One Step at a Time (10 page)

‘You can leave that with me.’ Mrs Dalton took it out of his hand. ‘They’ll have to be told she’s moved, and they’ll probably be only too pleased to know she has a home and someone to look out for her. I’ll go and see them tomorrow.’

‘Thanks, Mrs Dalton, that’s very kind of you. We knew you’d be the right person to bring her to for help.’ Ben leant on the table and sighed deeply.

‘You go and rest, Benjamin, before you collapse again. We’ll look after Amy.’

He didn’t argue. The events of the morning had taken more out of him than he’d realized.

9

The cat jumping off her lap woke Amy up. She looked around, startled by her strange surroundings, and as everything came tumbling back she gave a little sob of relief. At the funeral she had been in utter despair, then someone she had only met once came to her and took charge. Now, unbelievably, she was with people who seemed to care what happened to her. Who would have thought a chance meeting by the river would have led to this? But how glad she was that it had.

There was a knock on the door and Mrs Dalton came in with a man. He was probably in his sixties; slightly crumpled in appearance, with grey thinning hair and a slight stoop.

‘Amy, this is Ted Andrews and he’s offered to help you move your things.’

She scrambled to her feet. ‘Thank you, Mr Andrews.’

He smiled then, making deep crinkles at the corners of his pale blue eyes. She liked him instantly.

‘Shall we go then? Howard’s already in the van.’ He moved aside to allow Oscar to scurry from the room and chuckled. ‘That cat doesn’t like men, so he’ll be delighted to have another woman living here.’

‘He’s been asleep on my lap.’ Amy brushed down her skirt, feeling shy. These were all strangers; she couldn’t believe how kind they were being to her.

‘Off you go then.’ Mrs Dalton hustled them out. ‘We want to see Amy nicely settled by teatime. Bring everything you need, and any food you have. Don’t want it to go bad, because you won’t be going back there.’

Howard was leaning on a dilapidated black van when they got outside. The three of them managed to squeeze in the front, and after a bit of coughing and shuddering it started and they were on their way.

‘Er… is Ben all right?’ She was still concerned that he had been ill and had not yet completely recovered.

‘He’ll be fine in a couple of days.’ Howard grinned. ‘He’s sprawled out on his bed fast asleep at the moment.’

A rumble of amusement came from Ted. ‘And there’s plenty of him to sprawl, but he’s a tough boy and it won’t take him long to get his strength back.’

‘You’re right, Ted, but he gave us all a scare. How’s business?’ Howard changed the subject. ‘Has it picked up at all?’

‘Not much, but with so many out of work I’ve been able to pick up some good books. I give them a fair price, which is more than the pawnbrokers do.’

Books? Amy listened with great interest; she couldn’t contain her curiosity. ‘Do you sell books?’

‘That’s right. I’ve got a small shop in Chelsea
selling second-hand books.’ He cast her a quick smile. ‘It’s just a hobby really, but it keeps me active. I’m retired, but I like to have something to do.’

‘Ted used to be an English teacher,’ Howard explained.

‘Oh.’ Her eyes opened wide and she looked at the man driving with renewed interest. He must be really brainy.

‘Do you like books, Amy?’ Ted changed gear after a lot of resistance from the engine.

She nodded and looked down at her hands. She loved books, the feel of them and the special smell of bindings and printed paper, and she yearned to know what was inside them. As ever, the humiliation of
not
knowing washed over her.

Ted seemed to know where he was going and they stopped right outside the house she had lived in all her life. Now she knew she was leaving it, she wasn’t the slightest bit sorry. The place didn’t hold many happy memories.

Once inside, Howard looked in the rooms. ‘What do you want to take, Amy?’

She pursed her lips in thought. ‘There’s a small table in my mother’s room, and I’ll have one of the kitchen chairs. They can go by the window in my room, but apart from a few personal items and crockery, I don’t need anything else.’

‘What are you going to do with the rest?’ Howard began taking things out of the larder and putting them in a basket.

‘I don’t know.’ Everything had happened so fast Amy hadn’t thought that far ahead.

‘Well, I’ll buy that chest of drawers off you.’ Ted ran his hands over it. ‘That’s a nice piece of oak. It’ll do fine in the shop to keep my papers in. How much do you want for it?’

