Twenty-Four

‘Shall we walk to the moor, or are you too tired?’ Graham asked.

‘I’m a little tired,’ Breda acknowledged. ‘But not too much. I’d like to walk.’

Now that spring was here again, and the evenings were all the time getting lighter, it was what they did almost every day. Home from the store, a very quick cup of tea, a change into casual clothes, and out again.

There was so much to see on the moor now, something new every day. Two winters of snow had melted and gone since they had moved into Heather Cottage. The first spring had given way to a warm summer, when all Breda’s hopes of a purple, heather-clad moor had been fulfilled, and now they had come through the winter and emerged into the second spring. Fresh green bracken had uncurled itself on the slopes; birds were busy housekeeping.

‘I wouldn’t want you to tire yourself,’ Graham said. ‘You must take care.’

‘I know,’ Breda agreed. ‘And I will. This baby is precious to me.’

‘To both of us,’ Graham corrected her.

‘Of course! I know that!’

It had taken her almost a year to conceive, in spite of the fact that their sex life was full and vigorous; all, and more than all, that either of them had ever dreamt of. It was this which made Breda wonder if she would ever conceive, or if she was cruelly destined to remain childless. But now she was three months pregnant, and everything in the world was fine. The only cloud on the horizon, and it was daily growing closer, was that she would have to give up her job.

Graham, walking slightly ahead, turned around and offered Breda a hand up a steep and rocky part of the slope. She shook her head, smiling, and refused to take it.

‘I can manage perfectly well, love. You mustn’t coddle me!’

‘Oh yes I must!’ Graham contradicted. ‘I would like to wrap you in cotton wool, wait on you hand and foot every minute until the baby’s born.’

‘Well, you’re not going to,’ Breda said. ‘I won’t allow it!’

He sat down on a flat rock, and pulled her down beside him.

‘But you will take care? Promise?’

‘Of course I will,’ Breda said. ‘Don’t be so anxious.’

‘I don’t think you should go on working much longer.’

Breda shook her head. ‘I don’t agree, love. I’m absolutely fit and if I had my way, I’d go on working until the last minute. It won’t be good for me, hanging around doing nothing. I’ll get bored.’

Graham looked doubtful. ‘What about . . . ?’

‘If you mean what about how will I look, those smocks I wear are as good as any maternity dress. But I’ll promise to give up working the minute I’m too tired.’

Privately, she couldn’t imagine that happening for a long time. She had never felt fitter in her whole life.

‘We must tell Mr Soames,’ Graham said. ‘It’s only fair!’

‘And Miss Opal,’ Breda said.

Miss Opal would be on her side. Auntie Josie said that Miss Opal had worked in the Leasfield store almost up to the time of Emmeline’s birth.

Two days later when Opal came to Hebghyll, Breda asked to speak with her privately.

‘Well,’ Opal said when she heard the news, ‘I’m delighted for you, of course, though I had begun to think . . . ’ She broke off.

‘I’d also begun to think that I was never going to have a baby,’ Breda said. ‘So I’m especially pleased, and so is Graham.’

‘Of course! In that case what I’d planned to say to you today isn’t applicable any longer.’

‘But I’d like to go on working for quite some time yet,’ Breda said quickly. ‘I don’t want to leave before I must.’

Opal looked thoughtful. ‘Well, I wonder? Yes, I will tell you. You see, a woman I know spoke to me last week. She said she’d been taking a great interest in the new windows you’ve been doing. “Though I still can’t get my rooms to look as I want them. I don’t seem to have the knack. I think I need advice,” she said.’

Immediately, excitement ran through Breda’s veins like fire. If her guess was right, and how could it not be, wasn’t what Miss Opal was about to say the most wonderful, most incredible thing you ever heard? She leaned forward eagerly, perching on the very edge of her chair.

‘So I thought about it over the weekend,’ Opal continued. ‘I’ve spoken with Mr Soames and he thinks it will work . . . ’

Oh, do come to the point, Breda thought impatiently. Please say it!

‘And what I wondered was, why shouldn’t Opal’s offer an advisory service on interior design and decorating. Every aspect – colour schemes, fabric, wallpapers, paint, lamps. All the things that go to make a room . . . ’

Breda broke in, unable to contain herself another second. ‘Rugs, cushions, china, ornaments . . . and preferably everything from this store!’

‘Exactly! It’s nearly five years now since the war ended. Everything’s easier to get, no more coupons for materials. And people want a change, something new after all the years of austerity.’

