MB06 - The Sunshine of your Smile, page 3
‘Thank you, that’s very kind of you.’ Victoria had never let her standards slip and was always gracious, as her parents had taught her to be. ‘That’s because I’m very well looked after by my adopted family and my friends. I am indeed very lucky.’
‘How’s the family, Beryl?’ Nellie asked. And then before the woman could answer, she went on to say, ‘I wouldn’t have to ask yer if yer talked a bit louder, ’cos I’d be able to hear yer through the walls. But we seldom hear a sound. Is that because you and your feller aren’t speaking, or because yer’ve knocked each other unconscious?’
Beryl chuckled. ‘Could be one or the other, Nellie, except my feller never falls out, he says life is too short. And he’d never dream of raising his hand to me or the kids.’
Molly knew they couldn’t keep Victoria out long, she’d soon get tired, so she decided to cut things short. ‘I’m sorry, Beryl, but I’m afraid it’s hello and goodbye. We don’t want to be out long so we’ll be on our way. We’ll see yer later, probably. Ta-ra for now.’
‘Well, that was nice, I must say! Yer did that on purpose, Molly Bennett, so I wouldn’t be able to tell Beryl about me being a grandma.’
‘Yer can talk to her to yer heart’s content when we get back, sunshine, but right now we’re taking Victoria to the butcher’s. So if we meet any more neighbours, it’s just a nod and a smile. Then, later on, yer can go round knocking on doors to tell them yer news, if yer like. But don’t be surprised if they look at yer funny, and ask how yer can be a grandmother to my daughter’s son. Mind you, they’ll understand if yer explain to them how yer’ve worked it out.’
‘If I thought yer were being sarky, girl, I’d belt yer one.’
Molly feigned surprise, while Victoria looked in bemusement from one to the other. ‘Me be sarky with you! Ye’re imagining things, sunshine. How could I possibly be sarcastic with me very best mate? Why, we’re almost like sisters!’
Nellie walked on without saying a word, her brow furrowed in thought. Then she said, ‘That’s right, girl, of course we’re sisters! Remember how years ago we cut our arms like the Indians do, and held them together so our blood would mix? Don’t yer remember that day, girl, ’cos I do. There was blood all over yer tablecloth while we pledged to be sisters for life.’
Molly gasped. She knew Victoria was wise to Nellie’s tales and took them with a pinch of salt, but although this one was too far-fetched to be true there was just a chance the old lady would believe it. ‘Nellie, yer imagination is certainly working overtime today. Victoria must think yer’ve flipped yer lid. Blood all over me tablecloth indeed! That’s a new one on me. As for slitting our arms with a knife . . . huh! That would be over my dead body.’
‘No, yer didn’t die, girl, I wouldn’t let that happen to yer. I tore up yer tablecloth and made bandages, and yer were soon sitting up and taking notice. Yer were too weak to do a war dance, though, so we had to wait until the next day when yer were feeling better.’
They were standing outside the butcher’s shop by this time, and Molly said to Victoria, ‘Have yer ever known anyone like my mate for telling tales?’
Victoria shook her head. ‘I really don’t know how she thinks all these things up. She amazes me, but it’s a good job I know her and don’t take her seriously. Otherwise I might have dreams about being initiated into the sisterhood of squaws.’
The three women were laughing when they entered the shop. The owner, Tony, excused himself from the customer he was serving so he could welcome Victoria. His assistant, Ellen, who was Molly’s next-door neighbour, followed him out from behind the counter. Pleasure at seeing Victoria could clearly be seen on their faces, an indication of the high esteem in which she was held. ‘It’s wonderful to see yer, Miss Clegg, looking as sprightly as ever,’ Tony told her. ‘You’re as welcome as the flowers in May.’
Ellen gave her a gentle hug. ‘Tony’s right, yer do look well. And it’s lovely to see yer out and about.’
The two customers in the shop weren’t going to be left out. It was ages since they’d seen the old lady, and they greeted her warmly. ‘It’s nice to see yer looking well, queen, yer don’t look a day older than the last time I saw yer.’
‘Cissie’s right, and it must be over a year since we last saw yer. I look like an old hag compared to you.’
Victoria delighted in the fuss being made of her. ‘It’s lovely to be out, and it’s all thanks to Molly and Nellie. They’re angels, both of them.’