She stared at him, not having the faintest idea what such a thing would cost. ‘I don’t know. You have it if you want it.’

‘No, I must pay you for it, Amy, you can’t afford to give things away.’ He pulled out his wallet. ‘How about a pound?’

‘A pound…?’ She was lost for words. It was hard to believe that anyone would want her old furniture. She nodded quickly. That money would pay for her room for a while, giving her time to find a job. ‘That’s plenty.’

He handed her a pound note and she put it in the old brown teapot, clutching it to her.

‘You’ve got a few quite nice pieces here.’ Ted continued to prowl the room. ‘Tell you what, I’ve got a friend who runs a second-hand furniture shop near mine. Would you like me to bring him here tomorrow? I’ll make sure he gives you a fair price for the stuff.’

‘Oh, yes please. I’ve paid the rent until the end of this week. Then I’ve got another week to get out.’

‘Right, let’s get this loaded up.’ Ted paused as he pulled out one of the drawers of the unit he’d just bought. ‘My goodness, these are very good.’

He was holding her grandmother’s drawings and Amy stood beside him as he looked through the sheets.

‘My gran did those. She was very clever.’

‘I’ll say she was. Did your grandmother do them for you when you were a little girl?’

‘She was trying to teach me to read.’ Amy avoided giving her age, not wanting to admit that she had been about ten, by which time it had become obvious that she wasn’t able to read.

‘You’ve looked after them well.’ Ted took something else from the drawer. ‘Ah, Ben’s work.’

Amy nodded, relieved the subject had been changed. ‘He gave me that.’

Ted slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand. ‘Of course, that’s where I’ve seen you before. Ben’s painted you sitting beside the river in the same spot as this.’

‘I met him there one day when he was drawing.’

‘Now I understand. All Mrs Dalton told me was that she had taken in a young girl who needed our help. I didn’t immediately connect you with the girl Ben told me about.’ His look was one of compassion. ‘That turned out to be a lucky day for you, didn’t it?’

‘Yes.’ Amy whispered as the horror of what might have happened to her if she hadn’t met Ben swamped her for a moment. ‘I don’t know what I would have done if Ben and Howard hadn’t come looking for me.’

‘You’ll be all right now.’ Ted patted her arm in a
fatherly fashion. ‘Mrs Dalton’s a kind woman, and she’ll look after you.’

It was a comforting thought and made Amy’s eyes mist over.

‘Have you got everything you need, Amy?’ Howard had come back after loading things into the van.

‘I think so.’ Wandering through each room she checked that she had collected together all the small personal things like brushes, mirrors and little jars from her mother’s dressing table. There were family photographs in a biscuit tin, so she took those as well. She wouldn’t be able to bring herself to look at them now, after what had happened to her father, but perhaps one day she would, when the loss of both parents didn’t hurt so much.

Closing the front door she put the key in her pocket and turned to walk to the van.

She stopped in mid-stride as she saw the neighbours had come out to see what was going on.

It was Mrs Preston who came up to her. ‘Where are you going, Amy?’

How dare they! All the hurt and fury came to the surface as she faced these callous people. ‘It’s none of your business! And what do you care – what do any of you care?’ She glared at them, shaking with anger. ‘You abandoned us when we needed you the most. My mother died a broken woman and not one of you had the decency to help us or show kindness.’

‘We all knew Andy,’ one woman muttered.

Amy spun to face her. ‘Yes, you all knew him, but
you’ve made him into a saint in your minds. You’ve all forgotten what a nasty, vicious piece of work he was. What my father did was wrong and he’s paid for it, but you had no right to condemn us as well. We did nothing wrong!’

Howard and Ted were standing either side of her, but they didn’t interfere. There was just a quiet mutter of encouragement from Howard. ‘Atta girl! You tell them, Amy.’

Her legs were shaking so much that it was hard to walk, but Ted placed a hand under her arm as support. She had never in her life exploded like that but, heavens, she felt a whole lot better. Never again was she going to allow people to put her down. She was as good as anyone else, and better than these narrow-minded people.

Howard helped her into the van, holding her shaking hands as they drove away. She grimaced. ‘Sorry about that, but it made me so mad when they pretended to be concerned where I was going.’

‘It needed to be said.’ Ted nodded. ‘I was proud to stand beside you.’

