The Angel in the Corner - Monica Dickens [39]
The moment grew and lasted. As the future became more defined, Virginia liked it less. Her supposition was right. Helen did plan to take her to America. After the wedding, she and Spenser were going on a trip to Europe. They would then take Virginia ‘home’ to the estate on Long Island – how she hated the sound of it already, with its orchid houses, and its fireplace transported stone by stone from a castle in the Black Forest – and Virginia would complete her education by going to college.
‘But I don’t want to go to college,’ she argued, over cocktails in the bar of the Savoy grill. ‘My education was finished long ago. I’m not a schoolgirl. I’ve got a job now. I’m doing well there. Ask anyone, Helen. Ask Miss Braithwaite. Ask Mr Owen. I’m to be given a chance at subbing next month. I won’t be taken away.’
‘I like that in you, Jinny.’ Spenser leaned forward, the small table dwarfed to the size of a tray by his bulk. ‘I like that determined ambition. That’s going to get you a long way. But not here, my dear. Over in the States, where I can give you every advantage you – excuse me, Helen – never had. If it’s a job you want, though, of course, there’s no need for it, I can get you in anywhere you want. But you must go to college. Everyone does. Bryn Mawr, I think, for you. I always planned that for my daughter, only, of course, I didn’t have any children. My first wife’ – he looked down at his martini – ‘she didn’t care too much for the idea. But now that I have a daughter,’ he smiled benevolently at Virginia, and laid his heavy hand on hers, ‘I shall see all my hopes fulfilled.’
Spenser was becoming as possessive as Helen. It seemed that he wanted to marry Virginia as well as her mother. She went along as part of the bargain. His kindness towards her and his affection, which was growing alarmingly sentimental, made it more difficult for Virginia to oppose him.
He had eaten all the cheese straws and cashew-nuts while he was talking. He clicked his fingers at the waiter. ‘Bring some more of these. They never give you enough. And,’ he circled his fingers over the glasses, ‘another round, as long as you’re coming.’
‘Jinny doesn’t usually have more than one cocktail,’ Helen said, with the sweet smile she used for Spenser.
‘Oh, Helen, I do. What are you talking about? You’ve let me drink what I like for ages. What is this?’ Virginia tried not to sound irritable against the warm family atmosphere the other two seemed bent on creating. ‘Are you trying to turn me into a juvenile so as to make me do something I don’t want?’
‘But Jinny, of course you want to go to America. You’re just being stubborn. Stubborn and ungrateful.’ Helen, too, had some difficulty in keeping her voice pleasant. ‘It’s a wonderful opportunity for you. Here is Spenser offering you a chance any girl would jump at. I can’t think why you’re being so funny about it.’
‘Girls are funny,’ Spenser said, diving deep into his second martini, the glass almost invisible in his meaty hand. ‘A girl is a woman, don’t forget, Helen. That means she’s illogical, unpredictable. You can’t drive her into anything. You have to lead her, on a silk ribbon.’ He wheezed his laugh, and pushed his pink lips in and out with pleasure at his little quip.
‘But you are trying to drive me,’ Virginia said. ‘I think you’re very kind, honestly, and I like you, and I’m glad you’re going to marry Helen, but please take her without me. I’m not ready to go to America yet. I’ve got too much to do here. I like my job, and I mean to do well at it. Not just staying on the magazine. I want to go on and on. But I want to do it here, where I know what the people are like, and how they think, and what they want to read. Not in another country, where I would feel out of