The Heart of the Home

by The Heart of the Home (retail) (epub)

  ‘All right, I’ll try but don’t expect me to be convincing. I’m not a natural liar.’

  ‘This cocoa is cold,’ Lucy said.

  ‘Then make some more, you useless apology for a partner.’ The attempt at a joke fell flat and Meriel pleaded again for Lucy not to make her lie.

  Lucy was adamant. ‘I have to know,’ she said.

  ‘If you will go to such lengths, you can’t be too sure of your own feelings.’

  ‘That’s the problem, I no longer am.’

  *

  Gerald went to the hotel and collected the flowers and the perfume and went home. This wasn’t going to be as easy as expected. He’d been so sure she’d collapse into his arms and say – Yes. He passed his father’s coat in the hallway and the slight smell of petrol and grease wafted towards him. He felt choked by it. He had to persuade Lucy to marry him. Becoming a partner and eventually running an estate agency was his only hope of escaping from his father’s garage.

  *

  Escaping from his father’s business was also on Teifion’s mind. After leaving Badgers Brook he was helping Betty to clear the last of the glasses and bottles away, his mind filled with the day and evening he had spent with Lucy and Meriel. He was surprised that, having been disenchanted with the business when he had worked for his father, he had found the day filled with excitement. Looking back he couldn’t remember ever being happier. Yet the business was exactly the same. The only variations were Lucy and Meriel, instead of his father and the people who had worked for him over the years. How could he have been so bored in such a fascinating profession?

  ‘Something on your mind, young Teifion?’ Betty asked. ‘Only that’s the same glass you’ve been drying for the last ten minutes.’

  ‘Sorry, Betty. I’ve been thinking about the auction. Lucy and Meriel are very good, they made a real success of the day. I enjoyed it far more than I’d expected. Why wasn’t it as interesting when I worked for Dad?’

  ‘You needed to spread your wings. Perhaps you’ll go back one day and be a part of it again.’

  He shook his head. ‘I don’t think so. I enjoyed it because of Lucy and Meriel.’

  ‘But mainly Lucy?’ she asked, her head on one side like a bird searching for titbits.

  He shook his head deprecatingly. ‘Lucy has her Gerald.’

  ‘Since when would a bit of competition stop a full-blooded Welshman?’

  He grinned and put the last glass in its place.

  ‘It’s Sunday tomorrow,’ she reminded him. ‘A day off. Why don’t you call at Badgers Brook and see if they’ve recovered?‘

  *

  Meriel and Lucy slept late and it was the impatient yelps of Rascal that eventually brought them downstairs, heavy-eyed, to be greeted by the young dog demanding to go outside. Lucy was first up and she went to the kitchen to make tea. As she lit the flame under the kettle, her thoughts were twisting and turning with images of a wedding with Gerald at her side, interspersed with visions of future house valuations, and auctions in which she stood beside Meriel and Leo, with the shadowy presence of Teifion close by.

  As Meriel emerged from her room and followed her into the kitchen she was sitting staring at the kettle that was beginning to sing.

  ‘Have you changed your mind about testing Gerald?’ Meriel asked with a yawn. ‘I know it’s bothering you. I didn’t sleep very well even though I was desperately tired and I heard you creep down sometime after midnight to make another hot drink.’

  ‘I can’t explain why, but when he talks of love and caring and all that stuff, he isn’t convincing. I can’t afford to make a mistake and although I know it’s dishonest and I’m asking you to share the lie, I have to know before I can decide how I feel. Does that make sense to you?’

  ‘As much as anything makes sense through this fuzzy, overtaxed brain of mine this morning. Wasn’t it a marvellous experience, Lucy?’

  They drank their tea still wearing dressing-gowns, in the garden, closing their eyes against the sun and wallowing in the joy of having a free day to recover from the past hectic week. Slowly they came to and having decided on baked potatoes for lunch with whatever they could find to have with them, they scrubbed some, allowing a couple extra in case of visitors, put them in the oven, dressed themselves and went back into the garden.

