by Rosie Harris
‘No room at your own place? Or didn’t Vera fancy the idea of having you as lodgers?’
‘Actually there was room: there’s a couple of attic rooms we could have done up and turned into a proper self-contained home.’ He sighed. ‘The trouble was that Rita wouldn’t agree to it and I didn’t get on with dad, as you know.’
‘So you’ve been at sea making enough money to come back and get your own place?’
‘Yeah,’ Eddy snorted, ‘and whilst I’ve been doing that she’s found someone else!’
Jack gave a long low whistle. ‘That’s tough treatment, whacker!’
‘You’re telling me!’
Jack took a swig of his beer. ‘What happened?’
‘Right after my last shore leave I received a letter from her telling me the news. She must have felt this way when I came home, but she never breathed a word. She took all the clobber I brought back for her, as well as a load of stuff I’d bought for our new home, and seemed to be as pleased as punch with them. A couple of weeks later she wrote and told me it was all off.’
‘Broke your heart, eh!’ Jack commented.
‘Yeah, you could say that!’ Eddy paused and took a long drink of his beer. ‘Then I did a bloody silly thing,’ he admitted reluctantly. ‘When we put into Valetta I started going out every night and getting pissed. I got a bit too friendly with a Judy who worked in one of the taverns I went to. One night, when I’d had a real skinful, and was too drunk to stand on my own two feet, she took pity on me and took me back to her place.’
‘To sober you up?’
Eddy nodded. ‘Her name’s Maria. Lovely looking, olive skin, big brown eyes, thick dark hair. Well, the next time we docked in Malta she was there at the quayside to meet me. She told me she was expecting and she wanted us to get married right away.
‘She was in quite a state because she’s a Catholic and her folks are really strict. They said that she’d brought disgrace on the family, so they wanted her out of their home right away. We’ve got our own place and we’ve everything ready for the baby. We’re getting married as soon as I get back to Malta.’
‘You sure it is your kid? She could have been pulling a fast one?’ Jack murmured cautiously.
‘I’m sure she was telling the truth. She’s crazy about me. Anyway,’ he said with a grin, ‘I’ll know for certain in a few months’ time when it’s born.’ He drained his beer and picked up Jack’s empty glass. ‘Another one before we go back to the shop?’
‘I don’t know,’ Jack hesitated. ‘I’ve got work to do. Anyway, it’s not fair leaving Vera to cope on her own.’
‘She told us to take all the time we wanted. She knows that we have a lot of catching up to do.’
‘You haven’t told her you’ve finished with her friend Rita or about your plans for the future,’ Jack murmured.
‘No, not yet. That’s why I need another beer to give me the courage to do so.’
‘Well, make it a half then,’ Jack told him.
When Eddy returned with their beer, Jack said, ‘Vera’s going to be a bit shocked when you tell her that you’re going to make your home in Malta, isn’t she?’
‘Yes, I suppose she is, but what can I do? I am in love with Maria. It’s not simply about her having this baby, I really want to marry her.’
‘Have you got a job fixed up in Malta then?’
‘Not yet, but I do have engineering qualifications so I’ll be able to find work in one of the shipyards easily enough.’
‘So where will you live?’
‘Like I said, we got our own place after Maria’s family threw her out.’
‘Her family will probably accept her back into the fold once the baby arrives,’ Jack commented wryly.
‘Probably!’
‘So why didn’t you get spliced before anyone knew that she was preggers and save all the bother?’
‘I’m not a Catholic, am I! I had to convert and undergo some religious training and we agreed to wait until I’ve finished all that before we got married.’
‘I thought Catholics were allowed to marry non-Catholics as long as they promised to bring up any kids they have in the true faith?’
‘Well, I’m doing it for Maria. It’s what she wants.’ Eddy hid his embarrassment by taking a long drink of his beer.
‘I had no idea the old man was as bad as he is,’ Eddy said, changing the subject abruptly as he put his beer glass down. ‘Is he getting any sort of treatment?’
