The Wind in the East: Sensational historical romance, page 23
The next thing that happened was almost as unnerving to Poppy. The french window on to the iron balcony opened and someone stepped out. Joshua in a grey frock coat looked strikingly handsome, but no more so than he did in a tan jersey. His black hair showed up like a blot of ink against the white wall and the set of his shoulders was unmistakable as he went to the edge of the balcony and leaned over to look along the promenade. There could only be one person he was looking for, but he would be unlucky. His father had disappeared again.
Poppy’s eyes were riveted on him. She saw the light glint on a new gold ring on his left hand as he gripped the ironwork, and his wing collar was a dazzling white against his weathered skin. There was nothing rough or boyish about Joshua now. His self-confidence had grown with maturity and he had acquired a new arrogance which showed even in the way he moved his head.
As if sensing her scrutiny he turned to look in her direction and she was trapped in a net of her own making, for now she couldn’t escape being seen. She was standing alone on the patch of sand, the boy in her arms and no one else within yards. He had caught her watching him and the colour which had drained away from her face came flooding back in a stain of crimson. Across the distance she knew that his dark eyes were on her and she couldn’t move. The visual contact was too strong to break and she swayed forward fractionally as if he were trying to pull her towards him.
The clock was turned back. She was transported to a moment when their roles had been reversed and Joshua had stood in the net-store yard looking up at her. Even then he had been able to hold her captive with his eyes. She remembered how uncomfortable he had made her feel.
Daniel cried. She was gripping him too hard and he wanted to get down so she stooped to set him on his feet, but still she looked at the man on the balcony. He hadn’t permitted her to do otherwise. There was a roaring in her ears which drowned every other sound except a hard insistent voice reminding her of how she had once taunted him.
‘Do I look like a nobody now, Poppy Ludlow?’ It was as if he had asked the question aloud.
At last he turned away and no hint of a smile had lightened the tension. She was left standing on the beach without any support and she felt as weak as she had done when she first got out of bed after Nancy was born.
Joshua Kerrick went back inside to join his bride.
When she looked round she couldn’t see Daniel and she had to refocus her eyes before she could scan the shore. He was down by the water, his little feet already wet as he started to wade towards one of the longshore boats. Poppy rushed after him. She caught hold of his hand and drew him back to safety, then stood a moment absorbing the familiar sights until normality returned.
As far as she could see along the shore there were waves breaking, brown-grey hummocks rolling incessantly and singing strange rasping songs as they curled up and over in long tongues of foam to lick at the pier’s throat.
‘Aaah,’ sang the sea, ‘aaah, there’s rain coming. That’ll dampen your ardour.’
*
‘Joshua, where are you going?’
Caroline’s voice rose in dismay as Joshua jumped down from the carriage at the top of Cooper Street and left her sitting alone in her wedding gown behind the driver.
‘I’ve business to attend to before I come home with you. It’s best I do it now.’
‘Joshua!’
She stood to try to stop him but the carriage moved off again and she fell back in the seat next to his discarded top hat, her veil billowing out in the rising wind like a beautiful sail.
Joshua gave a casual wave and set off down the street, his clothes becoming more conspicuous the further he travelled. It had been dry for some time and a water sprinkler was at work to keep the dust down. He dodged round a cart at the roadside so as not to get splashed and almost tripped over a bicycle. Cooper Street was always busy. The afternoon had merged into evening and Tomkins, the butcher, was taking in meat carcasses that had been hanging outside his shop.
‘What’s the hurry, Josh? Running away from yer bride already?’ The butcher laughed as he shouldered a heavy carcass which added another dark red stain to his striped apron.
‘There’s a little matter to see to that won’t wait.’
‘Not a woman I hope!’
The laughter followed him as he dashed on, his frock coat flying open and the wing collar coming loose. There were women coming out of the hardware store where buckets and brushes cluttered the pavement and they looked at him in surprise. So did the man with the barrow who sharpened scissors.
