A Maiden's Voyage

by Rosie Goodwin

  ‘I’ve never met a mother yet who didn’t love her child when it arrived. Some of the women back in the courts where I lived bred like flies. Each time they found out they were having another one they went on as if the end of the world had come but it was a whole different matter when they were born. I think babies must have some sort of a magic spell that they cast over their mothers that makes them love them whether they were planned or not, and I’ve no doubt it will be just the same for Jia Li.’

  ‘That’s all very well but what about Bai?’ Colleen said. ‘Jai Li obviously loves him but will he still love her if and when he ever gets here if she is a mother to another man’s child?’

  ‘If he truly loves her he will when he realises how the child came about. But that’s enough about that for now. If we don’t get a move on and get everything prepared for morning we’re never going to get to bed.’ And so, side by side, the two girls set about the chores although both of their minds were firmly on Jai Li’s predicament.

  The next morning it was as if the night before had never happened for Jai Li went about her jobs with no mention of it and Colleen and Flora decided that they wouldn’t mention it either. Slowly more people were visiting the café. Although the majority of the customers were still American women who called in for tea and cakes, other people were also starting to come in. There were Chinese men and others with skin as black as night and thick, frizzy hair. There were Jews, Germans and Arabs and people seemingly from every corner of the globe. Many were sailors but men from the nearby warehouses were also starting to come in, and by the end of that week they were cooking slightly more food to satisfy the customers’ needs.

  Flora liked nothing more than to listen to the women gossip. The American women seemed so much more open and loud than the ones back in London and now she understood why the English had a reputation for being somewhat reserved. But most of all, she loved chatting to the English sailors who found their way to the café as it made her feel like she had a link with home. One particular morning when Colleen was serving on the counter and Flora was in the kitchen with Jai Li, Colleen came into them looking concerned.

  ‘There’s a hooker just come in,’ she whispered, nodding over her shoulder. ‘What should I do?’

  Flora paused to frown at her. ‘What do you mean? You serve her, of course.’

  Colleen squirmed uncomfortably. ‘But do we really want to attract that type of customer?’

  ‘Her money is just as good as anyone else’s,’ Flora snapped, uncharacteristically sharply. ‘And just remember there but for the grace of God go you or I. Didn’t you tell me that your daddy tried to get you out on the game? Why, most of those women who walk the streets at night walk by here in the day with a horde of little children clinging to their skirts. It’s probably the only way the poor devils can put food in their mouths.’

  Colleen hung her head in shame. ‘I hadn’t thought of it like that,’ she admitted and scuttled away to serve the woman with a smile.

  ‘It seems we’ve more than paid for the food we’ve used this week, although we still need to earn a little more to cover the rent as well,’ Flora told the other two girls on the following Sunday as she checked the books.

  ‘It’ll come,’ Colleen said confidently. ‘It’s spreading by word of mouth now that we sell simple, wholesome food at a competitive price. In no time at all we’ll be having to think of setting on more staff to cope with demand, so we will.’

  Flora smiled at her. She loved Colleen’s enthusiasm and confidence in what they were doing and prayed that she was right.

  It was the last week in June when a letter with a foreign postmark arrived for Jai Li and Colleen and Flora stared at each other speculatively.

  ‘I wonder who it could be off?’ Colleen said curiously. ‘Do you think it might be from Bai?’

  ‘There’s only one way to find out.’ The breakfast rush was over now and they were having a lull in customers before they started to arrive again for tea and home-made biscuits mid-morning. ‘I’ll take it through to her.’

  Instead of looking pleased about it as Flora had expected her to be she noted that Jai Li frowned and took it gingerly from her as if it might bite her.

  ‘Do you think it might be from Bai?’ Flora asked excitedly.

  Jai Li shrugged. ‘It might be. I have friend in China who passes on my letters to him. I write when we first came here to tell him new address so he know where I am.’

  ‘Well, open it then!’

  Jia Li sighed as she did as she was told and began to read the letter which was written in her own language and looked like a load of scribbles to Flora.

