by Lily Baxter
When she arrived at the cottage there was no one in the living room, although there were empty glasses and wine bottles on the coffee table. The large cut-crystal ashtray was overflowing with cigarette ends ringed with scarlet lipstick and several cigar butts. Susan shrugged off her coat and hat and hung them on the coat stand in the corner. Picking up as many glasses as she could fit between her fingers she used her foot to open the kitchen door.
She had half expected to see Elspeth standing by the table with a cup of coffee in one hand and a slice of toast in the other, but the sight that met her eyes made her stop and stare open-mouthed.
‘Hello, Susan.’ Naked except for one of Elspeth’s pink silk negligees, Colin was seated at the table attacking a week’s bacon ration and a slice of fried bread. He flicked a strand of pink marabou away from his face as he forked a piece of bacon into his mouth. ‘Cat got your tongue, darling?’ He chewed and swallowed, chuckling. ‘You should see your face, Susan.’
She covered her confusion by going to the sink and putting the glasses into the washing-up bowl. ‘It’s none of my business,’ she murmured.
‘You could have had your share if you’d played your cards right,’ he said, wiping the plate with the last of the fried bread and popping it into his mouth. ‘If you hadn’t been such a shy little virgin we could have made wonderful music together last Christmas.’ He dropped his fork on the floor and when she bent down to pick it up he cupped her buttocks in his hands. ‘We still could, darling. I won’t tell Tony, if you keep it a secret from Elspeth.’
She almost fell over in her attempt to free herself from his grasp. ‘You’re disgusting, Colin. I wouldn’t sleep with you if you were the last man on earth.’
He smiled lazily. ‘Sweetheart, you wouldn’t get much sleep if you went to bed with me.’
‘How can you behave like this when you’re engaged to that poor woman in Scotland? Does Elspeth know about Morag?’
‘Morag?’ He stared at her blankly for a moment and then a slow smile spread across his handsome features. ‘Oh, her. Sweetheart, she’s a figment of my imagination. I trot dear Morag out when I want to make a swift getaway. She’s my insurance against young women like you getting the wrong idea.’
‘She doesn’t exist?’
‘Got it in one. Sorry, darling. Now, if you don’t mind I think I’d better go upstairs and retrieve my clothes.’ He stood up and the skimpy garment hung loosely, leaving nothing to the imagination.
Susan averted her gaze. She knew that she was blushing and that made her even more embarrassed. She suspected that he was laughing at her but Colin was in between her and the door, and there was no way of escape. ‘You’d better hurry,’ she said hastily. ‘You’ll be late for work.’
His response to this was forestalled by the sudden appearance of Elspeth, fully dressed and clutching her forage cap in her hand. She leaned against the doorpost, taking in the scene with raised eyebrows. ‘Really, darling. You look like a stallion put out to stud. Cover up, do.’
Colin struck a pose. ‘I thought that was why you liked me, my sweet. Come upstairs and we’ll make the most of my enthusiasm.’
‘Stop it, you naughty boy, you’re embarrassing poor little Susan.’ Elspeth shooed him out of the room. ‘Sorry about that, my dear. He has no finesse, but he’s frightfully good in bed.’
Susan began clearing the table. ‘It doesn’t matter.’
‘No. Well, sweetie, you’d better get used to Colin’s little ways because he’s moving in with me.’
‘He’s going to live here?’
‘That’s what I said, Susan.’
‘Then I really can’t continue working for you, ma’am.’
Elspeth opened her eyes wide, shaking her head as if completely astounded. ‘Why not? You didn’t seem to mind when we were at the big house. What’s the difference?’
Susan had to bite her tongue in order to prevent herself from telling her that Colin was the worst kind of rat and totally untrustworthy. She averted her gaze. ‘I don’t know, but he makes me feel uncomfortable. I’d rather find work elsewhere.’
‘So you’re leaving me in the lurch? After everything I’ve done for you, Susan. What about the free flying lessons? A girl like you would never have had the chance to get airborne if it weren’t for me.’
‘And I’m truly grateful, but it’s getting too complicated. I’ve just found out something about Colin that makes me think he’s not a good person.’
