Friends and Lovers

by June Francis

  ‘Dom didn’t make a pass at you the other week, did he?’

  Viv could barely believe her ears. ‘Don’t you trust him?’

  Hilda laughed derisively. ‘Do me a favour, Viv! He’s cheating on his wife!’

  ‘But he’s been doing that since the first day! Could it be that you’re starting to see sense, Mam?’

  ‘I don’t know about that,’ said Hilda. ‘He’s an attractive man and you don’t know what he has to put up with from that po-faced cow next door.’

  ‘So she’s po-faced! But that’s not her fault. She was born like that if you ask me. You were lucky, Mam, you came into the world beautiful, I bet.’

  Her mother stared at her and smiled. ‘What’s this? The best soft soap?’

  Viv grinned. ‘Why not? You once told me I looked bewitching in a bonnet.’

  ‘Aye. Me and our Flo had good-looking children.’ Hilda hesitated then said, ‘That time with George – if I hadn’t come in, would you have let him make love to you?’

  The grin faded from Viv’s face. ‘What’s that got to do with the here and now? I don’t get you, Mam.’ She struggled to hold on to the warm feelings for her mother that she had had such a short moment ago but memories of the day of Hilda’s return were suddenly with her. ‘I told you, I’m a virgin! I’m saving myself for marriage.’

  ‘Easier said than done,’ muttered Hilda.

  ‘I know that,’ snapped Viv, remembering her last date with Nick.

  ‘If Nick Bryce is anything like his mother then you’ve had it,’ said Hilda.

  The warm feelings vanished in a rush of anger. ‘You won’t leave his past alone will you? Why bring his mother into this? At least she’s a reformed character which is more than can be said of you!’

  Hilda’s eyes flashed. ‘Don’t compare me with his mother. When I think that you want to marry her son it makes me feel sick!’

  ‘Be sick, I don’t care,’ retorted Viv. ‘I’ll marry who I like and you won’t stop me.’

  ‘Oh, no?’ said Hilda, biting into another chocolate. ‘I’d do it for your own good, Viv,’ she mumbled.

  Viv leant over her mother, resting a hand on the arm of the sofa, and said in a low voice. ‘Mam, if you try and spoil things for me with Nick, I’ll never forgive you.’

  ‘Never is a long time,’ said her mother, swallowing the chocolate and sitting upright. ‘Have you met his mother?’

  ‘Not yet, but …’

  ‘Then I don’t know how you can compare me with her. I suppose you think you love Nick?’

  ‘What’s love?’ said Viv in a mocking voice. ‘According to you, the kind we read about in books and see in some marriages doesn’t exist. All I know is that I believe if you love someone you don’t set out deliberately to hurt their feelings. You consider them. You want the best for them and don’t treat them like dirt.’ She straightened.

  Hilda’s throat moved. ‘You’ve got it bad, honey. If only it was as easy as that. But what if anybody comes between you? What then?’ she said seriously.

  Viv’s senses were suddenly alert. There was something here! ‘Did someone do that at some time to you and Jimmy?’ she said, thinking wildly of what Stephen had said about her mother. ‘I believe you went out with Uncle Tom at one time. Did he try and come between you?’

  Hilda went white. ‘This is getting too personal!’ Her voice was terse. ‘Let’s forget it all. Tell me about the film you saw. Do you think me and Doris would enjoy it?’

  Viv hesitated. ‘Mam, don’t change the subject.’

  ‘Enough!’ Hilda got to her feet. ‘Not another word will I say. The past is the past and is better left behind. What about that film?’

  ‘You’ll have a laugh,’ said Viv slowly.

  ‘Good! I need one,’ muttered Hilda, and walked out of the room.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  ‘Viv!’

  ‘Nick! You’re back.’ Her face lit up as he walked towards her from where he had been waiting on the corner of the street. It was a fine evening and children were playing out. It was top and whip time and several fancily chalked tops were whizzing along the street.

  ‘I wanted to stop you before you reached home,’ he said, smiling. ‘I’m not in the frame of mind to put up with your mother.’

  ‘Don’t blame you. She’s been in a right mood lately and getting worse by the minute. How was the conference?’ Viv slipped a hand through his arm and hugged it tightly.

  ‘Good. It stressed particularly that architects are no longer here for the favoured few who can afford follies and a couple of hundred bedrooms. We’re in the business of providing what ordinary people need and want.’

