by Tania Crosse
Her heart began to dance a little waltz in her chest at the thought of those bright, teasing eyes and slow, languid smile. He was quite the most handsome young man she had ever seen, she was sure, and the most gentlemanly. He didn’t treat her as a servant to be bossed around like some sort of inferior being, but appreciated her hard work and wasn’t afraid to say so. In fact, if it hadn’t been for Sir Gilbert, Anna would have been thoroughly fed up and miserable!
He worked hard, too. Although he emerged from the study for morning coffee and afternoon tea, he was constantly on the telephone or typing business letters. With two fingers, she chuckled to herself, from the slow, deliberate tapping she sometimes heard as she passed the door. If only she had already done her secretarial course, she could have offered to do it for him and then, who knew what might come of their relationship? But, oh dear, what a ridiculous thought. And yet …
She had been so absorbed in her ponderings, her head down against the gale, that she hadn’t realised that the snow was falling hard and fast now in large flakes rather than as powder, and was quickly settling on the ground. She looked up and a little gasp caught in her throat. She was engulfed in a driving curtain of white that raced past her in vicious shafts and stung her upturned face. And the vast, wild expanse of the moor was rapidly being obliterated from sight by a savage, blinding veil.
Anna stopped dead, and slowly turned around. What an idiot not to have noticed! She could see but ten yards ahead of her, and it was suddenly getting dark. And other than the howl of the wind, there was not another sound, no sign of life. She was all alone out on the moor in what was becoming a blizzard.
Oh, crikey. Her heart gripped in panic and began to beat painfully. Thank goodness she had kept to the road and could follow it back without too much trouble. But as she trudged along, the wind was whipping about her, determined to knock her over, it seemed. She was getting cold with an icy, nervous sweat down her back and her face turning numb. Perhaps if she thought of Ethel it might help. Her dear friend would be at work, of course, serving customers in the kitchenware department; china, glass and cutlery shining in the bright lights of Dingles store. Later, Ethel, too, would have to find her way home, probably catching a bus through the dark streets. Anna imagined her opening her front door to a fug of smoke. Mabel would be standing in the kitchen in her curlers and slippers, cigarette drooping from her mouth as she stirred some greasy stew on the stove.
Anna’s own home would hardly be as welcoming. Her dad would return to an empty house, and Anna felt a pang of guilt. A need of those familiar surroundings. But she couldn’t go back. Not now. It would never be the same again. Her mum was dead, and her dad, well, who knew?
Oh, what were those four dazzling lights coming towards her through the gloom? She had better step up onto the grass verge if she didn’t want to be run over. Any driver out in this weather would be concentrating on peering through the lashing snow and wouldn’t be expecting to come across a pedestrian!
The vehicle crawled towards her. At each sweep of the wipers, the windscreen cleared but was at once splattered with snowflakes again. Anna stopped to wait for the car to pass, but all of a sudden, she recognised the long, sleek bonnet. Somehow she wasn’t surprised when the car drew to a halt beside her and the passenger door opened.
‘There you are!’ Sir Gilbert’s voice called as he leant over from the driver’s seat. ‘Thank goodness I found you! Hop in!’
Anna was overcome with relief. She jumped into the car without hesitation, her pulse racing now not with apprehension but with excitement! ‘Oh, thank you, sir! I didn’t realise I’d gone so far, and the snow started so suddenly. You didn’t come looking for me especially, did you?’
‘Of course I did,’ he smiled, putting the car into gear and smoothly moving forward. ‘When I heard you’d gone out in this, I had to, didn’t I?’
‘Oh, that’s terribly kind of you!’
‘Not at all. I felt responsible,’ he answered without turning his head as he concentrated on the road. ‘After all, I was the one who insisted you took the afternoon off.’
‘But I didn’t have to come out in this, did I? I’m sorry, sir.’
‘Don’t be,’ he replied lightly. ‘I’m grateful for any excuse to go for a spin. Now, let’s find somewhere to turn round.’
With the soft roof of the car in place, it felt really cosy. It was beautifully fitted out inside, and Anna could understand why Sir Gilbert was so proud of it.
