For the rest of the day Gertie was in such a fever of worry and indecision she could hardly concentrate at all. When she filled all the gravy boats with custard instead of gravy, Mrs. Chubb let her have it.
“What the devil has got into you today, Gertie McBride? You’re all fingers and thumbs, and your head must be full of cotton wool. Are you ill?”
Gertie miserably emptied the custard from each gravy boat back into the cauldron on the stove. “I’m sorry, Chubby. Me mind is bloody miles away, I know.”
“Yes, it is. And don’t call me Chubby.” Mrs. Chubb folded her arms across her bosom. “Something’s bothering you, Gertie. You might as well tell me what it is because I’ll find out eventually.”
Dan’s voice echoed in Gertie’s head. Swear you will never tell anyone what we were doing tonight. “Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just that I’m going out tonight and I’m feeling a bit guilty about leaving the twins on Christmas Eve.”
Well, it was half the truth, anyway. She was feeling a bit guilty. Especially since she didn’t know what the bloody hell she was letting herself in for.
“Go on.” Mrs. Chubb looked at her in surprise. “Well, you don’t have to feel guilty. They’ll be in bed fast asleep before you even go out. Where are you going, then?”
“I’m not sure.” Gertie could have cut out her tongue. Now she was in for some awkward questions, none of which she could answer.
“What do you mean you’re not sure? You haven’t made up your mind yet?”
“Yeah, that’s it.” Gertie managed a tight smile. “I haven’t made up me mind. It’s me night off, and it’s Christmas Eve, and I just want to do something different for a change.”
Mrs. Chubb narrowed her eyes. “You’re not doing anything that could land you in hot water, I hope?”
“Course not.” Bloody hope not. “What do you think I am?” She stacked the messy gravy boats on a tray and carried them over to the sink. “Anyway, I won’t be going anywhere if I don’t get these dishes washed and filled with gravy.”
“Well, just don’t let Michel catch you making mistakes like that again tonight. You know how he gets at Christmas. Everything has to be perfect or there’s the devil to pay.”
Nodding in relief, Gertie rinsed out the gravy boats. From now on she’d better pay attention, or Chubby would be watching her every move.
At long last the dinner rush was over and she could go back to her room to get ready. She didn’t have many clothes to choose from, and she really hoped they weren’t going anywhere posh. Pulling out a dark green suit from her wardrobe, she held it up in front of her. The long skirt and fitted jacket was trimmed with braided velvet, a shade darker than the fabric. If she wore her white frilly waist with it, she’d look festive enough for anything.
Even prison. The unbidden thought unnerved her, and she collapsed on the side of her bed. Why couldn’t he tell her what he was doing tonight? Surely he wouldn’t get her in trouble? When she’d asked, he hadn’t given her a straight answer. What if he was stealing jewels or something, and selling them to buy a nice fancy motorcar and posh clothes?
She’d be as bad as he was, if she was with him. She’d be carted off to prison, too, if they got caught. She felt sick. What a bloody daft twerp she was to say she’d go with him. Perhaps he wouldn’t come. Perhaps he’d forget.
Seconds later a tap on the door made her jump out of her skin. It opened, and Pansy stuck her head in. “You’ve got a visitor,” she announced, her eyes sparkling with delight. “It’s that Dan Perkins. He looks different without his white butcher coat.”
“Bloody hell.” Gertie shot to her feet. “Ask him to wait, will you? Tell him I won’t be a minute.”
“Yes, madam. Of course, madam.” Polly gave her a sly grin. “I told you he fancied you. Thought you weren’t a bit interested in him.”
“I’m not.” Gertie walked over and started closing the door in Pansy’s face. “I’m interested in his motorcar, that’s all.”
“Oo, he’s got a motorcar? What—” The rest of her sentence was cut off by the door snapping shut.
Gertie shook her head, then dressed as quickly as she could. A quick comb through her hair, then a few pins to hold her hat and she was ready. Trying her best to calm what felt like squirrels chasing around in her stomach, she pulled on her coat, then rushed out into the hallway.
A minute or two later she entered the lobby and spotted Dan immediately. He stood over by the Christmas tree, fingering one of the lace angels. He had his back to her, and she couldn’t help looking at his shoulders. He was so strong. She’d never have a chance if he should turn on her.
Cursing herself for her silly nerves, she walked over to him, her feet making no sound on the soft carpet. “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long,” she said, when she reached him.
He swung around, his smile already making her warm inside. “I was just admiring the Christmas decorations. They’re pretty. Just like you, Gertie McBride.”
She felt her cheeks growing hot. “Go on with you. So where are we going, then?”
“Ah.” He held a finger to his mouth. “A secret. You’ll see when we get there.”
She followed him down the steps, and made up her mind she was going to forget her worries and have a good time. He seemed like a nice bloke. And if he was up to no good she could always just walk away.
Hugging that somewhat fragile assurance, she climbed once more into the front seat of the motorcar. Dan cranked the handle and the engine coughed. She loved the way it sort of rumbled while they were standing still. She loved the smell of the leather, the shiny clock in the shelf, the polished handle on the gear lever.
