PROLOGUE
-
Josie Shaw, feeling
desperately large and awkward in her new black clothes, stood
dutifully beside her diminutive mother and scowled at the assembled
mourners. How could they look so cheerful, even laugh out loud,
when they had just attended the burial of her stepfather, one of
the kindest, most generous of men? Even her mother had thrown back
the ostentatiously heavy veils she'd worn at the church over her
fair hair, and though she clutched a black lace handkerchief in her
hand, her eyes were dry and she was talking volubly.
- Josie glared round. She wished they'd all go away. Then she saw one man who wasn't enjoying the funeral feast. Leo Bradley stood alone, black hair overlong and untidy, as it had always been when she'd seen him as a boy. But he was far more handsome now, his good looks and clean-cut profile were the first thing you noticed about him. He held a glass of sherry but seemed oblivious to everything but his own thoughts. His deepset eyes were shaded, his square jaw jutted pugnaciously, his attention was clearly far away. The mourners tactfully sidestepped his tall, broad figure, leaving around him a barrier of space as unscaleable as a high wall. After all, it was his father they had buried and Leo, she'd been told, though only twelve at the time, had quarrelled bitterly with his father when George Bradley had married the recently widowed Dora Shaw. He'd never accepted them, never visited them willingly despite George's urging.
- Leo suddenly became aware of Josie's gaze, and stared at her in some surprise. It was a year since they'd met, when she'd been a leggy, gangling schoolgirl who, he'd thought, ought to have been a boy, she was so vital and strong. Joseph Shaw must have been a big man, like George. Josie was quite unlike her delicate mother, tall and with strong features that had softened into a different kind of beauty from Dora's Dresden shepherdess fragility. Black suited her, with her pale skin, green eyes and vivid auburn hair, while it made Dora look ill, even haggard. He raised one eyebrow slightly and inclined his head, then slipped through a doorway into the lushly overgrown conservatory. Two minutes later Josie entered from the garden.
- 'I - wanted to say how sorry I am,' she said softly. 'I loved Papa George very much.'
- 'He thought of you as his own daughter,' Leo said curtly. 'You probably knew him better than I did.'
- Josie glanced at him curiously. So he still resented his father's second marriage. 'Did you feel I'd pushed you out?' she asked bluntly.
- 'I never blamed you. You were only a baby. Two, weren't you? Josie, let's walk in the garden. It's so hot in here, and I'd appreciate it - if you feel you can talk about it - if you could tell me how it happened. You were there, they said, but I wasn't told much else.'
- She led the way across the smoothly mown grass and through an opening in the yew hedge. This surrounded a formally planted rose-garden, and the rich scent filled the hot, still air. 'It was dreadful. I was on the opposite hill, and I saw it, but I - there was nothing I could do!'
- 'Sit down.' Leo pushed her towards an ornately carved bench and sat beside her. 'You don't have to tell me, not if it upsets you.'
- 'No, I'd like to tell you. Mother couldn't bear to listen. I haven't told anyone yet. They didn't want to upset me, they said.' She paused and gathered her thoughts. 'Mother wasn't in the best of moods. She had been saying that she wanted to go to the French Riviera, but we couldn't afford it. The weather had brought on a headache. Papa George went out for a breath of fresh air, he said. It was terribly hot, like today. I'd hoped he would take me with him and teach me more about driving, but he'd gone by the time I'd helped Mother to bed, so I decided to climb up the hill behind the house. Do you know Church Stretton? It's all hills. It was so peaceful, the woods, and fields with ripe corn, and animals grazing. I was looking at all the timbered buildings, and wishing I could walk in the Welsh hills. There was a train coming, I could see the smoke and hear it chugging, but it was so far away I could still hear the skylarks and the bees. I was so happy on my own. I was planning what I'd do when I left school. Women can do all sorts of things now. We have the vote at twenty-one. There's even been a woman Cabinet Minister. I want a career, not to be like my mother, just dependent on a man.'
- For the first time Leo smiled. 'Did my father bring you up a suffragette?'
- Josie glanced at him and shook her head. A single tear glistened on her surprisingly dark eyelashes. 'No, but he understood,' she said with a slight quaver in her voice. 'He talked to me about important things - the Nazis in Germany, and the General Strike a few years ago, and India becoming a Dominion, as well as the new television experiments the BBC is working on. But he didn't talk to me about why Wall Street is so important.'
