Straw in the Wind (32 page)

‘But you have reservations?'

She sighed. ‘I've become aware of the fact that I'm not the cause of a family feud that started nineteen years ago, but I'm actually the consequence of it. I don't know how to cope with the pressure of being what they expect Serafina to be.'

‘Which is?'

‘Different things to different people. Thornton or Honeyman? Daughter, sister, cousin, aunt . . . cuckoo in the nest . . . imposter . . .? In other words, I'm totally confused.'

‘I imagine they are too. Can you cope?'

‘I hope so. I shouldn't have bothered you with it when it was Erasmus Thornton who instigated the whole thing. With her husband's permission, Adam has made an appointment to call on Charlotte Hardy in the morning, to discover why she's so reluctant to see me. He intends to take the train back to London the following morning, since he must get back to his business. I won't feel quite so strong without him to lean on.'

‘We'll be on the same train, then. Adam wouldn't leave you if he didn't think you could cope, you know.'

‘I suppose not, and I'm being selfish, when he's done so much to help me. Oh dear, my presence seems to have caused so much running around for everybody. Would you like to join us for dinner tonight, Mr Leighton? I'm sure Marianne wouldn't mind, in fact, she'll be peeved at the thought of being absent when you called.'

‘I was hoping you'd join me for supper at my hotel . . . Adam as well, and your father. I'd like to meet him while I'm here. And of course, your hosts, Mr and Mrs Thornton.'

‘I'd like that, thank you, Mr Leighton. What will happen to Jane and Freddie?'

‘Nothing, though you can press charges if you wish, Serafina, since it was a deliberately malicious act against your good name. I'm hoping they'll learn a lesson from being found out, since they've lost more than they gained from the crime.'

‘I can rise above the spite, and I wouldn't want them to go to prison for the loss of a few miserable pounds. Also, you've always been kind to me and I wouldn't want you to be embarrassed. I'd live the rest of my life with that on my conscience.'

‘That's kind of you, Serafina, better than they deserve, but who said your money was lost? Now . . . let's move on to something more pleasant. Celia has requested that you come a week early to attend her at the wedding.'

‘I'd love to.'

‘I'll send Oscar down to escort you back to Leighton Manor when the time comes, then.' Sliding a hand into his pocket he brought out an envelope. ‘Here's the cash that was stolen from you, and don't throw it back at me this time. Frederick admitted he'd borrowed it, and he found himself in the happy position of having just enough cash in his pocket to reimburse you – albeit, a little reluctantly.'

To which information Serafina burst into laughter, and Finch chuckled as he said, ‘Ah . . . from your response I imagine Celia must have informed you of Oscar's heroic role in her letter.'

Looking pleased with himself, Oscar cracked his knuckles.

C
harlotte was in bed when Marianne arrived at Harbour House. She gave her sister a hug. ‘I was so worried when Seth told me that you were ailing.'

‘Seth worries needlessly. I just feel sad. I can't be bothered about things, and I cry for no reason. It's nothing serious, or so Dr Beresford tells me. He said that many mothers feel like it after giving birth to an infant.'

‘I've brought Alex to cheer you up, and he's promised to be on his best behaviour.' She gave her son a kiss. ‘Be polite and say hello to your Aunt Charlotte.'

Alex offered her a replica of Nick's smile. ‘ello anty calot.'

‘As if I needed another child in the house,' Charlotte murmured, but managed a smile for him. ‘Hello, Alex, my love. I've got to admit, he's irresistible, Marianne. He's got all of Nick's charm and good looks. Isn't it about time you produced another one?'

‘Lor, I'd love another one and so would Nick. It's not through lack of trying, though that's not a chore . . .' She blushed. ‘Well, never mind.'

Charlotte rang a bell and the nursery maid came through. ‘Take my nephew to play with the twins, Mrs Stevenson. Is James awake?'

‘Yes, Ma'am.'

‘Then bring him in and I'll feed him.'

‘I'll get him. I want to greet Jessica and Major Mitchell, anyway.'

The twins fell on them both with excited cries of delight, and soon the cousins were rolling around the floor together and being generally noisy.

