The Ribbon Weaver

Chapter Twenty-Seven



Thankfully, Molly was fast asleep in bed when Amy finally stumbled through the cottage door. Her gown hung in tatters where the fallen branches and the bushes in the woods had torn at it. She pulled it over her head and flung it on to the floor as fresh tears started to her eyes. She supposed that she should not have run off as she had, but she had been so humiliated that she could not bear to stay at The Folly for a second longer. Surely François would understand? She shrugged. There was nothing she could do about it now; the deed was done.

Dropping heavily on to the settle she stared down at the ring on her finger. What was her gran going to say in the morning when she showed it to her and told her that she was now engaged to be married? And what would Toby say …

She shook her head to clear the vision of his face. She was François’ fiancée now.

As her thoughts moved back to Eugenie she had to suppress a shudder. The woman was quite mad, but what had she meant when she said, Enjoy your happiness while you may, because as God is my witness I can promise you it won’t last long.

It was probably just the drink talking, she decided, and snatching up the ruined gown, she wearily headed towards the stairs. She would hide it in the bottom of her wardrobe until she could sneak it out of the house. Better that, than risk her gran finding it. Molly must never know what had happened tonight, it might impede her recovery. Tomorrow morning Amy would tell her what a wonderful evening it had been – and with luck, Molly would never know any differently.

When she came down to breakfast the next morning, Molly was waiting for her, eager to hear how the evening had gone.

‘Come an’ sit down an’ get some o’ this porridge inside yer, lass,’ she encouraged as she ladled a large helping into a dish. ‘An’ then I want to hear everythin’.’ She noticed that Amy was looking a little pale but put it down to the fact that she had had a late night.

Amy meekly did as she was told; putting off the moment when she would have to tell Molly that she was now engaged to be married. But the opportunity never arose, for as she lifted her spoon, Molly, who was never one to miss much, spotted the glittering ring on her finger.

‘Got something to tell me, have yer?’ she asked caustically as her heart began to pound. Deep down she had half-expected something like this, but now that the evidence was staring her straight in the eye she was having problems coming to terms with it.

‘I … um … that is … Well, François proposed to me last night, Gran.’ Amy kept her eyes downcast. ‘And the fact is, I accepted his proposal. We’re engaged to be married.’

Molly tried to push away the memory of the young man’s face when he had first entered the cottage. He had looked shocked, as if the place was far below him, but then in all fairness, compared to where he was used to living, it probably was. And Amy obviously loved him, so who was she to stand in their way?

‘Let’s have a proper look at this ring then,’ Molly said, trying to sound cheerful. She lifted Amy’s hand and sighed. ‘By ’eck, that’s a right old bobby dazzler an’ no mistake,’ she commented. ‘An’ when is the weddin’ to be?’

‘Oh, we haven’t got that far yet,’ Amy told her hastily, and then on a softer note, ‘You are happy about this, aren’t you, Gran?’

‘O’ course I am,’ Molly retorted a little too quickly. ‘All I’ve ever wanted was to see you happy, an’ if this here Frenchman is the one to do that, then that’s good enough fer me.’

She sat down opposite Amy and they finished their breakfast in silence. Amy’s feelings were in turmoil. She knew she should be feeling over the moon today, but instead she still felt that strange numbness. But then, she consoled herself, after Eugenie’s disgusting display the night before, she could hardly expect to feel on top of the world. Eugenie had ruined what should have been one of the happiest nights of her life. No doubt the happy feelings would come in time, when she had had time to apologise to everyone at The Folly for running off as she had. And that would have to be sooner rather than later. It was no good putting it off, she would have to face them at some point and time was preçious as François would be returning to Paris in less than two weeks’ time now.

In less than an hour she was on her way back to The Folly again, slightly subdued and not feeling like a newly engaged woman at all.

As she approached Mary’s cottage, she saw her old friend in the garden, pegging out a great basketful of washing to the line.

‘Amy.’ She spat a wooden peg out of her mouth and beamed from ear to ear. ‘Congratulations. Joe told me about your engagement this morning. You must be floating on air, although I dare say that minx, Eugenie, took the shine off the night fer yer, turnin’ up as she did out o’ the blue like that.’

Amy suppressed a grin. News spread like wildfire in this neck of the woods and she had no doubt that everyone would be talking about it today.

