Tilly True (29 page)

Twisting a strand of her hair around his finger, Barney looked deeply into her eyes. ‘No, I've never told a woman that I loved her. Well, I might have, but I haven't meant it. You're different and you're brave, Tilly. You've been through hell but you've never lost that spark of courage and you've never given in.'

‘But you're leaving me all the same.'

‘My darling, if there was any other way I wouldn't go. But Dolph has paid off my debts and bought me this commission to get rid of me. I'm an embarrassment to my family and I'm never going to change. I do things without thinking and now I've upset you.'

Angry with herself, Tilly couldn't stop the tears spurting from her eyes. ‘Go away then, see if I care. I'll be fine.'

‘Tilly, darling, if there's anything I can do for you?'

Suddenly, Tilly knew what she wanted above all things. ‘Marry me.'

‘What?'

‘Marry me now, Barney. Today. I want you to marry me.'

Chapter Fourteen

‘Marry you?' Repeating the words, Barney stared at her as if she had spoken in tongues.

‘Yes.' Uncompromising, determined and still in a state of euphoria after a night of ecstatic lovemaking, Tilly met his eyes with a calmness that she did not feel.

Getting up from the bed, Barney ran his hand through his hair, staring down at her with a half-puzzled, half-amused expression. ‘You want me to marry you? But I'm about to be posted, darling girl, sent off to God knows where – the Sudan, India, or anywhere else that the powers that be decide to send the Rifle Brigade.'

‘You never told me you were in the Rifle Brigade, but then you haven't told me much, have you?'

‘Sweetheart, there's not much to tell. Palgraves have been in the Rifle Brigade for a hundred years or more; that's where they send the spare sons, the ones who were not born to inherit the estate and are too unregenerate to be clergymen.'

‘I don't care about all that. I love you, Barney, and I'm not afraid of hardship or danger. I'd follow you into battle if I had to and I'd make the best soldier's wife that you could imagine.'

‘I believe you, but . . .'

Tilly could hear the indecision in his voice; this was no time to be modest or shy. Throwing off the bedclothes, she sprang naked from the bed and wound her arms around his neck, pulling his head down so that their lips met. ‘Marry me. Take me with you.'

Drawing breath at last, Barney held her so tightly that the brass buttons of his uniform jacket cut into her bare flesh, but Tilly felt no pain. She could hear his heart thumping away in time to her own and she was molten gold in his arms. ‘You can't live without me, Barney. Admit it.'

‘By God, we'll do it.' Holding her at arm's length, Barney's eyes glowed and his lips curved into a wide smile. ‘I'll get a special licence today and we'll be married first thing in the morning.'

‘We will?' Tilly could hardly speak. She wanted to laugh and to cry at the same time; to sing and dance for joy and to shout from the rooftops that this glorious man really loved her.

Planting a firm kiss on Tilly's mouth, Barney lifted her onto the bed. ‘But first I've got to report at the barracks or I'll be deemed absent without leave, and then I've got to rescue poor old Frank and Hattie from Jessie's house of sin. After I've done all that I'll see to the licence and make the necessary arrangements.'

‘But what do I do? I can't stay here. We can't afford this hotel.'

Kissing her forehead, the tip of her nose, running his tongue down the column of her neck and gently nipping first one rose-red nipple and then the other, Barney looked into Tilly's eyes with a smile that made her dizzy. ‘Rule number one, my darling, never pay anyone until it's absolutely necessary and, if you can get away with it, not even then. Dolph can afford another night at the Savoy and I want to find you just as you are when I return.'

‘You're a scoundrel, Barney.' Wrapping her arms around his neck, Tilly looked deeply into his eyes. ‘Must you go now?'

‘Heaven help us, I've turned you into a wanton overnight.' Barney disentangled himself, chuckling. ‘I'll get back as soon as I can and we'll go shopping for bridal clothes, although I much prefer you as you are at the moment.'

