A Mother’s Spirit

The next day Gloria faced her parents over the breakfast table and told them point-bank that she and Joe had discovered that they loved each other.

Brian was both astounded and furious. Banging his fist on the table, he said, ‘Well, my dear, you will have to unlove Joe, for I am afraid I will not have it. By God, the barefaced nerve of it amazes me. I have taken that man in, given him a leg up, thought of him as my right-hand man, and this is how he repays me – taking advantage of my own daughter. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.’

‘It wasn’t like that, Daddy. It wasn’t at all,’ cried Gloria. ‘You have no right to say any of this. I had to almost drag the words from Joe, yet I know that I have always loved him. And don’t say that I loved him as a child alone. He said that too and I gave him the same answer as I give you: that as I have grown and matured, so has the love I have for him. Does my happiness mean nothing to you? Why d’you think I have been so miserable for months?’

‘Gloria, you really have no right to speak so to your father,’ Norah said. ‘As for not caring about your happiness, you know your father and I have tried to make you happy since the day you were born.’

‘Then let me marry Joe!’ Gloria demanded.

Brian rubbed his chin while he looked at his defiant daughter. ‘It’s such a surprise,’ he said, ‘the last thing I had expected, to tell you the truth, and judging by your behaviour of the past months.’

Gloria sighed. ‘I went about with those boys to try and erase thoughts of Joe from my mind.’ She shook her head. ‘It didn’t work, though, and in fact it only made me love him more.’

‘And you say you truly love this man?’

‘Oh, yes, Daddy, with all my heart and soul. I ache with love for him. He feels the same, though he would say nothing at first because he is so much older than me and employed by you.’

‘What do you make of it, my dear?’ Brian asked Norah, who was looking at Gloria with a slight frown puckering her brow.

She often thought afterwards that had Gloria not been so wild for almost a year, not in the least circumspect or prudent as became a young lady, her reaction might have been different, for all she liked and admired Joe greatly. She feared that Gloria’s antics with hosts of young men had laid her wide open to ridicule and scorn, and possibly damaged her reputation. If that had happened she knew the doors to any form of respectable society would be closed to her and an advantageous marriage out of the question. Far better surely to have her safely and respectably married before more damage was done. However, marriage was a big commitment and not one to be entered into lightly.

‘You are still very young, my dear,’ she said to her daughter. ‘Are you sure this is what you want?’

‘Absolutely sure,’ Gloria said determinedly. ‘In fact, if I don’t have Joe then I will not have anyone.’

‘Do you not mind, though, that Joe is many years older than you?’ Brian asked.

‘No,’ Gloria replied. ‘Whatever age he is, Joe Sullivan is the man I love and the man I want to marry.’

Norah thought of the often brash and rootless young men that had been Gloria’s companions of late. They seemed to have no aim in life other than the pursuit of pleasure. She doubted that any one of them had ever done a day’s work in his empty life. She would have hated her daughter to have married one of those people.

Joe was different. He was the sort of man that could be relied upon, one who knew what hard work was and thrived on it. It didn’t matter a jot to her about the age difference. In fact, she saw it as an advantage. Joe had his feet firmly on the ground and she felt Gloria would be much safer with someone like that.

‘Well, at least we can’t say we don’t know the man,’ Brian said. ‘We have had years of getting to know him.’ He gazed at the daughter he loved so very much and felt a lump form in his throat as he realised that another man was now more important in her life than he was, and so his voice was husky with emotion when he said, ‘If this is really what you want, my love, then you have my blessing.’ He gazed at his wife, saw her smiling and relieved face, and added, ‘And I can see your mother approves too. Now where is the man in question hiding away?’

‘In his room,’ Gloria said, leaping up from her chair. ‘I’ll tell him now.’

In the cold light of morning, Joe had gone over the scene of the previous evening in his bedroom and regretted it bitterly for he had no doubt that Brian would send him packing now and he had only himself to blame. If he didn’t love Gloria so very much, he could have parried her questions. Too late now. With a heavy heart he dragged his case from the wardrobe and began putting his clothes in it while he waited for the summons from Brian.

He had almost finished when Gloria burst through the door. He could hardly believe his ears when she told him that her parents had both given their approval for the match. He wanted to whoop with sheer unadulterated joy, for it seemed to be filling his whole body, but he contented himself with catching hold of Gloria and holding her close.

When their lips met it was as if a furnace had been lit inside each of them. The kiss the night before was one that Joe thought might have to last him a lifetime, but this kiss was like a promise of the joys to come, and when they eventually broke apart, they both groaned with desire.

