For the next ten minutes, the phone constantly rang, and each time the call was for Mr Fellows. ‘That’s it!’ Flushed with anger, Meg Benton pushed her chair back and stood up. ‘I haven’t even had time to pick up a pen, and my work is mounting by the minute.’ Striding to the door, she declared, ‘I intend to find that secretary and give her a piece of my mind.’ With that she was soon gone and the others, including Rosie, couldn’t help but laugh.
Rosie was eager to be done and get home. She hoped Peggy hadn’t yet gone because there was a great deal she had to say to her. Feverishly she tore into the last pile of stock-sheets, moaning beneath her breath when the jangling ring of the phone interrupted her line of thought. ‘Good afternoon. May I help you?’ Pressing the phone to her ear, she tried to write with her other hand. It was impossible so she paid attention to the voice at the other end. It was a woman’s voice, soft and pleasant. ‘I’d like to speak to Mr Fellows, please?’ she said.
‘I’m sorry, but Mr Fellows is in a meeting right now.’
‘Oh!’ There was a pause. Then, ‘Who am I talking to?’
‘This is Rosie Selby. Would you like to leave a message for him? I’ll make certain he gets it the minute he returns to his office.’
‘Could you please put me through to his secretary?’
Rosie sighed. ‘I’m sorry, but she’s out of the office right now. She should be back any minute. Perhaps if you called again later?’
There was a sigh followed by a request that shocked Rosie to the core. ‘I have to go out in a minute so I’d better leave a message. Would you please tell him his wife phoned? Has he managed to acquire a house for us yet? Ask him to ring me this evening, would you? Oh, and tell him his daughter Sadie sends her love. Thank you so much.’
‘Good Lord, you’ve gone a pale shade of grey!’ Mr Mortimer peeped at Rosie from beneath his reading glasses. ‘An irate customer, was it?’
Even Horace Sykes was made to look up, mouth open to deliver some scathing comment. The fact that Rosie was sitting bolt upright, phone in hand and all the colour drained from her face, struck him dumb. Without a word he bent his head and resumed his work.
Just then Meg returned. ‘Would you believe she was downstairs chatting to the floor supervisor?’ Falling heavily into her chair, she explained, ‘Apparently, Mr Fellows has put his foot in it by allowing someone to leave at short notice, at a time when we’re desperate for floor staff.’ When nobody commented, she grunted, scraped forward her papers, and began scribbling. ‘Anyway, she’s back at her desk now, so we shouldn’t be bothered with any more of her calls, thank goodness!’
Rosie’s mind was preoccupied by the woman’s words… ‘Tell him his wife phoned… His daughter Sadie sends her love.’ She couldn’t think straight. It was impossible to settle her thoughts enough to continue with her work. When she glanced up at the clock, she was greatly relieved to see that it was almost three-thirty. ‘I’ll be away now,’ she said, collecting her belongings together.
‘What? There’s still a few minutes to go yet.’ Horace Sykes had found his tongue, and it was as sharp as ever.
‘You get off, my dear,’ Meg Benton said. ‘If the truth be told, you do more work than the three of us put together.’ Glaring at the little man, she silently dared him to say another word.
When Rosie was out of the door, however, a little argument ensued. It took only a few chosen words to silence the two men, and for the remainder of the afternoon the atmosphere was so thick it could have been cut with a knife.
* * *
All the way home, Rosie tried to reason with herself. Was it a mistake? Had the woman somehow got the wrong number? Did she really say ‘Mr Fellows’, and did she mean Robert? ‘You’re a fool, Rosie gal, she muttered as she looked out of the tram window. ‘Peggy was right about him, and you’ve fallen for the worst trick of all.’
Aware that she was talking aloud she glanced nervously about. With the exception of an old man who was buried in his racing paper, the tram was empty. Just as well, she thought, or they’ll have me locked away for being out of my mind. She chuckled to herself. She was out of her mind, or she’d have seen him for what he was months ago!
The bad feelings began to subside, and in their place came a calm and rational mood. He didn’t know she had spoken to his wife. So, as far as he was concerned, nothing had changed, and he was coming round to see her tonight. Want an answer to your ‘proposal’, do you? she thought bitterly. Stepping off the tram and on to the pavement, she went straight to the school gates. As she scoured the yard for a sight of her son, she forced all thoughts of Robert Fellows out of her mind.
