Whispers of Love (20 page)

‘Go on, take it,' Alex thrust the bundle of notes into her hand, ‘call it a loan, if that makes you feel any better,' he added as he turned on his heel and walked away before she could say anything.

 

Three days later, Christabel was on her way back to Liverpool. Lilian and Marlene came to wave her off, both of them saying tearfully how much they were going to miss her.

‘Mind you write and let us know you've arrived safely, and from now on keep in touch,' Lilian told her.

‘Don't forget to go and see my film, Aunty Chrissy,' Marlene called after her as she went up the gangway.

 

It was a bleak, cold crossing and Christabel spent a great deal of time in her small cabin mulling over her situation and wondering what to do when they eventually docked in Liverpool.

Although the money Alex had loaned her had paid for her passage, there was not very much left over to cover any extras, so she tried to be very frugal during the journey.

It also meant that once she reached her destination she would be virtually penniless. She knew her parents' home had been sold after her mother died, so she had nowhere to go unless she went straight to Lewis and Violet's and asked them if she could stay with them for a while.

It was a cold and grey late-November day when they docked in Liverpool and Christabel felt chilled to the bone after the warm sunshine of Hollywood. She had no idea what her next move should be. For several minutes she stood on the quayside trying to make up her mind whether to try and find a room or go straight to Lewis's.

Common sense prevailed; she didn't think it
was fair to descend on them without some prior warning. She was longing to see them, especially Kay, but now that she was back in Liverpool she wasn't at all sure that she wanted to do so right away.

They hadn't been in touch all the time she'd been in Hollywood. In fact, as far as she knew they probably thought she was still in Argentina unless Lilian had written to Lewis and told him that she was staying with them.

Now that she was back in familiar surroundings she was determined to stand on her own feet and make a life for herself and she wanted to do that before she went to see Lewis and Violet.

If she could manage to find herself a job, she'd have enough money to rent a small flat or some comfortable lodgings. That way she would be able to retain her independence and not have to rely on help from anyone.

The plan seemed sound but when she came to put it into practice she immediately met with difficulties. She had so little money she knew she could only stay in a hotel for a night or two at the very most and then she must look for cheap lodgings until she found a job and could afford something better.

Locating the sort of accommodation she wanted in a fairly respectable area proved impossible. The room she eventually rented in Dalrymple Street was not even as good as the one she'd had in Maggie Nelson's house when
she'd been waiting for her baby to be born. It was small and squalid, the paper was peeling off the walls and there was an overwhelming smell of damp and decay.

The first night she was there she'd been eaten alive by fleas and the small red blisters that appeared on her arms and neck were visible for days afterwards.

At night when she was in bed, after she'd blown out the candle, the cockroaches came out but if she lighted the candle again they always scuttled away behind the cracks and torn wall-paper before she had a chance to catch them.

Finding a job of any kind proved to be equally daunting. There was so much unemployment in Liverpool and she had no special training or skills to offer aside from her nursing.

As the days became weeks what little money she'd had left over after paying her passage home had almost gone and she still hadn't found any work even though she had exhausted every avenue she could think of – except begging.

She knew she no longer looked smart and because of this she felt miserable. Her hair needed attention and her clothes needed washing but apart from managing to rinse out her underwear and drape it over the back of a chair to dry there was no way she could wash and iron anything else. Money was so short that she couldn't afford to take her clothes into a laundry.

As her living standards dropped so did her
hopes of finding a job. In the beginning she'd applied for office work and then at some of the high-class dress shops as a sales assistant. The story was always the same: they were laying off staff, not hiring them.

In the end she capitulated and applied for work at one of the Liverpool hospitals although she'd been determined never to do nursing again. The woman she spoke to looked at her in disbelief when she said she'd trained and was fully experienced.

‘Really?' she said sceptically. ‘So where was that and why did you leave?'

When Christabel told her that the hospital where she'd trained had been the military one at Hilbury and that it had closed at the end of the war, the woman lost interest.

