by Kitty Neale
Sarah came back into the kitchen and sat down at the table. George thought she looked quite sexy with her just-got-out-of-bed hair, and tried not to make it obvious that he was eyeing her lustfully.
‘Albert’s coming to pick me up later and we’ll be moving some of my things over to his house. Are you going to be around today, George? We could do with some strong muscles,’ Lena asked.
‘Yes, no problem. We can take my van as well if you want. Let’s face it, Mum, the amount of shoes and bags you’ve got ain’t going to fit into Albert’s boot.’
‘Very funny, but you’re probably right. I’d better start packing. I need to chuck a lot of stuff out.’
‘Hang on,’ George said. ‘Don’t you dare throw anything away! Hello – your son has a second-hand clothes stall!’
‘Oh, yes, of course, sorry, George. You can go through it before I chuck it out,’ Lena said, and, winking at Sarah again, she added, ‘and of course, you’ll want to sort through it too.’
George couldn’t imagine that Sarah would want anything of his mother’s, but the atmosphere in the kitchen was cheery. It was nice, almost like before tragedy had struck, and he was pleased to see a glimmer of the old Sarah shining through.
Chapter 50
Lena’s wedding day finally arrived, and her house was a hive of activity with Aunty Min, Joan and Kath all buzzing around. George had been sent to Albert’s for the night, and instructed to ensure the groom remained calm today. He also had to make sure that he got him to the church on time.
‘Sarah, sit down. I’ll do your hair next,’ Kath ordered.
She did as she was told. Kath was a dab hand with hair, and Joan was busy finishing off the final details on Lena’s dress. Aunty Min flapped around looking busy but actually doing very little.
‘For Christ’s sake, Min, you’re making me nervous. Find something useful to do, like making us all a cup of tea,’ Lena barked at her sister.
‘Someone’s a bit tetchy this morning,’ Kath said with a laugh. ‘Relax, love. It’s a beautiful autumnal day, and everything is going to be a perfect.’
‘Sorry, ladies, and sorry, Min. I didn’t mean to snap. I don’t know why I’m so bloody nervous, it’s not like I ain’t done this before!’
‘You ain’t having second thoughts, are you?’ Joan asked.
‘Don’t be daft. I’m looking forward to being Mrs Bosco, it’s just all the faffing about with hair, my dress, the flowers and cake … I ain’t used to so much fuss.’
‘Well, get used to it, woman, because today is your day, and we’re going to make sure you have the best day of your life,’ Joan said, then Kath added, ‘And you’re going to look absolutely stunning.’
‘I know, but you don’t think I’m too old for all this dressing-up malarkey, do you?’ Lena asked as she studied her reflection in the mantel mirror. Her hair was in rollers and she was wearing a face pack made of raw eggs and honey that Kath had smothered on her earlier.
‘Lena, you’re going to look beautiful, and no, you ain’t going to look like mutton dressed as lamb if that’s what you’re worried about. It isn’t often a woman gets a second chance at happiness, so just grab it with both hands,’ said Kath as she brushed Sarah’s hair.
‘Yeah, I agree,’ Joan said. ‘We’ve had rotten austere times since the war, what with all the men who didn’t come home, the rationing, the London smog and the slum housing round here. It’s about time something nice happened, and thanks to Albert telling you to arrange a street party, all your friends and neighbours are going to have a day they’ll never forget. You’re lucky to have a man like him, and you should be bloody proud of yourself. If I’m honest, I’m a little bit jealous,’ Joan said.
The room fell silent, then Aunty Min snuffled. ‘Blimey, Joan, that was a speech and a half. Someone get me a hankie, please.’
‘Bugger that tea,’ Lena said, ‘open up whatever bottle you can find in my cabinet.’
The women laughed, and Sarah found herself able to join in. At last she was rebuilding her life, and what Joan had said made her feel more determined than ever.
