Dreams Can Come True

by Vivienne Dockerty

  “Hannah, my dear, you are looking just splendid. Congratulations, Eddie, on your choice of such a beautiful bride.”

  “This is my Uncle Johnny, Hannah. You’ve not met him yet. Thank you for coming, Uncle Johnny. You’ll be staying on at me parents, will yer, for the next few days?”

  “Certainly will, Eddie. Now, I’ll leave you two to mingle, mustn’t hog yer to meself.”

  Johnny walked away, intending to help himself to some refreshment, but was waylaid by Jack who had been standing nearby talking to the priest.

  “So, you’re the famous Johnny Dockerty. You won’t remember me from Killala, but I lived in a cottage near to Maggie. I heard you’d made a play for her while I was away.”

  “Get right to the point, why don’t yer? No introducing yerself formally as any gentleman would do.”

  “You might have heard I’m no gentleman. By me face you’ll see I was a fighting man. And I’d like to warn yer, don’t start sniffing round her again. Me fighting days may be over, but I can take someone like you on any day.”

  “By the smell on yer breath I’d say you’ve been drinking, Sir, and I suggest you moderate it from now on. But why you think I’d be interested in a married woman, I couldn’t say. I was under the misapprehension that your lady wife was a widow until you made your timely appearance. Now, do me a favour and leave me to sample the delicious-looking spread that your servants have put on for us. I am sure that Maggie would welcome your support on your daughter’s happy day.”

  Jack looked as if he was going to say more to Johnny, but just then Ted announced that the newly-married couple were going to cut the wedding cake and everyone should charge their glasses to toast the bride and groom. There was a great confusion of noise as everyone hurried to fill or refill their glasses, even the children ran to help themselves to some delicious looking lemonade.

  Outside, Jack looked up into the gloomy clouds that were threatening to discharge their load in the next few minutes. He’d been mad to even consider attending his daughter’s wedding. He’d lain in the guest room tossing and turning all night again, because Maggie had decided to put him out. She had wanted to look her best for the wedding and didn’t want him keeping her awake.

  Yes, he had been drinking, the swine had been right, but he had needed some fortification to walk his daughter down the aisle. He walked slowly down the path and onto Burton Road. They could all get on with it without him. He was going to go back home.

  “Have yer seen me husband, Father O’ Brien?” asked Maggie, when she noticed later that Jack had disappeared.

  “I was talking earlier to him, Maggie, but I haven’t seen him lately. I have to confess I was quite surprised to smell alcohol on his breath.”

  “Oh, he was extremely nervous about walking Hannah down the aisle, Father. He probably had a nip of Cook’s kitchen brandy before he came out. He’s not a drinking man as yer know, especially since he was ill in Ireland. I told yer about it a few weeks ago.”

  “Ah yes, may the good Lord watch over him. Tell me Maggie, are the married couple having a few days away?”

  “No, they’ll be taking up residence in their new cottage as soon as the guests start leaving. I’m sure you’ve heard I’ve had Lilac Cottage done up for them? You know, on what used to be on Farmer Briggs’ land?”

  “Yes, I heard that you had bought up most of his farmland and will soon be having new houses built upon it. I must say we are very fortunate in having you as one of our benefactors.”

  “Thank you, Father, I’m very pleased that I am.”

  “Hannah, Eddie, I have a little surprise for you,” Maggie said, as the couple began to open their presents, displayed on a table just inside the church hall door. They had just unwrapped a canteen of silver cutlery and to Hannah’s surprise the card said it was from Grandmama and Mr. Arlington. She was amazed to receive such a handsome gift and she smiled over delightedly to where the older couple stood.

  “I’ve made an appointment at that Photographic studio in Eastgate Row, you know, just a few yards up from Becketts. You can get all dressed up again in your finery on Monday and I’ll lend yer the carriage and Fergal. You can park outside the door, have your photographs done and then come back to Neston again.”

  “Quite the Lady Bountiful aren’t you?” sneered Madeline, who had already been watching the bridal pair opening their wedding gifts, so she could see what they had got and who had given them.

