‘I told you. I was absolutely flattened. We had a ghastly night – ’
‘Oh, I’m sorry to fuss, darling,’ Poppy said and came and stood behind her and put an arm around her daughter and set her cheek against her hair. ‘It’s just that I’ve had a perfectly foul time with one of the women at the canteen, over sugar, and I have to take her shift tonight and they’ve sent David off somewhere ridiculous, Hull or somewhere. I do try not to be a bore, though, over you, I really do.’
Robin put down her fork and returned her mother’s hug. ‘It’s all right, fusspot. I’ll forgive you. Thousands wouldn’t,’ she said lightly, but there was a shadow between them all the same, and Poppy thought – oh, Lee, I do miss you. And then felt guilty that she should be thinking of her second child in such a way at such a juncture. Surely she didn’t have favourites? It would be a dreadful thing if she had. Mothers shouldn’t.
‘So, listen, Robin, your mother’s right. It ain’t nice you don’t call her. You know how she worries,’ Jessie said.
‘Then she shouldn’t,’ Robin said sharply and went on eating. ‘I’m a big girl now, Auntie Jessie. Twenty-one, for pity’s sake – an adult. Don’t you start! Ye gods, Chick, you’re lucky, you know that? You can’t be got at because of not phoning often enough!’
‘I wish I could be,’ Chick said quietly and Robin flushed a little and went on eating, with a decidedly mulish look on her face now.
‘So, what’s news, Jess?’ Poppy said, feeling the need to discharge the tension that had sprung up in the little group of women. ‘Did the fish turn up?’
‘Miracles happen, dolly, miracles really happen! I got all the plaice I wanted, and some halibut too, believe it or not! Come and see –’ The big woman slid off her stool and went waddling over to the cold rooms on the far side, with Poppy walking behind her, their heads close together.
‘Listen kid,’ Chick said as soon as they were out of earshot. ‘Where do you get off being such a sourpuss? So your Mom wants you to call her? What’s so terrible?’
‘Oh, they’re all the same!’ Robin said and threw down her fork. Suddenly she wasn’t hungry any more. ‘If it isn’t Ma, it’s Jessie, and if it isn’t her, it’s Goosey and David’s the worst of the lot. It’s like – it’s like being in a hothouse.’
‘People get anxious in wartime,’ Chick said, putting on the voice of a BBC lecturer, very heavy and portentous, and then returning to her own light tones. ‘Haven’t you noticed that? They kinda look round for one thing or someone to be anxious about and they pick on people. I dare say that’s it.’
‘You idiot,’ Robin said and laughed in spite of herself. ‘Okay, okay – not another word. I’ll call my mother every hour on the hour, all right? Don’t you start nagging or I really will go into a decline.’
Chick finished her chicken, doing everything but lick the plate. ‘I’ll see to it you do. Listen, do you think your aunt could spare me some of that strudel? It looks good enough to eat.’
‘Help yourself,’ Robin said proprietorially again. ‘She’s a lovely old darling, actually, and only fusses when Ma does, and she won’t fuss over strudel. No, not for me, I’ve had enough. Mmm? What is it?’ And she turned her head because Lily from the shop was prodding her.
‘Where’s your ma?’ she demanded and her little head bounced so that her absurd hair seemed to bounce too with a separate life of its own. ‘There’s someone here wants to see your Auntie Jessie and your Ma won’t be best pleased and I saw her come through.’
‘She’s in the cold rooms with Auntie Jessie. Who is it, Lily?’
‘Least said soonest mended,’ Lily said darkly and stood hovering, staring over her shoulder, clearly undecided, but then she caught her breath and went hurrying back to the door, because it had opened again and someone was standing there in the shadowy corridor outside.
‘Come back into the shop, you idiot,’ Lily said urgently. ‘We don’t want no arguments around here today, whatever else happens. On your way – I’ll tell Jessie when – ’
‘What is it, Lily?’ Jessie and Poppy had come out of the cold rooms and were standing looking at Lily’s expressive back and she turned and looked at them and held her arms out in a pathetic attempt to hide the person she’d been talking to. But she needn’t have bothered because he sidestepped her and said easily, ‘Hi Mom. And Poppy! Well, well, well. Long time no see.’
