Constance had a very unhappy weekend. Her father was in a black mood and stayed ensconced in his study for hours on end. At mealtimes he barely spoke, but on Sunday evening when Mary had left the dining room, he raised his head to say harshly, ‘I want you to get up early in the morning to ensure that Ethel and Mary only take their personal belongings when they leave. Look in their bags to make sure they haven’t taken anything of value that doesn’t belong to them.’
‘Oh, Daddy, neither of them would do that.’
‘Don’t be so naïve. I’ve found to my cost that you can’t trust these types of people.’
‘What do you mean? What type of people?’
‘Those of the lower classes. Thieves – the lot of them.’
‘Ethel has worked for us for years and she isn’t a thief. Mary isn’t either.’
‘Don’t argue with me. Just do as I say and when the new cook and cleaner arrive, make sure they know what their duties are.’
Constance bit her lower lip as she twirled a strand of hair around her finger. Despite her father’s orders, she wasn’t going to check Ethel or Mary’s bags. He seemed to forget that she would soon be marrying into the lower classes, as he called them, and that would make Ethel a relative. ‘Daddy, are you going to do anything about a tree?’
‘Tree? What are you talking about?’
‘Mummy always orders a large Christmas tree for the hall.’
‘With your mother in hospital I’m in no mood to celebrate Christmas,’ he snapped, rising to his feet.
Constance guessed he would be going out as usual, but to her surprise, just as he had this weekend, he went back to his study. She had no idea what had caused this change in his routine, but tired of being alone, with nobody to talk to, Constance went down to the basement.
‘Hello, love,’ Ethel greeted her from her chair by the fire. ‘I’ve been thinking, and this will be the first Christmas in many, many years that I’ve spent away from this house.’
‘We can get a Christmas tree from the market and decorate our flat,’ Mary chirped.
‘Yes, I suppose we can,’ she said, looking brighter.
‘Goodness, your feet are very swollen,’ Constance said.
‘They ain’t a pretty sight, but now that I’m retiring this should be the last time they look as bad as this.’
Constance looked across to where Mary was up to her elbows in soapy water as she washed the dinner dishes. ‘I don’t suppose you’ll miss all that washing up, Mary,’ she said.
‘No, Miss, I won’t. I’m hoping to get a job in a factory, anything other than cleaning.’
‘You’re calling me Miss again.’
‘Sorry, Constance,’ Mary said, smiling over her shoulder. ‘Old habits die hard.’
‘What time are you leaving in the morning?’
‘We want to be up and out of here by six-thirty. Will you be able to arrange a taxi?’
‘It won’t be a problem, but why so early?’
‘I should think the new cook will arrive soon after and will want to put her stuff in the flat. It’s best that we’re out of her way. The letting agent is going to meet us at our flat with the keys at eight o’clock so we’re going to a nearby café for a spot of breakfast before we meet him.’
‘Oh, Ethel …’
‘Now don’t start blubbering again or you’ll set me off. You can come to see us as often as you like. In fact, why don’t you pop in tomorrow afternoon? We’d love to show you our flat.’
‘I … I’d like that,’ Constance croaked, and managed to smile as she blinked away her tears. Ethel might be leaving, but she would go to see her, and that was something to look forward to.
‘Constance!’ a voice thundered. ‘Where the dickens are you?’
‘That’s your father. You’d best go, love.’
Constance nodded and hurried upstairs. ‘I’m here, Daddy,’ she said, finding him in the hall.
‘What were you doing down there?’ he asked.
‘I was talking to Ethel.’
‘If you become over-familiar with staff, they take advantage of you. In future, when the new cook and cleaner arrive, I want you to keep your distance. When you have to talk to them, do not discuss anything other than their duties and the menus. Is that clear?’
With only a few weeks to go before her marriage, Constance knew there would be little chance of getting to know them and nodded in acquiescence, saying, ‘Yes, Father.’
‘Good, and I have something else to tell you. Once I have arranged care for her, your mother is coming home, probably by Wednesday.’
‘Oh, that’s wonderful,’ Constance said, but then frowned. ‘What do you mean by care? Isn’t she better?’
‘No, and she may never make a full recovery. When she comes home I will allow you to see her, but if there is any sign that she finds your visit upsetting, I will ban you from her room.’
Constance knew it was useless to argue and once again she just nodded. She still felt to blame for her mother’s stroke, and the thought that she might never recover was more than she could bear.
