Down Weaver's Lane (53 page)

On Saturday someone knocked on the front door of the cottage where Emmy was unpacking her things, ready to move here properly after her wedding the following day. She glanced out of the window and recognised Douglas Reynolds, the man she now knew to be her father’s brother. ‘He’s here, Jack. Remember, you promised not to leave me alone with him!’

She didn’t know why Mr Reynolds wanted to see her, but she certainly didn’t want to see him. Her Uncle Isaac’s explanation had made no difference to that. Her father’s family had abandoned her mother and therefore Emmy as well. She moved across to the sofa, sitting where Mrs Tibby had always sat, which gave her the courage to hold her head up and face whatever their visitor had to say.

Jack went to open the door.

Douglas Reynolds hesitated on the threshold as his niece gazed at him coolly from the sofa. When she gestured to a chair opposite he sat down, wondering where to start.

Jack sat down next to Emmy and took hold of her hand.

‘I’m sorry you’ve had such a hard time,’ the visitor began.

She shrugged. ‘It’s over now.’ She did not want to talk about it to him.

‘Did you - um—ever look at those papers I gave you?’

She shook her head.

He looked a bit nonplussed. ‘Oh. Do you still have them?’

‘Yes. But it makes no difference to me. I want nothing to do with your family. Nothing!’

He flushed and bowed his head for a moment, then said in a low voice, ‘After Emerick’s death my father gave your mother money and told her never to come to us for help again - and she didn’t. We didn’t know how bad things were.’

Emmy’s voice was level, but her anger showed. ‘He’d terrified her. She thought they’d have her put in a House of Correction if she went back to them for help.’

‘We assumed - wrongly - that she must have remarried. And then when you turned up again, we thought you’d be safe with your other uncle.’

‘Because you still didn’t want anything to do with her daughter!’ Emmy turned to Jack. ‘Well, at least I’m not bastard born, love. I won’t be bringing that shame on you.’

‘I wouldn’t have cared.’

‘I did.’ She looked back at the man opposite them and her expression grew cool again. ‘I don’t understand why you’ve bothered to come and see me today. You could have written to tell me this.’

He felt he owed her the truth. ‘Your other uncle wanted me to meet you.’ And to his surprise he found that Isaac Butterfield was right. This was a decent young woman, albeit one who still bore the marks of her dreadful experience in bruises on her flesh and shadows beneath her eyes, even though it was over a week since her abduction.

‘What do you want of me? I’m not going to disappear again just to keep your family’s good name unsullied. My mother changed her name to Carter. That should be enough for the Reynolds family, surely?’

‘We don’t want you to disappear!’ he said sharply. ‘We want to make reparation. Give you a dowry, so that you can be comfortable.’

‘Money again! Is that your family’s answer to everything?’ When he didn’t answer, Emmy continued scornfully, ‘Well, I wouldn’t accept a penny from you! If you’d looked after my mother as you ought to have done, none of this would have happened. She might even be alive still. And I’d not have had such a difficult childhood.’ Her voice broke on the words, but she blinked back the tears, determined to have her say this once at least. ‘If that’s all you’ve come for, you can just go away again. A much kinder woman has given me a dowry and my Jack can earn what we need to live on. I never want to see or hear from the Reynolds family again.’

Jack stood up. ‘Shall I show you out now, sir?’

‘Think about it. Let us make some reparation, at least.’

She shook her head. She was not going to let them buy absolution from their guilt.

Jack held the door open, his expression grim. When Mr Reynolds had left he closed it with a bang.

Emmy took a deep breath. ‘Did you mind - what I said to him, I mean? That I don’t want their money.’

He smiled and came to take her in his arms. ‘I agreed with you completely. Mrs Tibby’s money is truly yours, given with love and earned by love.
Their
money would be tainted.’ He couldn’t imagine how anyone could abandon a member of their own family as they had. For all his mother’s spite and temper, the recriminations she piled on him at the slightest excuse, he still would not dream of leaving her without the means to live in simple comfort.

