by Anne Baker
‘It’s my birthday, I’ll be thirty-eight. I’ll book a table. Seven o’clock all right for you?’
Millie was smiling at him. She was a very attractive woman and very good company, and she certainly had plenty of guts. He couldn’t help but admire how she’d stood up to Marcus and Nigel. She’d stood up for the staff too and fought their battles. It seemed she’d settled them down. Marcus was keeping a lower profile now and there had been peace in the office for the last few months. At the same time she was virtually running the business and it was making an increasing profit.
Andrew knew he loved Millie but felt she was wary of him. She wasn’t encouraging him to show her any affection, and he didn’t know whether she wasn’t interested in men generally or whether it was just him. He’d told himself a dozen times that he must give her time, that she would still be grieving for Pete. But there was this additional problem that she was his boss. He’d seen her home and knew she had a higher standard of living than he could ever offer on his salary. It didn’t make for an easy relationship.
On Wednesday evening, he picked her up in his car and was touched when she gave him a birthday card and a silk tie. ‘You’ve even spared me some of your own clothing coupons,’ he said.
‘Just one, and there are strong rumours that clothes will be off ration soon.’
‘I like it very much,’ he said, ‘exactly my sort of tie.’ He undid the tie he was wearing and bundled it into the glove box, then put on the one she’d given him. ‘How does it look?’
‘Fine,’ she told him.
When the soup came, Millie started to talk about Marcus. ‘He bothers me. He’s never in his office, and he doesn’t appear to be doing much work. What does he do all day?’
‘We’ve all noticed that he goes out a good deal and that he’s very tense, nervous and sort of fidgety.’
‘Nigel says his wife has left him, so I suppose he’s upset, but I feel in my guts that’s there’s more to it. He’s up to something.’
Andrew didn’t want to talk about Marcus. He wanted to talk about Millie, he wanted to know more about her, she intrigued him.
There was casserole to follow. It was beautifully served and there was nothing the matter with it but his mother produced several casseroles each week. Nobody was going hungry but very little variety was available on the current rations. Millie told him the casserole was good but he longed for something different, pheasant or lobster would be marvellous.
He drove her home afterwards. When he pulled up outside her gate he got out of the car to go round and open the door for her but as usual she beat him to it. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘I’ve really enjoyed your birthday outing. Would you like to come in for a nightcap?’
‘Better not,’ he said. ‘It’s getting late and it’s a working day tomorrow.’ He couldn’t hold back the urge any longer. He took her into his arms and kissed her full on the mouth.
When he felt her struggle to pull away from him his toes curled with embarrassment. And, even worse, it made him feel rejected all over again. He should have had more sense than to do that.
Millie caught at his hand and said softly, ‘I’m sorry, Andrew. I’m very grateful for all you do for me. You’re a marvellous friend but I can’t forget . . . Well, you know how it is.’
He did and it made him feel depressed.
Sylvie had had time to think about what Denis had said. He may not have said ‘grow up’ in so many words but that was what he’d meant, and she had to admit there might be some truth in it. He’d been right when he’d said she’d had a happy childhood, and perhaps Valerie and Helen had indulged her too, but that boat trip and Dad’s accident had thrown a real whammy at her and changed her world. She hadn’t stood up to that very well. She’d wailed and cried and felt sorry for herself. She’d seen problems everywhere and made others for herself and her mother. Her family had tried to comfort and help her. She’d taken all their support for granted.
She missed Dad terribly but Mum must miss him even more and Marcus was giving her problems at work as well, but Mum was making the best of what she still had and trying to help her too. Sylvie told herself she was no longer a child and must learn to take setbacks on the chin.
She knew that life with Denis would bring a whole new world to her feet. She loved him, and if she had to wait for two years while he did his National Service then she’d have to grin and bear it. She’d been searching for some time for a gift for Denis to mark his twenty-first birthday.
