Spitfire Girl

by Lily Baxter

  Tony looked down at Charlie, shaking his head. ‘I wonder if you know what a lucky chap you are to have someone who loves you enough to give up everything for you?’

  Charlie wagged his tail and offered a paw. Tony bent down and shook it solemnly. ‘You look after your mistress, old boy. She’s one in a million.’

  Susan glanced anxiously at the people standing at the bar. ‘Patrick is still here,’ she whispered. ‘He’s going to be in terrible trouble at home.’

  ‘That’s his problem. He’s a big boy and he knows what he’s doing.’ Tony frowned as Roz laughed at something that Patrick had said. ‘It’s Roz I feel sorry for. I think he’s leading her on and she’s worth more than that.’

  Susan’s heart sank. It had not occurred to her that Tony might have someone else in mind, and the idea that he might harbour feelings for Roz was unexpectedly and unbelievably painful. She knew now why she had travelled this far in war-torn England, and it was not simply to satisfy her ambition to fly an aeroplane. Suddenly she needed time to think. Murmuring an excuse she left him waiting in line to be served and edged her way towards the door which led to the Fullers’ private quarters.

  She was not certain how much was expected of her in order to earn her keep, but she realised that if she did not make an effort to cook something they would have to exist on bread and cheese. She met Bob at the foot of the stairs.

  ‘Sounds as though it’s getting busy in the bar,’ he said cheerfully. ‘I’m going to play mine host now and relieve Roz. By the way, how did you get on with the dragon lady?’

  Susan stifled a giggle. ‘It was fine. She was okay with me.’

  ‘Then you’re honoured. Elspeth has been known to reduce the toughest women to tears on their first day working for her. Luckily Mrs D is made of sterner stuff and I think Elspeth is a bit scared of her.’ He was about to head for the bar but Susan called him back.

  ‘Mr Fuller, wait.’

  He turned with a grin. ‘Call me Bob, everyone does.’

  ‘I was wondering if it would be all right to make something for supper. Unless you’ve already eaten, that is.’

  ‘That’s a capital idea, young Susan. We usually grab a sandwich at the end of the evening, but if you can rustle up something hot and tasty I might have to adopt you as my second daughter.’ Chuckling, Bob opened the door to the bar and was met with a wave of sound and a waft of tobacco smoke.

  Susan smiled to herself. ‘They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, Charlie, and it certainly seems to work.’

  Happily oblivious to human problems, he pranced on ahead of her, pushing the kitchen door open with his nose and making a half-hearted dive at Orlando, who met his enthusiastic greeting with an arched back and a warning hiss.

  Susan set to work exploring the shelves in the larder, which was well stocked with tins of baked beans, soup and condensed milk, but very little else. There was however a large packet of macaroni and a slab of cheese, which was a luxury considering the strict rationing of dairy products. Susan could only suppose that there must be fewer restrictions on catering establishments, or else Bob did a bit of black market trading on the side. Milk did not seem to be a problem either and she was able to make a rich cheese sauce to pour over the cooked pasta.

  She put the dish in the oven to brown and busied herself by tidying the kitchen and washing the teacups and side plates that Roz and Bob had abandoned on the draining board. She had just finished and was taking the dish from the oven when Roz entered the kitchen. She was flushed and her dark eyes glowed with an inner light. She looked, Susan thought, like a woman in love. Her heart ached for her, and also for Tony who did not stand a chance while Patrick was around, but most of all the pain was her own. She forced a smile. ‘I hope you’re hungry, Roz.’

  Roz went to the sink and filled a tumbler with water. She drained it in two thirsty gulps. ‘It gets so stuffy in the bar with everyone smoking.’ She turned to Susan with a bright smile. ‘Dad said you were making something nice for supper. I could smell it in the bar.’

  ‘It’s just macaroni cheese. Sit down and have some while it’s hot.’

  Roz pulled out a chair and took a seat, resting her elbows on the table. ‘Have you ever been in love, Susan?’

  She almost dropped the serving spoon. ‘Nothing serious.’

  ‘You’re damn lucky in that case.’ Roz took the plate from her and sat looking at the steaming pasta covered in bubbling cheese sauce. ‘Love isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.’

