The Rose Carousel

by June Gadsby

  “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.

  Chapter Five

  “She seems to be settling down well.”

  Gavin Calder, having called back later in the day to check that all was well, was watching his small charge closely as she investigated all that was to be found in The Rose Carousel. Her face lit up with delight at every new discovery. And every time the carousel started off, she would insist on taking her place among the other children if there was a vacant mount.

  “She’s fine,” Sally told him. “When will you call for her? We close normally at six o’clock. Eight on Fridays and Saturdays to allow time for working parents to visit.”

  Gavin seemed to be studying the question as if it posed some kind of deep problem. Then he swept over her with his dark, mysterious eyes and she winced. It was almost as if he could read her mind, see beyond the brittle outer veneer she had built around her in the past few years.

  “I can’t guarantee anything at this stage. I’ve explained it all to Anna and I think she understands.”

  “That’s all very well for Anna, but what about me? I don’t seem to be following you at all. What time will you be collecting her?”

  “I can’t give you precise times. Hold onto her until I contact you, or until I turn up. Don’t, whatever you do, hand her over to anyone other than me. Is that clear, Sally?”

  “It’s very clear.”

  “Right. I’ll leave you now so the two of you can get better acquainted. I presume your staff have been told to keep a very tight guard on Anna?”

  “I haven’t had the opportunity to speak with them up to now, but I will just as soon as I’m able. They’re pretty reliable, I can assure you.”

  “Very well. What will you tell them?”

  “That she’s my niece,” Sally wrinkled her nose as she spoke, reminding herself how she hated telling lies of any kind. “That she’s having family problems and we all have to look out for her because she’s a little unpredictable and may try to run away. Okay?”

  “Okay.” Then his face dimpled into a smile. “Are you sure you were never in the CIA?”

  “Excuse me, Mr. Calder,” she ignored his remark and started to brush past him with a smile to match his own. “I think I see my new member of staff arriving.”

  Gavin glanced up and studied the man entering the shop with a nervous, almost furtive expression on his long, dour face. “Name?”

  “The same as Rob’s I assume Barlow – Bruce Barlow. It’s Rob’s brother. He’s going to help us out while Rob is indisposed.”

  Gavin rubbed thoughtfully at his chin. As Sally approached the newcomer, extending a hand and a bright word of welcome, the big American slipped silently out behind him, with only the very briefest of glances in Anna’s direction.

  “Hi, there!” Sally said to the man, who was probably in his mid-thirties, tall, athletic looking and swarthy with a two-day beard that only just looked like it might be part of the fashion of the day. “I’m Sally Rose. You must be Bruce.”

  He looked about him uncertainly, narrowing his eyes as they swept over the
group of pre-school children that were clambering all over the carousel, and kept his hands stuffed firmly in his trouser pockets.

  Sally knew it was wrong to make instant judgements, but she was sure she was not going to like the man.

  “You don’t look anything like Rob.”

  Bruce Barlow’s chin lifted and he fixed her with colourless eyes that didn’t quite go with the thinning, dark hair on his bony head. Rob was fair, bordering on sandy with bright blue eyes and delicate features. This man had a Neanderthal streak and she half expected him to grunt a response.

  “We’re only half brothers.” He said and she couldn’t place the accent. It seemed to have a mingling of many regional burrs all blended together, but was more southern than northern. Rob was a Scot.

  “Well, if you’d like to come into the staff restroom, Bruce, I’ll explain the job and show you where things are.”

  At that moment, Anna broke away from her new friends of the day and came to install herself at Sally’s side, clasping her hand and gazing up into her face as if she wanted something.

  “Who’s she? Your daughter?” Bruce asked, but paid no more than a moment’s attention to Anna.

  “This is Anna, my niece,” Sally said, surprised at how easy the lies came, once you started the ball rolling. “She’s staying with us for a while. Family problems.”