Nellie was preening herself. ‘Angels and grandmothers, Victoria, or did yer forget?’
Ellen frowned. ‘You can’t be a grandmother yet, Nellie, Jill’s only about three months.’
Molly took a deep breath and blew out slowly. ‘Ellen, take a bit of advice from me and let the matter drop. Unless yer want you and the customers still to be here when it’s time for yer to close up for the day.’
Tony chortled as he went back to serving his customer. ‘Oh, what’s she been up to now? Come on, give us all a laugh.’
Nellie knew she was getting cow’s eyes from Molly, but she didn’t care, it was only for a laugh. ‘What shall I tell him, girl? About me being a grandma, or your tablecloth being covered in blood?’
Tony’s customer’s mouth dropped open. The tablecloth covered in blood! My God, this should be worth listening to. So she waved aside the parcel Tony was handing over the counter to her. ‘I’ll get me purse out in a minute, you finish serving Irene. I don’t mind waiting a while.’
‘I wouldn’t waste me time if I were you, Cissie, ’cos she’s only pulling yer leg.’ Molly was eager to be served in case Victoria became tired. ‘Nellie, will yer tell the ladies yer were only acting daft?’
‘Oh, about the tablecloth yer mean? It’s a few years ago now, but it’s still fresh in my mind. Yeah, Cissie, me and Molly had been to see a cowboy film the night before, and we decided we’d like to be squaws. And to be sisters, yer have to mix yer blood. But Molly hasn’t got much sense of fun, and she wouldn’t let me nick her arm with the carving knife. So to make it look real, I got a bottle of tomato sauce out of her pantry and poured some on our arms. But yer know what it’s like getting sauce out of a bottle – yer wait ages for it, then it comes all in one dollop, and it went all over her cloth. And it didn’t half look like real blood after we’d tried to wipe it up.’
Cissie knew when she was being taken for a ride. With flared nostrils and a look of disgust on her face, she paid Tony, grabbed the meat with one hand, her friend Irene with the other, and marched out of the shop. They could hear her saying: ‘Silly buggers! It’s about time they grew up.’
Victoria was thoroughly enjoying herself. It was a long time since she’d mixed with these people she’d known for years, and she’d laughed so much this morning she felt a lot younger than her ninety years. But when Molly had bought two lean breasts of lamb for her and Doreen, and Nellie had wormed extra lamb’s liver off Tony, the old lady agreed that to carry on to the cake shop would be too much for her. ‘Tomorrow’s another day, sunshine,’ Molly told her, ‘and weather permitting me and Nellie will take yer to the cake shop then. It would give Edna Hanley a surprise, she’s always asking about yer. I can just imagine her face when we walk yer into the shop.’
‘What about our spuds, girl, are we coming out again when we take Victoria home?’
‘We’ll have to, sunshine, ’cos I need spuds and bread. It won’t take us long if you walk with yer eyes closed and don’t see no one yer know. When we come out shopping, it’s the same every day. We spend more time gabbing in the streets than we do getting our shopping in.’
‘I can’t help it if I’m popular, girl, now can I?’
‘No, sunshine, and yer can’t help having a voluptuous body, what no man can resist. And I know ye’re telling me the truth about that, because Tony has never taken his eyes off yer since we came in the shop.’
His face red with laughter, Tony flicked his straw hat further back on his head. ‘It’s a good job my missus isn’t here, she’d wring me neck. She’s no sense of humour, my wife.’
Her face deadpan, Nellie said, ‘Mmm, she must be like Molly then. She’s got no sense of humour either.’ Then she grinned at her friend. ‘Okay, girl, keep yer hair and yer knickers on, I’m coming now. And I’ll keep me mouth shut until we get home. But I ain’t walking with me eyes closed, just to please yer. I know what ye’re after, yer want me to get run over ’cos yer can’t stand me being more attractive than you are. I don’t blame yer, mind, ’cos I’d be the same. Jealousy is a terrible thing, and I know yer can’t help it. So to please both of us, I’ll walk home with one eye open and one eye closed.’
They managed to get through the shop door, and were standing on the pavement when Nellie stepped back inside and shouted, ‘Remind me to tell yer how I became a grandma, Ellen, yer’ll find it very interesting.’