  Susan took her plate to the table and sat down. ‘Especially when the man is married.’ She bit her lip. She had not meant to blurt it out in such a blunt manner.

  Roz paused with the fork halfway to her mouth. ‘Pardon?’

  ‘Oh, Roz, it’s so obvious. You and Patrick, I mean.’

  ‘You didn’t say anything to Elspeth, did you?’ Roz glared at her, visibly shaken.

  ‘Of course not. What do you take me for?’

  ‘I don’t know, but you turn up on our doorstep like a stray cat and all of a sudden she offers you a job. Why would she do that unless she had an ulterior motive? Or did she send you here in the first place? I wouldn’t put it past the bitch.’

  Susan stared at her in dismay. ‘That’s ridiculous. I’d never met the woman until yesterday.’

  ‘But you were pretty quick in taking the job with her, and then you come back here making ridiculous accusations.’

  ‘I’m sorry if I upset you. I wish I hadn’t said anything.’

  Roz pushed her plate away, rising to her feet. ‘I don’t need you spying on me.’

  ‘That’s not true and it’s not fair.’

  ‘Who asked you to stick your nose into my business anyway?’

  ‘I didn’t. I mean, I was just telling you how it must seem to everyone who sees you and Patrick together.’

  ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about, and I obviously can’t trust you to keep your mouth shut. I think you’d better pack your bags and leave here first thing tomorrow morning.’ Roz stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

  Chapter Twelve

  Susan went to bed early. She was exhausted, upset and furious with Roz for believing that she would betray her secret to anyone, least of all Elspeth. She slid beneath the covers but she could not get warm. She was shivering and her teeth were chattering more from distress than actual cold. It was not very warm in her room and even with Charlie lying across her feet they remained like blocks of ice. She closed her eyes, but she could still see Roz’s angry face and hear her bitter accusations.

  A few well-meant words spoken in sympathy had made an enemy of someone who until that moment had been her friend, and now she and Charlie would be on the move once again. She turned on her side, listening to the babble of voices coming from the bar. The smell of tobacco smoke and beer wafted up through the cracks between the ancient floorboards, and she could hear the pub door opening and closing as the customers left for home. Then all was quiet, except for Charlie’s gentle snoring.

  She was just drifting off to sleep when she heard the click of the latch and her door opened. She snapped upright, pulling the sheet up to her chin.

  ‘Susan, it’s me.’ Roz slipped into the room, closing the door behind her. She switched on the light.

  ‘What d’you want, Roz? I think you said it all downstairs.’

  Roz perched on the edge of the bed, stroking Charlie in an abstracted way. She had removed her makeup and her dark hair hung loose around her shoulders. She wrapped her dressing gown around her, folding her arms across her chest. ‘I came to apologise,’ she said softly. ‘I shouldn’t have gone for you like that. It really wasn’t fair.’

  Susan leaned back against the headboard, blinking as her eyes grew accustomed to the light. ‘I wouldn’t dream of saying anything to anyone, least of all Elspeth.’

  ‘I know, and I’m really sorry. It was just a shock to hear it put into words.’

  ‘You’re making it
pretty obvious,’ Susan said gently. ‘Both of you.’

  Roz ran her hand through her tumbled locks. ‘Oh, God. What a mess. Elspeth is already suspicious, and if Dad finds out there’ll be hell to pay.’

  ‘I don’t know what to say.’

  ‘The obvious thing would be to put a stop to it, but it’s not that easy. It’s gone too far.’

  ‘You mean you’re …’ Susan stopped herself just in time. A dull flush coloured Roz’s cheeks and she averted her gaze. ‘I’m sorry. It’s really nothing to do with me.’

  ‘Yes. That’s what makes it such a terrible mess, but I love him. We never intended it to happen, but things went too far.’ Roz threw back her head and laughed, but it was a humourless sound. ‘I never thought I’d lose my virginity in the back of someone’s car, even if it was an expensive model like the Triumph Gloria. That sort of thing is for sluts like Connie Makepeace, the village floozy, not for Roz Fuller whose dad sent her to an expensive boarding school and expected her to grow up to be a young lady.’ She flicked angry tears from her eyes. ‘I’m just terrified I’ll get pregnant like bloody Elspeth, but there won’t be a younger brother willing to step up to save my reputation, such as it is.’

