‘I’m not used to kids, that’s all,’ he sulkily remarked.
‘Pick her up then. Go on, give her a cuddle. See, she’s waving her arms at you. Pick her up.’
Kenny reluctantly complied, holding the baby at arms length, her little feet dangling. Dena paused in her labours to laugh out loud. ‘Hold her close, not like a bag of flour. Go on, be brave. She doesn’t bite.’
Very tentatively Kenny sat the baby on his arm where she gurgled and chattered happily on her nonsense words, bouncing up and down with delight at this new experience.
Satisfied and pleased that she’d at last brought father and daughter together, Dena jumped to her feet and impulsively kissed him on the cheek. ‘There, that wasn’t so difficult, was it?’
Kenny looked at the infant in his arms and all the jealousy he felt for her boiled up inside. This child had suckled at Dena’s breast, had demanded her attention around the clock, week after week, month after month, leaving her no time to even think about his needs. Even before she was born, Dena had put the dratted child first, before even their love for each other. That was the real reason she’d refused to get rid of it, the reason she wouldn’t marry him, because she loved this stupid child more than she loved him.
Dena turned away, back to the sewing machine to stitch in the second sleeve, and that infuriated him too. She was even more interested in the blasted sewing than him.
She didn’t see what happened next, didn’t see Kenny lift one small chubby foot and pinch the baby’s little toe very hard. The result was every bit as satisfactory as the first time. The baby started and let out a yelp, her great blue eyes wide with shock before opening her mouth and starting to wail very loudly, huge tears welling up and rolling down her rosy cheeks.
‘Didn’t I tell you,’ Kenny said, ‘almost dropping her back into the play pen. ‘I’m no good with kids.’
Kenny never seemed to be away from her door. Night after night, just when she was at her busiest having put Trudy to bed, she would hear his rat-a-tat-tat and inwardly groan. Dena was beginning to dread the sound of it. Once she pretended she wasn’t in but he just knocked louder and when still she didn’t answer, hammered on the door and shouted.
‘I know you’re in there, Dena, because you can’t go out. Not with a baby. So open up.’
She felt trapped in her own bedsit.
And when she weakened and did allow him to come him, he would start on again about being left standing at the alter, begging her to forgive him. ‘I shouldn’t have taken you to see that pro . . . that Maureen. I didn’t think. I just wanted you to have the choice.’
‘Forget it Kenny, will you please? It’s all done with now, all in the past.’
‘Not for me it isn’t. Folk still talk about me behind their hands, even my so-called mates. They laugh and feel sorry for me. I can see it going on all the time.’
Dena gave a wry smile. ‘You have my sympathies, really you do, but don’t you think they talk about me too?’
‘Well, they’d stop all of this nasty gossip if you’d only agree to wed me. You know that you love me really, so stop trying to prove something and admit it.’
Dena wasn’t even sure any more that Kenny truly loved her. More likely he was in love with the idea of love, enjoyed having a girl on his arm to make him feel big and important. He certainly wasn’t interested in a family. ‘I can’t even think about such things right now. I’m far too busy building a new future for Trudy.’
Trudy, Trudy, Trudy, that’s all he every heard from her lips these days. He even hated the name. Kenny sat on the edge of the bed in a sulk while Dena pulled a pair of pyjamas onto the child.
‘Do you want to hold her for a minute while I warm her milk?
Kenny vigorously shook his head. He really didn’t care for babies. Dena laughed and sat her on the floor while Kenny continued to glare.
He said nothing more until Dena had fed her with warm milk out of a beaker, then put her down in her cot. As always it made him go all tense to watch her cuddling the child so lovingly when she wouldn’t even let him kiss her.
At last, sighing with relief that the baby had been cleared away out of sight, he felt able to relax. But if he’d hoped she would then give him her undivided attention he was soon disappointed. Instead, she reached for a length of fabric and began to unroll it.
Seeing his expression she gave a small shrug of apology. ‘Sorry, but I’m run off my feet.’
