Aunt Helen was as nervous as a young girl on her wedding morning, but in the end she was dressed and ready, looking more attractive in a heavy cream silk dress and a fitted jacket than Beth had ever seen her. She had a soft pink hat with lots of tulle that she’d bought from Harpers and cream gloves and suede shoes.
‘You do think I’m doing the right thing?’ she asked Beth three times before the cab arrived to take the three of them to the church.
‘Gerald is a nice man and, I think, fond of you,’ Beth said. ‘Just relax, this is your special day and you deserve to be happy.’
‘You look lovely,’ Maggie said and kissed her. She gave her a pretty handkerchief with blue embroidery as her little gift. Beth had given her some silk underwear, because it was pretty. ‘He’s bound to love you and you will be very happy.’
Beth and Maggie were both wearing pale blue with white hats, gloves and shoes. Their outfits were different but looked pretty together as Aunt Helen’s attendants.
‘I hope so,’ Aunt Helen said. She picked up her handbag and took two small parcels out. ‘These are for my maid of honour and my dear friend…’
Beth was standing with her aunt as a maid of honour and would also give her away. It would be a church wedding, and Aunt Helen’s dress was ankle length, her hat almost as light and soft as a traditional veil. She’d thought the outfit more suitable for an older woman than a wedding gown and a long veil.
Inside the velvet lined boxes were little silver lockets on fine chains, both very similar in size and design. The girls thanked her and helped each other to put them on. Then the cab arrived and they went out into the street. The neighbours had turned out to watch and some of them waved, though others gossiped behind their hands, because everyone had been surprised when they heard that Aunt Helen was to marry.
The church was only two streets away and there were quite a few guests already seated. Vases of flowers made it smell lovely and lent their beauty to the solemn occasion as Beth walked down the aisle with her aunt holding on to her arm. She noticed that Aunt Helen’s hand trembled slightly and she gave it a little squeeze.
Maggie had gone to sit with Jack, who had arrived home the previous evening. Beth had thought he wouldn’t be back until after the wedding and was thrilled to see him. Mrs Craven was holding the fort in their department with staff drafted in from other areas. Sally had agreed that she would oversee things at the store so that Beth and Maggie could attend the wedding.
The ceremony was made pleasant because the sun shone through the windows the whole time and warmed the ancient building sending rays of colour over the worn flagstones. Soon it was over and everyone left the church behind the bride and groom to attend the wedding breakfast, which was held in a hotel nearby.
Beth knew no one other than the bride, Maggie and Jack. She’d met Gerald only a few times and even though he greeted her and Maggie politely, she felt that she was not part of his group of friends. She didn’t know why but something about Gerald made her uneasy, as if he didn’t want her around, and when Aunt Helen said she and her new husband were leaving an hour or so later for their honeymoon in Paris, Beth felt relieved that she could return to the house.
Most of her aunt’s personal things had been taken to Gerald’s home earlier that week. Only the beds, the kitchen furniture and a few pieces in the parlour remained. Someone would be coming to clear them the following week and Beth would leave on Sunday morning with her own belongings.
‘It seems a bit empty,’ Jack said when she asked him in for a cup of tea. Maggie had left them and gone back to the store, saying that she might as well see if she was needed before she went back to the flat. ‘Will you mind sleeping here alone this evening?’
‘I hadn’t thought about it,’ Beth said and looked about her. ‘It does feel very empty – I suppose I could have gone straight to Sally’s, but I thought I should clear up a bit. I’m going to leave the key with the next-door neighbour tomorrow and they will let the men in to remove the rest of the stuff on Monday. Aunt Helen doesn’t want anything else; it’s all been sold to a second-hand dealer…’
‘What about your things? Will you have room for them all in the flat?’
Beth shook her head. ‘I’ve got a few bits that are too bulky – your father said he could store them in his attic for me.’
Jack nodded and smiled. ‘Why don’t you show me?’
Beth led the way upstairs, indicating the two tea chests on the landing. ‘I was going to ask the removal men to take them round on Monday…’
‘What about the things you’re taking to the flat?’
‘I’ve two cases in the bedroom…’
‘Right, I can get us a cab and he’ll put all this lot on for you, Beth. We’ll give him the address – and I can take you on the bike. We’ll go to my father’s place for the night and tomorrow I’ll get your cases to the flat for you… It’s Sunday, so I can make two or three trips if need be.’
‘I don’t want to put Fred to any trouble…’
‘You can have my bed for one night,’ Jack said. ‘I’ll sleep on the sofa in the parlour. I’m not leaving you here alone tonight, so no arguments – either I stay here with you, or we go to my father’s house…’
Beth laughed and gave in, because he looked so determined and she didn’t truly wish to stay here alone. The house seemed cold and lonely and she was glad that she’d accepted Sally’s offer to stay with her. She didn’t fancy living alone in one room in a boarding house; sharing with friends would be much more comfortable.