Molly gritted her teeth then said, ‘Forward march, Nellie, or I’ll not have time to stuff me breast of lamb and get it in the oven to do slowly.’
‘Speaking of breasts, girl, did yer see the way Tony . . .’
Molly pulled the trio to a halt and put a hand over Nellie’s mouth. ‘That is going too far, sunshine, I’m sure Victoria is disgusted with yer.’
But that wasn’t true. The old lady was keeping her laughter back until she could tell Doreen and Phil. They would really enjoy hearing what it was like to spend an hour in Nellie’s company.
Chapter Two
Molly opened the oven door to make sure the breast of lamb wasn’t being done too quickly, and the smell that wafted out brought a blissful smile to her face. ‘Ooh, that’s just what the doctor ordered,’ she told the empty kitchen. ‘Jack will be over the moon, it’s one of his favourite meals.’ She closed the door and turned to wash her hands at the sink. ‘I’d better put a move on and make meself presentable before Jill gets here.’
This was the time of day Molly looked forward to most. Her eldest daughter called in every night on her way home from work, and although she only stayed five minutes because she wanted to be home in time to see to Steve’s dinner, those five minutes meant a lot to Molly. A glance at the clock told her it was just about time, so she took off her pinny, folded it, and threw it into the kitchen where it landed on the draining board. ‘Good shot, Molly.’ She smiled at her reflection in the mirror over the mantelpiece. ‘Yer should take up darts.’
Then came the knock, and she nearly fell over herself to get to the door quickly. ‘Hello, sunshine.’ Molly opened her arms and Jill walked into them as she’d been doing since the day she took her first steps. ‘Yer look the picture of health. Being pregnant suits yer.’
‘I feel fine, Mam, I’m not even sick in the mornings any more. But I’m beginning to show and the girl I work with passed comment this morning.’
‘It’s got nothing to do with her, sunshine, so take no notice.’
‘Oh, she wasn’t nasty or anything, just said I was blossoming. She’s got two children herself, so she understands.’
Molly gazed at her first-born. Jill took after her for looks, as did Doreen and Ruthie. They were all pretty, with long blonde hair and vivid blue eyes. Except that Molly’s hair was now peppered with white and she was no longer the slim girl she’d been before having the children. Jill was the gentle one of the family and would never raise her voice in anger, unlike her two sisters. In fact, Molly couldn’t remember Jill ever answering her back. ‘Have yer set a time for packing in work, yet? Yer don’t want to carry on too long.’
‘As soon as I start to feel uncomfortable, I’ll hand in my notice. But me and Steve have got a nice little sum in the Post Office now, and it makes us feel better to know we’ve got something to fall back on when we get a house of our own. Not that we’re thinking of leaving Mrs Corkhill because we like it there, and she wants us to stay. But sometime in the future, if we have more than one baby, then it’ll be a case of having to.’
The front door had been left ajar. Now they heard it being pushed open so hard, it banged against the hall wall. ‘In the name of God, do yer have to do everything so quick, Ruthie, can’t yer think before yer act?’
‘I didn’t mean to push so hard, Mam, but I was in a hurry ’cos I thought I might miss seeing me big sister.’ Ruthie put her arms around Jill’s waist and hugged her. ‘We don’t half miss yer, yer know. Me mam wouldn’t say nothing in case it upset yer, but the house is like a morgue with you and Doreen and Tommy gone.’
‘I miss you too,’ Jill said. ‘But it’s not as though I’ve gone to live miles away.’ She put a hand on each of her sister’s arms and pressed her away so she could see her properly. ‘Good grief, Ruthie, ye’re nearly as tall as I am! A few more inches and our eyes will be on a level.’
‘Ooh, don’t tell her that, sunshine, she already acts like an old woman. She can’t wait to leave school so she can go out with boys.’
‘I thought yer were keen on Gordon Corkhill?’ Jill’s smile was teasing. ‘Or has someone else knocked him off his pedestal?’
‘I think she’s torn between Gordon and Jeff Mowbray,’ Molly said. ‘She can’t make up her mind, but I’ve told her not to worry because she’s got quite a few years yet before she even thinks of courting.’
