A Loving Family (2 page)

‘This can't be the place, Isaac,' Jacinta whispered as he consulted the well-thumbed letter.

‘I'm afraid it is, my duck.' Isaac pushed his cap to the back of his head. ‘Shall I knock on the door, or shall us go straight to my place in Limehouse?'

Jacinta thought of Scutari and the encampment surrounding the Barrack hospital. She had seen worse. ‘We've come this far. Maybe it's not so bad.'

He rapped on the front door and stood back. From inside they could hear a child wailing and a man shouting followed by the clatter of footsteps on bare boards. The door opened a fraction and a slatternly woman peered at them. ‘What d'you want?'

Isaac cleared his throat. ‘Is this the home of Mr Saul Wilton, rag and bone merchant?'

‘Who wants to know?'

Jacinta stepped forward. ‘Are you Mrs Wilton, ma'am?'

‘It can't be the Spanish trollop.' The woman poked her head out, glaring at Jacinta. ‘No, it can't. She'd be in her thirties by now. Who are you, girl?'

‘I'm Jacinta. If you are Mrs Wilton you're my grandmother.'

‘Who is it, Aggie?' A man wrenched the door open, almost knocking his wife off the step. ‘What's all the bloody noise about? Can't a man get some rest in his own home?'

Isaac placed a protective arm around Jacinta's shoulders. ‘Are you the rag and bone man, mister? If you are then this is your granddaughter and it ain't the way to greet a long-lost relation.'

‘Who asked for your opinion?' Mrs Wilton took a step towards him, sticking out her chin as if she were about to attack. ‘Get off my front step or I'll set the dog on you.'

‘My parents are both dead.' Jacinta's voice broke and she hid her face against Isaac's shoulder. ‘Pa succumbed to his wounds and Ma died of cholera.'

‘Cholera?' Agnes Wilton paled visibly. ‘Get away from here. Don't bring that filthy disease to our neighbourhood.'

‘Don't talk soft, woman. They wouldn't be here now if they'd caught the disease. Go inside and shut your stupid mouth.' Wilton grabbed her by the neck and propelled her into the narrow hallway. He rolled up his shirtsleeves to reveal brawny forearms. ‘Now clear off, you two. Whatever you come for there ain't nothing for you here.'

Trembling but determined to discover the truth, Jacinta stood her ground. ‘My pa died in the service of his country. If you're my grandfather I want to know.'

Wilton leaned towards her, curling his lip. ‘I want don't get, missy. I washed me hands of that person when he took up with the Spanish piece, and I can see that you're her daughter. You got the look of a dago and we got enough foreigners round here without adding to their numbers.'

‘Don't you dare speak ill of my mother,' Jacinta cried angrily. ‘She thought you might want to take care of me, but I'd rather starve in the gutter than be beholden to a brute like you.'

‘That's good then, ain't it?' Wilton hawked and spat on the pavement at her feet. ‘Because that's where you'll end up.' He slammed the door in her face.

Stunned by the hostile reception, Jacinta could only stare at the closed door.

‘That's that then,' Isaac said firmly. ‘Now we know why your pa saw fit to drag you all the way to the Crimea along with your ma.'

‘I don't understand,' Jacinta said dully. ‘Why were they like that with me? I've done nothing wrong.'

‘Never mind them, love. Come on, I'm taking you home to Limehouse. My ma might have a liking for a drop of blue ruin now and again, but at least she's got a warm heart. She'll take us in until I can find somewhere for us to live.'

Jacinta turned her head to look him in the eye. ‘For us to live, Isaac?'

He dropped a kiss on the tip of her nose. ‘I ain't a man of many words, but I love you, girl. If you'll have a fellow like me then we'd best get spliced all legal and proper like.'

‘Spliced?'

‘Find a parson and get married. That's what I meant, my little Spanish flower. I want to wed you and take care of you for the rest of me life. How about it, love? What do you say?'

She slid her arms around his neck and stood on tiptoe to kiss him on the lips. ‘I say yes, Isaac. With all my heart I say yes.'

He lifted her off her feet and spun her round, setting her down again with a whoop of glee. ‘Then that's what we'll do. We'll go to Limehouse and you'll meet Ma. She's been widowed these past fifteen years, but she kept a roof over our heads by delivering other women's babes and laying out the dead. She's quite a character is Ma. I think you'll like her and she'll love you as I do. Come on. Let's get away from this midden of a place. Let's go home.'

