True Colours

by Jeanne Whitmee

  ‘I’m glad to see that you know which side your bread is buttered,’ she said, snapping her handbag shut. ‘Make sure you’re here again on time next month or you’ll regret it.’

  As I watched her leave I asked myself how that creature could possibly be my biological mother. I shuddered, thanking God that I’d inherited none of her baser qualities.

  My training didn’t take long. Adam came out with me for the first few visits and by the time the month was through I was making my first visit alone. November was hardly the best time to be selling swimming pools, I told myself, but I was mistaken. There was a luxury model which was under cover and that was the first one I went out to sell. The buyers wanted it installed by Christmas and I had to ring Adam to make sure we could guarantee that. When he assured me that we could I made my first sale and drove back to London feeling on top of the world. I was an independent woman again at last. I tried to forget the fact that I was paying a large percentage of my earnings to a blackmailer.

  Harry still occupied my thoughts for most of the time and I was grateful to have my job to take my mind off what might be happening to him. On the morning that Charles took him back to school he had clung to me, his little face bravely controlled in a way that almost broke my heart.

  ‘You will write, won’t you?’ I asked him.

  He nodded. ‘I can’t say much though, Mum,’ he answered, confirming my suspicions that the boys’ letters were vetted before they were posted. Charles waved away my fears, describing me as a ‘stifling mother’, full of Dickensian imaginings. But I know my own child and I knew he was miserable.

  Since I’d stood my ground with Charles over taking the job he’d been very cool with me and one evening, two weeks into the job he suddenly announced that he was selling my car. He told me just as we sat down to eat. Raising his head to look at me he said casually,

  ‘Oh, by the way. I’ve decided that I can’t justify the extravagance of running two cars.’

  I stared at him. ‘But you know I need the car for my job.’

  ‘Then I suggest you buy your own,’ he said. ‘Either that or get this Fenn person to supply you with a company vehicle. It must be a tin-pot company he’s running if he can’t stretch to that anyway.’

  The following morning I had to go to Adam with this latest bombshell.

  ‘You must be wishing you’d never offered me this job,’ I said.

  He looked up with a thoroughly unfazed expression. ‘I was thinking of buying a company car anyway,’ he said. ‘To keep in reserve. I hope I might need more as the business expands. Tell him I’ll buy it from him.’

  When I told Charles I thought he was going to have apoplexy. ‘It’s not for sale,’ he snapped. ‘Not to him anyway.’

  ‘So you’re selling it out of spite,’ I said. ‘I don’t know why you’re behaving like this, Charles, but it won’t make any difference. I need to earn my own money. I need to have something to occupy my mind too, especially with Harry going through hell at that dreadful school.’

  His response was to get up and leave the room without another word.

  One morning I found that my latest assignment was in Surrey with a Ms Woodley. It didn’t take long to drive out to Virginia Water and I arrived soon after eleven o’clock. Harway House was a mock Tudor villa, set back from the road and surrounded by trees. As I made my way up the drive I reflected that it must be very private and idyllic in summer when the trees were in full leaf. Now the drive was a carpet of fallen leaves that crunched under the wheels of the new company car that Adam had supplied me with.

  My ring at the bell was answered by a woman I took to be the housekeeper and she ushered me into a large conservatory at the back of the house, saying that she would inform ‘Madam’ that I had arrived.

  I recognized Celia Grayson, Charles’s ex-wife the moment she walked in and I saw from her face that she recognized me too. She was carrying the firm’s brochure and introductory letter and she stopped in her tracks when she saw me. Her eyebrows rose in a cynical half smile.

  ‘Well, well! I thought the name was coincidental, but it’s hardly unusual, is it – Grayson. Personally I never liked it, which is why I reverted to my maiden name. I must say that Charles’s little bit on the side was the last person I expected to see.’

  Her words took my breath away. ‘Charles and I are married,’ I told her, keeping my voice as level as I could. ‘And I’ve never been anyone’s “bit on the side”.’

  She shrugged. ‘It’s immaterial now, isn’t it?’

