Ha'Penny Schemes (Ivy Rose Series Book 4), page 7
“I’m simply asking you to carry a message to a dear friend of mine. Surely that isn’t too much to ask of you?”
“Valeria married and moved away from The Lane before you ever left.” It was typical of him to think only of himself.
“Good Lord, I’d forgotten.” He pushed his soft hands through his beautifully coiffed black hair. “Shay!” he barked out. “You must have an address for our famous brother Shay. You two were always close.”
She stared deep into his blue eyes. There was only a year’s difference in age between them. She’d once been able to read him like a book. “You’re looking for a hand-out.”
“I have need of liquid funds – yes.”
“There is this invention, Eamo,” she refused to call him by anything else. “It’s called work – you were never very fond of it as I recall – you get paid in liquid funds for hours worked. You should try it.” She grabbed her pram and walked quickly away, leaving him standing staring after her. She knew he’d keep after her until he’d achieved whatever devious plan he had in mind. She’d be prepared next time. She had to wonder though – what on earth could Valeria Gibson have to do with anything?
Ivy, still shaken by her encounter with her brother, parked her well-stuffed pram at the back of Ann Marie’s house just off the Grand Canal. She stared at the pram for a moment. The amount of items she received on her round was both a blessing and a curse. Where was she going to store this lot? When would she get around to moving it along? She’d have gone straight home but she’d promised to drop in and visit Ann Marie.
She hit the back door with her knuckles before opening it and putting her head inside.
“It’s only me, Sadie!” she called, pushing her pram inside the door. She set the brake before walking down the long dark hall into the spotlessly clean, glaringly white kitchen.
“In the name of God, Sadie, what’s wrong?”
Her friend was hunched over the kitchen table, a picture of misery.
“Ivy!” Sadie’s usual wide smile was missing. “I’ll put the kettle on.” She pushed herself to her feet.
“Where’s Ann Marie?” Ivy looked around the kitchen as if expecting her friend to suddenly appear out of thin air.
“Upstairs resting.” Sadie kept her back to Ivy while filling the kettle.
“Where’s your son?” Jamie – Sadie’s adopted son would be two this year – was usually running wildly around the kitchen or pushing his latest toy along the floor, a mischievous grin on his face.
“Dora took him out to feed the ducks.” Sadie was referring to her youngest daughter.
“What’s the matter, Sadie?”
“This isn’t working for me anymore, Ivy.” She turned, waving her hand around the large modern kitchen. “I can’t keep up with everything.”
Sadie and her family had moved into Ann Marie’s basement when her husband John Lawless started working for Jem. Ann Marie wanted to live without being surrounded by servants so the Lawless family took care of the house. Sadie had kept the family’s two tenement rooms like a little palace. She’d had no idea of the work involved when she’d agreed to see to the daily running of the big house in return for free housing. There was a cleaning crew, two women who did the rough work and a laundrywoman, but nonetheless the list of things needing to be done never seemed to end as far as Sadie was concerned.
“You put too much pressure on yourself.”
Sadie put her head in her hands, her blonde hair escaping from her bun. She raised sad blue eyes to Ivy. “Ever since Ann Marie married Emmy’s dad things have been different. I’m not saying anything against Edward O’Connor – he’s a lovely man – but his being here has changed everything.”
“You serve up the tea.” Ivy stood. Something needed to be done and they could make no decisions without Ann Marie. “I’ll go upstairs and get Ann Marie.” She knew Edward was collecting Emmy from school today. The pair usually spent some time together around Dublin before returning home.
“Ivy –” Sadie reached out as if to stop her friend before dropping her hand.
“Ann Marie!” Ivy shouted when she reached the main hall of the house. The place was so big Ann Marie could be anywhere.
“In here.” The voice came softly from the living room.
Ivy pushed open the door, surprised to see her friend stretched out on the leather couch, a soft blanket over her.
“What in the name of God is going on in this house? It’s like the house of the living dead.” The silent film of Dracula had been shown at the local theatre recently and vampires were a source of conversation and fascination around Dublin.