‘That's so long ago that you would probably need retraining as there have been so many medical advances and new ways of doing things since then,' she stated.

‘Surely you must have some vacancies for nursing staff,' Christabel insisted.

‘No,' the woman shook her head looking Christabel up and down in a disparaging way, ‘we don't even want any ward maids or cleaners,' she said dismissively.

It had been the last straw. Christabel felt utterly depressed as she came away. She wondered what on earth she was going to do. She couldn't bring herself to stand in one of the queues outside the many soup kitchens that
had been set up in some of the warehouses in the docks area for the unemployed, even though the smell as she walked by was tantalising.

For almost a week she managed to exist on tea and toast for breakfast, a cup of hot broth made from an Oxo cube at midday, and whatever she could find for the rest of the day. Her hunger was magnified because of the cooking smells that permeated from other rooms in the house. It made the life she'd known in Wilcock Court when Maggie Nelson had provided her with such appetising meals every day seem like heaven by comparison.

Memories of those days and the sad outcome dominated her thoughts and more and more she felt herself longing to see Lewis's little girl again. Kay would be ten now and she wondered if she had changed very much since she'd last seen her.

Once or twice she walked down the road where they lived hoping to catch a glimpse of Kay but she never did. The house looked so different from how she remembered it that she wondered if they were still living there.

One afternoon, shortly before Christmas, she plucked up the courage to knock on the door. The woman who answered was a complete stranger and she was too smartly dressed to be a servant.

Christabel asked if Mrs Violet Montgomery was at home and the woman shook her head.
‘I can't help you,' she said and made to shut the door.

When Christabel put out a hand to stop her doing so the woman added firmly, ‘I don't know who you are, but they don't live here any more.'

‘Mr Montgomery is my brother, can you not tell me where they are living now?'

The stranger stared at her for a moment then said, ‘Somewhere over in Wallasey, but I've forgotten the address. Rolleston something, I think it was.'

‘Do you mean Rolleston Drive?'

‘Yes, it's something like that,' the woman said dismissively and began to close the door again before Christabel could ask for any further information.

Back in her shabby little room, listening to the noise of a heated row that was going on above her, she felt utterly despondent and knew she could stand living there no longer.

She'd had no success in finding a job and when Saturday came and she realised after counting out the few coins in her purse and finding that she didn't even have enough for a loaf of bread, let alone to pay the rent on her room, she resolved that, regrettably, the time had come to swallow her pride and to go and ask Lewis if he would help her.

She counted out the coins again and hoped that there was enough to pay the boat fare across to Wallasey. She would probably have
to walk once she got to Seacombe, because she didn't think there would be enough left over for the bus fare from there to Rolleston Drive.

Christabel stayed in her room all Saturday morning packing up her belongings and hoping that the landlady wouldn't come knocking for her rent until midday. Her plan was to be out before then.

She wanted to leave going across to Wallasey until the afternoon, hoping that that would be the most opportune time to find them all at home, although since it was the last weekend before Christmas there was always the possibility that they would be out shopping.

She had no idea what number in Rolleston Drive they were living at, so, although she was footsore having had to walk all the way from Seacombe Ferry, she walked the full length of the tree-lined street, studying all the houses, and wondering if she would be able to recognise which one now belonged to Lewis.

She was admiring a very attractive detached house on the opposite side of the road when a tall, good-looking man and a young girl approached from the opposite direction and turned into the small driveway leading up to the front door. Christabel recognised Lewis
immediately and, before she could stop herself, called out his name.

He paused and looked back over his shoulder. As she crossed over the road towards them he turned and raised his trilby staring at her in disbelief. ‘Christabel?'

‘Surprised to see me?'

‘Yes, I am rather,' he said as he hugged and kissed her. ‘We received a Christmas card from Lilian saying you'd been to see them but she made no mention that you were coming back home so I presumed you'd returned to Buenos Aires.'