Emmy leaned forward to kiss his cheek. ‘Oh, Jack, you’re a lovely fellow.’

‘Lovely enough for you to make me a cup of tea?’ He saw with relief that his request had diverted her thoughts from the Reynolds family.

‘Eh, I’ve never met anyone who drinks as much tea as you do, Jack Staley.’ She led the way into the kitchen, where Hercules greeted her with a hopeful wag, then settled down again in his basket when she didn’t produce any food.

Quietly busy, Emmy and Jack put the final touches to their home, both looking forward to starting life here together after their wedding the next day. As always they were at ease together, never short of conversation, enjoying even the silences as long as they were shared. It had always been like that between them and both were convinced it always would be.

 

The next day the little church was crowded for the normal Sunday service. After the ceremony some members of the congregation left, but many stayed on to watch the wedding of Emmy Carter to the sturdy young fellow who had so bravely rescued her when she’d been abducted.

Among those who stayed were Samuel and Margaret Rishmore, with their daughter Jane who had suddenly turned up again. The sight of her had set the gossips whispering to one another, but no one knew where she’d been or why.

Margaret turned to look towards the rear of the church and said softly to Jane, ‘Doesn’t she look beautiful?’

Jane nodded. This was nothing like her wedding.

The sun sent long rays slanting down through the stained glass window above the altar, painting the lace collar and cuffs of Emmy’s blue dress with multicoloured jewels of light as Isaac led his niece down the aisle.

Emmy had thought she would feel shy to be doing this in front of so many people, but with Jack smiling at her from in front of the altar and her uncle beside her, she held her head proudly and walked steadily forward to join the man she loved.

Mrs Bradley beamed at her and Jack’s brothers and sister offered shy smiles from where they were sitting next to the Parson’s wife, awed to be out here at the front of the church with the gentry.

Only Jack’s mother had stayed away, but they had expected that. Emmy was sorry the woman had refused to join them, but was not going to let that spoil her day - or her life. Babs’ example gave her courage to face a lot of things, including what had happened to her. She would invite her friend over to stay with them one day soon and tell her how much she had helped her. In the meantime she had written to let Babs and Cook know about her marriage.

The words the Parson spoke caught the two young people up in a kind of magic as they bound Emmy Carter to Jack Staley for as long as they both should live. As she spoke her responses clearly and confidently she had eyes only for him. And if his voice was a little hoarse with emotion and his eyes over-bright, well, no one thought the worse of him for that, for his love shone in his face and everyone knew how he’d risked his life to rescue the woman he loved.

Isaac watched them with tears in his eyes. They could so easily have been facing a tragedy, but instead their love and courage had brought everything to a happy conclusion and they were both moving bravely on from the dreadful events. He only wished his own situation could be equally well resolved, but he was going to commit his wife to a home for the insane and still did not dare bring Lal home, for she was furious at the world and could not speak of her cousin without spitting out hatred. Dinah, though - he smiled - he had some hope for. His younger daughter had started to write to him regularly now.

After the ceremony the young couple were escorted by their friends to the Parsonage where a feast was waiting for them, a meal in which Cook had shown her affection for Emmy in the way she knew best.

When Emmy tried to thank her, Cook said gruffly, ‘It’s something to celebrate, lass, your wedding is. An’ I shall be happy to come round and visit you. Very happy. Thank you.’ After which speech, she blew her nose loudly and went to bang the pots and pans around till she had recovered her composure.

In the dining room the guests were standing talking politely. The three Staley children were clustered together in one corner. Eyes gleaming in anticipation, Shad poked Ginny in the ribs. ‘I’ve never seen so much food in my life.’

‘Well, make sure you remember your manners.’ She put an arm round Joey and gave him a quick hug, for he was so overawed by the company he had not said a word since they entered the house. ‘I like Emmy, don’t you? I think Mam’s wrong about her.’

‘Mam’s a miserable old sod,’ he said.

She gave him a jab with her elbow. ‘Shad Staley, mind your language. Think where you are.’

He flushed. ‘Sorry.’

