A Mother's Gift (26 page)

‘Go to Hamilton Hall? I don’t even know where it is,’ she said. ‘Besides I don’t think my mother would want to go and I don’t want to leave her.’

‘I’m sorry Miss Hamilton; I haven’t made myself clear. It is very important that you both go. It is the reading of your father’s will. You wish to know what provision he has made for you and your mother, do you not?’

‘But how will we get there?’

Georgie glanced round to make sure she had closed the door to the sitting-room properly. She did not want her mother to hear this at least not until she herself had had time to think about it. Would her mother want to go to that woman’s house? Mrs Hamilton, she thought and bitterness rose in her throat like bile.

‘I will call for you,’ said Mr Fox. ‘At ten o’clock, I think. Then we will be at the Hall in good time.’

‘You know where we live?’ Of course he did, she thought. He probably knew all about her. Including the fact that she was a bastard. She made up her mind quickly as she heard her mother’s footsteps. ‘All right. Ten o’clock, yes. I will ring you back if there is any difficulty.’

‘Until tomorrow, Miss Hamilton.’

‘Who was that, Georgie?’ her mother asked as she came into the hall.

‘I’ll explain in a minute. Go and sit down Mother, I’ll bring the supper,’ said Georgie.

‘No. I’m not hungry, I think I’ll just, go straight up to bed. Who did you say it was?’

‘Go on up then, I’ll bring you some hot milk and biscuits. I’ll tell you all about it then, Mam.’

Kate was already trailing up the stairs. She couldn’t summon enough interest to insist, in fact she had already forgotten what it was she was asking about. Her thoughts were in the past, her life in Winton Colliery. Grandda, Billy and now Matthew, all dead. And Gran. ‘It will all end in tears,’ Gran had said and she had been right as she always was.

When Georgie took up the tray her mother was standing by the window looking out over the darkening moor. She was still dressed.

‘I thought you were going to bed, Mam,’ she said. ‘Come on, I’ll help you get ready.’ She hesitated to tell her mother of the reason the solicitor had called, maybe she would leave it until tomorrow. But when she was settled against the pillows and with the cup of hot milk in her hand, Kate looked up suddenly.

‘I don’t know what we are going to do, Georgie. We will have to leave this house. We have no rights, you know, no rights at all. I suppose I could go back to nursing …’ Her voice trailed away.

‘I think Father will have provided for us, Mam. I was going to tell you, that was a solicitor on the phone earlier.’

She told her mother all that Mr Fox had told her. ‘We must be ready at ten o’clock,’ she added. ‘But if you don’t want to go to the Hall, well then, we’ll just say so, I’ll ring him back.’

‘No,’ said Kate, surprising Georgie by the sudden strength in her voice. ‘We’ll go. And with our heads held high.’

She had thought she wouldn’t sleep but surprisingly she soon drifted off, still thinking of the old days in the colliery house at Winton. Her thoughts carried on into her dreams, so vivid she was a child again.

MR FOX HANDED KATE
out of the car before the entrance to Hamilton Hall. He smiled at her gently. ‘Courage, my dear,’ he said. He was a man of middle age with silver hair, which was receding so that his forehead seemed elongated. He was tall and thin and dressed impeccably in pin-striped trousers and dark coat with a silver grey tie. He had a kindly face, Kate decided, and she put her hand on his arm trustingly.

Beside her, Georgina stood, her hair clipped up on top of her head in an effort to make her look older. She wore a plain grey dress with a full skirt cut in the ‘new look’ fashion that was a reaction to the restrictions of the war years. Her shoes were grey and flat with wedge heels and on her head she wore a tiny hat of grey velvet and a wisp of lace.

‘You must wear a hat, dear,’ Dorothy had said. ‘As a mark of respect at least.’

Georgie followed her mother and Mr Fox up to the heavy oak front door, and waited as he rang the bell.
Suddenly
her stomach was full of butterflies, she fought down a feeling of sickness. Beside her she could feel her mother’s tension, see the slight tremble of her hand on Mr Fox’s arm. She took a deep breath as the door opened and they were ushered inside.

