A Silver Lining Page 12

  After a long moment they stared at each other, then again went into each other’s arms, and again for some time did not part. If only they could stay like this for ever, Jinny thought, but of course they lived in a real world, not a dream world. Next day they would be back at work, and how would things go for them then?

  In fact, they went surprisingly well. Fortified by their secret knowledge that they would one day have a future together, there was a difference, a sort of confidence, in Jinny and Viktor that was somehow recognized by others at the bakery. There were one or two knowing smiles on the first day Viktor was back, but no one went further, no one made remarks, and even Senga only gazed warily at Jinny, perhaps wondering why she seemed so much more at ease.

  Apart from Mr Comrie, no one, of course, knew about the scene at Waverley Station, but when Jinny returned to work the following day she was quick to tell Ross. He was his usual sympathetic self, commiserating with her on the shock of it and glad that nothing terrible was about to happen because of it.

  ‘I’m so glad Mr Comrie is allowing Viktor to stay, Jinny, and that you’ll have the time to make the right decisions. That’s sensible.’

  Decisions. That word again.

  ‘Yes, well, you see, Viktor was serious all along, Ross. Everyone said I was storing up trouble for myself, that I’d be left heartbroken, but it’s not going to be like that, not at all. All Viktor wanted was for me to be sure.’

  ‘And, of course, be sure himself?’

  ‘Both of us, yes, but this time thing is only a formality. We know how we feel. Why should we change?’

  Ross hesitated. ‘And at the end of this formality, what happens next?’

  ‘We’ll be together.’

  ‘You mean marry? And live where? In Vienna?’

  ‘In Vienna, yes. That’s where Viktor will be working.’

  ‘That’s wonderful, then.’ Ross smiled. ‘For you, not for me. Where am I going to find another assistant?’

  ‘There’s some way to go before you need worry about that.’ Jinny’s expression had clouded. ‘I haven’t taken Viktor to meet my dad yet. There will be stormy weather ahead.’

  ‘If he doesn’t give his blessing, I suspect you will manage without it.’

  ‘I want it, though, I do want it.’ Jinny gave a heartfelt sigh. ‘Wish us luck, Ross. Viktor’s coming to meet Dad on Sunday.’

  ‘Jinny, you know I wish the pair of you all the luck in the world.’

  Twenty-Nine

  For some time before the fateful Sunday, Jinny, of course, was in a state of nerves, and when the day itself finally arrived she was on pins, watching her father and wondering about his plans.

  The weather was wintry – he wouldn’t want to go out, would he? On the other hand, May and Vi, who were both in on the secret, had to go out so as to leave the field clear, May to meet Allan, Vi to visit a friend. Maybe that would encourage Josh to go out too?

  ‘He won’t,’ May told Jinny in her bedroom before she left. ‘This is his time to relax and he’ll sit in his chair reading the paper, just as he did before Allan came that time.’

  ‘Allan? Oh, yes, he came on a Sunday, didn’t he?’

  ‘And all went well then, so it will today. Just remember that, Jinny. Dad had to accept Allan, didn’t he?’

  ‘But Allan’s a Scotsman, Viktor’s not.’

  ‘Never mind. He’s the one you want and Dad will have to see that. Courage, Jinny!’

  ‘You do make me feel better, May.’

  ‘There you are, then!’ cried May, and hurried out to meet her own beloved.

  At least she was right about what Josh wanted to do, for he did indeed sit by the fire and read his Sunday paper, snorting over news items that amused or annoyed him, while Jinny, her eyes on the clock, set out buttered scones and the remains of the Christmas cake for tea. Half past three was the time Viktor had said he would come, and at twenty-five minutes past, with a last glance at her father, Jinny left the living room and ran down the stairs to open the door.

  Viktor was already there, waiting, his hat and overcoat covered in sleet, his face reddened with cold, but as she drew him inside, his eyes shone.

  ‘Der tag, liebchen, the day is here. All will go well, I feel it.’

  ‘I’m just so nervous, Viktor. It means so much, what happens.’

  ‘Our luck will hold, you’ll see.’

  He took off his hat and kissed her quickly, then let her take his damp coat and lead him up the stairs, by which time his colour had faded and he looked, in spite of his brave words, as nervous as she felt.

  ‘Dad,’ Jinny said hoarsely, ‘I’ve brought someone to see you.’

