HAVING TAKEN A day off from the market, Laura and Lizzie had spent the morning and most of the afternoon trawling Manchester’s streets. So far, their search for premises had yielded little success. Either the location wasn’t right or the asking price was ridiculously high – the latter issue due more in part to the fact they were women, Laura suspected. One look at them, mere females with no head for business, and most owners immediately thought to try their hand at overcharging them.
‘Swindlers, the lot,’ Lizzie announced dully as they walked away from yet another landlord who had tried his luck. ‘I don’t reckon we’ll ever find owt, love.’
A despondent Laura reluctantly nodded agreement. ‘It makes me so angry that they’ll not take us seriously. Ain’t our brass as good as anyone else’s?’
Our brass. Except it wasn’t, was it? She’d stolen it, just as surely as the Cannocks had in the beginning. The thought niggled, but Laura pushed it away with a frown. What was done was done; there was no going back on her decision now. Her vow to Lizzie, that they would realise their dream after all, was more important than mere conscience.
‘I bet, had Daniel accompanied us, we’d not be having such a rotten result,’ Lizzie pointed out, and again Laura was wont to concur. ‘Actually, love, speaking of Daniel …’
‘Aye?’
Lizzie glanced sideways at her then shook her head. ‘Nay, forget it.’
‘Lass? If there’s summat tha wants to tell me …?’ Laura urged gently, though inside she’d turned into a quailing mess. Her friend knew. She’d overheard her and Daniel through the wall when they had discussed their feelings for one another in Laura’s kitchen, that’s what this was. Dear God, what was she to say, do? Lass, I’m that sorry …
‘Well, it’s just that … I, I don’t think—’
An almighty bellow pierced the still air, cutting Lizzie’s speech short – the women turned in confusion in the direction from which it had come.
‘What on earth was that?’ gasped Laura, grateful beyond words for the distraction – as was Lizzie, she was quick to notice, if her friend’s flush of relief was anything to go by. However, she was obliged to ask, ‘Sorry, tha were saying?’
‘Nowt, love. It’s nowt, honest— Eeh!’ Lizzie added on a squeak when the beast-like shout rang out again. ‘What is that racket?’
‘I don’t know but, by, it’s enough to waken the dead in their graves.’
Their curiosity getting the better of them, they set off at a trot to investigate.
‘Mother of God …’
It had been six months since she’d seen him last, since she’d sought him out to inform him of her father’s passing. The sight of him now conjured up every ounce of her old hatred and more.
‘Is that …?’
Choking on a cry, Laura nodded. ‘Bridget and Millicent! The swine, I’ll kill him!’
‘Love, nay, you mustn’t!’ Lizzie said as she made to dash into the fray. ‘The babby, remember?’
Though Laura halted, knew she was right, she couldn’t contain a growl of frustration. ‘But … I can’t just stand here and do nowt! My uncle will murder the pair if summat’s not done, and fast!’
Lizzie bit her lip, then: ‘Wait here,’ she instructed, before crossing the street.
Ambrose Todd paused in his brutal action of raining blows on to the two women sprawled on the flagstones at his feet to snarl at Lizzie’s approach. ‘You keep your stinking nose out, whore, else you’ll get some of the same,’ he slurred with drink-fuelled menace, brandishing a mammoth fist. ‘You’ve seen nowt.’
‘I’ve seen enough, you bullying owd sod, yer!’ Lizzie yelled, taking another hesitant step forward. ‘Just you leave them be.’
‘Ay aye, or what, for that sounds very much like a threat to me?’
Lizzie silently stood her ground and, after a long moment, Ambrose muttered a curse with a dismissive sweep of his arm.
‘Oh, I’m bored of this, anyroad. Shift, you snivelling pair of bitches, get out of my way.’
Aunt and niece scrambled from his path and he stalked past, lumbering off in the direction of home.
The moment he’d disappeared Laura rushed to assist the women. Millicent cried harder upon seeing her; Bridget, though dry-eyed, was ashen and shaking uncontrollably.
‘Eeh, loves. What has that wicked divil done to youse?’ she asked brokenly, helping the Irishwoman to stand whilst Lizzie aided Millicent. ‘Are you badly injured?’
