Page 41 of The Winter Bride

Later that evening, when Nancy and Adam were in bed, Annie sat trying to read a book, but it couldn’t hold her interest and she began to pace back and forth as another lonely night stretched ahead of her.

The next morning Peggy called in and over coffee Annie told her about her idea of opening another shop.

‘Can yer afford it?’ Peggy asked, ever the sensible one.

Annie nodded. ‘Monty left me a fair bit, so with that and what I’ve made from the shop I have enough to rent somewhere and stock it.’

‘But where would the shop be?’

Annie shrugged. ‘I haven’t thought that far ahead yet. Perhaps in Coventry?’

The conversation was interrupted when someone knocked on the front door and Nancy pottered along the hallway to answer it, returning to tell her, ‘There’s a young lady ’ere to see yer, Annie.’

‘Did she give you her name?’

Nancy shook her head. ‘No, but she says she knows yer.’

‘Then you’d better show her in,’ Annie answered as she rose from her seat and straightened her skirt. As the visitor appeared in the doorway Annie gasped with delight and flew across the room to wrap her arms about her.

‘Oh, Marie . . . I can’t believe it’s you. I thought I’d never see you again.’

They had last seen each other during the war when Annie had helped the Resistance movement in France while working at a field hospital as a nurse. She had stayed for a time with Marie’s family, the Lacroix, when she had nursed a badly injured Barney in their cellar, but sadly they had all been killed by the Germans, apart from Marie who had managed to escape to Paris. Following the war, they had corresponded briefly, but Annie had never thought she would see her again.

‘How are you? What are you doing here? Are you still living in Paris?’

Marie giggled at the flood of questions. ‘Slow down,’ she urged. ‘My English is still not so good. But I am well. I live in London now and so I decided that I would get on the train and come to see if I could find you.’

Peggy smiled and stood up. It was the first time she’d seen Annie so happy since Monty had died and she felt that this young woman’s visit couldn’t have come at a better time.

‘Right, pet, I’m goin’ to love yer an’ leave yer,’ she told Annie. ‘Seems like you pair ’ave a lot o’ catchin’ up to do.’ She kissed Adam and went on her way to help Eve in the shop.

‘How long are you here for?’ Annie asked. ‘Can you stay for a few days? Oh, do take your hat and coat off. I’ll get Nancy to make you some coffee.’

‘Unfortunately, I can only stay for a few hours,’ Marie said regretfully. ‘But I am so ’appy I ’ave found you.’

Nancy smiled to see Annie looking so happy and carried Adam away to the back room to give them some time to talk.

‘I first visited the shop where they told me that you ’ad recently been widowed,’ Marie said when they were alone. ‘I am so sorry to ’ear this. I didn’t even know you ’ad got married let alone ’ad a child.’

‘Yes, it’s been a difficult time. But tell me all about what you’ve been doing.’

Marie looked lovely. Her clothes were obviously expensive, and she was even prettier than Annie remembered.

‘I, too, am married now,’ Marie informed her. ‘I met my ’usband shortly after the war in Paris, an’ after our marriage he brought me back to live in London. He is a friend of Monsieur Gordon, the man who you used to travel back to England with to tend the injured soldiers?’

Annie’s heart did a little somersault. ‘Yes . . . I remember.’ Her voice came out as a squeak. She could hardly admit to Marie that Alex Gordon was still the first person she thought of every morning, and every time she looked at Adam.

‘Now come, tell me all about your shop,’ Marie urged.

And so, for the next half an hour Annie explained how they’d started the rag-and-bone shop and how Levi had given her her first clothes shop.

‘Peggy runs that one now, because I then bought another shop selling more expensive clothes. It took a while for it to take off but now we can hardly keep up with demand.’ She sighed. ‘There doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day since I had Adam, although little Nancy is a wonderful help. And Susan has the shop running like clockwork. To be honest, I’m not really needed there any more. But now . . . Oh, I don’t know. I feel that I want to venture further afield since Monty has gone. The trouble is, I’m not quite sure where I want to go.’

‘Why not come to London and start a shop there?’ Marie suggested. ‘There is always a great demand for fashionable clothes there.’

‘Yes, but wouldn’t the shops be very expensive to rent?’ Annie said.

Marie nodded. ‘Much more than ’ere no doubt. But you could charge much more for the clothes. I know the different areas well and I could ’elp you. Some of them ’ave living accommodation above them, so Nancy could watch Adam while you were working, but he would still be close.’