Albert and Primmy were already there as he had expected. They were with their parents in the drawing room, and the door was firmly closed until he was announced and allowed entry.
He could tell immediately that the parents had been told of Primmy’s plans, and his heart sank. He had intended this to be his task, not only to beg Ran to let the girl accompany him and Louisa to Europe, but also to ask for her hand. She might be of an age to please herself, but there were still family rules to follow, and Ran’s face was as black as thunder as Primmy moved swiftly to Cress’s side and stood with her fingers touching his.
‘I don’t like this carry-on, young man,’ Ran said at once. ‘You’ve hardly known one another two minutes and yet you profess to love one another, by all accounts – and what does your mother say to your whisking Primmy off to Europe?’
‘My mother has agreed, sir, and I apologize for the unorthodox way it’s come about. But, as you know, we leave early next week, and so it had to be a hasty decision.’
Ran looked at him thoughtfully, and Cress prayed he wouldn’t ask the same intimate question that his own father had done. It was a natural question for a concerned parent to ask, but it was excruciatingly embarrassing, all the same, especially when there was no truth in it. The temptation and the desire might be there, but he’d had the strength to restrain himself, and intended to as long as Primmy decreed.
To his surprise, his Aunt Morwen leaned forward and caught her husband’s hand. He’d never thought that she might plead his cause, but he saw the way she looked at her husband now, and heard her soft, melodious voice, and he realized he had an unexpected ally here.
‘Ran, whether folk have known each other for two minutes or two years, it counts for nothing when they’re struck down by love. We both know that, don’t we, dar?’
She pleaded with her eyes, willing him to remember the moment they had first set eyes on one another when Randell E Wainwright had come to Cornwall, and called on the family of his cousin Louisa.
Some of Ran’s first words to her had been to tell her she was beautiful. She had seen the admiration in his eyes, and known that here was a man of some stature. When he left the house, they had made a formal handshake, and her hand had felt so small and delicate in his. She remembered the absurd feeling of pleasure at knowing they were no longer a bal maiden’s hands, but those of a lady. She had wanted him to know the softness of her hands, just as she had known the strength in his… and if she hadn’t fully recognized it then, she had known the heady excitement of falling in love at first sight. And so had he.
Ran’s hard eyes softened as he looked at his wife. Still so beautiful, so fey and mysterious in many ways, and so obviously willing him now into giving into this craziness. And as her calmness penetrated his anger, he hesitated. Why was it so impossible? Grudgingly, his businessman’s head propelled him into seeing both sides of the argument. They were young, they were in love, and they had to travel life’s journey for themselves. Nobody else could do that for them.
Primmy left Cress’s side and moved towards Ran, tentatively putting her arms around him. She smelled of the countryside. She smelled like Morwen. She was soft and sensual, and now that she had discarded those ghastly shapeless garments she used to wear, Ran saw her for the beautiful and highly desirable young woman that she was. And who better to entrust her to than someone she loved, and who obviously adored her?
‘Please, Daddy Ran, don’t be difficult. I’ll never ask you for another thing in the whole world if you’ll agree to this,’ she said in a breathless little voice.
He gave a half-smile, transported back to the past, when Primmy the child had begged for a new toy, and the adolescent Primmy had begged for a new pony, and each time the plea was the same. She would never ask for another thing in the whole world from Daddy Ran if he would agree to it. And he always did, knowing that he was a fool to believe it, but completely smitten by her guile…
‘I guess if you must have your way as usual, then I must give in to you as usual, honey,’ he said, his voice as soft as hers. She gave a joyous little cry and hugged him close, and then she whirled around and flew into Cress’s arms.
They didn’t get the same reaction from Bess. Morwen promised to break the news to her early the next morning, and Bess was openly upset. Her face creased into a frown of some proportions, and Morwen knew she had a battle on her hands.
‘’Tain’t right,’ she said forcefully. ‘I said it before, and I’ll say it again, Morwen. What will folks think at the two on ’em going off to foreign parts together?’
‘Mammie, what is it you don’t like? If ’tis the fact that they’re cousins travelling together, then there’s nothing to fret about, since Aunt Louisa will be accompanying them!’ Morwen said, just as heated. ‘And if you’re worried about the two of them wanting to be together for other reasons, well, you might as well try to stop the tide as stop that!’
‘So you approve on it, do ’ee?’ Bess said, her country ways becoming more obvious at every bit of this obstinacy from her strong-willed daughter.
‘I approve of two people who love one another being allowed to show it, and not having to hide away in corners because of it,’ Morwen said bluntly, knowing this degree of intimate talk would stop Bess in her tracks.