He’d never expected her to be this stubborn. What was wrong with the silly cow? Couldn’t she see that he was panting for her, that she was the girl he needed, the only one who really turned him on. He could see the alluring outline of her breast as she held up the length of fabric examining it for flaws and couldn’t resist making a grab for her, drawing her into his arms and trying to kiss her but instead of succumbing, she pushed him roughly away.
‘Don’t Kenny! Stop it.’
His face flushed crimson. ‘Why? What’s wrong? If you’ve forgiven me, why can’t we get back together? Don’t you fancy me no more? You’re still my girl as far as I’m concerned.’
He made to reach for her again but she slapped at his hand, inflaming him all the more. ‘Stop that! It would never work between us. It was all a big mistake.’
‘A big mistake? Why was it a mistake? Why wouldn’t it work between us?’ He was almost shouting now but she’d walked away from him and was holding open the door.
‘It just wouldn’t, that’s all. Look, I don’t want to talk about it any more. It’s all over, right? I think it’s time you left.’ And he had no alternative but to go. Oh, but he wasn’t done with her yet, not by a long chalk. The more she resisted, the more appealing she became.
Chapter Thirty-One
Kenny made the decision that what he was in need of was a little assistance from someone who knew Dena better than he did. He was well aware that Dena missed her mother, that she felt abandoned by her. Perhaps if he could reconcile the pair of them, she’d see him in a much better light. It was worth a try.
Alice wasn’t difficult to find. A few enquiries around the market soon resulted in her brother’s address. Gossip had been rife at the time of the family reconciliation, and later when they’d refused to include Dena in the arrangement.
Kenny got off the train at Chorlton Station and walked down wide, tree-lined streets passed by the occasional motor car, a lady on a bicycle and a single decker bus heading back to the city. Clearly there was money round these parts, but it was a bit too quiet for Kenny’s taste.
In his eyes this was where the posh folk lived, out in the suburbs far away from the city centre, away from the blitzed sites left by the war, and the old mills of the industrial revolution. Here there were still trees and meadows, olde worlde pubs like The Horse and Jockey where he stopped off for a pint to fortify his courage, and any number of big fancy houses.
He was deeply impressed when he found Alice’s family home, a large semi-detached just off Lindow Road, in what he supposed they called the garden suburbs. Determined not to be intimidated, he marched up the gravel path and rattled the knocker very loud.
It was some long moments before the door was opened by a young girl, evidently the maid as she was wearing an old fashioned pinafore and a cap pulled down low over her forehead. As soon as she saw him standing on the garden path, she flicked out her blonde curls and gave a cheeky grin. ‘If you was wanting to speak to Mr Hindle, he isn’t in.’
‘It was hactually his sister what hi wanted to speak to, if you would be so kind has to tell her that Mr Kenneth Garside would like a word,’ said Kenny in his poshest voice, giving a big wink that made her giggle.
‘Wait there a sec.’ The maid shut the door in his face as she scuttled back into the house to deliver his message and again Kenny waited for what felt like hours but was probably no more than five minutes. He tried peering in through the stained yellow and red glass set in the top of the oak panelled door but could see nothing beyond a hall and hat stand, and a s
taircase with a polished banister.
At last the door creaked open again and this time it was Alice herself who stood there.
She looked different. She’d lost weight, he noticed, remembering her as a solid, stout woman, rather tall and formidable. But she was still nicely rounded, comfortably plump you might say, which Kenny quite liked, and with shapely legs and trim ankles. She was also considerably better dressed than usual in a floral silk dress with a lace collar open at the throat. She wasn’t wearing her spectacles and gazed short-sightedly at him through slitted lids, arms folded in that condemning way she had.
‘What do you want? You’ve no right to come round here uninvited.’
‘Hello Mrs Dobson, I’m pleased to see you looking so well.’
She drew in an impatient breath which made her wide nose flare at the nostrils. She really was a very ugly woman with large cheek bones and a dried out grey frizz atop her round head. Where Dena had got her beauty from he couldn’t imagine. It certainly wasn’t from her mother.
