A Woman Undefeated (44 page)

Maggie opened the envelope slowly on purpose. Whatever was in it, it was bound to be trouble. He had been tardy in sending his letters in the past, not even caring for the welfare of his son.

“Has it got an address this time, Maggie?” Alice was getting impatient. “Wouldn’t it be good, if we could let him know how we’re all doin’ so well?”

This was said, because Alice liked to boast now that her daughter-in-law was doing very well for herself, living in a grand place such as Selwyn Lodge.

“There’s no address and you’re not goin’ ter like what’s in it.”

Alice sat down with a worried look on her face.

“Oh no, Maggie, what are yer goin’ ter tell me? Is he dead?”

“No, but Kitty May is. She died givin’ birth to her baby. Well, not straight away, she died of milk fever nine days later.”

“Oh Holy Jesus and all His saints,” Alice crossed herself. “I wouldn’t have wished that on anyone. So, what is Jack doin’ about the baby? Was it a boy or a girl?”

“It says here that she had a baby girl and they named her Hannah Victoria.”

“Well, he will have had ter give her up to the authorities. There’s no way our Jack could bring up a little girl.”

“It looks as if you’ll be doin’ that. He sent her over with a woman who’s returnin’ on the boat to Liverpool. Looks like they’ll be here in a few days time.”

“So, I’m to have the care of his by-blow? Maggie, how am I going to do that? How am I goin’ to explain her presence to everyone at the church?”

Alice had gone white. Even Maggie felt her knees weakening at the thought of the problems the presence of this child would create.

“Yer could say she’s bin sent over from Ireland. The granddaughter of yer sister and she’s too old to have the care of it.”

“I’m too old to have the care of it. You’re his wife, you’ll have to think of somethin’.”

“Oh yes, that would sound very well. Me dead husband has sent me his illegitimate child from beyond the grave. I don’t think so. Have yer ever heard of chickens comin’ home to roost?”

Suddenly Alice’s manner came over all wheedling.

“Maggie, yer know I’m even havin’ problems lookin’ after our Mikey. He runs me ragged at times. I was only sayin’ to Michael the other day, perhaps we should think about helpin’ you to find a nursemaid. If yer had a nursemaid at Selwyn Lodge, yer could have Mikey there all the time and this child of Kitty May’s. I’d come and visit of course.”

So that was the lay of the land. Mikey had become a handful, but because Maggie was there every morning, she was taking some of the responsibility away, leaving Alice to get on with her chores. Another child would really place a burden on her.

“Yer know, Maggie, I still have me lodgers to see to, and I’m not as young as I was.”

“Well, let’s see what happens when this woman brings the child here,” Maggie said, unable to think clearly, as she had been given a shock as well as Jack’s mother. “Meantime, I’ll ask Miss Rosemary what can be done about a nursemaid.

The problem was though, what could she tell Betty?The
truth?That Jack wasn’t really dead. Would Betty be prepared to keep the knowledge a secret? Would she think any less of Maggie? She and Alice had deceived the church and all the community and been given sympathy, when there hadn’t been the need.

She quickly made up her mind, then gave her decision to Alice. If she wanted Hannah to stay in the family, then Miss Rosemary would have to be told the dishonourable tale.

“I don’t know if I want her to know our shameful secret. I have to admit that our Jack did abandon yer, but I still think you must take some of the blame.”

An admission from Alice, but only wrung out of her, because she wanted Maggie to have the care of Jack’s little baby. Still, perhaps it was best if the truth was told, then she could get rid of her double life!

“We’ve no choice, but to tell her, if we want her agreement to let me bring up Hannah, instead of you. I don’t really know why I should though, because she’s Jack’s responsibility. Still, if it means I can have Mikey back, it will be just as easy, I suppose, to bring up two, as one. She’ll be company fer Mikey, once they start ter grow, and it’s better than the mite being put in a children’s home.”

“Jack would never forgive us if we did. I wish he would get the scribe to put his new address on. I’d love you to write and give him a piece of my mind.”

“Perhaps he moves around a lot, but if we really wanted to, we could write ter Lord Belsham. Has Michael got any idea where His Lordship can be found?”

“I don’t know. I can ask him, but let’s keep that fer an emergency. I don’t want to trouble Lord Belsham, in case Jack isn’t workin’ fer him now. Still, this woman will be able ter tell us when she arrives with the baby. I’d best prepare a room for her, in case it’s late when she gets here. She can have your old room fer one night and we’ll put Hannah in one of the drawers.”

