Page 28 of The Winter Bride

Thankfully, Susan found it highly amusing. ‘Anyone would think you didn’t trust us,’ she’d teased. ‘I assure you, myself and Mrs Jenkins are quite capable of keeping everything running smoothly here until Adam is a little older.’

Annie was quite aware of the fact, but she missed meeting the customers and going off to buy the stock. Even so, somewhat reluctantly she agreed to wait another few months before she returned.

As planned, she and Monty spent New Year’s Eve quietly at home with Adam and she was shocked when on the stroke of twelve he kissed her and handed her a long velvet box.

‘What’s this?’ She frowned as she stared down at it.

‘It’s my New Year’s present to you.’ He tenderly stroked her hair, which was loose about her shoulders and gleaming like wet coal in the glow from the fire. ‘Just to say thank you for making me the happiest man on earth.’

‘B-but I haven’t got you anything, and you already gave me such a beautiful birthday and Christmas present,’ she faltered.

‘I’ve got everything I could ever want. Now open it, will you. I was assured you could take it back and change it if you didn’t like it.’

Annie carefully sprang the lid and gasped as a beautiful blue topaz and diamond necklace to match her bracelet winked up at her. ‘Oh . . . but, Monty, this is too much.’

He laughed as he lifted it from the box and fastened it about her neck. ‘Nonsense. Nothing is too much for my wife. You do like it, don’t you?’

‘How could I not,’ she whispered as she turned this way and that to admire it in the mirror above the fireplace. ‘It’s just stunning.’

‘Then wear it and think of me when you look at it. Happy New Year, my love.’ He put his arms about her and kissed her soundly.

Annie laid her head against Monty’s shoulder feeling guilty. ‘Who knows, the new year might bring a new little brother or sister for Adam,’ she said softly, failing to see the brief look of pain in his eyes as he gently kissed her hair.

Chapter Fourteen

November 1923

Adam solemnly surveyed the people gathered about the table as they sang happy birthday to him. He was clearly feeling a little overwhelmed at all the attention.

Peggy had made him a magnificent birthday cake in the shape of a car and the candle on it burnt brightly as Annie urged, ‘Blow the candle out, sweetheart.’

Adam took a deep breath and with the help of Monty, who was holding him, he managed to do it. But then he was tired of all the fuss and struggled to get down to play with his presents.

Peggy chuckled. ‘Where did that year go?’ she said to Levi. ‘Just look at him, he’ll be walking any day now.’

Adam was crawling across the floor at a rate of knots with a smile on his face as everyone looked on affectionately.

Mrs Taylor-Lloyd and her husband were there, and she spoilt the happy mood when she commented, ‘I still can’t see any likeness to Montgomery or Reginald when they were that age. He must take after your side of the family, Annie. Although you wouldn’t know what they looked like, would you? Still, never mind, perhaps the next one will take after our side of the family. Speaking of which, I expected another to be on the way by now. We don’t want Adam to be an only child, do we?’

Peggy glared at her but managed to bite her tongue. The woman never missed a chance to take a dig at Annie and there was nothing Peggy would have liked more than to slap her stupid face. But she wouldn’t, that would only make things worse.

Annie watched Adam, trying to ignore her mother-in-law. But the fact was, she was right, because as Adam grew and developed his own little personality, he reminded her more and more of Alex. His hair, admittedly, was as dark as hers, but it had a tendency to curl like Alex’s and his face was so like his father’s that sometimes it hurt her to look at him. He was like a mini version of the man she had loved.

Glancing up, she saw Reggie smirking, so with burning cheeks, she quickly snatched up the cake and bore it away to the kitchen to slice, closely followed by Peggy.

‘Ooh, so ’elp me, one o’ these days I shall knock that bloody woman’s block off!’ Peggy hissed as she attacked the cake with a large knife. ‘She’s got a tongue on ’er like a viper!’

‘Just ignore her,’ Annie urged as they loaded the slices onto plates. ‘I try to.’ They each carried some plates through to the guests and Annie smiled as she saw Susan and Tim sitting close together on the sofa deep in conversation. They were so immersed in each other that they might have been the only ones in the room.

‘I wouldn’t be surprised if we weren’t ’earing weddin’ bells wi’ them two soon,’ Peggy whispered as she handed out the cake. ‘She’s been to meet his two little girls a few times now, an’ from what she told me they got on like a house on fire.’

‘Well, it’s high time she got some happiness.’ Annie looked around at the rest of the guests. Davey and Eve were there with their two children, and Ellie and her young man had come too. She could still remember the day Levi’s departed wife had taken her and Ellie from the workhouse. Ellie had been just a baby then, but Maggie hadn’t taken to her and so Peggy had become her mother and brought her up as her own. And now here she was all grown up with a sweetheart. ‘It looks like we might have two weddings on the cards,’ Annie said with a smile.

Following her gaze Peggy nodded in agreement. ‘I reckon yer could be right. He’s the chauffeur to the folks she works for an’ a real nice chap from what I’ve seen of him. Oh, an’ by the way, I bumped into Flo in the market the other day an’ she looked grand.’ Flo was Maggie’s sister and had always been the black sheep of the family. ‘She’s in thick wi’ a butcher from up Stockingford way, by all accounts. He’s a widower an’ she reckons he’s asked her to move in wi’ him. He ain’t short of a bob or two, so if she takes ’im up on the offer an’ be’aves ’erself she’ll be set fer life.’

‘Good luck to her.’ Annie smiled. Flo had been with quite a lot of men after her husband had run out on her some years before, but perhaps she was ready to settle down again now.

As Annie looked around, she was sad to think of the people who were absent. Barney and Mercy had been unable to come as they were at the circus’s winter quarters, but they had sent Adam a card and said they hoped to see everyone in the spring. Harry, and Charlie, Levi’s other sons, were also absent.