  This was going to be uncomfortable but I’d done nothing wrong and I was determined to keep cool. She was as elegant as I remembered her, her hair perfectly cut and styled and her skirt and cashmere sweater expensively understated. She indicated one of the conservatory’s comfortable wicker armchairs.

  ‘Do have a seat. So, Charles has you working for your living, does he?’

  I forced a smile. ‘No, I choose to work, especially now that our son is away at boarding school,’ I said. ‘The time hangs heavily and I like to be occupied.’

  ‘Well, good for you.’ She paused. ‘And your son is away at school.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘How old is he now?’

  ‘Harry has just turned nine.’

  She raised one eyebrow. ‘Nine! How time flies.’ She paused, pretending to look at the brochure. ‘I expect you know that we haven’t lost touch, Charles and I,’ she said without looking up.

  ‘You haven’t – lost touch?’

  ‘No? He hasn’t told you?’ She raised challenging eyes to mine. ‘Oh yes, we often meet, for lunch or a drink.’ She glanced around her. ‘And as you can see he’s been very generous with his settlement. He makes sure I still have the kind of life I’ve always been used to. But of course he will have told you all this.’

  I wasn’t sure what she was doing. Testing me? I decided not to play. ‘He hasn’t mentioned you,’ I said.

  I’d obviously touched a nerve. I saw her colour deepen. ‘Did you really think he’d ever be able to let me go?’ she said. ‘Charles and I had a very passionate relationship. He always said he’d never find anyone who could arouse his passions as I could.’

  ‘I’m not really interested in what’s past.’ I flipped open my order book and looked up at her. ‘I’m only here to do my job. So, have you had a chance to decide which of our pools you’d like? Can I help or advise you on anything?’

  Her nostril flared. ‘I don’t think there would ever be anything you could advise me on,’ she said sharply, throwing the pools brochure on to the coffee table with a resounding slap. She stood up. ‘And speaking of past and present, I wouldn’t feel too smug and secure in your marriage if I were you. You might well have a shock coming. You’ve provided Charles with a son and that’s all he ever wanted you for. Oh, and I don’t think I’m interested in having a pool installed by this firm,’ she said. ‘So if that’s all you’re here for you can leave.’

  She walked back into the house through the open patio doors and suddenly she was gone, leaving me to find my own way out. What was all that about? I asked myself as got into the car.

  It was as I was turning the car ready to leave that I noticed the other car that was parked round the corner of the house. It was a scarlet Mercedes convertible, the registration number of which was all too familiar to me. It was the car that had once been mine.

  Back at the office I discovered that Celia had telephoned the moment I’d left and made a complaint about me. Apparently I’d been rude and arrogant, which was why she had decided not to buy a pool. Adam wanted to know what had happened.

  ‘It was rather unfortunate,’ I told him. ‘Ms Woodley turned out to be my husband’s ex-wife. I was perfectly civil to her but she was clearly unhappy to see me and I suppose this is her way of getting back at me.’ I looked at him. ‘I’m so sorry, Adam. You must be wondering how many more problems I’m going to create for you.’

  He shook his head. ‘You’re doing a great job, Fran
ces. I’ve had very good feed back from satisfied customers. You’ve more than made up for this one cancellation. It was just an unfortunate coincidence. They happen.’

  Driving home that evening I thought about Celia, the lavish lifestyle that Charles was clearly paying for and the fact that he’d given her my car. But I decided not to say anything – for now anyway. My main aim at the moment was to get Harry away from that archaic school. It wasn’t going to be easy and I had no idea how I would do it, but I had to try.

  It was the following week that I received a phone call from Sheila Philips. It was during the early evening while I was in the kitchen preparing a meal.

  ‘Hello, Frances.’ I recognized the voice at once and my blood froze. Charles could so easily have picked up the phone.

  ‘What do you want?’

  ‘I’ve been thinking,’ she said. ‘Five hundred isn’t anywhere near meeting my needs. I think we’d better put it up next time – say seven fifty.’