Covered in kisses, her bonnet knocked awry, and having stirred them all up, Marianne picked up James and carried him through to Charlotte to be nursed. ‘I swear that Jessica's ringlets get brighter each time I see her . . . and have you ever seen a boy more like his father than Major Mitchell?'

‘Apart from Alex, you mean.'

Marianne gently twisted a curl of James's baby hair around her finger, and she experienced a yearning inside her for another infant at her breast. ‘James is a handsome child. He looks so serious. I think he takes after our father for looks, and his eyes are more green than grey.'

Charlotte shuddered. ‘I hope he doesn't turn out to have his nasty nature.'

‘Oh, Charlotte, James is so placid, but he has Seth's strong and dependable look to him, as well. Our father can have no influence on his mind since he is dead and gone. Why can't you let the past go?'

‘What's the use of doing that when it comes back to haunt us.'

‘When are you going to see our sister?'

‘Don't nag me about it, Marianne. I just don't feel like seeing her at the moment. I haven't recovered from James's birth.'

‘James is seven weeks old now, and you're using him as an excuse. Serafina has already been rejected by us once, she must feel absolutely low at being scorned all over again.'

‘Why should she feel scorned? I didn't ask her to come here, and I'm not convinced she's who she says she is. I just don't feel that I'm up to the strain of meeting her yet.'

‘I find your reluctance to meet her strange, since I have told you that she's a dear girl, who is slightly overwhelmed by us, but grateful all the same. And she has asked for nothing . . . in fact she said she must find work to support herself, as she's always had to.'

‘It's probably a ploy to gain our sympathy. You have always been too trusting, and your good nature is easy to take advantage of.'

‘Adam has investigated her background thoroughly. Although there's some doubt, it's so slight that it isn't worth bothering about. She's the image of grandmother Thornton, but not so grim-looking thank goodness. Erasmus wants Serafina to take the surname of Thornton, that's how sure he is.'

‘She's welcome to it, and to him.'

‘You don't mean that Char . . .'

‘Yes, I do mean it.' She began to cry. ‘Oh, I know you think I'm horrid. I hate feeling like this, as though I have no control over anything . . . And poor James. Just because he looks like our despised father and is always so solemn, I feel as though I mustn't love him as much as the others. My sadness and guilt is being fed to him through my milk.'

‘Oh, my God, you mustn't think that way about him when he's so small and innocent else it will become a habit. He loves you dearly and relies on you for his very life. He will smile when he's learned to from you, and he'll be an absolute charmer.'

‘But Marianne, don't you see . . . if I think all these awful thoughts I shouldn't be a mother at all, because I don't deserve to have such beautiful children.'

‘Don't deserve to have them? Of course you do. Get a hold on yourself, Charlotte. These children are Seth's as well as yours. He loves them and he loves you. They need you.'

‘I know they do,' she said miserably. ‘I just feel unworthy.'

‘It's because we were made to feel that way when we were children. We mustn't pass that on to our own children, Char. We must give them all the love we can, so they will feel worthy. That's what Serafina missed in life. Through no fault of her own she grew up without us as sisters, and she lacked the love we would have shared with her. Now we owe her that.'

‘You always do this to try and soften me.'

‘You are soft, you're just too stubborn to admit it.' Marianne managed to get her arms around the pair of them. James had green eyes with grey flecks and seemed oblivious to his mother's distress as he gulped down his breakfast in the first frenzy of feeding. ‘You need to get out and get some fresh air. When James is finished, get dressed and we'll walk out on the heath. The heather will be in bloom and we can go up to the copse to see if the gypsies have arrived. Perhaps one of them can give you a herbal tonic.'

Charlotte turned her face away. ‘I'm too tired.'

Time to get tough with her, Marianne thought. ‘You stop this nonsense at once, Charlotte Hardy. Do you realize you were thinking and talking about your son in the same way our father must have thought about Serafina? Would you give him away to strangers?'

Charlotte gazed at her in horror. ‘Of course not, and it's a different thing altogether, since that didn't happen. Pa didn't give her away . . . Oh, stop twisting things, do! I'm not well.'