The young girl’s chin came out in a show of defiance. ‘Our Jill started courting Steve when she was only fifteen, didn’t yer, Jill? So I’ve only got about sixteen months to go. And that’s not long, ’cos I’ll have been working for a year by that time.’
‘Listen to me, sunshine. No matter how old yer are, ye’re not too old to smack, so don’t be giving me any old buck. I like Gordon, he’s a nice kid, but he’s not old enough to be thinking of girls even though he has been working for a year. And the same goes for Jeff Mowbray. We don’t know that much about the family, they’re new in the street, but he seems a nice enough kid. Still, no matter how nice they are, yer can forget about boys for a while, and I mean that. Yer dad would have a fit if he knew his youngest daughter had an eye for the boys.’ Molly couldn’t keep her thoughts to herself. ‘I know what yer Auntie Nellie would say, too. She’d say yer take after yer me, ’cos she’s always telling me I’m man-mad.’
Ruthie pursed her lips and nodded knowingly. ‘Oh, aye, so what does Auntie Nellie know that we don’t? She must have some reason. I’ll have to ask her some time when she’s on her own.’
‘Don’t you dare ask Nellie!’ Molly was sorry now she’d mentioned her friend, because after an hour in Nellie’s company, Ruthie wouldn’t need anyone to tell her about the birds and the bees. ‘Ye’re thirteen, sunshine, so don’t be trying to grow old before yer time.’
Ruthie had been a surprise, coming seven years after Tommy was born. And of course she’d been spoilt, being the baby of the family. She was far more advanced than her sisters were at that age, and certainly not afraid to speak her mind, even if it did mean a slapped bottom. Then again, all the local kids seemed to be advanced for their age. It must be due to the war years when there was less discipline.
‘Yer dinner smells nice, Mam.’ Jill’s nose wrinkled as she sniffed up. ‘It’s not half making me feel hungry.’
‘Why don’t yer stay and have yer dinner with us, Jill?’ Ruthie missed her sisters more than she would ever admit, especially Jill who never shouted at her and was always ready to wipe away a tear. ‘Me mam could make it stretch to another one, couldn’t yer, Mam?’
‘Of course I could, sunshine, but Jill has a husband to look after, and he’ll be in from work soon expecting her to have a dinner ready for him. And I know yer’ve got a soft spot for Steve, so yer wouldn’t want him to go hungry, would yer?’
Ruthie sighed and shook her head. ‘No, I know I’m being daft. But I don’t half miss yer, and so do me mam and dad.’
Jill put an arm across her sister’s shoulders. ‘And I miss you. I love the bones of all of yer. But Steve is my husband now, and yer know I’ve always been crazy about him. And if I don’t make an effort to get home now, I’ll worry meself sick that his dinner won’t be ready to put on the table when he comes in.’
‘What are yer having, sunshine?’ Molly asked. ‘Anything nice?’
‘Mrs Corkhill is cooking tonight. I told her she shouldn’t, but yer know how stubborn she can be. It’s an easy meal, though, we’re having corned beef hash. It’s one of her favourites and she makes it nice and tasty with plenty of onions in.’
‘It’s a few days since me and Nellie called in to see her, she’ll think we’ve forgotten her. Tell her we’ll nip up tomorrow for a cup of tea and a natter.’
‘She knows yer’ve had yer hands full, Mam. She said she doesn’t know how yer’ve managed everything so well, with the three of us getting married and Bobby’s christening in such a short space of time. And yer don’t have to worry about her, she’s fine. Considering her age, she does very well. I mean, Uncle Corker is in his forties so she must be near the seventy mark. Yet she keeps the house spotless, does her own washing and ironing, and always looks neat and tidy. I keep telling her to leave the housework, me and Steve would do it over the weekend, but she insists on doing it herself. She says it keeps her young, and if she sat all day doing nothing but twiddling her thumbs, she’d end up like a cabbage.’
‘I can’t imagine Lizzie sitting all day doing nothing, it’s not in her nature.’ Molly cast an anxious eye at the clock. ‘I don’t want to throw yer out, sunshine, but yer’ve been here longer than usual tonight, and Steve will be home before yer.’
Jill smiled as she nodded. ‘I’ll blame it on Ruthie for keeping me back, telling me about her love life. Anyway, I’ll be on me way now so give us a kiss, Mam, and you, Ruthie.’