  ‘It is from Bai,’ she said quietly. ‘He say he come very soon now.’

  ‘Why … that’s wonderful.’

  Tears glistened on Jia Li’s dark lashes as she shook her head. ‘Not now, not if baby in here.’ She gestured towards her stomach. ‘It time soon to go and see doctor and find out for sure, then if I am with child I must make plans.’

  ‘What sort of plans?’ A cold finger of fear slid down Flora’s spine as she saw the look on the girl’s face.

  ‘Back in my country there are women girls can go to if this happen to them,’ Jai Li said solemnly. ‘She make the problem go away. There must be women like this here too. I find one.’

  ‘If you’re talking about a backstreet abortionist you most certainly will not!’ Flora snapped furiously. ‘Back in London there was a girl I knew who went to one of them. The woman used a dirty knitting needle on her to get rid of the baby and the very next day she bled to death in agony. She was only the same age as me, do you really want to let that happen to you?’

  Jia Li hung her head. ‘Better that than bear the shame or have a baby I cannot love.’

  Flora took her by the shoulders and gently shook her. ‘What you’re forgetting is that this baby didn’t ask to be born, the baby is the innocent in all this and it’s your blood as well as Huan’s that will be flowing through its veins. If it’s there then it must stay there and we’ll see how you feel when it’s born. Then if you really can’t feel anything for it we could always look into having it adopted. There are always childless couples who want babies. Please, Jia Li, think about it. Don’t do anything silly, I beg you.’

  ‘Very well,’ Jia Li agreed, seeing how upset Flora was becoming. ‘I go see doctor very soon and then we decide what we to do.’

  Flora and Colleen exchanged a worried glance and once Jia Li had left the room, Colleen whispered, ‘I don’t trust her not to go and do something silly, so I don’t. For now, I think one of us should be with her at all times in case she slips out to do what she threatened.’

  ‘Trouble is that’s easier said than done. We’re usually in the café while she’s out in the kitchen. She could easily slip away. Or she could even go at night when we’re asleep. I think for now we just have to believe her when she says that she won’t go.’

  Colleen sighed. ‘I suppose you’re right,’ she agreed reluctantly. ‘But I don’t mind telling you I’m worried sick, so I am.’

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  On a balmy night in mid-July when the café had closed and everything was prepared for the next day, Colleen began to prowl about the upstairs sitting room like a caged animal.

  ‘Phew, it’s close, so it is,’ she complained as she yanked at the collar of her dress and brushed a damp red curl from her forehead. ‘I think I’ll go out for a stroll to try and cool down.’

  Flora looked up from the curtains she was sewing with concern. ‘Is that a good idea? You know it isn’t safe for a woman to be out on the streets on her own around here.’

  Colleen airily waved her concerns aside. ‘It’s still light,’ she pointed out, gesturing towards the window. ‘I wouldn’t go if it was dark.’

  Flora felt torn, Jia Li had already retired to bed and she didn’t want to leave her alone but she wanted to go with Colleen too.

  Colleen chuckled as if she could read her mind. ‘I’ll
be fine,’ she promised. ‘You just stay here and keep an ear out for Jia Li. I shan’t be long, I promise.’

  Once outside she let the cool breeze wash over her and sighed with relief before beginning to amble along. The girls were painfully aware that the café was in a far from salubrious area, but as Flora had sensibly pointed out, had it not been they would never have been able to afford the rent on it. The labyrinth of backstreets contained rows and rows of back-to-back tenements where whole families were crowded into a single room. Dotted amongst them were shops that catered to all nationalities as well as a large number of warehouses where women and men worked alongside each other packing and unpacking anything and everything that was either being imported into the country or exported out of it. There were also a number of pubs, which guaranteed that the noise of drunken seamen staggering back to their lodgings could be heard echoing along the streets well into the early hours of each morning.