  ‘I told you, I can’t give you any more,’ I said, holding the receiver close to my mouth just in case Charles should overhear.

  ‘Well I think you’d better find a way,’ she said nastily. ‘That is if you don’t want me to spill the beans.’

  My heart had been beating fast but suddenly the true realization of the situation hit me. ‘You’ll just have to do your worst then, won’t you?’ I said daringly. ‘As long as you realize that once you have there’ll be no more money.’

  There was a silence at the other end and I knew in that moment that I’d got her. She wasn’t very bright and she hadn’t bargained for having her bluff called.

  ‘Now look, if you know what’s good for you….’ she began threateningly.

  ‘Oh, but I do,’ I interrupted. ‘And I think a little visit to the police might be good for me; very good for me, but not so good for you.’

  ‘And telling your old man the truth about your past would mess things up for you good and proper, and well you know it,’ she said. ‘But we’ll leave it for now. Don’t think you can fob me off forever though, will you.’ She hung up before I could reply.

  I replaced the receiver and stood for a moment, thinking. It couldn’t go on. Her demands were going to go up and up. But what could I do? I couldn’t call her bluff for ever. Suddenly I made up my mind. The first chance I got I would go down to Dorset and see Mavis Waters, my so-called aunt. She had a lot to answer for in this. She could even be in on it. Somehow or other I had to get to the bottom of it.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  KATIE

  I had a couple of weeks in which to get up the courage to give in my notice to Imogene. Even then I trembled at the thought of telling her face to face. Drew had arranged a meeting with Rosie Sams for a Thursday afternoon for me so that I wouldn’t have to take any time off. He’d also suggested giving in my notice before I went for the interview as it was a foregone conclusion that I’d get the job. When I went in to work on the morning of the interview I took my letter of resignation and put it in Imogene’s in-tray on her desk, hoping she wouldn’t see it until after I had left. I felt really guilty about doing it that way. I’d never done anything as underhand before. I knew I’d have to face her on Friday morning but by then my meeting with Rosie Sams would have taken place and I’d have the prospect of a new job to give me confidence.

  At twelve-thirty I left Fantaisie and rushed home to grab a bite to eat and change. At three sharp I was waiting in reception for my meeting with Rosie, my heart drumming and excitement making my stomach churn. At last the telephone on the receptionist’s desk rang and she nodded across at me.

  ‘Miss Sams will see you now.’ She got up and walked across to open the door for me and I entered on trembling legs.

  The office was like something out of a Hollywood film set, all ‘Art Deco’ and ankle deep carpet. Rosie Sams got up from behind her desk, a small petite figure, her dark hair cut in a shining bob. She wore a plain black suit and pristine white shirt.

  ‘Katie MacEvoy,’ she said holding out her hand for me to shake. ‘How nice to meet you. Please have a seat.’ Sitting down again she took my drawings from a folder and spread them out on the desk. ‘These show a lot of promise. Well done,’ she said. ‘Andrew was insistent that I meet you.’ She looked up. ‘He tells me your ambition is to enter the fashion world one day and I can see that you have the necessary approach.’

  Andrew? For a moment I was puzzled then I realized that she meant Drew. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘It’s always been my dream and I could hardly believe it when Drew – er – Andrew said you were willing to give me a job.’

  She frowned a little. ‘Did he? I’m not sure that he gave you the right impression,’ she said. ‘You understand of course that I do have half a dozen junior designers working for me at the moment.’ She looked at me. ‘They have all studied fashion design at college and are already qualified. Even so they do not earn a fortune as you might think. However, working for me will help them on their way as they move up the ladder. Do you understand?’

  I wasn’t sure that I did. What was she trying to tell me? But I nodded anyway.

  ‘And so you see I couldn’t offer you an actual design place.’

  My heart plummeted as the truth struck home. ‘Oh! So, what…?’

  ‘However, you would be very useful in the workroom,’ she went on. ‘Helping with the making up, alterations, modifications and so on. And of course at our shows where you’d be invaluable doing running repairs and helping the models to make their quick changes.’