‘The family is in the drawing-room, sir,’ said John Benson, the butler.

‘Thank you, Benson.’

Georgina barely had time to note the richness of her surroundings before they were in the drawing-room and there they were, Matthew Hamilton’s other family. Only the women were seated, the men were in a group in the middle of the room, talking among themselves quietly. There was an instant hush as everyone turned to look at Kate and Georgina who stood uncertainly close together.

Mr Fox went forward and placed his briefcase on the table.

‘Good morning to you all,’ he said pleasantly. ‘This is Catherine Hamilton and her daughter, Georgina. They have an interest in Mr Hamilton’s will.’

Mary Anne gasped. ‘I know you!’ she cried. ‘You’re a nurse, aren’t you?’

Kate stepped forward. ‘I was,’ she said.

‘You had better sit down,’ said Robert. He indicated two hard chairs placed side by side but made no move to help them.

‘Sit down? Sit down? What do you mean? How dare you insult my mother by inviting them to sit down in my mother’s house? She’s a tart and the other one’s a tart’s bastard daughter! How dare they call themselves
Hamilton
? I insist you throw them out, if you don’t, I will!’

‘Bertram! Watch your tongue!’ Robert said sharply.

‘Don’t you tell me what to do! I am the head of this house now, remember. I’ll say what I like.’

‘No you won’t, not in front to Mother,’ said Robert. ‘Now sit down and behave yourself.’

Bertram flushed a deep brick red. ‘Don’t talk to me as though I were a child, Robert! At least I am defending Mother. You don’t seem to care.’

‘Sit down, Bertram,’ Mary Anne suddenly interjected. ‘Both of you, sit down. In fact, we will all sit quietly and listen to Mr Fox.’

Taken by surprise, her two sons sat down and stared at her.

‘Sit down, please, Nurse Benfield, isn’t it? And you too, dear,’ said Mary Anne. Everyone gazed at her in astonishment but she was perfectly composed.

Kate and Georgina sat down on the hard chairs. ‘I wondered if you would remember me,’ said Kate.

‘You haven’t changed,’ replied Mary Anne. ‘At least not much.’

‘You know this woman?’ gasped Bertram.

‘Yes, indeed, I do. It was a long time ago, before you were born. I had a miscarriage. She was very kind to me when I was in hospital.’ Mary Anne spoke in a very matter-of-fact tone of voice and as though Kate was an old friend.

‘But Mother—’ said Bertram but was interrupted by Mr Fox who cleared his throat and picked up a document
tied
with a red tape bow.

‘Perhaps we can get on,’ he said. ‘I do have a lot to get through. If you don’t mind, that is,’ he nodded his head deferentially to Mary Anne.

‘By all means,’ she said and settled down in her chair.

‘This is the last will and testament of Matthew Hamilton, ironmaster, of this parish,’ he began.

Ironmaster? thought Georgina. But her thoughts were full of bewildering questions. Surreptitiously she looked at the family. Mary Anne, so calm though she had just lost her husband. She wore a black dress, very plain but with a diamond brooch at the neck. Her hair was fair and streaked with grey and she wore no make-up on her pale face. Beside Georgie’s own mother she looked colourless. And her daughter, a younger edition of herself, though her dress was more stylish with a full, new-look full skirt which fell decorously over her knees. Her neat ankles were crossed and slightly under her seat. She seemed to take no interest in the proceedings but kept her eyes on her hands, which were clasped, on her lap.

Robert, the oldest son, looked like her yet did not. In him the fair hair had a natural shine to it and though it was cut in a ‘short back and sides’ he had it longer at the front and combed back in a quiff. He sat straight-backed in his chair; his long legs crossed one over the other. He wore a slight frown.

Bertram was different. He had dark hair just like Father’s and the same dark eyes but there the resemblance ended. He still had the figure of a youth; his shoulders narrow and rounded and his skin had an unhealthy pallor
except
for his nose and ears. The poor lad had a cold, she supposed. He caught her gaze and treated her to a venomous look. Well, she couldn’t really blame him, she thought. She and her mother must have come as a great shock to him. She looked away and tried to concentrate on the solicitor.

