Tiger Ragtime (19 page)

‘What did Moody say?’

‘That you could share his room.’ Micah decided it wasn’t a good time to pass on Moody’s message about finding another berth as soon as possible. ‘Obviously Edyth was there. Did you expect me not to tell her that you were back?’

‘I suppose not,’ David muttered. ‘Did she say anything?’

‘That she wanted to talk to you and she’d come and see you this evening.’

‘To tell me that I’ve behaved like a bloody fool.’

‘To tell you that she loves you very much – like a brother. And, knowing Edyth, she’ll want to help you. Now that you’re not going to sea again, you have a few decisions to make about your future.’

‘I’m not going back to the farm,’ David stated firmly, confirming Edyth’s suspicions.

‘It’s your choice, but you’ll need a job and the only person who’s hiring on the dock at the moment is the builder George Powell. He’s converting a hotel on Bute Street into a nightclub. He’s looking for craftsmen, but last I heard he was still taking on a few labourers. When you’re feeling up to it you could go along and ask him if he has anything going. Judy’s uncles are working for him; they might put in a good word for you.’

‘I know a bit about carpentry.’

‘You’re experienced?’ Micah said in surprise.

‘Not time served or anything like that, but Harry’s Uncle Victor is a fair carpenter – he taught Harry a bit, and Harry taught me.’

‘Given the amount of work to be done on the hotel in the next few weeks, George will probably drag you in there as soon as you can stand.’ Micah stopped the van outside Helga’s house. ‘But first we have to get you inside, and from the look of you into bed.’

‘I won’t argue with you.’

‘I’ll take your kitbag in and warn Helga you’re here so she can make up your bed. Then I’ll come back for you.’

‘Micah?’

‘Yes?’

David said two words Micah had never expected to hear from him. ‘Thank you.’

Chapter Ten

‘Thank you, Mr James. That was a lovely lunch.’

Judy set her knife and fork on the plate and looked across the table at Aled. It was the sixth lunch he’d invited her to in the Windsor Hotel since she’d signed a contract with him. Micah and her uncles had checked it over before handing it to a solicitor who had assured them that it was the most generous theatrical contract he’d seen. But the solicitor’s endorsement hadn’t stopped her uncles from warning her to be sure to always remain in public with Aled James, and never visit him in his suite.

But whenever Aled James had invited her to lunch, it was always on the clear understanding that they would eat in the public dining room. She was aware of the two men who constantly shadowed him. It was difficult to ignore them when they were never more than a few paces from him at any one time, and always sat at the next table to them in the restaurant. On the rare occasions Aled referred to them, he called them his ‘employees’ although she knew people on the Bay had christened both men James’s ‘bruisers’.

As for Aled James’s attitude towards her, it was generous, respectful – and formal. He never called her anything other than Miss King and she addressed him as Mr James. And the lunches he arranged weren’t social. He had brought song sheets of the latest American music to all of them, so they could discuss her repertoire when the club opened and he left the sheets with her afterwards so she could practise the scores in what little free time she had in between performing in the theatre.

‘It was a good lunch.’ Aled forked the last piece of meat from his plate to his mouth. ‘I must remember to order the pork and apple sauce again sometime.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘There’s no matinee this afternoon so you have to be at the theatre at what? Six o’clock?’

‘At the latest, management gets annoyed if we’re late.’

‘You haven’t made any plans for this afternoon?’ he checked.

‘No.’

‘In that case we’ll go shopping.’

‘Shopping for what?’ she questioned.

‘Stage wear, I’m contracted to pay for your costumes, remember. I did warn you I would be very particular about them.’

‘I remember,’ she said warily.

‘Where do you usually buy your clothes? That gold dress, for instance. The one you wore at the carnival.’

‘I borrowed it from one of Mrs Slater’s sisters. That and the gown Edyth was wearing were bridesmaids’ frocks.’

‘Which is the best high-class ladies’ outfitters in the city?’

‘I don’t know of any outside of the large department stores and most turn coloured people away.’ It was the first time she had brought up the subject of her Negro blood. She felt unaccountably embarrassed for mentioning it, because unlike most white people who had lived outside of Tiger Bay, he had never drawn attention to it, or treated her or her family any differently because of it. ‘Oh, they’ll serve you,’ he countered confidently. He looked around for a waiter. ‘If you want a chaperone we could stop off and ask Mrs Slater to accompany us.’

‘She’ll be busy in her shop.’

‘One of your aunts?’

Judy shook her head. It was broad daylight, they were going into the city, and she couldn’t think of anywhere more public.

‘Max,’ Aled greeted the head waiter when he glided over. ‘Two French coffees and two champagne ices please.’

‘An excellent choice, Mr James.’ Max bowed and left.

‘You spoil me, Mr James. I’ve never eaten so well or had so many ice-creams.’

