The Long Road Ahead

Let me know, soon, when I can come to Dorchester. Ring me here – I am not returning to London until Wednesday.

Ever your own – Sam.

PS. Oh yes, the other thing my father said was that our wedding reception, wherever we choose it to be – shall be his responsibility. He said that since he has always regarded you as his third daughter, this is his prerogative.

PPS. I love you. I couldn’t possibly love you more than I do at this moment.

Chapter Two (#ulink_d92108ef-83e2-50fd-8f23-307fd66dc2d6)

Valerie arrived five minutes before the shop opened and she came in quickly, shutting the door behind her with a bang.

‘Is it ever going to warm up!’ she demanded. ‘I am sick of wrapping myself up like an Egyptian mummy! And having to paddle around everywhere! I’m beginning to grow webbed feet!’

Alice smiled across at her. ‘The weather will change soon – they’ve promised us,’ she said. ‘Come over here – I’ve put two bars on the electric fire. Blow the expense!’

Valerie went into the cloakroom to hang up her coat and scarf, then joined Alice in the office and crouched down in front of the fire, rubbing her hands. And Alice looked at her thoughtfully. She would have to tell the girl her news soon – today – it was only fair. She cleared her throat.

‘Did you have a good weekend, Valerie?’ she began, and Valerie interrupted.

Yes – I did. I went shopping with a couple of friends on Saturday afternoon, and then in the evening my brother and his wife invited my parents and me to their place for supper. Joan made a really nice meal…she’s always been a good cook…but this was the first time since they got together again that she’d made that kind of effort. It felt like a proper celebration,’ Valerie added.

‘That does sound lovely,’ Alice said. And it was lovely, she thought, that Ronnie Gates had been able to forgive his wife her disloyalty with someone else while he’d been away during the war. Forgive her enough to stand with her in front of the altar and repeat their original vows. Alice had been a guest at the joyful and rather unusual ceremony at the church.

Valerie stood up reluctantly, and yawned. ‘Well, I suppose I ought to make a start on those specs,’ she said. ‘I didn’t finish them all on Saturday morning.’ She yawned again. ‘Did you have a good weekend? You said you were going to Bristol on business didn’t you?’

Alice waited before replying. Then – ‘As a matter of fact, Valerie,’ she said, ‘I had the most wonderful weekend of my entire life…’

Valerie was immediately interested. ‘Why? What did you do? Quick – tell me!’

Alice swallowed, still almost unable to believe the words she was going to utter. ‘It’s just that…I’ve become engaged, Valerie,’ she said. ‘The man I love – the man I have always loved – asked me to marry him. And I’ve accepted.’

Valerie’s eyes shone with excitement. Who doesn’t like engagements and weddings! ‘Show me the ring!’ she demanded, moving over to take Alice’s hand.

Alice shook her head, laughing. ‘There isn’t a ring yet,’ she said, ‘because he wasn’t sure I would accept him! But he’s coming down to Dorchester soon – probably on Saturday – and we shall choose it together.’

Valerie’s excitement seemed to reverberate around the room. ‘Oh how exciting, Alice! Have you known him long? And if so – why haven’t you brought him here to show us? Come on – tell me all about it…did he go down on one knee? Did you keep him waiting – as if he might be number two or three on your list of possible suitors?’ Valerie was a hopeless romantic. ‘What’s his name…and is he tall and handsome – and have you got a photo? You must have a photo!’

Alice held up her hands in mock surrender. ‘Hang on a minute, Valerie,’ she said. ‘and I’ll start from the beginning. Well…his name is Sam – Samuel Carmichael, and I’ve known him for most of my life because we lived in the same house in Bristol when we were young…my mother was employed as nanny to his younger siblings – two sets of twins, David and John, and Rose and Margaret. Those little girls were a real handful! And then, when my mother died, that became my job until I left to start my office career at nineteen – I’d learned shorthand and typing at Pitman’s college.’ Alice paused to take a breath. ‘And yes, he is tall and handsome – but he didn’t go down on one knee…actually he went down on both. Because I was sitting on the sofa at the time.’

