Cinderella Sister (46 page)

‘He won’t let me in, Christian.’ She had to raise her voice to make herself heard above the doctor’s vociferous argument.

Christian poked his head round the door. ‘Best do as the sawbones says, Lily. I’ll call you when he’s done.’

Reluctantly, she made her way downstairs to the private parlour that the landlord had provided, where she found Molly huddled up by the fire sipping something from a glass that smelt suspiciously like alcohol. ‘It’s brandy,’ she said defensively. ‘I need it for my nerves. Why don’t you have some?’

‘I might,’ Lily said, forcing a smile. ‘But not until I’ve made certain that Gabriel is all right. The wretched doctor won’t let me into the room.’

‘I want to go home, Lily. I don’t like it here, and I hope they throw old Labrosse into jail. He’s a murderer, or he would have been if Christian hadn’t come along when he did.’

‘We’ll go home,’ Lily said firmly. ‘As soon as Armand and Gabriel are well enough to travel, we’ll go back to London where we belong.’

‘I won’t be living in Paris.’ Molly’s bottom lip trembled. ‘And I suppose I can say goodbye to fashionable gowns and a big house with my own carriage and pair.’

‘I suppose you should. But you still have Armand.’

Molly sighed. ‘Yes, and I do love him, even without his fortune. I hope he’ll still want to marry me after all this.’

Lily stared at her aghast. ‘But you said …’

Molly had the grace to blush. ‘I know what I said, but it wasn’t true. We didn’t have time to get married. I just told old Labrosse that so that he’d have no choice but to let me stay with Armand.’

Three days later the party arrived back in England. No arrests had been made in Calais, as it seemed that Labrosse had influence with everyone from the mayor to the chief of police. Walton had elected to stay in France, having set eyes on a pretty chambermaid at the inn who happened to be the landlord’s daughter. Gaston had offered him a job looking after his horses, and it looked as though his future was settled and that he might soon become part of Christian’s extensive family.

They had travelled on the London, Chatham and Dover line and Christian parted from them at Victoria Station. Lily threw her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. ‘I used to hate you,’ she said, smiling. ‘But that’s all changed now, Christian. You saved our lives and I can’t thank you enough.’

He flushed brick-red, looking sheepish and quite
unlike his usual self. ‘It was nothing. I’d have done the same for anyone.’

‘No, I won’t have that,’ Lily insisted. ‘I don’t know why you appeared out of the blue on that stormy night, but it seemed like a miracle.’

He shook his head. ‘Can’t claim holy intervention, Lily love, it was one of my many cousins who knew Labrosse’s men by sight. We were just having a drink in the bar when Jean Paul told us that there was trouble brewing. It ain’t often a chap gets to use his fists without being arrested for being drunk and disorderly, so I couldn’t resist the challenge. Anyway, I’ll write it up for my paper with me as hero for once.’ He returned her embrace. ‘This ain’t goodbye, girl.’ Releasing her, he produced a newspaper from his pocket which he handed to Lily. ‘I bought this off a newsvendor just now. It seems you’re famous and so is your bloke.’ He tipped his hat and sauntered off into the crowd.

‘What is it, Lily?’ Molly demanded eagerly. ‘What does it say?’

Lily unrolled the paper and gasped as she saw her portrait reproduced on the front page. The title
Lily in the Flames
leapt out at her in bold type. She held it up for Gabriel to see. ‘Look, it’s the painting of me that you sold to Sir Cloudesley.’

Gabriel steadied the fluttering sheets of paper with his good hand. ‘Well I’m damned.’

‘Is that all you can say?’ Molly snatched the newspaper from him and waved it in front of Armand. ‘Look, it says that it’s being exhibited on loan to the National
Gallery. Lily and Gabriel are famous. We’ll be invited to all sorts of important events and charity balls.’

‘You’ll be rich as well as famous, old boy,’ Armand said, slapping Gabriel on the back and immediately apologising for causing him pain. ‘I’m sorry, I forgot your injury. It was fortunate they didn’t wing your right arm because I think you’ll be inundated with work if this is anything to go by.’

‘I’ll need it to support my wife,’ Gabriel said, smiling at Lily. ‘But first I have to make my peace with the men in her family.’

‘I too will have some explaining to do.’ Armand slipped his arm around Molly’s waist. ‘I don’t know if they’ll allow Molly to marry a penniless foreigner. But for my papa’s untimely intervention we would already be a respectable married couple.’

There was a hint of spring in the air as they reached the old inn on Pelican Wharf. The sky was the colour of a robin’s egg and the sun sparkled on the river, turning the tea-coloured waters of the Thames to viridian green. There was a faint flush of new growth on the trees surrounding the Prospect of Whitby, and even the city stench seemed less noxious as they waited for someone to let them into the house.

