The Londoners (58 page)

‘We were just anticipating Jack’s surprise when he comes home and finds his dad has married Harriet Godfrey,’ Kate said, flashing Mavis a wide, warm smile. ‘She used to
be his headmistress when he was in junior school. I can’t imagine he’s going to find it easy calling her Mother, can you?’

At the very thought, Mavis spluttered into throaty laughter, and even Carrie began to giggle again. ‘Well, we’ll all be finding out how he’s going to manage soon enough,’
Mavis said when her laughter finally subsided. ‘I had a letter from him this morning. He says he thinks he’ll be home by the end of next month, and demobbed soon after.’

‘When he does come home, you just make sure you give him a wide berth,’ Carrie said, suddenly serious. ‘He’s married now, and no matter how much you and he might protest
that your horse-play is innocent, Christina mightn’t think it innocent. And she’s been hurt enough in the past, losing all her family the way she has done, without being hurt by your
shenanigans.’

Mavis put a hand on an aquamarine-skirted, curvaceous hip, and tapped a foot up and down. ‘Why the hell can’t you keep your useless opinions to yourself, Carrie?’ she demanded
witheringly, uncaring of their embarrassed audience. ‘Me and Jack are mates. Always ’ave been. Always will be. And ’is ’avin’ married Christina isn’t going to
make a ha’p’orth’s difference to that friendship, so don’t you go ’opin’ it will. And as Christina is ’eading this way at this very moment,’ she
added, her eyes no longer holding Carrie’s but looking over Carrie’s shoulder, ‘I suggest we put the kibosh on this conversation, don’t you?’

Before Carrie could make any response, they all heard Nellie boom out from the depths of her sagging armchair, ‘Where the ’ell ’ave you been, Christina? You’ve been
missing all the fun!’

‘I’ve not been far,’ Christina said, smiling at Nellie with affectionate warmth. ‘I just wanted to be on my own for a little while.’

‘Well, you chose a rum day for it, dearie!’ Nellie’s red balloon still bobbed jauntily on the end of its string. ‘Still, it takes all sorts and I ’spect you wanted
to enjoy the news about your Jack coming ’ome and ’opin’ to be demobbed soon. It’s grand news, ain’t it?’

Christina stared at her. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, utterly bewildered. ‘I don’t understand. How do you know Jack’s going to be home soon?’

‘Mavis told me,’ Nellie said blithely. ‘She ’ad a letter from ’im this mornin’. I expect her Ted will be ’ome soon as well. I ’aven’t
’ad news about ’Arold, but that’s only to be expected . . .’

Christina was no longer listening to her. She was looking across at Mavis, her face so white it looked as if it were carved from marble.

‘Bloody
hell
,’ Mavis said graphically to the world at large, ‘that’s torn it. How was I to know Jack hadn’t written her with the news yet?’

‘Well, you know now,’ Danny said dryly as his father began prudently edging away from what was obviously going to be the centre of a very unpleasant explosion.

‘And if I were you, Mavis, I’d start thinking what to do about it,’ Carrie added, grim-faced. ‘And I’d start thinking fast. Very fast indeed!’

Margaret Pemberton is the bestselling author of over thirty novels in many different genres, some of which are contemporary in setting and some historical.

She has served as Chairman of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and has three times served as a committee member of the Crime Writers’ Association. Born in Bradford, she is married
to a Londoner, has five children and two dogs and lives in Whitstable, Kent. Apart from writing, her passions are tango, travel, English history and the English countryside.

Also by Margaret Pemberton

Rendezvous with Danger

The Mystery of Saligo Bay

Vengeance in the Sun

The Guilty Secret

Tapestry of Fear

African Enchantment

Flight to Verechenko

A Many-Splendoured Thing

Moonflower Madness

Forget-Me-Not Bride

Party in Peking

Devil’s Palace

Lion of Languedoc

Yorkshire Rose

The Flower Garden

Silver Shadows, Golden Dreams

Never Leave Me

A Multitude of Sins

White Christmas in Saigon

An Embarrassment of Riches

Zadruga

The Four of Us

Magnolia Square

Coronation Summer

A Season of Secrets

I would like to thank Carol Smith, my agent and friend, for persuading me that the time had come to write about my own patch of south-east London.

I would also like to thank my editor, Diane Pearson, for all her unstinting help, support and expertise.

And last, but by no means least, I would like to thank the big-hearted family I married into so many years ago. Where
The Londoners
is concerned, they were truly inspirational.

First published 1995 by Transworld

This electronic edition published 2015 by Pan Books
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ISBN 978-1-4472-3022-9

Copyright © Margaret Pemberton 1995

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The right of Margaret Pemberton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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