A New Dream by Maggie Ford (world of reading .TXT) 📕

home. He placed his arm around her and squeezed her lovingly to him.

Even so, the following two weeks saw her still plagued with doubts. It had all happened so quickly that it had taken her breath away. Suddenly they found themselves in possession of a whole building.

‘Are you sure we can find enough money for all this?’ she asked again and again.

‘We will,’ he kept reassuring her.

‘It’s not just rent we have to find. What about rates and all the other overheads, heating and lighting and supplies? What if we find we can’t repay the bank?’ She’d been horrified when he’d told her that he had negotiated a good-sized bank loan.

‘A bank loan?’ she had echoed in horror, remembering what they’d had to face after her father died.

It was borrowing so heavily that had got him and his family into debt. He had been so sure of himself, so keen on expansion that he had taken out ever increasing bank loans, borrowing from financial backers, speculating without listening to good advice. Finally, in desperation turning to his own life insurance policies, he’d lost everything.

‘We mustn’t get carried away with borrowing,’ she warned anxiously, as she watched him sign yet another cheque. Their outgoings seemed to be mounting by the minute. ‘You mustn’t ask the bank for any more, Simon.’

He smiled reassuringly at her. ‘Just enough to tide us over for a short while until we’re up and running.’

‘That’s if we ever do get up and running. I’m beginning to think it will never happen.’

‘Well, it’s got to happen.’ It was said not with anxiety but confidence and he gave her a mock-serious stare. ‘So you, dear girl, are going to have to work hard on your side of things. I shall concentrate on the theatrical side of my wares just as I’ve always done but on a grander scale.’

‘You should have prepared me months ago for this.’ Her mother’s tone was plaintive.

‘We didn’t know ourselves months ago.’ Julia tried to keep her tone mild. ‘I did warn you, Mumsy, that if the rent went up too drastically, we’d look for somewhere else to live.’

‘But it’s come on us so suddenly. These upheavals upset me so.’

‘It’s not sudden, Mummy. We have been talking about it for ages.’

But her mother wasn’t listening, as she sat in her chair watching Julia gather bits together to pack into cardboard boxes. Not that there was much to pack. They were going to have to buy new furniture – another worrying expense. Already they were going through money like fingers through water.

‘Having to move the first time was bad enough. I never thought we’d have to go through all the upheaval yet again. That was nearly the death of me.’

‘The first time we had to move,’ Julia said, trying to ignore the sight of her mother slumped and demoralized in her armchair, her face constantly creased at all the upheaval. ‘This time we are choosing to go.’

‘But I’ve become used to living here now.’ She had never got used to being there, had never ceased to lament the necessity of living among people she considered were not her sort.

‘Think, Mummy, we are going somewhere far nicer,’ soothed Julia, ‘with lots more room, three bedrooms, so you can have your own, nice views over London, and near the centre of everything. You know you hate it round here. This will be in the heart of the West End. You’ll love it.’

‘Three bedrooms! What will all that cost?’ she cried.

‘Leave that side to me!’ Julia said, so tersely that her mother finally subsided into brooding silence, her still smooth hands clasped in her lap, her head bowed; perhaps, Julia thought, so that she would not have to look at all the chaos surrounding her.

Everyone was helping except Victoria, but that was natural, she had never had to lift and struggle with anything heavy or bulky in her whole life, everything had been done for her. She could not be expected to start now. Julia and Ginny heaved sheets and blankets from the beds into cardboard boxes while James dragged the heavier mattresses and the beds themselves from the room.

Stephanie, however, had merely shifted herself enough to box up her own personal belongings instead of sweeping the place clean as she’d been asked to do.

‘Stephanie!’ Julia called to her as she went back into the bedroom.

Stephanie looked up from filling a small make-up bag with jars of vanishing cream and boxes of face powder, startled by her sister’s raised tone.

‘What?’ The single word was sharp and loud.

‘This is a broom!’ Julia seized the thing from where Stephanie had left it propped against the door and held it out at arm’s length towards her sister. ‘It’s what we use for sweeping!’ she added sarcastically. ‘It’s something you said you’d do. We need to leave this place clean.’

‘I don’t see why,’ Stephanie shot back at her, resentful of her sister’s tone. She took the broom begrudgingly with a well-manicured hand. ‘Were leaving anyway.’

‘Exactly! And I don’t want the next tenant thinking we’re a filthy lot.’

‘Does it matter what they think? We’ll be gone and they, whoever they are, don’t even know who we are.’

Julia turned away and went back to their mother who’d given a cry at the sound of raised voices and was now indulging in a little weep.

‘I’m sorry, Julia, I can’t face all this fuss with everyone shouting.’

‘No one is shouting, Mummy. I just told Stephanie to…’

‘It sounded like shouting to me and it’s making my poor head ache.’

To her relief, Simon called up to her from downstairs, providing her with a blessed chance to escape before her mother could find something else to lament over.

It was frightening, all this settling in. She hadn’t given a thought to all that went into setting up shop from a standing start; hadn’t thought just how much would be involved in getting things up and running. With the previous tenant having apparently gone broke and allowed his business to