Mrs Boots: A heartwarming, page-turner inspired by the true story of Florence Boot, the woman behind Boots (Mrs Boots, Book 1)

by Deborah Carr

  ‘Reading?’ Lily stared down at the floor. ‘I wasn’t reading, Miss Rowe.’ She lowered her voice as if confiding a dreadful secret. ‘I’m ashamed to admit that I cannot read.’

  ‘You have nothing to be ashamed about,’ Florence insisted, stunned to discover this information about her assistant. ‘I don’t understand, though; haven’t I seen you noting things down?’

  ‘Yes. Well, I can read, a little,’ Lily explained quietly. ‘But not well enough to enjoy a book such as this.’ She held up the copy of Treasure Island.

  Florence was devastated that no one had taught Lily to read well enough to enjoy one of the many books they had in stock. She decided that she should be the one to rectify this omission as soon as possible.

  ‘Then we shall see that you can.’ She smiled, hoping to reassure the girl. ‘I can teach you during quiet moments here and if you wish you may come to the shop either before we open for lessons or stay back afterwards. I shall ensure that you are reading in no time.’

  Lily’s eyes widened and her full lips drew back into a smile. ‘You will? For me?’

  ‘Yes. We will start immediately.’

  ‘And I’m happy to stay back after the shop closes for as long as you need me to.’

  Florence was touched by the girl’s enthusiasm. ‘I think an hour each time will be long enough. You’ll be tired after working here for a full day and your mother will be expecting you home to help her with chores, I assume.’

  ‘Of course. Thank you, Miss Rowe.’

  ‘It will be my pleasure,’ she assured her, deciding that if she was unable to get the desired result from her teachings that she would ask Adelaide to step in and help Lily. After all, Adelaide already taught in a school and knew how best to encourage students. First, though, she would do her best to help Lily obtain the reading skills she so desired. She couldn’t wait to get started. ‘There’s no one in here now, so shall we find a book that you do feel comfortable with and begin there?’

  The next couple of hours passed quickly and, happy with Lily’s immediate progress, Florence lent her the book that they had been working on. Now, she thought, we need to build her experience in the shop. ‘How do you feel about serving your first customer?’ she asked.

  ‘I’d like that.’ Lily beamed at her, her cheeks flushed with excitement.

  ‘Good. Then the next customer who comes here can be yours.’ She checked that Amy had heard. ‘In the meantime, you can straighten the items on the display at the front of the shop, please.’

  Lily would then be in the perfect place for the customer to notice her, so that she could ask them how she could help.

  Lily walked away happily, leaving Florence to rearrange a larger display at the side of the shop so that she could include stock that she thought to be perfect Christmas gifts.

  A few minutes later Florence groaned.

  ‘Whatever is the matter?’ Amy asked. ‘Are you unwell?’

  Florence shook her head. ‘No, look,’ she said, pointing out of the window.

  Mrs Wolstenholm was about to open the shop door.

  ‘Oh no,’ Amy grimaced. ‘Shall we go and help Lily?’

  Florence wanted to, but saw Mrs Wolstenholm – her father’s most valued, yet annoying customer – tap her silver-topped walking stick noisily on the wooden floorboards near to the counter. Lily, her cheeks flushed, smiled and offered her help to the short, rotund woman.

  ‘And who might you be?’ Mrs Wolstenholm demanded.

  ‘I’m Miss Lily Buttons,’ she said, her voice trembling a little with nerves.

  Florence was pleased to note that Lily stood up straight. If she didn’t know better, Florence would have thought Lily far more confident than she knew her to be. Florence wanted to assist Lily, but didn’t want to usurp her control of the situation.

  ‘I’m Mrs Wolstenholm,’ she said, her tone clipped. ‘You must be new.’ She tapped her stick against the maid’s skirt Florence had just noticed had come in behind her. The poor girl was carrying several parcels, which, judging by the redness in her face, must be heavy. ‘Stand out of my way.’

