Mermaids Singing (42 page)

George opened the door and, although he listened sympathetically, he said it was more than his life was worth to let her over the threshold. Glancing anxiously over his shoulder he advised Kitty to leave before she got herself into trouble. At that moment, Warner appeared, his face as dark as the clouds that had rolled suddenly across the sky, bringing with them a sharp, April shower. Sir Edward, he said was not at home to the likes of her and then he slammed the door in her face.

Kitty couldn’t go home to Tanner’s Passage and face Betty’s ‘I told you so’ expression, even if she said nothing. She began walking and without quite knowing why, she found herself knocking on the door of Captain Madison’s house.

Sophia did not seem surprised to see her and, having ushered Kitty into her parlour, she listened intently while Kitty told her everything.

‘Have you thought,’ Sophia said, angling her head, ‘that with a mother who puts herself before her own child, Leonie might just be better off living in London with her half-brother and his wife?’

Kitty stared at her aghast. ‘But Bella loves Leonie.’

‘You’ll excuse me, Kitty, for I don’t know the lady, but it seems to me she loves herself the more.’ Sophia picked up her knitting. ‘After all, Leonie was born a lady and maybe she should be educated and brought up in the society that one day she’ll be expected to marry into. She won’t be a sweet little child forever.’

Kitty shook her head. ‘But Lady Mableton only wants her so that if Miss Iris should have children they won’t inherit the estate.’

‘They’re not like us, dear. We’re ordinary people, we don’t think the same as they do.’

Kitty flicked angry tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘If it was my child I wouldn’t let anyone, not anyone, take her from me.’

Sophia dropped her knitting in her lap and she reached out to clasp Kitty’s hands. ‘But that’s how you feel, my dear. One day you and Jem will have children of your own and you’ll be a wonderful mother.’

Kitty snatched her hands away. ‘I never said I’d marry Jem. And I didn’t come here to talk about him and me.’

‘He loves you, Kitty.’

‘He’s just a boy.’

‘He’s a man and he’s giving up his life at sea because of you, Kitty.’

‘He’ll soon get fed up with being ashore and be off again before you know it.’

Sophia jumped to her feet. ‘I’m going to show you something. Get your coat on, Kitty.’

Walking briskly along Cheyne Walk, they were caught in yet another shower, but Sophia refused to stop until they reached Chelsea Creek and a small boatyard that had obviously seen better days. Negotiating a concrete ramp and holding up her skirts, Sophia picked her way across the mud to where a large, dilapidated craft that was little more than a hulk lay beached.

‘This is the boat that Captain Jasper’s agent has found for them,’ Sophia said, laying her gloved hand on the flaking paintwork. ‘This will be their pride and joy when it’s made shipshape. This will be their very own
Mermaid Singing
.’

‘But it’s a hulk,’ Kitty exclaimed, dismayed. ‘It’s a mess.’

‘No,’ Sophia said, smiling. ‘The
Mermaid
is part of a dream, like the poem they’re both so fond of. Captain Jasper and Jem are both dreamers. Their feelings run deep, only they aren’t very good at expressing them.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Kitty said, pulling up her collar as another shower spilled from the clouds.

Sophia smiled, in spite of the raindrops trickling down her cheeks. ‘You may think the captain is a dried-up old bachelor but I can tell you that once, a long time ago, he was very much in love.’

‘So why didn’t he marry her?’

‘He was ambitious and he wouldn’t marry Norah until he was in a position to support a wife. Her family were wealthy and they didn’t approve of their only daughter marrying a mere first mate, but she loved him and she promised to wait.’

Kitty forgot the cold east wind and the rain that had turned to sleet. ‘What happened?’

‘She died of consumption just weeks before he arrived home and it broke his heart.’

‘That’s very sad. But what has that got to do with Jem and me?’

‘Jem’s like the son he never had. That’s why Captain Jasper is willing to invest his life savings into this business venture. He knows what’s in Jem’s heart, and he wants to see you both get the chance of happiness that was denied him.’

Kitty laid her hand on the flaking paintwork of the clinker-built hull and, as a strong breeze from upriver caused the boat to rock gently on its cradle of mud, she felt a small vibration through the timbers, a faint heartbeat as though there was still a flicker of life in the craft. The clouds parted and Kitty felt the sun on her face and the wind in her hair. She closed her eyes and thought of Jem and a sudden longing surged through her veins. The loneliness of the long, cold winter melted in the warmth of the spring sunshine and with it came the realisation that she did not want to go on alone. She might strive for fame and fortune and yet still end up like Adeline who, with all her money and position, could not buy love or happiness.