Betty wasn’t pleased with the confession. They were sitting comfortably in front of the drawing room fire, drinking their after dinner coffee, when Maggie decided to tell all.

“The one thing we need in our relationship is trust,” she had said sternly, after she had got over the shock of Alice and Maggie’s skullduggery. “And when I think of how you were pointing your finger at me in the solicitors! My, you had a nerve, girl. Still, it’s done now, but that doesn’t excuse your behaviour. All this dressing in black and being the solemn young widow. You know it wouldn’t have gone any further if you had told me in the beginning.”

“I hated deceivin’ yer, Betty. It was Alice who made me tell those lies, and what could I do, but go along with it? I was livin’ in her house at the time.”

“Then shame on Alice. But you are living in my house now and I think you could have told me when you moved in. A new life should not be built on lies. Do you know, even poor Ezra was taken in? Losing his wife the way he did, made him have a lot of compassion for you.”

“Oh, please don’t tell him, Betty. I couldn’t look him in the face ever again.”

“Well, I won’t for your sake, but it’s time you gave up this charade, at least between you and me. That black gown has to be vanquished to the back of your cupboard and I want to see you wearing lighter shades. Are you not worried that Jack will come back again? He doesn’t know that his mother invented the sorry tale. It will rake up the coals if he was to surface again.”

“What did yer used to say te me? “Never trouble, trouble?” It will be Alice’s problem if that happens, ‘cos I can say it was what I was told.”

“So can Alice really. The landlady at his lodgings said that it was Jack that she had buried. It could have been anyone! But let us put our minds to rearing this little baby. We really must employ a nursemaid now. I can’t do without you at the dressmakers. I know that it’s quiet now that the harvest suppers are over, but Christmas will soon be upon us and you know what that is like, with you being here last year. And I’ve plans afoot in my mind again. I’m thinking of leaving the premises we have in the care of
Mr Arlington. He could do with our downstairs space now, so I think it is time for us to expand!”

“Expand?”

“Well, as you know, the bounty vouchers have really taken off. Oakham’s has sent us five customers in the past three weeks. A customer of Frogerty’s ordered all that furniture the other month and his repayments are the best we’ve had, up to now. We’ve just Smallwood’s to send us a customer, but I suppose not many people around here travel much to Liverpool. Mr Arlington has high hopes of getting Robinson’s in Birkenhead to commit to us soon.”

“So yer sayin’ yer want the dressmaking business to move?”

“Yes, the ship chandlers across the road would be ideal. It is double fronted and the man who runs it, says he may as well give up now the river is becoming silted. There’s no call for his goods like there used to be. That is one of the shops we own, as you know, and Mr Jeffrey’s is getting close to retirement age. Mr Arlington says he is so busy on the first floor that he could do with a young lady downstairs, to keep a filing system, greet our customers, and make his tea. I think the term used is “office girl”. But, my plan for expansion rests on obtaining one of these sewing machines. In our quiet periods we could make gowns in popular sizes, seasonal colours and a range of styles. We could even ask our friend Madeline to help us with a few designs. If we are going to have a nursemaid, her child could be looked after with ours. She could be a great asset, with her penchant for fashionable clothing. Of course, she would need permission from her husband, because I would like her to work in the shop as well. You and Annie would continue to be the sempstresses and I could come in now and again to advise.”

“Whew, Betty. I only asked yer about a nursemaid and yer three ideas ahead of me!”

Luckily Maggie was at Seagull Cottage a few mornings later when the woman who had been given the charge of baby Hannah, knocked on the door.

Sarah Osborne was a plain looking woman in her early thirties; her dark hair pinned neatly into a bun and wearing a blue striped dress and long blue cape, that befitted her nursemaid’s role. She looked very weary and thanked Sam, the cab driver, gratefully for carrying the two large valises up the path behind her. In her arms was her precious bundle, all wrapped up in shawls against the chill of the morning air.

“You must be young Mrs Haines,” she said, as Maggie opened the door. “I’m Sarah Osborne, temporary nursemaid to Hannah Victoria, engaged by Mr Jack Haines. I hope you received his letter, it was sent a week before we boarded the clipper out of New York. I do hope you are expecting us.”