  Bruce gave her a look that was one hundred per cent sceptic. With an attitude like his, Sally thought, he must have had quite a bit of experience of family problems. Or, at least, problems of one sort or another.

  I don’t like him! Dammit! I don’t like him!

  “Bella!” She caught sight of her cousin just entering the shop, late back from lunch and breathless, as usual. “Excuse me, Bruce, but my assistant, Bella, is by far the best person to show you the ropes. Bella, this is Rob’s brother. He’s come to help us out. Show him what to do, will you?”

  Bella’s eyes widened and then her astute green eyes travelled up and down the new man and did not register too much pleasure. They would compare notes later, but Sally thought she and Bella would agree on what they saw, even at first glance.

  “Okay! Come with me, Bruce. Tell me, how long do you think Rob’s going to be on sick leave, only he’s sorely missed around here…..?”

  Sally watched as Bella dragged Bruce off towards the staff room. Bella was a big woman. If she was determined that you should go some place, you didn’t argue. Bruce was no different to anybody else. He went with her, as meek and mild as a lamb to the slaughter.

  “What is it, Anna? Did you want something?” Sally looked down at the little girl who was tugging at her hand.

  Anna nodded, then shook her head and frowned. It struck Sally that the child was having difficulty coping with her problem of non-vocalising.

  “I don’t know what you want, sweetie, but I tell you what – we can communicate if you write it down. Okay? You can write, can’t you?”

  Anna nodded her head enthusiastically. Sally went in search of Magi-board and a crayon. Anna obviously had sufficient experience to know what to do under the circumstances.

  Where is he? She wrote the words slowly and laboriously. Sally took the crayon from her and wrote: Who? Anna wrote: Daddy. Then she rubbed it out and hastily scribbled the word: Gavin.

  “I don’t know where he is at the moment, Anna,” Sally told the child, gently. “He has work to do. He’s asked me to look after you for a while.” Anna nodded, but her face was sad. “You like Gavin, don’t you?” Anna’s face lit up. She nodded now with more than just a little enthusiasm. “Well, when you like someone – when it feels good in here…” Sally indicated her midriff, “…you have to trust them. Do you understand the word trust, Anna?” Another nod. The child was well-versed in English. Suddenly she pointed to the staffroom door and shook her head while pulling a long face.

  Sally thought about that? “Bella?” she said tentatively, but the response was negative. “Bruce? The new man?” Affirmative.

  “You don’t like him?” Another shake of the head. “Me neither, Anna. He’s not our type of person, but he’s helping us out while Rob is nursing his broken foot. You would like Rob. He’s very funny and very gentle. He likes children.”

  That was true, but ironic. Rob adored children. It was such a pity that he would never father any of his own. Like Sally, he got pleasure from the children that passed through the welcome portals of The Rose Carousel.

  As soon as Bruce donned the clown’s outfit, just managing to get into Rob’s costume, Sally saw a complete transformation and relaxed somewhat. He became Jojo on the instant. He effected a high, clown-like voice, laughed and joked with children and parents alike, even bringing a smile to the most serious face.

  In two days it was as if he had been doing the job for years. Sally still didn’t like the man, but she couldn’t fault his work and she was grateful not to have to be the stand-in clown any longer.

  “Well, I didn’t think I’d say this, but the man is good,” Bella nodded in Bruce’s direction where he was playing the fool around the carousel, climbing up on the horses, balancing, cart-wheeling and doing hand-stands, to great applause.

  “Exactly what I was thinking,” Sally nodded slowly, her eyes automatically searching out Anna. “Even little Anna is warming to him and she didn’t like him at all at first.”

  “That kid has good taste for one so young,” Bella gave a low laugh and returned Anna’s joyful wave as she whirled around and up and down on her favourite unicorn. “Just look at her. I’d say she was born in the saddle.”

  “Well, they are Americans, Bella. And rich. They probably have horses in their blood.”

