Across the Mersey - Annie Groves [34]
‘Here, I’m not letting you get away with insulting my sister like that,’ Charlie warned Alan, ‘and if you’ve taken more liberties with her than you should then—’
Bella started to cry loudly. ‘I didn’t want to let him, Charlie,’ she sobbed, ‘but I couldn’t stop him, and he promised me he wanted to marry me.’
There, let Alan try and get out of that, Bella thought triumphantly as she sobbed on her brother’s shoulder.
* * *
Grace was feeling increasingly uncomfortable. Bella and Alan had been missing for ages, and now Charlie had disappeared as well. She could see the speculative looks their now almost empty table was attracting.
‘Oh, here’s Bella now!’ she exclaimed in relief as she finally saw her cousin coming back into the room, followed by Charlie and Alan. Charlie had his arm round Alan’s shoulders whilst Alan himself looked dishevelled and was staggering slightly.
Ignoring Grace and Seb, Charlie urged Alan on to the dance floor, taking hold of both Alan’s hand and Bella’s as he held them up in the air and shouted, ‘Congratulate the lucky man, everyone. Alan here has just got himself engaged to my sister.’
From right cross the floor Bella could see the white shocked look on Trixie’s face as Charlie made his announcement. She had won, Bella acknowledged gleefully. Alan was hers. He had to marry her now.
‘Sorry I can’t give you a lift back, old chap, but there’s this girl, you see. I’m sure you understand,’ Charlie told Seb drunkenly as everyone started to file out of the Club at the end of the evening.
‘What about your cousin? Surely you don’t expect her to make her own way back to your parents’ house?’ Seb challenged Charlie.
‘Oh, Grace ain’t staying with us. No, she’s going home. You’ll be able to catch the last bus down to the ferry if you’re quick, Grace.’
Seb was astounded and disgusted by Charlie’s lack of concern for Grace’s safety, but at the same time he acknowledged that he hadn’t been looking forward to being driven by Charlie after witnessing just how much he had had to drink.
Grace was glad that the evening was at an end. She felt so ashamed of herself, and wasn’t surprised that Seb had gone so quiet after the announcement of Bella and Alan’s engagement.
They were outside now. For some reason Grace didn’t entirely understand, her aunt and uncle had arrived shortly after the announcement of Bella’s engagement and had taken the newly engaged couple off with them whilst she had been changing into her own clothes ready for her journey home.
Charlie too had now deserted her, and she and Seb were alone. She turned to him.
‘Thank you so much for a lovely evening. I’ve really enjoyed it. I do hope that your leg will soon be fully mended … oh.’
She looked uncertainly at Seb as he tucked her arm through his own and said firmly, ‘Now where do we catch this bus for the ferry?’
‘Oh, no. You needn’t come with me. It will be out of your way and it’s late,’ she protested, but Seb wasn’t listening.
They were just in time for the bus, having run the last few yards to arrive out of breath and laughing.
‘You are so kind,’ Bella told Seb as she stepped on to it, her eyes widening as he followed her. Was he going to travel all the way to the ferry with her? The thought gave her a warm glow deep inside.
A glow that grew even warmer when she discovered that Seb wasn’t just planning to see her safely to the ferry, he was going to escort her all the way home.
‘Oh, no, you mustn’t …’ she protested.
‘Indeed I must,’ he corrected her. ‘I would never forgive myself if I allowed you to travel home on your own, and somehow I can’t imagine that your parents would be very happy about that either.’
Grace bit her lip, knowing that he was quite right.
‘You’re quite safe with me; I give you my word on that,’ Seb assured her.
‘Oh, yes, I know that,’ Grace agreed so innocently and immediately that Seb discovered that quite shockingly he was very tempted to show her that far from being the safe brotherly type she obviously saw him as, he was very much a man. But of course there was no way he was