‘I miss Beth so much, Frank,’ Irene told him as they walked home from school together just as they always had done. But their school days were coming to an end too. In the summer, they would sit their School Certificate and then, they too, would have to look for work. They had both stayed on at school to take the examinations even though Irene had protested that she should leave and start bringing home a wage.
‘You’ll do no such thing, love,’ Lil had said firmly. ‘I want you to have the chances I never had.’
So, at sixteen, Frank and Irene, though they had dutifully worked hard at their schoolwork, were both itching to leave school, to find work and at last feel that they were ‘grown-ups’.
‘Yeah, me too,’ Frank said, kicking a stone so that it bounced and rattled along the pavement as they walked. ‘We made a good trio, didn’t we? It’s not quite the same with our Shirley, is it? She’s such a mardy cow.’
Irene had giggled. ‘Poor Shirley. I feel sorry for her. She’s always been the odd one out, but she’s only twelve. She’s still a kid. I’ve tried hard with her, but she’s – well, she’s not Beth. She was like a big sister to me – just as Laurence and you are like my brothers.’
Frank was silent, looking down at the ground and giving the stone another kick.
‘I don’t want to be your brother, Irene,’ he muttered. ‘I – I want to be your boyfriend.’
‘Eh?’ Startled, Irene had stopped and turned to face him. ‘What did you say?’
Frank was blushing, not daring to look up to meet her gaze. ‘I said, I want to be your boyfriend, not a sort of brother.’
‘Oh!’ Irene said and then, after a long pause, she smiled and continued to walk on as she said softly, ‘I think I’d like that, but—’
‘Aye, I thought there’d be a “but”,’ Frank said, disappointment in his tone. His brown eyes were sad and his dark hair flopped endearingly over his forehead.
Irene giggled. ‘I just think we should keep it secret. I reckon our mams would say we were too young.’
Frank’s head shot up as he grinned at her. ‘Oh, right. I get you. But they won’t think anything of it if we’re always together, will they?’
Irene laughed and now it was she who blushed. ‘We always are, but we just won’t have to let them see us – um – well, holding hands or – or—’
‘Kissing.’ Frank stopped again and took hold of her arm, turning her gently to face him. He planted a clumsy kiss on her mouth, but their noses bumped and they ended up laughing.
‘Reckon we need a bit of practice at that,’ Frank said.
It didn’t take very long for Frank to become a lot more expert at ‘this kissing lark’ nor did it take many weeks for their families to find out.
It was Shirley who was the talebearer.
On leaving school, Frank had gone straight to sea. There had been no problem of seasickness for him, though his choice of career had caused an argument between his parents.
‘I don’t really want him going to sea at all,’ Edie had said, ‘but if he’s set on it, then he can be with you, can’t he, Archie? You can keep an eye on him.’
To her disappointment Archie had shaken his head and added, ‘I don’t believe in families sailing together. You know I don’t. I know it’s done, but I don’t like it.’ Archie Kelsey was a respected skipper and able to choose his own crew. He would never take men who were related – even distantly – to one another.
Some trawlermen ridiculed him. ‘I can’t get a crew together without ’em being related, Archie. How d’you do it?’
Archie had smiled enigmatically. He’d been a fisherman for a long time and a skipper for several years. He was known as a safe pair of hands and fair with the men under him. He never needed to look far for a crew; they returned time after time to serve under Archie Kelsey. He was saddened when, only a few years later, a trawler was lost at sea skippered by that very same trawlerman who had questioned his rules with the loss of all the crew, which had included three members from the same family. It was one of those occasions when Archie had been sorry to be proved right.
So Frank never sailed with his father, but he took to the life and soon earned the reputation of being a good and reliable worker.
Irene had grown into a pretty young woman with long blond curling hair, sparkling blue eyes and dimples in her cheeks when she smiled. And she smiled often. Irene had had no trouble in finding work in a department store in Freeman Street.
‘She’s got such a nice job at Oldroyd’s on the hosiery counter,’ Lil had enthused to Edie. ‘They’re all very kind to her there and I know she’ll work hard and do well. No mending nets for her if I have anything to do with it.’
