Dream a Little Dream

by Joan Jonker

  ‘Give me time to sort out my affairs, my dear, and then we can do the things you would like to do. When Edwina moves out, we will be officially separated and the divorce well in hand. Then I can introduce you as someone I intend to marry, and you will have no cause for either embarrassment or guilt.’

  ‘I’ll probably be shy at first, Robert, because I’ve led a very quiet life since my parents died. Certainly I’ve had no social life. So I’ll be relying on you to be standing next to me when I meet the people who are important to you.’ Maureen suddenly giggled. ‘Anyone would think I was a shrinking violet, wouldn’t they? And I’m not really, ’cos you can’t be shy working in a shop. Customers expect a pleasant face behind the counter, and the chance for a good natter.’

  ‘I have an advantage that you don’t have, my dear, in that I know my friends. And you would fit in with them very well. After all, I was a stranger to you the day I knocked on your door, and that was only because you were given charge of selling the contents of the house next door. I remember you were a little withdrawn at first, but we were soon enjoying a conversation.’ He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. ‘It was fate which brought us together, and I often think what I would have missed if the family of the deceased had chosen someone else to oversee the sale. How bleak my life would be now if you were not part of it. I dread the thought.’

  ‘Robert, I have gone over the events of that day hundreds of times. I remember almost every word spoken. I never thought I’d see you again, and as you had told me you were married, I was angry with myself for wishing for the impossible. But I couldn’t get you out of my mind, even though I told myself I was a scarlet woman, wanting someone who belonged to another. Then when you called the following week, I was so happy to see you I could not bring myself to send you away.’

  ‘Our patience will be rewarded one day,’ Robert told her. ‘We may have to wait up to two years, but at least we have a future to look forward to. And never again will there be a month between our meetings. I’ll be coming at least twice a week, if that meets with your approval?’

  ‘Need you ask?’ Maureen snuggled up to him. ‘Your every wish is my command, my very dearest, darling Robert.’

  ‘Ay, ye’re looking very nice tonight, Milly.’ Bobby tilted his head as he gave his verdict on the pretty blue dress with its frilled neck and cuffs, and nipped-in waist. ‘Yer’ll have all the lads after yer.’

  Milly blushed. ‘Does that mean I don’t look nice other nights?’

  ‘Trust you to take the huff. I pass yer a compliment and yer get sarky with me.’

  ‘That’s because I don’t trust you to pay me a compliment without there being a joke behind it. So come on, what’s wrong with the dress?’

  ‘I don’t think Bobby was pulling your leg, Milly,’ Nigel said. ‘You do look very pretty, the dress and colour suit you.’

  Milly put her hands to her cheeks. ‘Now I’ve gone all red, and it’s your fault, Bobby Neary.’

  ‘I knew it would be, it always is. Ye’re the only girl I know who gets a cob on ’cos someone tells them they look nice! I’ll keep me mouth shut in future, even if yer look a sight. I won’t even tell yer yer’ve got a ruddy big hole in the heel of yer stocking.’

  Milly lifted one leg, then the other. ‘I haven’t got a hole in me stocking.’

  ‘I never said yer did! What I said was, if yer had a hole I wouldn’t tell yer.’ Bobby appealed to Abbie. ‘Do you carry on like this when someone pays yer a compliment?’

  ‘I don’t know, why don’t you try me?’

  He eyed her up and down. ‘Yeah, you look all right, Abbie.’

  ‘All right? Is that the best you can do, Bobby Neary – all right?’

  ‘I’m not going to say yer look nice, ’cos look at the trouble I got into with Milly. Anyway, yer always look – er – all right, Abbie.’

  ‘What would yer do with him?’ Milly asked. ‘He’s best left alone.’

  ‘They’ve just started a tango, Milly, so do yer want to dance with me, or not?’ Bobby asked. ‘Yer can always leave me alone when it’s over. In fact, if yer like, I’ll go and stand in a corner in between dances, all on me own.’

  ‘Yeah, OK.’ Milly winked at Abbie. ‘But if yer hand’s not clean, don’t put in on me back, ’cos yer’ll dirty me new dress that I bought from TJs for two and eleven.’

  Bobby was leading her on to the dance-floor when he said, ‘Aye, all right. D’yer mean the dress I’m not supposed to say yer look nice in?’

