What will happen now? Emily asks, her voice trembling more for herself than for the man standing beside her.
What? he replies calmly. Ill send a matchmaker to you. Just wait.
Emily returns from a date that will later turn her world upside downshes cheerful and mysterious, and she tells her two younger sisters every detail of the meeting with Thomas. The sisters know Emily is madly in love with him. Thomas has promised to marry Emily in the autumn, after finishing the important work on the family farm.
Now that a fairly intimate encounter has taken place in the hayloft, the young man ought to ask for her hand outright. Yet the fields have been harvested, the grain sits in the barns, New Years is approaching, and no matchmaker appears.
Emilys mother, Mrs. Clarke, and her Aunt Margaret begin to notice changes in the elder daughter. Usually bright, Emily looks gloomier and has put on weight unevenly. They sit down for a hearttoheart talk. After Emilys bitter confession, Aunt Margaret decides she must look the future soninlaw in the eye and, at the same time, find out whether the matchmakers have simply vanished.
Mrs. Clarke promptly travels to the neighboring village where Thomas lives. Aunt Margaret meets Thomass mother, who knows nothing about her sons personal affairs. Aunt Margaret spills all her thoughts, and the two women unite against Thomas. He retorts, How could I know which woman will bear my child? There are plenty of lads in the village. Do I have to claim every child as my own?
Aunt Margaret fumes. As she leaves the house forever, she curses Thomas, May you spend your life marrying strangers!
Perhaps the heavens hear a mothers wrath, because Thomas ends up marrying four times. Emily reads the grim outcome on her mothers face. Aunt Margaret issues a stern warning to all her daughters: Dont say a word to the father! Well sort it ourselves.
Emily is told to travel to Birmingham to stay with relatives. When the baby arrives, she must leave it in a hospital; otherwise, the village women will gossip for the rest of their lives, and she will never wash the stain clean. God will see us through, they say. Sin is sweet, but people are fickle.
Aunt Margarets husband, Dennis Clarke, is a respected schoolteacher in the village, known simply as Mr. Dennis. He is strict but fair, and villagers often seek his counsel.
Then their own daughter shows up in labour, a scandal that threatens the whole community. Aunt Margaret, unable to accept the disgrace, sends the wayward child to relatives, telling her husband, Let Emily go to the town and find work. Shes not a child any more; shes twenty.
Meanwhile, the middle sister, Lucy, is posted to a training college in Bath, and the youngest, Evelyn, moves to London. In the village, every spoken word echoes back. Rumours eventually reach Dennis, who learns from his pupils that trouble lurks within his own family.
Unable to keep quiet, Dennis confronts his wife with fury. How could you think of sending a child to a childrens home? Thats my first grandchild! I want to see the girl in our own home as soon as possible!
Aunt Margaret never expected such a storm from her husband, though she herself has spent the past year grieving. She knows the baby has been placed in care and dreads visiting her. Our daughter ate berries, but mother has a sour mouth, she sighs.
Soon Aunt Margaret and Emily bring the infant back to the village, naming her Annabel. For a year Annabel knows nothing of her family. Emily carries the weight of this sin forever, accepting whatever Annabel does with patient endurance.
Dennis, Aunt Margaret, and Emily all raise Annabel. Emily often recalls her last encounter with Thomasthe dryherb scent, the sweet, reckless moments in the hayloft. She still loves Thomas, despite his disgrace, his lies, his burning of her soul. This cursed love! she thinks. Love isnt something you can throw out the window.
Emily becomes a single mother. Looking at Annabel, she sees Thomass features and his stubborn spirit. Emily drifts through life like a fog; nothing pleases her. Even Annabels laughter brings a pang of melancholy. What a fatherless world, she mutters.
When Emily reaches twentyfive, a childhood neighbour named Frederickknown as Fredstarts courting her. Fred grew up in the same parish; his mother once married a widower with three children, one of whom was Fred.