Jack shook his head. ‘No, Vera’s reluctant to call in the doctor. I think it’s in case he decides that your father ought to be in some sort of hospital or home. She knows he would hate that.’
‘Maybe he would, but if he needs someone to be there all the time to watch out for him then that’s exactly where he ought to be.’
‘Are you going to be the one to tell Vera that’s what she ought to do?’
‘She wouldn’t take any notice if I did,’ Eddy said glumly.
They sat there drinking and musing over the problem in silence for several minutes, until Eddy banged down his beer glass. ‘I’ve got it,’ he said jubilantly. ‘I’ve got the perfect solution.’
‘Oh yes, and what’s that? Don’t tell me, you’re planning to take your dad back to Malta with you?’
‘You must be bloody joking! Either that or you’re not used to drinking beer at midday and it’s addling your brain!’
‘Go on then, tell me your idea.’ Jack grinned.
Eddy looked thoughtful. ‘Well, you were saying a while back that your mam had remarried and that you’d moved out into digs.’
‘Yes, that’s right.’ Jack looked bemused. ‘I don’t see what that has got to do with it, though.’
‘Earlier on, when we were talking about me and Rita getting married, remember I mentioned the attics up over the shop? Well, why don’t you move in there? You’d kill two birds with one stone, as they say. You’d have a place of your own and you’d be there to give Vera a hand whenever she needed it.’
‘Are you mad, Eddy? Vera would never stand for me living under the same roof as her.’
‘Why not? You get on well, you always have.’
‘But that was different altogether.’
‘You work well enough together running the shop,’ Eddy persisted.
‘Again, that’s different. I admit we have a business arrangement that works, but it’s only for so many hours a day. When we shut the shop at six I go off home and she doesn’t see me again until the morning.’
‘She needn’t see you until the next morning if you live up in the attics. Not unless she calls you down because Dad is acting up and she can’t cope with him on her own,’ Eddy pointed out.
‘It’s a good plan, I’ll admit that. It would let you off the hook, too,’ Jack laughed. ‘But I’m not at all sure it would work, even if Vera did agree to such an arrangement.’
‘She might when she hears that I am going to be living in Malta and that, in future, I won’t be able to do anything to help her.’
Jack drained his glass and stood up. ‘I think we’d better be getting back, don’t you? You still have to break that piece of news to her.’
‘I tell you what, Jack, will you have a look at the attic rooms before you turn them down?’
‘No, I’m not interested.’ Jack stuffed his hands in his pocket and hunched his shoulders. He wished Eddy would shut up about the attic rooms. He would like nothing more than to move in, to be closer to Vera, but what was the point of tormenting himself like that when she probably didn’t give him a second thought?
She was nice and friendly, a good boss. They worked well together and she didn’t interfere with the way he did things, but that didn’t mean she cared for him in the same way as he cared for her.
‘Those rooms could be made really comfortable, I promise you,’ Eddy told him as they approached the shop. ‘I meant it when I said you’d never need to have anything to do with Vera after work if you don’t want to, not unless she needs your
help with Dad. Will you just let me show them to you?’
‘Only if it will stop you going on about them!’
‘Great!’ Eddy slapped Jack on the shoulder. ‘Let’s do it now before I tell Vera about my plans for the future,’ he insisted. ‘Since Vera is minding the shop we’ll go in the back way so that she doesn’t know what we’re up to.’
The two rooms were much bigger and more airy than Jack had expected. At present there was an assortment of old empty boxes lying around and there were cobwebs everywhere.
‘Clear all the junk and muck out, give the place a coat of paint, wash the windows and it will be a little palace,’ Eddy told him.
‘Certainly looks more promising than I had expected,’ Jack agreed grudgingly.
‘So we’re on? You’ll move in if Vera likes the sound of the idea?’
‘I’ll think about it, but don’t twist her arm like you’re twisting mine. Give her plenty of time to think about all the implications and let her make up her own mind.’