‘It’s a lovely car,’ she said appreciatively as they headed back in the opposite direction. She knew absolutely nothing about cars, but it would please Sir Gilbert to show some interest. And how her heart ached for him to like her even more than he evidently did already!
‘Yes, she is,’ he agreed heartily, his voice brimming with pride. ‘A Jaguar XK120. So called because she can do a hundred and twenty miles per hour. Best money can buy in my opinion. It’s a privilege to own her.’
‘Well, then, I’m most privileged to be riding in her! I suppose it’s a bit like being rescued by a knight in shining armour on a big white horse, except it’s a gleaming sports car instead!’ Anna grinned back.
There was a second’s pause when Anna thought miserably that she had offended him, but then Sir Gilbert burst out laughing.
‘I’m flattered,’ he chuckled, slowing even further as they reached the junction. ‘Do you drive?’
‘Good Lord, no. Even my father doesn’t. People can’t afford cars where I come from. Oh! Shouldn’t we have gone the other way?’
‘To go home, yes. But if we go back, you’ll start working again and we can’t have that. So I thought I’d take you for afternoon tea at the Two Bridges Hotel.’
‘Oh.’ Anna was so stunned that for a moment or two she couldn’t think of anything else to say. Sir Gilbert Ashcroft taking her for tea at a hotel! ‘Oh, but … dressed like this? And I’m wearing my wellies—’
‘I’ve got your shoes in the boot.’
‘What?’ Anna gasped in bewilderment, not knowing what to think.
‘Well, once I realised what had happened, I thought it would be a shame to waste your afternoon off.’
Anna shook her head with a smile. He was a one, Sir Gilbert. Happiness, elation began to bubble up inside her as he parked the car in front of the hotel. She quickly changed into her shoes and then, as they struggled the few yards to the main entrance, Sir Gilbert protectively took her arm. As if she was his … his … Anna almost felt giddy as the exquisite thought sizzled through her mind.
Five minutes later, they were served tea on a silver tray. Anna couldn’t believe it. She was being treated as if she were the lady, the waitress nodding deferentially as she left them to it.
‘I bet those scones aren’t as good as yours,’ Sir Gilbert said in a low voice, and one of his merry eyes winked at her.
‘Oh, sir,’ she mumbled, flushing with embarrassment.
‘No, it’s true. You seem to be so good at everything, Anna. Far too good to be working as a servant in my mother’s household. So why did you leave school to come and work here when you’re so intelligent? And do drop the “sir”, at least when we’re alone together.’
Anna was sure she blushed, but Gilbert was so relaxed and casual that she felt her confidence growing. She found herself telling him everything. Well, not quite everything. She didn’t relate her father’s part in her mum’s death, or his violent threats towards herself. She simply told him that her father had said it was time she went out to work, and that after the shock of her mum’s tragic death, she had felt the need to get away for a while, and this was the only way she could afford to do so.
‘Poor little Anna,’ Gilbert commented quietly when she had finished. ‘Well, I will have to make your time at Ashcroft Hall a happier one, won’t I? We must get to know each other better, and then who knows what the future might hold?’
Anna paused as she lifted the delicate teacup and saucer, and had a job to stop her hand from shaking. Whateve
r did he mean by that? It was clear that he liked her, but surely he wasn’t suggesting that their relationship might develop into something more? Oh, goodness. But he was a baronet and she was a servant. And yet, this was 1955. Two world wars had levelled out society to a great extent, and she considered herself as good as anyone else.
‘But I know so little about you,’ she answered cautiously. ‘I’ve told you all about me, but all I know is that you’re a baronet and you live in a house in London and sometimes come to visit your mother at Ashcroft Hall.’
‘Ha, ha!’ Gilbert threw up his head with a soft laugh. ‘Don’t let the baronet thing fool you! We’re not aristocracy, although my mother would have you think we are. No. Our family roots were never so grand. My great-grandfather was awarded his baronetcy in Queen Victoria’s time for services in engineering. Marine engineering, in fact. In the time when steam-driven ships were developing apace. Anyway, if your father’s a baronet, you can claim his title when he dies. It’s a costly business and I wasn’t fussed to be honest, but Mother insisted.’
