One Step at a Time (20 page)

Howard nodded. ‘That’ll be handy, because although I’m making progress, we need the three of us to be able to drive. We’re being asked more and more often to deliver some of the larger pieces.’

Over an excellent meal they discussed the business and sorted out a schedule for one of them to man the shop while the other two worked to keep it well stocked. Mrs Dalton said she was happy to help out serving customers if they liked, and was clearly very pleased when her offer was accepted with much gratitude.

The rate at which items were being sold meant they were all working like mad to have enough to fill
the shelves and walls. They wondered if trade would disappear after Christmas but, although it did slacken off, they went on selling steadily after the New Year of 1936 arrived. And by the spring Amy was driving confidently: she couldn’t wait until she was old enough to go out on the roads.

18

August had been quite hot, but the last few days had been stifling. Amy paused as she arranged a new window display, studying the street outside. The heat was shimmering on the road, giving the illusion that it was wet in places, but the people walking by didn’t appear to be bothered about it and trade was brisk. That was why she was doing the window in such heat; so many things had been sold.

Humming to herself as she decided where to put Howard’s beautiful sculpture of a horse and her foal, she was completely lost in her task. This was something she had discovered she loved doing. Howard was getting better and better, as was Ben, and even her decorating was earning high praise, giving her confidence in her ability. But more than anything she was delighted to see Ben and Howard’s talent recognized. That was more important to her than all the personal praise in the world. She loved her ‘brothers’ and did everything she could to help them.

A sudden flash made her look up quickly. She saw two men outside watching her. One had a camera up to his eye and was taking picture after picture. Frowning, she moved out of the window. Had Ben asked someone to photograph the shop without
telling her? And if so, why were they taking pictures of her? And they must have been, because the window was nowhere near finished. They’d had a lot of publicity lately, but she always kept in the background. She considered that Ben and Howard were the artists and should have all the attention.

When Ben came down from the gallery, Amy told him about the men.

‘I haven’t asked anyone to take pictures of the shop.’ He looked outside. ‘There’s no one there now. I expect it was just a keen photographer wanting a picture of a lovely girl at work.’

She pulled a face at him. He was always saying daft things like that. ‘Well, I wish they wouldn’t. I don’t like it.’

‘You’ll have to get used to this.’ His smile was teasing. ‘We’re getting famous, and you’re part of the team.’

‘You’re the clever ones.’ She shook her head in denial, and ducked laughing as he tried to ruffle her hair. ‘Don’t do that. It took me ages this morning to make it behave.’

‘Ah, you didn’t manage it then?’

She launched herself at him, her little fists pummelling his chest. ‘Cheek! I’ve a good mind to have it cut short.’

‘Don’t you dare! It’s a dream to paint.’ With that, he disappeared up the stairs, taking them three at a time.

Still laughing, she resumed her job of dressing the
window. The irritation she’d felt about the photographer was forgotten.

‘Ben.’ Howard burst into his bedroom the next morning waving a newspaper at him. ‘Get up. Have you seen this?’

Yawning, Ben took the paper from his friend, glanced at the section being pointed out, then shot to his feet, the bedclothes tumbling on to the floor in a heap. ‘Oh, hell! Get Ted, but whatever you do don’t wake Amy.’

Five minutes later Ted arrived. He was bleary-eyed from sleep, but he had managed to pull on some clothes. ‘What the blazes is the matter? It’s only six-thirty.’

‘Amy said someone was taking photographs of her yesterday while she was in the window. I dismissed it as unimportant.’ Ben held out the paper for Ted to see. ‘I was wrong, and now we know why they were there.’

Ted read in silence, and then groaned in dismay. ‘Oh, dear God! This is going to crucify her.’

Ben took it from him again and read out loud.

‘MURDERER’S DAUGHTER IN CHELSEA

‘Amy Carter, daughter of notorious murderer Gregory Carter, is part of a prestigious art gallery in the King’s Road. She has prospered since her father was hanged at Pentonville Jail nearly two years ago.

‘She has forsaken her humble roots and now lives a life of luxury, even though she has never been able to read or
write. Her former neighbours told this newspaper that she has turned her back on all her friends in Wapping, and now considers herself too good even to visit.’

Howard paced the room. ‘Can we keep this from her?’

