by Rosie Harris
Anna’s coming home from hospital did more than anything else to make this happen. They were both so anxious to look after her and do all they could to restore her to full health that they almost ended up spoiling her.
Lucy was delighted to have Anna back. A lot of her time was taken up trying to keep her amused yet at the same time making sure that she didn’t get overexcited or overtired.
She insisted that Anna had a nap after her midday meal if she wanted to stay up so that Robert could play with her when he came home from work. This became the highlight of Anna’s day and Lucy liked nothing better than to watch them together.
At night there was a special ritual that included both Lucy and Robert. Anna would happily let Lucy undress her and get her ready for bed as long as Robert would read her a story afterwards.
To fit in with this they began delaying their meal until later in the evening after Anna was tucked up in bed and asleep. Then and only then were they able to relax. Gradually it became a very special time for them as well.
If Sam and Brenda were there, then they would sit talking until it was their own bedtime; if Robert and Lucy were on their own, then they usually discussed any domestic problems and often made plans for the weekend when they both liked to take Anna out.
As summer approached and the nights became lighter, it became ever more difficult to persuade Anna to go to bed so Lucy changed their routine. Instead of delaying their evening meal until after Anna was in bed she served it much earlier so that not only could the child sit there with them but they could also take her out for a walk afterwards.
Some evenings they took her to play in the park on the swings; at other times they merely went for a short stroll and then back home for her bath and a bedtime story.
As July advanced Lucy suggested that she thought it would be a good idea to have a party to celebrate Anna’s birthday which was on the last day of the month.
‘I think we should make it really special for her with balloons, blancmange and jelly as well as a birthday cake. I’d like to give her a surprise birthday present. I thought perhaps I could give her a doll and you could give her a pram and that would make it really special,’ Lucy said with a smile.
‘I think she would love that,’ Robert agreed, ‘but there is one other present that I think she would like even better.’
‘Really, what’s that?’
‘Her very own mother.’
Lucy drew in her breath sharply. What on earth was he trying to tell her? Had he met someone whom he wanted to marry? For a moment all her feeling of security and happiness wilted at the thought of being replaced in both Robert’s and Anna’s life. She didn’t know how she would bear to go on living without them.
She knew she couldn’t let that happen. Even if she lost Robert she was determined that she wouldn’t lose Anna as well. She loved the child as dearly as if she was her own flesh and blood and she was pretty sure that little Anna loved her. To separate them now, when Anna was still fragile from her long illness, would make the child terribly unhappy.
‘I think Anna is quite happy with things as they are,’ she told Robert in a stilted voice. ‘She has made tremendous progress since she came home from hospital.’
‘I know and I want it to stay that way permanently. I think any further upsets would be very bad for her … and for me,’ he added with a huge grin.
‘Then I don’t understand what you mean about giving her a mother,’ she murmured.
‘Don’t you?’ Smiling broadly he gently pulled her close and his mouth came down to cover hers in a kiss that was as sweet and tender as it was long.
‘Lucy, will you marry me?’ he whispered softly, lifting his mouth from hers long enough to ask the question.
‘Oh Robert,’ she whispered, her heart pounding so much that she could hardly speak. ‘Of course I will,’ she told him, her eyes sparkling and her face wreathed in smiles.
Once more he kissed her, this time jubilantly.
‘Come on, let’s go and tell Sam and Brenda the good news,’ he said eagerly.
‘No, wait.’ Lucy laid a restraining hand on Robert’s arm. ‘We can tell them about Anna’s party, by all means, but I don’t think we should tell them about our plans; not yet.’
‘Why not? You aren’t going to change your mind, are you?’ he asked in a teasing voice.
‘No,’ she shook her head, ‘it’s not that. I was thinking about Sam and Brenda. Sam has always said that he intends asking her to marry him once he has a job and, as you know, he has had no luck at all in finding work.’
Robert looked puzzled. ‘I don’t understand, what have our plans to do with that?’
‘Telling them that we intend to get married will only upset Sam and make him even more depressed than he is now. Leave it for a little while and perhaps he will find something.’
‘Yes, if that is what you want,’ Robert said rather reluctantly. ‘I realise that it must be hard for him but I don’t see the situation improving. Most firms are putting men off, not taking them on.’
‘Yes, I know, but he’s trying so hard that his luck must change soon. He scans the paper the minute it comes out and goes after any job he thinks he might stand a chance of getting. I know he’s had no success up until now but surely things must change; they can’t go on like this for ever, now can they?’
‘Let’s hope not. I don’t think Sam’s situation should let it spoil our idea of having a birthday party for Anna, though,’ Robert insisted.
‘Oh no, neither do I,’ Lucy agreed. ‘We’ll tell Sam and Brenda about Anna’s party because we want them to be there, but I don’t think we should say anything about our own future plans.’
‘Very well, if that’s what you want to do, we’ll keep them to ourselves for the moment,’ Robert agreed as he kissed her again.
Chapter Thirty-One
Anna’s birthday party was a tremendous success. She had fully recovered from her illness and was as full of life as she’d ever been.