The children were pouring out of the school doorway. Danny saw her and ran forward. ‘Mam, look what I’ve done today!’ Wide-eyed and excited, he raised a huge square of paper for her to see. It was a colourful drawing of nothing she could identify. ‘Why! That’s lovely!’ she exclaimed, her face wreathed in a smile. Taking the paper between her hands she turned it this way then that, and still she couldn’t understand what the coloured blobs were meant to signify.
‘It’s you!’ he told her, eyes shining.
‘Well, of course it is,’ she returned, giving him a hug, ‘I knew that all along.’
There wasn’t another tram for fifteen minutes, but the bus was waiting as they ran up the street. ‘I’m hungry,’ Danny moaned, clambering into the seat beside her. When Rosie produced a digestive biscuit wrapped in foil from her handbag, he sat back in the seat and contentedly nibbled at its edges all the way home. When they got off the bus at the end of Castle Street, he popped the last bit in his mouth and grinned up at her. ‘I love you,’ he said.
‘Only because I gave you a biscuit,’ she teased. Then she grabbed his hand tightly and hurried him away. The wind was as keen as ever, and the thought of a cosy fire grew more and more welcome the nearer they got to home.
Rosie’s first stop was Peggy’s house. ‘I need to talk with her,’ she told Peggy’s mam, who quickly ushered her and the boy in out of the cold. She would have taken them into the parlour, but Rosie graciously refused. Her instinct told her that Peggy was not here.
‘Pm sorry, luv, but she’s gone… been gone this past hour.’ The older woman chuckled. ‘By! That were a turn up for the books, eh? Our Peggy’s gone on a training course to London. The next thing you know she’ll be after the manager’s job.’ Her eyes grew round as two silver shillings. ‘She’s done her old mam proud, that she has.’
Rosie was disappointed to have missed her. ‘Did she say where she’ll be staying?’
‘Nope!’ She shook her head, frowning hard. ‘But I expect I’ll know soon enough. She’s promised that soon as ever she’s settled, she’ll write, and if our Peggy says she’ll write, then she will.’ Suddenly she was going into the parlour at a run. ‘I nearly forgot. She’s left a note for you.’
She disappeared into the far room. For the next few seconds Danny hid behind Rosie’s skirt when Peggy’s Mam could be heard shouting and bawling at one of the children, ‘Clean up this bloody mess, unless you want yer arse belted!’
It wasn’t long before she came rushing out again. Handing a long white envelope to Rosie, she explained, ‘Peggy said I was to give you this the minute you came round.’ She peered at Rosie through curious eyes. ‘You two fallen out, have yer?’
‘We had a few words,’ Rosie admitted. Waving the letter in the air, she added hopefully, ‘Happen this will put it right.’
‘Aye, happen. But I wouldn’t count on it, lass. I’ll not ask what’s come atween yer, but I know this much… our Peggy can be a stubborn little sod when she’s put out.’ She shook her head and saw Rosie to the pavement. ‘Get away in, luv. It’s enough to freeze the balls off a pawnshop sign.’ Without further ado she slammed the door shut and, even as Rosie and her son walked away, the dear soul could be heard threatening blue murder at one of her hapless brood.
Rosie would have opened the letter straight away, but Danny was shivering and hung
ry, and so was she. ‘Come on, sweetheart,’ she told him, reluctantly placing the letter in a drawer. ‘You lay the table while I light the fire.’
As always Rosie had already laid the paper and kindling wood before she went to work that morning, so the fire was quickly alight. Danny slowly but happily set about laying the table although he had the knives and forks round the wrong way, and brought out pudding dishes for dinner plates. But Rosie was grateful, and told him so. Besides, it took only a minute for him to rectify his mistakes.
Soon the living-room was warm as toast, and not long after the smell of meat pie and vegetables cooking in the kitchen permeated the air. ‘I’m hungry!’ Danny wailed, again sniffing the air.
