‘’Ere, guess wot I’ve just ’eard,’ Mary said as she burst into the dressing room. ‘We’re only going to be running for another six months, that’s all!’
As she listened to the mixed chorus of groans and sighs of relief that greeted Mary’s announcement, Hettie tried to pretend to be as astonished by Mary’s news as everyone else. But the truth was that Jay had told her earlier in the week that the continued success of Princess Geisha meant that its run was to be extended for another six months. He had been waiting for her after she had finished her singing lesson.
‘Well, wot I wants to know now is how come if we’re such a bloomin’ success we ain’t being paid a bit more,’ Aggie complained in an aggrieved voice as she rubbed at the bruise on her ankle where a fellow chorus girl had accidentally kicked her.
‘They ain’t putting up the price of the seats, are they, so ’ow can they pay us any more?’ Jenny argued.
‘Is Sukey all right?’ Hettie asked Aggie. ‘Only she wasn’t at rehearsals yesterday.’
‘Huh, I’m surprised as ’ow you’ve noticed, ’Ettie,’ Babs broke in a little bitterly. ‘Seeing’ as ’ow you never seem to have time for us any more, wot wiv them singing lessons and hob-nobbin’ with the management and all.’
Hettie felt her face starting to burn. Babs’s angry criticism hurt her, but there was no real defence she could make and she knew it. Babs did not approve of the intimacy that was developing between her and Jay, Hettie acknowledged, and had been very quick to say so, and to suggest that Hettie was getting preferential treatment because of it.
‘I’ve told her straight that she ought to stop tekkin them pills,’ Aggie answered Hettie, ‘but she won’t listen. She’s not the girl she was,’ Aggie continued critically. ‘A person can’t so much as say a word to ’er now wi’out ’er flying right off the handle and getting in a real temper. Screaming and yelling all sorts at me the other night she was, and just because I told her she’d bin out of step! Going bit queer in the ’ead she is, if you ask me,’ Aggie added darkly.
‘At least some of us are getting some time off for Easter,’ Jenny chipped in. ‘Me and Jess was thinking of going down to Brighton, if anyone fancies coming with us?’
Babs shook her head vigorously. ‘I’m going ’ome,’ she announced. ‘To see me family.’
‘To see your family, Babs, not to see Stan? Or is he going to be family soon?’ someone asked cheekily.
‘And wot if he is, Fanny Holland?’ Babs retorted sharply. ‘That’s no one’s business but his and mine.’
‘’Ere, Babs, there’s no need to be so sharp,’ Fanny objected huffily. ‘I was only ’aving a bit of a joke.’
‘Oh, I see! You think that me and Stan is a bit of a joke, do you? Well, I’ll thank you to remember that at least me and Stan is decent and respectable, not like some people whose names I won’t mention.’
‘She means you, Mary,’ Fanny announced, nudging Mary in the ribs. ‘You and that fancy lord of yours…’
Hettie bowed her head, knowing that it wasn’t just Mary that Babs had been referring to.
‘What about you, Hettie?’ Mary asked. ‘Wot will you be doing?’
‘Sommat as she shouldn’t be,’ Hettie heard Babs mutter disapprovingly.
‘I’m going home, to Preston, to see my family,’ she announced sharply, looking determinedly at Babs.
What had she said? A horrible sinking feeling was invading her tummy, making her feel as uncomfortable as though she had swallowed a suet pudding whole.
Only last night, lying awake in bed, she had admitted to herself how very much she wanted to go to Paris with Jay. She had even daringly wondered if she could afford to buy that silk camisole and French knickers set with the lace trimming that one of the other girls had brought in to show them, assuring them that they were an exact copy of a set being sold in Fenwicks for five times the price.
Only yesterday Jay had whispered to her that Paris was the city for lovers, and how much he wanted to take her there and make her his. And she wanted that too, Hettie admitted. She was a woman now, with a woman’s needs and longings. And Jay aroused those needs and longings more strongly every time he touched and kissed her.