One evening she said to her mother, ‘There’s hardly anything in the shops to choose from. I saw a pair of second-hand cufflinks in a jeweller’s shop window that were quite nice, but by the time I thought about them and went back, they’d been sold.’
‘Sylvie, your father had several pairs of cufflinks, as well as other pieces of jewellery. Why don’t you give Denis something that belonged to him?’
‘Would that be all right? I mean, it wouldn’t really be from me, it would be handing on . . .’
‘Of course it would be all right. You were talking about second-hand stuff a minute ago, what could be better than to give him something of Dad’s? Why don’t you come upstairs and see what there is?’
Her mother led her up to her bedroom and opened the top drawer of the tallboy where Pete had kept things like that. When Sylvie saw the collection of gold cufflinks, tie pins and the signet ring, she was bowled over. ‘Denis would be thrilled with any one of these,’ she said. ‘Would you really let me give him something of Dad’s?’
‘Of course,’ Millie said. ‘What is it to be?’
‘Denis doesn’t use cufflinks that much, so the ring, I think. I remember Dad wearing that.’
‘Take it then, you can get it polished up and wrapped.’ Millie thought for a moment. ‘Should I give him a pair of cufflinks, d’you think? After all, we’ve always got on well.’
‘Why not?’ Sylvie giggled. ‘They’re doing no good lying here. I like this pair best.’ She picked them up and put them in her mother’s hand.
For Millie, it was a peaceful morning and she’d pottered about the lab with Denis doing what she enjoyed most. She’d managed to buy a tin of instant coffee and at eleven o’clock Denis made them each a cup and they sat down at her desk to drink it.
She noticed that he stirred and stirred. ‘Can I speak to you about something personal?’ he asked. ‘I’ve been meaning to for some time.’
‘Of course, Denis. What is it?’
‘I would like to ask your permission to marry Sylvie.’
Millie jerked her head up in surprise. Denis’s face was scarlet. ‘Well . . . Well, have you asked her?’
‘Yes, yes, some time ago, but we wanted to keep it to ourselves for a while.’
‘If it’s what she wants, then I’d be very happy about it.’
‘Oh good. Sylvie’s only eighteen, you see, so she’d need your permission.’
Millie took a deep breath. ‘When do you plan for this to take place?’
‘Not yet, not until I’ve done my National Service, but I’d like us to be officially engaged, and I thought I’d better ask first.’ His words were coming out in a rush now. ‘I’d like to get her a ring before I go away.’
Millie said slowly, ‘Sylvie’s said nothing to me but I could see you were pairing off. I’m sure you’ll be very good for her. I’m pleased, Denis, very pleased for you both.’
‘It’s my twenty-first birthday the week after next. I won’t be having a proper party because it’s so difficult to get extra food and drink, but my mother would like you and Sylvie to come round to tea on Sunday. It’ll be just a family meal to—’
‘I’d love to come and I’m sure Sylvie would too. Thank your mother. It’s very kind of her.’
Millie had always liked Denis, he was serious, hardworking and reliable, and she’d known and admired his grandfathe
r. She felt Sylvie had made a wise choice. It was bothering Millie that he would soon be called up, and as he was doing more and more of the work, she knew she was going to miss him in the lab.
‘I need to find somebody to take your place when you go,’ she told him. ‘It won’t be easy because you can do almost everything here now, but a pair of hands to do the basics would be better than nobody. If we found somebody now, you could show them what to do over the next few weeks. I don’t suppose you know anybody who’d like the job?’
‘Are you thinking of starting another apprentice like me?’
Millie sighed. ‘I don’t know. We took you on a full five-year apprenticeship because you were keen and your grandfather had taught me.’ Denis had been their first real apprentice, Millie had been hired to wash and sterilise the equipment. It was only after she was married to Pete that a learning programme had been drawn up for her.
Denis crashed his cup down on the saucer. ‘I know I’m looking a long time ahead, but when I finish my National Service I’d like to come back and work here. You see, there aren’t many jobs like this around, and I don’t want to move too far away from here. My mother is dreading being left on her own while I do my army service.’