‘Me too.’ Howard squeezed her hand. ‘You shamed them.’

Amy fell silent, absorbing their comments. Someone was proud of her. It was a new experience for her.

Ben was waiting for them when they arrived back, and Amy had recovered her composure by the time
they pulled up outside the house – her home from now on.

‘You can leave the chest of drawers in the van. That’s going to the shop tomorrow.’ Ted hauled the kitchen chair out and carried it up the steps.

‘You go and make us all a nice cup of tea.’ Howard winked at her. ‘And leave us to unload everything for you.’

Amy made a large pot of tea and then trotted back and forwards from her room to the kitchen, putting everything neatly away. The men drank their tea as they worked. The table and chair fitted perfectly by the window, a clock and a couple of vases went on the mantelpiece, along with the old brown teapot holding her money. She smiled at the scene. It was a lovely room and looked ever more like home now it had some familiar pieces around. Oscar watched the activity with a disapproving air from the comfort of the armchair.

‘That looks a treat.’ Mrs Dalton nodded her approval. ‘Have you got any food, my dear?’

‘Yes, Mrs Dalton.’ Amy dived into the old pot and pulled out five shillings. ‘I can pay you two weeks rent in advance. Will that be enough? I can manage more because Mr Andrews bought a piece of furniture off me.’

The landlady waved it away. ‘Pay me at the end of each week, just as everyone else does. I’ll make you out a proper rent book.’

She put the money back, comforted to know that
she would be able to pay her way. And if she sold the rest of the furniture tomorrow, that would keep her going for a while.

Seeing that she was settled, everyone went back to their own part of the house, and Amy made for the kitchen she was to use. She was starving now after that burst of rage. Her stock of food was meagre but it was enough for tonight and breakfast. She’d go shopping tomorrow.

After heating up the contents of a tin of soup, she made some cheese sandwiches and a pot of tea. Loading it all on her tray she took it back to her room and sat at the table where she could see the garden. She must ask Mrs Dalton if she could go out there and look at the plants sometime.

Oscar had been following her around and kept rubbing against her legs, looking up with imploring eyes. She laughed, poured some milk in her saucer and gave it to him. It was lapped up with gusto, and then, having got what he wanted, he trotted to the door and demanded to be let out.

She enjoyed every mouthful of her tea and, after washing her dishes and putting them away, she returned to her room to practise her reading and writing before going to bed. This was her nightly routine and she was even more determined to get the hang of it somehow or other.

This wasn’t right. Ben studied the portrait of Amy through narrowed eyes. Now he’d seen her again he
knew why he hadn’t been completely happy with it. He jumped slightly as Howard came and stood beside him. ‘I didn’t hear you come in.’

‘From the look on your face I’d say you don’t like what you see.’

Ben positioned Howard right in front of the painting. ‘Take a good close look. The eyes are too small and they are more of a smoky green, aren’t they?’

‘I don’t agree, Ben. She was upset and has been crying a lot. That would have made them seem a slightly different colour, but they do need to be larger, I think.’

‘You could be right.’ Ben rubbed his chin thoughtfully. ‘I’ll give her a couple of days to settle down and then ask her to sit for me. I knew there was something wrong with it, but I just couldn’t pin it down.’

‘There’s also something else you’ve missed.’ Howard perched on the stool and gave a wry smile. ‘She looks too timid in this.’

Ben frowned. ‘Well, she is.’

‘From what I saw today there’s a determined girl with an inner core of fire.’ Howard then told Ben about her confrontation with the neighbours.

‘Good Lord, I wish I’d seen that.’ Ben began to study his painting with fresh eyes. ‘Yes, fire, that’s what’s missing.’

‘You’ll be able to study her carefully now she’s living here. I’m glad you insisted on finding her today, and I’m beginning to see what intrigued you so much about her. Once seen, never forgotten, eh?’

‘That’s right.’ Ben threw a sheet over the picture. ‘Mrs Dalton will look after her now.’

‘She will, and we’re all damned lucky to be living here. I reckon Mrs Dalton only lets out rooms so she can have people in the house. She doesn’t seem to be interested in the money side of it.’

‘I suspect that her husband left her quite well off.’ Ben raised his eyebrows. ‘She just wants to mother us, except for Ted, of course.’

Howard chuckled. ‘She wants a mature man around in case we get out of hand.’