‘No, that wouldn’t be fair.’ Ted sighed deeply. ‘She’s bound to find out. Her reading is good enough now for her to be able to make out the gist of the story, and you know how she scans the papers to see how much she can read.’

The three of them stood there in various states of undress, their expressions ranging from grim to furious.

‘How did this happen?’ Howard, terribly agitated, continued to stride up and down.

‘God knows.’ Ben’s large hands clenched into fists. ‘But if I find the person responsible I’m going to beat him to a pulp.’

‘Violence isn’t going to help,’ Ted pointed out firmly. ‘There will be reporters waiting outside the shop this morning, so we’re all going to have to protect her as much as we can.’

‘Of course we’ll do that,’ Ben growled, ‘but we’ve got to stop this right now!’

Howard sat on the bed, picked up the paper and read it again. ‘It’s all lies!’ He surged to his feet and threw the paper down in fury. ‘We saw how her neighbours treated her, didn’t we, Ted? They never lifted a finger to help her.’

Ted retrieved the paper. ‘Yes we did, so let’s turn this against them, shall we?’

‘How?’ The boys spoke in unison.

‘I know a reporter on a reputable paper and I’ll have a word with him to see if we can get the truth printed.’

‘That’s a good idea.’ Ben still looked ready to hit someone. ‘But Amy must agree.’

‘I wouldn’t do anything without her permission.’

‘Oh, God!’ Howard groaned. ‘How are we going to tell her?’

‘I’ll do it.’ Ben straightened to his full height. He had met the little waif and brought her home when she had nowhere to go. Up to that time her young life had been unbelievably hard, but since she had been with them she had grown and blossomed, learnt to laugh and be happy. And now her past was about to rear its nasty head. The thought of what this was going to do to her was like a physical pain to him. But at least this time she wouldn’t be alone!

‘Mrs Dalton must be a part of this.’ Ted opened the door, turned his head and said grimly, ‘Wake Amy and meet us in the kitchen.’

Ben and Howard followed him out.

A firm rap on her door made Amy jump as she was struggling to tame her hair with a brush.

‘Amy, you up?’

‘Come in, Ben.’ She peered at the clock and her mouth turned up in amusement. What was he doing
up so early? He must be extra hungry and didn’t want to cook his own breakfast.

As the door opened she turned to smile at him and was astonished to see Howard there as well. Her smile died before it had time to form when she noted their grim expressions. She leapt to her feet. ‘What’s the matter? Are Ted and Mrs Dalton all right?’

‘They’re fine.’ Ben reached out and gently pushed a strand of hair away from her eyes. ‘We want you to come to the kitchen. There’s something we have to tell you.’

Amy allowed them to guide her along the passage, really worried now. She had never seen them look like this.

When she saw Mrs Dalton and Ted waiting for them the breath caught in her throat. ‘What on earth has happened?’

Mrs Dalton already had the kettle boiling to make tea. ‘Sit down, all of you. I’ll make a large pot of tea while we decide what to do about this.’

‘Do about what?’ Amy let Howard ease her into a chair. ‘I wish someone would tell me what’s going on. You’re frightening me!’

It was Ben who spoke. ‘Do you remember you said someone had been taking photographs of you while you were arranging the shop window?’

She nodded, her heart missing a couple of beats.

‘Well, there’s an article in today’s newspaper about you. You’re going to have to be brave, Amy, because it isn’t nice.’

It took a couple of goes before she could draw in enough breath to talk. ‘Show me.’

Ted slid the newspaper in front of her, open at the right page.

Dipping her head she began to read, her finger slowly tracing each word on the headline and then moving further down the article.

‘I’ll read it for you, Amy.’

Ben’s hand came into her view as he tried to take the paper from her. She pushed him away. ‘I’ll read it myself!’

They left her alone then to struggle, not only with the words, but also with the horror of what she was gleaning from her laborious efforts. Her finger began to shake. She had been feeling so safe and happy. How could this have happened? Her stomach churned as dismay and anger warred inside her.

‘What’s this word?’ She stabbed at a place on the page.

Ben leant over. ‘“Prestigious”. Amy…’

They were crowding her; she needed space. Scrambling to her feet she went and leant against the back door, sinking down until she was sitting on the doormat. The silence stretched as every word was examined and deciphered where possible, until there was no doubt in her mind what was being said about her. Vicious pain ripped through her, the paper falling from her hands as she wrapped her arms around her middle. She was dry-eyed, unable to shed the tears fighting for release, as she recognized what this could do to the people she loved.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she moaned.

