‘Of course your sister must stay for as long as she needs to,’ Andre told her generously when he returned just before lunchtime. Nessie had explained to him what had happened and she sighed with relief. She would have hated for him to think that she was taking advantage of his kindness.
Molly appeared then with a wicker basket on her arm. ‘I’m just popping to the market to get the food shopping. I’ve got the list but are you sure there’s nothing else you need?’
Nessie flashed her a smile. ‘No, thank you, I think that’s everything, and don’t rush.’
Molly cheerfully went on her way and soon she was walking among the stalls, inspecting the fruit and vegetables and looking for the best buys as she always did. At one stall, she paused to buy some apples and she was just about to pay for them when she became aware of three women huddled together just behind her. She recognised one of them as Lilly Burton. Lilly lived in the next courtyard to Molly and was very well known for being generous with her favours to just about any bloke that was willing to pay for them. Most of her ill-gotten gains went into the gin house and her poor children ran about like wild little street urchins, often in rags with no shoes on their feet. Molly had never had a great deal to do with the woman but now something she was saying made her ears prick up.
‘Aye, they reckon the hot-arsed little slut is playin’ one against the other,’ Lilly said, shaking her head knowingly and setting her double chins dancing. ‘She’s got that little Frenchman she’s workin’ for eatin’ out o’ the palm o’ her hand be all accounts, an’ now she’s set her sights on the new young doctor.’ She chuckled. ‘Can’t say as I blame her on that account, mind you! He’s a bit of all right, ain’t he? But then, so is the Frenchman, so she can’t lose, from what I can see of it. Whichever one she hooks will see her right.’
Molly felt her blood begin to boil. It was clear that the women were gossiping about Nessie and she couldn’t stand by and allow it. Nessie’s kindness had turned her life around and there was nothing she wouldn’t have done for her.
‘On about Nessie Carson, are you, Lilly?’ she asked innocently.
Lilly flushed when she spotted her. ‘Oh, er … yes we were as a matter o’ fact but then you work for the Frenchman an’ all, don’t yer? So you’d know all about what’s goin on.’
‘Oh, I work for him all right,’ Molly agreed as two angry red patches of colour burned in her cheeks. ‘And I’d like to know who it is that’s spreading these malicious rumours about him and Nessie.’
‘Why, it were Seth Grimshaw as told me all about the goin’s on. An’ he should know. He told me himself that when the family fell on hard times, Nessie used to pay him … yer know?’
Molly stared at her with contempt. The woman was dressed in a revealing old gown that left nothing to the imagination. The bodice was so tight that her enormous, sagging breasts looked in danger of falling out of it at any minute, and her heavily rouged cheeks stood out in stark contrast to her pale, pock-marked skin.
‘Shame on you for listening to such rubbish, Lilly Burton!’ Molly snapped, her eyes flashing. ‘You should know what a malicious man Seth Grimshaw is, after all, it’s a well-known fact that you’ve paid him your rent in kind yourself for years! An’ you needn’t titter, Dora Bell.’ Molly wagged a warning finger in Lilly’s friend’s face. Cos your husband is a regular visitor to Lilly an’ all, especially when he’s had his fill in the alehouse of an evenin’! Seth Grimshaw is only spreadin’ these lies because Nessie wouldn’t lie down for him. Did you know he’d even offered her a cottage if she’d only let him have his wicked way with her? No, I didn’t think so goin’ by the looks on yer faces.’
Dora Bell’s mouth was hanging slackly open now but Molly was only just warming up. ‘As for Mr Chevalier, why, he’s a gentleman. There’s nothin’ goin’ on between him an’ Nessie, I can assure yer. An’ as for Dr Dorsey … he an’ Nessie are workin’ side by side to open a soup kitchen for the people o’ the town who are starvin’. I bet you won’t be averse to sendin’ your kids there, will yer, Lilly? An’ happen it’ll be the first square meal the poor little sods will have had fer many a long day cos it’s a known fact you don’t look after the poor little buggers!’
‘Why … How dare you!’ Lilly spluttered, uncomfortably aware that people were stopping to listen to the altercation now. ‘I do so look after me kids, don’t I, Dora?’
Dora clearly wasn’t enjoying herself so much since the revelation about her husband and she stormed off without a word as Lilly stood there with her cheeks flaming. The other woman who had been enjoying the gossip quickly did the same and after a moment, Lilly turned and slunk away into the crowd.
Deeply concerned, Molly promptly made her way back home, her mood for shopping thoroughly ruined. If Seth Grimshaw was telling such malicious lies they would spread like wildfire and Nessie’s name would soon be mud!
Reuben was surprised to see Marcie at the kitchen table slicing a loaf when he came home for some lunch. Nessie was standing at the stove stirring a large pan of vegetable broth and he glanced at her before asking Marcie, much as her sister had, ‘So what brings you here on a weekday? Not your day off, is it?’
Marcie flushed as she continued with her task. ‘No, it ain’t. Nessie will tell you what’s happened later on. But for now, sit down an’ eat. At least while yer in here I don’t have to listen to all that hammerin’ an’ bangin’ comin’ from the workshop. It’s enough to drive you mad!’
