by Annie Groves
They all ate in silence. Mrs Kennedy did not like noise in the morning. Nor did she tolerate it at night. The children practically walked around on eggshells and Rita’s nerves, as taut as piano wires, practically fizzed when Charlie clattered his knife and fork onto his plate.
‘How is your leg today, Mrs Kennedy?’ Rita asked politely. The older woman suffered terribly with an arthritic leg. It was unclear which one gave her the most gyp because she often forgot herself. However, Rita could see no evidence of arthritics when Winnie Kennedy stood talking for hours in the shop to Vera Delaney, one of her favourite customers.
‘It’s very swollen today.’ Mrs Kennedy scraped back her chair with ease and thrust a perfectly normal leg on Megan’s chair, causing the child to flinch and move over. ‘Look, all around my ankle – it’s practically blue with the swelling.’
‘It looks fine to me,’ Rita said. She gently and expertly turned the ankle one way, and Mrs Kennedy flinched dramatically, then, slowly turned it the other, while her mother-in-law yelped in pain.
‘I’m so sorry,’ Rita said. ‘Sometimes it helps if you keep it moving.’
‘How can I keep it moving when I can’t even stand on it?’ Mrs Kennedy cried. ‘I only thank the Lord above that I have a loving family around me.’ She patted Charlie’s hand and he smiled.
Ah, so that is it! The penny dropped. Rita knew exactly what her mother-in-law was up to now.
‘Heaven only knows how I would manage if I did not have my precious son and my wonderful grandchildren to rely on.’
Not to mention muggins here, who fetches and carries, opens the shop at six every morning while you lie in bed, and works like a skivvy for a pittance.
‘Did Charlie tell you I’ve been thinking about going back to nursing if there is a war?’ Rita’s innocently delivered remark made her mother-in-law’s features pale, as Rita knew it would. The idea of Lady Muck doing much work was unthinkable. Moreover, if Rita were nursing, Mrs Kennedy would have to pay someone else to work in the shop. Her icy look told Rita her announcement was tantamount to treachery.
‘Rita, you don’t have to talk about that now. Can’t you see Mum is in pain?’ Charlie shot out of his chair and, holding his mother’s leg so delicately, he lowered it back onto the floor and eased her foot into her slipper, reminding Rita of Prince Charming in Cinderella. However, there was nothing charming about her husband. He was worried in case his mother cut off the allowance she gave him each week, as she threatened to whenever she thought Charlie was about to exercise his own will.
His mother gave Charlie everything, Rita knew. She had spoiled him rotten since he was born. Apparently, even her husband had been surplus to requirements once Charlie was born, so besotted was she with her only offspring. Rita had realised one thing very quickly, though: Mrs Kennedy’s leg got a whole lot worse every time there was even a hint of their moving to a place of their own, even though Charlie’s icy blue eyes could not see it.
A black cloud of dread like a physical presence settled on Rita’s shoulders and she knew she would have to fight hard to dispel it. Everybody had been talking about the threat of war for so long without anything happening. It was hard to believe anything was going to happen, despite the fact the Government had already sent out leaflets telling them about the effects of gas poisoning, not to mention light restrictions and evacuations, and delivering gas masks. However, there was one thing that kept Rita’s mind focused on the positive, and that was the knowledge that Charlie could not evade his call-up. She would welcome war for that one reason. It would mean Charlie would have to do something he did not want to do. He would have to leave here and prove he was a man. A man who could provide for his family without going cap in hand to his mother for money.
Rita knew he did not work hard enough to earn a decent wage. He was too busy chatting up his customers, women who were susceptible to a bit of flannel. Rita had heard the stories. Some people, namely Vera Delaney, could not help but hint that there were other women willing to take Rita’s place if she did not buck her ideas up.
‘I need money,’ Charlie said a little while later when Rita was washing the dishes in the scullery.
‘But I gave you all I had before you went out last night,’ Rita replied. ‘What did you do with that?’ She could guess he’d spent it in the Sailor’s Rest.
‘Never you mind,’ Charlie said in a slow agitated voice. Rita prayed he would not cause a scene; she did not want the children upset, today of all days. Taking her purse from the shelf, she opened it and gave him her last ten-shilling note.