She had even mentally written the apologetic letter she intended to send to Gideon and Ellie, explaining that she could not after all come home because of her work. Now she had stupidly said that she was spending Easter in Preston.
But who would know if she did not? a small inner voice whispered to her. She would know, Hettie admitted, and besides…Despite the fact that she wanted desperately to go to Paris with Jay, there was still a small part of her that also wanted to go to Preston, a small part of her that wanted to draw back into childhood and the comfort of the family life she had once known. A small part of her that was insisting that it was her duty to go and see Ellie. And that small part of her was somehow a part that had come to her from Ellie, Hettie herself recognised.
‘So you mean to go, then? You mean to deny us and go to Preston instead of coming to Paris with me?’
‘Jay, please try to understand. Ellie hasn’t been well. I owe them so much…’
‘What about what you owe me, or doesn’t that count?’ Jay demanded angrily, repeating his earlier argument.
‘Jay,’ Hettie protested unhappily. ‘Please, listen to me.’
‘Damn you, Hettie, no! I will not listen and I shall not understand. No.’
Jay had taken Hettie to Fortnum & Mason’s for afternoon tea, but now abruptly he stood up and summoned the waitress, ignoring Hettie’s pleas, as he thrust some money towards the girl and then stormed off, leaving Hettie to sit white-faced and dismayed whilst the waitress started to clear away their unfinished tea things.
Jay was so very cross with her and she could understand why. But didn’t he understand that she was disappointed too? She swallowed back her tears, and stood up.
Now tomorrow, instead of travelling with Jay to Paris, she would be taking the train to Preston. She had so hoped that Jay would understand and sympathise with her plight. But instead he had been furiously angry with her.
As she started to make her way towards the exit, Hettie saw a couple being shown to an empty table. The young man was too engrossed in his companion to notice or recognise Hettie, but she recognised him. He was Mary’s ‘lord’.
Hettie frowned. Hadn’t Mary said that he had told her he would not be able to see her over Easter because an elderly relative had died? Maybe the pretty young girl he was escorting was another member of his family, Hettie wondered, as she waited for her coat.
‘Hettie! Over here!’
Hettie looked along the platform to where three eagerly waving males were calling her name, the anxiety and unhappiness that had been her companion during the long train journey from Euston disappearing as she recognised Ellie’s two sons, along with a tall and very handsome young man who she realised with a jolt was Philip.
‘I say, Hettie, have you got any picture postcards of yourself you can sign for me to take to school?’
‘Hettie, is it true that you are a famous singer now?’
‘Stop pestering her you two brats. Remember what your parents said. You were only allowed to come and meet her if you promised not to make a nuisance of yourselves. Take no notice of these two young ruffians, Hettie.’ Philip grinned, taking hold of his nephews and pretending to bang their heads together.
‘Goodness, Philip, I hardly recognised you.’ Hettie laughed.
‘And what about us? Did you recognise us, Hettie?’ Ellie’s younger son demanded.
Philip was blushing slightly, and it suddenly struck Hettie how very much like John he looked, although Philip was ten years younger than his brother.
‘We’re all jolly excited about you coming home, Hettie,’ Philip told her enthusiastically. ‘Our Ellie has been boasting to everyone about you, and she’s got all your reviews…’
The unexpectedness of being met off the train by the three boys lifted Hettie’s spirits and eased her apprehension.
‘Tell me about Mam…Ellie,’ she begged Philip when he had sent the two younger boys on ahead with her case. ‘How is she?’
‘Much recovered,’ Philip reassured her immediately. ‘And much more our old dear Ellie again, as you will soon see for yourself. You may not know, Hettie, that I am now working for Gideon,’ Philip went on to tell her.
‘No, I did not,’ Hettie admitted.
‘Unlike John I had no idea of what I wanted to do with my life after I left school. I certainly did not want to enter the church as my aunt and uncle originally planned. I like working with my hands rather than my head, and so Gideon has put me in charge of making sure that the properties he owns and lets out are properly maintained. Hey, you two, be careful with Hettie’s case,’ Philip called out as the two boys started to tussle with one another.