  Nigel grinned at his sister. ‘I’m blowed if I can make those two out. One minute I think they’ve got a crush on each other, the next I believe Bobby when he says they’re just mates. What do you think?’

  ‘Like you, I’m undecided. They’re a good match, both as crazy as each other. But whether there’s romance in the offing, I wouldn’t know.’ Abbie raised her brows. ‘Are you going to ask me for this dance, Nigel, or do I have to ask you? Between you and Bobby, I’m going to end up with an inferiority complex.’

  The next dance was an ‘excuse me’ foxtrot, and the two men swapped partners. Before Bobby put his hand on Abbie’s back, he said, ‘Yer don’t have to worry if yer got this dress at TJs for two an’ eleven, me hands are clean.’

  They’d only gone once around the dance-floor when Bobby felt a hand on his arm and a voice said, ‘Excuse me.’ He turned to find the same bloke who had excused Abbie last week, and he wasn’t best pleased. ‘This is getting to be personal now. Go and excuse one of the other girls, there’s plenty of them.’

  Bobby was a big lad, but this bloke towered over him. ‘This is an excuse me, and I want to dance with Miranda. So will you unhand her, please?’

  Abbie could see Bobby’s shoulders shake, and knew he was going to laugh. And she had a feeling this bloke, who was quite good-looking, wouldn’t take kindly to being laughed at. A picture flashed before her eyes of a blow being thrown, and Bobby lying flat on his back on the dance-floor. So she pulled herself free, whispering, ‘I’ll see you later.’

  ‘Is he yer regular boyfriend, Miranda?’ the boy asked as he swept her along. He was a very experienced dancer, and Abbie was hard put to keep up with him. ‘He seems to think he owns yer.’

  Should she tell him her name wasn’t Miranda? That was the question burning in Abbie’s mind. If she told him it was only Bobby being playful, he might think he’d been made a fool of. ‘No, he’s not my regular boyfriend, just a very good friend.’

  ‘How about coming to the pictures with me one night, then? My name’s Eric, by the way, and anyone here will tell you I’m a decent enough lad. So how about it?’

  Before Abbie had time to think, she was being excused again, by Bobby. And as Eric walked away, he said, ‘Think about it, Miranda, and let me know later.’

  ‘Think about what, Miranda?’ Bobby asked with a chuckle, twirling her around and around, his movements flowing with the tempo. ‘And what will yer let him know later?’

  ‘I’ll tell you when the dance is over, but you haven’t half dropped me in it. If I tell him my name’s not Miranda, and you were only kidding, he’ll probably clock you one.’

  ‘Who, Eric Leyland? Nah, there’s no harm in Eric, he’s all talk.’

  ‘Ye gods and little fishes! Just listen to yourself, Bobby Neary. There’s no one breathing who can talk more than you do. Anyway, do you mean to tell me you know this boy?’

  ‘Of course I do, so does Nige. We were in the same class at school.’

  ‘Well, why the heck did you treat him as though you’d never seen him in your life before? And another thing, he didn’t mention he knew you.’

  ‘He wouldn’t if he was trying to cop off with yer, would he? And from the sound of things that was what he was trying to do.’

  By the time the dance came to an end, Abbie didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It was all right for Bobby to joke about it, but she was the one who had to face the lad if he asked her for a dance. ‘Nigel, do you know a boy called Eric?
’

  ‘The boy who just excused you? Yes, he went to our school, why?’

  ‘Because he’s asked me for a date, and he thinks my name’s Miranda.’

  ‘He’s asked yer for a date!’ Bobby’s voice was high with surprise. ‘The cheeky devil! I’ll have to have words with him.’

  ‘You will not, you’ve caused enough trouble as it is.’ Abbie looked to her brother for help. ‘What am I supposed to say, Nigel? Shall I tell him we were having a joke and gave each other funny names?’

  ‘Don’t worry about that,’ Milly laughed. ‘If he’s asked yer for a date, he won’t be worried what yer name is.’

  ‘What did you tell him, Abbie?’ Nigel asked.

  ‘I didn’t tell him anything, because soft lad here cut in on us. I’m not worried about him asking for a date, I can talk my way out of that, it’s the name I’m worried about.’

