by Suzie Twine
“He’s such a good soul, my Bertie.” Betty whispered to Lois. “He looks after me all by ‘imself. ‘E does all the ‘ousework and everything.” Lois didn’t quite know how to respond to that comment, so decided to change the subject.
“So, how did you two meet?”
Betty chuckled. “Well, we met at a dance in the village rooms and got married the following year. I took on a job as a cleaner at the manor, so we worked together as well, ‘cause Bertie was the butler you know. That was when the big ‘ouse was in proper ownership, you know, a family lived there, lovely they were, the Crowthornes. That’s ‘ow come we live ‘ere you see dear. This was the Butler’s cottage. These were all worker’s cottages, ‘oneysuckle was the Gardener’s.”
“Oh wow,” said Lois, “I had no idea that these were linked to the manor. But of course they were, how stupid of me not to realise.”
Betty patted Lois’s hand. “Well, it was love at first sight for me and Bert you know. We got married within the year and here we are still, seven’y five years later.”
“Seventy five? Do you mind me asking how old you are Betty?”
“Not at all dear. Bert and I are both nine’y three.”
“Ninety three, gosh, you are both remarkable.”
Bert arrived back in the kitchen with a shoebox, which he put down on the table for Betty. “Here you are pet, your box.”
“I was just telling the young lady how we met Bertie.”
Bert chuckled as he shuffled out of the room again, “Oh aye, that’s going back a bit.”
“So, you were able to stay on in the cottage when the manor was sold?” asked Lois.
“No. We’d have ‘ad to move out. All the cottages were sold with the ‘ouse. But Bertie, bless ‘im, ‘ad been puttin’ away savings ever since ‘e started work. ‘E stored a lot of it in paper bags in the loft! ‘E saved really ‘ard and, much to everyone up the manor’s surprise, we bought it,” said Betty, smiling broadly, displaying her few of remaining teeth.
“Do you mind me asking what you’ve got in the box Betty?” asked Lois, curiosity getting the better of her.
“Not at all dear.” Betty felt for the shoebox in front of her, carefully took off the lid and placed it under the box. Then she slowly felt her way around its contents, smiling as she went. She took out a tiny baby’s carrycot with the hood up, the inside covered with a minute crocheted blanket. “Bert and I started makin’, when we were hoping to ‘ave children of our own. He made the ‘ouses, beau’iful they were; we’ve still got one somewhere. Then I’d make the li’l furnishings. Course, I could see in them days.”
“Ah, it’s gorgeous,” said Lois as Betty handed it to her, “how did you make it? It’s exquisite.”
Betty chuckled to herself, “it’s made from a walnut shell. I cut a quarter of it off and then varnished it, looks sweet, don’t it?”
“Oh Betty it’s beautiful, how clever you are!”
Betty trawled slowly through the box, showing Lois furnishings she’d made from lollipop sticks and toothpicks. Tiny vases with dried flowers in them, although a little squashed, still looked very sweet. Bert sat himself down next to them and watched the proceedings, looking a little sad. He knew how much Betty missed being able to make things and he missed watching her create such beauty out of so little.
The box was finally packed away. Lois, glancing at her watch, amazed by how late it was, made her excuses to leave, and asked Bert and Betty if they’d mind her calling in again.
“We’d be deligh’ed love,” said Betty, shaking Lois’s hands.
Lois asked if it would be okay to leave via the back door. “Of course,” said Bert, “and if you come again, you’re best to use the back door…we’ll hear you better.”
Arriving back at Honeysuckle, Lois found George and son, getting stuck into sorting out the electrics. She had a quick look around to see what progress had been made. Seeing that the house was now practically uninhabitable, Lois decided to go and beg a bed from Annie and Dave for the next night or two.
Lois knocked at the front door and was greeted by Annie wielding a glass of champagne.
“Ah, Lois, good timing! Come on in and help us celebrate.” Lois was surprised; she’d been expecting to be chivying Annie out of an impending poverty-stricken gloom.
“What are we celebrating?” Lois asked as she gesticulated to Dave that an inch of champagne in the flute was plenty.