  That evening was no different and there were still quite a few people about, including hollow-eyed, lice-ridden children playing in the gutters, so she headed for the docks. She loved to see the ships coming and going and it always relaxed her. As usual when she arrived there was a lot going on. Ships of all shapes and sizes were being loaded and unloaded and there were sailors of every race wherever she looked. Many of them whistled at her and stared admiringly as she passed them but Colleen ignored them all and picked her way around the huge coils of ropes and cargo waiting to be loaded. At one point, she was so intent on watching what was going on that she failed to notice a thick rope trailing along the dock and before she knew it she had gone head first over it and fallen heavily, knocking the wind from her. Before she could even attempt to get up strong arms were lifting her and once she was on her feet she found herself staring into a pair of deep-brown eyes. Her heart gave a little flutter and she felt colour climb up her neck and seep into her cheeks as she tried to smooth her skirt. Her rescuer was tall with curly brown hair and his skin was tanned from the many hours he’d spent out in the open air. But it was his smile that she noticed above everything. It lit up his whole face.

  ‘Are you all right?’ the young man asked and she nodded, feeling a complete fool. What must he think of her?

  ‘Aye, I’m fine … thank you. I … I just wasn’t looking where I was going.’

  ‘Have you hurt anything?’ he asked and she found herself smiling at him, although she was usually cautious with strangers.

  ‘Only me pride,’ she assured him. He was still holding onto her elbow and the heat of his hand through her thin blouse was making her heart flutter.

  What’s wrong wit’ me? she wondered. She couldn’t remember ever feeling like this in a young man’s presence before.

  ‘Just take a few steps to make sure you haven’t sprained anything,’ he suggested kindly, pushing an unruly lock of his thick, dark hair from his eyes.

  Colleen took a tentative few steps along the quay before nodding. ‘There look. I’m right as rain, so I am.’

  ‘Even so I think I’d better see you home. This isn’t the place for a young lady like you.’

  She was touched at his concern and shocked that she quite liked the thought of him walking with her. They had gone only a few paces when he nodded towards two women who were leaning with their backs against a warehouse wall eyeing the seamen and calling suggestive comments to them.

  ‘There are always a few of those sorts around here,’ he told her. ‘And it’s rare that they go short of customers with the sailors that have been aboard for some time. If I were you I’d keep away from this place in future. It’s no place for a girl like you. Oh, and I’m Will by the way.’ He held his hand out and she shook it.

  ‘I’m Colleen,’ she introduced herself.

  ‘And do you live around here?’

  She nodded. ‘Yes, me and two of me friends run a little café a few streets away. We’ve not been open that long but it’s doing right well, to be sure.’

  He looked mildly surprised. ‘Really? Well done then. You don’t look old enough to be running a business.’

  ‘Ah well, we didn’t have a lot of choice,’ she confided. ‘We were all thrown out of us jobs and so we had to do somet’ing. But what about you? Are you from hereabouts? You don’t sound as if you come from these parts.’

  ‘I don’t, I just arrived here.’

  ‘Oh, and will you be staying?’ She didn’t know why she cared, but suddenly she did. There was something about this tall, handsome young man that appealed to her. Most of the sailors she had encountered were coarse, callous individuals but Will seemed to be very kind and caring.

  ‘Probably for a time,’ he answered and when he said no more she didn’t press him. The café was in sight by then and she felt almost sorry. She’d enjoyed the short time they’d spent together.

  ‘This is it,’ she told him, suddenly feeling self-conscious when they came to the door.

  His eyes swept over the frontage approvingly. ‘It looks like you have it nice.’

  ‘Thank you, and yes we do. We worked hard on it, so we did, and I had blisters to prove it when we first started to rent it, but it’s starting to pay off now,’ she told him, suddenly feeling shy. ‘And er … t’anks for walking me home.’

  ‘It was my pleasure.’ His eyes were tight on her face now and she felt as if she could have drowned in them. He hesitated as if he wanted to say something before suddenly blurting out, ‘I don’t suppose you’d fancy taking a stroll with me one evening, would you? At least if I came along of you I’d know you were safe.’

  The colour was back in her cheeks again and her eyes were twinkling as she answered, ‘I’d like that but the trouble is I’m not usually finished me chores afore nine at night. We have to prepare the food for the next day when we close up, see? We er … do have Sundays off though, if you happened to be free.’

