Cherry Tree Lane (28 page)

Since no one was paying attention to them, Jacob took Mattie’s hand. ‘Are you all right?’

‘No.’

‘What’s wrong?’

‘I can’t take it in. I can’t believe it’s true.’

They were both silent for a moment or two, then Frank came across to join them and she repeated her worries to him.

‘It is true, Mrs Kemble. You’ve inherited this house and several cottages in the village, plus some shops in Swindon. There isn’t a lot of money to go with them, though.’

‘It’ll seem like a lot to us,’ Mattie said.

‘And I can make the land pay better,’ Jacob said, thinking aloud, lost in a dream of owning all that land. ‘There’s a lot I can do to earn money if everything’s ours.’ He frowned. ‘Mr Arthur said he’d contest the will. Can he take it off us?’

‘He has no grounds for doing that, I promise you. Everything was attended to properly and Miss Newington knew what she was doing.’

‘But
why
did she do it?’ Mattie asked. ‘I hardly knew her. Why on earth would she leave everything to me?’

‘In the first place, she simply wanted to be sure it couldn’t fall into her cousin’s hands, and sadly, she had no one else in the world, no other relatives, most of her friends dead. As to why she chose you, I can’t say. But she took a great liking to you and told the doctor the last time she saw him that her will was as she wanted it.’

‘Oh.’

Frank looked at his watch. ‘Now, if there’s nothing else you want to ask, I’ll leave you to take possession of your new home and I’ll come back tomorrow with a full list of the properties you own and a few more papers for you to sign.’

It wasn’t until the lawyers had left that Mattie realised no one had been offered the refreshments which Cook had taken so much trouble with. But there had been more important things to think about. ‘What do we do now, Jacob?’

‘That’s up to you, isn’t it? This all belongs to you.’

His voice had no warmth to it, his body was stiff and she realised with a sinking heart that after his first flush of excitement, he saw the bequest as putting a wall between them. ‘Please don’t talk like that. We’re married, so it belongs to both of us.’

‘It was left to you, not me.’

‘Let’s go and tell Cook and the others,’ she said, desperate to do something to bring them closer. Then she realised something and gasped. ‘Oh! We’ve got servants now. We’ll have to pay them wages and tell them what to do. I shan’t know where to begin.’

‘Maybe we’d better tell the children what’s happened first – if you don’t mind, that is?’

‘Of course I don’t. I should have thought of that myself.’ She smiled, slowly beginning to realise some of the benefits. ‘We can make a really good life for them now, can’t we?’

A little warmth came into his eyes, but he didn’t answer her question, just nodded, then studied her face intently. ‘You’re looking pale. You’ve overdone things today. Sit down and I’ll bring them to you.’

As he walked out, she sank into the nearest chair, feeling as if the weight of the house was sitting on her shoulders. What was she going to do with a place as big as this? How could someone like her ever fit in here? Tears came into her eyes and she wished desperately that she had her sisters with her. Nell and Renie would have helped her cope.

She felt so strange today, unlike herself. And Jacob had looked at her distantly, as if he didn’t recognise her any longer.

He came back into the drawing room with the two children.

‘I didn’t mean to break the plate,’ Luke said at once.

‘Break a plate? Were you larking around?’ Jacob asked sternly.

‘No. It just slipped out of my hand.’

Sarah giggled. ‘He’s so clumsy lately, he trips up over his own feet.’

‘Shut up!’ Her brother lunged for her and Jacob pulled him back.

Mattie felt sorry for the boy. ‘You must be growing, Luke. The clumsiness will pass. And never mind the plate.’ As silence fell, she looked at Jacob for guidance, because she couldn’t seem to find the words to explain to them what had happened.

Jacob took a deep breath. ‘Sit down, you two. We’ve got something to tell you.’

‘Won’t they mind if we sit on these lovely chairs?’ Sarah stroked the brocade of an armchair, tracing out the pattern with a fingertip.

‘That’s what we have to tell you. It’s Mattie’s house now. Miss Newington’s left it to her.’

They looked at him uncertainly.

‘Everything here belongs to Mattie now, so it’s her who says what you can do, where you can sit.’

‘Does that mean we’re going to live here?’ Luke asked. When his father nodded, his scowl deepened. ‘It’s even further from the village than our house. I won’t have any friends living nearby.’

