Act of Will (21 page)

Smiling, Audra reached for the Swan Vestas on the mantelpiece. ‘It seems to have turned a little chilly,’ she said, crouching in front of the grate, striking a match. She brought the flame to the paper and wood chips and went on, ‘Are you sure I can’t get you a cardigan, Gwen?’

‘No, thanks very much, lovey, I’m all right. At least I will be now that you’re getting the fire going.’ Gwen smoothed her hand over the skirt of her brilliant red silk dress, explained, ‘I should have worn something warmer than this, I suppose, but it’s brand new and I wanted you to see it. Do you like it, Audra?’

‘It’s a lovely frock and it really does suit you,’ Audra answered truthfully. She stood up, glanced approvingly at her friend.

Gwen preened; she patted her blonde hair. ‘And what do you think of my new marcel wave?’

‘I like it, and as a matter of fact I’m considering having one myself next week. Now, shall I make us a cup of tea? Or would you prefer a drink perhaps?’

‘I wouldn’t say no to a glass of sherry.’

‘I think I’ll join you.’ Audra went to the hutch cupboard in the corner of the room, took out a bottle of Amontillado
and two glasses, carried them to the mahogany console table which stood against the back wall.

Looking over the back of the sofa at Audra, Gwen remarked, ‘And while we’re handing out compliments, let me pay you one. You’ve made this room look really nice, you have that, Audra. Your father’s paintings are beautiful, especially that one over the fireplace, and this furniture of your mother’s—well, it looks ever so handsome in here. The place does you proud, lovey.’

Audra beamed at her. ‘Thanks, Gwen, and I am glad you like it. The room’s small, of course, but that makes it cosy and comfortable, don’t you think?’

Gwen nodded, then let her eyes roam around. ‘And what did you say the name of this funny green on the wall is?’

Audra laughed. ‘
Eau-de-Nil
.’

‘What a strange name.’ Gwen made a face.

‘It means water of the Nile in French, and it’s a very popular colour at the moment… in fashion, I mean.’

‘Oh is it. Fancy that. Well, you always did keep up with the latest trends in clothes, lovey, didn’t you? I keep telling Mum that you’re
the
expert on fashion and styles and fabrics and all that kind of thing. I hope you realize how much I value your advice. Yes, you’ve got the best taste of anybody I know.’ Gwen accepted the drink from Audra. ‘Thanks, lovey,’ she said.

The two women clinked glasses and Audra stepped up to the fireside, sat down in one of the Chippendale-style chairs which had belonged to her mother. ‘I’m glad you think so—that I have taste, I mean.’

Gwen smiled at her. ‘And where’s Vincent then?’

‘He went to his mother’s, to help his brother fill out some papers. But he’ll be back in time to have supper with us.’

Gwen took a sip of sherry, not trusting herself to speak.

It seemed to her that Vincent was always rushing off to his mother’s house, on some pretext or another, but she did not dare say this to Audra. Ever since their tense discussion on the subject of Vincent in July, Gwen had been scrupulously careful not to make any critical remarks about him. She had soon realized, on that hot summer day when they went to tea at Betty’s Café in Leeds, that she was perilously close to losing Audra’s friendship, and this had both distressed and alarmed her.

Audra was extremely important to Gwen and so nowadays she kept a tight rein on her tongue at all times. But privately she believed that Vincent Crowther was not good enough for her friend, and nothing would make her change her mind. There was something about him that did not sit right with Gwen Thornton, although she would have been hard pressed to pinpoint what this was, if asked. She thought of him as being emotionally dangerous, and her instinct told her he would make Audra extremely unhappy one day.

She wondered, yet again, why he was constantly trotting off to his mother’s, if that was where he really had gone, and then dropped this thought. She was delighted he was not at home. This afternoon she wanted Audra to herself for a while. She had something important to tell her and she preferred to do so without Vincent being present. He could be very opinionated. And he expressed those opinions without being asked.

Conscious of the growing silence, Audra leaned forward, peered across the dusky room. The twilight had come down early today, and the only light emanated from the fire. ‘You’re very quiet, Gwen,’ she remarked. ‘Are you troubled about something?’

‘No, no, nothing’s wrong,’ Gwen was quick to say. She
too drew closer, and let her voice sink low as she added, ‘I don’t want you to tell anyone, not even Vincent, but I’m thinking of getting married.’

