Dare To Dream (The Percy Place Series Book 2) Read online

  GEMMA JACKSON

  Also by Gemma Jackson

  Through Streets Broad and Narrow

  Ha’penny Chance

  The Ha’penny Place

  Ha’penny Schemes

  Impossible Dream

  Published by Poolbeg

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

  Published 2019

  by Poolbeg Press Ltd.

  123 Grange Hill, Baldoyle,

  Dublin 13, Ireland

  Email: [email protected]

  © Gemma Jackson 2019

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  1

  © Poolbeg Press Ltd. 2019, copyright for editing, typesetting, layout, design, ebook

  A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 978178199-805-2

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  www.poolbeg.com

  About the Author

  Gemma Jackson was born in the tenements of Dublin. She is the fifth child of Rose and Paddy Jackson.

  Gemma has travelled extensively and experienced life from a viewpoint of wealth as well as extreme poverty. She freely admits she preferred being wealthy.

  She grew up listening to and being fascinated by storytellers. The radio was a large part of her growing-up years – back in the days of the dinosaurs – when stories were read aloud on the radio to the delight of millions.

  She has never lost her love of stories. To open a book and escape into an unknown world still delights her. To be able to share her world with her readers is a great joy.

  Acknowledgements

  I want to thank all of the readers who have taken the time to comment on my books. It is such a thrill to know that my world is enjoyed by many.

  I have to thank my daughter for putting up with me – and the dog for forcing me to walk and look at the world around me.

  My number one fan and friend Jewell Gore – I misspelled her name last time – which she was quick to point out. She little knows she is about to become one of my experts for my research!

  The many people who work in libraries around the world. They are amazing – the ones I’ve met and all of those I haven’t met. Libraries are such wonderful places and the people who work in them always seem to greet you with a smile.

  The people at Poolbeg Press for allowing me to share my world with readers. My editor Gaye Shortland, who surely must be up for sainthood by now. She makes my words shine. Paula Campbell who devotes her time and energy to promote writers like me.

  It has all been a wonderful dream – thank you.

  Dedication

  For my daughter Astrid as always for the back rubs – food – and of course the constant supply of hot tea. Where would I be without you?.

  Chapter 1

  East Hinsdale

  Queens County

  New York

  December 1898

  “Caleb, thank you so much for coming.” Eleanor Foster held the door of her home open.

  “My dear Eleanor, look at you.” Caleb Anderson stepped over the wooden threshold and into the tiny vestibule. “Nathan would not be happy to see you looking so worn, my dear. You must take better care of yourself.”

  Eleanor ignored his words. “You may leave your outer clothing there.” She pointed to a freestanding mahogany coat stand and stepped into the second of the rooms leading off the hallway – the room imprinted on her mind now as ‘the sick room’.

  She looked at the tall handsome man of colour standing over her husband Nathan’s still form. “Samuel, I wish to have a private conversation with Mr Anderson – would you make sure we are not disturbed?” The almost constant stream of visitors to her home since they had brought her husband home to die was irritating.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Samuel Johnson, after stoking and adding fuel to the fire, left the room to take up position at the front door.

  “Eleanor –”

  “Take a seat, Caleb.” Eleanor waved to a tall-back wooden chair pulled close to one side of the narrow bed. She took a matching chair on the other side and picked up and kissed her husband’s unresponsive hand. “He is not long for this world.” She shook her head sadly – she knew her beloved husband’s spirit was just waiting for her permission to leave his body. She could not explain how she knew but know she did.

  “What can I do for you, Eleanor?” Caleb didn’t know what to do or say in this situation. That something like this should happen to a couple so happy in each other’s company was tragic. Never had he seen a love such as these two shared. “You sent for me.”

  “Yes,” Eleanor sighed. “I have a proposition to put to you, my very dear friend.” She stared across her husband’s body at the man who had been her friend since childhood. He was so very handsome with his tall upright body, thick blue-black hair and the bluest eyes she had ever seen. If a man could be beautiful, Caleb Anderson was. “I must make plans for my future.” She had spent hours grieving for her husband while frantically trying to find a way through the uncertain future before her.

  “My dear, this is surely not the time to upset yourself.” Caleb felt it was wrong to have a discussion about the future while seated over the form of a man who quite obviously had none.

  She smiled sadly as she rubbed her cheek against her husband’s hand. “I defied my mother by marrying Nathan as you know, Caleb. I will not return to her home now as a poor relation. My mother would delight in making my life intolerable.”