It took an hour to find a willing cabbie who loaded most of Beth’s belongings into his cab, leaving her to follow in the sidecar of Jack’s motorcycle with one small bag on her lap. Beth took a last look round, feeling a chill at the nape of her neck and the thought came to her that she hoped Aunt Helen would never regret what she’d done. Now why had she thought something daft like that?
Shaking her head, Beth pushed it from her mind. Aunt Helen must care about Gerald a lot or she wouldn’t have married him… and yet the memory of that insurance policy niggled. Why had her aunt taken it out just before her wedding?
Beth decided it wasn’t her business. She had her own life to think about now.
Fred welcomed them home and suggested they all have pie and mash from the shop on the corner for their supper, and Timmy was sent to fetch it while Beth was shown to her room.
It smelled of Jack’s hair oil and shaving soap and she liked the way it was set out with lots of different objects that he’d brought back from his voyages overseas. She held a delicate shell against her ear and it seemed to sound like the sea. Smiling, she tidied her hair in the mirror as she heard Jack’s voice calling her downstairs.
‘The food is hot – come and eat,’ he said and pulled out a chair for her next to Fred, sitting opposite her himself. Timmy sat at the far end of the table and grinned at her as he passed a dish of hot squashy peas.
‘I bought these, my treat,’ he told her. ‘It’s nice havin’ you here, Miss Grey…’
‘Oh, please, call me Beth…’
‘Yeah, all right then,’ Jack’s brother said and grinned at his sibling across the table. ‘When are you goin’ to ask her and make it official?’
‘When I’m good and ready and when Beth is ready too,’ Jack said good-naturedly. ‘You mind your tongue, Tim – or I’ll clip your ear good and proper.’
‘Tim is only joshing you,’ his father said and smiled at Beth. ‘Beth doesn’t mind – do you?’
‘No, I like being here with you all,’ Beth said. ‘I feel like one of the family when you tease each other…’
‘You are,’ Fred said and glanced at his eldest son. ‘It isn’t for me to embarrass either of you – but no one would be happier than I if you two got together permanently…’
‘Give us a chance, Dad,’ Jack said, but his eyes were laughing. ‘I’ve only just got back. Beth and me – we had a week to get to know each other. I think she wants a bit longer than that to be sure I’m worth taking a chance on…’
Beth smiled, ate her delicious supper and said nothing. She didn’t need to. This was a happy family and she knew she fitted in with them – and perhaps one day she would be more than an honoured guest, but Jack was right. They’d had just one week to get to know one another and Beth knew they needed longer. They needed time to think of the future and plan what they would do if and when Jack left the sea – and in the meantime she would carry on with her job and settle down to life at the flat with her friends…
Sally looked at the mahogany chest of drawers Beth had asked the furniture dealer to bring over for her. She’d hesitated to buy it, but Sally told her there was room to stand it in the alcove and so she’d purchased it to store her clothes and bits and pieces. It had gone in well, taking up hardly any space. In Sally’s opinion it would look better painted white, but she didn’t mind it as it was, because she was happy to share her room with Beth.
It had been lovely going out to supper with Jenni and they’d talked and talked for hours. Jenni was filled with enthusiasm for the store and they spoke of building it up even more and perhaps expanding one day.
‘Ben would like to open more stores – perhaps another in London or other big cities over here,’ Jenni had told her. ‘It depends how well things go for him, of course. He couldn’t think of it for a year or two, not until he pays off his debts…’
Sally hadn’t known he’d got debts, but she knew nothing of his life. Ben Harper was a mystery to her and she was a fool to imagine herself in love with him.
Sally sighed as she undressed and got into bed. She could hear Maggie and Rachel talking in the next room and felt pleased; because this was the last night she would be on her own. It would be good to have Beth staying with her, at least for the time being. As for the future – well, Sally didn’t know what to expect or what to hope for.
Jenni had hinted that her brother thought she, Sally, was special – that she meant something to him, but if that was the case why hadn’t he made sure she knew it? Ben Harper was coming back to London as soon as his important business was finished. In the meantime, he’d told Jenni to talk to the staff and let them know that Harpers was safe despite his absence.
Sally knew that with all his money invested in it, Ben would have to fight for the survival of his business. It would take a lot of hard work to make the store successful and secure.
A little smile touched her mouth as she thought of the way Maggie had suddenly grown up after a quarrel with her boyfriend. Ralf might try to make it up with her, though he hadn’t yet, but Maggie was getting on with her life and Sally had seen her laughing over a book Rachel had shown her earlier. Beth too had come through a storm and now seemed much happier. Sally’s friend Sylvia was enjoying her present job and Rachel seemed less sad than she had when they first met. Her friends were all getting on with their lives and Sally knew that she would too.
For a moment a picture of Irish Mick came into her head, but she dismissed it. Sally was grateful to him for helping Sylvia, but, despite her knowing it was stupid, it was Ben Harper who made her heart sing.
Whatever was keeping him from returning to London, Sally could cope by simply getting on with her job. She had friends now and a life of her own and those days of wandering the streets because she didn’t want to go back to her lonely room were over. Sally knew that she was looking forward to the future whatever it held…