He turned into Fleetwood Road where it was quieter, and made better progress. There was only one place his father was going to be and that was at home in Drago Street.
The old devil had sure got his timing right for creating a scene. Joshua’s first instinct had been to laugh when he looked round and saw Tom standing by the wedding cake with a kind of dishevelled dignity which had to be admired even though it offended the guests. It had required courage, or blatant cheek, to make an entrance like that. But he wasn’t going to get away with it. Josh had defended him in front of the Leas, who had banished the few Kerricks guests to a table as far away from the main table as possible, but there had to be a reckoning. Having worked hard to better himself, Joshua was not risking any interference from his errant father. Not that any contracts could be broken now. He had secured his bond with the Leas by marrying Caroline, but it would be just as well not to start married life under the shadow of past indiscretions. The thing to be most thankful for was that Tom hadn’t arrived yesterday.
By the time he reached the cobbled alley leading down to Drago Street his pale grey trousers were coated with dust. He ran down the steps two at a time. With a bride waiting for him he didn’t want his visit to take longer than necessary, and haste was important. There was washing strung out across the upper end of the street and he had to dodge underneath a lineful of calico jumpers that would be wanted by morning when the fleet left for the summer voyage to the Shetlands. He was leaving with it himself, which was another reason why he wanted everything straightened out.
Fanny Jarrett from the third house was coming up the street with cake mix in a tin and tuppence in her hand to pay for the baker to cook it for her, just as she did every Saturday evening, not having an oven of her own. Joshua had sometimes taken it for her when he was a boy and he remembered the smell of the fat skimmed off a marrow bone she used to mix with flour and sugar and currants. Caroline would have turned her nose up at that.
Fanny’s eyes opened wide when she saw him. ‘Joshua, this ain’t the place for you any more, specially in them fancy clothes.’ She balanced the cloth-covered tin against her ample bosom and leaned forward confidentially. ‘Yer father’s back, and he ain’t alone. I reckon poor Clara’s turning in her grave.’
‘Thanks for telling me,’ said Joshua. He lifted a corner of the cloth and peeped at the mixture. ‘Ought to have got you to make the wedding cake, Fanny.’
‘Go on with you!’
Joshua walked into the house he had left that morning with the intention of never returning. He had stayed in it after Maw died because it was convenient when he was ashore, and his sister Gwendolen had done his washing. But now, with Gwen married, he’d been expecting Hal to live there alone.
Tom Kerrick was eating a plateful of red herring and swede. The smell of it was heavy in the small, hot room and Joshua knew it would cling unpleasantly to the fine cloth of his frock coat. For the second time that day the two men looked at each other across the table and the air was charged with the tension of unfinished argument.
Tom put down his fork. ‘Glad you’ve come, boy. There’s things to be said and no time like the present for saying them. Though I’m surprised yuh thought them more important than yer bridal bed.’
The gaunt look suited him. There was no belly now to hang over the top of his trousers and though the skin round his neck sagged a bit his chin was firm. He looked fit, Joshua decided, which was more than Nathaniel Lea did with his excess weight and florid complexion. Come to that he looked happier, too.
‘What made you suddenly think I cheated you, Fa? Make it quick. I don’t aim to stay longer than I can help.’
‘Well yuh did, didn’t you?’
‘You know that’s not true.’
There was a sound of a privy door slamming out in the yard and a young woman came in through the back. She wasn’t any older than Caroline. It was more than two years since Joshua had seen her and he had to admit she was not bad-looking now that she had smartened herself up. Her hair was brown and glossy, done in plaits which were coiled round her head, and though she had the brown skin of someone who worked outdoors it was still soft and unlined. Her full lips became uncharitably firm when she saw Joshua.
Tom stood up. ‘Flora, you remember me oldest son?’
‘Aye, I do. I remember him well. Took advantage of you, did he not?’ Her voice was soft with a rounded Scottish accent but there was no mistaking the implacable undertone. She put one of her big capable hands on Tom’s shoulder with affection, but her eyes were stone-hard as they rested on Joshua. ‘We’ve come to claim your father’s share of the profits you’ve made from the sale of his boat.’
