“It doesn’t matter what you said to each other,” Evelyn interjected. “It’s more important that we assure Lilian that there is nothing between us and there never has been.”
“Then why are you here? My brother proposes, you tell him you love someone else, and when I come to confront Vernon, I find you here.”
“Why were you coming to confront me because Evie doesn’t want to marry James?” Vernon asked. “Hardly my fault.”
Lilian’s eyes were filled with venom. “Because I know about you two. You’re the one Evie says she loves, aren’t you? I’ve suspected it for ages and then I saw her leaving here the other day. She never told me she was here—why would she lie?”
“Are you spying on me?” Evelyn demanded.
“No, I came here to see Vernon. You got here before me.”
“Am I not allowed to see Vernon without you assuming I’m sharing his bed? Or do you think we’re all like you, Lilian?” Evelyn demanded, angry enough now to allow her contempt of Lilian to come to the fore.
“And what’s that supposed to mean? Anyway, why would you come to see Vernon?”
“It’s actually none of your business. But I wasn’t here to share his bed.”
“Surprising isn’t it?” Venon said. “But it is true, Lilian. I can’t say I didn’t try, but Evie wasn’t interested.”
If Vernon thought his humour would help the situation, he was wrong.
“Well, she’s a liar, anyway. Do you know she ran away from home because she was engaged? She let her fiancé down and used our brother’s letter to find a way into our house so she didn’t have to face the situation she’d created. What do you think to that?”
The pain of the accusation hit Evelyn hard, because Lilian was not entirely wrong. “While we’re accusing people of things, don’t forget the secrets I’m keeping for you.”
Lilian’s eyes narrowed, though her expression gave Evelyn the impression that she suspected Evelyn would not dare tell Vernon, or anyone else listening, about what she had witnessed. It only made Evelyn more defiant. Lilian had belittled her for too long. However much sympathy she had for Lilian’s loss of her brother in the war, however grateful she was for her initial hospitality, the assumption that she had not only slept with Vernon but intentionally deceived Lilian about it was too much. “Vernon, would you believe I saw Lilian injecting herself with cocaine?” she declared.
Vernon stared open-mouthed at Lilian, who was looking at Evelyn with horror in her eyes. Evelyn realised then that to be humiliated in front of Vernon, within earshot of some her of audience at the cafe, was probably the worst thing that could happen to Lilian. That just showed how superficial she was.
After the brief moment of shocked silence, Lilian responded. She slapped Evelyn, hard, across the face, before Evelyn knew what was happening. The sharp sting of pain was nothing compared to the shock of the insult. Involuntarily, she took a step backward, falling through the doorway of the office and into the cafe proper. Instantly, she felt every pair of eyes in the room on her, as Lilian followed her out.
“Hello everybody, enjoying the show are you?” Lilian had her audience again and she knew how to make use of them. “Yes, some of you know me, you’ve seen me sing. Well, I want to introduce someone to you. This is Evelyn Hopkins. She came here from Devon, playing on my brother’s memory to get herself somewhere to stay. Then she seduced my other brother, to the point where he proposed marriage to her. It was only then that she confessed that she’d run away from a broken engagement in Devon, without even telling her fiancé. On top of that, she’s been busy between the sheets with the owner of this fine establishment, who was supposed to be committed to me. And I saw her taking drugs too—she injects cocaine. How do you like that?”
Evelyn heard Lilian’s words through a haze of pain and humiliation. She could not argue in front of so many people. She was vaguely aware of Vernon coming to her defence, dragging a shrieking and swearing Lilian back into the office. But to hear her actions described in such a way, combined with such lies, on a day on which everything had already seemed to fall apart once was too much. She had not come to London for this. Tears blurring her vision, she ran from the cafe, not noticing if anyone tried to comfort or criticise her. She thought she heard Vernon call after her, but she was through the door and into the street, running far away from that place, from the false accustations and the ones that were dangerously close to the truth, from Lilian whom she had thought was a friend, from Vernon who could not help her find Jos, and from the memories of Jos herself. If Jos did not want to find her, perhaps Vernon was wrong. Perhaps he was too kind to his sister. Maybe Jos really did just want to abandon Evelyn now.
Out in the public streets, Evelyn made an effort to control the tears that had been flowing down her cheeks. She dabbed at her eyes with her pocket handkerchief and tried to look calm. She did not feel calm. She felt angry, then heartbroken. She felt homesick and then defiant. She longed for Jos and then wanted to leave London and never return. She hated James and Lilian, but pitied them in the same moment. She was stupid to have trusted anyone here, but then she was full of love for Jos and gratitude for the kindness of others. At once she felt crushed and resented Edward for sending her here, but still there was part of her that knew that this was all part of what needed to happen in her life. Even now she was still flying higher than she would have been doing in West Coombe.
She walked a long time, following one street after
