A Mother's Courage (44 page)

'If he don't come up to scratch we'll send Mick
and Cyril round with the rest of the lads,' Gertie
said, folding her arms across her chest. 'We'll see
he does right by you, girl.'

Eloise hugged them both and she called to Joss
who was standing on top of a heap of breeze
crowing like one of the cockerels that stalked
about amongst the hens.

'He'd make a good hill man,' Gertie said with
a gap-toothed grin. 'We can always find work for
an able lad.'

With a last loud crow, Joss ran down the heap,
sending up a cloud of dust. Eloise beckoned to
him, telling him to follow her, but he danced on
ahead, jumping the puddles and occasionally
landing in the middle of one with a hoot of
laughter. Despite his wet boots and socks, Eloise
couldn't help laughing at his antics. When she
reached the entrance, she put Beth down on the
ground and watched her toddle off after Joss
who was chasing a rather tatty-looking chicken.
Mick was standing by his cart, waiting for it to be
unloaded. 'What's this, girl?' he demanded,
grinning. 'Are you looking for work?'

'No, Mick. I've come to say goodbye. It's a
complete miracle but my mother has returned
from Africa and she's come to fetch us.'

Mick embraced her with a hug that almost
stopped her breathing. 'I'm glad for your sake,
Ellie. But we'll miss you and the nippers.'

'I'll bring them to see you. We won't lose
touch,' Eloise said, when she caught her breath.
'Look after Peg; she's a wonderful girl and a dear
friend.'

'And I knows it. My Peg's one of the best, and
she's very fond of you. If our little 'un is a girl,
we'll call her Ellie.'

' I 'd be honoured, Mick. If it hadn't been for
you we might have perished on the streets. I'll
always remember what you did for me and my
children.'

'Aw. It weren't nothing, girl.' Mick's weather beaten
face flushed a dull brick red. 'If there's
anything else I can do for you . . .'

Eloise reached up and kissed him on the cheek.
'I'd be more than grateful if you could find us a
cab, Mick. My mother is waiting for me at the
Tranters' house.'

Later that evening, when Joss and Beth were fed,
bathed and tucked up in their beds at the hotel,
Eloise and Grace were sitting in their private
parlour waiting for Barton to arrive. Eloise kept
glancing at the black marble clock on the
mantelshelf. Her stomach felt as though it was
full of butterflies flapping madly around, and
her mouth was dry. She got up every now and
then to pace the floor, and to take yet another
look in the mirror above the fireplace to make
certain that her hair had not escaped from the
elaborate style that Grace had fashioned. Curled
and pomaded, her gleaming brown hair was
piled on top of her head like a coronet. Her new
satin-striped blue silk gown fitted her slim figure
to perfection, and waterfalls of lace at the
neckline and cuffs only served to emphasise her
slender neck and wrists. The small train, lined
with frills, swirled around her feet and ankles as
she moved, revealing the occasional glimpse of
blue satin high-heeled slippers.

'You look beautiful, Ellie,' Grace said, smiling
happily. 'Your papa will have a fit when he
receives the bill but it will be worth every penny
just to see the look on Barton's face when he
walks through that door.'

'He might be coming to tell me that everything
is over between us, Mama,' Eloise said, nervously
fingering her fan. 'You did tell me all that
he said, didn't you?'

'Stop fretting, darling. I told you that we had a
full and frank conversation. Now it's up to you to
decide how you feel about him. Much as I liked
him, I don't think life would be easy with a man
like Barton Caine. You wouldn't get everything
your own way, and bringing up another
woman's child would be a challenge.' Grace rose
to her feet. 'I hear someone coming. Now take
my advice, Ellie. Follow your heart. Your babies
are safe and well and no further harm will come
to them, I promise you.'

Before Eloise had a chance to reply, the door
opened and Barton Caine entered the room
carrying a huge bunch of red roses. Eloise stood
quite still, hardly daring to breathe as he
formally greeted her mother, bowing over her
hand and raising it to his lips. He was dressed in
a well-cut black evening suit that emphasised his
broad shoulders and slim waist, and at the neck
of his starched white evening shirt he wore a
wine-coloured cravat. To Eloise's dazzled eyes
he looked breathtakingly handsome and
completely unattainable. When he turned to her,
she saw her own feelings mirrored in his eyes.
His lips curved in a tentative smile as he held the
bouquet out to her. 'I remembered your love of
roses,' he murmured, 'but I'm afraid that they
are from a hothouse and have no scent.'

Eloise took the flowers, and she met his gaze
with a wobbly smile. 'They are beautiful, but not
as honest and down to earth as garden roses.'

'In the summer I will fill the house with roses
from the garden,' he said softly.