“Dave has just been offered a chain of dealerships to manage!” Annie’s face was alight with excitement as she grabbed Dave from behind and gave him a bear hug, almost causing him to drop the bottle and glass that he was holding.
“Dave that’s amazing, well done. Congratulations!” Lois held up her champagne and the three of them clinked glasses. “Where are they? When do you start?” Annie beckoned Lois out to the garden, grabbing a bowl of cashews on her way. They sat on the patio, Dave filling Annie and Lois in on the most interesting details of the offer.
“So, does this mean you don’t have to go ahead with selling the paddock and converting the loft?” asked Lois.
“We haven’t got as far as discussing that yet,” said Dave, still smiling broadly.
“I think it would be good to do the conversion anyway,” said Annie, “it’ll be an investment for the future, one never knows what’s around the corner.”
“That’s a good thought,” said Dave, “Yes, you’re right, let’s go for it. You’ll have to be in charge though Annie, I won’t have much time for organising stuff, I’ll be far too busy!”
Annie gave Lois a wink, “Oh, I think I’ll manage, you’ll help me with designs won’t you Lois? Perhaps Dean would be able to help with the major work when he’s finished your place.”
“It’ll take time to sort out plans and planning permission though won’t it?” asked Lois.
“Planning permission, what planning permission? I think mum’ll be the word on this one.” Annie tapped the side of her nose.
“Annie, what about old Charlie-boy? He’s bound to get wind of it and cause problems.”
“Oh Lois, where’s your sense of adventure? It’s all a game you see. I bet you fifty pounds he’ll know nothing about it, even when there’s a tenant living there.”
“You’re on!” said Lois. Annie and Lois shook hands, both confident they would win the bet.
13
On Thursday morning Lois was woken at six, by sunlight pouring through the window of Annie and Dave’s spare-room. Tom was perched on the edge of the bed, supporting his chin in his hands, elbows on the window ledge, gazing out of the window.
“Morning,” Lois said, joining him on his perch.
“Good morning to you too, the soon to be Mrs. Allan and Master or Miss Allan.” He stroked Lois’s tummy, Pumpkin responded with a little kick. “Incidentally, when are we getting married?”
“‘Incidentally’, what sort of an attitude is that?” Lois said, giving Tom a gentle poke. “You have to get down on one knee and beg me first!”
“Oh, is that all?” Tom slowly lowered himself onto one knee, squashed between the bed and the radiator, his ribs were better, but not that much better. Lois felt her cheeks start to glow red, anticipating the question she had been waiting for him to ask. “Ow,” Tom grimaced as he took Lois’s hand. “Lois, Lois, will you, please,” he paused, “move to the other side of the bed so I can do it properly!”
Lois laughed, “That was a bit of an anticlimax Tom!”
She moved to the other side of the bed, grinning broadly and sat on the edge. Tom lowered himself once again onto one knee. “Lois, I love you more than pie! Would you do me the honour of becoming my wife, as soon as we can get an appointment at the registry office?”
“Tom you are so romantic! How could I refuse? Yes of course I’ll marry you, and shall we have the reception at McDonald’s?” Lois laughed, “And the ring Tom, I expect you’ve bought me a beautiful ring?” she added sarcastically, knowing that the thought would not have crossed Tom�
��s mind.
“Now it’s funny you should say that Lo,” he said, easing himself up and fumbling in the pocket of his jacket which was hanging over the back of a chair. Lois’s heart started to race as he took out a black velvet box and opened it to reveal…….a child’s ring, silver coloured with a large red stone. Lois didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as Tom took her left hand in his plastered one and pushed the ring as far as it would go, which was the first knuckle, on her little finger.
“Tom, I’m speechless!”
“Well, Mel and I discussed this. I asked her if she would come and help me choose, but in the end we both decided you would probably rather choose it yourself. So, I’ve booked us an appointment at Le Posh Jewellers in Hatton Garden on Saturday, just in case you said yes.”
“So, when are we going to do the deed?”
“Before the Pumpkin’s due date I think. Don’t you?”
“Sounds good to me!” said Lois, beaming.
Having breakfasted together, Lois and Tom agreed that they would meet at the flat that evening and Lois waved Tom off.