‘Heavens above!’ Chick whispered into Robin’s ear. ‘Who is that gorgeous man? He looks like some film star, I swear. Did you ever see anyone so good-looking?’
4
Jessie’s reaction would have been funny if it hadn’t been so obvious that she was distressed. She looked at the man in the expensive suit and the wide-lapelled camel-hair coat flung oh-so-casually over his shoulders, and her face lit up as though someone had switched on a lamp inside her, and she made to move towards him; and then stopped and looked over her shoulder at Poppy, and her face fell ludicrously.
Poppy stared at him with a face like stone, and Robin looked from one to the other in great interest as Chick leaned over and breathed into her ear, ‘Who is it?’
Robin grimaced her lack of knowledge and Chick murmured, ‘Nice! Hope he’s available –’ as the man pulled his coat off with an elegant sweep of one arm and dropped it on the nearest preparation table before walking lazily over to Jessie.
‘Well, well,’ he said and bent and kissed her on each cheek. ‘Who’d have thought it. Imagine finding you with visitors!’ And he turned and looked at Poppy and lifted his brows. ‘Hi there, Poppy! So how are things with you?’
He had a marked American accent and that made Chick sit up even straighter and Robin nudged her with a sharp elbow. Chick’s refusal to behave in a circumspect way over men she liked the look of always made Robin blush for her. It was so very un-English, she would tell her scoldingly, and Chick would laugh and promise to mend her ways, but here she was, doing it again: and the tall man caught her eye then and smiled, a lazy curling of the lips that showed a dimple at one corner of his all-too-perfect mouth and made Chick almost burst with delight.
‘And who have we here? Two pretty ladies – I guess the Good Lord’s watching over me today. Introduce me, someone!’
‘Girls, it’s time you were on your way, isn’t it?’ Poppy said and Robin stared at her mother in amazement. She’d never heard a voice as hard and indeed downright rude emerging from her, and she got to her feet and said deliberately to the tall man, ‘It seems we have to introduce ourselves. I’m Robin Bradman, and this is Chick Chester, my friend. Who are you?’
‘Well, well! So you’re little Robin, hmm? I’ve heard a lot about you.’ And he looked over his shoulder at Poppy who was now looking very pinched about the mouth. ‘It’s good to meet you,’ and held out his hand to Robin to be shaken. ‘And you too – Chick, was it?’
‘Yes, indeedy,’ Chick said fervently and stuck out one hand and shook his vigorously. ‘Where are you from? My part of the world, I think.’
He put his head on one side and looked at her quizzically. ‘I doubt it. I’m a Londoner, you know? Brought up in these mean streets – ’
Jessie, who had regained some of her self-control, made an odd little sound at that and the man looked at her and laughed. ‘No offence meant!’
‘You sound American,’ Chick said. ‘Me, I’m Canadian.’
‘Ah, one from the wilderness, hmm? Great little place, they tell me. Never been there myself, mind you. Me, I like the sophisticated life, you know? New York, that’s my natural home.’
‘Who are you?’ Robin demanded again, somewhat chilled by the man’s insolent manner and he grinned again and looked at Poppy.
‘Okay if I say, Poppy?’ he said teasingly. ‘I mean, I wouldn’t want you at me like a wildcat. You were bad enough over little Chloe – God knows how you’d be over this one!’
Poppy moved forward and to Robin’s amazement her fists were actually clenched, and, alarmed, Robin slid off her stool and took Chick’s
arm in one firm hand and urged her past the man towards the door.
‘I’m not sure I’m interested,’ she said in a high voice, trying to ignore the memories that were pushing at her now, the half-explained things she had overheard as a child, the hints that had been dropped by Lily, that most inveterate of chatterboxes, and she didn’t want to know more. Whatever it was it had upset her mother badly and however cross Poppy sometimes made her, Robin loved her mother dearly and would not willingly hurt her. And she hurried across the room and kissed Poppy and said quietly, ‘We must go, darling. We’ll be on duty soon and I’ve got to sort out my uniform and do some studying. I promise to call you as soon as I get off duty tomorrow – bye.’ And she went then and hugged Jessie and kissed her, realizing as she did so that for once her aunt was unaware of her. Her attention was completely fixed on the man who was now leaning against one of the preparation tables, picking at a tray of strudel and watching, with clear amusement, all that was going on. And looking at Jessie’s face Robin thought – she’s getting awfully old, for her face was drawn and pinched and sagged miserably.