  ‘You told me that was why Patrick had married Elspeth, but I don’t understand why he felt it necessary to make an honest woman of her. It sounds like something out of a Jane Austen novel.’

  Roz sniffed and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her dressing gown. ‘It does, doesn’t it? The fact is that the Petersons are what you’d call genteelly poor. Patrick’s elder brother, Martin, worked for old man Colby and he made a play for Elspeth. I don’t know if his reasons were mercenary or if he really loved her, but anyway, as I told you, they were engaged to be married and just weeks before the wedding Martin died. Elspeth was left pregnant and unmarried.’

  ‘But it’s not as if she was poor and would have had to struggle on alone. She had a wealthy family to support her.’

  ‘Yes, but her father is the old-fashioned type. Elspeth is an only child and Mr Colby didn’t want to pass his business on to a bastard. He made Patrick an offer he couldn’t refuse.’

  Susan stared at her in disbelief. ‘Why did he go along with such an outrageous plan? He could have said no.’

  ‘He could, but his parents are tenant farmers on land owned by Colby. They’ve been there for generations and Mr Colby bought the estate some years ago when the landowner died and his heirs wanted the cash. Patrick says that Colby threatened to evict his mum and dad if he didn’t marry Elspeth. It was straightforward blackmail, but Patrick had only just qualified and he didn’t have a bean.’

  ‘What about Elspeth? Didn’t she have any say in the matter?’

  ‘Not much, but I think she was happy to go along with it. She always had a soft spot for Patrick, even when she was going out with Martin. Anyway, she knew she would be damaged goods and her dad would have his work cut out to find another mug to marry her, even with all the cash incentives he could offer.’

  ‘So Patrick did the honourable thing.’

  ‘You could say that, although I didn’t really know him then. I’d only just left school when they got married. I’d seen him around the village, of course, but he was several years my senior and anyway he’d been away at university, so our paths had rarely crossed.’

  ‘How did you get to know him?’

  A reminiscent smile curved Roz’s generous lips. ‘It was his stag night. He held it here and he came in with several of his old friends. They were buying the drinks and he was standing quietly on the other side of the bar. I was helping out by washing glasses and I looked at him and he looked at me.’

  Susan breathed a sigh. ‘And you fell in love as your eyes met?’

  ‘No. Not then. Actually I felt a bit sorry for him. I’d never seen anyone look so hunted, but I didn’t think much of it until later.’

  ‘So how did you two get together?’

  ‘It was through Orlando. He got run over in the High Street and I took him to Patrick’s surgery. He was so kind and gentle with the poor cat. I was in floods of tears and I thought he was going to die, but Patrick told me not to worry and he’d fix Orlando up so that he was as good as new. And he did.’

  ‘And you had to see him quite often then, I suppose.’

  ‘I did, and then he started calling in for a drink after work. I began to look forward to seeing him, and then I couldn’t wait for him for walk through the door. My day wasn’t complete unless I’d seen him and spoken to him.’

  ‘And he obviously felt the same.’

  ‘Yes.’ Roz stared dreamily into space. ‘Then one day I realised that Orlando had fleas.’ She giggled. ‘I know it doesn’t sound very romantic but I was horrified and I took him to Patrick, practically knocking down the surgery door in my haste to get something done about the little perishers. Or perhaps I just wanted to be alone with Patrick. I don’t know, but somehow we ended up kissing, and it went on from there.’

  ‘I’m so sorry, Roz.’

  ‘Don’t be. It’s the most wonderful and yet the most terrible thing that’s ever happened to me. I live for the moments we’re together and I suffer the torments of hell when he goes back to his wife. I hate Elspeth with a passion, and yet I’m the scarlet woman, and she’s the wronged wife. Does that make any sense to you?’

  ‘I think so. But I’ve never felt that strongly about anyone.’

  Roz sighed and rose to her feet. ‘If you ever do, I hope it’s in happier circumstances. Being the other woman is agony, and I can’t see it ending in anything but disaster for both of us.’

