Gertie Golden Girl Pt. 09

Chapter 9: MAUDIE

Gertie meets Johnnie's Grandmother

Her friendships with her 'sisters', Evie and Milde, were firmly established by the end of the calendar year and Gertie had also found a great friend in Johnnie's grandmother Maudie, who was 81 by the time Gertie first met her in November 1948.

Maudie, the Dowager Lady Standhope, was originally Maud Jenks, the daughter of a wealthy Lancashire Textile Mill owner who had built his fortune up from nothing and was a great believer in using child labour and exploiting his workers right to the end of his industrious life. Maudie was cut from the same industrious cloth of total work ethic but much more attune to putting an end to the immorality of child and labour exploitation. Her husband Jacob Weinstein was a great supporter of his wife in this respect.

Maudie lived on the outskirts of Blackpool in a rather rambling, brightly-painted stuccoed bungalow, with a lady's maid Kathleen, who was in her 70s, living with her and a young driver Edward living in a room over the detached garage.

Gertie had driven one of Johnnie's cars there all the way from Derbyshire, in the quiet traffic of a winter Sunday morning. Gertie had also driven up to Derbyshire from London on the Friday afternoon when the bank closed early for a change for the weekend.

Both Grandmother Maud and Gertie laughed over the incongruity of the bright red and white "L" learner plates on front and back of a brand new dark blue Rolls Royce. Maudie insisted that as Gertie was virtually family that she was to call her "Maudie" rather than make her sound even older by constantly reminding her she was a grandmother. She was also very taken with the idea of Gertie learning to drive, when Johnnie usually had his own driver who he had given this whole weekend off so that Gertie could get in plenty of practice on the road before taking her Ministry of Transport Driving Test.

"Well, Maudie," Gertie explained, "I won't be taking this car to the Diving Test Centre, boy, would that cause a stir! No, Johnnie has accumulated half-a-dozen cars in his underground garage where he lives and I have driven them all for at least an hour each in busy London traffic over the last two weeks until I am comfortable enough to take my driving test next month. However, the Roller is the most comfortable car that Johnnie has and it's perfect for a long run in the country, even if it does burn petrol at an alarming rate." Gertie laughed, "Your young driver's taken a fancy to the Roller as soon as we parked in front of your garage and asked Johnnie all sorts of questions about it. That's why Johnnie abandoned me shortly after he introduced us, so he could go back to your garage."

"Why did he disappear with Edward, Gertie, dear? He's normally so attentive to me when he visits."

"Apparently your garage is fitted with an hydraulic lift, and your driver was going to put the Roller up on the ramp so they could check the underneath. Johnnie jumped at the chance to see the ramp in action and took the Roller's keys and virtually threw them to your driver so that Edward, is it?, could drive the car up onto the ramp! I think he was dying to see parts of the car normally denied to him. I told him when the car was ready for inspection, he could go and play, so long as they played nicely and not to get grease on his suit. Then Edward piped up that he had a spare sent of overalls fresh back from the laundry, so there was no fear of ruining Johnnie's Sunday Best! So Johnnie decided that by the time he had changed his clothes Edward would have the car up and ready. I won't be surprised if Johnnie installs a ramp at his own garage in the next few weeks. Honestly, Maudie, those boys and their toys!"

"They do love their motors though, don't they? I just have the one car, been with me for years," Maudie confided. "My driver Edward's a country boy and asked to have the ramp put in because he was worried about corrosion living this close to the salty sea. The car's a Rover built in 1938 so it is already a decade old. It is comfortable and does for me, but as soon as the ramp was installed the car was hoisted up and Edward keeps everything that could possibly attract rust covered up and regularly recovered in grease, bless his cotton socks. Edward is my maid Kathleen's great nephew.

"Well, Gertie my girl, while the boys are playing with their toys we must talk about how you and Johnnie are getting on. I'm particularly interested in how you are proceeding, as a couple, intimately," Maudie said as they sat next to each other on a settee with a low coffee table in front of them, facing the drawing room's roaring fire. "Back in my day, there were never any opportunities to court like normal people could, we were always chaperoned whenever we were together after we were engaged. I'm sure some chaperones looked the other way, according to my friends, by I had two very keen unmarried aunts who wouldn't even allow us to hold hands, very frustrating, but we were Victorians back then in 1880s, I'm sure that is very different now."