George waited outside the church for his mum to arrive. Guests had arrived and filled the church. He’d been surprised at how calm Albert appeared, and had left the man standing in the front by the altar, waiting for his bride. He knew that when his mum had married his dad, it had been in a register office, but this time Albert had insisted on a church wedding. He was pleased Lena had chosen this church to marry in. He’d been christened here years earlier, and it was a different church from the one where Tommy’s funeral had been held.
The highly polished grey Austin car pulled up, and George watched as his mother climbed out. He had never seen her looking so glamorous and regal, her smile warm as he walked to her side. Sarah followed his mother. The sight of them looking so glamorous almost took his breath away. He wished it was Sarah in the bridal gown and he was the groom, but he knew his dreams were unattainable.
‘I’m so proud of you, Mum. You look beautiful and Albert’s a very lucky man.’
‘Stop it, you’ll have me in tears and I don’t want to smudge my make-up,’ Lena said with a nervous giggle.
‘Right, let’s do this,’ George said, and indicated to one of the ushers to open the church doors. The organ began to play the ‘Bridal March’, and George proudly walked down the aisle with his mum on his arm, and Sarah behind.
The service went well, with Lena and Albert repeating their vows flawlessly. George looked around and spotted a few tears of joy, then his eyes set on Sarah. She must have felt someone staring at her and turned to look at him, offering the sweetest smile. His heart leaped. He was dating Julie now, but he didn’t think he’d ever stop loving Sarah.
Everything had passed without a hitch, and now, as the car turned into her street, Lena was bowled over by the sight of the long tables and chairs, the bunting and the pretty decorations that lined the road. All her neighbours were ready to greet her, and as she climbed from the car, a loud cheer went up.
‘I present to you Mr and Mrs Bosco,’ a booming voice shouted.
‘Thank you, each and every one of you,’ Albert said. ‘This has made our day perfect. Now, let’s eat, drink and be merry!’
Lena thought it was out of character for Albert to be so loud and extroverted, but maybe, like her, he’d had a couple of drinks to calm his nerves. He’d been so generous with the street party, ordering barrels of beer, with sherry for the ladies, and many of the neighbours had chipped in with home-made cakes, sausage rolls and sandwiches.
As the hours passed, Lena sat back and watched her friends dance to the sound of a man with an accordion and another with a guitar. Everyone was enjoying themselves, except George. He looked sad, and hadn’t taken his eyes off Sarah. She worried about him. He said he was seeing Julie, she knew his heart wasn’t in it.
Sarah was twirling around with some of the children. She must miss Tommy so much, especially on days like this, Lena thought, but once again she admired the girl’s strong spirit.
‘Are you all right, Mrs Bosco? You look very deep in thought there,’ Albert asked.
‘Yes, my love, I couldn’t be happier. It’s so nice to see everyone having a good time.’
‘You and your friends have done an amazing job organising all of this,’ Albert said, ‘but I’m finding myself rather weary. Would you mind if we go home now? I’m looking forward to getting my new wife to myself.’
‘We didn’t organise it all. You sorted out the booze for us. Anyway, I’d very much like to go home now,’ Lena answered. ‘Let’s see if we can just slip away without anyone noticing.’
Home, Lena thought. Today she was leaving behind the house she’d shared with George since her first husband had been killed. It felt strange, and though she was sad to be leaving, she was also excited about starting her new life with Albert. As soon as the shop was sold they’d be off on their travels, and she was so looking forward to their future together.
; Chapter 51
It had been a month since Lena’s wedding, but many of the customers who came into the shop still talked about it. It had certainly been a day to remember, though Sarah wished Tommy had been there to share it with her. The shop was now under offer, and Lena had told Sarah that Albert had accepted a very fair price. She’d felt awful about having to let Violet go, but had heard the girl had a new job, which eased her conscience somewhat.