‘A special lady deserves spoiling. Have you any colours in mind for your stage gowns or do you want to see what’s on offer?’

‘I’ll wait and see what’s on offer.’

‘And you really don’t have any particular shop or dress designer in mind?’ he pressed. ‘As you’re going to be the showcase for my club, I assure you, the benefit will be all mine.’

‘To be truthful, Mr James, I’ve never bought a new frock in my life, apart from my work overalls, and they all came from Bute Street. My grandmother and I used to make all our clothes.’

‘Thank you, Max,’ Aled said when the head waiter set the coffees and ices in front of them.

Judy sipped the coffee and realised there was an extremely generous measure of cognac in it. ‘This will go straight to my head at this time of day.’

‘That’s why I ordered it. A young girl should be a little light-headed when she goes shopping. It will make her bold and reckless. And bold and reckless makes the most head-turning choices, Miss King. That is exactly what I’m aiming for in the Tiger Ragtime. An impact that will turn heads, be talked about, and not easily forgotten. I want your gowns to upstage the costumes of the chorus girls. They’ll provide the,’ he raised his eyebrows, ‘the “ooh la la” factor, and you’ll supply the class.’

‘You have a lot of faith in me, Mr James,’ Judy said nervously.

‘I do,’ he agreed. He covered her hand with his own and squeezed it lightly. ‘And it’s well placed.’

It was the first time he had touched her. Judy gazed into his eyes. Edyth had said they were cold, but she could see warmth in their blue depths, warmth and something that made her spine tingle, her throat tighten and the blood rush to her cheeks.

‘To use the Welsh expression, David looks like death warmed up.’ Helga lifted two cups and saucers from her Welsh dresser and set them next to the teapot on the kitchen table.

‘It’s nothing a couple of days on land won’t cure.’ Micah looked at her critically. ‘You’re going to have a baby, aren’t you?’

She whirled around. ‘Edyth told you.’

‘Edyth knows?’ he asked in surprise.

‘I told her and she promised not to tell you …’

‘She didn’t. I saw Ruth Jenkins leaving when I came in. She happened to mention that you’re paying her to work here six mornings a week and I couldn’t think of any other reason why you’d employ someone to help you in the house.’

‘It could be because I’m doing so well. I have so many regulars unable to get berths out of Cardiff I’m considering renting the house next door.’

‘What about the Morrises?’ Micah was fond of the young couple who lived next door to his sister. They had helped Helga many times by accommodating the over flow from her lodging house.

‘They’re returning to Merthyr. His father has TB and he’s taking over the family barge. Jobs are everything these days.’

‘You can say that again. Even with George Powell hiring every spare man with any building experience, there was a crowd at Penniless Point this morning.’

‘I saw the men there when I picked up my bread from Edyth’s. ’

‘I thought Moody brought it home.’

‘He does, but it’s a fine day, I felt like a walk. Besides it’s good exercise, for me and the little one.’

Micah smiled at the mention of the baby. ‘So when is this niece or nephew of mine going to put in an appearance?’

‘Not for months.’

‘How many?’

‘Five,’ she revealed reluctantly. ‘What about you and Edyth?’

‘What about me and Edyth?’

‘Any sign of the annulment of her marriage yet?’

‘No,’ he replied, ‘and even when it comes I’m not sure Edyth will want to marry me. She keeps on saying she’s happy with things the way they are between us.’

‘Wise girl.’

‘Don’t tell me you’re on her side,’ he complained. ‘What happens to her bakery if she marries you, Micah?’

‘Have you been talking to her about me?’

‘No.’

‘The bakery is the excuse she gave me for not wanting to marry me. As if I’d interfere.’

‘How could you not interfere?’

‘What do you mean?’ he demanded defensively.

‘Being pastor of the Norwegian Church isn’t a job, it’s a vocation and a lifestyle rolled into one. How often do people around here say, “Get Micah, he’ll know what to do”? Births, deaths, marriages, fights, arrests, arguments between the West Indians and the Scandinavians, the Arabs and the Italians, the gamblers and the sore losers, the poor, the destitute, the dead and dying sailors – you’ve made every problem on the Bay your problem. You have no time to spare for a wife or family, especially if they lived outside the mission.’

‘Edyth would move in with me.’

‘Into your tiny bedroom in the mission, when she has a shop with several very comfortable rooms above it in Bute Street? The girl would be mad.’

‘All right, living in the mission wouldn’t be ideal,’ he agreed, ‘but I could rent somewhere closer than the bakery.’

‘You’d expect Edyth to run a house, look after you, and still get up at four in the morning and supervise the shop all day?’

‘Put like that, I can see it would be difficult.’