  ‘They surely can’t want Creswell Mount or Everton Heights on St George’s Hill?’

  Nick smiled slightly. ‘You get a fantastic view.’

  ‘I hate heights.’ She sighed. ‘Probably because George made me climb a tree once and I got stuck.’

  His smile faded. ‘Have you heard from George?’

  ‘Not since Christmas. I wish he would write more often. I worry about him.’

  ‘George can look after himself,’ said Nick grimly. ‘I wouldn’t be worrying about him.’

  She frowned. ‘Don’t you worry about your family?’

  ‘Sometimes. But …’ He shrugged. ‘OK. It’s natural for you to be concerned about George, but let’s forget him for now. What’s upset your mam that she’s in a mood?’

  ‘I said your mam was a reformed character, unlike her. Not the way to win her round to looking on you with more favour!’ She pulled a face. ‘She said something that made me think, though, Nick.’

  His eyebrows shot up. ‘And what’s that?’

  ‘I haven’t met your mother or any of your family. Don’t you think it’s time I did or am I being presumptuous?’

  ‘No.’ He hesitated. ‘It’s just that I thought you weren’t in any hurry to meet them.’

  ‘For heavens sake, why not?’ She stared at him in astonishment.

  ‘Truth, Viv?’ he said lightly. ‘You haven’t showed much interest.’

  ‘Oh, heck.’ She bit her lower lip. ‘Sorry about that. I’ve been so wrapped up in my own affairs lately.’

  He squeezed her hand against his side and smiled. ‘And we haven’t seen much of each other, which is my fault. Things aren’t going to get any easier either. There’s a competition coming up and I want to enter a design. It’ll take most of my evenings.’ He took a deep breath. ‘If I win …’

  ‘If you win?’ she said softly.

  ‘It would help me up the ladder’

  ‘Great!’

  ‘I haven’t won yet,’ he said with a shrug. ‘The competition’s pretty hefty.’

  ‘But you’ll give it a damn’ good try,’ she said.

  ‘Too right I will! It could make things happen so much quicker.’

  They came to the main road.

  ‘Where are we going?’ asked Viv.

  ‘You wanted to meet my family.’ His eyes twinkled down into hers and she caught her breath. She really did love him. ‘So I thought, why not now?’

  ‘Like this?’ She laughed, glancing down at the hand crocheted jumper she wore with a flared cotton skirt. ‘I’m a mess!’

  ‘You’re a beautiful mess, love.’

  ‘To you, yes!’ she said. ‘But your mother and sister won’t think so. I wanted to look my best when I faced them.’

  ‘You look fabulous,’ he said. ‘Honestly, Viv. Besides, if you’re too dolled up they’ll wonder why. They’re just family, not royalty.’

  ‘I should have gone home first,’ she said mournfully.

  ‘That would have meant me hanging round. And would you have told your mother you were going to meet mine?’

  ‘I told you, she’s in favour of me meeting your mother.’

  ‘I bet it’s so that she can say she’s worn better,’ said Nick drily. ‘They were always catty to each other.’

  ‘Great! I don’t stand a chance with your mo
ther right away.’

  ‘Neither did I with yours.’

  ‘We’re like Romeo and Juliet!’ said Viv dramatically, putting a hand to her chest and striking a pose.

  ‘Hardly,’ said Nick, bringing her back to his side. ‘You’re not going to back out, are you?’

  She tilted her chin. ‘Of course not. If you can put up with my mother, I can put up with yours. She’ll just have to take me as I am.’

  ‘Just as you am will be fine,’ he said, kissing the tip of her nose then her mouth and silencing her. Viv gazed at the house. It was of red brick and had three storeys – much bigger than she had imagined. There was a gabled window in the slated roof and it had a large bay window on the ground floor where an aspidistra flourished. The net curtains were pristine white. Does she use Daz or Omo? wondered Viv inconsequently.

  ‘Have you told your mother anything about me, Nick?’

  ‘She knows who you are.’

  ‘Perhaps I should wear a disguise?’ she murmured.

  ‘It wouldn’t make any difference if you were dressed as the Queen of Sheba,’ he murmured. ‘She’d complain about any girl.’

