Free Where Seagulls Soar by Janet Woods Page A

to Poole an invigorating experience.
    Stepping ashore, their luggage was loaded on to a donkey cart and they followed the lad and his beast of burden up the hill, where it was placed on Charlotte Darsham’s doorstep while they
waited for their knock to be answered.
    ‘Good gracious! I wasn’t expecting you so soon. Joanna . . . and Mrs Bates is with you.’
    ‘We had nowhere else to go. You won’t mind, will you? Mrs Bates and I will find work as soon as we can, and I’ll rent a place.’
    ‘You’re both welcome.’ Charlotte’s expression sobered, as if she’d suddenly remembered the reason why they were here. Taking Joanna and Toby in her arms she hugged
them tight. ‘Poor Alex, and poor you, my dearest ones. The news came as such a shock. Thaddeus is so terribly upset.’
    Toby patted his great-grandmother on the head with a dribbly hand. Charlotte couldn’t help but smile and, taking a handkerchief from her sleeve, dried it. ‘I’ve never seen a
boy so like his father, young man, but don’t think you’re going to rule the roost around here.’ Her glance went to Mrs Bates. ‘Perhaps you’d like to take your things
and go through to the kitchen. Stevens will show you to your quarters, and you can help her with the household chores while you’re here.’
    ‘Yes, ma’am,’ Mrs Bates said humbly. Picking up her bag she trudged off towards the door Charlotte pointed out to her.
    ‘Mrs Bates was going to help me with Toby,’ Joanna said in her defence.
    Charlotte gave her a long, assessing look. ‘It doesn’t pay to become too familiar with servants, dear, and she still can help with Toby.’
    ‘You don’t understand. I can’t afford to pay Mrs Bates. I have nothing myself now so we’re on an equal footing.’
    ‘Nonsense. Class comes from family connection, not from the size of one’s bank account. Anyone who thinks differently has no class, at all.’ She sniffed. ‘Clara Morcant
is a perfect example of that.’ Her voice dropped to a whisper. ‘Clara was an actress in a travelling show when she met Lucian Morcant. He was a nice man, but a fool who was easily taken
in, and she had her eye on the main chance. Oliver is just like his father. Take my word for it. Mrs Bates will be happy to work for bed and board if necessary.’
    Joanna chuckled. ‘You’re an awful snob sometimes, Grandmother Darsham.’
    ‘I know. And I’m now Grandmother Scott, since Thaddeus and I were wed just a few days ago; though where my husband is at this moment, I’m not at all sure. Probably at the quay,
watching the ships come in and go out. I think he’s going to find retirement hard.’
    Joanna kissed Charlotte’s cheek. ‘I hope you’ll be very happy.’
    ‘I am very happy.’ A slightly smug smile touched Charlotte’s mouth and her pale blue eyes began to sparkle. ‘Thaddeus Scott has turned out to be a surprising man. I wish
I’d married him years ago instead of mourning John Darsham for all those years in so noble a manner. Such a waste of time, since dead is dead, and no amount of wishing will bring them
back.’ Her eyes engaged Joanna’s. ‘You’re young, Joanna. Don’t allow your love for Alex to blind you to the good qualities of other men.’
    ‘My feelings are too raw to contemplate another man in my life yet, and I have Toby to raise.’
    ‘Grieve then, but don’t make a virtue of your widowhood, as I did.’ Charlotte gazed at Toby, who’d begun to wriggle in his mother’s arms and voice a protest at
being ignored. ‘He looks as if he needs a nap. You know where your rooms are, don’t you? Come down to the drawing room when you’re ready, my dear, and we’ll have some
tea.’
    Joanna fed Toby and placed him in the cradle that had once been hers, rocking it with her foot, as Joseph Rushmore had once done with her. Joseph hadn’t been her real pa, though. A man
with a wife but no children of his own, the stonecutter had found her secured in the cradle as it was