On a balmy night in mid-July when the café had closed and everything was prepared for the next day, Colleen began to prowl about the upstairs sitting room like a caged animal.
‘Phew, it’s close, so it is,’ she complained as she yanked at the collar of her dress and brushed a damp red curl from her forehead. ‘I think I’ll go out for a stroll to try and cool down.’
Flora looked up from the curtains she was sewing with concern. ‘Is that a good idea? You know it isn’t safe for a woman to be out on the streets on her own around here.’
Colleen airily waved her concerns aside. ‘It’s still light,’ she pointed out, gesturing towards the window. ‘I wouldn’t go if it was dark.’
Flora felt torn, Jia Li had already retired to bed and she didn’t want to leave her alone but she wanted to go with Colleen too.
Colleen chuckled as if she could read her mind. ‘I’ll be fine,’ she promised. ‘You just stay here and keep an ear out for Jia Li. I shan’t be long, I promise.’
Once outside she let the cool breeze wash over her and sighed with relief before beginning to amble along. The girls were painfully aware that the café was in a far from salubrious area, but as Flora had sensibly pointed out, had it not been they would never have been able to afford the rent on it. The labyrinth of backstreets contained rows and rows of back-to-back tenements where whole families were crowded into a single room. Dotted amongst them were shops that catered to all nationalities as well as a large number of warehouses where women and men worked alongside each other packing and unpacking anything and everything that was either being imported into the country or exported out of it. There were also a number of pubs, which guaranteed that the noise of drunken seamen staggering back to their lodgings could be heard echoing along the streets well into the early hours of each morning.
That evening was no different and there were still quite a few people about, including hollow-eyed, lice-ridden children playing in the gutters, so she headed for the docks. She loved to see the ships coming and going and it always relaxed her. As usual when she arrived there was a lot going on. Ships of all shapes and sizes were being loaded and unloaded and there were sailors of every race wherever she looked. Many of them whistled at her and stared admiringly as she passed them but Colleen ignored them all and picked her way around the huge coils of ropes and cargo waiting to be loaded. At one point, she was so intent on watching what was going on that she failed to notice a thick rope trailing along the dock and before she knew it she had gone head first over it and fallen heavily, knocking the wind from her. Before she could even attempt to get up strong arms were lifting her and once she was on her feet she found herself staring into a pair of deep-brown eyes. Her heart gave a little flutter and she felt colour climb up her neck and seep into her cheeks as she tried to smooth her skirt. Her rescuer was tall with curly brown hair and his skin was tanned from the many hours he’d spent out in the open air. But it was his smile that she noticed above everything. It lit up his whole face.
‘Are you all right?’ the young man asked and she nodded, feeling a complete fool. What must he think of her?
‘Aye, I’m fine … thank you. I … I just wasn’t looking where I was going.’
‘Have you hurt anything?’ he asked and she found herself smiling at him, although she was usually cautious with strangers.
‘Only me pride,’ she assured him. He was still holding onto her elbow and the heat of his hand through her thin blouse was making her heart flutter.
What’s wrong wit’ me? she wondered. She couldn’t remember ever feeling like this in a young man’s presence before.
‘Just take a few steps to make sure you haven’t sprained anything,’ he suggested kindly, pushing an unruly lock of his thick, dark hair from his eyes.
Colleen took a tentative few steps along the quay before nodding. ‘There look. I’m right as rain, so I am.’
‘Even so I think I’d better see you home. This isn’t the place for a young lady like you.’
She was touched at his concern and shocked that she quite liked the thought of him walking with her. They had gone only a few paces when he nodded towards two women who were leaning with their backs against a warehouse wall eyeing the seamen and calling suggestive comments to them.
‘There are always a few of those sorts around here,’ he told her. ‘And it’s rare that they go short of customers with the sailors that have been aboard for some time. If I were you I’d keep away from this place in future. It’s no place for a girl like you. Oh, and I’m Will by the way.’ He held his hand out and she shook it.
‘I’m Colleen,’ she introduced herself.
‘And do you live around here?’
She nodded. ‘Yes, me and two of me friends run a little café a few streets away. We’ve not been open that long but it’s doing right well, to be sure.’
He looked mildly surprised. ‘Really? Well done then. You don’t look old enough to be running a business.’
‘Ah well, we didn’t have a lot of choice,’ she confided. ‘We were all thrown out of us jobs and so we had to do somet’ing. But what about you? Are you from hereabouts? You don’t sound as if you come from these parts.’
