Memories of You (31 page)

Elise was pink-faced with embarrassment but her friends laughingly urged her to stand up and oblige. She managed it with one deep breath. Everyone applauded as she sat down again and the waitress, who had been standing by, asked her if she wanted her to cut the cake.

‘No, let me look at it for a moment,' Elise said. ‘Leave the knife. I'll cut it myself.'

The three friends stared at it. Sixteen pink and white candles, eight of each colour, were set into silver rosebud holders on the top and all round the sides there was a pattern of pink and white rosebuds.

‘Oh, look!' Annette exclaimed. ‘There's a little skater in amongst the candles!'

‘Very sweet,' Shirley said. ‘You're still Mummy's little girl!' She laughed.

‘Well, I think it's lovely,' Annette said. ‘But from the look on your face you weren't expecting that, were you, Elise?'

‘No, I wasn't.'

She remembered how preoccupied her mother had been that morning. ‘You'll enjoy the skating rink, won't you Elise?' she had said.

‘Yes, thank you.'

‘John will take you. He'll pick up your friends en route and then I'll send him back later.'

‘Are we coming back here for tea?'

‘No, darling. I've booked a table in the restaurant for you.' She had smiled distractedly. ‘It will be fun. You can watch the skaters through a sort of glass wall.'

‘Are you going to join us for the meal?'

Selma frowned. ‘No, I thought I'd made that clear. You know I like to be here for little Bertie's teatime. I don't approve of these mothers who never set foot in the nursery and just leave everything to the nursemaid. Now off you go. Everything has been arranged.'

At the time Elise had thought ungraciously that her mother had been glad to get rid of her. Since her baby brother had been born the previous June Selma had spent very little time with her daughter. Elise supposed that was normal when a new baby arrived and she had tried very hard not to be hurt. But a birthday was a special day, wasn't it? Couldn't little Bertie have been left to have tea with the nursemaid just for once?

But perhaps she had been too harsh. The cake was a lovely gesture. Her mother must have ordered it specially and she had wanted it to be a surprise.

‘Are you just going to sit there and look at that cake?' Shirley asked. ‘Or are you going to cut it up and offer us some? Here, I'll help you take the candles out.'

‘We can't possibly eat all this,' Annette said. ‘What will you do with it? Take it home?'

‘No,' Elise said. ‘Look around you. Look at the children on the other tables. They'd love a piece of cake, I'm sure of it!'

Elise beckoned the waitress over and told her what to do. The young woman cut the cake into small squares, making sure each piece was topped with icing, then she offered the plate to all the children in the restaurant.

‘It's like a proper party, now,' Shirley said. ‘All we need are some party hats and some of those cardboard trumpets.'

The waitress overheard her. ‘Oh, we have some of those, miss,' she said. ‘We cater for all sorts of parties here. Would you like me to get some?'

Shirley grinned at Elise. ‘It's your party. What do you think?'

‘Oh, yes please,' Elise said. ‘By all means get the party favours out. And have you any crackers?'

‘Of course.'

‘And streamers?'

‘Definitely!'

Elise, confident in the belief that her parents would not mind these extras being added to the account, watched happily as an ordinary outing to the ice rink turned into something more special for the children there. And all because of the cake she had not been expecting.

Some of the children came over to wish Elise ‘Happy Birthday', paper hats askew and trailing streamers. The parents thanked her before they left. The waitresses started clearing the tables and preparing them for the crowd that would come to the rink for the evening session.

‘I suppose we'd better go,' Elise said. ‘John will be waiting to take us home.'

‘Oh, didn't I tell you?' Shirley asked. ‘I don't need a lift. We're going to the coast this weekend. The parents went last night and I have to join them. Actually,' she looked slightly embarrassed, ‘Annette's coming too.'

‘Oh, I see,' Elise said. But she didn't. The Chapmans had a lovely second home in Sussex and she had spent many a weekend there as their guest along with Shirley's other school friends, Annette and Ernestine.

‘You could have come,' Shirley said, ‘but we were sure your parents would be doing something special this weekend. I mean, dinner or the theatre or something.'

‘Oh, right, of course,' Elise said quickly, hoping that she was hiding her hurt and disappointment that her parents had not planned anything at all. Unless there was another surprise waiting, she thought. Like the birthday cake.

‘Tom's coming for us,' Shirley said. ‘And speak of the devil, here he is now.'

The girls looked up as Shirley's older brother made his way through the tables towards them. He was not alone; close behind him was his friend Peregrine Wallace, known as Perry.

Elise had seen Perry often over the years. Sometimes he seemed to have taken up residence at the Chapmans' house – and their seaside house, too. He was so different from Tom Chapman that Elise had occasionally wondered why they remained friends. Tom was stocky and rather ordinary to look at whereas Perry was tall and rather dashing, and maybe he wore his fair hair just a little too long. Tom was good-natured and practical whereas Perry's moods and behaviour could never be relied on; or so Shirley had told her. Now and then he had led Tom into the most awful scrapes.

‘And he's just about penniless, you know,' Shirley had declared as if that was the ultimate judgement of a man's character.

But no matter what others thought of Perry Wallace, Elise had never been able to forget how kind he had been to Ernestine when she'd made a fool of herself at the Halloween party.

‘Had a good time, girls?' Tom asked.

‘Super,' his sister replied.

‘Well, jolly good. And are you ready to go now?'

‘We are, but haven't you forgotten something?'