‘It did rather,’ she admitted.

Mary had already hurried over to the fence to join her, and grabbing her hand she admired the beautiful ring. ‘Eeh, whoever would ’ave thought it, eh?’ She sighed. ‘Our little Amy related to the Forresters an’ about to marry a rich Frenchman into the bargain!’ She would have gone on but at that moment the sound of crockery smashing carried to them from within the cottage and she hastily turned about. ‘Sorry, I shall have to go an’ see what them pair o’ little buggers is up to,’ she gasped as she lifted her skirts and flew back the way she had come. ‘I’ll speak to yer later, Amy, eh?’

Amy watched her go with a sense of relief and hurried on before Mary put in another appearance.

Once inside The Folly she slowly made her way to the drawing room where she found the two families enjoying their morning coffee.

‘Ah, Amy.’ Josephine instantly rose to meet her and François also stood up. ‘How are you this morning, my dear? We’ve been so worried about you and will never be able to apologise enough for what Eugenie did last night. It was absolutely unforgivable of her. I sometimes wish she lived a million miles away instead of a mere five miles as the crow flies.’

‘It’s all right,’ Amy answered. ‘And I’m sorry too, for running out the way I did.’

François had crossed to stand at her side now and she smiled tentatively up at him, feeling embarrassed.

‘We quite understood,’ Josephine assured her. ‘You needed a little time on your own, which is why we didn’t follow you. But come, we mustn’t let what happened spoil the wonderful news. François has been beaming from ear to ear all morning and now we must speak about wedding preparations.’

‘So soon?’ Amy muttered as François possessively took her arm.

‘Why not, ma petite?’ He smiled persuasively. ‘There is no point in delaying. Your grandmother and I thought the autumn might be a good time for a wedding. What do you think?’

Deeply conscious of the many eyes trained upon her, Amy flushed. ‘I er … it doesn’t give us much time. It’s only a matter of months away.’

As if she had not spoken, François went on, ‘The next thing we have to decide is where the wedding shall be. Should we have the ceremony in Paris or in London?’

‘I wouldn’t want to get married in either of those places,’ Amy spouted, before she had time to stop herself. ‘The wedding should be here in Nuneaton. It’s where I live and we have to think of my gran getting to it.’ A pang of guilt, sharp as a knife, stabbed through her. And then what was going to happen to her gran when they were married? Amy had always vowed that she would never leave her, and Molly was getting too old to be living alone now. Everything was happening so fast and she was beginning to panic.

Thankfully, Samuel Forrester stepped in just then. ‘For what my opinion is worth, I think you both ought to just enjoy being engaged for now,’ he commented diplomatically, noting Amy’s distress. ‘There is plenty of time to think about the wedding.’

Amy flashed him a grateful smile but François looked less than pleased. ‘Well, we shall see,’ he said peevishly. ‘Now come, Aimée. Let us go for a walk in your grandfather’s beautiful grounds, non? I should like to have you to myself for a while.’ He now turned to his mother and Mrs Forrester and after giving them a polite little bow, he asked, ‘Would you be excusing us, please?’

‘Of course,’ the women answered in unison, and François took Amy’s elbow and led her through the hallway to the front of the house. Once outside he tucked her arm into his and they began to stroll along the grounds

‘You have made me the happiest man on earth,’ he told her tenderly. ‘Although I could have wished for a more pleasant end to the ball. Quelle femme abominable! How on earth did Adam put up with that Eugenie for so long? And why does she dislike you so?’

‘I have no idea,’ Amy said. ‘Apparently she was exactly the same with Jessica, Adam’s sister.’

‘Well, we shall pay the incident no more heed. You have agreed to become my wife and that is all that matters for now. But tell me, ma belle, why do you drag your heels about setting a date for the wedding?’

‘It’s my gran,’ Amy told him truthfully. ‘I am very concerned about what will happen to her once we are married.’

‘Could she not come to live with us?’ François asked as he turned his head to look at her.

‘She would never agree to that,’ Amy said at once. ‘She wouldn’t even consider moving into a cottage on this estate when Mr Forre—when my grandfather suggested it.’ She was still having difficulty in addressing the Forresters by their proper titles.

‘Then what are we to do?’

