Down Weaver's Lane (46 page)

‘Better not try to find her yet, sir,’ Eli said gently. ‘The law would be on the husband’s side unless anything were proven.’

‘But surely we can . . .’

‘At the moment we can prove nothing. As I’ve pointed out, these are mostly my deductions and suppositions. I believe them to be true, but they wouldn’t hold up in court. And if we said anything, we’d alert Armistead to the fact that we suspect him, whereas if we keep our suspicions to ourselves, he may grow careless. You can be sure I’ll be ready for that. In the meantime you must act normally with him.’

‘Act normally with him!
How can I, now?’

‘You have to, for Emmy Carter’s sake.’

Samuel stared down at his tightly clasped hands for so long that Eli wondered if he was all right.

When he looked up, he said slowly, ‘Eli, I’m truly grateful for your honesty today.’

‘It was more than time we had a chat, sir. I’m worried about Emmy Carter coming back to Northby. If Armistead is still obsessed with her, she’s in great danger and Jack Staley can’t be with her every hour of the day.’

 

After work Jack made his way home with the greatest reluctance. His mother glared at him. ‘You’re back then.’

‘Yes.’

When he didn’t say anything else, Netta smirked. ‘I knew you wouldn’t find her. She’ll have getten hersen another protector by now.’

‘I did find her, and brought her back to stay with Parson.’

She began to clatter some dishes around, muttering, ‘Well, at least you haven’t brought her here, that’s one relief.’

Shad, Ginny and Joe, who were sitting at the table, stopped eating to stare from their mother to their elder brother.

Jack glanced at them and saw that Ginny, who was always soft-hearted, had an anxious look on her face while Joey was huddled close to his sister. Shad winked at Jack, an expression of sympathy on his face. He never said much, but didn’t miss much, either, and the look he cast at their mother was distinctly unfriendly.

Jack took a deep breath. Might as well get it over. ‘I’m happy to tell you all that Emmy and I are getting wed as soon as the banns have been called and you’re all invited to the wedding.’

A plate smashed to the ground. ‘No! You can’t do it!’ his mother exclaimed shrilly, heedless of the shards of pottery around her. ‘If you bring her back here, I’ll walk out of the door and throw myself in the river.’

Anger rose in Jack as he suddenly remembered old quarrels between his mother and father. She had used such stupid threats then until in the end his father had laughed at them - and her. ‘Go and do it, then,’ he snapped. ‘I shan’t stop you!’

She put one hand up to her throat, opened her mouth then closed it again.

‘Can we really come to the wedding?’ Shad asked.

Jack turned to him. ‘Of course you can, lad. In fact, I want you all there.’

Netta found her voice. ‘They’ll not!’

‘How will you stop them, Mam?’

‘I’ll tear up their clothes afore I’ll let them.’

He stared at her, aghast, realising this was the sort of threat she would carry out. She had once ripped up one of Meg’s bodices because she said it was indecent. ‘Right then, we’d better settle a few matters. Is there food for me?’

His mother nodded sullenly.

‘Then serve it. And afterwards, leave washing the dishes. I’ve other things to tell you. I’m not having any more of these stupid threats of yours. You drove Meg away, always nagging her. You’re not doing that to these three or to my Emmy.’ Jack sat down and folded his arms.

The others finished their meal in silence. His mother pushed her food around her plate, then shoved it away from her and muttered something.

Afterwards Ginny stood up to clear the table, glancing anxiously towards her mother who was now weeping silently.

Jack said gently, ‘Sit down again, Ginny love.’

His mother stood up. He’d seen that trick before, too. ‘You as well!’ he roared. ‘Or I’ll bloody well tie you down.’ He sounded just like his father. He knew now why Jem had shouted a lot, by hell he did.

‘Emmy’s in trouble. Bad trouble. A rich man wants to use her like her mother and has already tried to kidnap her. Only she doesn’t want him, she wants to marry me, and that’s what we’re going to do.’

‘Let him have her, Jack. You can’t afford to get on the wrong side of someone with money,’ Netta begged.

He was sickened by her selfishness. ‘How can you say that?’

She stared back at him defiantly. ‘Because I’m thinking of you.’