‘Then I humbly apologise for disturbing you,’ Reuben answered sarcastically. ‘Me an’ Charlie’ll have to think of another way to build the coffins wi’out makin’ any noise.’
They had almost finished their meal when the bell above the parlour door tinkled and Nessie instantly rose to her feet.
‘I’ll just go and see who it is and what they want,’ she told them as she hurried through to the front of the shop.
‘Huh, fancy having to disturb her meal,’ Marcie commented as she slathered butter onto another slice of bread.
Reuben gave her a wry grin. ‘It’s a funeral parlour, Marcie,’ he pointed out. ‘An’ people can call on us in the middle of the night if need be, let alone in the middle of a meal. We’re used to it now.’
‘Ugh!’ She grimaced with distaste. ‘I really don’t know how you bear it. Being next to all these dead people all the while I mean.’
‘As it happens, Nessie never sees a body an’ I don’t have to very often either. Andre sees to all that side of it,’ he informed her coldly. His dish was empty now and scraping his chair back from the table he left the room without so much as giving her another glance. Seconds later the banging and hammering resumed and Marcie sighed. She had an idea she wasn’t going to enjoy living here. But then, she consoled herself, it would only be until George came to his senses.
In the shop Nessie found a young woman sobbing pitifully into the arms of a young man. She rightly assumed he was her husband and he confirmed it when he said shakily, ‘We lost our baby this morning, miss, an’ we wondered if we could arrange his funeral. We ain’t got a lot o’ money, I’m afraid. The missus ain’t been able to work since she gave birth an’ I’m an apprentice to the tailor in town so I only earn a small wage as yet. But someone told us that we could pay the bill off monthly. Is that right? We want him buried proper, like. He was our first child, see?’
‘Yes, it is right and of course we can help you,’ Nessie assured him sympathetically. ‘Now, why don’t you both take a seat while I go and make you both a nice hot cup of tea and then you can tell me all about him and what sort of funeral you’d like? I’m so very sorry for your loss.’ She ushered them to two velvet-covered chairs then hurried away.
When she returned with the tea tray, the woman was still sobbing violently and Nessie’s heart went out to her as she reached across and gently patted her hand.
‘Me poor lad,’ the woman wailed. ‘I can’t believe I’ll never see him again.’
‘But you will,’ Nessie told her gently. ‘Just try to imagine that he’s gone on before you to a better place.’ She pointed at the sky. ‘I like to think that up there is an open door that all our loved ones pass through. Once there they are free of pain and suffering and they sit and watch the open door patiently as they wait for us to join them.’
The woman blinked as she thought on her words. ‘Do you really believe that?’
‘Oh yes, I certainly do,’ Nessie assured her. ‘I’ve no doubt your little boy will already be up there feeling happy and watching you, enjoying his own little piece of heaven.’
‘But how can he be when he’s back at home cold and stiff and wrapped in a sheet?’ the bereaved mother whimpered.
‘Ah, that is only his shell,’ Nessie quickly assured her. ‘His soul has already flown free.’
The young woman blinked and wiped her nose on the edge of her shawl as Andre, who had overheard the conversation from behind the door of his sitting room, backed away unseen. There was no doubt about it, Nessie had turned his business around with her sympathetic ways and her kindly words. And he quite liked the idea of the open door. Perhaps Jean-Paul was waiting through that door for him? He truly hoped so.
That evening Nessie asked Marcie if she would like to go to see the room they were preparing for the soup kitchen but Marcie declined the offer. Nessie was concerned about her. She had barely said more than half a dozen words all day and she seemed to be deeply troubled about something, which led Nessie to believe that there was more to Marcie leaving her job than she had told her. Molly had been unusually quiet too, ever since returning from the town that morning.
Oliver had agreed to come and pick Nessie up in his new cart but she decided that she would leave early and walk to Riversley Road before he arrived. It was only a stone’s throw away from the shop and she’d decided that the less time they spent alone together from now on the better. She was becoming far too fond of him for her own good, so as much as it hurt her, she felt that she must distance herself a little, especially now that Marcie had returned home. Oliver was sure to know about the situation and her accusations against George, so it would no doubt affect their relationship anyway.
Molly was already there when she arrived and was busily limewashing the last wall. ‘Looks good, don’t it?’ Molly said as she paused to stand back and look at her handiwork.
‘It certainly does,’ Nessie agreed, although privately she thought Molly had probably managed to get more on herself than on the walls. It was in her hair, on her nose and all over her old clothes but Molly didn’t seem to mind and the room certainly looked very bright and clean now.
Molly glanced over her shoulder then and remarked, ‘On yer own? You usually arrive wi’ Dr Dorsey.’
‘Oh, I thought I’d come a bit early tonight.’ Nessie hastily began to fasten a large apron about her waist but not before Molly had noticed the flush that rose to her cheeks at the mention of him.
Ah, so that’s the way the land lies, is it? she thought. Then turning back to the job in hand she continued with what she was doing, sincerely hoping that Nessie wasn’t heading for heartache. Oliver was a doctor after all, while Nessie was merely an employee in a funeral parlour. They were from different classes and as nice as they both were, everybody knew that the two didn’t mix.