Joe released her before he forgot himself altogether, and holding out his hand he said, ‘Come. I must see your parents immediately.’ Hand in hand, they left the room and ran down the stairs.

‘Well, well, well,’ Brian said when he saw Joe at the door. ‘Fine turn-up for the book this is. The minute my back is turned you are making love to my daughter.’

Joe smiled. ‘Not quite, sir. But I do love her very much and would like your permission to marry her.’

‘And you have it, Joe,’ Brian said, going forward to shake him by the hand. ‘And I hope you know what you are taking on. She can be the very devil when she doesn’t get her own way.’

‘You really can’t tell me anything about Gloria that I don’t know, sir,’ Joe said. ‘And there is nothing about her that I do not love.’

Gloria gazed at Joe and thought her heart would burst with happiness.

Everyone in the house seemed stunned by the news, and not everyone was that pleased either.

Kate said, ‘There is bettering oneself and taking advantage, and that’s what the young pup has done, setting himself up to marry that pretty young thing and him near old enough to be her father. Mark my words, it never works trying to mix chalk and cheese.’

Joe knew what they thought but there was nothing he could do about it, and anyway he was taken aback by the speed at which everything was decided. Gloria was now sporting a platinum engagement ring with a huge diamond in the centre of it, and Brian declared there was no need to delay the wedding.

‘The autumn I always think is a nice time of year,’ he said.

‘It is, sir,’ Joe agreed, ‘and though I am immensely grateful that you are taking over the entire cost of the wedding, I need a little time to save up enough for a deposit on some suitable place for the two of us to live in.’

‘What are you talking about, man?’ Brian said with a laugh. ‘You will live here, naturally.’

That hadn’t been what Joe had anticipated at all. He imagined he and Gloria in their own little house or apartment somewhere, but when he said this, everyone seemed to think it was all rather amusing.

‘Darling, I wouldn’t have the least idea how to keep house,’ Gloria said. ‘I have never had to do it, and as for cooking anything, well, I have never done that either. I honestly don’t know how to boil an egg.’

‘But did you not have any sort of cookery lessons at school?’ Joe asked.

‘Well, no,’ Gloria said. ‘Why would we? And I have never washed dishes, or really cleaned anything, and wouldn’t know how to start dealing with the laundry. We have servants to do those types of things.’

Joe realised then that after his marriage everything would go on as it always had done, and the only thing that would alter after he put the ring on Gloria’s finger was that she would share his bed.

Three rooms were being amalgamated to make a suite for Joe and Gloria, and when Joe was shown the plans for his approval he was staggered at the size of it. He knew he wouldn’t be sorry to leave the room that Brian had assigned to him when he had moved into the house. It had a carpeted floor, a blue fluffy rug by the large and comfortable bed that matched the drapes at the windows, a wardrobe, chest and dressing table in light wood, and a bathroom for his use off to the side. It bore no resemblance at all to his spartan cellar where he had felt so contented, and yet he had never felt at home in the luxurious and comfortable room.

The bridal suite was at least being planned specifically for Gloria and himself, and he was sure he would be happier there with Gloria by his side. In fact, if he wasn’t then he was a hard man to please

‘What is this room to the side?’ he asked Brian.

‘That is your dressing room,’ Brian said. ‘Will I have a bed installed in there too?’

‘What on earth for, sir?’ Joe asked. ‘The bed you tell me you have ordered for Gloria and me would accommodate half a dozen with ease. What use would we make of another bed?’

‘There are times when a woman might like to sleep alone,’ Brian told him. ‘Or when you are home late perhaps, or have to get up early and don’t wish to disturb. Believe me, a separate bed is essential.’

All of it was out of Joe’s understanding. In the world he came from, when a man and woman married, they bought a double bed and slept in it together thereafter night after night. They made love on it, babies were born on it, small children sometimes shared it and the marriage bed was often the most important purchase ever made.

He thought of the huge and beautiful bed Brian had ordered. Was it possible that Gloria would lie encased in that magnificent bed all alone, while he lay in another bed, the other side of the wall?

Brian saw the confusion on Joe’s face. ‘A dressing room and a separate bed were among the first things I insisted on when I married Norah,’ he said. ‘And she has been as grateful as I have been at times. I know that this is all new to you, but trust me in this.’

‘Yes, sir,’ Joe said, knowing he had no alternative.

FIVE (#ulink_4ee884e3-c167-577f-ae6a-6b4b10f30daa)