Gertie, who started out looking forward to meeting this rather grand old lady and hoping to build a nice relationship with him, especially as Johnnie told on the drive over that he loved his Granny very much and regarded her as not only a kindly woman but ne with a bright and lively outlook on life. Now Gertie was quite literally speechless and despite herself, imagined she looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights with the sleekest grandest motor car bearing down on the poor thing. Only Gertie was 'the poor thing'.

Maudie had expected this response from the innocent young lady sitting next to her, so she leaned across and held her hand, caressing the back of it with a gentle thumb.

"You know, I talk to Milly on the telephone every week and she thought it best that I break the ice regarding this subject. She thought it would be easier for you to discuss the subject with someone who is basically a sweet old lady, but in the long term, Milly will be your main source of help in this regard going onward. I would appreciate it if you could ring me once a week though and keep me posted on how you and Johnnie are doing, plus any other news of course. I rarely go anywhere, so it would be easier for you to ring me. Milly has my number."

Gertie appeared to have relaxed, so Maudie pressed on.

"Good, you appear to be breathing normally again, so I won't need the ambulance I had standing by just in case."

Gertie looked up at her again, for the first time since this conversation turned. Maudie was smiling mischievously at her. She squeezed her hand again.

"We can get through this, Gertie, dear. Just take a deep breath. It looks like Edward will keep Johnnie occupied and Kathleen will warn us of his approach, so we won't be disturbed. You are a lot younger than Johnnie, so tell me, dear, have you two been intimate? And by that I mean in plain speech, have you fucked each other yet?"

Gertie was more than a little taken aback by this much older woman, clearly a gentlewoman who had long been the fiercely protective matriarch of a distinguished family, a powerful personality who she had only just met, being so frank in her enquiries. But she was here with Johnnie nearby, and hoping to get on well with her fiancé's only surviving grandmother, someone he had told her on more than one occasion that he was very fond of and wanted Gertie to build a relationship with going forward. She took a deep breath.

"Er, no," Gertie replied, "I've ... we've ... er, we've only kissed and cuddled and really only in private when I've visited him in his really nice apartment. We have been on our own there a couple of times, I think both our parents trust us to be ... careful ... and we have been. Johnnie is a gentleman, I've always known that, and I'm still a girl, quite an innocent girl actually. I mean it's been very nice, no, quite lovely, to cuddle up and Johnnie doesn't take any liberties, so I've been very comfortable with us expressing our growing love at a simple lip to lip level that is intimate but wouldn't be too out of place if we were in a public place, or cuddled up with Mama or you in the same room."

"Very good, my dear, public decorum must always be maintained, even in front of the servants."

"Oh dear, my maid caught Johnnie and I snogging, not just kiss kissing but really losing ourselves in ... in ... Well, it happened after he carried my poor broken body up the stairs after my first two-hour horse ride, the first time I'd ever been on a horse. Oh, it was so high up and so exciting and mean both being carried by the horse and then by Johnnie up that magnificent staircase. It was like the kiss was all part of the same wonderful experience. I was so embarrassed and then of course we were quite late for luncheon, my first luncheon if front of both his parents."

"So Milly told me," Maudie laughed, "she noticed that your face was flushed, while Johnnie looked a little out of sorts and even your maid was rather red-faced and couldn't look in Milly's eyes when she glared at her. She thought that maybe you two had ..."

"No, no, not at all," Gertie was quick to point out, "It was just .... the moment was so spontaneous and, well, quite romantic, too. Johnnie literally swept me off my feet and carried me upstairs to my room like I was light as a feather. I was already euphoric over the horse riding experience and as he released my legs with a protective arm still around me we just fell into an embrace and we had.... Not just 'had', we ... enjoyed, yes enjoyed ... our most passionate kiss to date.... We were floating in a dream and then Maisie knocked and entered the room and ... well, then the luncheon gong went and we were nowhere near ready and we all panicked.