‘I don’t, I just arrived here.’
‘Oh, and will you be staying?’ She didn’t know why she cared, but suddenly she did. There was something about this tall, handsome young man that appealed to her. Most of the sailors she had encountered were coarse, callous individuals but Will seemed to be very kind and caring.
‘Probably for a time,’ he answered and when he said no more she didn’t press him. The café was in sight by then and she felt almost sorry. She’d enjoyed the short time they’d spent together.
‘This is it,’ she told him, suddenly feeling self-conscious when they came to the door.
His eyes swept over the frontage approvingly. ‘It looks like you have it nice.’
‘Thank you, and yes we do. We worked hard on it, so we did, and I had blisters to prove it when we first started to rent it, but it’s starting to pay off now,’ she told him, suddenly feeling shy. ‘And er … t’anks for walking me home.’
‘It was my pleasure.’ His eyes were tight on her face now and she felt as if she could have drowned in them. He hesitated as if he wanted to say something before suddenly blurting out, ‘I don’t suppose you’d fancy taking a stroll with me one evening, would you? At least if I came along of you I’d know you were safe.’
The colour was back in her cheeks again and her eyes were twinkling as she answered, ‘I’d like that but the trouble is I’m not usually finished me chores afore nine at night. We have to prepare the food for the next day when we close up, see? We er … do have Sundays off though, if you happened to be free.’
‘I certainly can be,’ he agreed with a broad smile. ‘How about I meet you at about one o’clock in the afternoon on Sunday? We could go and have a walk in the park if you like. I might even buy you an ice cream,’ he teased.
‘I’ll look forward to it,’ she told him shyly. ‘And I’ll meet you at the end of the road, shall I?’
He nodded and with a grin he turned about and strode away with his kitbag slung across his shoulder. Colleen watched until he was out of sight then with a little spring in her step she let herself into the café and sped upstairs.
‘Crikey, you’ve perked up, haven’t you?’ Flora teased when Colleen burst into the room. ‘If that’s the effect the air out there has on you I might just go out for a stroll myself.’ Flora stared at her friend curiously. Colleen’s eyes were shining and the sun had brought out an attractive little spattering of freckles across her nose. She had looked tired when she left but now she was full of beans and beaming like a Cheshire cat.
‘Well, actually …’ Colleen suddenly felt embarrassed. ‘I was down at the docks, not looking where I was going as I watched the ships come and go when I went sprawling full length over a coil of rope and this er … this young man helped me up and insisted he saw me home. He was the kindest man I’ve ever met.’
‘Ah!’ Flora grinned with amusement. ‘So, it’s like that, is it? You’re well and truly smitten.’
‘I am not so!’ Colleen protested, but then, ‘Well, I suppose he was very handsome, and so kind.’
‘And will we be seeing this paragon of virtue again?’ Flora teased, pleased to see her friend looking so happy.
Embarrassed, Colleen flushed as she made a great show of smoothing her skirt and keeping her eyes lowered. ‘I, er … did say that I might meet him on Sunday afternoon and take a walk in the park with him. Do you t’ink I should go?’
‘Why, of course,’ Flora said encouragingly. ‘That’s a very sensible time to meet until you get to know him a little better. There’ll be lots of people about at that time.’
Colleen hurried down to the kitchen to make them a last drink and found that she couldn’t stop smiling. But then something occurred to her and some of the brightness left her eyes. What if he had only been being nice and he didn’t show up? She supposed all she could do now was wait and see but Sunday suddenly seemed a very long way away, and what was she to wear? None of her clothes were really good enough for a stroll in the park on a Sunday afternoon when all the toffs would be taking an airing. I’ll talk to Flora and ask her advice, she thought as she made them a cup of cocoa.
‘But you must have a new outfit,’ Flora insisted when Colleen mentioned her dilemma. ‘The café is making a little profit now even after we’ve bought the food and paid the rent so I can afford to pay you and Jia Li a little wage each week.’
Colleen shook her head vigorously. ‘No, we all agreed that we’d save every penny we could. After all, Dora said she would sell the café to you for what she paid for it if you can save enough. Just t’ink of that, owning your very own place!’ They had all agreed that the tenancy should be in Flora’s name as she had put the most money into it.
Flora shrugged. ‘Let’s not try to run before we can walk, eh? How do we know that trade will continue to pick up? Even so, there’s definitely enough for you to treat yourself to a new dress and by the look of those you’re wearing, a new pair of shoes too, so long as you don’t go madly expensive.’
