Secrets (36 page)

It was a beautiful ring, a single sapphire surrounded by tiny diamonds, and Honour knew it must have cost a fortune. It was on the tip of her tongue to say Michael would have been wiser to have kept the money in a bank for when they were married, but the expression on his face stopped her.

He was looking at her granddaughter with such tenderness and joy that Honour couldn’t diminish his gift. ‘It’s beautiful,’ she said instead. ‘And I hope you’ll always be as happy together as you are now.’

‘You don’t object then?’ Michael said anxiously. ‘Maybe I should’ve asked you first, but I didn’t know how.’

‘I couldn’t be happier,’ Honour said, feeling a little dizzy with the unexpected emotions washing over her. ‘You’ll make a fine husband for my granddaughter. I couldn’t have chosen anyone better myself.’

Michael had thought of everything, it seemed, he even had a bottle of champagne in his car packed in a box of ice and a set of real champagne glasses. Honour would once have thought that was suspiciously suave, but she knew this lad and guessed he had spent many long weeks planning it all, not to be flashy but to make Adele feel really special.

They drank the champagne in the garden, and Adele was soon very giggly as it went straight to her head. They chatted idly, about Michael’s flying and Adele’s nursing.

‘I don’t want to cloud your happiness,’ Honour said a little later. ‘But when are you going to tell your parents, Michael?’

‘Tomorrow,’ he said firmly. ‘Father’s coming down for the weekend along with Ralph and Diana and their other halves and children. There will never be a better moment. I’m going to suggest that the next time they are all there again, Mother invites Adele too so she can meet them all formally.’

Honour felt a pang of fear, even though Michael looked supremely confident. ‘Good for you, Michael,’ she said.

A look of anxiety swept across Adele’s face though. ‘What if…’ she said, and then faltered.

Michael took her hand in his. ‘I don’t care if they don’t approve,’ he said firmly. ‘It will be their loss not mine if they can’t welcome you to our family. I won’t have anything more to do with any of them.’

Honour admired his courage and said so. ‘But take it easy,’ she warned him. ‘It takes a while for any parent to accept that their child is old enough to pick a wife or husband. You might be wiser to leave them to mull it over before insisting that Adele is invited to your mother’s home.’

‘Granny’s right,’ Adele agreed. ‘I couldn’t bear to go there until I’m sure they’ve come round. I’d be happier just meeting your mother again first.’

‘Mother will be all right,’ Michael said, reaching out and touching Adele’s cheek. ‘I told her a few weeks ago that I’d been seeing you.’

‘You didn’t say!’ Adele said indignantly.

Michael smiled. ‘Do you tell me absolutely everything?’

Adele grinned. ‘I only leave out boring things. That wasn’t boring. What did she say?’

‘Not a great deal, but she certainly didn’t go off the deep end.’

‘But your father won’t see it like that, he’ll only remember that I was your mother’s housekeeper, and rude to him too.’

‘Maybe so, but he’s not entirely unreasonable,’ Michael insisted. ‘These aren’t Victorian times, there’s a war brewing too, and he’s shrewd enough to realize I’ll only become more determined if he opposes me.’

Michael felt very confident during the family dinner on Saturday night. His parents were both in mellow moods, both his brother and sister seemed pleased to be here with their families, and Mrs Salloway, his mother’s housekeeper, had surpassed herself by making a truly delicious meal of steak and kidney pie served with fresh vegetables grown in the garden.

They had all spent the afternoon on the beach with the children, who had then been fed in the kitchen and were now in bed. The lighted candles on the table, the gleaming silverware, and the soft, warm breeze coming through the open windows were setting a tranquil scene for his announcement.

He wasn’t that bothered for himself if they opposed the marriage. Three years at Oxford, and now mixing with men from all walks of life in the RAF, had made him very aware that he could manage quite well without his family.

In fact sometimes he hoped for an excuse to distance himself from all of them for he was sick and tired of his parents’ ridiculous games with each other. He also found Ralph and Diana’s snobbishness appalling.

But for Adele’s sake he was going to give it his best shot. He didn’t want her to feel second-rate or shamed. She was a far better person than all his family put together, and just the thought that they might look down on her as being somehow inferior made him angry.

