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David was waiting impatiently outside the coffee bar. He was striding up and down, trying to keep warm, for it was a cool March evening. He looked disgustedly at her trews and the sheepskin coat. He did not like to see women in trousers, least of all his fiancеe. He was rather old-fashioned, and although at times Susan found it rather endearing, at others it exasperated her.
‘Do you realize it's seven-thirty?’ he exclaimed, by way of a greeting.
‘Yes, darling,’ said Susan, in a mock-subdued tone. ‘I'm sorry.'
‘And I gather, from the way you're dressed, that you haven't been home since this morning.'
‘Correct,’ she murmured. ‘You know I told you that Amanda was having the cocktail party for the new book this afternoon. That's why I'm so late. It's only just broken up.'
David snorted. ‘Susan, you're not paid to attend that woman's cocktail parties!'
‘I know, David, but she does so like me to be there, and I don't like to disappoint her.'
‘It doesn't matter about disappointing me, of course!'
‘Oh, David, don't be silly. I haven't disappointed you. I'm here, aren't I? Come on, let's go in, I'm starving!'
‘We aren't going in,’ he said abruptly. ‘Mother has invited us back for supper. She wants to discuss the wedding.'
He ignored the way Susan's face dropped at this news. Susan and Mrs. Chalmers did not get along very well. Mrs. Chalmers was a widow, and David was her only child. Consequently, she was rather possessive and jealously did not want him to marry and leave her. David was tall and slim and fair, and she had brought him up to despise most of the members of her own sex. He did not smoke or drink and attended church with her twice every Sunday.
When he met Susan, one day in the tube (he accidentally sent Susan's shopping flying when he bumped into her), he found all his mother had told him accounted for little against his own attraction for the blonde, green-eyed creature who thanked him so merrily for picking up her parcels.
He could hardly believe his luck the following evening when they again travelled on the same train, and when he asked to see her again she agreed eagerly.
But when he took her home a few weeks later to meet his mother, he found things were not going to be as smooth as he had hoped. Mrs. Chalmers spent the whole evening sulking and Susan could hardly wait to escape from the close confines of Medlar Grove.
As time went by, and Mrs. Chalmers realized that David was not to be swayed from Susan, whatever she said, she tried to be a little more friendly, and finally decided that if David was to marry Susan, she might as well make the best of it. After all, they could nicely live with her after the event. The house was old and large for one person and that way she would be able to keep David under her roof. Things would not be so different after all.
But Susan soon realized the way things were going and lost no time in saying that she and David hoped to be able to save enough money to put a deposit down on a small house in one of the new suburban developments.
Mrs. Chalmers, however, was no defeatist, and still would not accept that David would agree to such a thing and leave his mother alone. Thus it was that David was being pulled two ways, and was not yet strong enough to defy his mother and make a stand.
Susan herself was hoping that he would not allow his mother to get her own way, as she knew she could never live with Mrs. Chalmers. They were too different, and it would never work out.
Now, Susan merely sighed, and said: ‘Oh, all right, David. But I wish you wouldn't spring these things on me. I've been looking forward all day to this evening alone together.'
David relented a little, and replied, ‘Never mind, Sue darling, we don't have long to wait and then we'll be together for always.'
‘Y … e … s,’ murmured Susan, rather cautiously. Their future had never seemed more insecure. What was wrong with her? Why was she feeling so depressed tonight? It could only be this sudden visit to Medlar Grove. What else was there?
She refused to allow herself to think about that moment in Amanda's kitchen. What was she, that she could allow herself, even for a moment, to respond to the message in another man's eyes? A message which she felt she had imagined anyway.
David ran a small M.G. sports car of almost vintage origin, and they drove in it round to David's home in Shepherd's Bush. Mrs. Chalmers let them in. She must have been watching for them from the window, and Susan shivered at the pictures this conjured up. Pictures of their lives in a few years’ time if they lived here. No, it could never be. And if love was involved, she realized with a sense of loss that she did not love David enough to submit to such a life.
When she saw Susan's trousers, Mrs. Chalmers exclaimed, ‘Dear me, I hope none of the neighbours saw you come in!'
It was on the tip of Susan's tongue to say that if all the street were like Mrs. Chalmers, there was every chance that she had been seen. But respect for David made her refrain and she simply ignored the remark, and walking into the gloomy living-room warmed her hands at the electric fire.
‘Susan didn't have time to change before she came,’ said David by way of explanation when Susan did not answer herself.
‘Why? You're late enough, aren't you?'
David sighed. ‘Susan had to work late.'
‘And have you been standing around in the cold waiting for her? You'll catch your death of cold one of these days, mark my words.'
‘He's not made of glass, you know,’ Susan was stung to reply at last. ‘And I couldn't let him know.'