  ‘Why would yer talk yer way out of it? He’s a nice lad, is Eric,’ Milly said. ‘It wouldn’t do you any harm to go out with him one night. I know many girls who’d give their right arm to be asked out by him.’

  ‘It’s rather a long way from here to Mossley Hill, though.’ Nigel was wondering what his dad would say in this situation. But his sister was eighteen, after all, not a child. ‘Still, you must make up your own mind.’

  ‘But she doesn’t know the lad from Adam!’ Bobby said. ‘He could be Frankenstein for all she knows, or a werewolf. She could go in the Broadway one night, all hale and hearty, and come out with two bite-marks on her neck and not a drop of blood left.’

  ‘If I didn’t have a drop of blood left in my body, yer daft nit, I’d hardly be able to walk out of the Broadway, would I? And anyway, don’t you be talking about me as if I’m not here.’

  ‘If yer go out with him, yer won’t be here, will yer? That would only leave Milly for me and Nigel to share. We’d be tearing her from limb to limb, and she wouldn’t like that at all. Especially if she’s wearing her TJs two and eleven dress what I haven’t got to say she looks nice in.’

  ‘I’m afraid you haven’t any time left to decide, Abbie, because Eric is on his way over for this dance,’ Nigel said. ‘But don’t be talked into anything you’re not sure about. After all, we’ll be here again on Friday night, you’ll see him then.’

  ‘Hello, Nigel,’ Eric said, after smiling at Abbie. ‘I thought it was you the other night, but I wasn’t sure. Nice to see yer again.’ He held out his hand, saying, ‘Can I have this dance, please, Miranda?’

  Oh, I can’t keep this up, Abbie thought, we’re making a fool of the lad. ‘Yes, you can have this dance, but I’d like to clear something up first. The four of us were having a joke last week, changing our names to ones which were out of the ordinary. I chose Miranda, but my name is really Abigail, or Abbie for short. Bobby here picked the best of the lot though, he had us calling him Jasper.’

  Eric looked at the dumbstruck Bobby, and burst out laughing. ‘That’s a good one that, Bobby, and it doesn’t half suit yer. It matches yer blue eyes.’ Still laughing he led Abbie onto the dance-floor. ‘Jasper! Oh, he’ll never hear the last of that, I’ll pull his leg soft.’

  ‘That would be a very mean thing to do,’ Abbie told him, although she thought herself clever to have pulled such a fantastic name out of the blue. ‘After all, it was a game between the four of us, and I only told you because I couldn’t let you go on calling me Miranda.’

  ‘OK, if you say yer’ll come out with me one night, I promise I won’t make fun of him. How about that?’

  ‘I think the best way to stop you making fun of a friend of mine, is to let you join the club. Would you like me to choose a name for you, Eric?’

  When he smiled down at her, Abbie noticed he had nice blue eyes and a set of strong, white, even teeth. ‘Go on, then,’ he said. ‘Anything for a laugh.’

  ‘How about Jeremiah? I think that’s a beauty.’

  ‘It’s only a joke, isn’t it? I mean, I’d be a laughing stock if that got around.’

  Abbie smiled. ‘Of course it’s only a joke! And anyone who can’t take a joke is not worth bothering with.’

  Eric thought this over. ‘Yeah, I agree. But if that Bobby Neary spreads it around, I’ll break his flaming neck for him.’

  ‘He can hardly do that, can he? Not with a name like Jasper.’

  ‘Yeah, it’s a good one, that.’ Eric was a natural dancer, and easy to follow. His hand firm on her back, he guided Abbie through intricate steps she didn’t think she’d ever master. ‘Now, how about this date we were talking about?’

  ‘You were talking about it, Eric, I haven’t said a word. I don’t have many nights free because I go to commercial college and have homework to do. But I’ll be here on Friday night with the gang, so you could ask me for a few dances and we can get to know each other. I haven’t dated a lot, you see, so I’m new at the game.’

  Eric had to be satisfied with that. She hadn’t turned him down flat, that was something. ‘I’ll look forward to it. Now, what do I call you? Miranda or Abbie?’

  ‘Oh, Abbie, please. The Miranda joke was wearing a bit thin. Mind you, I’ve no one to blame but myself – I chose the name.’

  At the end of the dance, Eric walked her back to her companions. He nodded pleasantly, then made his way over to his mates. Milly was filled with curiosity. ‘Well, how did yer get on? Have yer made a date with him?’

