Whispers (26 page)

The girl nodded and Jess left the room, praying that she’d made the right decision. Should she have pushed Mel harder to confide in her? Worse still was the underlying guilt that she had exposed the girl to Emile Lefavre – but there was nothing she could do about that now. What was done was done, and she hoped that they’d be able to put it behind them.

The rain had stopped, so she decided to take Alfie for a walk to clear her head. Ten minutes later she stepped out into the darkening afternoon, well wrapped up in a waterproof coat and Wellington boots, with Alfie prancing along at the side of her. Once they reached the lake she struck off to the right and began to follow the river, her wellies squelching as she marched through the mud. Soon the gypsy caravans came into sight and she stopped, wondering if she should turn around and walk the other way. True to their word, the gypsies had kept themselves very much to themselves up to now, and she just prayed that they would continue to do so or she knew she would never hear the last of it from Simon. It was as she was hovering there that the door on one of the caravans opened and the pregnant woman she had met the day before stepped out. She hesitated for a moment when she saw Jess but then began to walk towards her, her arms wrapped protectively around her swollen belly.

‘Thanks for lettin’ us stay a while, missus,’ she said solemnly as she came to a halt in front of Jess. Jess judged the woman to be about the same age as herself. She was tall, and no doubt would be slim when she was not pregnant. Her hair was long and a natural silver-blonde, tied back with an autumn-coloured headsquare, and she had on a man’s jacket that strained across her stomach. A gaudy-coloured skirt flapped about her ankles.

‘It’s quite all right,’ Jess told her with a smile. ‘I hope everything goes well with the birth. And er . . . if you need fresh water there is an outside tap in the courtyard at the house. You are more than welcome to help yourself.’

The woman shook her head rapidly as she glanced across Jess’s shoulder to the house in the distance. ‘Thanks, but you’ll not catch me up there. Bad things have happened there. It ain’t a happy house. You’d do well to get yerself an’ yer young ’uns away from there.’

Jess bristled with indignation. ‘That house happens to be my home,’ she told the woman imperiously. ‘And I have no intention of leaving it.’

‘Then on your own head be it,’ the woman said sorrowfully, quickly making the sign of the cross on her chest. And then without warning she reached out and rested her hand on Jess’s stomach. ‘It’s a little lad, God bless his soul,’ she whispered, her voice heavy with sorrow.

Jess gasped and took a step back, while the woman scuttled back to the warmth of her home on wheels.

Flustered, Jess called Alfie and set off back towards the house, her mind racing. What had the woman meant by ‘
It’s a little lad
.’

And then suddenly she stopped dead as something occurred to her. Now she came to think of it, she might have missed a period – or even two, if it came to that. She had been so busy working on the house that she hadn’t even noticed. By the time she pushed her way through the kitchen door she was panting breathlessly. Leaving a trail of mud on the tiles in her wake she grabbed her handbag and took out her diary before furiously flicking back through the pages. She always marked the day her period had begun, but there was no tick against the last two months. She sat down heavily on the nearest chair as the colour drained out of her.
I
can’t
be pregnant
, she tried to convince herself.
The girls are twelve and fourteen now. I’m too old to start again, and anyway Simon and I agreed that there would be no more babies after we had Jo
. And yet . . . there was no getting away from the fact that she had missed two periods, and then there was the sickness. She hadn’t felt really well for weeks now but had put it down to a virus or something. One way or another, she needed to know the truth.

First thing on Monday morning, when she had dropped the girls off at their schools, Jess made for the nearest branch of Boots and bought a pregnancy tester kit. As soon as she got home she headed for the bathroom . . . twenty minutes later found her perching on the edge of her bed in complete shock. The test had proved positive. But how could the gypsy woman have
known
? And how was she going to tell Simon? She really couldn’t envisage him being pleased about it. And she didn’t even know if she wanted any more children herself. She was happy with Jo and Mel, for most of the time anyway. They were getting more independent now that they were older, but if she had another baby she would soon be back to sleepless nights, making bottles and changing nappies again. It was just too much to take in.
And
what about the B and B business she had been hoping to set up? A new baby would certainly put the kibosh on that idea for quite some time – and yet . . . Her hand stroked her stomach wonderingly. A new baby might also mean the new start she had hoped for when they had moved into the house. She had no doubt that the girls would be tickled pink at the thought of having a new baby brother or sister.

