Page 98 of The Gathering Storm (Morland Dynasty #36)

‘It’s not the coat, it’s you,’ he said, took both of her hands and bent to kiss her cold cheek.

‘Everyone wanted to come and meet you, but here I am alone, no children, no dogs. You have no idea what an achievement that is. But I’m afraid when we get home there’ll be a welcoming committee, and no chance of being alone for the rest of the day.

Alec is beside himself with excitement. Mrs Starling has been planning dishes for days.

Jessie and Bertie and the girls are coming over for dinner, and Jeremy and Amelia. ’

‘Ah, well. There’s always after lights-out. Shall I find the door barred, if I come creeping?’

She looked up at him with sparkling eyes.

‘What do you think?’ They picked up a bag each and walked towards the exit, their free arms linked.

‘Oh,’ she said, ‘Alec and the Lohmanns have something planned – some sort of revue, I believe. I know singing is involved, but I think there’s playacting as well.

They’ve been rehearsing up in the nursery all week. ’

‘How are they settling in, the little refugees?’

‘Better than I hoped. I was prepared for months of sullenness and misery, but they’ve perked up wonderfully.

They’ve even started school, which will make them learn English quickly.

Alec’s been wonderful. He treats them rather like exotic pets, showing them off to people, but he takes great care of them.

He’s even given up riding to school for the moment because they can’t ride with him.

Though I suspect the weather made that an easy choice.

It’s been so cold! It must be very strange for you – what was the weather like in California when you left? ’

‘Hot, sunny,’ Lennie said. ‘Though remember, I came here via New York, and you have no idea how cold it is there in winter.’ He waved a hand at the frosty world around them. ‘This is like a balmy summer day in comparison.’

Polly said she didn’t need his help in any of the wedding plans, so he spent his days setting up the English office of Manning’s Radios, and looking for a suitable site for a factory.

A very few enquiries led him to the premises in Leeds of Cosway Radios.

In 1932, radio enthusiasts Mr Cosgrove and Mr Waynfleet had sold Mr Cosgrove’s motor-bicycle for the capital to begin making radio receiver sets.

They now had a workshop employing ten people.

They had, of course, heard of Manning’s Radios, and were flattered to be approached by Mr Manning himself.

He showed them technical drawings of new models he had planned, talked inspiringly of expansion and new markets; and it did not take much persuasion for them to sell their business, on the modest condition that the best of the new models was named ‘The Cosway’ in their honour.

They also knew of a vacant factory – in fact they had been eyeing it for themselves to expand into, but they didn’t have the capital.

Lennie set his agent to buy the new premises; he retained all of the Cosway staff and, liking the energy and enthusiasm of Mr Cosgrove and Mr Waynfleet, he employed them in higher management roles on generous salaries.

Mr Waynfleet was to oversee the transfer of the Cosway kit and staff, the purchase and installation of new machinery, while Mr Cosgrove, who was unmarried, was to go on the road, in a new suit and smart haircut, to secure outlets for Manning’s Radios in Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, and thence to every other large conurbation.

Lennie, who had for some time employed others to do the bread-and-butter work of his business, thoroughly enjoyed getting in at the bottom again, and was happily employed by day.

Evenings were spent with Polly at home, often entertaining or being entertained by various friends and neighbours who wanted to inspect him.

It was rather, he thought, as though he were a foreign prince brought in to marry a queen regnant.

Would he be a passive George of Denmark or an active Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha?

He thought he would endeavour to set a new template – supportive, discreet, modest, but nevertheless interesting – and be loved by all.

He heard whispers he was not meant to hear, that he was a millionaire, which was a cause of some excitement, and seemed, oddly, to tell against him slightly.

Who knew what a millionaire might get up to?

On the other hand, it was also passed around that he was a Morland by descent, through the American branch of the family, which meant he was made of the right stuff.

And nobody seeing them together could doubt Polly adored him, so that had to be all right, hadn’t it?

And at night, after the house was quiet, he slipped discreetly into the Great Bedchamber to sink into Polly’s arms and a vast ocean of bliss. And this, he told himself, was only the beginning.

Polly had not heard from James with any regularity since he began helping to bring the Jewish children out of Germany.

She had written telling him the date of her wedding, and begging him to come home for it, but hadn’t had a reply, and she wondered if he had even received it.

But on the 3rd of March a telegram came, saying merely, ‘WOULDN’T MISS IT,’ and she had to be satisfied with that.