Joshua met her eyes full on so that she would know he’d no intention of being intimidated, then he questioned his father. ‘Have you married her?’
‘No.’
‘Then why let her speak for you?’
Tom pushed aside the half-finished plate of red herrings, and bones scattered over the unscrubbed wooded table. ‘She’s only repeating what I’ve already said. The Night Queen was mine and you sold it when I was too ill to think straight. Seems to me you’ve done very nicely at my expense and now I want me share seeing as how we’re moving back here. I want enough money to take Flora somewhere better than Drago Street.’
Now Josh knew what the change was in Tom. With a strong woman behind him he’d found confidence. He’d stepped out of the shell of oppression at long last, but that didn’t mean he could play sly tricks. Joshua pulled out a chair which wobbled on uneven legs as he sat down.
‘Fa, I made a deal with you. What’s more I had it put in writing after you said I should take charge of everything. The Night Queen was never sold. It went into the partnership I formed with Caroline, and you had a sum of money we agreed upon, relinquishing your claim to it. I never asked what you did with the money but I imagine it paid for you to leave Maw and go off to Scotland with Flora McLinhie. Not too ill to do that, were you?’
‘You cheated me.’
‘It was all done fair.’
‘We can take the matter to court and have it proved that you made your father sign papers when he was incapable of knowing what was involved.’ Flora threw out the challenge boldly.
‘I won’t be threatened. And I won’t discuss business with a gutting girl. This is between my father and me, so keep out of it.’
‘Yuh’ll not speak to Flora like that.’
‘I’ll speak to her how I like since you’re only living in sin. If you’d married her mebbe I’d show more respect.’
It was a tense moment but Flora had some consideration after all, no doubt knowing that nothing would be gained without a change of attitude.
‘I’ll away upstairs and inspect the bed.’ Her skirt brushed against Joshua as she passed him to get to the stairs. ‘Stick out for your rights though, Tom.’
Alone now the two men faced each other warily, the two-year gap in their knowledge of each other stretching between them like a chasm. It was Joshua who decided to bridge it.
‘I thought you would’ve come back when Maw died.’
‘I didn’t know she was dead for months, but I wouldn’t have come anyway. The bitch turned me out.’
‘Mebbe you deserved it.’
‘Mebbe I did. She didn’t know about the money from the Night Queen or she wouldn’t have been so hasty.’
Flora’s footsteps thudded across the floor above and it sounded as if she was trying to open a window. Joshua expected to hear the glass fall out of the frame.
‘I’ll tell you what I’ll do about the Night Queen.’ He stood up and leaned on the table. ‘I’ll have her made over to you again. That’ll more than settle any debts and even the score. Will that do?’
‘Yuh’ve had nigh on three years’ use out of her and you ask if it’ll do!’
‘And you had money out of me at the start. She’s been converted, same as the Sarah Star was, and she’s still a good vessel, one of the best. I’m sailing tomorrow but I’ll sign a paper before I go saying the Night Queen now belongs to you. Shake on it Fa.’
He extended his hand and after a moment his father took it. He could feel callouses like sandpaper against his palms.
‘Aye, I’ll shake on it then,’ said Tom, and there was an echo of Flora’s accent in his gruff tone.
‘I’m being more than fair to you, you can’t deny it.’ Joshua began buttoning his coat as a sign the visit was over. ‘There’s one more thing. I don’t want you coming near me, or my wife, ever again. I don’t know what Hal intends to do but as far as I’m concerned you never came back. Understood?’
He didn’t wait long enough for further argument. He walked away from the house with the fervent hope that he would never have to set foot in Drago Street again.
It was getting dark early and the clouds were weighted down with moisture, so over-ripe with rain they had turned black. When Joshua finally arrived at the Lea house on the cliff, which was now to be his home, he found the front door locked against him. Millie, the housemaid, let him in, her manner coldly polite as it always was when she had to speak to him.
