The Price of Love (31 page)

‘I know, I’m so relieved, that’s why I’m crying,’ Lucy breathed thankfully. ‘I thought we were going to lose her and life would never be the same without her.’

‘Does she really mean that much to you?’ Robert asked softly.

‘Yes, she does. I love her more than anything in the world,’ Lucy told him.

Gently he placed a hand under her chin, tilting her face so that he could look deep into her tear-filled eyes. ‘You really do care about Anna, don’t you?’

Lucy nodded vehemently. ‘Of course I do, Robert. As much as if she was my very own.’

‘Even though she’s Patsy’s child?’

Lucy gave an imperceptible shrug. ‘She’s your little girl, Robert, and that is all that matters to me.’

Robert sighed as he released her. ‘I am so glad about that,’ he said softly. ‘She means a great deal to me as well. I want her to be happy and as long as you are looking after her I know she will be.’

Sam and Brenda were both elated when Robert and Lucy returned home and told them the good news about Anna.

‘Have you any idea how long she will have to stay in hospital?’ Sam asked. ‘I miss having her around the place.’

‘They didn’t say,’ Lucy murmured. She looked enquiringly at Brenda. ‘Do you think it will be very long?’

‘I don’t know, it depends on her progress,’ Brenda said cautiously. ‘Rest assured, though, she is in good hands so there is no need to worry about her.’

‘No,’ Lucy agreed. ‘I can get back to worrying about Sam instead. I’m sorry I’ve had no time for your problems during the last few days,’ she told her brother apologetically. ‘I am very disappointed that you didn’t get the job at Carter’s Cars.’

Sam shrugged dismissively, ‘What did you say to upset Percy Carter the night you went out with him?’ he asked, his voice tinged with bitterness.

‘Nothing, nothing at all,’ Lucy said quickly but she felt the colour rushing to her face as she remembered the unpleasantness between them when he’d brought her home. She also noticed the frown on Robert’s face although he said nothing.

Over the next few days, Lucy felt that Robert seemed to be distracted and it troubled her because she couldn’t understand why. She tried to tell herself that he was preoccupied because he was still worried about Anna but she was sure that it went deeper than that.

In the end she could stand the strain no longer and asked him outright if she had upset him in some way. He looked so bemused that she wanted to laugh.

‘Of course you haven’t,’ he exclaimed in astonishment. ‘Whatever makes you say that?’

‘I don’t know; you seem to try and avoid being on your own with me as much as possible.’

‘Well, yes, that’s true enough,’ he said reluctantly, ‘and for a very good reason. I keep remembering that I took advantage of you the other evening when you were upset.’

‘I don’t understand what you mean. As I remember it, you comforted me when I was feeling upset.’

‘No,’ he said contritely, his face darkening. ‘I took advantage of you when you were most vulnerable.’

The colour ebbed from Lucy’s face. ‘Is that what really happened?’ she said bleakly. ‘I thought it was because you had feelings for me; because even after all this time, and despite all that has happened, you still loved me.’

‘I do, of course I do. That’s another reason why I am trying to keep my distance. Every time I see you I want to take you in my arms and kiss you,’ he exploded.

‘Then why don’t you? It’s what I want,’ Lucy told him in a strangled whisper.

Robert was silent for a second, looking at her in utter disbelief. ‘Do you know what you are saying?’ he asked.

‘Of course I do,’ Lucy said softly, her eyes shining with relief.

‘What about Percy Carter?’ he demanded.

It was Lucy’s turn to look astonished. ‘I thought you understood that I want nothing more to do with him. Going out with him at all was a mistake but he said he wanted to talk about Sam’s prospects and I was anxious to do anything I could to help Sam.’

Robert nodded but his face still looked glum and Lucy wasn’t sure whether she’d explained things well enough or whether he thought she was simply making excuses. She didn’t know what else to say so she walked over to him and kissed him lightly on the cheek, hoping he would respond and felt saddened when he didn’t.

It was another two weeks before Anna was well enough to come home. Lucy went in to see her every afternoon and sometimes again in the evening with Robert.

