Wedding Bells for Woolworths

by Elaine Everest

  ‘You are a good woman, Sadie Munro. I hope you too will have a wonderful wedding one day.’

  ‘Is that a proposal?’ she said, smiling up at him.

  A cloud passed over his face. ‘Hurry, or we will lose the others,’ he said.

  Sadie started to hasten her pace in order to keep up with his longer strides. ‘Please, I can’t keep up with you,’ she said, trying to catch his hand to slow him down. ‘What have I done to upset you? Please, Lemuel – I’ll get lost in the crowd . . .’

  Lemuel slowed his pace, then stopped and turned to face Sadie as the crowd of well-wishers continued to hurry. ‘You haven’t upset me, Sadie. You could never do that.’

  ‘Then what has happened for you to try and get away from me?’ she gasped, still trying to catch her breath. ‘I thought we were joking, and then . . .’

  ‘Then I realized that we could never marry.’

  ‘But why not? I thought you had feelings for me?’

  ‘I do. But it wouldn’t be fair to you to be married to someone like me,’ he said, standing so close that she could feel his heart beating as she laid a hand on his chest.

  ‘You mean someone who treats me like a lady, is kind and considerate and who makes me feel like the most cherished person in the whole wide world? Oh, Lem. I know you are thinking that we were born so many miles apart, and that people will look down on us for coming from different races; but I don’t care about any of that. Our friends accept us as a couple, and Arthur adores you. I’ve made some bad choices in the past, but I know that being with you is the best thing that has ever happened to me. And I don’t care about my Nan’s attitude. She can go to hell for all I care. You and Arthur are my family, and I don’t give a damn about anyone else.’

  Lemuel shook his head. ‘If that was the only problem, I’d say blow everyone else and be on my knee proposing to you in the proper manner.’

  ‘Then what is it, Lem?’ she asked. He put his hands on her shoulders to protect her as the jubilant crowds continued to jostle them. ‘I’d rather know. I hate secrets. Even if what you have to say to me forces a wedge between us, I’d rather know. A relationship based on secrets is not a healthy one.’

  ‘Go on, give her a kiss or I’ll do it for you,’ an elderly man said, slapping Lemuel on the back as he passed by.

  Lemuel gave him a polite smile before leaning towards Sadie so she could hear him above the sound of a group of people singing ‘The Lambeth Walk’ as they danced around the couple. ‘I have a wife and daughter back home.’

  ‘What?’ Sadie asked, not believing her ears. ‘Did you say . . .’

  ‘I said, I have a wife and daughter back home in Trinidad.’

  Sadie couldn’t believe her ears. This man who worked hard and strove for perfection in all he did. This man, who encouraged her to attend church on a Sunday. This man had a wife and child . . .? Sadie pulled away from Lemuel and hurried into the crowd. She knew her friends were now far up ahead of her, and she had to find them. She didn’t look back to see Lemuel, who was standing with stooped shoulders, watching her go.

  ‘There you are,’ Freda said as Sadie fell into step next to her. ‘Where’s Lemuel?’

  ‘He’s back there a way. I hurried to be with you all.’

  Freda gave her a sideways look as they approached Buckingham Palace and pushed and shoved until they could see the front of the building. ‘Are you all right? I know it’s been a long day, but you look as white as a sheet. Are you feeling sick or dizzy?’

  Sadie shook her head, ‘No, I’ll be fine. I probably need something to eat,’ she said as she put her trembling hands to her face, thinking of what Lemuel had just told her. ‘I’ll be fine in a minute. I just . . .’ Sadie slumped against Freda and slowly slid to the ground as darkness engulfed her.

  ‘Get back, get back,’ Maisie commanded as she took control of the situation. ‘Get back and give her some air.’

  Freda loosened the top button of Sadie’s coat and fanned her face with a My Weekly magazine she had folded in her pocket. Sarah folded the blanket she’d slung over her shoulder into a pillow to tuck under the girl’s head.

  ‘Here, let me shove some of this under her nose,’ Maisie instructed Freda as she pulled the top off a small bottle of smelling salts and waved it back and forth under the stricken girl’s nose.

  Sadie came round quickly, fighting hard to get away from the smell. ‘Let me go, let me go,’ she mumbled, waving her arms about.

