An Orphan in the Snow

by Molly Green

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Feeling embarrassed that her clothes weren’t posh enough for such a grand place, June followed Chas through the elegant revolving doors of the Strand Palace Hotel. He seemed perfectly at ease as he walked up to the reception desk, exchanged a few words and nods, and collected his key.

  She looked around the foyer. It was a stunning space, beautifully designed in the art deco style, reminding her of the theatre in Liverpool where Murray had taken her to see the Oscar Wilde play. She ran her tongue over her lips, almost tasting his kiss when he’d brought her back to Bingham Hall. Her eyes stung with the memory. She was sure he hadn’t had friendship on his mind that evening.

  Chas followed her gaze. ‘It’s rather marvellous, isn’t it?’ he said.

  It was teeming with American soldiers, all of them in uniform, drinking and laughing loudly, some of them sprawled on comfortable-looking sofas around the fireplaces, or gathered at the tables, or standing in groups smoking around the bar.

  ‘I’m afraid we Americans rather took over the place,’ Chas said apologetically. ‘It’s now an official rest and recuperation place for US soldiers. But I’m glad it’s so popular. For some of them it’ll be their last night – ever.’

  A shiver ran down June’s back. She was in no doubt as to what he meant.

  ‘I’m glad, too,’ she whispered.

  Her attention was caught by one lady, beautifully dressed with a fox fur folded over the shoulder of her cream coat, a hat perched at a dangerous angle, being led by a small white poodle amongst the crowds. She was walking to and fro with undisguised impatience, glancing at her watch, strapped over the top of her glove, every few seconds. June wondered who she was waiting for.

  ‘They’re going to bring us tea and cakes to my room,’ Chas said. ‘We can be more private there.’

  There were very few vacant seats, June decided, so it seemed a sensible suggestion. She brushed aside the thought that she’d be going up to a man’s bedroom – a man she barely knew. He’d been so kind to her and it would make her look as though she was worried he had an ulterior motive. She drew in a shaky breath, too tired to argue.

  The lift took them to the third floor. Chas put the key in a door next to the lift and gestured her inside. To her relief the room was huge, although the first thing to face her was an enormous bed, draped in cream bedcovers and cushions. She averted her eyes and stood wondering what she should do.

  ‘Do sit down, June. The waiter will be here shortly and we can have that cup of tea. I think we both need one. Here, let me take your coat.’

  Thankfully she eased into an armchair by the side of a desk under one of the windows, putting her bag and her parcel on the floor beside her. Everything was beautifully and softly lit, and there was a faint smell of rose in the air. Still, she felt self-conscious in Chas’s bedroom. The bed was so dominant she couldn’t feel at ease. Maybe she was being too sensitive. She thought of the lady in the foyer in her fox fur stole. She would know how to handle the situation, no doubt about it. June took a few deep breaths and felt a little calmer, but she was still glad of the interruption of a gentle tap on the door. Chas went to open it and the waiter came in pushing a chrome art deco tea trolley with the tea service set out on top, and a plate of cream cakes and small sandwiches with the crusts taken off on the shelf underneath.

  Chas took the upright chair and moved it opposite. He handed her the plate of sandwiches and she took one. He nodded for her to take more but she couldn’t, even though she realised she was hungry. The sandwich was egg and cress and delicious, but she was too nervous to enjoy it. Chas took one, swallowed it in a couple of bites, then reached for another.

  ‘Are you warm enough?’

  She nodded.

  ‘And comfortable?’

  ‘Yes, thank you.’

  ‘Shall I be mother?’ He smiled at her. ‘Isn’t that what you English say?’

  She nodded and smiled back. He was obviously trying to put her at her ease and she was grateful. Without asking, he put two lumps of sugar in her cup. She took her time stirring it for something to do, now that she’d finished the sandwich. She couldn’t face one of the cream cakes, though Chas wolfed down a couple.

  ‘Thanks, Chas. I don’t know what I would have done without you,’ she said fervently.

  ‘It was nothing.’ Chas leaned towards her, smiling encouragingly.