In fact, she loved everything about the motorcar. One day, she promised herself, she’d have a motorcar of her own, and she’d learn to drive it. What power to hold in her hands! Dan had told her it would go fourteen miles an hour, and even faster downhill. That seemed really fast to her. A lot faster than riding a bicycle.
This time, instead of going into town, Dan took the road going across the downs. That scared her a little. It was so dark and lonely up there on the cliffs, and the thought of gypsies floating around the woods didn’t help.
“Are you warm enough?” Dan asked, as the wind buffeted the motorcar and made it rattle.
“Yes, thank you.” She hugged the collar of her coat around the back of her neck. It was a bit chilly, but at least the windows kept the worst of the cold outside. She looked through the glass and saw they’d turned onto the Wellercombe road.
“We’re going into Wellercombe?” Her anxiety came flooding back. What if she had to run away from him? She’d never find her way home from Wellercombe. She’d be stuck there on Christmas Eve and she wouldn’t see her babies on Christmas morning.
She should never have come. What was she thinking?
“Not all the way. We’ll be stopping just before we get to the town.”
“Are we going to a pub?” She remembered he’d asked her to play darts with him.
“No, no pub.”
“The music hall?” That was something else she’d never seen. The closest she’d been to a music hall was Phoebe Fortescue’s events at the Pennyfoot, and they always ended up in a right mess.
“Not the music hall.” He laughed. “You’ll just have to wait until we get there.”
It was time, she decided, to ask him a few questions. “How long have you lived in Badgers End?”
“Not long.” He sent her a quick glance. “Why?”
“I was just wondering.” She made herself sound indifferent. “I don’t remember seeing you around, that’s all.”
“Well, until about a month or so ago, I lived in London.”
She looked at him in surprise. “What made you come down here to live, then?”
“I liked the idea of living by the sea. I got tired of living in The Smoke. Too noisy, too crowded, too dirty.”
“I know. I used to live there myself when I was little. But there’s a lot more to do there. All those theaters and clubs and things. They’ve even got cinemas in London. I’ve never been in a cinema.”
“You’ve led a sheltered life, haven’t you.”
She wasn’t sure if she should take offense at that. “I wouldn’t call being married twice a sheltered life,” she said primly.
“You’ve been married twice?”
He sounded shocked and now she did get defensive. “Well, I wasn’t really married to my first husband because he was already married, but I didn’t know that when I married him and by the time I did know I was having the twins.”
“Ouch. That must have been painful.”
“I survived.” This time he’d sounded as if he really understood, and she felt better. “I threw the bugger out. It was hard being on my own, but Mrs. Baxter and Mrs. Chubb took good care of me. They’re the best people in the world. They looked after me and the twins after Ross, my second husband, died. I don’t have no family left so they’re my family now.”
“I don’t have any family, either. I know how that feels.”
She felt a pang of sympathy, and a warm sense of sharing a bond. While she was still trying to think of something nice to say the motorcar slowed to a jerky halt.
Startled, she looked out the window and saw they were in front of large iron gates in a high brick wall. “Where are we?” She peered at the name written on the gates but couldn’t see it in the dark.
“We’re at our destination.” Dan turned off the engine. “It’s showtime.”
Nervously she peered at him, trying to read his expression. “Are we going to visit someone?”
“Not really.” She saw a flash of white teeth as he grinned at her. “We’re going to break in.”
She knew it. All along she’d had the feeling he was up to something and now she knew. He was a burglar, and she was right there breaking the law with him. “There’s no bloody we about it.” She reached for the door handle. “If you think I’m going to help you steal from those people you’re flipping bonkers.” She stifled a shriek when he grabbed hold of her arm.
“Wait a minute! Where are you going?”
“I’m going to bloody walk home, that’s where I’m going.” She turned on him with a fierce glare. “And don’t you try to stop me or I’ll kick you where it hurts the most.”
“Ouch.” She actually saw him wince. “Calm down, Gertie. I’m not going to steal anything. Just the opposite. I’m taking stuff in. Toys, to be exact.”
She stared at him, wondering if she’d heard him right. “Toys?”
“Toys.” He leaned over and reached into the backseat. When he pulled his hand back, he held up a red cap trimmed in white fur. “Father Christmas? Christmas Eve? Down the chimney and all that rot?”
She still couldn’t seem to grasp what he was telling her. “You’re playing Father Christmas?”
“That’s right.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Look back there. You’ll see my red coat and two very heavy sacks of toys.”
Following the gesture, she saw two large bulky mounds on the backseat. She looked back at the gates. “But why are you…?”
“This is an orphanage, Gertie. I had arrangements made with the people who run it. They’re leaving the door open for me so I can get in there and leave toys for the orphans without anyone seeing me. I only do this on the condition that I remain anonymous.” He smiled at her. “Until now.”
She shook her head as understanding dawned. “You’ve done this before?”
“A few years now, yes.”
“In London?”
He nodded. “This is my first Christmas in Badgers End. I wanted it to be a good one. So I got the name of the orphanage and had the arrangements made. From what I hear it took a bit of persuading before they’d allow me to do it. Once they talked to the orphanages in London, though, they were pretty quick to agree.”
“That’s a very generous thing to do. What got you started on it?”
