The Sea Shell Girl (32 page)

As she took in his ardent expression, she felt the stone encasing her heart begin to crack.

‘No, of course not,' she whispered, her resolve dissipating like the early morning mist.

‘In that case, may I give you your Christmas present now?' he asked, delving into the inside pocket of his coat. She glanced around the room but everyone was busy with their food. Curiosity getting the better of her, she tugged at the gold ribbon on the box, then gasped at the silver heart with its filigree edging.

‘Oh, it's beautiful. Thank you, Carey.'

‘Would you like me to put it on for you?' he asked gently.

Fingering the delicate chain, she shook her head. She wasn't ready for him to come that close yet.

‘Thank you, but I will wear it when the occasion is right,' she whispered. He nodded, then quickly took a sip of his drink.

‘I understand,' he said, and she had the feeling that he did. He cleared his throat and looked at her intently. ‘I just want you to know you have come to mean a lot to me. When I bought this I intended to ask if you would accept it as a token of my future intent,' he said huskily.

‘Oh, you mean … ? But surely I am not suitable for …' she began, as a picture of Alexandria and his beautiful house and garden surfaced unbidden. Leaning forward, he placed his hand over hers.

‘I can only apologize again for my message not getting through to you, and if I have been insensitive mentioning my feelings too soon after our, er, misunderstanding, then please forgive me. It's just that I had it all planned: a pre-Christmas celebration, nice food, the best lemonade, and well, it all went wrong, didn't it?' As he sat there looking dejected, the last piece of shell around her heart fell away.

‘Not quite,' she whispered. ‘This is quite the best lemonade I've ever had.'

‘Oh Merryn,' he whispered, reaching out and taking her hand. ‘I only wish I didn't have to go away for so long. You will wait for me, won't you?'

‘I'll think about it, Lieutenant Meredith,' she teased.

With the weather warming slightly, the store became busy once more. Mrs Winter had turned out to be a good manager and, unlike Mrs Smale, actively encouraged her staff to take the initiative in their dealings with customers. Merry's respect for the woman grew and she was happy to shadow and follow her lead.

One day Merry was returning from the dressing room after showing a client some of the ready-made undergarments when she heard Freckles hiss, ‘Blimey oh rimey, cat at twelve o'clock.'

Looking up, Merry saw Alexandria had entered the store with her usual entourage and was smirking at her like the feline who'd cornered her mouse.

‘Ah, Miss Dyer. You will no doubt be pleased to hear the staff were delighted with their Christmas presents. Did you enjoy the festivities?' she asked, watching Merry closely.

‘Yes, thank you. I trust you did too?' she asked politely.

‘Oh indeed, wild parties with good family friends. So wild, in fact, they went on well into this New Year,' she responded.

‘How nice,' Merry smiled, refusing to rise to the woman's bait. She fingered the silver necklace beneath her collar and forced her lips wider. ‘How may I help you today? Perhaps you would care to see our latest stock?'

‘Goodness, as I've previously mentioned, I wouldn't
purchase anything here for myself. Only fine couture will do for me, darling. That's how naval officers expect their ladies to dress,' she said, emphasizing the word ‘ladies'. ‘No, etiquette decreed I come and thank you for your shop assistant's advice.'

‘Miss Dyer is renowned for her expert service, Miss Courtland, and you might be interested to know she is now the department's trainee supervisor,' Mrs Winter, who had been watching the exchange, intervened.

‘Remarkable,' Alexandria sneered before turning on her heel and marching from the store.

‘Thank you, Mrs Winter,' Merry whispered.

‘It doesn't do any harm to point these things out sometimes. Remember, Merry, it is manners that make a lady, rather than mere breeding. Now you will be pleased to know it's time for luncheon,' she said, grinning as she turned away. Merry stared after her in surprise, not for the first time amazed at the woman's perception.

‘Blimey oh rimey, what was that all about?' Freckles asked as they hurried towards the staff-room. ‘That snooty woman's got it in for you and no misake.'

‘She's one of Carey's neighbours,' Merry sighed.

‘And a nasty one at that,' Prunella said. ‘I reckon she's got her sights firmly set on your lieutenant, Merry.'

‘Ah, but will he look in her direction?' Freckles responded, seeing her friend's woeful expression. ‘When are you next seeing the dashing lieutenant?'

‘Not for another two weeks,' Merry sighed.

‘Why don't we sort some material and make you a dress?' Freckles suggested. ‘We could make something that'll pop his eyes out.'