‘Darling, don’t be so melodramatic. I don’t believe that he would say anything to upset a child like you.’
Stung into retaliation, Susan forgot her scruples. ‘He made suggestions that were very embarrassing, and he lied about his long-suffering fiancée, Morag. Did he tell you about her?’
Elspeth threw back her head and laughed. ‘Darling, you’re such a little innocent and a bit of a prude. Of course I know about Morag, his devoted Highland lass. Let me tell you, that Morag is real but she’s a bitch. In the true sense of the word, she is a bitch. An Irish wolfhound to be exact and she is the most faithful creature, always pleased to see him when he visits his relations in Scotland.’ Elspeth rammed her cap on her head. ‘Must go, Susan. We’ll talk about this later when you’ve had time to calm down. You really must grow up, my girl.’ She left the room still chuckling.
Susan turned to the sink and ran the hot tap but the water was cold. Colin and Elspeth must have used up the last of it and they had let the fire go out in the boiler. She filled the kettle and while she was waiting for the water to heat up she cleared the breakfast table. Upstairs she could hear footsteps on the bare linoleum followed by a shriek of laughter and the creaking of bedsprings. Elspeth, she decided, was going to be very late for roll call this morning.
She went into the living room and attempted to ignore the sounds of their enthusiastic love-making, but the vision of Colin in pink silk and marabou continued to haunt her. Having plumped up the cushions on the sofa and cleaned the grate, she laid the fire so that all Elspeth would have to do was put a match to the kindling. All was now quiet upstairs and she scooped up the rest of the glasses and took them into the kitchen, closing the door so that she would not have to see the lovers when they eventually set off for the aerodrome. She would have liked to walk out there and then, but she felt she owed it to Elspeth to leave the cottage clean and tidy. Her feelings were mixed as she went through her tasks with the efficiency of an automaton. She had come to like Elspeth in an odd sort of way, despite her tantrums and her single-minded approach to life in which her own comfort was paramount. Elspeth neither knew nor cared what other people thought, and she seemed to breeze through life breaking all the rules and getting away with her outrageous behaviour. The strict discipline in the children’s home had left its mark on Susan but sometimes she found herself wishing that she could be just a little bit like Elspeth. Life would be so much simpler if she could go through it riding roughshod over anyone who got in her way.
Eventually both Elspeth and Colin left for the aerodrome and Susan was able to get on with her work. By the end of the morning she had put everything to rights and left a pan of vegetable soup ready for Elspeth to heat up on her return from the flying pool that evening. She locked the door behind her and posted the key through the letterbox. She paused as she was about to unlatch the garden gate, looking back over her shoulder at the thatched cottage, which looked like an illustration from a story book. The last of the late summer roses clung to the porch and a hazy October sun reflected off the lattice windows. Tall hollyhocks laden with seed heads swayed gently in the cool breeze and some rather straggly bronze chrysanthemums made a splash of colour amongst the curling leaf skeletons of the summer bedding plants. Susan closed the gate with a snap. She was allowing her desire for security and continuity to cloud her judgement. Elspeth would soon find another willing slave and no amount of free flying lessons would make up for being at Colin’s beck and call, or putting up with his lewd suggestions and groping hands. She set off for
the pub, wondering how she was going to tell Bob that she had walked out on a perfectly good job. Whatever Elspeth’s faults, parsimony was not one of them.
Bob had been drinking. His face was flushed and he was talking loudly. He greeted Susan like a long lost daughter, giving her a hug and breathing whisky fumes into her face. ‘You’re home early, love. Got the sack, have you?’ He roared with laughter and winked at the customer on the other side of the bar. ‘She’s a good girl, is Susan. Don’t know what we’d do without her.’
She drew him aside. ‘Is everything okay? Have you rung the hospital?’
His face darkened. ‘They won’t discharge her yet. The snooty bloody ward sister said that they were keeping her in for observation, whatever that means. I’m going to see her this evening.’
‘But she is all right, isn’t she?’ Susan was suddenly anxious. Things could still go wrong and it was upsetting to see Bob in such a state.