As she slowly descended the stairs she heard a tap at the back door and moments later Laura walked into the kitchen with Beth. ‘Are you OK?’ she asked Jess. ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’

Jess thought that was rather a strange choice of words coming from Laura, and grinned ruefully as Beth stooped to fondle Alfie’s ears. She knew that she really shouldn’t say anything to anyone until she had spoken to Simon about it, but she was bursting to tell someone and Laura was there.

‘I er . . . actually, I just found out that I’m pregnant,’ she mumbled.

Laura gasped then seemed to leap across the room to her. ‘Why, that’s wonderful news . . . isn’t it?’

‘I’m not sure,’ Jess admitted. ‘And I don’t know what Simon is going to say about it. We hadn’t planned on having any more children.’

‘Well, it’s one of those things,’ Laura said matter-of-factly. ‘Sometimes the best-laid plans have a habit of backfiring on you. And what can he say? He obviously had a hand in it. You don’t make babies on your own. I bet he’ll be thrilled to bits when he gets used to the idea. I know I would be if it were me.’ Laura gave her a hug and hustled her onto the nearest chair. ‘You sit there,’ she told her like a mother hen. ‘You’ve had a bit of a shock and look like you could do with a hot drink. I’ll make you one.’

‘That’s a slight understatement, to say the least,’ Jess grinned. ‘It’s more like a bolt out of the blue. What are the girls going to say?’

‘I reckon they’ll be over the moon. But why don’t you stop worrying about what everyone else is going to say? How do
you
feel about it? You’re the one that’s got to carry it and do all the hard work once it arrives.’

‘I don’t know how I feel, to be honest.’ Jess fiddled with her wedding ring. ‘It’s all just so unexpected. I thought my baby days were well and truly behind me.’

Laura giggled as she spooned sugar into two mugs. ‘Then it just goes to show you don’t know everything, doesn’t it? When did you start to suspect that you might be pregnant?’

Jess quickly told her about the encounter with the gypsy woman the day before, and Laura whistled though her teeth. ‘Gypsies have been known to have the second sight for thousands of years, and that woman obviously saw something, didn’t she?’

‘She even told me that it was going to be a boy,’ Jess answered, feeling strangely detached from everything. It was as if this was happening to someone else and not her.

‘Let’s hope she was right about that as well then. Just think how cool it would be to have a son after two daughters.’

‘Will you do me a favour?’ Jess suddenly asked.

‘Of course, what is it?’

‘Will you not say anything to anyone about this until I’ve had time to speak to Simon?’

‘I wouldn’t dream of it,’ Laura promised. ‘When are you going to tell him?’

‘I doubt I’ll get a chance until he gets home this evening, unless he pops back for anything.’

Laura plonked down on to the chair opposite and squeezed Jess’s hand. ‘Will you please stop looking as if the end of the world is nigh?’ she asked. ‘Just think how many people there are out there who can’t have any children. They’d cut off their little fingers to be in your position.’

Jess suddenly felt guilty. Laura had once told her that one of her biggest regrets had been not being able to have any more babies after Beth. The news she had just told her must be cutting her like a knife, and yet she was putting a brave face on for her.

When she managed a wobbly smile, Laura patted her hand. ‘That’s better,’ she said approvingly. ‘Now why don’t you give yourself time to get used to the idea, and then cook a nice romantic meal this evening just for two, and then tell Simon. I could feed the two girls if you like and give you both a bit of space.’

Jess’s guilt intensified. She had always had a niggling suspicion that something might be going on between Laura and Simon, but if her reaction to this news was anything to go by, she had been sorely off the mark.

‘I appreciate the offer but it isn’t as simple as that,’ she confided. ‘Simon is rolling in at all hours at the moment, so a romantic meal for two might be quite hard to organise.’

‘All right then. Tonight tell him that you have something important to talk to him about tomorrow and give him a time you’d like him to be home for.’

