The Favourite Child (8 page)

‘Don’t get involved,’ he warned, drawing her to one side. ‘Something to do with that waif and stray you picked up. She’s gone, and Edward is upset. He seems to be blaming Mother for not keeping a better eye on her.’

‘Jinnie gone? Oh no, where?’

‘Nay, don’t ask me, I’m just the master in this house. I know nowt, and I recommend that line of action for you too. Least said, soonest mended eh? We did what we could for her, after all. Now she’s gone back to her own sort.’

‘Her own sort? And what
sort
would that be exactly, Father?’ Bella felt outraged by his nonchalant attitude. Perhaps she didn’t know her father after all.

‘Now then, don’t get on your high horse with me, lass. I fed and watered her, took her in off the street and what thanks did I get? None.’

‘It’s not long since you were accusing me of helping only for the sake of her gratitude.’

‘
I swear I am not responsible for what that girl does
!’ Emily inaccurately cried, wringing her hands in a nice dramatic flourish. ‘I merely took her out for a walk in the fresh air, for the benefit of her health, that’s all.’

Bella grasped her mother’s hands in an effort to calm her. ‘Where? Where did you walk, Mother? What exactly happened? Did Jinnie run off? When did she go?’ She could almost see the battle taking place in Emily’s head over whether to reveal all or fabricate a tale that might suit better. ‘It’s vital we learn the truth, or she may be in danger from those who put her in hospital in the first place.’

She heard Edward’s gasp at the very moment she recognised her error in almost blurting out the truth. Bella hastened to rectify her mistake. ‘I mean, there are those who’d not be averse to putting the blame for the accident on Jinnie, instead of the other way about. They may well be prosecuted for allowing the horse to cause a riot in the streets.’ It sounded a feeble explanation but seemed to be accepted nonetheless.

Edward stood before his mother, his distress evident in every line of his tense body, in the clenching of his bony, boyish fists. ‘Bella’s right, besides which, where would she go? Surely not back to the squalor she came from. Tell us the truth Mother. I expect no less of you.’

Tears ran down puffy cheeks. ‘I did it for you, my darling boy. She’s no good for you. A trollop. No better than she should be, I’ll be bound.’

‘That’s pure prejudice, Mother, and you know it. Not everyone without money is a thief or a harlot. Besides, I’ll be the best judge of what’s good for me. You’ve picked and chosen my friends for me long enough, most of them failures. It’s time I had some say of my own. Where did you take her? I
insist
that you tell me.’

It was the first time in his entire life that Edward had stood up to his mother, and Bella watched with sympathy as Emily’s face registered shock, and then her shoulders drooped and her whole body became deflated, like a punctured balloon.

‘Oh, very well then. I found this marvellous place.’ Just as if she had chanced upon it quite by accident. ‘I thought it the perfect solution.’

‘What place?’ He wasn’t letting her off the hook, not yet.

She put a flaccid hand to her brow. ‘Oh, my head, my poor head. Why are you all so cross with me? I found her a place at the Mission, if you must know. It’s a God-fearing place where the girl will be properly cared for and led into the paths of righteousness.’ Emily fell back in her chair, both hands now clutched to her head in a desperate appeal for mercy, her voice falling to a pitiful whimper. ‘I did it for the best. It’s where she belongs.’

Simeon turned on his son in a fury. ‘Now see what you’ve done, you great daft lump. You’ve upset your mother good and proper and she was only doing her best for the lass. You ought to be horsewhipped, great bully that you are.’

‘
You’re
the bully, not me. It was no doubt all you’re idea to get rid of her. You’re
glad
that Jinnie’s gone. Both of you are. Well
I
liked her, even if you didn’t.’

Simeon seemed to swell to twice his normal size as he took a threatening step towards his son, huge fists clenched. ‘Take that back, you jumped up, lily-livered excuse for a ...’

‘
Stop it!
’ Bella rushed to intervene between father and son, as she’d had reason to do many times in the past. ‘It’s no use quarrelling between ourselves. I brought her here, so Jinnie is
my
responsibility. I’m the one to sort this out.’

‘She s not
your
responsibility,’ Edward shouted above the tears and accusations, in a voice quite unlike his own. ‘She s
mine
! Jinnie and I love each other and I mean to make her my wife.’ At which point Emily let out a terrible scream and fainted clean away.

By the time Edward and Bella reached the Ebenezer Mission, the warden informed them in stiff, official tones, that the hour was late, being past nine o’clock. Far too late to wake anyone. ‘There was a young man here earlier asking after the very same girl but I told him as I shall tell you, she is asleep and cannot be disturbed. Mind you, he was most demanding, insisted he would be back first thing in the morning. Proper ruffian he looked too.’ She sniffed her disapproval as she crossed well-muscled arms across her ample, purple clad bosom, pointedly expressing her ability to see off such hangers-on with ease, should it become necessary.

Bella, concerned by this news, asked if he had given any name.

The warden shook her head. ‘Friend or relative, he didn’t say and I didn’t care to ask. How these gels get involved with such villains I shall never understand if I live to be a hundred. But it’s none of my business. He was wasting his time and I told him as much.’

Edward, by contrast, possessed excellent manners and was clearly a gentleman. It took him no time at all to exercise his charm on the warden and Jinnie was brought from her bed, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes. The moment she saw Edward, she flew into his arms on a cry of delight.