  The door opened and the bulky figure of a woman appeared. She carried a coat over her arm and her thickly lip-sticked mouth was set in an uncompromising line. ‘So this is her, is it?’ she said, folding her arms across her massive bosom. ‘I had a feeling I’d be meeting her soon.’

  Viv squared her shoulders as if preparing for battle as she surveyed the matronly figure in front of her dressed in a navy blue and white frock. The obviously dyed jet black hair was done in sausage-like curls and she suddenly remembered how Mrs Bryce’s head had appeared to be permanently in metal curlers and swathed in a turban when she lived next door to Aunt Flora. She held out a hand. ‘How do you do, Mrs Bryce? I remember you well.’ Immediately she realised that it was the wrong thing to say. Nick’s mother turned brick red.

  ‘Aye, well, I remember your mother too. A right flibbertigibbet she was!’

  Viv’s mouth half opened but Nick got in before her. ‘Well, now we’ve got the pleasantries out of the way, Ma, perhaps we can come in?’

  ‘You can do what you like,’ said Lena Bryce, unsmiling. ‘I’m going to work.’ She nodded in Viv’s direction. ‘I suppose I’ll be seeing you again?’

  Viv smiled sweetly. ‘You suppose right. And I can’t wait for that pleasure.’

  Lena cast her a dark look before brushing past them and treading heavily down the steps. She was soon out of sight.

  ‘Nice friendly woman, your mother,’ said Viv in a bright voice.

  ‘You don’t have to see a lot of each other.’ Nick squeezed her hand and led her into the house and up the lobby. Their feet made little sound on the carpet runner which ran up the middle of the green and brown linoleum which was bordered by several aspidistras in brass pots. Ultra respectability, thought Viv counting them. There were six. Nick pushed open a door on the right at the far end and they entered a room lit by the evening sunlight.

  A girl looked up from a magazine. Her hair was white-blonde and she had deep dimples in a chubby face. She was wearing Black Watch tartan trews and a green sweater. One hand lifted languidly and she gave Viv a long stare. ‘So you’re the girlfriend? Welcome to the madhouse.’

  ‘Thanks,’ said Viv, smiling. ‘It can’t be any madder than ours.

  ‘You want to bet?’ said the girl.

  ‘This is my half-sister Ingrid,’ said Nick. ‘Only believe half she says, Viv.’

  ‘Nice to meet you.’ Viv nodded in her direction.

  Ingrid grinned. ‘She’s not bad, Nick. Your luck must have changed.’

  ‘Don’t be cheeky.’ He pulled her hair. ‘Viv, your mam wasn’t the only one who liked movie stars.’

  Ingrid pulled down the corners of her mouth. ‘Ma loved Ingrid Bergman. Says she was a real lady.’

  Viv thought, Of course, Mrs Bryce would know the difference.

  ‘Would you like a cup of tea?’ asked Ingrid.

  ‘That would be a good idea,’ said Nick, putting an arm round Viv and bringing her against him.

  Ingrid dropped her magazine on the floor and uncurling herself, said, ‘Has he asked you to marry him yet?’

  Viv shot a look at Nick. ‘Not in so many words,’ he said.

  ‘I’m in no hurry,’ murmured Viv.

  ‘Why not?’ said Ingrid, showing surprise. ‘You’d be a fool to let him get away.’

  ‘I don’t think he’s ready to be hooked yet.’

  Ingrid grinned. ‘She’s got a sense of humour, Nick. Grab her. Mam won’t like it, of course, but all the better. She’s had enough out of you as it is. I don’t know how you put up with it.’

  ‘You know why I put up with it,’ he said, and indicated the door with his head. ‘Now make that cup of tea. Where’s our Kenny?’

  ‘He’s in the yard, playing with those horrible frogs and newts of his.’ She left the room.

  ‘Come and meet my brother,’ said Nick, and they went out into the yard.

  A boy of about ten was ankle-deep in water in an old tin bath. He had Nick’s dark hair and his eyes were blue as he glanced up at them. ‘I think I’ve lost one of me frogs,’ he said.

  ‘I’m not surprised, the way they hop all over the place,’ said Nick, squatting on his haunches. ‘How are the tadpoles?’

  ‘Some have got weeny legs,’ said Kenny, gazing at the swimming blobs with pride.