Sarah had seen a few empty shops, but hadn’t yet found one in a decent location. She was due to see another one shortly, and was hoping the premises would be more promising than the others she’d viewed. Lena had told her about this one, saying that Albert had put a word in for her, and had offered to come with her. The shop was ideally situated on a busy stretch between York Road and Battersea Park Road. It wasn’t far from where she worked now, but was on a main street instead of up a back one.
Lena walked into the shop now and said, ‘Hello, love, are you ready?’
‘Yep, fingers crossed this is better than the others,’ Sarah said, and went through to the back to collect her bag. She turned the sign on the front door to ‘closed’, then locked up. ‘It was good of Albert to have a word with Mr Burrows about it.’
‘Well, it’s been a shoe shop for as far back as I can remember, and from what Albert told me, Mr Burrows is desperate to rent it out so he can retire. The shop became too much and he’s been losing money hand over fist.’
‘What about his family? Aren’t any of them keen to take it on?’ Sarah asked.
‘You haven’t heard the gossip then? His eldest son was working with him but he’s in prison now for theft. He went down last month for quite a stretch. They reckon the judge made an example of him and he got a longer sentence then he deserved. His other son went off to live in Australia a year ago and his daughter is married with four kids.’
‘Why hasn’t Mr Burrows put the shop up for sale?’
‘He did, but when he didn’t find a buyer, he decided to rent it.’
‘At least it’ll give him a regular income,’ Sarah mused as they walked to the shop, and soon they were standing outside the dark-green frontage. Sarah liked the double-aspect large windows and could already picture herself displaying their goods.
The agent arrived, and shook their hands. ‘This is a prime location,’ he said, unlocking the door.
‘So far, so good,’ Sarah said, feeling a tinge of excitement. She had a feeling this was going to be the one and couldn’t wait to get inside.
The windows let in lots of natural light, and the floor space was good. The shelves were dusty, but as the premises had been empty for at least a month, that wasn’t surprising.
‘Just through this door, you have a back yard with rear entrance vehicle access,’ the agent said.
Sarah stepped into the yard and looked around, feeling elated as she went back inside. The interior of the shop needed a lick of paint, but that was something easily tackled. ‘What do you think, Lena?’ she said.
‘I think it’s perfect. If George can pick up second-hand furniture, he can do restoration work out there, or it could be used for storage. I don’t think you’re going to find anything more suitable, and it’s a fair price too.’
Sarah turned to the agent. ‘I’ll take it,’ she said, hoping she hadn’t jumped the gun.
The agent looked pleased, and said, ‘I’ll tell Mr Burrows, and draw up a rental agreement. If you come to my office on Monday you can sign it, and as long as you pay the first month’s rent, I will give you the keys.’
Sarah was chewing on her bottom lip as they left the premises and said to Lena, ‘Maybe I should talk to George before I sign the rental agreement. He might not want to go into business with me.’
‘Of course he will. He’ll be over the moon. Just make sure I’m there when you tell him.’
‘All right,’ Sarah agreed. ‘When everything is done and dusted we’ll bring him here and tell him together.’
Once she’d struggled to get out of bed and see any future for herself or any light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Now she was about to embark on a new venture as a business owner. Sarah smiled to herself. Things were looking up.
George was packing up his stall when he spotted the little bent old woman who had spoken to him in riddles. He’d met her once before, only briefly, and remembered he thought she was a bit odd. She was making a beeline for him again, and he braced himself.
‘Young man,’ she croaked. ‘You’re not with the woman you’re destined to be with!’
George shook his head, thinking the daft old bat made no sense, but then she scuttled off. Yet the more he thought about it, the more he knew she was right. He liked Julie, but she wasn’t the one for him. He didn’t know if he was destined to be with Sarah, but if he couldn’t have her, he didn’t want anyone.
George finished packing up his stall and went home. His journey passed quickly as his mind turned, mulling over the Julie problem. It was early evening when he arrived home. Sarah appeared to be in an extremely good mood, though his own didn’t match hers. He was supposed to be taking Julie out again next week, but wasn’t looking forward to it. He knew he had to tell her that he wasn’t going to be seeing her again, but worried that it would upset her.