  “Did Nathan make no plans for your future security?” Caleb stared down at the man his dear friend had given up everything for – surely he had made some provision for her if ever anything happened to him? He had risked his life to save strangers, jumping onto the railway tracks to release a jammed signal – without his brave action two trains would have rammed into each other. Nathan himself hadn’t been so fortunate – one of the trains had hit him, knocking him from the tracks onto nearby waste ground. He was being hailed as a hero but, as many a man knew, that would not put food on the table or a roof over your head.

  “My darling Nathan believed that if anything ever happened to him my mother would welcome me back with open arms. He was so very trusting. He thought the best of everyone he met.” She pressed a kiss into the hand she held while fighting the tears that wanted to flood from her eyes. She couldn’t cry now – she feared if she cried she would never stop. “I have never understood how a man with such an enquiring mind believed so fervently in the goodness of his fellow man.” She looked with love at the figure lying so still upon the bed. “We fought about it constantly, did we not, my love?”

  The silence that greeted her words to her husband was painful.

  Eleanor squeezed her husband’s hand so tightly that if the man had been responsive he would have winced. “I have been selfish holding my darling Nathan to this life. I am convinced he is but waiting for me to let him go.” The tears she had been fighting began to flow from her eyes
. “It has been ten days since they carried his broken body in to me. The railway doctor gave him only hours to live when they placed him here.” She sobbed into the limp flesh she held. Soon he would be cold and her heart would break.

  “My dear!” Caleb couldn’t bear to see the pain on her beautiful face. How could she bear it?

  “Caleb,” Eleanor wiped her face with her handkerchief, “I must protect myself. That has been made very clear to me. While Nathan has been lying here I have been visited by many hairy-fisted men uttering polite phrases of sympathy while undressing me with their eyes. You know I don’t exaggerate.” She tightened her fingers on Nathan’s hand. “I could not bear to have another man touch me. That these railway men are only waiting until my beloved breathes his last to come courting is painfully obvious to me. I simply cannot bear it.”

  “It was your choice to live almost in isolation – just you and Nathan. Without him by your side you leave yourself open to opportunists.” He tried not to criticise the man lying so gravely injured. “Do you wish to remain here?” Caleb could not see the joy in remaining in this remote area, surrounded only by Mother Nature. He preferred the lights of his beloved New York City.

  “This is my home – the house Nathan brought me to when we married seven years ago. I have no wish to return to New York society. I have had the freedom to be myself here.”

  Caleb watched and waited. He didn’t understand his friend’s thoughts – he only knew she was up to something. Behind that stunningly beautiful face was a brain to rival any of the Titans of industry he bargained with daily. He almost held his breath as he waited for her to speak again.

  “I want you to marry me.” Eleanor put it bluntly. She had no time to dance around the social niceties so beloved by New York society. She watched the colour leave his face. “I know, Caleb.” She allowed him no time to find the words he so obviously searched for. “I know – Nathan explained it to me. He opened my eyes to so much in the world around me – I was blind for so long. Nathan was more than my husband and lover, Caleb. He was my friend, my mentor and my educator. Nathan had no fear of intelligent women.”

  There was a stunned silence for what seemed to Eleanor a very long time.

  Caleb finally reacted. “What did he explain?” He stood up, shocked by her words, unable to find a way to respond to her comments. He crossed to a window that looked out on only darkness, seeing the room at his back reflected in its glass.

  “I do not judge you, Caleb. You are my friend and so you shall always remain, even if you deny me.” Eleanor looked at her husband’s flaccid face. It looked wrong. Nathan had always been so alive. She brushed his blond hair from his face with a hand that trembled, knowing that he was somewhere listening to her and supporting her as he always had. “I know you prefer the company of men. That does not shock me. I am glad you will have no desire for my body. But you are five years older than me, almost thirty years old, Caleb. You will not be able to deny the matchmaking mamas of New York for very much longer. Not without drawing attention to yourself. They will force you to marry. You know I speak truth.”

  “What you suggest is outrageous. Your husband isn’t even dead yet,” he bit out. His preferences were a matter of disgust for all good-thinking men. How could she claim to be different?

  “I have thought about this while I sat here watching my darling die inch by inch.” Eleanor didn’t turn to look at him. She watched her husband’s chest struggle to rise. “It is early days yet, but I believe I am with child. Nathan knew this. It is a comfort to me that a part of him will live on. I want you to be a father to this child – a protector.” Her body shook with the effort to suppress her sobs. “You are a rich eligible man, Caleb. You need an heir.”

  “Eleanor, your grief has turned your mind.” He returned to the seat across the bed from her.

