Sunlight on the Mersey (33 page)

She rose slowly to her feet, clutching her coat tightly to her, half blinded by tears, and began to walk back. She had reached the end of the pathway that led to the terrace when she saw him coming towards her. Her heart dropped like a stone. She couldn’t face him but there was no alternative route back and, besides, he’d seen her.

‘Rose, I was looking for you. Mrs Mathews said she’d sent you out for some fresh air. I thought perhaps that if you could be spared . . .’ He suddenly noticed her distress. ‘What’s wrong, Rose? You’ve been crying.’

‘It’s nothing. I . . . I think I’ve got dust in my eye,’ she lied.

‘No, Rose, you’re upset. Let’s go back to the bench; they won’t mind you being out a little longer.’

Reluctantly she followed him back down the path and sat
down again on the bench. Oh, this was going to be so hard but she had to do it. There was nothing else she could do.

‘What is it, Rose? Has someone upset you? Have
I
upset you? please tell me!’ He hated to see her so troubled.

Rose shook her head. She
had
to keep her emotions, her tears and her voice under control. ‘I . . . I’m afraid I’m going to have to . . . leave Tregarron for . . . for good.’

Her words shocked him profoundly. He’d tried to keep his feelings hidden from her. He had agonised over what he felt for her. He’d fought many battles against his heart using reason and common sense but they were battles neither of those faculties had won. He loved her but how could anyone as lovely, as compassionate, as vivacious love him? He was a cripple, he was a burden. He would always need someone to look after him.

‘Why, Rose?’ he asked, unable to keep the pain out of his voice. ‘I . . . I thought you liked Tregarron.’

Rose couldn’t look at him. Tears were threatening to overwhelm her again. ‘I do! I love the space and the beauty of the countryside, the . . . peace, but I have to go. Really I do.’

‘Is it your mother?’

Rose was too upset to seize the lifeline he had given her. She shook her head. ‘No, Iris is caring for her.’

‘Then why, Rose? Please tell me, perhaps I can rectify whatever is wrong,’ he pleaded. He couldn’t face the thought of never seeing her again.

‘I . . . I can’t tell you, David. I can’t!’ She couldn’t keep the sob from her voice as she looked at him, her eyes swimming
with tears. The love she felt for him was clearly visible in that instant.

David felt as though he’d been physically struck. She’d ducked her head but he had seen the expression in her eyes. He reached out and took her hand in his. ‘Rose, there is something I’ve wanted to tell you for weeks but I . . . I was afraid to. I . . . love you, Rose. I think I’ve loved you for quite a while but never realised it until . . . that afternoon. Rose, if you love me then stay, please?’

‘I do love you, David. I love you more than I can say, but how can I stay? I . . . I work for you,’ Rose whispered. Joy had surged through her at his words but had quickly been dispelled by the reality of her position.

He longed to take her in his arms and tell her that that was unimportant, what was important was that she loved him and he couldn’t bear to lose her. His life would be unbearable without her, he had to ask her to be his wife, he
had
to keep her at his side. But what if she refused? What if she couldn’t face a future tied to him – a cripple? He thought of the courage that had carried him through the months in the trenches, that had helped him survive the field hospital and the journey home to a world that had changed so much. ‘Rose, will you . . . marry me?’

Rose gasped aloud with shock. ‘David . . . I love you, I’ll always love you but I can’t . . .’

‘Is it because of the way I am? A cripple?’

‘No! I don’t even think of you like that . . . as being a cripple. David, I’m a servant. I’m a working-class girl from a
humble home, I’m not even . . . well educated. I . . . I couldn’t . . . cope.’

‘None of that matters to me, Rose. You have so many graces and wonderful attributes. I can’t spend the rest of my life here without you. We’d lead a very quiet life. Livvie could continue to supervise the household, if that’s what you would prefer. I don’t have a title, so you wouldn’t either. And, and . . . I promise it will be a “complete” marriage, there is no reason why we can’t have children. I am not paralysed. Please don’t go, Rose,’ he begged, holding both her hands tightly in his now.