‘Take care of yourself, Auntie Jessie,’ she said gently and then with a jerk of her head at Chick made for the door and Chick, unusually subdued, followed her.
There was a little silence when they’d gone and then Poppy said tightly, ‘How long have you been back?’
Jessie looked almost despairing at that, and made a move towards her and then pulled back and turned to the man and then almost tottered as she moved away from both of them and went and sat on the tall stool Robin had just vacated, and leaned her head on her hand. Neither of the others seemed to notice; they were staring at each other.
‘Well, now, let me see,’ he said lazily and picked up another piece of strudel. ‘It was June, as I recall – ’
‘Then how the hell did you get here?’ she flared. ‘They stopped ordinary passenger crossings from America well before then!’
He lifted his eyebrows and then with great delicacy cleaned his sticky fingers on a silk handkerchief.
‘Did I say it was this year?’ he murmured. ‘It was June ’38. Wasn’t it, Ma?’
‘I told you not to come here unless I made an arrangement!’ Jessie said and her voice was thick. ‘All I want is peace and quiet, the chance to live the way I want with the people I want and no trouble! All you had to do is keep out of the way. Why make a tummel?’
‘A tummel?’ he said, looking at her with his brows raised.
‘You know what I mean – don’t try and make a fool of me, Bernie! I didn’t want any rows or arguments. All I asked of you was you should keep out of Poppy’s way. And here you are – you know we usually get together this time of the day!’
‘I got tired of it,’ Bernie said offhandedly. ‘Why should I hide from my own cousin, hmm? A man can visit his mother with a bit of a business proposition without having to hide away as though it were some sort of crime!’ He snickered then. ‘Not that it’s entirely kosher, I can’t deny, but you know how it is. Hard times mean hard deals.’
Poppy had moved away to stand leaning against the table near Jessie. Her face was still pinched and white and her eyes glittered a little as she looked at Jessie.
‘He’s been here two years?’
‘Yes,’ Jessie said after a moment. ‘Yes. I did my best, Poppy! But what could I do? He turned up on my doorstep looking like such a nebbish – terrible clothes, thin as a rake, what would you expect me to do? Send him away?’
‘After what he did to you, I rather think I would have expected it,’ Poppy said.
‘What I did to her? You mean to your precious Chloe, don’t you? Not that I remember her as being all that hard to deal with. She wanted what she got as much as I did, if you see what I mean. She wasn’t exactly a shrinking blossom when I met her, you know. Hanging around nightclubs at her age – ’
‘I’m not interested in anything you have to say!’ Poppy flared. ‘Not now or ever! You treated Chloe abominably and you gave your mother hell! She broke her heart while you were in that prison, do you know that? I was glad to see you there – it was where you belonged. I only wish they’d kept you longer. But she’s your mother and she suffered hell because of you – ’
‘So how could I have sent him away, Poppy?’ Jessie looked up at her, and her eyes were reddened with unshed tears. ‘Hmm? Like you said, I’m his mother! How could I send him away? And how could I cause you pain? So I did the best I could. I told him to be careful, not to let you find out that he was here, everything’d be fine. And now look at how we are!’ And she bent her head over her hands and this time let her tears go and after a moment Poppy bent over and held her close, letting the old woman cry her heart out on her shoulder. And Bernie stood and watched with a faint grin on his face.
Eventually Jessie’s tears slowed and changed to occasional hiccups and she sat up and mopped her ravaged face, as Poppy went over to one of the hobs where a coffee pot stood bubbling gently, and fetched it, together with a mug.
There was a silence as Jessie sipped the coffee and then, looking better, set down the mug.
‘Well, Bernie, what have you got to say for yourself?’
‘Me? What should I have to say?’
‘Listen, you didn’t come here at this time just to make mischief?’ Jessie looked sharply at him then. ‘Or did you?’
‘Would I do that?’ He opened his eyes wide and then laughed. ‘Well, all right, maybe I would. Only I didn’t. No, I had to talk to you fast. It’s important. Believe it or not, I tried to keep out of Poppy’s way. I don’t like rows no more than you do. But she hung around so long I had to come through from the shop. There’s a limit to how much of Lily’s chatter one man can take.’