“Yes, my mother-in-law received the letter a few days ago. I must say we were taken aback that the child should be sent to us. Do come in though, it’s not very warm standing there on the doorstep. Come into the kitchen and I’ll make yer a cup of tea.”

“I hadn’t expected Parkgate to be so far away from Liverpool,” Sarah commented, as she followed Maggie through the hall. “We docked at Huskisson in the early hours and I was told I would have to wait for the six o’-clock ferryboat to Woodside and then catch a train to a place called Hooton. We were lucky to have seen the station trap setting down some passengers and you know the rest, because we are here. Poor little thing needs her bottle. She’s been wailing on and off since Liverpool, though I think she’s given up now and gone back to sleep.”

“I’ll shout Alice, that’s Jack’s mother. Alice! The lady’s here with Hannah. I’m just makin’ her a cup of tea.”

“In a minute, I’m seein’ to Mikey. Stand still yer little rascal, yer’ll get a pin stuck in ye, so yer will.”

“Can I see the baby, Sarah?” Maggie asked, as she showed her guest where to sit while they waited for the kettle to boil. Sarah smiled and handed the bundle over. A little girl with velvety looking brown eyes stared back seriously.

“Oh, you’re beautiful,” Maggie gasped, and Hannah began to smile slowly, as if she could understand her words. She began to
unwrap all the shawls that surrounded the child and saw little dainty features that reminded her of a miniature doll and, strangely enough, of her sister, Molly.

She was dressed in an exquisite little gown, in pale yellow which suited her robust cheeks and curling blue-black hair. The dress was covered in layers of lace, with a row of pink buds along every one.

“She’s got similar dresses in the valise. Mr Haines made very sure that she had a dress for every day of our voyage. Then there are the soil cloths, little pantaloons, bonnets and bootees, vests and little knitted coats. And he has also sent a money voucher to be cashed at the Chester Bank.”

“All he needed was a nursemaid,” remarked Alice, who had been standing with Mikey at the kitchen door. “Well, Maggie. Has the baby got a bottle? She’ll want feeding by now, I’ll be bound.”

“I’m just going to heat her some milk, Alice. Hello, Mikey, would yer like some too?”

She reluctantly passed the little baby back to Sarah, then set about making up two bottles and three cups of tea. Alice sat at the table holding Mikey and there was quite a bit of tension in the air. “So, he sent you over with the baby. Has he told yer about its circumstance? Why yer’ve brought it here?”

“Yes, Jack told me what happened, that the poor mother died. I was working for a family out there, but I have to own up to homesickness. I thought I could manage a new life in a new world and that is why I emigrated with the Henderson family, but I couldn’t do it. I missed my family, I missed the green fields, the rain, everything about England really. It’s so different over there. Jack was talking to another man in the street as I was passing by, and just to hear another English voice, well Irish really, but you know what I mean....when I heard him I thought I must leave here. I must go back to England. So, I went up to him, brazenly now I come to think of it, but manners are so different over there, and I asked him where he was from and so it went on. I told him I was thinking about coming back and then he told me about the
death of Kitty and how he wanted to send the baby home. It seemed fated somehow. Jack was prepared to pay my passage home and I have had a lot of experience with children. The Hendersons’ had a little boy, a bit older than your boy, and a little girl of five years.”

“But did Jack tell yer that Maggie here is his wife, and that Kitty was the woman he ran away with?”

“Well, he didn’t quite put it like that, Mrs Haines, but I think I understand the circumstances. It’s not my place to comment. I was just paid by your son to bring Hannah to you and that is what I’ve done.”

“And where was this place that yer were livin’, and where yer met our Jack? Did he give yer an address that we can write to?”

“The place we met was called Evanston. A long way from New York, I have to say. He took me to his lodgings, where the landlady was keeping her eye on the baby, but I didn’t note down his address, because I wasn’t going to be in touch again.”

“Oh well, yer here now,” sighed Alice. “When she’s finished her bottle, I’ll have a look at her. Then you can take her upstairs to change her cloths, she’s stinkin’ to high heaven!”

Alice came down a bit later with Mikey, who had been fascinated with this little person and the nice lady who had suddenly arrived in his world. Alice was looking rather flushed and agitated, but as usual was thinking about how she could take advantage of the situation. Here was a trained nursemaid and Alice had been given responsibility of another child.