- 'I expect he thought you wouldn't understand about the stock market.'
- 'I can't understand why people trust others to make their money for them like Papa George did rather than opening their own business.'
- 'It's called investment.'
- 'I'll work for my money when I have a business. I won't depend on anyone else and risk being let down by them.'
- 'Women don't have businesses. They're better off at home.'
- 'Oh, come on, Leo. It's 1930, not 1830. Women run shops, can become doctors now, they even fly aeroplanes! I won't depend on a man like my mother did! It's not done her much good.'
- Her voice wavered and Leo stretched out and took her hand in his. 'Stop if it upsets you.'
- Josie gritted her teeth. 'No, I want to tell you. I heard a car, an odd, high-pitched tone which didn't seem normal. Yet the engine noise was familiar. Bentleys have a distinctive whine. He loved that car. Even when he lost so much money he wouldn't sell it. It was on the hill opposite, coming down a very narrow steep road and it was travelling fast, much too fast. It was coasting out of gear; that was the odd sound. Something must have gone wrong.' She shuddered, reliving those terrifying moments, and Leo hugged her comfortingly. Josie took a deep breath. 'He didn't have a chance! The car smashed into a stone wall. It was thrown into the air and landed upside down on some rocks. It burst into flames and just fell apart. They said - they said he was dead or unconscious before the fire. I hope so! Leo, I do hope so!'
- 'My poor Josephine,' Dora whispered. 'She can't bear even to look at a motor car now. We had to come home by train, you know, after George was taken from me.'
- Josie, entering the room quietly, almost exclaimed out loud when she overheard these words. Leo grinned at the look of indignation on her face and hastily seized her hand.
- 'Come and have some food,' he ordered and dragged her across to where a buffet had been laid out.
- 'It's not true, though!' Josie protested. 'It was Mother who said she'd never again go in a motor car! She'll never agree to let me have one, and Papa George had promised! She's starting to believe her own fairy stories!' she hissed angrily at Leo, impatiently shaking her head as he offered her a plateful of ham. 'I can't eat! How can people seem so happy at a funeral and guzzle food!'
- 'I didn't feel like eating before I'd talked to you. Now, it's odd, but I'm ready to say goodbye to my father.'
- 'Well, I still don't! I want to drive out in a car just to show her!' she added petulantly.
- 'Can you drive? You're only - what - fifteen?'
- 'I'll be sixteen in October. And Papa George taught me to drive, though he'd only let me practise on private roads. But his Bentley's gone. Leo, you have a car, don't you?'
- 'Yes. Josie, come back. You can't drive my car!'
- Josie grinned mischievously over her shoulder and ran from the room. By the time he caught up with her she was wrenching open the door of his small car. He grasped her shoulder and spun her round, then shook her angrily.
- 'You madcap! You're not old enough and even if you were I wouldn't let you drive my Midget!'
- 'Why not? I could!' she challenged. 'Are you afraid I'd smash it into the nearest ditch?'
- He reached over and removed the ignition keys. 'I'm not letting you try. Women can't drive.'
- 'Oh! What a load of rubbish! How about the women who drive in rallies and even at Brooklands? Mrs Bruce was placed two years running in the Monte Carlo Rally. And she flies aeroplanes and - '
- 'And you want to emulate her?'
- 'And what about Amy Johnson? If she can fly to Australia on her own I don't see why I can't drive a tiny little car!'
- 'Don't be silly! Do you want another funeral?'
- Josie went white and her head drooped. Leo, afraid he'd hurt her, began to try and explain but she turned and ran away round the side of the house. He shrugged. She was just a naughty child, sulking at a deserved reprimand. He'd leave her to herself. At least she couldn't now steal his car, and he doubted whether she would be idiotic enough to take one belonging to another guest. He walked slowly back towards the house, and for a few seconds didn't associate the new sounds he heard with Josie. Then he leapt hastily aside as she appeared astride a small motorcycle, waving gleefully before roaring off towards Redditch.
- 'Josie, you devil, bring me bike back!' A thin, sandy-haired young man gesticulating wildly cannoned into Leo as he raced after Josie.