Ben immediately knelt in front of her. ‘You haven’t anything to be sorry about.’

‘I have!’ She looked up wildly, searching his face and Howard’s as he sat next to her as well. ‘I’ve ruined everything for you. The shop was doing so well, now no one will come there.’

‘You’re thinking about us?’ Ben took her face in his hands. ‘This isn’t going to hurt our business.’

‘It will. It will,’ she wailed. ‘I’m a murderer’s daughter. It says so in the paper, and now everyone will know.’

Scooping her into his arms, Ben rose to his feet. ‘We can deal with that. Ted’s got a plan.’

Tucking her head in his shoulder the dam she had been holding back broke. She howled like a baby. ‘I… I’ve ruined every… everything for you.’

‘No you haven’t, my lovely girl.’ Ben walked up and down with her, waiting for the storm of tears to subside. ‘Knowing the public, they’ll be queuing up to buy something. But that isn’t what’s important here. We’ve got to do something about the lies. How much of it were you able to read?’

‘Enough,’ she mumbled, feeling comforted and protected. He was carrying her like a distressed child. ‘What are we going to do? I’ll have to leave here, and I don’t want to!’

‘You’ll do no such thing, Amy.’ Mrs Dalton spoke firmly. ‘You belong here with us and we won’t let anyone drive you away. And as Ben said, Ted has a plan.’

Ben leant back until he could look into her face. ‘Want to hear what it is?’

She nodded, the tears dried now. ‘Why did they write those things about me?

‘Money!’ Ted said as Ben sat her in a chair again. ‘I’ll bet one of your ex-neighbours sold that information to the newspaper.’

Her eyes blazed with anger now. ‘Can we find out who?’

‘We’ll find them.’ Howard’s mouth was set in a determined line. ‘And when we do they are going to receive a visit from us!’

‘We’ll all go and give them a piece of our minds.’ Mrs Dalton pushed a cup of tea in front of Amy. ‘No one goes about upsetting my girl and gets away with it.’

Amy gazed at each one in wonder at their vehemence. Then she turned to Ben and Howard, still concerned about them. ‘You said this wouldn’t ruin your careers?’

‘Absolutely not!’ Howard smiled then. ‘And it won’t hurt yours as a ceramic decorator, either.’

That made her eyes open wide. ‘Is that what I am?’

‘Of course you are.’ Howard turned to Ben with a look of mock disgust. ‘Doesn’t this girl of ours take any credit for her talent?’

‘Doesn’t look like it.’

‘Amy, Amy.’ Howard’s sigh echoed around the kitchen. ‘You’re as much an artist as we are. Without you we wouldn’t have our successful shop.’

The tears gathered again. ‘But what about this?’

Ted picked up the paper and tossed it on to the draining board in disgust. ‘That can go where it belongs, in the dustbin. But there’s something I’d like to do, with your permission, Amy.’

‘What’s that?’ They were all acting as if this was of no importance, but she still felt sick with worry. Suppose they were wrong and it did ruin their business? She would never be able to forgive herself.

Ted then explained about the reporter he knew, and how he was going to see if he could get him to print her side of the story. ‘It will prolong the publicity, I’m afraid, but we can’t let this go unchallenged.’

Casting Ben an anxious glance she chewed her lip until it was sore. Always she turned to Ben, her friend, brother and saviour.

‘I believe it would be right to do this,’ he said gently, ‘but it must be your decision.’

‘Trust us, Amy,’ Ted urged. ‘None of us would ever do anything to hurt you.’

‘I know,’ she whispered, facing Mrs Dalton. ‘This has to be your decision as well, because I’m living in your house.’

‘I don’t give a toss what people say about me, my dear. Many already view me with suspicion because I took three men into my home.’ She laughed. ‘They can think what they like. I’ve got nothing to be ashamed of – and neither have you. What your father did he’s paid for with his life, but you are innocent
of any crime. I say go ahead, Ted, and let’s get the buggers.’

As they all laughed, Amy gaped at her. She had
never
heard Mrs Dalton swear before. ‘What will you say, Ted?’ Surrounded by people who cared, she was suddenly buoyant with hope that everything would be all right in the end.