Brenda bought her a new dress to wear. It was pale blue with a fancy frill down the front and Anna loved it so much when they tried it on her in the shop that she was almost in tears when she had to take it off so that it could be wrapped up.
She was all smiles again, though, when they promised that she could be the one to carry it home and explained that she would be able to wear it at her party.
Lucy attached two big blue balloons to her chair which was placed at the head of the table. There were tiny sandwiches as well as red jelly and pink blancmange. Taking pride of place in the centre of the table was an iced birthday cake with candles on it.
At the end of the tea party Robert lit them and then they all waited for Anna to blow them out. When she’d succeeded in doing so they all clapped and then sang ‘Happy Birthday’.
Afterwards they played hide-and-seek and several other simple games. Anna loved it all and the party went on until it was well past her usual time for going to bed. Having a bath was skipped because she was so tired and there was no need for Robert to read her a story; she was asleep almost as soon as her head touched the pillow.
As she came back downstairs Lucy reflected on what a wonderful time they’d had and how good her life had become since she’d moved back to Priory Terrace.
There was still one problem which worried her; Sam had still not found a job. He was becoming increasingly moody and worried because his dole money had run out and it meant the Means Test if he wanted to get any more.
When Lucy had suggested that he ought to start up his shoeshining business again as a temporary measure he had told her that it was out of the question because someone else had commandeered his pitch by the Goree Piazza.
‘There’s not enough business to make it worth my while to set up in opposition,’ he pointed out dejectedly. ‘Anyway, after what happened, I’m not too keen on working around that area again. I wouldn’t mind betting that those two little sods who caused it would target me again if they got the chance.’
After that, as if he was determined to prove that he really did want to work and was prepared to try his hand at anything, he had gone around calling on all the local newsagents to see if they would let him sell their newspapers on the street corner only to find they had every spot filled by street vendors already.
In desperation he had even resorted to collecting old clothes and selling them on to a rag-and-bone man. He hated doing it and it only brought in coppers.
While she’d been upstairs putting Anna to bed Brenda had restored order to the room and made a pot of tea. The minute they all sat down Robert said that now they were all together there was something he wanted to tell them.
Lucy felt uneasy because she thought that he was going to tell them about their plans to get married even though she’d asked him to delay doing so until Sam had a job. To her surprise Robert had something quite different to announce.
He started off by looking directly at Sam and asking, ‘How’s the job hunting going? Have you found any work yet?’
‘No, you bloody well know I haven’t,’ Sam said irritably. ‘You also know that my dole money is finished and that I can’t even pay my fair share towards my keep. What are you going to do, boot me out into the street?’
‘No, no, nothing of the sort,’ Robert said calmly. ‘I wanted to check whether you had anything in mind before I propositioned you. I was wondering if you would be prepared to work for a very low wage for the next few months if you were offered a job that had decent prospects in the future.’
‘I don’t understand,’ Sam frowned, ‘it’s not some sort of charity set-up, is it? Because if it is, then I don’t want to be involved,’ he said tersely. ‘Do you know what he’s talking about, Lucy?’
‘No, I’m as much in the dark as you are.’
‘Me too,’ Brenda echoed looking first at Robert and then at Sam.
‘I’m thinking of breaking away from Carter’s,’ Robert explained, ‘and starting up my own business.’
‘You’re going to do what?’
The outcry came simultaneously from Sam and Lucy who were both staring at him in astonishment. ‘You’ve never said a word about this to me,’ Lucy exclaimed.
‘I don’t really understand what’s going on or what you are suggesting,’ Sam muttered in a puzzled voice. ‘What sort of business are you planning to start?’
‘Much the same sort of work as I’m doing now,’ Robert explained. ‘I’ll be repairing cars but doing it as my own boss. I’ve been thinking about it for a long time.’
‘If you’re going to start up on your own, then I don’t see where I fit into your plans. How on earth can I be of any help?’
‘You’d be working as my head mechanic and later on, when things are established and I can afford to take on more men, you’d be in charge of the repairs side of things,’ Robert told him.
‘Head mechanic! I have no proper qualifications, you know that,’ Sam reminded him a trifle bitterly.
‘I know you have no actual certificate to prove it, but I do know that you served an apprenticeship at the same time as I did and that it was only a few weeks short of completion and that’s good enough for me,’ Robert told him.
‘You’d take a chance like that in order to help me out?’ Sam asked, his voice registering disbelief.
‘I’m taking a chance but it’s not simply to help you,’ Robert assured him. ‘I’ve given it a lot of thought and planned the whole thing very carefully. I even have some premises in view but I would like to have your commitment before I go ahead because I might find it difficult to go it alone. With you there, then I’d know I had someone I could rely on one hundred per cent. Between us we could make a roaring success of the business.’
‘It sounds almost too good to be true,’ Sam said wryly. ‘I’ll work every hour there is to prove myself.’
‘There won’t be any need to do that,’ Robert laughed. ‘That’s part of the problem. At the start we will not have any customers and it may take a good few weeks, months even, to build the business up to where I can pay you a decent wage.’
