Love at Second Sight (19 page)

‘It would have been a scandal,’ said Tash. ‘The family that Henrietta worked for probably sent Howard away in the hope that he’d meet someone from his own class.
Henrietta would have been considered beneath him.’

‘Hey. Henrietta is back as Jo and hopefully Howard’s around somewhere too,’ said Effy, ‘so why not Katie and the father of her baby as well? She could find him and give
him a good slap!’

I laughed. ‘Maybe it’s a good job that people don’t remember their past lives.’

Effy nodded. ‘In one of the books I read about reincarnation, it said that when a person dies and a soul passes on, they are meant to forget their past life and start anew with a fresh
slate. Sometimes though, something goes wrong with the passing over process which explains why some people have recall of their past life, like something didn’t get sealed off or some memory
bank wasn’t emptied.’

‘Whatever the explanation, what now, Jo?’ asked Tash.

‘I have to see it through,’ I said. ‘One hundred per cent definitely. I now have no doubt at all that what Betty told me was true. I was Henrietta and I have to find Howard.
Nothing must come between us this time.’

Effy shook her head. ‘I never
ever
thought I’d hear you say that.’

‘Never say never,’ I said.

Effy laughed.’I won’t.’

‘So do you think it’s Finn? Or Ben? Or even Owen?’ asked Tash.

‘Or someone I haven’t met yet. I don’t know. What if I don’t meet him until I’m thirty or forty or fifty?’

‘Did Betty not say?’ asked Effy.

‘No. Only that I must find him.’

‘I don’t think all this has come about now to lead nowhere or to make you wait ten years,’ said Tash.

‘Do you think everything that has happened has all been fate?’ I asked. ‘As if Betty being on the Heath that day set off a chain of events. If love is as predestined as that,
it doesn’t leave much room for choice.’

‘I think you can choose in the end,’ said Tash. ‘These are different times to the Victorian age. Henrietta probably didn’t meet a lot of boys. You, on the other hand, go
to a mixed school, will go on to university, then get a job. You’re going to meet lots of new people in this life, lots of new boys. You might even find Howard and decide you don’t want
him this time around.’

‘I don’t think so,’ I said. ‘There was such a powerful connection.’

‘In the meantime, Harry told us that whoever leaves flowers on the Watts grave will be back this Saturday,’ said Effy. ‘All we can do is follow each lead that we get, and
that’s the next one.’

‘Agreed,’ I said. And see where that takes us if anywhere.’

Harry wasn’t at the lodge when we got to the cemetery and the guide on duty didn’t seem to know much about the regulars who came to lay flowers.

‘So what do we do?’ asked Tash as we went back to the gate.

‘We wait,’ I said.

We might be here all day,’ said Tash.

‘I guess we just have to hope that whoever it is, is an early bird,’I replied.

A small crowd gathered for the ten o’clock tour but no-one was carrying flowers and they all looked liked tourists.

After they’d gone inside, a man in his forties appeared, carrying a bunch of carnations and roses. Although Harry had said that it was a lady who came to lay flowers, I wasn’t going
to leave anything to chance.

‘Excuse me, but are you going to the Watts grave?’ I asked.

‘No I’m not,’ he said and gave me a look as if to say, mind your own business.

‘What are we going to say if it is the right person?’ I asked Effy as the man disappeared inside. ‘We’d better get our story straight or we might upset whoever it is. We
can’t tell the truth as they’ll think we’re mad. And if we say we know the Watts family, they might ask how?’

We could say we’re distant relatives of Henrietta,’ Effy suggested, ‘and we knew that she’d worked as a governess and discovered who the family were from the census
records.’

It sounded reasonable enough.

A lady in her twenties arrived next. She got out of a car further down the lane and walked towards us carrying a bunch of pink flowers. She had dark hair and I felt my pulse begin to race. Could
this be the woman we wanted? Or was she too young?

This time, Effy approached her. ‘Excuse me but are you going to the Watts grave?’

She shook her head and looked more friendly than the man earlier. ‘No,’ she replied. ‘Parkinson. My grandfather.’ She looked over at the gate. ‘It’s a
fabulous place, isn’t it?’

Effy nodded as the lady walked on.

No-one came for another couple of hours apart from the groups of tourists arriving for the hourly tours. I was beginning to get bored and storm clouds were gathering. I felt bad for making Tash
and Effy stand outside a cemetery all morning.

