Ken Follett - A Dangerous Fortune

He was surprised to see the three boys, all in their pajamas, sitting in a row on the sofa looking at an illustrated book.

And he was astonished to see Maisie in the middle, reading to them.

All three boys jumped up and ran to him. He hugged and kissed them one by one: Sol, the youngest; then Samuel; then eleven-year-old Toby. The younger two were simply overjoyed to see him, but there was something else in Toby’s face. “What is it, old man?” Hugh asked him. “Something happened? Where’s your mama?”

“She went shopping,” he said, and burst into tears.

Hugh put his arm around the boy and looked at Maisie.

“I got here around four o’clock,” she said. “Nora must have gone out shortly after you.”

“She left them alone?”

Maisie nodded.

Hugh felt hot anger rise up inside him. The children had been alone here most of the day. Anything could have happened. “How could she do that?” he said bitterly.

“There’s a note.” Maisie handed him an envelope.

He opened it and read the one-word message: GOODBYE .

Maisie said: “It wasn’t sealed. Toby read it and showed it to me.”

“It’s hard to believe,” Hugh said, but as soon as the words were out of his mouth he realized they were not true: it was all too easy to believe. Nora had always put her own wishes above everything else. Now she had abandoned her children. Hugh guessed she had gone to her father’s pub.

And the note seemed to imply that she was not coming back.

He did not know what to feel.

His first duty was to the boys. It was important not to upset them any further. He set his own feelings aside for a moment. “You boys are up very late,” he said. “Time for bed. Let’s go!”

He ushered them up the stairs. Samuel and Sol shared a room but Toby had his own bedroom. Hugh tucked the little ones in then went in to the eldest. He bent over the bed to kiss him.

“Mrs. Greenbourne’s a brick,” Toby said.

“I know,” Hugh said. “She used to be married to my best friend, Solly. Then he died.”

“She’s pretty, too.”

“Do you think so?”

“Yes. Is Mama coming back?”

That was the question Hugh had been afraid of. “Of course she is,” he said.

“Really?”

Hugh sighed. “To tell you the truth, old man, I don’t know.”

“If she doesn’t, will Mrs. Greenbourne look after us?”

Trust a child to go right to the heart of the matter, Hugh thought. He evaded the question. “She runs a hospital,” he said. “She’s got dozens of patients to take care of. I don’t suppose she has time to look after boys as well. Now, no more questions. Good night.”

Toby looked unconvinced, but he let the matter drop. “Good night, Father.”

Hugh blew out the candle and left the room, closing the door.

Maisie had made cocoa. “I’m sure you’d prefer a brandy, but there doesn’t seem to be any in the house.”

Hugh smiled. “We in the lower middle classes can’t afford to drink spirits. Cocoa is fine.”

Cups and a jug stood on a tray, but neither of them moved to it. They stood in the middle of the room looking at each other. Maisie said: “I read about the shooting in the afternoon paper, and came here to see if you were all right. I found the children on their own, and gave them supper. Then we waited for you.” She smiled a resigned, accepting smile that said it was up to Hugh what happened next.

Suddenly he began to tremble. He leaned on the back of a chair for support. “It’s been quite a day,” he said shakily. “I’m feeling a little odd.”

“Perhaps you ought to sit down.”

Suddenly he was overwhelmed by love for her. Instead of sitting, he threw his arms around her. “Hug me hard,” he pleaded.

She squeezed his waist.

“I love you, Maisie,” he said. “I’ve always loved you.”

“I know,” she said.

He looked into her eyes. They were full of tears, and as he watched one tear overflowed and trickled down her face. He kissed it away.

“After all these years,” he said. “After all these years.”

“Make love to me tonight, Hugh,” she said.

He nodded. “And every night, from now on.”

Then he kissed her again.

FROM The Times :

DEATHS

On the 30th May, at his residence in Antibes, France, after a long illness, the EARL OF WHITEHAVEN, formerly Senior Partner of Pilasters Bank .

“Edward’s dead,” Hugh said, looking up from the newspaper.

Maisie sat beside him in the railway carriage, wearing a summer dress in deep yellow with red spots and a little hat with yellow taffeta ribbons. They were on their way to Windfield School for Speech Day.

“He was a rotten swine, but his mother will miss him,” she said.

Augusta and Edward had been living together in the south of France for the past eighteen months. Despite what they had done, the syndicate paid them the same allowance as all the other Pilasters. They were both invalids: Edward had terminal syphilis and Augusta had suffered a slipped disc and spent most of her time in a wheelchair. Hugh had heard that despite her illness she had become the uncrowned queen of the English community in that part of the world: matchmaker, arbitrator of disputes, organizer of social events and promulgator of social rules.

“He loved his mother,” Hugh said.

She looked curiously at him. “Why do you say that?”

“It’s the only good thing I can think of to say about him.”

She smiled fondly and kissed his nose.

The train chugged into Windfield Station and they got out. It was the end of Toby’s first year and Bertie’s last year at the school. The day was warm and the sun was bright. Maisie opened her parasol — it was made of the same spotted silk as her dress — and they walked to the school.

It had changed a lot in the twenty-six years since Hugh had left. His old headmaster, Dr. Poleson, was long dead, and there was a statue of him in the quadrangle. The new head wielded the notorious cane they had always called the Striper, but he used it less frequently. The fourth-form dormitory was still in the old dairy by the stone chapel, but there was a new building with a school hall that could seat all the boys. The education was better, too: Toby and Bertie learned mathematics and geography as well as Latin and Greek.

They met Bertie outside the hall. He had been taller than Hugh for a year or two now. He was a solemn boy, hardworking and well behaved: he did not get into trouble at school the way Hugh had. He had a lot of Rabinowicz ancestry, and he reminded Hugh of Maisie’s brother Dan.

He kissed his mother and shook Hugh’s hand. “There’s a bit of a ruckus,” he said. “We haven’t enough copies of the school song and the lower fourth are writing it out like billy-o. I must go and whip them faster. I’ll meet you after the speeches.” He hurried off. Hugh watched him fondly, thinking nostalgically how important school seemed until you left.

They met Toby next. The small boys no longer had to wear top hats and frock coats: Toby was dressed in a straw boater and a short jacket. “Bertie says I can have tea with you in his study after speeches, if you don’t mind. Is it all right?”

“Of course.” Hugh laughed.

“Thanks, Father!” Toby ran off again.

In the school hall they were surprised to meet Ben Greenbourne, looking older and rather frail. Maisie, blunt as ever, said: “Hello, what are you doing here?”

“My grandson is head boy,” he replied gruffly. “I’ve come to hear his speech.”

Hugh was startled. Bertie was not Greenbourne’s grandson, and the old man knew it. Was he softening in his old age?