‘Oh, Miss Opal!’ Breda could hardly control her voice. ‘Oh, it would be wonderful!’

‘There’s the question of space,’ Opal said. ‘We don’t have much room to spare.’

‘It needn’t take up much space,’ Breda said. ‘We’d work from books of fabric samples, colour charts, drawings and sketches. Most of the consultation would be in the client’s own home, wouldn’t it? It would have to be.’

Opal smiled at the growing pleasure in Breda’s face, at her shining eyes and the excitement in her voice.

‘You’ve got the idea exactly. And, of course, what I wanted was for you to head this. You’re very young, but you have the talent. I believe, with the right backing, you could have done it.’

‘Could have?’ The words came to Breda like a blow, like an ice-cold shower.

‘Well,’ Opal said, ‘haven’t you just told me that you’re going to have a baby? What I have in mind would be a big job, and so is having a child.’

There was a long silence, in which the two women looked at each other. I couldn’t bear not to do it, Breda thought. And I couldn’t bear not to have a baby.

It was Breda who broke the silence. ‘Miss Opal, may I say something?’

‘Of course!’

‘I don’t want to seem cheeky, Miss Opal, but you had a baby and kept on working.’

‘I did,’ Opal agreed. ‘But it wasn’t easy. In fact it was difficult, even though I had my sister to help me. I don’t think I could have done it without her help, but who would you have?’

‘I don’t know,’ Breda confessed. ‘I’ve no idea. But I do know that I’d find someone, and I’d spend every penny of my wages on paying her!’

‘Money might not be the problem,’ Opal said. ‘I had thought that I might put you on a small wage, plus commission, so a lot of it would be up to you. No, your problem would be finding the right person for your baby.’

‘If I couldn’t,’ Breda said slowly, ‘then I wouldn’t do it. The baby’s needs would have to come first.’

‘Quite right,’ Opal said. ‘So I suggest you go away and think about it. Not so much about the job as about your personal life, yours and Graham’s. I’m sure you could do the job, but there are more important matters to face.’

She stood up, a signal for Breda to leave. ‘Come and see me when I’m in Hebghyll next week,’ she suggested. ‘But think about it all most carefully.’

Graham’s reaction to the news was exactly what Breda had expected it to be. They had returned together from work, and were taking their usual walk. Not until they were sitting on the flat rock, with the whole of Hebghyll laid out below them, did Breda begin to tell Graham about her meeting with Opal.

He did not wait for her to finish before he spoke. ‘It’s a wonderful idea, and an honour for you to be asked. But of course you told her it was impossible.’

He was not asking a question, he was stating a fact; without heat, without emphasis. It was her answering silence which caused him to turn and face her. When her eyes met his, and he saw her look, he knew the answer to what he had not even thought worth asking.

‘You did tell her?’

‘I didn’t tell her it was impossible. Not exactly.’

‘What do you mean, Breda? Of course it’s impossible!’ His voice was slightly impatient, as if he was speaking to an awkward child.

‘I said we’d think about it. I said we’d discuss it. I said that of course the baby came before everything!’

Don’t I sound for all the world as if I’m begging, she thought? Perhaps I am? It was not at all the way she had planned it in her mind.

‘Of course the baby comes first!’ Graham said. ‘That goes without saying, for both of us. So there’s nothing to think about, darling. Nothing to discuss. I dare say you didn’t like to tell her outright. But you must.’

‘Would you be giving up your job to look after the baby?’ she asked.

‘But I don’t have to! That’s not the way things work, you know that. I earn the living, you look after the home and the children. Those are the facts of life.’

Again she didn’t answer. He looked at her anxiously. Perhaps this was a pregnant woman’s fancy. Perhaps there would be more of them in the months to come. He took her hand and began to stroke it, gently.

‘You do want this baby, my love?’

‘Oh, of course I do, Graham! You know I do. More than anything in the world. Truly!’

‘And so do I. So everything will be all right. You’ll see!’

Breda was not convinced, but she would not show her disappointment, she would not let his reception of her news lead to an argument. She could never bear to quarrel with Graham. She loved him too much.

‘Come along, love! Time we were getting back. I don’t want you to catch a chill.’ There was always a breeze on the moor, and now, with the sun going down, the warmth had gone from the day.

‘I’ll not be catching a chill, silly,’ Breda said. Nevertheless, she tucked her arm through his and they set off together down the path to Heather Cottage.