‘As for what folk will say,’ she swept on, ‘when did that ever stop a Tremayne doing whatever he wanted to do? It didn’t stop our Matt going to America, and it didn’t stop Daddy moving on from being Works Manager to bein’ a clay boss. It didn’t stop me marryin’ Ben Killigrew, neither, and that was enough to make folk raise their eyebrows to the skies at the time.’
Bess’s lips were clamped tight together now, but her eyes were steely blue, and then she lashed out something that Morwen had never expected to hear.
‘It didn’t stop ’ee lusting after Ran Wainwright, even afore your husband was cold, neither, did it, my girl? And don’t pretend it didn’t happen, because I know it did.’
Morwen couldn’t have been more shocked if her mother had said outright that she’d seen her and Ran in the little London hotel where they’d pledged their love, no matter how long it took for them to be together. No matter how long it took for Ben Killigrew to die…
She felt her face flame, arid she snapped at Bess, in a way that was quite unlike her.
‘I was a grown woman then, Mammie, and capable of making my own decisions. And Primmy’s a grown woman too, and I won’t stand in her way.’
‘And you’m both still daughters, and there’s no changing that, neither,’ Bess snapped back, with what Morwen thought was a quite illogical statement.
But she was inflexible, and Morwen left her with nothing resolved between them. She hated falling out with her mother, and it rarely happened, but Primmy had her whole life ahead of her, and she wasn’t going to spoil things for her.
She wasn’t ready to go home yet, and since she was in town, she decided to call on Justin at the lawyer’s chambers. Despite his surprise at seeing her, his greeting was like a breath of fresh air. Daniel Gorran had taken one of his frequent days off, and Justin said there was nothing to do here that couldn’t be left in his assistant’s hands.
‘I usually take my midday meal at The Anchor Hotel, Mother, so why don’t you let me treat you, and you can tell me what’s troubling you,’ he said with a grin.
‘Why should anything be troubling me? Why can’t I just call on my son for a change?’
Justin laughed. ‘Because I’ll be seeing you this evening, and because I know you too well. Something’s ruffled your feathers, and you’re needing a sympathetic ear. Am I right?’
‘And you’re becoming too astute a counsellor,’ she said drily. ‘But of course you’re right, and thank you. It’s a while since I’ve been to The Anchor.’
She smiled naturally for the first time that day, her heart lifting at his thoughtfulness, and the ease with which he proposed the outing. The Anchor was a very pleasant, genteel hotel, and there had been a time, long ago, when she had gazed in wonder at the rich folk alighting from their carriages and entering the establishment in their finery and taking an indulgent meal in the middle of the day. Justin hadn’t known those penny-pinching days, but she had.
They didn’t need a carriage to take them the short distance to the hotel. They walked along the cobbled streets in the warm May sunshine, and she thought how tall and elegant this son of hers was, and how she wished he too could find a love of his own. But he seemed in no hurry.
‘There’s that shadow passing over your face again, Mother,’ he said, as they were seated at an alcove table by the dining room window. ‘Do you want to tell me now, or should it wait until we’ve eaten?’
At her small sigh, he put up his hand.
‘No, let me guess. It won’t be Bradley up to his nonsense again, since the little brat has turned into a cherub at the thought of going to Ireland, though the Lord knows how long that state will last!’
Morwen smiled faintly, and let him ramble on, content to look through the hotel windows at the panorama of folk passing by in the street below.
‘So it’ll be one of the girls,’ Justin guessed.
‘Why should it be?’
‘Girls give parents more trouble, that’s why,’ Justin grinned. ‘So which one is it? Not Emma, that’s for sure. And Charlotte’s so high in love, she’s on cloud nine. So it must be Primmy. That’s my considered opinion, Ma’am, and I’ll send you my consultation fee in the morning.’
Morwen felt her mouth twitch at his nonsense. He had a lawyer’s sharp way of deduction, and he’d quickly come to the right conclusion. She felt his hand cover hers, and as his expression changed to one of concern, she looked into Ben Killigrew’s eyes.
She drew in her breath, knowing that in times of family troubles, her senses were always heightened, and then it seemed as if past days were the best of all days. It wasn’t always so, and of course she knew it. But she couldn’t help but wish that the joys and burdens of an expanding family didn’t weigh quite so heavily.
She blurted out the situation quickly and concisely, and Justin sat back with a faint smile on his face.
‘Is that all? I thought it was something terrible!’
‘Your grandmother thinks it is!’ Morwen said passionately. ‘Please don’t make light of it, Justin. She’s very upset, and it is Primmy’s whole future.’
‘Exactly,’ he said. ‘It’s Primmy’s life, and good luck to her. If she’s made up her mind, then don’t start putting doubts in her head. Anyway, we all know that Grandma Bess sees it as her role in life to make objections. She’s living in another age, Mother, and I bet she had plenty to say when you wanted to marry Father. Did you care what other folk thought?’