Edie had nodded and smiled. ‘She deserves it, Lil. She’s a good girl. I think of her like one of me own – you know I do. I’m pleased for both of you. Mebbe you’ll be able to take it a bit easier now.’
But Lil had shaken her head determinedly. ‘Oh no. I wouldn’t want her thinking she’s got to support me. She’s going to give me a bit towards the housekeeping, but I’ve told her she ought to start saving for her bottom drawer.’
Edie had laughed. ‘But that’s a long way off yet, Lil. She’s got to meet a nice young man first.’
‘True, but she’s a pretty girl – though I suppose I shouldn’t say it about me own daughter.’
‘Well, if she wants to meet a prospective husband, Lil, she’ll have to stop going around so much with our Frank.’
Whenever he was at home from sea, Frank, feeling rich and important with money in his pocket, would splash out on his girl. They’d go to the cinema for a bob’s worth of dark, as he put it, sitting in the back row of the stalls, holding hands and even sneaking a kiss whenever they thought no one would see them. But someone did see them and couldn’t wait to get home to tell her mother. Shirley, on a special treat with her school friends one Friday evening, spotted her brother and Irene cuddling in the back row of the cinema.
‘Our Frank’s got himself a girlfriend, then,’ she announced, almost before she was through the scullery and into the living room. Edie was sitting near the range with a pile of socks for mending on her knee. She was on her own, Archie was at sea and, although the wireless had been tuned to one of her favourite programmes, Edie had turned it off before the late news came on. She glanced up at Shirley, but the girl went back into the scullery to make cocoa for them both, deliberately keeping her mother in suspense. But Edie was used to Shirley’s dramatics and she calmly carried on with her mending and waited patiently until the young girl could contain her news no longer.
‘Did you enjoy the pictures?’ Edie asked mildly as Shirley carried two mugs back into the living room and placed one beside her mother. ‘What did you see?’
‘We went to the Savoy. It was Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times and then there was a Mickey Mouse cartoon. But it was what was going on in the back row that was even more interesting than the films.’
Edie said nothing, keeping her gaze firmly fixed on her sewing.
‘Didn’t you hear what I said? Frank’s got a girlfriend.’
‘I heard.’
‘I thought you’d say he was too young,’ Shirley said, miffed because her mother wasn’t displaying the interest – or the sense of shock – the girl had hoped for.
Edie dipped her head so that Shirley wouldn’t see her wistful smile. She’d been sixteen when she’d started walking out with Archie Kelsey, even though it had been in secret to start with; her mother had not approved.
‘He’s a working man now. I just hope she’s a nice girl, that’s all.’
Shirley smirked. ‘Oh, she’s nice all right.’
Now Edie didn’t try to contain her interest. ‘You know her, do you?’
‘Yes – and so do you.’
‘Me?’ Edie raised her eyebrows. ‘I don’t know any girls Frank’s age except . . .’ She stared at Shirley. ‘Oh no! You don’t mean it’s – it’s . . . ?’
Shirley nodded. Now she wa
s getting the reaction she’d wanted.
‘Oh well, now, I don’t know about that.’ For a brief moment, Edie was still and then, throwing her mending aside, she stood up. ‘I’ll have to have this out with Lil.’
‘It’s late, Mam. Aunty Lil might have gone to bed.’
‘I doubt it,’ Edie said grimly. ‘She always sits up to wait for Irene coming home and if you say she’s out with Frank and he’s not home yet, then neither will she be.’
‘What about your—’ Shirley began, but Edie was gone, out of the back door and through the door in the fence. ‘Cocoa?’ Shirley said to the empty room. Already she could hear the sound of Edie banging on Lil’s back door, the sound echoing through the night air.
Shirley finished her drink, set her mug down and followed her mother, catching up with her just as Lil opened her back door.
‘Whatever’s the matter?’ she asked at once, her eyes dark with fright. Fisherfolk didn’t like late-night knocks on their door.