‘Is that still the family business, then, marine engineering?’ Anna asked, becoming intrigued. ‘So all those letters and phone calls, you’re still running the business even when you’re down here?’
‘To a large extent, yes. But I do have some old and trusted managers who helped me a lot in the first place, especially when Father died. The business side of things, at least. I studied engineering at university so I was already fully qualified on the production and design front. We make parts for ships’ engines, you see. For the Royal Navy as well as merchantmen, so we really played our part in the war.’
‘You have your own factories, then?’
‘Several. We supply all the main shipbuilders in Britain, and we export, too, of course.’
‘You … you must be very rich, then,’ Anna considered, quite crestfallen. It accentuated the difference between them too much.
‘Yes, very. But I still had to do my National Service. I did it just after the war, between school and university. But because of our connections with the Royal Navy, my father wangled me an admin job with the Admiralty, so I never even went abroad, thank God.’
‘That was lucky. My best friend back in Plymouth has a young man. But he’s eighteen, so he could be called up any time and he could be sent anywhere. Ethel will be brokenhearted.’
‘Well, at least you know when it’s going to end. Not like during the war. And then there was a strong chance that you wouldn’t be coming home at all.’
His tone was suddenly so different from his usual roguish banter. Anna felt herself swell with emotion. Gilbert was everything she could want in a man: intelligent, a hard worker, kind, thoughtful, and yet with a strong sense of humour. That he was handsome and well off were bonuses. And the fact that he was showing such interest in her was a gentle balm mending her sorely tried spirit. Every cloud had a silver lining, the old saying went. Well, she would only ever see the loss of her dear mum as a tragedy that had shredded her heart. But coming to Ashcroft Hall, and the humiliation and unhappiness she had suffered there, would all have been worthwhile if something came of her relationship with Gilbert!
As they sat there, sipping tea in the hotel, it seemed to hit her between the eyes. She was falling in love, a new and exciting experience that tingled out to her fingertips. Suddenly she could have shouted with the joy of it.
‘Well, I think we’d better get back while we still can,’ Gilbert announced. ‘It’s coming down thick and fast. I hope we can still get up the hill.’
Oh, Lord. Anna kept her fingers crossed as she sat quietly in the passenger seat while Gilbert concentrated hard on driving up the steep hill with the perfect amount of acceleration for the tyres to grip without spinning fruitlessly in the deepening snow. Gilbert was obviously a skilled driver, although he puffed out his cheeks in relief when they reached the relatively flat road that would take them back to Ashcroft Hall.
It was pitch-black outside now, with not another soul on the road. The streaming snowflakes glittered eerily in the powerful beam from the Jaguar’s headlamps. It really was a blizzard now, and unused as she was to travelling by car, Anna was aware when the tyres slid slightly on the treacherous surface. The road ahead was inches deep in snow and had merged into the grass.
All of a sudden, the inky sky was ripped in two by a jagged dagger of brilliance that for an instant revealed the pearly wilderness that surrounded them. A split second later, a great boom exploded overhead, and Anna let out an audible gasp.
‘Good God.’ Gilbert’s voice beside her was flat with astonishment. ‘You don’t get that very often. Thunder and lightning and a blizzard.’
It was certainly something. But with Gilbert beside her, Anna didn’t feel afraid. The storm flashed and raged around them, but before too long, they were safely back at the Hall.
As she went to get out of the car, Anna felt Gilbert’s hand on her arm, and the sensation fizzed through her body.
‘Better not say anything about having tea,’ he said quietly. ‘Mother might not quite approve.’
A little cloud passed over Anna’s euphoria, but she quickly thrust it aside. No, he was right. If anything was to develop between them, they would have to break it gradually to Lady Ashcroft. And anyway, it was quite romantic, having a secret relationship. ‘All right,’ she agreed at once.
‘And, Anna, I’m going back to London in the morning.’
‘Oh.’ Her elation deflated like a pricked balloon. But she knew he would have to go back soon, didn’t she? ‘Thank you again for rescuing me,’ she said with a forced smile as she scrambled out of the car.
The blizzard continued all night. Anna awoke the following morning to a magical, twinkling ivory ocean as far as the eye could see. And she rejoiced. They were snowed in, and it would be some time before Gilbert could return to London after all!