Although Anna was still pitifully thin she looked so much better that they both thought she had made a miraculous recovery. On the way home afterwards their conversation usually centred on what Anna’s needs would be when she eventually came out of hospital.

Lucy knew that Robert still resented the fact that she’d gone out with Percy Carter even though he knew her reason for doing so and she had told him what a disastrous evening it had been. Neither of them had mentioned it again but they were still not completely at ease with each other and she felt it was important that they should be for Anna’s sake.

Anna’s coming home from hospital did more than anything else to make this happen. They were both so anxious to look after her and do all they could to restore her to full health that they almost ended up spoiling her.

Lucy was delighted to have Anna back. A lot of her time was taken up trying to keep her amused yet at the same time making sure that she didn’t get overexcited or overtired.

She insisted that Anna had a nap after her midday meal if she wanted to stay up so that Robert could play with her when he came home from work. This became the highlight of Anna’s day and Lucy liked nothing better than to watch them together.

At night there was a special ritual that included both Lucy and Robert. Anna would happily let Lucy undress her and get her ready for bed as long as Robert would read her a story afterwards.

To fit in with this they began delaying their meal until later in the evening after Anna was tucked up in bed and asleep. Then and only then were they able to relax. Gradually it became a very special time for them as well.

If Sam and Brenda were there, then they would sit talking until it was their own bedtime; if Robert and Lucy were on their own, then they usually discussed any domestic problems and often made plans for the weekend when they both liked to take Anna out.

As summer approached and the nights became lighter, it became ever more difficult to persuade Anna to go to bed so Lucy changed their routine. Instead of delaying their evening meal until after Anna was in bed she served it much earlier so that not only could the child sit there with them but they could also take her out for a walk afterwards.

Some evenings they took her to play in the park on the swings; at other times they merely went for a short stroll and then back home for her bath and a bedtime story.

As July advanced Lucy suggested that she thought it would be a good idea to have a party to celebrate Anna’s birthday which was on the last day of the month.

‘I think we should make it really special for her with balloons, blancmange and jelly as well as a birthday cake. I’d like to give her a surprise birthday present. I thought perhaps I could give her a doll and you could give her a pram and that would make it really special,’ Lucy said with a smile.

‘I think she would love that,’ Robert agreed, ‘but there is one other present that I think she would like even better.’

‘Really, what’s that?’

‘Her very own mother.’

Lucy drew in her breath sharply. What on earth was he trying to tell her? Had he met someone whom he wanted to marry? For a moment all her feeling of security and happiness wilted at the thought of being replaced in both Robert’s and Anna’s life. She didn’t know how she would bear to go on living without them.

She knew she couldn’t let that happen. Even if she lost Robert she was determined that she wouldn’t lose Anna as well. She loved the child as dearly as if she was her own flesh and blood and she was pretty sure that little Anna loved her. To separate them now, when Anna was still fragile from her long illness, would make the child terribly unhappy.

‘I think Anna is quite happy with things as they are,’ she told Robert in a stilted voice. ‘She has made tremendous progress since she came home from hospital.’

‘I know and I want it to stay that way permanently. I think any further upsets would be very bad for her … and for me,’ he added with a huge grin.

‘Then I don’t understand what you mean about giving her a mother,’ she murmured.

‘Don’t you?’ Smiling broadly he gently pulled her close and his mouth came down to cover hers in a kiss that was as sweet and tender as it was long.

‘Lucy, will you marry me?’ he whispered softly, lifting his mouth from hers long enough to ask the question.

‘Oh Robert,’ she whispered, her heart pounding so much that she could hardly speak. ‘Of course I will,’ she told him, her eyes sparkling and her face wreathed in smiles.

Once more he kissed her, this time jubilantly.

‘Come on, let’s go and tell Sam and Brenda the good news,’ he said eagerly.

‘No, wait.’ Lucy laid a restraining hand on Robert’s arm. ‘We can tell them about Anna’s party, by all means, but I don’t think we should tell them about our plans; not yet.’