‘Where were you when he proposed?’ Valerie was going to have all the details. ‘Whose sofa were you sitting on?’

‘His. Well, theirs. The Carmichaels’. I’d gone to their house in Clifton to talk about a business matter – or so I’d thought – but it didn’t exactly turn out to be the sort of business I’d imagined!’

Valerie folded her arms and looked up at the ceiling for a moment. ‘Oh, how romantic,’ she breathed. ‘He’s tall, and handsome…and is he rich as well?’

Alice looked Valerie fondly. The girl seemed as excited as if all this had happened to her. ‘You said you’d always loved him, Alice,’ Valerie went on slowly. ‘And did you know, from the very beginning, that you really, really did love him? And that you were meant for each other?’

Alice waited before answering. Wasn’t that the identical question she had asked her mother all that time ago? And Alice would give exactly the same answer she’d heard that night. ‘Yes, Valerie,’ she said, ‘I have always loved him, from the very beginning, and I knew we were meant for each other. But I couldn’t be sure if he felt the same about me. It was only three days ago that he revealed his true feelings. And I’d never dared to hope that the day would come,’ she added truthfully.

By this time Valerie was almost overcome with emotion. This was like something from the pictures! She went across to Alice and hugged her.

‘Well, I think he’s the luckiest man in the whole, wide world, whoever he is!’ she said flatly. ‘Because you say that he’s handsome – but you are beautiful, Alice…I can see people, men, take a second glance at you every time they come in here, or when we’ve been out together. And Rex – from the Bristol branch where you used to work – is mad about you…yes, he is, Alice,’ she declared, as Alice made to disagree. ‘I can see it every time he comes down here – that’s why he keeps making excuses to drive all the way from Bristol and take us out to lunch and stuff. He can’t take his eyes off you!’

‘Well, anyway, I think I’ve answered all your questions, Valerie,’ Alice said quickly – ‘except the one about whether Sam is rich. And I honestly don’t think he can be. It’s true he comes from a well-established family in Bristol – his father is a professor of medicine – a surgeon – and the Clifton house is very nice. But that doesn’t belong to Sam who’s training to be a surgeon himself,’ she added. ‘He’s got a long way to go to reach the same status as his father.’

This was becoming all too much for Valerie. ‘Oh Alice,’ she murmured, ‘you are going to marry a very tall, very handsome, very clever man who you’ve always loved and who loves you… I’m going to start crying in a minute…’

Alice stood up. ‘Don’t do that, Valerie,’ she said, ‘because we’ve got our first customer. He’s looking in the window and he’s coming in now…’

Thanks to the fact that they had one or two genuine enquiries about house purchases and flat lettings, the day was passing quite quickly. Though it was difficult to concentrate because every time they had a quiet spell, all Valerie wanted to do was talk about the engagement.

‘Have you fixed a date yet?’ the girl wanted to know as she tucked into one of the fresh currant buns with the sugary tops which she’d bought for them to celebrate. ‘I don’t expect it’ll be until next year, will it,’ she added, licking her fingers, ‘because weddings take ages and ages to arrange, don’t they…there’s always so much to decide! I remember when my brother was getting married – the first time, I mean – it nearly gave Joan a nervous breakdown!’

Alice nearly choked on her bun. She didn’t need anyone saying things like that! ‘Oh, we don’t really know the date yet,’ she said, crossing her fingers against the little white lie. But she’d made up her mind that it was better to say nothing about when she might be leaving…for all sorts of reasons. And one of the lesser reasons was that she knew Valerie would be really upset. The girl had said, so often, that she had never been happier than working here with Alice…because the days never seemed long since they were usually so busy, and that they always got on well together and sometimes had fits of the giggles about some of the clients…and that for the first time in her life she always looked forward to coming to work. Her enthusiasm had been quite touching, Alice had often thought. She shrugged inwardly. Disruptions usually cause someone some upset, but there was no need to upset Valerie just yet. ‘I’m sure we’ll discuss dates…things like that,’ she said airily, ‘when Sam comes down. There’s no rush.’

When Alice got back home that evening – quite late thanks to the couple who kept on and on about what they were looking for, and who insisted on telling her their life story while they were about it – there were two letters on the mat which had arrived in the afternoon post.

