When she stepped off the coach at Dorchester, the sight of her father was almost more than she could bear. Cat threw herself into his hug, a bittersweet mixture of joy and pain twisting her heart. Now she was finally where she knew she was unconditionally loved, she could let go. Tears dripped down her cheeks as her father gently patted her back, bemused but professionally accustomed to offering comfort.
When Cat could at last let go, Mr Morland slung an arm round her shoulders and picked up her bag. ‘You don’t have to say anything now unless you want to get it off your chest before we get home,’ he said. ‘Otherwise, wait so you don’t have to go through it all twice.’
Cat swallowed and nodded. ‘OK. I love you, Dad.’
‘I know,’ he said. ‘And we love you too. No matter what. You know that.’
The last few miles of the journey were the hardest. But by the time they arrived at the vicarage, Cat had herself under control so that when they pulled up in the drive and her mother and sisters fell upon her with delight, she was able to contain her tears and enjoy the pleasure of being back in the bosom of a loving family again, rather than one that was ruled by a heartless tyrant.
Her mother bustled around the kitchen, heating soup and opening tins of baking while her sisters quizzed her about the excitements of Edinburgh and the shocking behaviour of Bella Thorpe. Eventually, though, those subjects were temporarily exhausted and Richard Morland shooed his younger daughters upstairs, citing the lateness of the hour.
Then at last, Cat was able to tell her story. She could tell from the looks her parents exchanged that they were shocked by a father who would throw a young woman out of doors with no notice to travel the length and breadth of the country alone. ‘And all this was decided in the middle of the night?’ Annie said, indignant.
‘It was after midnight when Ellie told me.’
‘I can hardly credit it,’ Richard said. ‘At the very least he should have phoned us to let us know Cat was on her way home. We could have been out, or away.’
Cat managed a feeble giggle. ‘You’re never away.’
‘Yes, but General Tilney wasn’t to know that. I’m astonished. Susie Allen spoke so highly of him. And you’ve no idea what provoked this?’
‘No idea at all. Truly, Dad, I’m not trying to cover up anything I did wrong. He seemed to quite like me. Ellie said he thought I was the bee’s knees. And then he just turned.’
‘Well, it sounds like you’re well out of that house,’ Annie said with finality. ‘From what you say, he’s a real control freak. Those poor children of his.’ She shook her head.
‘It’s like they’re scared of what will happen if they stand up to him,’ Cat said. ‘Which is weird, because Henry is totally not a wimp. If you spent any time with him, you’d know he’s got opinions of his own. But when it comes to his father, he just gives in. It’s like their father has some terrible hold on them.’
Her father rolled his eyes. ‘Spare us the melodrama, Cat. You’re still pretending you’re the heroine in one of those books of yours. The Tilneys are just another screwed-up family who need to find some grace.’ And so they left it, seeing exhaustion had caught up with Cat, who was more than glad to fall into her own bed, where to her surprise she slept like the dead.
Of course, the whole story had to be retold when Susie Allen came round for coffee in the morning. ‘OK,’ Susie said. ‘Let me run this past you again. He came back from London with some cock-and-bull story about a trip to rellies in the South of France that he’d completely forgotten?’
‘That’s what Ellie said. I never actually spoke to him after he came back.’
‘Extraordinary. I can just about see how you might forget you were going to Nice, but that’s no excuse to throw Cat out of the house before dawn. Thank heavens you’re home safe, Cat. With a man like that, you could have had a lucky escape.’
‘Don’t encourage her,’ Richard said as he passed through the kitchen on his way to conduct a funeral.
‘He was always very keen on you and Mr Allen,’ Cat said. ‘He talked about inviting you to Northanger.’
Susie snorted, ‘He can whistle for that. I wouldn’t set foot within a mile of any house of his.’
‘What did he want with Susie and Andrew?’ Annie wondered.
‘I don’t know. But he talks about money a lot. I think he spends a lot of time working out how much people are worth. In cash, I mean, not what they’re really worth,’ Cat said sadly. ‘Maybe he realised how skint we are, and that’s why he was so keen to get rid of me.’
‘That’s incredibly depressing,’ Susie said.
‘All the more reason to be glad you won’t have to have anything to do with the Tilneys from hereon.’ Annie’s voice was firm. But as she stood up to make more tea, she missed the fleeting look of regret that crossed her daughter’s face.
The support of family and friends surrounded Cat and supported her over the coming days. But in spite of their love and concern, she remained pale and drawn and more prone to long walks alone than she had been before her trip to Edinburgh. It wasn’t her treatment at the hands of the General that bothered her; she had accepted that as incomprehensible and of little use in the imaginative fantasies she liked to engage in and she had put it behind her. But she could not manage that feat when it came to Henry.
What wounded her heart and bruised her self-esteem was that she had heard nothing from him. Surely he must have heard what had happened by now? How could he turn his back on all that had started to blossom between them? If he was really incapable of standing up for what he wanted, it was probably as well to find that out now, she supposed. But still. No excuse or explanation could ease her pain.
Cat had sat down to email Ellie several times, but she couldn’t find a place to start. In the end, she used the excuse of returning her hundred pounds to write a brief note thanking her for her hospitality at Northanger and hoping they could find a way to continue their collaboration, whether digitally or face-to-face. She considered every word carefully, mindful that his sister might show it to Henry. Cat was not hopeful of a response, however.
Seeing what she was about, her mother sighed. ‘You and James have both had a pretty torrid summer of it. Strange relationships, made and ended so soon. But that’s part of being young, I suppose. Better luck next time for both of you.’
‘Maybe Ellie and I can still be friends.’ She licked the envelope and closed it. ‘She’s really lovely, Mum.’
‘I wouldn’t bank on it, not unless her father falls under a bus. I wish you had something to take your mind off all this. At least poor James has his work. It’s about time you started thinking about your future, Cat. You’ll be eighteen before you know it and your child benefit will run out. We’re not loaded like your Edinburgh pals. You’ll either have to go to college or get a job. Have you given it any thought?’
Cat sighed. Like she could think about the future when her life was in ruins. ‘Me and Ellie have a plan. We’re going to do children’s books. She’s a really brilliant illustrator, and you know how good I am at making up stories for the kids.’
She was too busy staring out of the window to catch her mother’s look of gentle compassion. ‘That’s probably not on the cards now, sweetheart.’
‘I know.’
‘Do you remember a while back we talked about you training as a nanny?’
Listlessly, Cat nodded. ‘Yeah, but I don’t have the right qualifications.’
‘That might not be such a problem,’ Annie said. ‘While you were gone, I made some enquiries. And there’s a college in the North East where they train girls with non-traditional educational backgrounds. You come out of it with a proper childcare qualification. And if you got in, you could stay with James. What do you think?’