‘Why not? You aren’t going to change your mind, are you?’ he asked in a teasing voice.

‘No,’ she shook her head, ‘it’s not that. I was thinking about Sam and Brenda. Sam has always said that he intends asking her to marry him once he has a job and, as you know, he has had no luck at all in finding work.’

Robert looked puzzled. ‘I don’t understand, what have our plans to do with that?’

‘Telling them that we intend to get married will only upset Sam and make him even more depressed than he is now. Leave it for a little while and perhaps he will find something.’

‘Yes, if that is what you want,’ Robert said rather reluctantly. ‘I realise that it must be hard for him but I don’t see the situation improving. Most firms are putting men off, not taking them on.’

‘Yes, I know, but he’s trying so hard that his luck must change soon. He scans the paper the minute it comes out and goes after any job he thinks he might stand a chance of getting. I know he’s had no success up until now but surely things must change; they can’t go on like this for ever, now can they?’

‘Let’s hope not. I don’t think Sam’s situation should let it spoil our idea of having a birthday party for Anna, though,’ Robert insisted.

‘Oh no, neither do I,’ Lucy agreed. ‘We’ll tell Sam and Brenda about Anna’s party because we want them to be there, but I don’t think we should say anything about our own future plans.’

‘Very well, if that’s what you want to do, we’ll keep them to ourselves for the moment,’ Robert agreed as he kissed her again.

Anna’s birthday party was a tremendous success. She had fully recovered from her illness and was as full of life as she’d ever been.

Brenda bought her a new dress to wear. It was pale blue with a fancy frill down the front and Anna loved it so much when they tried it on her in the shop that she was almost in tears when she had to take it off so that it could be wrapped up.

She was all smiles again, though, when they promised that she could be the one to carry it home and explained that she would be able to wear it at her party.

Lucy attached two big blue balloons to her chair which was placed at the head of the table. There were tiny sandwiches as well as red jelly and pink blancmange. Taking pride of place in the centre of the table was an iced birthday cake with candles on it.

At the end of the tea party Robert lit them and then they all waited for Anna to blow them out. When she’d succeeded in doing so they all clapped and then sang ‘Happy Birthday’.

Afterwards they played hide-and-seek and several other simple games. Anna loved it all and the party went on until it was well past her usual time for going to bed. Having a bath was skipped because she was so tired and there was no need for Robert to read her a story; she was asleep almost as soon as her head touched the pillow.

As she came back downstairs Lucy reflected on what a wonderful time they’d had and how good her life had become since she’d moved back to Priory Terrace.

There was still one problem which worried her; Sam had still not found a job. He was becoming increasingly moody and worried because his dole money had run out and it meant the Means Test if he wanted to get any more.

When Lucy had suggested that he ought to start up his shoeshining business again as a temporary measure he had told her that it was out of the question because someone else had commandeered his pitch by the Goree Piazza.

‘There’s not enough business to make it worth my while to set up in opposition,’ he pointed out dejectedly. ‘Anyway, after what happened, I’m not too keen on working around that area again. I wouldn’t mind betting that those two little sods who caused it would target me again if they got the chance.’

After that, as if he was determined to prove that he really did want to work and was prepared to try his hand at anything, he had gone around calling on all the local newsagents to see if they would let him sell their newspapers on the street corner only to find they had every spot filled by street vendors already.

In desperation he had even resorted to collecting old clothes and selling them on to a rag-and-bone man. He hated doing it and it only brought in coppers.

While she’d been upstairs putting Anna to bed Brenda had restored order to the room and made a pot of tea. The minute they all sat down Robert said that now they were all together there was something he wanted to tell them.

Lucy felt uneasy because she thought that he was going to tell them about their plans to get married even though she’d asked him to delay doing so until Sam had a job. To her surprise Robert had something quite different to announce.

He started off by looking directly at Sam and asking, ‘How’s the job hunting going? Have you found any work yet?’

‘No, you bloody well know I haven’t,’ Sam said irritably. ‘You also know that my dole money is finished and that I can’t even pay my fair share towards my keep. What are you going to do, boot me out into the street?’