MB09 - You Stole My Heart Away Page 16

  ‘He is big for his age.’ Victoria said, pride in her voice. Being part of a big family, and well loved by them, had made a new woman of her. Five years ago, she was a lonely old lady with nothing to look forward to. And now, every night in bed she said a prayer to thank God for her blessing. ‘And he’s getting more like his father every day. Don’t you think so, Molly?’

  ‘I certainly do, Victoria.’ Molly pulled a chair from the table and sat facing the old lady in her rocking chair. ‘And he won’t go far wrong if he takes after his dad.’ She tilted her head. ‘And it’s all down to you, Victoria. We all told you not to take a stranger into your home; even Corker was against it. But you took Phil in, and proved we were all wrong. And what a blessing yer did, sunshine, for he turned out to be a jewel. A wonderful husband to Doreen, a son-in-law to be proud of, and a doting father to Bobby. Phil adores you, Victoria, and rightly so. You gave him a home when he was homeless, and he’s given you a family when you were lonely.’ She sniffed. ‘I don’t know what brought that on, I’ll be crying in me tea when Doreen fetches it in. But your life, and Phil’s, would make a marvellous story. If I knew how, I’d write it meself.’

  Nellie walked into the kitchen with Bobby nestled against her soft bosom. ‘When yer mam makes up her mind whether she can write a book or not, and we can sit down and have a natter, then we’ve got some news for you and Victoria.’

  Doreen had the tray set and ready to carry in, but she was curious now. ‘Ooh, what is it, Auntie Nellie? I hope it’s something exciting, so I can tell Phil when he comes home. The first thing he asks when he’s washing his hands is, “What have yer mam and Mrs Mac been up to today?”’

  ‘Ah, that’s nice of him, girl. It’s good to know someone appreciates us. But I can’t say what news we’ve got to tell yer, because my mate would have me life if I told yer when she wasn’t here. You carry the tray in, and I’ll see if she’s finished writing the book she was yapping about. I’ll take the baby in.’

  ‘I’ll take Bobby once I’ve put the tray down, Auntie Nellie, and you can drink yer tea in comfort. Mam will do the honours and pour, won’t yer, Mam? And I believe yer’ve got some news for us? Auntie Nellie was tight-lipped, she said yer’d go mad if she told me. So be an angel, Mam, and hand Aunt Vicky her tea, with two custard creams in the saucer. There’s only two biscuits each for us; I’ll have to buy some when I go to the shops later. Jill’s coming down, with little Moll, and we’re going for a walk.’

  Molly placed the saucer in Victoria’s hand and held it steady. ‘Can yer manage if I put the biscuits in the saucer, sunshine? I don’t want yer to spill any tea on yer dress.’

  ‘I can manage fine, Molly. My hands are very steady.’

  ‘We’re all settled now, Mam, so let’s be having the news.’ Doreen pulled the baby’s grasping fingers away from the table, where they could do no harm. He was into everything now, and she had to watch him like a hawk. ‘I’m all ears, Mam.’

  ‘I’m having second thoughts about telling yer, sunshine, because there’s someone else who has the right to be the first to be told. And I don’t want to cause any unpleasantness in the family.’

  Nellie looked puzzled. ‘What are yer talking about, girl? I’m the one what has more right than anyone, ’cos I’m family.’

  ‘Doreen, and you, Victoria, I hope yer won’t think me rude, but I’d like to have a quiet word in the kitchen with Nellie. We won’t be more than a couple of minutes. I just want to make sure we’re not stepping on anyone’s toes. Come on, sunshine, the biscuits will still be here when we come back.’

  Nellie pulled a face and was muttering under her breath as she scraped her chair back. And in the kitchen she glared up at her mate. ‘What the hell are yer playing at, girl? Yer were all for telling them before, and now yer’ve changed yer mind! But it’s not up to you, Molly Bennett, ’cos it’s my son’s wedding.’

  ‘I know that, sunshine, and I never gave a thought to whether we should leave Paul and Phoebe to break the news. After all, there are others who should be told. Like Steve, he should be the first, being Paul’s brother. And from what we heard, he’ll be asked to be best man. Plus your Lily should be one of the first to know as well, being Paul’s older sister.’

  ‘Is that all?’ Nellie’s face creased. ‘Well, for your information, Steve and Lily already know. As soon as we’d left Corker’s last night, Paul and Phoebe went over a few things with Ellen and Corker, then they went to tell Steve and Lily the news. Yer don’t think our Paul would leave his brother and sister to be the last to hear, do yer? That would be the last thing Paul would do, ’cos my three children are very close. So yer don’t need to worry about stepping on toes, girl, because all the family know. And Jill knows as well because she was there when Paul asked Steve if he’d be his best man.’