  The woman waited for Lily to come directly in front of her before looking her slowly up and down as if she had never seen a specimen quite like her before. ‘You don’t look as if you’re one of those modern women,’ she sniffed, scanning the shop until her focus landed on Florence. ‘All those ruffles and draping material, it’s too fanciful if you ask me. I believe unmarried women should wear plainer clothing.’

  Florence was used to this rudeness, so wasn’t offended by her. ‘Good afternoon, Mrs Wolstenholm,’ she waved. ‘Delightful to see you again.’ She was determined not to give the woman satisfaction of letting her know she had annoyed her.

  ‘Is there anything I can help you with today?’ she heard Lily ask.

  Mrs Wolstenholm rested both hands on the top of her walking stick and glowered at her. ‘I will not be served by a mere girl.’ She looked across at Florence and bellowed. ‘Where is your father. He always serves me and I do not have time to dawdle.’ She raised her chin and glowered down at her maid. ‘Do stop fidgeting, Martha.’

  Not wishing to leave Lily alone with the cantankerous woman, Florence said, ‘Lily, please will go you and ask my father to come and speak to Mrs Wolstenholm?’

  Lily was stumped for a second and then quickly went out the back of the shop to the stairs.

  ‘May I take those from you?’ Florence asked the maid.

  ‘She’s perfectly capable of holding them.’ Mrs Wolstenholm began pacing back and forth in front of the counter.

  ‘Place them here, if you like,’ Florence whispered to the poor girl, who after a brief consideration of the offer, placed the parcels quietly down on the wooden surface next to her and mouthed a thanks to Florence.

  Too irritated to notice what was happening behind her back, the older woman tutted loudly. ‘For heaven’s sake, what’s keeping the man?’

  ‘I’m sure he’ll be here presently.’ Florence willed her father to hurry, aware that he would come to the shop as soon as he possibly could.

  She heard footsteps and stared at the back door, relieved to see her father coming to join them in the shop.

  ‘My apologies for keeping you waiting, Mrs Wolstenholm,’ he said. ‘Florence, why don’t you help Lily to unpack that order that arrived earlier.’

  She could tell her father wanted Lily out of the way so that he could appease his customer for him not being there to greet her. The woman was a dragon and well known for her nastiness, but unfortunately, her father, like most of the shopkeepers whose shops the woman frequented, were not in a position to refuse to serve her. She had money and, for all her rudeness, did spend a lot on herself.

  Florence reached the doorway at the back of the shop leading to the storeroom. She couldn’t help feeling angry on her father’s behalf to hear the woman address him so rudely.

  ‘She’s not very nice, is she?’ Lily whispered so quietly Florence could barely hear her.

  ‘No, but she comes here often and buys a lot, so we have to pander to her, unfortunately.’

  Leaving her father to serve the woman, Florence went back to the storeroom just as her sister Amy arrived from the family’s flat above the shop.

  ‘Poor Lily,’ Florence said, giving Lily an apologetic glance. ‘I let her serve Mrs Wolstenholm. She was to be her first customer.’

  ‘Don’t mind her,’ Amy said, keeping her voice very low. ‘She might act all grand and look down on the rest of us, but she’s only a shopkeeper’s daughter herself.’

  ‘Which means, she’s no better than we are,’ Florence explained to Lily. She couldn’t imagine ever taking on airs like that vile woman she could hear talking down to her father. She folded her arms across her chest, stunned.

  ‘You wouldn’t think so by looking at her, or listening to her posh voice,’ Lily said, eyes wide.

  ‘I was surprised when I found out too, Lily,’ Florence admitted. ‘I never would have g
uessed it by her superior behaviour.’

  ‘Nor me. She’s nothing like you two kind ladies,’ Lily said quietly.

  Florence smiled at her. ‘I’m glad you think so.’

  Amy wasn’t finished yet though, it seemed. ‘Apparently, she met a wealthy Colonel in Torquay when she went there on holiday as a young woman and they married very quickly. She only came back to the island after she had been widowed a few years ago.’

  They were all relieved when Mrs Wolstenholm finally departed, her maid carrying her books and some new ink for her fountain pen.

  At the end of the day, Florence changed for bed and sat down to write to Jesse.