"Johnnie immediately released me and fled to his own bedroom and Maisie got me changed out of my riding jodhpurs and into a simple daywear skirt and blouse for a casual luncheon in record time. Then we had to rush from the bedrooms to the dining room and we were all out of breath. All three of us were quite embarrassed at the time when we were all keen to make a good impression on Mama and Papa. But, that aside, I think our relationship as a couple was definitely hitched up a notch, so that wasn't bad at all. As for Maisie and me, well our relationship as lady-to-be and lady's maid, just got a little easier as we had that embarrassing moment shared just between us."

"Well, I can see how Milly thought the worst," Maudie smiled at the girl, who was clearly not trying to hide anything from her, and she squeezed her knee affectionately, "Not that it would've been life-changing, only Johnnie's mother wanted to make sure that if you were... you know, already having sex, that you were not being forced to do so against your Will, and, for propriety purposes, that you were taking precautions."

"No, Johnnie and I have agreed that our wedding night will be special to us in every possible way. I know I am young and totally inexperienced in the ways of love, but I have always tried to be observant and honest in the way I deal with people, which was why I loved the theatre job so much. I enjoyed being with people who were there to have fun and enjoy the experience of an event, all of them open to be entertained and therefore in a better frame of mind to deal with other people about them, even people who appear to be naturally combative I can deal with in such a positive atmosphere. Johnnie is one of those people who is so honest that I instantly trusted him with my life. It is probably why he is so successful as a banker where honesty is so important."

"So, my dear, you do think you love my grandson?" Maudie asked, the expression on her face, Gertie felt, was warm and relaxed and full of love for the slip of a girl in front of her.

Gertie almost choked on the emotion, "I do, I'm certain that I love him ... absolutely totally."

"Good for you, Gertie, we have all felt that Johnnie was so like our own dear husbands that Milly and I were more than a little worried that all the while the war raaged, a young man didn't have the same social opportunities to meet the girl of his dreams like our men had. Both Milly and I, she has and I had wonderful husbands and we're certain that you will too. I speak for Milly too here, she thinks you are perfect together and I trust her judgement. From what I've heard previously and now what I've seen, I am inclined to believe you and Johnnie were meant for one another."

"Thank you, Maudie," Gertie said humbly, "I think Johnnie was hoping for a good response."

"Now," Maudie said, in a business-like manner as if the formalities had been dealt with and she was now down to discuss business, "the way the family has worked so well up to now is that we Lady wives of our Lords and so-called Masters, are like an Olympic long distance relay team. I moved out of Standhope Manor when Charlie and Milly became Lord and Lady Standhope. There can only be one head of the family and, because we women tend to start out younger than our husbands at the time of marriage, we live longer and so the job of Matriarch has always fallen on the latest Lady Standhope. One day, that Lady will be you. The younger Winters' wives all start their families without that burden but eventually their families will grow up and that will fall to you. I am too old to be the lead in your training, but Milly is ready to do that, preferably with your understanding of your long-term commitment."

"I have nothing but admiration for the way the Manor is run, even with my limited experience of it. It seems you cover everything including ... definitely including the conversation we are having. I am sure my mother and I, even though we love each other like mother and only daughter can, would not be so frank about ... about sex."

"Milly and I had this very same conversation when she was only five years older than you, when she and Charlie started courting," Maudie said. "Now we have had this exchange, even if it has been difficult for you, you will remember this when you sit down with the beau of your eldest son or daughter and you will be more prepared for it than I was back in 1885."

"Maudie," Gertie said, her voice constricted by emotion and more than a little croaky, "Can I hug you?"

"Of course you can, grandchild," Maudie held out her arms in response, "it is after all the men we love that binds us all together in love."

And they hugged. And they both cried.

***

Meanwhile Johnnie surrendered his love of "boys' toys" to take up his duties as the visiting loving grandson, brought to his senses while Kathleen collected and took their finished tea cups to the kitchen. Rather than delay matters by changing out of his borrowed overalls, he headed straight to his grandmother's sitting room, wiping his hands on a clean rag furnished by the grinning Edward.

