A New Dream Maggie Ford (fantasy books to read .TXT) 📖

For one moment Julia looked as though she was about to throw herself into her mother’s arms to beg forgiveness. Instead she merely shrugged and stood stiff and erect as her mother clamped a horrified hand to her mouth, for a moment struck dumb. Then, without another word, Victoria gathered up her sewing with shaking fingers, got up from her chair as if in pain and went slowly out of the room, closing the door quietly behind her.

Stephanie couldn’t help herself. She turned savagely on her sister. ‘Now see what you’ve done! How could you speak to her like that? It was wicked – wicked and cruel.’

‘No crueller than the treatment I’ve just received. I came to tell you all that Simon and I have set our wedding date. I didn’t expect such a reaction from you, especially after I’ve done all I could for this family. Without me…’ She stopped as if defeated, ending quietly, ‘How would you have felt if you’d been given the same delightful welcome as I have received?’

‘I’m not the one doing what you’re doing,’ Stephanie began but then stopped, her cheeks grown hot, remembering her own secret pleasures, even if she had not been quite as shameless as Julia. But Julia didn’t seem to notice. She merely gave a small, tight laugh. ‘Well, I’ve told you my news. Whether you want to come to my wedding or not is up to you. I couldn’t care less!’

The dance band was finally packing up, leaving the hall with a strange, lonely air, filled only with the buzz of young men and women departing to catch buses, taxis, trains for home. Dancers filtered slowly out into the foyer and then into the street, couples and groups tired yet still lively. Among them, Stephanie clung to Jimmy Waring’s arm as they emerged into the December night. An icy blast whistled around her legs below the short dress and coat, making her shiver.

‘Cold?’ he queried.

‘Freezing!’

Freeing himself from her hold, he wrapped one arm around her shoulders so that she could snuggle up against his thick overcoat and scarf. He grinned down at her from beneath his trilby hat. ‘Fancy going on to a nightclub I know? Be warm there. Afterwards you can go home by taxi. I’ll pay.’

‘Oh, yes, please!’ The offer was too good to miss. To be bought a drink in a nightclub! Not many young men she’d met offered that luxury. Usually it was, ‘Can I see you home?’ and that was usually by bus, with a bit of a grope on the corner before she went indoors.

It was quite all right, she could look after herself. She was a modern girl, did what most modern girls did these days. So long as her mother didn’t know. An off-putting giggle would soon shut off a boy’s ardour, followed quickly by, ‘Got to go, I think I saw my mum peep out of the window, thanks for seeing me home, ’bye!’ As he hesitated, asking, ‘Can I see you again?’ she’d say lightly, ‘We’ll see,’ if she didn’t fancy him that much, but if he was gorgeous it would be, ‘When?’ He’d suggest an evening, to which she would usually agree. As yet there was no regular boyfriend, she was having too good a time for that. And if she got tired of them she could let them down, though she couldn’t help feeling put out if one did the same to her.

But Jimmy Waring had really taken her fancy; she could really take to him as a regular boyfriend. He was a good-looker, slim, tall, debonair, about twenty-five and far more mature than most boys she’d so far been out with.

She’d met him last week when she’d been with a couple of girls from Selfridges. He’d been in a mixed company of about half a dozen, but as the dance floor began to fill he’d looked towards her and come straight across. The next thing she knew they were dancing a tango, he commenting on her grace and the ease with which she followed him.

He’d turned out to be a smashing dancer and after that had asked her for almost every dance, to the envy of her friends. After escorting her back to her seat though he’d gone back to rejoin his group, leaving her feeling’ a little deflated. This week he was here again and made straight for her. Now he was cuddling her against the cold and offering to take her on to a nightclub.

‘But I mustn’t stay out too late,’ she told him. ‘I need to be home at least by twelve.’ It seemed to her that offering her a drink in a nightclub amounted to a first date and one mustn’t look too eager on a first date.

‘Then we’ll make sure of it,’ he said cheerily. ‘One quick drink to warm you up, it’s only a couple of minutes’ walk from here. You won’t even notice the cold after that.’

One drink became two, then three. Chatting and laughing with him, she didn’t notice time passing. When she finally glanced at her watch Stephanie saw that it was one thirty.

‘I have to go,’ she blurted, and made to get up from the table where they’d been sitting, wobbling a little as she stood.

Jimmy was on his feet holding her steady. ‘You can’t go home like this just yet,’ he said with sudden concern. ‘Look, I’ll get a hotel room where you can rest and recover.’

As tipsy as she felt, she wasn’t so tipsy that she had abandoned all caution. ‘No, thank you! I shall be all right. If you’d just get me a taxi…’

He was all consideration. ‘Then it might be best if I see you home. You can’t go alone as you are.’ So he hadn’t designs on her after all, she thought, relieved. She had begun to fear that he had deliberately got her drunk in order to have his way with her.

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