Monday was as dreary a day as it could be in the north of England at the beginning of September. And Sally felt as dull as dishwater as she opened up The Rose Carousel at eight o’clock. It was earlier than usual, but then there was nothing usual about the day. She had agreed to meet Gavin Calder at eight-fifteen.
He came on time. He came alone. She was glad on both counts since she had something to say to him and she didn’t want any witnesses. Especially a five year old who could hardly be expected to understand her grown-up attitude.
“Sally.” He nodded as he came through the door, acknowledging her presence. Then he turned and locked the door behind him and she was left staring at the dark hair on the back of his head and the broad shoulders that filled out his jacket and tapered down to his narrowed hips. “Thank you for being here.”
“Usually, when I say I’ll do something, I do it,” Sally said and was treated to a disarming smile as he turned back to face her. “However, on this occasion, Mr. Calder, I’m going to change my mind.”
His smile faded and the angry shadow that now replaced it made her wonder what it would be like to get on the wrong side of Mister Gavin Calder. Perhaps she was about to find out.
“What do you mean? I thought we had an arrangement.”
“What you thought was that I would put myself on the line to look after your employer’s daughter while you sort out a kidnapping and blackmail threat.” Sally was shaking, but she tried hard to hide it, even though it came through in her voice. “I’m a simple shopkeeper, Mr. Calder. Not a CIA agent.”
“I didn’t think you were the type of person to renege on your promises, Ms. Rose. Especially where a five year old child is concerned.”
He approached her and she automatically backed away until the small of her back was pressed against the counter behind which she normally spent most of her working day. “This has nothing to do with the child, I assure you. I’ve had time to think things over and I don’t think I’m the right person to oblige you, Mr. Calder.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. It depends what you mean by obliging me, doesn’t it?”
“I’m not going to parry words with you, Gavin.”
“Ah! We’re back on first-name terms. That’s a good sign.”
“Dream on, Mister Big Shot! You don’t intimidate me one iota!” If only, Sally thought, he knew just how much her knees were knocking at that point and her heart palpitating. She was more intimidated than she had ever been by any man.
“I wasn’t thinking of intimidating you, Sally. I just want to save Anna. She’s been through too much already for such a small person. You seem to have a way with children. I heard it from various independent sources and I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Yes! I’ve been watching you for some time and not all the time when you were dressed as a clown and sussed me out in the park. You’re good, Sally. You’re a very kind, loving young woman. I feel I could trust my own daughter in your keeping.”
“What would your important employer say?”
“I speak for my employer.”
“Who is he?”
“That doesn’t have to concern you.”
“Oh, but it does! It concerns me very much. Why wouldn’t it? You come here looking like some left over from the Mafia and you tell me that you’re trying to protect a five year old child from being kidnapped. You want to use me and my business as a hideaway…”
“I prefer to think of it as a safe house…”
“Whatever! How do I know you’re not the kidnapper? Eh? Can you tell me that?”
“No, I can’t tell you that. You’ll just have to trust me.”
“How can I trust a man who stands in my backyard in the middle of the night smoking a cigarette as if he’s part of a lonely smokers’ campaign.”
“I don’t smoke, Sally.”
“I told the police about you.”
“It wasn’t me – in your back yard. What did you tell them?”
“Only that there was an intruder at two this morning and that he was tall and smoked. Dammit, I saw you!”
“One of your admirers perhaps.”
“I don’t have…” She skidded to a halt. No point in letting this man know that she did not have any admirers. Not that he would care. Or that she should care about what he thought of her.
He stepped forward and she could feel the material of his suit touching her through the fine wool of her dress, feel the heat of him, smell the heady aftershave. He gripped her upper arms and put his face down to hers and suddenly he didn’t seem so tall and she hated herself for enjoying the close proximity of this man who frightened her.
“Don’t!” she warned and a slow smile crept across his face, lighting up his eyes.
“You don’t for one minute think I’m planning to kiss you, do you?” he asked and she stiffened in his hold. “I don’t get what I want by that means, Sally. I only take what I want when the other party is willing – and able.”