There he saw his grandmother and his fiancée hugging each other and crying. Unwilling to disturb the emotional tableau before him, he retreated and headed back to Edward's garage to change back into his usual togs. He smiled to himself though, rejoicing in the loving affection already developing between two of the three most important woman in his life.

***

Eventually, wiping her tears with a monogrammed scrap of cotton, Maudie spoke.

"Evie also keeps regularly in touch and tells me that you haven't yet broached the prospect of having Maisie join you at Dorset House."

"I didn't feel I wanted to impose on Evie's generosity...."

"Nonsense, girl," Maudie said firmly, then continued more softly, " Evie knows that your lady's maid is a permanent fixture where you are concerned, Evie will not be put out at all by your maid lodging with you wherever you go. No, it's Evie's housekeeper's job to accommodate the personal servants of guests and ensure that he or she has the freedom of the house and its facilities to service you as you should expect to be served; the housekeeper's additional job will be to monitor the activities of your maid and she will pull Maisie her up sharp if she tries anything on, so she won't be allowed to slacken off in her duties to you.

"One thing I will say about one's lady's maids are that they will become good friends with you, that is only natural, especially as you are both young and both new to this game of being adults in a world that is quickly opening up to you, and applies equally to Maisie, who would otherwise be a lowly under housemaid for several years to come. Milly saw her potential and Maisie is shaping up well as a lady's maid. Milly tried to find out from her lady's maid what had happened before your first luncheon at Standhope Manor and nobody among the other servants had a single clue that anything out of the ordinary occurred at all. And, of course, nor would one lady's maid ask another lady's maid anything so personal, so clearly Maisie kept what she saw completely to herself; that means she ticks all the boxes, dear. However, all the while they look after you, no matter how dependable they are, you must also consider their own lives. No matter how attached you become to them and how much you think you'll miss them if they leave, do let them fall in love and marry; let them have their own families and children, let them fulfil their own lives just as they help you fulfil yours. You can always break in a new maid but you cannot hold them back from their own independent lives. I have seen so many other titled ladies selfishly hold onto their maids and abandon them to a life of loneliness when they start to show their age. I think that is a sorry mistake. Take Kathleen, my lady's maid ... I've lost count of how many maids I've had over the years, I've loved most of them, the ones I haven't liked don't last long, but Kathleen was my second or third maid; she was with me for six or seven years before she fell in love with a footman at the Manor, I let her go, she married had several children, and is now a loving grandmother, she is fulfilled. And we kept in contact as friends, as I have with all the ones I was particularly fond of, and, when her husband died, she found she was lonely, I sensed that from her letters. I was lonely at the time too, so I took her back and she came willingly. I'm not sure now who is actually looking after who!"

"Really?"

"No, only joking, Kathleen is still a treasure but more of a companion nowadays. After all, why should we sit alone reading or sewing in our respective rooms when we could sit together, and if she wants some private time she is free to do so. When I finally go, Kathleen will have a nice pension to live on, which sets my mind at rest. So, keep an eye on your Maisie and recognise when it's time to let her go but always regard her and treat her as an old friend, be a godmother to her children if she asks and take time to fulfil those little duties that godparenthood rightly demands; you will be loved for it and love has a way of affecting everyone around you. At the very least," she laughed, "she will always keep your darkest secrets if she's still your dearest friend!"

Maudie poured more tea for them both. They were both relaxed in each other's company now and Gertie smiled warmly.

"Thank you Maudie, I'm glad that Johnnie brought me here to meet and talk with you. I suppose I'm ready now to go back to discuss the 'elephant in the room'?"

"Ah, good girl, Gertie. Right, sex, I'm glad you brought us back to talking about sex. I do want to know what you know and where you have knowledge gaps that we need to fill. Your future life as a loving wife demands that you keep your man happy and the best way to do that is be more than happy together, and a good sex life is the key. The floor is yours, my dear."

"Oh dear," Gertie said quietly, clearly thinking that there was no getting away without discussing this. Maudie clearly had the upper hand not just here in her own house, but in her larger sphere of influence, including over Mama, the present Lady Standhope herself. "We've, Johnnie and I, have spoken about ... us, of course, Maudie, and we've both confessed to each other the extents of our respective experiences. In my case there has been nothing physical other than silly unrequited crushes in my head about boys who quite frankly never even noticed me."

