Chapter 14

The hotel was already busy with people coming and going even though it was only early in the morning as Mary made her way from the staff dining room. There hadn’t been as many staff around the table this morning, most of them already being hard at their duties. Mary’s day was the opposite to most, starting mid-morning and finishing late in the evening, so she realised that having a leisurely breakfast by herself was going to be the one luxury of the working day, the time where she could gather her thoughts and think about what was to come. She was still concerned about the arguing that she had heard coming from William’s rooms below hers as she happened to glance him as he was just about to disappear into his office which was adjacent to the lobby. William noticed her and stopped in his tracks.

‘Miss Reynolds, do you think I could have a word with you in my office, please?’ He looked weary; there were bags under his eyes and he barely smiled as he kept the door open with his hand for her to enter his domain.

The office walls were lined with dark oak and the furniture was dark leather, all of it had been salvaged from the original hotel that had stood there. Mary felt nervous; had she done something wrong? Was she going to be chastised for giving Roger Birbeck a drink of an expensive whisky before they retired?

‘Is everything all right, Mr Winfield? Did you want to speak to me about something specific? I did tally the tills up and give your father our takings last night and the girls worked exceptionally well – they make a good team.’ Mary wanted to tell him quickly that her part of the world had been very successful the previous day and that he need have no concerns with any of the bar staff. However, she soon realised that it was not business that he wanted to speak to her about.

‘Yes, yes, you all did exceptionally well yesterday. The takings on the bar were more than we ever dreamed of and everyone is putting their heart and soul into the running of the hotel – apart from one or two who perhaps could have been more helpful.’ William ran his fingers through his slicked-back dark hair and looked at Mary. ‘I’ve asked you into the office to offer you my apologies, because you must have borne the brunt of Faith’s and my disagreement last night. I apologise if we kept you awake.’ He looked sheepishly at Mary, noticing her blushes.

‘It’s none of my business, sir. I heard very little and you need say nothing more,’ Mary said quietly to the worried man.

‘Thank you, Mary, I appreciate that.’ William sank into his chair and held his head in his hands.

‘Are you all right, sir?’ Mary went and stood closer to the desk, looking with pity at the man she respected and admired. He and his father had been nothing but good to her and now perhaps he needed her support.

William sighed. ‘She’s left me, Mary! Faith threw her engagement ring at me and told me that our wedding was off, that she didn’t love me and that she had higher expectations than living in a hotel and waiting for me to return to her at all hours of the day and night!’ He looked at her with tears in his eyes. ‘My father was right; she didn’t love me, she was just after my money. How can I face him and tell him that I’ve made a terrible mistake?’

Mary looked at the distraught William; he shouldn’t be telling her all this but he’d been brooding over it all night and she it seemed was the one who had caught him at his most vulnerable moment.

‘I’m sorry to hear that, sir. Perhaps this morning, after she has cooled down and realised that yesterday was a big day and that the hours that you worked were exceptional, she’ll come back and apologise. I’m sure she didn’t mean half the words that were said.’ Mary stood awkwardly and looked at her boss. She wanted to put her arms around him and give him comfort. ‘Perhaps she felt neglected,’ she added and hoped she was saying the right words.

‘Neglected? She had everything that she could wish for at her feet. She could have swanned around this hotel and been treated like a queen. There is nothing that she would have wanted for, nothing that I would not have done for her. The truth is, Mary, she really didn’t love me; she expected more than I could give her and she will not be back.’ William rose from his chair and turned his back on her, looking out onto the busy street outside his window. ‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be telling you all this, you should get back to your work.’ He turned and blew his nose hard. ‘Forgive me, yesterday took its toll on me. It might be as you say that Faith regrets her words and returns later in the day. If not, then I should think myself lucky because I have escaped from a loveless marriage.’

‘I’ll get back to my work then. And sir, don’t worry; I’ll not say a word of this to anyone and if you need someone to talk to then please just find me. I might not be able to help but I’m a good listener and I’ll be a true confidante.’ Mary walked to the office door and quietly opened it, then closed William in behind her. Outside in the lobby, people were going about their business, checking in at the desk and being shown to their rooms by the bellboys. Roger Birbeck was busy seeing to a woman’s enquiries as she passed him so was too busy to talk to her. The world was getting on with the business of living while William Winfield’s heart was breaking, and Mary knew Faith Robinson would not be returning; she’d seen her sort before. Once she had realised that all William’s money was tied up in the Palace and that she might one day have to work for her money, she had thought better of marrying him.