Jess grinned ruefully. Simon was his own master and not at all good at doing as he was told. If Jess were to order him home for a certain time he would probably stay out late just to make a point. But she didn’t want to hurt her kindly neighbour’s feelings, so she told her, ‘Leave it with me. I’ll figure something out.’

She then changed the subject and Laura told her how she was getting on with tracing her family tree. ‘It’s really quite fascinating when you get into it,’ she told her. ‘And the Fentons’ family tree is too, seeing as I only live at the end of the drive. It’s interesting to know who has lived here over the years and I’ve found quite a bit out. You might like to have a look at it when I’ve done as much as I can on it.’

‘I would like to see it actually.’ Jess thought of Martha’s journal tucked away in her drawer upstairs but decided not to say any more about it for now to Laura. She had enough of her own worries to think about for now without telling Laura about how badly Martha and Grace had been treated. She had managed to get Mel off to school today but she was still seriously worried about the drugs incident. Up to now Emile Lefavre had made no effort to contact them, but Jess had no doubt that he would at some point soon and so she had confiscated Mel’s mobile phone for the time being. If he tried to ring then it would be she who answered instead of Mel and she intended to put the fear of God into him.

Thankfully she had managed to avert what might have turned into a disaster for Mel, but how many more innocent girls was Emile preying on? He had been so charming and they had been so gullible. She was still feeling guilty about not telling Simon about it too. He was Mel’s father, after all, and he had every right to know what had happened, but with the relationship between him and Mel being so fragile at present she hardly dared to think how he would react if he found out how stupid Mel had been. And now on top of everything else she had learned that she was going to have another baby! The old saying was certainly true: it never rained but it poured.

She suddenly wished with all her heart that her gran was still alive. She had been such a wise old woman, she would have known what to do for the best, but as it was, Jess was going to have to work things out for herself.

She was almost relieved when Laura left a short while later. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy her company but she seriously needed some quiet time to think.

Sliding her feet into her wellingtons again she donned a wet weather coat, then calling Alfie to heel she slipped out into the garden. Dark clouds were scudding across the sky and the trees were bending in the wind as the first sharp drops of rain splashed onto her face. She walked blindly on towards the lake, turning once to glance back at the house. And that’s when she saw it – a small pale face solemnly watching her progress from the window in the attic bedroom.

Jess’s breath caught in her throat and she hastily swiped the rain from her eyes. When she looked back, whoever had been there was gone. Seriously unnerved, she forced herself to move on. Her Wellington boots squelched on the soggy grass as Alfie splashed through the puddles, his tail wagging furiously. It was strange, now she came to think of it – he always seemed to perk up once he got away from the house. She watched his antics, her mind not really on where she was going as she tried to put her thoughts into some sort of order. After a while she glanced up to see the gypsy folk all standing in a huddled little group about one particular caravan. Quickening her steps, she approached them and one of the women turned to look at her suspiciously. ‘Amber’s havin’ the babby,’ she told Jess solemnly.

‘What . . . now? Right this minute?’ Jess’s eyes stretched wide.

‘Aye, that’s right.’

‘But . . . but shouldn’t she be in the hospital?’ Jess stuttered nervously as her eyes licked over the caravan.

The woman shook her head, sending a shower of raindrops over Jess’s face.

‘Naw, Ma Biddy is in wi’ her,’ the woman informed her. ‘She delivers all our souls into the world, God love ’em.’

‘I see.’ Jess chewed on her lip before asking, ‘Do they have everything they need in there?’

The woman’s face softened now as she nodded. ‘Aye, they do. Now all we have to do is wait.’ Even as she spoke, a scream rent the air and Alfie tucked his tail between his legs and slunk closer to Jess.

‘Wouldn’t you all be better to go into your caravans and wait?’ Jess suggested tentatively. It was bitterly cold now and the little group looked as if they were soaked to the skin. ‘Naw, not till the little ’un’s put in an appearance,’ the woman said stolidly. ‘We’ll all stand here in case we’re needed.’

Jess was impressed. The travellers obviously had a strong loyalty to each other and she found that very touching. ‘I’ll leave you all to it
then,’
she said as she thrust her hands deeper into her pockets and turned to go. ‘If you should find there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to come to the house and ask.’