The government had laid down that ex-servicemen and women must be offered their old jobs back after they were demobbed, should they want them, and Millie fully approved.
‘We’d be delighted to have you back, Denis, though you’re now qualified to do my job and with a bit more experience you could.’
‘But you’re doing more and more admin work now,’ he told her. ‘Everybody comes to you rather than . . .’
‘It’s a long time ahead but we’re expanding quickly and I hope there’ll be enough work for both of us by then. I’m glad you’re thinking of a career here. We’ll all welcome you back.’
‘Thank you. Not another apprentice then?’
‘I don’t really have time to teach another school leaver from scratch. I think it would be easier for me to manage with basic help and bottle washing, so no, not another apprentice.’
‘Then can I talk to you about my mother? She hasn’t worked in a lab like this but now Grandpa has died and I’m leaving home, she needs something to fill her day and she’d love a real job. She could do the basics I’m sure, if I showed her what’s needed. She knows a good deal already because Grandpa never stopped talking about his work. She’s done secretarial work so she could help with the paperwork.’
Millie sat back in her chair and smiled. Why not? ‘How old is she?’
‘Fifty-three, too old for a normal apprenticeship.’
‘Yes, ask her to come in and have chat with me. We could give her a try, couldn’t we? What about next Monday? Would straight after lunch be a convenient time for her?’
‘Yes, that’s great. I could go home and bring her in.’
Sylvie had heard about it by the time they were going home that evening. ‘I like his mother,’ she said, ‘and I think you will. She’ll be more capable than an ordinary school leaver.’
The following Monday, Millie returned to the lab after eating her sandwiches in Andrew’s office to find Denis waiting at the door for her.
‘This is my mother, her name is Geraldine,’ he said. She was sitting at Denis’s desk in the far corner.
‘Hello, I hope Denis has shown you round,’ Millie said. ‘Come down to my desk and we’ll have a chat.’ Geraldine was a big woman, tall as well as plump, with greying hair, but her face strongly resembled that of her father. She bustled rather than walked and looked very capable.
‘I’m keen,’ she said, ‘to follow in the family footsteps and work in your laboratory.’
Millie thought she would be ideal.
Sylvie was getting excited. On Friday, Denis had said, ‘Now our engagement is official, I want to buy you a ring. I don’t know much about jewellery or what style you’d like, so I’ve been into that jewellery shop in Church Street and arranged it. Tomorrow I’m going to take you there and you can choose the ring you want.’
Sylvie was fizzing inside as he led her into the shop. Her feet sank into deep carpet and she was dazzled by glistening rings, necklaces and brooches displayed all around her in glass cases. Denis spoke to a salesman dressed in a very formal suit. He spread a black velvet cloth on the counter and ushered Sylvie into a chair in front of it.
‘Up till now we’ve had to rely on a supply of second-hand jewellery,’ he told her, ‘but at last we’ve had a delivery of new rings that I can show you.’
Sylvie looked at the first tray he brought and thought they all looked beautiful. ‘Denis,’ she whispered, ‘some of these rings could be very expensive and I don’t want to put you in hock.’
‘You won’t,’ he said, ‘that’s why I came in the other day. I can afford any of these he’s showing you.’
‘Trust you to do the right thing.’ She smiled and gave herself up to deciding which one she liked best. She pointed out a three-stone diamond ring. The salesman was about to lift if from the tray but Denis’s hand reached it first and he slid it on her finger. His touch sent thrills up her arm.
‘I like that one too,’ he told her.
‘While you’re here, you should try on some of the other rings,’ the salesman said. ‘This is a very nice sapphire,’ it had a small diamond each side of it. ‘Or there’s this emerald in a similar design.’
Sylvie tried them on but came back to her original choice. ‘You wouldn’t prefer this solitaire diamond?’ Denis asked. She shook her head. ‘Then we’ll have the three-diamond one,’ he told the salesman.