‘We’ll only live here if your father wants to,’ Mattie put in.

But Jacob shook his head. ‘It’s your house, it’s for you to say.’

She could feel tears come into her eyes. ‘Don’t say that. It’s ours now.’

The children looked anxiously from one to the other, sensing something was wrong.

She turned to Jacob, who was standing in front of the hearth as stiffly as a toy soldier. He was looking at her as if she was a stranger – and one who might not be friendly. The children were looking to him for guidance and the three of them seemed very much a family. It was she who was the outsider.

She couldn’t bear it, so stood up. ‘Let’s tell Cook and Lyddie, then we’ll go and look round the house.’

Sarah clapped her hands together. ‘Goody.’

Even Luke brightened up.

‘Wait here, you two,’ Jacob said. ‘You can look at things in the room, but don’t touch.’

They left Sarah standing in front of a cabinet full of pieces of fine china, ladies in swirling skirts, a dog with its head on one side. Luke had gone to stare up at a big painting of a ship at sea.

Mattie shivered. So many possessions. And all hers now. It was too much. It was terrifying.

* * *

Although it was a warm day, they found Cook sitting by the fire, looking tired out. She turned towards them. ‘We heard the cars leaving but no one rang for us. They didn’t eat the refreshments. What are we going to do with all this food?’

‘Mr Arthur was in a bad mood and walked out,’ Jacob said. ‘If the food won’t keep, there are people in the village who’re always hungry. We can send some down to them.’

‘As long as it’s not wasted,’ Cook said comfortably. ‘I can’t abide waste.’

‘Where’s Lyddie? I … we have something to tell you.’

‘She’s just taken a tray across to Horace. She won’t be a minute.’

‘We’ll wait till she comes back.’

‘No use saying it twice,’ Cook agreed. ‘Take the weight off your feet. Do you want something to eat?’

But Jacob, usually a man with a hearty appetite, shook his head, and Mattie knew she’d be sick if she tried to force a mouthful down.

Who’d have thought that her being left a fortune would come between her and Jacob? How was she to stop that, bridge the gap that yawned between them? She couldn’t bear the way he was looking at her. It was his pride that was hurting, she guessed, and what did pride matter?

She didn’t know what she’d do about the situation yet, but she’d have to do something. She wasn’t going to lose the chance of them making a good life together. How pleased her mother would have been to see her rise in the world.

The difficulties had brought home to her how very fond she had grown of Jacob. She didn’t just want a cool marriage, made for convenience. She wanted something warmer, the sort of marriage her mother and father had had, with laughter and cuddles and quiet happiness.

She’d thought he wanted the same but if the house could come between them, perhaps his feelings for her weren’t as strong as she’d thought.

She shivered at that thought.

Lyddie came back across the yard, humming as she often did. She broke off as she saw them.

‘You tell them, Jacob,’ Mattie begged.

‘All right. Come and sit down, Lyddie. We have something to tell you about the new owner.’

They both leant forward, eager to find out.

‘It’s Mattie.’

Both women gaped at him, then at her.

‘Never!’ said Cook. ‘Well, I’ll be blowed.’

‘Ooh, you lucky thing,’ Lyddie said, then clapped one hand to her mouth. ‘I didn’t mean to be cheeky, miss – I mean, ma’am.’

‘You weren’t,’ Mattie said at once. ‘You were just surprised. I was too. I don’t know why she did it when she hardly knew me. We wanted to tell you that your jobs are safe.’

They showered her with thanks but she couldn’t pretend to be happy, as they expected, not with Jacob taking it so hard, so she stood up. ‘We’re going to look round the house, all four of us. I’ve not even seen most of it.’

‘Do you want me to show you where everything is?’ Lyddie asked.

‘Another time, you and me will go round together,’ Mattie said. ‘Just for the moment, it doesn’t feel like mine. Why, I don’t even know how many rooms there are or … or anything. So I just want to walk round and try to take it all in.’

Ben peered into the kitchen door at that moment. ‘Do you still want us to stay here?’ he asked Jacob.

‘Yes. I think we’d better stay on our guard.’ He turned to Mattie and added in that cooler tone of voice, ‘If that’s all right with you?’

‘What do I know about that sort of thing? I’m relying on you to deal with it.’ The words came out more sharply than she’d intended, but it hurt every time he deferred to her.

