A Mother's Trust (32 page)

‘I’m a truly happy man,’ Marcus said, beaming.

Judy glared at him. ‘I haven’t said I would. I don’t call that a proper proposal either. Just because I allow you certain privileges, Marcus White, doesn’t mean that I’m going to shackle myself to you for the rest of my life.’

Phoebe and Rose exchanged anxious glances, and it seemed that everyone else held their breath, but Marcus appeared to be unabashed. He went down on one knee, taking Judy’s hand in his. ‘My dearest, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?’

The silence in the room was almost unbearable. Phoebe hardly dared breathe for fear of missing Judy’s answer.

‘Oh, get up, you silly man,’ Judy said at last. ‘Those wretched Chinamen dropped noodles on the floor. You’ll ruin your trousers.’

‘I want an answer, Judy. I’m not moving until you say yes.’

Judy’s thin lips curved in a smile. ‘All right, then. Yes, I suppose I’ll have to marry you, if only to stop you making a complete fool of yourself.’

There was a sharp intake of breath all round and then everyone started clapping. Marcus rose from his knees and wrapped his arms around Judy, kissing her on the lips. She responded with a passion that surprised Phoebe, but then she pushed her new fiancé away and picked up her spoon. ‘Eat your porridge before it gets cold, Marcus. I’m not making another batch.’ She looked up at the smiling faces. ‘What are you all staring at?’

Phoebe bent down to kiss her cheek. ‘I’m so happy for you.’ She turned to Marcus with a smile. ‘Congratulations. I know you’ll make a wonderful couple.’

He nodded in agreement. ‘So do I, my dear Phoebe. Tonight we’ll celebrate. I’m inviting you all to the pub which Madame Galina graces by her presence. We’ll have a party that will be remembered for years to come. What d’you say to that, Herbert, old man? And you, of course, Fred.’

Herbert puffed out his chest. ‘I say you’re on.’

Fred mopped his eyes with his red and white spotted hanky. ‘My loss is your gain, Marcus. The better man won the fair lady.’

‘I wish someone would fight for my hand,’ Gussie
murmured
, bowing her head. ‘I’m doomed to be an old maid.’

Madame Galina, who was seated beside Fred, nudged him hard in the ribs. ‘Here’s your chance, you old codger. You could do a lot worse than her.’

He leapt to his feet and rushed from the room, muttering something about being late for work, and Madame Galina doubled up with laughter that echoed round the room. ‘Silly man,’ she wheezed. ‘I was only teasing him.’

‘You don’t know when to stop,’ Gussie said crossly. ‘You’ve upset him and I won’t be able to look him in the eye again.’

‘Why won’t you?’ Dolly asked innocently. ‘I don’t understand.’

Rose reached across the table to pat her hand. ‘It’s not important, dear. Why don’t we ask Phoebe to tell us what’s been happening to her in the big city? I’m sure we’re all dying to know.’

A murmur of assent rippled round the table and Phoebe was left with no alternative but to begin her story from the time she left Brighton until the moment she returned.

‘That Caspar is a wicked man,’ Rose said with an exaggerated shudder. ‘I can’t think what I ever saw in him.’

Hector cleared his throat noisily. ‘It sounds as though you’ve had a lucky escape, my dear girl. You did the right thing in returning to us, your true family.’

Judy rose to her feet, ignoring Marcus who begged her to relax and let someone else do the work for a
change
. ‘Since you’re going to be here for a while, Phoebe, I’ll expect you to do your share of the chores, as before. You start by making sure that Dolly clears up the breakfast things and leaves the kitchen in its original state. I’m going to market.’

Marcus pushed back his chair and stood up. ‘But, my love, we’ve just become engaged. I thought you would want to come with me to choose a ring.’

Judy’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline. ‘Waste of money. What would I do with a diamond ring? Getting married won’t change anything. I’ll still run the guest house and you’ll go to the theatre every day. We will carry on just as before.’

‘But, my dove, surely we could spend a few hours together. Even if you don’t want a ring, we could go and see the vicar and arrange for the banns to be called.’

‘You can do what you like,’ Judy said calmly. ‘But I’m going to market before it gets so hot that everything is on the turn.’ Snatching her bonnet and shawl from the peg behind the door, she left the room, which seemed to be a signal for the others to depart and go about their daily business.