‘How far is that supposed to get us?’ Charlie asked. ‘Are you trying to make me look like a complete idiot, Rita?’ Rita refrained from telling him he could do that all by himself.
‘It’s all the same to me if we don’t go to this wedding. So if you want to go you’d better find me some more money because I’m not asking my mother again, just so you can go to this poxy party.’
For what seemed like the millionth time, Rita asked herself how she and Charlie could have come to this. She had never seen her father look at her mother in such a cold, disparaging way, but she wasn’t shocked by her husband’s salty language nor his opinion of her family. He had never liked them and made no secret of it. To her, at least. However, when he was in the company of the Feenys it was a different matter. He was charm personified and it was easy to see how his female customers would be swayed into opening another policy. Thank goodness her own family could see through his two-faced charade. They weren’t fools, no matter how often he said they were.
‘Would you like another pot of tea, Charles?’ Mrs Kennedy asked as he returned to the dining room. ‘And what about you, Michael?’ Rita and Megan might as well have been invisible.
‘We were discussing the prospect of moving to a place of our own if the opportunity arises,’ Rita said, unable to resist the small revenge.
‘That won’t happen now,’ Mrs Kennedy said with an assured air. ‘With all this talk of war people are staying put. You can’t get a house for love nor money these days.’
‘I’ve told you once and for all, Rita,’ Charlie’s steely tones told Rita she had gone too far, ‘we are not moving, and that’s final.’ The ghost of a smile crossed Mrs Kennedy’s lips and Rita felt her husband’s betrayal keenly. ‘Now let that be an end to it.’ Charlie made no pretence of their being a happily married couple in front of his mother any more. A lowly paid salesman in an insurance company, he had promised her the world at one time. He had been lying then, and his only honesty now was to promise her nothing.
If they did not get out of here soon, Rita thought, she would go mad.
‘Is the happy bride up yet?’ Rita smiled when her mother showed her into the parlour to appreciate the wonderful table set out with her best china and glass, all ready for the return of the wedding party later that day. The top table, where the bride and groom were going to sit, beside the three-tiered wedding cake, looked gorgeous. The house smelled like a flower garden.
‘She’ll be down soon.’ Dolly bustled around the table, fixing a spoon here, a knife there.
‘Pop, you’ve made a lovely job of that wallpaper.’
‘I know.’ Pop, never one to suffer false modesty, proudly pushed his chest out like a canary pluming its feathers. His rugged, still handsome, face held an unabashed grin and Rita noticed her mother, proud as anything, did not rebuke him for being big-headed.
‘This place is fit for the King himself,’ Rita added as a warm glow dissolved the sense of worthlessness her husband and his mother had fuelled in her. If her family only knew what she was going through, however … Rita squashed the thought immediately.
‘Your father’s been ever so busy. I wish our Nancy was moving into the parlour.’
Let us hope she does not end up like me, Rita thought. It was no fun living with the mother-in-law. However, Sid would not contemplate the idea of moving into number three with the Feeny family, even though he got on quite well with ev
erybody.
‘It’s me mam,’ he had said. ‘She’s so often by herself and she doesn’t like being on her own.’ Rita had rolled her eyes when Nancy, starry-eyed and pleasingly compliant, agreed wholeheartedly. It was like history repeating itself.
Carrying a cup of hot tea into the parlour and then being quickly shooed out by his mother, Frank called up the stairs, ‘I’ve left Sid to get ready, Nance. I told him I’d be back as soon as I’d picked up my number ones.’ His ‘number ones’ were his Royal Navy uniform, complete with brilliant white gaiters and a white silk ribbon, a naval tradition when attending a wedding.
‘Our Eddy’s invited a few of his pals to the wedding,’ said Dolly, ‘so I want it all to look nice.’
‘Mam, you always have it nice. We’ve always been proud to bring our friends home,’ Rita said with feeling, ‘and they’ve always been made welcome.’
‘Aye, well, we do our best, don’t we, Pop?’
Pop gave her shoulder a little squeeze. ‘That’s right, girl, open the doors, let them all come in and have a gander at my lovely walls.’
‘Modesty is not one of his failings, hey, Mam?’ Rita laughed, all tension dissolved now.