Daisy sat next to Eric, feeling so happy that she couldn’t stop smiling. Eric’s friend Jamie had returned from Spain on Saturday, but as it had been a late flight he’d turned up to see them on the Sunday morning. She listened, enthralled when he spoke about his trip. Apparently, though it had been out of season, with many bars closed, he’d found some open. In one of them the owner told him that many places made enough profit during the summer season to close from November to March. Eric liked the sound of that, though agreed with Jamie that if they had enough custom, they too would remain open.
Jamie had brought back the details of six bars, all in a popular tourist area called Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol, and after looking at the pros and cons, they settled on a freehold property. ‘I know it sounds cheaper to take on a leasehold,’ said Jamie, ‘but there’d be rent to pay every month which would bite into our profits.’
‘Yeah, I agree that a freehold would be better,’ Eric agreed.
‘Before we commit to it, I’d like you to see it.’
‘All right, we’ll book flights for next week. Do you mind if I bring Daisy along?’
‘It’s fine by me, and if you two are planning to stay together, I’ve got another suggestion.’
‘Yeah, we’re an item,’ Eric told him.
‘Right then, if we both agree on the property and decide to buy it, instead of coming back, why don’t we just stay in Spain?’
‘I like the sound of that. What about you, Daisy?’
‘I’d love to, but where will we stay?’
‘As it’s out of season there are lots of cheap places to rent, and even staying in a hotel won’t cost the earth,’ Jamie told them.
‘Right then, a hotel will be fine until we can sort something else out,’ Eric said. ‘There’s one fly in the ointment though. I wanted to marry Daisy before we go, but if we’re leaving here next week, there won’t be time.’
‘I’m not sure if you can get married in Spain, but we can find out. If not, you can always pop back and tie the knot here.’
‘I don’t mind waiting,’ Daisy said. ‘It’s more important to get the business sorted out first.’
‘I’m a lucky man,’ Eric said, his smile fond.
‘Yeah, you are,’ Jamie agreed.
Daisy smiled at him, finding that she liked Eric’s friend. She guessed he was around thirty-five years old, and he wasn’t much to look at, with light brown hair and eyes. His saving grace was his grin, which revealed lovely white teeth and dimples in his cheeks. She felt they could get on well, becoming friends too.
Spain beckoned now for all of them and she couldn’t wait to leave England behind.
‘You don’t seem to be making much of an effort to find a job,’ Dora said to her son as she decorated a small Christmas tree.
‘With two grand soon coming my way, there’s no hurry.’
‘The baby will need stuff, a pram, a cot, clothes and other things. Not only that, you’ll need to put money in the household pot. I ain’t prepared to keep the pair of you.’
‘All right, don’t nag. I’ll see you don’t go short.’
‘Good, and, Albie, you really should see more of Constance. If you don’t, it’ll be like marrying a stranger.’
‘That doesn’t bother me. There’ll be lots of time to get to know each other once we’ve tied the knot.’
‘You might be happy with that, but I doubt Constance is, and nor am I,’ Dora said to her son. ‘I’d like to meet her and get to know her a bit before she moves in. Not only that, if you don’t make more of an effort she might change her mind about marrying you.’
‘Nah, that won’t happen. She’s having my kid so she hasn’t got any choice.’
‘I wouldn’t be too sure. You can only push some women so far.’
Albie pursed his lips. His mother had a point and he didn’t want to lose his golden goose. ‘All right, I’ll go and see her tomorrow.’
‘Bring her here to meet me.’
‘Yeah, all right.’
‘You’ll have to think about getting a double bed too.’
‘What for? There’s two singles in my room and they’ll do.’
‘But surely you’ll want to share a bed with her?’ Dora protested.
‘Nah, I’m happy with two singles. She ain’t much to look at and I can’t say I fancy her.’
‘Albie, you fancied her enough to get her up the duff and now you’re not being fair. She deserves a bit of attention and affection.’
‘All right, don’t go on about it, Mum. I’ll give her a bit of a cuddle now and then, but I ain’t crossing the room to her bed unless I’m desperate.’
‘There are times when I’m really ashamed of you, Albie, and this is one of them.’
‘I can’t help it if I haven’t got any feelings for her. She just isn’t my sort and when you meet her you’ll see why.’
‘From what I heard when she turned up here, and if her father is anything to go by, she’s proper posh.’
‘Yeah, she is, and I can’t see her fitting in around here,’ Albie mused.
‘She hasn’t got any choice and the least we can do is try to make it a bit easier for her.’
‘If you say so, Mum, but I’m off to bed now.’
‘All right. Night, son,’ she said, sighing when he left the room. It wasn’t going to be easy to share her house with another woman, and the fact that Constance wasn’t of their class would make it more difficult. She just hoped the girl wasn’t uppity and expected to be waited on, ’cos there was no way on earth she’d put up with that.