‘You can ask her yourself if you want to,’ Eddy told him. ‘Once I’ve broken my news to her I bet she goes for the idea without any hesitation.’
Chapter Thirty-three
Before he left Liverpool to make his home in Malta, Eddy Quinn insisted on lending a hand to clear out the attic rooms. Between himself and Jack Winter they transformed the two neglected rooms above the shop.
Vera had agreed to their plan after Eddy had told her that his wedding to Rita was off, and that he was going to live in Malta. She even took an interest in how the rooms were to be decorated. She suggested that there should be white ceilings and white woodwork to make the place light and bright. She chose an attractive striped wallpaper for the larger of the two rooms and told them to use plain cream emulsion paint on the walls in the smaller one, which would be used as a bedroom.
‘I’m really enjoying this,’ Vera had told Jack when they left Eddy to mind the shop while they went off to Paddy’s Market to look for some second-hand furniture.
Jack’s mother gave him some curtains, and some sheets and blankets for his bed, as well as a great many other bits and pieces for his new home.
The result was cosy and comfortable. Vera was also impressed when Jack added a bookcase for the collection of books he brought with him from his lodgings.
‘All you need now is a couple of nice rugs to make it even more homely,’ Vera told him.
‘My mum offered me some, but I told her I didn’t need them.’
‘Well, you do, so you’d better see if she still has them,’ Vera said.
Michael Quinn completely ignored what was going on. He didn’t question what was happening as all three of them tramped up and down the stairs a hundred-and-one times with all the decorating equipment. Nor did he show any interest when they carried in the furniture. He didn’t even ask who was going to occupy the newly decorated and furnished rooms.
By the time the place was ready for occupation, Jack was eager to move in. Yet he waited for Vera’s invitation to do so, even though he knew he didn’t need it.
When Eddy had first proposed the idea, he had been unsure if he wanted to go along with it. The thought of being in such close proximity to Vera concerned him. He was afraid he would find it stressful to be living on the premises, knowing how he felt about her; not being able to tell her he loved her, desired her and wanted to marry her; not sure if she saw him as anything more than an old friend who, by sheer chance, was managing her father’s shop.
After several sleepless nights in his digs he convinced himself that he should move to Scotland Road. It would be no harder to conceal his true feelings than it was now, when they were working side by side in the shop, he assured himself.
As it was, he reasoned, once Eddy had left he would worry himself to distraction if he had to come back to New Brighton each night, knowing that he was leaving Vera there on her own.
At the last minute, however, he had second thoughts and determined that as soon as he arrived at the shop the next day he would tell Eddy that he couldn’t do it. He wouldn’t give him the true reason, that it was because of the way he felt about Vera. He’d find some excuse or the other. After all, he told himself, he was under no obligation to take on the responsibility for Michael Quinn so why should he let himself be conned into doing it simply so that Eddy could start a new life in Malta?
But when he arrived at the shop, Vera seemed so delighted that he was ready to move in that he changed his mind again immediately. Since she was in his thoughts night and day, how could he have ever, even for one minute, contemplated disappointing her, he asked himself.
He would never forget the look of happiness on her face as they talked over their living arrangements. He could see that she’d planned everything in great detail and he began to speculate that perhaps she did care about him more than he thought.
He wouldn’t build up his hopes, but he could dream. If there was even the slimmest chance that his friendship with Vera might develop into a full-blown relationship he’d do everything in his power to help it along.
Benny accepted the new arrangement without comment or showing any real interest. It was July and his examination results weren’t due for a while. He was hoping for high marks, but worrying in case he didn’t do as well as he anticipated.
Eddy and Vera had discussed between themselves what the next step ought to be for Benny. But when they tried to talk to him about his future he was evasive and uncomfortable. He insisted that he still had no idea what he wanted to do with his life.
‘Well, a lot depends on what your exam results are like, doesn’t it?’ Eddy challenged him.
‘To some extent it does,’ Benny admitted, avoiding Eddy’s penetrating stare. ‘The better my marks then the more openings there will be.’