‘But . . . the others. Mr Lewis, Henry . . . ?’

He could see she was weakening. He’d fight tooth and nail to keep her. He didn’t care what anyone thought or said – Olivia, Elinore, their relations and friends, the servants, convention, public opinion . . . He didn’t care. All that mattered was that she would consent. ‘Don’t worry about anything, Rose. I’ll discuss everything with them. It will be fine, I promise. And we’ll be happy, Rose, that I promise too.’

She looked into his eyes and knew she couldn’t refuse him. A great tide of happiness surged through her. ‘Yes, I’ll marry you, David,’ she said shyly.

He leaned towards her and gently stroked her cheek before kissing her on the mouth. ‘Oh, Rose, I love you so much. I never expected to love anyone, I never expected to
be
loved, not like this.’

She placed a finger on his lips, her eyes now shining with tears of joy. ‘That doesn’t matter to me. You are so . . . special.
Oh, I do love you, David, and I’ll be so happy to take care of you.’

‘Then leave everything to me, Rose. You go and spend a few days with your family in Liverpool. I’m sure your mother would like to hear the news first hand, rather than by telephone or letter,’ he urged. It would be better, he judged, if she were not here when he broke the news to his sister for he had a good idea of what Olivia’s reaction would be and he didn’t want Rose to be upset or, worse, change her mind. ‘Is there a bus tomorrow?’

She nodded, wondering how her mam and Iris and Charlie would react to her news. Hopefully they wouldn’t be too dismayed because she would need Kate’s permission.

‘Then I’ll arrange for someone to take you into Denbigh in the morning. Will you confide in Miss Roberts?’ he asked, thinking that the news would spread like wildfire in the village.

Rose considered this, realising the amount of speculation and gossip it was going to cause. ‘I’ll ask her to say nothing about it until . . . until I come back, David. Gwen can be very discreet,’ she promised as she got to her feet. Life had changed so much in just a few short minutes, she thought as she looked towards the house. It dawned on her that very soon it would become her home and that her position would be drastically changed. She held tightly to his hand for it was a very daunting realisation.

D
AVID WASN’T DISAPPOINTED BY
Olivia’s reaction. He’d arranged for Rose to be collected from Gwen’s cottage and driven to Denbigh to catch the bus and had spoken to Gwen Roberts on the telephone that morning. She’d sounded completely bemused, he’d thought, but had recovered herself enough to offer her congratulations and assure him of her discretion. He had then asked Lewis to inform Mrs Mathews that Rose had gone to visit her family for a few days. Lewis was acutely aware that something strange was going on but his years of training stood him in good stead and not even by the raising of an eyebrow did he betray his surprise. Then David had gone in search of his sister.

After he’d told her she stared at him blankly for a few seconds.

‘Dai! David, you can’t . . . can’t possibly be thinking of doing something so, so
crass,
so utterly stupid!’

‘I don’t see it like that, Livvie,’ he replied curtly.

Olivia struggled for words. ‘She . . . she’s a
servant
! She’s . . . she’s . . .’

‘Common? Working class? Yes, she is, but no one can say she’s been ill mannered, loud or uncouth in any way while she’s been here – just the opposite.’

‘It’s been her place to be well mannered!’ Olivia snapped back. ‘Oh, I just don’t believe this!’

‘She’s kind, gentle, intelligent and she . . . she understands me. She’s helped me to pick up the threads of my life again, to look forward instead of back. There will be no formal announcements, no engagement party, it will be an even quieter wedding than Elinore’s.’

‘I can’t believe I’m hearing this, David! Mother and Father would be utterly mortified. Totally devastated.’

‘They are dead, Olivia, and I have to live out the rest of my life as a cripple, dependent upon people. Do you think that prospect fills me with pleasure? I have little to look forward to and without Rose . . .’

