Now he actually laughed out loud. ‘Oh, no,’ he said ruefully, ‘I’m afraid not. We seem to meet head on if we say more than two words to each other, don’t we, and I don’t quite understand why. I was being completely genuine when I said I support all the aims that you and my sister campaign for. I totally accept that the expansion of women’s liberty needs women like Lady Astor who aren’t afraid to call a spade a spade and stand up to bullies. I applauded the way she handled that swine Bottomley when she first came to the House, for example. He’d cowed most of his colleagues into a state of submission through being the proprietor of that muck-raking journal, John Bull, and thought he could do the same to her by printing a pack of lies and innuendos about her marriage, but she responded with dignity and courage and showed him up for the paragon of unpleasantness he is. I do wonder if he’d have been sent to jail for financial impropriety a couple of years later but for her. But that is by the by. Suffice to say I am not your enemy as I have said before, Miss Morgan.’

‘I never imagined you were.’ Quite what Edward Forsythe was, however, she wasn’t sure. Coming to a decision, she added, ‘And the name is Ruby.’

It was highly unlikely their paths would cross again after today; his sister had been generous in her invitation to lunch, but their different stations in life meant that once this holiday week was over and she was back working at the laundry, normal life would resume. There was no need to be concerned about Edward taking liberties. She would never see him again.

Edward smiled to himself. The first battle had been won, but he fancied there would be many more in the future. Because one thing was for sure – meeting Ruby Morgan again confirmed what he now admitted he had known since the moment he laid eyes on her in Clarissa’s drawing room: she was going to be part of his life. He would make sure of it.

PART THREE

Goodbyes, Reconciliations and New Beginnings

1926

Chapter Twelve

The start of another year. Olive gazed across the bedroom to the faint light coming in the window. Although it was only five o’clock in the morning and still dark outside, the thick snow that lay on the rooftops and made the roads and pavements treacherous brought illumination into the room. How could she endure another year like the last one and those before it?