Time Of Arrival by Susan Sallis

Author:Susan Sallis [Sallis, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-05-30T00:00:00+00:00

Eight

A few miles from Paddington, the train slowed at a signal box and then came to a halt.

Albert, eyeing the dropped signal from his cab, frowned slightly and Wilf shut the firebox with a bang and said, ‘This will bugger us up completely.’

Albert said, ‘They won’t keep us waiting. Crack service like this.’

Harry Blackmore hung out of the brake van at the rear of the train and held up a hand to Albert ten coaches up. Albert waved back. Nothing doing yet.

Harry withdrew his head and looked at Jenny who was standing uncertainly by the connecting door to the first-class coach.

‘Signal at danger. Could be anything. Give it the usual time then I’ll walk up to the box and find out.’

Jenny wanted to stay with him but she said, ‘I’d better go and reassure Miss Morrison. She’ll be wondering what’s happened.’

He grinned approval and she glowed and went through to the coach. This trip was getting better and better. She felt she could cope with anything. She remembered Lydia saying to her, ‘Lucky sod. Your own job – I’ll never have that.’ And Jenny had retorted, ‘You don’t want it. You’re going to get married and have an enormous family, remember?’ She knew that would never happen for her, in spite of her new grandfather and the wonderful peaceful school holidays in the cottage at Winderslake, learning how to grow vegetables and then gather them and cook them in the tiny scullery, how to wash up and put everything away ‘Bristol fashion’, as her grandfather always said. When he had mentioned her to Mr Beauchamp he had said, ‘She’s a good girl. Proper standards. Neat. Bristol fashion.’ And Mr Beauchamp, still smarting after the awful Corinne, nodded approvingly as he looked at Jenny’s reassuring figure and capable hands. ‘That’s what we want,’ he said as if she were a commodity.

Not that Jenny would have minded even if she’d noticed. She was too happy for that. And even when she came under the critical eye of Ahmed, nothing could take away the deep contentment inside her. From the moment when she had met her new grandfather in Mr Cousins’ office, she had known everything would be all right. She was conscious that there was a terrible battle with Social Services to allow her to make her official home with an elderly man who was no relative at all, but she never had any doubt that it would all turn out all right. After all, she had been searching for him for so long; God would not be unkind enough to stop them being together now that she had found him.

And now, quite suddenly, today in fact, though she knew no one would want to marry her, there was nothing to say she couldn’t fall in love, was there? She smiled as the connecting door slammed shut behind her. She was in love all right, and it was wonderful. When she stood within sight of Harry Blackmore, it was like standing in the sun.

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