The Heiresses (16 page)

The three girls looked at each other.

“That’s if we’re still in this. Together?” Ro asked, hesitantly, when there was no reply. “I really do think this is our only way forward—to find out the truth. All of it.”

After a moment or two, Clio managed a small nod, her eyes not quite meeting Ro’s own.

As for Thalia, she gave a wry grin. “Well, all right, then. Together. Until the bitter end.”

*   *   *

The next morning, Ro made her way to Cadogan Place and what she hoped was the current residence of Dr. Hollingsworth. Only a very short distance from Hestia’s town house, the walk took her no time at all. Unfortunately, this meant she had little time in which to rehearse her lines before she found herself knocking briskly on the front door of the redbrick house. Ro was not the kind of person who liked to be unprepared and found her heart racing skittishly as she waited for the door in front of her to open, which, before long, it did.

A maid appeared. “I was hoping Dr. Hollingsworth might be at home?” Ro blurted out nervously, before the poor girl could even speak.

The girl blinked at her. “No, miss. Dr. Hollingsworth has not been well for some time. Last year he had to be moved to a home for retired professional gentlemen.”

“Oh.” Ro’s shoulders sagged. “Is that far from here?”

“No, miss. On the south side of Brompton Road.”

Before long, Ro had secured the address and was off once more on foot—this time to Brompton Road—asking directions as she went.

When she located the home, Ro stood outside the iron gates of the residence for a moment to gather her thoughts and courage. The home was larger than Ro had expected, with one main building at the back and two wings toward the front, giving it a
U
shape. It was well kept and, inside the gates, there was a small garden at the front of the property, where a few men were sitting on wooden bench seats, enjoying the small amount of sunshine the day offered. A few other men were scattered about the place in wheelchairs, with rugs firmly tucked around their laps for warmth, and one man made his way about the garden with the help of a cane.

After a few deep breaths, Ro opened the gate and entered the premises. As hard as she tried to decide upon exactly what she was going to say and exactly how she was going to say it, she found that the more she tried to plan, the more she seemed to be at a loss for words. She would simply have to see where the visit took her.

A nurse pointed her in the direction of the matron’s office, who was in charge of signing visitors in and out. When she located the room, just inside the front entrance of the building, she could see an older woman, with a graying bun and a sensible, stiff uniform, sitting and writing away busily at a large wooden desk. “Excuse me,” Ro said as she knocked hesitantly on the half-open door.

“Yes?” The woman looked up.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, but I’d like to call upon someone.” Ro wanted to pinch herself on hearing the words coming out of her mouth in a whisper—to pull this off she would need to be far braver than this.

“And who would that be?” The no-nonsense woman continued to inspect her closely.

“Dr. Hollingsworth,” Ro replied, realizing, stupidly, she had not even thought to inquire after his first name.

“Dr. Hollingsworth.” The woman seemed slightly surprised. She stood up now. “And are you a relative?”

This was her chance to be brave, Ro realized. Quickly, she asked herself what Thalia would do in this situation. “Oh, yes,” she replied in a flash. “I’m his niece. I would have liked to visit before, but I’ve been living abroad for a number of years…”

The woman nodded briskly. “Well, that will be nice for him. He doesn’t have many visitors. Now, if you’ll just sign in here”—she picked up a book and placed it closer to Ro, on the other side of the desk—“I’ll take you right to him.”

Having signed a false name, Ro was led back out into the garden and toward one of the men in wheelchairs, whom she had walked straight past before. “Now, you will know, of course, that he can become confused and agitated. If there are any problems, one of the nurses will help you. If he can’t remember who you are, try not to force him. It’s best if we can keep him calm. Sometimes family members pressing residents to recall certain names, details, or events, can do more harm than good.”

Ro nodded, concerned now. The very thing she
wanted
to do was press Dr. Hollingsworth to remember a certain event.

“Dr. Hollingsworth!” The woman spoke loudly. “Your niece is here to see you! Isn’t that a lovely surprise?” Dr. Hollingsworth looked up at both of them rather blankly, which worried Ro slightly. Perhaps he would remember nothing at all?

“I’ll just move you over here, so your niece can sit down and you can have a wonderful chat together.” The woman adeptly maneuvered Dr. Hollingsworth’s wheelchair over to one of the spare wooden benches, gestured for Ro to sit down, and then started back toward her office once more.

