Anne said nothing for a moment and he clapped his hand over his mouth. ‘Oh, I shouldn’t have mentioned her and reminded you.’
‘Don’t worry, Mr Tripp, I don’t need Maureen’s name mentioned to make me think of her,’ Anne said with quiet dignity. ‘She’s always in my mind.’ He looked abashed and she said quickly, ‘We’ve lots of happy memories of her and we had a good Christmas. My younger daughter got engaged on Christmas Day.’
‘Little Julie!’ he exclaimed. ‘It doesn’t seem five minutes since she was a schoolgirl.’
‘She’ll be twenty-one in August,’ Anne said.
‘Fancy that.’ Mr Tripp finished his coffee and picked up his cap. ‘Thanks, Mrs Redmond, and all the best for the New Year to you and yours.’
He went out and Laura put her arm round her mother. ‘Nosy old beggar,’ she said indignantly. ‘We haven’t talked much about Maureen, Mum, but we’ve all been thinking of her.’
‘Yes, love,’ said Anne. ‘But you know, Laura, I felt that she was here with us.’
‘I felt that too,’ said Laura. ‘Especially on Christmas morning when we were toasting Julie’s engagement. I thought how pleased Maureen would be if she knew and then I was sure she did know.’
‘Yes, like Father O’Malley said. She left her body like a dress she had outgrown but her spirit, the real Maureen, lives on and she’ll always be with us.’ She wiped her eyes and gave Laura a quick kiss then she said briskly, ‘Put the kettle on again, Lol. You’ll need a hot drink before you go out. Poor Mr Tripp won’t get many windows done today.’
Later Phil said quietly to Laura, ‘Your mum’s very brave, isn’t she? She must have been dreading this Christmas without Maureen.’
‘We all were,’ said Laura, ‘but everyone kept it to themselves for the sake of the others.’ She glanced at Phil’s face and said with rare tact, ‘Of course we knew we shouldn’t mourn Maureen’s death because it was best for her. Life was getting so difficult for her. By the time she died she could scarcely move and she couldn’t hold a cup. Even her sight was going.’
She slipped her hand into Phil’s and he said quietly, ‘We had a death in our family. My brother Jon. He was sixteen and he was only ill for two days. Meningitis. He was brilliant at everything, schoolwork, sports, everything.’
‘None of that mattered, though, did it? The brilliance,’ said Laura. ‘It’s losing a child and a brother. I don’t know how people can bear it. I remember how we were when Gerry had that accident although he was all right, thank God.’
‘My parents have never got over it. It shattered their lives,’ said Phil. ‘I miss him too. He was a smashing elder brother. Always had time for me although he had so much else on. We were real good pals and we were getting closer as we grew older.’
‘At least your parents had you,’ Laura said.
Phil shrugged. ‘Yes, but I couldn’t take Jon’s place. I don’t have his gifts, they couldn’t be proud of me as they were of him.’
‘But you’re doing very well now, perhaps better than he would have done,’ Laura said indignantly. ‘It’s not always the most brilliant who do best. A brilliant fellow started at Cambridge with David but he dropped out in his second year. I think your parents have got a lot to be proud of in you and I’m sure they know it.’
Phil smiled and squeezed her hand. ‘But don’t you think you might be just a bit biased?’ he teased her.
‘Maybe but I’m right too,’ Laura insisted.
‘I want to take you to meet my mum and dad,’ he said. ‘But I wanted to tell you about Jon first because my mum is bound to mention him. He still fills her life, you see. She’s never got over his death. I don’t think she ever will.’
‘I’ll be careful what I say,’ Laura promised. ‘I’ll try not to put my foot in it, although I’ve got a bit of a talent for it,’ she added ruefully.
‘No, you haven’t,’ Phil said. ‘You just speak the truth. Nowt wrong wi’ that, lass.’
And in the same Lancashire dialect, Laura said, ‘Eh, you’ll do for me, lad.’
The family felt that happiness had smoothed many of Laura’s jagged edges but she was still outspoken at times. Peter Cunliffe, who now saw her more frequently, was often amazed by her bluntness. He was even more amazed when Julie said innocently one day, ‘You can tell Laura’s really happy because she’s so much more tactful and she never has black moods now.’