  Abbie shook her head. ‘No. I said I’d see him here on Friday, that’s all.’

  ‘Well, if he thinks he can split our foursome up, he’s got another think coming.’ Bobby’s nodding head added stress to his statement. ‘And if I hear him even think the name Jasper I’ll crack him one, then put you across me knee, Abigail Dennison.’

  ‘Oh, I’ve sorted that out. I said he could join our gang if he’d let me give him a daft name. So it won’t be Eric asking me for a dance on Friday, it’ll be Jeremiah.’

  There were hoots of laughter, then Bobby said, ‘Nice one, Abbie. But I’ll still knock his block off if he touches my arm again in an excuse me.’

  ‘I wouldn’t worry too much,’ Abbie told him. ‘He probably thinks I’ve got a screw loose now, thanks to you, and he’ll steer clear. He’ll look for a girl who doesn’t want to change his name from a good sensible name like Eric, to a high-falutin one like Jeremiah.’

  Yet Nigel couldn’t help but notice that for the rest of the night, Eric’s eyes followed Abbie around. He was a nice enough lad, but his sister had never been out on her own with a boy before, and Nigel felt protective towards her. He couldn’t tell her what to do, though, she had a mind of her own. His best bet was a talk with his dad.

  Charles lounged on the side of the bed, his open dressing-gown revealing his naked body. He had a glass of champagne in one hand and a cigar in the other. He was still feeling high after the thrill of making passionate love to Victoria, who was lying naked in the middle of the bed as rigid as a post. She had attempted to get dressed as soon as his ardour had been satisfied, but he’d stopped her, thinking he might as well get as much as he could from the evening. His eyes ran over her naked figure, a figure that would fire any man’s senses. She hadn’t enjoyed being made love to, he knew that. But instead of putting him off, it heightened the thrill for him. She hadn’t resisted, she’d allowed him to do as he wished, but had taken no active part herself. He remembered the young parlour maid he’d raped, she’d been a virgin, too. But it had been a hurried affair, fumbling in a passageway with long skirts and drawers while the young girl put up a lot of resistance. It was something he could brag about to his friends, but it wasn’t as thrilling as he had made out. Certainly not as enjoyable as tonight, where he’d been able to have his way without fear of being caught.

  ‘I’d like to get dressed now, Charles.’ Victoria had hated the last hour, finding it degrading and humiliating. It had been quite painful, too, in the beginning. This seemed to have been lost on Charles, who ignored her cry and kept on thrusting like a man possessed. When they
were married she would suggest he took a mistress. This was not the time to mention that, though, so she mustered a smile. ‘Did you hear me, darling?’

  ‘Yes, my sweet, but I don’t want the pleasure to end yet. I could feast my eyes on your naked beauty for ever.’ He ran a finger down over her breasts and stomach, then slid it between her legs as his heartbeats increased and his breathing became heavy. ‘I must possess you again, my lovely, or my head will burst.’

  ‘No, Charles, please! It really is time we were going. Don’t forget, I have the dinner party tomorrow night and I need my beauty sleep. I want to look my best for your parents.’ Victoria could feel his hot breath on her shoulder and began to panic. ‘Please, Charles, I beg you. I would feel so ashamed if I became pregnant.’

  ‘I have told you, my sweet, that a virgin does not become pregnant the first time she has intercourse.’ No amount of pleading would have got through to Charles, he was now at the point of no return. He slipped off the dressing-gown he’d found hanging behind the door in the bathroom, and flung it on the floor. ‘Only a man made of stone could resist you, and I’m not made of stone.’ He covered her body, and was fired with a passion that blurred his vision and his senses. Everything was blotted from his mind, except the need to satisfy his desire. He took Victoria with a roughness and savagery that had her biting on her lip to keep the screams back. And when his passion was exhausted he rolled away from her and lay on his back, breathing heavily as he gazed up at the ceiling. There were no sweet words or caresses for Victoria now; he had achieved what he’d set out to do.

  Glancing sideways at him, Victoria told herself she had paid a high price tonight. And she vowed that Charles would be made to pay an even higher one.

  Chapter Twenty

  ‘You seem very pale and tired this morning, dear,’ Edwina said, looking across the breakfast-table to where her daughter was sitting. ‘Were you very late getting home?’