  ‘It was everything.’ The image of Billy Lavender sinking back in the chair, blood pouring from his head, flashed through her mind. She realised how close she’d come to doing a most fearful deed, which would without doubt have ruined the rest of her life. She gave a shudder. The tears started again and she couldn’t stop trembling. With a shaking hand she put her cup and saucer down on the desk. The cup rattled in the saucer and she tried to steady it but she only made it worse. Without warning she put her head in her hands and began to sob.

  Immediately, Chas leaped to his feet and was by her side, his arms around her.

  ‘Come on, honey. You’ve had a terrible shock but it’s all over. You’re safe here. Why don’t you lie down on the bed for a few minutes. Take a nap if you want. I don’t mind. I just want you to feel better.’

  He gently pulled her to her feet and led her to the bed where he sat her on the edge and pulled off her shoes. Then he lifted her legs on to the bed and tucked an extra pillow behind her head.

  ‘There. Do you think you could close your eyes for a little while? You’ve been through so much today, and I think it’s the shock coming out now.’

  The bed was the most wonderful, the most comfortable she had ever lain upon.

  Without effort she shut her eyes and immediately drifted. She didn’t know how long she’d been lying there – how long she’d slept – when she was aware of someone lying by the side of her … then on top of her … someone crushing her … kissing her … saying her name over and over … She was dreaming – it couldn’t be …

  ‘June. Oh, June.’ There was a groan. ‘I can’t help myself.’

  Her eyes flew open and she felt his hand, dear God, it was Chas’s hand pulling up her skirt … pressing down on her … something unfamiliar pushing between the tops of her legs … what was he doing? She made to scream but his hand came over her mouth.

  ‘Don’t call out,’ he said. ‘Just let me do it. Oh, June, let me do it. I’ll be careful. I love you. Don’t you know how much I love you?’

  She tried to pull herself away from under him. ‘Take your hand away – let me—’

  ‘June, don’t you know how much I want you?’ Chas groaned.

  ‘Please! I’ll call the police if you don’t stop.’ She thought she was shouting but her heart was hammering in her ears, muffling her voice.

  ‘Why, you little tease. Why did you agree to come to my bedroom if you didn’t want it?’ His eyes flashed with anger above her, challenging her, frightening her with his fury.

  She barely knew what he was saying. All she knew was that she had to get out. But she was trapped by his heavy bulk on top of her, pushing the breath out of her.

  ‘Chas’ – her voice was reduced to a whimper – ‘please let me go.’

  There was a roaring noise like a train. Chas shot up, releasing his hold.

  ‘What is it?’ June’s eyes were wide with fear as she scrambled from beneath him and pulled down her skirt.

  ‘I don’t know, but it doesn’t sound right.’ His tone changed to fear as he turned his back to her and zipped up his trousers.

  As he spoke an alarm went off. Loud and clanging and insistent. The next moment they heard pounding footsteps rush by the door.

  June looked up into Chas’s startled eyes. ‘C’mon, June, we’ve gotta get outta here. It sounds like a—’

  He never finished the sentence. There was a deafening sound of an explosion and the shattering of glass.

  ‘Get your shoes and coat. We gotta go! NOW!’

  Quickly, she pushed on her shoes, and grabbed her coat and bag. Cha
s pulled open the door and they flew along the corridor, meeting dazed-looking guests who didn’t seem to know what to do.

  ‘Be careful. A ceiling could cave in at any moment,’ a man’s voice shouted.

  ‘Don’t use the lift,’ someone else called.

  June was swept along with a herd of panicking guests, one or two of whom were trying to take some kind of control. She thought Chas might be one of them but he was three or four people ahead of her now.

  She tried to push through, to catch up with him, and it was then that she remembered – she was only carrying her coat and bag. She didn’t have the precious parcel. The toy dog. She had to get it. It was the only thing that might bring Lizzie to speak again. She’d never be able to find another one like it. Drawing back and turning on the stairs she faced a man, red with anger.

  ‘What the hell are you doing? Get going. You can’t turn back. You’re upsetting the line.’

  ‘I must,’ she said. ‘I’ve left something.’

  ‘June!’ It was Chas’s voice calling her. ‘Where are you?’

