Rainy Days for the Harpers Girls. Rosie Clarke

was one he had no intention of telling his wife about just yet…

      Sally spoke to the two representatives one after the other. Both were exactly on time and she gave each of them sizeable orders for leather handbags and a variety of silk scarves.

      Glancing at her watch, she saw that she had an hour before Ben was due to pick her up and decided to make a tour of the various departments, starting with the men’s before coming down to the ladies’ fashions and then her favourite: hats, bags, gloves, scarves and jewellery.

      Sally reflected that she’d always thought fashions were her favourite area, but since she’d been the buyer for Harpers, she’d discovered a love of beautiful jewellery and quality bags. Also, it was where she’d begun her career at Harpers and where her friends worked; at least, Beth and Maggie still worked there. Rachel was now the official floor walker – which meant she toured each floor of the store in turn, watching out for anything out of place or needing attention. If any of the staff had a problem, they could consult Rachel and she would either sort it or take it to Mr Stockbridge, the store’s general manager – though Rachel often brought little things to Sally, because she would solve it quickly and without fuss.

      ‘Poor Mr Stockbridge always seems to be up to his eyes in advertising accounts, staff requests and stock lists,’ Rachel had confided in Sally once. ‘He probably needs his own secretary, but Miss Summers does yours and Mr Harper’s work as well as his…’

      Sally had taken her hint and interviewed a few girls from the agency, picking a young woman to help her and promoting Miss Summers to be Mr Stockbridge’s assistant, which meant grateful smiles all round.

      Sally thought Ben had been catapulted into running the store before he was really ready. When his Uncle Gerald had died a few weeks before Harpers was due to open and bequeathed partial ownership to Ben and his sister, it had cast them into a crisis of funding. It was left to Ben to finish setting it up as best he could and perhaps a few corners had been cut, resulting in the staffing being less than adequate. Then, before Ben could get things moving, tragedy had struck and he’d been forced to return to America to sort out the personal grief of his sick wife. No one had known that he’d been supporting her for years in a hospital, where she was kept alive only by the excellent nursing he’d paid for until her death, which had in the end been a relief for her.

      During his absence, Sally, Mr Stockbridge, Mr Marco and the various department heads had somehow managed to keep the store afloat and make a small profit. Ben’s sister Jenni had contributed to this success with her experience and encouragement, but it had been a difficult time and could have resulted in the store’s collapse.

      Ben had returned to London once he’d cleared his affairs in New York and his presence had made a huge difference, not just to Sally, though his whirlwind courtship had swept her off her feet, but to the store. Since then, more girls had been taken on, and Fred Burrows had two younger men working under him in the basement. Stanley Kirk was in his thirties, strong and energetic, able to heft the heaviest of boxes with ease, and young Luke Redding was sixteen, willing to learn and a bit on the cheeky side. Even so, there were times when they were rushed to keep up with restocking all the departments. Goodness knows how Fred had managed alone! If Ben’s new departments were to work, Harpers would need more staff, in the basement as well as on the floors.

      The wage bill was already huge – together with lighting, heating, stock, insurance and taxes, it took a small fortune to keep the store solvent. Sally knew they were very fortunate that they didn’t have to pay rent and owned the building – but would Ben need to borrow to fund the new space?

      She shrugged off the slight worry. Finance was Ben’s department. Sally didn’t ask and she didn’t interfere. Although she believed that he didn’t have a great deal of cash to spare, he was always generous to her, buying her small gifts and taking her out for meals. As yet they hadn’t been away for one of the foreign holidays Ben had promised her, but that was due to her being busy and carrying their first child. Sally had kept remarkably well, apart from a small amount of sickness in the first weeks, but the doctor had advised her not to go on long journeys either by car or train. She was just over six months into her pregnancy now and expected the birth in late May or early June.

      ‘Your ankles have swollen slightly,’ the doctor had told her when she last visited his practice. ‘Nothing to worry about – and much better to keep active than to sit about. Go for walks rather than sit at your desk, Mrs Harper…’

      ‘Yes, I shall,’ Sally had said and she’d walked to the library and taken out the book on yoga, which she did regularly each morning now when she rose. The exercise helped to ease any aches in her back and it made her feel calm; the swelling had not got any worse.

      Walking into the hat department that morning, she saw that someone had done a beautiful display of the new styles she’d bought for the spring and summer: pinks and blues and a deep maroon looked wonderful together.

      ‘That looks lovely,’ she said to the young woman who was just adjusting a stand. ‘I think that maroon straw is priced at thirty-five shillings – quite a lot, I know, but it is rather special… so it’s good you’ve made a feature of it.’

      ‘Yes, it is, Mrs Harper,’ Janice Browning agreed, an odd expression in her eyes. ‘Just right if you can afford it and you’re going to a garden party or a wedding…’

      ‘Mrs Harper…’ Beth Burrows said, coming up to her. ‘Lovely to see you – you look very well…’

      ‘I feel it,’ Sally said. ‘I think the yoga exercises are making all the difference…’ Her gaze moved over her friend anxiously. Beth had lost her first baby the previous year, just before Christmas, and it had upset her terribly. Sally herself was feeling so lucky. She had to pinch herself sometimes to make sure it wasn’t all a dream – a girl from a convent school, abandoned by her mother as a baby and forced to find her own living from the age of sixteen and now happily married to the man she loved and carrying their first baby. Was it possible she could really be this happy? ‘How are you, love?’

      ‘Oh, much better,’ Beth replied and smiled. ‘No, really, I’m over my disappointment now.’

      Beth was making light of what had happened, Sally felt. She’d been attacked by the man who had first married and then caused her aunt’s death and consequently lost her own baby. Sally had read in the paper a report that said Gerald Makepeace’s trial was coming up soon. He was being charged with one count of murder, three of embezzlement and one of grievous bodily harm. It was likely the man would hang, and if ever a rogue deserved it, it was surely the man who had deceived and then beaten and killed Beth’s aunt for the insurance money and the shares she’d secretly left to her niece, which had become so valuable now and enabled Beth to set aside money for her and her husband’s future. Beth hadn’t expected anything and she’d been stunned by the value of the shares, doubled because her mother had also owned shares they’d all believed worthless. Because of the bequest, Beth’s husband, Jack, had been able to buy a controlling interest in the hotel he’d always wanted and was doing well, making it into a profitable business.

      Sally wondered how the news of Gerald’s trial was affecting Beth. Did she feel satisfaction that Gerald was going to pay for his crimes or was she still too upset over it to even read the reports in the newspapers?

      Clearly, she didn’t want to talk about it, so Sally smiled and said, ‘Is Jack pleased with the way the hotel is going?’

      ‘Yes, I think so,’ Beth said and then saw a customer making her way towards her counter. ‘Excuse me, Mrs Harper, I should serve that lady. I know just what she’s come for…’

      Sally nodded and moved away, watching as Beth smoothly served the woman with a beautiful silver locket and chain and a leather bag. They were good friends but at work called each other by their surnames, as was the practice at Harpers.

      Sally had been buying in extra stock since Christmas where she could. Some things were seasonal and she couldn’t lay