‘I’ll go and get some warm drinks to keep us going,’ I said.

Effy nodded. ‘Need chocolate too,’ she said.

I set off towards the village, but I hadn’t gone far when I spotted an elderly woman with white hair coming down the lane towards me. She was carrying a bunch of small white flowers.
Could this be her
? I thought as I turned back to join Tash and Effy.

As the woman got closer I realised that it was Mrs Rayner, the lady who volunteers at Mum’s hospital. She glanced over at us and her face lit up when she saw me. ‘Is that Jo?’
she asked and came towards us.

‘Hi, Mrs Rayner,’ I said. ‘How are you doing?’

‘Good, thanks.’ She looked at Tash and Effy. ‘What are you girls doing here? Have you done the tour?’

‘Yes, we have. It’s amazing in there,’ I said. ‘Um, these are my friends Tash and Effy.’

‘Hi,’ they chorused.

‘Are you going in?’ I asked.

Mrs Rayner indicated the flowers. ‘Yes.’

‘You’re not by any chance going to the Watts grave, are you?’ I asked.

Why yes. How did you know?’

I suddenly felt nervous and my well-concocted story deserted me. I so didn’t expect that the person we were waiting for would be someone I knew. ‘I, er . . .’

‘How did you know?’ she asked again, her grey eyes boring into me.

‘I, er . . . I knew Henrietta, well, not exactly knew her, knew of her.’

‘Henrietta? Who’s Henrietta?’ asked Mrs Rayner.

‘She was the Wattses’s governess.’

‘Governess? What are you talking about, Jo?’

‘Sorry Henrietta. She was governess to the Watts family at the turn of the nineteenth century... I think.’

Effy could see that I was struggling and took over. ‘I can explain,’ she said. ‘I realise that this must look strange but we’re not nutters. We’ve been doing some
research into Jo’s family tree and found a lady called Henrietta. We found out on the census records that she was governess to the Watts family We visited the cemetery to find the Watts
family grave, and Harry, who works at the front lodge, said that someone came and laid flowers on the grave on this date and a few weeks before every year.’

‘That’s right, I do.’ said Mrs Rayner. ‘On my father’s anniversary and then my grandmother’s.’

‘I’m sorry if it sounds mad but we were intrigued to find out who was leaving the flowers. We couldn’t help ourselves so came back to see if we could find out who it was and
if, maybe, they knew anything about Henrietta,’ I said.

Mrs Rayner considered the story for a moment. ‘I see. So you’ve been researching a family tree. So this Henrietta, she was an aunt or grandmother?’

‘Great-great-aunt,’ I lied. ‘She never married.’

‘So what is it you wanted to know from me?’ asked Mrs Rayner.

‘If you might know anything about the family or Henrietta or Ho– or any of them,’ I said.

‘Yes I do,’ said Mrs Rayner. ‘Daniel Watts was my father.’

‘No way,’ I blurted.

‘I think I know who my father was,’ said Mrs Rayner with a smile. ‘My maiden name is Watts.’

‘There were two children, weren’t there?’ asked Effy. ‘In the Watts household?’

Mrs Rayner nodded. ‘Daniel and his brother Howard. How did you know?’

‘Er . . . We saw the inscriptions on the grave,’ said Effy. ‘I guessed that Howard might have been Daniel’s brother.’

‘From letters, diaries she left,’ Tash said at the same time as Effy.

‘How very interesting,’ said Mrs Rayner. ‘So what do you know about this Henrietta?’

‘Not much,’ I said. ‘We know that she was born in Manchester and that her father died when she was young. She worked in service and later became a governess. She would have
looked after Daniel, your father, I think. She died at a young age.’

We’d love to find out more,’ said Effy.

Mrs Rayner considered what I’d said. ‘I may be able to help you there. I have my father’s photograph albums and I believe there are a few that are from that time. They’re
mainly of family, but there were some of my father when he was very young with his brother Howard. If I remember rightly there’s a young lady there in a couple of them, dark-haired. I knew
she wasn’t family and she looked too well turned out for a housemaid. I’ve always wondered who she was. She must have been your Henrietta.’

‘Ohmigod,’ I blurted. ‘Do you think we could come and see them?’ I clapped my hand over my mouth. ‘Sorry I mean, I’d . . . we’d quite understand
ifyousayno.’