  “Oh, hello, Madeline. I was going to come over and have a few words. Perhaps we can renew our friendship now we are related by marriage. Perhaps you could come up to Selwyn Lodge one day fer afternoon tea?”

  “I don’t think so, Maggie. You seem to have forgotten what happened all those years ago when your dear Miss Rosemary give me the push. Ruined my plans, if you remember. I was going to be the best there was in the fashion design business. I could have gone to London perhaps one day.”

  Maggie ignored the woman’s slighting words and plunged on, trying to brush off Madeline as she did so.

  “Well, if yer outfit is anything to go by you haven’t lost your touch. Anyway, let Hannah and Eddie carry on unwrapping their presents. They seem to be doing very well. Oh, what delightful salt and pepper pots.”

  But Madeline had put away too many glasses of sherry and she wasn’t about to let Maggie off lightly. She grabbed hold of Maggie’s arm to steady herself, then glared menacingly at her.

  “Don’t talk down to me, you uppity bitch. I have to make my own clothes, not like you. Got an account at Browns, no doubt. You may be rolling in it, but look at the pitiful spread you’ve put on for our Eddie. Aye, if she had been marrying anyone else, the do would be at the Grosvenor Hotel.”

  “Now then, Maddie,” said Ted when a hush descended on the room, as people stopped talking to listen to her words.

  “This is a happy occasion, we put away our grievances on such a special day.”

  Ted could have kicked himself for letting her drink all that sherry. His wife didn’t usually drink alcohol, even though they lived over a pub’. He had come over quickly when he saw that she was having a go at Maggie, dragging one of the children with him, who he had caught picking the decorations off the top of the wedding cake.

  “Well, you might want to keep your gob shut, but I’ve waited nearly twenty years to have my say to this hoity toity madam…”

  “Then do it outside will yer Mother,” Eddie butted in. “You’re not going to spoil it for everybody. Mrs. Haines has gone to a lot of trouble laying all this on and we’re grateful for it, aren’t we Hannah?”

  “Ah, that didn’t take you very long, did it son? Gone over to the nobs, have you? Well, everyone listen to what I’ve got to say. The party continues down at the tavern, if you’d like to follow me. Free drinks all round and it won’t be bloody sherry!”

  With that, Madeline made unsteadily for the door. Algernon, her next to eldest, was on hand to help her through.

  So many people stood there openmouthed that Johnny wanted to laugh. That had put the cat amongst the pigeons, hadn’t it? He looked around at the different faces as the guests wondered what to do. He for one had had enough of eating dainty tit bits off porcelain plates and drinking from a glass that only held one mouthful. There were plenty of guests on Eddie’s side that couldn’t agree with him more.

  Eddie’s work mates were the first to go, all dressed up in their Sunday best with collars that were too tight for them. They uttered apologetic mumbles as the passed the alarmed couple, some asking Eddie if he wanted to follow too.

  Within ten ghastly minutes the hall was almost empty; just the priest and the Haines’s guests stood in embarrassed silence wondering what to do next. Eddie comforted Hannah, as she had begun to cry. Alice was the first to have her say from where she stood with her husband and Sean and Matilda.

  “Well, Maggie. If this is a sign of things to come, I’ll be glad to turn down any future invitations. What did you expect from people like the Dockertys? You s
urely didn’t think they would behave with decorum. People like that just don’t know how to behave. And you, Hannah, have brought all this on yourself for marrying one of them. When I think of the expense your father has gone to on your upbringing! Where is he by the way? Still, what do you expect when…”

  Mr. Arlington suddenly gripped hold of Alice’s arm quite forcefully, so much so that she yelped and seemed to be about to shrug herself loose from him.

  “Maggie, Hannah, please accept our apologies, but I think it’s time for us to go. Sean and Matilda haven’t visited since our wedding, so it would be nice for them to spend some time in our home. Thank you, Maggie, on behalf of all of us.”

  Then Mr. Arlington shook hands with Eddie, kissed Hannah on the cheek, nodded to the priest, then lead his unrepentant wife away. Sean and Matilda followed after also giving their embarrassed apologies.

