by Dilly Court
‘Oh dear! Have I hit a nerve?’
‘Get out of my shop.’
‘But it’s not yours, is it? You’re going to be evicted and then the shop will be mine to do with as I please. Not that I want to be in trade, it’s frightfully vulgar, but it will amuse me to see you signing on the dole and finding your proper place in life with your tart of a sister.’
Ginnie seized her by the shoulders and propelled her towards the door. An astonished female customer scuttled out of their way. ‘Get out and stay out. We’ll see who wins this battle, and I’m not giving up without a fight.’
Livvie stumbled out onto the pavement. ‘You’ll be sorry you did that.’
‘What will you do? Go running to Daddy and tell him that I’ve been beastly to you? Grow up and get a life of your own instead of trying to ruin mine.’ Ginnie slammed the glass door. She turned to see the customer staring at her open-mouthed. ‘A shop-lifter,’ she said, shrugging. ‘They come in all shapes and sizes. May I help you, or are you just browsing?’
The woman gulped and swallowed. ‘I was looking at the blue and white china. It would go very nicely in my kitchen.’
‘My assistant will be pleased to help you, madam.’ Ginnie beckoned to Ida who hurried to her side with an anxious frown.
‘Are you all right, Ginnie?’
‘I’ll be okay in a minute. Could you help the lady? She’s interested in the Cornishware.’
Ginnie managed to reach her office before her knees gave way beneath her and she sank down onto her chair. Any doubts she might have had as to Mallory’s influence with the council had been dispelled by Livvie’s spiteful words. She leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes and picturing her father sitting at his desk with a cigarette burning away in the ashtray as he totted up the day’s takings. He had struggled in the beginning and worked hard to make a success of the business. To allow it to fall into Mallory’s hands would mean that she had failed her family, and that was unthinkable.
She opened her eyes with a start and found Ida standing at her side. ‘Can I do anything, ducks?’
Ginnie took a deep breath. She would not break down and cry in front of Ida. They would be tears of anger but she was not about to give way to weakness at a time when she needed all her strength. She picked up the cup of tea which had cooled, leaving a thin skin floating on its surface. ‘Would it be too much trouble to make a fresh pot of tea?’
‘Of course not. A nice hot cuppa will set you back on your feet.’ Ida bustled out of the office, calling to Jimmy. ‘Shop, Jim. There’s a chap looking at carpet samples. Go and see if he needs any help.’
Seconds later Jimmy poked his head round the door. ‘The man said he’s just looking.’ He peered at her and his bottom lip trembled ominously. ‘Are you okay, miss?’
‘I’m fine, thanks.’
‘I’m not going to lose my job, am I?’
‘Not if I can help it, Jimmy. I’m not beaten yet.’
‘No, miss. Good for you. Anyway, I’ve done the morning deliveries and I’ve got a wardrobe to take to Turpin Road after dinner, but if you want me to pay a visit to old Mallory, just say the word.’
The thought of good-natured Jimmy putting the frighteners on anyone, least of all a career bully like Mallory, would at any other time have made her laugh, but she forced her lips into a smile. ‘Thanks, Jimmy. I’ll bear that in mind.’
‘You can rely on me. You know that.’
‘Yes, I do, and I’m very grateful.’
His round face flushed with pleasure. ‘I’d better see if the chap with the carpet samples is going to buy anything or not.’ He disappeared into the shop, leaving Ginnie with silence ringing in her ears and a sense of loss in her heart. But by the time Ida reappeared with a fresh cup of tea and a sticky bun, Ginnie had recovered at least some of her fighting spirit.
Ida placed the cup and saucer carefully on the blotter. ‘I went to Pat’s Pantry for the bun. Young Phyllis sent it with her compliments. News travels fast round here.’
‘They can’t possibly know that I’ve been given notice to quit.’ Ginnie frowned. ‘You didn’t . . .’
‘No,’ Ida protested, ‘I never did. It was the Cornishware woman. She went straight to the cake shop and bought a Battenberg slice and repeated everything that Livvie said, and how you chucked her out. That got a round of applause, but now everyone in the parade knows what’s going on.’