‘What’s for supper?’ Graham asked.

‘Liver and onions.’ How could he think about food?

‘Good! My favourite!’

Didn’t all the magazines say, if you wanted to ask your husband a favour, then feed him his favourite food, put on a pretty dress, seek the right moment? Breda doubted if that would work with Graham, even if she was prepared to get round him by such means. He had made up his mind on the subject and as far as he was concerned there was nothing more to be said.

She could not agree. To her mind there was a great deal more to be discussed, no matter to what conclusion the discussion led. But the magazines were partly right, she would have to choose the moment.

In the event, it was Graham who chose it.

They had eaten, and cleared away. Breda went to the window to draw the curtains against the dark night. ‘There’s a wind getting up.’

Graham, already immersed in his book, didn’t answer. Breda picked up her knitting and went and sat in her armchair. It will be nice, she thought, when we have our new sofa, which will be any day now, and we can sit side by side. She felt the need for his physical nearness.

Presently, he looked up from his book. ‘What are you knitting?’

‘Vests, for the baby. I thought I’d better start on something simple. I’ve always been good at sewing and never much good at knitting.’

‘One way and another you’re going to be quite occupied,’ Graham said. ‘Especially if we get the whole house to ourselves. There’ll be loads to do. You’ll be glad not to have to go out to work.’

An elderly couple, who kept themselves to themselves, who were as quiet as mice and almost as seldom seen, had occupied the ground floor flat. Three months ago the husband had died as quietly as he had lived, and now his widow had packed her bags, been collected one Sunday morning by her son in his small car, and taken to live with him and his family in Derbyshire.

Graham and Breda had gone hotfoot to the landlady in River Road to ask if they might have the whole house. They would have liked to offer to buy it, but the time was not ripe. Though they, and Graham in particular, were now earning more money than when they had married, and could afford the increased rent, they could not afford to buy.

Breda knitted to the end of the row, then put down her needles. ‘’Tis not quite like that, Graham love. I am not after searching for an alternative to going out to work, a chance to stay at home. If I wanted that, the baby alone would provide it . . . ’

‘As it does for most women,’ Graham interrupted.

‘I know that. But I love my job, and even more I’d love the job Miss Opal has offered me. It’s perfect for me.’

She left her chair and went and sat on the floor in front of his chair, leaning against him, taking his hand in hers.

‘Oh, Graham, if only you’d just let me talk to you about it, about how I think it could work for all of us, you, me, and the baby! At least please listen, Graham!’

He sighed, closed his book and dropped it on the floor. It landed with a thud. ‘I’m listening.’ He sounded wary, reluctant.

‘In the first place, no problem arises until much nearer the time for the baby’s birth. I hope to work as long as I can, but I promise that if I’m not fit, or if the doctor advises it, then I’ll give up. I’ll put our baby first at all times. So if I’m going to work, wouldn’t it make sense to take on the new job? Physically, ’twould be easier. If we get the customers – and Miss Opal thinks we will – then I’ll not be climbing in and out of windows much longer, dragging furniture about. I’ll be visiting people in their homes, I’ll be discussing and designing and advising. I’ll not be doing the heavy work.’

‘So that takes us up to before you have the baby,’ Graham said. ‘And what about afterwards? What about when the baby’s here, a fact of life, a real person needing everything to be done for it? You’d have to give up the job then. So is it reasonable – even to Opal – to take it on for a few months and then drop it?’

‘I would at least have set it up, got it going. That would be worth something to me, and I hope to her. Then if I had to drop it, if looking after you and the baby and our home was as much as I could manage, then sure, the job would go. And I’d make that plain to Miss Opal from the start.’

‘You’re asking a lot of Opal,’ Graham said.

‘And I’ll give her a lot in return. Don’t forget, it’s she who wants me to do this. And having children did not stop her working. Will you just look at what she’s achieved!’

Graham shook his head. ‘Opal’s a one-off. She’s a law unto herself.’

‘And you think I couldn’t achieve what she has? Well, I dare say you’re right and I don’t have the ambition to own two stores. But I’d like to do what I think I’m capable of. I’d like, at least, to be having the chance to try.’

Graham began to stroke her hair. ‘Breda love, I don’t know what to say. You make it sound so reasonable, but all my instincts are against it.’

‘Then please think about it,’ Breda pleaded. ‘We’ve got a week, and then I must see Miss Opal again.’

