‘It ain’t up to me.’
Rosie sensed the undercurrents and didn’t like what was happening. ‘Look, Peggy, you and me have always been able to talk things through. Why can’t you say what’s really on your mind?’ When Peggy remained sullen, she murmured, ‘Please. You’ve always been like a sister to me. Don’t let anybody spoil that. Not Robert, not anyone.’
Peggy looked into those troubled brown eyes and felt ashamed. ‘I’m sorry, gal,’ she said sincerely, ‘I don’t want to mar any happiness you might have found, because God only knows you deserve it. But, well, to be honest, I just don’t trust the bugger.’
‘It’s got nothing to do with you wanting him then?’ Rosie knew if she was to protect her close friendship with Peggy, it was cards on the table time. This wasn’t the first occasion they’d discussed Robert Fellows, but Rosie always felt that they had only ever skirted the real issue.
Taking a deep breath, Peggy sighed. ‘All right. Happen I do still fancy him,’ she admitted. ‘But he ain’t got the time of day for me. He never has had. So even if you were to finish with him tomorrow, it wouldn’t make no difference as far as I’m concerned.’
Rosie looked away. ‘I honestly don’t know what to do,’ she said softly, looking out of the window and watching the thickening snowflakes splash against the pavement. ‘I hate it being this way between you and me.’
‘Do you love him?’
‘I like him a lot.’ She met Peggy’s gaze honestly. ‘I haven’t really thought too much about it.’ Rosie had grown closer to Robert without even realising it. ‘But he’s good and kind, and Danny has really taken to him.’
‘I know all that. But you’re not answering my question. What I said was, do you love him?’
Rosie smiled, but it was a sad smile. ‘Happen I could learn to love him, but no, I don’t feel that way now.’
‘Still Adam, eh?’
This time Rosie smiled widely, but said nothing.
Peggy was relentless. ‘Would you wed Robert Fellows if he asked you?’
‘I’m married, Peggy. Don’t forget that.’
Something in Rosie’s voice made Peggy regard her more closely. ‘My God! He’s already asked you, ain’t he?’
Rosie turned away, her attention caught by a group of youths throwing snowballs at the tram. The day was grey and bleak, just like her heart. ‘He asked me a week ago, when we went to the pictures,’ she admitted softly, thinking it was a good job the tram was nearly empty. These days more people went on the buses. Soon the trams would all be gone, and that would be a terrible shame, she thought sadly.
‘Well, you little sod!’ Peggy cried in a hoarse whisper. ‘And you never even said.’
‘There was no point.’ The reason she hadn’t said anything was because she didn’t really know how Peggy would react. The last thing she wanted was to hurt her friend’s feelings, and anyway things were already delicate between her and Peggy. The thought of losing what she and Peggy had was a source of great pain to Rosie.
‘And what did you tell him?’ Peggy’s voice betrayed her disappointment.
‘I told him I already had a husband.’
And what did he say?’
Rosie was reluctant to answer, because if she did she would have to tell the truth. ‘Divorce him then,’ Robert had said. ‘I’m prepared to wait for as long as it takes.’
Peggy had guessed. ‘Don’t tell me. He wants you to get a divorce from Doug?’
‘Something like that.’
And will you?’ Her voice was low and cynical. After all, it’s over between you and Doug, ain’t it? I mean, he’s threatened to hurt you, and you ain’t got no feeling left for him anyway. So you might as well put an end to it, ain’t that right?’
Wisely, Rosie turned the tables. ‘What would you do, Peggy? I mean, if you were in my shoes.’
Peggy was taken aback for a second, then she laughed. ‘You know bloody well what I would do,’ she confessed. ‘I’d drop Doug like a hot cake, then I’d set myself up with Robert and look forward to a cushy life. That’s what I’d do. But then you ain’t me, are you? You’ve got values and a high-minded sense of right and wrong. I mean, look how you took care of that bloody old battle-axe Martha Selby, even after she made your life a misery. Me? I’d have laced her fried eggs with poison and danced on her bloody grave!’
‘No, you wouldn’t.’
‘Hmh! You’ve got a better opinion of me than I have of meself, gal.’ She sniffed. There was an awkward silence between them, before Peggy cuttingly remarked, ‘So? I expect you’ll be dumping Doug for Robert, eh?’