‘I don’t know yet.’ Amy stared off across the top of the trees. ‘Could we not just enjoy being as we are for now, as Grandfather suggested, and talk about setting a date for the wedding sometime in the future?’

They were now walking beneath the canopy of trees and François was looking none too happy. Even so, he sensed that Amy was not going to be pushed for now, so he sighed heavily. ‘If that is your decision, then for now I must accept it.’

They walked on for some time until they came to the edge of a deep ravine. There was nothing to be heard but the sounds of the birds and it was very peaceful.

‘This is a beautiful place,’ François remarked as he gazed down the steep incline, which was covered in bushes and wildflowers.

Amy nodded in agreement. ‘Yes, it is. This place used to be a quarry but now it’s a haven for wildlife. I often come here on a nice day when I have free time to sketch. I find it very peaceful.’

As he turned her to face him she looked up into his handsome face and her worries began to melt away. And then he tilted her chin and his lips came down on hers, and as she gave herself up to the pleasure of the moment she knew that somehow they would find a way around their problems.

Back at Forrester’s Folly, Samuel was helping the Laroque family into his carriage to begin an inspection of his local businesses. Josephine meantime had made her way to the study where she found Adam sitting in a deep wing chair, staring out of the window.

‘Oh, I’m sorry, darling. I didn’t mean to disturb you,’ she said. ‘I have an appointment in ten minutes but I can always use another room if you’d like me to.’

‘No, Mother, it’s quite all right. I was just going out for a ride on Pepperpot anyway. Seth is saddling him for me now.’

‘Oh, I see.’ Her face creased with concern as she studied her son and realised for the first time that he had lost weight. He seemed to be living on his nerves just lately, and started at the least little thing. But then, she supposed the incident last night had affected him deeply. The end of a marriage, albeit a bad one, could not be an easy thing to accept.

He rose from his seat and as he passed her she patted his arm, saying softly, ‘Try not to worry too much. Things have a habit of coming right in the end.’

‘Yes, Mother,’ he said dutifully, while knowing that nothing would ever be right for him again, but he refrained from saying so.

‘Who do you have an appointment with?’ he asked curiously, as he paused to place his arm affectionately about her waist. It was unusual for his mother to have callers, but then she had been so much happier lately, as if she was coming back from the dark place she had hidden in for too many years.

Instantly she became animated. ‘It’s with the private detective that your father and I hired to try and find your sister,’ she said excitedly. ‘I received a letter from him today saying that he had some news for me and that he would be calling to see me.’ She clapped her hands together, her face a picture of sheer anticipation. ‘Oh, just think of it, darling. Won’t it be wonderful if he has found her? She can come back where she belongs, and her husband for that matter. I’m sure they would have married by now and if we can only find them and tell them that we are sorry for what happened, we can all be a real family again. It will be so wonderful for Amy to meet her mother at last.’

She watched a mixture of emotions play across her son’s face, and then to her bewilderment he suddenly released her and strode abruptly from the room without so much as another word.

She wrung her hands together but then as she thought of how close Adam and his sister had been she slowly relaxed again. Her disappearance had affected him as badly as it had affected his parents, and he was probably just afraid that the detective’s findings would lead to nothing but disappointment again.

Mr Burrows’s attempts to find Jessica had come to nothing when they had first hired him shortly after Jessica had left home, but Josephine prayed that this time he would be coming with some good news – otherwise why would he be calling to see her? She hung on to the thought as she hurried to the window to look for a sign of his arrival.

By the time Mr Burrows finally did arrive, almost half an hour later, Josephine was beside herself with impatience. The maid showed him to the study as the mistress had instructed, and the instant he set foot through the door, Josephine demanded, ‘Well, Mr Burrows? I believe you have some news for me.’

‘Yes, ma’am, I do,’ he told her solemnly as he removed his hat. ‘But I’m not too sure that you will be happy with it.’

Remembering her manners, Josephine ushered him to a chair. Settling into the one directly opposite to him, she straightened her skirts and after folding her hands sedately in her lap, she raised an inquisitive eyebrow.

‘I have had a measure of success,’ he began tentatively, and when he saw her start he quickly held up his hand. ‘Please, ma’am. Don’t get too excited until I’ve told you the whole story.’