Emily reluctantly accepts Freds attention. She is still young, and raising a child alone is hard, but Fred seems a good matchif only Annabel werent in the picture. Fred knows the whole tragic tale of Emilys love for Thomas. He would marry her, even with three children, and adopt Annabel as his own.
They hold a noisy village wedding, then move to London to start fresh, away from prying eyes. Their new family carries a fragile secret.
Soon Emily gives birth to a daughter, Lucy, and Fred adopts Annabel as his sister. He treats both girls as his own, making no distinction.
Fred lives and breathes his family. Emily proves to be a capable housewife, mother, and wife. Fred revives her broken spirit, and their home fills with peace and understanding.
Ten years pass. During a summer holiday, Annabel, Lucy, and four grandchildren stay at Aunt Margarets cottage. Aunt Margaret, now a proud grandmother of three daughters, six grandchildren, and three greatgrandchildren, walks through the village with her head held high.
One day, while rummaging through a dusty attic, Annabel discovers an old notebook among newspapers and her grandfathers scribbles. She settles down and begins to read. Shock floods her: each entry mentions a Thomas, and the handwriting belongs to her Aunt Emily. The notebook is Emilys personal diary.
Annabel cant keep the secret. She tells her cousin, also named Annabel, who rushes to Aunt Margaret for answers. The kindhearted aunt pours out everything, regretting she never burned the cursed diary.
Annabel cant comprehend the revelationher real father had been hidden for years. She begs to meet him at once. Aunt Margaret gives her the address of the man who never claimed her.
Supported by her cousin, Annabel travels to the neighboring village. At the doorstep, Thomass mother recognizes the girl instantly, seeing the resemblance to her son. She rushes to set a table, then weeps, confessing she always thought of Annabel, but her son forbade any contact.
Thomas emerges from the next room, eyes scanning the two blueeyed girls. So, which one of you is my daughter? he asks.
Annabel answers boldly, I could be your daughter! Thomas nods and invites Annabel outside. She steps out, returns a minute later, angry.
Seeing tension rise, Thomass mother offers all of them tea and a generous pour of strong whisky. The girls laugh, Were too young for that! and finish the drinks anyway.
On the way home, curiosity gets the better of them, and Annabel asks, What did you talk about with father?
Nothing, Thomas replies. He offered me money, perhaps to buy my silence. I refused. He never even recognised me; Im just his copy.
Aunt Margaret, ever nosy, interrogates the girls about the meeting and whether to tell Fred and Emily. Annabel snaps, Except for Freds dad, I have no other fathers!
Since then, Annabel bears a quiet resentment toward her mother. She blames Emily for fearing gossip, for handing her over to a childrens home.
Emily spends the rest of her life apologising, Im sorry, Annabel, for being such a misguided mother.
Years go by. Annabel and Lucy grow up, marry, and have children. Annabel bears two sons; the elder bears a striking resemblance to Thomas in his youth.
Thomas never forgets Emily. Occasionally they meet in London, where Emily appears at rare reunions, flaunting a comfortable life to remind Thomas she needs nothing from him. She never tells him that Annabel has barred her from seeing her grandchildren for a decade.
Emilys solace remains her husband, Fred, who sees her as an unblemished sun. He never chides her, and at their wedding he jokes, A speck on a red apple isnt a fault.
Emilys love for Fred deepens; she cannot help but adore him. They celebrate a golden wedding, surrounded by children, grandchildren, and greatgrandchildren.
During the jubilee, Annabel pulls Emily aside, tears streaming, and says, Im sorry, Mum. Forgive me for everything. I had no right to judge you.
Thomas calls to congratulate the family. I wont see another golden wedding, he sighs. Ive been with my fourth wife ten years now. Forgive me, Emily. I still cant understand why I turned away from you.
Emily cuts him off, Dont continue. If you left, you never loved me. Im happy now, with my Fred, my children, and all I need. Ive forgiven you long ago.
She whispers, Goodby, Thomas.
