Towards a Dark Horizon (26 page)

Lily nodded eagerly. ‘Yes, please.’

‘Well, go into the kitchen and see your dad because he has the bottle in there.’ After she left, Margot said, ‘Thank you for the lovely wedding present, Ann. It was just what we wanted and I’ve already thanked the rest of Johnny’s family.’

I thought she was merely being polite but she pulled back the curtains and the jardinière stood beside the window. It looked so grand set against the deep green patterned curtains and she had placed a mass of yellow daffodils and green leaves in the pot. The effect was stunning.

‘It arrived yesterday from all the family so thank you again.’

Surely Jeemy hadn’t delivered it. I went over to my grandparents and they looked like fish out of water. Bella gazed sourly at her empty glass. No doubt she had drained it in one go and, if there was a refill, then it wasn’t in sight.

The Pringles and Hattie sat on the bed settee and I couldn’t imagine Margot letting anyone sleep in this elegant room – no matter what she said.

Mrs Pringle looked bored and kept glancing at her watch. An extremely plain-looking woman, she had her hair very fashionably done in a Marcel wave but this scull-skimming style didn’t suit her heavy-jawed face. It also made her large nose look even larger but her eyes were beautiful. Deep pools set in quite a nice complexion, it was a pity her face was so solidly square. She was wearing a very understated dress which I’m sure cost her a lot of money but she looked dowdy compared to Margot or even Hattie.

After an hour of this surreptitious watch glancing, Mr Pringle stood up. ‘Let us all drink a toast to the happy married couple – Mr and Mrs Neill.’

We all raised our glasses. Margot looked amused while Dad looked besotted. To give her her due she was looking stunning tonight in a cream crêpe-de-Chine dress that skimmed her ankles and matched her strappy sandals. She was wearing pearls at her throat and ears and she was a study in monochrome but a glowing one.

Hattie had tried to outdo her new sister-in-law but had failed by a hair’s breadth. She was also in an ankle-skimming dress but hers was a deep wine colour which suited her complexion and dark hair. She wore no jewellery but then she hardly ever did.

Margot nodded regally. ‘Thank you for coming and making our wedding a happy occasion.’

It was obvious she didn’t know the family’s true feelings but we raised our glasses again. To my amusement, I noticed Bella was still clutching her empty glass.

Then there was a knock on the door. To my amazement Greg appeared with Danny. Margot gave them both an appraising look but she did that with all the male population.

I had written to him after the wedding last Saturday but I hadn’t expected him to come. He put his arm around my shoulder. ‘I thought I’d better come to give you some support, Ann,’ he whispered. ‘I couldn’t remember the address so I waited on Danny at the shop.’

‘Oh, Greg, it’s good to see you! Are you here for the weekend?’

His face fell. ‘No, Ann, I’ve got to go on a course on Monday which means leaving from Glasgow tomorrow so I’ll have to catch a late train back tonight.’

This was the story of my life but it was good to see him even for a short time like this. In a perverse way I was glad he was returning that night because I felt terrible and not in the least bit sociable. I wasn’t sure if it was due to the heat from the fire or not but I was feeling woozy.

Then the Pringles stood up. ‘We have to go, Mrs Neill. This is Dorothy’s bridge night,’ John Pringle said while Dorothy looked annoyed at him.

Margot saw them to the door and I her murmuring seductively, ‘You must call me Margot.’

Bella still had her empty glass while my grandparents looked tired. As if pulled by strings, they all stood up and Margot brought their coats. Hattie glared at them as they left and I could see she was ashamed of us not being party people and she was right. The only person bouncing around and eating everything in sight was Lily.

Dad refilled our glasses and I thought it a great pity that Bella had lost out on this extra drink. He ushered us towards the buffet table and urged us to eat up. I put a small sandwich and a sausage roll on my plate but everything tasted like sawdust. It was this horrible cold which I couldn’t seem to get rid of.

Danny went over to Margot and handed over a gaudily wrapped parcel. The look of delight on her face was well out of proportion to its size but I was feeling churlish and a bit fed up.

It was a damask tablecloth and Margot showed it to us all. ‘It’s lovely, Danny! Thank you.’

I was annoyed to see him blush. Such was the charm of this woman.