‘Hell’s bells, I don’t know what she was like before, Jul,’ he exclaimed, ‘but she takes my breath away now. She certainly calls a spade a spade, doesn’t she?’
‘She’s just straight, Peter,’ said Julie. ‘Absolutely honest. She might say something you don’t expect but she’d never say anything about you behind your back. You can trust Laura absolutely.’
Julie was flushed and earnest and Peter said affectionately, ‘I’m sure you’re right,’ and as the months passed he appreciated his future sister-in-law more and more.
Laura dreaded her visit to Phil’s home in Bebington. She was prepared to dislike his parents for their treatment of Phil, and she was afraid that she would be unable to conceal her dislike and say something unforgivable, but she found that she liked them.
Hailstones fell as Phil drove up the drive to the house and they dashed through them from the car to the house. Mrs Casey had the front door open and drew Laura in and towards a fire in the hall. ‘Oh, my dear, what a day,’ she exclaimed and Phil’s father fussed about Laura, taking her coat and brushing hailstones from her hair.
He was a tall, handsome man and Laura could see the resemblance between him and a large framed photograph of Jonathan which hung in the hall. Mrs Casey had blue eyes and fair hair like Phil but her hair was sprinkled with grey and her face was colourless and lined with suffering.
‘Shall we have tea right away?’ she suggested. ‘It’s a long drive from Crosby, isn’t it?’
‘Yes. As my mother would say we’ve passed twenty houses,’ Laura said smiling. ‘That’s her yardstick for hospitality. I think it was her mother’s too.’
She felt immediately at home with Phil’s parents and her hostility towards them vanished. Even when they went from the dining room after the meal into another room which was like a shrine to their lost son, she still felt comfortable with them. Photographs of Jonathan were everywhere, Jon on the platform of the Philharmonic Hall receiving prizes, Jon holding cups or shields at sporting events, even Jon welcoming a famous person on behalf of the college. The only photographs of Phil were those taken with his brother. There were cabinets containing Jonathan’s trophies and caps and the room was dominated by a large portrait in oils of him, which hung over the fireplace.
‘My son Jonathan,’ Mrs Casey said as Laura’s eyes were drawn to it. ‘It was painted from a photograph. He was a lovely boy. Such promise.’ She wiped away a tear. ‘Our lives were finished when he died.’
Laura felt a surge of love and pity for Phil. Although not usually demonstrative in public, she slipped her arm round his waist and kissed his cheek. ‘Yes, I know Phil still misses him terribly,’ she said. ‘It must be awful to lose an only brother.’
Mrs Casey looked startled. ‘Yes, indeed,’ she murmured and looked at Phil, then at her husband.
Laura went on, ‘My brother Gerry was in a bad car crash a while ago. Two boys were killed and Gerry and another lad were injured. I know how terrified we were until we knew he was safe and how awful it must have been for the other boys’ parents.’
‘Is this the brother who is getting married?’ asked Mrs Casey. ‘Mrs Taylor told me about your family but I don’t think she knew about the crash.’
‘Yes. I’ve only one brother and one sister,’ Laura said. ‘Gerry used to be a drummer in a group with Peter Taylor when they were young and he was always a scatterbrain but he’s a changed man now. I don’t know whether it was the crash or meeting Margaret. He starts teacher training in September.’
‘Definitely meeting Margaret,’ Phil said. ‘The love of a good w
oman.’
They were all smiling now and Mrs Casey’s melancholy was forgotten. Jonathan was not mentioned again.
Laura enjoyed her visit and when she left Phil’s parents urged her to come again. As they drove home Laura told Phil how much she liked his parents. ‘I’m sure I’d have liked your brother too,’ she said. ‘He looked such a normal happy boy in spite of all the trophies.’
‘He was,’ said Phil. ‘In fact we were just a normal happy family until it happened and that made it worse somehow. The contrast. My mum and dad really liked you, Laura. When we were getting the coats, Dad said, “She’s a lovely girl, Phil. Make sure you don’t lose her.”’
Laura laughed happily. ‘No danger,’ she said. ‘I’m going to stick to you like a leech.’
Laura saw Nick only once and very briefly as she and Phil drove through Woolton and only heard of him through Mrs Taylor.
