“I heard her talking about it to my father last night.” Stella was whispering and giggling. “My mother was saying how handsome your dad was and how he was such a charming and talented man, and that she thought they would make a great couple.”
Maria’s stomach turned over.
“She was singing your father’s praises so much to Diana that my father was teasing her later, and saying that it sounded as though Mum fancied Leo herself. Mum said he was only jealous because your dad had lovely tan and good thick hair. Can you imagine it? Imagine going on about fancying people and being jealous at their age? Wouldn’t it make you feel sick?” She paused. “Although Diana is really nice. She doesn’t look as old as Mum and she wears fantastic modern clothes.”
Maria closed her eyes. She felt the same now as she did when she heard Mrs Lowry telling her father that it was time he met someone else.
“Maria?” Stella said. “Are you still there?”
“Yes . . . yes.” Her voice felt jagged in her throat. “I was just thinking that your mum’s friend will only be wasting her time coming to the races. Dad had no interest in meeting anyone. He always says that my mother was the love of his life and that no one else could ever measure up to her.”
“That was a long time ago – he might have changed his mind. Maybe he just needs to meet the right one. Diana’s lovely – she would make a great stepmum. You could borrow all her fabulous clothes!”
“Stella!” Maria cut her off. “My father does not want another wife and I do not want a stepmother. Have you got it? Is that clear enough?”
“Okay – okay.” Stella was shocked at Maria’s attitude. “Keep your hair on!”
There was a tense silence.
“Sorry, Maria – I didn’t mean to upset you. I was exaggerating a bit. I don’t think my mum was serious about Diana and your dad. It was just a bit of a laugh.”
“Well, I don’t find it one bit funny.”
“Maria, I know you don’t joke about things like that, but some people do and they don’t mean any harm. They’re not doing it to upset you. Everybody is different.”
Maria took a deep breath. She did feel upset, but she did her best to control it. She had just made up with Stella after the row over Tony and she didn’t want to go headlong into another argument. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s just drop the subject.”
“If I hear my mum mentioning anything about it again, I’ll tell her not to be so stupid. I’ll tell her that your dad isn’t interested in anyone else and not to make a fool of Diana.”
Maria heard the sharpness in her friend’s tone. “I don’t want you to upset your mother,” she said. “Maybe it’s best if you say nothing about it.”
“Okay. I won’t say anything. If that’s what you want.”
Maria now felt Stella was making a real point of agreeing with everything she said, which made her feel as if she was the one who was being unreasonable. “So,” she said, in a lighter tone, “what are your plans with Tony for tonight?”
There was a silence then Stella whispered. “Just the party. And Tony said he’ll get me a taxi home.”
The conversation gradually got back onto a more normal footing as they revived the safe topic of the outfits they might wear, and offered each other advice on particular ones they liked. But underneath the chat there was a small but definite strain between them.
When the phone was back in its cradle Maria stood for a long time just staring at it. She wondered if the problem was all her fault. Was she too serious and touchy? Was she too old-fashioned and judgemental? Would the other girls at school feel as shocked about the way Stella had let Tony paw her in the cinema and would they have disapproved of her plans to go to an all-night party?
She wondered why she was so suddenly annoyed with everything Stella was doing and saying. Had her friend really changed that much? Or were the different boyfriends they had chosen now highlighting the differences between them?
Maria wished she had someone she could confide it all to. Mrs Lowry was too old and she felt she couldn’t trust the other girls at school not to repeat what she said back to Stella.
She wished she had someone she could talk to about her father as well – but there was no one she could think of who would understand. She fleetingly considered Franco, but dismissed it just as quickly. Her father would be devastated if he discovered she had talked about him to his friend, and it would compromise Franco’s loyalty. What did other girls do in this situation, she wondered? And then the greatest sadness suddenly wrapped itself around her. The familiar sadness that she tried so hard to forget. Of course, the other girls all had mothers they could talk to about things like that.
And if her mother were alive, then her father would not be wasting his life drinking and gambling – because Maria knew he only did those things to fill his time. To fill the void left by his beautiful wife. She knew this answer so well and so deep in her heart, as she had reasoned it out so many times before.
She allowed herself to go for a few minutes to that sad – almost holy – place in her mind. A place that was like no other. A place where she was a young child again and where she could bring back to mind the memories and pictures of her beloved mother. At times it was easy to remember and at others it was very hard. This was one of the hard times when she felt sorry for herself for having no kind female to advise her.
When she felt the silent tears dropping onto her hand she knew she had allowed herself to go too far and she quickly moved to go and get dressed. It would not be fair on her father if he came up and found her in such a state. She knew that he would easily be moved to tears himself and the sadness would cling to them both and to their house for the rest of the day.
Chapter 15
As her father’s car pulled up in front of the Palace Hotel, Maria spotted Paul standing to the side of the entrance and she felt her heart quicken. She pulled her fur coat around her and hoped the dress she was wearing was okay, and that she hadn’t gone too mad with her eyes. As she reached for the door handle, her father’s hand moved to cover hers.
“Have a good night, my darling.”
