by Lesley Eames
‘Nothing beats being your own boss,’ Pierre declared.
Lily looked towards Elsie, expecting a quip about him being a terrible boss but she made no comment. She’d been as enthusiastic as anyone about Artie’s news but her spirits were sinking already. What on earth was wrong with her?
‘Michael and I have news too,’ Phyllis said and Michael reached out to squeeze her hand. ‘We’ve set a date for our wedding.’
The news was greeted with cries of delight. ‘When is it going to be?’ Lily asked.
‘Next month. It won’t be a big wedding. We’ll marry in Christ Church and have a meal in the George Tavern afterwards. All very simple.’
Phyllis looked anxious, clearly thinking of Artie’s disappointment over Celia and Elsie’s low mood, but both Artie and Elsie were too generous to resent the happiness of friends and congratulated the couple warmly.
Even so Lily detected hidden wistfulness in Artie’s expression and as for Elsie…
Understanding suddenly slotted into place in Lily’s mind. Of course!
THIRTY-FOUR
After two days of keeping her eyes and ears open, Lily was sufficiently sure of her theory to share it with Phyllis who stared at her in wide-eyed astonishment. ‘It never crossed my mind but it makes perfect sense,’ Phyllis agreed.
‘I don’t think talking to Elsie will help, though.’
‘Goodness, no. She’ll bite your head off or take any job she can find just to escape an awkward conversation.’
‘We need to find another way to help her,’ Lily suggested.
It was going to take thought and ingenuity.
Artie was occupied for the rest of the week but called in at the tea room early on Friday afternoon. ‘I know this is a busy time for you but I just wanted to say hello,’ he said, taking a loaded tray from her and carrying it into the tea room.
‘I’m glad you’re here. Do you have any news about the business?’
‘I’ve met with an architect and a surveyor and both seem willing to give us a chance when a suitable project arises. The architect already has one in mind. In the meantime I’m still working on budgets for the equipment we’re likely to need. We’ll have to buy some of it but I’m looking into hiring whenever possible, just to begin with. I’m also looking for a small yard we can rent. It’ll need an office but a hut will do as long as we can put a telephone in there.’
‘It sounds exciting. If you’re not working on Sunday would you like to come to Hastings with me? I don’t think Marion is well enough to see both of us but you could walk along the seafront while I’m in the nursing home and I could join you afterwards.’
‘It’s a lovely idea.’
‘Don’t worry about the cost of the fare. I’ll pay for both of us.’
‘I’ll pay for myself, thank you, little sister. I’m not bankrupt yet.’ Artie thought for a moment then smiled. ‘I can call you little sister now but I remember when you were two inches taller.’
‘That was years ago.’
‘We’ve come a long way from Jessy Street, haven’t we? But Mum, Dad and Gran… We’ll never forget them.’
‘Never,’ Lily agreed. ‘We’ve got a lot to thank them for, and I think they’d be proud of us.’
‘They were good people. We were lucky to have them in our lives.’
‘Lily?’ Phyllis spoke from the open door.
Her face was sombre. She beckoned Lily to follow her into the serving room. Heart beating fast Lily joined her quickly, Artie bringing up the rear.
‘A telegram,’ Phyllis said, handing it over.
It was from the nursing home. Marion had passed away.
The tea room was full so there was no question of closing it and Marion wouldn’t have wanted it to close anyway. It was incredibly hard for Lily to serve up smiles and chatter when her throat was tight from the sobs she kept imprisoned inside her but Artie was magnificent. He borrowed Mr Bax’s apron again and took charge so Lily could have occasional moments of respite in the serving room. He did so with charm so no one minded if he wasn’t quite as knowledgeable as Lily.
As soon as the lunchtime crowd thinned he urged Lily to go next door to use Pierre’s telephone to call the nursing home. She needed to know that her old friend had died peacefully and hadn’t suffered.
‘Miss Tibbs was perfectly comfortable, both in body and in mind,’ the Matron assured Lily. ‘She said more than once that she felt her life to be complete and she was looking forward to being reunited with her sister.’