Mary had seen what sort of woman she was the first night that they had met. She had, however, put her dislike of Faith down to pangs of jealousy for she had been attracted to William Winfield from the very first day she had set eyes on him, knowing he was way out of her league. She could love him, penniless or wealthy, if he would only let her, but that would never be possible and she knew it as she walked into the filling barroom and smiled at her girls, who were already chattering to one another behind the bar.

‘Sorry, girls, I’m late – you’re putting me to shame.’ Mary smiled and looked at the three. ‘Are you ready for another day? I think this one will be quieter hopefully, unless Leonard gets carried away at the piano, seeing that he is grinning so much at you all.’ Mary gave Len a warning look. ‘It was an opening day bonanza yesterday and while I hope that we will be somewhere near as busy, not with such a crush today.’

‘Sorry, we’ve been talking to Len.’ Shona turned and waved and grinned at the flirtatious piano player. ‘We’ve come to an arrangement with him because Moll had a bit of a fright last night.’

‘Yes, I was scared stiff, I was. Thought someone was following me all the way home to Kirkstall. It was right creepy and I thought twice about coming back again today. A self-respecting girl shouldn’t be out at that hour for I saw all sorts on my way home,’ Moll said and sighed.

‘Well, we’ve sorted it now, Moll. What’s going to happen, Mary, is that Len’s going to walk all three of us home. It’s not too far out of his way – he only lives down the road from Moll and the rest of us are en route.’ Shona looked at Mary. ‘He was only too willing when we told him what happened.’

‘I bet he was; do you think you can trust him?’ Mary looked across at Len, who had started playing quietly at the piano.

‘Oh, yes, he says he’s a father of four and wants nothing to do romantically with young, innocent girls. Although some of us are not that innocent and we can hold our own when we are together.’ Shona giggled and looked at Beth.

‘I’ll have a word with him, just to make sure that he knows exactly where he stands. I agree that it is very kind of him to walk you all home, but I need to know that he doesn’t expect payment in kind. After all, I need to keep my girls safe,’ Mary said and frowned at Len.

Len looked across at the girls and Mary talking about him and knew instantly that if he didn’t do what was expected of him, and if he did anything other than be honourable to the three girls who had taken his fancy, it would be the worse for him. Mary would be serving his balls, pickled in one of her gin and tonics, and not think twice about it.

‘Well, to be honest, William, I think that you’re better off without her. You know what I thought of her and it’s best she left you now before you had to go through a messy divorce and put this place at risk.’ Thomas Winfield looked at his distraught son. ‘Your mother from the very start didn’t like her, she said she was just a money grabber, it is why she didn’t attend the hotel’s opening, she couldn’t stand there and play second fiddle to a woman who she knew was going to break your heart.’

I’m too soft. I found myself breaking down in front of Mary Reynolds this morning, to my shame. I started out apologising for the noise that must have kept her awake while Faith and I rowed and, before I knew it, I was telling her my inner secrets.’ William sat down and looked up at his father, sighing.

‘Well, you could have done worse. Mary will keep your heartbreak to herself – she’s discreet. In fact, Faith would have done well to have taken a leaf from her book; from the amount of money that they took over the bar she and her girls must have worked exceptionally hard yesterday. Instead, your wife-to-be hid away and did nothing. Believe me, she’s a weight off my mind – she was never right for you. Move on, look at what you’ve got, find someone else to replace her and put all this behind you. She isn’t worth the worry, lad, believe me.’ Thomas sighed with relief; he never had liked Faith Robinson and now she was gone after showing her true colours.

‘Aye, she’s a good lass, is Mary; she was very understanding, I’ll have to thank her later. Perhaps you’re right, Father, I’m better off without Faith – it’s just that folk will gossip and she blatantly stood at the opening yesterday, although she must have known that she was thinking of leaving me then. The papers will make the most of it once they hear of my predicament.’ William scowled.