‘You do love that boy, I can tell,’ Sophia said softly. ‘Don’t throw away your chance of happiness with a good man.’

‘You’re right,’ Kitty said, shaking her head. ‘And if I have to make a choice then I would put Jem first. But, Sophia, I hate the thought of spending the rest of my life in Tanner’s Passage.’

‘I know, my dear,’ Sophia said, linking her arm through Kitty’s. ‘Betty and I understand more than you think. You must go home now and speak to Betty. She should be the one to tell you.’

Stunned by Betty’s news, Kitty couldn’t speak for a moment. Wavering between tears and laughter she clasped Betty’s gnarled, rheumaticky fingers until Betty drew them away with a protest.

‘It’s true, ducks,’ Betty said, laughing and crying at the same time. ‘Sophia and me have been mulling it over for weeks, ever since we first heard about the
Mermaid
. We knew it wouldn’t work with Jem and the captain practically living on board the ship and us stuck here miles away. We knew you was pining for the house in Sackville Street and we couldn’t get that back for you, but we come up with something sort of in between.’

‘But you can’t sell this house. It’s your home, Betty. You and Jem love it.’

‘We love you more, ducks.’ Betty fumbled in her pocket for a hanky and blew her nose. ‘It’s done. This house is up for sale, and me and Sophia paid a month’s rent on the house in Flood Street. It ain’t Mayfair but it ain’t too far to Kensington, and if them rich ladies can shop at Harrods, then they can go the distance down the King’s Road to our establishment in Flood Street.’

‘But this is your home. Your memories are all here. I can’t let you do this.’

‘My memories are all in me head and in me heart, Kitty, love. We got this far together and I ain’t going to let you down now just because I’m a selfish old woman.’

‘You’re never selfish,’ Kitty cried, flinging her arms around Betty and hugging her. ‘You’ve been like a mother to me and I love you.’

‘And I love you and so does my Jem. Whatever happens between you two, or not as the case may be, we’re a family, Kitty. We stick together.’ Disentangling herself from Kitty’s embrace, Betty reached on top of the mantelshelf and picked up a key. She pressed it into Kitty’s hand. ‘This is yours, Kitty, love. The key to the future.’

The house in Flood Street was perfect. Kitty loved it from the moment she turned the key in the lock and entered the hallway. It was neither as big nor as grand as the house in Sackville Street; it needed a lick of paint and a bit of imagination to make it the elegant establishment of her dreams, but the building seemed to wrap itself around her in welcome; she felt at home the moment she set foot inside its walls. Having explored every room from the basement kitchen to the top floor, Kitty found Betty and Sophia waiting for her in the front parlour, their faces positively shining with delight at her happiness. She hugged them both in turn.

‘Thank you both, thank you so much. It’s perfect and I love it.’ Kitty twirled around the room, touching the marble fireplace, running her fingers along the dado and coming to stand by one of the tall windows. She experimented opening and closing the wooden shutters. ‘This room is just right for the salon,’ she said, smiling ecstatically. ‘I can see it all in my mind’s eye. We’ll be famous, Betty, you and I; modistes to fashionable London Society. It’s just wonderful. When can we move in?’

‘Whenever you like,’ Betty said, exchanging satisfied smiles with Sophia. ‘The sooner the better.’

‘Oh, no!’ Kitty cried, clapping her hand to her forehead. ‘I’d forgotten Bella. How awful of me. If we leave Tanner’s Passage she won’t know where to find us. We can’t let that woman take Leonie away from those who love her most, we just can’t.’

Two weeks later, with everything in Tanner’s Passage packed and Betty having sent word of their new address to Jem, by way of the New Zealand Shipping Company Offices in Whitechapel, they were ready for the move to Flood Street. But all the while, Kitty waited for news of Bella, growing more anxious as the days passed and Lady Mableton’s threatened deadline approached. Finally, when it seemed that Bella could not have received her frantic messages, Kitty took the only course of action left open to her. She caught the train from Liverpool Street, getting off at Maldon, and then paid a man with a dogcart to take her to Mableton Manor.

If her visit had been for any other purpose, she would have been overjoyed to see Maggie looking so fit, well and, above all, happy. The children had grown almost out of all recognition even in such a short time. They gambolled about her: a flock of spring lambs, healthy, noisy and so full of life that it made Kitty dizzy just to watch them. She sent them off with the bags of sweets that she had brought with her and, when she was certain that they were out of earshot, she took Maggie and Maria aside to tell them the bad news.