‘I don’t know and that’s the truth.’ Bob patted her on the shoulder. ‘I’ll be leaving young Danny to run the bar. He offered and I said you’d give him a hand if need be.’
‘Yes, of course. I’ll do anything.’
‘So what are you doing home at this time of day? If you’ve given notice to that bitch I wouldn’t blame you in the least, but you’ll have to find another job pretty damn quickly, Susan. I’m not running a charity here. I can’t afford to support you as well as Roz and the baby.’
Chapter Eighteen
Danny passed a half-pint mug of best bitter across the counter to a well-dressed elderly man. ‘That’ll be fourpence, please, guv.’ The customer paid up without a word and took his drink to one of the tables near the ingle nook. Danny tossed the coins into the open till. ‘So what’s bothering you, Susan? You’ve hardly said a word all evening.’
She looked up from washing glasses in the small sink beneath the bar counter. ‘I lost my job with Elspeth and I really need to find another one quickly.’
He frowned. ‘What happened?’
‘It was something and nothing. I’d rather not talk about it.’
‘Okay, but I wouldn’t want to work for that bitch. Not after the way she’s treated Roz.’
‘It really wasn’t Elspeth’s fault this time. It was Colin.’
Danny’s face darkened and he fisted his hands. ‘If that bastard’s laid a finger on you, I’ll bloody well poleaxe him.’
Susan stared at him open-mouthed. She had never seen this side of him before and it shocked her. ‘It really doesn’t matter, but I do need to find another job.’
‘I might be able to help you find work at the factory, if that’s what you want.’
‘It is.’
Danny leaned against the counter, eyeing her thoughtfully. ‘There’s Roz’s job. As far as I know they haven’t filled it because they think she’s coming back as soon as she’s well enough.’
‘You don’t think she will?’
He shook his head. ‘They might find her something less strenuous, but everything the girls are doing in the factory would have been done by men in peacetime.’
‘I’ve studied the manual. I reckon I could take a Merlin engine apart if I had to.’
His serious expression melted into a grin. ‘I’m sure you could. D’you want me to have a word to the chief engineer in the morning?’
‘Would you? I’d be so grateful, Danny.’
‘You mustn’t worry; I’ll sort it out tomorrow.’ He turned away to serve Nutty Slack who was thumping his mug rhythmically on the counter. ‘Yes, squire. Same again?’
It was almost closing time when Bob finally returned. His expression did not bode well. Susan hardly dare frame the question but she had been anxious all evening and now she was really worried. ‘How is Roz? Is she all right?’
He pushed past her to take a glass and raise it to the whisky optic. He helped himself to a double and drank it in one gulp. ‘They won’t tell me anything, except to say that she’s as well as can be expected, whatever that bloody means.’ He refilled his glass. ‘She’s very low. She couldn’t even raise a smile for her old dad. It’s that damn vet’s fault.’ He glared at Susan. ‘What with him ruining my girl and that bitch of a wife giving you the sack, those two have really rocked the boat.’ He downed his drink and was about to take another when Susan laid her hand on his arm.
‘I didn’t get fired, Bob. I told you before that I left of my own accord. Anyway, I’ve kept supper for you. It’s your favourite shepherd’s pie, only there’s more carrot and swede in it than mince.’
‘It’s very tasty, Bob,’ Danny said cheerfully. ‘I had some earlier. This girl is a dab hand in the kitchen.’
‘Not hungry,’ Bob growled, unhooking the whisky bottle. ‘You can call last orders, Danny my boy. I’m going to bed.’ He stumbled out of the bar, ignoring the well-wishers who attempted to speak to him.
Danny cleared his throat. ‘Last orders, please, ladies and gentlemen.’
When the pub was empty and Danny had locked the street door, they finished clearing up in silence. Susan put a spark guard round the fire although it had burned away to nothing but ash and a few glowing embers. She turned to find Danny watching her intently. ‘I don’t know how I would have managed without you the last couple of evenings,’ she said, smiling.
He shrugged his shoulders. ‘Glad to help out in a crisis.’
‘I’m going to make some cocoa. Would you like a hot drink before you go home?’