Two days later they received the news that they could indeed rent the whole house, on condition that they made no structural alterations without the permission of the landlady.

‘She’s safe enough!’ Graham said. ‘We couldn’t afford to!’

They had already decided what they would do if the house became theirs. They would at once move their living quarters downstairs, leaving the two rooms upstairs for sleeping, the smaller of which would be for the baby. Downstairs there was a living-kitchen, a slightly larger sitting room and a bathroom.

‘I should make an early start on the garden,’ Graham said. ‘We can make something of that, once we clear the weeds.’

Nothing more was said about Breda’s job, present or future. It was as if the conversation they had had on that first night had never taken place. But we shall have to talk about it, Breda thought. I have to see Miss Opal on Monday. In any case, she found herself thinking about it most of the time, both when she was working in the store and when she was at home. Thoughts of the job mingled with thoughts of the baby, without, in her mind, any conflict at all. When Sunday came, without Graham having once mentioned the subject, Breda knew it was up to her.

From the minute she returned from Mass, the two of them worked on the rooms downstairs, stripping off layers of dingy wallpaper, sanding down doors. Everything was to be white.

‘Are you sure it won’t look cold?’ Graham asked.

‘Quite sure! There’ll be warmth and colour from the curtains, the covers, the pictures on the wall. As much as ever we want.’

‘If you say so,’ Graham conceded. ‘You’re the expert!’

‘I’m glad you say so,’ Breda replied. ‘You won’t know this room when I’ve finished with it! And tomorrow I have to let Miss Opal know whether I’m going to make similar transformations in houses all over Hebghyll; perhaps even beyond.’

‘Oh Breda!’ Graham stopped in the act of scraping old paint from the window frame, and turned and faced her. ‘Breda, I thought we’d decided all that!’

‘You decided. I didn’t.’ She kept her voice calm.

‘And I suppose you’d take the baby with you into all these houses you’re thinking about?’

‘I dare say that might be possible,’ Breda said pleasantly. ‘I hadn’t thought so far ahead.’

‘Then you should! Be serious about this, Breda!’

‘I am. Quite serious. But I prefer to take one step at a time. If Miss Opal’s idea takes off, it will do so quickly. Spring and early summer are the times everyone looks at their rooms and sees them as shabby, needing a change. If it doesn’t take off, then she’ll abandon it and that will be the end of the matter.’

‘And if it does? I reckon Opal doesn’t back many losers. If it does, where will you be then?’

‘I don’t know,’ Breda confessed.‘’Tis all to try for. But I’ve told you, and I mean it, love, I’ll do whatever’s best for the baby, both before it’s born and after. All I want is a chance to start – just see how far I can take it.’

Graham looked at her. She stood in a room which was a shambles. Her face was dirty and there was a scrap of green wallpaper sticking to her hair. She was pink with exertion and her eyes were pleading. He had never loved her more.

‘Oh my darling, I can refuse you nothing!’ he said. ‘Tell Miss Opal you’ll give it a try. But don’t make her any promises you can’t keep.’

‘Oh Graham!’ She flung herself into his arms. ‘Oh Graham, I do love you!’

The next morning she made an appointment to see Miss Opal as soon as possible after she arrived.

‘Well,’ Opal said. ‘What did you decide?’

Breda told her. ‘I realize it might not suit you,’ she admitted. ‘You see, I can’t promise here and now to stay on after the baby’s born. I shall have to see how things work out.’

‘Of course you will!’

‘And I wouldn’t want to start something, and then leave you in the lurch.’

Opal looked long and hard at Breda. To be truthful, she didn’t need this new venture, didn’t she have enough with two stores? But there was something in her which wanted to take it on perhaps just because it was new, and a gamble, and there was something about this young woman who sat opposite her which made her feel that, between them, they could make it work. So it’s my decision, she thought.

‘Well,’ she said, ‘I can see the difficulties. But you don’t win if you don’t enter, so we’ll do it! I have people to see now, but we’ll talk later in the day, go into more detail.’

Breda stared at Miss Opal open mouthed. She couldn’t believe it, nor could she find any words.

‘We’ll wish each other luck!’ Opal said.

Breda pulled herself together, realized she had been given a signal to leave, and got up. ‘Thank you, Miss Opal! Oh, thank you very much indeed. I can’t tell you . . . ’

‘Tell me later,’ Opal said.

The next person Opal saw was George Soames. She told him about her conversation with Breda.

‘It’s a risk,’ he said. ‘But when did you not take risks, Opal?’