Greg said quietly, ‘Now your Dad’s got married, Ann, does that mean it’s our turn soon?’

He saw me glance in Lily’s direction. ‘Won’t Lily be staying with them?’

I shook my head. ‘How can we live here, Greg? Just look at this room? Margot will not be wanting two people to camp on her settee in spite of what she says. And I promised Lily that I wouldn’t abandon her.’

‘We can get married and take her to live with us in Glasgow, can’t we?’

By now, my head was splitting and I thought I was going to faint. ‘Can we talk about this some other time Greg? Let’s just give Margot and Dad some time to settle down in their marriage and we’ll make plans then.’

Once again we were parting on these terms and at this rate we would never get married. Still, on this particular night, I couldn’t think of anything other than my aches and pains.

Thankfully, it was soon time to say our goodbyes and we set off into the cold starry night. Greg had only half an hour to catch his train and he told me to go home to my bed. ‘You’d better take a hot-water bottle with you, Ann, because that’s a terrible cold you have. Don’t come to the station with me. I’ll write to you tomorrow night.’

He set off with Danny and I realised I hadn’t had the chance to speak to my cousin all night. Were we drifting apart? Even worse. Were Greg and I also drifting apart? I said a small mental prayer that this wasn’t the case and Lily and I headed off down the road with Hattie.

She was full of the evening’s event. ‘I’m glad your father has settled down with such a lovely decent woman, Ann. What a delightful house she keeps and she’s so well dressed.’

I think she expected a reply or a confirmation of the wonderful Margot. ‘Aye she is.’

‘And didn’t our present go down well? I couldn’t believe it when I saw how well it went with her gorgeous curtains and the lovely room.’

I was mystified. ‘Did Jeemy deliver it, Hattie?’

She was shocked. ‘Indeed he did not!’ There was a smug look on her face. ‘I had this brilliant idea. Mrs Pringle gets her deliveries from this posh shop in town and they have this super shiny van in deep green with gold lettering. It looks almost regal. Well, I know the driver quite well and I asked him to do me a favour.’

I looked at her and she was almost beside herself with pleasure.

‘I bought a suitable card and some gold twine. Wrapped it around the jardinière and got him to deliver it for me. Margot thinks it came from that shop.’

‘Well, let’s hope she doesn’t find out it came from Jumping Jeemy’s Emporium.’ This was the shop’s nickname, earned because most of his stock was so old and mouldy that it was highly possible to inherit a couple or twenty fleas with your purchase.

She shuddered at the thought. ‘She’d better not find out from anyone in the family or I’ll be very angry.’

‘That was good of the driver to deliver it for you, Hattie.’

‘Actually it wasn’t all goodness from him – I gave him a half crown for doing it.’

By now we had reached the foot of the Hilltown and we watched her as she set off for her own house.

As she disappeared into the night Lily and I climbed wearily up the hill. I could have sworn I was climbing Everest and by the time we reached the close my breath was coming in great gasps and I was sucking at the cold night air like a starving man greedily eating from a plate.

Lily gave me a concerned glance but I managed a wan smile. ‘It’s just been a long night, Lily.’

The news on everyone’s lips seemed to be about the threat of war. Old people who had remembered the last war were fearful. Mrs Halliday was one such person. ‘They said it would never happen again. That the last time was the war to end all wars.’

Connie was reassuring. ‘Och, it might not come to anything. You’ve been listening to Joe too much.’

After she left, Connie said, ‘Let’s talk about something more cheerful, Ann. How did the party go? Did you have a good time?’

I was still feeling dreadfully ill but I tried to tell her about Saturday night.

After I described it she said, ‘It must have come as an awful shock when your father got married so suddenly?’

‘Aye, it was, Connie – a huge shock.’ She studied me for a moment then said, ‘Will you both be going to live with your new stepmother Ann or will you stay in your own house?’

‘I’d like to stay where I am at the moment, Connie, but it’ll all depend on the money situation. I don’t know if I can keep it on my wage alone.’

She was sympathetic. ‘I just wish I could give you more hours, Ann, but I can’t. We’re not that busy at the moment, I’m afraid.’

I was flustered. ‘Oh, I didn’t mean to sound as if I’m needing more work. I know you would offer it if you could.’

