Anna's Return Page 13

  “I know that he dismissed her when she was in trouble and had nowhere else to go. She could be anywhere now.”

  “She’ll be fine, I’m sure of it. What do we do now?”

  “First of all I’m going to speak to my mother. She really has to put an end to this vendetta against Anna. I hate to think that because of Mother my sister feels as if she has to be on the run all the time. I want her to come home, Izzy. I’ll take care of her then, just as she tried to with me when I was a little boy. She’s the only person I really love in this world.”

  Izzy smiled sadly. “Oh that’s nice,” she said, regretfully remembering when he used to love her too. It served her right for putting him off for so long. “I suppose I’d better be getting back to work.”

  “What? Oh yes, thanks for your help by the way. I do appreciate it.”

  “I promise that if I see your sister again I’ll tie her to a chair until you get there.”

  Teddy laughed. “You always could cheer me up, Izzy. Thank you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Anna wiped her brow on her sleeve, and carried on frying the bacon for breakfast. For one month she had been kept hard at work at Mrs. Green’s. Not that Anna was afraid of hard work, but she was used to having time to herself. Now she was lucky to have five minutes before falling into her bed and drifting off to sleep before the alarm clock woke her all too early in the morning. Even at Silverton Hall, she had often had time alone to reflect. Mainly because Mrs. Palmer protected her. The fact that her dearest friend no longer cared for her cut her to the quick. If only she had not left things to fester for so long.

  Because Anna was so good with the guests, Mrs. Green had delegated most of the work to her. The guests liked Anna, and even if she was imparting Mrs. Green’s staunch rules, she was able to do so in a way that did not offend them all. As a result, Dunromin’ was beginning to get a good name in the area. This only meant more work for Anna.

  She could not remember the last time she had been outside and seen the sunlight. Mrs. Green insisted on doing all the shopping. “You don’t want to run into anyone who might upset you,” she said to Anna.

  Anna doubted Mrs. Green had her interests at heart. She seldom spoke two civil words to her. The only time she did speak was to criticise, despite the fact that Anna did everything better than she did.

  She prepared the breakfasts, ready to carry them one by one into the dining room. She would have to do all that herself too, as Mrs. Green had taken to having a lie in, knowing she could leave things to Anna. Not that Anna minded. She found she got on much better without her employer standing over her shoulder.

  What she did mind was that a good bit of her money had gone. Mrs. Green had somehow managed to engineer it so that at the end of each week, Anna owed her more money than her wages allowed. She knew it was probably illegal, but with nowhere else to go, she did not know how to put things right. She barely had time to go out looking for other work, and Mrs. Green had made it clear that all the other landladies in the area would not employ Anna if she left Dunromin’ under a cloud.

  “I’ve found us somewhere else,” she heard a man mutter to his wife as she passed their table. “I mean, the girl is nice enough, but the woman…”

  “Where is it?”

  “It’s nearer to the beach, but not on it. A lovely place called Anna’s Return. I spoke to the landlady, Mrs. Stephens and she said we could go straight after breakfast.”

  Anna almost dropped her plate. Anna’s Return? Mrs. Stephens? Could that possibly be Mr. Stephens’s wife? And if so, the fact they had called their guesthouse Anna’s Return might mean something.

  “Excuse me,” she whispered, as she handed the couple their plates of food. “I couldn’t help overhearing you mention a place called Anna’s Return.”

  “Ye-es…” said the man, looking worried.

  “It’s alright,” said Anna, sadly. “I don’t blame you for leaving. I try my best but…”

  “You do that, duck,” said the man’s wife, kindly. “You’re a good lass and a hard worker. Lord knows why you work for that harridan.”

  “I don’t have anywhere else to go.” Anna had not meant it to sound as pathetic as it did.

  “Well, I don’t think they’re looking for anyone at this other guesthouse,” said the man. “They seem pretty well staffed there. But I could ask for you.”

  “Could you? Could you also tell Mr. Stephens that Anna Silverton is at Dunromin and if he would like to see her, she’ll be waiting for him?”