  ‘Sadie, Sadie – calm down. We are here with you,’ Freda soothed her as she took the girl in her arms and rocked her slowly back and forth until she calmed down. ‘That’s better. Now, lie there for a little while until you are back with us properly.’

  Maisie and Sarah bent down next to Sadie as she took deep gulps of air. The crowds parted around them, still streaming towards Buckingham Palace.

  ‘I didn’t know you carried a first aid kit,’ Sarah said approvingly.

  ‘I don’t. I put the smelling salts in me bag in case you had a fit of crying. I know what you’re like at weddings, and the way you’ve been recently, it made sense to be prepared.’

  ‘Has it shown that much?’ Sarah asked.

  ‘It has,’ Maisie replied. ‘Now, how about you pass me my bag and we crack open a bottle of that gin? I reckon Sadie could do with a swig.’

  ‘No!’ Sadie said. ‘I can’t have any of that.’

  ‘It’s all right, yer nan’s not here to judge you,’ Maisie grinned, knowing how Vera Munro frowned on people who drank spirits, even if she was partial to a sherry or three herself. ‘Come on, a drop of mother’s ruin won’t hurt you.’

  ‘I think it will,’ Sarah said, as she watched Sadie shy away from the bottle as if it would poison her. ‘I have a feeling our Sadie is expecting . . .’

  Sadie looked at the three faces staring down at her in shock, and began to cry. ‘Please, you can’t say anything to . . .’ She looked to where Lemuel was bearing down on them, his face full of concern. ‘Don’t say anything . . . please. Not yet.’

  ‘Someone had best say something soon, or everyone will guess what’s going on,’ Maisie said, shaking her head.

  13

  ‘I hope those girls are having a good time up in London,’ Ruby said as she switched off the wireless. ‘The news report was very interesting, but it’s not the same as being there.’

  ‘You should have gone up with the girls. They’d have looked after you.’

  ‘What, and sleep on the pavement in November? No, the days of me travelling to London are well and truly over. I should coco! We had a good trip up there back when the old King died. Now, that was a solemn occasion. It took hours just to reach the building where he was resting. It was a beautiful coffin, and the candles at each corner were enormous. There’ll not be another state funeral in our lifetime,’ she said to herself as she reached for her knitting.

  ‘You never know, there could be another one. If there is, I’ll take you to London to pay your respects,’ Bob said generously.

  ‘It’s very good of you, Bob, but the King’s still young so it won’t be in our lifetime, more’s the pity. I do like a good funeral.’

  ‘What time are we expecting them all back?’ Bob asked, looking at the mahogany clock that ticked loudly on the mantelpiece.

  ‘Our Sarah said they’ll get back as soon as they’ve seen the bride and groom waving from the balcony of Buckingham Palace; but I would think all and sundry will be after catching a train home, so they may have to wait a while. And if they are late, it doesn’t matter. The nippers are all right sleeping here like they did last night. I’ll put them to bed at their usual time. Speaking of which, they are a bit too quiet in the front room.’

  ‘I’ll go and check up on them, love,’ Bob said easing himself out of his armchair. ‘Then I’m going to water the vegetables. I’ve been spoilt having Lemuel here doing it for me.’

  ‘He’s a nice lad,’ Ruby said with a smile on her face. ‘I’ll miss him when he goes.’


  Bob turned back at the door. ‘He hasn’t said he’s moving away, has he? I’ve got used to having him around. I’ve learnt things about his home country that I never learnt when I was at school.’

  ‘No, he’s got no plans, but I get the impression he’s soft on young Sadie and you never know, there might be wedding bells on the horizon.’

  ‘Blimey – that’ll upset Vera,’ Bob grinned, before going off to see to the great-grandchildren.

  ‘It certainly will,’ Ruby said to herself as she counted the stitches on the needle before starting to knit another row. The silver lining to Vera’s prejudice against Lemuel was that she never visited number thirteen these days; however, it meant she was liable to swoop at any time if she spotted Ruby going about her shopping in the town. ‘The silly woman should come to her senses and accept the lad,’ Ruby muttered angrily as she dropped a stitch.

  ‘Ruby, I think you ought to come and have a look at Georgina. The poor cock’s burning up.’

