The Salk Island West Legacy, Gen. 5, Ch. 4

Jacob was sitting down peacefully in the Waverider house, waiting for Brede to return, show him some more of the city and discuss books for the library with him. He was a week off the ship now, and the floor had stopped moving under his feet. The journey had been long – hard at times, but also exciting – and now he had a few months here before he went home. He’d be an uncle agin by the time he returned – Nell had been pregnant before he left.
The door opened, and he got to his feet as one of the loveliest girls he’d ever seen in his life came into the room. Came into the room and pitched straight into him! Although, as the tirade went on (fists clenched, eyes flashing, foot stamping) it turned out that it was Thorold she was really angry with. Because of her best friend, who was here and missing him. Jacob thought about how much Thorold had been hurt by her best friend, and grew angry in his turn. She’d stopped and was looking at him, waiting for a reaction. Soft, delicate, expensively dressed – she was obviously the pampered daughter of a rich man. Thorold had mentioned one or two, hardly able to believe that some women did no work worth mentioning. And her friend was probably another such.
“I’m so sorry,” Jacob said, oozing sarcasm, “that my brother didn’t want to leave his friends, his family and the place where he grew up in exchange for a cramped smelly city life. But she turned him down – and broke his heart. So you and your friend can just go back to your nice silk-cushioned existence…”
And why didn’t one of his cousins come and rescue him? Next instant, she was slapping him across the face. Well, if she thought he was going to take that lying down, she had another think coming! Jacob was an island boy, used to the rough and tumble of island life. And as the youngest, he’d always had to stand up for himself. Next moment, she found that she’d been dumped outside the window – and that the ground was hard! Then they both stood there, glaring at each other, until she suddenly registered something that Jacob had said.
“Wait a minute. You said that Jeanine turned Thorold down and broke his heart. But he led her on, let her believe he loved her – and then just went without a word. And broke her heart.”
“But Thorold said…” And the Jacob paused. What exactly had Thorold said? “This doesn’t make sense.” Laura – she’d finally introduced herself – had listened carefully (this time!) to what Jacob had to tell her.
“Jeanine would have gone with him. And she’s not some rich man’s spoilt darling by the way. Her parents have a little small-holding outside the city. We get our honey from them. But she is my best friend, and the nicest, kindest girl I know. And you say Thorold’s unhappy?”
“Yes. Dreadfully. I don’t think he’s smiled since he came back.”
“So – what are we going to do about this?”
“We?”
“Yes. Your brother, my best friend. We.” Laura said firmly. “We,” Jacob said, three months later. “What about we? I’m going back – and I would ask you to come too, but it would be a much harder life than the one you’ve been used to. And what about your father?”
“He will let me go if I really want to. He won’t be happy – but I’m not his only child. And he’ll say I have to do this on my own: he won’t smooth my path for me. Jacob – do you think I can? Jeanine’s so practical, so capable, but I know so little, compared to her or your sisters or cousins.”
“Everyone will help you. No, they won’t look down on you or despise you, don’t be silly. But will you look down on them?”
“Never! I will be the one who doesn’t know what to do!” Thorold was sitting alone inside Brede’s old cottage – his home now, but he still thought of it as “Brede’s cottage” – sketching. It was his one solace: he’d forgotten how much he like drawing and painting. Presently, he heard a voice outside – his brother, calling his name. Reluctantly, he got up and went outside to meet him. And was greeted by a furious slap in the face from a very angry Jeanine, followed by a rather wholesale indictment of his behaviour. “You never even asked me if I would come to the island with you! You never gave me a chance to say yes or no! You made us both unbelievably miserable for ages! Why?” And them she threw herself into his arms and held on as though she would never let him go. All Thorold’s loneliness and unhappiness melted away like frost under sunshine. And, a month later, the cottage was transformed, Jeanine’s bees were buzzing in their hive, and the two of them were working together to harvest food for the winter ahead. Bianca’s dark hair was streaked with grey now, but her personality was as warm and vivid as ever.
“Jacob, your Laura has so much to learn. She’ll never cope on her own, just the two of you in a little cottage with all to do from the beginning. Come and live with your Uncle Barnabas and myself. Marco. Pietro, David – they’ve all moved out and we are alone. Come here, and I will help your Laura learn what she needs to know to be an island girl.” “Look! We did it! Ben’s dream has finally come true!” Carla hugged her husband happily. "We've built his library!" Three bookshelves! Marco and David had made them in their spare time, and now they were full of books. And next time there was spare money from the wine sales, they could buy more books to add to the collection. Jon and Carla felt hugely proud of what their family - and the rest of the islanders - had achieved.
“And there’s even some books for children. Nell and Andre can bring little Hazel and Jay here to read with them.” “Do you realise there are thirty-nine people on this island now? And more on the way,” Jon added, glancing fondly at Maria’s expanding waistline. Michael came into the room, his daughter trotting behind him, in time to hear Jon’s comment.