Merry laughed. Her friend was better than any tonic from a quack.

‘Hey, Joanie, what's the best way to keep a man's attention?' Freckles asked as the housekeeper bustled in with their luncheon.

‘Keep him happy, well fed, warm in … well, you know what I mean,' Joanie chortled. ‘Cors that sort of thing's only for when you're wed,' she added.

‘Cors, Joanie,' Freckles laughed.

Feeling better after a bowl of Joanie's vegetable broth and her friend's banter, Merry hurried back down the corridor.

‘Ah, Miss Dyer,' Mr Fairbright said, leaning over the banister. ‘A word, if you please.'

Merry's heart sank. Had Alexandria made a complaint against her?

‘Yes, Mr Fairbright?' she asked, looking anxiously at her employer.

‘I have just returned from Porthsallos. Your mother seemed anxious about your welfare and although I reassured her you were doing very well, she insisted I give you this.' He handed her a note. ‘I understand she would welcome a reply so if you wish to pen one I will take it with me when I return next month. I got the impression it was more than just parental concern about you not being able to get home for Christmas, so if there is anything I can assist with, then please feel free to come and see me.'

‘Thank you, Mr Fairbright,' Merry said. Whatever could her mother be worrying about, she wondered, as she hurried back to the shop floor.

‘Miss Dyer, perhaps you could tidy the dressing room,' Mrs Winter said as she took her her position behind the
counter. ‘I had occasion to assist a lady during her luncheon break and it needs refreshing.'

‘Of course, Mrs Winter,' she replied. As she set about her task, the paper crackling in her pocket reminded her of her mother's note. Quickly, she removed it from its envelope and scanned the contents.

Dearest Merry,

I hope this letter finds you well. We are both well and missed you at Christmas. Nicco has kindly been keeping an eye on you on his regular trips to Plymouth. As you know, it is our express hope that you and he will settle down together. He adores you and does have good prospects. He has, however, expressed his concern about a gentleman who is paying you a lot of attention. I request you bring this man home soonest so that your grandmother and I can satisfy our concerns that his intentions are honourable.

Please send a reply back via Mr Fairbright as to when we can expect you and this gentleman friend to pay us a visit.

Your concerned Mother,

Karenza

Merry screwed up the note and threw it across the room. That Nicco had been keeping an eye on her was bad enough, but reporting her movements back to her mother was unforgivable. She wasn't a child, after all. She was making her own way in the world as she'd always said she would. Should she tell Carey her mother wanted to see him? No, it was too soon. She'd wait and see how their relationship developed before she mentioned it.

When they'd been out a couple of times more and Merry was confident their rapport had been fully restored, she casually mentioned her mother would like to meet him. To her surprise, Carey thought it a good idea.

Now, on a blustery morning, they were making their way to Porthsallos. Merry was dressed in her pink blouse with a blue skirt Prunella had loaned her. It matched the shawl and gloves Grozen and her mother had made for her and she felt smart but not overdressed. As she looked out at the familiar scenery, excitement bubbled inside her. Soon she would be home, although she couldn't help wondering how Carey would react to their tiny fisherman's cottage.

‘Do you think I'm dressed smartly enough to meet your family?' he asked, breaking into her thoughts. Merry looked at his sharply tailored coat, trousers and highly polished shoes, and laughed.

‘You look good enough to me.'

‘I was thinking you look rather fetching, too, in your blue shawl, and I see the pattern matches the band on your hat,' he grinned, pointing to the one she'd knitted. ‘They could have been made by the same person, couldn't they?'

Merry laughed. ‘That proves how little you know about women and their knitting. Each one can spot their own garments at a thousand paces – well, ten, at least,' she amended.

‘Fascinating,' he smiled. ‘You mentioned we would need to leave the carriage at the top of the village, and the wind is blowing a hooley so I've brought my naval cap. I mean, I don't want you to be ashamed of me.'

She stared at him in amazement. ‘And I've been worrying about the state of our tiny cottage and whether Grozen will be her usual outspoken self,' she admitted.

He chuckled. ‘Is that where you get it from? I love a woman who says what she thinks.'

‘Which reminds me, your friend Alexandria came into the store recently. She didn't wish to buy anything; in fact, she turned up her nose at our stock. Apparently etiquette decreed she thank me for advising her on what to buy her staff. However, she seemed more interested in telling me about the wild parties you all have.'