‘What sort of openings?’ Eddy probed. ‘You keep saying that you haven’t a clue what you want to do! Surely you must have some idea about how you want to earn a living?’
‘Yes, I have, but I don’t think it’s possible, so there’s really no point in talking about it,’ Benny muttered.
‘What sort of stupid answer is that?’ Eddy said irritably.
‘If there’s something you really want to do, Benny, then why don’t you tell us what it is?’ Vera urged. ‘You never know, we may be able to help you.’
‘Look, Benny, I’m leaving Liverpool in a couple of days’ time,’ Eddy told him, ‘and I’d like to see your future settled. If you have something in mind that you want to do then, like Vee said, let’s hear it.’
Benny looked uncomfortable and fiddled with the pen he was holding.
‘Come on, spit it out,’ Eddy said impatiently.
‘Well, if you really want to know I’d like to stay on and take my Higher School Certificate. Then, if I get good marks, I’d like to go to university.’
‘Bloody hell!’ Eddy ran his hand over the top of his head. ‘You don’t want much, do you, kiddo?’
‘Well, you did ask,’ Benny defended, his face turning beetroot red.
‘I know I did, but this wasn’t the sort of answer I was expecting to get. Whew! Have you thought it through, whacker?’
‘Of course I have! I’ve thought of nothing else for months.’
‘Did you know about this?’ Eddy asked looking at Vera.
She shook her head. ‘This is the first I’ve heard about it. Benny has been studying very hard, though,’ she added as an afterthought.
‘Studying is one thing, keeping him in food and clothes and putting a roof over his head until he gets through that lot is another.’
‘He has a home, here.’
‘Yes, but there’s more involved than just having somewhere to live. He’ll need food, clothes, money in his pocket and heaven knows what else. I could go on forever. If he stays at school and gets his Higher School Certificate and goes to university, well, all that’s going to take another five years at least. Bloody hell! It doesn’t bear thinking about! No,’ Eddy shook his head. ‘It’s
out of the question.’
‘Does it have to be?’ Vera argued, ‘We agreed he already has a roof over his head, and as long as the shop is providing us with a living there’s enough money to put food on the table. He can take that for granted.’
‘What about clothes? The trousers and jacket he’s got on at the moment are at half-mast! The collar on his shirt is fraying and it’s so damn tight that it’s almost choking him.’
‘It’s the end of term,’ Vera pointed out, ‘I thought he would be leaving school in a couple of weeks so I’ve put off buying him new clothes until I know what he intends to do next. There was no point in buying him a smart suit if he was going to be a labourer down on the docks, now was there?’ she stated tartly.
‘Docker, him?’ Eddy gave a short sharp laugh. ‘He’s got brains for something better than that, even if he can’t stay on at school.’
‘Then I’ll kit him out with whatever he needs. I’ve already told you, Eddy, we’re not on the breadline. We can manage comfortably as long as we’ve got the money coming in from the shop, remember.’
‘And is it?’
‘Of course it is. Jack is a first-class repairer: we’re doing more business now than we’ve ever done.’
‘You are at the moment, but what happens if Jack packs the job in, or asks for a rise, or is off ill?’
‘You’ve made pretty sure that Jack won’t leave. That was why you helped him decorate those two attic rooms, wasn’t it?’ Vera smiled.
‘No, I did that so that I knew there was someone here on call should you ever need help with the old man. It was to put my own mind at rest, knowing that I was going to be living so far away from you in future.’
Vera looked at him in bewilderment. ‘Shall we leave this discussion for the moment, give ourselves time to think over all the implications?’
‘Yes, if that’s what you want to do,’ Eddy agreed.
‘So that’s it, is it?’ Benny asked, his voice raw with disappointment.
‘No, not at all. We do need to think about it, though,’ Vera told him in a mild, firm voice.
Later, when they were on their own, Eddy said, ‘Why not see if we can persuade Benny to give up this hair-brained scheme …’