by The Castlefield Collector (Watch for the Talleyman) (retail) (epub)
‘Come off it. I don’t believe you’ve given me a second thought.’
‘Well, all right, not me perhaps. But everyone else, all your friends and family have never stopped talking and worrying about you. Look at those three lads, Sam, Matt and Davey, wearing their shoe leather out walking the streets looking for you.’
‘I know Sam has.’ Moved to tears by this image, and melting inside at the memory of his kisses, Dolly couldn’t help but soften, suddenly feeling a great urge to share this exciting secret with her sister.
‘He told me all about that. Oh Aggie, then he kissed me, would you believe? He told me how much he’s missed me, and that he wants me to be his girl.’
Aggie looked stunned, as well she might. This was the last thing she’d expected. Hadn’t she spent her entire life keeping the pair apart? Being married to Harold and living on Quay Street suddenly didn’t seem half so much fun any more, not if Dolly was going out with Sam Clayton.
Having revealed this precious secret, Dolly felt anxious to share the rest and get it all off her chest. She sank on to the bed she shared with Aggie, dark blue eyes filling with tears and let it all pour out. ‘Oh Aggie, it’s been awful, it really has. You wouldn’t believe what I’ve seen, what I’ve been through. The first lodgings I stayed in were alive with fleas and cockroaches, full of desperate folk who had no home to go to. After the money ran out I stayed out on the streets but the privies were overflowing, I had to sleep in doorways and eat whatever I could find that had fallen off market stalls.’
Aggie was gazing at her open-mouthed with horror. ‘I hope you won’t tell Mam any of this. She’d have a fit.’
Dolly frantically shook her head. ‘I didn’t tell her anything. Nor about Cabbage Lil.’
‘Cabbage Lil? And who’s she when she’s at home?’ Sensing something sinister, Aggie strived to repress a shiver as she sat down on the bed beside her sister. ‘Don’t stop now. Who is she?’
‘More to the point, what is she?’
Seeing Dolly’s expression, Aggie’s eyes widened in horror. ‘No, she wasn’t a madam, was she? Oh, Dolly, what have you been up to?’
‘Nothing! Not me, I couldn’t,’ Dolly giggled, feeling suddenly relieved to have it all out in the open, but just as quickly sobered. ‘I nearly did, but he was so fat, so horrible with his trousers round his ankles, it makes me sick even now just to think of him. I just couldn’t do it, so I ran. Even so, Cabbage Lil was good to me. She looked after me when I was on the brink of starvation and at me wits’ end.’
There was a telling silence while Aggie digested this shocking news. It took some getting used to that her own sister, their Dolly, had stayed in a brothel and seen a man – naked! It didn’t bear thinking about. ‘And what do you reckon Sam will say when he finds out?’
‘Sam?’ It was at this point that Dolly realised she should have kept this piece of information to herself, a carefully guarded secret. Not shared it with her tittle-tattle, holier-than-thou, know-it-all sister. ‘Why would Sam find out?’
‘It kills me to say this, but I reckon Sam Clayton might be in love with you, girl. Why else would he run himself ragged all over Salford for weeks on end looking for you. And you’ve just confessed that he’s kissed you and asked you to be his girl. If that’s true, you’ve no choice but to tell him, have you? Before somebody else does.’
* * *
The wedding was nowhere near as grand as Aggie had hoped for, but at least the salmon tea at the Co-operative rooms was tasty, there were no fights or fallings-out among the family, and her brothers didn’t get too drunk. Harold provided them with no less than two cars to ferry bride, bridesmaid, best man and all her brothers and their families to church. Backwards and forwards they went for hour upon hour, having all the neighbours agog, never having seen such a thing in all their lives, not in Tully Court. But then Harold had promised her the best, so it felt good to show off in front of them all. He even provided a lovely sparkling wine that tickled Aggie’s nose, and the wedding cake was a splendid two-tier affair.
Maisie gave her a telling wink. ‘We’ll only cut the bottom part today. You can seal that top bit in a tin for the first christening, eh love?’
‘For goodness sake Mam, why do you always have to embarrass me?’
Harold didn’t seem to have any family at all, save for one maiden aunt who sent a small cheque but chose not to attend the wedding due to ill health.