They were about to walk away when a hansom cab pulled into the street and drew up outside the Wiltons' house. They had to move away from the kerb in order to avoid being splashed by the mud thrown up from the huge wheels. ‘Hey, watch out, cully.' Isaac shook his fist at the cabby and received a string of invective in reply.

‘Don't encourage him,' Jacinta said, eyeing the woman who was preparing to alight from the cab. ‘Help the lady, Isaac.'

He stepped forward to proffer his hand and the plump middle-aged woman gave him a grateful smile. ‘Thank you, young man.' She glanced at the irate cabby. ‘Wait here. I won't be long, I can assure you of that.'

‘This ain't the place for a lady like you, ma'am,' Isaac said, tipping his cap. ‘No offence meant, I'm sure, but are you sure you've come to the right place?'

‘Quite sure, thank you.' The woman stared hard at Jacinta. ‘My eyesight might not be as good as it was but I know that face.'

Jacinta glanced over her shoulder to make certain that the lady was not addressing someone else. ‘Are you talking to me, ma'am?'

‘I'd know you anywhere. You're so like your ma.' The woman enveloped her in a hug. ‘It's little Jacinta, grown up to be a lovely young lady as I knew you would.'

Almost smothered by an overpowering scent of lavender cologne, Jacinta suffered the embrace. ‘I'm sorry, but I don't know who you are, ma'am.'

‘Of course you don't remember me. I'm your father's aunt, Maud Clifford. We haven't spoken for years because of a rift in the family. It's a long story, my dear, and best not talked about in the street.' She glanced nervously at the front window of the Wiltons' house. ‘We are being watched. My business here won't take long.'

Even as the words left her lips the door opened and Mrs Wilton appeared on the front step. ‘What d'you want, Maud? You're not welcome here.'

‘I know that, Aggie. I came out of courtesy to let you know that my poor Billy has passed away. Not that you and that brute of a husband of yours will want to come to the funeral tomorrow, but I wanted you to know that you are welcome if you do decide to attend.'

‘You just want us there so that you can show off your fine clothes and rich friends. It'll be a pauper's grave for the likes of us. We can't afford a plot in the cemetery with a marble headstone, so you can clear off and leave us be.' She retreated into the foul-smelling hallway and slammed the door so hard that yet another pane of glass fell from the window and shattered on the pavement.

‘That's my answer then,' Maud said calmly. ‘I expected no less, but my sister is the only family I have apart from my dear nephew Fred. Are your parents well, Jacinta?'

‘They are both dead and gone.'

‘Oh, you poor child. I had no idea or I would not have been prattling on like this.' Maud glanced at the cabby, who was drumming his fingers impatiently on the roof of the cab. ‘There's no need to look surly, my good man. You will be paid for your trouble.'

‘Some of us ain't got all day to waste,' he grumbled. ‘Make up your mind, lady.'

Maud turned her back on him. ‘May I offer you and you friend a lift home, Jacinta? It looks like rain.'

‘We intended to walk to Limehouse, ma'am,' Isaac said hastily. ‘Broadway Wharf to be exact. Ma has rooms there.'

‘Then that's where we'll go.' Maud waved an imperious hand at the cabby. ‘Limehouse, my man. Broadway Wharf.' She climbed into the cab and made herself small so that Isaac and Jacinta could squeeze in beside her. ‘Now tell me all about yourselves. It's obvious that you are a young couple in love. I want to hear all about it, and how my poor nephew met his end. I didn't see him or his delightful wife much after he joined the army, which has always been a source of regret to me. Tell me what happened to them, my dear. If you can bear to talk about it, that is.'

It was painful to talk about the circumstances in which her parents had lost their lives but Jacinta related the events leading to their deaths as briefly as possible. Maud listened with tears in her eyes and kept patting Jacinta's knee in a distracted manner, as if she were at a loss for the right words in such circumstances. She brightened considerably when Isaac told her that they planned to marry. ‘I'm so glad that Jacinta has found someone who will love and cherish her,' she said, mopping her eyes with a lace-trimmed handkerchief. ‘I would take you both in, but although my sister thinks I am well-to-do, in fact I am only just able to support myself now that poor Billy has met his maker. I was his second wife and we were not blessed with children, although he had a son from his first union. Unfortunately we do not see eye to eye. Ronald will inherit the house and the business and I will have to take rented rooms, or I would have gladly shared my home with you until you were able to find something for yourselves.' She took out a hanky and wiped her eyes. ‘But you are both young and you will do well for yourselves.'

