Cathy smiled, her momentary anger over. ‘She hasn’t got involved with any causes, anyway, thank goodness. Too busy enjoying herself.’
‘And that’s how it should be,’ Mick said. ‘But to get back to the party, Mum. You’re sure you wouldn’t like one in the Adelphi?’
‘No thanks, son,’ Cathy said again.
Mick consulted John and Sarah and it was decided that a family party should be held in Sarah’s house.
‘These big old rooms are perfect for parties,’ she said. ‘And Mum needn’t be involved in any of the preparations. They can just come and enjoy themselves.’
They told Cathy of the plan and she agreed. ‘I do want to celebrate it, love,’ she said. ‘I just didn’t want a lot of fuss.’
Mick later spoke quietly to his father about inviting his Uncle Sam to the party. ‘It’s easier to get here from America now,’ he said.
‘But Sam is over eighty and more or less housebound these days,’ Greg told him, ‘although his mind is still clear, thank goodness. He never really got over Mary’s death.’
‘She was a doll, wasn’t she?’ Mick said. ‘I remember her coming when I was a kid. I thought she was like a princess and Sam was a nice guy. Very generous.’
‘Too good for her,’ Greg said forcefully. ‘She was selfish to the bone. I think Sam saw her faults but he loved her anyway. Fell in love with her when they were very young and he never got over it.’
‘You make it sound like a disease,’ Mick said, smiling at the thought of love in connection with these old people. ‘You didn’t like her?’
‘I was charmed by her as everyone was,’ Greg said stiffly. ‘But she hurt her parents and your mother and I find that hard to forgive. They could often have come to visit because Sam worked like a dog to make money for all she wanted but it didn’t suit her to come home. Sam was different. We’re very fond of Sam.’
‘But if he’s housebound there’s not much point in inviting him,’ Mick said. ‘I didn’t want to mention America to Mum until I’d checked with you because of our Kate.’
‘No way of getting in touch with her, I’m afraid,’ Greg said with a sigh. ‘Your mum wonders where we went wrong with her but Kate was just Kate. As selfish as Mary but without someone like Sam to keep her straight.’
‘I was away in the RAF when she was growing up,’ Mick said, ‘but I don’t know why Mum blames herself. If anyone spoiled her it was that old fellow who lodged with Grandma and paid for Kate’s dancing lessons.’
‘Old Josh,’ Greg said. ‘I don’t know, Mick. I think character is inborn but sometimes circumstances make a difference. We all liked Gene Romero when she brought him home but marrying him and moving to America after the war was a mistake. She just went wild.’
‘Plenty of girls married GIs and went to America and it worked out. Kate brought a lot of grief to the Romero family before she went off with that other fellow and they’d been very good to her.’
‘Yes, I’m ashamed of that,’ Greg said, ‘but we could do nothing about it.’
The golden wedding was not mentioned in letters to Sam but he remembered. A few days before the date a parcel arrived from him containing Rolex gold watches for Greg and for Cathy but it was the letter that was enclosed which caused more excitement.
Sam wrote: ‘As you know I lost touch with Kate some time ago, I think because I warned her against Capaldi and I was proved right. I feel I might have been the cause of her breaking with you but I have managed to trace her. She has divorced Capaldi and has remarried and I am assured that her husband is a man of good character. His name is Doolan and he is of Irish descent. I have been in touch with them and they have promised to visit with me in the near future as they live less than three hundred miles from me. Kate will be writing to you soon.’
‘Thank God,’ Cathy exclaimed, dropping the letter and flinging her arms round Greg. ‘She’s safe. I’ve imagined all sorts of things happening to her on her own there.’
‘So have I,’ admitted Greg. ‘Isn’t Sam a good fellow? We can stop worrying now, love, and really enjoy our celebration.’
All the family were relieved for the sake of Cathy and Greg but Sarah worried that their hopes might be raised only to be dashed again by Kate.
‘I can’t believe she’s changed,’ she said to John. ‘She’ll only write if it suits her.’
‘Yes, but don’t forget Uncle Sam seems to be calling the tune. I don’t think he’s as wealthy as he used to be but he’s still a rich man and Kate will want to keep well in with him.’