  “And what, do you think, does your Mister Wonderful have in his blood, eh?” Bella gave Sally a wicked wink.

  “Iced water, probably,” Sally said grumpily, though she wasn’t at all sure that she believed that.

  Gavin was an unusually attractive man. And, of course, it was that foreignness about him that appealed to her. The dark, good looking face that had toughness about it, marked with a life that had not been easy all the way. And the eyes, so fathomless that seemed to be able to see right down inside her. But it was his smile that really turned her knees to water and made her heart palpitate.

  Not that she would admit that to Bella. Much as she loved her cousin, she knew that if she told her this tiny secret, she would be plagued for ever more on the subject of Gavin Calder. And whichever way she looked at the situation, she knew it was only a temporary thing. Once he got the business of the kidnapping threats under control it would be over and she would probably never see him again.

  By six o’clock, Gavin had not appeared to collect Anna, as usual. By seven, Anna was a little fractious and Sally was worried. Bella, sensing her anxiety, stayed behind, helping to amuse the small girl that she had taken to her big, generous heart. In fact, there wasn’t a member of staff at The Rose Carousel that hadn’t taken to Anna in a big way. She was an adorable child.

  “Don’t worry, Anna,” Sally stroked the little girl’s velvety soft cheek and looked into the big, pleading eyes that were turned up to hers. “Gavin is late, I know, but he’ll come and get you eventually. Doesn’t he always?”

  A solemn nod.

  “The kid’s crazy about that man,” Bella shook her head.

  “Substitution,” Sally murmured, her chin in her hand.

  They had closed up the shop and gone up to the flat, which was the arrangement she had made with Gavin in the event of him not turning up before closing time.

  Sally was tired and she had a mammoth headache that didn’t want to go away, despite numerous doses of aspirin, which she only ever took in emergency. It had been a long, hard day and even Anna was beginning to look tired and bored.

  “Look, Sal, why don’t you and get a breath of fresh air,” Bella suggested. “I’ll stay here with Anna. You’ll be all right with me, sweetie, won’t you?”

  Anna looked uncertain about that and Sally knew why. Gavin had
schooled the child well on what she could or could not do in his absence. She was very fond of Bella naturally, but she had been told to stay with Sally at all times and she was a surprisingly obedient little girl.

  “No, I think we’d better wait here…”

  But Anna was tugging at her hand, dragging her to the door. Her eyes had lit up at the mention of going out for a walk and Sally couldn’t really see the danger in a short stroll down to the park and back.

  “All right, Anna. We’ll go for a short walk, eh?” Sally raised hopeful eyebrows at Bella. “That is if Bella will hold the fort till we get back?”

  Bella rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Silly question,” she said with a sucking sound to her teeth that sounded like Sally’s great-aunt Jane. “Go on with you. If Gavin comes I’ll just have to entertain him with my beauty and wit.”

  “Don’t try too hard. You might frighten him off!”

  “Gee, honey, it’s great having you for a friend!” Bella affected a bad false American accident, then gave a giggle. “Oh, go on, Sal. What harm can it do? It strikes me both you and Anna are badly in need of a breath of air.”

  Anna was nodding enthusiastically. Sally looked at her and thought about it for a while, then told the child to fetch their coats.

  “All right, Bella,” she said. “We won’t be long and, with a bit of luck, we’ll be back before Gavin shows – if he shows at all.”

  “If he shows? What do we do with Anna if he doesn’t? Do you have their address or what?”

  “No, but…” Sally flapped her hands in frustration and heaved a sigh. “Oh, Bella, don’t look at me like that!”

  “Like what?”

  “Like I’m some kind of naïve fool. You know – the kind who buys things with a credit card without realising she has to pay the bill at the end of the month.”

  “Would I ever? You don’t know how to contact him, do you?”

  “No.”

  Bella’s head immediately sank to the side and she pulled in her mouth to show her disapproval. “Just what is the story, Sal? Do you really know what you’re doing?”