‘The papers will write what they want, so take no notice of them. We know why she left. Now, stop moping and get out there and run this hotel. I’ll sort the office today while you show your face to everyone and act as if nothing’s happened – don’t let the ungrateful bitch spoil your life. Someone else will be out there for you and she might be nearer than you think.’ Thomas watched his son leave the office with a heavy heart. He was thankful that Faith had left their lives because she hadn’t been right since day one. Now, someone like Mary Reynolds was more to his liking, but unfortunately, she was a long way below William’s station in life, so she would never do, never mind how bonny and hardworking she was.

‘Miss Reynolds, have you read today’s paper? I can’t believe the slander that Faith Robinson is saying about young Mr Winfield. The whole staff is reading about it because the Leeds Mercury is delivered daily for the guests. No wonder William’s been keeping out of everyone’s way.’ Beth passed Mary the local paper folded on the startling headline: KING OF THE PALACE LOSES QUEEN!

Mary looked at the report and shook her head as she read the interview given by Faith Robinson, which made William Winfield sound as if he hadn’t got a penny to his name and made him out to be a manipulating ogre. She said that she realised that she was being used just in time before the wedding, set for June the twenty-third, that William loved only himself and never took account of her feelings.

‘This is rubbish, poor William,’ Mary said quietly. ‘She really knows how to put the boot in and destroy a man’s reputation. Don’t you girls believe a word of this; we all know William Winfield is a good, kind person, that he is not the man she is writing about. I think that she wanted an excuse to get out of the marriage without any blame.’

‘No, none of us believe it, Mary, we all know Mr Winfield too well. She looked down her nose at everyone and didn’t talk to any of us, not once. I don’t think she wanted to marry to work, the snotty cow,’ Molly said. ‘Well, we’ll show her! Between us all this will become a right royal palace if that’s the way she wants to play it.’

‘I’ll go and have a word with him, girls, tell him that he has got our support regardless of the lies written in this paper. Keep serving the customers with a smile and, if they ask anything about the gossip in the newspaper, feel free to tell them that it’s a pack of lies.’ Mary felt nothing but sympathy for William and, at the same time, she was furious with Faith as she stood outside his office and waited for him to answer the door. How could she drag his name and that of the newly opened Palace through the mud, when she knew how much it meant to not just him but all that worked there? She was the lowest of the low.

William opened his office door and felt the colour rushing to his cheeks as he remembered venting his feelings in front of his bar manager. ‘Mary, what can I do for you? Is everything all right at the bar? Do come in and discuss what is on your mind.’

Mary stepped into the office and felt awkward; perhaps she should not say anything, after all, it was not her place. ‘Everything is fine, sir. I’m just here to say that the girls and I don’t believe a word written in the paper today. We know that Miss Robinson is just being bitter and if anybody says anything we will stand by you.’ She glanced at the Leeds Mercury on William’s desk, folded on the page that the whole hotel had been reading.

‘She really knows how to destroy a man, Mary. It’s not enough that she’s broken my heart, she’s also trying to break my business. But she’ll not do that, I won’t let her, so don’t you worry. But I really appreciate your support.’ William stepped forward and put his hand on Mary’s shoulder and looked into her eyes. ‘Thank you, I’m glad my father and I found you.’

Mary looked at William, her heart beating fast, then she mentally shook her head. She’d felt attracted to William from the very first but she had to keep her feelings to her-self; he was too far above her for her to even have such thoughts. She blushed and replied, ‘I just want you to know that I’ll be here for you if you need someone to talk to and you need to know the whole of the hotel’s staff are behind you and, as I say, will pay no heed to what they hear or read,’ she said quietly.

‘If only she had been as loyal as you, Mary, I wouldn’t be hurting so much.’ William sighed. ‘Now, the business must go on and by this time next week, I suspect, her words will be forgotten. It doesn’t seem to have done much damage today anyway – we are still busy, I’m glad to say. If anything, she might have given us some free advertising – “Come and stay at the Palace with the ogre”!’ William tried to smile as he opened the door for Mary to leave.

‘You are no ogre, sir, you are a true gentleman and we all know the truth,’ Mary whispered as she left the office and felt something in her heart that she had never felt before, in the way she felt about William Winfield.