  Viv, trying to put to the back of her mind the mention made of marriage, was warmed by the sight of the two brothers together. Nick really seemed to care about Kenny. He would make a good father. She crouched by the bath and looked inside at the rocks and weed and small amphibians half submerged in the water. ‘You’ve got your own little nature reserve.’

  ‘Do you like frogs?’ Kenny’s voice was eager. ‘You can hold one if you like?’

  Viv smiled at him. ‘I’d like that.’

  As she held out the palm of her hand to receive the frog, he said, ‘We’ve got a budgie as well but Mam says she’d like to throttle it.’

  ‘She doesn’t mean it,’ said Nick as Viv stared at him. ‘It bit her once.’

  Sensible bird, thought Viv, touching the frog’s back. It immediately took off into the water. ‘My mother curses our cat,’ she said to Kenny, thinking how nice it would be to have a younger brother. ‘She says it’s getting too fat on cat food when it should be exercising catching mice. The thing is, there aren’t the mice around that there used to be.’

  ‘There aren’t a lot of things around that there used to be.’ Nick took her hand and pulled her away. ‘Will you marry me, Viv?’ he said softly.

  ‘What?’ Her face flooded with colour. ‘Is it because of what Ingrid said?’

  ‘Partly. But you must know I’m mad about you.’

  She smiled. ‘I’m mad about you, too. But it’s a funny word to use in connection with love, isn’t it? It’s like saying you lose your senses when you fall in love.’

  ‘You do love me then?’ He dragged her further away from his brother.

  ‘Didn’t I as good as say so? But let’s try and be sensible. We can’t rush into anything.’

  ‘Of course not,’ he said blandly. ‘We’ll be very sensible and save up.’

  ‘I mean it, Nick. I’d like us to have a house before we get married.’

  ‘Naturally. I’ll design us one.’

  Her face glowed as she gazed up at him. ‘That would be great. I am sounding sensible, aren’t I? Mam would be proud of me. She thinks I’ve got a romantic little soul.’

  ‘And have you?’ he said, pulling her close.

  Viv sighed heavily. ‘What do you think?’

  Nick laughed and swung her off her feet to whirl her round and round. ‘Some enchanted evening,’ he sang, before kissing her in mid air.

  It was Ingrid calling that caused them to draw apart. ‘Stop snogging, you two, or the tea’ll get cold!’

  ‘Come on,’ said Nick, and under his br
eath added, ‘Don’t say anything.’

  ‘I won’t, I won’t,’ she whispered, having to run as he pulled her up the yard.

  ‘I was going to take you out tonight,’ said Nick as they bit into the cheese sandwiches that Ingrid had made.

  ‘Where to?’

  ‘I had thought of the Cavern.’

  ‘Fine by me.’ She would have been quite happy curled up in a cardboard box with him. ‘Who’s on?’

  ‘Gin Mill. They sing folk as well as play skiffle.’

  ‘Great!’ She had no idea who they were but it did not matter as long as she and Nick were together.

  The Cavern was fairly crowded but that meant they could cuddle closer and Viv thought dreamily that she would always remember the music that was played that evening, even though most of it did not go down particularly well with the younger crowd. ‘John Peel’ smacked too much of school music lessons even though the group had jazzed it up.

  ‘It was a good rousing song,’ said Nick, kissing the side of Viv’s face as they came out into Mathew Street afterwards, discussing it. ‘I remember it well. And “The Skye Boat Song”.’

  ‘We learnt “Who is Sylvia?” at school,’ said Viv, her eyes sparkling. ‘I still don’t know who she is!’

  He laughed, kissed her, and she wanted to bury herself in him. They walked on, very close together, and she was aware of the tug of sexuality between them. Control, that was what they had to have. She did not want her mother going on about that Nick Bryce ruining her daughter. She sought for something to take her mind off thoughts of sex. ‘Dot’s brother Norm is in a group. They just ape hit records.’

  Nick glanced down at her. ‘Wasn’t he the one who danced with you at the party?’

  ‘Yes. But it didn’t mean anything. If we’ve nothing else to do Dot and I go and support the group wherever they’re playing. We’re getting to know the inside of that many church halls that Dot says her mother thinks we’ve caught religion.’ She looked up at him with a teasing expression. ‘Jealous?’

  ‘Of course. I’d be jealous of any man that you spent time with instead of me.’ His voice was controlled.

  ‘There’s no need. It’s you I love, Nick. But we can’t live in each other’s pockets.’