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Shortly after that the twins became restive. ‘It’s pointless looking at washing machines now,’ Teddy stated, shushing Emma who had become bored and let out a wail in the middle of the store that had all heads turning in their direction. ‘Anyone would think I’m murdering her,’ Teddy muttered. It didn’t help that Sarah decided she wanted to air her vocal cords too.

‘Come on, Ted,’ Gerry urged. ‘Let’s get home—I’ll pick up some washing machine pamphlets in my lunch hour on Monday.’

Monday got off to a bad start. Dressed in her new skirt, matching waistcoat and shirt, Gerry sat before the dressing table mirror, her hand stretching out for the new supply of hairpins she had bought.

‘Don’t,’ Teddy’s voice from behind her stayed her hand.

‘No?’ Gerry questioned. She liked the way she looked in her new outfit, the weight she’d gained and managed to hold on to suited her, and she secretly thought it a pity to spoil the whole effect by screwing her hair back, but...

‘Definitely no,’ said "Teddy, shaking her head from side to side.

‘All right,’ Gerry began, when a bloodcurdling cry came from next door.

Gerry was first into the twins’ room. Teddy not far behind her was in time to see Gerry extracting a tearful Sarah from her cot. ‘Give her to me,’ Teddy said practically. ‘She’s damp both ends by the look of her—you don’t want to ruin your outfit. What was all that about?’ she asked, as she soothed the tearful Sarah.

‘I think she jammed her fingers in the cot fastener.’

They both examined Sarah’s prying finger, and saw it was a little red. ‘Paul might pop in later, I’ll get him to take at look at it,’ said Teddy, obviously without thinking, because she went a little pink as she realised what she’d said, then added with a touch of aggression that was pure Teddy when she felt she was being backed into a corner, 'He sometimes calls for a cup of tea.’

‘Good for him,’ Gerry said mildly, and grinned. ‘I like Paul—he’s nice.’

‘Yes—well, you’re going to be late,' said Teddy, who rarely bothered what time her sister arrived at work.

Gerry was late—ten minutes. And she had no valid excuse either, she thought as she pushed through the swing doors of Arrowsmiths. Sarah’s accident had taken no more than a few minutes to attend to. The clock at home must be losing again, she thought as she glanced at the huge clock in the foyer, unable to believe it said ten past nine. She made for the lifts—not so busy now—and in a minute or so was at the door of her office. She didn’t think William would mind about her lateness—she would make up the time in her lunch hour. It had gone half past nine a couple of mornings last week when he had come in, though what time he finished at night she never knew, because he insisted she leave the office bang on time.

It was not William Hudson she saw as she pushed open the door, but Crawford. Instantly she veiled her eyes as she threw a cool ‘Good morning’ in his general direction, and went to seat herself behind her desk, wondering at the same time whether he had driven himself down from London this morning or if he had stayed in Layton over the weekend. She couldn’t think that Layton had very much to offer him in the way of entertainment, and felt a scorching jealousy sear through her as she pictured some lovely female keeping him amused.

‘Bad night with the twins?’

Gerry looked up, not quite with him for a moment, then decided he was referring to the fact of her late arrival. He was looking at her as if he liked what he saw, and she felt warm colour flood through her as his eyes flicked over her figure-hugging waistcoat.

‘Er—no—the clock was wrong.’

She veiled her eyes again, feeling her nerves beginning to fray. She wished William would hurry up and come. And then she forgot all about William, for without her knowing, Crawford had moved and was beside her and bending towards her.

‘You know the penalty for being late,’ he said smoothly, and before it could register what he was about to do, she felt his warm lips taking hers in a brief but mind-stultifying possession. Even while the words ‘Don’t do that’, were rising up to be spoken, he had moved away and was saying coolly, ‘I like the outfit—it suits you.’

‘It’s new.’

Gerry wished she hadn’t said that—far better ignore him. It was as though she was telling him she hadn’t had anything new for ages, and now that she had, she wanted everybody to know about it. Feeling embarrassed, she flicked a glance at him, but if he thought her announcement was gauche or immature, it didn’t show in his face. If anything, he looked as if the idea of her treating herself to some new clothes pleased him—though why it should she couldn’t fathom, unless he was fed up seeing her around the office in her ill-fitting clothes.