The wedding plans were all in place. Bertie was going to give her away.

Alec and Bibi were to be pages, Ottilie, now seventeen, and Mimi bridesmaids.

Mr Ordsall was to conduct the ceremony. There was to be a sit-down wedding breakfast for fifty in the large dining-saloon, and everyone else was to come in the evening for dancing and a buffet supper.

After which, Lennie would be licensed to enter the royal bedchamber openly and as of right.

‘No honeymoon?’ he asked, when Polly told him the details.

‘It’s a bit awkward at the moment,’ she said. ‘So much to do. And the weather isn’t good. Could we have a week later in the year – in May or June, perhaps? We could go to the seaside. I’d like that.’

‘Whatever you want,’ he said. ‘The rest of our lives will be our honeymoon.’

She kissed him. ‘You say the nicest things.’

Speculation was rife about what the groom would buy for the bride for a wedding present, with the smart money on diamonds.

Bagrath’s the jewellers on Stonegate confidently redesigned their window display to show their choicest pieces – including a delicate tiara, such as would become a beautiful golden head, and must appeal to a millionaire in love.

But on the Thursday before the wedding, Lennie interrupted Polly in the steward’s room and asked if she would come with him for a moment.

‘It’s your wedding present. I can’t give it to you on the day, and I expect you’ll be busy with last-minute arrangements tomorrow, so I want to give it to you now. ’

‘How mysterious you’re being,’ she said, but she got up from the desk obediently.

John Burton hesitated, and Lennie said, ‘You can come too.’ He led the way into the Great Hall, where already a number of people, including servants, were hovering, and Barlow was stationed at the great door, his face so wooden it was obvious he was trying not to grin.

‘What on earth … ?’ Polly said.

Barlow opened the door, and Lennie took her hand and led her through. In the yard, at the foot of the steps, Butterfield, the head man, stood with the reins in his hand of a dark bay thoroughbred gelding of fifteen-two.

‘He’s four years old,’ Lennie said. ‘His name is Orlando. Jessie and Roberta helped me find him. He’s by Dante out of Enigma, which I’m told is a very respectable lineage.

’ He looked at Polly. ‘You haven’t said anything.

Don’t you like him? Roberta says he’s very fast and he jumps, and Jessie says he’s good to handle. ’

Polly turned a shining face to him, ‘He’s beautiful ,’ she said. ‘How did you think of such a thing? I thought you’d buy me a necklace or something.’

‘Judging by how much time you spend in jodhpurs, that would have been rather a waste. I know Zephyr’s getting on a bit, and that you’ll need a new hunter soon, so this seemed a more personal present.’

She kissed him, more eloquent than words, and went down to steps to meet her horse.

James arrived on the 10th, looking tired, rumpled and smutty from the journey. Polly hugged him hard for a long time, then said, ‘You smell of trains. You must want a bath.’

‘I can’t tell you how nearly I didn’t get here. I should get top marks for effort. And I’m hoping someone will have some suitable togs I can borrow, because I wasn’t able to pack much.’

‘I’ll see you kitted out,’ Lennie said. ‘We’re about the same height.’

‘Thanks. You’re looking well,’ James said, shaking his hand. ‘Are you going to make this sister of mine happy?’

‘If I don’t, you’ll hunt me down to the ends of the earth,’ Lennie said.

‘How did you guess what I was going to say? Alec! You rapscallion, what have you been up to? No good, I bet.’ He swept the ecstatic Alec off his feet, into the air, hugged him, and deposited him again.

‘I’ve been very good,’ Alec protested. ‘I’m going to be a page at Mummy’s wedding and she says it’s all right to wear breeches and stockings because the King does, at court. And Bibi is too, and Mimi’s going to be a bridesmaid and throw flour at people.’

‘I think that’s flowers, isn’t it?’ James corrected. ‘Are these your new friends?’ He shook Bibi’s hand in manly fashion, and bowed to Mimi, and won their hearts by addressing them in German.

‘I didn’t know you could speak German,’ Polly said.

‘I’ve had to learn. I’m proud of you, Pol, for taking in these two. I wish more people would. How have they been?’

‘They seem to have settled very well.’

James nodded. ‘I can’t tell you the things I’ve seen. The terrible partings.’ He stopped abruptly. ‘I’m for a bath. And then I hope there’s something substantial for dinner, because I haven’t eaten all day.’