‘It fits you perfectly.’ He smiled at her, and twisted it on her finger, ‘Could have been made for you. Shall I wrap it up?’ He produced a small leather box for it.
‘Would you like to keep it on?’ Denis asked her.
Sylvie looked at it sparking fire on her finger. ‘Yes, I think I would.’ She’d chosen to spend the rest of her life with Denis and she couldn’t have felt happier about it. She’d always wear this ring. Really they would be exchanging rings, but she’d wait until his birthday to give him his.
Outside on the pavement he took her arm and said, ‘You thought of me in there, you didn’t want me to spend more than I could afford. Did I get it all wrong?’
‘No, you didn’t get it wrong. I’m trying harder to grow up.’
Denis hugged her closer. ‘On my birthday I’m going to take you to the Bear’s Paw to celebrate. We’ll have a slap-up supper and a dance. I’m told it’s Liverpool’s premier nightclub.’
Neither of them had been to a nightclub before, and Sylvie was delighted.
Denis came to work as usual on his birthday and Millie gave him a birthday card and the gift-wrapped cufflinks. ‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘I’ll feel very smart when I wear these.’
‘They belonged to my husband,’ she told him. ‘They’re better than anything I could see in the shops. He didn’t wear them very often.’
‘I shall think of him when I wear them,’ Denis said. ‘I’ll take good care of them.’
To go out that evening, Sylvie wore the fashionable New Look blue and grey striped taffeta party dress that Helen had helped her make. She loved the feeling of long voluminous skirts rustling about her legs and was very pleased with the way it had turned out.
They went to first house at the Empire to see a variety show and then on to the Bear’s Paw and were shown to a table on the edge of a tiny dance floor. ‘Gosh, it’s dark in here, isn’t it?’ Denis whispered.
Sylvie half wished there was more light so that her outfit could be appreciated. The other customers seemed older, some were in evening dress. Wine glasses were tinkling and soft dance music was playing. It seemed a very sophisticated place and Sylvie loved it. They were both hungry and ate the first two courses before she brought out her birthday gif
t to Denis. ‘I hope you like it.’
He smiled. ‘A signet ring. I’ll treasure it.’
‘It isn’t new, it belonged to my dad.’
‘Your mother said the same about these cufflinks. I’ll wear them with pride, treasure them all the more.’
‘Really, we’re exchanging rings.’
Denis stretched across the table to kiss the tip of her nose. ‘Very right and proper that we should, now we’re engaged,’ he said.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Marcus felt Elvira was doing her best to choke him off and he was getting brassed off with the treatment. He rang Greg’s number one day and she picked up the phone. ‘Are you living with him?’ he barked.
‘No, I’m working for Greg too, so we can get some money together for the house,’ she said shortly. ‘It’s better if we both carry on earning the money while we can. After all, we know how painful it is to be short of a penny or two. We don’t want to go back to that, do we?’
‘But where are you living?’
‘I’m staying with an old school friend. You’ve got hold of the wrong end of the stick. Greg has never been anything more than a friend.’
Marcus wanted to believe her but a few days later Greg said there were too many calls coming in on his number, it never stopped ringing, and it might attract the wrong sort of attention when it was supposed to be a residential number.
‘In future, don’t bother ringing in when the job has gone as expected, only do it if something goes wrong,’ he told Marcus. ‘It’ll be safer that way.’
Marcus thought it was to stop him speaking to Elvira, but then something did go wrong. He’d been delivering a car to a garage in Barrow-in-Furness, only to find the place had been cordoned off by the police. That threw him into a panic but he saw it in time to drive on. He went round a few corners until he was well out of sight then pulled into the side of the road and sat back for a few minutes to calm his nerves. He was sweating but blessed the fact that he hadn’t left his own car in that garage as he sometimes did, he’d been expecting to pick up another car from them to take back to Liverpool.