‘It’s all right, Aunty Lil, it’s nothing very terrible, but Mam’s got summat to tell you.’
Edie grasped Shirley’s arm firmly. ‘Well, now you’re here, miss, you can do the telling, seeing as you’re the one who’s seen it for yourself.’
‘Seen what?’ Lil asked.
‘Let’s get inside, Lil, and we’ll tell you.’
‘Oh sorry, Edie. Come in, duck. I’m not thinking straight. You’ve got me worried. I thought it was bad news.’
‘’Pends how you look at it. It’s about Irene.’
Lil drew in a startled gasp, but as Shirley added, ‘And Frank,’ the woman’s anxiety turned to puzzlement.
‘I – don’t understand.’
‘Shirley’s just been to the pictures with some of her friends from school – a gang of them went – and she saw your Irene and our Frank—’
‘Sitting in the back row—’
‘Kissing.’
Lil’s mouth dropped open as she glanced from one to the other. But then she began to smile. ‘Well, that’s nice,’ she began, but sensing Edie’s disapproval, she faltered. ‘Isn’t it?’
Edie shook her head. ‘They’re too close.’
‘More like brother and sister,’ Shirley put in slyly.
‘They’ve grown up together.’
Lil was frowning. ‘I don’t see that that matters. I – I think it’s lovely. Childhood sweethearts. What could be more romantic?’
Edie wriggled her shoulders. She hadn’t reckoned on Lil disagreeing with her. ‘Tell you what, we’ll not say owt to them – not yet. We’ll wait till Archie gets back. See what he says.’
‘All right, but . . .’ Lil agreed reluctantly. She was more than happy with the news. She’d spent sleepless nights worrying that her pretty daughter might get in with the wrong crowd or start going out with someone totally unsuitable. She was very relieved to hear that Irene might be falling in love with the boy next door, the boy whom Lil already loved as a son. What could be better? But Edie didn’t seem to think so and though Lil, at the moment, couldn’t understand why, she hoped this wouldn’t come between her and her dearest friend.
‘And I’ll write and tell our Beth,’ Shirley said. ‘She’ll talk some sense into them. They’ll listen to her. And Laurence. I’ll write to him an’ all.’
As Lil closed her back door behind her departing neighbours, she was thoughtful. She couldn’t understand Edie’s objection to the blossoming love story, if it was indeed serious. She thought it was wonderful news. And now, knowing that Irene was with Frank and would be seen home safely, there was no longer any need for her to sit up into the early hours waiting for her daughter. She began to get ready for bed, a small smile playing on her mouth. Just as she was about to fall to sleep, she heard the back door close softly and Irene creep up the stairs.
Oh how wonderful it was, she thought, to be young and in love. Her only sadness this night was that Tom was not here to delight in how his daughter had grown into a wonderful young woman, loved by a fine man.
If only, she thought, Edie comes round.
But her friend remained adamant. ‘They’re more like brother and sister,’ Edie persisted, picking up on what Shirley had said. ‘There can’t possibly be that same excitement of meeting someone and falling in love. They know too much about each other already. Where’s the thrill?’
‘It’s different, I grant you,’ Lil said, ‘but surely there’s something to be said for the fact that they do know each other.’
The two women discussed the matter endlessly over the next few days but said nothing to Irene or Frank and swore Shirley to silence.
‘I’m telling Beth, though,’ the young girl said. ‘She’ll agree with us, Mam. And Laurence.’
But Beth did not agree, as she made clear in her letter.
What marvellous news, she wrote. We’ll still be one big, happy family. And they’ll be able to live with Aunty Lil and when the little ones come along . . . On and on her letter went, rambling over four pages; she was obviously ecstatic to think that her best friend would become her sister-in-law.
‘Well, your dad won’t agree,’ Edie said, tossing Beth’s letter to one side in disgust.
But to Edie’s surprise and disappointment, Archie did agree with his elder daughter.
‘Oh, I might have known you’d side with Beth,’ Edie snapped. ‘Whatever she says’ll be right with you, won’t it?’