‘I’m surprised that she ever lost touch with him.’
‘I think it was more that he cut her and that Capaldi character off. I’m sure Sam bailed her out several times after she left Gene Romero and he’d probably had enough.’
‘Remember when Sam and Mary came here when we were young?’ said Sarah. ‘I thought he was smashing but I didn’t like Mary.’
‘I thought she was charming,’ John said. ‘So beautiful and elegant yet so friendly.’
‘Yes, to you, because you’re male. She even tried to get off with Dad.’
‘Don’t be daft. You’re imagining things,’ John said. ‘A woman like that.’
‘No, I’m not,’ Sarah protested. ‘I think Grandma knew and maybe Sam but Mum didn’t and Mary didn’t get any encouragement from Dad.’
‘You dreamt that one,’ John scoffed. ‘An adolescent fancy.’
Sarah decided that it was wiser to say no more. John in a temper was quite capable of confronting her father with this, she thought.
John took the opportunity of the discussions about Kate to point the moral to Laura. ‘Now you see why I’m strict with you, Laura,’ he said. ‘You see the grief my sister’s caused Nana and Grandad and other people just because she was spoiled when she was young. I do it for your own good.’
‘Didn’t stop you spoiling Gerry, though, did it?’ Laura muttered, flouncing out of the room.
‘Gerry’s not spoiled, is he?’ John appealed to Anne and Maureen. ‘Look how he took his disappointment like a man over that agent and the way he’s settled down with this new group.’
Anne and Maureen agreed with him.
The Merrymen had been disbanded some months earlier. An agent had wanted to sign them to go on tour and Peter and Gerry were willing to give up their daytime jobs and sign up but the Hogan twins had refused. They were younger than Gerry and Peter and were still apprentice electricians and their father had insisted that they finish their training.
‘Keep on with the music part-time,’ he said, ‘but finish your training and make sure you’ve got a trade to fall back on. This music business could end tomorrow.’
Peter and Gerry tried hard to persuade the twins to take a chance but they were obdurate. ‘I agree with my dad,’ Michael said. ‘I think we’d be mad to give up now when we’re so near the end of our time.’
Martin added, ‘Dad’s kept us while we’ve been on peanuts as apprentices so he has a right to have a say.’
By the time the argument was resolved the agent had lost interest but Peter and Gerry were now too unsettled to carry on as before.
‘We’ll never get a chance like that again,’ Gerry told his family. ‘We’ve had offers before but Peter’s dad always told us not to sign until he’d seen the contract and with some of them we’d really have been ripped off, working like dogs and the agent taking the money, but this was genuine. He’s one of the top agents and dead straight but he won’t be messed about.’
Michael and Martin Hogan left the Merrymen, Peter had an offer as lead singer with a well-known group and Gerry was warmly welcomed as drummer with another group and immediately went on tour with them.
Wayne and the Wildmen were very different from the Merrymen and the bookings meant constant travel all over England and Scotland. The other members of the group seemed able to sleep in the back of the van carrying their equipment or in the sleazy digs provided for them but Gerry found it hard to adapt to their li
festyle.
‘You’ve had it too soft,’ the manager jeered when he complained.
Very little of the promised money materialised but they were told to be patient. Soon they would be in the really big money, living like millionaires. ‘Look at the Beatles,’ the manager told them. ‘Money no object now but they had to do these sort of gigs first.’
Sometimes Gerry was so exhausted that he accepted a pill from one of the lads who took them freely. Just to get me through tonight, he told himself. I’m not going to make a habit of it.
After some argument, Gerry managed to get a night off for the golden wedding party, as the group were playing Birkenhead just across the Mersey from Liverpool, but the family were shocked at his appearance.
‘Are you getting proper meals?’ his mother asked anxiously. ‘You look so thin.’
‘Just as well,’ Gerry said cheerfully. ‘I take up less room in the van and it’s a tight fit with my drums.’ But he found it so hard to keep awake in the comfort of home that he took one of the ‘uppers’ he had been given by one of the group.