A few people entered the shop and I was grateful to end the conversation. Ever since Dad’s wedding, I had been doing my sums and I knew I couldn’t keep on the house without his pay. I had flirted with the idea of asking him for a small sum each week for Lily but I had dismissed it from my mind. If he had been keen to help, then he would have offered.

By now, I could hardly breath with the pain in my chest and my head was aching again. I hardly slept at night with all this mental working out of household sums so this added to my feeling of lethargy. I was so glad when it was time to go home and I huddled in front of the fire with a hot-water bottle on my lap.

The postman had delivered two letters. One was a long one from Greg. He wrote about the party and asked me again if I would consider moving to Glasgow with Lily. Maybe I should, I thought. It would take away this endless worry of making ends meet but I lay back in my chair, too weak to worry about answering it.

The second letter was from Minnie. She wrote:

I wasn’t very happy at the start, Ann, but I’ve settled in well now. The folk here are really very friendly, especially the old couple from next door who dote on wee Peter and he loves them. My man is much happier in this new shop than he was in the last one. Give my thanks to your granny for all her help and advice and tell her I’m glad I came here. Love to yourself and Lily.

I was so relieved for her. I still remembered the feeling of sadness that had swept over me at our last meeting but now she had settled in and was happy. Was that what I should do? Move to another city to be with Greg?

My head was throbbing so I gave up thinking of all my troubles and fell asleep. It was a fitful sleep as I kept waking up to look at the clock. I didn’t want to be late meeting Lily at the school gate. At ten to four, I got up, feeling very stiff and sore. By now, the room was warm and, as I glanced around its cosy interior, I knew I could never give it up without a struggle.

I had been toying with an idea all week and, as I made my way towards the school, I made up my mind. I decided I would pay a visit to Maddie’s father, Mr Pringle. He looked after my legacy and had invested it for me. Mrs Peters had also done the same. I would draw some money out of it to tide us over and I felt better. I was planning to look for another small job in the evenings. With my hours from Connie plus a few hours elsewhere, then surely I would have enough to pay the bills. However, before I could think about that, I knew I had to get over this horrible cold first as it seemed to be sapping all my energy.

Lily ran through the school gate with Janie. They parted with such ceremony that it looked like they were parting forever instead of seeing one another the next morning.

‘Lily, I have to see Mr Pringle in his office. You can come with me and we’ll get chips for tea.’

She was excited. Anything different in her small life seemed to please her and her pleasure often far outweighed the project.

Mr Pringle’s office was in Commercial Street. His large windows with the firm’s name printed in bold letters on them gave the small premises a rather grand look. The small outer office had two desks with large typewriters on them. Two middle-aged women sat at these desks. Lily and I sat on the two armchairs. One of the women detached herself from her typewriter to attend to us. I stated my mission and she departed quietly into the inner sanctum.

She came back within a minute. ‘Mr Pringle has a client at the moment but he’ll see you as soon as he’s free.’ She sauntered back to her desk but before she sat down, she said, ‘You should have made an appointment, Miss Neill.’

I apologised to her for my thoughtlessness and we waited. Lily was very quiet. I think she was afraid to speak in this church-like silence with only the gentle tap-tapping of the typewriters breaking it.

It was a good half an hour before Mr Pringle appeared. He saw us and smiled. ‘How lovely to see you both.’ He bent down towards Lily. ‘And how’s this little girl getting on?’

With a serious expression she gazed at him. ‘I’m doing great, Mr Pringle, and thank you for asking.’

For a moment I thought he was going to burst into laughter but instead he said, ‘Well, I’m glad to hear it, Lily.’ He looked at me. ‘Come into the office, Ann.’ He then turned to Lily again. ‘Will you be a good girl and sit here until your sister comes out?’ She nodded solemnly.

The chair in his small office was slightly more comfortable than the one outside and I gazed at the three walls lined with fat, leather, heavy-looking books. It was not unlike Connie’s lending library room.

‘Well, what can I do for you, Ann?’ he said pleasantly.

Before going into his office, I had decided to be frank. ‘I would like some money from my legacy, Mr Pringle.’

Over the years since receiving my legacy from Mrs Barrie, I had drawn some money out but he had always tried to make me understand the good policy of keeping most of it invested to make interest on it.