'More fool them, Gertie girl, more fool them. Look at you now! You are a beautiful young lady that Johnnie clearly noticed and I think he has won himself a prize." Maudie pinched Gertie's cheek and laughed, "You are lovely and modest, my dear. Let us, Milly and I, build up your confidence but always retain your modesty. We all grow old and the bloom on the rose will fade quickly, but Johnnie will always see you as his blushing bride and we in the family, the one who matter, will all see you as the holder of our legacy, to charm and cajole as you see fit and keep the family together until the next generation comes along and take up that baton for the next leg of the race. In the meantime, Milly will guide you and we'll all support you. You are one of us and we always try to move forward; I've tried to make Milly better than me and she will make you better than her. You may well be the best of us my girl, and I want you to make the Lady that follows you to be better than you. That truly is maintaining a legacy."

"Well, I promise I will do my best," Gertie said firmly, then with less certainty she continued, "Er, Johnnie ... oh dear, what to say about what Johnnie has told me about his previous ...?"

"Don't worry about betraying secrets, dear, I will only discuss your and Johnnie's sex lives with his mother, no-one else, and I will filter out anything I feel that she doesn't need to know. Milly is extremely sensible with regard to her children, she brought all three of them up in a loving family but also to be able to stand on their own two feet. She knows enough about her only son to know that although he has never declared an official girlfriend, in war we know that casual relationships happen through various pressures, be they gratitude, financial rewards or simply the spur of moment thing when life is so uncertain that life becomes a series of moments that help you survive to the next moment and helps you retain your humanity. That's human nature, dear, and he was a single man throughout the war with no commitments to anyone but himself. I'm not asking for names or dates, but only the acceptance that Johnnie has been able to have more experience than you. But Milly and I will tell you that just because he is experienced doesn't mean that he should always be the one who dictates the intimate agenda."

"Ah, well, yes," Gertie relaxed and continued, "He has had much more experience in ... sex than I have, but he tells me he has never been in love before. He knows the mechanics and even the passion that goes with lovemaking but not the love and commitment that he hopes we will have together, where we know and trust each other enough to be open and honest about our respective responses and desires. Which is one of the reasons why he wants our lovemaking to be special and as near wonderful for me on our first night together, he wants us to rejoice in our fumbling beginnings as we work out together what works for us, so our lovemaking will be solely our experiences that we develop and hone to fit our mutual needs, so that our intimacy and lovemaking will be as special as our growing friendship is proving to be. We also owned up to our expectations for our marriage ... such as what we each want from the marriage and how important honesty is now at the outset and continues during our marriage.

"But, if we are talking about the facts of life, well, we both agree that we are not in time of war any longer, which Johnnie admits tended to free up social norms that would otherwise inhibit such behaviour. It cannot be normal when one could die any day and therefore he once took opportunities where they were offered and, as he had made no commitments to anyone not involved, he was at ease with taking and enjoying those opportunities. Now he is committed to me, that freedom of action no longer applies. If I had been older, he said, and had previous boyfriends, or even if I had been married, those experiences were in the past and what we did from our marriage onward was only of our concern."

"He is a wise man for such a young man, my grandson," Maudie said warmly. "Ever since he was a baby I have loved him and rather than diminish over the years my love for him has never wavered. I'm delighted that he has found his true love and I hope you enjoy each other for many years to come."

"He is very special," Gertie smiled, an image of Johnnie's face never far from her conscious mind, "he holds my heart in his hands, and a safe pair of hands he has. Johnnie has already stated clearly that the sex act is not a one-track record, that we will acquaint ourselves of the knowledge of previous lovers in literature and he has been able to obtain some ancient texts, some illustrated, some not, which he assures me that once I have familiarised myself with them before our marriage, we will experiment with together as a married couple open to pleasurable experiences together. I am already sure that I will need to increase my PT regime in order to tackle even the simpler modes or positions from what little of that which I have seen."