‘I cared about what my children thought!’ Morwen said, remembering the family discussions.
And remembering too, how the children had been the ones to provide the solution so simply. Walter, Albert and Primmy would live at Killigrew House with their grandparents, while Justin and Charlotte would live at New World with her and Ran. The children hadn’t been in the least put out that their mother wanted to marry again, and to a kind of cousin too.
‘Your children wanted the best for you,’ Justin said quietly. ‘And that seemed to be Ran Wainwright. From what I’ve seen of Cress and Primmy in these past weeks, I’d say he was the best for her. Let them sort out their own lives, Mammie.’
She smiled at him through eyes that suddenly prickled.
‘Do you know how long it is since you’ve called me by that name?’ she said softly.
He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it without self-consciousness.
‘Maybe I should say it more often. But perhaps not for all the world to hear,’ he said, his eyes twinkling as he nodded to an influential business client at the next table.
He was right, of course. Due entirely to his own efforts, Justin was well respected in the town, and being heard to use a childish pet name for his mother in public, was hardly the best advertisement for an up-and-coming lawyer.
Morwen gave up worrying, and concentrated instead on the succulent fish dishes that the hotel provided, straight from their own Cornish waters, poached to perfection in a creamy sauce, and surrounded with tiny carrots and potatoes.
They had almost finished their meal when there was a sudden rustle at the door of the hotel dining room, and out of the corner of her eye, Morwen saw the head waiter talking rapidly to someone and looking in their direction. Her heart gave an uncomfortable lurch, praying that it wasn’t bad news about one or other of her family. She hated unpleasant surprises, but as long as it didn’t involve illness, she vowed that she could always cope…
The head waiter wove his way between the tables and approached them. Morwen’s knife and fork clattered onto her plate, regardless of etiquette. It must be bad news, she thought desperately, her mind flitting through the list of family members like a litany.
‘Mr Killigrew, there’s a message for you,’ the man said quietly to Justin. ‘A runner has come from Doctor Vestey, to say that Mr Gorran has collapsed and been taken to Truro hospital, and that you are summoned there immediately.’
Justin leapt up at once, flinging down his table napkin. Daniel Gorran had been his mentor and his friend for many years, and had taught him so much more than the mere rudiments of the legal profession. He was a longtime family friend and lawyer too, and Morwen’s eyes were anxious, even while she sent up guilty thanks that it wasn’t one of her own that was in trouble.
‘I’ll come with you, Justin,’ she murmured. ‘You may be glad of my support.’
She heard herself speaking as if he was about to attend a wake, and wondered if that was truly to be the case. Daniel Gorran was a frail old man now. He had been very tottery at Justin’s party, and she had always had a sixth sense about these things…
They called a hire cab to take them to the hospital, and were quickly taken to Doctor Vestey’s office. He knew them both well, and greeted them gravely.
‘He’s been asking for you, Justin, and it’s a good thing you got here quickly, for I don’t think he’ll last out the day,’ he said, without bothering to dress up the facts. ‘You’d best stay here, Mrs Wainwright, and I’ll ask my nurse to bring you some tea.’
‘Thank you,’ Morwen said woodenly as Justin departed, his face white. Children shouldn’t be subjected to seeing folk die, she thought inanely, forgetting that Justin was a man, and used to seeing much of life’s darker side through his profession. The nurse brought the tea, and she drank it without tasting it, trying not to let herself imagine the hospital room where Daniel Gorran was dying.
An hour later, she wondered if she should go home, but it seemed wrong to leave Justin here by himself. No one had invited her out of the doctor’s office, and she wouldn’t have wanted to sit with Daniel Gorran, anyway. A man deserved dignity and privacy in dying, no matter how sympathetic the onlookers. But he’d asked for Justin, and that was different.
She was gazing out of the window when the door opened, and her son entered, looking stricken. His voice was young and bewildered, and very vulnerable.
‘He’s gone, Mother. It was horrible, like a light going out. One minute he was talking to me, still instructing me, and then his head lolled, and he was gone.’
The doctor came into the room and handed Justin a glass of brandy.
‘Drink it straight down,’ he ordered. ‘You’ve had a shock, and this will help to settle your nerves. And then I suggest you go home with your mother.’
Justin obeyed, swallowing the drink and coughing at the bitter taste. Then, to Morwen’s horror, he began to laugh.
‘Do you know what that kind, gentle old man wanted to see me for, Mother? He’s left me everything, and he wanted to tell me in person so that it wouldn’t be too much of a shock when his will is read. He’s left me the practice and goodwill, and his entire estate and investments. I’m rich, Mother, and you know what? It doesn’t mean a damn thing, because I’ve just lost the best friend I ever had.’
And then the laughter turned to tears, and he was weeping in Morwen’s arms.