by Iris Gower
‘Come on then, Will Davies, let’s go to bed.’
He took her in his arms and swept her off her feet, carrying her like a bride upstairs and into their room. ‘You’re a temptress, Eline,’ he said in a whisper. ‘I love you so much it almost hurts, have I ever told you that?’
‘William,’ she touched his cheeks, drawing his mouth down to hers, ‘there are times when it’s right to talk … but now is not one of them.’
She woke suddenly and sat up in bed. Moonlight stretched fingers of light through the curtains. Eline thought she’d heard a noise downstairs and she looked around anxiously. Will was beside her and the baby was asleep in the small cot. He stretched and turned over and Eline relaxed against the pillows, everything was all right and if she had heard anything it would be Arian coming home. She smiled. It seemed her friend was beginning to put the past behind her and make a new life for herself up here in Clydach. Good luck to her too, it was about time she stretched her wings.
Sleep crept over her and before she finally succumbed, Eline put her arm across Will’s bare chest and sighed with happiness. They were together, her family, and all was right with her world.
Arian stared into Gerald’s face and anger flowed, heady like a draught of wine, through her body. ‘What do you think you are doing?’ she demanded, her voice hoarse. ‘How dare you drag me away from Clydach? What gives you the right to behave like this?’
‘I’m your husband,’ Gerald Simples said evenly. ‘I have every right to bring you back to my home.’
Arian looked around her. She had no idea where she was – she’d been able to see nothing on the journey from Clydach which had been the whole idea of the blindfold, she realized now.
‘And where exactly is home?’ Arian spoke more calmly now. There was far more to be gained by reasoning with this man who was her husband than by showing her hostility.
‘It’s not too far from Swansea,’ Gerald said, sitting on the edge of the bed, ‘and I think you will find it quite comfortable once you get used to it.’
‘I have no intention of getting used to it.’ Arian’s resolve to be reasonable was short-lived. ‘I’m getting out of here first thing in the morning.’
‘I don’t think so, Mrs Simples.’ Gerald put his hand on her bodice and began to open the buttons. She pushed him away but he persisted.
‘Are you going to force yourself on me then?’ she said challengingly. ‘After all you said?’ He shook his head.
‘You should know me better than that,’ he said, ‘but I do want to take away your clothes. They are not what I’d call suitable for the wife of a well-to-do gentleman.’
‘Gentleman!’ Arian sneered. ‘You flatter yourself.’ She felt him tug at her bodice and the worn material tore beneath his hands. He pushed her back and undid the buttons at the side of her skirt.
‘Look at this,’ he indicated the hem. ‘It’s filthy.’ He took off her skirt and threw it on the floor. ‘Burning is all that these rags are good for.’
His expression of disgust stung. ‘I’ve been tramping the streets, I can’t help it if I have to walk up muddy lanes to deliver my repairs, can I? I have to make a living you know.’
Without answering, Gerald unlaced her boots and eased them from her feet. He touched her blistered heels.
‘You call this living?’ He pulled back bedclothes and indicated that she get into the warmth of the blankets. ‘I call it slavery, myself. You’d be better off living with me, at least you’d have clean clothes, a good home and a bit of money in your pocket. And perhaps you’d have the opportunity to begin a new future.’
‘I wanted a future as a business woman,’ she said, ‘and you took that away from me. It’s over and done with.’
‘Not necessarily,’ he said. ‘I might yet be able to arrange something for you.’
‘And in exchange?’ Arian asked, knowing the answer already.
He leaned over her, his face close to hers, and he was smiling.
‘In exchange you act as a wife should, that’s all I want, Mrs Simples.’
‘Stop calling me that!’ Arian said. ‘My name is Arian. Why can’t you use it?’
‘Because I don’t wish to,’ Gerald said formally. ‘To me you are Mrs Simples, my wife. That’s all.’
‘Your plaything in bed, you mean.’ Arian spoke bitterly. ‘That’s all you want, isn’t it? My body?’
