Free Every Mother's Son by Val Wood Page B

looked very old. ‘I loved him,’ she whispered. ‘And I thought he loved me and mebbe he did, but he’s such a principled man.’ Her voice grew bitter. ‘And his principles meant more to him than I did and so he didn’t betray his wife. Men!’ she scoffed. ‘You’re all ’same in ’long run. You tek what you want and then leave. Even you,’ she added scathingly. ‘You said you wanted ’truth but what you really wanted me to say was that I lied ’first time I told you. But I didn’t lie. You are Christopher Hart’s son and every time I see you I’m reminded of him and it’s like a knife driven through my heart.’

CHAPTER TEN
    Fletcher said nothing to Harriet about his mother until they’d gone upstairs that evening and then he sat on the edge of the bed with his chin in his hands. Harriet was propped up on her pillow waiting for him to speak.
    ‘She’s confirmed that it’s true,’ he muttered. ‘She thought that Hart would keep her as his mistress after he married. I can’t—’ he stopped. ‘I can’t … think of her in that way. She’s my mother, for God’s sake!’ he said bitterly. ‘I can’t think of her being – being—’ He broke off.
    ‘You can’t think of her being young or willing to consider being a gentleman’s sweetheart when he was married to someone else?’ Harriet murmured.
    A doxy we’d have called her in ’streets of Hull, she thought. A drab, a young man’s bit on the side. But I know how devious she can be, I’ve had a taste of it, and I wonder if Christopher Hart saw through her too, perhaps even realized that she would want more of his time, more commitment than he could ever give. And did he ever guess or did she tell him that her child was his?
    ‘No,’ Fletcher said at last. ‘I can’t. And yet for all those years he gave her ’tenancy of Marsh Farm.’
    ‘To keep her quiet,’ Harriet said, and saw Fletcher’s pained expression. ‘I’m sorry, Fletcher, but that would be ’way it was.’
    He gave a wry sigh and climbed into bed. ‘You women.’ He kissed her cheek. ‘How is it that you know everything there is to know about men?’
    They lay sleepless for an hour, murmuring about what to do, and finally decided that there wasn’t any real threat. Maria wasn’t likely to see much of Stephen after he went back to school, and, Harriet thought, Melissa Hart has her suspicions. I don’t know how or why she does, maybe she’s questioned her husband about his life as a young man and Ellen Tuke’s name cropped up more than once, or more often than a servant girl’s should, but she knows something, I’m convinced of it; and that’s why I went to see her all those years ago before Fletcher and I got married. I have no doubt that she will keep her sons away from our daughters.
    ‘Tom,’ Daniel said, ‘seeing as we’ve got a quiet spell, can we go out in your boat one day?’
    ‘Fishing?’ Tom asked. ‘It’ll be a bit choppy to go out of ’estuary.’
    ‘I didn’t specially mean fishing, but I suppose if we caught some supper it’d be a bonus. No, I meant to find out if I could spend time in a boat without being sick again!’
    Tom had taken him out on other occasions and Daniel had thrown up over the side of the boat as soon as they’d hit rough water.
    ‘Mine’s onny a small boat,’ Tom said. ‘That’s why you’re sick. In a bigger boat or a ship you might not be. Are you still considering being a sailor?’
    ‘Well, mebbe not, but I’d quite like to travel – onny don’t tell my ma yet – and wherever I go, if I want to travel abroad I’ll have to go across water at some time.’
    ‘Unless you climb aboard a herring gull’s back,’ Tom laughed. ‘Aye, all right. But have you thought that if you do go away we’ll be a man short on ’farm?’
    Daniel nodded. ‘I’ve thought of that but it won’t be yet, not for a couple of years, and by then Joseph will be able to do a few jobs to help Lenny, won’t