through. But I’d best be off now. Billy’s ma will ’ave the tea on the table an’ she’ll skin me alive if it’s ruined. We’ll meet yer at the Serpentine Bridge in Hyde Park at seven, an’ make sure yer wrap up warm. I’ll bring yer a pair of skates, so don’t go worryin’ about that.’
‘I will,’ Amy promised, still wondering if she had done the right thing in agreeing to go. Nancy gave her a final wave and disappeared through the door humming merrily.
Amy wondered what she had let herself in for. This would be her final night in London this year, and she was looking forward to going home to her gran and having a whole week off before Christmas. Now that Nancy no longer lived in, she missed their late-night chats and usually ended up going to bed early to sketch or read a book. But tonight she was going skating, and hoped she wouldn’t end up breaking her ankle or something equally as painful.
Still, there was no getting out of it now. She had promised Nancy she would go, so she would do the best she could and hope that she didn’t make too much of a fool of herself.
Despite her misgivings, Amy had an exhilarating evening and when it was over, she moved through the throng with her friends and kissed them both soundly at the park gates. It would be the last time she would see them before Christmas and they all hugged each other fondly before parting on a happy note. As Amy watched the couple walk away with their arms entwined, she sighed happily. They were obviously very deeply in love, and seeing them so wrapped up in each other made her thoughts turn to François. She wished that he could have been here tonight to share in all the fun. But then, even as the thought crossed her mind she realised that she somehow just couldn’t picture him larking about as Billy had. Blinking the snow from her eyelashes as Nancy and Billy disappeared around a corner, she herself turned about and headed for home.
As she hurried along Kensington Gore, she wondered what Nancy would make of the Christmas present she had bought for her and Billy. She wanted it to be a surprise and had left it with Cook, with strict instructions that she wasn’t to give it to them until Christmas Eve. It was a fine china teaset that would have graced the table of any lady, and Amy had known the moment she spotted it in an expensive china shop in Piccadilly that Nancy would love it. However, whether it would ever be used or not was a different matter entirely, as Nancy would probably say it was far too lovely to risk it getting broken. The happy thoughts speeded her footsteps and soon Amy was back in the warmth of the big house in Sloane Street, frozen through but happily content.
Before leaving the next day she also left prettily wrapped presents for Mrs Wilcox, the housekeeper, and Cook, and they both thanked her sincerely.
‘Now you’re not to open them until Christmas Day,’ Amy warned them with a teasing smile.
‘We won’t, luv,’ Cook assured her. ‘An’ God bless yer. You’re a good girl, Amy, an’ this has been a happier house since you came into it, there’s no doubt about it. But now you get yerself off ’ome an’ ’ave a lovely Christmas. Oh, an’ give me love to that gran o’ yours, ’cos I ain’t afraid to say it, yer a credit to her.’
Amy left in a happy mood, her only concern that the train might be delayed because of the atrocious weather conditions. Thankfully it was on time and once she was back in Nuneaton she took a carriage to the end of the lane where the coachman told her regretfully, ‘Sorry, miss, but I ain’t goin’ to be able to get up there with the snowdrifts. Will yer manage yer luggage?’
‘I’ll be fine, I don’t have that far to go,’ she assured him, and after paying him she began to struggle up the lane with her heavy valise and a large box containing the rest of the Christmas presents that she had bought in London. She was almost halfway along when Toby appeared out of the darkness, his face covered in coal dust and his hands grimy, fresh from his shift at the mine.
Laughing, he took the large box from her and exclaimed, ‘Good grief,