Mrs. Chalmers shrugged and left them for a few minutes to prepare the supper. Susan took off her coat and laid the table while David switched on the television and began to watch a quiz programme.
Susan looked at him and sighed. He was not a very romantic person, and it had never occurred to him that he had not yet kissed her, or told her he was glad to see her. Unless he was prized away from his mother's apron-strings he never would. This atmosphere was cloying. It sapped all original thought. Mrs. Chalmers was in evidence everywhere. From the ridiculous ‘Home, Sweet Home’ embroidered picture on the wall to the swear box on the mantelpiece.
Supper as usual was a concoction of scrambled eggs and bacon and after it was over Susan defiantly lit a cigarette. She did not smoke a lot, but tonight she felt so restless she had to do something to calm her nerves. She drew the smoke deeply into her lungs and then exhaled with satisfaction.
As usual, the conversation veered to the subject of the wedding. As Susan had no relatives of her own, Mrs. Chalmers had taken over the arrangements herself, and, of the forty guests on the list, only about a dozen were friends of Susan's.
The question of the house was raised, and Mrs. Chalmers again made her point about this house coming to David on her death anyway, and that to buy a new house was quite ridiculous and much too extravagant.
‘David doesn't want to be troubled with mortgages at a time like this,’ she said severely. ‘After all, this house is far too big for one person. And if David leaves I shall be all alone.'
‘You could sell it,’ Susan remarked quietly.
‘What! Sell my home! Then what would I do?'
Suddenly afraid that Mrs. Chalmers, or David for that matter, might suggest that she come to live with them should they buy a new house, Susan said quickly, ‘You could afford to buy a smaller house. Or alternatively, you could rent a flat. In fact, a flat would suit you admirably.'
‘A flat!’ Mrs. Chalmers’ face was red. ‘I couldn't live in a flat!'
‘Why not?'
Mrs. Chalmers swallowed hard. ‘You wouldn't understand, never having had a home of your own, but a home is something more than three up and two down, you know.'
Susan flushed. It hurt still, when anyone spoke so crudely of her upbringing. Truthfully the orphanage had been a wonderful place, and she still went back there sometimes to see the Matron, but it had not been quite the same as a real home, with a mother and father of her very own. She was sure that this was something else that marred her in David's mother's eyes. She seemed to look down on orphanages, as though the children in them were themselves responsible for their lack of parentage.
David must have felt uncomfortable himself at this, for he suddenly stretched and rose to his feet.
‘Well, Sue, it's nearly ten. Shall we be going?'
Gratefully, Susan rose also. ‘Oh, yes, David. Can you get my coat?'
Outside, the night air seemed inestimably fresh after the dingy atmosphere of the Chalmers house. Susan breathed deeply and was glad for once that the car was an open one. It was wonderful to feel the cold wind tugging at her hair, and clearing her head.
She wished David was not so easily dominated by his mother. For instance, he never chastened her for anything she said to herself, Susan, whatever it might be, and for all she might think that it was because he wanted to keep the peace she knew this was the coward's way out. Mrs. Chalmers might not be so objectionable if she were taken down a peg or two, now and then.
It was a problem, and she did not have any idea how it was to be solved.
When they drew up outside the block of apartments where Susan's flat was situated, she turned to David and said:
‘David, let's get this straight now, shall we? I don't want to live with your mother, however convenient it may be.'
David sighed. ‘I know, Sue, but –'
‘But nothing, David.’ Susan ran a hand over her hair, and David suddenly pulled her to him.
‘Oh, Sue,’ he whispered, ‘I only want to live with you. I don't care where it is!'
Susan allowed him to kiss her, without responding herself. She felt emotionally exhausted at the moment. Then she pressed herself against him, as though willing herself to respond, and he groaned, ‘Oh, lord, I don't know how I'll wait until October.'
‘What would your mother think?’ she taunted him, hating herself for doing so.
‘I don't damn well care,’ he muttered, and kissed her again.
CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_33bf20b9-8e1d-5eea-9268-9cededd22671)
THE flat which Susan shared was situated in a comparatively new block in a quiet cul-de-sac. There was a bedroom, a living-room and a kitchen, with a bathroom along the passage which was shared with two other couples.
Delia Fulton and Susan had both been brought up in the orphanage and in consequence loved the flat which was the first real home they had had. They had both come to London together to get jobs, Susan to work in a typing pool and take a commercial course during her evenings, and Delia to work in a large store from where she too had taken a course, this time in window-dressing, and she now worked for a large department store in Oxford Street.
It had been a struggle to begin with. The rent of the flat had seemed exorbitant, but now they both earned enough money to afford the flat and a few luxuries besides.
The girls were good friends and did not interfere in each other's lives. The orphanage had taught them to respect privacy, for there there had been little.
