Across the Mersey - Annie Groves [32]
‘Come on,’ she commanded Alan firmly, ignoring Grace’s distress. ‘Let’s go outside.’
Grace’s eyes filled with tears. Where the seam had given way along one of the pretty bias-cut inserts in the skirt the fabric was torn and frayed in a way that she could see immediately was beyond mending.
Seb watched sympathetically. He was pretty sure that Bella had damaged Grace’s frock deliberately.
‘It may not be as bad as it looks,’ he tried to comfort her as he tactfully led her back to their table out of sight of the curious glances she was attracting. ‘I believe the Singer sewing machine can work wonders.’
Grace shook her head, beyond comfort. ‘It can’t be mended; the silk is too frayed. It isn’t my dress.’ Fresh tears welled in her eyes at the enormity of her predicament.
Discreetly Seb passed her a clean white handkerchief. ‘I’m sure your friend will understand.’
Grace shook her head and gave a small sob, and burst out, ‘I should never have worn it. Oh, I so wish that I had not. I knew it was wrong, and it serves me right that this has happened.’
Seb frowned. She was clearly very distressed, so much so that his protective instincts were automatically aroused.
‘Your friend may be upset, but—’
‘You don’t understand. I’ve done a really dreadful thing.’ Grace stopped him. ‘It doesn’t belong to a friend; it belongs to Lewis’s Gown Salon, where I work.’
Seb’s frown deepened. He wasn’t sure just what the rules might be about borrowing clothes from the shop where one worked, but he suspected that it wasn’t something that was normally allowed. Grace hadn’t struck him as the kind of girl who would deliberately flout the ‘law’, but he could understand that a young woman who was looked down on by her better-off cousin could have been tempted to ‘borrow’ a rather grander frock than she might actually possess, even if he also felt rather disappointed to discover that Grace had given in to that kind of temptation.
Seb didn’t allow any of what he was feeling to show, though, as he murmured something sympathetic and reassuring.
‘I should never have listened to Susan,’ Grace told him miserably. ‘I knew it was wrong. But she’d gone to so much trouble and … and I didn’t want to hurt her feelings by refusing. It serves me right for doing it,’ she told him bravely, her face pale but set now that she had stopped crying.
‘Perhaps the Shop will be able to have it repaired?’ Seb suggested.
Grace shook her head. ‘No, it can’t be mended. I shall have to pay for it. We are allowed to buy things at staff discount so …’ she gave a small gulp, ‘they might let me pay for it weekly out of my wages, although it will take me for ever.’
‘But I thought you were about to start training as a nurse,’ Seb pointed out.
Grace swallowed and lifted her head proudly. ‘I was, but I shan’t be doing that now. Not with this frock to pay for, and … and I want to pay for it. What I did was very wrong. I knew that all along and, to be honest, I’d have much rather worn my own cotton dress. This is lovely but it isn’t mine and it isn’t me. I feel so very ashamed of myself. My parents will be shocked, I know.’
Poor child, she was paying a heavy price for her moment of natural vanity, Seb thought compassionately, his earlier assessment of her character reasserting itself as he listened to her quietly determined voice. She had guts, though, he thought with admiration.
Her whole future was ruined, Grace acknowledged, and all for the sake of being silly and for wearing a frock that she had no right to be wearing. She deserved to be punished.
What on earth was she going to say to her parents after the sacrifice they were prepared to make so that she could do her nurse’s training. Grace had never felt more miserable and in despair.
Bella looked anxiously toward the Tennis Club. Where was Charlie? She had been out here with Alan in the thankfully