Jazz Baby

Author:Tea Cooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises, Australia Pty Ltd

Chapter 14

Jack pulled back the heavy brocade curtains and peered down at The Cross from his sixth-floor vantage point. Business as usual.

Trams bustled up and down the tracks vying for space with carts and drays delivering goods to the cafés, restaurants and saloons. Crowds thronged the street. Transient visitors and locals mingled with the migrant workers. Many of the old houses had been converted into boarding houses, most of them owned and run by women, and they were the perfect place for newcomers to get a foothold in the city. Two young women cleaned the entry foyer of the theatre at the apex of Darlinghurst Street and Victoria Road, courting the attention of John and Nick as they set up their fish and oyster bar in preparation for the day’s trading.

All in all, the fact he’d managed to find Ted or that he’d stumbled across him in the first place still amazed him. He rubbed his nose; it was still tender from the walloping he’d received from his best mate whom he could see sprawled across the bed in the second bedroom, snoring lightly. With the injured side of his face buried in the pillow, Ted looked no different to the way he had six years ago. It was as though he had a split personality, the two sides of his face as different as his character. Before and after — war did that to a bloke.

War or no war, he had to make a decision. Dolly needed to know her brother was alive and her brother needed to believe Dolly was safe. Quite how he was going to approach his involvement in Number Fifty-Four he wasn’t sure. And then there was his blunder last night. What ever possessed him to behave like such a fool? Millie, as usual, was right. No matter how many excuses he made he had to accept the fact he no longer saw Dolly as a little sister and the feelings he had for her went way beyond brotherly love. He would have to stay well clear of her until he spoke to Ted.

‘Morning.’ Ted’s blue eye stared at him through the open door and something resembling a grin twisted the corner of his mouth. He sat upright and ran his hands through his coal black hair. Jack’s stomach churned as Ted’s hand fell and the bright sunlight illuminated his mangled face.

‘Takes some getting used to, doesn’t it?’

Jack shrugged, trying for an air of nonchalance but knowing his expression had given him away.

‘Now do you understand why I don’t want to see Dolly?’

‘Dolly’s not a kid anymore. She’s a grown woman.’ Just how grown and how attractive Jack vowed to leave until later. ‘She has a right to know you’re alive. Scars or no scars she’d want to see you.’

Ted let out a long, puffing sigh. ‘Subject’s not something we’re going to see eye-to-eye on.’ His self-deprecating laugh sent the sun scuttling behind a cloud.

‘Do you want some breakfast? Tea, coffee?’

‘That would be good.’ Ted swung out of bed and tugged his filthy trousers on.

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