Their reactions were much as she had expected. Maggie burst into tears at the thought of losing Leonie, who had become so much a part of her family, and Maria’s temper flared into a white heat. She stamped about the room raging against Bella for abandoning Leonie while she chased her lover halfway across Europe to God knows where. Then she vented her anger on Lady Adeline and Sir Edward. She was a jumped-up farmer’s daughter and he was a lily-livered, spineless, milksop. Leonie was his half-sister and Maria doubted very much whether, under such circumstances, adoption would be legal. In any event, it would be done over her dead body. Maria stomped out of the room, leaving Maggie and Kitty staring at each other.

‘I never thought she cared quite so much,’ Kitty said, shaking her head.

‘She’s a funny one, all right. But I think she feels bad about the way she treated Bella and if she gives Leonie up to the Mabletons, then she’s doing the same thing all over again.’

‘And Bella would be heartbroken. I know she’s silly sometimes and puts herself first, but she does love Leonie and she trusts us to look after her.’

‘You’re right,’ Maggie said, nodding vehemently. ‘We was trusted to care for the nipper and this is her home, she’s happy here and we all love her. She might have everything what money can buy with the toffs in Mayfair but that don’t necessarily bring happiness. You can tell her ladyship from us that Leonie ain’t leaving Mableton Manor. Whatever her faults, Bella is Leonie’s mum, and we ain’t letting her go.’

Kitty laid a hand on Maggie’s arm. ‘You’re a brick, Maggie, and I love you. But the Mabletons are rich and powerful – what if they was to throw you out on the street?’

‘It wouldn’t be the first time now, would it?’ Maggie said, chuckling. She gave Kitty’s hand a squeeze. ‘Lord love us, don’t worry about me, girl. I’m not afraid of nothing now I’m certain that Sid won’t come back and spoil things.’

‘But you love this place, I can tell.’

‘Aye, I do, but bricks and mortar is just that. If I has to, then I’ll make a home for me and the nippers somewhere else. But Leonie owns Mableton Manor, all legal and above board and I don’t think even Sir Edward could argue with that.’

‘I had to warn you all the same.’

‘I knows you did, love, and you done right. We’re happy here and Maria and me have cleaned the house up lovely.’ Maggie hooked her arm around Kitty’s shoulders. ‘Come with me and I’ll show you what we done, though there’s still a lot more to do.’

‘It’s wonderful to see you all settled and looking so well,’ Kitty said, smiling.

‘And it’s going to stay that way. Bugger the Mabletons and their money. We’ll let Maria calm down a bit and then we’ll have a nice family supper, all of us together. We got fresh eggs from our very own chickens and vegetables from the garden. Our Frankie has turned into a proper little green fingers.’

Next day, Kitty said a reluctant goodbye, kissing everyone, even Frankie, who now considered that at ten he was the man of the house and had wanted to shake hands, but gave in after a bit of persuasion, even if afterwards he ostentatiously wiped his cheek on his sleeve. Kitty kissed Billy and Charlie, although they pretended that kissing was sloppy and copied Frankie by wiping their cheeks on their shirtsleeves, hooting with laughter. Violet and Leonie clung to her, hugging her and begging her to come again soon and Harry, at five, didn’t mind being kissed and cuddled in the slightest.

Maria held out a dry, weathered cheek and allowed Kitty to give her a peck. ‘Goodbye, Kitty. Tell that woman if she sets foot in this place I’ll let the dogs loose on her.’

Kitty nodded, choking back a lump in her throat as she kissed Maggie and gave her an extra special hug. ‘I’ll come again soon, I promise.’

‘You bring Jem with you next time,’ Maggie said, smiling and crying at the same time. ‘And Betty too. Come again soon.’

Steam from the engine blew past the train windows in great, cotton wool clouds and the wheels made a rhythmic clackety-clack sound as they sped over the iron rails. Kitty closed her eyes and let her mind drift to a peaceful dreamlike state. Maggie and the children were well and happy and, if the Mabletons caused trouble, Kitty knew that her sister would fight like a tiger to protect her children, and that included Leonie. The Mabletons may have wealth and power but, Kitty thought with a wry smile, with Maggie and Maria united against them, they would have more than a battle on their hands. Kitty opened her eyes, disturbed by the snores of a portly farmer sitting in the opposite corner of the carriage. His wife nudged him in the ribs, giving Kitty an apologetic smile.