  It was there Gerald found them when he arrived at midday. The dog warned of a visitor and they looked towards the corner of the house without getting up. Both girls felt dismay on seeing him put his head around and call to them; Meriel knowing she had to prepare her story and Lucy because she didn’t know how she should feel.

  He brought a huge bouquet of flowers from behind him with a flourish and on one knee handed them to Lucy. She panicked. Surely he wasn’t going to propose there and then, in front of Meriel?

  ‘Get up, Gerald, we had a heavy dew this morning,’ she said in a squeaky voice. Laughing, Meriel went in to make coffee.

  ‘Are you feeling recovered?’ he asked, taking the seat vacated by Meriel.

  ‘Not really. I don’t think I can do that very often. I found it all too exhausting. Hairdressing was far easier.’

  He laughed and ruffled her hair. ‘You wouldn’t go back to that, surely?’

  She shrugged, glanced towards the door through which Meriel was carrying a tray.

  ‘Who knows what the future holds, Gerald?’

  ‘You aren’t serious, about not enjoying your success? I’ll always help when things get hectic. You can rely on me, always.’

  She didn’t reply, just moved to make a space between newspapers and notebooks for the tray. There was an uneasiness as they sat sipping coffee, conversation stilted, and he wondered what had gone wrong. He wasn’t invited to stay for lunch as he had hoped, and when Lucy went inside he asked Meriel if anything was wrong. ‘You haven’t argued, have you? You seem to get on so well.’

  ‘Things haven’t been right for a while,’ Meriel said, crossing her fingers as she lied. ‘Yesterday was the final disaster. Papers missing, a client not given the correct statement, accounts muddled up, some goods not paid for, information not passed on. Thank goodness Teifion and Leo were on hand. It’s no good pretending, Gerald, Lucy isn’t cut out for this complicated business.’

  ‘She wasn’t joking then, when she hinted about going back to hairdressing?’

  She took him to the shed where the hairdressing equipment they had bought had been stored, and silently shrugged. ‘It was always a possibility, or why did she buy this? Thank goodness she’ll have you to support her. You do plan to propose, don’t you? She’ll need a loving partner to console her when she’s told to leave. Even though she’s expecting it. it will still be a shock and disappointment. She’ll need you, Gerald, very much.’

  He didn’t stay very long after Meriel’s bombshell and the conversation was stilted. He filled the silences with idle flattery and gentle enquiries, most of which Lucy avoided answering. With a cursory kiss he left and Lucy watched him go, in no doubt about his change of heart. She felt tears well in her eyes and she turned away from Meriel’s sympathetic face.

  ‘Best I know. There’s no point in kidding myself I was loved for my brains, my bubbling personality and outstanding beauty, eh?’

  ‘Baked potatoes and salad for lunch, come on. It’s just you and me. Until someone comes along who’ll love us for all those things.’

  A call from the side of the house alerted them to visitors and without their usual delight they turned, half expecting to see Gerald again. ‘I’m not stopping,’ Teifion assured them, misunderstanding their glum expressions. ‘I just called to ask how you’re feeling after yesterday. I met Gerald on my way and he seemed to think it wasn’t as good as we all thought. What went wrong?’

  ‘Everything’s fine,’ Meriel said. ‘It was a very successful day, thanks to Lucy, and you and Leo and all the rest.’

  ‘Then what’s up with Gloomy Gerald?’

  Lucy laughed. ‘I’ll tell you one day, not now.’
<
br />   Teifion stared at her and saw she was blushing, then he looked pointedly at the flowers. ‘A proposal?’ he mouthed at Meriel, who shook her head.

  ‘She turned him down? Thank goodness for that. I’d hate to think of someone as talented and lovely as Lucy stuck with someone like Gerald Cook, wouldn’t you?’

  He didn’t stay for lunch, as Betty had food prepared, and Lucy stared after him as he walked down the path to the lane stopping to wave and blow a kiss as he went back to the Ship and Compass, whistling cheerfully.

  ‘I think Gerald proposed and was turned down,’ he told Betty happily, as he went through the side door of the Sunday-silent pub.

  *

  The following weeks settled down to the usual mixture of enquiries and occasional sales and Lucy was aware of the rarity of Gerald’s appearances. The ‘special gift for a special lady’ hadn’t appeared and the flowers faded and died.