“I don’t feel at all well.” Ann Marie sat up, slowly lowering her feet to the floor.
Ivy inspected her friend. She did look pale, her creamy skin grey, the blue eyes without her usual gold-rimmed spectacles looked washed out. Oh, oh, Ivy thought, I know that look. With all the babies being born in The Lane this was a familiar sight. Ann Marie was in the puddin’ club if she wasn’t mistaken.
“I seem to be constantly nauseated. I’ve been feeling out of sorts for some time now.” Ann Marie pressed a trembling hand against her stomach. “I shall have to consult a doctor. I should have done it sooner.”
“Do you feel well enough to come downstairs?”
“Of course!” Ann Marie snapped in a manner very unlike her calm, composed nature.
Ivy dropped to her knees and began to put Ann Marie’s T-strap shoes on her feet.
“I’m not an invalid,” Ann Marie protested but made no effort to bend over and buckle her own shoes.
Ivy helped her friend to stand, waiting to be sure she was steady on her feet. The two women took the stairs down to the basement, Ivy keeping a careful eye on Ann Marie.
“Right!” Ivy slapped her hands together as soon as they walked through the door into the kitchen. “Time for a kitchen-table conference – I’m becoming very familiar with the bloody things. Sadie, is there e’er a biscuit?”
When the three women were seated around the kitchen table, tea and biscuits to hand, Ivy took control.
“First item on the agenda.” Ivy kept her eyes on the plate of biscuits, making her selection. “Sadie, would you cast an eye over our dear friend here and tell me what you think?” Sadie’s sister-in-law Patsy seemed to produce a baby or two every ten months. Her brother’s home was bursting at the seams with snotty-nosed kids.
“Oh my God!” Sadie swiped the butter-cream-filled biscuit from Ann Marie’s hand. Without another word she stepped over to the breadbin and with swift movements replaced the biscuit with a piece of dry bread. She sat back down and met Ann Marie’s astonished gaze. She felt so guilty – she’d been drowning in her own problems and had paid no attention to the woman whose home she lived in – she felt like kicking herself.
“Right, if I could just ask you a few questions of an intimate nature,” she said.
Sadie didn’t allow Ann Marie to refuse. She bit out a selection of questions about the workings of Ann Marie’s body. The questions brought a blush to Ann Marie’s cheeks and some of the answers she had to stop and think about but she answered them honestly.
“You’re in the family way.” Sadie pronounced, “and much further along than I would have supposed. If your memory serves you right you’re about five months along.”
Ann Marie sat back in her chair, stunned. She felt extremely foolish – she had given no thought to the possibility of being enceinte – how could she have overlooked the obvious? She’d put down the changes in her body to being a married woman. She was thirty-two years old – was she not too old to have a first baby?
“The signs are all there,” Sadie said. “I can’t believe we all missed them.”
“Congratulations, Ann Marie, you and Edward have made a baby,” Ivy said. “If you two make a baby as special as our Emmy you’ll have done well.”
Ann Marie slapped a hand to her mouth. The colour drained from her face.
“Put your head between your knees!” Sadie almost shouted, jumping to her feet. She put her hand on the back of Ann Marie’s head and gently pushed her head towards her knees. “We don’t want you fainting on this hard floor.” She met Ivy’s eyes over the bowed head – misery in her gaze – how could she leave Ann Marie now?
“I should go to bed.” Ann Marie’s voice was muffled. “I must consult a doctor at once. I’ll employ a nurse. I must begin to take care of myself.”
“Sit back up, Ann Marie,” Ivy said. “What you should do is nibble on that chunk of bread in front of you and sip a cup of weak tea. You’re expecting a baby, not dying.”
Chapter 12
“I must say you are both taking this very calmly.” Ann Marie was back on her leather sofa. She had insisted on returning to her living room.
“My sister-in-law has given birth to ten babies and counting.” Sadie had kicked off her shoes and was sitting on one of the leather armchairs with her legs bent underneath her. “I’ve had two babies meself. We are women, Ann Marie – having babies is what we do.”
