James looked stunned, and Caitlin thought that he had never for one moment considered that she might not jump at his handsome offer. But whilst he was still staring at her, a dark and angry look in his eyes, another thought struck her. ‘Why are you going to America? According to what you’ve told me, you’re doing awfully well right here in Liverpool. And how will you collect the rents on the property you own in London, and here, when you’ll have to cross an ocean to get your money?’
She half expected James to get totally furious, for she knew he hated having to explain himself, but though he sighed wearily he began to answer her pleasantly enough. ‘I don’t believe I’ve ever mentioned it before, but when I first started my London business I was in partnership with a feller called Jack Ewing. To tell the truth, we were at school together, and though I knew he was a sharp operator I also knew he’d never cheat me. We started off with a market stall on Petticoat Lane, selling antiques.’ He grinned reminiscently. ‘I well remember Jack and me
making wormholes with an old pair of compasses in a chest of drawers which we told the customer had been made in the time of Queen Anne. He was a Yank – the customer, I mean – and believed whatever he was told, poor sap.
‘But there’s money to be made in genuine antiques,’ he added hastily, no doubt seeing the dismay on Caitlin’s face. ‘And we soon got into the way of it. Only then we began to buy property, and got up the noses of some cockney gangs … we had to sell up and clear out. We split the money and Jack went off to the States whilst I came up to Liverpool, not being too keen to risk every penny I possessed in a strange country. I started buying property up here and did all right, but I don’t have Jack’s flair. He didn’t just buy property, he took on corner sites and turned them, one by one, into milk bars or soda fountains. He’s doing brilliantly in New York, but wants to expand. Only for that he needs a partner, since he can’t be in two places at once, and that means it’s got to be someone who will not only put money into the business but will be totally trustworthy. He asked me weeks ago to consider joining him, but first I had to get together a pretty sizeable sum—’
‘If that’s the case, then why on earth did you sink so much of your capital in our restaurant?’ Caitlin interrupted. ‘And you’ve bought the flat! Oh dear, I wish I understood financial affairs, but I’m afraid I don’t.’ She brightened. ‘Or have you still got enough of your London money left to buy into the partnership?’
James glanced away from her, as though he had no wish to answer her question. ‘Where has that bloody waiter gone?’ he said resentfully. ‘When I order a meal
I expect it to arrive pronto.’ And then, seeing Caitlin’s eyes still fixed upon him, he spoke once more. ‘I’ve laid out a good deal lately, what with the restaurant and your flat,’ he told her. ‘However, I’ve managed to get a buyer for some of my property, which should enable me to raise the necessary.’
Caitlin stared; some feminine intuition told her that he wouldn’t have kept putting off speaking to her had he only had good news – marriage plans – to impart. ‘Are you trying to tell me you’ve had to sell our dear little flat?’ she said slowly; and then, as light dawned: ‘Oh my God, James! You’ve sold the restaurant! But it’s ours – mine and Dana’s. Oh, James, how could you?’
‘Well, I didn’t have much choice,’ James said, sounding rather pleased than otherwise, Caitlin realised resentfully. He grinned at her. ‘What a clever girl my future wife is, and I thought her just a pretty – well, a beautiful – face! I can see you and I are heading for a fantastic future in the States, little Caitlin!’
But Caitlin knew when she was being patronised and longed for Dana and her quick wits and sharp tongue; Dana would know what to do! James was talking again. ‘You see, darling, the restaurant and your smart little flat are easily my best investments and, to be honest, I never thought you and Dana could make a go of the place once it had been enlarged and modernised. You wouldn’t have been able to afford the rent, let alone staff salaries …’
‘But it’s
ours
!’ Caitlin wailed, feeling tears well up and trickle down her cheeks. Gulping, she tried to speak calmly. ‘Cathy’s Place was our own little tea room and we were making a go of it, doing well! How could you turn it into a restaurant and then sell it over our heads?
Indeed, how
can
you do so? I’m sure such a thing is illegal! We could take you to court, demand that you give it back …’
James wagged a sorrowful head, but Caitlin could see the gleam of wicked amusement in his dark, unfathomable eyes and felt sure he was enjoying her helplessness. ‘No use, my dear girl; remember all those papers you signed? You agreed that I should be your business manager and could take decisions on your behalf … well, I’ve received an excellent offer from Mr Porter and the money will be paid into my bank account within the next few days. Everything’s signed and sealed; all you’ve got to do is agree.’