‘They are grown so,’ Hettie marvelled. ‘The last time I saw them they were shorter than me.’
‘They are a handful.’ Philip chuckled.
‘Ellie wanted a daughter so very much.’ Hettie sighed.
She could see Philip frowning at her. ‘But Hettie, Ellie has a daughter,’ he told her fondly. ‘She has you. And I should warn you that she has several treats lined up for your visit already. I believe a visit to the pot fair is being spoken of, plus Ellie is determined to show us all her famous egg rolling skills on Easter Monday.’
Hettie couldn’t help but laugh. They had all grown up hearing about how, as a young girl, Ellie had challenged Gideon to an egg rolling contest, and how she had won.
‘We wanted to bring Binky with us to welcome you home as well,’ Richard called out earnestly as they waited for Hettie and Philip to catch up with them. ‘But Dad wouldn’t let us.’
‘Binky, but that’s John’s dog surely?’ Hettie questioned.
‘Yes,’ Philip agreed. ‘Gideon asked John if he might keep Binky when John moved away. Ellie had taken a shine to him and I think Gideon felt he gave her some comfort.’
‘Is she truly better, Philip,’ Hettie asked anxiously.
‘Very much so,’ he assured her. ‘As you shall soon see for yourself.’
They were outside the house now, and the front door was opening. Hettie’s heart thudded apprehensively as she saw Gideon and Ellie standing there together, and then suddenly she was running through the gate and up the path and into Ellie’s arms, as though she were still a little girl and not a grown up young woman.
‘Oh Hettie. Hettie. Oh, how grand and grown up you are looking,’ Ellie praised as she wiped away her own and Hettie’s tears, whilst Gideon shepherded his little flock of tearful women and boisterous young men inside the house.
‘Boys, go and tell Cook please that Hettie is here and that we should like some tea. Ellie, my love, why do you not take Hettie into the sitting room.’
‘Oh, Hettie, let me look at you properly,’ Ellie demanded as she sank down into a chair and Hettie dropped to her knees on the floor in front of her, just as though she were a small child again.
‘Oh, you are so very very pretty,’ Ellie announced fondly.
‘Hettie, love, would you mind pouring for me?’ Ellie begged after Gideon had brought in the tea things, pausing to look up at Gideon who returned her smile with one of his own. ‘Only, Gideon fusses so and will not let me do anything.’
‘You know perfectly well that is not true, and that I am only following Iris’s instructions,’ Gideon told her calmly.
‘Hettie, I can’t wait to hear all your news,’ Ellie told Hettie. ‘We are both so very proud of you, aren’t we, Gideon? And so excited. I have put your reviews in an album, along with some photographs, and your father has promised me that he will take me to London so that we may see you in Princess Geisha…
‘You know that we are hoping to have John home this Easter as well?’ Ellie asked cheerfully.
Hettie stared red-faced at the tea she had, out of shock, slopped into one of the saucers.
‘Never mind, love,’ Ellie comforted her, passing her a napkin to mop up the spillage. ‘I imagine you must be tired after that long journey and here I am being selfish and keeping you with me instead of letting you rest. Oh but Hettie, there is so much I want to say to you, so much I want to tell you…’
Again Ellie exchanged a long look with Gideon.
‘Connie is to come over on Monday and if the weather keeps fine we are all to go to Aveham Park so that her little ones can roll their eggs just as she and I and John used to do. Do you remember when we used to take you to roll yours?’
Hettie nodded, emotional tears coming from nowhere to fill her eyes.
‘So many happy memories, Hettie,’ Ellie said quietly, reaching for her hand. ‘I have missed you so much, love, and I am so glad you have come home to us, even if it is only for a short visit. Now,’ Ellie continued briskly, ‘we want to hear all about your life in London, Hettie, and what you are doing.’
‘Well, I am having singing lessons, and Archie, that is the composer, is going to write a new musical with the main female part to be sung by a soprano lyric – that is the correct term for my voice, you see…’ Hettie began earnestly.