The two families had become very friendly and Laura often saw Mrs Taylor. When they were alone one day she said, ‘That fellow you used to go out with, Laura. That Nick. Peter tells me he’s jumping out of his latitude. He’s come into money and he doesn’t want to know his old friends, only people he can use. You’re much better off with Phil. He’s pure gold.’
‘I know,’ said Laura but asked for no more details.
She and Phil were still spending every possible moment together but when decimal currency was introduced on 15 February Phil had to work at the bank for seven days straight, from nine in the morning until nine at night. They could only keep in touch with a brief phone call when Phil returned to his digs and Laura realised guiltily that she had neglected Rosa and her grandparents.
They seemed to understand and welcomed her warmly when she visited them. ‘I’m sorry I haven’t been except Sunday mornings,’ she told her grandmother as she set her hair. ‘I’ll come again every Tuesday now and do your hair. I don’t know where the time’s gone.’
‘I do,’ Cathy said, smiling at her. ‘But don’t worry, love. We’re all made up you’ve met the right one at last. Phil’s a lovely lad.’
‘What happened to the Spanish lessons?’ her grandfather asked. ‘Have they bitten the dust?’
‘We didn’t go back after Christmas,’ Laura confessed. ‘Julie and I had too much else to think about.’
‘So I noticed,’ Greg said dryly but he smiled at her fondly.
Rosa welcomed Laura too. ‘Welcome back from Cloud Nine,’ she said. ‘You look fab. Love must be good for you.’
‘You look great yourself,’ Laura said sincerely. Rosa seemed even more beautiful. Her skin glowed and her blue eyes were bright and she still moved as gracefully as ever, her bulge concealed by the loose kaftan she wore.
‘Everyone is supposed to look beautiful when they’re pregnant,’ Rosa told her.
‘Moira doesn’t,’ Laura said bluntly. ‘I saw her at Nana’s and she looked plainer than ever.’
‘I hope you didn’t tell her so,’ Rosa said gaily.
‘Of course I didn’t. What do you take me for?’
‘A reformed character, evidently.’ Rosa hugged Laura. ‘“What is this thing called love,”’ she sang.
The plans for Margaret and Gerry’s wedding were well advanced and the arrangements for the young couple taking over the house seemed to have given Mr Norton a new lease of life. Snow fell lightly on the Friday but by the wedding day, Saturday 7 March, it had disappeared. The wind was very cold and Laura told Julie that she was glad that their dresses were of velvet.
‘Yes, and with long sleeves,’ Julie said. ‘I was thinking of copying Margaret and wearing longjohns under mine but the church will be warm and we won’t be standing around long for photographs.’
‘But I thought you were wearing them. Mum got some for you, didn’t she?’ said Laura.
‘Yes but I’m as strong as a horse now. I just can’t convince Mum.’
‘You haven’t convinced me either,’ Laura said. ‘I think you should wear them.’ But Julie could be stubborn. Although she made no answer, Laura knew that the longjohns would remain in the drawer.
It was a very happy day, with Margaret and Gerry so obviously in love and everyone convinced that it was the start of a very happy marriage. Laura thought of her sadness at Moira’s wedding and how differently she felt now. She kept stealing glances at Phil as he knelt with her family and wishing that it was her and Phil who knelt on the altar to be made man and wife.
Margaret’s father had refused to attend the ceremony in a wheelchair and had managed to walk down the aisle unobtrusively supported by Margaret and stand at the altar to give her away.
Anne had been sad that her firstborn was finally leaving home but when she saw the improvement in Mr Norton, she could only rejoice.
‘Gerry’s as good as a tonic,’ Mr Norton told her later. ‘Having him there to talk to and knowing my girls will be looked after when I’m gone has done wonders for me. Such a weight off my mind.’
Julie and Peter had been planning their wedding since Christmas but as soon as Gerry’s wedding was over the pace increased.
Anne looked more and more harassed. ‘It’s so awkward, Peter’s mother being so far away in Manchester,’ she said to Laura. ‘There’s so many things I want to discuss with her.’
‘You can always phone,’ Laura pointed out.
‘No, it’s not the same,’ Anne said distractedly. ‘We must have been mad. Less than six months between the weddings. I don’t know why we didn’t suggest a double wedding.’