‘Well, I’m looking forward to the wedding,’ Shad said. ‘And if Mam lays a finger on any of my clothes, I’ll rip hers up for her in return.’

Ginny gave Jack a shy smile. ‘Your Emmy’s lovely. I’ve seen her in town.’ She looked nervously at her mother, then, in response to a nudge from Shad, said in a rush, ‘I’d like to come to the wedding.’

Joey looked from one to the other, bewildered by the anger that was crackling between Jack and their mother.

Shad continued to talk quietly. ‘I’m right glad for you too, Jack lad. And with what me an’ Ginny earn, you won’t have to give Mam much. If you can pay the rent here, I reckon we could manage the rest all right.’

With a sob, Netta rushed upstairs.

Jack looked at his brother gratefully. ‘Thanks for your support, lad.’ He smiled at them all. ‘An’ Mam can do as she pleases, but I want you three to come and meet Emmy properly after church on Sunday.’

‘Is she as nice as she looks?’ Ginny ventured.

‘She’s the kindest, prettiest lass in the world,’ he said, a besotted smile on his face at the mere thought of his darling.

 

After Jack’s return, Isaac thought long and hard, before deciding that he must see his niece. It was more than time she knew the truth about her parentage.

He was admitted to the Parsonage and was allowed to see Emmy on her own. ‘Are you all right, my dear?’

‘Yes.’ Her face looked soft and happy. ‘You know that Jack and I are going to be married?’ She indicated that he should sit beside her on the sofa.

‘He told me. I’m pleased for you.’

Her joyful expression clouded a little. ‘We have to hope that Marcus Armistead will stop pursuing me.’

‘He cannot be so stupid as to continue now that people know about him.’

She was not sure of that, but she did not intend to let fear of Marcus stop her marrying the man she loved. ‘What did you want to see me about?’

‘Your father.’

She stiffened and drew away from him. ‘I don’t want to know about him.’

‘It’s more than time. Please listen to me. You remember the man who came to your mother’s funeral?’

‘Mr Reynolds, the lawyer?’

‘Yes. Well, he’s also your uncle.’

She stared at him in shock. ‘Why did he not say?’

Isaac shrugged. ‘The Reynolds wanted nothing more to do with you and your mother after your father’s death.’ As she opened her mouth, looking angry now, he held up one hand. ‘Let me finish. Your mother was married to your father, though she did not marry him for several months after they ran away together, which upset both families. I believe he married her because she was expecting his child - and of course that child was you. So your name is really Emmeline Reynolds and—’

‘No! I want nothing to do with them. Nor will I ever take their name.’

‘Emmy, my dear—’

Her expression was fierce now, her voice low and passionate. ‘If they had looked after her after my father died, my mother would not have had to turn to a life like that. She was no more capable of looking after herself than a - a butterfly!’

He was silent, acknowledging to himself the truth of this, then said sadly, ‘I should have done more, too. She was my sister.’

She nodded, the look she turned on him unusually severe.

‘Did you never read those papers Douglas Reynolds gave you, Emmy?’

‘No.’

‘They contain your mother’s marriage lines.’

She gave a mirthless laugh. ‘They’re still in your house, actually, hidden in the attic.’ She explained.

‘I’ll bring them to you.’

She shrugged, not really wanting them - not wanting anything to do with her father’s family, even angrier now that she knew the truth. ‘The only thing I’m glad about is that I’m not bastard born. For Jack’s sake.’

And even when her uncle Isaac retrieved the package of papers, she didn’t open them, didn’t want to. Let the Reynolds keep their secrets. She was Emmy Carter now.

 

Emmy settled in quickly at the Parsonage, finding the hours flying past as she shared the work and chatted to the others. In the evenings she started sewing some underclothes with Cass’s help. She had intended to make herself a new dress, because she had enough money to buy some material and wanted to look nice for Jack. But Mrs Bradley brought out from her stores of cast-offs from rich friends a dress in fine blue wool that was so beautiful Emmy accepted it at once. It had hardly been worn and was of the finest quality material. The colour was so lovely it made her feel happy just to touch its soft folds. It had been made for a much taller and stouter woman so needed quite a few alterations, but Cass helped her work on it.

