‘I did all my presents three weeks ago,’ Gill went on as they worked together. ‘Do your friends live locally?’
‘Findon,’ said Milly. She was eternally grateful to Nan and Cyril. If they hadn’t asked her to join them, she supposed she would have faced a lonely Christmas in the staff accommodation, living on cold tins of soup or something. Because Christmas Day fell on a Saturday this year, they didn’t have to be back in the store until Wednesday, so everybody else was going away. Lena was in Kent, where Rainbow George had taken a pitch for the St Thomas’s Christmas Fair. With no trains on Christmas Day or Boxing Day and a limited service on the two bank holidays that followed, it seemed sensible that she should spend her festive season with the fairground folk.
Milly knew her Christmas would be quiet, but she was determined to make the most of it. She and Nan began the festivities by going to the midnight service in All Saints, the Findon Valley church. Cyril was already there. In his capacity as verger, he had to be early, to make sure people arriving for the service had a warm welcome. He was also responsible for making sure the vestments were ready for the priest and choir members, as well as checking that the building itself was clean and tidy before the service. When it was over, he had to make sure that the church was safely locked up after everybody had gone home. Cyril took this role very seriously
On Christmas Day, Milly was surprised to see Nan laying the table for four people.
‘Who else is coming?’ Milly asked.
‘Oh, didn’t I tell you?’ Nan said casually. ‘I invited Seebold.’
Milly’s heart did a double beat. She hadn’t seen him since that dreadful day when she’d gone back to Muntham Court to collect the last of her things. Flustered and embarrassed, she felt her colour rising as she recalled that moment they’d shared in the lorry when he’d put his arm around her shoulder and she’d leaned on his chest for comfort. Sometimes, when she put her head on her pillow in bed, she could still hear the thud, thud of his steady heartbeat. Why did she feel this way about him? It wasn’t as if he’d made a pass at her. Far from it. Seebold was ever the perfect gentleman.
‘I couldn’t let him spend Christmas on his own,’ Nan said as she bustled around the kitchen.
‘Where is he now?’ Milly asked.
Nan smiled to herself as she opened the oven door to baste the goose inside. ‘Don’t you know?’ she said. ‘He’s got a caravan on that plot of land he rents in East Worthing; working day and night on getting his amusements ready, so I’m told.’
Milly knew about the caravan, but she’d been too busy at work to pop down to see her friend. She occupied herself polishing the glasses and putting them on the table.
It seemed like an age until he turned up at noon, when he walked into the kitchen with an armful of presents. After dumping them on the dresser, he turned to give Nan a kiss then nodded at Milly. ‘Hello, duchess. I’ve brought you a special present.’
Milly was immediately thrown into a panic. A present for her? Oh no, he shouldn’t have. She hadn’t bought him a thing. She became aware of a shadow falling in the doorway and a voice said, ‘Happy Christmas, everybody!’
‘Lena!’ Milly cried. ‘How wonderful!’
Seebold took Lena back to Kent on Tuesday morning. Thanks to Nan and Cyril, they had all enjoyed the most wonderful Christmas. Nan had cooked enough food to feed an army: roast goose – one she had reared herself from a gosling – with all the trimmings, followed by Christmas pudding soaked in brandy and set alight; then later on, for tea, sandwiches and Christmas cake. On Boxing Day, Nan and Cyril went to church but Milly, Lena and Seebold decided to have a walk. They went up Bost Hill, passed the windmill, and turned right into Honeysuckle Lane, then walked all the way to Long Furlong and from there to the new bypass road and back to Nan’s cottage. The day was crisp with some sun so the walk itself was very pleasant.
‘Are you going to stay in Hubbard’s?’ Lena asked as she slipped her gloved hand through Milly’s arm.
‘For the time being,’ said Milly. ‘I’m pretty skint, but Mr Salt says I can pay my college fees in instalments, so I’m lucky enough to have the opportunity to get both teaching and practical experience.’
Lena nodded her approval.
‘What about you?’ asked Milly. ‘I thought you were fed up with being under Rainbow George’s thumb.’
‘Oh, he’s all right,’ said Lena. ‘Anyway, I won’t stay there for ever. I have plans of my own.’
‘What plans?’ said Milly.
Lena tapped her nose playfully. ‘I think I’ll keep them under my hat for now,’ she teased.
‘Is Rainbow George still trying to marry you off?’
Lena turned her head and grinned at Seebold. ‘As long as Seebold is still in the picture, he’s happy for me to wait a while.’
‘Oh dear,’ said Seebold. ‘Looks like I’ll have to see the vicar before long.’ And they both laughed.
Milly looked away and said nothing.
‘So tell us about your amusement park,’ Lena said.
Seebold was happy to spend the next twenty minutes telling them all about castles, hoopla stalls and the children’s rides he was creating. ‘Of course I can only do it in the evenings and on Sundays,’ he went on. ‘I still have to work for a living.’
‘So what do you do?’ asked Lena.
‘Anything and everything mechanical,’ he said. ‘Cars, lorries, tractors, you name it.’
‘When will the amusement park be open to the public?’ Milly wanted to know. ‘And what are you calling it?’
‘The Worthing Wonderland,’ he said. ‘And it’s opening at Easter.’
As soon as Lena and Seebold set off in the lorry, Milly went back to Hubbard’s. The shop wouldn’t officially open until the next day, but she had plenty to do. With Christmas over, the shop windows would be out-of-date. It was her job to create a ‘taster’ of the New Year offers so that the customers would be queuing up before the doors opened for the beginning of the January sales on Thursday 6 January.
Some of the sales assistants were already hard at work by the time she arrived. Milly moved around the various departments, collecting items for the window displays. Upstairs in the dress department, even though, technically, the shop wasn’t open, the store’s seamstress was expecting a very important visitor. ‘Apparently she’s getting married in a couple of weeks and wants her bridal gown altered,’ Ivy confided. ‘Mr Johnson says we have to pull out all the stops.’
Milly pulled a face. ‘You’d better hope there’s enough material in the seams to let it out.’
‘Oh this one wants it taken in,’ Ivy said. ‘She’s lost weight. It’s very unusual. In most cases I have to alter their dresses because they’re pregnant.’
Milly smiled. ‘Can I have that frock?’ she said as she pushed the dresses along the rail. ‘Oh, and that one. Will they be in the sale?’
‘Everything is along that rail,’ said Ivy. ‘Help yourself. It all has to go. The Spring collection comes in at the end of the month.’
Milly busied herself choosing from a range of colours, and eventually settled on the blue. She vaguely remembered a pair of navy shoes in the shoe department which would complement the dress perfectly. All she needed now was a coat or a cardigan. As she bent down to look through the bottom cardigan drawer, a voice said, ‘Well, well. How the mighty are fallen.’
Milly froze. She didn’t need to look up to see who it was. She would recognise that voice anywhere. It was Pearl. Milly felt her face colouring.