  “Well, Maggie. In all my years as a priest, people never cease to amaze me. Still, the deed is done. Eddie, Hannah, it’s up to you to prove that the choice of marrying each other was the right one. Now, I’ll be away to get ready for the next ceremony at three o’ clock. No hurry to leave here by the way. Their celebrations will continue back at their parents’ house.”

  “So, that leaves the six of us,” said Maggie, who had been desperately thinking what she could do to cheer up the rest of them, especially Hannah who looked as if she had been left in the lurch.

  “Fergal, would you be willing to drive the carriage to Chester?”

  Fergal nodded that he was willing, provided his little wife Ivy could go along with him.

  “Of course she can, Fergal. If you don’t mind riding up top with him, Ivy. Olive, Joan, you can go home and clear up here in the morning. Emily, I’m sure you’ll be happy to come along with us. Hannah, Eddie, we’re off for supper at the Grosvenor Hotel!”

  Chapter 11

  “So where do we go from here, Sis?” asked Ernie, as they sat upon two rickety chairs in Thistledown Cottage.

  “Oh, I can’t think about the future yet, Ernie. Give us a break. We’ve just buried Mam and I would like to sit and do nothing. Anyway, Annie will be over soon when she’s got the kids settled. We’ll see what she’s got to say.”

  The pair of them sat quietly, each with their own thoughts about their dead mother, Ruthie. They had known that her end was near when the doctor, upon examining her, expressed disbelief that he hadn’t been called in earlier. Something to do with fluid that was slowly invading her body, starting with her legs. The doctor had shaken his head and, taking Katie aside, had told her that Ruthie’s death was only a matter of time. Katie had done her best to make her mother comfortable, calling on her sister Annie to help with her nursing. Even Ernie had learnt how to change Ruthie’s bandages, as the sores on her legs kept pussing and her open wounds wouldn’t heal. It had been a desperate time for all of them, especially Ruthie who wasn’t a good patient and screamed abuse each time one of them came near her, then cried pitifully when the pain became too much to bear. Katie had broken rule after rule at the hospital where she was staff nurse, harassing the doctors there for advice on how to help her mam, taking time off to be with her, filching bandages and ointment, bringing her woes into work with her. Matron was beginning to wonder if Staff Nurse Tibbs, her shining example to the rest of the team, had been spirited away by some devil and she had been left with a changeling instead!

  Ernie’s thoughts were on how he was going to miss his mother. Compared to a lot of mothers, Ruthie hadn’t been a good one, if he thought of how his childhood friends had been treated by theirs. There didn’t seem to be enough food on the table for all of them – that’s when they had a table to eat off. It was the same with their clothing; they didn’t have a complete set of anything. Clothes were handed down or bought second-hand from the market, birthdays and Christmas sometimes didn’t happen in their family. He remembered the clouts, the fearful shouting, the horrible noises coming from his parents’ palliasse, but Ernie also remembered the times when Ruthie had stood up for him and how gentle she had been with Lenny, his poor brother who hadn’t been right in the head. Ernie had watched her when she had found Lenny dead in his bed one morning, some years ago. He had thought she would be relieved to have her burden taken away from her after all those years, but Ruthie had mourned; mourned terribly, walking around the cottage for weeks on end, without anything to say. She had stood up to his father when Solly, deprived sometimes of his alcohol, would make life hell for his children. But she never found out why Ernie often went missing; some things her son would never tell.

  “Yer know why Lilac Cottage has been done up?” came Annie’s voice from the front door way. “I’ve just passed it on me way here and they’ve added on to it.” She walked in to join her siblings who had awakened from their revelry.

  “Let’s have yer chair, Ernie. I’m fair knackered with all the walking about I’ve done today. And this one’s kicking me something rotten. Thank God I’ve only a week to go.”

  Annie sat down with a thump onto the chair that her brother had vacated and asked Katie if she’d make her a cup of tea.

  Over the years since she had married Sam Piper, Annie hadn’t changed much. She still had the brown straggly hair, the thin pointed face and an air of helplessness that made people want to protect her. After each child that she had given birth to, her figure always reverted back to being thin and bony. Although she was nearly due with her next one, under her smock it hardly showed.