Relieved, Lily asked about the funeral.
‘All her affairs are in the hands of her solicitor. Let me give you his telephone number.’
Lily wrote it down, thanked the Matron for caring for Marion and then telephoned the solicitor, Mr Percival. ‘My client was keen to save you from the trouble of arranging her funeral,’ he told her. ‘You’re in business in London, I believe.’
‘I run a tea room but I still want to come to the funeral.’
‘Of course. I’ll advise details in due course.’
Lily returned to the tea room, determined to get through the afternoon somehow. As soon as the last customer left, Artie took her into his arms and she sobbed against his chest. When she’d quietened a little he made her a cup of tea and insisted she should sit and drink it while he cleared up after the day’s business.
‘I’m calmer now,’ she told him a little later. ‘It just felt too much to lose Marion so soon after Hilda.’
‘Of course it did.’
‘Thank you for all your help but I’ll be fine tomorrow.’
‘Sure?’
‘Marion and Hilda wouldn’t want me to mope. They’d want me to get on with things.’
The following day was a Saturday. Lily was sad though able to cope, but when evening came she sat down to write to Luke about Marion, feeling the need for the closeness that existed through their letters even if it could go nowhere else.
She posted her letter on her way to walk with Artie on Hampstead Heath on Sunday. It was a fine, blowy day and some of the children were flying kites. ‘Look how high that one is,’ Artie said, pointing.
Lily began to follow the direction of his arm only to see a girl in the distance. Celia.
She was with another girl – possibly her sister – and two young soldiers walked beside them. Was one of them the young man Lily had seen before? Perhaps. It didn’t matter. The important thing was to get Artie away quickly.
‘Let’s walk to those trees,’ Lily suggested, nudging Artie onwards.
But he’d seen Celia too. He stared at her for a long moment then said, ‘Yes, let’s,’ and headed for the trees.
‘I’m sorry,’ Lily said, when they were out of danger of being spotted in return.
‘Celia is a beautiful girl. It isn’t surprising if she’s caught the eyes of other men.’
He made an obvious effort to stay cheerful for the rest of the walk but it was as though clouds had drifted across the sun.
‘Please don’t worry about me,’ he begged Lily, when they parted. ‘I’m not the first man to have his heart bruised and I won’t be the last. Hard work will be my salvation, just as it’s been yours.’
Despite Artie’s reassurance Lily felt reluctant to take forward the idea she’d had for helping Elsie. She spoke about it to Phyllis as they cleared up after work the next day.
‘It’s a great idea,’ Phyllis said.
‘I’m glad you agree but I think we should wait a week or two before attempting it.’
‘We don’t want to rub Artie’s nose in unhappiness,’ Phyllis said, nodding.
‘Rub my nose in what?’ Artie asked from behind them.
Both girls whirled around. ‘We didn’t hear you come in,’ Lily said.
‘Obviously not. But I’m here now and I’d like to know what you meant.’
Lily explained her thoughts. ‘But the plan can wait a while.’
‘If Elsie is unhappy, she needs to be helped now,’ Artie said firmly.
‘Tell me what I can do.’
‘Well…’ Lily began, and told him exactly how he could help.
The next morning Lily spoke to Elsie. ‘I think we should all have supper together tomorrow.’
‘Any particular reason?’
‘We’re going through difficult times. I think we should do something cheerful. All of us together.’
‘All of us?’
‘Mr Bax has a prior engagement but Phyllis, Pierre, Michael, Artie…’
‘I suppose I’d better make myself available then,’ Elsie said, though a cheerful evening looked like being the last thing she wanted.
Artie played his part very well by keeping Elsie and Pierre talking in the chocolate shop. It meant Lily and Phyllis had everything ready by the time Artie arrived in the tea room leading a glum-looking Elsie and an equally glum-looking Pierre.
Glasses of wine were handed round. ‘What are we toasting?’ Elsie asked.
‘Life,’ Lily told her. ‘It seems to me that we should seize every chance to be happy. Even if it means taking risks.’
‘Risks?’