Lily had expected Aggie or Grandpa to be the first to greet them but it was Prissy who opened the door. Her face broke into a huge grin and she flung her arms around Lily with a cry of joy. ‘You’re home. I was beginning to think you was all lost at sea.’

‘We sent you a telegram,’ Molly said, sweeping past
them. She paused in the hallway, sniffing the air. ‘I can smell lavender and beeswax. Someone must have been polishing. Everything is shiny.’

‘That’s me,’ Prissy said proudly. ‘I been working night and day to put this old house right, and you’ll find another difference too. Come inside, all of you.’ She ushered everyone in before closing the door with the air of a proud hostess. ‘Go on through to the kitchen and you’ll see what I mean.’

‘Where’s Ma?’ Lily asked anxiously as a feeling of guilt assailed her. She had put her mother almost completely out of her mind during their frantic days abroad, but now she had to face the fact that Ma might be in bedlam for all she knew.

‘You’re just in time for dinner,’ Prissy said, grinning. ‘I’m sure there’s plenty to go round.’

Taking off her mantle and tossing it on a chair together with her bonnet, Lily entered the parlour and was struck by the difference that had been made in less than a fortnight. Everything gleamed, from the brass candlesticks on the mantelshelf to the highly polished floorboards and furniture. A fire burned in the hearth and there were daffodils in a pewter mug on the dining table. The windows, which before had been caked with grime inside and out, were now sparkling clean. The reflected rays of the sun on the water made diamond-shaped patterns on the ceiling. ‘You have been busy, Prissy,’ Lily said appreciatively. ‘I know Aggie couldn’t have done all this.’

‘And why not, you cheeky young madam?’ Aggie waddled in from the kitchen, holding out her arms to
Lily. ‘So you’ve come back.’ She gave her a fond hug and then held Lily at arm’s length. ‘Where’s the wedding band then? Has he made an honest woman of you?’ She shot a darkling look in Gabriel’s direction. ‘Good Lord what happened to you?’ She glanced over his shoulder at Armand. ‘And you too, both of you with arms in slings? What’s been going on in them foreign parts?’

Molly rushed forward to hug Aggie. ‘I’m going to be married very soon, so don’t get in a state. I’ll soon be Madame Labrosse, although poor Armand nearly died when our carriage overturned, and Gabriel was shot by Armand’s Pa. What d’you think of that?’

‘I think I’d best sit down,’ Aggie wheezed, collapsing onto the nearest chair. ‘Best go and fetch the missis, Prissy. She needs to hear all this.’

Prissy nodded and disappeared into the kitchen, reappearing seconds later with Charlotte, who was enveloped in a white apron, her cheeks flushed and her eyes sparkling. ‘My dearest girls, you’ve come home.’ She held out her arms. ‘Come to Mama, darlings.’

Moving automatically, as if they had suddenly reverted to their childhood, Lily and Molly walked into their mother’s embrace.

‘You look so much better, Ma,’ Lily murmured.

‘See my ring, Ma,’ Molly said, waving it beneath her mother’s nose. ‘It’s a real diamond, none of your French paste for me.’

Charlotte smiled. ‘You haven’t changed at all, my little firethorn.’

‘I prefer to think of her as a briar rose,’ Armand said,
smiling. ‘I hope we have your blessing for our forthcoming nuptials, Madame Larkin.’

‘I prefer to be called Mrs Faulkner,’ Charlotte said with dignity. ‘As you see I am in mourning for my dear departed Everard.’

‘We haven’t forgotten him, Ma.’ Lily beckoned to Gabriel. ‘We have something to tell you also.’

‘Not now, darling,’ Charlotte said, making an obvious effort to control her emotions. ‘I have a meat pie in the oven and I don’t want the pastry to burn. My boys will be home soon and hungry as hunters.’ She hurried into the kitchen, mopping her eyes on her voluminous apron.

Lily turned to Prissy, eyebrows raised. ‘She’s cooking dinner?’

‘That’s right,’ Prissy said proudly. ‘It’s a talent she’d forgotten she had in all those years of being waited on and pampered.’

‘And it’s given me a rest from all that peeling of taters and chopping onions until me eyes were red raw,’ Aggie added with a pleased grin. ‘I got time to play backgammon with your grandpa, and she does the marketing too. It’s been a godsend.’

Lily and Molly exchanged looks of astonishment. ‘We’ve been gone such a short time,’ Lily said faintly. ‘It seems everything has changed.’