‘I've been here in Liverpool since November. It's taken me a while to find my feet,' she added with a deprecating laugh. ‘I expect you've completely forgotten me, haven't you?' she remarked turning and smiling at Kay.

‘No, I do remember you, Aunt Chrissy.' Kay beamed. ‘You used to play with me and take me out.'

‘That's right. You were only a little girl then; now you are almost as tall as me. You'll be eleven next February, won't you?'

‘Yes, fancy you remembering,' Kay said hugging Christabel enthusiastically.

‘Well, come along, let's all go indoors, Violet will be surprised to see you, Christabel,' Lewis commented as he unlocked the front door and ushered her inside.

The house was warm and welcoming, beautifully furnished and Christabel could tell at a
glance that Lewis was making a success of his life. Violet appeared to be as quiet and withdrawn as ever but she did show surprise when she saw who their visitor was.

‘I think this calls for a little celebration,' Lewis said, breaking the slightly awkward silence. ‘Find some glasses, Violet, and I'll bring out the sherry.'

‘Are you coming to stay with us, Aunt Chrissy?' Kay asked as the three grown-ups clinked glasses.

There was an awkward silence, then Lewis and Violet both spoke together.

‘I expect your Aunt Chrissy has made other plans,' Violet said quickly.

‘Great idea! Of course you must spend some time with us, Christabel,' Lewis invited.

‘Thank you, Lewis, I would love to do that,' she replied quickly before her brother could change his mind.

‘Aunt Chrissy, will you come and stay for Christmas, please?' Kay begged. Her blue eyes were shining as she slipped her hand into Christabel's, tugging at it eagerly.

‘It depends on whether your mummy agrees or not,' Christabel told her. She had seen the swift exchange of looks between Violet and Lewis, and guessed that it was probably the last thing Violet wanted to happen but she was also quite confident that she wouldn't dare go against his wishes.

‘Is that what you want to do, Christabel?'
Violet asked hesitantly. ‘If so, then you'll have to give me a few days to organise a bedroom for you.'

‘Don't forget it's Christmas Day next Friday, Mummy,' Kay piped up excitedly.

‘Surely the bed in the spare room is always made up ready, isn't it?' Lewis asked in surprise.

‘Well, yes, but . . .' Violet stopped, overcome with embarrassment. ‘It might be slightly dusty in there. I've had so much to do that I gave it a miss this week when I was cleaning upstairs.'

‘I'll dust the room for Aunt Chrissy,' Kay said eagerly. ‘Please, Mummy! I want her to stay.'

‘Well, if you are all sure then that sounds wonderful; I'd love to stay for a while.' Christabel smiled. She couldn't believe her luck. Their invitation solved all her immediate problems. Free accommodation, in the sort of surroundings she was used to – what could be better? she thought with relief.

‘Would you mind coming back to Liverpool to help me collect my belongings either tonight or perhaps tomorrow morning?' she asked Lewis giving him a warm smile.

 

Violet found that having Christabel staying with them proved to be rather traumatic. They'd only had news of her once or twice since she'd been in Buenos Aires and it had been like seeing a ghost when she appeared on the doorstep with Lewis and Kay.

Lewis inviting her to come and stay with them had been understandable, but she'd thought it would only be for a few days over Christmas; a week, at the most. Now Christabel had been staying with them for well over a month, and she showed no signs of leaving.

Yet how could she explain all this to Lewis without him thinking she was being unreasonable? Christabel was so helpful, sweetness itself, in fact, and always anxious to help in any way she could. She was particularly good with Kay and was always ready to play games with her or listen to her read. She knew Kay was extremely fond of her and would certainly miss her when she did leave.

To some extent this was what worried Violet so much. Christabel monopolised Kay and it was having a bad influence on her. Kay had become quite spoilt and rather precocious. Unless Christabel decided to leave soon it would be the Easter holidays and Kay would be at home for about three weeks. If Christabel was still staying there with them then she was bound to insist on taking Kay out all the time and then she really would be spoilt.