“Not from Nell and Andre though – I saw them today. They’re stopping at two, and can’t wait to get back into their beloved woods again!”
“One boy and one girl was very organised of Nell,” Carla added. “What do you think this one’s going to be?”
“Who knows? It would be nice if it was a girl: Nell and I were so close as children.” Maria was watching Nell playing on her xylophone as the rest of them ate breakfast together.
“Aunt Luisa says she needs more fabric if she’s to make more clothes. Next wine sale, can we use some of the profit for that?”
“Of course,” Jon said, surprised that she’d asked him. “And what do you think about spending some of it on something for this house? Now we’ve built the library?”
“Some softer seats for in front of the fire would be nice,” Carla agreed. “My bones are beginning to feel their age now.” At least when she went in to labour this time, Maria wasn’t in among the grapes! Michael still went inot panic mode though.
“Go and get my mother!” Maria yelled at him. Anna came over a few days later, to see her brother, admire her new niece, little Rose – “We were thinking of flower names too if this one’s another girl!” – and generally ask Michael and Maria if having two was very different from having one! “She’s so sweet,” Jeanine said, as Fleur headed past them with a purposeful look on her face. The three new arrivals to the island had so much in common in some ways – though not others! – and, if they could, they met together sometimes. Laura sighed deeply. “I daren’t even think about having a baby yet! I still have so much to learn. Bianca is so kind and so helpful, but I feel as though I am all at sea, all the time.!”
“It’ll come. Give yourself a bit longer. I hear your bread is actually edible these days!”
That got a smile from Laura.
“What about you then, Jeanine?” “We have to build on to the cottage first. And then, yes, children, I hope.”
For Jeanine, the transition to island life had been seamless, easy. She missed her parents, but she’d missed Thorold much more. Practical, capable, hard-working – she took it all in her stride.
“What about you, Lucie?” “Like you also, we need more space. And the garden, too, is not ready yet. But by the end of the summer, perhaps…”
Jeanine nodded. “I want to get a hedge round this garden, to protect the plants from the sea breezes. I think it will make it much more productive. I’ve got the plants I need already started off in the woods – Nell and Andre helped me – and I’m going to move them as soon as the ground’s a little warmer.”
Laura sighed inwardly. They were both so capable, so able, and she seemed to bring nothing to the island. Except she made Jacob happy. That was worth something, she supposed. The family didn’t need another repeat of Thorold’s experiences! The growing season wasn’t in full swing yet: spring had been late that year. Maria took advantage of that fact, left Rose with Michael and took herself and Nell off to the library, where they sat down together on the mat Luisa had made from left over scraps of material and read one of the new books together.
“You’re the first child in our family to do this,” Maria told Nell – who didn’t understand how momentous this was at all! Thorold’s Jeanine came in and Maria greeted her with pleasure.
“So – how are things with you both?”
The answer was quite lengthy – they’d achieved an impressive number of things – and ended with “…And so, I think we could think about having children now.”
Maria beamed. “I’ll be an aunt again! What about Laura? How is she getting on?”
Jeanine’s face clouded over. “It’s hard for her. She’s got so much to learn – things you and I learnt at our mother’s knee. But I think what she’s finding hardest is that feeling that she brings nothing to the island.”
Maria’s face grew grave. “That’s not good for her. We’ll have to see what we can do to change that. Tell me more about Laura – you’re one of her best friends…”

“This is so nice, getting to sit down.” Maria had gone to see Laura and was talking clothes. “And thank you for showing me them – it’s given me ideas for next time I have some spare time!”
“Luisa’s planning to copy them when she’s next got some fabrics. And isn’t busy making clothes for children!”
“Yes – everything seems to have worn out all at once. We need a few more people who can sew – Luisa’s going to have to start teaching some of the young ones.”
“My father said he’d give me a new wardrobe more suited to my life now – and there’s clothes for any children we might have too. She won’t have to make any for us.”
“Did he mind you coming here?”
“Yes and no. He liked Jacob – and the Waverider name is a respected one, even if they’re not my father’s match for wealth. And I have other sisters who can make useful marriages.” They went outside, where Bianca and Jacob were hard at work in the garden, and Maria picked up the lute she had oh-so-casually brought with her, and began to play.
“I wish I had someone else who could play with me though. We’ve so few musicians on the island.” “Oh! Really? Wait a moment.” And Laura went back into the house and returned soon after.
“Let me tune myself to you…”
And presently she was playing a lively accompaniment to Maria’s song.
“Laura! I had no idea you were so talented! Why haven’t you played for us before?”
“Well, there was so much else to do,” Laura said apologetically to Bianca.
“But this is beautiful. We must make sure you have time for this. Laura – no-one else on the island can do this! Only you.”
And Maria smiled inwardly as she watched Laura finally realise that she had brought something special to the island.