Page 23 of The Journal of a Thousand Years
When it cametime to close the library at the end of the day, I placed the journal in the bottom drawer of the front desk. Gabe offered to drive me home, but I asked to be taken to The Home Emporium on Bond Street instead. I wanted to meet Daisy after she finished work. She’d started the day before, and I’d been a terrible friend for not checking to see how her first day went.
Petra apparently had the same idea. I spotted her approaching the shop and waved. Gabe felt comfortable leaving me to walk home in the company of both my friends.
“Do you want to see Daisy?” he asked Alex.
“Not today.” Alex slammed the gear lever into place.
“Gentle!” Willie cried from the back seat. “She doesn’t respond to rough treatment.”
Gabe and I exchanged worried glances. I mouthed, “Speak to him,” before the motorcar sped off.
Petra frowned, watching them go. “Is everything all right between Alex and Daisy?”
“Her parents weren’t kind to him, so she’s chosen Alex over them. I think Alex feels conflicted about her choice. He doesn’t want to be the reason for her distancing herself from her family."
Petra looped her arm with mine. “He’s not the reason.Theyare.”
“Wise words. Now we just have to convince him.”
Daisy joined us on the pavement a few minutes later, an embroidered bag in hand. The navy blue and white stitching matched the compact sailor-style hat on her head. While most ladies still wore hats that required other pedestrians to give them a wide berth or risk being struck by the brim, Daisy followed the modern styles of her French fashion magazines and wore small ones. She looked very fresh and modish today in her navy dress with the white silk collar, hem and belt.
She beamed at us, only for it to slip when she peered past me. “Did I just see Gabe’s motorcar? Was Alex with him?”
“They had to hurry off,” I said quickly.
Her smile slipped even more. “Oh.”
Petra took her hand and led her away from the shop door. “Well? How have your first two days been?”
Her face lightened again. “Marvelous! I’ve enjoyed it immensely. The owner is kind, the customers are a little snooty at first until I happen to mention I’m the daughter of Lord Carmichael, and the things we sell are the bee’s knees. But that’s not the best part.”
“Oh?” I asked. “What is?”
“The wages I’ll receive at the end of the month.”
We all laughed.
“Let’s celebrate,” Petra said. “Shall we find a teashop then go on to a restaurant for dinner?”
“I prefer cocktails to tea,” Daisy said. “We’ll go to my place where no one will look at us like we have loose morals for enjoying predinner drinks.”
It was a good idea, until Daisy’s third martini, after which her conversation continually turned to Alex. Thinking of the way her parents had treated him, and his avoidance of her since, erased her good mood altogether. No one felt like going out to dinner after that, so we ate whatever we could find in Daisy’s cupboard. The canned ham and canned peas followed by canned pears were hardly a celebratory feast, but they soaked up the martinis.
By the time Petra and I left, Daisy was feeling a little better. She promised to try to speak to Alex again as soon as possible. Just in case she decided to continue with the martinis after we left, and risk oversleeping and being late for her third day at her new job, I squirreled her bottle of gin out of the flat beneath my jacket. Petra had the same idea. She showed me the bottle of vermouth she’d tucked into her bag as we walked back to my place.
I waved her off from the front door and joined the other lodgers sitting in the front reception room where one of them played the piano. Some of the other girls danced to the merry tune, while Mrs. Parry looked up from her needlework and smiled. She invited me to sit, but before I could, one of the lodgers took my hands and whisked me toward the dancers. Her laughter triggered my own. I suddenly couldn’t stop smiling.
Despite Daisy’s troubles, and despite discovering my father was not a good man, I felt lighter than I had in a long time. Years. A weight that I didn’t know I’d been supporting had lifted off my shoulders. I could now move forward with more ease. The future was looking brighter than ever.
I awokewith a start to the sound of someone knocking lightly on my door. I threw a shawl around my shoulders and padded across the floor in bare feet to answer it.
Mrs. Parry stood there dressed in nightcap and dressing gown. “There’s a young lady downstairs asking for you. She seems upset.”
It must be Daisy, the poor thing. I hastily dressed and headed to the sitting room where I’d danced the evening away earlier with the other lodgers. Perched on the edge of the sofa was a teary Ivy Hobson clutching a lace-edged handkerchief. She shot to her feet and rushed toward me. She clasped my forearm, hard.
“Sylvia, thank goodness! You have to come quickly. It’s Gabe.”
Perhaps I was still sleepy because her words didn’t immediately sink in. It took her shaking my arm vigorously to trigger my response. “What happened?”