Everyone was in high spirits for the party. Early the previous day Cathy had opened her front door to find a strange couple on the step with their luggage. It took her a few minutes to recognise Kate in the small stout woman in a bright Crimplene trouser suit, with large spectacles and short hair.
‘Kate!’ she cried. ‘Oh Kate, love,’ flinging her arms round her and hugging her close, then drawing them into the hall.
Greg had been working in the back garden but had come into the kitchen for water and heard the commotion. He came through to the hall and welcomed Kate more coolly but realising that her husband was uncomfortable, he shook hands with him and smiled at him warmly. ‘Jim Doolan,’ the man said, as Kate made no attempt at introductions. ‘I guess we shoulda phoned you up first.’
‘Not at all,’ Greg said, ushering them into the living room. ‘Leave your luggage, I’ll attend to it.’ Cathy was offering tea or coffee and Greg said quietly, ‘You stay and talk, Cath. I’ll see to it when I’ve washed my hands. I’ve been gardening,’ he explained to Jim.
‘You should get together with my pop,’ Jim said. ‘He does it for a living.’
‘Lucky man,’ Greg said smiling.
Kate had been chattering nonstop about their journey but when they were settled with cups of coffee and there was a pause, Cathy asked if they knew about the party.
‘Of course. That’s why we’re here,’ Kate said.
‘Sam staked us,’ Jim said abruptly. ‘I couldn’t afford it and he said it was important so I accepted but I don’t take handouts. That’s why I didn’t want Kate to contact Sam. I thought that was what she was after and I wasn’t having it.’
‘I’m glad you made an exception this time,’ Greg said warmly, ‘although I admire your principles. Sam knew how much we worried about Kate.’
‘Yeah. Of course I didn’t know about Kate’s English family,’ Jim said. ‘Tighter ’n a clam when she wants to be, this little lady,’ but he smiled fondly at Kate.
Jim was a stocky man not much taller than Kate, with what Greg thought of as an Irish face – ruddy complexion, blue eyes and dark hair growing in a widow’s peak on his forehead. His chin was firm and the glance from his blue eyes very direct and Cathy and Greg liked him more and more.
‘Mick wanted to have a big party in the Adelphi,’ Cathy said. ‘But we wouldn’t have liked that. We’re having a party at Sarah and Joe’s instead. Those big old houses are great for parties.’
‘They’re still together then, Sarah and Joe?’ Kate asked.
‘Of course,’ her parents said in unison.
‘Sarah was engaged to Joe’s brother during the war,’ Kate told Jim, ‘but she chucked him after the war and married his brother.’
‘It wasn’t like that, Kate,’ Cathy said warmly. She turned to Jim. ‘Sarah and Terry were only friends really. It was just a joke that he wanted her to be his girl but when he was taken prisoner at Dunkirk they were sort of paired off by everyone. Our Sarah and Joe were in love for years but they couldn’t say anything until after the war.’
‘They acted very honourably,’ Greg said, ‘but when Terry came home it was easily sorted out. He’d made a friend in the camp and they wanted to try their fortune in Canada so Sarah and Joe could marry at last.’
‘They were lucky,’ Jim said. ‘A lot of girls married in wartime out of a sense of duty and then suffered for it.’ He looked at Kate and Greg wondered what she had told Jim about Gene Romero.
All the family were amazed at the change in Kate’s appearance but they soon decided that her character was unchanged. Everyone liked Jim Doolan and the general opinion was that he was the strong man that Kate needed. He charmed everyone at the party by singing in a true tenor voice old favourite Irish songs – ‘She is Far From the Land’ and ‘The Snowy-breasted Pearl’.
‘Mam’s favourite,’ Maureen and Anne wept, although they enjoyed the songs.
‘Don’t they bring it back, the parties at Uncle Fred’s and our house,’ Joe said. ‘Ah, God be with the days of our youth.’
‘Fancy you knowing those songs in America,’ Rosa commented.
‘You’re of Irish descent, though, aren’t you, Jim?’ Joe asked.
‘You can say that again,’ Jim said laughing. ‘It’s a real thriving Irish community where we live. Third or fourth generation but they’re more Irish than the Irish.’
‘They’re American as well,’ Kate said sharply. ‘That’s more important.’
