Barbara Bradford - The Cavendon Luck

‘It allus does. Good luck. Bad luck.’ Genevra shook her head, and leaned forward, her gaze penetrating. ‘It comes. It goes. Nobody knows … Luck belongs ter nobody … luck belongs ter life. Nowt yer can do about it, liddle Ceci. Do yer understand me?’

‘I do, Genevra, and I thank you.’

When the front door suddenly flew open, Alice sat up with a start, and then instantly jumped to her feet as Cecily walked in, a huge smile on her face. Hurrying forward, Cecily took hold of her mother and kissed her, hugged her close.

‘Sorry I’m late, Mam,’ she said, and then turned and closed the door behind her.

‘I was just doing paperwork; no problem, Ceci,’ Alice murmured, and mother and daughter walked into the room together. They sat down in two armchairs facing each other, and Alice said, ‘You look bonny today, love, but pale pink has always suited you.’

‘I know, and thanks. You look pretty good yourself, Mam.’

‘Of course I do, I’m wearing a dress my daughter made for me. I like it, and it’s comfortable and cool on a hot day like this.’

‘I’ve made another version of it, also in cotton,’ Cecily confided. ‘It’s a sort of wrap dress, almost like a robe, and it ties at one side. I’m doing the same style for the winter collection made of light cashmere. I’ll bring you several when they’re ready.’

‘Thank you, love, you’re always so thoughtful.’

‘Don’t be silly, you’re my mother, you can have anything you want from me. Anyway, when we spoke on the phone yesterday you said you were making a plan. But for what?’

‘I came up with an idea. Creating a communal allotment for the village. I went straight to Charlotte and asked her for a field. And she asked the Earl, and he agreed it was a wonderful idea, very practical, and he immediately gave me a field.’

Alice nodded as she finished her sentence, looked a little pleased with herself. ‘That’s how it came about, and it was as simple as that … just asking.’

Alice stood up and beckoned to Cecily. ‘Come over to my desk, and pull up a chair. I want to show you my plan.’

Within seconds the two of them were sitting side by side at Alice’s desk, where her Women’s Institute papers were spread out, along with the detailed plan of the field that was going to be the communal allotment. This would be planted and tended by the women who wished to do this work.

Turning to Alice, Cecily said, ‘It is a practical idea. Food will be a problem if war comes.’

‘ When it comes,’ Alice corrected.

‘Too true,’ Cecily agreed, and then said in a slightly odd tone, ‘you could just as easily have asked Miles for a field, or even your son. Harry does run the estate with Miles, you know.’

‘You’re right, I could have done that, Ceci. But I don’t think that would have been the correct thing. The Sixth Earl is still the Sixth Earl; he’s not dead yet, and it is his land. I thought it only proper to approach him, via Charlotte.’

‘I understand now, Mam,’ Cecily answered, offering Alice a warm smile.

Looking down at the large sheet of paper, she saw how cleverly the field had been designed to work as an allotment.

Each square patch was marked, and the name of the vegetable to be grown there written in. ‘Potatoes, carrots, parsnips,’ Cecily read out. ‘Onions, sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower …’ She stopped, suddenly laughing, and shook her head. ‘You’re a master planner, Mother! Harry must get his talent for gardening and landscaping from you.’

‘Goodness me, he’s much cleverer than I am,’ Alice murmured, and turned in her chair. She gave her daughter a knowing look. ‘Did you manage to speak to Harry? You know … about that … person.’

Shaking her head, Cecily replied in a low voice, ‘No, I didn’t. We were supposed to have a chat earlier this afternoon.’

‘His affair with that scandalous woman has started to leak out!’ Alice exclaimed, her tone suddenly turning angry. ‘He thinks it’s a big secret, but it isn’t, and your father now knows about it. He’s furious. You know how much His Lordship abhors scandal. And scandal is about to flare around your brother.’

‘I agree with everything you’re saying, Mother, but he is a grown man. Forty years old to be exact. He’ll tell me it’s none of my business.’

‘But you will speak to him?’ Alice sounded anxious, and there was a concerned look in her eyes.

‘I will, I promise. I’ll do it tomorrow morning,’ Cecily reassured her mother.

Alice nodded, and pursed her lips. Her voice was more even and steady when she said, ‘He ought to know better than to get involved with her. Pauline Mallard is a married woman. Furthermore, she’s an American heiress, a socialite, living the high life in London and New York. And now in Harrogate. But I suppose you know all this.’

‘Well, yes, I do, Mam.’

‘In the end she’ll make a fool of him, you’ll see. And, not only that, she’s a lot older than he is.’

‘But rather beautiful, I hear. A stunning redhead,’ Cecily interjected.

‘And rather promiscuous … that’s what I hear,’ Alice shot back, obviously wanting to have the last word.

‘After Genevra gave me the message, she said something rather odd right out of the blue. She told me not to say anything to Harry about the woman . I was really taken aback. Genevra then added that she would drop him, that she was not his destiny, some other woman was.’

Alice stared at her. ‘How could Genevra know about Pauline Mallard? Do you think he brought her here to the house? And that Genevra saw them together?’

‘No, I’m sure not. However, I was struck by the way she said it, so sure of her sight , as she calls it, her visions of the future. And then there was her use of the word “destiny”.’ Cecily’s voice was puzzled.

She cleared her throat, and went on slowly, ‘Genevra has her own particular speech pattern, Mam. It’s jerky, rather staccato, and mostly her sentences are composed of small words. So I found it curious that she even knew a word like destiny , since she doesn’t read.’

‘Oh but she does!’ Alice exclaimed.

‘Are you sure?’

‘Of course. I taught her.’

Cecily was so surprised she gaped at Alice. ‘When did you do that and why didn’t you ever tell me?’

‘It never occurred to me. It was just sort of … happenstance. After you’d gone off to live with Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Howard in London, I’d dropped off some of your old dresses for her. She came over to thank me, and asked about you. She was very intense, and it struck me then that she had a strong connection to you, Ceci, and was concerned about you and your wellbeing. I showed her some of those first little stories about your designs in the fashion magazines. That’s when she confessed she couldn’t read. I taught her. She learned to read at my knee.’

‘How lovely of you to do that.’ Cecily was impressed and it showed on her face.

‘She was very appreciative.’ Alice hesitated for a few moments before finally asking, ‘Did you ever feel there was this … connection between you, Cecily?’

‘I did. I still do. She told me twenty-five years ago that Swann will rule. So yes, there is this connection between us.’

‘What did she actually say twenty-five years ago?’ Alice asked, filled with curiosity.

‘It wasn’t actually what she said … I ran into her one day on the dirt road. She took a long twig and drew a square with a bird perched on top of it in the dirt. I asked her what it meant, and she wouldn’t tell me. Then she said it was nowt , nothing, and skipped off.’