His eyes flitted around the table. His father at the head, slurping down yet another glass of red wine, as if excess drink would make the weekend go faster and he could get back to see his mistress. Diana next to him, still toying with her food, was a younger version of their mother in looks, the same reddish-gold hair and blue eyes and her blue chiffon dress gave her the same elegant prettiness. Sadly, she had inherited their father’s pomposity, and his abrasive manner.

Her husband David next to her was unprepossessing, thin with stooped shoulders, a weak chin and thinning sandy hair, but then he hadn’t needed looks to attract Diana – his family’s wealth did that.

Ralph’s wife Laura, sitting beside Michael, had put on a lot of weight recently and with her blonde hair arranged in loose curls she looked cherubic. Michael liked Laura; she was lazy, especially when dealing with her children, but a good woman nevertheless, who deserved better than bullying Ralph for a husband, and she looked pretty tonight in pale green silk.

Ralph, the other side of Laura, was on his second or third helping of food, stuffing it in as if he hadn’t eaten for a week. He too was putting on weight fast, something Diana had pointed out earlier. But then he was greedy in every way, for money, food and attention.

Then finally his mother at the foot of the table, as immaculate as ever, her hair swept sternly back off her face and arranged in two sleek coils at the sides of her head. Michael assumed that was the latest fashionable hair-style, even if it did give her the look of a telephonist, for she studied fashion magazines constantly. She was wearing a lilac dress with little-girl puffed sleeves. Michael had noticed she always wore something that gave her a slightly young and vulnerable look when Father was visiting. But at least she had laid off the wine tonight and perhaps that was because Myles had been quite pleasant to her all day.

Michael could not imagine Adele having anything in common with any of them, except perhaps Laura.

Mrs Salloway came into the room and began collecting up the empty plates. Michael approved of this excellent housekeeper; her cooking was first class, she was calm and pleasant, and she handled his mother’s moods very well.

‘The steak and kidney pie was marvellous, Mrs Salloway,’ he said. He always strived to show his appreciation of her as no one else ever did. ‘What treat have we got for pudding?’

She smiled, her plain lined face lighting up. ‘I’ve made one of my summer puddings,’ she said. ‘I hope it will be all right, the blackcurrants are almost over now.’

‘I’m sure it will be scrumptious,’ he said.

When she disappeared back into the kitchen Ralph gave Michael a scornful look. ‘Why d’you always suck up to the staff? They get paid for what they do.’

‘People need to feel appreciated as well as being paid,’ Michael pointed out, trying not to show his irritation at his brother’s lack of sensitivity. ‘If Mrs Salloway left, mother would be hard pressed to replace her.’

‘That’s true,’ Myles said. ‘She might be forced to get another girl like that appalling one from the marshes.’

‘She wasn’t appalling,’ Michael snapped back, horrified that somehow Adele had cropped up before he could make his announcement as he’d planned.

‘No she wasn’t, Myles,’ his mother piped up. ‘I missed her when she left. She was bright and gay and had a good heart. Mrs Salloway might be a better housekeeper, but she’s very gloomy.’

Michael thought fast. While he was heartened by his mother’s support for Adele, she might change tack if he made his announcement immediately. Yet to delay would be a betrayal of his love for Adele.

He took a deep breath. ‘I had intended to wait until we’d got to the brandy before telling you my news,’ he said, looking around the table. ‘But under the circumstances I will tell you it now. Yesterday I asked Adele Talbot to marry me, and she accepted.’

‘Who is Adele Talbot?’ Diana asked, her sharp nose quivering as if she’d smelled blood.

‘The appalling girl from the marshes, no less,’ Ralph said with a snort of derision. ‘Good God, Michael. You must be having us on!’

‘You mean Mummy’s old maid?’ Diana brayed out. ‘Oh surely not, Michael!’

He looked around the table and saw horror on every face. Even Laura, whom he had always counted as an ally, looked shocked beyond belief. His mother looked panicked.

‘I knew Adele long before she came here to help Mother out,’ he said, trying hard to keep his voice firm. ‘I met her when I was sixteen. She was just a friend then, and every one of you should be grateful to her for the way she took care of Mother. She became a nurse after she left here. I kept in touch and our friendship grew into love. She is my fiancée now, and with or without your approval I will marry her.’

‘But she’s common,’ Diana retorted, her mouth twisted into a sneer.