Chapter Nine
‘You’m proper keen on that Sir Gilbert fellow, bain’t you?’
Anna looked up sharply from stirring her cup of tea. It was late March, and the first time Ethel had managed to come up and see her since before Christmas. It had been a hard winter, the snow from the January blizzard lying thick and deep for weeks on end, only to be followed by more snowstorms earlier in March.
Anna shrugged, trying to appear casual and noticing the condensation streaming down the windows of the café. ‘Well, he’s the only one in the place who treats me like a human being,’ she said somewhat guardedly since Ethel’s suspicions had obviously been aroused. ‘Actually, that’s not quite true,’ she admitted, though as much to put Ethel off the scent. ‘Lady Ashcroft’s quite nice to me nowadays, especially if we’re alone for any reason. But when we were snowed in, it would have been awful if Sir Gilbert hadn’t been snowed in with us. There was no escape, you see. You couldn’t even get into the garden.’
‘Really?’ Ethel bit into her slice of Victoria sponge. ‘Mmm, this is good. Mum’s cooking’s so bad I likes to make the most of it when I goes out.’
Anna couldn’t help but smile as Ethel smacked her lips, but then she went on excitedly, ‘It was quite an adventure, all that snow. Mr Jackson and Sir Gilbert gradually dug us out, leaving me in sole charge of the entire house.’
‘Oh, how come?’
‘Mrs Davenport was in bed with flu. I quite enjoyed being housekeeper, actually. And I helped Sir Gilbert clearing the drive as well. Mr Jackson had to give up. Did his back in. So it was just Sir Gilbert and me. It was jolly hard work, but I did enjoy it. And we had lots of fun. We made a snowman and had snowball fights and …’
She paused, realising she was letting her tongue run away with her while Ethel observed her dubiously. ‘It took over a week to clear a way to the road,’ she concluded more sombrely, ‘and another before the roads were clear enough for Sir Gilbert to get his sports car out and drive back to London.’
She waited as Ethel nodded and swallowed the delicious morsel in her mouth. And then she met Anna’s eyes s
teadily. ‘You fancies ’en, doesn’t you?’
Ethel’s gaze was so fixed that Anna had to take a grip on herself. ‘Like I said, he makes my life at Ashcroft Hall more bearable. Without his visits, I think I’d have left by now.’
‘Yes, I bets you would. You cas’n fool me, Anna. Us’ve known each other most of our lives. You lights up like a beacon when you talks about ’en.’
‘No, I don’t.’
‘Oh, yes, you does.’ Ethel’s face had taken on that obstinate look Anna knew so well. ‘You be careful, my maid. I knows you’m from a better class than me, on your mum’s side leastways, an’ far cleverer an’ everything, like. But folk like us doesn’t mix with folk like ’en. Seemed funny at first when it were just a joke, but if you’m getting serious, like, well, you’m playing with fire, you knows.’
A little voice at the back of Anna’s mind told her that Ethel was right to be cautious, but then she hadn’t met Gilbert, had she? If she had, she’d have known differently. ‘Oh, Sir Gilbert’s not like that,’ she assured her friend. ‘But, honestly, there’s nothing between us, I promise.’
Even as she spoke, she was mentally crossing her fingers. There was, in fact, very definitely something between her and Gilbert. It felt very much like an electric charge whenever they were in the same room together. They had to hide it in front of everyone else, of course, but when they were alone, they were like friends. More than friends.
The best time had been when they had been clearing the drive and had stopped to play in the snow. At one point, she had slipped over, twisting her ankle slightly so that she hadn’t been able to pick herself up straight away. Gilbert had shot over to her, kneeling in the snow beside her. He had helped her to her feet, his arm tightly around her. She had relished his closeness, holding on to him while she hopped on one leg until the pain had subsided. It was only a mild sprain, but it seemed to have furthered their relationship, and she was pleased it had happened, despite the discomfort. And when Gilbert had finally been able to set out for London, he had given her a peck on the cheek when no one else was around. She had gazed into his smiling eyes, and her heart had turned a cartwheel of joy that was only dampened by her sadness at his departure.