‘Well get on with it,’ she ordered. ‘State your business, and don’t mess me about. I haven’t got all day.’
Kenny cleared his throat. He’d given this moment a great deal of thought, not expecting to be welcomed with open arms, and had decided that the best way to gain her attention was through shock. And by taking advantage of Alice’s great weakness: her high moral rectitude. If that meant stretching the truth a touch, what of it? Hadn’t he read somewhere that the ends always justified the means?
‘I wonder if you are aware that your daughter has set herself up as a prossy, living alone in a bedsit and entertaining men like Barry Holmes so’s she can feed her illegitimate baby. My child! I’ve offered to make an honest woman of her but she’s turned obstinate and refuses, so I thought happen you might be able to help me persuade her to see sense. For the sake of her good name like. And yours too, of course.’
The glare she gave him in response to this tale almost froze him to the spot but moments later Kenny found himself seated in the front parlour, the maid bringing him tea on a tray.
Kenny wasn’t really one for tea cups, or polite chit-chat, but he did his best and really they got on surprisingly well. Alice sat silently sipping her tea while he poured out his heart to her. He kept on repeating how much he loved Dena, how devastated he’d been when she’d left him standing at the altar.
‘And to this day I don’t know why she did it.’ Kenny judged it wise to make no mention of Maureen or the offer to rid Dena of her “problem”.
‘Always was stubborn,’ Alice muttered.
He forced a tear to his eye. ‘So what do I do now? I’m potty about her. She’s the love of my life and I must have her. I must. I thought you might be able to help.’
Alice sniffed, looking him over with a condescending glance that hadn’t warmed by even the smallest degree. ‘You wouldn’t be my first choice for a son-in-law, Kenny Garside, so why should I help? What have you got to offer my daughter? Have you got a good job, or a home to offer her?’
‘You have, why don’t you have her here?’ he cheekily responded, glancing about the well furnished room.
‘I beg your pardon?’ Now he’d offended her, which wasn’t a good idea in the circumstances.
Kenny instantly and humbly apologised. ‘Sorry, I’m that upset I let me tongue run away with me. And I can see that naturally you’d be worried about her even more than me, good mother like you, for all you’ve had your differences in the past. It must upset you badly seeing how low she’s sunk.’
On a sudden impulse he reached forward and stroked the pale cheek. It felt like dried leaves beneath his hand but her brown eyes flared at his touch, as if no one had ever done such a thing before. That’s interesting, Kenny thought.
‘Will you help me, Alice?’ he asked again, in his softest, most persuasive tones.
‘What could I do? She never did listen to me.’
Kenny decided to take a chance. Alice Dobson wasn’t an easy woman to get round, but he’d always been able to rise to a challenge! And didn’t he have a particular fondness for older women? He took her hand and gently pressed the soft flesh.
‘She misses you. You’re her mam, and every girl needs a mother around when she’s got a youngster. I’m sure you can appreciate that? I know Dena can be difficult, that rebellious at times she’d cut her own nose off to spite her face, as they say. I realise you had a bad falling out, but then you were both cut up over your loss, so was it any wonder?’
He paused for maximum sentimental effect. Alice said nothing, simply drew her hand slowly from his grasp.
‘I thought if I were to help the pair of you to mend bridges like, she might forgive me too for whatever crime I’m supposed to have committed. Dena will never be able to hold her head up on Champion Street Market till she’s respectable again. You neither, I don’t suppose.’
Alice grunted, which he took for assent.
‘We could help each other, you and me. We could be mates.’
It was several moments before she answered but he could see the thoughts churning round in her head; and those small brown eyes, surprisingly vulnerable without her specs, told all. The woman was lonely, and as sex-starved as a rabbit who couldn’t find a buck, though happen she didn’t quite know it yet. Now there was a challenge!
It all worked like a dream. For once he seemed to have got something right. Alice met him at the corner of the market the very next day and they went together to Dena’s bedsit.
‘She’ll not let me in,’ Alice said.