The cab rumbled to a halt and the cabby opened the trapdoor in the roof. ‘Are you getting out here, lady?'

Maud took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. ‘No, my man. Take me to Clifford's Funeral Parlour, Artillery Street.'

Isaac sprang down and held his arms out to Jacinta. ‘Here we are then, my duck. Home sweet home.'

‘I will see you again soon,' Maud called as the cab pulled away from the kerb. ‘Very soon, my dears.'

Jacinta waved until the cab was out of sight. She shivered as the rain began in earnest. ‘What an odd day it's been, Isaac. I found my grandparents who want nothing to do with me, and an aunt whose existence I had forgotten. I don't remember Pa talking about her and I must have been very young when she last saw me. I'm surprised she recognised me.'

Isaac gave her a hug. ‘No one could forget that face, girl. I'll carry the vision of you in my heart when I'm back at sea, and I'll be longing to return home to you.'

She clutched his hand. ‘You're not going to leave me all alone in London, are you?'

‘Not for a while, sweetheart. But I'll have to find another ship very soon or I won't be able to support my family.' He bent his head to kiss her on the lips. ‘And you won't be on your own. Come and meet Ma. She'll love you as I do.'

Jacinta gazed up at the wooden building perched on stilts like a performer in a fairground. Painted signs hung over doorways advertising the trade of the occupants: ship chandlers jostled for position with ropemakers, lightermen and coal merchants. Warehouses and manufactories lined the narrow streets abutting the wharves and boatyards at Limehouse Hole and on every corner there was a public house or a brothel. This was a world totally alien to Jacinta, but as she held Isaac's hand she was determined to make the best of her new life. She was in love and each new day would be an adventure.

‘Are you all right, sweetheart?' Isaac's tone was tender and his smile caressed her like a kiss.

‘I am all right as long as I'm with you.'

‘Tomorrow I'll find a parson and fix our wedding day. It can't come too soon for me. Let's go and tell Ma the good news.' He led the way up a rickety staircase on the outside of the building which twisted upwards in a crazy spiral to the top floor and the rooms that Hester Barry rented from Mr Walters, the lighterman.

They found Hester at home, drinking tea from a tin mug with a half-eaten meat pie on the table in front of her. She uttered a cry of delight when she saw Isaac and threw her arms around him as he enveloped her in a hug, lifting her off her feet. He put her down hastily and held his hand out to Jacinta. ‘Ma, I want you to meet the young lady I'm going to marry.'

Hester clutched her hands to her ample bosom, gasping in astonishment. ‘Well, I never did. What a surprise to be sure. I knew it would happen one day, of course, but now it's come.' She eyed her son's prospective bride with a critical frown and for a horrible moment Jacinta thought that she had not found favour with Isaac's mother, but then Hester smiled and opened her arms. ‘What a little beauty you are. You're very young, my dear, but that's all to the good. I love you already and I know we're going to get on like a proper mother and daughter. To tell the truth I always wanted a little girl of my own.' She gave her son a warm smile. ‘Boys are all very well but a daughter is a great comfort. We'll do very nicely, my dear.'

Isaac rescued Jacinta from his mother's embrace. ‘I knew you two would like each other. My two lovely girls – what a wonderful thing for a chap to come home to.'

Hester snatched up her bonnet and shawl. ‘This calls for a celebration. We'll go to the Bunch of Grapes and order a jug of rum punch.' She rammed her bonnet on her head at a skew-whiff angle. ‘So you're going to be wed,' she said, smiling.

‘Yes, Ma. As soon as possible.'

‘I've only got one thing to ask of you, son.'

‘I'll do anything in my power, Ma. You know that.'

‘You must call your firstborn daughter Stella. It was your grandma's name and she thought the world of you when you was a nipper. It would be like carrying the old lady on into the future.' Hester turned to Jacinta with a pleading look. ‘Would you agree to that, dear?'