Leaving Dolly to clear the table, Phoebe took a bowl of porridge and a cup of tea into the front parlour for Ivy. She set the tray down on the small table in the bay window. ‘I’ll change him,’ she said, pulling out a chair. ‘Come and get your breakfast while it’s still hot.’

Ivy hitched the baby over her shoulder, patting his back until he emitted a satisfactory burp. ‘Ta, I won’t say no. I’m starving.’ She rose from the sofa and handed Teddy to Phoebe. ‘He’ll be hungry again soon. As I
told
you, me milk’s drying up. You’ll need to get a pap boat for him to sup from.’ She sat down and began tucking into the porridge with a will.

‘A pap boat? What’s that?’ Phoebe’s knowledge of babies was limited and she was beginning to wish that she had asked more questions of her grandmother.

Ivy made a motion with her spoon which Phoebe thought must represent the mysterious pap boat. ‘It’s a china dish with a spout for feeding babies soft food. I expect Miss Judy has one tucked away in a cupboard somewhere. She must have had lodgers with infants staying here at one time or another. We’ll manage somehow.’

Phoebe took a seat, setting Teddy on her knee. ‘I don’t know what I’d have done without you, Ivy, but you must return to London when you see fit.’

Ivy swallowed a mouthful of porridge. ‘I’ll stick with you and Teddy no matter what. Like I said before, if Lorenzo wants me, he can come looking. We’ll see this thing through together.’

The next few days passed pleasantly enough, although nagging worries pursued Phoebe wherever she went. If she walked along the promenade and stopped to watch Herbert’s Punch and Judy show, she would find herself looking over her shoulder and studying faces in the crowd. She did not know who she feared the most, Ned or Caspar, but she was certain that one of them would eventually come looking for her. She knew she must move on but she was loath to leave the people who had come to mean so much to her. She had been
happier
in Brighton than she had in London, but she knew that this period of respite would soon end. She must move on to Dover and wait for Gino to join her. It would be safer there, but she would miss everyone here and Rose in particular. They had picked up where they left off and it was such a relief to have someone who knew what Caspar was really like, and who understood the threat that he posed. Phoebe knew that the time was coming to depart, and yet she kept putting it off.

She was sitting in the parlour one evening with Rose. It had long been cleared of her personal belongings, which were now arranged neatly in the attic room vacated by the Chinese tumblers. Judy had gone to the theatre with Marcus and everyone else, except Dolly who was curled up in a chair sound asleep, had gone to Madame Galina’s pub where a musical entertainment had been laid on. Phoebe had not felt in the mood for such gaiety and she had volunteered to stay behind and look after Teddy. Rose had also opted to remain, and they sat side by side on the sofa, drinking cocoa and chatting in soft voices so as not to disturb Dolly.

‘Why do you have to go to Italy?’ Rose whispered. ‘You don’t have to marry Gino. If you don’t truly love him it would be unfair on both of you.’

‘He loves me,’ Phoebe said simply. ‘He’s been so good to me throughout this nightmare time, Rose. I couldn’t break his heart, and he’s told everyone that he’s Teddy’s father. When Gino and I are married Teddy will be safe from Ned Paxman. He won’t be able to take him from me.’

‘I wouldn’t count on that,’ Rose said, shaking her head. ‘And think of the boy. Is it right to bring him up thinking he’s more than half Italian when he’s English through and through? One day he’s sure to discover the truth, and he won’t thank you for keeping it from him.’

‘But I can’t give him away to the Paxmans. I won’t allow them to turn my little brother into a criminal.’

Rose angled her head. ‘There’s something you’re not telling me. What is it? Every time the Paxmans’ names come up you get that closed look on your face.’

‘It’s your imagination. If I appear unwilling to talk about them it’s because I despise the way they live and what they stand for. I hate everything to do with the Paxman gang. They’re educated men and they ought to know better.’ She stood up, turning away from Rose in case she betrayed her innermost feelings. She thought she had conquered what must surely be a girlish crush on Rogue Paxman, but in her heart she knew that it was not so. She had read somewhere that women were always attracted to bad men, but she was determined to ignore the tender emotions he aroused in her breast. ‘I’m going to make some more cocoa,’ she said abruptly. ‘Would you like some, Rose?’

