The Girl with the Creel (60 page)

But Dan had heard. ‘I'll see her home.'

Come to her senses now, Lizann nodded her head. ‘It's all right, I'll be safe with him.'

When Gladys walked away, Dan said, ‘I thought I'd never get a chance to speak to you on your own.'

There was a long queue at the stop for the Rosemount tram, and they had to stand most of the way, so it was only when they came off that they were alone, and it was too cold to hang about talking. Noticing for the first time how wet Dan was, and how badly he was shivering, Lizann said, ‘I can't take you upstairs, I don't know what my landlady would say, but you'd better come into the lobby.'

In the dim light from a small electric bulb, he looked at her sadly. ‘I've imagined seeing you again for so long, but not like this.'

‘If you've come to propose again, Dan, the answer's still no.'

‘I didn't come to propose, I came to take you away from the bombing.'

‘But I don't want to get away. I like my work, I like my digs and I've got friends here.'

‘Will you let me see you occasionally? So I'll know you're all right?'

‘You won't get me to change my mind … about anything.'

‘I won't try, I promise. I've always come to Aberdeen on weekdays, but I could make it Sundays when you don't have to go to work. I don't want to lose touch with you again. Please, Lizann?'

He started to sneeze now, and she felt affection for him stirring in her. ‘I hope you haven't caught your death of cold.'

‘I wouldn't care if I had. At least I've found you.'

‘Oh, Dan, it's good to see you … and I would like to see you again … but just as friends.'

‘That's all I want, too, my dear.'

‘All right, I'll meet you at two at … where would be best for you?'

‘Anywhere. I leave my lorry at Ella's.'

‘Have you to drive back to Easter Duncairn tonight?'

Her obvious horror at this warmed his heart. ‘Yes, but I'll take care, I promise. So where will I meet you on Sunday?'

‘At the top of Market Street? Do you know where that is?'

‘Yes, and that's fine. I'll say goodnight now, Lizann.'

‘Goodnight, Dan. See you on Sunday.'

She went upstairs thoughtfully. She shouldn't have agreed to meet him at all. She knew how he felt about her, and if he thought he could talk her into marrying him, he was going to be hurt.

‘You're awful late tonight,' Mrs Melville remarked when she went in.

‘Gladys cut her finger, and I waited with her till the nurse bandaged it.' She couldn't speak about Dan yet, not until she had got used to the idea of seeing him again.

‘Good God, Dan!' Ella exclaimed. ‘You're soaking wet!'

‘Soaking wet and walking on air,' he grinned.

‘Don't tell me you found her … after all this time?'

‘Yes, I found her and I'm meeting her again on Sunday.'

‘You won't be meeting anybody on Sunday if you don't change out of those wet clothes. You can have some of John's things, but will you be fit to drive home?'

‘I'm fit for anything. Lizann says she just wants us to be friends, but it's early days and at least she did agree to see me again. I'll get her to come round.'

Ella grinned. ‘Knowing you, I'm sure you will. You're like a cat with a mouse, you never give up.'

‘That's not a very nice comparison,' he laughed.

‘You know what I mean.'

Gladys kept on at her so much about Dan the following day that Lizann told her who and what he was, and that he had already proposed to her.

Her friend was amazed. ‘He has his own farm and he loves you, and you turned him down?'

‘I don't love him.'

‘But you like him, I know by the way you speak about him.'

‘Yes, I do like him, but marriage needs to be based on love.'

On Sunday, Dan's streaming cold made Lizann so sorry for him that she wondered if it was just affection she felt for him. It was flattering to think that he'd been searching for her for months, even in weather that had him soaked to the skin and frozen to the marrow. ‘You shouldn't have come today,' she told him. ‘You should be in bed with a cold like that.'

‘I couldn't leave you standing waiting,' he grinned, ‘and I'll soon get over it. I'm as strong as a horse.'

‘You'll get a worse dose after this. It's still freezing.'

‘At least it's dry. Now, where can we go to talk?'

‘Nowhere's open on a Sunday.'

‘Ella said I could take you there, and she'd let us have the lounge to ourselves.'