Before Rosie could answer the tram pulled in to the kerb. In a minute the two of them were tumbling off and rushing through the cold towards Woolworths main doors. The warmth inside the building did little to melt Peggy’s hostility. ‘Well?’ she asked as they wended their way between the counters, Peggy to the cloakroom and Rosie to the bottom of the stairs which would take her up to the offices. ‘Do you mean to wed him?’ Her blue eyes were cold as the day.
‘I don’t know,’ Rosie answered truthfully. She had seriously toyed with the idea, but it was a complex issue, and always at the back of her mind was the fear that everything could go wrong.
‘You’ll be sorry if you do.’ Peggy whipped her coat off. Normally she would leave Rosie with a smile on her face, but not today. Today she was unhappy. ‘Like I said, I don’t trust the bastard.’
‘What do you mean, Peggy? Why don’t you trust him?’ Strangely enough, there were times when Rosie herself had her doubts, though she couldn’t say why.
‘Just a feeling, that’s all. Happen it’s ’cause I’m just a jealous bugger who wants him for herself, eh?’ With that she swung open the doors to the cloakroom and left Rosie feeling dejected. For a minute she was tempted to follow, but then decided against it. This was neither the time nor the place for a heart to heart with Peggy. Tonight, though, after work, it would be a different matter.
Rosie was the first to arrive in the office. She hadn’t been at her desk for more than five minutes when Robert came in. Striding across the office, he went straight to her and kissed her on the mouth. ‘How about a meal and a show tonight?’ he asked. ‘Afterwards, maybe we could go back to your house.’
He sat on the edge of her desk, looking splendid in his well-tailored suit and with his fair hair neatly parted. His wide smile as always was a sight to see and his eyes sparkled. Rosie couldn’t help but think about Peggy’s words just now. ‘I don’t trust the bastard,’ she had said. Now Rosie felt uneasy. ‘Not tonight,’ she replied.
‘You still haven’t given me an answer to my other question.’ His smile was gone and in its place was a look of expectation. ‘You promised to put me out of my misery in a week. Time’s up, my lovely.’ Leaning forward, he breathed in her ear, ‘When can we be married?’
‘There’s so much to think about. It won’t be easy. There’s Doug and everything.’ Rosie was shocked to hear herself using him as an excuse.
‘You’re not leading me on, are you?’ Robert was smiling again.
‘I wouldn’t do that,’ Rosie answered truthfully.
‘Good. Because I wouldn’t like it if you did.’ He took her in his arms, and she couldn’t help feeling it was good to be wanted.
The outer door swung to and in came Meg Benton, puffing and panting from the long walk up the stairs. ‘By! It’s cold out there,’ she complained. Having taken off her coat in the cloakroom, she was still wrapped up like an eskimo, with a high-necked blouse beneath a thick woolly jumper haphazardly tucked into the waist of her long tweed skirt. She was wearing ankle boots and blowing into her frozen fingers. ‘I’m getting too old to come out in this kind of weather.’ Seating herself at her desk, she put on her tiny rimless spectacles and stared at Robert Fellows, who was still perched on the edge of Rosie’s desk. ‘Good morning, Mr Fellows,’ she said in a loud bold voice. Judging by the look on her face, she obviously disapproved of the boss fraternising with th
e workers.
‘Good morning to you, Mrs Benton,’ he returned, at once clambering from the desk and straightening his tie.
The two men came in together. Mr Mortimer’s eyes were watering from the cold and he coughed all the way to his desk. Horace Sykes took a minute to rub the warmth back into his balding head, then glanced at Rosie, shifted his gaze to Robert and remarked rather loudly to Mr Mortimer, ‘Some of us are born to work, and some of us would rather play!’ With that, he went to the filing cabinet and slammed the drawers about.
Putting his two hands on Rosie’s desk, Robert Fellows leaned towards her. ‘I’ll pop round to your house this evening,’ he told her softly. ‘I promise you, my lovely, I won’t take no for an answer.’ He winked and hurried away, and she was left in a turmoil.
‘You want to be careful,’ Meg Benton warned quietly. ‘Men like that can get you in trouble.’
Rosie smiled and bent her head to her work. Strange, she thought, because Meg’s warning was the second of its kind today. She was beginning to wonder whether others knew more about Robert than she did.