“You can’t take to your bed like some rich useless woman, Ann Marie,” Ivy said. Her friend was suffering from what looked like an attack of the vapours to her. “Having a baby is a normal part of a woman’s life. You just have to be sensible and look after yourself.”
“This from the woman who has never given birth!” Ann Marie snapped.
“See!” Ivy laughed aloud. “You’re getting back to your normal charming self.”
“It’s your husband you have to worry about,” Sadie said.
“What!” Ann Marie was indignant. She was the one having the baby. She was the one who would suffer the discomfort of constant nausea and swelling. She deserved to be petted and cosseted. Edward was the one who had put her in this position.
“His first wife died in childbed,” Sadie said softly.
There was silence in the room while the women considered the effect this might have on Ann Marie’s husband.
“What is Patsy’s eldest girl doing now?” Ivy had listened for years to Sadie bemoan the life her eldest niece was forced to live. The girl could be of some use to Ann Marie.
“What has that got to do with anything?” Ann Marie demanded. She looked closely at her friend. There was something going on behind Ivy’s violet eyes – a darkness that she wasn’t accustomed to seeing. Was something wrong? She’d have to wait until she had Ivy alone to delve into the matter.
“I’m just thinking.”
“Look out, as Jem Ryan would say.” Ann Marie lay her aching head back and closed her eyes. It was perhaps a mistake to take her eyes off her friend. When Ivy Rose Murphy Ryan got thinking she was dangerous.
“She’s a lovely girl – Catherine,” Ivy said softly. “She’d be a great help to you with the day-to-day care of Emmy.” Ivy believed Emmy needed someone to oversee her care. Ann Marie and Edward had been raised by nannies. They didn’t seem to understand the companionship a young person needed. “She’d be company for Emmy and you can’t say the girl doesn’t have experience with expecting women and childbirth.”
“I couldn’t have Catherine here, Ivy,” Sadie protested. “I’d have Patsy under me feet morning, noon and night.”
“You might not be here,” Ivy said. “That was the second item to be discussed on our agenda.” She pushed to her feet and strolled through the richly furnished room towards the window. She pulled the lace curtain to one side and stared out at the winter garden stretching down to a tall wall that hid the view of the Grand Canal. She couldn’t settle and was finding it difficult to think about babies when she couldn’t get the image of her brother out of her mind’s eye. What was he up to? Why would he need cash? Surely the man her mother married gave him an allowance of some sort? Wasn’t that how it was done in wealthy families?
“What are you talking about now, Ivy?” Ann Marie shared a concerned look with Sadie – something was not right with their friend.
“You should consult a doctor if you feel you must,” she said over her shoulder – that was what they were talking about, wasn’t it?
“Thank you very much for your permission.” Ann Marie ignored the subject of Sadie’s niece. There was much going on here that she didn’t understand. She wanted to shake Ivy until she told them what was bothering her.
“If it were me . . .” and it could be one day soon, Ivy thought. They were using birth control but nothing was perfect. They had been lucky the last time the contraption failed but what about next time? Her Jem was a passionate man. “If it were me, I’d want Mrs Winthrop to attend me. She’s the woman who has delivered all of the babies in The Lane and is often sent for by the gentry. She delivered me and my brothers.” The woman lived in the last house along the block Ivy’s house sat in.
Sadie listened and said nothing. She’d heard of Mrs Winthrop. The woman was considered an angel and a devil both, by the women she’d attended. Was Ivy serious about asking her niece Catherine to work for Ann Marie?
“You should ask your Uncle Charles about Mrs Winthrop.” Ivy walked back to join the women around the fire. “I’m sure, being a doctor, he knows the woman.”
“I’ll do that,” Ann Marie agreed. If the woman was known by the medical profession that would be a point in her favour.
“Relax, Anne Marie – it’s not like you’re going to give birth tomorrow,” Ivy said.