‘The risk of feeling foolish. The risk of feeling vulnerable…’
‘You’ve been reading too many books,’ Elsie said, pulling a face, but Lily had already seen that her words had struck a chord.
‘What are we eating?’ Elsie asked next, as though to move the conversation onto safer ground where no heart-searching was required.
She looked around the tea room then frowned when she saw that only two places had been laid on one of the smaller tables. ‘What’s this? We need a bigger table, don’t we?’
‘Why don’t you get one ready?’ Lily suggested.
Elsie put her drink down and walked over to a large table.
‘Pierre, would you mind helping her?’ Lily asked.
He looked reluctant to go anywhere near Elsie but squared his shoulders and went over, taking hold of the table without saying a word.
Lily and the others crept out of the room.
‘Oi! What’s going on?’ Elsie demanded, as Lily closed the door.
Elsie’s footsteps approached rapidly on the other side of it. She rattled the handle. ‘Is this door locked?’ she demanded.
‘It is,’ Lily called. ‘And it’s staying locked until you and Pierre have talked through how you feel about each other.’
‘How we…? You’ve taken leave of your senses, Lily Tomkins.’
‘There’s food and the bottle of wine to finish. Take a risk, Elsie. Be brave. You too, Pierre. We’re going next door so you can bang on this door as much as you like. We shan’t come to open it.’
Ignoring the protests, Lily led Artie, Phyllis and Michael downstairs and into the chocolate shop.
‘Let’s hope Elsie and Pierre don’t murder each other,’ Lily said.
‘Or join forces to murder us,’ Phyllis added.
Two hours passed before Lily and the others returned to the tea room. ‘Is it safe to open the door?’ Lily called.
‘You were preaching about taking risks earlier,’ Elsie shouted back. ‘Why don’t you take a risk and find out?’
Lily unlocked the door and opened it cautiously, ready to duck if Elsie threw something at her. But there was no danger of that. Elsie and Pierre were sitting at the little table looking embarrassed but radiant too, and Elsie’s scowl was clearly faked. ‘All right, you can spare us the smugness, Tomkins. You were right.’
‘We were right,’ Lily pointed out, including the others in the compliment.
‘All of you, then.’
Pierre reached across the table for Elsie’s hand and kissed it before looking up at Lily. ‘We would never have talked if you hadn’t locked us in this room. This table…’ He gestured to the flowers and paper hearts Lily had scattered across the cloth. ‘We had to ask each other why you had made it so romantic.’
Lily imagined the conversation had started stiffly, with Elsie insisting she had no idea what was going on and dismissing the hearts and flowers as stupid. Perhaps Pierre had said much the same. But two hours was a long time to be locked in a room. Eventually, they would have eaten the food and, with their tongues loosened by wine, inched their way towards confessing their love for each other.
‘I never thought this magnificent girl would look at a man like me,’ Pierre said. ‘So short. So ugly.’
‘You’re not ugly!’ everyone chorused, and Lily added, ‘You have a very pleasant face actually.’
‘But not a handsome one,’ Pierre said.
‘I never thought Pierre would look at me,’ Elsie confessed. ‘A female giant with hair like a ginger sweeping brush and big, clumsy hands.’
‘It’s love that’s important,’ Pierre told her, smiling tenderly. ‘Soon I shall present a ring as a token of that love.’
‘An engagement already?’ Lily asked.
‘We’ve wasted too much time being shy of each other,’ Pierre said. ‘We don’t want to waste any more. And I want to get my wonderful Elsie along the aisle before she changes her mind.’
Lily was delighted. Hugging Elsie and then Pierre, she was pleased to see that Artie was generous with his congratulations too though the reminder of what he’d lost must be painful. She was aware of an ache in her own heart as well. Would Luke ever look at her as tenderly as Pierre looked at Elsie?
But this wasn’t the time for thinking of herself. It was a time for celebrating the happiness of two friends and honouring the life of another.