The girls from the mill: Myra and Lizzie, Annie and the rest, had a high old time, enjoying themselves hugely at Harold’s expense. So much so that he declared himself relieved when the time came for himself and his bride to depart for their honeymoon. He’d had quite enough of their prattling, not to mention the tin cans and old boots they tied on the back of the hired motor. Fortunately it didn’t have to travel more than a few hundred yards but everyone ran after it as far as Liverpool Road Station so they could liberally sprinkle the newly weds with confetti and see them onto the train which was already standing in the station.
‘Are you happy, love?’ Harold asked, as they leaned out of the carriage window to wave goodbye to friends and family gathered on the platform.
‘Ooh, course I am. How could I not be?’
‘It was certainly a good do, don’t you think? Although it should be, it cost enough.’ The bill from the Co-op alone had made him blench. He dreaded to think what the motor hire would come to. And then there were the flowers, and that dress. Lovely as it was, it had cost three times Aggie’s original estimate. And of course he’d had to pay for a photographer to record this important moment in their lives.
‘Now you aren’t going to go all penny-pinching on me, are you Harold? Not on our honeymoon?’
‘I wouldn’t do that, love. Time enough to tighten the belts when we get home, eh?’
‘Ooh Harold, you will have your little joke,’ Aggie said, squeezing his arm and giving a little giggle. ‘I never know what you’ll say next.’
The train had departed, taking the newly weds with it and the wedding party prepared to disperse. ‘Can I walk you home, Dolly?’ Matt offered. He looked unusually smart in the dark blue suit he’d worn for the wedding, even if the legs of his trousers did stop short of the ankle and the sleeves reveal rather too much of his bony wrists.
‘Sam’s already offered, thanks anyway,’ Dolly said with a vague smile, her gaze sweeping the gathered assembly on the platform, seeking him out. He hadn’t said anything of the sort but Dolly had made up her mind that he would. He’d kissed her on that day he’d brought her home and although she hadn’t seen him since, chiefly because of all the fuss over Aggie’s wedding, he’d surely be desperate to walk her home so he could kiss her again. He seemed to be talking to that gaggle of girls from the mill and Dolly felt a familiar stab of jealousy.
She ran over to him and linked her arm in his. ‘I’m ready to go now, Sam.’
He looked down at her in surprise for a moment, then flicked back his fringe and grinned. ‘All right, if you say so! Bye girls, it was good chatting to you.’ And he gave his bevy of admirers a cheery wave, making Dolly almost breathless with pride as he strolled away with her arm tucked into his, just as she’d once dreamed of doing.
It was as they walked home that Dolly hoped to broach the subject, which had obsessed her ever since Aggie had mentioned it. How to explain to Sam in the most tactful way what she’d been involved with over these last months. It would not be easy.
‘You remember us once talking about how it might affect our friendship if something changed between us?’
Sam groaned. ‘Not that again, Dolly! I don’t think I could take it, not after everything. But if you’re worrying about what your Aggie told you, about you not being Calvin’s daughter, well I know all about that, and about Cyril Duckett. Maisie explained it all to us when you were missing, and how much it had upset you. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest, so stop fretting. You’re my girl, that’s all that matters now.’
Dolly felt tears pr
ick the backs of her eyes. Hadn’t she been right all along? Hadn’t she known that he would stand by her? If Sam knew all about the scandal of her birth and still wanted her, there was nothing left to fear. It hadn’t bothered Matt either, but then she wasn’t Matt’s girl, so he wasn’t so important. Dolly guessed that her mother wouldn’t have mentioned Nifty Jack’s claim that she’d put it about all over Castlefield, and, as a consequence, the identity of Dolly’s father was not quite so certain as one might imagine. But that didn’t mean she had to keep quiet about her own misdemeanours. Dolly didn’t believe it would be a good thing to start their life together on a lie. But how to do it right, that was the question.
‘Our Aggie said you wouldn’t want to know, not with me being a – a bastard.’
Sam’s face darkened with anger. ‘Don’t say that word. You’re not – one of them. I won’t have anyone say that about my girl. And what does Aggie know? Take no notice of her. She’s never happier than when she’s causing trouble.’