‘It’s all due to her,’ Aggie said, pointing at Prissy. ‘She’s worked wonders in the house; she’s got the old man eating out of her hand and he’s not the only one.’

Prissy’s face was suffused with a sudden blush. She shrugged her thin shoulders. ‘That’s enough of that
talk, Aggie. I only done me bit.’ She cocked her head on one side as if listening to a sound unheard by anyone else, and she turned to look out of the window.

Following her glance, Lily realised that it was the sight of Matt, Mark and Luke striding along the quay wall that had made Prissy’s eyes light up and her lips tremble with emotion. ‘Which one of them has made your heart beat faster?’ Lily whispered.

Prissy gave a guilty start. ‘I dunno what you’re talking about. I’m going to help the missis serve dinner.’ She hurried into the kitchen, closing the door behind her.

‘It’s Matt she fancies,’ Aggie said, as if reading Lily’s thoughts. ‘She’s got him wrapped round her little finger. You’ll see.’

Lily ran to open the front door. Matt was first over the threshold and he stopped short, staring at her with surprise written all over his strong features. ‘Lily, you’re here.’

‘We’re home, safe and sound. Well, Molly and I are fine, but Gabriel and Armand have been injured.’ She reached up to kiss him on the cheek, inhaling the familiar smell of smoke and charred wood that clung to her brothers after attending a fire.

Bestowing a perfunctory kiss on her cheek, Matt strode into the living room with Lily hurrying after him. Glancing round, he shot a darkling glance in Armand’s direction. ‘I’ll deal with you later, Labrosse.’

Mark stood in the doorway, grinning. ‘You’re safe and sound, Lil. That’s all that matters. That goes for you too, Molly. We thought we’d never see either of you again. It’s good to have you home.’

‘I second that.’ Luke caught Lily up in his arms and kissed her on the tip of her nose. ‘You’re famous, little sister. Have you seen the newspapers?’

‘I have,’ Lily breathed. ‘It’s wonderful, isn’t it? But Gabriel deserves all the praise; I just sat for him doing nothing.’

Matt’s stern gaze rested on Gabriel. ‘I want to speak to you – in private.’

His tone was anything but encouraging and Lily’s heart sank. ‘Why, Matt? What are you going to say that can’t be heard by all of us?’

‘That’s between the two of us.’

‘No, it isn’t. It concerns me too. Gabriel has asked me to marry him and I’ve said yes.’

‘We’ll see about that,’ Matt said grimly.

‘Hold on, old chap.’ Mark clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Give the poor sod a chance to explain.’

Matt shook him off impatiently. ‘Give an account of yourself, Faulkner.’

‘Stop it,’ Lily said urgently. ‘Don’t talk to him like that.’

‘This is men’s business, Lily. Keep out of it.’

‘Don’t speak to her in that tone of voice.’ Gabriel spoke for the first time, his face pale and his eyes flashing angrily. ‘I love Lily and I intend to marry her as soon as the banns are read.’

‘Over my dead body,’ Matt said coldly. ‘One Faulkner is bad luck, but two spell disaster. Our family has suffered once thanks to your father and now you want to drag my sister into a life of debt and depravity.’

‘Matt, no,’ Lily cried passionately. ‘It’s not like that.
Artists are respectable people; they just live differently to us.’

‘You were brought up to be honest and decent, Lily. I’m not having you mix with the likes of them. You saw what it did to Ma. She’s just getting over it now, but you’ll go the same way if you marry him.’ He turned on Gabriel with a savage snarl. ‘Get out of my house. Come near my sister again and you’ll be sorry.’

Gabriel opened his mouth as if to argue, but Mark moved to Matt’s side, fisting his hands. ‘I’m sorry, mate, but you heard him. You ain’t ruining our little Lily.’

‘Luke.’ Lily turned to him, holding out her hands. ‘You know better than this. Help him.’

He shook his head. ‘Those friends of Ma and Everard let me down too, Lily. I took my poems to the publisher and he threw them out. Laughed in my face, he did. They’re not interested in people like us unless it’s to poke fun at our clothes and our way of speaking. You’ll be just another oddity to exhibit, not a real person to them.’

‘That’s not true,’ Gabriel protested angrily. ‘I love Lily and I’ll protect her for the rest of my life. I won’t let anyone hurt her.’

‘Get out,’ Matt said angrily. ‘Go and don’t come back. If you try to see her again you’ll have us to contend with.’

Gabriel hesitated, his emotions clearly written on his face as he gazed at Lily. ‘All right, I’m going now, but I’ll come back for Lily as soon as the banns are read.’

‘I’m coming with you.’