Kate said, ‘We had no idea. You never spoke of her.’
Claire continued, ‘Rufus had been starring in a show in The Little Theatre by the Sea at the time I was pregnant with her, but the pregnancy had been … difficult. So I was under the care of a consultant at a London hospital. Close to term, I felt something wasn’t right, but I didn’t want to tell Rufus, as I knew he’d walk out on the show and go up to London with me that day. So … so I travelled to London alone, and my waters broke when I arrived. I got a taxi straight to the hospital. I kept thinking about surprising Rufus after the show when I sent word from the hospital that I’d had our third child, if the labour was quick. But something didn’t feel right. Deep down I knew something was wrong.’
Rufus sat there studying his hands. ‘You should have told me. I would have left the show.’
‘It had been difficult for you, working with the new lead actress after Isobel had walked out months earlier. I convinced myself there was nothing to worry about and decided to go alone.’ She paused for a moment, her expression pained. ‘When I sent word, and Rufus travelled to London after the show, I told him I couldn’t bear to go home straight away to Kate and Jeremy back in Suffolk. They were looking forward to meeting their little sister.’
She turned to Kate, ‘You were both too young to remember all this. I’d sent word to the babysitter that I’d gone into labour and might not be back that night, or for several nights, so I’d need someone to look after them. She was wonderful, the lady from the village, staying with you all week, taking you to nursery school, doing your tea, putting you to bed, while Rufus was in the show.’
‘I didn’t want to continue doing the show. I wanted to stay with you in London.’
‘I know. But I needed time to come to terms with what had happened.’ She turned to Kate and Bridie. ‘So, when I lefthospital, I stayed with your grandad the rest of that week while Rufus continued to perform in the show – I insisted on it, just to take his mind off what had happened. Then one day, one unforgettable day, he came up to London to see me and see if I was ready to come home. But this time was different. He had brought something with him. Someone, in actual fact.’
‘Me?’ Bridie said.
Kate looked at Bridie.
‘Yes – you. The most beautiful baby I’d ever set my eyes on.’ Claire turned to Kate. ‘Not that you weren’t a beautiful baby too, Kate. As was Lucy. Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.’
Kate smiled at her mother. ‘Don’t be,’ said Kate, staring at Bridie. She said, ‘Where did you find her?’
Rufus said, ‘On the steps of The Little Theatre by the Sea.’
Chapter 55
Did he really say that I was a foundling?Bridie thought.
‘You found me?’
‘Yes, outside the theatre, right there …’ Rufus pointed out of the ambulance window.
Bridie swallowed. She did not know what to say.
Neither did Kate. She was clearly just as shocked as Bridie at this revelation.
Bridie turned to Isobel. ‘That infamous night you just walked off the stage in the middle of a performance at the theatre. The night that started the rumour that the ghost of a dead actress haunts the theatre to this day because the belief was that she ran out of the theatre and either jumped or fell from the sea wall to her death …’
Kate looked at her sister, her eyes wide. She said, ‘You disappeared because you’d found out that you were pregnant.’ It wasn’t a question.
Bridie nodded. That was her conclusion too.
Kate said, ‘So the theatre didn’t close down that day, like the rumours would have us believe, did it?’
Isobel slowly shook her head. ‘They had an understudy. The show must go on, and all that,’ she said sadly.
Bridie realised that, as with any rumour, the facts had got distorted over time; it was much more dramatic if the show had closed down and the theatre had been abandoned after Isobel had walked out and mysteriously disappeared.
Rufus rubbed his face with his hands. ‘Isobel was part of our touring troupe, and we’d always worked so well together, like a well-oiled machine. We’d worked together in The Little Theatre by the Sea on so many occasions, but that show was different. Something wasn’t right in the rehearsals before we even started the show.’
Reggie stared at Rufus and slowly nodded his head. ‘Yes, I noticed it too. Something had changed. It’s as though she … your heart wasn’t in it. Your dancing and singing was off, you were tired all the time and forgetting lines. But you refused to tell us what was wrong.’
Bridie said, ‘You were pregnant, and trying to conceal it.’
Isobel didn’t deny it.
Rufus continued, ‘Then that night Isobel suddenly walked out of the show. Just left the stage in the middle of a performance, and we … we never heard from her again. Then a few months later, on the last night of the show, when Claire was in London staying with my dad after losing Lucy—’
‘Isobel turned up out of the blue at the little theatre, and handed you the baby – your baby,’ said Kate.