‘I’d prefer to have your devotion, of course,’ Gerald said, ‘but if that’s out of the question I’ll settle for what I need most which is, as you so crudely put it, your body.’
‘Why me?’ Arian asked desperately. ‘Why can’t you find someone else willing to enjoy your embraces?’
He picked up her torn skirt and bodice and moved to the door without answering her question. ‘In the morning, you will find fresh clothes laid out in my room for you. If you choose to wear them, I’ll know that you have agreed to my terms.’
‘In other words, you’ll keep me prisoner here until I do what you wish?’ she said fiercely. ‘All right then, here, take me.’ She held out her arms. ‘Come on, what are you waiting for?’ Her anger was mounting. ‘It’s what you want and I’m offering it to you.’
She didn’t understand the look on his face as he turned away from her, but her heart sank as the door closed behind him and she heard the sound of a key turning in the lock.
Arian put her hands over her eyes. Her thoughts were in chaos. She’d been snatched from the life she’d come to hate, was that so bad? A new future, Gerald had said. Was it possible?
Her feeling of hope was short-lived. What new future? Her credibility as a buyer had gone, vanished with the fiasco over the French calf. What could Simples possibly offer her?
She curled up in the bed, glad of the warmth of the clothes wrapped around her. Could she have gone on with her old life, she wondered, enduring the harsh winter weather, carrying her heavy basket around with her, tramping all over the hillside delivering repaired boots and shoes, returning to the house that she shared with Eline and Will, continually feeling like an outsider. Was that what she wanted from life?
She closed her eyes wearily. Perhaps Simples presented a way out, perhaps he could find her some work that she would enjoy, then at least she could feel fulfilled as a businesswoman if not as a wife.
It was a long time before she slept and then she dreamed that she had her own leather business, that she was successful and respected in the town of Swansea. In her dream, Calvin Temple featured large; adoring, wooing her with wine and flowers. Nowhere, not even as a shadow, did Gerald Simples appear to mar her dreams.
It was some days later that Will brought a letter to Eline. She stared down at it, a frown of bewilderment on her face. She quickly tore open the envelope and read the few words written upon a slip of paper inside.
‘Listen to this, Will,’ she said quickly. ‘It says here that Arian is settled now with her husband, she is safe and well and thanks us for all we have done for her. It’s signed by Gerald Simples.’
‘Oh,’ Eline sank down into her chair. ‘But she was unhappy, she didn’t want to live with him. Why should she suddenly go back to him? It doesn’t make sense.’
Will shrugged. ‘Her life here was not ideal, you’d be the first to admit that. Didn’t you sense that she was becoming restless? I did.’
‘I suppose so,’ Eline said doubtfully, ‘but how can we find out for sure?’
Will took her in his arms, lifting her from the chair so that she faced him.
‘My darling,’ he said patiently, ‘you can’t take on the cares of the whole human race.’ He kissed her mouth. ‘And don’t you think we have enough to worry about trying to make a success of our business?’
‘But if she’s being held against her will we should do something to help.’
‘What?’ Will asked softly. ‘She’s married to this man. He has all the rights on his side. The law would see Arian as a recalcitrant bride, that’s all, and how many of those are about?’
‘If it will help, I’ll call in and see Arian when I next go to Swansea,’ Will said gently. He tucked the letter away in his pocket. ‘But I’m sure it’s all right. The man wouldn’t have given us his address if it wasn’t, he wouldn’t have bothered to write at all, would he?’
‘I suppose not,’ Eline replied, though she was still far from convinced. Will tipped up her face.
‘I’d love to spend the afternoon in bed with you, my darling,’ he said. ‘I could hold you and kiss you all day long but we have work to do, both of us.’
Eline smiled. ‘Thanks to you,’ she said. ‘It’s wonderful that my shoes and slippers are beginning to sell again. Arian was right. The cape and matching boots I wore for our wedding have taken off. I have so many demands for them that I think we’re going to need another cobbler around the place now that she’s gone.’
