Chapter 28

That year Penny and Jean, the latter having taken over from Anita as second head girl, hosted the Christmas party. Numbers had swelled because all those who had married were invited with their husbands. Carly's Joe was also invited. Garry could hardly be excluded. Mary had been touched that she and Ray should be invited.

That morning, before Mary and Ray had arrived and while Garry was in his room re-wrapping his present for Polly, Becca had stood in front of Steven in the kitchen with her head down and her hands folded in front of her. He realised she was about to pull his leg about something.

"Yes, young lady?" he said brusquely.

"Please, sir," said Becca in a little girl voice. "I'm with child." She looked up, her eyes sparkling with fun and happiness, and added, "I don't think it's of the Holy Ghost either."

"Oh Lord!" said Steven playing along with her even though his face was a picture of joy. "Is there a young man?"

"No, sir," said Becca, "just one old enough to be my uncle."

"Oh, darling! You clever girl!"

She leapt into his arms and wrapped her legs round his waist. He danced round with her.

"You're just as clever a boy."

"Oh, darling! When?"

"August, I should think."

"Oh, my sweet! What a very, very special Christmas present!"

"I hoped you'd like it."

He kissed her and then kissed her again.

"I love it and I love you even more."

The news also thrilled everyone at the Damsels' party even though Nell looked a bit wistful.

"This year, my precious," whispered Tom and she beamed at him.

The promise of a second child made Steven think. He had no idea how much longer Garry would be staying with them and the house was full. With a baby Edward would need his own room. They needed a bigger house. He'd realised when he bought it with Betty that they would need a bigger one once they started a family. That, of course, had never happened and in some ways he regretted that when he had married Becca they had not moved then but Becca was used to the place. She had never mentioned anything about living in Betty's house other than when the Damsels had given her the photograph of them all. Since then she had made some subtle changes but none that would have upset him. They needed to look for a new house.

Becca was excited when he told her but stressed that she did not want to move too far. She wanted to be able to maintain close contact with her Damsels.

A few weeks later Steven sensed Becca was preoccupied with something.

"Tell me, darling," he said. "What's on your mind?"

"I think we've reached the limit with the Damsels here."

She paused and looked at him for encouragement.

"Go on."

"There must be other places not all that far away that must have orphan girls struggling to make their way."

"Go on."

"Well, we've got quite a lot of money now. Nell must have fifteen thousand invested."

"That much?" Steven was astonished.

Becca nodded. "I'm sure we could put it to good use. In fact we ought to and I thought we might try to set up another branch in another big town with its own house and everything. I'd have to find a couple of girls from here to gaffer it but that shouldn't be a problem."

Steven looked at her in awe. "Have you talked with any of the girls about this?"

She shook her head. "I wanted to hear your reaction first, then Nell's and then the rest of the founder members."

"Well, I think it's a wonderful idea but I think you also ought to think about remuneration for the people who are running things but not actually painting. You, Nell and Kim are still working on hourly rates. You ought to be on salaries. The founder members might like to have shares. You could set up a sort of co-operative so that all the girls would have a share and a small annual dividend after they've left."

It was Becca's turn to be awed. "You are brilliant," she breathed. "Oh, darling! What a super idea. I'll make a date with Nell."

"When you've worked out a plan it might be a good idea to run it past Frank."

"Yes, darling. Another super idea. Bend down."

She kissed him holding his head in her hands. "Thank you, my sweet man. Oh, I'm so lucky to have you."

"That works both ways and I love you as well."

"Same here, darling."

Her hands came away from his face and her arms went round him. She clung to him.

"I loved you before and when we married but now ... Oh, darling, I can't tell you how much I love you. It just keeps growing stronger and more wonderful."

There was no more kissing as they held each other in understanding and total happiness.

Becca rang Nell that evening.

"I need to talk to you about the future of the Damsels," she said. "Would you like me to come over to you or could you spare me an hour on Thursday when you come over to pay the girls?"

"Could you come over here? Thursdays are always a bit of a rush getting back to give Tom his dinner. How about lunch on Thursday?"

"Fine. I'll have Edward with me though."

"Great but I haven't got a high chair."

"Don't worry. Ours folds and I can get it in the boot of the car – just."

Nell was thrilled with Becca's ideas for expansion and also Steven's ideas for shareholders.

"I think his idea of a co-operative is brilliant," she said and then added with a chuckle, "Mind you if this develops into a national enterprise we'll have to go public. We need to think through the share allocation though for the founder members who aren't at the coalface anymore. You see ... Oh, Becca, you probably never realised this but I've been bumping up Molly and Jane's wages to keep them as they were when they were at the coalface."

Becca smiled at her. "Good for you," she said. "Kim's as well, I hope."

"Yes. Perhaps we ought to consider a minimum weekly wage against when we're not fully employed. It's not as though that often happens. And," she went on semi-apologetically, "when Cheryl got flu I paid her three-quarters of what she might have earned that week."