  Susan drew her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. ‘But your dad will stand by you, won’t he?’

  ‘Dad’s old-fashioned like Mr Colby. He’s put so much store by me that it’s frightening. He thinks that because he gave me a private education I’m going to marry a doctor or a lawyer and make him proud.’ She moved slowly towards the door. ‘I’m sorry for before, and I apologise for dumping my problems on you, Susan. You will stay on, won’t you? I need a friend right now.’

  ‘Of course I will, and I’ll tell Elspeth I can’t cope with two jobs. I won’t go back there after tomorrow.’

  Roz paused with her fingers curled round the doorknob. ‘Don’t do that. If you can bear to work for the witch I’d rather you kept going there. I think she’ll try to persuade you to spy on us, and you must tell me what she says. I’m putting all my trust in you, Susan. I hope that you won’t let me down.’ She switched off the light as she left the room.

  Susan uncurled herself and stretched out in the bed with Charlie snuggling up against her. She could not help envying Roz, who had a nice home and a loving parent; everything in fact that Susan had always longed for. Even though Roz’s love affair seemed doomed, at least she had a man who adored her and would risk everything just to be with her. Susan lay staring into the darkness until eventually her eyelids grew heavy and she fell asleep.

  Next day Susan returned to the Petersons’ mansion. Her knee was stiff and sore, which made riding the bicycle painful, but she was determined to keep her job. She knew instinctively that Elspeth would have no qualms about sacking her if she proved to be unpunctual, and she would not be interested in excuses however valid. She did her work, following Elspeth’s previous instructions to the letter, but the only time she saw her that day was when she happened to be shaking a duster out of an upstairs window and Elspeth was strolling across the stable yard. She was wearing overalls and her hair was confined in a turban. Susan could only suppose that she was going to the hangar to play at being an engineer. Somehow she could not believe that Elspeth knew one end of a spanner from the other, and her manicured hands with their long, painted fingernails were hardly suited to manual labour.

  She closed the window and went back to dusting the dressing table. She had to work quickly and efficiently in order to get round the whole house in the short space of an afternoon and it was dark by the time she had finished c
leaning the first floor. She went downstairs to stow away the cleaning materials, murmuring a greeting to Mrs Harper in passing.

  ‘It’s all right for some,’ Mrs Harper said, chopping onions with vicious cuts of a surgically sharp blade. ‘You can go home now and put your feet up. I’ve got dinner to prepare and now Madam wants tea in the drawing room. I’ve only got one pair of hands since young Connie upped and left to work in a factory for three times what she earned here.’

  Susan wondered if this was the infamous slut Connie Makepeace, but she did not like to ask. ‘Um, I could help if you like,’ she said cautiously. ‘What needs doing?’

  ‘You?’ Mrs Harper stared at her, red-eyed and sniffing back tears as the strong odour of the onions made her cry. ‘Are you a parlour maid? Have you had any training?’

  Memories of Mrs Kemp’s strict regime flashed through Susan’s mind. She nodded. ‘Actually I spent some time in service. I know what’s what.’

  ‘Well, now. Life is full of surprises.’ Mrs Harper dashed her hand across her eyes. ‘Go on then. It’ll be tea for two. Make some sandwiches and butter some scones. Luckily I made a batch before I had my afternoon rest. And make sure you cut the crusts off the sandwiches. Madam doesn’t like them left on.’ She jerked her head in the direction of the larder. ‘You’ll find everything in there. She’ll have to put up with salmon paste today. That’s all I could get sent from Spakes.’

  ‘Right you are,’ Susan said cheerfully. ‘Tea for two it is.’ She set about her task, exploring the depths of the walk-in larder with its well-stocked shelves. Obviously the Petersons had no intention of going hungry. Despite rationing there were always going to be people who could afford luxuries. She took what she needed and with the expertise of long practice she made a plate of dainty sandwiches and buttered some scones. She filled a cut-glass dish with homemade strawberry jam and put it on the tray. ‘Where do you keep the table napkins, Mrs Harper?’

  ‘In the dresser. Left hand drawer.’ Mrs Harper threw the chopped onions into a pan on the stove. ‘So you do know how things are done, young lady.’