‘Get off,’ I said. ‘If your mum comes in—’
‘Don’t care,’ she said, ‘and Mum won’t, either, when she knows I’m your best girl and goin’ to be your best wife.’
‘Best? I’m only goin’ to have one.’
‘Yes, me.’
I shifted her and we lay on our sides in front of the fire. ‘Listen, Min, you don’t mind cooking and baking and making the beds?’
‘Oh, you daft thing, what a silly question.’
‘And ironing my shirts?’
She gurgled with laughter. ‘Oh, you’re funny, you are, Tim, and don’t I know it. Always made me laugh, you did. Oh, I thought you’d never want me. Months after you’d gone I woke up, I thought no wonder you only saw me as a silly schoolgirl, because that’s what I was, wasn’t I, when I played you up, and Mum an’ Dad too, over that business about if I was in the family way or not. You always said I wasn’t grown up, and I wasn’t, was I, actin’ like that, givin’ Mum an’ Dad all that worry and makin’ them think you’d seduced me on risin’ summer night. Before that, I was only teasin’ those times when I told you you’d been lovin’ to me that night.
‘Then you started making eyes at that Waac, and it nearly made me ill. Yes, it did and it did make me sick up once or twice, so when Mum started to think I was pregnant, I acted up, I wanted you to come round and be nice to me. Oh, poor Mum, what she really wanted was a proper engagement and you marryin’ me when I was older, she didn’t like it a bit that you might have to marry me because of doin’ right by me. She was so relieved when I stopped actin’ up, but she told me I’d been the silliest girl ever. She told me I’d lost any chance I ever had with you. On risin’ summer night I’d have let you love me if you’d wanted to, I was so gone on you, but you just slid to the ground and some GI came up and said he’d give me what I wanted. He tried it on too, and I kicked him so hard he could hardly walk.’
‘Good for you, Min.’
‘I won’t ever be silly again, really I won’t. Tim, you’re not cuddlin’ me proper.’
‘I thought I was doing quite well.’
‘Yes, nice, but cuddle me here.’
‘Here?’
‘Oh, yer daft thing,’ said the old Min, ‘that’s me Waaf tie. Here, you silly.’
‘Feels all right. Well, you’re grown up now, Min and that’s a fact. Min, are you still—’ I hesitated.
‘Am I still what?’
‘Never mind,’ I said, but there it was again, my old-fashioned self hoping Min was old-fashioned too.
‘Well, I do mind. I know what you mean. I could have, lots of times, specially since I’ve been in the Waafs. But I always thought about Mum an’ Dad and besides I only ever wanted you, Tim, no-one else and I kept hopin’. I kept thinkin’ suppose he does come back. Then when you did, I just felt it wasn’t really because of me—’
‘Enough said, Min.’
‘What about you, anyway?’ she asked. ‘I bet you’ve been with Italian and French girls.’
‘Well, I haven’t. I’ve been brought up not to do things with girls.’
Min looked wide-eyed at me then. ‘Tim, are you sayin’ you’ve never had a girl? I don’t believe you.’
‘You’re really still a virgin, lovey?’ I asked.
‘Yes, I am,’ she said firmly.
‘So am I.’
She sat up. ‘Oh, you Tim, I’m goin’ to be your very first girl? Lovely, that is, the best thing I’ve ever heard. You haven’t and I haven’t. Oh, bless yer, Tim, isn’t that magical? All that bliss, learning each other how to make love?’
‘I hope we don’t fumble it,’ I said, at which point the front door shook to a peremptory rat-tat.
‘Oh, help,’ gasped Min, ‘me skirt.’
‘Could that be Harvey?’ I asked.
‘No, Aunt Flossie,’ said Min, scrambling to her feet. ‘That’s her knock, she always makes the door shake.’
I got up. Missus put her head in. She looked at Min’s flushed face, then at me. ‘No-one answering the door to Aunt Flossie?’ she said and went herself.
A few moments later I had my first look at Aunt Flossie. A sweet-looking old lady of about sixty. She was apple-cheeked, button-eyed and alert. She wore a grey coat and a black hat, the hat sitting neatly on her silvery hair. She gave everything and everyone a quick, inquisitive glance.
‘My, my, what’s going on?’ she asked in a pretty piping voice. ‘Who’s this young soldier chap?’
‘That’s Tim,’ said Missus, who was eyeing Minnie shrewdly.
‘Ah,’ said Aunt Flossie and her bright button eyes quizzed me. All over. I hoped I hadn’t picked up any of the hearthrug. ‘So you’re our Tim,’ she said.
‘And you’re our Aunt Flossie,’ I said.
‘Oh, saucy chap, are we?’ she said and quizzed Minnie. Minnie turned pink. ‘What’s our Tim been doing with our Minnie?’ she asked Missus.
‘It wouldn’t be nothing disrespectful,’ said Missus, ‘our Tim’s a well-behaved young man.’
‘What’s our Minnie blushing for, then?’ demanded Aunt Flossie.
‘I’m all giddy, Aunt Flossie,’ said Minnie. ‘I don’t know what day it is, Sunday or Monday or what.’
‘It’s not what, it’s Friday,’ said Aunt Flossie.
‘Friday’s special, then,’ said Minnie, ‘Tim and me are goin’ to be married.’
Aunt Flossie lifted her gloved hands. ‘The Lord be praised,’ she said, ‘our Minnie’s ship has come home. Not before time, though.’ And she embraced Minnie and gave her a pat. And she gave me a wink. The racy old darling.
Missus smiled. Her teacup had been right and she knew it.
THE END
About the Author
Mary Jane Staples was born, bred and educated in Walworth, and is the author of many bestselling novels, including the ever-popular cockney sagas featuring the Adams family.
Also by Mary Jane Staples:
The Adams Books
Down Lambeth Way
Our Emily
King of Camberwell
On Mother Brown’s Doorstep
A Family Affair
Missing Person
Pride of Walworth
Echoes of Yesterday
The Young Ones
The Camberwell Raid
The Last Summer
The Family at War
Fire Over London
Churchill’s People
Bright Day, Dark Night
Tomorrow is Another Day
The Way Ahead
Year of Victory
The Homecoming
Sons and Daughters
Appointment at the Palace
Changing Times
Spreading Wings
Family Fortunes
A Girl Next Door
Ups and Downs
Out of the Shadows
A Sign of the Times
The Soldier’s Girl
Other titles in order of publication
Two for Three Farthings
The Lodger
The Pearly Queen
Sergeant Joe
The Trap
The Ghost of Whitechapel
Escape to London
The Price of Freedom
A Wartime Marriage
Katernia’s Secret
The Summer Day is Done
The Longest Winter
Natasha’s Dream
Nurse Anna’s War
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RISING SUMMER
A CORGI BOOK : 9780552138451
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781446488300
First publication in Great Britain
PRINTING HISTORY
Corgi edition published 1991
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Copyright © Mary Jane Staples 1991
The right of Mary Jane Staples to be identified as the author
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