‘You've got Ella on your side?' she smiled.

‘It's nothing like that. She knows we didn't get much of a chance to speak on Tuesday, and I want to hear what you've done since you came to Aberdeen. I promise I won't say anything you don't want me to say.'

Lizann gave in. ‘I don't want you to be ill, either, so we'd better go to Great Western Road.'

Ella was pleased to see her again, and after giving them a cup of tea she sent them through to her lounge. Lizann sat down in one of the deep leather armchairs, but Dan stood up in front of the fire, his hands held out to the flames.

‘Are you still cold?' she asked anxiously.

‘A wee bit, but I'll soon thaw out.' He took the other seat and leaned forward. ‘Now, are you going to tell me how you found that job, and who told you about the lodgings?'

Lizann explained everything, then asked about the farm, and they were soon chatting away easily, recalling the days she had gone round with her creel, the time she had lived with the Laings, the months she had worked at Easter Duncairn. ‘Did you find another maid?' she asked.

He told her about Alice, then said hesitantly, ‘Meggie hasn't been keeping too well lately.'

‘Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I don't bear her any grudge for what she did to me – she was only trying to protect her job.'

‘I felt like killing her,' Dan admitted, ‘though I'm glad I didn't.'

‘So'm I,' Lizann burst out. ‘You might have been hung for it.'

‘I was only joking,' he smiled, then looked away. ‘Would you really have cared if I was hanged?'

‘You know I would.'

He lifted his eyes to hers again. ‘I'd break my heart if anything … that's why I want you to leave Aberdeen.'

‘But I don't want to leave Aberdeen, Dan.'

When Ella came through to tell them a meal was on the table, they were sitting silently, and she said brightly, ‘You won't have to be too late if you're taking Lizann back to her lodgings before you go home …'

Lizann stood up. ‘No, I'll be all right myself.'

‘I'll drop you off on my way,' Dan assured her, also rising.

‘Not yet,' his sister laughed. ‘Have your dinner first.'

John, Ella's husband, was already seated in the dining-room, and he jumped up to shake Lizann's hand vigorously. ‘I'm pleased you two have got back together again.'

‘But …' Lizann began, looking helplessly at Dan, who said, ‘Nobody's more pleased than I am, John.'

Later, on their way to Rosemount Place in the old lorry, Lizann said, accusingly, ‘Dan, why didn't you correct John? We're not back together. We've never been together, not really.'

‘What would you call this, then?' he smiled.

She paused for only a few seconds. ‘Together,' she giggled, a warmth sweeping through her in spite of the icy blasts of wind coming through the ill-fitting window of the ancient Ford.

Chapter Thirty-four

Over the winter, with less work to be done on the farm, Lizann had seen quite a lot of Dan and was well aware of how deeply he loved her. It was in his eyes, in his soft, caressing voice, but … At Christmas, Ella and John had clearly thought marriage was imminent, and Mrs Melville also seemed to think so, but she herself was still not sure.

The realization came for her one Sunday in March. She had been lying in bed looking forward to seeing him in a few hours, when it dawned on her it wasn't just pleasure she felt. Her heart was beating faster at the thought of him, her inside was behaving in a way that only being in love could explain. It wasn't the sharp aching love she had felt for George – which she had been waiting for – it was a warm, comforting sort of love, a mature love, a thirty-year-old woman's love, and she had been last to recognize it.

Dan had respected her wish by not proposing again, and she couldn't bring the subject up herself. Anyway, she couldn't go back to the farm as his wife with Meggie Thow still there. The housekeeper would think she'd been right in what she thought before.

This problem was resolved at the end of April, when Dan told her that Meggie had died. ‘Poor lonely woman,' she said. ‘Easter Duncairn was her whole world, and she was terrified you'd take a wife and put her out.'

‘Dear Lizann,' he murmured, ‘you have a heart of gold.'

The moment was too sweet to let slip, and she whispered shyly, ‘It's all yours, Dan.'

There was a quick intake of breath before he said, ‘Do you mean that?'

