Chapter Thirty-Six
Over the next two weeks Ruth practically ran the shop single-handed while Annie nursed her son, but finally she felt he was well enough to leave with Nancy again.
She thanked Ruth profusely and set off to do some restocking around the fashion warehouses. Now that the shop was doing so well, she seemed to spend as much time buying stock as she did serving the customers.
Marie, who was more than a little fond of Adam, was a regular visitor while he was recovering and arrived almost daily bearing treats for him. And then one evening she arrived smiling from ear to ear and Annie sensed that she had some good news.
‘Come on then spit it out.’ Annie smiled. ‘You’re clearly happy about something.’
Marie nodded. ‘Today John and I discovered that we are to become parents.’
‘Oh, but that’s wonderful news.’ Annie kissed her cheek. She knew how much Marie had been longing for a child. ‘When is the baby due?’
‘Oh, not until next May. It is still early days yet,’ Marie beamed. ‘But we can ’ardly wait.’
Annie couldn’t have been more pleased for her and just knew they would make wonderful parents.
Marie’s face suddenly clouded. ‘I just wish Maman and Papa could ’ave been ’ere to see the baby,’ she said sadly.
Annie nodded, understanding how she must feel. They had been such lovely people. ‘I’m sure they will see him or her,’ she said gently as she squeezed Marie’s hand.
Marie blinked away a tear before smiling again.
‘Anyway, I shall ’ave much to do. John and I ’ave chosen the bedroom next to ours for a nursery and I am going to arrange for the decorators to come in.
Then I shall ’ave to start shopping. There is so much to buy: a cot, a pram, nappies and baby clothes.
Perhaps you could advise me on what I shall need? ’
‘I’d be delighted to,’ Annie told her sincerely. ‘And I’ll come shopping with you whenever you like.’ Marie had been so kind to her. It was nice to think that she might be able to help her in return.
That evening Nancy also had some news for her as she shyly showed off a chip of diamond in a gold band sparkling on her left hand.
‘Jamie asked me to marry ’im an’ I said yes,’ she told Annie shyly. ‘O’ course, we won’t be gettin’ wed fer at least a couple o’ years. We need to save up an’ find somewhere to live first. I hope yer don’t mind.’
Annie pulled her into an embrace. ‘Of course I don’t mind,’ she told her with a catch in her voice. ‘I’ve been half expecting it. It’s clear you two are made for each other and I hope you’ll both be very happy together. But . . . I shall miss you.’
Nancy blinked. ‘Oh, yer don’t need to think about that fer some time,’ she reassured her.
‘An’ even when we do get wed, I shan’t be goin’ too far away.
’ Annie had been her saviour and Nancy couldn’t imagine her life without her in it.
‘Chances are by the time the weddin’ comes around there’ll be somebody new in your life an’ all.
Yer far too young an’ pretty to stay on yer own.
Monty wouldn’t have wanted that. He’d want yer to be happy. ’
‘I am happy, and I’ll still have Adam when you move out,’ Annie responded.
Nancy shook her head. ‘I know that but yer won’t ’ave him forever. He’ll grow up an’ ’ave his own life one day.’
‘Then I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it,’ Annie said shortly and the conversation ended abruptly.
That weekend she set off for Nuneaton. She was looking forward to seeing Peggy and Levi, and also intended to pay a visit to her newfound family at the circus.
‘How is Mr Taylor-Lloyd?’ Annie asked Peggy shortly after they’d arrived. Levi had taken a very well-wrapped-up Adam to feed the ducks in Riversley Park.
‘Rumour ’as it that he’s still in a bad way.’ Peggy shook her head. ‘An’ they reckon that Mrs Taylor-Lloyd ’as gone . . . yer know?’ She tapped her head.
Annie stared at her blankly. ‘No, I don’t know. What do you mean?’
‘A bit loopy, by all accounts. Her posh friends are givin’ her a wide berth since they know what ’appened to the mister, apparently, an’ she can’t cope wi’ the shame.
How the mighty are fallen, eh? It’s about time the snobby cow got ’er comeuppance.
To think how she looked down at you, an’ then fer ’er own husband to be caught wi’ a whore. ’
Peggy was right, and yet Annie couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for the woman.
She’d always set such store by keeping up appearances and now the family’s reputation was in tatters.
She didn’t feel sorry for Mr Taylor-Lloyd, though, after the way he had treated Eve, and Nancy’s mother.
She would never forgive him for what he’d put them through.
‘They’re sayin’ that two nurses ’ave walked out aready,’ Peggy went on.
‘An it ain’t no wonder the way she talks down to folks.
Between you an’ me I don’t reckon he’s goin’ to get any better.
An’ o course he were the breadwinner, so I wouldn’t mind bettin’ they’re gettin’ short o’ funds.
Reggie ain’t worked since he came back from the war, so they’ll have nowt comin’ in.
Anyway, that’s enough about them. When are yer goin’ to see yer mam? ’
Annie flushed. It felt strange to hear anyone being referred to as her mam.
‘I thought I might take Adam to see her tomorrow.’
‘Good, an’ while yer there yer can invite them all to the weddin’. They are family now, after all.’
‘Are you sure?’ Annie looked mildly surprised.
‘Why not? It’ll be nice fer you to ’ave ’em around yer.’
Soon after breakfast the next day, Annie set off to see Charity.
It was early November and there was a thick hoar frost on the grass and a sting in the air.
Adam was well wrapped up under layers of warm blankets in his pushchair and Annie wondered what his grandmother would think of him.
It would be the first time she had properly met him.
She tapped on the door of Charity’s trailer and when it was opened, Charity’s face lit up at the sight of her.
‘Oh, come in, come in,’ she gushed as her eyes slid from Annie to Adam. ‘And get that little boyo in ’ere out o’ the cold.’