It was an insult to her femininity and suddenly she kicked out at his shin and as he jerked away with the pain of the blow, she pulled back her hand and brought it sharply across his face.
The resounding slap made him blink, but she couldn’t help feeling that it had hurt her more that it had done him any damage. He rubbed the sore spot delicately and his smile widened. His head tilted to one side in a lop-sided nod and she heard a deep-throated chuckle.
“That was quite impressive, Sally,” he said. “I’d say that in a tight spot you could take care of yourself quite adequately.”
“It has been known,” she told him, surreptitiously hiding her stinging palm in a clenched fist behind her back. Ready to strike again if necessary.
“I see. What a pity. Kissing can be a lot of fun.”
“That depends on who’s doing it to whom.”
She saw his chest heave, heard his sigh. “Who hurt you, Sally? It must have been pretty bad to render you so frigid.”
Sally stuck her hands on her hips and her eyes came out on stalks. “I am not frigid. My God, you men! You are so – so conceited. Just because you’re handsome you think every woman’s going to grovel at your feet. Well, it’s not true.”
“Thank you for the ‘handsome’ bit, but where I come from women tend to go for the plain, dependable types. Me, I get stuck with gold-digging harpies who think I’m a stepping stone to fame and fortune. Don’t talk to me about being used, ma’am!”
Then they were standing there just looking at one another and reading the signals that passed between them like silent vibrations.
Eventually, Sally shrugged. “It seems like we’ve both had a taste of the bittersweet. So, who hurt you, Gavin?”
“Another time, Sally. Right now, I…”
Their strained conversation was interrupted by a rattle of the front door and they turned to see a small face pressed up against the glass. Two chubby hands were raised, gripping the handle and working it up and down. The wide, spaniel brown eyes moved from Gavin to Sally and back again to Gavin, filled with pleading.
“What the hell…? That bloody nanny!” Gavin projected himself across the floor of the shop and pulled back the bolt. The child almost fell inside and clutched him around his knees. “Anna, what are you doing? Where’s Lorraine? I told her to wait in the car with you.”
The child didn’t respond other than fixing him with large, tearful eyes that Sally could have killed for. Such a beautiful, fragile child and she had to contend with a nanny and this – this Mafia goon – to look after her. It was criminal.
“Hello, Anna!” Sally stepped forward and touched the child gently on the pale cheek. Anna looked up at her, blinking furiously to keep the tears at bay. “You remember me, don’t you? I’m Sally Rose and I own The Rose Carousel. Come on. You can have a look round before all the other children arrive.”
She took the child’s hand in hers and pulled her away from Gavin Calder, surprised that she didn’t seem to want to let go at first. She felt Gavin watching them closely as they made a tour of inspection, looking at the toys on the shelves, the clowns, the stuffed animals, the music boxes.
Sally saw where Anna’s eyes came to a halt and picked up the miniature replica of The Rose Carousel. “I remember the last time you were here. You liked this carousel, didn’t you? Look, Anna. It plays pretty music if you wind this little key at the bottom.”
She turned the key a few times and the small carousel started to turn, its tiny white alabaster horses with their gaily painted harnesses going up and down to the music.
“Do you recognise the music, Anna? It’s from Oliver Twist. I’m sure you’ve seen the film.” Sally sang along to the tune, but then got all choked up on the word of ‘Where is Love?’
Anna took the music box and turned it over delicately in her small hands, looking at its every detail. She looked up at Sally and smiled. It was a radiant smile that transformed her unhappy face.
“You can keep that, sweetheart. My present to you.” She glanced over at Gavin and found his eyes on her. They seemed to have lost a lot of their hardness. “She’s beautiful. Who on earth would want to…?”
Gavin made a sharp movement with his hand and she fell silent. As silent as the child beside her who was now slipping a hand into hers.
“I’d say you’ve just made a great big hit,” Gavin said gruffly. “And it’s not got everything to do with the giving of much coveted gifts. Anna might come from a rich background, but it takes more than money to make a child happy.”