  A dogsbody. That’s how she saw me! I could have cried. In fact I felt my lower lip beginning to wobble and clamped my teeth over it, swallowing hard. ‘So, would there be room for promotion?’ I asked.

  She smiled. ‘Perhaps, if you were to work hard and get some qualifications.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘You’re disappointed?’

  ‘A bit, yes. There’s no way I could afford to go to college,’ I said. ‘I’m on my own and I have to work for my living.’

  ‘Well, I’m sure you would gain invaluable experience with us here and I’m willing to give you a month’s trial if you’d like to accept a job in the workroom.

  I stood up. ‘Thank you, Miss Sams but that isn’t what I wanted at all,’ I said as firmly as I could. ‘But thank you for seeing me, and for your offer of a trial, but I’m afraid I have to say no.’ Suddenly remembering my drawings I turned towards her desk. ‘So obviously you’ll have no more interest in these.’ I gathered them up and stuffed them into my bag.

  She looked a little taken aback. ‘Of course. Well, thank you for coming in to see me, Katie.’ She got up to shake my hand again. ‘And good luck with whatever you decide to do in the future.’

  Outside I stood on the pavement for several minutes, trying to steady the angry thumping of my heart. Drew had sent me here on a wild goose chase. He must have known what the real situation was. Did he really think I’d take a job in the workroom, running around like some kind of lady’s maid after the way he’d buttered me up? He’d insisted I give in my notice first as well. Suddenly my heart almost stopped. My notice! The letter of resignation! It was still on Imogene’s desk. Was there a chance, the slightest chance that she hadn’t seen it yet? I almost ran to the Underground station and leapt on the first train to Kensington, hoping against hope that I’d be in time.

  As I opened the door of the shop I could see that Imogene was engaged with a customer. She glanced at me in surprise and I indicated by mime that I’d left something in the office. Thanking my lucky stars that she was fully occupied I slipped into the office and closed the door. To my dismay I saw at once that the in-tray was empty then I remembered that Imogene had a bad habit of sometimes sweeping her post into the top drawer of her desk to put off dealing with it.

  I opened the drawer and began to rummage among the contents. Suddenly I saw my handwriting and grabbed the envelope, but as I did so my fingers touched something hard underneath. I pulled it out and saw that it
was a framed photograph lying face downward at the bottom of the drawer. Turning it over, I saw to my surprise that it was a wedding photograph of Imogene and her husband and I vaguely remembered that it had once stood in pride of place on the desk. Imogene looked radiant in it, clearly in love as she gazed up at the handsome man at her side. I stared down in disbelief at the image. It was him – Andrew – Drew. So it had all been a cruel con trick all the time! He’d been trying to poach me away from her so as to ruin our chances of success at Fantaisie and I’d fallen for it hook, line and sinker! How could I have been so naïve?

  ‘Did you find what you were looking for?’

  At the sound of Imogene’s voice I quickly closed the drawer and pushed the resignation letter into my pocket. ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘It was just a bill I’d forgotten to pay.’

  She threw herself down on her chair. ‘Put the kettle on, Katie, there’s a love. I’m completely knackered.’

  I took the kettle through to the kitchen at the back and filled it. When I came back she was pulling the day’s post out of the drawer.

  ‘I suppose I’d better deal with some of this before I go home,’ she said. ‘By the way, I’ve hired out two more of your wedding dresses this afternoon. At this rate we shall be needing to open that second branch before you know it.’ She smiled up at me. ‘Don’t know what I’d have done without you, Katie MacEvoy,’ she said. ‘I’d have gone under without you. If you ask me you’re a bloody angel in disguise!’

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  SOPHIE

  Just as I’d expected, the first couple came back with a better offer. I got the call as I was on my way home from school one rainy evening in late November. It wasn’t quite up to what Rex and I had agreed on so I explained to the agent that I’d have to get my husband’s approval on it. I promised to get back to him as soon as I could and I called Rex that evening. This time he answered his phone almost immediately.