The Chainmakers (25 page)

'Even now.' Clancy took Anna's arm and tucked it under his. 'Let's walk home, at least part of the way, shall we?'

Anna nodded, and Clancy asked their chauffeur to follow them at walking pace. It was a lovely evening, the air was fresh and sweet after the oppressive atmosphere of the kitchen, and they strolled comfortably, enjoying the quietness of the streets late at night.

'Imagine,' said Clancy, 'That our restaurant is on Fifth Avenue. Could you have taken any more money tonight?'

'No,' Anna admitted. 'Although we could have charged a little more maybe...'

'How much more?' Clancy asked.

'Er... perhaps ten per cent,' Anna said.

'Right. If we were on Fifth Avenue instead of just off Union Square we should have taken ten per cent more. But our rent would have trebled. We should actually be making a loss, whereas our present site will make us a good return.'

'I can see that,' Anna said, 'But I thought Fifth Avenue was the place to be.'

'It is if you can make it work.' Clancy said. 'But it is no use opening something that will not make a contribution to the business. Every canteen and delicatessen we own pays its way, and we must make sure that every Sullivans does too.'

'I suppose so,' Anna said a little sadly.

Clancy laughed. 'We are still making chains Anna, as you often remind me, and every chain is only as strong as its weakest link.'

She looked at him keenly. 'A restaurant on Fifth Avenue would be a weak link?'

'Yes. Not only would it make no contribution to the chain, but its losses would wipe out the profit from a few of the others. The secret is to find sites which are quite near to the best areas, but not in the prime positions where the rents are beyond us.'

'And you think you can find sites like that?' Anna asked.

'Oh yes. I shall keep my eyes open and we aren't in any hurry. The customers will always want your food.'

Anna laughed. 'I must admit I didn't expect such compliments. It's very gratifying after all the time I spent planning. They like the design too.'

They walked on in silence until Anna said, 'Jennie has been a Godsend. She has worked so hard, I think we should pay her a bonus.'

'Yes,' Clancy agreed. 'I was going to mention it myself. I must say you were right about her. I had my doubts, but for an eighteen year old she has a good head.'

Anna smiled. People often underestimated Jennie McCormack. With her slender figure, fair hair and pale skin she appeared frail, almost wraith like, but her ephemeral beauty hid a very practical nature and a strong tenacious will. It probably came from her orphanage background, Anna thought, and having to make her own way in life.

She leaned her head against Clancy's shoulder. 'I suddenly feel very tired. Shall we drive the rest of the way?'

Clancy beckoned the chauffeur and within a few minutes they were home. Lottie, their housekeeper since James had started school, had waited up in case they needed anything.

'I'd love a cup of tea, Lottie,' Anna said, sinking into a sofa.

'And something to eat?'

'Not for me,' Anna responded, 'But perhaps Mr. Sullivan...'

'Yes,' said Clancy. 'Tea for me as well Lottie, and a slice of that bread pudding I saw in the ice box.'

Anna suppressed a smile, Clancy's success had not altered his fondness for bread pudding. He sensed her interest and said defensively, 'Well, I like it, so I do.'

'I know. That's why I made it.'

He smiled. 'I'm surprised you had time. You have been working far too hard lately.'

For once she agreed with him. 'Yes, I know. Now we are up and running with the restaurant I can relax a little, I was meaning to talk to you about it.'

'Well?'

'Firstly, I want to hand over all the cooking to Jennie McCormack...'

'I know she's good, but is she that good?'

'She is, I have taught her all I know. With the help of the new chef she will do well, I'm sure of it. As we are closed on Mondays that will be her day off, and I shall go in to help at the weekends and check the ordering.'

'Do you need to do even that much?' Clancy asked.

'Yes. I don't want to lose touch with the business, I must always know what is going on, in that way I can develop new menus...'

'Do you have to?' Clancy said gently. 'If you wish you can never do a hand's turn again. It's time you put your feet up, enjoyed the money we have earned...'

'I could never be idle,' Anna smiled.

'But why not? Now we have the first Sullivans open, it will be a simple matter of copying your ideas for the others, and we have plenty of good people...'

'I know, but I need to be involved, especially as James is at school. Perhaps if we had other children...'

Clancy fell silent, and neither of them spoke as Lottie entered with the tray. After she had gone Clancy said, 'I sent the money to Will today, by the way. Enough to pay for the house, and some extra for furnishings and moving expenses, as you wanted.'

'Thank you.' Anna said. 'They must be so excited to be moving to the country. I can't imagine our Billy is fourteen now, and Dottie eight. Little Andrew will be four soon, I'm glad he will grow up away from Sandley Heath.' She hesitated. 'If ever I feel I can leave the business for a while I'd like to go home to see them all.' She smiled at him. 'Wouldn't you like to do that Clancy? Go home for a visit?'