He glanced quickly away. ‘You don't want to worry about Venus,' he muttered.

‘Venus?'

‘After the plant the Venus flytrap, only according to my dear sister she ensnares men rather than flies. I understand from Saphira that I was to be her next victim.'

‘Saphira has returned from Scotland?'

Carey nodded, his face brightening at once. ‘Yes, thank heavens. It was she who discovered why you didn't get the message after I'd been summoned back to base.'

‘Alexandria?' she guessed.

‘The very same. Apparently she called at the house after I'd left. The housekeeper told her I'd been recalled and that I'd left a note to be delivered to you at Didcot and Fairbright. She said she was going there that very day and offered to take it, only …'

‘She didn't,' Merry sighed.

‘Saphira was furious when she found out her friend had almost come between us. Told her she was never to call upon us again.'

‘Oh goodness, and there was me thinking you hadn't come in to see me because you'd had second thoughts or found someone more in your class,' she sighed.

‘Class!' he spat. ‘Honestly, Merryn, you're adorable, charming and competent, and really should have more faith in yourself,' he said, smiling at her in the way that made her spine tingle.

Just as they were approaching the turning for the village, they passed another carriage. She caught a fleeting glimpse of Lady Sutherland, who, to Merry's surprise, waved.

‘Lady Sutherland lives on the hill opposite our cottage,' Merry began, then saw Carey was waving back.

‘Oh, is that where she lives?' he murmured.

‘You know her?' Merry asked. He nodded.

‘She was a guest at a naval function not long ago. A lovely lady, widowed young, but now betrothed to the Earl of Tavy, I believe.'

‘Oh,' she gasped as the carriage pulled to a halt. ‘Well, here we are.' She watched as he reached up and carefully pulled a modest yet beautiful tussie-mussie from the rack.

‘Some flowers for your mother,' he explained. She looked at the colourful mixture of japonica and rose daphne wrapped in a doily and bound with a pink satin ribbon, and smiled. Then she spotted the single daylily and clapped her hands in delight. Prunella had lent her the book on the language of flowers and she saw his message to be ‘sincerity and a desire to please' with the daylily representing the Chinese emblem for ‘mother'.

‘They're beautiful. She'll love them,' Merry exclaimed, vowing to explain to her mother exactly what they meant.

‘Well, if she's half as beautiful as her daughter then it
will have been worth bribing Uncle Fergus to pick his best blooms,' he murmured.

‘He couldn't pick me, though, 'cos according to you I am a mere wayside flower,' she sighed, recollecting his earlier comparison with that wonderful neighbour of his.

He frowned for a moment. ‘But I alikened you to bluebells because of your beautiful eyes and snowdrops because they match the sheen of your hair,' he protested.

‘Ah, but I seem to remember you saying Alexandria was a hothouse bloom, though,' she said, wagging her finger at him.

‘Yes, because she's temperamental and takes a lot of looking after,' he declared.

‘Really?' she said, trying to sound casual, although her spirits had lifted considerably. Now he was gazing at her so warmly her heart flipped and flapped like a fish on a line.

‘Come on,' she whispered. ‘Mother will be waiting.' Side by side they walked down the hill.

‘It's very quiet, isn't it?' Carey commented, staring around the deserted lane.

‘The women will be cooking their dinners whilst the men sup their pints in the alehouse.'

‘On the Sabbath?' he asked.

Merry smiled at his surprised expression. ‘Lavis invites them to drop in so it's not classed as trading. Of course, the men will have to settle their dues tomorrow.' She stared at the fishing boats, breathing in the familiar smells of salt, fish and tar. ‘There's nothing like the smell of the sea, is there?' she sighed, pulling her shawl tighter as a gust of wind funnelled up from the harbour.

‘Goodness, anyone would think you'd been living far
inland these past months,' he teased. She smiled and their eyes locked. Heart racing, she forced herself to look away and pointed up to the imposing granite house that looked down over the harbour.

‘That's Lady Sutherland's house,' she said. ‘When I was young, I used to dream of living there, wearing elegant clothes and driving in a fancy carriage.'

‘Well, you've achieved two out of three so that's not bad, is it?' he said, gazing at her meaningfully until she felt heat searing her cheeks.

‘Oh, look, we've reached the warren,' she gabbled, leading the way through the maze of cobbled lanes until they came to the Dyers' cottage. She stood on the step dithering uncertainly. Should she knock or just go in?