Laura took an instant dislike to her Aunt Kate and avoided her as much as possible. ‘I can’t stand posers,’she told David. ‘And hasn’t she got a good opinion of herself?’
Rosa was indignant that she had often been compared to Kate when she surveyed her aunt’s dumpy figure and weather-beaten skin. ‘I’m insulted,’ she said to Laura, ‘if people think I look like that.’
‘She wasn’t fat when she was young and her hair was red then like yours,’ Laura told her curtly.
She had quarrelled with Rosa a few weeks previously and they had to make a show of friendship for the party but Laura found it hard to pretend. They had been able to conceal the quarrel from the family because Anne had been busy with Maureen and Sarah had tactfully reduced her visits while Anne was nursing her sister. Joe often called to see Maureen but Laura was confident that she and Rosa were not discussed.
The cause of the quarrel was Rosa’s latest boyfriend whom she had met at a party given by a friend from the College of Art. Laura had been taking a short cut through a narrow alleyway in the medieval part of the city when she had come upon Rosa and the man standing together smoking.
‘Oh, Laura,’ Rosa said airily but she blushed and dropped the cigarette quickly, grinding it under her heel. ‘This is Ricky Hewlett.’ To the man she said briefly, ‘My cousin.’
Laura was too surprised to speak but the man said, ‘Hi’ and blew a cloud of smoke in her face. His hair was long and greasy and he wore grubby jeans and a sweater, with a wispy beard and dirty bare feet in scuffed sandals.
Laura looked at him with disgust and he stared back at her offensively and put his arm round Rosa, pressing his hand on her breast.
‘I’ll see you,’ Laura said abruptly to Rosa and walked away but before she reached the bus stop she heard hurrying footsteps and Rosa caught up with her.
‘I was just coming anyway,’ she said breathlessly. ‘Those were herbal cigarettes we were smoking.’
Laura looked sceptical. ‘I knew they weren’t Park Drive,’ she said. ‘But herbal! Oh Rosa, what are you doing with a creep like that? Where did you pick him up? You can do better than that.’ She wanted to point out to Rosa that she could have practically any man she fancied so why bother with Ricky. She was genuinely fond of her cousin and worried about her but Rosa was bitterly offended.
‘He’s a very interesting and talented man,’ she said.
‘And very dirty,’ Laura retorted. ‘And I suppose he
supplies you with those disgusting cigarettes. Herbal. You must think I’m soft.’
‘I knew you’d think that,’ Rosa said. ‘That’s why I came after you in case you carried tales.’
‘When have I ever carried tales?’ Laura demanded. ‘I’ve covered up for you but never again.’
They were now at the bus stop and the row continued until the bus arrived and went on in hissing undertones all the way home. As they stepped off the bus, Rosa said angrily, ‘You know what’s wrong with you, Laura Redmond? You’re jealous.’
‘Jealous! Of that specimen?’ Laura exclaimed. ‘You must be joking.’ She turned and walked rapidly away and Rosa went home by another route. They had not spoken to each other since.
There was a core of truth in Rosa’s last remark which Laura was unwilling to admit but it made her more angry with her cousin. Rosa had dated many of the boys in the loosely knit youth-club crowd to which Laura still belonged and many more would have liked to date her.
Laura had gone out in a foursome with Rosa and a friend of her current date on several occasions in those days, and had occasionally been to the cinema with a boy but she was friendly rather than romantic with them. She had never envied Rosa and though she often laughed at Rosa’s transports over whatever boy had taken her fancy she was always willing to cover for her with her parents.
There was a girl in their group named Monica, a fat girl with heavy-lidded eyes and a sleepy voice. She had a reputation for being tactless but the others only laughed at her blunders. ‘Monica’s so dozy. She never realises when she’s putting her foot in it,’ they said, but other people, never Monica, suffered from her faux pas. After Rosa had moved out of their orbit to the College of Art, someone commented that she would be missed by the boys in their own group.
‘Yes. Laura should get plenty of dates now,’ Monica said sleepily. ‘All the fellows will want to take her out to keep in touch with Rosa.’
Honour Thy Father Page 14