  Ruby threw down her knitting and hurried into the front room, where Sarah and Alan’s eldest child lay on the sofa. ‘Nanna,’ she said. ‘I want my mummy.’

  Ruby winced as she bent over the child and felt her forehead with the back of her hand. ‘There, there, lovey. Grumps is going to get a drink of water for you while I find a blanket to tuck you up. Mummy won’t be much longer. She went to London to see the Queen. Do you remember how we spoke about it earlier, and you drew a lovely picture?’

  The child screwed up her eyes as she tried to think but then gave up. ‘I want my mummy,’ she said as she started to grizzle.

  Ruby gave her a quick cuddle and hurried from the room to find Bob. ‘I don’t like the look of her at all. I think we should get the doctor. Can you use the telephone to speak to him while I sit with her?’

  ‘But the telephone’s in the same room – she may get upset if she hears me.’

  ‘Then speak quietly,’ Ruby hissed.

  Ruby propped her great-granddaughter on her lap and rocked her gently while talking to Arthur and Buster, who had been playing on Ruby’s best rag rug with a set of wooden building bricks Bob had made for when they came visiting. She could hear Bob repeating their address and then placing the black Bakelite receiver back down.

  ‘He will be along shortly. I’ll shut the dog out in the kitchen and put the front door on the latch in case we don’t hear him,’ he said, patting Ruby gently on the shoulder before leaving the room with a backward glance that showed how worried he was.

  ‘A nice man is going to come and take a look at you,’ Ruby explained as Georgina started to cry. ‘He will make you feel better very soon. Do you remember Doctor Gregson, when he made Buster better after he fell over and hurt his arm? Well, he’s going to make you better too,’ she said as she watched her great-granddaughter’s eyelids start to droop. ‘That’s it, love, you have a little snooze.’ She pulled the blanket up around Georgina’s shoulders and continued to rock her gently.

  ‘Coo-ee, it’s only me,’ a familiar voice called out as the front door rattled and then closed. ‘I thought I’d pop by, knowing your lodger’s not at home,’ Vera said as she poked her head round the door to the front room. ‘Whatever’s happening here?’ she asked, seeing Ruby’s expression. ‘Is the girl ill?’

  ‘Bob’s just called the doctor,’ Ruby said as Vera hurried over and felt Georgina’s face.

  ‘She’s burning up. I’ll get a damp flannel. We need to cool her down while we wait for the doctor. Did Bob tell him it’s urgent? The poor little cock doesn’t look too good at all. I’ll get that flannel and have Bob ring the doctor back . . .’

  ‘It came on so quickly . . .’ was all Ruby could say as Vera flew into action. Whatever she’d said about Vera Munro in the past, she took it all back. Ruby had never been so pleased as she was right now to see her cantankerous neighbour. She continued to soothe the child until Vera returned carrying an enamel pudding bowl and a clean flannel, followed by Bob, who went straight to the telephone and picked up the handpiece.

  Wringing out the cloth, Vera bathed Georgina’s face. ‘Can you slip her out of her blouse and flannel petticoat? She will feel so much better if we cool her down.’

  ‘You’re a natural, Vera,’ Ruby said as she unbuttoned the child’s clothing.

  ‘I did it for our Sadie when she was around this age,’ her friend replied. ‘I had no choice.’

  ‘I don’t remember much about Sadie when she was a kiddie. Was she still with her mum back then?’

  Vera nodded as she held the wrung-out cloth against the back of the child’s neck. ‘There, there, you’ll soon feel much better,’ she said gently. ‘It was before Sadie came to live with me and her mother sodded off for good. If I hadn’t gone to see the child that day, chances are we’d have lost her. Her mother was drunk out of her mind and carrying on with some sailor.’

  ‘I’ve never known you call her your daughter, Vera.’

  ‘I stopped calling her that many years ago, and even though she met her maker years since on, I’ll not mourn her. Sadie’s my family, and young Arthur here,’ she said, smiling at the young lad, who was still contentedly playing with his building bricks alongside Buster.

  Ruby knew it wasn’t the time or place to say anything, but she couldn’t resist asking. ‘Then why turn your back on your Sadie and Arthur just because of her friendship with Lemuel? I’ve got to know the man, and he’s a true gentleman. I’d have him join my family at the drop of a hat,’ she said, seeing a flash of anger cross Vera’s face.