  He looked up, his eyes a little unfocused, as though sleep was ready to claim him, but when he saw the tall blond figure in the doorway, everything cleared. Sleep was banished, the newspaper cast down, and Josh was sitting ramrod straight in his chair, his eyes alight with raw feeling.

  ‘Who’s this?’ he cried. ‘Have you invited that German into my house, Jinny? If that’s who he is, he can turn round and go. I’ll no’ entertain him here!’

  ‘Viktor is Austrian, not German, as you very well know, Dad, and, yes, I have invited him here. He wants to meet you.’

  ‘I want that very much, Mr Hendrie,’ Viktor said, stepping forward.

  ‘Well, I don’t want it at all. Just go, eh? You’re no’ welcome here.’

  ‘Dad, we have something to tell you.’ Jinny moved closer to his chair. ‘It’s very important. Please give us a chance and listen to us.’

  ‘Please listen, Mr Hendrie,’ Viktor put in. ‘Please let me tell you that my intentions are good.’

  ‘Intentions? I know what your intentions are!’

  Josh stood up, his gaze on a level with Viktor’s, his gaze unrelenting.

  ‘You want to court my daughter to please yourself, be all lovey-dovey, take her out, turn her head, and then, oh, my, it’s time to go! Goodbye, Jinny, goodbye! And that’s that – except that my lassie is crying her eyes out!’

  ‘It’s not like that, Mr Hendrie.’ Viktor’s face was white but he was keeping himself well in control, his head up, his shoulders straight. ‘I care for your daughter; she cares for me. We are planning to make a life together.’

  Josh grew pale, his dark eyes widening as he looked from Viktor to Jinny.

  ‘Is this true, Jinny?’

  ‘Dad, it is.’

  ‘We’re going to give ourselves time, Mr Hendrie, before we announce anything,’ Viktor went on, ‘so that you and my uncle can be sure we know what we’re doing. But you can see why I wanted to meet you. It’s very important to us both that you’re happy about our plans.’

  ‘Important?’ Josh repeated. ‘I’ll say it’s important! But I already know all I need to know. You’re a foreigner, you’ll be leaving Scotland one day and there’s no way Jinny will be going with you. She will never give up her family and her country, so all this talk of decisions and me being happy is just a waste of time!’

  ‘My mother is Scottish, Mr Hendrie. She married my father from Vienna and made her home with him there. They’ve been very happy.’

  ‘Maybe, but Jinny isn’t like your mother, she’ll never leave us for you, never!’

  ‘Oh, Dad, that isn’t true,’ Jinny instantly wailed. ‘I love Viktor and – and if he goes back to Vienna, I’m going too.’

  ‘To Vienna?’ Josh asked hoarsely, and at the look of desolation that swept over his face as he took in her words, for the first time, with a great inward pang, Jinny recognized just what she would be inflicting on him and her family if she left them for Viktor.

  Was she being selfish? Yes, lovers were selfish, but she’d never really thought until then what effect her going would have on those left behind, and as her face crumpled and the tears pricked, she went to Josh and threw her arms around him.

  ‘Oh, Dad, I’m sorry, I’m sorry! It’s not what I want to do – to leave you and May and Vi – it isn’t! But when you love someone, yo
u have to follow wherever they go, eh? Wouldn’t Ma have followed you?’

  He shook his head, unable to find his usual flow of words to answer her, but held her close as she leaned against him, still holding back the tears, until she finally released herself.

  ‘Let’s not discuss this any more just now,’ she whispered, dabbing at her face with a handkerchief. ‘We have time ahead. I’ll put the kettle on and we’ll have some tea.’

  ‘That would be very nice,’ said Viktor, who had been standing apart, his eyes cast down. Josh, however, seemingly still stunned by Jinny’s bombshell, simply sank into his chair and said nothing. Even the presence of Viktor, still in his house, failed to cause him to rally.

  Jinny, glancing at her father as she set out the tea things, knew that he had never believed that Viktor could be serious about her, which was why he was now so shocked. He’d been like Mr Comrie, believing Viktor to be just playing around, but now he knew that that wasn’t true and that she might one day go to Vienna, he couldn’t take the blow. But she understood how he felt, oh, she did, and could no longer blame him. In this situation there was no way out from hurting somebody, and facing the fact that she would be doing the hurting, Jinny felt so bad she could have cried again over the teacups.