  “We’ll tell him, duck, don’t you worry,” said the man’s wife.

  “And please don’t tell Mrs. Green,” Anna whispered.

  “We won’t. We promise.”

  Anna heard footsteps on the stairs, so moved away hurriedly. She did not want Mrs. Green to catch her talking.

  The morning that followed was agonising. She saw the couple leave around eleven o’clock, then counted the minutes until Mr. Stephens arrived. If he did arrive.

  “What are you watching the clock for, girl?” said Mrs. Green. “Not waiting for a young man, are you? I’ve told you I’ll have none of that. Have you changed all the beds?”

  “Yes, Mrs. Green.”

  “Then go and dust the sitting room. It’s a mess.”

  “I’ve already dusted it,” said Anna.

  “Are you defying me? I’ve told you I’ll dock your wages if you do.”

  “No, Mrs. Green. I’ll go and dust the sitting room.”

  Having difficulty finding dust anywhere, Anna idly flicked the wooden furniture with a feather duster. She had done the room thoroughly after breakfast, and as none of the guests liked sitting around in the guesthouse, because Mrs. Green was apt to scold them, it had not been used since.

  She was flicking away an imaginary bit of dust when she heard a commotion in the reception area.

  “She’s not here, I tell you.”

  “Oh yes she is. You’ve been working her like a slave, from what I’ve been told. Anna! Anna!”

  “Mrs. Palmer…” Anna whispered. She was on her way out of the room when Polly burst into it.

  “Anna, it is you!” Polly held out her arms and Anna ran into them, sobbing. “Oh my darling girl. You’ve come home to me at last.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “Let me help you,” said Anna, as Polly fluffed the cushions.

  “You’ll do no such thing,” said Polly Stephens. “You’ll sit there and rest my girl.”

  They were in the sitting room at Anna’s Return, which was a much more welcoming place than the one at Dunromin’. There were still no guests around as most had gone out to lunch, but Anna could tell by looking at the comfortable room that it was used regularly. Books littered the coffee table, and there was a half finished game of draughts on a table by the window. At the other end was a large jigsaw puzzle, which apparently the guests added to whenever they felt like it.

  As soon as Polly arrived at Dunromin’, she made Anna get all her things and return to the guesthouse with her. She had a few choice words to say to her sister too, most of which involved the return of the money Mrs. Green had taken off Anna for board and lodge. Her sister had reluctantly handed over most of it, claiming to have already spent the rest.

  “The Harpers said you had no work here,” said Anna.

  Polly sat down next to her. “That doesn’t mean you’re going anywhere else. You can live with me and Horace now. We’ll find you something to do and pay you proper wages. Oh, Anna, why did you run away? I would have sorted things out for you. Not for one minute would I believe you capable of hurting young Master Teddy. Never.”

  “I know … I was afraid because my stepmother seemed so certain I would be arrested, and I thought she was very powerful.” Anna’s eyes filled with tears when she remembered that fateful day all those years before. “I never meant to hurt him, Mrs. Palmer … I mean Mrs. Stephens.”

  “You mean Polly. And I’ve already said that I know you didn’t. You don�
��t have to convince me, darling girl.”

  “I should have guessed that you were Mrs. Stephens when I saw the poster. Are you sure Mr. Stephens isn’t angry with me?”

  “He’s gone to the cash and carry but he’ll be able to tell you himself when he gets back. He got the ten shillings you sent him, dear, even though he didn’t want it. He never did think you stole it and neither did I. And even if you had, well you were young and afraid because of that awful stepmother of yours. As far as we’re both concerned, the money was yours to have.”

  “Thank you.” Anna still trembled with relief to hear that Polly had never doubted her. So much had happened over the years and they had loads to catch up on. Mr. Stephens’s nephew, Richard brought them tea and joined in, eager to hear about Anna’s adventures.

  “They talk about you constantly,” he told Anna. “They’ve been so worried about you.”

  “I know that now, and I’m sorry for it,” said Anna.