‘Do you know, so am I!’ Rosie was surprised that she could even think about food after the shocks of the day. But she was even more surprised to discover she was oddly relieved that Robert was already married. This way she was off the hook. She even chuckled as she went about her work. Wait until she told Peggy! No doubt her reaction would be: ‘Told you so’. But Rosie wouldn’t mind a bit. In fact, she felt she deserved it.
Within an hour of arriving home, the meal was set before them, and they ate heartily. ‘What else did you do at school?’ Rosie asked with interest.
‘I spilled paint all over Bobby Dixon,’ he announced proudly. Seeing the horror on Rosie’s face, he giggled. ‘We all painted his picture, and Susie Lock got jealous and knocked my paint tray over, and it went all across my drawing.’ He pulled a face. ‘I don’t like her any more.’
‘Oh, Danny, I’m sure it was an accident.’
‘No, it weren’t. She did it because I wouldn’t kiss her in the playground.’ Picking up a piece of pastry he pushed it into his mouth and would have gone on muttering, but Rosie told him to finish his dinner and they could talk afterwards. Unable to speak, he nodded his head and forked another piece of pie into his mouth. When his cheeks bulged out and his eyes began to pop, Rosie warned him not to take such big bites or he might choke. He heeded her warning, and the meal was finished in silence.
Insisting he should help, Danny carried his own plate to the kitchen where Rosie was already running the hot water into the bowl ready for washing up. ‘After everthing’s put away, you can tell me what else you did at school,’ she invited.
‘Will you read me a story?’
‘If you like.’
‘Will you read me Auntie Peggy’s note?’
‘I don’t think so, sweetheart,’ she said solemnly.
‘Why did you and Auntie Peggy fall out?’
‘Who said we have?’
‘Her mam.’
She nodded. ‘Oh, so you heard that, did you?’ Dropping the dishcloth into the water, she wiped her hands and put them on his shoulders. ‘You know how you fell out with Susie Lock at school today?’
‘I hate her!’
Rosie smiled. ‘Do you really hate her? Do you think she meant to spill that paint over your drawing?’
He shrugged his shoulders. ‘I ’spect not.’
‘So she’s forgiven, eh?’
‘I ’spect so.’
‘Why?’
He looked astonished that she should even ask such a thing. ‘’Cause she’s my friend!’
‘That’s right, Danny. And Peggy’s my best friend. We did have a falling out, but I hope it won’t spoil our friendship either.’ She went to the sideboard. With trembling fingers, she took out the envelope and opened it. The note inside was short and to the point:
Dear Rosie,
You may think I had no right to say the things I said. And you may think I never stood a chance with Robert Fellows. All I know is he had started noticing me. Then you came along, and I had no chance at all.
By the time you read this I’ll be on my way to London. No doubt you already know all about it, seeing how close you are to him.
Don’t try and contact me, because I’ve got a lot of thinking to do.
Peggy.
‘Oh, Peggy!’ Rosie was desolate. It was so ironic, especially when Robert was already married and had no right to promise either of them anything.
‘Is she still friends, Mam?’ Danny came in, covered in suds and the front of his jumper soaking wet. ‘Has she gone away for ever and ever?’
‘We’ll see.’ Rosie’s bright voice belied her true feelings. Taking off his jumper and draping it over the chair in front of the fire, she told him softly, ‘Good friends don’t ever say goodbye, do they?’ She hoped not. Oh, she really hoped not.
At half-past eight, Danny was ready for bed. Rosie read him a story about a little boy who went on a great adventure, and before she reached the last page he was fast asleep. ‘Goodnight, son,’ she murmured, tucking the blanket about his shoulders.
She then dimmed the light and went on tiptoe into the bathroom. Here she bathed and put on her dressing-gown. She too was ready for an early night, and it was obvious Robert had changed his mind about calling. ‘More’s the pity,’ she said, glancing out of the window and down the street. ‘I was looking forward to passing on your wife’s message!’
Downstairs, she tucked herself into the big old armchair and settled down to read the book which she had bought a few days before. It was a romance, and somehow it only reminded her of Adam and what she herself had lost. Disillusioned, she dropped it in the drawer and re-read Peggy’s letter. ‘All I can do is wait for you to come to me,’ she said. After that, she sat in the chair, raised her legs beneath her chin, criss-crossed her arms round them and stared forlornly into the fire, watching the flames leaping and dancing, and wondering how poor folk ever managed to keep warm on a night such as this.