Inside, the stove was lit and the place was warm as toast. Charity could hardly keep her eyes off Adam, and he smiled with delight when she produced a large toffee apple. He reached for it greedily and after settling him on the seat at the side of her he happily began to lick it.
‘It’s amazing, isn’t it?’ Annie chuckled. ‘I had to coax him to eat his breakfast but he’s had no trouble tackling that.’
Charity reached into a cupboard and handed a bag to Annie. Opening it, she found two beautifully knitted little jumpers for Adam – one in blue and one in a pale green.
‘I had to guess the size,’ Charity said. ‘But they look as if they’ll fit him.’
‘Why, they’re beautiful.’ Annie was impressed. ‘Did you knit them?’
Charity nodded. ‘I’ve always loved knittin’. Now your grandma, she made lace that were fine as cobwebs. But then yer know that, don’t yer? You ’ave one o’ the shawls she made.’
Charity reached over to stroke Adam’s cheek and her face softened. ‘He’s a grand little chap. I hope in time he’ll call me gran’ma.’
Annie again felt sorry for her; none of this could be easy for her. ‘And how is, er . . . Luca?’
Charity straightened and Annie noticed that she was blushing.
‘Actually, he’s been as good as gold these last few weeks,’ she admitted. ‘Nuthin’ is too much trouble fer him an’ I really think he’s genuinely sorry fer what he did to us.’
Annie licked her lips. ‘And do you think there’s any chance of you ever forgiving him and getting back together?’
Charity shrugged. ‘It’s too soon to say, but I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t love ’im any more.
Love is a funny thing, yer know? Yer can’t just turn it on an’ off like a tap.
There ’ave been times when I wished yer could.
But what about you? Is there anybody special in your life?
It were a cryin’ shame that yer were widowed so young. ’
Annie pushed images of Alex away as she shook her head. ‘No, there’s just Adam.’
‘Hmm.’ Charity stared at her for a moment, as though she could see into her very soul. And then suddenly she paled and her hand rose to her throat. ‘Be careful, my love,’ she said tremulously. ‘I sense there’s someone who wishes you ill. Do you have any idea who it might be?’
Annie frowned. ‘Only Reggie. He’s my late husband’s brother and we’ve never got on very well. But what makes you say this?’
‘I get feelings, much as me mother did, an’ sometimes I see . . . Well, I see the departed. Have you ever experienced anything like that? It’s usually passed down from mother to daughter.’
‘I have actually,’ Annie admitted as she thought back to the spirit child she had seen with Maggie before her death.
‘It’s your Gypsy inheritance,’ Charity explained.
‘And nothing to be afraid of, I promise you. We believe that the dead can’t ’urt yer.
It’s the livin’ you ’ave to be fearful of – or some of ’em at least.’ She went on to tell Annie all about how she and Luca had come from different cultures and how against their relationship their people had been.
‘I was Gypsy and he was circus, and normally we marry into our own. In the end we ran away to be together but thankfully they all accepted us eventually.’
Annie was fascinated.
‘What about your late husband? Was ’e the love of your life?’
Annie flushed and lowered her eyes as she sadly shook her head. ‘I did love Monty, but not in the way a wife should,’ she admitted. ‘Even so, we were content together. He was a very good man.’
‘But Adam isn’t his child, is he?’
The statement made Annie’s head snap up. How could her mother have guessed that, never having met Monty?
Charity smiled. ‘It’s like I told yer, I get these feelin’s an’ I reckon Adam’s dad is the one you love.
But as I said, be careful because there’s another who wishes you harm.
Anyway, that’s enough about that. Let’s talk of ’appier things.
My time wi’ you is so precious I don’t want to waste a minute of it. ’
The next two hours seemed to pass in the blink of an eye and by the time she was due to leave, Annie really felt as if they had got to know one another a lot better.
‘You will come again afore you go back to London, won’t you?’ Charity asked anxiously.
Annie nodded. ‘ I can come again tomorrow, if you like?’
‘If I like?’ Charity chuckled as she helped put Adam’s little coat on. ‘You’d be welcome to move in ’ere wi’ me if you’d a mind to. But o’ course I understand you ’ave another life. I’m just grateful o’ whatever time you can spare for me.’
Annie gently squeezed her hand. ‘I don’t blame you for anything that’s happened,’ she said sincerely. ‘And now I’ve got my head around everything, I don’t really blame Luca either. I think it was all a terrible misunderstanding.’
Charity nodded, her eyes sad. ‘Aye, it was, but look what it’s cost us all.’
‘But we’ve found each now. Let’s just be grateful for that, eh?’
‘You’re right, and we’ve all the time in the world to make up fer it, God willing.’ For the first time Charity pulled her daughter into her arms and hugged her, and it felt right.
Annie set off for the cottage with a smile on her face. She had just passed through Riversley Park and turned onto Coton Road when she saw Reggie striding towards her, and her steps faltered. Even now, just the sight of him could strike the fear of God into her.
He slowed as she approached him and leered at her. ‘Word’s going around that you’re related to the circus folk.’
Annie refused to acknowledge him.
‘So Mother was right. She always said you must have come from the lowest of the low. And to think that our poor Monty tied himself to you.’
Annie felt angry colour flame into her cheeks.
‘And word is going around that your father suffered a stroke while visiting the whorehouse. I don’t think you could get much lower than that.
But then they do say that people who live in glasshouses shouldn’t throw stones,’ she retaliated.
And with that she hurried on, but his reply floated on the air behind her.
‘I’ll get even with you one of these days, you bitch! You just see if I don’t.’
Annie’s insides were quaking but her back remained ramrod straight as she continued on. What was it Charity had said? There’s someone who wishes you harm.
Annie didn’t have to look very far to guess who it might be.