  “No,” she shook her head, “I need to survive. I need to protect the life that I carry. I will not allow any child of mine to be raised as I was – male or female, this child will be free of the constraints put upon you and me.”

  “Many would claim we were raised in luxury.”

  “We were not allowed to broaden our horizons – never allowed to form our own opinions. I was stifled. You were there – you know I am right.”

  “You should have been born male,” Caleb said softly.

  “I am happy with my gender.” Eleanor offered her hand. It was important to her that he realise his preferences did not affect their friendship. “So what do you think – will you marry me?”

  “It is madness.” Caleb was sorely tempted. To have a wife and child tucked away in the country. To live a life without having to lie – without watching every word out of his mouth – how wonderful that would be.

  “It is perfection. We already share a sincere friendship. I will remain in this house. We will set Samuel up as caretaker for the empty house next door – a man such as he has no business living in a shed at the bottom of my garden – already people comment about his being here alone with me. We can put it about that I stay here because the fog of New York affects my breathing. I live here for my health. I would be available to visit you in your 5th Avenue home whenever society demanded it. You could visit me – and Samuel – without anyone passing remark on your comings and goings.”

  “You always did see too much.” Caleb glanced down at the figure on the bed. What would Nathan have thought of all of this?

  “You and Samuel have not been as careful as you believe.” She waited with bated breath. He had to agree to marry her. It was the solution to a great many problems. “So, will you marry me?”

  “Should I agree to this madness, what do you want?” Caleb was in no doubt that she had worked out a list of demands. Eleanor had never been one for allowing life to happen to her. She was frighteningly clear-sighted for all that some accused her of being ‘fey’.

  “I want you to purchase my house and the one next door. I want the deeds to both houses and the land surrounding them put in my name.” She and Nathan had discussed buying the two houses sitting in front of the fire of an evening. Nathan insisted the land surrounding the two houses would form a perfect homestead – providing enough food and wood for their needs. Samuel had the practical knowledge and had offered to help them for a share of the produce.

  “I am in need of a cash injection – Nathan worked on the railway, we had a small income but not enough to purchase this house.” She moistened her lips. “I want a small sum of money deposited into my bank account monthly. I want a telephone installed in this house. The post office has had one installed and it is a marvel.” She shook her head, angry at herself for allowing her thoughts to stray from the subject. “I am in need of a horse and carriage. These houses and this land will be my child’s inheritance. The child will be raised knowing society through its connection with you and the wonders of the countryside from its birthplace. If this child should want to remain on the outskirts of New York life, I want it to have options available to it. I cannot see the future. I have to make a life for myself and my child. That is my motivation and I know too that the thought of being once more in the control of my mother scares me rigid.”

  “Have you thought that your mother may well welcome you back into the fold? She is getting older as we all are.”

  “My mother is a social-climbing harridan and well you know it. She has tried to use me to advance her status all of my life. I will not allow it. The woman is on her third husband for heaven’s sake! The latest is ready to cock up his toes. She is on the lookout for number four. I do not want to have any part of that life again.” Her mother married old men with fortunes to leave to their grieving widows. She cared nothing for the heirs left without their inheritance because of her greed. She had as many enemies as she had dollars in the bank.

  “Nathan,” Caleb took a shaking breath before addressing the still figure on the bed, “I promise to protect this amazing woman that we both love to the best of my ability and, should there be a child, I wi
ll love him or her all the days of my life.”

  “Thank you.” Eleanor put her aching head on her beloved husband’s chest and whispered, “I will be alright now, my love. You can go.” Her heartbroken sobs shook the still figure on the bed, giving an imitation of life, but she knew he had gone. She would have to forge her own path now.

  Chapter 2

  Percy Place

  Dublin

  Ireland

  January 1899

  Georgina Corrigan-Whitmore wrapped her red woollen dressing gown tightly around her and ran on bedsock-covered feet up the stairs from her second-floor bedroom to the third.

  “Ladies, what in the name of goodness is causing all of this noise?”

  “Madam!” Bridget, one of Georgina’s three convent orphan maids almost ran over to her mistress. “Sorry – we’ve been moving this chest around.” She dropped her voice to a whisper, looking around. “The Dowager Duchess of Westbrooke sent it on ahead of the new woman – she had one of her men deliver it to the back door this morning.”

  The house in Percy Place Dublin had recently been set up as a form of halfway house for women in need, under the auspices of the BOB. The organization BOB – Brides Of Breeding – was set up originally to entertain bored society women but had soon become a force of good in the protection of women. BOB helped gentlewomen in dire situations escape. Percy Place not only sheltered some of these women but was training them to find employment and become self-supporting.