‘How wonderful, Gwen dear!’ Audra cried, and then her brow furrowed in puzzlement. ‘But I thought Mike had another two years of medical school? You told me in the spring that he wouldn’t be able to afford a wife for a few years.’

‘Oh, but it’s not Mike I’m thinking of marrying.’

In the dimming light Audra could see that Gwen looked very pleased with herself, and this further perplexed her. ‘But you told me you were in love with Mike Lesley, and certainly the two of you have behaved as if you were in the past year… you’ve been like a couple of love birds in fact,’ Audra said, ‘so what’s suddenly happened to change all that?’

‘Don’t be so dense, Audra,’ Gwen said with a light laugh, ‘obviously I’ve met someone else.’

‘Who?’

‘It’s someone you know—well sort of—but you’ll never guess in a million years,’ Gwen declared, her voice echoing with glee.

‘No, I’m sure I won’t, so you’d better tell me.’

‘
Geoffrey Freemantle
.’

Audra was flabbergasted.

She opened her mouth, then closed it without uttering one single word. She simply gaped at Gwen in disbelief. Taking a deep breath, she said at last, ‘You don’t mean
Doctor
Freemantle? The one who was at the Fever Hospital for a while… you couldn’t possibly mean
him
.’

‘Why couldn’t I?’ Gwen asked with sudden huffiness, ‘of course I mean him.’

‘
Oh
.’ Audra put her glass down on the Sheraton table a little unsteadily. She was staggered. If ever a man was
wrong for Gwen Thornton it was Geoffrey Freemantle. He was cold, arrogant, sarcastic and a snob. Good-looking yes, in a stiff, formal sort of way, and from a wealthy family, too, but he was a pompous and disdainful man, older than Gwen by about fourteen years. Audra found herself filling with genuine dismay and concern. It was hard for her to visualize the gay, laughing, fun-loving Gwen with such a stuffed shirt who believed himself to be superior to the rest of the human race.

‘Is that all you’re going to say? Just
oh
and nothing else?’ Gwen’s voice held a new tremulous quality and her feelings were obviously hurt.

‘No, of course it isn’t,’ Audra said, reaching out, squeezing Gwen’s arm. Pushing an enthusiasm into her voice which she did not feel, she added, ‘I’m very, very happy for you, Gwen, really and truly I am. But I must admit to being a bit taken aback, since this was the last thing I expected to hear today. How did it all happen? Do tell, Gwen.’

Mollified to a certain extent, Gwen said in a cheerier voice, ‘Well, after Geoffrey left Ripon, he went up to Northallerton, but he wasn’t particularly happy there, so he transferred back to the General Infirmary in Leeds, this past spring. Anyway, we kept running into each other in the corridors, and we remembered each other from Ripon. He was always very friendly with me—’ Gwen broke off and giggled. ‘He finally asked me out at the beginning of July. And after one date it happened—just like that!’ She snapped her thumb and fingers together and the glass rings flashed in the firelight.

‘It’s been a bit fast,’ Audra commented, very softly.

‘Yes, it has… just like you and Vincent.’

Well, she’s had the last word there, Audra thought and said, ‘How do your parents feel about it?’

Gwen’s face immediately underwent a radical change and she bit her lip, looking worried and troubled. ‘To tell you the truth, Audra, I’m ever so upset with Mum and Dad. They don’t seem to have taken to Geoffrey one little bit, and they’re not pleased. Course, I think that’s because Mike has been such a close chum of our Charlie’s for years and they always hoped I’d marry him. But what can I do? Geoffrey’s the one for me, oh yes, he
is
, lovey.’

‘So you’ve made up your mind, Gwen?’

‘Oh yes, I think so… no, I
know
so. And he’s quite a catch for me, really he is.’ Her face began to glow again, reflecting the imitation jewels around her neck and she appeared to swell with pride. ‘We’ve been looking at houses in Headingley, and I think we’ve found just the right one. It has a dining room, a lounge, a study, and five bedrooms, perfect for when we start a family. Next week, Geoffrey’s taking me to Greenwood’s in Leeds, to pick out an engagement ring, a
diamond
engagement ring, and the announcement will be in the
Yorkshire Post
.’

‘Have you fixed a definite date?’ Audra asked. She forced a bright smile.