Ann Marie pressed one hand to her stomach and smiled. A baby, how wonderful! “Let us change the subject for the moment. What did you mean when you said Sadie might not be here?” She would wait until she was alone to wallow in this change and plan for the future.
Ivy waited to see if Sadie would say something but, when the other woman bowed her head and remained silent, she knew it was up to her.
“With the change in your circumstances, Ann Marie, this situation isn’t working for Sadie and her family anymore.” She ignored Sadie’s grunt of protest. She hadn’t wanted to say anything before, so now she could sit there and listen. “Truthfully, it isn’t working for you and Edward either, is it, Ann Marie?”
“I refuse to even consider the idea of making Sadie and her family homeless,” Ann Marie protested. It had been her idea to have the Lawless family live with her. The situation had been ideal when Ann Marie was learning to live an independent life. But it was true that since her marriage things had changed.
“You are not evicting the Lawless family.” Ivy again waited for Sadie to say something. When the woman remained huddled in her misery, she continued. “You need trained household staff now, Ann Marie. Sadie knows that – in the name of God, Sadie Lawless, will you say something? This concerns you!”
“I know nothing about running a big house,” Sadie finally whispered, raising her eyes to the other women. “But it seems to me you need a butler, housekeeper, cook and household maids. And now we know you’re going to need a nanny and a nursery maid as well.”
“I so wanted to live a life unlike my peers,” Ann Marie moaned.
“It’s your house – you can live how you bloody like.” Ivy had no room to pass comment. Her own house was becoming too much for her. She couldn’t seem to get on top of the daily chores that came from being a married woman. Ann Marie had grown up surrounded by servants. She knew how to run a house but would have no idea how to handle the upkeep herself. She needed staff.
“I don’t want to be the cause of undue suffering to your family, Sadie,” Ann Marie said. “Living here is so convenient for John and your daughter Clare. They can just walk across the canal lock to work. It will be hard for you to find a house in this area to rent.” She knew the cost of rentals in the area would be far beyond the Lawless family purse.
Sadie had been wondering and worrying about the same thing for months. She had been driving her family crazy with her constant moaning. She wasn’t fit to run the house of a member of the gentry.
“The carriage house might be a solution,” Ivy suggested.
Ann Marie had a carriage house at the back of her property. Jem parked his automobile in the space that used to house horse-drawn carriages. The upstairs had been fitted out as a three-bedroom flat.
“That might well be a possibility.” Ann Marie would need to talk to Edward about the changes in the household. There was no rush. They had time to plan. How would Emerald react to the thought of a sibling? There was so much to consider.
“What about your photographs?” Sadie objected. Ann Marie practically lived in the carriage house, spending hours developing the photographs she took incessantly.
“She won’t be able to use the chemicals now,” Ivy put in, “not in her condition.”
“Oh, I hadn’t even thought that far ahead.” It saddened Ann Marie to think she would have to give up her obsession.
“You should think about allowing Sadie’s family to live in the carriage house. You would have a woman friend close to hand. You could charge the family rent on those rooms.” Ivy knew that John and Sadie would not agree to live in the place rent free. They were a proud family. “Jamie is old enough to walk up the stairs to the flat and, if you decide to employ Sadie’s niece Catherine, she too could live in the carriage house.”
“Ivy Murphy, would you please stop running away with your wild ideas and suggestions!” Ann Marie could feel her blood quickening at the challenges ahead. “Shouldn’t we at least meet with Catherine before you arrange her entire life for the poor girl?”
“Yes, of course,” said Ivy. “I think we should ask Catherine if she’d be interested in learning to become a nursery maid.”
“The girl would have plenty of experience to bring to the post.” Ann Marie wasn’t sure of her own ability to raise a child. “And I would be sincerely grateful for any advice you can give me on the matter of raising children, Sadie. Your own children are a credit to you and John.”
“Yes, Catherine would be ideal . . . except . . .” Ivy squirmed with embarrassment but it had to be said, “she’d have to learn about keeping her own person and her surroundings clean.”