Grace rose to her feet. 'I think I ought to go and
check on the children, Ellie.'

Barton moved swiftly to open the door for
her.

'Take your time,' Grace murmured. 'Dinner
can wait.' She gave him a brilliant smile as she
left the room, closing the door softly behind her.

'I trust that I find you well, Eloise?' Barton
made a move towards her and then hesitated,
eyeing her warily.

Eloise was startled to realise that he was as
nervous and tongue-tied as she was herself and
she made a vague movement with her hand,
indicating the sofa. 'Won't you sit down, sir?'

The sound of her voice seemed to trigger off an
instantaneous response and he strode across the
floor, taking the bouquet from her hands and
tossing it onto the floor. 'Damn it, woman. Do
you always answer a question with a question?'
He took her by the shoulders, looking deeply
into her eyes.

A small sigh escaped her lips. 'No, sir.'

'You know my name, Eloise. Can't you bear to
say it?'

'Why did you come here tonight, Barton?'

He answered her by drawing her none too
gently into his arms and kissing her with all the
ferocity of long pent-up emotions. She closed her
eyes, parting her lips, and allowed her senses to
revel in the taste of him as his tongue claimed her
mouth, his teeth grazed her lips and his hands
caressed her body. She felt herself melting into
him until they were as one person, and she knew
that she had come home. When he finally
released her lips, he still held her in his arms, as
if he would never let her go. 'I came to do just
that, my darling. I came to tell you that I've been
a complete fool all these weeks. I knew from the
first moment I saw you that I loved you and yet I
risked losing you by allowing my stupid fears
and prejudices to rule my heart.'

'I lied to you about my children, but it was not
from choice.'

He traced the outline of her cheek with the tip
of his forefinger and a smile lit his eyes, turning
them from the colour of a winter sky to the blue
of midsummer. 'I know that now, of course. But
until you ran away I had no idea that Joss and
Beth belonged to you.'

'Did Phoebe tell you that?'

He nodded. 'Yes, of course. She had little
choice, poor girl, when Matron questioned her
about the missing children.'

'I'm sorry,' Eloise murmured.

'If only you had trusted me and told me the
truth from the start.'

'You might have sent me back to Yorkshire.
I feared that you would think as my father
thought.'

He kissed her again, slowly and languorously,
until she relaxed against him. 'I was a stiff necked
fool,' he whispered as he nuzzled her
neck. 'I might have thought that way once, but
not any more. I love you to distraction, Eloise.
This past week has been sheer torment. I thought
I had lost you forever, and I was out of my mind
with worry, until Grace turned up on my doorstep
like an angel from heaven.' He cupped her
face in his hands. 'I can see where you get your
beauty, my love. Your mother is not only beautiful
but she is a very special lady.'

Eloise blinked away a tear, but this time it was
happiness that was making her cry. 'You'd better
stop there, Barton, or I might be jealous of my
own mother.'

He kissed her on the forehead, the tip of her
nose and he brushed the teardrops from her
eyelashes with his lips. 'There will never be
another woman for me as long as I live, Eloise. I
love you – no – I adore you. I'm asking you, most
humbly, to be my wife. I want you and your
children too, my dearest love.'

She drew away from him just far enough to
look into his eyes. 'Do you really mean that,
Barton? You already have one child who is not
your own. You admitted freely that you cannot
love Maria as you should. How would you feel
about Joss and Beth?'

'I would love them because they are a part of
you, my dearest girl. And I was wrong about
Maria; I do love the little scamp. I suppose I
always did, but I was afraid to admit it even to
myself. My heart was closed and shuttered until
I met you, Eloise. Now I see the world through
quite different eyes.'

'Oh, Barton . . .'

He sealed her lips with a kiss. 'I so nearly lost
you, Ellie. Don't ever leave me again.'

Eloise wound her arms around his neck and
drew his head down so that their lips met. 'I'll
never leave you.'

'Will you marry me, Ellie? I will do my best to
make you happy, even though I cannot offer you
much in the way of . . .'

She laid her finger on his lips. 'I don't care
about material things, Barton. Once, I did. But if
there's one thing I've learnt in the past months,
it's that the only thing in life that matters is
people. Love and family are more important to
me than money. I would marry you if you were
a dustman working the dust yard at King's
Cross.'

'I am not alone, Eloise. There is always Maria.'

'And I will love her just as much as Joss and
Beth, and our own children if we are blessed
with a family. And most important of all, Barton
Caine, I love you with all my heart and soul.'

'I wouldn't want to change anything about you,
my dearest Eloise,' Barton said with a tender
smile in his eyes. 'But I think that a mother's love
is the most powerful of all.'

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