‘It simply wouldn’t work, Micah. It would be, “Edyth, pop around to Mrs Jones’s because she’s just had a baby. She’s feeling low and needs help with the housework.” Or, “There’s been a death in number twenty-six and the family’s distraught. They can’t cope with the undertaker and the funeral arrangements, go and sort it out for them, will you, while I go on board a ship and write a letter for a seaman who’s dying and wants to say goodbye to his family.” Or, “Could you do Mrs Williams’s shopping for her? The doctor told me that her ulcerated leg is playing up and she can’t move.”’

Micah fell silent, every instance was something he had asked Helga to do in the last few days and he realised just how much he relied on her to take over for him when he had to deal with more urgent matters.

‘I know why you took the post of pastor when it was offered to you, Micah.’ She handed him a cup of tea.

‘I took it because I thought I could make a difference to people’s lives in the same way our father did in the Gdansk mission. A seaman’s life is hard, not just for him but for his family. All those separations and the uncertainty of long silences without a letter or a word of communication. Never knowing whether a loved one is going to walk back through the door or not.’

‘You took it because you wanted to do anything except what you should be doing.’

‘Not that again, Helga, please.’ He abandoned his tea on the table and walked to the window. Turning his back to her he stared out at the yard. A washing line full of bed linen hung drying in the hot, still air. He couldn’t remember a time he’d visited Helga when her washing line hadn’t been full except Sundays and he thought guiltily of the hours she’d spent helping him at the mission when she probably should have been doing her housework – or writing to her husband who rarely managed to spend more than one month in twelve at home.

‘If you finished your training you could leave the mission and move in with Edyth. She has a more comfortable home than you could ever hope to provide, especially while you continue to live at the mission on the pittance the Lutheran Church pays you.’

‘Enough, Helga.’

‘You won’t think about it?’

‘I made my choice six years ago.’

‘And you’re not prepared to make another now?’ When he didn’t answer her, she shrugged her shoulders. ‘I don’t know why I waste my breath. If you’re not prepared to change your ways for the woman you love, you’re certainly not going to change them for me.’

‘Please, Mr James, let’s leave,’ Judy begged. They had been sitting in the waiting area of one of the largest, plushest, and most fashionable department stores in Cardiff for more than ten minutes, during which time half-a-dozen elegantly dressed women had walked in and been served by sales assistants.

‘No, Miss King,’ I will not leave.’ Aled beckoned to Freddie. ‘Freddie, come with me; Aiden, stay with Miss King.’ Aled walked directly to the floor walker who was standing at the top of the stairs. ‘You! Get the store manager for me. Now!’

‘Sir?’ The young man stared at Aled as though he’d taken leave of his senses.

‘I’m sorry,’ Aled apologised sarcastically, ‘I was under the impression that you would have had to speak and understand English to get a position at this store. I want to see the manager. Now!’

‘Is there a problem, sir?’ The sharp-featured, blackgarbed female supervisor of the department glided towards them.

‘We have been waiting ten minutes to be served. During which several people who arrived after us have been waited on.’

The supervisor looked from Aled to Judy and Aiden. When she spoke she lowered her voice. ‘That girl and man are coloured, sir.’

‘So am I,’ Aled said. ‘The last time I looked in the mirror I was a fetching shade of pale pink.’

‘It’s not me personally, or even management, sir,’ she murmured, ‘it’s our customers. They wouldn’t patronise us if they knew we allowed people like that to try on our stock.’

‘People like what?’ Aled said loudly for the benefit of everyone within earshot.

As they were attracting attention the supervisor tried and failed to draw Aled aside. ‘You know what I mean, sir.’

‘No I don’t,’ Aled bellowed.

‘Sir …’

‘Explain yourself, madam.’ Aled stood, arms crossed and obdurate.

The supervisor coughed. ‘They clearly have Negro blood, sir. As I said, it’s not me … or even management …’

Aled turned to Aiden. ‘I want the name of everyone in management in this store.’

‘Sir …’ The woman touched his arm.

Aled shook off her hand. ‘Everyone, Aiden.’

Aiden pulled a notebook from his pocket and went to the staff board at the top of the stairs. The supervisor tried to step in front of him. He simply picked her up, moved her aside and began writing.

Aled returned to Judy and offered her his arm. ‘We have to go elsewhere, Miss King. On close inspection the gowns here are somewhat shoddy.’ He swept Judy past the supervisor, down the stairs and out of the store so quickly she had to run to keep up with him. He didn’t stop until they reached the pavement. He looked up St Mary Street past the grand Edwardian fronts of the rival department stores, towards the crenellated towers of Cardiff Castle and muttered, ‘Bastards!’

Unsure she’d heard Aled correctly, Judy remained silent. He released her arm, and paced to the edge of the kerb. When he looked back at her he was calm.

‘Is that the first time you have been refused service in a store, Miss King?’

‘Yes.’ A double-decker tram pulled up in front of them and she read the advertisements plastered on its sides. It was easier to consider the merits of a tea that promised to cure indigestion than think about the embarrassment she had just suffered.