Homecoming Girls (40 page)

‘Uncle Martin! Sir.’ Dan gave a hesitant grin. ‘Yes, it’s me, and I’d like to introduce you to my wife, Caitlin. Caitlin, this is Clara’s father, Martin Newmarch. Not really my true uncle but allus considered as good as.’

Caitlin dipped her knee. ‘How do you do, Mr Newmarch? I’m really pleased to meet you.’

Martin took her outstretched hand and gave a polite bow. He was obviously astonished. ‘Married! Erm – I’m lost for words, but delighted to meet you, erm, Caitlin, is it? Mrs Hanson!’

Caitlin’s cheeks dimpled and Clara knew that her father would be won over. ‘I’m not used to being Mrs Hanson yet,’ she admitted. ‘It’s only been just over a week since our wedding day.’

‘Indeed! Well!’ Martin was unusually taken aback and Clara could see that he was trying to work out all the whys and wherefores.

‘Dan and Caitlin very kindly brought their wedding day forward so that they could escort me home,’ Clara explained. ‘I would have been there until the spring if I’d waited for Uncle Wilhelm.’

‘And we really wanted to get married,’ Caitlin said eagerly and without preamble. ‘Even though there was no need to hurry, as some folks seemed to think; but I wanted to meet Dan’s ma and pa, and he wants to discuss something with his pa and brother, so as winter is coming on in Dreumel and there ain’t a great deal of work right now for Dan, we decided to come with Clara.’

She smiled as she finished her breathless explanation and Dan put his arm round her shoulder and said, ‘What Caitlin’s really saying is that I was talked into it.’ He gazed indulgently at his bride, and then kissed her cheek. ‘And I’ve no regrets about that, none at all.’

‘Goodness!’ Martin huffed out a breath and shook his head. ‘Well, well.’ Then he laughed. ‘You’ll certainly wake up the neighbourhood when you get home with this news.’ He took hold of Caitlin’s hand again and gently squeezed it. ‘Welcome, Caitlin. Welcome to England.’

Martin had booked a first-class carriage to take them home and quickly changed the tickets to accommodate two more. In between sleeping, or in Caitlin’s case gazing out at the passing countryside, they talked of Dreumel’s Creek and Yeller and occasionally Clara spoke of California, though not too much, as she wanted to share the experience with her mother and Elizabeth too. And, she thought, best not to say too much about Jewel in front of Dan and Caitlin.

‘So do you plan to return to America?’ Martin asked Dan. ‘You’ve only been there a short time.’

‘Oh, yes!’ Dan exclaimed. ‘It’s my kind of country. It’s ’sort of place where anything can and does happen. There’s every opportunity open to anybody and though I’m not saying it’ll be easy – it certainly won’t be, cos you’ve got to be prepared to work – it’s a young country and there’s no class divide. Every man is as good as ’next one.’

I could take issue with you over that, Dan, Clara mused. There’s arrogance there regarding wealth – she was thinking of Federico – and there’s a division in culture. She considered Jim Crowfoot, who in order to fit in with the new order had changed his name to Crawford. She remembered the anti-Chinese slogans she had seen on walls and hoardings in San Francisco, and thought there was also an abhorrence of those who were different. But she didn’t raise the subject, for part of her agreed with Dan that it was a country where dreams could be realized, or dashed, according to your luck; where opportunism and opportunity went hand in hand. Dan was tough enough to face
that challenge, and with a ready-made family to shield and advise him, she thought he would do well.

Clara and Caitlin were exhausted when they finally arrived at Hull Paragon railway station. They had had an early-morning call when the ship had docked at Liverpool and both staggered slightly as they stepped down from the train. Dan, though, was bullish, eager and excited to be coming home to show off his new bride.

Martin signalled for a cab and the driver tipped his top hat when he saw Clara. ‘Welcome home, miss,’ he said. ‘Did you have a good trip? Left somebody behind, I see!’

‘Yes, thank you. Most enjoyable.’ She recognized the regular driver, but didn’t respond to the mention of Jewel. Time enough for news of her, and of Georgiana and Wilhelm’s decision to stay in America, to filter out.

‘Papa,’ she said, ‘we’re all tired, I know, but I wonder if we could go the long way home. It will only take another five minutes.’

Martin smiled down at her. ‘By the pier, you mean?’

‘Yes. Do you mind, Dan?’