Mrs Rayner smiled. ‘Of course you can. I can see that this governess has captured your imaginations and . . . now she’s captured mine. You see, my father died many years ago and
there was so much I wished I’d asked him about his life before he passed away but I do remember a little of what he said about his early youth. You’d be very welcome to come and see
what I have.’

‘Can we come today?’ I asked.

Mrs Rayner smiled. ‘Why not? No time like the present,’ she said. ‘Wait for me here while I go and put the flowers on my father’s grave and I’ll take you back with
me.’

As she went into the cemetery, I let out a long breath of air.

‘Amazing,’ said Effy.

‘I know,’ I said, ‘an incredible coincidence.’

‘Synchronicity,’ said Effy.

‘Which is?’ I asked.

‘It’s when there’s a connection between something going on outside and something happening inside you. It might look like coincidence or fate or destiny.’

‘So you’re saying this whole thing is fate?’

Effy nodded. ‘Your destiny making itself clear.’

‘But it isn’t, is it?’ said Tash. ‘I mean, if it was clear then it would be obvious who Jo should pick, but right now she doesn’t know. It could be Ben or
Finn.’

‘Or Owen, don’t forget Owen,’ said Effy. ‘Often true love starts with friendship.’

Tash wrinkled up her nose. ‘I think it’s the other way around. I think there’s an almighty attraction and then friendship grows out of that.’

I rolled my eyes. ‘Well that’s a lot of help. You two can’t agree on anything.’ I looked over in the direction of the cemetery. ‘Do you realise what we’ve
found out today that Mrs Rayner is the daughter of the small boy I held in my arms in a previous life. And yet, here she is, loads older than me. She’s also Howard’s niece. How totally
mad is that? Maybe she can tell us what happened to him. What he was like. And not only that, we’re going to get to see a photograph of them.’ I really hoped so because the image of
Howard from my hypnotherapy session was fading and I was finding it hard to hang on to what he looked like. Other faces were taking precedence. Sometimes Finn’s, sometimes Ben’s and
sometimes Owen’s.

I couldn’t wait until Mrs Rayner returned.

We set off eagerly with Mrs Rayner, who had parked her car up the lane. Effy got into the front and chatted away to her while Tash and I sat in the back.

‘You OK, Jo?’ whispered Tash.

‘Oh yes. I can’t wait to see the photos. Like, if the consciousness, soul, spirit, whatever you want to call it, that’s inside of me is the same as was in Henrietta, then it
would be the same with Howard and whoever he is now too.’

‘I don’t understand,’ said Tash. ‘What are you saying?’

‘Mum always says that the eyes are the window of the soul. So maybe I’ll see something in the photographs of Howard, a spark or a spirit in his eyes that might help me recognise who
he is today’

‘That would be so amazing,’ said Tash.

‘Exactly,’ I said.

Mrs Rayner drove up to the village, turned right down the High Street then left into one of the smaller roads. I knew Highgate well having lived nearby for most of my life but I’d never
been down the maze of side streets here before. Like so many roads in the area, there were houses from different eras. Mrs Rayner drove into a cul-de-sac with a row of modern terraces on the right
and properties dating back to Victorian and Edwardian times on the left.

She drove to the end of the road and parked. When we got out, I could see a tall wooden fence on the side with the old houses. In the middle of the fence was a tall gate with a rose arch over
it. Number twenty-four.

‘Here we are,’ said Mrs Rayner as she unlatched the gate. ‘Come on in.’

We followed her through and I took a sharp intake of breath. I knew the house immediately. Detached, double-fronted, set back from the road with a large garden on three sides and a bay window to
the right. It was the house from my dream and the house I’d seen in my regression. The house that Henrietta had lived and worked in.

Mrs Rayner and Effy went up the steps to the front door while I held back for a moment. I felt suddenly faint.

‘What is it, Jo?’ asked Tash. ‘You’ve gone pale.’

‘I know this place,’ I whispered. ‘But how? On the census, it said that the Watts family lived at Halville House, Trafalgar Road. We’d looked it up in the A-Z and
couldn’t find it, remember?’ I looked around me as Mrs Rayner fumbled in her bag to find her keys up on the porch with Effy. ‘When I saw it in my regression, those houses at the
bottom of the garden, over the fence, they weren’t there, and there were no houses opposite where that modern terrace is now. There was nothing but fields for miles and miles, but the house .
. .’ There was no mistaking it despite the changes. ‘There was a wrought iron fence all around where the wooden fence is now and,’ I pointed to the middle of the garden, ‘a
fountain there.’