  But she ignored him and somehow managed to push her way through the people pouring down the stairs. She rushed along the corridor, back to Chas’s room. The door was still open and she dashed in. The parcel was still there by the side of the armchair where she’d left it. Heart racing, she grabbed it up and made for the door again.

  A tremendous crash made her jump. Another and then another.

  The hotel’s been struck.

  She stumbled as she tried to grab the door handle. Her fingers slipped. A scream rang in her eardrums. Lumps of plaster showered her and she felt something fall on her …

  Her world went dark.

  ‘June, June, please open your eyes.’

  An American voice. Her eyelids fluttered and she saw a tall figure bending over her. She closed her eyes again. It was too much effort. The pain in her shoulder … or was it her arm? She couldn’t tell. Sleep. If she could just sleep through it she’d be all right.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  ‘June, wake up! The building’s been hit. There’s smoke. We gotta get out of here.’

  She opened her eyes. It was Chas. What was he doing? And then she remembered. She’d been in his room having tea. She’d been in shock … her father … it all came flooding back. Chas had lain her on his bed and she’d immediately gone to sleep … until she felt him on top of her doing things he shouldn’t.

  Heat from her neck rose to her face. What a fool she’d been. He’d planned the whole thing. She’d heard of men seducing women and that’s what would have happened to her if it hadn’t been for the alarm going off in the hotel … yet he’d come back for her.

  ‘Don’t touch my arm,’ she cried out as Chas tried to pull her up.

  ‘Come on, June.’

  ‘The parcel,’ she moaned.

  ‘NOW!’

  Her head swam. Why was he so loud? Why couldn’t he leave her alone?

  ‘Where’s Freddie?’ She burst into tears.

  ‘June, listen to me. We have to go. Do you want us both killed?’

  With his help she struggled to her feet. Leaning on him, his arm around her waist, she stumbled along as fast as she could, coughing as the smoke caught in her lungs. There was a strange heat which made her gasp and pull away from Chas to lean a few seconds against the passage wall, desperate to breathe. Her eyes stung with grit as she peered through the swirling dust. Where was he? He’d left her. She must run after him but the muscles in her legs refused to work.

  ‘June?’ His voice was urgent.

  ‘I’m here.’

  She felt his hand grasp hers, pulling her from the wall.

  ‘Come on. It could collapse at any minute.’

  ‘I can’t breathe.’

  ‘Pull your scarf over your mouth.’

  She did as she was told but the flimsy scarf made no difference. The dust was so thick she could barely see where she was stepping. She could feel the heat burning into her nostrils. There must be a fire somewhere.

  Chas rushed her down the second flight of stairs and they were into the foyer, where smoke was pouring in. No voices. It was eerily quiet. It seemed they were the only two in the building. There was no sound except their harsh breathing.

  She heard Chas bump into something and swear, but the next moment he’d got her outside, where they both took in great gulps of air. A crowd of people had already congregated and were standing on the other side of the road looking dazed and dishevelled. Members of the hotel staff and some of the soldiers were attempting to comfort several women who were crying.

  ‘There was no siren,’ June heard someone say. ‘Why didn’t it go off?’

  ‘Come on, June, let’s go.’

  At least the air had cleared her head. She looked at Chas and was shocked at his appearance. Gone was the immaculate officer. His face was as filthy as a tramp’s and both his eyes were bloodshot. Even his eyelashes were coated in dust. She must look the same.

  ‘Shouldn’t we stay and let them know we’re safe? They’ll be checking our names off a list, I should think.’

  ‘No, no, we don’t want to get caught up with these people.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘No buts.’ Chas grabbed her hand but he’d caught the wrong one. She practically screamed out. He stopped. ‘Here, let me look at that arm.’

  ‘No, no, it’s all right.’

  The last thing she wanted was for Chas to touch her.

  They started walking again.

  ‘I’m sorry, June. I should have told you why I wanted to get away quickly. I was on my way back to the hotel to collect my things as I was checking out this afternoon. Now I’m left with no change of clothes or toilet bag or any goddamned thing. Just my camera – and my wallet in my jacket. Thank God I have some money. Oh, and this, of course.’ He handed her the brown parcel.