‘Now, now, Edie, love,’ Archie said placidly, glad to be back home from sea. This last trip had been difficult and he’d been grateful to think he’d have a few days respite, but he hadn’t expected to walk into a storm at home.
‘So,’ Edie said, folding her arms over her ample bosom – a sure sign that she was spoiling for an argument, ‘you’re in favour of it, are you?’
‘I’m not against it, love. I can’t see any harm. Let’s see how it goes, shall we? I mean, it’s not as if they’re talking about getting married yet, is it? They are too young for that, I’d agree with you there. And it might all fizzle out anyway, given time. And just remember, Edie, the more you try to separate a young couple, the more determined they’ll be to stay together.’ He caught her eye and winked at her, silently reminding her of the opposition their own courtship had faced and, eventually, overcome.
With that, Edie was unable to argue.
Three
It was Laurence who finally won Edie over, though it took him several months. When he came home on leave the following May, he slapped Frank on the back and kissed Irene on both cheeks. ‘When are you getting married, because I want to be your Best Man?’
‘What about me? I want to be a Best Man too,’ Reggie piped up. He idolized both his older brothers and didn’t want to be left out.
‘You’re too young, Shrimp,’ Laurence teased, tweaking his nose. ‘But you can be an usher.’
‘What’s one of them?’
‘They show the guests to their places in the church. It’s a very important job. We don’t want anyone sitting on the wrong side of the church, now do we?’
Edie hid her smile; she could always rely on Laurence to make everyone feel valued, but aloud she said, ‘Now steady on there, who’s talking of marriage? They’re far too young for one thing and for another—’ Edie repeated yet again her misgivings about their closeness.
‘I reckon that’s a good thing – oh, not the brother and sister bit,’ Laurence added hastily, ‘but isn’t it better that they know all about each other? There’re no skeletons going to pop out of the cupboard and Irene’s a lovely girl. And she could do a lot worse than our Frank.’
Edie bristled. ‘She couldn’t do any better, let me tell you.’
‘And besides,’ Laurence said, his expression sobering, ‘I know it’s been euphoric just lately with the coronation—’
‘The papers have been full of it,’ Edie said, her expression softening, ‘such lovely pictures of the little princesses. And tomorrow me and Lil are going to see a film about it at the Queen’s cinema. I
can’t wait. They seem such a happy family. It’s lovely to see, after all the trauma of the abdication.’
‘And yet you’d deny our Frank the chance of such happiness, Mam?’
‘Of course I wouldn’t.’ Now his mother was indignant, ‘it’s just – oh, I don’t know. I seem to be the odd one out around here. You’re all so pleased about it, all except me and Shirley.’
Laurence put his arm around Edie’s shoulder. ‘Mam, dearest Mam, Shirley’s just jealous, that’s all. And there’s another thing,’ he added softly and, for the young man who normally laughed his way through life, he was strangely serious. ‘You know things are very unsettled in Europe, don’t you? With all the civil fighting that’s going on in Spain.’
‘But that’s got nothing to do with us, has it?’
Laurence shrugged but didn’t answer her directly. ‘And then there’s this little corporal in Germany, who’s talking about his country needing more “living space”. I don’t deny he’s done wonders for the morale of the German people since their defeat in 1918, but now it seems he’s not happy to leave it at that. He and his pal Mussolini are posturing that they want peace and yet want to extend their territories. And how d’you think they’re going to do that? Mussolini invaded Abyssinia over a year ago and Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, has been secretly rearming – only it’s not so secret now. He’s rebuilt the German navy and unlawfully created a military air force that he’s been bragging is equal to Britain’s and, probably spurred on by Mussolini’s success in Abyssinia, he has reoccupied the Rhineland.’
‘But I thought – I mean – there were Treaties and – and whatever – after the war, weren’t there?’
Soberly, Laurence nodded. It seemed he took an interest in world affairs just like Archie did. ‘Yes, Mam, there were. The Treaty of Versailles, but that doesn’t seem to matter any more to Herr Hitler. I think he’s hell bent on marching into whatever country takes his fancy. And we can’t let that happen, now can we?’
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