William Hudson coming in took all speculations on what Crawford’s look had been all about from her mind. ‘Morning, Crawford—morning, Gerry,’ and turning back to Crawford they both sauntered into the other office, William’s voice reaching her before the door closed and silence. ‘You always were an early bird—still, I’ve got those figures you. wanted to see ..

Gerry spent the fifty minutes of her lunch hour in picking up a confusing array of literature, enthusing on the excellence of this washing machine or that. There was quite a selection for Teddy to choose from, though she rather thought she would favour the automatic. Crawford and William had been incarcerated in William’s office all morning, and had barely looked up from the desk strewn with papers when she had taken their coffee in. Crawford had been too immersed to even notice her, she thought, when he hadn’t looked up, and it had been William who had cleared a space for the two cups and saucers, remarking, ‘You’re a life-saver, Gerry.’

They had gone to lunch when she got back to the office, the door of William’s room standing open. And when William returned without Crawford at half past two, she couldn’t help the feeling of disappointment that flooded through her—though of course it was what she really wanted, she reminded herself again. The less she saw of Crawford the better. As the afternoon wore on, her nerves became stretched as each footstep in the corridor outside had her convinced that he was about to come through the door. At half past four she decided he must either be with some of the other top brass, or he had gone back to London. She refused to cogitate on what or who was so important in London that he had to go dashing back there.

Then all thoughts of Crawford were chased from her mind, for the phone rang, and it was Teddy on the line— a Teddy who sounded so fretful, so tearful, and so much the way she had been before Gerry had been ill that Gerry was overcome with remorse that she hadn’t given her sister so much attention recently.

‘Oh, Gerry!’ Teddy wailed, and Gerry knew she was only just holding back the tears.

‘What is it?’ she asked urgently, thoughts of one of the twins upsetting boiling water over themselves flashing horrifically through her mind.

‘I can’t tell you over the phone.’ Gerry relaxed slightly, her initial panic easing up. ‘You will be home early, won’t you?’ Teddy pleaded.

Gerry became aware that William had come out of his office. ‘Yes, Ted—I’ll be home on the dot of five-fifteen, I promise.’

The phone went dead at the other end. Teddy had become too upset to even say goodbye, Gerry thought distractedly, as she replaced the receiver and turned worried eyes to William.

‘Trouble?’ he asked kindly.

She didn’t know if Crawford had told him anything of her home circumstances when he had told him she wasn’t to work overtime, but at the sincere look of sympathy on his face she felt he would keep anything she told him to himself.

‘I live with my sister—she feels a little insecure sometimes. I ...’

‘She’s having an attack of the ab-dabs now,’ William said with such instant understanding, she rather thought Crawford must have given him an outline of her family circumstances. ‘Why don’t you nip off home now and keep her company?’ he suggested. ‘It’s not long to go before five anyway—and what you’re doing there can wait until morning.’

‘Do you mind—I’ll …'

‘I insist on it.’

Thoughts of William’s kindness stayed with her as she hurried through the swing doors and into the street. Then thoughts of Teddy took over her whole attention. Teddy hadn’t been the way she had been on the phone for ages— she’d been perfectly all right this morning, had taken Sarah’s screaming in her stride and hadn’t flapped at bit, which made Gerry wonder what had happened to cause her to take this step back.

Teddy was sobbing in earnest when she’d parked the car and hurried through the back door of the cottage, and with her protective instinct all to the fore, Gerry rushed to put her arms round her sister and tell her everything was all right.

But as Teddy began to tell her what had happened to cause her to be so upset, all the love and understanding Gerry was showering on her turned to amazement, then to dismay, disgust, and finally to downright anger that her sister could have been so uncaring of her feelings to have done what she had done.

‘Paul
was here this afternoon,' Teddy sobbed, sitting on the settee with Gerry holding her hand soothingly. 'I haven’t told you before, but there’s been a sort of warmth growing between us. He’s kissed me a couple of times and I couldn’t help but respond.’

Gerry blocked out thoughts of the way she hadn’t been able to help responding to Crawford. Teddy was the one with the problem—she needed all her concentration to try and help her with that, whatever it was.

