‘Sorry to be so long,’ said Harold. ‘We had to empty the trunk first.’
Harold cut through Lizzie’s protestations about the trouble she was putting him to and dismissed the generosity of his gift with a wave of his hand.
‘Nonsense, child! Call it a wedding present. It may as well clutter up your house instead of mine.’
‘But these are really beautiful fabrics.’ Lizzie had spotted some oyster-coloured satin in among the prints and stripes which might be just want she wanted for her wedding dress. ‘And look at this lace! It’s probably really valuable.’
‘I hope it’s worth a fortune,’ said Harold. ‘Then I’ve given you something worth having. Now, let’s see how much we can get into this thing.’
‘Will this fit into your car, Hugo?’ Lizzie whispered when Harold was out of the way for a moment.
‘It should do. I did measure it. Although quite where we’ll put it when we’ve moved into our house is a question for another day.’
‘Did you know he was going to give me all this?’
‘Not really, but he did grill me about what you liked doing so he knew it was going to the right place.’
‘Harold!’ said Lizzie quickly as he came back into the room. ‘There is so much beautiful material here. I must make you something from it as a thank you.’ She wondered if it would be wrong to give Harold an enormous hug.
‘Oh well, if you’re offering, I do need a new peg bag.’
Lizzie didn’t hesitate a second longer. She hugged him. ‘A peg bag you shall have. And anything else I think you might like.’
‘What a darling girl you have there, Hugo!’ said Harold, very pleased with his hug. ‘Do look after her!’
‘That has always been my intention,’ said Hugo.
‘Well, we don’t have to wonder if that visit went well,’ said Hugo as they drove away. ‘Unlike the other visits we’ve been on together.’
‘What a lovely man!’ said Lizzie. ‘If only—’ She stopped.
‘If only my father was more like Harold?’ Hugo suggested.
‘Well – I wasn’t going to put it quite like that.‘
‘But I couldn’t blame you for thinking it. My father is the product of his upbringing. He’s been conditioned to be angry and snobbish all his life. He can’t help it.’
‘I expect you had a very similar upbringing, Hugo,’ said Lizzie. She didn’t want to criticise his father more than she could help.
‘And I’m not so terrifying?’
Lizzie laughed. ‘I did find you a bit terrifying when I first met you.’ While she didn’t now find him terrifying, she still felt he was a very deep pool she hadn’t got near the bottom of yet.
‘I can’t imagine why. But if it makes you feel better, I found you pretty terrifying, too.’
‘What? Me? Why on earth—’
‘I’ll tell you one day, but now I need to tell you what’s happening. I’m taking you to see the girls, in London.’
‘What? When did you arrange that? And why didn’t you tell me? I haven’t got anything with me!’
‘I’ve only just done it. I rang Patsy from Harold’s and she’s going to tell your mother.’ He paused, and Lizzie was silent for a moment, taking it in. She was imagining the scene back at Patsy’s house: her mother’s outrage, Patsy’s matter-of-factness. A sudden rush of happiness made her catch her breath.
‘That’s wonderful!’
‘I thought you needed a little time away from your mother – even just one night.’
‘Will you have to drive all the way back here again? So you can go to work in the morning?’