‘No, no,’ Bridget murmured, reaching up to touch a tender spot on her cheek and wincing. ‘Nothing’s broken, colleen. ’Tis all a misunderstanding, aye—’
‘That was no misunderstanding, Bridget. He was pummelling the life out of the pair of youse, for God’s sake!’ Laura snapped, incensed at her uncle’s evilness and his maid’s blind loyalty still. ‘What occurred, at all?’
‘An employee from the yard came to the house to fetch Aunt Bridget,’ Millicent explained between snatches of sobs. ‘He said as how the master had arrived at work roaring drunk and that no one could get sense from him or get him to go home to sleep it off. I’d not let her go alone, and the two of us went to collect him. He left with us quietly enough but, midway, he turned nasty and struck Aunt Bridget. She fell, and I threw myself over her, to shield her, like. His fists were determined to find her, even if he had to get through me to do it, and oh, he’d not stop, Laura. He’d just not stop, just kept punching and punching and punching …’
‘All right, lass. It’s all right.’ Laura was trembling with pent-up fury. She put a supportive arm around the distraught girl’s shoulders and made to lead her and her aunt towards Ebenezer Court, but the latter pulled back. ‘Nay … Bridget, you cannot be serious …?’
‘I must return, colleen. He’ll have a blue fit if I don’t. We’ll … we’ll be all right, now. He’ll be away to his bed shortly and—’
‘Oh, must we, Aunt Bridget?’ Millicent’s thin face was a picture of misery. ‘Can’t we go back with Laura and Lizzie, just forra little while at least?’
But the Irishwoman shook her head: ‘Best not, love. Sure, don’t fret so. There shan’t be any further trouble the day.’
Laura and Lizzie could only watch on helplessly as the two of them bade them a quiet goodbye and sloped off down the street.
‘You think they’ll be all right, love?’ asked Lizzie worriedly.
Laura wiped away angry tears with the back of her hand. ‘I don’t know. Lord, I hate him so much I can taste it.’
Yet what could she do? She couldn’t very well storm round there and confront her uncle, could she? She had the child to think about. Nor could she drag his maid and her niece from that hell pit and to the safety of her house with brute force. Bridget just couldn’t, or wouldn’t, see. And Millicent would never leave her aunt with him. There was no way to help, none. That wasn’t to say it made the truth any less painful or frustrating.
She’d been in regular touch with them both since Millicent had revealed Ambrose’s abuse, had been to meet them every Sunday at church, desperate to know how they were faring. He might have ordered his maid not to seek her out but couldn’t control them crossing paths at the Lord’s house. Nor did he himself step foot there so he would never know. Bridget, however, was still wary, albeit she did her best to hide it. Though she always greeted Laura with the same enthusiasm, it was clear the strain was getting to her lately: her eyes had lost a little of their usual sparkle and a sadness now lurked behind her smile.
Brave young Millicent had revealed to Laura that her uncle was still paying her unwanted attention but that he hadn’t upped his depravity and gone so far as touching. Yet. She insisted she was coping but said that Ambrose’s increasing rages were worsening – likely owing to his financial stresses, Laura surmised – and that he was drinking heavily. For how much longer they all could carry on like this, she didn’t know. Something would have to give, and soon.
She and Lizzie had begun making their way home when the premises facing her uncle’s business suddenly caught her eye; Laura slowed, eyes thoughtful. Motioning to Lizzie to follow, she made her way across.
It was a greengrocer’s. A vacant greengrocer’s. Boasting a double-fronted window and with a house above, it was in a prime position.
A very prime position indeed, Laura thought to herself, glancing to the coal yard. Her mouth hardened. She nodded once.
‘Eeh, love.’ Lizzie bit her lip uncertainly. ‘Is tha sure …?’
‘More than I’ve ever been of owt in my life,’ she breathed, eyes like steel.
Laura made enquiries first thing the following morning.
This time, she was prepared – she took Daniel along. As she’d suspected, it proved a much more successful outcome owing to his presence.
The property, they learned, was to be sold by private contract. The owner was relocating abroad and desired a smooth and speedy sale. After taking a thorough look around the place, she and Lizzie sat down to discuss matters.