‘But I won’t agree,’ Caitlin said tremulously. ‘And what about Dana? She doesn’t say much, except that she’s beginning to remember things, but she won’t agree to your cheating us out of our home and our tea room.’
‘Yes, Dana was a big drawback, but her losing her memory couldn’t have come at a better moment … sorry for her though I am, of course—’
‘Oh yes, I can see how sorry you are,’ Caitlin said. She jumped to her feet. ‘I’m going to see Dana; she’ll find a way out of this disgusting tangle. And I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on earth, so put that in your pipe and smoke it!’
She whipped round, then felt herself grabbed and shaken as though she was a naughty child. Then, in front of all the other diners, James slammed her into her seat and placed both hands on her shoulders, making escape impossible. ‘You’re going nowhere,’ he said rather breathlessly. ‘And don’t you dare try to walk out on me when I’ve just ordered our meal! Can’t you understand what
I’ve been saying, you little halfwit? Dana can’t do anything, any more than you can. I’ve secured her future by making it a condition of sale that she shall be employed in the restaurant – good of me, ain’t it? And you, darling Caitlin, will be marrying me and coming to the New World to seek your fortune.’ He leaned across the table and tried to kiss the tip of her nose, but she jerked her head away. Irritated, he seized her chin and planted a hard kiss on her mouth. ‘You’re a lucky girl,’ he said rather breathlessly. ‘A new life, a new country and a man of vision to share it with!’
Caitlin was still fighting tears as the waiter, his face expressionless but his eyes knowing, put their plates down before them. Another waiter, hovering, began to revolve a bottle of wine preparatory to pouring it into their glasses, and Caitlin decided that to make a scene would help neither herself nor Dana. Besides, she realised that she was genuinely frightened of James Mortimer.
As soon as the waiters left, she decided she had better pretend to accept James’s proposal of marriage. She wiped her eyes and began to ask him about the new restaurant. She even touched on the possibility of Dana’s being given money to start up a tea room once more, but James, apparently believing that she was now totally compliant, shook his head. ‘Think of the difficulties you had before you met me,’ he pointed out. ‘No one would rent property to a couple of girls; it was only myself who decided to take a chance. No, my dear. If you stay in Liverpool it will be to work for someone else, whereas if you come to the States with me the world is your oyster.’
‘That is a bloody silly saying,’ Caitlin said, suddenly tiring of his attitude. ‘Do you know, I’ve quite lost my
appetite?’ and with the words, a sudden rage filled her. She picked up her plate with its burden of roast chicken, stuffing and vegetables and flung it straight into her companion’s face. James, with food running down his cheeks, jumped to his feet, clearly about to exact revenge, but Caitlin was too quick for him. She was out of the restaurant and running along the pavement before he had taken more than a couple of steps in her direction, and glancing back she saw that his efforts to follow her were being frustrated by the waiter, who was holding his arm and flourishing a bill beneath his nose – a nose which was dripping with gravy.
Caitlin giggled. Where had she got her courage from? She realised she had always been rather afraid of James, but tonight his behaviour, his whole attitude, had caught her on the raw. He had cheated her and lied to her and pretended to be in love with her, but now she knew the truth. She dared not even consider returning to the flat, because he was in such a rage that he might easily become violent and he was a good deal stronger – and nastier – than herself, so rather than cross swords with him again she would sleep on the pavement, or go back to the YWCA and beg them to give her a bed for the night.
Then she remembered her friend. She had said she would go to the hospital and spill the beans, get Dana’s advice, and now she would actually do so. James would not dare to storm into a hospital ward and start bullying her. Caitlin saw a tram draw up ahead of her and ran like a hare. Dana would know what to do!
Dana was practising on her crutches, because the staff had said she might go home next day provided she could
walk the length of the corridor without stopping or falling over. They were not worried that her memory refused to come out of hiding and said that such things could occur after a spell of concussion, but Caitlin, when she had visited earlier in the evening, had been sure that the sight of their ‘lovely little flat’, as she put it, would instantly bring everything racing back.