‘I know it is,’ she admitted. ‘I just think it might come off. And I hate to see talent going to waste. So what have you to tell me, George?’

‘Not a great deal,’ George said. ‘Leslie Bennett has given in his notice. He came to ask me about promotion, and when he saw it wasn’t forthcoming, he decided to leave. I grabbed at it, I can tell you! He’ll probably change his mind, though, and ask for his job back.’

‘But you’ll not give it to him, I hope?’

‘Definitely not. Though I’m not sure how we’ll manage in the short term if you’re taking Breda.’

‘Ah!’ Miss Opal said. ‘Then I think I can help you there. I think I have only to say the word and Jim Sutcliffe would jump at the chance of coming to Hebghyll. He said something of the kind to me the other day. His wife, it seems, has always wanted to live here.’

‘It wouldn’t be as big a job as Leasfield,’ George Soames said.

‘I’d pay him the same. And the job would be what he made it. There’s plenty of scope.’

‘What about Leasfield?’

‘He has a good deputy, waiting to step into his shoes. We’ll be all right.’

‘Well, that’s that then,’ George said. ‘I wish everything could be settled so easily.’

Opal sent for Breda in the middle of the afternoon. This time the talk was all of how they would set up the new venture.

‘You can cut your teeth on Mrs Alderton, the woman who gave me the idea,’ Opal said. ‘I’ll offer her a special rate for being the first customer, and for your part I want you to do a really first-class job.’

‘Oh, I will, Miss Opal!’ Breda said eagerly. ‘I can hardly wait to begin.’

‘You’ll have to wait a wee while, until we get fabric samples, paint charts and so on. Unless, of course, you can find most of what you want right here in the store – or perhaps in the Leasfield store.’

‘I’ll know better when I’ve seen the rooms she wants doing,’ Breda said.

‘Well, she lives right here in Hebghyll,’ Opal said. ‘And I reckon the first occasion or two I’ll go with you. I’d like to see how you go about it. After that, you’re on your own.’

‘I’ll be glad of your advice,’ Breda said.

‘Oh, I’m not coming along to advise,’ Opal said. ‘More to learn, to pick up the commercial side of it. The artistic bit is all yours. I’ve been thinking I shall advertise, use your name. “Mrs Breda Prince, Interior Design Consultant”. How does that sound?’

‘Wonderful!’ Breda was ecstatic. She couldn’t believe it was happening to her.

‘The only thing is, you look too young,’ Miss Opal said. ‘But time will remedy that, won’t it?’

Graham, when told, did his best to show enthusiasm. ‘Design Consultant!’ he said. ‘You’ll be passing me on your way up!’

‘I’ll never do that,’ Breda said. ‘You’re Deputy Manager of the whole store.’

That was to change, and in a manner which no-one could foresee, or would have chosen. On a day towards the end of May, George Soames left the store, went home and ate his evening meal, and immediately afterwards collapsed with a heart attack.

Mary Soames acted quickly. Within twenty minutes George was in Hebghyll Hospital and Opal was speeding from Leasfield to be with her sister. Together, they sat by his bed all night, and in the morning knew that at least he would not die. When they knew that, Opal took her sister home, then went herself to the store.

The first person she sent for was Graham. ‘You will have to take over,’ she told him.

‘I’ll do my best, Miss Opal,’ Graham said. He was white with shock.

‘I know you will. You’ve been here since the start of Opal’s of Hebghyll. You know how I like things done. And you’ve had the best of teachers in Mr Soames. We must do everything well for his sake. I don’t want him to worry about a thing.’

‘I’ll do all I can,’ Graham said. ‘Everyone will. Mr Soames is very highly thought of. It will be a great shock.’

‘I don’t know how long this will last,’ Opal said. She couldn’t keep the worry out of her voice. There had been times in the night when she’d thought her brother-in-law would die. ‘Come to me if there’s anything I can do,’ she said to Graham. ‘And I’ll be here as often as I can to begin with.’

In fact, George Soames’s absence from the store was to be permanent.

‘If you take this easy, then you could live a long time yet,’ the doctor said to him. ‘If you don’t . . . ’ He shrugged.

George gave in with good grace. If the truth were known, he would be glad to live a quieter life.

‘And you’ll do yery well,’ he said to Graham. ‘I have every faith in you! You’re a bit young to be Manager of the whole store, but I’m sure you’ll do it.’

‘Of course he will!’ Mary Soames said.