‘The table looks lovely. Kitty’s worked so hard.’ Dolly smiled, looking up into her husband’s cheerful face, as, quite naturally, he bent and gave her a loving peck on the lips. Rita was aware of the pink colour in her mam’s cheeks. She was so proud of the fact that her father could still make her mother blush after all these years. However, the moment was over quickly when Dolly gently poked Pop in the ribs with her elbow.
‘Not in front of the children.’
Rita could not help but laugh.
‘Mam, it’s a long time since we were children,’ Frank said, coming back in with Eddy, two strapping young men together.
‘I am ever so lucky with my family,’ said Dolly with a sigh. Rita knew her mother was making a good show of putting on a brave face, for everybody’s sake.
‘Perhaps it won’t really come to anything, you know, Mam? Maybe the powers that be will step back from the brink?’ Rita said suddenly, knowing Mam worried about what the future held for her sons.
‘You mark my words, the rumours of war are all hot air,’ Frank said brightly. ‘Now, where’s that sandwich you said you were making …? It’s half past eight and I haven’t been fed yet.’
‘You and your stomach,’ Dolly laughed. ‘I don’t know how I keep up with the lot of you.’ Rita knew her mother loved every minute of fussing around her family. ‘Let Kitty into the parlour when she gets here. She’s bringing more flowers for the table.’
‘Will do,’ said Frank, who was always pleased to see Kitty.
‘And tell your father to stop marching through every room with that broom handle over his shoulder,’ Dolly said briskly. ‘It’s unnerving, and he’ll wear out the mat.’ They all burst out laughing.
‘You think I’m kidding?’ Dolly asked. ‘I said to him, “Bert, if war does ever break out you’ll be too tired to do anything about it.” That soon put a stop to his gallop, I can tell you.’
‘Oh, you lot really are a tonic today,’ Rita laughed. Her family was just what she needed after putting up with Charlie and his mother.
‘I do wish Nancy and Sid were living here, but Sid’s mam is a bit nervy and Sid doesn’t want to leave her in case …’ Dolly stopped short of saying ‘in case war breaks out’.
‘She asked me what colour you’re wearing,’ said Rita. ‘She doesn’t want to clash.’
‘It’s a bit late to ask that now,’ Dolly said, getting flustered. ‘If she hasn’t got hers now, she’s cutting it fine.’
‘She asked me last week and I forgot to say.’ Rita looked a little embarrassed.
‘She’ll be wearing a fetching sky-blue pink,’ Pop said, now enjoying a cup of tea. Dolly gave him a quizzical look and shook her head.
‘I’m wearing my nice navy-blue two-piece, that new blouse I bought and … you’ll see it later,’ she said.
‘She’s never wearing that old two-piece suit?’ Eddy was aghast. ‘It’s older than me.’
‘Take no notice,’ Pop laughed. ‘I rigged her out earlier in the week.’
‘He took her to Bon Marché in Church Street, didn’t you, Pop?’ Rita said, and he nodded. ‘Mind now, you two,’ Rita said to Megan and Michael, ‘don’t go missing. We’ll be going home soon so you can have a bath before you put on your wedding finery.’
‘Mam, can I stay here with Uncle Frank and Uncle Eddy?’ Michael asked. ‘They can take me to the washing baths on Marsh Lane.’
‘No, you’ll never wash yourself properly and you’re not making a show of me today.’
‘I waited with your mother while she tried on every outfit in the shop,’ Pop chuckled.
Oh, it did feel good to be home again, Rita thought. There might be only a couple of walls and an entry to separate her from her family, but number three was a world away from the Kennedys.
‘I can do no wrong,’ Pop sighed contentedly, ‘which makes a nice change.’
‘I can’t remember Charlie ever going into a shop with or without me,’ Rita said.
‘Modes,’ Pop said, looking lovingly towards his beautiful wife. ‘Got a lovely pale blue dress and coat with navy ensemble.’ He repeated the words of the superior saleswoman in the dress shop. ‘Although I’m not sure what an ensemble is.’
‘It’s a hat, shoes and gloves,’ Rita said.