She turned towards him. The very serious look on his face made her suddenly feel sad. Made her realise that this first formal date had a bigger effect on him than she had imagined. She knew that he was thinking that this was some kind of landmark – a change in their relationship that would never allow it to go back to quite what it was.
“It’s only a dance,” she said. “And I promise I won’t be that late.”
“Go and enjoy yourself and come home safely when everyone else is coming home. Don’t hang about the city centre too long as it won’t be as nice as it is now. It can be dangerous for a young girl later on at night when men are drunk and maybe even fighting.”
“I’ll be fine.”
Leo shrugged. “You never know. We even had trouble outside the restaurant recently. Young thugs teasing poor Timothy again and threatening to beat him up.”
Timothy was a slow, effeminate-mannered man who was well known in the area around the restaurant, as he did shopping for his elderly mother and his sister who was in a wheelchair. He was a cheery man, but periodically he did a tour of all the local bars, rather overindulging – and on a couple of those occasions he had become a target for local teenagers.
“Oh, no,” Maria said. “What happened?” She had only met Timothy briefly on a couple of occasions, but knew from what her father had told her that he was a harmless soul.
“Oh, Franco and I had to go outside and chase them off.”
Maria’s hand felt for the door handle. “I promise I’ll be careful.”
A shadow came on the driver’s window and when she looked she saw it was Paul who had obviously recognised the car. Leo rolled down the window and they shook hands.
They talked for a few minutes about the windy weather earlier in the day and the effect it had had on the riding-school grounds.
“We’ve been clearing up all afternoon
,” Paul told them. “A big old tree came down, and the place was littered with broken branches. But it’s all been dealt with and my father was just happy that the worst of it happened early in the morning and that no one was injured.”
“Of course, of course,” Leo said. “That’s the most important thing.”
Maria’s eyes moved from one to the other as they spoke and she felt a sense of relief as she noted Paul’s easy way of responding to her father, and how he bent his head as he listened carefully and with respect to everything Leo said.
She was also pleased that it was her father who ended the conversation. He glanced at his watch and said he needed to get back to the restaurant as there was a big Golden Wedding Anniversary group due in and he wanted to be there to greet them all personally.
Maria got out of the car and, as she went towards Paul, she saw he was wearing a lovely grey collarless suit with a perfect white shirt and a fashionably skinny maroon tie. She also noticed the expensive gold tie-pin which had a single music note with a small diamond in the centre. She guessed his mother had bought it for him.
“Have an enjoyable night.” Leo looked directly at Paul as he started the car engine up again. “And I know I can trust a respectable boy like you to look after Maria and see her safely home later.”
“Of course,” Paul said, nodding. “I’ll book a taxi for us in plenty of time before the dance finishes.”
They walked towards the hotel entrance, a small awkward space between them. Maria felt the same shy way that she’d felt the night they went to the cinema. Then he moved closer to her and put his arm around her shoulders and she felt a sense of relief.
“Your father is a real gentleman,” Paul said. “Everyone seems to like him, and it’s obviously helped his business to be the great success it is. You must be very proud of him.”
They moved slowly up the steps towards the big glass doors.
“Yes, I am proud of him. And he is a lovely man – but he’s not completely perfect.”
“Who is? My parents certainly aren’t perfect either, but I know I’m lucky that they are better than most.”
She looked up at him and something about his eyes made her suddenly think that he might be the person she was looking for – the person she could confide in about Stella and maybe even about her father. Not just now, and certainly not tonight. But maybe later.
He caught her eye and drew her to a halt. Then his gaze moved from the top of her head right down to her stiletto heels. “If you don’t mind me saying – you look absolutely gorgeous tonight.”
Maria looked down at herself. “Do I?”
“Absolutely!” He suddenly seemed flustered. “I’m really pleased that the weather improved. I was afraid that we would have to cancel our date.”
“Were you?”
“I know we could have re-organised it for another night, but I’m glad we didn’t have to.”
Maria nodded and gave a self-conscious smile, and then she suddenly worried that he might think she wasn’t as enthusiastic as he would like, so she said, “Yes, I’m glad too.”
He took a step towards her, but moved back again when an elderly couple came towards them.
“Hello, Paul!” the woman said.
“Hello, Mrs Tordoff.” He smiled and then stepped forward to shake hands with her husband.
The woman smiled warmly at Maria. “We’re neighbours of the Spencers. I take it you’re here for the dance?”
Paul quickly introduced Maria and then explained about his father’s bad back and how he and Maria were using the tickets.
“I’m so sorry your parents won’t be here, but I’m sure it will be a lovely night. The cricket crowd are great at organising things.” She took her husband’s arm. “We won’t keep you – I know you young people will be waiting to catch up with all your young friends.”
After they left, Paul turned to her. “To be honest, I’m not that friendly with anyone from the cricket club so I haven’t a clue about what table we’ll be sitting at or anything like that. I think my mother mentioned something about it, but I wasn’t really paying attention.” He gave a weak smile. “I was too busy thinking about asking you to come with me.”