Lois went back up to Annie and Dave’s spare room, propped herself up in the bed with a note pad and pen and wrote a list for the day, which was of course now complicated by the fact that she and Tom were getting married. She practiced saying ‘Lois Allan’ out loud a few times and then tried her new signature, smiling to herself. She and Tom had agreed they were committed to each other about a year after they met, when they decided to move in together. Then Lois had fallen pregnant the month after they started trying for a baby and she hadn’t really given a lot of thought to marriage; the commitment was there after all, what did a piece of paper and a ring mean anyway? But now that Tom had asked her, she was very excited. “Mrs. Allan,” she said out loud, just as Annie knocked on the door with a cup of tea in hand.
Annie looked mystified, “Who were you talking to Lois? I thought you must be on the phone.”
“No, I’m practicing my new name. Tom proposed this morning!”
“Oh Lois, congratulations!” Annie gave Lois a hug, “Actually, I didn’t realise you two weren’t married. Big white wedding?”
“Well, I’ll be big!” Lois smiled, looking at her ever-expanding midriff, “No, it’ll be small, just family and close friends.”
“Well if you need help with anything, let me know.”
Lois told Annie how Tom had produced the ring box, taking her by surprise and how it had a toy ring in it. She laughed as she recalled the story. Annie started to look pensive.
“I remember Dave and I having fun like that, not taking life too seriously. It’s sad that things have changed so much.”
“What’s changed?” asked Lois.
“Well, I suppose I’ve turned into the proverbial nagging wife and he’s responded by becoming a down-trodden husband.”
“I can’t believe that Annie, you seem to get on fine, you were both great fun at the dinner party.”
“Yes, I know we can be fun and perhaps I’m exaggerating a bit, but, I know that seeing how light hearted you and Tom are, just reminds me of how we used to be. We used to have so much fun, then the stresses of children, mortgages and money. I don’t know, things just slowly change, until, before you know where you are, almost all the fun has gone. I think it’s time for me to change my attitude and hopefully if I can stop being so negative, Dave will be more fun again.”
“Well they say being aware is the first step,”
“Yes, perhaps we could start a support group. ‘Hello, I’m Annie. I’m a nag. I haven’t nagged my husband for twenty two days.’” Annie and Lois laughed.
“Good plan and I will always be fun, respectful and never nag because I will have joined a support group before getting married!”
Annie suddenly noticed the time, said she had to dash and as she left said, “Gosh, I almost forgot, we’ve all been invited to Debbie and Richard’s for dinner on Saturday night. Seven thirty. Hope you can make it!”
Annie disappeared and Lois completed her morning to-do list, which consisted mainly of making phone calls, chasing up the telecoms company, organising a service for the boiler, ordering central heating oil and finding a roofer to come and sort out some loose tiles. Lois suddenly realised she had a roofer for a neighbour, she thought Adam was sure to do it for her, and maybe not even charge too much. The afternoon to-do list consisted of all the fun bits related to getting married!
Lois decided she had to approach the dull tasks in a determined fashion, procrastinating was only going to depress her.
Positive thinking worked a treat and having successfully completed her list, Lois locked up Annie’s house and went next door to see how things were progressing at Honeysuckle. As she walked in through the back door, Lois saw the house was looking more disheveled than ever. There was a thick layer of dust everywhere and holes in the walls where George and son had been drilling for the new wiring. Lois walked around checking they had noticed all her wall scribblings, earmarking where she wanted sockets and switches. She was pleased to see that George had added a few of his own, in places she had overlooked.
The “House Martins” were busy wallpaper stripping in the dining room. As Lois walked into the Lounge, she gasped. Dean was halfway up the stairs, scrutinising his work of the previous afternoon, when he had applied a bronze effect glaze, which had fortunately dried before George had started drilling. The staircase was looking amazing.
“Dean, it looks incredible! Wow, I can’t believe it’s the same staircase!”
“Yeah, I’m pretty pleased with it myself. Wasn’t sure it would work, bit of a gamble, but I think it’s going to pay off. I’ve just got to varnish it now. Best do that when the dust’s gone though eh?”