She gulped deep in her throat, silently willing him to go on as sweat broke out on her forehead.

‘The thing is, I did discover where your daughter and Mr Chamberlain went when they first left Forrester’s Folly. I initially made a number of enquiries that led me nowhere, and then I decided that if they had become man and wife there had to be a record of their marriage somewhere. I began to systematically work my way through church records, beginning in Nuneaton and slowly moving out further afield. It began to seem that I was on a fruitless mission but then after visiting a church in Coventry I was fortunate enough to meet an elderly gentleman who had played the organ at that particular church for many years. When I mentioned the names of the two young people that I was searching for he told me that he recalled them. They had attended the church for some time and he said that they appeared to be very much in love. He had assumed that they were married as the young woman was pregnant and wore a wedding ring. They were living in a rented room in a house in the back streets of Coventry and for a while he recalled that Mr Chamberlain had taken any job he could to support them, but then he got a job down the mines and they moved into a little tied cottage.’

‘Oh!’ Josephine’s hand flew to her mouth and she had to blink to hold back tears as she imagined her beloved girl being forced to live in such a way, and with a baby coming too.

Mr Burrows, who was a great bear of a man with sparse grey hair and soft grey eyes, gave the woman a moment to compose herself before going on, ‘The old gentleman could remember quite clearly how happy the couple were at the prospect of becoming parents. But then sadly, there was a pit cave-in and Mr Chamberlain was killed, along with four other men, all of whom had families. It must have been heartbreaking for the widows, your daughter included. Anyway, the old gentleman informed me that sadly, all five families were turned out of their homes as they were tied to the pit, and it seems that your daughter then rented a room somewhere in the town and for a time managed to earn a living sewing. If what the man told me is true, her landlord was a deplorable man and when your daughter was heavily pregnant she suddenly just stopped coming to the church. The old gentleman was concerned; he had become fond of her, you see? So he want to the room she had been renting, only to be told that she had been evicted on to the streets. And that, I’m afraid, is as far as I have been able to get. What became of her after that, I have no idea whatsoever, ma’am, and I regret that all my further enquiries have hit a brick wall.’

Josephine was sobbing by now as her heart broke afresh. After the story that Molly had told her of the night that she had found Amy, she could only piece together what must have happened. Perhaps Jessica had been on her way home, and had sheltered in the church doorway because she was too ill to go any further? And what had become of her when Molly left her to go and fetch help? Had she somehow managed to struggle away somewhere? If this was so, it could well be that Jessica was still alive. But in that case, why had she not tried to find her baby? Josephine’s head was buzzing as she told Mr Burrows Molly’s tale.

When she was done he too scratched his head in bewilderment. ‘It’s certainly a strange story, ma’am,’ he told her respectfully. ‘And going by what the old organist told me, your daughter was really looking forward to the birth of this child, as was her husband before his untimely death. She doesn’t sound as if she would have just abandoned the child without very good cause.’

Josephine sniffed loudly. Her poor girl. She could only imagine what she must have suffered following Robert’s death. But why had she not come home to them then? Surely she had known that her father would never have turned his back on her under any circumstances, despite what he had said on the night he had forbidden her to continue seeing Robert?

Sighing, Mr Burrows rose from his chair and extended his hand. ‘I am sorry I could not have brought you better news, Mrs Forrester,’ he told her sincerely. ‘And thank you for sharing the information you have with me. The jigsaw is slowly coming together and never fear – I will not stop searching until the last piece has fallen into place. Good day to you, ma’am.’

‘Good day, Mr Burrows … and thank you.’ She placed an envelope containing a sizable amount of money, including a large bonus, into his hand and then the man quietly left the room leaving her to ponder on what he had told her.

Adam joined her over an hour later, following a ride on Pepperpot, his horse, and she immediately began to tell him of the detective’s findings. He had intended to be gone for much longer but found that he could not wait to hear the news Mr Burrows had to impart to his mother. However, she was only halfway through her story when he suddenly rose from his seat and stormed towards the door.

‘Oh, Mother,’ he ground out over his shoulder. ‘When are you going to stop putting us through all this time after time, and accept that Jessica is gone from us forever? Is finding Amy not enough for you?’ Without waiting for an answer he slammed out of the room, leaving her to stare after him in open-mouthed amazement.