Gypsy - Lesley Pearse [82]
‘Yeah, well, the word is that there’s going to be some kind of showdown soon. It won’t be just a scrap between Heaney and Fingers, it could be all-out gang war. I thought I ought to warn you so that at the first sign of trouble you both get out of there.’
‘We’ll take your advice,’ Sam said a little starchily, as if he resented Jack hearing this before he did.
‘That’s not all.’ Jack looked sharply at Sam. ‘I’m worried about Beth’s safety. She’s valuable to Heaney, and Fingers knows it. He may even think she’s Heaney’s woman.’
‘How could anyone think that?’ Beth exclaimed.
‘Maybe cos Heaney’s let folk think that,’ Jack replied.
Jack left soon afterwards and the door was barely shut behind him before Sam claimed he was talking nonsense. ‘What does he know? This will be a half-baked rumour that he’s picked up on and he’s using it to make himself look important.’
‘That’s a horrible thing to say,’ Beth said indignantly. ‘You’re just cross because Jack heard it before you. But no one would dare tell you; you’re too close to Heaney, and they’d be afraid you’d warn him.’
‘Me close to Heaney!’ Sam snorted indignantly. ‘I can’t stand him.’
‘That’s not the way it looks to other people. They all know he trusts you.’
‘Jack just wants to worm his way back in with us,’ Sam said scornfully. ‘What better way to do it than by making out you are in danger? Before you know it he’ll be offering to escort you home each night; he’s jealous because he’s heard you’re walking out with Theo.’
Beth was less concerned about gang rivalry than she was about Theo, who was still away. Every night she played she searched the faces in the audience, hoping he’d be there.
Sam did take the precaution of always escorting her home in a cab after she played, even though it meant he often had to return to the saloon afterwards to serve drinks at private card games. But he made a point of saying it was the right thing for a brother to do, and that it had nothing to do with what Jack had said.
Snow fell during the night on Molly’s second birthday in mid-December, and Beth woke to find the city under a white blanket, bringing back poignant memories of both her sister’s birth and her mother’s death. She had always tried hard not to dwell on her mother. Even when she posted a present and a card for Molly’s birthday a couple of weeks earlier, she kept her thoughts to what her baby sister would be like now, not how she came to be born. But with Theo still away and no word from him, she couldn’t help feeling she’d been cast aside, just as her mother had been.
More snow came and the New York shops looked beautiful, all decked out for Christmas. Many of the very smartest ones had the new electric light installed, and as darkness fell in the streets their fantastically dressed windows were ablaze with light and colour. Even the very smallest shops and stalls on the streets sported decorations and extra oil lamps, there were huge Christmas trees in many of the squares, and the air was rich with the smell of chestnuts roasting in charcoal burners.
Beth bought presents — a royal blue woollen muffler for Sam, scented soap for Amy and Kate, a bottle of lavender cologne for Ira — and hoped that the lovely red dress and the rag doll she’d sent home to Molly would arrive in time for Christmas. She wanted to buy a present for Theo too, but she decided to wait a little longer, to see if he would turn up again.
Two days before Christmas Eve, still with no word from him, Beth was feeling very glum. The shop had been very busy all day, and the constant cry of ‘Merry Christmas’ as people left the shop made it worse for her, knowing she had no one special to spend the day with.
Ira must have noticed that she wasn’t quite herself. ‘Honey, you should get Jack to take you out dancing,’ she suggested out of the blue. ‘You don’t want to hang around waiting for a man who can’t even send you a letter when he’s away to tell you he’s thinking of you.’
Beth didn’t appreciate Ira making such remarks. She sulked for a while, but by mid-afternoon she came out