‘Anyway, like I said, he came this afternoon, and he kissed me again, and we talked and talked, and,’ Teddy gave a sob and Gerry squeezed her hand sympathetically and waited until she had sufficient control to continue. 'I thought he was on the point of asking me to marry him, a-and I was getting ready to say yes—I know I shouldn’t show I’m so eager, b-but I love him.’ Teddy wiped her eyes, and Gerry thought that any minute now she would be crying herself. Then Teddy went on, ‘Paul just beamed at me as if he already knew what my answer was going to be —then one of the twins woke up and spoiled the moment, and then Paul asked if I thought you would babysit tomorrow night as he had something to say that didn’t bear interruptions …'

‘Yes—yes, of course I’ll babysit,’ Gerry inserted, wondering if this was why Teddy was so upset They didn’t look to be tears of happiness somehow, but one never knew with Teddy.

'B-but I can’t go ...’ Teddy wailed. ‘Not now ... Not after what Paul said ...’

‘What did Paul say?’ Gerry urged gently, while Teddy made a brave effort to control herself.

‘Well, after I’d settled Emma, the romantic mood was broken, and I didn’t want him to propose right then. I wanted his proposal to be something to remember—you know, candlelight, that sort of thing. When I came back to Paul he asked if I’d been happy with Mark, and one thing led to another, and he told me he’d almost married once, but that he found out the girl he was engaged to was two-timing him. She had another man friend, an older man. This girl was always dressed up to the minute and Paul never questioned how she could afford it, and then just before the wedding he found out this man paid for his fiancée's clothes—found out that this man had lent her no end of money.’

‘So what happened?’ Gerry asked, unable to see the relevance to Teddy’s relationship with Paul in what she was telling her, but knowing Teddy wouldn’t feel better until she’d got it all out of her system.

‘Paul threw her over—he said he could never marry a girl who took money from another man, could never marry a g-girl who owed another man money ...’ Teddy’s voice broke off into anguished sobs, so that Gerry began to fear for her, and almost missed hearing her sob, ‘Paul will never m-marry me once he knows another m-man paid for the dress I’m wearing now.’

‘Man?’ Gerry echoed. Teddy was certainly mixed up. Mark’s great-aunt had paid for the clothes they were both wearing. ‘What man, Ted? The money we spent on Saturday came from Mark’s great-aunt, didn’t it?’

Teddy didn’t answer, and as she waited, Gerry forgot for the moment that her sister was breaking her heart in front of her—a sickening feeling of dread was growing inside her that Teddy had lied about Mark’s aunt. ‘Didn’t it, Teddy?’ she asked urgently, and when Teddy still made no reply, she did something she had never done before. She took hold of Teddy’s two arms and shook her twice. ‘Where did the money come from?’ she asked firmly, and forced Teddy to look at her, knowing her sister wouldn’t look her in the eyes and tell her a lie.

Teddy took a deep breath, then, her eyes filling with tears again, for the first time in her life feeling afraid of the set look on her sister’s face, the brown eyes refusing to back down at her entreating look, she whispered, ‘Crawford.’ And as Gerry looked back at her as if unable to credit what she was hearing, she went on, ‘Crawford Arrowsmith gave me five hundred pounds.’

Gerry felt she was going to faint with the shock of what Teddy had just told her. Unable to sit and look at her sister, she stood up, her hands dropping away from Teddy’s arms, any sympathy she had had with her dissolving at the enormity of what Teddy had done.

‘How could you, Teddy—how could you?’ she accused, her mind trying to take in Teddy's words, while everything within her was screaming that it couldn’t be true, that Teddy had made it all up—but knowing Teddy wasn’t lying.

‘It’s all right for you,’ Teddy came back, aggressive in defence. ‘You don’t mind how you look—but I wanted to look nice for Paul. I’m fed up with wearing rag-bag dresses. I’m fed up with never having any money for extras. When Crawford said I could have the money ...’

‘You didn’t ask him for it?’ Gerry’s eyes flew to her sister.

‘Of course I didn’t,’ Teddy snapped, her tears forgotten. ‘We chatted often while you were ill, and I told him we were always broke, how we never had anything new.’

Gerry remembered Crawford’s eyes on her only that morning when she had told him her outfit was new. My God, she thought, he must have known he had paid for it! She groaned aloud, and sank down on the settee again.

‘What are we going to do, Gerry?’ Teddy’s eyes were moist again, begging her to find an answer to her problem.