  ‘I was right, wasn’t I?’ she said to Meriel as they gathered their papers and set off for work one morning. ‘Gerald hasn’t been beating the door down to see me since we made him think I was about to be sacked.’

  ‘It could be coincidence, he might be ill or something.’

  ‘We have a telephone and so does his father.’

  ‘Perhaps he’s waiting for you to use it,’ Meriel suggested with a smile.

  ‘It’s very hurtful, to know he only wanted me when he thought I was brilliant and successful and on the way to making a fortune.’

  ‘Hardly a fortune.’

  ‘Better than an assistant hairdresser. More prestige in being a business woman and that’s what he admires – besides the money.’

  ‘Don’t be too sure, give it a few more days.’

  Teifion called in as soon as the office opened and they talked about many things and Gerald was pushed, just a little way, out of her thoughts. Teifion had a few hours off each morning and offered to come and help. ‘Perhaps noting any new addresses in your files? Checking the local papers for prospects?’

  ‘Thanks, that will be useful. We both have appointments this afternoon, different times but it eats into the routine work. And we try not to work all evening.’

  ‘We can’t anyway. Living in Badgers Brook means the evenings are filled with visitors, and we don’t want that to change,’ Meriel said.

  ‘Has Leo been lately?’ he asked.

  Meriel shook her head, laughing to hide her disappointment from Teifion and Lucy. ‘He’ll come if we need him but I think that, at last, Dadda and he both know we’re managing perfectly well.’

  Lucy stared at her friend, aware that she was not the only one feeling the loss of someone they had hoped was dependable. Meriel was wondering how she could encourage Leo to call. She was still confused by her growing affection, it made her vulnerable to embarrassment. She couldn’t admit she simply wanted to see him. She needed a good reason to ask for his help, a genuine difficulty would protect herself from possible humiliation.

  Lucy’s cold provided her with the excuse she needed. Lucy awoke one morning with a headache and a streaming nose. A cough threatened. her eyes were reluctant to open and her legs felt weak. Meriel insisted her friend stayed home and rested. ‘It’s the only thing to do, spoil yourself for a day or so. I’ll manage, there’s your Teifion, he'll help us.‘

  ‘He isn’t my Teifion!’ Lucy protested weakly.

  ‘Funny how he enjoyed spiting his father, isn’t it?’ Meriel mused. ‘Him helping us must make George very angry. First we steal customers from him, then make him face up to his wife’s misbehaviour and now we’ve stolen his son.’

  During a phone call to her father, Meriel casually mentioned Lucy’s illness. She heard muffled remarks as her father covered the phone, then he said, ‘Leo’s on his way.’

  ‘There’s no need,’ she protested weakly, before happily replacing the phone. Her smile faded as she wondered how best to bring the conversation around to his secret love.

  Teifion had left by the time Leo arrived and, as it was almost lunchtime, they closed the office and took a few treats back to Badgers Brook to coax Lucy to eat.

  During the afternoon, Leo checked through the accounts and the prospects for the following few days and noticed a few pencil crosses on many of the pages. Tiny marks almost invisible. He frowned as he was assured by Meriel that neither she nor Lucy had made them. So what were they for?

  ‘Perhaps Teifion was making another list. He seems very keen on double-checking so we don’t miss a chance of a sale. He’s very helpful,’ Meriel said. ‘And,’ she added in a whisper, ‘I think he’s rather sweet on our Lucy.’

  ‘Watch him, Meriel. Remember who his father is.’

  Lucy came back the following day, insisting she was feeling well enough to work, and for the first time since the auction, Teifion didn’t appear. At five o’clock, as the office was about to close, there was a telephone call from a solicitor telling them Mr George Dexter would like to make an offer to buy their business.

  Ten

  Lucy collapsed onto the desk in a distressed state. ‘I’m stupid and vain,’ she wailed at Meriel when the news of George’s offer had sunk in. ‘I thought Teifion was a friend and all the time he was spying for his father. Oh, Meriel, I’ve ruined everything. I really thought he helped because he liked me. How stupid is that?’