Clancy shook his head ruefully. 'Someone would need to stay here. Anyway, it isn't home to me. Personally, I don't care if I never see Sandley Heath again. It was never really home to me the way it was for you.'

Anna nodded. 'Clancy, you don't mind sending so much money to my family? The annuity you arranged for Will was very expensive...'

Clancy laughed. 'Of course not. Will is a good fellow, I always thought so. Anyway, what are families for? If my cousins needed money we'd help them too, but they seem to have fallen on their feet, Heaven alone knows how! We have been so lucky Anna, it's good to share it around a little.'

Anna frowned. 'We have not been lucky at all, we have been hard working and imaginative. We made our own luck.'

'Rubbish!' Clancy took a large bite of bread pudding. He ate appreciatively, saying, 'This is delicious!' before he replied, 'We have worked hard certainly, but can you honestly say you have worked harder than you did at Sandley Heath?'

'No,' Anna said, remembering suddenly. 'Not as hard as that. But this is a different country.'

'Of course, that is where the luck comes in, we were lucky to be here at such a time, when things were expanding so fast. No matter how hard they work, Will and Mary will never have the chance to do what we have done.'

'That's true,' Anna admitted. 'But they could have joined us here, we asked them often enough.'

'I know you would have liked that, darlin'. I think their decision not to come was more because of your Dad being left alone than anything else.'

'You're probably right,' Anna said. 'He's seventy four now and still putting his spoke in. Will said in his last letter they had endless trouble getting him to agree to move with them.'

'Yes, and that surprises me,' Clancy said. 'He always longed for the countryside so much.'

'Did he? I never heard him say so.'

'Perhaps he didn't talk about it to his family, but I
remember once, in the Sandley Arms when he was the worse for drink...'

'Which was very often...'

'He told me about Worcestershire, and about his childhood.' Clancy hesitated, remembering. 'He spoke about it so... so... movingly...'

'Dad? Spoke movingly?' Her tone was contemptuous.

'Yes, truly.' Clancy smiled gently. 'I know you've never really forgiven him, but he had a terrible life you know.'

'What about my mother?' Anna retorted. 'It was worse for her.'

'Perhaps it was. But he had a point of view as well. He left everything he loved to be with your mother, and then found he couldn't provide for her as he wanted to.'

Anna's face was tight and closed. 'Anyway,' she sighed, 'It's all water under the bridge now.'

'Yes. I only wanted to make the point that it isn't easy to feel like that. To know that your wife wants something else, something you can't give her, no matter how hard you try.'

Something in Clancy's voice touched a nerve, and Anna got up and went over to him. She stroked his temples gently and said, 'You have always been so good to me Clancy. If it wasn't for you, where should I be now I wonder?'

He caught at her hand, opening her palm and raising it to his lips. Then he said simply, 'But it's not what you really wanted is it?'

'How can you say that? It is due to you that we have the
business. If you hadn't got me the position as cook at Hampsons we should never have got off the ground. I didn't dream we should ever be so well off, and able to help Will and the family. It's all due to you.'

Clancy was engaged in kissing her fingers one by one. When he raised his head Anna thought she saw tears in his eyes. He smiled. 'Oh yes,' he said, 'We have money, more than enough, and we made it together. But as I said before, it's not what you really wanted, is it?'

~

Anna started. She listened intently, and after a moment she heard the sound again. There was someone... or something... out there, at the rear of the premises.

She put down her pen, and moved quietly out of the office and across the darkened restaurant kitchen towards the window. She could feel her heart thumping in her chest as she peered out into the blackness. At first she could see nothing, but then discerned a shadowy figure poised on the fence at the back of the restaurant, and heard the slight thud as he jumped to the ground. Holding her breath, Anna moved across the kitchen, carefully opened a drawer, and extracted a large torch.

Momentarily she cursed herself for working so late alone, she had promised Clancy to be home an hour ago. Deciding surprise was the best form of attack, with one quick movement she unlocked the door and directed the torch straight at the intruder.

For a few seconds they stared at each other in frozen silence. He was young, perhaps in his early twenties, and in spite of the look of shock he wore, Anna was immediately conscious of his startlingly handsome features. He moved slightly to avoid the beam of the torch in his eyes, but not before Anna had seen the startled look change to one of embarrassment, and a deep flush suffuse his face as he turned away.

‘What are you doing here?’ Anna said sharply.

‘Nothing.’ The quiet reply was superfluous. In spite of his attempt to hide it, the torch had already picked out the chunk of French bread in his left hand. He saw she had noticed it and said sullenly, ‘Not doing any harm.’

Stealing from the rubbish bin! Anna’s heart lurched, and she was back in Sandley Heath, desperately filling a bucket with ‘sleck’ from the waste tip... not exactly stealing, but not really allowed either...