He didn’t and said that they could then be dropped off at the top of Silver Street. ‘I’ll pick ’trunks up later.’ He grinned. ‘I want to just turn up at ’door and see Ma’s face.’

‘I’ll bring them round in the trap,’ Martin agreed. ‘After supper?’

The driver was given his instructions and instead of turning for home he turned right for Queen Street and the pier. He reined in, lit a pipe and waited whilst Clara and her father, then Dan and Caitlin, walked to the rail and looked down into the Humber.

‘It’s not like your creek,’ Dan said. ‘It’s a mighty estuary.’

‘It’s a lot wider than our creek,’ Caitlin said, and shivered as a sharp wind blew. ‘What’s that land across the water? Is that Hull too?’

‘No. That’s Lincolnshire,’ he told her. ‘Another county.’

Their conversation washed over Clara as she watched the rich brown turbulent waters. It was nothing like the waters
of the creek, she agreed with Dan; nor was it as vast as the blue waters of San Francisco Bay. She heaved a sigh. But it was so familiar and comforting; she had always known it and its different temperaments. It seemed capricious now, the white-capped waves tossing against the wooden pier and then rushing off as if in a mad dash to reach their destination: the estuary mouth off Spurn Point, where they would join the salty waters of the German Ocean.

‘Good to be back?’ Her father put his arm round her shoulder.

‘Oh, yes!’ she said on a breath. ‘So very good.’

Five minutes later, Dan and Caitlin were set down in the Market Place at the top of Silver Street. Caitlin, wide-eyed, looked about her at the numerous shops. It was now quite dark, but there were still people going about their business; the shops were lit by glowing gas light, as were the street lamps. ‘This is so quaint,’ she said. ‘All the buildings are in brick or stone!’

‘Aye,’ Dan laughed. ‘We don’t have as many trees as there are in Yeller to build timber houses; nor any mountains or even hills round here. No hills in Hull,’ he joked.

She clung to Dan’s arm. ‘It’s so different from home.’ She pulled him closer as he led her down the narrow Land of Green Ginger. ‘All the buildings seem to be on top of each other.’

‘Aye, well, this was once a very small town, an ancient town enclosed by walls and gates to keep out any enemy; it’s spreading wider now,’ he told her. ‘The Dreumels live in the newer part of town, but there’s still a lot of folk living in ’old town, like my folk and Clara and her family. I’ll tek you tomorrow and introduce you to Aunt Grace, Clara’s mother. She’s my ma’s best friend. Here we are.’ He was standing in front of a bow-windowed shop. ‘This is it.’

Caitlin was enthralled by the toys in the window and pressed her nose to the glass.

‘I think we’ll have to go round ’back,’ Dan said. ‘Looks as if Ma’s shut ’shop up early.’

He led her to a side door and winked at her as he knocked,
then gently pushed her to one side so that she wouldn’t be visible as the door was opened.

His mother stood in the doorway. ‘Good evening, madam.’ Dan lifted his father’s bowler. ‘Could I interest you in a gift from America?’

Ruby squealed. ‘Dan? Dan! Oh, Daniel – Thomas! It’s our Dan.’ She opened the door wider. ‘Whatever brings you back so soon?’ She threw out her arms to embrace him as his father, frowning slightly, and then his brother, Thomas, appeared behind her.

Dan drew Caitlin towards him. ‘Here’s what brings me home. Ma! Da! Thomas. Please meet my wife.’

The cab rattled down High Street and stopped outside the house. ‘Go on.’ Her father smiled. ‘I’ll see to everything here. Your mother’s waiting.’

The door opened before Clara reached the steps and her mother was waiting with open arms. ‘At last!’ Grace cried. ‘This has been such a long day. Come along, give me your hat and shawl. Nancy,’ she said to the young maid hovering behind her, ‘take Miss Clara’s things and tell Cook we’ll have supper straight away.’

‘Oh, wonderful.’ Clara laughed. ‘Some things never change!’

‘Of course they don’t.’ Her mother hugged her. ‘Welcome home, my dearest girl. We’ve missed you so much. And guess who’s waiting for you in the sitting room?’

‘Elizabeth?’ Clara was overjoyed. ‘Elizabeth’s here! Is she well? I can’t wait to see her.’ She rushed off down the hall, her mother and then her father, both wreathed in smiles, bringing up the rear.