Will looked at her thoughtfully. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘this could all turn out for the best. Arian would make a fine contact down in Swansea. What if she was to act as an agent for us?’
‘I don’t know if she’d want to,’ Eline said, ‘or even if that husband of hers would allow it.’
‘If I know Arian,’ Will said smiling, ‘the man will have very little say in the matter. She’s got guts. That’s why I think she’s there with him of her own free will.’
Eline nodded thoughtfully. ‘Well, you could be right and it wouldn’t do any harm to talk to her about your idea. At least a meeting with her would prove of help should Arian need it.’
‘That’s settled then,’ Will said. ‘Now can we both get on with our work?’
Eline smiled at him mischievously and drew him close. ‘Not yet,’ she said. ‘Our boy is asleep, we can work at any time.’
‘In other words you have designs on me, is that it, you shameless wench?’
Eline didn’t answer as she gently unbuttoned his shirt and slipped her arms around the warmth of his body, drawing him close. She kissed the hollow of his neck and then his shoulder and then his mouth.
‘Have I told you that I love you?’ she whispered against his lips. Will lowered her gently onto the huge sofa.
‘Once or twice.’ His mouth was hot on hers, his passion growing. Eline sighed softly and closed her eyes.
It was a week since Arian had taken up the clothes Gerald had left for her and acknowledged, in doing so, that she was also taking up occupation of his bed. In that week they had scarcely talked, he was out most of the day and Arian spent time alone, exploring the small but elegant house. She kept the fires well stoked, for the weather was chilly now, and for his return in the evenings, she cooked nourishing meals.
It was a time for coming to terms with her life and, strangely, she found she was enjoying the hiatus, the quietness of the surrounding hillside, the comparative peace of being cared for. She missed nothing of her old life. The walks up the hillside with the heavy basket over her arm, the cloistered feeling that living with Eline and Will had given her; they were all part of a past, a past that was over and done with.
Strangely, Gerald had made no move towards her, even though at night they lay side by side in the double bed. He had not turned to her, had not claimed what rights were his, the rights a husband had over his wife.
It had come to a point where Arian felt she must make a move herself, have the suspense of waiting for the inevitable over and done with.
Had he suddenly changed his mind, she wondered? Now that he had her in his power did he no longer want her? But that was too much to hope for. In any case, he was her husband and nothing could change that, so she might as well make the best of it.
Tonight she had cooked him a nourishing supper of rabbit and hot potatoes and she waited for him to come home, the dutiful wife, sitting in her chair in the kitchen as though this was a normal marriage. And why not? There was nothing else in life for her, no knight in shining armour to ride away with her. Gerald Simples was a crook but then Calvin had scarcely been honest.
Over the past days she had forced herself to look the truth full in the face. The man she loved was no good, a womanizer who slept with his rich exotic paramour while making a gullible married woman like Sarah Frogmore pregnant with his child. Oh yes, Calvin Temple was a man like the rest of them, out to gratify his own desires.
The door-latch lifted and Gerald Simples came into the kitchen carrying with him the coldness of the night air. He looked fresh and clean, his face weathered by the wind, his mouth strong beneath the dark moustache.
Arian looked at him objectively. He was a handsome man. Could she in time come to love him? She doubted it but perhaps she might at least make the best of things.
‘I have news for you,’ he said. ‘I met with William Davies in town. He has a proposition for you which coincides with my own projects, as it happens.’
‘Oh?’ Arian didn’t bother to conceal her surprise. ‘How did he know where I was?’
‘I wrote to him and told him, of course.’ Gerald said calmly. ‘I didn’t want him alarming the constabulary or riding after you like an old-time vigilante.’
Arian digested this information in silence. What must Eline and Will think of her? But did it matter? Did anything matter now?
‘Don’t you wish to know what was proposed?’ Gerald asked, taking off his topcoat and sitting in his chair.