She could see by his face that he was not as confident as she imagined he would be, and in a way it made her feel closer to him. As if they were both in the same boat.
“It doesn’t matter who we sit with,” she said. “We’ll still have a good time.”
As they walked into the hotel, Maria thought it was the nicest, place she had ever been in. It was fairly busy, with very well-dressed people sitting on sofas and chairs chatting over drinks. A few people at different tables spoke to Paul as they went past, but he only politely acknowledged them and didn’t stop to chat to anyone. Maria smiled at anyone who looked at her, and quietly took note of what the younger women were wearing. When she spotted a few other girls with similar short styles – although none in black or sequinned – she decided she was happy enough with what she was wearing and she felt herself begin to relax a little.
They found the cloakroom and Paul held her black handbag for her while she slipped off her coat and gave it to the lady to hang up. Then, as the attendant turned away, Paul moved behind Maria and kissed her on the back of the neck.
“That dress is absolutely gorgeous – you look stunning in it,” he whispered. “I can see I’m going to have to keep a close eye on you with all the other men.”
She laughed and slid her arm through his, and they walked back to where all the others were.
Paul indicated the long bar. “We’ve loads of time before we need to go into the ballroom, so I’ll get us a drink first. What will you have? A wine or a sherry? Or maybe a Babycham?”
She shrugged and then leaned towards him. “Maybe a lemonade would be safer? I don’t want you embarrassed if they start checking my age . . .”
“Stop worrying,” he said quietly. “You look as old as any of the girls in here, and I’ve never had trouble being served alcohol in any pubs I’ve been in, so if you want a drink I’ll get it.”
“Okay, that would be lovely. A glass of red wine, please.”
“We’ll find a table first, so you can sit down.” He looked around, then he spotted one over in the corner near the entrance to the ballroom. “That’s in a good spot and we can see everyone coming and going.” He touched her elbow and then guided her across the carpeted floor towards the long, low table which had a nice big comfortable velvet couch with a couple of high-backed matching armchairs opposite it.
The touch of his hand on her bare arm as they walked along made her catch her breath and sparked a small flame in the pit of her stomach. She recognised it as the same feeling she had a few nights ago when he kissed her. She went around the table to sit on the sofa, and, as she watched him going back towards the bar – tall, good-looking with his quietly confident way – she couldn’t believe how lucky she was to be out at a dance in Manchester with Paul Spencer. There were plenty of girls at the riding school – some older than her – who would be thrilled to be asked out by him.
She could see him talking to another boy at the bar who looked around the same age, and thought it was good he had met up with someone he knew. As she watched, two dark-haired girls with quite daring, low-cut strapless dresses came over and started chatting to the boys and Maria could tell, by the way the taller one flicked her hair back and then leaned in close when she was talking to Paul, that she fancied him. She also knew, by the way the girls were acting, that they were older than her, probably around eighteen like Paul and the age difference niggled at her, because the girls that age at school in sixth year were often dismissive towards the younger ones like her.
Maria’s eyes narrowed in watchfulness, and then she saw Paul moving away from the group to catch the barman’s eye and when he gave his order she was pleased to see that he didn’t move back to join them again. Then, at one point, she saw him looking over at her and when he caught her eye he smiled and rais
ed his eyebrows, checking she was okay, and she smiled back and nodded her head.
As he came back towards the table carrying their drinks, she suddenly wondered what he saw in her that had made him single her out. When she was growing up, she knew from adults’ comments and from her friends in school that she wasn’t unattractive, but she did not feel she was as pretty as some of her other friends or as fashionable as Stella. It wasn’t exactly a question she could ask any of her friends, as it would sound weird or as if she was fishing for compliments.
Paul came back to the table and told her that the boy he had been talking to was called Jim McPherson. Paul had known him from primary school but hadn’t seen him in ages.
“He’s a keen cricketer apparently,” Paul told her, “which is quite surprising as I don’t remember him being very sporty at school. But then, I don’t suppose we should judge people on what they were like at eleven years old.” He smiled. “God, when I think back, I was probably absolutely awful at that age.”
“And who were the two girls with him?” Maria asked.
Paul shrugged. “I don’t know – he didn’t introduce us.”
He said nothing more about them, instead commenting on how much busier it was getting and how all the seats were starting to fill up. After a while, two older couples came and asked if they could sit at their table. The two men took the chairs and brought a third chair over for one of the women. Paul moved a space or two along the sofa to let the other lady sit at the end, and then he reached for Maria’s hand to help her move alongside him. He waited until she had lifted her handbag and was settled again, then put his arm around her shoulders and drew her near, so that she was leaning in towards him and their legs were close together. Maria thought it felt wonderful.
They were just finishing their drinks when the woman next to them pointed out to the others in the group that people were starting to head into the ballroom. When the older couples got up from the table, Paul and Maria followed along behind them. The queue was moving, so within a couple of minutes they were at the ballroom door. Paul handed their tickets over to a man in a tuxedo and tails and he told them to go inside and check their names on the lists that they would find on a table there.
Music from Home Page 12