‘My house on Fern Moor I leave to Catherine Benfield Hamilton together with an annuity of a thousand pounds a year,’ he was saying and the whole company gasped.

‘That’s disgusting!’ said Bertram, glaring at Kate.

‘Shut up, Bertram,’ said Robert. He sat stern and un-smiling, betraying no surprise or any other emotion.

‘To my natural daughter, Georgina—’

‘Natural daughter Georgina!’ gasped Bertram.

‘To my natural daughter, Georgina and my son Bertram, I leave the Hamilton Iron and Steelworks on the proviso that my stepson Robert shall have the overseeing of the works for the first five years after my death. I would like Georgina to attend Durham University rather than take up her scholarship to Oxford. She is to have two thousand pounds a year until she has finished her education at which time I would like her to enter the business.’

Georgie didn’t hear much of the rest of the will. There was a pulse pounding in her ears, she clasped her hands tightly in her lap and stared down at them. Durham. She wanted to go to Oxford. She had her heart set on Oxford. The disappointment was overwhelming.

She was aware that there was some sort of a hubbub going on above her head. Gradually she could hear
Bertram’s
voice and then Robert’s, not loud but commanding. Of course, he had been an officer during the war and was used to being obeyed. She looked at him. He seemed nearer her mother’s age than Bertram’s, but of course, Matthew had only been his stepfather.

Beside her, her mother was saying something to her. Georgie forced herself to listen.

‘Let’s get out of here,’ Kate was saying. ‘Howay, man, I cannot stand it.’ They stood up and suddenly everyone else went quiet and turned to look at them.

‘My mother and I are leaving now,’ said Georgie, her head held high.

‘You can’t go yet,’ Robert said.

‘You can’t just walk out of here!’ shouted Bertram.

Mr Fox looked over his spectacles at them. ‘There are things to agree upon, papers to sign,’ he said mildly. ‘I’m afraid I am not able to take you home just yet.’

‘Then perhaps someone would be kind enough to ring for a taxi,’ said Georgie and looked at the butler. ‘Mr Benson, perhaps?’

For the first time that Robert could remember, John Benson looked unsure of himself. He looked at Robert for guidance as to what to do. It was Mary Anne who spoke.

‘By all means, Miss Hamilton, if your mother is tired. This has been a shock to you too I know. And I’m sure the rest of the business can be seen to later. Benson, call a taxi please.’

‘To go to the railway station please.’

‘Yes. The railway station.’

Mary Anne was a polite hostess and she rose to her feet
to
say goodbye, even walked a few Steps towards them.

‘Mother! What are you about?’ Bertram demanded.

‘It’s all right, Mrs Hamilton,’ said Kate. ‘We will wait outside in the fresh air if you don’t mind. It will clear my head. I believe I saw seats there.’

Once in the outside portico Kate sank on to a seat, pulling Georgie down beside her. ‘The old sod!’ she said. ‘He did this deliberately, do you know that, Georgie?’

‘Who?’

‘Your father of course, who else? I tell you Georgie, there was no need at all to bring us here today, we could have heard all about the will in the solicitor’s office or even by letter. No, I bet Matthew was having a good laugh at us all this morning if he could see it that is. Well, I’m not playing his game any longer; I’m going home, that’s what I’m going to do. Gannin’ yam, as me gran would say, God bless her.’

‘Mam, you sound so much better,’ said Georgie. And Kate did, she had a becoming colour in her cheeks and her eyes sparkled.

‘Aye. It was just what I needed to get over Matthew dying like that.’ Kate laughed softly. ‘After all the trouble he went to to keep the pair of us a secret from his family an’ all.’

‘He kept them a secret from me too,’ said Georgie. ‘I’m not sure I can forgive him that.’

Kate glanced at her. ‘I know, pet, I know. But in the circumstances we thought it best.’

‘You mean you had some say in it?’

Kate shook her head. ‘No, no, I didn’t have a say in
anything
. Matthew was away a lot but he still had to have everything his own way, you know that. I didn’t defy him until the war when I went back to nursing. And he soon put a stop to that.’ The remembrance of how he had stopped it was still bitter.