  ‘Come and have some tea, Dad,’ she called, trying to sound just as usual, and when he did stir to sit at the table, he finally managed to speak.

  ‘Have you thought what’ll happen if there’s a war?’ he asked, taking a buttered scone and studying it. ‘It’ll be no place for our Jinny to be if she’s in a foreign country then. She’ll be an alien.’

  ‘I haven’t heard that Hitler wants a war with Great Brtain,’ Viktor said slowly. He too was studying a scone, which he eventually tried. ‘I can’t see that it would be of any advantage to him.’

  ‘The papers say he wants world domination.’

  ‘Oh, that’s an exaggeration. All he wants is to give Germany some pride again, after what happened when they lost the war.’

  ‘Well, from what I’ve read, he’s keen to make your country join with Germany.’

  ‘Our chancellor doesn’t want that.’

  ‘How about you?’

  Viktor drank his tea. ‘I’d prefer to remain as we are.’

  ‘Let’s not talk any more about Hitler,’ Jinny said uneasily. ‘Viktor, what do you think of my scones?’

  ‘Excellent! I must introduce them back home, along with Mrs Fortune’s shortbread.’

  ‘If you like our baking so much, you might consider staying here,’ suggested Josh, watching Viktor closely. ‘Why not? Why not you stay in Jinny’s country, instead of her going to yours?’

  As Viktor opened his mouth to speak, Jinny leaped up to add water to the teapot.

  ‘No more discussion,’ she declared. ‘We can talk another time. Dad, more tea?’

  As he took the cup she had refilled, she touched his hand. ‘Listen, I want to thank you – for letting Viktor stay.’

  ‘I say the same,’ Viktor put in quickly.

  ‘Och, there’s no point in fighting any more.’ Josh’s tone was heavy. ‘What you’ve told me changes everything. For the worse.’

  ‘Don’t say that!’ cried Jinny.

  ‘What else can I say? It was bad enough when May fell for Allan, but at least’ – Josh’s voice shook – ‘she’s staying in her own country. I thought you’d be staying, too, Jinny. I thought you’d no future with Mr Linden. I thought I’d no need to worry—’

  Suddenly he stood up and, looking at neither Jinny nor Viktor, moved away from the table.

  ‘If you don’t mind, I’m away to my bed. I just want … to rest.’

  ‘Certainly, Mr Hendrie.’ Viktor was on his feet, his face contrite. ‘I’m so sorry if I’ve upset you.’

  ‘Dad, try not to worry,’ Jinny murmured. ‘Nothing’s been decided—’

  But Josh had already left them.

  On the stairs, where they were to say goodnight, Viktor put his hand under Jinny’s chin and gazed into her face. ‘My poor girl, you look exhausted.’

  ‘So do you.’ She took away his hand and stretched up to kiss his mouth. ‘I’m so sorry, Viktor, it’s all so hard for you – for all of us. You’ll be wishing I was a Viennese girl in a dirndl and my hair in plaits.’

  ‘I do not wish you were anyone but yourself, Jinny!’ He crushed her to him, and as he released her his expression was bleak.

  ‘Today, it has been good, though, that you have seen … how things might be. The reality of what we might want to do.’

  ‘Viktor, it’s all right.’ She searched his face, her eyes tender. ‘If I leave my family I’ll feel bad, I know I will, but I’ll still want to go with you – that’s not going to change.’

  ‘We have time ahead to be sure of that. Let’s leave it for now, and try to be happy with what we have.’ Viktor took a deep breath and smiled. ‘I want to tell you that although he doesn’t care for me, I liked your father. I think I understand him – and he looks like you. Or, of course, you look like him.’

  ‘Viktor, that’s nice of you. Fancy you saying you liked Dad when he wanted to throw you out! You will come again, then? Meet my sisters? They’re dying to meet you!’

  ‘Of course I will!’

  As they clung together for one last passionate embrace, suddenly the future seemed very slightly brighter, and when they had to part, they knew they’d meet tomorrow.

  Thirty

  In the end, rather than having Viktor come to the flat again, it was decided that he, with Jinny, should meet May and Vi one day for lunch.

  ‘Just our usual place will be fine,’ Jinny told him. ‘May can easily walk there from the hat shop and if we make it in February, when Vi’s taking a few days off, she can come too.’

  ‘Vi is the one who works for a clothing firm?’