‘I thought the pale blue was a bit young for me.’ Dolly, never still, was wiping imaginary dust from the sideboard with the sleeve of her cardigan. ‘I don’t want to look like mutton.’ Everybody spoke at once. They would love her new outfit. Mam suited everything. Considering the time they had gone to bed in the early hours of the morning Dolly looked as fresh as a daisy and Gloria had done her hair a treat.
Rita, smiling now, watched the easy way her mam and dad connected to each other in that loving, intimate way, not afraid to show their loving sides. She suddenly realised that even when she and Charlie were courting, they had never looked at each other in the way her mam and dad were looking at each other now. She could never imagine wanting to look at Charlie like that anymore. But Jack … Rita quickly banished the thought.
‘Come on, Tom,’ Kitty said wearily. She had been up all night finishing off the food for Nancy’s wedding, turning the collar on Danny’s shirt, pressing Dad’s jacket, which had seen much better days, and putting a hem in Jack’s new grey trousers. Then, to top it all, Tommy had come down with another sore throat this morning.
‘I don’t feel well,’ he groaned, and Kitty had to admit he did sound like the bullfrog their Danny had once brought back from the countryside.
‘Do you think you’ll be able to manage the wedding?’ Kitty asked, putting the palm of her hand against her brother’s forehead. It did not feel too hot but she could not take any chances. ‘I’ll have to get the doctor out.’
‘I’ll be fine after a cup of tea, Kit,’ Tommy croaked, and Kitty wondered if she had time to nip over the bridge to Merton Road and ask Dr O’Malley for a bottle of linctus. She did not have the five bob for a home visit. If she paid that, then she wouldn’t be able to afford the medicine. It was not yet too late to ask Mrs Kennedy for a loan, though. She was closing the shop early as she was going to the wedding, and Kitty could not bring herself to mention it to Jack, who had already spent enough this week on a wedding present from the Callaghan family for Nancy and Sid.
However, when Tommy still did not feel any better after his cup of tea Kitty was forced to come to a decision. She could not let him suffer all day. It was bad enough she was going to be so busy she would not be able to look after him properly.
‘You wait here, Tom,’ she said, hurrying to the door. She had no choice but to go to ask Winnie Kennedy if she had five bob to lend her. When she closed the front door behind her Kitty turned and collided slap-bang into Alfie Delaney.
‘Hey, where’s the fire?’ Alfie laughed. ‘
Not that I’m complaining.’ His hands remained on Kitty’s slip hips where he had caught her a moment earlier. Kitty, feeling uncomfortable, wriggled free.
‘I’ve got to get a doctor for our Tommy. His throat’s bad again.’
‘You don’t want to go wasting money on doctors,’ Alfie said quickly. ‘I’ve got just the thing in our house. It’ll fix him up a treat; he’ll be good as new.’
‘Are you sure?’ Kitty asked. She did not like Alfie very much; he was a friend of Sid’s, was far too cocky and fancied himself as a bit of a gangster. However, she did not have time to play nursemaid to Tommy today of all days, and the main thing was to get him well enough to be able to come to the wedding, and if it saved her a couple of bob into the bargain …
‘As long as it’s proper medicine and not some concoction …’
‘Never let it be said I would put a child’s life in danger.’ Alfie looked highly offended and Kitty quickly jumped to cover her plain-speaking.
‘Oh, I didn’t mean anything by it, Alf,’ she said hurriedly. ‘I was just saying …’ She took a deep breath. What choice did she have? Either she risked a lecture on household management from Mrs Kennedy or their Tommy would be left in pain all day. There was no choice, she reckoned.
‘Thank you, Alfie. I’d be so obliged.’
‘Think nothing of it.’ Alfie’s smile was huge. ‘Just knowing you’re grateful for my efforts is enough for me.’ Kitty offered a tight smile when he said he would be back in five minutes with the medicine.
The linctus worked a treat and in no time at all Tommy was back on his feet as if nothing had been wrong. Kitty wondered what was in the magical elixir but as Tommy hadn’t fallen down dead after taking it she felt she shouldn’t worry.
‘I never thought I’d ever hear myself say this, Tom,’ Kitty said a short while later, ‘but thank the Lord for Alfie Delaney.’
‘I wouldn’t go that far, Kit.’ Tommy was not so impressed by Alfie’s sudden healing powers but he was glad his throat was no longer sore.