“Good thinking. Thanks so much Dean it’s really great!”
Dean then handed Lois a list that George had left for her, of extras needed for today. So she went straight out on a shopping trip. While she was in town she tracked down the registry office and organised a meeting with the registrar to set a date for the wedding.
She was as high as a kite when she arrived back at the house and decided to pop round and see Doreen and Jack.
Lois walked up the metal ramp to the front door and rang the doorbell to Bramble Cottage, remembering how apprehensive she’d felt on her last visit. She could hear a lot of shuffling behind the door, which was eventually opened by Jack with help from Ellie, who wiggled her welcome.
“Oh bugger off!” said Jack in enthusiastic recognition, gesticulating to her to come in. He had a lovely smile, albeit a little one sided, his welcome was so heart-felt; Lois felt she may laugh or cry at any moment.
Jack ushered Lois through to the kitchen. “Oh bugger off?” asked Jack, air drawing a T shape with his index finger.
“Yes please,” said Lois, hoping she had understood correctly, “milk, one sugar please. Can I help you make it?”
“Oh bugger off!” said Jack, shaking his head as he skillfully manipulated the electric wheelchair. He pulled a chair part way out from the small kitchen table and offered it to Lois using his hand and eyes to gesture. The kitchen had been redesigned for Jack’s benefit, with one of the work surfaces lowered with a kettle and sink on it.
Jack put the kettle on, then went to the back door. He unlatched it and without him saying anything, Ellie pulled on a short piece of rope that was tied to the door, and opened it while Jack used his only functioning hand to manipulate his wheelchair. Once part way through the door, he called out, “Oh bugger off!” in the singsong way one uses to call someone’s name. He must have then gesticulated T again as Doreen’s voice came back from the garden, “Ooh, yes please Jack, that would be lovely, I’ll be there in one minute.” Jack moved away from the door and went to make three cups of tea, while the dog nosed the door shut.
Doreen came in just as Jack was transporting three cups of tea on a tray attached to his wheelchair.
“Oh hello Lois!” Doreen said, enthusiastically. “How’s it going a
t the cottage?”
Lois bought Jack and Doreen up to speed on the progress at Honeysuckle. She felt very touched that they seemed to have a genuine interest in what was happening in her life. It occurred to Lois that these people lived life at a very different pace to that which she was used to in London.
“We’ve been so looking forward to an update on the Honeysuckle goings on, haven’t we Jack?” said Doreen, with Jack nodding eagerly. “But we don’t like to intrude.”
“Well you’re both welcome at any time, although, it has to be said, you might not want to call in for the next couple of weeks as the house really is in turmoil and dust everywhere!”
Ellie nosed up to Lois for a stroke, “How long have you had her?” she asked Jack.
“Oh bugger off!” he said as he held up one finger, then three fingers.
“One year and three months?” asked Lois, hoping she’d interpreted his signals correctly. Jack smiled, nodded and pointed his finger at Lois, to let her know she had got it right. Lois felt a huge sense of relief that she was able to understand him, so far anyway.
“And she’s specially trained is she, to help you around the house?”
“Oh bugger off!” Jack nodded enthusiastically.
As they sat and drank their tea, Ellie lay down beside the wheelchair, watching Jack attentively.
“She’s changed your life, hasn’t she Jack,” said Doreen,
“Oooh buuger off!” said Jack, again nodding enthusiastically.
“She looks after Jack, picks things up for him, opens doors, is a constant companion and in return, Jack looks after her, feeds, grooms and walks her. All in all it’s a wonderfully symbiotic relationship. You were quite down, weren’t you Jack, before Ellie came along,”
“Oh bugger off!” Jack said, tossing his head back and giving a small tut.
“Then I read in a Sunday supplement about Ability Dogs for Disabled people, there was a whole article on the benefits and what a difference they can make to a person’s life. So I rang them, not really expecting any joy, what with Jack’s communication difficulties,” Jack shook his head with a smile, “but they said that shouldn’t be an issue, provided they could find him a dog that could respond to hand gestures and, she does, she’s brilliant, aren’t you Ellie!”