‘Yes,’ Arian replied quietly, ‘I would like to know, I suppose.’
Gerald appeared self-satisfied. ‘Come, put out the meal and let us eat while we talk.’
Arian contained her impatience while she served him his food. She watched him taste the rabbit with a nod of approval and, absurdly, she was pleased.
‘He wants you to be his contact in Swansea,’ Gerald said. ‘Initially, William Davies imagined you would simply spread the word about his boots and shoes by showing them off to folk. I had a much better idea.’
Arian looked at him, waiting for him to continue. It irked her that Gerald made no mention of Eline, as though Will Davies was in business on his own, but then Gerald rarely gave women credit for any intelligence.
He was infuriatingly slow with his meal but at last he put down his knife and fork. ‘I had decided already that you should open your own emporium, that you should sell boots and shoes from a variety of sources which it would be your place to find. What I don’t want is you thinking small; selling stock just supplied by William Davies isn’t good enough, you must approach the big concerns as well. I told you I could present you with a new future if only you would give me the chance, didn’t I?’
‘It has nothing new about it,’ Arian said slowly. ‘It’s an idea that has been used by Emily Miller and by Hari Grenfell, both of them talented ladies in their own right.’
‘It will be a fresh departure for you, a fine opportunity. Are you afraid of the competition?’ Gerald asked bluntly. ‘Will you give up before you have begun?’
‘No,’ some of Arian’s old spirit returned, ‘I am not afraid of anything about the scheme but neither will I take on something that I feel is doomed to failure.’
‘What do you suggest then?’ Gerald leaned back in his chair. She knew that he was testing her, wanting to learn how committed she was to succeeding in business which meant, inevitably, remaining with him.
‘On my rounds in Clydach, I thought about the future quite a lot, had plenty of ideas, and one of them I think is very good indeed. If you are willing to fund me then I wish to start up an agency.’
Arian paused and seeing she had Gerald’s full attention continued speaking. ‘I’ll go to people’s homes demonstrating the kind of boots and shoes I want to sell. I will make up a catalogue of designs, of various styles so that the customer can choose what he or she wants without leaving the house.’
She stopped talking, her breath had left her as she sudde
nly realized how good her idea sounded put into words.
‘I would make some of the shoes myself,’ she continued. ‘I’m not brilliant but I am a good worker and I have learned a lot from my time with Eline. I will make a success of this, it’s something I can really believe in.’
‘Better idea than my own, I’ll admit. You have imagination and flair, you also have enthusiasm. I like that.’ He rose to his feet. ‘Shall we go to our bed, Mrs Simples? It’s high time.’
She tensed. She knew what his words meant, knew just what she had committed herself to. She looked at him for a long moment and then she rose to her feet.
In their room, he undressed unhurriedly and then, naked, slid beneath the sheets. He watched as she slowly removed her own clothing and then he held the sheets back for her to climb in beside him. He made no move in her direction and Arian realized he was not going to make matters easy for her – that was not his way, she had learned that lesson once.
She lay rigid for a moment then turned towards him and put her arm around his shoulder. ‘I’m ready,’ she whispered and Gerald stretched and sighed in the darkness.
‘Well I am not,’ he said. ‘I am not a machine any more than you are.’
Reluctantly, she began to caress him. She closed her eyes as he began to touch her, his fingers familiar with her body. She suppressed a sigh, dreading his passion. But then, didn’t most wives feel exactly the same thing? How many women loved their men? How many wives sighed over the chore of submitting to their menfolk between the sheets?
He seemed to rise above her and then he was pressing her back against the bed. He slipped his hands beneath her, pressing her close to him as though he might penetrate into her very soul.
She longed to push him away from her, to cry out in protest but she did none of those things. She had sold herself to him, sold herself for the price of a business. Catering to Gerald’s needs was a part of that life; the bargain was made and she would not shrink from doing her duty.