‘I suppose it would have come out sooner or later,’ Ginnie said, sighing. ‘But I wish it could have been kept quiet until I’ve seen Steven.’
‘What’s he going to do about it?’
‘I don’t know, Ida. He said he’d telephone the council and see if he could get any more information about lodging an appeal and perhaps getting a stay of execution, because that’s what it feels like. Giving up the shop and everything it means to me and my family would be like having my head chopped off on Tower Hill.’
Ida’s eyes filled with tears and were magnified even more by the thick lenses of her glasses. She reached out to pat Ginnie on the shoulder. ‘I know what you mean, ducks. It would be the same for me too. I loved your dad like he was my son, and I’m too old to get a job anywhere else. I don’t know what I’d do if the shop fell into Mallory’s hands.’
Ginnie jumped up to give her a hug. ‘We’ve got to stop him. Steven’s doing his best and he’s going to ring me later and let me know if he’s made any progress. Until then we’ve just got to carry on as usual.’
Ida moved away, fishing in her pocket for her hanky and blowing her nose. ‘I’m a silly old fool. Don’t take any notice of me.’
‘But I do, Ida. You’re part of the family.’
Taking her spectacles off and polishing them on the hem of her skirt, Ida gave her a watery smile. ‘We’ve got to keep calm and carry on. Isn’t that what we’ve been doing for the last six years?’
Ginnie waited all day for Steven’s call and when he rang just before closing time he did not have any good news. ‘It’s like walking in toffee,’ he said apologetically. ‘Trying to get anyone to give me any kind of decision is almost impossible. I’ve been transferred from one department to another and no one seems to know anything. All they can say is to put the application in writing.’
Ginnie swallowed convulsively. ‘Can they really evict me? I’ve paid the ground rent and the rates without fail.’
‘It’s a technicality. They’re within their rights as owners of the freehold, but you’d think they would want to keep a reliable tenant, especially when times are tough for all businesses and the shop might remain empty for a long time.’
‘But that’s just it, Steven. I’m certain that Colin Mallory is behind this. He wants to see me out on the street and Shirley too. He’ll give the shop to Livvie and she’ll play at being a businesswoman until she gets bored. She only wants it because it’s mine and she can’t bear to think of a girl from Cherry Lane doing better than someone from Monk Avenue.’ She broke off, her voice strangled with emotion.
‘I know how much this means to you, Ginnie. Give me a day or two and I’ll badger the council until I get some sense out of them. I’ll come over at the weekend, if that’s okay with you, and we’ll go over strategy together.’
‘Yes, of course. That would be wonderful. Thanks, Steven.’
‘But he can’t come for the weekend,’ Shirley said that evening at supper when Ginnie mentioned that she had invited Steven to stay. ‘You should have checked with Mum and me.’
Mildred nodded her head. ‘Yes, Ginnie. It was very thoughtless of you. That nice young American is coming to spend a couple of days with us.’
For a wild moment Ginnie thought that her mother meant Nick, and then she realised that she was referring to Danny. ‘But Mum, this is important. Steven is doing me a favour by representing me. I’m being threatened with eviction. I’ve got four weeks and then I have to move out of the shop for good.’
‘Don’t be silly, dear,’ Mildred said, smiling. ‘You always did
exaggerate. The shop has been in the family for at least twenty-five years.’
‘I’m telling the truth, Mum. Apparently I should have reapplied for the lease after Dad died, but no one told me. According to the council officials I’ve been trading illegally.’
‘It’s got to be a mistake,’ Shirley said, cutting a slice of bread and butter into soldiers and laying them on the tray of the high chair. ‘There you are, Travis. Eat up like a good boy.’
‘I still can’t get used to that name.’ Shaking her head, Mildred reached for the jam pot. ‘I don’t see what’s wrong with Colin. It’s a perfectly good name.’
‘I’m not calling my son after a man who called me a you know what.’
Ginnie smiled in spite of everything and was just about to take a sip of her tea when the telephone rang. She rose hastily to her feet. ‘I’ll get it. It might be Steven.’