“Thank you,” Ro said, meekly sitting. Ro was half glad she was gone, half terrified of what she must do next. But this was the only way to discover the entire truth about the girls’ shared pasts and to find Clio’s true father—to track down the people who had been present at the time. This did not mean they would be able to trust everything told to them, but surely it would help to piece together the events of their birth as they happened?

She turned to Dr. Hollingsworth. In front of her she saw a shell of a man, wizened and, seemingly, shrunken—as if he had once been rather portly, but was now incapable of maintaining his former size.

“Who are you?” Dr. Hollingsworth leaned forward slightly in his chair to inspect her.

Ro panicked. “Your niece! You don’t recall me at all?”

“No.” He sat back in his chair once more, frowning. “Jemima or Amabel?”

“Amabel,” Ro said, firmly. “Don’t you remember me?”

Dr. Hollingsworth leaned forward once more. “You’re much less fat.”

“So are you!” Ro responded gamely, thinking again of Thalia. And perhaps this was the right answer, because Dr. Hollingsworth suddenly roared with laughter, making her jump.

“Quite right, quite right.”

With this display of humanity, Ro balked a little, worrying about taking advantage of an old man. However, she knew the man in front of her might be old and confused, but he had once been in charge of all his faculties and his actions had most likely led to the premature death of her mother. With this thought, Ro found the courage to press on.

“I wanted to visit you today to ask you about something,” she began.

“And what’s that?”

“I met someone the other day … a girl … she is one of triplets.”

“Oh, yes. Delivered many a set of twins in my time, you know.”

“I know.” Ro nodded, encouragingly. “But she is one of
triplets
. Have you ever delivered any triplets?”

There was a pause where, Ro thought, Dr. Hollingsworth’s eyes lit up slightly, then his face darkened. “No, don’t think so,” he barked. “Only twins.”

Ro bit her bottom lip and thought hard for a moment, unsure of how to approach this. But Dr. Hollingsworth seemed calm, so she decided to push a little harder. Perhaps if she muddled things up herself? “Oh, really? Because this girl told me you delivered her. And her two sisters.”

“Three girls?” Dr. Hollingsworth frowned deeply now.

“Yes,” Ro added, hurriedly. “Their father’s name was William.” She paused as a nurse walked by with her charge. “Apparently he sent all three of them off to relatives after birth, but now they have returned to the city.”

“What?” Dr. Hollingsworth spluttered. “He told? William? After all these years?”

“Well, yes,” Ro said slowly, sensing that Dr. Hollingsworth knew much about this matter that she did not.

“He’s admitted it all? Even about the third one?”

Ro held her breath for a moment, hoping he would reveal more. “Yes…”

Dr. Hollingsworth frowned deeply. “Well. That’s an odd turn of events, I must say. I wonder why he would do that? And there is no legal bother?”

“I don’t think so,” Ro replied, still ruminating on his comment about Clio, the “third one.”

Silence fell over the pair. In it, Ro tried very hard to plan her next move correctly. “What I really wanted to find out for her was who was at the birth. Was it just you?” She finally tried.

“No, no. There was William himself, of course. And some silly woman.” Dr. Hollingsworth picked intermittently at his blanket.

“Hestia?” Ro tried. “The mother’s sister?”

“Yes, that’s it. Annoying, that one.”

“And a midwife?”

“Yes, I remember that now. Had never met her before. Seemed quite competent, though. Would have used her again, but William sent her off somewhere, of course, because of all the bother.”

Ro’s face hardened on hearing her mother’s death called a bother. “Was there anyone else?”

Dr. Hollingsworth shrugged.

“A maid?”

Another shrug. “Why would I take any notice of a maid?”

Ro shook her head slightly, it seemed there was no new information to be found here. She wondered why she had even bothered to come. Though she knew it was because she did not yet fully trust her aunt and neither did her sisters. She had noted how subdued Clio was after returning from her talk with Hestia the previous day and had guessed that they had spoken about more than simply her mother’s health. Thalia, of course, trusted no one. Ro doubted much had ever changed on that account and, most likely, never would.

“Oh, I remember something else now.” Dr. Hollingsworth laughed. “William’s mistress. She was there. There was a bit of fun and games that day with her!”