He nodded quietly, gravely, as if dealing with a stranger, then turned back to Ben. ‘Same as before, then, lad. Oh, and the house has been left to Mattie. She’s the new owner.’

Ben gaped at her, as the others had, then gave her a beaming smile. ‘I’m happy for you, Mrs Kemble, for all of you.’

‘Yes, well. We’re still trying to take it in,’ Jacob said.

Mattie found she was expected to lead the way. She was beginning to feel angry with Jacob now. Why was he treating her as if she’d done something wrong?

She went back into the big drawing room, to have a really good look at it, which she hadn’t dared do at the reading of the will. It had an unused feel to it and she felt like an intruder, so moved quite quickly into the large dining room behind it. These were two wastefully huge rooms, to her who’d been used to smaller places, and they were full of heavy, dark furniture. Someone must have run a duster over the furniture, but there was still a dusty, stale smell to the dining room in particular.

The little sitting room, on the other hand, still had books with markers in them on the shelves, and an embroidery frame in one corner. This was where Miss Newington must have spent her time. Mattie fingered the embroidery, which was very pretty, full of brightly coloured flowers, wishing she knew how to make pictures like that.

They went on to the morning room, where the family had once eaten a meal with the old lady. Behind that they found another big room, this one with full bookshelves covering the walls. ‘Look at that!’ she gasped. ‘All those books. It’s like a library.’

Jacob went to finger the ones nearest with the touch of a lover, leaning closer to read their titles. ‘She’s let me borrow books but I’ve never been able to explore them properly.’

‘I hate books,’ Luke said, jamming his hands into his pockets.

Jacob swung round. ‘Don’t you ever let me hear you say such a thing again! Books are treasures, not just telling you stories but telling you about the world. I’m ashamed to hear a son of mine speak like that. Do you want to grow up ignorant?’

Luke hunched his shoulders, bottom lip jutting out in mute defiance.

Sarah was also trying to read the titles. ‘There aren’t any children’s books, are there?’ she asked in a disappointed voice.

‘We could buy you some,’ Mattie said.

‘Not like the ones from school,’ she pleaded. ‘They’re terrible. Children keep dying in them because they’ve been naughty. But my friend gets books from the library and she’s let me read them. They’re exciting and the children have adventures and end up so happy. I wish real life was like that.’

‘We’ll only buy exciting ones for you and Luke,’ Mattie promised recklessly. ‘You can choose them yourself.’

‘Adventure stories?’ Luke asked. ‘Really?’

‘Lots of them.’ She saw Jacob frowning and looked at him challengingly. ‘We’re going to celebrate our luck and I think it’s good for children to read.’

‘I agree, but I didn’t want you thinking you had to spend your money on us.’

‘That’s so unkind,’ she said in a choked voice and turned away to hide the tears welling in her eyes.

The children moved closer to one another, their eyes going anxiously from one adult to the other.

Mattie led the way out of the room, wiping her eyes quickly when she thought no one would notice. She led the way upstairs. ‘Six bedrooms on this floor! Goodness. You can each choose one.’ She realised she hadn’t even asked Jacob if they’d be moving here now. His expression looked angry, but he had his lips pressed tightly together.

‘If your father approves,’ she said lamely.

‘Any one we want?’ Luke asked, his expression brightening still further.

‘Once we’ve chosen ours,’ Jacob said. ‘Mattie?’

‘I don’t mind. You choose.’ She saw him frown as he opened his mouth, and added sharply, ‘And don’t tell me it’s my house. If we’re all living here, it belongs to all of us.’

‘Does that mean we’re all rich now?’ Sarah asked.

‘No!’

Jacob’s denial was so explosive they looked at him anxiously.

‘It’s Mattie who owns this house, not you. She’s the one who’s rich.’

Hurt at his continuing refusal to include her in the family, to show at least a little pleasure in their good fortune, she walked towards the bathroom. She smiled at the huge, claw-footed bath and indoor water closet, going over to touch the washbasin, beaming at the room. ‘Isn’t this wonderful? It’ll be lovely to have a bath in here. I haven’t dared before. Where I grew up, we had a tin bath in, filling it with kettles of hot water and emptying it with a jug afterwards.’ She went to switch on the tap and within a few seconds, warm water was gushing out of it. They all had to put their fingers under it and for a moment even Jacob smiled naturally.