Two days after their return, Jack turned up at the Parsonage during his midday break and took Emmy to see the two cottages belonging to Mr Rishmore that were vacant. Neither of them was really suitable. The better one was too far outside the village for safety and the other was damp and very dark, situated in the middle of one of the narrow streets that ran parallel to Weavers Lane.

‘It’ll have to be this one,’ Emmy said at last when they had walked round the four small dark rooms in silence. ‘We can whitewash the walls. It’ll look better then.’

Jack looked round and grimaced. ‘I doubt it. And it’ll still be damp. Eh, I wanted something better for us, love. The other place was far nicer, but here you’ll be surrounded by neighbours.’

She looked up at him, her eyes troubled. ‘I’m bringing danger on you just by being here.’

‘No.’ He tugged her into his arms, not holding her too tightly which always made her tense, and for once she rested her head against his chest and sighed. ‘I can’t bear the thought of losing you, darling Emmy,’ he murmured into her soft shining hair. ‘If we have to move away, we’ll go together.’

‘And your family?’

‘Are not in danger like you are.’

‘I don’t want to take you away from them - or from a good job. And I don’t really want to leave Northby.’

He laughed, a bitter sound. ‘I’d be glad to find some other job.’ When she looked up at him in surprise, he confessed, ‘I’m not made to be shut up indoors. The noise of that mill drives me mad while the office is like a - a cage. Sometimes I feel like running out of it and never going back.’

‘But what else could you do?’ she asked with a frown.

‘I’ve allus had a dream to run a little shop and be my own master. You can pop in and out as you please if you’re your own master, walk to the door and just enjoy a bit of sun on your face. And there’s no damned machinery pounding away. Eh, that’d be the life!’ He sighed. ‘Only you need money to start up and buy the stock—and I’d need some experience before I’d know how to run a shop properly. I have none and no chance of getting any, so I don’t know why I even think of it.’ He smiled ruefully. ‘Well, you can’t stop yourself dreaming, can you?’

‘I have the money, Jack. Mrs Tibby’s savings. And we could sell the silver, too, if that’s not enough.’

He smiled down at her. ‘If we didn’t have this threat hanging over us, maybe we could do summat like that, but as it is I think you’re safer here in Northby, where Parson and Eli Makepeace can keep an eye on you, than among strangers. And you’ll have Hercules, too, don’t forget. He’d soon let you know if someone tried to break in.’

Emmy didn’t say anything else that night, but she was beginning to feel depressed. Not once since her return had she dared go out alone and things wouldn’t change overnight just because she had a wedding ring. Marcus Armistead was not only evil but obsessed. When he had held her prisoner his eyes had had a wild light which had frightened her far more than the horrible way he had touched her - and those staring eyes haunted her nightmares still.

 

Samuel Rishmore called Isaac into his office. ‘Where’s

 

Staley going to live after he’s married?’

‘There’s only the cottage on Bates Road.’

‘What about the place Mrs Oswald used to live in? That’s still empty.’

‘It belongs to the Armistead.’

‘Marcus is selling everything and intends to settle in Manchester permanently. There’s someone interested in buying Moor Grange but they don’t want all the other little places so he offered them to me. Go and see Armistead’s man of business. Tell him I’ll buy them all if he’ll push the sale through quickly.’

Isaac stared at him. ‘That’s very kind of you.’

Samuel shrugged, his expression bleak. ‘I hope I am learning a little kindness. If ever I find my daughter again, I pray we can lay the past to rest and live happily together.’ He shook his head. ‘Jane must have planned things very well to have got away with no trace.’

‘She always seemed a clever little lass when she used to come into the mill to see you. If she’d been a boy . . .’

‘Yes. I didn’t give her enough credit.’ Samuel changed the subject firmly, unused to baring his innermost thoughts. ‘How are your own daughters?’

‘Dinah’s very happy at her school and doesn’t want to come home even during the holidays, because of her mother. I miss her. Lal’s unhappy, but her one visit home was such a disaster, I haven’t let her come back again. I fear she’s too like her mother.’ Isaac bowed his head as he admitted, ‘I may have to find somewhere to put my wife away, somewhere they’ll care for her properly. She’s growing increasingly strange in her behaviour. Not really rational at all now.’