She hurried into the hall and snatched the receiver off its cradle. ‘Hello.’
‘I have a long distance call for Miss Ginnie Travis.’
‘That’s me.’
‘Hold the line, please.’
Chapter Twenty
‘Hello. Ginnie?’
The voice was male and the accent American, but it was Danny and not Nick on the other end of the line. Not that she had expected to hear from Nick, but a small part of her had never quite given up hope and the sense of disappointment was acute. She licked her dry lips and made an effort to put a smile in her voice. ‘Hello, Danny. This is a nice surprise.’
He responded with a chuckle. ‘And I guess it would have been even nicer if it had been someone else.’
‘Of course not, it’s always lovely to talk to you. Anyway, you know that it’s been over between Nick and me since our trip to Eagle Rock.’
‘I don’t believe that for a moment.’
‘Can we change the subject, please?’
‘I guess Shirley’s just told you that I’m coming up to London this weekend.’
‘Yes, she did.’
‘You sound worried, Ginnie. Is something wrong?’
‘I’m having a bit of a problem with the local council and my solicitor is coming up from Hampshire to try and sort it out. He’s staying with us, so I’m afraid . . .’
‘Don’t worry. We’re booked into a hotel in London.’
‘We? You’ve got a girlfriend?’
‘It’s a guy. I’m meeting Nick at the airport tomorrow.’
The air seemed to have been sucked from her lungs. She could breathe neither in nor out. She was in suspended animation and it took several seconds to assimilate the meaning of his words. ‘Nick is coming to London?’
‘Yep, you got it, honey.’
‘Is he having treatment?’
‘He underwent surgery despite the risks and it was successful. He’s never going to have 20/20 vision, and he’s finished as a surgeon, but he’s been recommended as a candidate to work in research at Moorfields.’
‘Moorfields was destroyed in the Blitz,’ Ginnie said slowly. It was easier to grasp a negative than a positive. Nick had been virtually blind when she left Eagle Rock. He had sent her away without giving her a chance to prove her loyalty and devotion. That was not how a man would behave to the woman he truly loved.
‘It’s been rebuilt, honey.’ Danny’s voice was gentle but insistent. ‘This is a wonderful opportunity for Nick.’
‘Yes, but why London?’
‘His ophthalmologist has contacts over here, and he put Nick up for the job.’
‘Weren’t there any opportunities nearer home?’
‘That’s something you’d have to ask Nick, but he’s been through a lot, Ginnie, and he’s won through. He wants to see you, but he’ll understand if you’ve moved on.’
Her heart was racing and her palms were damp with perspiration. What if it all went horribly wrong for the second time? The fear of losing him yet again was almost too much to bear. She needed time to think. ‘I’m busy this weekend, Danny. It’s the shop – I’m having to fight for survival.’ She knew that it sounded as if she did not care, but the truth was that she cared too much.
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ Danny’s tone was cool and distant.
‘It’s complicated but it’s true. I’ve been given notice to quit in less than a month.’
‘That’s too bad, honey. But even more reason for you to see Nick and hear him out. His main reason for coming to London is to make things right with you.’
‘He could have let me know what was going on,’ she said angrily. ‘He sent me away, Danny. I would have stayed by him no matter what, but he didn’t want me, and now he expects me to come running. Well, you can tell him that I’m in danger of losing everything I’ve worked for.’ She broke off as the pips sounded, indicating that their time was up unless he paid for another three minutes. ‘This will be costing you a fortune, so I’ll hang up now.’
‘But Ginnie—’
She cut him off, unable to maintain her iron-clad self-control. She rushed upstairs to her bedroom and locked the door. She needed time on her own. There were always people clamouring for her attention, whether it was family, staff or customers. She had to get things in perspective. If hearts really could break, she had had hers badly cracked several times during her relationship with Nick, but she had managed to survive. She had made a conscious decision to devote herself to her business career and now that too was being snatched away from her. She would have to reinvent herself all over again, but now she was tired. She curled up on her bed and made a determined effort to shut out the world.
