Gypsy - Lesley Pearse [42]
She reached out and ran one finger down Molly’s little face, suddenly afraid Mrs Langworthy had the power to take her even if she and Sam refused their permission.
‘Think about it long and hard, Beth,’ Mrs Langworthy said softly, reaching out and touching her arm. ‘I know I’ve shocked you and perhaps you even feel that I’m insulting you by suggesting this. But you must believe me when I say that no one could have done a better job of rearing Molly so far, especially as you are so young.’
‘I couldn’t let you have her,’ Beth said fiercely. ‘I love her too much.’
‘I know you love her, but don’t dismiss my offer out of hand,’ the older woman said. ‘Think what it could mean to you. You’d be free as a bird to go with Sam. Your life could be your own again, you could do what you want to do. But you’ll still be Molly’s sister, nothing and no one could take that from you.’
Beth couldn’t bear to hear any more. She gathered the sleeping child up into her arms and backed towards the door, apologizing as she went.
Sam arrived home at half past eight. Normally it was gone midnight before he got home, but it had been so quiet in the Adelphi Hotel that the bar manager had told him to go early. When he saw the windows glowing from the lamp, he was pleased because that meant he and Beth could have a chat. She was normally fast asleep when he got in.
But as soon as he opened the door and saw her sitting hunched up in front of the fire, a blanket around her shoulders, he knew something was wrong.
‘What’s happened?’ he asked. His hands and feet were like blocks of ice and he went over to the stove to warm them. ‘They haven’t told you they don’t need you any more?’
Beth had raised that anxiety just last Sunday, but Sam didn’t believe they would dispense with her, for at Christmas he’d sensed how fond both Mr and Mrs Langworthy had become of her.
‘Mrs Langworthy wants us to give Molly to her,’ she blurted out, and promptly burst into tears.
Sam knelt on the floor in front of her and prompted her till she eventually told him exactly what had been said.
‘Is that so bad?’ he asked when she’d finished. ‘She’s right, it would be good for Molly.’
‘You’ve never cared about her,’ Beth accused him bitterly. ‘If you’d had your way she’d have gone to the Foundling Home.’
‘Maybe I wasn’t too nice about her when she was born,’ Sam agreed, blushing with shame. ‘I’m sorry for that now. But she could have a much better life with them than she could with us. We could get a passage to America, have a high old time. Think how marvellous that would be!’
‘I don’t want a high old time, I want Molly.’ Beth began to cry and covered her face with her hands. ‘I’d made up my mind to tell you to go alone. I know it isn’t fair of me to hold you back. So you go and I’ll keep her.’
Sam said nothing for a while, just knelt at Beth’s feet while she cried into her hands. He did often think about their mother’s infidelity, and felt bitter that his father took his own life because of it, but he didn’t feel any resentment towards Molly any longer.
How could he? She was the sweetest little thing; in fact he was sure that if he had been with her constantly as Beth had, he’d be just as indignant and horrified at this suggestion as his sister was.
As it was, he was able to view the situation more dispassionately. There was no doubt the Langworthys could give Molly the best of upbringings. They were wealthy, influential people, but they had kind hearts too. But for their generosity in giving him and Beth a home after the fire, they could well have been forced to live in a slum, and Molly wouldn’t be the healthy, happy baby she was.
Maybe he was thinking of himself to some extent. It would be wonderful to sail for America with Beth, unfettered by a small child. They could go where they wanted