- 'Come on!' Leo grabbed him. 'My car,' he explained tersely as he thrust the fuming young man into the passenger seat and fumbled for his key. The Midget shot out of the driveway, terrifying a huge draught-horse pulling a passing coal waggon, and set off in pursuit.
- 'You're old George Bradley's son, ain't yer?' the young man asked when he'd recovered his breath. Leo nodded. 'Me sister Lizzie said so. Me name's Freddy Preece, I'm Josie's cousin. Ma an' Aunt Dora are sisters.'
- 'Is she always this crazy?' Leo asked. He'd just seen Josie in the distance and relaxed slightly.
- 'Dunno. We don't see a lot of our posh relations,' Freddy replied. 'Only came to the funeral 'cause Ma said we 'ad to show respect. Aunt Dora likes us ter keep out of 'er swanky friends' way. Think yer'll catch 'er?'
- 'Yes, she's going quite slowly, and I can get over sixty in this little baby.'
- 'Blimey! Freddy was impressed.
- By now they'd passed all the houses of Moseley and were out in the winding country lanes. Josie had to slow down but Leo, laughing suddenly at the thought that Josie's bright beacon of hair was helping him keep her in sight, barely slowed his headlong pace. Freddy grabbed at the door when Leo slid round one bend on two wheels, then was thrown forward onto the dashboard as Leo braked abruptly. When he'd disentangled himself he found Leo furiously berating a defiant Josie. Freddy clambered out of the car, an appreciative grin on his face.
- Josie swung round. 'You utter cretin!' she blazed at Freddy. 'Your stupid machine's run out of petrol! I'd have got away if you kept the tank decently full!'
- Freddy gave a crow of laughter. 'I can't afford petrol fer thieves that pinch me bike! An' if yer've damaged it, young Josie, yer'll pay!'
- 'I know better than to damage it!' she flared.
- 'Yer, but 'ow'm I gonna get it 'ome?'
- 'There's a spare can in my car,' Leo said, amused. 'You, Josie, are coming home with me.'
- 'No! I won't! I'd rather walk!'
- She stalked off, watched in exasperated amusement by Leo. Freddy, busy squeezing the last possible drop of petrol into the motorcycle tank, laughed.
- 'Carrots an' temper,' he explained. 'Gals with red 'air are a menace. I always steer clear of 'em meself.'
- He replaced the petrol can, and gave a cheerful wave, shouting his thanks as he rode past Josie with a nonchalant flourish. She ignored him, as she ignored Leo when, having turned the car in a convenient field gateway, he drove slowly alongside her and civilly offered her a lift.
- 'It's several miles,' he pointed out. 'Your mother will be frantic.' She turned her head away. 'There are matters to discuss with the solicitors. Don't you want to be there?' Silence. 'Perhaps you're too young to be consulted.' That brought him a glare of fury. 'Or perhaps they wouldn't listen to a girl anyway. This is men's business, after all.' Josie's mouth opened, then she recollected herself and her nose went up in the air. Leo chuckled. 'Oh, don't be a little ass! Excuse me while I let the pony and trap overtake me.'
- He drew forward a few yards and halted, the side of the car hard against the hedge. The trap driver, with a curious glance at them, raised his whip in acknowledgement and trotted on. Leo waited. Josie had to come on his side of the car. She hesitated, and then as he opened the door and stepped out, turned and began to run back the way they'd come. He sprinted in pursuit.
- 'Let me go!' she panted, struggling in his grasp. She was big and strong, but Leo was much bigger and stronger, and within half a minute was carrying her back to the car, dumping her unceremoniously into the passenger seat and blocking her escape as he climbed in after her.
- 'You'll stay there!' he commanded briskly, and before Josie caught her breath the car was bowling along at a speed which precluded any thought of jumping out.
This is the third of my three Birmingham sagas. I hope you enjoyed it and want to find out what happens. If you want to read on, order from a bookstore or ask at your local library. I have hardback copies available at a discount, and paperbacks of the other two. E-mail me for details.
- Michael Joseph 1996
- ISBN 0-7181-4100-8
- Magna Large Print 1996
- ISBN 0-7505-1119-2
- Pan Books 2000
- ISBN 0-330-39681-1
- © 1996 Marina Oliver