‘I wouldn’t call her common,’ his mother said, giving her daughter a disapproving look. ‘I would call her most un-common. My mother thought a great deal of her grandmother, Honour. She always said it was the most apt name for the woman to have.’ She turned to Michael then. ‘But I’m sorry, Michael, even if I know Adele is neither common nor appalling, I can’t approve of you marrying her. I’ve got nothing against her personally. But she is most unsuitable for a boy of your background and education.’

‘Thank you for that, Mother,’ Michael said with heavy sarcasm. ‘But what you all consider unsuitable means nothing to me. Suitable to me means a woman I love, respect, and who has the same aims and ambitions. I don’t share aims and ambition with anyone in my family. Neither do I see any real love around this table.’

‘You are a fool, son,’ Myles roared out suddenly. ‘You marry some little upstart from the marshes and you’ll live to regret it. You’ve got a fine career ahead of you, but she’ll hold you back.’

‘How will she hold me back?’ Michael asked. ‘She’s as well read as I am, she speaks the King’s English, she can hold a knife and fork properly. She’s a kind, good, beautiful person. I can’t make that claim about any of you. But I’m not going to argue any further with you, I intend to marry Adele with or without your blessing. If you can’t accept her for being the woman I love, then I have nothing more to say to any of you.’

At that point Mrs Salloway came into the room carrying an enormous summer pudding. Clearly she hadn’t heard the raised voices as she was smiling. Michael realized there was no way he could sit down again and eat pudding, so he made for the door.

‘Where are you going?’ his mother cried out, rising from her chair too.

‘Away from all of you,’ he said sharply. ‘To be with people who actually care about my happiness.’

He ran upstairs, threw his belongings into a case, grabbed his uniform and was back downstairs opening the front door, when his mother came rushing out of the dining room. ‘Don’t go, Michael,’ she pleaded, tears in her eyes. ‘You’re all I’ve got.’

‘I’m not,’ he said sharply. ‘You’ve got two other children with unhappy marriages and four grandchildren too.’

‘But you know you’ve always been my special child,’ she implored him, wringing her hands. ‘I couldn’t bear it if I lost you.’

‘If you want to keep me, then you must accept Adele,’ he said. ‘When you can do that, let me know.’

He left then, the sound of her crying ringing in his ears. She was still standing at the open door as he drove away.

By the time Michael had driven down through the Landgate towards the marshes, he knew he was in no fit state to drive back to Biggin Hill. He’d had two large gin and tonics before dinner and then wine. While by no means drunk, he was upset, and it would be folly to risk having an accident.

He thought he would go down to Curlew Cottage. He didn’t want Adele to know what had occurred tonight, but she was back at the nurses’ home in Hastings, and he was pretty certain Mrs Harris would be sympathetic and give him a bed for the night.

The oil lamp was still glowing in the living room as Michael drew up. She was probably listening to the wireless and he hoped she wouldn’t be frightened by a knock on her door so late in the evening.

‘It’s me, Michael,’ he called out as he knocked. ‘I’m sorry to disturb you.’

Honour was in her nightclothes as she opened the door. ‘Adele went back to Hastings this morning,’ she said, looking more surprised than nervous.

‘I know,’ Michael said, then asked if he could come in.

It struck Michael how different Honour Harris was to anyone in his family as he explained the bare bones of his predicament. She remained totally calm, listening carefully without any interruptions, without even a display of hurt that his family didn’t believe her granddaughter was good enough for him.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Michael finished up. ‘You shouldn’t have to hear this. I’m ashamed of being related to them all.’

‘You can’t help that, any more than Adele can help the stock she comes from,’ Honour said crisply. ‘I’m not surprised at their reaction of course, I expected it. I dare say if I had remained in Tunbridge Wells in the kind of life I had had, I would’ve been equally bigoted if my daughter had wanted to marry a man outside our social circle.’

She got up, stirred up the stove and put the kettle on.

‘Of course you can stay here tonight, Michael. You can sleep in Adele’s bed. I very much admire your courage, and your loyalty to my granddaughter, but I want you to think carefully before you cut yourself off from your family.’

‘But we can make our own family,’ Michael insisted. ‘We’ve already got you. I don’t want any of my relatives with their poisonous ideas and their warped views.’