Olivia could see he was determined. ‘You do realise that the servants will all leave? How can we expect Lewis, Henry, Mrs Mathews, Cook to accept her as mistress of this house?’

David was becoming increasingly annoyed by her attitude. ‘Are you more interested in what the servants will think than in my happiness?’

‘That is unfair and uncalled for,’ she snapped. ‘But how can we expect them to accept her? And if they don’t, how on earth is this household to continue to function? It will be disastrous! A complete shambles! Rose has no idea how to supervise staff, no idea of how to even communicate other than on the level to which she is now accustomed. You are putting the whole burden of the staff situation on my shoulders, David.’

‘Leave that all to me, Olivia. Rose has no social ambitions whatsoever; she is happy for you to continue to supervise the household. And we intend to live very quietly, there will be no entertaining – except for Ernest and Elinore.’

And what about her family? Will we be expected to entertain them?’ Olivia was feeling quite faint at the thought.

‘No. Her mother is a widow and has a medical condition which makes it unwise for her to travel. Her sister is married and runs a business and I believe her brother is to be married soon and he also has a business to attend to – shops, I gather.’

Napoleon’s derogatory remark, “a nation of shopkeepers”, flashed through Olivia’s mind, and then she pursed her lips. ‘Well, I have to say I wash my hands of it entirely, David. On your own head be it! You’d better summon Lewis and ask him to inform the staff and be ready to try to find replacements. I want nothing at all to do with it.’ She walked purposefully to the door and slammed it hard behind her.

He sighed heavily; it was what he had expected, which was why he’d sent Rose home.

Lewis had heard the door slam and had seen Olivia go upstairs with a grim, set expression on her face. She was obviously furious about something, he thought as he entered David’s drawing room.

‘I’ve upset Miss Olivia, I’m afraid, Lewis,’ David informed him.

The butler inclined his head.

‘I have just informed her that Rose has agreed to marry me. That’s why she has gone home. To inform her family of the fact.’

It took all Lewis’s years of training to keep his composure and not reel with shock or utter a word.

‘Olivia expects that the staff will resign en masse. Is that likely?’ David asked quietly.

Lewis’s emotions were in utter turmoil although his facial expression had hardly changed. ‘I . . . I don’t think so, sir,’ he managed at last. ‘There will of course be . . . comment.’ There would of course be uproar, he thought, but the senior members of staff – including himself – had been with the family for years and knew no other life. Plas Idris was their home and when they retired it would be to David Rhys-Pritchard that they would look for a small pension; as for the maids, jobs for young girls were not easy to find in rural areas. However, it was a situation that would need a firm hand.

‘Lewis, you’ve known me since I was four years old. It was you who amused me with those tricks involving bits of coloured paper. You gave me toffees at Christmas and a half-crown each time I went back to school; you taught me how to
fish in the river. You were here waiting after the accident to try to ensure a semblance of normality prevailed and you saw me off to war with a handshake and cheerful words. You were waiting when I came back – like this. The damned war left me a cripple, unable to pursue any of the pastimes I once enjoyed. I had nothing to look forward to except years of loneliness and pain. I never expected to be loved or to find happiness.’

Lewis had recovered a little from the shock. Everything David had said was true, he thought, and he was fond of this young man whose life had been beset by tragedy. He wanted Mr David to be happy. Rose was a good girl: she was quiet, unassuming and thoughtful, but the fact remained she was not of his young master’s class. He nodded slowly.

‘Rose will need help, Lewis. Olivia will still supervise the household – I hope. We will live quietly; we will not entertain. There will be no formal announcements, a very quiet wedding but occasions may arise that she feels unable to . . . cope with. I trust she can depend upon you for advice and support?’

Lewis nodded again as he digested all this. ‘Rose seems to be taking a very . . . sensible attitude, sir.’

David breathed deeply, feeling relieved. It appeared that Lewis was prepared to accept Rose and he hoped the rest of the staff would too. He hoped that in time Olivia would relent also.