‘It’s norra bad price he’s asking. The condition and fixtures are sound. It shouldn’t take too long or be too much work to convert it into a confectioner’s. A few ovens and a new sink in the area out back that will be the kitchen, shelving space in the main room to display the cakes … I think that’d do us just fine for now. As for the four rooms upstairs, well, they’re ready to move into right away. So, lass? Are you happy for us to go ahead?’
Lizzie laughed in rapturous joy – she’d fallen completely in love with the shop the moment they stepped inside. Then her radiant smile wavered and she released a small sigh. ‘Love, about its location … Are you absolutely certain you’re not for regretting it? Your uncle—’
‘Shall be sick with rage and envy and disbelief … And I’m going to enjoy every damn minute of it,’ Laura told her with quiet passion. ‘But it’s not just about revenge, lass. It’s our dream, remember, becoming a reality. It is perfect. Better than owt else we’ve looked at. It’s like …’ She took her friend’s hands and squeezed them and her voice was thick. ‘It’s like it’s meant to be, you know?’
‘Aye.’ Lizzie’s own eyes were bright with deep emotion. ‘Oh, Laura, we’re really doing it?’
‘We really are.’
‘Eeh, love!’
‘Right, then. Let’s go and tell them we’ve made our decision, shall we?’
Daniel called on Laura that evening and she told him of the news. She explained that she was going to ask Edwin Howarth to look over the legalities and terms of the contract before they signed anything; to her relief, Daniel showed no sign of displeasure at this, instead was quick to agree.
‘I trust his expertise,’ she told him. ‘He has a good head for business, after all.’
‘He’ll be willing to offer advice, though, d’you think, after …?’
Laura looked away. However much she told herself she’d made the right choice in turning the marriage proposal down, she couldn’t help but feel a stab of guilt to think on it. ‘Aye. He said he’d like us to stay friends, and I’m glad of that. If he reckons all looks well and good … then we’ll go ahead and the shop will be ours.’ She shook her head. ‘Can tha believe it, though, lad? I still have to pinch myself this is even happening.’
‘He ain’t going to like it, Laura.’
‘Ambrose Todd? Aye, I know.’ A devil’s smile crept across her features when Daniel grinned. ‘I can’t wait to see his face when he finds out.’
‘It’s your chance to get back at him once and for all. And what a way you’re going to get to do it. Success: it’s the best type of revenge, aye.’
‘This is for Lizzie, though, an’ all. It’s the least I owe her,’ she added in a whisper, not daring to look at him, lest he spied the longing she still and always would harbour for him. ‘I can’t wait to buy her all the equipment she needs. Proper stuff, mind, from the best stores, that she’s allus hankered for – for years, I’m guessing. She’s going to be so happy.’
‘And you?’
His question threw her. She frowned. ‘What about me?’
‘Will you be happy, Laura? I mean, really happy?’
She swallowed hard and looked away. ‘’Course I will.’
Continuing quietly, he counted on his fingers as he spoke: ‘Aye, you’re soon to make Lizzie’s dream reality. And today, you mentioned it’s your wish that them rooms above the shop are to be for Bridget and her niece, with jobs downstairs thrown in. That if they’ve a safe dwelling of their own and secure positions, they’ll be able to free themselves of that swine’s clutches.’
‘Lad?’
‘You even asked me a few weeks ago to trek to Breightmet, insisted I post some of that brass through Dotty Cannock’s door, that you’d not touch a penny else,’ he went on, tapping a third finger. ‘You felt sorry for her, after everything, couldn’t help it. I can just picture her now, cackling with glee at the discovery, not that she deserves it.’
‘What’s your point?’
‘My point is, when will you do summat for thee? Just once.’
‘But I need nowt, have everything—’
‘Everything?’ he insisted, eyes creasing.
Tears stung. She blinked rapidly. ‘Daniel … please don’t.’
‘You know, don’t you, now and always, you’ve only ever to say the word and I …’ He dropped his head then, on a painful sigh, rose to his feet. Stooping, he pressed the most tenderest of kisses to her brow. ‘Carpe diem,’ he whispered, before turning and leaving the house.
‘But it can never be ours to seize,’ Laura mouthed to the closed door.