He paused before answering her. “I grew up in a London orphanage. I know what it’s like to go to sleep on Christmas Eve, knowing that Father Christmas wasn’t going to come and that no one out there cared whether I lived or died. I swore that when I grew up and could leave that place I’d do my best to make Christmas happier for as many orphans as I could.”
Gertie felt rare tears pricking her eyelids. “Blimey. That’s the best Christmas story I ever heard.”
He laughed. “Well, I got lucky when I grew up, so I’ve been able to pass some of it along.”
“But why don’t you want anyone to know who you are?”
He reached into the back again and pulled the coat onto his lap. “I want to be sure I’m doing it for them and not for myself. The best way to do that is to keep it all a big secret.” He started pulling on the coat. “You promised, remember?”
“I won’t tell no one.”
“Thank you.” Taking her by surprise, he leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on her cheek. “Now, do you want to come with me or would you rather wait here until I get back?”
For a moment she couldn’t speak, conscious of the tingling where his lips had met her cheek. Then she said loudly, “I’m coming with you.” She reached for the door handle. “I wouldn’t want to miss this for all the bloody money in the world.”
The frosty air stung her nose and ears as she waited for him to haul the sack out from the back of the motorcar. Shivering from the cold and a delicious sense of excitement, she watched him push open the gates. “Can I carry one of them sacks for you?” she asked, rather hoping he’d refuse. They looked flipping heavy.
He shook his head. “But, you can close the gates for me,” he said, as he swung through them.
She waited until he was clear then closed the heavy iron gates. They creaked and groaned, and any minute she expected vicious dogs to come howling out of the darkness to tear them to bits.
Beckoning to her, Dan strode up the driveway, and she trotted along behind, glancing over her shoulder at the silent trees every now and then to make sure they were alone.
She actually felt like a burglar when he opened the massive door of the orphanage and slipped inside. Stepping in after him, she saw a darkened entranceway with hallways leading off in three different directions.
Dan seemed to know where he was going, as he crept straight ahead, then turned a corner. Right in front of them was a staircase. The dim light from the gas lamps kept the top of the stairs in darkness as they started to climb up.
Reaching the landing, Dan turned to his left, and she kept close behind him as they crept down another long hallway. Finally he stopped at a pair of double doors. After putting down the sacks, he carefully opened the doors and looked in.
She held her breath until he opened one of them wider and signaled for her to go in ahead of him. She slipped past him and found herself in a long, wide room with dozens of narrow beds lined up on each side. In each bed a small body huddled under the covers.
The gas lamps on the wall had been turned way down, and it took her eyes a moment to adjust enough to see the stockings hanging on the bottom bedposts.
Dan moved quietly for a big man, stuffing toys into each stocking and leaving others at the foot of each bed. She waited by the door for him, hoping none of the little ones would wake up.
It gave her such a good feeling, watching him do his work. As the minutes ticked by she felt herself liking him more and more. He was a good man, after all.
Finally he was finished, and hurried back to her, the empty sacks tucked under his arm. They quietly closed the doors behind them, and a minute or so later they were once more outside in the frosty cold night.
Gertie didn’t speak until they were settled inside the motorcar with the engine rumbling. “No matter what happens to me in the future,” she said unsteadily, “I’ll always remember this night. It’s the best Christmas Eve I ever spent.”
Dan moved the gear lever and the motorcar rolled forward. “Remember you can’t tell anyone about it.”
“I won’t. But it’s a shame.” She glanced at him. “Those kiddies should know what a kind man you are. I’d love to be able to see their faces in the morning.”
“Well, you have two little faces of your own to see in the morning.”
“Yes, I do.” She wrapped her arms around herself in an effort to stop shivering. “I feel a bit ashamed now, thinking how lucky my two are, when there are so many little ones without a family to love them.” She felt like crying again. “You must have been so lonely. At least I had me dad when I was growing up. Even if he wasn’t much of a father.”
“I’m not lonely now.” His voice softened, giving her shivers down her back. “Not now I’ve met you.”
She wanted to believe he really liked her. She really did. But she’d been hurt before by a charmer, and Dan Perkins was all of that and more. Better not to let all this go to her head, she told herself. For all she knew he could have a wife somewhere, just like Ian did.
The thought refused to let her alone, and in the end she asked him as they drove back down the Esplanade. “Didn’t you ever get married? Most men your age would have been married years ago.”
“Wait a minute. I’m not that old. I’m only thirty-six. Not that much older than you, I’ll wager.”
“And you never got married?”
“No, I never did.”
“Why not?”
“I was too busy working.” He glanced at her. “Why do you want to know?”
“Because I’m not the sort of girl who goes for rides in a motorcar and lets a bloke kiss her if he’s bloody married, that’s why.”
“I haven’t kissed you yet.”
She couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. “You kissed me just before we went into the orphanage.”
“That was a peck on the cheek. When I kiss you for real, Gertie McBride, you’ll know you’ve been kissed.”
She felt as if all the air had suddenly left her body. Now she knew what a fish must feel like when it’s pulled out of the water. Frantically she sought for a proper response, but all she could come up with was, “Saucy bugger.”