Across the Mersey by Annie Groves Read Free Book Online Page A

Uncle Edwin has got friendly with.’
    ‘A councillor, eh? There’s posh then.’ Susan pulled an unkind face. ‘Your Bella is obviously expectin’ to get a proposal and a ring out of him come Saturday, and I reckon that she won’t be too fussy about how she gets them.’
    ‘A lot of couples are getting engaged on account of what’s happening with Germany,’ Grace pointed out, trying not to show how uncomfortable Susan’s assessment of her cousin was making her feel.
    Susan was the closest to her age amongst those working in the Gown Salon. Grace liked her and had welcomed Susan’s overtures of friendship when she had first come to work there. She had quickly discovered that Susan was intensely loyal to those she cared about, but she was also extremely forthright and could be blunt to the point of unkindness.
    ‘Mebbe so,’ Susan allowed. ‘But I reckon that if that cousin of yours gets engaged it will be because it suits her and not because her chap is going off to war. She’s that kind. And if you can’t see that then that’s because you’re too soft-natured for your own good.’
    ‘I know what you’re saying,’ Grace admitted. ‘But there is another side to Bella. Look how kind she’s been, inviting me to this dance.’
    ‘Kind? Huh, not her. She’ll have some reason for doing it that suits her, you wait and see,’ Susan prophesied darkly. ‘Anyway, after the way she’s just bin looking down her nose at us, I reckon there’s all the more reason for you to borrow that green silk frock. Show her a thing of two, that would. It’s obvious she reckons she’s the bee’s knees. Well, put you in that frock and it won’t be the only thing around wot’s green, I can tell you that. She’ll be choking on her jealousy.’
    ‘Susan!’ Grace felt bound to protest.
    ‘It’s the truth. Twice as pretty as her, you are, or at least you could be. Only you can’t see it.’
    Bella smiled smugly as she surveyed her own reflection in the mirror of Lewis’s powder room. She had just finished reapplying her new ‘Paris Pink’ lipstick, her skin was creamily flawless, thanks to a fluff of Yardley face powder, and she had dabbed plenty of Ma Griffe scent on her wrists and her handkerchief before leaving home.
    No one seeing both her and Grace in the Gown Salon five minutes ago would ever have guessedthat they were cousins. Grace looked so drab and plain in her white blouse and black skirt, and with her hair tied back and only the merest hint of lipstick. Bella knew her cousin would be the perfect foil for her own beauty on Saturday night. There was nothing like a plain friend to make a girl look even better and so encourage her chap to recognise how lucky he was. Bella looked down at her left hand, her smile widening. She could see Alan’s ring on her finger already. In fact she had as good as picked it out from the rings on display in the window of Wallasey’s most exclusive jewellers. Not one but three bright shiny diamonds of a satisfyingly impressive size.
    Mrs Alan Parker!
    ‘Mr and Mrs Edwin Firth request the pleasure of your company at the Marriage of their Daughter Miss Isabella Firth with Mr Alan Parker.’
    Bella exhaled happily. Alan was everything she wanted in a husband. His father was an important and very well-to-do local businessman; his mother was the chairwoman of all the most important Wallasey women’s committees. They had no daughter of their own so naturally, she, their daughter-in-law, would be adored and spoiled. Alan’s parents would buy them a smart detached house not far from their own, and she would live the life of a new young wife whose husband had the time and the money to indulge her every whim.
    She was so glad now that she had held back last year when the son of the most well-to-do man where they had lived before moving to Kingswayhad started dropping hints that he wanted to propose to her. David had been all very well in his way, but his family’s position could not