  ‘Yes, in Accounts like me. She’s very keen on social reform, very political. May’s just calm and sweet.’

  ‘Engaged to the nice watchmaker who found your brooch for me?’

  ‘And, surprise, surprise, has been accepted by Dad. Sort of.’

  ‘Me next, then,’ Viktor said cheerfully, though both knew, of course, that his case was very different from Allan’s.

  A date was fixed for mid-February and on a dismal wet day, Viktor and the sisters gathered at the small West End café Jinny had suggested and, after they’d hung up their umbrellas and mackintoshes, introductions were made and they sat down to order.

  Tomato soup, Welsh rarebit and macaroni cheese were the choices, plus Viktor’s sausages, and as they ate they all made easy conversation, with May and Vi covertly sizing up Viktor, while he remained his usual courteous self.

  He likes them, thought Jinny with relief, and they like him. Even Vi, always less outgoing than May, seemed to be resting her dark eyes on Viktor’s handsome face with approval, though of course she’d be reserving true judgement on him until she knew more of his views on how the world should be run. So far, so good, though, with May really seeming charmed, and Viktor the same.

  ‘So sorry you had a bit of trouble with Dad,’ May told him, as she finished her Welsh rarebit – a dish that had intrigued Viktor because of its name. ‘He’ll come round, though, I’m sure. He has with Allan, anyway.’

  ‘I understand his worries,’ Viktor replied. ‘The situation is not easy.’

  ‘People can alter situations,’ said Vi. ‘Depends if they know what they really want.’

  ‘That’s what’s not easy,’ put in Jinny. ‘Sometimes you want everything.’

  ‘I’ll get the pudding menu,’ Viktor said smoothly. ‘They do a very nice jam tart here.’

  ‘Tell you what I’ve been seeing lately in the papers,’ Vi remarked when the puddings had been ordered, ‘and that’s the name of your chancellor, Viktor. Kurt Schuschnigg?’

  ‘Vi always reads the foreign news,’ May confided. ‘More than I do, I’m afraid.’

  ‘Yes, he’s been in the news lately,’ Viktor agreed. �
�For his meetings with Hitler.’

  ‘Looks like they haven’t gone well,’ said Vi. ‘Seemingly, Hitler wants this Anschluss, and your chancellor doesn’t.’

  ‘What’s an anschluss?’ asked May.

  ‘It means “union”,’ Jinny told her, with some pride. ‘So, here, the union of Austria with Germany. I looked it up.’

  ‘That’s correct.’ Viktor’s smile was strained. ‘I hope it will not happen.’

  ‘Doesn’t Hitler usually get what he wants?’ asked Vi.

  ‘Well, there’s talk of our chancellor organizing something to find out Austrians’ views. If most people don’t want it I don’t see how Hitler can force it through.’

  Vi raised her eyebrows. ‘You don’t? From what I’ve heard he’s good at forcing.’

  ‘Whatever happens, I wish I could have been there.’ Viktor glanced quickly at Jinny. ‘Only to vote, I mean. This is so important.’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ she agreed, but a coldness was running down her spine and it was with obvious effort that she asked if he would be going home. ‘Just for the vote,’ she added hastily.

  ‘No, no, I don’t think I can do that. I’ll just have to rely on others to do the right thing.’ Viktor’s expression brightened. ‘I see our puddings are on the way. I’ll order coffee to follow, shall I?’

  ‘Brave man,’ said Jinny, feeling better. ‘Viktor has a problem with our coffee,’ she told her sisters, who laughed.

  ‘Suppose you know why we’re a nation of tea drinkers, then?’ asked Vi. ‘Maybe you should start serving coffee along with your Sachertorte, eh?’

  ‘A brilliant idea,’ said Viktor.

  Everything was so relaxed, so pleasant, that when they stood outside under their umbrellas they agreed they must all meet again, next time with Allan.

  ‘And our treat,’ said May. ‘It’s been so nice, Viktor. We’re so glad we’ve met you and we want to thank you, don’t we, Vi?’

  ‘Certainly do. I say we should all go to the theatre as well. Get some tickets from Dad. He likes us to take an interest in his handiwork.’

  ‘I’d like that very much,’ Viktor told them, raising his hat as May set off for her hat shop and Vi went to catch a tram. ‘Jinny, I mean that. Your sisters are delightful – I’d be very happy to meet them again.’