No, it was better to save up for the trip to the beach.
A movement beside the door made her turn to see the queen’s oldest corgi waiting to be let out.
Caroline bent down to give her head a rub. ‘Ah, did they leave without you, Jane? We’re always the last here, aren’t we?’ She put her hands on each side of the dog’s soft chin. ‘Between you and me, I’d stay here all night if I could. We could cuddle up together and forget about the world outside.’
The dog nuzzled into her in agreement, and Caroline led her out into the corridor, where the old corgi ambled away in the direction of the state rooms.
Under her breath, Caroline murmured, ‘Enjoy your freedom.’
Then she walked through to the queen’s bedroom, the vast, gold-draped bed coated with bright sunlight from the wide windows. The space around the bed was luxuriously empty but for a few pale-blue armchairs, a small mahogany table and a chaise longue. Fragrant with lilies and freshly laundered sheets, the room was silent other than the gentle swish of Betty sweeping the carpet.
‘Do you think she’s happy?’ Caroline mused, picking up a photograph of the queen’s children, Charles and Anne, seated on Shetland ponies.
‘What a question to ask!’ Betty ambled over beside her. ‘She’s got all these splendid things and a family who loves her.’
‘Yes, but it must be hard being the queen, living under everyone’s gaze, having to do and say the right thing. And I know that Philip loves her, but he’s been so annoyed recently, having to move into the palace. He says it’s so formal and stuffy here, with the Queen Mother and old Queen Mary dictating everything. Clarence House was his family domain, but here tradition rules.’
‘Everything moves at a dignified crawl in the palace.’ Betty chuckled as she got back to her sweeping. ‘Philip’s a navy man, keen on efficiency and technology. He talks about dragging the palace into the fifties, getting rid of the hundreds of footmen on pointless missions, like delivering messages on silver salvers from one end of the palace to the other. He says it needs an internal telephone.’ She grinned. ‘And a vacuum cleaner would be nice.’
‘I thought they made too much noise.’
‘Wouldn’t it be nice, though?’ Betty sighed. ‘Men always think they know best.’ There was hardly a pause before she asked, ‘Has Frank got the money for the trip to the beach yet?’
‘He’s doing his best. His new locksmith business isn’t doing well – you know how his moneymaking schemes always end up. But I can’t complain.’
Caroline scooped up a discarded evening glove from the table, the white silk soft between her fingertips. This single glove would have cost more than Caroline’s entire wardrobe, probably her jewellery, too.
‘I saw the other one on the table.’ Betty’s words turned into a cough, and Caroline patted her back.
‘I hope you haven’t been overdoing it again?’
Betty shook her head. ‘I’m not going to miss out on the action, what with the coronation in June. There’s the new wardrobe assistant coming to rent one of my spare rooms, and I’ve offered my other room to my niece in America, if she wants it. With the palace needing new staff for the coronation, I said I’d get her a job in the back office. She lost her husband in the war, the poor duck, and the coronation might cheer her up.’
With a smile, Caroline shook her head. ‘You just can’t help yourself, can you, taking in every waif and stray?’
‘It’s what I like to do, and remember how I put you up all those years ago.’
‘Who knows where I would be now if it weren’t for you.’ Caroline grinned. ‘And I have you to thank for encouraging me to train to be the assistant dresser, too. I’d never have had the courage.’
A few decades older than Caroline, Betty had been there when she most needed help. It had been Betty who had guessed about the pregnancy, guiding her through the quick wedding, covering up for her at work.
As she picked up a few other stray items of clothing, Caroline asked, ‘What’s your niece like?’
‘She visited my sister before the war. Full of life is Miranda, eventhough she was widowed so young. She must be thirty now, living in New York and still not remarried. No wonder she’s a bit unsettled. I thought it would be a bit of fun for her to work in the palace.’
‘It’ll certainly be an eye-opener,’ Caroline murmured.
When Caroline had arrived fourteen years ago, her heart lifted as she stepped into the peaceful, organized space. She’d stand in a room – as she did now – letting the luxury seep into her bones. The opulence made her feel civilized – as if everything was right with the world.
With its vast banqueting halls and magnificent staircases, the palace had become an escape from Caroline’s other life, holed up in a terraced house cluttered with Frank’s discarded belongings and tools.
Only Annabel lit up her life, the cheerful girl with her dark-auburn curls. She was Caroline’s great joy, the girl’s exuberance and light the opposite of Frank’s murkiness – but then they wouldn’t be the same, would they?
She dreamed of taking Annabel to the beach to swim in the water, walk down the promenade. All she wanted was a break to spend time with her darling girl, to stop time for one short moment, feel a glimmer of warmth and let it buoy her spirits enough to carry on.
When she’d finally been given the promotion to be an assistant dresser a few months ago, she’d expected it to be a changing point. But what if it wasn’t? Even with a better job, a little more money, how would anything change? At thirty-three, her life seemed to be trickling through her fingers.
When would the constant toil and worry come to an end?