‘Oh, Sam, you’re so understanding.’ Dolly snuggled closer. ‘And I do like being your girl, I do.’ She very nearly said that she loved him, but stopped herself just in time. That would have been far too forward at this stage.
He grinned down at her, tilted her chin and dropped a kiss lightly on her upturned nose. ‘That’s good, because happen we should start thinking about our own wedding. Your Aggie isn’t the only one who can get wed, eh?’
He was still smarting from his recent encounter with Aggie. She’d cornered him on the stairs in the Co-op, teasing him by lifting her fancy skirts to reveal a captivating length of leg and a lacy blue garter. ‘Something borrowed, something blue,’ she’d said. ‘Thought you might like to see you what you’ve lost.’
‘I’ve lost nothing,’ he’d said, his eyes riveted to the glimpse of lacy cami-knickers he could see just above the said garter. She’d noticed the direction of his fascinated gaze, dropped her skirt and gone off laughing. By heck, but he’d show her that he didn’t give a monkeys what she did.
Dolly had stopped walking and was gazing up at him, open-mouthed with shock. ‘What did you just say?’
Sam drew in a breath. Marrying her sister would be the perfect revenge! Anyroad, Dolly was quite a nice handful nowadays, with a fetching prettiness to that funny little face of hers. He grinned down at her. ‘I said, time we happen thought of getting wed.’
‘If this is one of your daft jokes, Sam Clayton, it’s not funny and I’m not laughing.’
‘I don’t want you to laugh. I want you to say yes.’
‘But…’
‘But what? You aren’t going to turn me down, Dolly Tomkins? Not after chasing after me all these years?’
‘I didn’t chase after you.’
‘Then why did you only catch me when I stopped running?’
She had to laugh then because he was so funny. The next minute that lovely sensuous mouth of his was pressed upon hers and she couldn’t seem to think clearly at all. There were strange things happening to her insides, and she came over all giddy.
‘You don’t even know what happened to me these weeks,’ she said at last, when they finally came up for air. ‘Where I went, or what I did.’
‘No, and I don’t want to know. You’re back safe and sound, which is all that matters.’ And to prove it, he kissed her again, good and hard.
When she’d caught her breath a second time, Dolly asked, ‘But what if there was something - something you should know, something I should explain, in case it changed things between us?’ She was trying to test what his reaction might be, her mind racing, although the carefully prepared words had gone from her mind in the excitement of his proposal and those knee-weakening kisses.
He groaned. ‘Not again, Dolly. I don’t think I can cope with one of your convoluted arguments right now.’ He pushed open the neck of her pretty pink bridesmaid’s dress so he could kiss the pulse beat at her throat.
Dolly gasped, struggled to concentrate. ‘I’m not saying there is, I’m saying what if?’
‘Let’s not worry about “what if”s. What if I laid you down on this pavement and ravished you in the middle of Liverpool Road, what would the neighbours say? And you look that tasty, I just might.’
Dolly giggled, trying to slap his hand away, which was doing wicked things she didn’t care to think about. ‘Stop being daft and listen. And I don’t want an argument, I’m just saying that if—’
He heaved a great sigh. ‘Your mind is so complicated, Dolly, it’ll tie you in knots one day and strangle you.’ He stopped kissing her, took a step back, and she felt the loss of his closeness acutely. ‘Maybe things did happen to you that weren’t too pleasant. Things happened to me too. But they’re best forgotten. Why drag up the past? Let things lie, eh?’ Sam was anxious to get off this subject. The last thing he wanted was Dolly’s heart to heart where he might be driven to confess that little episode with Evie in the back seat of her motor. That wouldn’t do at all. ‘So you can take that enticing little pout off your face and stop looking so woebegone and tempting, or I will have me wicked way with you right here and now.’
‘What are you waiting for?’ she teased.
‘That bit of paper which says I can. In the meantime, I’ll make do with what I can get.’ And so the moment passed and Dolly lost her nerve, or was too much engaged with enjoying more of his kisses.
