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

compare with that of Alan’s.
    Not that it had all been plain sailing exactly. There had been the small matter of the girl Alan had already been seeing when they had first met – an ‘accidentally on purpose’ bumping into him as she left the tennis court – but Bella had soon seen off Trixie Mayhew, who had gone all pale-faced and quiet when Bella had taken her to one side to confide in her that she felt Trixie ought to know that Alan had told her how attracted he was to her but that he felt he couldn’t ask her out because he was already seeing Trixie. Naturally Bella had known that Trixie was the kind of girl who wouldn’t want to stand in the way of the man she loved’s longing for someone else. And of course when Alan had turned to her for comfort when Trixie had told him that she didn’t want to see him any more, and had refused to say why, Bella had been more than ready to give him that comfort.
    Bella knew that it would shock girls like Trixie and her cousin Grace to learn how determined she was to make sure that Alan proposed to her. But that, of course, was why girls like them ended up with the husbands they did, whilst girls like her got the pick of the crop. And now if she had judged the situation correctly, and she was sure that she had, Alan had taken the hints she had been dropping and was about to propose. Andnot before time! She had been beginning to get a bit impatient. After all, they had spent the whole summer as a couple, and she had made it clear what she wanted and expected, losing no opportunity to make him aware of how fortunate he was to have a girl like her and what a perfect wife she would be.
    Now her goal was in sight. Surely the reason Alan had telephoned her at work so unexpectedly to ask her to meet him could mean only one thing? He wanted her to choose her ring before Saturday so that he could ‘surprise’ her with it at the dance. She had pretended to appear casual on the phone, suggesting that he meet her outside Lewis’s instead of letting him pick her up from her office. After all, she didn’t want him thinking that she was desperate!
    Daintily Bella sauntered out into the street. She was late, of course, but not so late that Alan would have grown irritated, and so it caught her off guard not to find Alan waiting for her as they had arranged.
    Her smile changed abruptly to a small tight frown. She looked briefly down Ranelagh Street. It was unthinkable that Alan should have stood her up or gone off in a huff. She was a girl who was worth waiting for, and she had been at pains to make sure that Alan knew that, just as she had been at pains to make sure that he realised how many other young men wished they were in his shoes.
    Alan was the kind of man who needed to knowthat his peers envied him, and Bella had been more than willing to assist him in this vanity.
    The sound of a car horn followed by Alan calling out her name caught her attention, her eyes widening slightly as she saw him waving to her from the driving seat of a brand-new cream MG Roadster, its hood down.
    ‘I say, Bella, hurry up, will you?’ he called out impatiently. ‘I’ve already driven past here twice.’
    The drivers of the other cars in the street were all turning to look and, by no means averse to this attention, Bella made a pretty show of looking bashful, whilst at the same time ensuring that everyone was aware of how elegant and smartly turned out she was as she hurried towards the car.
    ‘Goodness, Alan, fancy calling out to me like that in the street. Everyone was looking at me,’ she told him as she got into the car and closed the door.
    ‘What do you think of her?’ he demanded excitedly, ignoring her comment.
    What Bella thought was that she was irritated and put out to discover that his reason for wanting to meet her was because he wanted to show off his new car, and not because he wanted to take her to choose an engagement ring, but she was far too wise to say so. Men needed to be