Alice picked them up, shrugged off her coat, and as usual went straight into the kitchen to put the kettle on. Then she switched on the light and sat down on the stool to examine the writing on the envelopes. And smiled. The first one had Eve’s neat, precise handwriting on it, and the other one was from Fay. Her bold scrawl, taking up nearly all the space on the envelope, was unmistakable. How funny that they should both be writing to her on the same day, Alice thought briefly. They hadn’t been in touch for a while. (And neither had she, to be fair.)

She opened Eve’s first.

Dearest Alice

Look, spring is almost here and we still haven’t arranged to meet! My offer of afternoon tea at the Royal still stands – I’m dying to tell you everything that’s been going on, and I’m wondering if Sunday week is any good for you? The thirteenth? I rang Fay at Miss Downs’s place, and that day is OK for her…so will you please ring me at home, and let me know? You have our number. I would love to contact you at your office, but I know that personal calls in business are always frowned upon – even though you are the boss! And I’m sure that whatever time of day I chose to ring would be the most inconvenient and that I would probably ruin the best deal you’d had for ages! I do hope you can make it. It’s over three months since we’ve been together, and I promise I shall be much more jolly this time!

With my love, Alice – Evie.

Alice put the letter aside, smiling. Evie was such a patent little thing, and her happiness was bubbling right over, you could feel it. And straightaway Alice knew that Sunday week would be all right for her, too, because just before leaving work, she’d phoned the Clifton house and spoken to Sam about his visit to Dorchester.

This coming Saturday, he was going to slip a ring on her finger! They were going to choose it together…and Alice knew that it was going to be beautiful…sparkling…glamorous…special…

But it wouldn’t have mattered to her if it was an old curtain ring he picked up from the gutter. All that mattered was the promise it held.

By now, the kettle had boiled for her cup of tea, and Alice decided to wait a few more minutes before opening the letter from Fay. To hold off the moment. To look forward to it for just a bit longer. Why had her letters always meant so much to her, she asked herself? Well, she knew the answer to that. It was because they’d been thought about, touched, handled and written by people – loved people – who had taken the trouble to sit down and think about her…who had taken the time to say what had been on their minds and hearts. Surely the time would never come when letter-writing became a thing of the past? When you had no reason to look forward to seeing the postman come up the path? Surely not?

It was a relief to Alice that, after a spell of unexplained loss of appetite, it had started to return…that she actually felt hungry at the appropriate times. And today was no exception. She’d seen a lovely pork chop for tenpence in the window of the small butcher’s on the corner, and she was going to grill it with some mushrooms, and have it with potato chips. There was enough lard in the cupboard to do that. Alice loved chips, especially straight out of newspaper and eaten with your fingers. With plenty of salt and a good splash of vinegar. She smiled to herself as she remembered her birthday last year when, as a complete surprise, Fay and Evie and Rex had all come down from Bristol for the occasion. And Valerie and her brother Ronnie were there, too, and they’d all walked along a very chilly Weymouth sea front, enjoying the traditional seaside treat together.

Presently, with her meal cooked and ready on the plate, Alice poured herself a glass of Corona, then took everything into the dining room and sat down at the table. The letter from Fay was there on the side, but she wouldn’t read it until she’d finished her meal. It could wait just a few more minutes.

Watcher, my old lover! (Alice’s smile broadened.)

What’s been going on with you, then? I hope you haven’t disappeared altogether, because to me, you looked proper skinny just before Christmas. (To the point, as usual.)

Now, there’s things to sort out. First, Evie wants to buy us tea at the Royal on the 13

– I’ve told her that’s no problem for me, and I hope it’s not for you, either, Alice. Make sure it isn’t, because Evie is so excited about the turn of events at home, that if she doesn’t tell us, soon, in person, I’m afraid she might explode. I’ve spoken to her on the phone, of course, but what I want to do is give her a great big hug. Or several great big hugs. I think she deserves her happiness, don’t you, and we should be there to tell her, as soon as possible.

The other thing is – Roger rang me up a few days ago to ask a favour. It’s his mother’s 65