  “So why has Lilac Cottage been done up?” asked Katie as she waited for the kettle to boil on a struggling fire.

  “It was so Hannah Haines didn’t have to live in a hovel when she married Eddie Dockerty.”

  “I’d heard that her mother had bought all this land from the farmer, so she got these cottages too,” said Ernie worriedly. “Well, that’s it then Katie, we’ll be looking fer a new place to live.”

  “Why so?” asked Annie. “You’ve still got a job with Briggs, haven’t yer? This is a tied cottage, so you’ve still got a place to live.”

  “I was just about to talk to Katie about it before, but she said it was too soon after the funeral. It has to be faced up to Katie, now or tomorrow and with Annie here, she can be in on it as well.”

  “What is there to talk about, Ernie? As Annie’s just said, it’s the job and the cottage. Mam going doesn’t alter a thing.”

  “I was waiting until after Mam’s funeral to tell yer. Briggs says I have to pay rent now to the Sheldon Property Company. We can still live here if we pay rent.”

  “Rent!” said Katie derisively. “Rent for this place? Pigs wouldn’t want to live here, never mind paying rent.”

  “Perhaps she’ll do it up fer you like she has Lilac Cottage,” broke in Annie eagerly. “And there’s Ashlea going begging too, ‘cos no one’s lived at Ashlea fer years. Me and Sam could do with a place of our own, now the kids are bigger. I think I’ll go to the office tomorrow and ask what’s happening. She’s all right, is Maggie. We go back a long way.”

  “But, Annie, even if she did this place up for us, we couldn’t afford the rent she’ll be asking for it. Let’s face it, we only managed to find the money for the funeral because we all chipped a bit in.”

  “My wage will be going up a bit according to old Briggs. Compensation he said for losing the cottage.”

  “Well, there you are then, Ernie, even the farmer thinks you’ll be looking for somewhere else to live,” retorted Katie, thinking with a sinking heart that she would probably have to live in the Nurses Home.

  “You must be getting quite a bit, Katie, now that you’ve been made up to a staff nurse,” commented Annie. “At least you don’t have to take in work like I have to do.”

  “Oh, come off it, Sis’. If I had your skill I would have opened up a shop years ago, not settled for a ruck of kids like you have. At least you’re sitting on your arse all day, not running around the wards like I have to do.”

  “Hark to her, Ernie. Her life’s work
devoting herself to the sick and needy. Let’s face it, it’s the thought of giving birth that makes yer dedicated. That and the fact that no man has ever looked at you.”

  “That’s enough!” roared Ernie, taking the girls by surprise and making them jump. “Isn’t it bad enough that we’ve just buried our mother without you both sniping and snarling? Pack it in or I’ll be giving you the length of my tongue.”

  Both his sisters had the grace to look ashamed of themselves and Annie, being the elder, apologised.

  “Sorry, Katie. I shouldn’t have said that. What say I go up to the village tomorrow and find out how the land lies?”

  “Customer, Mr. Arlington,” the young girl on the reception desk shouted up the stairs, when Annie presented herself next morning at the Sheldon Property Company. She came back to sit on her chair, rudely declining to offer Annie a seat on one of the couches. Annie decided to sit down anyway, even though she knew she would have difficulty getting up again. She looked around as she waited, thinking how much the place had changed since she was an alteration hand on these same premises. It had been a crying shame when Miss Rosemary, her employer, had decided to close down her dressmaking business. Annie had been happy here and had reason to be grateful, for it was here that she had honed her skills. She smoothed the skirt down on her very drab, rubbed-up winter coat, feeling very conscious suddenly that she was expecting another child. Why hadn’t she put on her Sunday best? The colour blue suited her and there was more material in it, so it would have hidden her condition to the world. Then she tutted with annoyance, it was only Mr. Arlington she had come to see. Anyone would think she was seeing God Himself!

  “Ah, Annie Tibbs,” said Mr. Arlington, as he spotted the young woman from the top of the stairs. “What can we do for you this fine day? Come to buy one of our new properties up on Claypool Road?”