Free Lily of Love Lane by Carol Rivers Page B

waitress asked when she returned.
    Lily shook her head. ‘I couldn’t eat a crumb more.’
    ‘Just the bill then, thank you,’ said Charles with a friendly grin.
    The waitress went off. Lily remembered Uncle Noah telling her they were called Nippies. Each girl wore a black dress decorated with red buttons and trimmed with white collars, cuffs and
aprons.
    ‘It must be very tiring being on your feet all day,’ Lily remarked when the girl brought the bill folded on a small saucer.
    ‘Yes, it is.’
    ‘I hope they pay you well,’ said Charles.
    ‘Not terribly, and we have to work in shifts,’ the Nippy explained. ‘Our salaries don’t amount to much, but there’s a chance to earn commission of sixpence in every
pound at weekends and tuppence the rest of the week.’
    ‘Well, we can’t have that,’ said Charles, pressing a half crown in her hand. ‘At least, not this week.’
    ‘Oh – sir!’
    ‘Think nothing of it,’ he said, giving her another smile that had her blushing to the roots of her blonde hair.
    ‘That was very generous of you,’ Lily said when they were on their own. ‘She was very pleased.’
    He looked into Lily’s eyes. ‘I’m lucky enough to be enjoying myself so much. Why shouldn’t I be generous?’
    Lily blushed once more. She was keenly aware of the female interest around them. Charles began to tell her what kind of things he wanted to buy and seemed unconcerned by the attention. Lily felt
as though she was the only woman in the room. It proved very difficult, in fact almost impossible, to keep her mind on the conversation.
    After leaving Lyons, Charles drove them to Shepherd Market in Mayfair. The tiny shops were a stark contrast to the grandeur of Piccadilly and Park Lane close by, but had
exactly what they were looking for. Even though the buildings were old and shabby, they possessed an old world charm and plenty of curios, foods, furniture and jewellery to choose from.
    ‘All this was built in the eighteenth century by a builder called Edward Shepherd,’ Charles told Lily as he guided her around the small lanes. ‘To me, this place has a timeless
quality. And as you’ll see, I’m sure we’ll find one or two bargains.’
    As they scoured the tiny shops, they found brass pieces and silverware, pottery and ornaments and dozens of things that Lily had never even seen before. But when she came upon a pair of Georgian
figurines, she recognized their beauty immediately.
    Charles purchased them at once and arranged for them to be delivered. In the next shop Lily chose larger furniture, a chair in watered pink silk for one of the bedrooms, a bookcase for the back
parlour and a thick, Indian rug for the drawing room.
    With their task accomplished, they found the car again and Charles drove them to the Embankment. After parking they strolled slowly along, past manicured lawns and secret little gardens. Near
Hungerford Bridge, they paused to admire Cleopatra’s Needle and its guardian sphinx. Although of a different culture and brought many years before from Alexandria, Lily thought how the
monument didn’t look out of place. The pathways around it seemed to glow in its honour under the leafless trees. A smell of smoke and salty water rose in the air.
    She bent to read the small commemoration. ‘A ship was designed to carry it to England,’ she murmured in wonder. ‘Then it nearly capsized in the Bay of Biscay. It’s
amazing it ever got here at all.’
    ‘Yes, they are treacherous seas off the coast of Spain,’ said Charles, nodding as he bent beside her. ‘I’ve crossed them myself when I was at sea.’
    Lily turned, wide-eyed. ‘You were in the Navy?’
    ‘Yes, in 1917. I enlisted, eager to serve my country. The sea held many romantic notions for a young man of twenty but the war soon changed all that.’
    ‘My dad don’t talk about it much. He was in France and said he was lucky to come home.’
    ‘He was indeed. Many good men died there.’
    ‘Half of