She went to the shop next morning, but trade was slow and Fred came round as usual for his morning cup of sweet, weak, milky tea and a couple of Shrewsbury biscuits that Ida, as usual generous with her food coupons, had baked the previous evening. ‘I’ll miss all this when I retire,’ he said with a bleak smile. ‘But I still can’t believe what they’ve done to you, Ginnie. Your dad would turn in his grave if he knew the half of it.’
She nibbled a biscuit to please Ida, but she had lost her appetite. She had tried to put Nick out of her mind, but the knowledge that very soon he would be within a few miles of her made it almost impossible to concentrate on her work. She had made Danny’s excuses to her mother and Shirley, but she had omitted to tell them the real reason for his change of plan. She could not face the inevitable cross-examination and in-depth discussions that would follow.
Fred leaned towards her, peering into her face. ‘You do look peaky, Ginnie. You need a holiday, love.’
‘She’ll get a long one soon.’ Ida put her cup and saucer down on the desk with a thud. ‘We all will, thanks to that evil man. My hubby said he’d go round and knock Mallory’s block off if I said the word. But my old man’s a tiger when he’s roused and I wouldn’t want him going down for inflicting grievous bodily harm.’
‘We can’t have that.’ Despite the cramping feeling of helplessness and depression that threatened to overwhelm her, Ginnie had to smile at the thought of Ida’s meek and mild husband committing an act of violence.
‘I’d have a go myself if I was twenty years younger,’ Fred said stoutly. ‘But I’ll have to try and resell my lease soon, Ginnie. I can’t afford to keep the shop on when it’s empty. There are the business rates to pay as well as the ground rent and insurance on the premises, which will all have to come out of my savings.’
‘I know, Fred, and I understand.’ She glanced round the tiny office, seeing not just the peeling paintwork and the worn linoleum but the hub of her small empire. She had put her whole heart into continuing her father’s work, and was in danger of losing everything because of Mallory and his malicious daughter.
Suddenly it was all too much to bear and she was desperate to get away. She did not want to see Steven at the weekend, and there was little point in going over the facts they already knew. She realised that he was fond of her and she was grateful for his help, but she had no intention of allowing herself to fall for anyone ever again. It might feel
like heaven when things were going well, but the hurt and despair that followed a break-up were agonising and she would not wish that on anyone. Steven was a nice, kind and honourable man and she must find a way to pay for his services so that she was not indebted to him.
‘What’s the matter, ducks?’ Ida pushed her face close to Ginnie’s. ‘Are you feeling all right?’
Ginnie stared at her for a second, concentrating her thoughts with difficulty. ‘How would you feel about looking after the shop for a couple of days, Ida?’
‘Are you going to see your young man in Southampton again?’
‘He’s not my young man, Ida. And I’m not going to Southampton. Would you feel able to take charge for a while?’
‘Of course I will, ducks. You need a break and business is slack all round at the moment, isn’t it, Fred?’
He nodded. ‘Yes, indeed. I’ll keep an eye on her, Ginnie. I can always slip round if Ida needs a hand, and then there’s the boy; he did well last time.’
‘He’d better make the most of being in a job.’ Ida took off her glasses, huffed on the lenses and wiped them on her skirt. ‘We’ll all be out of work soon.’
Ginnie arrived at Lightwood Common station after a four-and-a-half-hour train journey. She had run away. She had been afraid that Danny might decide to turn up, despite the fact that she had left him in no doubt as to her feelings, and she had put Steven off with an excuse. Convincing her mother and Shirley that she needed a change of scene had been more difficult, and they blamed her for Danny’s change of heart, but Ginnie was past caring.
She let the window down and leaned out to open the carriage door. It was dusk, but at least an hour before nightfall, and she could see Percy sitting in the trap with a plume of blue tobacco smoke spiralling up from the pipe clenched between his teeth. It felt like coming home.
She climbed down to the platform and gave her ticket to Griff Jenkins, who doubled up as clerk, porter and assistant station master. He greeted her with his customary toothless grin. ‘Come for a holiday, miss? You’ll find it much quieter now them Yanks have gone home.’