  “Ah well,” said Richard. “It’s all mended now. And you’ll be able to see your brother.”

  “My brother?” Anna’s face went pale. “Teddy?”

  “He came looking for you,” said Polly.

  “Oh…”

  “Now don’t you start thinking of running away again, my girl,” said Polly.

  “No, no I shan’t. I’ll see him if he wants to see me. We’ll bring an end to this once and for all.”

  Polly nodded. “My thoughts exactly. We’re not going to let you run away from us again. Young Master Teddy is training to be a doctor now. Oh you should see him, Anna. He’s grown into such a handsome young man. A nice young man too. Not stuck up like his mother.”

  She was able to have her first good night’s sleep in ages. Having been cooped up at Dunromin for a month she was eager to actually see Filey.

  “You go out and stretch your legs,” said Polly. “Get some colour in your cheeks. And if you bump into my sister, don’t let her bully you. You tell her it’s all out in the open now, so she’s nothing to blackmail you with.”

  “I will,” said Anna.

  She still felt a little uneasy about seeing Teddy again. Even though Polly had insisted her brother bore her no malice, she still feared that he might have been pretending to care about her just to find her. She shook her head and looked out over the sea. She would have to stop going into flights of fancy now about being locked up.

  When Mr. Stephens had returned the day before, he did something he had never done in all the time Anna had known him. He embraced her. What’s more, he apologised to her for not helping her more. But he told her he had also taken legal advice just in case they ever met her again.

  “A solicitor told me that even if your stepmother went to the police now, there’s no evidence against you. Young Teddy clearly suffered no ill effects from his fall. And he’s not going to speak out against you, lass. So don’t you worry anymore. You’re safe now.”

  “Thank you,” said Anna, wondering why it had never occurred to her to seek legal advice. Everything Mr. Stephens said made perfect sense. “For a clever person, you can be really stupid,” she had told her reflection in the mirror just before she went to bed. All those years wasted over something so trivial. In her own defence, at the age of eighteen, with no experience of the world, she had thought her stepmother a powerful figure, who could probably make the police believe anything she told them.

  Now, breathing in the bracing air at Filey, she finally felt free from the shadow that had blighted her life. She only wished she could tell Janek the truth. But what did it matter? She had been dismissed from Carmichaels and as nothing more than an employee, she had no claim on Janek. The friendship they had known in darker times, whilst escaping from Europe, belonged to that time. It was foolish to think it could ever be recaptured or that his care for her as a child could evolve into something more grown up when she became a woman.

  No doubt Janek would continue to prosper and probably marry Mary Carmichael one day, if the young lady did not snap up a titled man instead. If not Mary, then someone very much like her. An elegant, self-possessed young woman who knew how to behave amongst high society. Anna stood at the sea front and closed her eyes, feeling the fresh air on her face. It would be easier if her feelings for Janek could be carried along on that breeze, leaving her free to get on with her life.

  Sighing she turned and made her way back to the guesthouse. Luckily she did not meet Mrs. Green on the way. She supposed she would see her one day, but that was something she did not have to deal with just yet.

  Strangely enough, Anna recognised the young woman first. Standing with a young man at the entrance to the guesthouse, the girl was the pretty redhead who had asked after Anna at Carmichaels. She turned and looked at Anna, her face breaking into a huge smile. She said something to the handsome young man with her. But he was not the same young man who had been at Carmichaels.

  The young man turned and his eyes lit up. She saw his lips form her name. “Anna…” Suddenly the years dropped away, and she saw the child in the young man’s eyes.

  “Teddy,” she cried. “Teddy, is that you?”

  Brother and sister flew into each other’s arms and embraced in the street, much to the amusement and bemusement of passers by.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  “I’m sorry if I frightened you away from Carmichaels,” said Izzy, after Anna had once again told the story of her adventures since she last saw Teddy and the Stephenses. They all sat around the lunch table in Polly’s private rooms; Anna, Polly, Horace Stephens, Izzy and Teddy. Polly had prepared a ham salad, followed by sherry trifle, which they all tucked into gratefully.