With the warmth fanning her face into a rosy pink glow, making her deliciously sleepy, and her far-off thoughts carrying her first to Peggy then to Adam, she didn’t hear the knock at the door. When it sounded again, this time with more determination, she sat up, startled. A glance at the clock told her that it was almost ten-fifteen. ‘Good God above, whoever’s that at this time of night?’ Springing from her chair, she drew her dressing-gown closer about her and went along the passage to the front door. ‘Who’s there?’ If Peggy had been home, she would have assumed it was her. Certainly it was too late for Robert Fellows to come calling.
‘It’s me… Robert.’ At once she recognised his voice. ‘I’m sorry it’s so late,’ he apologised in lower tones. ‘Let me in, my lovely. It’s freezing out here.’
The tiniest smile crept over her face as she opened the door, but when he looked at her the smile was radiant. ‘Robert! It doesn’t matter whether it’s late or not,’ she cooed coyly, ‘I’m just so pleased to see you.’ He would have taken her in his arms but she quickly closed the door and went before him down the passage. ‘I was just thinking about you,’ she fled, coming into the room and watching him take off his coat. ‘I’ve got the answer you’ve been waiting for.’ Now she let him take her in his arms and kiss her. She returned his kiss passionately and was secretly delighted when she felt him harden against her.
‘You’ve decided to marry me?’ he declared eagerly, gazing down on her with the look of a cat who’s got the cream.
‘How could any woman resist?’ she purred, and he kissed her again.
‘Why don’t we celebrate… let me spend the night?’ His hands were probing beneath her dressing-gown, exciting and repulsing her all at once.
‘Why not?’ she murmured. ‘Especially now that we’re to be wed.’ She opened her gown and he was shocked by her beauty; the taut pert breasts and the long shapely legs, the tiny waist and that dark enticing area between her thighs. Groaning, he gathered her to him. ‘I’ve been thinking about you all day,’ he whispered in her ear. ‘Wanting you until I’d go half-crazy.’ Quickly, he began to undress. He didn’t see her smiling to herself.
When the two of them were naked, she held him off a moment longer. ‘I’m so looking forward to being your wife,’ she said softly. ‘Mrs Fellows… it has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?’
‘Must you drive me mad?’ He was kissing her hair, her eyes and ears, murmuring words of endearment, while she was pushing at his chest with the flat of her hands, and rolling her lovely brown eyes with childish excitement. ‘I think I’ll have my dress hand-made… you can afford that, can’t you, Robert?’ When he groaned and nodded, she went on, still resisting when he would have pushed her to the floor. ‘And where shall we live? I’d like a big house in the country. Can you afford that too, Robert?’ He nodded again, this time succeeding in laying her beneath him. He was about to push into her when she said in a low trembling voice, ‘Of course, your wife won’t like it. I mean… hasn’t she been waiting for you to find a house for her… and your daughter Sadie?’ Her eyes darkened with anger as they looked up, meeting his horrified gaze calmly.
His face was stark white in the firelight. ‘How did you find out?’ His voice was harsh and broken as he shivered with fright.
Lowering her gaze, Rosie saw that his member, which had been large and erect, was now shrivelled. It gave her a curious sense of satisfaction. ‘I’m sorry if I spoiled your enjoyment,’ she said cuttingly, getting up to replace her gown, ‘I think you’d better go.’ Fastening the belt around her waist, she gazed down at him with contempt.
‘Bitch!’
‘Don’t come to my house ever again,’ she warned.
He quickly dressed. When he was ready to leave he boldly suggested, ‘Tomorrow, when we’ve both calmed down, perhaps we can talk this through? I could take you to lunch. I know a nice little place on the Preston New Road…’
While he was talking, Rosie was thinking ahead. It was obvious he’d had a great shock. It was also obvious that he would still pursue her for his own ends. Men like him never gave up their quarry. ‘I won’t be in tomorrow,’ she said. ‘Nor any other day. In fact, you can send me my cards and money owing.’
More Than Riches Page 34