Her sister was sitting on the sofa, propped up on cushions with her feet on a footstool, looking plump and pretty. Her face lit up when she saw Clara. ‘Come here, you naughty girl,’ she said, with a catch in her voice. ‘Come here and give me a hug and don’t ever leave me again.’

Clara sat beside her and put her head on Elizabeth’s shoulder. She gently put her hand on Elizabeth’s rounded belly. ‘I won’t,’ she said softly. ‘Never.’

Only Dan chatted through supper, which Ruby had been about to dish up when he’d knocked on the door. His family seemed stunned by the fact that he was home, and with a bride.

Ruby was being as accommodating as she could possibly be with a stranger who was now family sitting at her table. Thomas had hastily brought two more chairs to the table and politely pulled one back for Caitlin.

‘Perhaps, erm, Caitlin would like to change or tidy up first, or . . .’ Ruby stumbled over her words, not really knowing what one was supposed to do with a visitor who had travelled such a long way. ‘Dan,’ she said. ‘Tek Caitlin up to your room. Mebbe she’d like to put on her slippers, or . . .’ Her voice tailed away.

Caitlin glanced at Dan. ‘Yes, please,’ she whispered. ‘I would. Except that my other clothes are in the trunk.’

‘Uncle Martin is bringing our trunk later,’ Dan explained when he came down again, leaving Caitlin upstairs to compose herself.

‘Dan!’ his mother said
sotto voce
. ‘I hope you haven’t got that girl into trouble. Marry in haste—’

‘I haven’t, Ma.’ Dan gave her a smacking kiss. ‘Don’t worry. I wouldn’t have done that. I just fell overboard ’minute I met her.’ He glanced at his father. ‘There’s just nobody else in ’world like her. She meks me laugh and she’s that merry and
full of energy for whatever she does that she teks my breath away!’

His father nodded, and then smiled. ‘Glad to hear it, son.’

‘This is ’oddest thing,’ Dan said. ‘Although Caitlin is American born and bred, her ma was born in Hull and went out to America with Georgiana Dreumel all those years ago, and her da – you’ll never believe this – used to be valet to Edward Newmarch, Jewel’s real father, who was, of course, brother of Martin, Clara’s da! Isn’t that amazing?’

Caitlin’s footsteps were heard on the narrow staircase as she came carefully down.

Ruby and Daniel glanced at each other, and then Daniel’s face creased into a slow grin. ‘Incredible,’ he said. ‘Who’d ever think that ’world was so small!’

When Caitlin came in, Dan explained that they had married in a rush so that they could come home with Clara, but Thomas interrupted. ‘Was that ’only reason? I’d have thought that Clara was capable of coming home by herself if she wanted to.’

‘Sure she could,’ Caitlin answered. ‘But Uncle Wilhelm wouldn’t allow it. He reckoned he was responsible for her whilst she was over there, but he had so much on with the rebuilding of Yeller that he ran right out of time, and we knew that she didn’t want to wait.’

‘She didn’t?’ Thomas queried.

‘Guess not,’ Caitlin said. ‘Don’t know why, but she just wanted to come home.’

‘But it was a good excuse for Caitlin too,’ Dan said indulgently. ‘She wanted to come and meet my folks, so she twisted my arm behind my back so that I’d agree. And she talked her pa into agreeing too, but what really clinched it was that I thought I’d found gold!’

‘What!’ Ruby gasped.

Dan raised his hand. ‘Onny it wasn’t, Ma. It was pyrite; fool’s gold it’s called, cos it’s yeller and looks like gold.’

‘My ma says you can buy jewellery made from pyrite,’ Caitlin
chipped in. ‘It’s not as expensive as gold but nearly as pretty. If there’s a good seam we could mine it.’

‘And so did Clara like America?’ Thomas persisted in changing the subject again. ‘And California – she and Jewel travelled there specially to find out about Jewel’s mother.’

This time, Dan and Caitlin looked at each other. They had been so wrapped up with one another that they had barely questioned Jewel and Clara on their return from San Francisco.

‘I guess Clara will tell you all that happened there,’ Caitlin said, blushing. ‘Jewel did find out about her birth mother but we were so busy planning the wedding that we hardly had a chance to talk. Sounds silly, I know, but that’s the way it was.’

‘There was another reason for coming home,’ Dan said, ‘although you might think that I could’ve written to ask. I want to discuss ideas about starting a toyshop in Yeller. Caitlin would like to do that, Ma. Just like you.’