Tom frowned. ‘Forgotten something? I don't think so. The cases are in the car.'

‘Tom! Can you remember why we came here today?'

‘Why . . . ? Oh, yes. Elise's birthday. Many Happy Returns and all that.' He grinned good-naturedly.

Shirley shook her head in mock despair. ‘Now that my idiot brother has minded his manners,' she said, ‘I suppose we'd better go.'

Shirley and Annette rose from the table and Elise thought they seemed rather embarrassed as they took their leave. Perhaps they had guessed from Elise's subdued reaction that nothing further had been planned to celebrate her birthday.

Perry, who had not spoken until then, lingered as the others made their way between the tables.

‘Did you have fun?' he asked.

Elise considered the question. ‘Yes, we did.'

‘So you're sixteen now.'

‘Yes.'

‘You know the saying, “Sweet sixteen and never been kissed”.'

‘I've heard it.'

‘And?'

Elise was overcome with embarrassment.

‘It's all right. You don't have to answer that!' He smiled at her. ‘I'm sorry.'

‘That's all right.'

‘Well, I'd better go before they send a search party.'

Suddenly Elise didn't want him to go. ‘Are you . . . ?' she began.

‘Am I what?'

‘Are you going with them to the sea?'

‘Yes. I wish you were coming, too. I thought you might be, you know, but I suppose your parents will have something special planned for tonight.'

‘I suppose so.'

For no reason that she could easily define Elise felt hot tears pricking at the back of her eyes and now just as much as she had wanted Perry to stay, she wanted him to go and leave her to her thoughts.

‘Goodbye, then, Elise,' he said. ‘Oh, and here's my card. I forgot to give it to the waitress.'

Perry handed her an envelope and left her puzzling slightly over his words. When he had gone she opened the envelope to find a birthday card with an illustration of a birthday cake on the front. Inside was written: ‘Hope you like it. Thought this would be a fun thing to do!' Then at the bottom was a telephone number. That was all.

Elise stared at the card for a moment before she realized the significance of what was written there. Her mother hadn't ordered the cake, Perry had. And now he had gone and she hadn't thanked him. She had no idea where he lived so she couldn't send a thank you letter, but he had given her his telephone number. Even as she resolved to phone him as soon as the weekend was over she knew that it would not just be to thank him for the cake. She wanted to see him again and she hoped that he wanted to see her.

‘My, you've certainly jazzed this place up!'

Dorothy stood in the middle of Helen's sitting room and looked round approvingly at the colourful new curtains, the matching cushions and the pictures on the walls.

‘Are those paintings original?' she asked.

‘No, I'd never be able to afford them if they were. They're prints.' Helen saw from Dorothy's expression that she had no idea of the value of the prints and was relieved. To Dorothy, as to everyone except Matthew, she was supposed to be existing on a waitress's pay.

‘Well, I certainly admire you for making the place so nice. You can't have much left after paying the rent, I know I didn't. And anything I had left I spent on clothes whereas you don't seem to mind if the fashions change.'

It irked Helen not to be able to respond to this but in the interest of keeping her double life secret she let it go. She thought how well her former flatmate looked. Dorothy was fashionably dressed in a navy and white linen dress and a matching jacket. A small white hat about the size of a saucer tilted forward over her expensively permed hair and her make-up was skilfully applied. But most of all she looked happy. And there was an air of excitement.

‘I hope you don't mind my calling like this,' Dorothy said. ‘I phoned the restaurant and Marina said you were on a split shift so I took the chance and came over.'

‘No, I don't mind you calling. I'm pleased to see you.'

‘Well, go on, put the kettle on!'

While Helen made a pot of tea Dorothy took a seat and eased off her shoes. ‘Don't mind me,' she said. ‘They're new and I'm breaking them in although Cyril says I should be saving all my new stuff for when we go.'

‘On holiday?' Helen asked her.

‘No, not a holiday. We're going to live abroad. Singapore. Everything's arranged.' She glanced across to see what effect her words had had and must have been pleased with Helen's suitably wide-eyed expression.

‘Singapore? When are you going?'

‘Next month.' Suddenly Dorothy's smile faded. ‘It's a little daunting, isn't it?'

‘I suppose it must be.'

‘That's why I've come, really. I needed to talk to someone, not to ask advice, you understand, just to convince myself that it's really happening.'

‘So it wasn't because you felt you had to see an old friend before you go.'

‘Don't be like that, Helen. Of course there was that too.'

‘Of course. So tell me why you're going to Singapore.'

‘Well, you know Cyril's brother lives there?'

‘Yes. That's why you were able to have his apartment in town.'

‘He's found Cyril a job. A good job with a cold storage company. It means we won't have such a struggle to pay the maintenance and the school fees. You see, everything is so much cheaper there and even on a moderate salary you can live very comfortably. A nice house and garden, a gardener, a cook, a maid, everything.' Dorothy's eyes were shining.

‘Like in a story by Somerset Maugham,' Helen said.

‘Don't show off. You know I don't read very much.'

‘Sorry. And I'm pleased for you. Really I am. And I'm glad you came to say goodbye.'

‘Goodbye . . .' Dorothy said and suddenly she looked strained.

‘What is it?'

‘It's my mother. She thinks she's never going to see me again. I said she could come out and visit but she says she would just embarrass me.'

‘Why does she think that?'

‘Well, she says she's only a waitress and she could never pass for anything else, and the kind of people we'll be mixing with will probably be—'