Bella hid a smile as she thought how her mother would react to this obvious show of affection. Much to her relief, there was no sign of either parent when they returned home later that night, so Bella helped Jinnie into bed and left her to finish her sleep. There’d be time enough to talk tomorrow.

‘I never heard owt so daft in me life.
Me, married?
To Edward?’ Jinnie stared at Bella, astonished disbelief on her pinched elfin face.

‘I’m sorry, I thought he’d already asked you. I’ve spoiled it for you, haven’t I?’

Nay, you’ve spoiled nowt. I’m not fit to lick his boots. He’s a proper gent and me, I’m - I’m...’ Lost for words to sufficiently describe her shortcomings, Jinnie fell to the usual Lancashire epithets. ‘I’m nowt. Less than nowt.’

Bella chuckled. ‘Oh, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that. You have some rather remarkable qualities. Determination for one thing. Stubbornness. Courage.’

‘Bloody minded more like.’

‘That too.’

Jinnie gave a half smile and Bella came to sit beside her on the sofa. It was past midday and her mother had still not risen, so Bella was taking the opportunity for a little heart-to-heart. The two girls had lifted the green paper blind to let in whatever sunlight was available, and so that they could see out on to the soot-encrusted houses opposite.

‘Edward’s utterly smitten. He adores you. I rather thought you felt the same way about him.’

Jinnie looked forlorn. ‘What can you do when clogs let water in?’

‘Pardon?’

‘Yer can’t help getting wet. And I can’t help loving him.’

‘Oh, I see.’ Bella was laughing now. ‘You have such wonderful sayings. I’d never think of them in a million years.’

‘What’s so funny?’ she challenged, the upper lip curling in that too familiar snarl and Bella hastily assured her that she’d meant no offence and although the girl flinched away, hugged her determinedly. The shoulders felt bone-thin and rigid in her grasp.

‘There, that’s to prove we’re friends.’

‘Eeh, I should never have come here. I’m that sorry to have caused all this rumpus.’

‘Don’t apologise. I’m glad you came. I needed a friend, in fact I’ve always longed for a sister. A sister-in-law would be every bit as good.’

Jinnie’s dark brown eyes opened wide with appeal. ‘But you must see that I couldn’t ever marry your Edward. You know I couldn’t.’

‘Whyever not?’

‘Because of what I did, of why you took me to that hospital. Edward thinks I had a terrible accident with a horse, fer God’s sake. But we knows different. That nurse said I’d mucked myself up inside and I’d probably never ‘ave another. She seemed to think it were a blessing. So did I, at the time. Now - now it’s anything but. Edward deserves a decent wife, childer of his own to carry on the family name. So how could I marry him? Oh, but you’re right in one respect,’ she gasped. ‘I do love him. I think the world of him but there’s nowt I can do about that.’

It was the longest speech Bella had heard the poor girl make and pity swelled in her heart to witness the anguish in those bewitching eyes, revealing the pain she felt. Bella took hold of her hand. It still felt too fragile and trustingly childlike clasped between her own. She weighed her words carefully before she spoke. ‘Why don’t you tell him the truth? Why don’t you explain to Edward all about your “accident”.’

Jinnie was vigorously shaking her head, eyes growing ever wider and darker, were that possible, revealing her terror. ‘Nay, how could I do that without - without telling him everything?’

‘Perhaps you should. Tell him everything, I mean. Edward isn’t an ogre. He isn’t a snob like mother, though she’s more hot air and temperament than real malice. And even she would accept you, given time, because of Edward.’

‘Sun shine out of his backside, does it? Aye, I thought so.’ Jinnie’s lips twitched and Bella burst into fresh laughter.

‘You’d be so good for him. Good for us all. You make me laugh. You could make him laugh, make him happy at last. Edward is far too serious, always trying to please, striving to be the son his parents expect. He was just the same at school. Always far too quiet and retiring for his own good. Withdrawn almost, at times. He’s always felt such a failure, like a square peg in a round hole. Perhaps you can help him to grow into himself and be a person in his own right, instead of what my parents expect him to be.’

There was a long silence while Jinnie appeared to consider all of this. Then she shook her head. ‘Nay, I’d bring him nowt but disappointment and trouble, like yer mam says.’

‘Isn’t it what Edward says that matters? He’s the one you’d be marrying, not my mother. If he asks you, and I’m sure that he will, at least tell him the truth about yourself. Give him the chance to decide.’

‘He’d never speak to me again.’

Bella sighed. ‘That’s the risk you’d take, of course, but at least you’d know, wouldn’t you?’

‘Aye.’ Jinnie became thoughtful. ‘I’d know where I stood then right enough. Right in the muck midden.’ And the pair them started rolling about the sofa while Bella mopped up tears from both their eyes, though whether they were caused by joy or sadness, she couldn’t have said, not for certain.

The very next evening Edward took Jinnie out for supper, clearly intending to propose. Simeon and Bella hovered in the front parlour, peeping out through the lace curtains to watch the pair depart. Jinnie looking utterly charming in a borrowed green linen dress that hung in soft pleats about her slender figure, a close fitting cap atop her now carefully washed and shining curls.

 
I hope that lad knows what he’s letting himself in for.’

‘I’m sure he does Pa. He loves her, and Jinnie is really very sweet. She’ll be no end of good for him. See how proudly she walks by his side, just as if she’s been waiting for this moment all her life.’ Tears thickened in her throat to see the couple’s evident happiness and for a moment Bella envied them.