Dana was not so sure, but she knew that being with Caitlin would help her to regain her wretched memory at some point. In a way she dreaded her re-entry into the normal world, but with Caitlin beside her it would be less frightening. The restaurant, however, she viewed with very real fear. If she could not remember how to do such simple tasks as making a cup of tea or baking a scone, how on earth would she behave in a smart restaurant, with staff asking her what they should do? When Caitlin had grumbled that the workmen were taking their time and James should remind them that with every day Cathy’s Place remained closed they were all – apart from the construction workers, she supposed – losing money, Dana could only be thankful. Caitlin had warned that the customers who had gone elsewhere might not return, but James had pointed out that the clientele who would come to the restaurant would not be the people who had popped into the tea room for a cup of tea and a bun, and Dana supposed he was right.
She just wished, though, that Caitlin would visit her without dragging James along, for she could not like the man and was pretty sure the feeling was mutual. James pretended friendship, interest, concern, but when he did not know he was being observed Dana sometimes caught a look on his face that made her distinctly uneasy. She
thought that he was jealous of Caitlin’s affection for herself and would have sacked her had he been in a position to do so. Caitlin had assured her that she, Dana, had been very much in command when they had run Cathy’s Place together, but Dana harboured the horrid suspicion that she might have been an expensive luxury and that James, once the place reopened, with many members of staff being experienced caterers, would politely but firmly tell her to go.
She had voiced the thought aloud to her friend when they had visited the hospital lavatories, their one and only chance of a conversation not overheard by James, but Caitlin had reminded her that though James owned the property, the good will in the tea room was theirs and theirs alone. ‘And he’s no fool; you can’t remember, I know, but you were much more … oh, more
aware
… than me,’ she had said. ‘You ran things, honest to God you did, alanna. And now stop worrying; one glance round our flat and you’ll remember all right.’
So now Dana swung along the corridor on her crutches, stopping occasionally for breath and to exchange a few words with a member of staff or another patient also practising their skill. When the revolving doors in the entrance hall suddenly began to move she did not expect to know the intruder, for visiting time was long over, so she was turning away, executing quite a neat manoeuvre she thought approvingly, when a voice called her name and she glanced over her shoulder to see Caitlin, very red in the face, charging towards her, coatless, hatless, and clearly in a state of considerable perturbation.
‘Hello! What’s up?’ Dana said. ‘You look very hot and
bothered. I see you’ve shed your coat and hat somewhere along the way.’
‘Yes – no – oh, we can’t talk here. He may have guessed where I’ve gone,’ Caitlin gabbled. ‘Let’s go back to your ward; he isn’t likely to come in there. In fact he won’t be allowed to if the staff see him. Come to that, I don’t suppose they’d have let me in either, only there aren’t many people about. Oh, Dana, do hurry!’
The jerk she gave to Dana’s arm nearly had her over. Dana opened her mouth to protest and then saw the frightened look in her friend’s eyes as she glanced towards the revolving doors, and decided to say nothing. Caitlin was obviously in the grip of some as yet unexplained fear; she would wait to speak until they were back on the ward.
As soon as they entered the long room, a nurse came up to them, wagging a reproachful finger and reminding them that visiting had finished. Dana opened her mouth to beg that her friend might be allowed to stay for a few moments, but Caitlin cut across her. ‘I’m most awfully sorry, nurse, but I really do have to speak to Dana. It’s important. And could you make sure that we aren’t interrupted by Mr Mortimer? It wouldn’t do at all if he were to burst in upon us and discover us exchanging confidences.’
The nurse looked doubtful. ‘I really should ask you to leave, Miss Flannagan,’ she said. ‘As for Mr Mortimer, he most certainly may not enter a women’s ward, except at visiting time.’ She looked at Dana. ‘Is there anything I can do?’
Hastily, Caitlin shook her head. ‘No thank you, nurse, but if I stay with Miss McBride here for ten or fifteen minutes it will give Mr Mortimer time to cool down.’
‘Oh, I see,’ the nurse said, but she still spoke doubtfully. ‘I wonder why the receptionist on duty didn’t turn you away?’