* * *
As always when Rosie buried herself in her work, the morning was gone before she knew it. The telephone started ringing at nine o’clock, and it was still intermittently ringing at five minutes to twelve, when she thankfully made her way down to the canteen.
Halfway down the stairs she looked out of the window. The snow had stopped falling, and the watery sun was already breaking through. ‘Thank God for that!’ she exclaimed, running down the stairs. She was in a hurry to see Peggy. They had parted on bad terms, and it had worried Rosie all morning.
The canteen was always busy at this time of day, and there was already a long queue for the tea counter. Searching it for Peggy and realising she was nowhere to be seen, Rosie tapped one of Peggy’s work colleagues on the shoulder – a big girl with huge bosoms, and peroxide hair piled high on her head. ‘Have you seen Peggy?’ Rosie asked. The girl shook her head. But from further along the queue came the reply, ‘She’s up with Mr Fellows. Been up there over an hour now she has. And I’m bloody well fed up, because I’m having to cover her counter as well as my own. Where the bleedin’ hell is she? you ask. And that’s what I’d like to know an’ all!’
Rosie was astonished. What on earth was Peggy doing with Robert for over an hour? Surely to God she wasn’t in trouble? How could he reprimand her for anything when she had turned out ’specially today to cover for an absent colleague? On top of that Peggy was a loyal and conscientious worker.
As she neared Robert’s office, Rosie forced herself to be calm. It wasn’t unusual for one of the floor staff to be called into the office; often it was merely a matter of quality assessment, or something to do with holiday periods, and sometimes it was the member of staff who called the interview. But an hour! Rosie felt instinctively there was something very wrong here.
At the same moment as she reached the top of the stairs, Robert came out of his office. ‘Rosie!’ He came towards her, eyes glowing with pleasure. ‘Were you coming to see me? Have you decided to make an honest man of me then?’ He would have kissed her but she drew away.
Glancing through the open office door, Rosie was surprised to see that except for his secretary, who was preparing to leave for her lunch, the room was empty. ‘Where’s Peggy?’ she asked, turning to Robert with a puzzled expression.
He smiled, then gently ran his fingers down her face. Now he was drawing her towards the office. ‘She’s gone.’
‘Gone?’ Rosie was vaguely aware of the secretary passing them on her way out. ‘Gone where? Isn’t she well? Is she in some kind of trouble?’ She and Robert were facing each other and he appeared to be concerned by her distress.
‘No, my lovely,’ he said. ‘She is not in trouble, and as far as I know she’s quite well. Or at least she was when she left me.’
‘If she isn’t in trouble and she’s not ill, where is she?’ Rosie was growing impatient, sure in her mind that whatever was wrong with Peggy, it must have something to do with the conversation they’d had that morning. Certainly Peggy had not been in her usual bright mood when they parted. In fact, now that she thought more deeply on it, Peggy hadn’t been happy for some time. A sense of guilt spiralled up in Rosie. Maybe she should have been more tactful about her relationship with Robert? Happen it would have been better if she had tried to find another job? Whatever the reason for Peggy’s problems, Rosie somehow felt it was all her fault.
‘Sit down, Rosie.’ Robert Fellows stood over her while she sank into the chair then sat on the desk before her, his legs stretched out and his face concerned. ‘There’s nothing at all wrong with your friend,’ he assured her. ‘Peggy came to see me about a certain professional matter.’ He sighed. ‘All right, my lovely, in the circumstances I’m sure she wouldn’t mind my confiding in you. Peggy Lewis is a bright young woman who wants to better herself. Apparently she’s been toying with the idea of applying for a training post in London.’ He saw the light dawning in Rosie’s eyes and quickly prompted, ‘You know the one… a year’s intensive training in one of our bigger stores, with a view to management?’
Rosie nodded. ‘I pinned the details on the notice board myself,’ she recalled. ‘And you say Peggy’s applied for it? Funny, she never mentioned it.’ Something occurred to her then. ‘You’re not telling me she’s gone straightaway? I mean, how could she?’
‘She wanted to leave right away. I rang head office, told them she was the perfect candidate, and of course there was no objection. So, yes, she’s probably on her way home to pack. After that no doubt she’ll be travelling to London before the evening. As I say, it’s all been arranged, right down to her accommodation.’ He grinned handsomely. ‘If it’s handled right, these things can be done very quickly.’