‘Not exactly, but Geoffrey wants us to be married in the spring, because he’s taking me to Paris for our honeymoon and he says you should only ever see Paris in the spring—for the first time, that is. He’s going to fit me out with lots of new clothes too, in Paris, and we’re to stay at the Ritz. Can you imagine
that
! And then we’ll go down to the Riviera. Geoffrey says mimosa time in the south of France is very beautiful and not to be missed and we’ll be spending a whole week at the Negresco in Nice. It’s a very posh place, you know, but then, so is the Ritz.’

Gwen finally paused, leaned forward eagerly, fixing her eyes on Audra’s face, seeking a reaction.

Audra simply smiled.

Clasping her hands together tightly, Gwen’s expression of excitement now changed to one of awe at the glamorous prospects facing her in the future.

‘Once we’ve settled in the house in Headingley, which I’m
certain
we’ll buy, Geoffrey is going to leave the Infirmary and set up in private practice. But not in Headingley. That’s too suburban, Geoffrey says. He’s going to take consulting rooms in Park Place in Leeds. He aims to be a fashionable doctor, treating the local gentry and society women, and he’ll be very successful and rich and I’m going to help him all I can. We’ll entertain a lot, for one thing, give elegant dinner parties and luncheons, and that’s why I need lots of new clothes, Geoffrey wants me to look very smart.’

Audra could only nod, since her dismay was increasing and she did not know what to say. The fake stones Gwen was wearing, glittering so brilliantly in the lambent flames of the fire, held her attention. For a split-second they seemed real, looked like emeralds and rubies and sapphires and not bits of Woolworth glass. The jewellery will be the first to go, she suddenly thought. He’ll make her get rid of it the minute they’re married. Audra felt a stab of sadness as she pictured Gwen stripped of all her silly garish baubles which were quite worthless, yet had always meant so much to her.

Poor little Gwenny, Audra thought, trying to visualize her friend after
he
had worked his transformation on her, after
he
had dressed her and groomed her and turned her into the kind of Mrs Geoffrey Freemantle
he
wanted. In her mind’s eye she saw a curiously stiff, cold woman, an image that had nothing to do with
her
Gwen Thornton. But then none of the things Gwen had been saying had much to do with the girl she knew so well and cared so much about.

Getting to her feet, Audra went and snapped on the small lamps standing on the Sheraton side tables flanking the fireplace. Then she hurried over to the console, brought back the bottle of sherry and refilled their glasses.

Knowing Gwen was waiting for some sort of comment after her graphic recital, Audra murmured, ‘Well, it all sounds wonderful, very wonderful indeed.’

***

After this statement there was no holding Gwen.

Audra realized this when she returned to her chair and offered her friend the warmest of smiles—and her undivided attention.

Always a chatterbox, Gwen talked non-stop about her impending wedding, Geoffrey, his parents, the honeymoon, and the life they would lead afterwards, all without drawing breath.

Leaning back, sipping her sherry, Audra merely nodded occasionally, aware that she would not be allowed to get a word in edgewise. But she did not really want to; neither was she listening very closely.

Her thoughts were centred on Geoffrey Freemantle. It was patently obvious to Audra why he wished to marry Gwen Thornton. She was much younger than he, and was a beautiful blonde with a curvaceous figure; she had a vivacious, outgoing personality and a very loving nature. So all in all she was most desirable in every way; she would be to any man. Also, since she was a nurse and the daughter of a doctor, her background was ideal for an ambitious physician, and unquestionably Geoffrey Freemantle was that. Yes, Gwen could not be anything but an asset to him.

What truly bothered Audra was Gwen herself. Why on earth would she want to become
his
wife? He was the antithesis of Mike Lesley, and whatever Gwen now
thought about Mike, Audra was well aware that she had been genuinely smitten with Charlie’s closest chum. There was only one answer. Gwen wanted Geoffrey Freemantle for everything he represented and all the things he could give her—prestige, position, money.

Instantly, Audra tried to dismiss these uncharitable thoughts. Yet deep down inside herself she was convinced she was right. Not once in the entire time Gwen had been speaking about Geoffrey Freemantle had she mentioned that most crucial word
love
. How can a marriage work without love? Audra wondered. Perhaps she ought to talk to Gwen about that. Immediately she decided against doing so, remembering how much
she
had resented Gwen’s gratuitous comments about her own marriage.

Anyway, perhaps I’m wrong, Audra told herself. Maybe she does love him. And then, much to her astonishment, she thought: but loving a man doesn’t necessarily make for happiness, does it?