Free The Tea House on Mulberry Street by Sharon Owens Page B

their glasses.
    Daniel and Penny were jostled onto the floor and they began an unsteady waltz. Penny closed her eyes and was completely happy. Only months before, a fortune-teller in Bundoran had told her she would marry young. And here she was, swept off her feet by this gorgeous man. A mature man of thirty, she thought. Not an awkward boy her own age, trying to get the clothes off her on the first date, and not even looking at her face.
    She was delirious with happiness. She could barely wait for the honeymoon to begin. Her bridesmaid, Millie, had warned Penny that it might be a good thing to wait a while, and get to know Daniel better before tying the knot. He was too good to be true, that’s what Millie said. But Penny knew that poor Millie was sick with jealousy. Millie’s latest boyfriend, Jack, worked in the shipyard and had a face that literally frightened small children.
    Daniel was delighted with himself. He had hoped to be offered a position in the family business, and now he was being handed the whole thing on a plate . (Pardon the pun, he thought.) His ship had come in at last. He wondered if his father was still alive; maybe sitting on a rocking chair, on a porch somewhere in America, eating corn bread. He thought of Teresa, and he knew she would be proud of him. She would have enjoyed this party, everyone dancing so close to the sea. And he thought of his Aunt Kathleen, stern-faced and silent, still looking after her heavenly pennies, high above him in the darkening sky.

Chapter 7

    A L ADY IN A V ELVET H AT
    The night that Penny brought up the unfortunate subject of trying for a baby, Daniel slept in the spare room. He tossed and turned on the stiff mattress all night. He briefly considered giving in to Penny’s desire to reduce her working hours. But that would mean hiring new staff. And if Penny had more time off, she would only spend it looking at baby clothes in the shops, and begging him to give her a child. And if they had a new baby, what then? She would want a new house to live in. A proper house with its own front door, and a garden with a swing. And maybe another baby to keep the first one company? That was the problem with women, they were always having ideas. They would be bankrupt in less than five years. He couldn’t support a family home and extra staff out of selling tea and sandwiches, no matter how hard he worked.
    The next morning he brought Penny a cup of tea in bed and told her he would think about what she had said, hoping to buy himself some time.
    “In the meantime,” he added, “we’d best go on as usual. Right, I’ll start the baking and you tidy up the cafe. I notice the floor could do with a wash.”
    “Listen to me, Daniel,” she said, slowly, settling back on the pillows. “I’m not cleaning the cafe today, or ever again.”
    “What?”
    “Not ever. Do you hear me?”
    “Have you gone mad?”
    “I’m worn out and that’s the truth. Either a cleaner does it, or you can do it yourself. It’s up to you.”
    “But I do all the baking!”
    “I’m working eight hours a day from now on, and not a minute more. It’s my cafe too, you know! I’m entitled to some say in the running of it.”
    “Is that so? Well, what are you going to contribute to the business, exactly?” he asked.
    “I am going to start work at nine o’clock, and serve the customers and make the soup for lunch. Now, let me get back to sleep, or there’ll be ructions in this flat. If you want the floors done, you’d better shake a leg. I’ll not detain you any further.” And she finished her tea, lay down again and pulled the duvet up to her nose.
    Daniel stood there, for a moment, completely speechless. The old Penny had gone away in the night, it seemed, and the new Penny was not afraid of standing up to him any more. It was already a quarter to seven, and there was nothing in the oven, a pile of dishes from last night to wash, the whole place to clean…
    “Have you gone on strike?” he