‘Oh, I wouldn’t,’ Colleen assured her. ‘I pass a little shop when I go to get the food shopping not far away where they sell good second-hand clothes. I’m sure I could get somet’ing there.’
‘Then just as soon as the breakfast rush is over in the morning you must slip away and see if they have anything you like.’ Flora grinned. ‘You never know, you might just have met your Mr Right.’ The words stabbed at her heart as a picture of Jamie suddenly flashed in front of her eyes but she forced herself to remain cheerful. She had never seen Colleen look so happy and she didn’t want to do or say anything that might spoil it for her. She had grown to love both Colleen and Jia Li like sisters and if this young man who had made Colleen smile was the one for her, then she was all for it.
The next morning when the stream of customers into the café began to slow, Flora pressed a sum of money into Colleen’s hand. ‘Go on, get yourself away to the dress shop and see if they have anything that takes your fancy.’
Colleen gave her a quick hug and throwing her apron over the back of a chair she tried to pat her unruly curls into some sort of order before she rushed out, shouting over her shoulder, ‘I shan’t be long, I promise.’
Flora and Jia Li smiled at each other like parents watching their child go off to their first ball. Colleen had told Jia Li all about her new admirer first thing that morning and like Flora, Jia Li was pleased for her.
‘She not have a happy life in Ireland,’ she commented. ‘So, if this young man make her smile it is good, yes?’
‘Oh yes. It is very good!’
‘And I also have to ask if I may have a little time off this afternoon,’ Jia Li said cautiously. ‘I have decided that it time I see a doctor. It can be put off no longer.’
Flora heaved a sigh of relief, although deep down she had no doubt what the outcome would be. Jia Li was still being violently sick in the mornings and already Flora thought she could detect just the very tiny beginnings of a bulge in her stomach.
‘Good,’ she said approvingly and they set about preparing for the lunchtime rush.
True to her word, Colleen was gone for no more than an hour and returned with a big grin on her face, toting a large paper bag.
‘You’ll not believe the bargain I found,’ she gushed excitedly. ‘’Tis the dress o’ me dreams. It needs taking in a little admittedly but I t’ought perhaps you’d help me with that, Flora? You’ve a rare flair for sewin’, so you have. And I found the most dinky pair o’ shoes too.’
‘Well, come on, don’t keep us in suspense. Let’s see them,’ Flora urged, following her through to the kitchen where Jia Li was preparing a huge bowl of chicken salad. Now that the weather was so hot they were selling quite a lot of it.
Colleen dropped the bag onto the table and took out a very pretty day dress in a lovely shade of green that exactly matched her eyes. It was the fashionable new ankle length and Flora could see at a glance that it was good quality. Colleen then withdrew a pair of shoes with a tiny heel and a strap and again both girls cooed over them.
‘The dress needs takin’ in at the sides,’ Colleen told them as she held it against her for inspection. ‘But as I said, I don’t t’ink it’ll be too much of a job.’
‘Easy as pie,’ Flora assured her after a quick examination of the seams.
‘I just hope the weather holds now so’s I don’t have to be wearin’ me old coat and coverin’ it up,’ Colleen said gloomily and everyone chuckled. Just then the bell above the door in the café tinkled heralding a customer so the dress was hastily pushed back into the bag and they all got to work again.
As promised, Jia Li set off for the doctor immediately after the lunchtime rush and Colleen and Flora watched anxiously for her return from the café window. However, one glance at her face when she did come back confirmed their worst fears without her saying a word.
‘Doctor he say baby due about mid-February,’ Jia Li told them as tears trickled down her cheeks.
‘Aw well, it’s not the end of the world,’ Flora consoled her. ‘You’re not the first and you won’t be the last to have a baby out of wedlock. If you do, that is, Bai could be here before then and you could be already married.’
Jai Li shook her head. ‘No, if he come now I send him away,’ she said with conviction. ‘I no let him bring up another man’s child. If I keep it.’ She looked around at them, her expression bleak. ‘You want me to leave now?’
‘Leave!’ Both girls looked horrified then angry. ‘You’re not going anywhere. We’ll all get through this together,’ Flora told her sternly. ‘So, let’s have no more silly talk of leaving, eh?’
Jia Li nodded miserably, and as Colleen and Flora put their arms about her, she thought how very lucky she was to at least have two such good friends.