The Runaway Women in London by Lesley Eames

Author:Lesley Eames [Eames, Lesley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Published: 2018-05-22T16:00:00+00:00

Thirty-five

Mattie had written to say Gran was well, but could Grace believe her? ‘Gran’s cough sounds a little worse,’ Grace had commented on her last visit, but Mattie hadn’t agreed.

‘You just haven’t seen her for a while, my duck.’

Grace wondered if the reverse were true and Mattie was simply too close to Gran to notice small daily changes that marked a gradual decline in her health.

Gran’s spirits had been good, but they always were. ‘Don’t think I’m lonely, Grace. It isn’t only Mattie who visits. The vicar calls in and so does his wife. Then there’s Ada Briggs who used to live at number three and Gladys Fowler from Catherine Street.’

Gran might have company sometimes, but Grace guessed she was spending many hours alone.

The telephone rang now bringing Grace back to the present. It was a customer who’d booked the Silver Lady once before. ‘I’m sorry, but we already have a booking for that morning,’ Grace had to tell her. ‘We’re available the following morning if— Excellent, I’ll write that into the diary now, Mrs Maxwell. If you’d like to book the first Monday in the month on a regular basis, we could agree a retainer. You would? Thank you.’

Grace went to see Lydia in the garage.

‘Mrs Maxwell’s booked us for a regular Monday morning trip.’

‘Good.’

‘The magazine, the business cards, word of mouth… they’re all bringing in bookings.’

Two bookings had also been made by people from the treasure hunt, but Grace didn’t mention that for fear of reminding Lydia of Harry who hadn’t been in touch about racing or anything else in the three weeks since then. Poor Lydia was trying hard to hide her disappointment but she wasn’t succeeding.

‘We need to decide what to charge to take people to the Empire Exhibition,’ Grace said, to take Lydia’s mind off Harry.

‘What is that exactly?’

‘Mostly it’s about encouraging trade between all the countries in the Empire – Canada, Australia, Kenya, Malaya, India and so many more. Each country is going to exhibit, but it won’t be like the stalls at the Ruston Fete. They’re building huge palaces and temples and even bridges. It’s going to be extraordinary. Fun too. There’ll be a new train station at Wembley for visitors, but some people might prefer to be driven.’

‘So it might be good for our trade too,’ Lydia said. ‘When does it open?’

‘April.’ Three months away. The thought of still being apart from Gran three months hence was unbearable, but even if Grace returned to Ruston the others would need to be prepared for the exhibition.

‘How’s Jenny?’ Lydia asked.

‘Nervous,’ Grace admitted. Jenny’s meeting with Johnnie’s parents was only two days away. ‘But they’ll be fools if they don’t welcome her into the family.’

‘The world is full of fools.’ Clearly, Lydia thought the worst of them was Harry Dellamore.

‘It’s time I went shopping or we’ll have nothing for supper,’ Grace said.

She walked out into the cold January afternoon, the greyness of it reflecting the mood that settled upon her as her thoughts returned to Gran.

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