‘It's been all yours for weeks. I was waiting for you to …'

‘And I've been waiting for some sign …' He took a step towards her, then hesitated. ‘I'd like to kiss you … but …'

Knowing that he was afraid she might object to being kissed in such a public place, she smiled, ‘What's stopping you?'

And so, standing on Union Street's wide pavement, thronged with men, women and children out for a Sunday stroll on this sunny spring afternoon, he kissed her. ‘You'll marry me now?' he asked, presently.

‘As soon as you want.'

They took the tramcar to Great Western Road, where one look at their rapturous faces was enough to make Ella rise to hug Lizann. ‘Oh, thank goodness! I was beginning to think I'd have to hit the pair of you over the head with a hammer to knock some sense into you.'

Her husband rose to shake Dan's hand. ‘So you managed to propose at long last?'

Chuckling, Dan said, ‘It was more of a combined effort.'

In a few minutes they were all sitting with a glass of the champagne John had managed to buy somewhere in readiness, and after toasting the happiness of the couple, Ella said, ‘Have you decided when and where the wedding's to be?'

‘As soon as possible.' Dan glanced at Lizann who said, ‘I'd like it to be here in Aberdeen.'

‘Wherever you want, my sweet,' he smiled.

‘You can see my minister if you like, Dan,' Ella suggested. ‘Stay over tonight, and you can arrange everything tomorrow.'

‘I want a quiet wedding,' Lizann said, timidly, ‘with a wee do for my friends afterwards … if it wouldn't cost too much.'

Dan smiled adoringly. ‘I don't care what it costs if you're happy.'

Ella raised her eyebrows to her husband and stood up. ‘I think we're superfluous at the moment, John.'

‘I think you're right,' he grinned, rising to follow her out.

Lizann gave a long, happy sigh. ‘This doesn't seem real.'

‘You're not having second thoughts, I hope?'

‘No, it's just … now we've come right out and said we love each other, everything's happening so quickly.'

‘Would you rather we waited? It's up to you, my darling.'

‘No, I don't want to wait. We've wasted enough time as it is, and it's all my fault. I should have accepted when you proposed before.'

‘You didn't love me then.'

‘I must have, I just didn't know it. I was in a bit of a state at that time, don't forget.'

He stood up and pulled her to her feet, tilting her face up to kiss her. ‘I'll make you happy, my sweet, sweet Lizann. I'll do everything in my power to please you.'

When Dan took her back to her lodgings, Mrs Melville was delighted at what they had to tell her. ‘I'll be sorry to lose the best lodger I ever had,' she said, then added mischievously, ‘even though my house always reeked of fish.'

In bed, Lizann wondered how she would shape as a farmer's wife. Would Dan's workers resent him marrying the girl who had once been his maid? Would some of them remember that she had once sold fish at their doors? Whatever happened, she would never regret marrying him, and she would give him the love he'd been starved of for so long.

*   *   *

‘I wondered how long it would be before you saw sense,' Gladys grinned, when Lizann told her she was going to marry Dan.

‘I wasn't sure I loved him,' Lizann explained.

‘I knew you loved him, right from the day he turned up here.'

‘Liar,' Lizann laughed.

‘Honest, and if you'd dithered about much longer, I'd have told you to pull your socks up. When's the wedding?'

‘Dan's going to try to make it three weeks from Saturday. His sister's going to arrange everything else – I'm too excited. It's to be in Ella's kirk, and I wanted you to be matron-of-honour, but when Dan said he was having John as best man, I felt obliged to ask Ella. You're invited to the Douglas Hotel after, though – you and whoever else wants to come.'

Gladys turned round and shouted, ‘D'you hear that? We're all invited to the Douglas after Lizann's wedding.'

Lizann was swamped with congratulations, plus a few remarks and jokes rather too near the knuckle for her liking, though she took them all in good part. As she observed to Gladys later, ‘What a great lot they are. The best set of friends I could wish for.'

‘You'll maybe not be saying that when they let their hair down in the Douglas. Are Dan's folk easy offended?'

‘I don't think so.' Lizann's face grew anxious as a new thought struck her. ‘I won't get a feet-washing, will I?'

‘No, it's just men that get that,' Gladys assured her.