‘And father was unwell – he was sick with grief and anger. It made him abandon a newborn infant, one that could have been his own flesh and blood. No wonder Seth is worried about you. And if you talk this way in front of Lucian Beresford, be careful you don't end up in an institution. He has turned out to be so pompous, and to think I thought I was in love with him, once. I pity his wife.'

‘He takes his doctoring too seriously, and his wife is pompous too. You don't think I'm mad, do you? I've heard that mad people have staring eyes and that they froth at the mouth, and scream and shout and gibber nonsense.'

‘Lor, of course you're not mad, the very idea! I refuse to have a mad sister, it would be mortifying. The Stanhope sisters would throw stones at you.'

Charlotte's laughter had a modicum of spontaneity to it.

‘Come on, dearest Charlotte. Make an effort. Remember how you stood by Seth when your stepson was abducted by his own grandfather. You took John under your wing and treated him like one of your own, and he's growing up such a lovely, polite little boy. You're a good mother, Charlotte. You'll come to love James as much as you love your other children, just you wait and see. You must try and convince yourself to do the same for Serafina.'

Charlotte sighed. ‘I hate feeling like this, and Serafina has nothing to do with it, because she doesn't exist. If you mention her again I'll shake you until your teeth rattle and drop out of your head.'

‘I'll stay for a few days and look after you if you like. I'll cheer you up with all the gossip, and you'll soon begin to think sensibly again.'

Charlotte clutched her arm. ‘Would you stay? What about Nick, will he allow it?'

‘He'll grumble like a bear, since he thinks it's expected of him. A short absence will allow him to contemplate my finer qualities, and I shall tell him so.' She grinned at the thought. ‘Besides, he and Erasmus will have Serafina to look after them. She's wonderful, and helps me a lot about the house. She's ferociously efficient.'

‘Oh, change the subject, do, Marianne. I'm sick of hearing her name.'

Marianne grinned to herself as she walked to the window and threw it open. There was nothing like a good argument to light a flame under Charlotte. ‘Just smell that air, Charlotte, there's nothing like it anywhere else in the world.'

‘The tide's out and the mud stinks, that's why.'

‘When we move into our new home Nick is going to buy a telescope, and we'll be able to see you across the water from the lookout. You must get one too, so the children will be able to wave to each other.'

‘They'll probably fall out of the window, especially Jessica. She's like you, in that she doesn't sit still for five minutes.'

‘You have no romance in your soul.'

Charlotte managed a grin. ‘You're wrong. I can conjure up plenty of romance at the appropriate moments. That's how I got James. Despite what I said, I do love him dearly, you know.'

‘I know. When Seth goes to fetch John from school I'll ask him to collect some things for Alex, and he can tell someone what's going on. I can always borrow your clothes.'

‘Adam is visiting tomorrow. Seth told me that he has something that he'd like me to look at. He said it might convince me that Serafina is related, but I think he'll be disappointed.'

Marianne was curious as to what it could be, but the fact that Charlotte was allowing Adam to present that evidence convinced Marianne that her sister was trying to overcome the stubborn stance that she'd taken towards the issue. She just wished Charlotte would believe in her instinct more. ‘There you are, then.'

‘What's that supposed to mean. Honestly, Marianne. I can't imagine what evidence he has that would be conclusive enough to convince me. I know she is dead.'

‘How?'

Shrugging, Charlotte detached James from her breast and gently patted his back until he gave a loud belch. She settled him on the other breast, sighing contentedly when the sleepy-eyed infant began to suck.

‘Adam might surprise you. How exciting; I can't wait to see what the evidence is. I think Adam's in love with Serafina, by the way. The looks they exchange . . . so poignant, like long, languishing sighs. I have a feeling Serafina won't be with us for long.'

Laughter trickled coolly from Charlotte. ‘Adam is such an elegant man. I can't imagine him married to someone who has grown up in a workhouse and held a position as a household servant. I do hope he doesn't intend to bring the girl with him as well. If he does I shall refuse to see either of them.'