* * *
Maisie was astonished to learn that there was to be another wedding in the family, and so soon. ‘I’ll be bankrupted by the pair of you,’ she said, seeming to forget that Harold had borne the cost of Aggie’s wedding. Dolly and Sam carefully explained that theirs would be a very small affair, with no bridesmaids and no fancy reception at the Co-operative rooms, and they’d pay for it themselves, somehow or other.
‘The only thing is, we’ve nowhere to live, so can we move in here? Sam can help with the rent.’
‘He’s more than welcome, with or without the rent. I hope you’ll be right happy, love.’
Dolly thought she certainly should be happy. Wasn’t this what she’d dreamed of all her life, to be loved by Sam Clayton?
Matt was even more shocked by the news. ‘You’re going to wed Sam Clayton? Have you taken leave of your senses?’
Dolly bridled at his tone. The group of friends had all gathered to celebrate at the Crown. Having made the announcement, Sam was at the bar, buying drinks all round, while Dolly happily accepted everyone’s congratulations, except there were none forthcoming from Matt. ‘Why should I have? Sam’s mad about me. Says he can’t think what’s kept us apart all these years.’
‘You know what kept you apart. Your Aggie.’
‘Well, she can’t keep us apart now she’s wed to Harold, can she?’
‘I never took you for a fool, Dolly, but if you think he’s over her, you’re most certainly fooling yourself.’
Dolly flushed bright pink. ‘That’s the unkindest thing anyone has ever said to me. How could you, Matt Thornton, after we’ve been friends all these years?’
‘It’s because we’ve been friends all these years that I can. I generally like to keep my nose out of other folk’s affairs but in your case I can’t. Happen I should’ve spoken up sooner when I first saw him looking your way. Unfortunately, I didn’t think even Sam could be so cruel as to take advantage of someone as nice as you, Dolly. Obviously I was wrong.’
‘He is not “taking advantage of me” as you quaintly describe it. For goodness’ sake this isn’t one of those soppy movies where the sheik carries the girl off into his tent and ravishes her. Sam has been the perfect gentleman.’
‘So far, maybe, but he won’t make you happy, Dolly. He’ll lead you a right merry dance. You deserve better.’
Dolly was feeling all hot and bothered, the flush on her cheeks turning to angry flags of bright crimson. ‘I believe I should be the best judge of who or what will make me happy, and it certainly wouldn’t be someone as bossy and nasty minded as you clearly are. Why I ever im
agined you to be the quiet, inoffensive sort, I cannot imagine but I’d be obliged if you would take your prying nose out of my affairs, as you claim you’d prefer to do.’
Davey bounced over at just that moment and lifting her up in his arms, exuberantly swung her high in the air, teasing her about soon having a clutch of children at her knee and needing to keep her new husband on a short lead.
‘So, are you going to wish me well, or what?’ Dolly challenged Matt, when she was back on her feet again.
‘Of course.’ He gave her a peck on the cheek but his face was strangely pale and he remained cool and aloof for the rest of the evening, both with herself and with Sam. Dolly put it down to the fact that Matt had always been a shy boy and a bit of a worrier. Also, those two men hadn’t been getting along well in recent months.
* * *
Aggie came home from honeymoon and settled into her new home, looking very content and matronly. She expressed herself flabbergasted to hear Dolly’s news. ‘You’re marrying Sam Clayton? By heck, you’ve kept that quiet. You must be mad to even think of getting wed at your age. You’re only seventeen.’
‘Can’t you just be pleased for me? Anyroad, we’re not getting married till I’m eighteen, which will give us a few months to save up.’
‘Have you got a job then?’
‘No, but I’ll find something soon, I’m sure.’ Dolly frowned. ‘Have you any suggestions where I might try next? Do you know of any place taking operatives on?’
‘There are no vacancies at Barkers.’ To Aggie’s great surprise, Harold had taken it for granted that she would return to her job at the mill, so it was just as well, as it turned out, that Mr Barker hadn’t accepted her resignation. She was now earning nine shillings and sixpence a week and Harold expected her to use that for the housekeeping money as well as put a bit by for a rainy day. This had been something of a blow, as she’d pictured herself swanning about the house all day with nothing more taxing to do than a bit of washing and ironing, putting up lace curtains, shopping with money in her purse for a change, and making delicious little suppers for the two of them.