The next morning Susan woke to find Delia shaking her, and saying :
‘Wake up, Susan. I've brought you a cuppa.'
Delia was a brunette. She wore her hair very long and straight and was invariably dressed in pants and an overblouse or sweater.
‘What's the time?’ asked Susan, struggling up in bed to take the cup of tea Delia held out to her.
‘Eight o'clock,’ replied Delia, now relieved of the tea-cup and lighting a cigarette.
Susan blinked. This was indeed a red-letter day. Delia was never up first in the mornings. She was always the one who had practically to push her friend out of bed.
‘Couldn't you sleep?’ she asked, an amused twinkle in her eye. ‘Or is there some other reason for your early rising?'
Delia stretched and grinned. ‘Well, honey, Alan is taking me down to meet his parents for the weekend. He's calling for me at nine o'clock and I can hardly contain myself.'
‘I see. How wonderful!’ Susan was pleased. Alan Huntley was the nephew of the store-manager where Delia worked. His parents were Sir John and Lady Olivia Huntley and they lived in a massive house near Bristol. Although Delia had been working at the store for over eight years, it was only recently that Alan had started taking an interest in her and as she had admired him from a distance for a long time, she was overjoyed. And now he was taking her down to meet his parents and to Susan it sounded very serious indeed in the nicest possible way.
‘It is, isn't it?’ exclaimed Delia, hugging herself. ‘Just imagine! Meeting his parents!'
‘Yes, you'll soon be getting married yourself,’ said Susan. ‘I envy you.'
‘Why? You have David.'
‘Oh, I know, but I also have David's mother to contend with, and she's a whole mass of problems in herself.’ She sighed.
‘You do sound gloomy this morning,’ said Delia sympathetically. ‘You were asleep when I got home last night. Has something awful happened?'
‘Awful! Oh, no, not really.’ In truth Susan couldn't understand her depressed mood herself. It all seemed to stem from that meeting with Dominic Halstad. It was all most annoying, and most unsettling.
‘Then what's wrong? You don't sound very happy.’ Delia was genuinely concerned.
Susan smiled. ‘Nothing, honestly. I just feel as though it's going to be one of those days.'
She slid out of bed and stretched, before crossing to the wash basin to sluice her face with icy cold water.
Drying her face on the towel, she looked speculatively at Delia.
‘Delia,’ she said slowly, ‘have you heard of Dominic Halstad?'
Delia frowned. ‘I've heard of him, of course. He's something to do with newspapers, isn't he?'
‘Yes. He's the head of one of these big syndicates.'
Delia looked exasperated. ‘Come on, then! You didn't ask me that for no reason, just out of the blue. Do you know him?’ She looked slightly incredulous.
Susan laughed. ‘Not exactly. But I did meet him yesterday at the cocktail party at Amanda's. He's a friend of hers, and very attractive.'
‘Is he indeed?’ Delia made a moue with her lips. ‘You do move in exalted circles, don't you?'
‘Amanda does, at least. She apparently knows him very well. They treated each other like long-lost souls.'
‘Hmn! He sounds interesting. Is he married?'
‘Yes, they always are,’ Susan chuckled. ‘Why? Has Alan begun to pall already?'
‘Of course not. But I can see he made quite an impression on you. Is that the cause of the depression? Did David seem meek in comparison?'
‘No, not at all.’ Susan felt cross. She ought not to be discussing a complete stranger, and a friend of Amanda's, in this manner. After all, the chances were that she would never see him again. Besides, she somehow felt disloyal to David just talking about Dominic Halstad. But she would not admit, even to herself, the reason why she felt this way.
Shooing Delia out of the bedroom she dressed in a dark-blue jersey shift and emerged to find that Delia had prepared her a slice of toast and a cup of creamy coffee, which were delicious.
Wishing her friend good luck during the weekend, she donned her sheepskin coat, and hastily left the flat. She ran down the flight of stairs and came out into the fresh morning air.
It was one of those slightly frosty mornings, when a faint haze hid the sun and promised a warm and sunny day. Susan breathed deeply and felt her depression leaving her. Who could feel depressed when everything looked so new and fresh and the young shoots were greening on the trees in the parks?
A bus set her down near Amanda's apartment and she opened the door of the lounge as the near-by church clock struck nine.
Amanda was sitting at her desk, studying her correspondence, and smiled as Susan came in.
‘Good morning, Susan,’ she said briskly. ‘You're remarkably punctual.'
Susan chuckled. ‘I'm not sure whether I should take that as a compliment or not,’ she remarked, taking off her coat and hanging it in the minute entrance hall.
‘Sorry, dear,’ said Amanda. ‘Anyway, there's not a lot for us to do today.’ She rose to her feet and, crossing to the kitchen door, called, ‘Coffee for two, Sarah, please.'