*
They closed both shops and the tea room for Marion’s funeral. It was a small affair but there was no doubting the warm regard in which Marion had been held by those who were present. By arrangement with the solicitor, Mr Percival, Lily tied the Tibbs family’s black crepe ribbon to the doorknocker of Marion’s house so the tradition wouldn’t be broken. ‘Might I keep the ribbon afterwards?’ she asked him.
‘Certainly. Miss Tibbs wanted you to have these too.’ He passed over a small, worn Bible and a silver necklace on which hung a gold ring. ‘It was her mother’s wedding ring.’
‘How incredibly kind,’ Lily said.
‘Both sisters were very fond of you. I have a letter for you here which explains their thinking.’ He took an envelope from his coat pocket and passed it over. ‘I suggest you read it later.’
Lily put the envelope and gifts into her bag and retrieved the black ribbon once the funeral was over. She took the Bible out again on the train journey home, smiling fondly when she saw that someone – the sisters’ father, perhaps – had recorded their births inside the cover. Lily decided she’d record their deaths there when she got home, adding words that made it clear how much they’d been valued. Hilda and Marion might not have left any family behind, but they’d left plenty of love.
The urge to make them proud of the way she lived her own life had Lily’s thoughts turning to the future again. Blissfully happy now, Elsie would be running the chocolate shop with Pierre and in time Phyllis would doubtless look for work which would make the most of her excellent brain. Lily’s future was less certain.
She still wasn’t sure she could bear living next door to Luke, especially if he began courting someone else. Much as she loved her tea room, Mr Bax’s retirement might be a cloud with a silver lining in giving her an excuse for moving away. She’d miss the tea room dreadfully, though. She’d miss her friends and she’d also miss Luke but sometimes a person had to put herself through pain in order to protect her long-term wellbeing.
‘I’ve got a big pot of soup ready to be warmed if anyone’s hungry,’ Pierre said when they reached London.
Mr Bax decided to head home but Artie agreed to come and share the soup. ‘We need something warm,’ he said, because it had begun to rain after they left Hastings and the air was unseasonably chilly.
They had to pass the bakery to reach the chocolate shop. ‘Artie!’ someone cried from the bakery porch.
‘Celia!’
Bedraggled and thoroughly wet, she stumbled into Arti
e’s arms.
THIRTY-FIVE
Up in the serving room Lily filled the kettle with water and put it on the stove to boil, having agreed with Pierre that the soup would have to wait for a while. Artie had taken a sobbing Celia into the tea room and Lily had closed the door to give them privacy though she was desperate to know what Celia intended by coming here.
Clearly, she still had some feelings for Artie, but was she here to tell him that she was sorry she could never be with him or to tell him she wanted to be with him despite her parents’ disapproval? Lily supposed she’d know soon enough.
She arranged the tea things on a tray. Balancing it carefully, she knocked on the tea room door and Artie bade her enter.
He was sitting with his arms around Celia, comforting her as she sobbed. Lily put the tray on the table beside him. ‘I’ll be upstairs,’ she told him. In other words she’d wait in her room in case he needed her.
‘Thanks, Lil,’ he said.
Phyllis had gone next door so Lily sat alone on her bed. Half an hour passed before Artie came up to talk to her. ‘She loves me,’ he declared simply.
‘You’re very loveable,’ Lily told him. He deserved to be happy but could Celia make him so? Lily wished she felt more confident about it. ‘Have her parents agreed she can continue seeing you?’
‘They forbade it.’ Artie came to sit on the bed.
‘So she’s here to say goodbye?’
‘She’s here because she’s tried to forget me and live the life they want for her but it hasn’t worked. She can’t bear giving me up.’
‘She wants to see you in secret?’
‘Celia had a big row with her parents. They told her she had to choose between a comfortable life with them and a mean, sorry little life with me. She chose me.’
‘She’s left home?’ Lily was shocked.
Did Celia expect him to marry her immediately? She was young so how would that be possible without her parents’ consent? Even if they gave that consent to spare themselves the shame of having a daughter living with a man when unmarried, what would a rushed wedding mean for the couple’s happiness when they hadn’t had time to get to know each other properly? And what would it mean for Artie’s dream of setting up in business?