‘It wouldn’t have worked,’ Laura said. ‘Margaret and Gerry had made their plans before we knew about Julie’s and anyway, Mum, Julie’s set her heart on being married on her twenty-first birthday. It’s lucky it falls on a Saturday, isn’t it?’
‘Yes,’ Anne said, her mind obviously elsewhere. ‘Laura, I can’t remember whether I arranged about the stand for the cake. And what about the list of hymns for the organist?’
‘I’ll find out,’ Laura soothed her. ‘Listen, Mum, why don’t we sit down and make a list then we can tick things off as we do them?’
‘No wonder you’re so good at your job,’ Anne said as they sat down with paper and pencil. ‘What would I do without you, Laura?’
Laura reflected that it was fortunate that her mother was unaware that Phil had suggested a double wedding, with her and himself as the other couple.
Laura had told Phil how she felt about sex before marriage on their first date and he had agreed with her. ‘I’m glad you feel like that,’ he said. ‘I respect you for it, Lol. I feel it’s too important for people just to go from one to another as though it means nothing.’
‘Oh Phil, that’s exactly how I feel,’ Laura exclaimed. ‘People make you feel like a freak but why should we do what we feel is wrong just because everyone else is doing it? Not that I believe that everyone is but telly and magazines make out that’s the way to live and some people just follow like sheep.’
‘Everyone has to do what’s right for them,’ Phil said tolerantly. ‘We’re lucky that we agree on what’s right for us.’
They had managed to keep to their principles but two nights earlier they had been sitting alone, closely entwined, as they listened to music when Phil had said suddenly, ‘Oh God. I wish we were married, Lol. No wonder someone said, “Better to marry than burn.”’
Laura, who was as tempted as Phil, sat up and drew away from him, averting her face.
Phil took her hand. ‘I’m taking a lot for granted, aren’t I?’ he said but as Laura looked at him something vulnerable and insecure in his expression made her fling her arms round his neck.
‘Oh Phil,’ she said and he held her tightly in his arms.
‘I love you so much, Lol,’ he whispered. ‘Will you marry me?’
‘Of course I will,’ she said, kissing him firmly.
He smiled and held her even more tightly. ‘Hey, where’s the maidenly coyness?’ he teased her. ‘Aren’t you supposed to say, “This is so sudden. I’ll have to think ab
out it”?’
‘To the devil with that,’ Laura said and Phil laughed aloud.
‘Oh Laura, I love you. I’ll make you happy, I promise you.’
‘I’m happy now,’ Laura said. ‘I couldn’t be happier, Phil.’
He held her close and kissed her again and after a moment he said, ‘There’s no reason for us to wait, Lol. Why don’t we make it a double wedding with Julie and Peter?’
‘I’d love to,’ said Laura, ‘but we can’t, Phil. I don’t want to rush things like that and it wouldn’t be fair to Mum. Three of us out of the house in six months! Anyway, I’ve promised to be Julie’s bridesmaid and Mum needs me to help with the arrangements.’
Phil kissed her. ‘I should have thought of that but I’m just impatient. You’re a good daughter, Lol, so that means you’ll be a good wife.’
‘Does it?’
‘Well, they say a good son makes a good husband so it must cut both ways. We won’t wait too long, though, will we? I hate leaving you every night.’
‘I’d like to enjoy being engaged though,’ Laura said. ‘Do things properly,’ and after some discussion they decided to announce their engagement on Laura’s birthday in September but to say nothing to anyone until then.
‘I don’t want to take any attention away from Julie on her wedding day,’ Laura explained, ‘and Mum’s got enough to think about at the moment.’
In June two events occurred which could not be postponed until after Julie’s wedding. Rosa and Moira’s babies were born within a week of each other.
Rosa’s daughter, christened Felicity Sarah, was born very easily, a small but healthy baby with neat features and a fluff of brown hair. She seemed a placid child who slept between feeds and rarely cried.
Moira’s son Thomas was entirely different. It was a difficult birth. ‘No wonder,’ the midwife remarked. ‘Look at those shoulders,’ and another nurse said sourly, ‘Nothing wrong with his lungs. He woke all the babies in the ward with his roars so I took him in the nursery and gave him a bottle. The next thing he was roaring again and waking all the nursery babies.’
Honour Thy Father Page 43