‘What’s bothering you, George?’ Sarah asked later that evening as they sat together in front of the black and white images on the television.
‘Nothing,’ George answered.
‘Don’t give me that. You only rub your chin like that when you’ve got stuff on your mind.’
George smiled. Sarah knew him too well. ‘All right. It’s Julie,’ George said.
‘What’s the matter, has she given you the elbow?’
‘No, it’s the other way round. I’m gonna tell her I don’t want to see her any more. She’s nice, but she ain’t the one for me. I just don’t know how to tell her. I don’t want to hurt the girl. Any suggestions?’
‘You could say it’s you who has the problem.’
‘How do you mean?’ George asked.
‘Say something along the lines of “I really like you, Julie, you’re a lovely girl” and all that sort of stuff, but then tell her you prefer blokes,’ Sarah said with a wicked grin.
‘Sarah! I couldn’t say something like that. Apart from anything else, it’s against the law. Is that the best you can come up with?’
He liked it when Sarah laughed at his mock horror. It was nice to see her mucking about again.
‘I don’t know then, just tell her the truth. Women ain’t stupid, you know, we can normally see through a bloke’s lies … and before you say anything, I did say normally. Obviously, there are the few exceptions, Roger being a good example, but if you’re honest with her, she’ll appreciate it more.’
‘What, tell her I don’t love her?’ George asked.
‘Maybe not quite as bluntly as that. Start by saying you can’t help who you fall in love with, and you can’t force it to happen. Tell her how wonderful she is, and how much you hoped you would have fallen for her, but it just didn’t happen. Yes, she may be upset at first, but she’ll get over it, and she won’t be left with a bitter taste in her mouth ’cos you haven’t deceived her.’
‘All right, I’ll take your advice,’ George said, but knew that he couldn’t be totally honest with Julie. He could hardly tell her that he was in love with someone else, someone who would never see him as more than a friend.
George switched the television off, and Sarah warmed some milk. He could imagine it was the same at Albert’s house, and once again he wished Sarah was his wife.
Chapter 52
The weekend passed quickly and on Monday Sarah went to see the agent to sign the agreement for the new shop. It took surprisingly little time, and now she was holding the keys in her hand. It was official, she was the proud new owner of the old shoe shop on the main road, and she couldn’t wait to get started with the renovations, but the first thing she wanted to do was arrange the shop signage. Onc
e that was done, she planned on introducing George to his new business.
That evening, George went to see Julie, and Sarah was sitting up, waiting for him to come home. She heard his van pull up outside, and her heart skipped a beat. She thought it was strange that she felt so pleased to see him arrive home early, and even more happy that he’d given his girlfriend the heave-ho. She had no right to feel jealous of George being with Julie, but she had been, and was now glad she had him back to herself again.
‘How did it go?’ she asked as soon as George came through the door.
‘Nothing like you said it would,’ George said with a chortle.
‘Oh, what happened then?’ Sarah asked.
‘We were sat in my van, and I said everything like you suggested, but she suddenly turned into a crazy woman. First, she slapped me around the face, then she accused me of all sorts and called me every name under the sun. I was shocked, to say the least. I thought she was such a sweet little thing, but she turned the air blue with her language. Honestly, Sarah, I’ve never even heard a navvy swear like that. Once she’d said her piece, she got out of the van and slammed the door. Thank Gawd for that, I thought to myself, thinking that was the end of it, but then she started whacking my van with her handbag. I was trying to turn the keys in the ignition, and in all my fumbling, I dropped them. By the time I managed to get started and drive off, she’d knocked off my wing mirror!’
‘Blimey, George, sounds like you had a lucky escape and did the right thing by dumping her. Cor, can you imagine what it would have been like if you’d been married and had upset her in any way? Has she done much other damage to your van?’ Sarah asked, trying to hold in a fit of giggles. She shouldn’t laugh, she thought, it had obviously been quite traumatic for George.