  ‘It was all my fault,’ June stammered. ‘I can’t believe I did something so foolish that nearly got us both killed. But I so badly wanted it for Lizzie to start her talking again. Thank you for bringing it.’

  They were both silent. Chas seemed almost as embarrassed as she was. He took her good arm as they walked along the road and kept glancing at her and asking if she was sure she was all right. That she was not in too much pain. Did she want him to take her to the hospital? Would she come back to Liverpool with him?

  ‘I’m going to Aunt Ada’s,’ she said. ‘I only hope she’s there because she’s not on the telephone.’

  ‘I’ll get a cab and come with you to make sure.’

  ‘No, Chas. You must get the next train back. If she’s not home her neighbour will know where she is. I just want to be with her. She’s like a mother to me.’

  ‘What are you going to do about your father – who we now know is not your father?’

  ‘I made my decision as soon as I set eyes on him – when I saw there was only a walking stick, when he said he’d be in a wheelchair the rest of his life,’ June said. ‘He’s lied once too often. I’m washing my hands of him. I’m going back to Bingham Hall. The children need me far more than he does. I’m not going back to that bully. Ever. But I wish I hadn’t lost my temper. I could easily have killed him.’

  ‘He would’ve deserved it. And maybe it taught the son-of-a-bitch a lesson he should’ve learned long ago.’ He abruptly stopped walking. ‘Taxi!’ he shouted, halfway in the road, waving his arms. One slowed down and pulled to a halt.

  Chas opened the door and June dropped thankfully into the seat. She was just about to lean over to say goodbye to him when he jumped in.

  ‘I want to see you safely with your aunt,’ he said. ‘Then I’ll carry on to the station.’

  Outside her aunt’s house, June knocked at the door and waited. Moments later the door opened and her aunt was framed in the doorway.

  ‘June, dear, what—?’

  ‘I’ll explain everything,’ June said, turning towards the waiting taxi. Chas had already wound the window down and
was peering out.

  ‘She’s here,’ June said unnecessarily. ‘You go on, Chas. And thank you for helping me with … Billy.’

  It was only when she was safely indoors and her aunt was putting the kettle on that she realised Chas had never apologised for what he’d attempted to do.

  ‘What’s the matter with your arm, dear?’ Aunt Ada set the tea tray on the dining table as her eyes followed June, who was rubbing her shoulder and grimacing.

  ‘Nothing much. It’s just a bit painful. Something fell on it. I think it’s just bruised. I’ll tell you about that in a bit, but it’s Dad.’ She swallowed, trying to compose herself. ‘He wanted me to see him. He said he’d had an accident, but he lied. He—’

  ‘That’s nothing new,’ her aunt interrupted. ‘You don’t want to pay any attention to him.’ She looked at June. ‘I wondered what had brought you to London without letting me know.’ She poured June a cup of tea. ‘Take your time. Just tell me slowly. I want to know everything.’

  ‘And then he told me he wasn’t my real father or my sisters’,’ June finished. Something struck her and her head shot up. ‘Aunt Ada, did you know he was only our stepfather?’

  ‘I always knew Stella was Tom’s,’ her aunt said, ‘because she had her before she met Billy Lavender. But your mother didn’t tell me about you and Clara until after Clara was born. I happened to mention that neither of you looked anything like Billy, and she said, “I’m not surprised.” When I asked her what she meant she told me she was still in love with Tom, the man she’d loved since she was about the same age as you are now – and that they’d never stopped loving one another.’

  ‘What happened to him?’

  It was strange asking questions and hearing about her own true father for the first time in her life.

  ‘He wanted to marry your mother but his family had other ideas. Your mother wasn’t classy enough for their son, and they did everything they could to keep them apart. But then she fell for your sister Stella, and Tom told his parents that was it, they’d have to get married now. He had a good job in his father’s company and was on his way to promotion when his father, your real grandfather, said he would make sure he was penniless if he went ahead. He’d be cut out of the will. And there’d no longer be a position at Carter & Sons. And he’d make sure every other law firm in Cambridge closed their doors on him too. If he thought anything of Maisie, he’d let the family give her some money to keep her quiet, and to promise never to try to see him again.’