"If you are unable to obtain any particular texts on the subject, rest assured that Milly has hold of all of mine. If you get a chance to read it, the bawdy novel 'Fanny Hill' is am]n absolute hoot!'

"Johnnie already has a stack of literature at his flat; I think some of it came from his father, your son Charlie. Johnnie has given me my own set of keys for his flat and I have been there a couple of times when he has been absent at work and have begun to familiarise myself with them." Gertie couldn't help herself from turning red and feeling hot under the collar of her blouse, "When we are alone I can ask him anything! We agree that we are both traditional and conservative in our habits and we have agreed to keep that first special moment of ultimate intimacy between us until our wedding night, whenever that will be."

Maudie smiled and patted Gertie on the knee, "Good girl, Gertie. You know, Milly and I write regularly to each other so she keeps me up on all the family news and she thought that you hadn't done the deed and nor were you likely to until you were married. Milly was older than you when Charlie courted her and she admitted she was not a virgin. I was married young about the age you will be at the time of your wedding. I was a virgin and only 18 when we met and we also had to endure a longer engagement than you will have to, in fact Jacob and I didn't even meet until the evening of our engagement."

"Oh, it was a marriage by arrangement?"

"Indeed, it was. A lot of that went on among wealthy families in those days, the mid 1880s. My father owned a lot of cotton mills in the north of England, and the Weinsteins also owned a couple of Standhope Mills in Lancashire, as well as cotton plantations in America, Egypt and India. Our families were in close partnership with the Weinstein Orient who owned the cargo ships which carried the cotton. I was the youngest of my father's brood and he wanted me to marry the most eligible bachelor in London, Jacob Weinstein, so it was arranged that I would stay at the Evans' house in London as a companion to their youngest daughter Lizzie who was two years older than me."

"The Evan's house?"

"Charlie's older sister Mary Weinstein married an Evans, a rich but pompous textile merchant who nobody liked, not even Mary, to be honest."

"So how did you meet Jacob?" Gertie asked.

"It was at a dance put on by one of my married sisters. I was fresh out in society and informed by my parents that I was to meet my fiancé there. He had booked my first two dances and after my fifth dance I was expected to dance with Jacob again before the interval; and then get to know him better through light conversation, all under the observance of a chaperone, one of my aunts. He was about 25 and his job was then as a managerial role in a company connected with shipping cotton across the Atlantic (or the Mediterranean, or via Cape of Good Hope) to Liverpool for transporting onto our Lancashire mills, usually by barge."

"So he wasn't a banker?"

"Not then. He was a member of the bank's board and attended monthly board meetings when he was in London for the next twenty years before becoming the chairman. In the meantime he used his position in the shipping company to get to know the growers in America, Egypt and India, the mechanics of getting the supplies shipped, the wholesalers and the factory owners."

"I moved in with his sister Mary Evans in London and from that base I was able to meet with Jacob whenever he was in London. We were always adequately chaperoned, of course, by one of my two unmarried aunts, Later in the engagement, I travelled with him while we were engaged, to both America, where we had a nice wooden house in Savannah, and Egypt, where a branch of Weinstein Orient Bank put us up in a nice hotel. I didn't go to India until our children were more independent. When you do marry and you and Johnnie enjoy each other's company, do take precautions and try to delay starting your family until you've been married for at least four or five years. I fell pregnant almost immediately we started making love and in the short term we did damage our relationship as he was still travelling for his work and I was stuck at home. We were fine in the end but for our first three years together we were more apart that together and every three months upon reacquaintance, we had to almost restart courting again before we were comfortable with each other again. Perhaps with Johnnie being more home-based because of poor Charlie's stroke, it might not be such a problem for you."

"So you were stuck in the Manor early in your marriage?" Gertie asked.