Sally returned her attention to Anna. “I bet you’d like a ride on the big carousel, wouldn’t you?”
The child’s eyes widened and she nodded, her small head going up and down deeply, disturbing the dark curls that framed her pretty face.
While Sally went to switch on the mechanism that worked the carousel and the lights and the hurdy-gurdy music, she noticed that Anna had returned to Gavin and was gripping his hand as if it was something she had done naturally all her life. This wasn’t a child afraid of her minder, she thought. The child loved the big American. It was mirrored in her eyes every time she looked at him.
Not only that. Gavin reciprocated the emotion. Oh, he tried to hide it all right, but it was there. Sally was no fool when it came to love. Her own childhood had been too lacking in it for her not to recognise it now.
The bigger version of the carousel was in motion, its great white stallions slowly rising and lowering themselves. Gavin picked Anna up and slung her astride the one she pointed to. The one with the unicorn’s head and the golden crown.
“Hang on tight, Anna!” He instructed her, then mounted the beast slightly behind and on the outer circle.
The speed of the carousel picked up as the lights flashed through all the colours of the spectrum. Anna squealed and laughed, thoroughly enjoying herself. Gavin too.
It was during the third undulating circuit that Gavin suddenly bent low from the waist and Sally, who had been standing close to the rostrum, found herself being swept up into his strong arms and placed before him between the saddle and his horse’s neck. She yelled out in surprise, then laughed with man and child at the sheer madness of the whole scene.
When the music finally petered out and the carousel came to rest, Sally, embarrassed to have been clasped so tightly against Gavin during the ride, slithered off and quickly adjusted her dress which had ruched up around her hips. Gaven helped Anna to the floor, then turned to her.
“There’s still a child in all of us, Anna,” he said softly, tipping her chin up with his thumb and forefinger. “You just have to let it out occasionally.”
Then he kissed her. She couldn’t believe that she stood there and let a perfect stranger kiss her in the middle of the shop floor. Okay, so he wasn’t such a ‘perfect’ stranger any more and the shop was empty, so who was there to complain? Except her. But Sally didn’t feel like complaining. She wanted him to do it again, so she could kiss him back.
“All right?” Gavin asked, putting a steadying hand on her shoulder.
She blinked at him, feeling her head spin. “Yes. Just a bit dizzy. It’ll pass in a moment. I’m not used to all that centrifugal force.”
His mouth twisted into a wry smile. “I’m glad about that. I’d hate my kiss to be responsible for you losing your head.”
“Hmm,” was all she could say, then, with a hand to her head to tidy her mussed hair, she saw that the staff were beginning to arrive and she was painfully aware that she was blushing.
“Well, what did you think of that, Anna?” she bent down low to the little girl so her embarrassment was hidden from all.
“Anna can’t speak,” she heard Gavin remind her from above her head and looked up at him sharply, the unspoken question plain in her eyes. “She hasn’t spoken since she was three, but we’re working on it, aren’t we, Anna?”
Gavin’s words seemed to stick in his throat. He went down on his hunkers and took the child in his arms. She clung to his neck and kissed him loudly on the cheek.
“You stay with Sally, sweetheart,” he told her in a half-whisper, his face nuzzled into her neck. “She’ll look after you while I’m out working. You understand, don’t you, Anna?”
Anna nodded gravely and he stood up and laid a hand on Sally’s shoulder. “You will, won’t you? Look after her for me?”
Sally nodded dumbly and watched him stride away, brushing past Bella in the doorway. Bella was quick to come to Sally’s side.
“You didn’t tell him to get lost!” She hissed in Sally’s ear and she shook her head. “Idiot!”
“Perhaps,” Sally croaked, then looked down at the child whose hand had found its way into hers again. “Come on, Anna. We’ve got real live animals in the garden. I bet you’d like to help me feed them.”
She saw Bella’s head wobble from side to side and heard again the word ‘idiot’ as she led Anna away.