‘The mistress has gone up to her room, and the master wants to see you in the sitting room.’
Joshua walked past her and went into the room where he had first met his wife. He heard a grunting sound, as if pigs were loose, and found his new father-in-law stretched out on the sofa, sleeping off the excess of champagne which had made his face as red as a cock’s comb. He stood over him a moment, waiting to see whether he was capable of conversing, decided he was not, and turned away. Nathaniel’s hat was on the floor. He picked it up and laid it on his chest before leaving the room and making for the staircase.
The upper part of the Lea house was new to him and he had no idea which room he would be sharing with Caroline. He looked up when he got to the foot of the stairs and saw her waiting for him at the top, still in her wedding dress but without the veil. The bead embroidery glinted. There was a red-patterned paper like plush on the walls and the light picked up the colour so that everything else was tinged with a crimson glow. It touched Caroline’s hair and made it look red. Joshua stared at her, caught up in a piece of innocent deception which played havoc with his emotions. For one ecstatic moment he imagined she was Poppy, and he bounded up the carpeted stairs towards her with exceptional eagerness.
Caroline stood perfectly still, so composed she might have been one of the Parian marble figures that graced the reception lounge of the Royal Mariner Hotel.
‘How dare you humiliate me like that, Joshua. Leaving me to come home alone straight after our wedding! It was cruel.’
‘I had to see my father. I had to, Caro. I couldn’t sail tomorrow knowing he might come round here pestering you. I’ve made sure now that he won’t.’
‘How?’
‘I’ve given him back the Night Queen.’
‘Without my permission? We’ll talk about that later.’
‘Much later.’ Joshua came up to her and touched her hair which was like spun glass, slipping his fingers into the density of it and trying to forget it had appeared to be red. ‘Which is our room?’
Caroline moved her head to dislodge his hand and walked a few paces along the landing to where two doors were facing. She indicated the one on the right which was slightly ajar. ‘This is my room. I’ve decided the one opposite will be yours. Goodnight, Joshua.’
He spun her round before she could touch the door handle. His dark eyes suddenly blazed and he was in a high temper.
‘Oh, no! That’s not the way it’s going to be.’ He swung her up into his arms, ignoring her cry of protest, and kicked the door open with his foot. Once inside he closed it similarly and strode over to the bed with his reluctant bride, setting her down on it without any gentleness. ‘I’ll show you what I expect on our wedding night.’
He turned her over so that he could drag the buttons free of the loops at the back of her dress and managed to get her out of it in spite of her struggles. She didn’t make another sound but a blow from her flailing limbs made him wince. Having succeeded in partially undressing her he then peeled off his coat and shirt and threw himself beside her on the bed, taking hold of her so forcefully she could no longer struggle. He held her face and brought his mouth on hers, kissing her for the very first time. Their courtship had been conducted along the same lines as their business partnership and until now there had been no physical contact at all.
She couldn’t possibly avoid the pressure of his mouth. He was kissing her with all the ferocity that had exploded when she had threatened to deny him his rights, and the feel of her body beneath his had an instant effect. He moved to undo his trousers, then stopped abruptly. What he was doing was wrong. He was behaving just as his father had once done, and he had condemned him for that without mercy. Joshua had been about to rape his wife.
He drew away from her, allowing her to roll free, and his face was as white as the silk chemise and petticoats she wore.
‘Caro, I’m sorry. I’d no right to treat you like that. I’ll sleep across the landing tonight if that’s what you want and we’ll start our marriage afresh when I get back from the Shetlands. We’ll have that honeymoon in London, I promise you.’ She was lying on her back, her silvery hair spread out across the lavender-scented white pillows. Her arms were pale, her hands fluttering now like white doves that didn’t know where to settle, and he thought she was afraid. ‘You don’t have to be frightened of me. I won’t make any demands. Say you forgive me.’