"No, we were based in Savannah and by then Jacob had left the shipping company, which was run by Orient, that was a separate bank by then, based in Constantinople and run by one of Jacob's uncles. He was by then more involved with the plantations and the logistics of road, river and rail connections to get the cotton to the ports. Jacob was gone for weeks at a time and so I had my baby, Charles, at home alone, with Jacob still up-country somewhere. The south of the United States was depressed for many years after the Civil War and much of the cotton coming into the Lancashire mills was from Egypt but the Ottoman Empire was becoming an unhealthy place to trade with and travel around reliably and Jacob recognised that the Standhope mills had always in the past been enriched by American cotton on estates owned by the Standhopes and that is where its best future lay. It was fine to have alternative suppliers, but the Atlantic was by then being reliably and quickly traversed by ships powered by steam without the risks of delay which persisted through the Mediterranean. The rivers in the southern states were the key to the transport situation but the roads were not being constructed or rebuilt fast enough and the railway barely existed, so getting the cotton to the rivers was proving difficult."

"I see Johnnie almost every day and I'm getting used to him being almost a part of me. If he disappeared even for a couple of days I feel I would miss him terribly. I feel closer to him than anyone else I've ever met and he seems to have only one mood, which is optimistically cheerful."

"That's probably because you're around him that that lifts up his spirits, dear," Maudie said, "my problem was that I didn't see my Jacob sometimes for months at a time and, with a young baby to care for and protect from the elements, I couldn't accompany him. So, discuss and agree with Johnnie a timetable for babies that is acceptable to you both and make the most of those early years together. As for growing to know each other, being open about feelings, experiences, being respectful and honest, these are all building blocks, the strong mortar holding it all together and keeping you close together ... is sex. And it has to be good, quality sex, where you both take time to excite and give pleasure to one another. Okay, a quick roll in the hay can be fun, but a long hot bath together, having oral sex on a sheepskin rug in front of a roaring fire, and then making love to exhaustion, is unbeatable. So talk to me about our experiences, speak to Milly, Evie and particularly Milde, they have all experienced loving relationships and know a lot more than you do at the moment. I didn't have the benefit that you have, I had to go find out myself about how to keep my man satisfied and how to make it such an enjoyable game for both of us that we'd keep it going all our lives."

"So how did you find out everything about making love?"

"I went to an expert. I asked our Savannah housekeeper where the best whorehouse was in town and she told me. I gathered up my courage and marched down there one afternoon, went straight in through the front door and demanded to see the proprietress."

"And you saw her?"

"Saw her indeed, explained that my man was gone too often, that even though I had already had his baby, I knew nothing about pleasuring a man or how to get as much pleasure of my own and needed help and advice. She laughed out load like an unblocked drain and took me into her boudoir and, over tea and sandwiches we started to find out what I knew and what I didn't. Madeline Dubois and I became fast friends in the two years I was living in Savannah and she taught me everything I needed to know over that time and all it cost me was a hundred dollars I passed to her at the outset as an act of good faith. I followed it up when I left Savannah two years later with another thousand. She was a professional nd she was worth every cent. I was later amazed how many of her girls I got to see around town with rich men on their arms, they may have only been temporary arrangements but at least a couple of those girls managed to secure very good marriages, and better ones no doubt than most of the ones my father had arranged for my older sisters.'

Maudie explained to Gertie how marrying Jacob Weinstein had altered her life completely. At home her own mother was basically a baby machine, with no money of her own, was not allowed to have any social interests other than manage a small household and bring up her children in the manner solely in line with the father's wishes. Marrying Jacob had freed Maudie from the tyranny of her father's house.

When she returned to England, she told Gertie she was encouraged by her husband and her husband's mother, Nelly Winter nee Standhope, to take an interest in and run the household and gardens of Standhope Manor and the London home, but with more than capable staff who needed little more than minimal sensible direction, and therefore she was free to take an active interest in other pursuits, like the charities that the Standhopes supported and she found a real purpose in life that she wanted to encourage in all the womenfolk in the Winter family.

Maudie had been left Nelly Winter's engagement ring in 1920, when Johnnie was only one year old and she passed it to the grown-up Johnnie to give to his future intended, Gertie, when he proposed. Maudie's own engagement ring was a rare blue diamond, about three times bigger than Gertie's and she left it to Gertie in her own Will when she passed in 1953 and asked her to wear it on special occasions in her memory, so for about a dozen years or so Gertie alternated these rings, both of them reminiscent of strong women who were independent both in mind and financially, which was an enduring tradition that Gertie thought was her duty maintaining from generation to generation.

to be continued