A Daughter’s Dream

Mary pulled a face at me as her aunt went off to speak to Lainie. ‘Aunt Emily makes such a fuss about money. Anyone would think it was her own money she was spending. Daddy gave me two thousand pounds for my clothes and I’ve hardly spent anything yet. I couldn’t find anything I liked.’

‘That was very generous of your father.’

‘Oh, Daddy has lots of money. He doesn’t care what I spend as long as I stay out of his way and don’t bother him when he has his business friends to the house.’

‘What does your mother say about your clothes?’

‘She died when I was quite small,’ Mary said. ‘Aunt Emily was her closest friend, and she has been very good, taking me about with her since I left school at Christmas – but she is rather strict.’

‘I am sorry you lost your mother when you were small. Was she very ill?’

‘I’m not sure. I think she was unhappy. She used to cry a lot and hug me – and I think she drank too much alcohol.’

‘Oh …’ I wasn’t quite sure what to say. ‘I’m sorry, Mary. I shouldn’t have asked such a personal question.’

‘It doesn’t matter. I cried a lot when Mummy died, but then Eleanor came and took me home to stay with her and I felt better. Eleanor was Mummy’s sister’s daughter. I felt better when I stayed with them. Eleanor was good to me but she died during the war. She was a nurse in France and the ambulance she was travelling in was blown up while on a rescue mission to bring injured men back to the hospital. It was terrible.’

‘That was very sad. You must have been very upset.’

‘Yes, I was. Very upset. Eleanor was my best friend. I loved her very much, and I still miss her. If she had been alive she would have come with me to choose my clothes and it would have been so much more fun …’ She sighed deeply. ‘You can’t imagine how many establishments we’ve been to, trying to find the right clothes, Amy.’

‘I know a lot of the styles this season are very sophisticated.’

‘Some of them are so fussy. I like simple things like these designs of yours. Paul likes me in green best, that is why I chose green for that evening dress.’ She smiled to herself. ‘He has been in France, taking part in the first twenty-four-hour race at Le Mans …’

She broke off and glanced towards Mrs Holland as she came back to join us, looking pleased with herself. I guessed that Lainie had given her a generous discount, which we had allowed for in the costing, knowing that she would not be satisfied with just a few pounds off the asking price.

‘I have ordered the green gown,’ she said. ‘We shall see how that looks for a start. Miss O’Rourke has told me she has a new line of ready-made afternoon dresses coming in soon, and we shall look at those before we make any further decisions.’

Mary pulled a face at me as she followed her aunt from the shop.

‘When shall I come for my fitting?’

‘On Tuesday afternoon at half past two – if that suits you?’

She nodded and smiled, then disappeared out into the bright sunshine.

I waited until they had gone and then went into the office, where Lainie was looking at some patterns of silk and satin materials.

‘She insisted on the best material, Amy,’ Lainie said. ‘I told her that would be another five pounds, and she haggled so we ended up at fifteen pounds and ten shillings – will that cover your costs?’

‘Yes, quite easily with some to spare,’ I said. ‘But I had quoted for the best quality material, Lainie.’

‘I know, but Mrs Holland likes to think she is getting the best of the deal so I put the price up and then came down more than I could have done if I’d stuck to your original quote.’

‘I shall have to remember that in future.’

Lainie nodded, looking at me thoughtfully. ‘Yes, I think she will order several more gowns if she is satisfied with the first … I wonder if you know what you’ve started, Amy?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Mrs Holland is the sort of woman who likes to talk when she has discovered something she considers above average. We shall probably have other customers asking us to make things for them before long.’

‘Would that be a problem?’

‘I might have to take another girl on in the sewing room if we can’t cope, but if we were making money out of the work … I suppose it might be worth it.’

‘Well, let’s see how it goes,’ I said. ‘They may not be satisfied with the dress when we’ve finished it.’

‘I don’t see why they shouldn’t be,’ Lainie said. ‘That dress you made for your eighteenth birthday party was rather lovely, Amy. I didn’t realize you had made it yourself until you told me last night.’

‘I think Margaret should do most of the sewing on Mary’s gown, and I shall do the beading myself, of course. That will leave Sally free to carry on with the alterations as usual, and I don’t mind working in the evenings to finish it on time.’

‘Well, you mustn’t work all the time,’ Lainie said with a smile. ‘How would you like to go out this evening? I thought we might go to the theatre to see Noel Coward’s play.’

‘Yes, I should enjoy that,’ I told her with a smile. ‘And I shall go to see my parents this weekend. After that I can really get down to work on Mary’s new gown.’

‘Did she give you permission to call her Mary?’ Lainie asked with a little frown. ‘Some of the customers do, I know, but it is a little familiar.’

‘I don’t even know her second name,’ I said. ‘She talked about her father a lot but neither she or Mrs Holland mentioned her surname.’

‘Well, I suppose it’s all right then. As long as you remain respectful, Amy. You have to be careful with customers, especially people like Mrs Holland.’

‘Yes, of course,’ I replied. ‘But Mary is so friendly, and I know how to treat Mrs Holland.’

I was a little resentful that Lainie should have thought it necessary to warn me to keep my place with the customers. I wouldn’t have dreamed of addressing most of them by their first names, but Mary was different.

‘How exciting for you,’ said my mother when I told her we were making up one of my designs for a customer of Lainie’s. ‘You draw some beautiful things, Amy. I think they are quite as good as any of the expensive designers I see the quality wearing at their social events.’

‘And when do you see them all dressed up then, Bridget?’ my father quizzed her with a wicked twinkle in his eyes. ‘I didn’t know you’d been invited to dinner at Buckingham Palace!’

‘Go on with you, Joe Robinson!’ My mother pulled a face at him. ‘You know very well that the papers are full of pictures of the royal family and other members of the aristocracy.’

‘I didn’t know you were wasting your time looking at them.’

‘It’s little enough time I spend sitting down, but I do like to read the papers, and I have a magazine now and then as a treat.’

‘Now the secrets are coming out!’

‘Oh, do stop teasing her,’ I said and shook my head at him. ‘Lainie says she might have to take on another seamstress in the workrooms if my idea catches on.’

‘I hope she’s paying you extra,’ my father said. ‘You will be doing a lot more work, Amy.’

‘We’ve written my fees into the costing,’ I told him. ‘If I had sold my designs to one of the big stores I approached I would have received a fee, and Lainie insisted I include something for my time.’

‘So I should think,’ he said, but again there was a twinkle in his eye. ‘When are you expecting to see Matthew next?’

‘He wrote in his letter that he hopes to come up on Saturday and go back after tea on Sunday.’