  27 Queen Street

  St Helier

  Jersey

  12 November 1885

  Mr J Boot

  16–20 Goose Gate

  Nottingham

  Dearest Jesse,

  It seems that the closer we get to Christmas the more I’m missing you. However, I shall try my best to remain positive, and on that note will tell you about my day at father’s shop.

  Lily seems to be enjoying working with us at the shop. She looks well in her uniform and she appears to grow in confidence with every hour she’s with us. She loves her uniform and I’ve decided that I shall buy her a pair of boots to wear. I hope she accepts them.

  Today was to be Lily’s first experience of serving a customer. She was nervous but excited and unfortunately the person she encountered was the unfriendliest customer we have at Rowe’s. Lily dealt with the situation well, despite the woman demanding to speak to my father instead. I was concerned the experience might put her off trying again later, but I’ve come to realise that she has encountered far worse from others. Thankfully, Lily later served a sweet lady and her niece and sold her first Christmas presents to a customer. She was very proud of herself, as was I of her.

  Usually when we begin displaying our Christmas stock, I find that the spirit of this time of year raises my own spirits. I can’t, however, believe that the same will happen this year. I miss you and can’t help thinking that if my parents hadn’t refused your proposal to me that I would be with you in Nottingham and not still here in Jersey. I sometimes find it difficult not to feel resentful of them, even though I know their intentions were for the best.

  However, as far as Lily is concerned, she is doing well and that is something for which I am happy.

  My dearest love,

  As always,

  Florence

  She was also proud to think that she had a part to play in Lily’s growth of confidence. Florence closed her eyes briefly and pictured the younger woman cheerfully holding the shop door open for the first customer that she had served. Florence thought back to saying goodbye to Lily as she left the shop that evening and hearing the girl humming happily to herself as she walked down the street. Yes, she had definitely done the right thing asking her father to give Lily a chance. Just as she had suspected, Lily was making the most of this unexpected opportunity.

  Chapter 24

  The weeks passed more quickly in the run up to Christmas. Lily was becoming more confident in her work each day, but Florence still missed Jesse terribly.

  ‘You could think of it as celebrating your last Christmas with your family,’ Amy suggested, and Florence knew her sister was only trying to help her manage the day. She watched Amy hand the end of a string of coloured paper chain up to Lily who was standing on a wooden stepladder in the corner of the shop.

  The women had spent hours the previous afternoon whenever they had an opportunity, to make up the bright chains. It was something Florence and Amy usually did with their mother each year. This time they had Lily to help.

  They made up the chains not only because their father believed customers would buy more if they were cheered by the Christmas spirit, but also because he sold the packets of coloured paper. He told them that if young people accompanied their parents into the shop, they would see the paper chains and wish to emulate the display in their own living rooms. It made sense and she knew from experience over the years that he was right.

  ‘Here,’ he had said to Lily the previous afternoon handing her a packet, ‘take this home and ask your younger brothers and sisters to make up a couple of chains for your living room.’

  Lily gasped. ‘Oh, thank you Mr Rowe,’ she exclaimed. ‘That is very kind of you. Mother and the kids will love them.’

  Florence could see that Lily was almost overwhelmed by the thoughtful gift. She hoped that the boots she had bought for her weren’t going to upset her in any way.

  She watched as Lily pressed a drawing pin through the end ring and pressed it into the cornicing, then climbed down the ladder and carried it diagonally across the shop floor, with Amy carrying the end of the coloured paper chain. She then did the same in that corner.

  ‘You are right, I know that,’ Florence said, aware that she hadn’t responded to her sister’s suggestion about Christmas.

  ‘Try to think of it from Mother and Father’s point of view,’ Amy said, following Lily to the next corner and waiting for her to step up the ladder. She reached up to hand the other end to her. ‘This is the last time our parents will have the two of us together with them in the flat on Christmas Day. We can all go to chapel together first and then open the gifts we have for each other in front of the fire in the living room after our grand lunch.’