  “It’s not your fault,” said Anna. “It was Reg.”

  “There was something smarmy about him,” said Izzy.

  Anna nodded. “I wonder what’s happened to them all.”

  “They were sacked,” said Teddy. “The new desk clerk told us. And don’t worry, I’ve made sure he can tell that Dabrowski fella that you’re no child killer.”

  “Thank you, Teddy,” said Anna.

  “I’ve spoken to Mother too. Told her she’s got to stop this silliness. Father was there and he agreed with me. He’d really like to see you, Anna.”

  Anna shook her head. “I don’t know… I know you love him dearly, Teddy, but he had plenty of chances to help me, to accept me as his daughter, but he didn’t. I’m not blaming him for what happened that day, but if I’d been able to go to him things might have been different. I understand how difficult it was for him when I turned up out of the blue. At least I do now. I didn’t as a child. Even so… I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t apologise, Anna, please,” said Teddy. “You’ve done nothing wrong. Actually I’ve got something for you that Father asked me to give you.” He reached inside his jacket pocket and took out the yellowing envelope. “I think it might make things a bit clearer for you.”

  “Clearer?”

  “I don’t know what’s in it, but I can guess. Go on, open it. We’re amongst friends here.”

  With trembling fingers, Anna opened the envelope, expecting to see a letter from her father. Except it was not that. She could hardly speak for shock. It took her a few moments to compose herself. “Teddy it’s a marriage certificate, dated nineteen twenty-nine. Father and my mother…”

  Teddy nodded. “I guessed as much.”

  “I always suspected it too,” said Polly. “Only I didn’t have proof. I kept trying to remind Sir Lionel, but he wasn’t having any of it.”

  “But that means…” Anna could not finish the sentence.

  “It means my mother’s marriage to father could not be legal. Unless there was a divorce, and I don’t think there was. You’re the proper heir to Silverton Hall, Anna. Not me.”

  “Teddy! I can’t do that to you.”

  “It doesn’t matter whether you can’t or not, Anna. It’s there in black and white. Or black and slightly yellow.” Teddy smiled. “I don’t care. I’m doing well at my studies. I’ll
be a doctor one day. Someone useful and not some spoiled brat waiting for his father to die and leave him all his money. It’s what I’ve always wanted.”

  Anna shook her head. “I think I can understand why Lady Geraldine was so against me now. If she knew this too…”

  “I think she did,” said Teddy. “She was looking for it. I think she wanted to destroy it.”

  “She knew she’d married a bigamist, Teddy. If not straight away, then eventually. I’m not saying it excuses her behaviour but it does explain it. She must have been frightened for herself and for you.”

  Because the day was cool, there was a fire in the hearth. Anna walked up and went over to it.

  “Anna, no!” said Teddy, standing up.

  “Teddy, it’s enough for me that I know. And that Father knows and has to live with his deceit. I’ll not let you suffer for it as well. When you go home, tell your mother that she has nothing to fear from me.”

  Anna tore the marriage certificate up and threw it in the fireplace.

  “Anna, why did you do that?” asked Teddy. “I told you it didn’t matter to me.”

  Anna went to him and took his hand. “You forget, Teddy. I’ve been on the wrong side of the … blanket … so to speak. I know how it feels to be the outcast. I won’t put you through that too. I don’t care about Father’s money anymore than you do. But you can do great things with it when you become a doctor. Turn Silverton Hall into a hospital.”

  “I promise I will,” said Teddy, putting his arms around his sister. “But you promise me that you’ll never struggle alone again. If you want anything, come to me and you can have anything you want.”

  “I promise.”

  “You may not think you have a family, Anna, but you do. Me, Polly, Horace and Izzy.”

  “Me too?” said Izzy, raising her eyebrows. “Not that I’m complaining.”

  “Isobel McDonald, I decided at the age of sixteen I was going to marry you. Nothing that’s happened since has changed my mind. Of course if you have qualms about marrying the son of a bigamist…”