‘I haven’t any money at all coming in at the moment,’ Sam reminded him. ‘As long as I have a roof over my head and enough food to eat then the money side of things doesn’t matter to me very much,’ Sam assured him.
‘Really?’ Robert raised his eyebrows. ‘I was under the impression that as soon as you had a job then you and Brenda were planning to get married.’
‘Yes, that’s true and we still are. I meant it, all right, but I am sure Brenda will understand if we have to wait for a year or so. That’s right, isn’t it?’ he asked looking across at her.
‘I suppose it is; it rather depends on how long you are talking about before the new business is on a proper footing,’ Brenda said, looking questioningly at Robert.
‘Well, let’s say a year. I hope it won’t take any longer than that because I’m planning to get married as soon as I can afford to do so. We don’t want to have to wait a moment longer than is necessary, do we, Lucy?’
Sam stared in surprise. ‘You’ve both kept that quiet! Congratulations, anyway – and in that case, then, I’m with you one hundred per cent,’ he said enthusiastically.
‘Good! I’ll start putting things in motion right away. I want to have everything set up and be ready to start work before I hand in my notice at Carter’s, so in the meantime, Sam, I shall be calling on you to do some of the leg work.’
‘Anything at all,’ Sam agreed.
‘As I said, I’ve already found a suitable place just off the Dock Road that I think would be the ideal workshop. It would mean that at first a lot of our work would be commercial vehicles but I’m sure you can cope with those.’
‘You bet I can. I can’t wait to get back into overalls and get myself greasy and my hands oily again,’ Sam said, grinning.
‘I will need to fit the place out so over the next couple of weeks that means that I’ll be scouting around for the right equipment or rather you will be,’ Robert told him.
‘That’s fine. I’m willing to do anything you ask of me,’ Sam told him earnestly.
‘Right, well, let’s map out a plan,’ Robert suggested. He went over to the sideboard and took out a pad of paper and a pencil from one of the drawers and the two of them moved over to the table and began making a list of all the things they considered would be essential.
‘I don’t think they need any help from us, do you, Brenda?’ Lucy said, smiling.
‘No, we may as well go and do the washing-up,’ Brenda laughed as she helped to collect up the cups and saucers they’d been using and carried them through into the kitchen.
While Robert and Sam planned their future strategy and worked out the cost of the equipment they were going to need, Lucy and Brenda had equally important matters to discuss.
‘Have you decided where you are going to live when you and Sam do get married?’ Lucy enquired when they’d finished washing up and had put everything away.
‘No, there hasn’t been any point in doing so because we have no idea when it is going to be possible. I will be able to start thinking about it now, of course,’ she added smiling happily. ‘It will have to be somewhere fairly cheap.’
‘You could live here with us. We’ve enough room and I’m sure Robert wouldn’t mind,’ Lucy said. ‘There’s a scullery off this kitchen that we could turn into a separate kitchen for you to use or you could share this one with me. I don’t mind either way. You and Sam could have the middle room downstairs and the middle bedroom. We would have to share the bathroom, of course, but that shouldn’t present too many problems.’
‘It sounds absolutely ideal; we all get on well,’ Brenda enthused. Then her face clouded. ‘You don’t think, though, that if Sam and Robert are working together as well as living together it might put a strain on their relationship?’
‘They may not be seeing all that much of each other at work once the business gets going and they wouldn’t see as much of each other in
the evenings as they do now. You will be in your own rooms and we’ll be in ours,’ Lucy pointed out.
‘Yes, I suppose you are right,’ Brenda agreed.
‘The two of them trained side by side years ago when they were both apprentices at Carter’s Cars,’ Lucy added, ‘so they should know how to get on with each other in the work place and they were good friends then, too.’
‘That’s true and I am sure we could pull together equally well. We can draw up a rota for general cleaning like scrubbing the front step and looking after the stairs and hallway and cleaning the bathroom and keeping everything in good order.’
‘I’m sure it would work out fine,’ Lucy agreed.
‘Let’s hope, then, that Robert manages to get the business on a sound footing quite soon so that we don’t have to wait too long,’ Brenda sighed.
‘I agree with you there. We will probably need either to let rooms or take in a lodger to help out until then ourselves. I would sooner have you and Sam here with us than strangers,’ Lucy mused. ‘Is there any chance of you and Sam marrying right away?’
‘I can’t see Sam agreeing to that, can you?’ Brenda chuckled. ‘Mind you, it would have lots of advantages for all of us. For a start, Sam and I would be on hand to look after Anna whenever you and Robert wanted to go out.’
‘Yes, that would be useful,’ Lucy agreed, ‘and I could do any shopping you might need so you wouldn’t have to worry about that when you are working shift duty.’
Lucy went across to one of the kitchen cupboards and from the very back of it brought out an almost full bottle of port. ‘I think this calls for a toast, don’t you?’ She smiled. ‘I’ve been saving this ever since Christmas in case there was some special occasion and I don’t think anything can get more special than this.’
She put the bottle and four glasses on to a tray and together they went back into the living room where Sam and Robert were still engrossed in their own plans.
‘Time to celebrate,’ Lucy told them as she poured out the port and Brenda handed it round.