Ro’s eyes homed back in on the man in front of her now. “What do you mean?” she asked, reminding herself to breathe. To keep calm.

“Just like I said. William’s mistress was there. And she wasn’t happy, was she? Can’t blame her, myself.”

“Who was that? What was her name? Why was she there?” Ro found she couldn’t help herself now—the questions tumbled, unbidden, from her lips. William’s mistress was there? He must mean Charles’s mother was there. Mustn’t he? But how odd.

“You ask too many questions. What do you care about it, anyway?” Dr. Hollingsworth suddenly grumbled. The picking at his blanket increased.

“I’m sorry,” Ro tried. “It’s just that this girl … she was very eager to know.”

“Well, maybe she should ask her father then.”

“Maybe, but…” Obviously, Dr. Hollingsworth had not heard of William’s death.

“Didn’t your mother tell you not to argue, girl?”

“Yes, but…”

“Nurse! Nurse!!” Dr. Hollingsworth started to try to raise himself from his wheelchair now. Instantly, Ro stood up, ready to flee, again thinking of Thalia. What would Thalia do? Run? Stay?

In the end, Ro decided to stay. And in the few seconds the pair had alone together before a nurse joined them, Ro found herself doing something Thalia-ish indeed. With one hand on one of his shoulders, she pressed Dr. Hollingsworth back into his chair. Hard. And then she leaned over and whispered close to his ear. “I’ll never forgive you for what you did to my mother, turning that more experienced doctor away. You were a terrible doctor and you are an evil man.”

Dr. Hollingsworth moved to stare up at her with terrified eyes, realizing he had been tricked. “Nurse!!!” he cried out again.

When the nurse reached him, Ro spoke first. “I’m so sorry, I haven’t seen him for some time and it’s confused him—trying to remember who I am, I mean. That happens to the brain, you see, when you drink in the vile way that he did. Good day.”

And with that, Ro fled, not bothering to sign herself out.

*   *   *

“Look what I’ve got!” Thalia crowed, as Ro burst in to the drawing room.

“What have you got now?” Ro asked, when she had caught her breath. She bent down to pat an excited Haggis McTavish on the head. “Another dog? A flamingo, perhaps?”

Thalia brandished a policeman’s truncheon in front of her. “Do you like it? I think it will come in rather handy where Charles is concerned.” She knew Ro would make an almighty fuss and was daring her to go ahead and make it. “I stole it!” she added triumphantly, as Clio looked on from an armchair, as was her usual way.

“What? You stole it? Why would you do that?” Ro asked.

“Why not? I was out with Venetia and a few others this morning and we were frightfully bored. Someone dared someone else to do something or other and before I knew it, I was up for a policeman’s truncheon!”

Ro snorted inelegantly. “And if they had dared you to jump off Tower Bridge, would you have done that, too?”

Thalia laughed. “Maybe.” She lifted her chin. “I’m a half-decent swimmer, I’ll have you know. Mind you, jumping into the Thames might have been a very good idea at the time. Then I wouldn’t have found myself in the magistrate’s court, would I?”

“What?” Ro said, louder this time.

“Oh, don’t fuss.” Thalia waved a hand. “It was nothing. We all gave false names and addresses, of course. But what do you think I gave my name as?” She stared Ro straight in the eye now, her heart beating wildly in her chest with the admission. If Ro was cross now, she would be positively furious when she heard this.

“I can’t imagine, but I’m sure you’re about to tell me.” Ro’s jaw was firmly set.

“Thalia Craven-Towneley!” Thalia replied, smiling wickedly. “And do you know there were two women there who noticed? I was quite surprised!” As Clio gasped and Ro visibly blanched, Thalia tried desperately to look as if she hadn’t a care in the world. Quite the opposite, she had been shocked when someone recognized the name (which they had and had even whispered about it, with backward glances at Thalia).

She knew full well her actions had been unwise, especially since her private secret meeting with Charles, when he had specifically given her money to return to the country for a month with Ro and Clio. When she had informed Charles of their mutual “decision” to try living together in the country, he had seemed dubious at best.

“And where will you go?” he’d asked, as he drew up a check.

Thalia had had to think on the spot. “Shropshire,” she said, only having the vaguest notion where Shropshire actually was.