  Florence pictured the scene that had traditionally been followed by her family since she could remember. In the last few years first Adelaide had married and although they would both visit over Christmas and Boxing days, she had chosen to spend her time with her spouse and then her brother, Willie had married and moved out into his own flat.

  ‘You’re making me feel rather selfish,’ Florence said, pushing a drawing pin up into the cornicing and wincing as she hurt her thumb doing it. ‘I hadn’t thought about it from their point of view, only mine and Jesse’s.’

  She had been thoughtless, she realised. She and Jesse had been so caught up in their sadness at missing each other that neither of them had thought to consider her parent’s feelings.

  ‘I’ll make an effort to celebrate the day with them. Thanks, Amy, I’m glad you pointed this out to me. I would hate to have realised it after the event.’

  ‘It’s fine,’ Amy said, going to pick up the second paper chain and taking it to the next corner with Lily. ‘If I was in love with someone I would probably be just as caught up in my feelings for him as you are with Mr Boot. It’s understandable.’

  ‘Please, refer to him as Jesse when we’re alone,’ Florence said quietly. ‘I like being able to speak about him using his name and you’re the only person I can do that with.’

  She felt excitement well up inside her. To think that this time next year she would be Mrs Boot and share her own home with Jesse. It felt like she was dreaming. Would it be as perfect as she hoped? she wondered. She had nothing to compare married life to, after all. Only that of her parents. They seemed happy enough, Florence mused. What would her life with Jesse be like in reality? On the one hand she couldn’t wait to find out, but on the other, she was frightened that everything wouldn’t be as perfect as she had hoped and that she would have to deal with her dreams being crushed. She realised her sister was talking to her.

  ‘If you wish,’ Amy said. ‘As I was saying though, I just didn’t want you to miss the chance of making this last Christmas in Jersey a special one, for Mother and Father mainly, but also as something for you to look back on fondly when you have your own smart Christmases with your husband.’

  Florence smiled at her sister and placed the stepladder down, opening it. ‘Next year is going to be the start of a whole new life for me,’ she said, almost to herself. ‘I’m so excited.’ She was determined to look on the bright side. ‘And to think that I never wanted to be married.’

  As soon as Amy and Lily had finished pinning the final chain, Lily put the stepladder away in their small stock room.

  Amy straightened th
e receipt book thoughtfully before saying, ‘When you first told me about you and Mr Boot – sorry, Jesse – getting married, I couldn’t quite envisage it.’

  Concerned at her sister’s words, Florence asked, ‘Why not? Do you think the match won’t be a good one?’

  Amy shook her head and laughed. ‘Not at all. I suppose because of your insistence that you would never marry meant that I had never thought of you with a husband, that’s all.’

  ‘How did you think of me then?’ Florence asked, intrigued to find out her sister’s thoughts.

  ‘Well, as you are now, I suppose,’ Amy said, a perplexed expression on her face.

  ‘What? Here, in this shop?’ She loved working here but if she was to spend the rest of her life being someone else’s shop assistant she would be thoroughly disheartened. She knew that now more than ever before. Now that she had had a chance to dream of bigger things with Jesse by her side.’

  ‘Behind the counter, yes, but not in this shop. I picture you running your own establishment, and I know that, with or without Mr, err, Jesse, you would have brought that vision to life.’

  Lily went and stood in front of the counter looking a little awkward when she realised Florence and Amy were chatting.

  Florence was soothed by her younger sister’s words. It felt reassuring to know that the person who knew her best in the world, and who was most aware of her capabilities and ambitions, believed in her and in her ability to bring those ambitions to fruition.

  She decided that if the worst happened and for some reason she could not marry Jesse, then she would focus all her energy on obtaining her own shop selling everything from inexpensive ribbons and hairpins to handbags, and silver photo frames that could be bought as a present for a woman in which to keep the photograph of her beloved. She would build her business and give girls like Lily jobs and help them realise their worth in the world.

  She could see that Lily’s confidence, if she’d ever had any, had been diminished by her bully of a father. Lily deserved to have expectations, just like she and Amy did. Yes, she would make certain to employ girls who deserved a chance in life and who hadn’t been lucky enough to have come across any yet.