The kitchen seemed oddly quiet and deserted as Phoebe set about her task. The long pine table where everyone ate their meals was scrubbed clean, and even in the light of a single candle it gleamed silvery-white like animal bones washed up on the Thames foreshore after a particularly high tide. The empty chairs seemed oddly creepy, as if occupied by invisible spirits of long
deceased
inhabitants of the house that came out only at night to reclaim their old home. Phoebe shivered despite the fact that it was a warm night and there was heat radiating from the range. She poured hot milk onto the cocoa powder that she had already mixed to a paste and added a spoonful of sugar to each cup. She was about to carry them through to the parlour when the sound of someone tapping on the window made her spin round. She could just make out the shape of a male figure peering in from the side street. He rapped on the windowpane again, and with a cry of fright she dropped the mugs. They shattered into shards on the tiled floor.

FOR A MOMENT
she felt as though her heart had stopped beating. Her first instinct was to panic and scream for help, but there was something familiar about the shape of the man’s head, and whoever it was had his finger to his lips as if begging her to remain silent. Stepping over the spreading pool of dark chocolate she moved closer to the window as if drawn by an invisible thread. This time her heart gave an uncomfortable jolt against her ribs, and her breath hitched in her throat. She raced through the scullery to open the back door. It led into a tiny back yard surrounded by a six foot brick wall. The moon had suddenly vanished behind a bank of clouds, and in her hurry to reach the side gate she stumbled over unseen objects left carelessly on the ground. Her fingers trembled as she lifted the latch and opened it a crack. ‘Who’s there?’

‘It’s Roger Paxman. Let me in, Phoebe.’

All thoughts of him as the enemy were dispelled by the sound of his voice. She wrenched the door open and stood aside to let him in. ‘What d’you want?’ She spoke brusquely in order to disguise the ridiculous sense of relief that threatened to overcome her, together with a guilty pleasure on seeing him again. ‘How did you know where to find me?’

He entered the yard, closing the gate behind him. ‘I need to talk to you urgently.’

His tone was harsh, and although she thought that she detected a note of anxiety in his voice, there was nothing about his manner to make her suppose that he was pleased to see her. She was both ashamed and embarrassed by her instinctive reaction. ‘Come inside.’ She led him into the scullery. Once indoors with the back door securely fastened, she felt much safer. ‘Well, what is it you have to say to me?’

He glanced round at the whitewashed walls and the stone sink with its wooden draining board. The smell of rancid cooking fat mingled with the faint odour of mouse droppings. ‘Might we go somewhere a little more comfortable?’

‘I was just making some cocoa.’ As soon as the words left her lips she realised that it was a rather silly thing to say to someone who might be about to kidnap her brother, but she was at a loss as to how to handle her unexpected visitor. She was not thinking clearly. Her pulses were racing and she could hear the blood drumming in her ears. She hurried into the kitchen, but his close proximity in the semi-darkness almost took her breath away.

In an attempt to cover her confusion she busied herself picking up the broken china and mopping the sticky mess off the floor. ‘Judy hates a mess,’ she said breathlessly. ‘She’s my cousin and she owns this house.’

Rogue took the mop from her and set it aside. ‘Never mind that now. I’m sure it can wait until morning.’

She shivered as their hands touched briefly. ‘Judy is very particular.’ She knew she was talking nonsense but his sudden appearance had completely thrown her. ‘Why are you here, Rogue?’

‘Who else is in the house?’

‘Everyone is out except Dolly and my friend Rose.’

‘Can they be trusted?’

‘Of course, but what’s this all about?’

‘You’re in great danger. I came to warn you.’ He pulled out a chair. ‘Please sit down and listen to what I have to say.’

She could tell by his expression and his tone that he was in deadly earnest, and she sank down on the hard wooden seat. ‘What’s happened? Why have you come here? You still haven’t told me how you knew where to find me.’

‘I had you followed.’

‘You what?’

‘I did some checking on Collins. Believe it or not, I have friends in the police force. Although we operate on different sides of the law, sometimes it suits us both to cooperate, especially when it comes to the more dangerous members of the high mob.’

‘You spied on Caspar?’

‘I didn’t need to. He’s quite well known in police circles, but not by the name of Collins. He’s used several aliases in the past when his crimes were petty, but everything has changed now, which is why I travelled from London to warn you.’