But she was wrong. Dena was astonished to find them both standing at her door but pushed it open at once to allow them both inside. At least, Alice went in. Kenny had the good sense to stay out on the landing. Best to give the two women time to kiss and make up, or whatever mothers and daughters did. His chance would come later.
He just hoped they didn’t end up tearing each other’s hair out, and only began to relax when ten, then twenty minutes ticked by and the door remained closed. At last, after about half an hour, it opened again and Alice came out.
She gave him a quick glance, clearly warning him not to ask any questions at this juncture and Kenny simply smiled at Dena, stood back and patiently waited.
‘Would you like to come in for a minute, Kenny?’
‘What, me? Oh, right.’ He couldn’t believe his luck.
‘I’ll hang on here for you,’ Alice said. ‘You said you’d see me home.’
Kenny frowned, wishing the old bat would disappear in a cloud of smoke, his nerves were jumping that much with excitement. But he must be patient. He mustn’t go too fast and scare Dena off. ‘Right you are,’ he managed, and slipped quickly through the door before Dena could change her mind.
Once inside, he didn’t quite know where to put himself, and stood awkwardly shuffling his feet, putting his hands in his pockets, then pulling them out again.
‘You can sit down a minute, if you like.’ Dena lifted a pile of folded nappies off the only chair in the room.
‘It’s all right, you sit. I can stand.’
‘No, there’s something I want to say, and I’d rather say it standing up, if you don’t mind.’
Kenny sat.
She took a deep breath, tried a tremulous smile. ‘I want to thank you for fetching Mam here. I don’t know how you managed it, Kenny, but I can’t tell you how happy it’s made me. She’s even promised to come again. In fact, I think she might pop in regularly now.’
‘You’ve made up your differences then?’ Kenny said, beaming with pride at his own cleverness.
Dena frowned. ‘Sort of. She’s not the hugging, kissing, demonstrative sort, my mam, but the fact that she came at all speaks volumes. I really do want to thank you!’
‘Don’t mention it. All part of the service.’ Kenny grinned, and when it seemed she wasn’t going to say anything else, he stood up, wiped his sweating palms down the backs of his drainpipe trousers and dusted down his velvet lapels. ‘Maybe you’
ll let me call a bit more often an’ all. Happen even come out with me one night, eh? We used to be good together, and you know in your heart that you’ve missed me.’
Dena felt a strong urge to laugh. ‘You’re as full of yourself as ever I see, Kenny Garside.’
He gave a wry smile. ‘Tell me you’ve never thought wistfully about our little get-together under the old oak.’
‘The less said about that the better. Look where it landed me.’ She walked to the door but hesitated before opening it this time, he was pleased to note, her hand curled about the brass handle.
He took a step closer. ‘I still fancy you like rotten, Dena Dobson, and even though I could have me pick of women, you’re the only one for me. You’re still my girl.’
Dena was openly laughing now. What else could she do? He was such a show-off, so full of his own importance. ‘You’re outrageous, Kenny Garside, do you know that?’
‘I can be anything you want me to be,’ he told her with a grin. ‘I can even be good if you like, reasonably so anyway. Honest!’
‘And modest, and unselfish? And stop showing off and bossing me about all the time?’
‘All of that, I swear it, but never boring. You were never bored in my arms, Dena. I wouldn’t mind taking you dancing some time, just so’s I can hold you close again. Or the flicks, if you prefer. I don’t give up easy. All you have to do is agree to a date then I can show you how sorry I am for offending you that time.’
Dena could feel herself warming towards him. It had been so sweet of him to find her mother, and how he’d managed to persuade her to visit Dena would never understand, but she was thrilled, and so very grateful.
‘I’ll think about it,’ she said, rewarding him with a small smile. ‘Who knows? Maybe I’ll say yes one day, just as soon as you can prove to me that you mean what you say.’
‘And how do I do that if you won’t come out with me?’
‘You could start by finding work.’ She slanted a sideways smile up at him, and Kenny attempted to respond in kind.
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