A minute later Ginny asked quietly, ‘Do you think Jack really will find our Meg?’

‘I don’t know. If he can’t, no one can.’

When Parson brought Samuel Rishmore, his wife and daughter in to join them, everyone fell silent.

Prudence nudged Emmy. ‘You and Jack must go and welcome them. This is your celebration, after all.’

Taking a deep breath, Emmy summoned up the image of Babs again and took hold of Jack’s arm.

‘We won’t stay long, but we’ve come to wish you well,’ Samuel said.

Jane just smiled at them.

Always pleased to see a young couple in love, Margaret proffered a parcel and said, ‘I hope you’ll be very happy together. We thought you might like this.’

Emmy opened it and gasped with pleasure. ‘A clock. Oh, it’s so pretty! It’ll look lovely on the mantelpiece. Thank you very much, Mrs Rishmore.’

‘We have something else to tell you.’ Samuel hesitated. ‘I think it’ll please you particularly, Jack. It was your Uncle Isaac who suggested it, Mrs Staley.’

Emmy beamed as she heard him call her that.
Mrs Staley.
It was a name to be proud of, a name that was truly her own.

‘I’ve been wanting to start a shop for my workers - and for the poorer people in the town.’ He frowned. ‘Grandma Hickley’s place is very run down, so I’ve paid her off and want you to manage the shop for me instead, Jack. With your help I intend to ensure that there is wholesome food available to all at reasonable prices. An army marches on its stomach, you know.’

Jack hesitated but could not be less than honest. ‘I’d love to, sir. It’s always been a dream of mine to run a shop, but I don’t have any experience.’

‘No, but you understand accounts now, Isaac tells me, and that’s a start. Anyway, an old friend of your uncle’s has agreed to come here for a year or two and show you how to go on. He and his wife are feeling their age and wish for an easier life. The arrangement would suit us all—if you’d agree?’

Jack looked at the man who held so many lives in the palm of his hand, the man who had kept him tied to the mill and was now releasing him. The last of his burdens lifted, for although he’d have toiled in the mill all his life for Emmy and the children he hoped to have, he much preferred another sort of job. ‘Sir, I can’t thank you enough. It’s the thing that attracts me most, shopkeeping is.’

‘Isaac says you never did like working in the mill.’

‘No, sir. The noise makes my head ache and sometimes I feel as if I can’t breathe.’

‘And yet you have given satisfaction and done your work to the best of your ability. No one can do more than that. And you’ve more than proved that you’re not a hothead like your father and brother.’ Samuel lowered his voice. ‘I’m sorry your mother isn’t here today.’

Jack shrugged. ‘I doubt she’ll ever change.’ But at least Emmy’s money would mean she was no longer a burden to him.

Samuel turned back to his family. ‘Well, my dears, it’s time we went home and left these young people to celebrate their marriage with their friends.’

‘It must have been dreadful to be married to
him,’
Emmy said softly as the door closed behind them. ‘I hope Jane Rishmore finds happiness now,’

‘You want everyone to be happy,’ Jack teased.

‘Yes, I do.’ She clung to his arm, her eyes glowing with love. ‘Though they can’t be as blissfully happy as I am because they’re not married to you.’

When she raised his hand to her lips and pressed a quick kiss on it, he was suddenly sure that although it might take a while, she would truly be his wife one day. Even after only ten days, she was beginning to touch him, to speak more lovingly. ‘Eh, I’ll be glad when we can go home and be together quietly. If it’s fine tomorrow, we’ll go for a walk up on the moors, shall we? I’ve got a whole week off work.’

She nodded and then pointed, crying, ‘Oh, no! Hercules has got into the house again.’

With much hilarity the guests helped them recapture the dog and then raised their glasses to wish the newly-weds long life and happiness.

It was Cass who later let Jack and Emmy out quietly through the kitchen and closed the door on them and the prancing dog with a sentimental sigh. ‘Eh, it does your heart good to see how he looks at her, doesn’t it?’

And Cook had to blow her nose very vigorously again.