  ‘I certainly can be,’ he agreed with a broad smile. ‘How about I meet you at about one o’clock in the afternoon on Sunday? We could go and have a walk in the park if you like. I might even buy you an ice cream,’ he teased.

  ‘I’ll look forward to it,’ she told him shyly. ‘And I’ll meet you at the end of the road, shall I?’

  He nodded and with a grin he turned about and strode away with his kitbag slung across his shoulder. Colleen watched until he was out of sight then with a little spring in her step she let herself into the café and sped upstairs.

  ‘Crikey, you’ve perked up, haven’t you?’ Flora teased when Colleen burst into the room. ‘If that’s the effect the air out there has on you I might just go out for a stroll myself.’ Flora stared at her friend curiously. Colleen’s eyes were shining and the sun had brought out an attractive little spattering of freckles across her nose. She had looked tired when she left but now she was full of beans and beaming like a Cheshire cat.

  ‘Well, actually …’ Colleen suddenly felt embarrassed. ‘I was down at the docks, not looking where I was going as I watched the ships come and go when I went sprawling full length over a coil of rope and this er … this young man helped me up and insisted he saw me home. He was the kindest man I’ve ever met.’

  ‘Ah!’ Flora grinned with amusement. ‘So, it’s like that, is it? You’re well and truly smitten.’

  ‘I am not so!’ Colleen protested, but then, ‘Well, I suppose he was very handsome, and so kind.’

  ‘And will we be seeing this paragon of virtue again?’ Flora teased, pleased to see her friend looking so happy.

  Embarrassed, Colleen flushed as she made a great show of smoothing her skirt and keeping her eyes lowered. ‘I, er … did say that I might meet him on Sunday afternoon and take a walk in the park with him. Do you t’ink I should go?’

  ‘Why, of course,’ Flora said encouragingly. ‘That’s a very sensible time to meet until you get to know him a little better. There’ll be lots of people about at that time.’

  Colleen hurried down to the kitchen to make them a last drink and found that she couldn’t stop smi
ling. But then something occurred to her and some of the brightness left her eyes. What if he had only been being nice and he didn’t show up? She supposed all she could do now was wait and see but Sunday suddenly seemed a very long way away, and what was she to wear? None of her clothes were really good enough for a stroll in the park on a Sunday afternoon when all the toffs would be taking an airing. I’ll talk to Flora and ask her advice, she thought as she made them a cup of cocoa.

  ‘But you must have a new outfit,’ Flora insisted when Colleen mentioned her dilemma. ‘The café is making a little profit now even after we’ve bought the food and paid the rent so I can afford to pay you and Jia Li a little wage each week.’

  Colleen shook her head vigorously. ‘No, we all agreed that we’d save every penny we could. After all, Dora said she would sell the café to you for what she paid for it if you can save enough. Just t’ink of that, owning your very own place!’ They had all agreed that the tenancy should be in Flora’s name as she had put the most money into it.

  Flora shrugged. ‘Let’s not try to run before we can walk, eh? How do we know that trade will continue to pick up? Even so, there’s definitely enough for you to treat yourself to a new dress and by the look of those you’re wearing, a new pair of shoes too, so long as you don’t go madly expensive.’

  ‘Oh, I wouldn’t,’ Colleen assured her. ‘I pass a little shop when I go to get the food shopping not far away where they sell good second-hand clothes. I’m sure I could get somet’ing there.’

  ‘Then just as soon as the breakfast rush is over in the morning you must slip away and see if they have anything you like.’ Flora grinned. ‘You never know, you might just have met your Mr Right.’ The words stabbed at her heart as a picture of Jamie suddenly flashed in front of her eyes but she forced herself to remain cheerful. She had never seen Colleen look so happy and she didn’t want to do or say anything that might spoil it for her. She had grown to love both Colleen and Jia Li like sisters and if this young man who had made Colleen smile was the one for her, then she was all for it.