  ‘Come on, we’re going home,’ Meriel said, her eyes blazing with anger and a little fear. Could he persuade them to sell? He was capable of making things so difficult they would be glad to. Lies and rumours, leaking secrets, they had been his weapons in the past, and could be again. With that determined expression he so often wore on his face he could threaten to buy them, or destroy them. Destroying them might take a bit longer but would cost him nothing.

  In a spate of activity they closed the office, pushing papers carelessly into drawers and filing cabinets, ignoring the ringing of the phone as they locked the door behind them. Whoever it was could wait. They had to get out of the place, escape to the safety of Badgers Brook and think what to do.

  Lucy drove back to the lane and they let themselves into the house in silence. Meriel began preparing their meal and Lucy stood outside, staring at nothing, her mind aching with the pain and humiliation of knowing she had let Meriel down. What was wrong with her that she believed men could like her for herself? She had believed Gerald loved her and twice he had let her down. She felt tears fill her eyes as she remembered the flattery of him asking for a second chance. His recent disappearance was proof enough of his lack of love. Now she had encouraged Teifion – against Meriel’s instincts – to work beside her, allowed him to gather information which he had passed on to his father.

  Meriel called her from the doorway. ‘Come and eat, Lucy, then we’ll decide what to do. Dadda will help. Don’t worry,’ she said as Lucy still didn’t move, ‘we aren’t a company suitable for a takeover, that’s for the big league. All George can do is spread rumours that we’re in a difficult situation financially and hope the public will do the rest. We can make sure people know the truth. Come on, let’s eat, then drive to Barry and talk to Dadda.’

  ‘Best I stay here,’ Lucy said, turning to go inside. ‘I’m the cause of this.’

  ‘Rubbish. What could Teifion have told his father that he couldn’t have found out easily some other way?’

  ‘Ironic isn’t it, us trying to convince Gerald I was being sacked? I didn't dream it would happen.’

  ‘Lucy, you’re talking rubbish. We’re partners and if there’s a problem – and we don’t know that there is – then we’ll deal with it together.’

  They ate in the garden, sitting in the sun and relaxing in its warmth. As they were about to get up and set off to talk to Walter and Lynne, they had a visitor. Teifion came around the corner, bent almost double in his haste, a hand held up to stop them talking.

  ‘Please, let me talk first,’ he pleaded. ‘I heard about Dad’s offer at five o’clock and tried to phone you.’

  ‘Go away, Teifion.’ L
ucy said, rising from her chair.

  ‘I know you’re upset and you believe the worst, but I have never discussed Evans and Calloway business with my father. It’s important that you believe that. I helped because I really enjoyed the business for the first time in my life, felt the excitement of a prospect and the thrills when things went well.’

  ‘Just go,’ Meriel said, with an exaggerated sigh.

  Ignoring her, he went on, ‘That auction was the most exciting day and I felt a part of it. A part of it! I’ve never felt that before. The business is called Ace, it was always referred to as George Dexter and Son, but it belonged to Dad, and I never belonged. Never.’ He paused for breath and they stared at him unable to reply.

  He flopped down in a garden chair, his eyes bright, his face flushed with emotion. ‘Dad told me he’ll close you down once he’s bought you out. I told him I’d never speak to him again if he tried to.’

  Meriel and Lucy exchanged glances and Meriel handed him a glass of home-made lemonade. ‘Are you telling us the truth?’ she asked coldly.

  ‘I am. Making the break and leaving Dad’s business was scary but turned out to be the best thing I ever did. I enjoy working with Betty Connors at the Ship and Compass. Using my spare time to help you, using my hard-won experience in an estate agency, I’ve enjoyed it for the first time. It has opened my eyes to a better future.’

  ‘Like me, Teifion, you’re an only child and you have a moral duty to support your father.’

  ‘I used to think so but not now.’

  ‘So you think working in a pub is what you were intended to do?’ Meriel asked.

  ‘Or take over our business and earn a pat on the head from your father?’ Lucy added cynically.

  He stood up and walked towards her. ‘Lucy, I’d never hurt you. I hoped we’d become friends, something more than friends now you’ve given that Gerald creep the heave-ho.’