Tilly lay back against the pillows and blew him a kiss as he left the room. She stretched and sighed with pleasure, closing her eyes and allowing her senses to wallow in her newly found sexual fulfilment. Having undergone physical abuse by Bert and the appalling rape by Stanley Blessed that had made her fear and dread intimacy, she could hardly believe that lovemaking with the man of her heart could be so different and so entirely wonderful. Every inch of her flesh, every tissue in her being was sated, satisfied and pulsating with pleasure. If she were a cat, Tilly knew she would be purring. Curling up in a ball, she drifted off to sleep.

It was early afternoon when she finally awakened and she rang the bell, ordering tea and toast from the waiter, whose solemn countenance and black uniform put Tilly in mind of an undertaker. She was sorely tempted to crack a joke to see if she could shake his self-control, but she decided against it, and when he returned with a laden tea tray she gave him her cheeriest smile. ‘Ta. I'd give you a tip, cully, but I've got nuppence. I daresay my fiancé will cough up when he comes back.'

The waiter's lips quivered and Tilly was certain that his eyes watered as though he wanted to cry. Poor bloke, she thought, giving him a friendly nod, he must be stony broke himself.

‘Will that be all, madam?'

‘Yes, ta very much. You may go, my good fellow.'

With his shoulders shaking, the waiter left the room.

Pouring tea into a china cup that was better than any that Mrs Blessed had in her possession, Tilly shook her head. ‘Poor old bloke,' she said out loud. ‘I never met such a sensitive cove. He was quite overcome just because I was friendly like.'

Having eaten all the toast, lavishly spread with butter and strawberry jam, and licked the plate, the knife and the butter dish, Tilly drank all the tea in the pot. The bracket clock on the mantelpiece showed her that it was not quite three o'clock and, as she had no idea when Barney might return, she went into the marble temple that was the bathroom and ran a bath, tossing in a handful of bath salts. She wallowed up to her neck in hot, scented water, then dried herself and put on her clothes. She was just putting on her boots when the door opened and Barney burst into the room with his arms full of white roses.

‘Blimey,' Tilly said, staring in amazement. ‘I thought you was broke.'

Dropping the bouquet on the eiderdown, Barney threw his arms around her and kissed her long and hard. ‘My darling girl, we're solvent, for the time at least.'

Breathless, Tilly shook her head. ‘What's that when it's at home?'

‘I touched a fellow officer for a loan, which of course I will repay as soon as I'm in funds. I've taken Frank and Hattie back to Bunbury Fields where that ghastly dragon-woman has been glad to take them back in their old rooms, which were fortunately vacant. And . . .' Taking a piece of paper from his pocket, he waved it in Tilly's face. ‘I've got the special licence and left Bootle to make the arrangements for tomorrow morning when we'll be married.'

‘Let's see.' Tilly made to snatch the paper, but Barney held it above her head, laughing.

‘Don't worry your beautiful head about details, my darling; there are more important things to do. As I promised this morning, we're going shopping. I won't have my wife walking round in shabby clothes and down at heel boots.' Tucking the licence back in his pocket, Barney handed Tilly her shawl. ‘This will do for the moment, but we'll soon have you rigged out like a princess.'

‘How are we going to pay?'

‘Leave me to worry about that, my angel.'

After an exhausting couple of hours' shopping, starting in Bond Street at Fenwicks and progressing to Oxford Street, Marshall and Snelgrove, Dickins and Jones and D H Evans, Tilly was fit to drop. She was thrilled to be the possessor of wonderful new clothes, shoes, gloves, hats and frivolous, lacy underwear, but also appalled at the extravagance. She had only a vague idea how much Barney had spent on Dolph's behalf, but she was certain it was enough to keep her whole family for a year at least.

Laden with bandboxes, hatboxes and parcels, they arrived back at the Savoy in a hansom cab and Barney paid the cabby with a flourish and, by the expression on the man's face, a generous tip. He tipped the doorman, the hall porter and the waiter who brought them an early supper in their room.

‘Barney, shouldn't you be a bit careful? You've given away more money in tips than I've seen in the past six months.'

Pulling her onto his lap, Barney began to nuzzle her throat. ‘Darling girl, you mustn't worry about such petty things. This is our honeymoon, my pet.'

‘We're not married yet,' Tilly said, chuckling as his hair tickled her chin.

‘We're one person, Tilly, love. We always were and always will be.'