‘So, what’s so urgent?’ And Jessie glanced uneasily at Poppy, who was still standing staring stonily at him.
Bernie shot a sharp glance at her too, and then looked back at his mother. ‘It’s nothing all that much, no big deal. It’s just that I need some warehouse space and I want to rent yours. It’s hard to find anywhere these days that’s really safe, you know? And you’ve got all these cellars here – ’
‘We’re using them as shelters,’ Poppy said shortly.
‘All of them? Hardly. As I recall, those cellars go not only right under these buildings but half-way under Cable Street as well. It’s an enormous space.’
‘So? It’s enormous. We’re using it ourselves for storage.’
‘All of it?’
‘That’s none of your business.’
‘I’ll pay a decent rent,’ he said with a studiedly casual air. ‘A more than decent rent. You can have twenty pounds a week.’
Poppy blinked. ‘Twenty – are you mad? That’s a crazy amount for a cold cellar!’
‘But it’s a dry cellar as well as cold, isn’t it?’ he said quickly.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘That’s why we use it to store our dry goods – ’
‘Right. Then it’ll suit my needs too.’
‘What do you want them for?’
‘I told you. Twenty quid a week.’
‘How will you use them, damn you? Don’t be clever with me!’
‘Twenty quid a week, and no questions asked,’ he said and turned away. ‘Take it or leave it.’
‘I’ll leave it,’ Poppy said at once. ‘You can’t think I’d let you have our premises to use any way you like, do you? With your record? I’d have to be mad to do that.’
He looked at her for a long moment and then sighed. ‘Always the perfect little angel, eh, Poppy? Well, suppose you mind your own business? This is my mother’s place, not yours and – ’
‘Like hell it is,’ Poppy snapped. ‘I’m an equal partner in this enterprise, as you ought to know by now if you’ve been in London all this time. Jessie must have told you – ’
‘I did,’ Jessie said weakly. ‘Honestly, I did, Poppola. I told him you’d never agree – ’
Poppy whirled on her. ‘You mean you knew about this – this whate
ver it is he wants our cellars for?’
Jessie looked miserable. ‘He’s talked about it before,’ she mumbled.
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Poppy said. ‘After all, if it’s such a good business deal, shouldn’t I be allowed to consider it? Twenty pounds a week for accommodation we don’t otherwise use has to be good business.’
‘I didn’t think you’d like it,’ Jessie mumbled and Poppy said angrily, ‘What did you say?’
And this time Jessie shouted it. ‘I didn’t think you’d like it!’ and there was a ringing silence.
Poppy sighed then, a deep sucking in of breath that seemed to weaken her, for she stood there with her eyes closed, leaning against the table and trying to regain her composure. Then she said as steadily as she could, ‘Then it’s all starting again.’
‘How do you mean, starting again?’ Jessie began to bluster. ‘Who’s starting anything again? I told you, I wouldn’t do nothing you don’t like. You’re equal partners with me, and I wouldn’t never do nothing to upset you. But when my own son comes asking, and it seems harmless enough, what am I – ’
‘Harmless?’ Poppy opened her eyes and glared at her. ‘Since when were any of this – this – since when did he ever suggest anything that was harmless? Good for him maybe, but hell for everyone else around him. Every time – ’
‘Not this time,’ Bernie said smoothly and came and stood beside his mother. ‘Suppose instead of spouting off like some busted water main you listen for a few minutes, hey, Poppy? Just listen and hear what I’m offering and what for.’
‘I told you, I’m not interested in any offer you have to make, now or ever,’ she flared. ‘After the sort of things you did in the past? Ye gods, when you were only sixteen you tried to embezzle money from your mother, and everything you’ve done since confirms what you are. A slippery liar at best, a downright crook at worst. You can double your offer of rent, it won’t make any difference – ’
He smiled, totally ignoring her taunts. ‘I won’t double it, but I could go up fifty per cent.’ He spoke with a fine judicious air. ‘Which, seeing it’s a perfectly reasonable bit of business and not particularly slippery, is as fair an offer as you’ll get anywhere. These are bad times, Poppy. Make the sunshine when you can!’
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