  ‘After what Sadie’s mother put us through, with her running after anything in trousers, I had to make a decision to bring my granddaughter up in a respectable household. She did well at school and had a good office job in London until her little problem with her boss, but we managed to remain respectable to the outside world. But her walking out with a darkie is too much even for me. No one would call me a fussy woman, but even I couldn’t see a marriage with the likes of a man like that working out. People would point their fingers and talk about us behind our backs.’

  ‘So instead you have turned your back on your granddaughter and her son? You’ll miss out on seeing this charming little lad grow up, and you won’t be there to be a great-grandmother to any other children that may come along.’

  Vera shook her head until her hat almost fell off. ‘No, it’s not like that at all, Ruby. You shouldn’t twist my words.’

  ‘Well, think on, Vera, before it’s too late and you end up a lonely old woman, rather than a proud grandmother of a woman with a loving and hard-working husband who would do anything for his wife . . .’

  Vera sat fiddling with the flannel before dropping it into the bowl and getting to her feet. ‘I’ll just go and refresh this water,’ she said, hurrying out of the room.

  Bob turned from the telephone where he’d been speaking to the doctor’s wife. ‘He’s on his way. He’d been having his tea, but his wife explained it was important so he’s coming straight away.’

  ‘Well, he’d best get his skates on as this poor kiddie needs to be in hospital,’ Vera said as she returned, pushing past Bob. ‘If I’m not mistaken, this is scarlet fever. I suggest you let the child’s parents know as soon as possible. You never know how it might turn out.’

  For once, Bob didn’t pull a face at Ruby as he usually did when Vera started on with her scaremongering. This time, he looked at his wife with fear in his eyes.

  ‘Gosh, what a wonderful day. I’m so glad we decided to make the journey. You don’t see a Princess get married every day of the week,’ Sarah said as the four girls walked with arms linked towards Charing Cross station. ‘I’ll remember today for the rest of my life,’ she added with a yawn. ‘Thank goodness my Georgina is staying with Nan – otherwise she’d have me up all night with her questions. She really wanted to come with us, but sleeping on the pavements isn’t right for a seven-year-old.’

  ‘She’d not have seen much standing in amongst the crowds. That’s why I
told Claudette and Bessie they should stay ’ome. My younger ones didn’t really understand, which was handy,’ Maisie said as she stopped to take her cigarettes from her bag. ‘Oh, bugger. I ’aven’t got any matches left, and I left me lighter at ’ome in case I lost it.’

  ‘Hang on, I have some,’ Freda said as she stopped to take her handbag from her shoulder. She opened it to delve inside. ‘A Brown Owl is always prepared . . . Oh no!’

  ‘Hey, you bugger, come back with that right now,’ Maisie bellowed as a thin, weedy-looking man spotted an opportunity to grab Freda’s handbag and took off, dodging in between the weary walkers. Maisie and Freda set off in hot pursuit, with Maisie yelling at the top of her voice for people to stop the chap while Sarah stayed with Sadie, who was still feeling weak.

  ‘What’s going on? Where are the others?’ Tony asked as he caught up with Sarah.

  She quickly explained and, without a second thought, he ran after them as fast as his bad leg allowed, pushing and shoving past protesting walkers. Her caught up with Maisie first, who was sitting on the kerb rubbing her ankle.

  ‘I broke the heel on my shoe and twisted my ankle,’ she said angrily. ‘I ’ad the bloke by his collar when it ’appened. Don’t worry about me. You go and help Freda in case he hurts her. He’s a wily bugger. I did manage to get a punch in before I fell,’ she grinned.

  Tony only stopped for a moment. Lemuel, who had lingered earlier to take a look inside a bicycle shop, hadn’t been far behind him – by now he would have caught up with Sarah and Sadie. In a matter of minutes they’d find Maisie and be able to help her.

  Tony scanned the crowd ahead for Freda as he pushed and shoved his way through, shouting ‘excuse me’ and ‘sorry’ as he went. After no more than a hundred feet he pulled up suddenly as a crowd stood around what looked like a fight. Hearing Freda screaming like a banshee, he leant in to grab her arm. Just at that moment, a policeman did the same.

  ‘Don’t let him go,’ she gasped out loud. ‘That’s the man who pinched my handbag.’