Rosie was stunned. ‘Was it you? Did you encourage her?’ Suspicions were forming in her mind. He appeared too smug about the whole thing, too full of his own importance. Too pleased at the outcome.
‘Shame on you, Rosie!’ His eyes grew round with horror. ‘What are you saying?’ He came to her and placed his hands either side of her face. Expecting her to raise her face to his, he was shocked when she tugged away. Standing to confront him, she said angrily, ‘There’s something about you that seems too good to be true. I couldn’t see it before because I was too blind and too hungry for affection. But now I’m beginning to wonder. Peggy’s warned me about you all along. You can’t deny it would be better for you if she was a long way away from here, far enough away so she can’t come between us.’
Taken aback, he confessed, ‘No, I won’t deny that. It’s also no secret she’s made eyes at me in the past and I’ve made it clear I’m not interested. She’s never forgiven me for that, and you know it.’ His voice softened. ‘You can’t hold me to blame for whatever decisions she makes. And, as God’s my judge, all I care about is you and me, and our future together.’
‘I wish I could believe that.’ Rosie wasn’t altogether convinced.
Groaning, he declared, ‘Believe me, Rosie, I had nothing whatsoever to do with it. I was just as surprised as you are. Peggy asked to see me, and I honestly didn’t have a clue what it was all about until she requested to be transferred to London at the earliest opportunity. I did what she asked, and that was all there was to it, I swear.’ He sounded desolate.
‘I’d best get back to my work.’
‘Oh, look, Rosie, have you had your lunch? We could go out somewhere. What do you say?’
‘I’m not hungry. Besides, there’s a lot to do before I collect Danny.’ And a lot to do before she knew what was behind Peggy’s disappearance, she thought worriedly.
‘All right, my lovely. Have it your way.’ Putting his arms round her, he drew her from the chair. ‘I do love you, you know.’ His mouth was close to her face, and he stole a kiss. Though he regretted it when Rosie shrank away. ‘It’s clear you’re not in the mood for company,’ he said, releasing her. ‘But I will see you tonight,
won’t I? You haven’t forgotten I’m still waiting for an answer?’
She looked at him then, at his forlorn face and bright eager eyes, and her heart melted a little. Perhaps she was being unjustly hard on him? After all, it wasn’t his fault if Peggy had decided to up and off. What was more, she must have sneaked out through the tradesman’s entrance or Rosie would have seen her leaving. ‘I haven’t forgotten,’ she said softly. ‘Make it around eight o’clock. I know Danny will want to see you before he goes to bed.’ She laughed, and he thought she was never more lovely. ‘You’ll be taken through every lesson he’s had today,’ she warned.
‘I’ll look forward to that,’ he promised. And she believed him. She wasn’t to know that on the stroke of three that afternoon, something would happen to betray to her the kind of man he really was.
* * *
Meg Benton bustled out of the office with a fistful of papers. Two minutes later she bustled back in again. ‘Honestly!’ Slamming the papers down on her desk, she groaned, ‘It’s no wonder the work never gets done around here. I’ve got a whole pile of queries which I want Mr Fellows to check, and there’s no sign of him.’
Mr Mortimer coughed and said, ‘That’s because he’s in consultation with the floor manager downstairs.’ Smiling irritatingly, he reminded her, ‘It’s almost three o’clock, my dear. Have you forgotten they meet every week at this time?’
‘Bloody management!’ muttered Horace Sykes, scratching his near-bald head. ‘I wouldn’t give a shilling for any of ’em.’
‘What about his secretary then?’ demanded Meg Benton. ‘She’s nowhere to be seen either.’ She glanced at Rosie, but looked away when the girl appeared too busy to hear.
‘You know what they say?’ interrupted Mr Mortimer sulkily. ‘While the cat’s away, the mice will play.’
Resuming her seat, Meg Benton put the papers aside. When the telephone began ringing, she warned, ‘If that’s a call that should be going through to his office, I’ll scream down the line!’ It was. And she didn’t. Instead, she spoke in a very refined and polite manner that made the other three chuckle. Though when she put the phone down, she had plenty to say.
More Than Riches Page 33