Page 62 of Mrs. Endicott's Splendid Adventure
“Do you think we could have coffee? And some of that delicious tart?” She asked Henri.
“But of course. Take a seat.”
Ellie took off her apron and ushered Colin to an outside table. “I think it’s warm enough to enjoy the sunshine, don’t you?”
Colin sat, eyeing her critically as he sat opposite her. “Mum, what are you doing here? And look at you. Dad said he settled enough money on you. Are you in trouble? Why are you working in a café?”
Ellie laughed. “Oh Colin, it is lovely to see you,” she said. “And as for what I’m doing here, I’m enjoying myself for the first time in years. I’m not working in a café. I’ve been taking cooking lessons from Monsieur Henri, and today I am returning the favour. I’m making a steak and kidney pie for him.”
“But why are you here, of all places? I had a devil of a time even finding it. It’s not even on all the maps.”
“I’m here because the place chose me,” Ellie said. “The car broke down right here. We had to stay here to have it mended, and we liked it. So we found a place to rent, and we are having a great time.”
“‘We’? Who is ‘we’?”
“You remember Miss Smith-Humphries from the village?”
“The officious old biddy who runs everything? The one who told me not to ride my bike over the grass?”
“That’s right. She has softened considerably; in fact I’ve become very fond of her.”
“Good God.”
“And you remember Mavis?”
“Mavis? The charwoman?”
Ellie nodded. “The former charwoman.”
“You brought her to clean for you?”
“No. As a friend. I have to say she does more than her share of the cooking and cleaning, but I helped her to escape from an abusive husband. He was violent with her, and sadistic, Colin. She had to get away.”
“Wait.” Colin frowned. “Mavis’s husband. Reg Moss? Was that his name?”
“That’s right.”
“I heard at the pub that he’d just died.”
“Died?”
“Was killed, actually. Hit by a car on his way home from the pub. Staggered in front of it, blind drunk.”
Ellie put her hand up to her face. “Oh no. I don’t know what Mavis will say. She’ll be relieved, of course, but she’ll also feel guilty for leaving him.”
“I don’t see why if he hit her,” Colin said.
“Because she’s that sort of caring person. But what news of you, my darling?” Ellie reached out and put her hand over his. “It is so lovely to see you. I’ve missed both of you.”
“Well, Richard’s regiment has been posted to Aden,” he said. “And my bank sent us home from Hong Kong until they see what’s going to happen next in the Far East. You obviously read about Nanking and what the Japanese have been doing. Absolute monsters. They are bent on conquest of the entire region, you know. The bank isn’t taking any chances. They pulled us out.”
“So you’re back in England now. How lovely. You can come and visit,” she said. “Any chance of a young lady in your life?”
“There was one in Hong Kong,” he said, averting his gaze. “You wouldn’t have approved. She was Chinese.”
“Of course I would have approved if you liked her,” Ellie said. “Your father wouldn’t.”
“No.” He smiled then.