His lips were hot on her throat; he was undoing her blouse, kissing the hollow at the base of her neck and the swell of her breasts above her stays. Tilly groaned with pleasure.

‘Oh, God, Tilly. You're good enough to eat.' Capturing her parted lips with his mouth, Barney slid them both onto the carpet.

‘Our supper – it's getting cold.'

‘There's plenty more in the kitchen.'

Half an hour later, Tilly lay back against Barney's wet body as they soaked in a hot bath. Steam condensed on the marble-tiled walls, forming small rivulets as it turned back to water; the rose and geranium scent of the soap and bath salts filled her head with flowers and she was drunk with satisfaction. Barney's soapy hands cupped her breasts, stroked her flat stomach and wandered provocatively to the seat of desire between her legs.

‘I wish we could stay like this for ever,' Tilly said, sighing and turning her cheek to rest on his bare chest. ‘I think I've died and gone to heaven.'

‘This is just the beginning, sweetheart.'

‘But you'll have to go away soon.'

‘Don't think about that now.'

Tilly made to sit upright but Barney twisted her round so that she was lying on him, face to face. Stroking her wet hair back from her forehead, he smiled. ‘We've got tonight and all of tomorrow.'

‘And then?' Fear gripped Tilly's heart and she shivered.

‘Never mind then, this is now.' Rising from the water with Tilly still clinging to him, Barney got out of the bath. ‘And tonight, Mrs Palgrave to be, I'm taking you to the theatre. We'll have a late supper with a bottle of the best champagne and maybe even snatch a few hours' sleep, if I can keep my hands off this lovely body. Tomorrow, I'll make an honest woman of you, Tilly True.'

Tilly had never been to a music hall, let alone a proper theatre, and she was a bit apprehensive as they walked out of the Savoy and straight into the famous Savoy Theatre. Of course she had heard of Mr Gilbert and Mr Sullivan and everyone knew at least some of the lyrics to the music from their operas. Street sellers, bootblacks and dustmen whistled their catchy tunes. You couldn't pass a barrel organ in the street or an open pub door without hearing music from
The Mikado
,
The Pirates of Penzance
or
The Gondoliers
. And now, dressed in one of the new gowns that Barney had bought for her, Tilly was on his arm and they were being escorted to a box at the side of the stage where, in a short while, she would watch a performance of
The Yeomen of the Guard
. Smiling up at Barney, her heart swelled with love and pride. He looked so handsome and dashing in his evening suit and she could feel the envious stares of well-bred young ladies in the audience; but they hadn't captured his heart and she had. Here she was, Tilly True from Whitechapel, sitting next to her fiancé, in a box that had cost all of two guineas, more than a month's wages for a parlour maid.

She sat entranced and enthralled by the performance and almost cried with disappointment when the curtain came down.

‘Is it over?'

Kissing her on the cheek, Barney grinned. ‘No, silly, this is the interval. Wait here; I won't be long.'

Sitting very still, Tilly gazed down at the people in the stalls below. Diamonds flashed around long, aristocratic necks and sparkled in elaborate coiffures decorated with feathers and flowers. She wished that Ma and Pops could see her now; Emmie would be pea-green with jealousy. She would save the programme for Winnie and Lizzie and commit every detail to memory so that she could recount the whole event to the children.

The door to the box opened and Barney came in holding a bottle of champagne, two glasses and a spray of white gardenias. ‘For you, my darling girl.' Handing her the flowers, Barney sat down and poured the champagne.

‘They're lovely. Ta ever so.' Sniffing the flowers, Tilly was about to lay them gently on the table beside her when Barney's hand shot out.

‘Look closer, Tilly.'

Examining the spray, Tilly gasped with amazement as her fingers touched something hard. Hidden beneath the glossy green leaves, encircling the tightly bound stems, was a ring. Slipping it free, Tilly stared at the sparkling diamond and, for once, was speechless.

Taking the ring from her trembling fingers, Barney held it up so that the diamond flashed white fire. ‘Miss True, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?'

Barely able to believe that this was happening to her, Tilly held out her hand and Barney slipped the ring on her finger. ‘Oh, yes. Yes, I will.'