‘I would, but I think it’s best if I make tracks now, Susan.’ He plucked his jacket from a row of pegs outside the snug and shrugged it on. ‘It’s getting late, and you know what the village gossips are like. I’d only have to stay on for half an hour after closing time and they’d say we were having a torrid love affair.’ He took his cap from his pocket and rammed it on his curly auburn hair.
‘But that’s ridiculous.’
‘I know, but that’s what it’s like living in a small place.’ He leaned over and brushed her cheek with a kiss. ‘I’ll see what I can do about Roz’s job.’
Susan followed him to the door. ‘Goodnight, Danny.’
He stepped outside. ‘I expect Bob will need me again tomorrow night. See you then.’
‘I’ll be here.’
‘You’re a girl in a million, Susan. Tony’s a lucky man.’ He walked off into the darkness and she closed the door, turning the key in the lock.
Early next morning Susan took Charlie for a walk along the river bank. She watched the dawn breaking in the east, casting a pearly green light on the countryside, and in minutes the horizon was a fiery furnace of scarlet and orange, turning the waters of the Hamble into a stream of molten copper. She strolled past the cottage but the curtains were drawn and there was no sign of life. She wondered how Elspeth would manage without her there to wash and iron her clothes, cook her meals and in general act more like a nanny than a maidservant. She shuddered as she thought of Colin and his two-timing ways. She could only hope that Elspeth was having fun at his expense and would not get her heart broken. She glanced down at Charlie bounding along at her side, his lead held in his mouth and his eyes shining as he gazed adoringly up at her, and she smiled. There were no half measures when it came to canine devotion and unconditional love. Charlie was always pleased to see her, even if she had been out all day. He was never mean or cross, and he was utterly trustworthy. If only men had similar qualities. She quickened her pace as the sky lightened and people began to emerge from their homes, setting off for work.
She let herself into the pub and went straight to the kitchen. Orlando got up and stretched, rubbing himself against her legs as if she was his favourite person in the whole world, but she knew it was cupboard love and all he wanted was a saucer of milk.
Bob did not put in an appearance until after opening time. He was unshaven and bleary-eyed and Susan made him tea and toast whilst keeping an eye on the bar.
‘Should I apologise for last night?’ he murmured, staring into his cup as if the answ
er might be floating about amongst the tea leaves.
‘Not at all. You’ve had a lot to worry about. Everyone understands.’ She scraped some butter onto a slice of toast and put it on his plate.
‘If I lose Roz I lose everything.’
‘She’ll be home in no time. I’m sure she will.’
‘I wish I could be so certain. I heard the nurse muttering something about toxaemia. That’s how I lost her mother. They saved Roz but they couldn’t do a thing for my poor Jennifer.’ He shuddered and tears trickled down his lined cheeks, falling unheeded onto his toast.
Stricken with pity, Susan slipped her arm around his shoulders. ‘Roz is fit and healthy. She had a bad fall and broke some bones, that’s all. She’s fine and so is the baby. You’ve got to get these morbid ideas out of your head.’
He wiped his eyes on the back of his hand, glancing up at her with a tortured expression. ‘Then why won’t they send her home? Why won’t she buck up and talk to me?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe I could go and see her this afternoon? Perhaps I could cheer her up.’
He nodded slowly. ‘Do what you like. I’m obviously no good for her at the moment.’
‘Where are you, Bob Fuller? Postal delivery.’
A voice calling out from the bar saved Susan from thinking of a suitable response. She patted Bob on the shoulder. ‘I’ll go. You stay there and eat your breakfast.’ She hurried into the bar and found the postman standing by the counter, waving an envelope like a flag of truce.
‘It’s for Roz. It was posted in London but I’d lay bets it’s from her boyfriend.’ He tapped the side of his nose with his forefinger. ‘Say no more.’
‘Thanks.’ Susan took it from him, resisting the temptation to snatch. ‘Anything else?’ She was not going to gratify his curiosity by agreeing with him.
His face fell. ‘No. But I’m right, aren’t I? That there letter’s from the vet. I’d know his writing anywhere. Our moggy has been there so many times I could wallpaper the back bedroom with the bills.’