  Molly breathed a sigh of relief and bent to hug her mate. ‘I wish yer’d told me before, sunshine, then we wouldn’t both be standing in the kitchen letting our tea go cold.’

  ‘You worry too much, girl, that’s your trouble. Yer always try to please everyone, and do what yer think is right. Well, worrying is bad for yer health, girl, and if yer don’t watch out, it’ll be you what ends up like one of those mummy things, standing by the sideboard in my living room. But I won’t let George strike a match on yer, girl, that’s one thing yer won’t have to worry about.’

  In the living room, Victoria and Doreen exchanged glances when they heard laughter coming from the kitchen. ‘That’s your two grandmas yer can hear, Bobby, and that’s how they always are.’ Doreen smiled as Bobby bounced up and down on her knee, and silently told herself she was indeed a very lucky daughter, wife and mother. And more than lucky to have an adopted aunt like Victoria Clegg.

  Nellie waddled back into the living room. ‘Your mam will worry over anything, girl, even the tiniest thing. Just wait until I tell yer why she wanted a word in private.’ She jerked her head back, and in agreement, her chins decided the tempo was right for a slow foxtrot. ‘Come on in, Molly. There’s no need to be embarrassed, even if yer are a silly nit.’

  ‘I can’t help being fussy, sunshine.’ Molly gave a broad wink as she followed Nellie into the room. ‘Better to be sure than sorry, and better to be slow than slapdash.’ She sank on to her chair. ‘I am the way I was made, and that’s all there is to it.’

  ‘I wasn’t made like this, girl.’ Nellie’s grin was so wide her eyes and mouth completely disappeared for a few seconds. ‘I was lovely and slim, with a face like Marilyn Monroe and legs like Betty Grable.’ She gave an exaggerated sigh. ‘What yer see before yer today is due to my liking for cream slices and biscuits. Not just a couple, like, ’cos this voluptuous body didn’t come overnight. It took thousands of cream cakes and no willpower to get this way.’

  ‘Now we’ve admitted to our failings, sunshine, I’ll have to ask yer to tell your news, so we can get to the butcher’s before they close for dinner. Go ahead, sunshine, we’re all ears.’

  Nellie shuffled on her chair until she felt comfortable, then reached for a custard cream which she devoured in two seconds flat. ‘I’ll just have a mouthful of tea to wash that down.’ She licked her lips, lifted her bosom on to the table, then asked, ‘Yer know our Paul, don’t yer?’

  Doreen chuckled. ‘I think so, Auntie Nellie. Isn’t he the boy I used to play with when I was a kid? Black hair, brown eyes and dimples. That’s the one, isn’t it?’

  ‘Right on the nose, girl, right on the nose!’ Nellie very seldom took offence, and she didn’t now. ‘Well, he’s getting married in a few months’ time.’ A kick on the shin from her mate had her quickly adding, ‘Him and Phoebe are getting wed.’

  ‘Oh, that’s wonderful news, Nellie.’ Victoria set her rocking chair in motion. ‘I’m really delighted, for they make a lovely couple.’

  Doreen danced the baby up and down on her knee. ‘At last, Auntie Nellie. We’ve waited a long time to hear that. I am so happy for both of them. When is the big day to be?’


  ‘It’s going to be on Phoebe’s birthday, which is on the eighteenth of September. It’s a Friday, but the men all said they can get the day off. Steve’s going to be best man, but that’s all I know for now. Your Jill may be able to tell yer more, because she was in last night when Paul and Phoebe went up there. Our Paul said Steve was very happy for them, and he’s over the moon at being asked to be best man. But that’s all I know, girl, ’cos they haven’t had time to sort bridesmaids out or anything. Everyone was too excited last night to be able to think straight, but they’ll calm down in a few days and go and see Father Kelly to book a time for the wedding.’

  Doreen, who was thrilled for the engaged couple she’d known all her life, asked, ‘This calls for a new mother of the groom hat, eh, Auntie Nellie? Or are yer making use of the one yer had for Lily’s wedding? That is a real humdinger of a hat.’

  ‘Am I hell wearing the same hat!’ Nellie was quite adamant about that. Hadn’t she lain awake for hours last night, too excited to sleep? And hadn’t the main issue on her mind been, not the bride’s dress, but her own hat! After all, this would be the fourth wedding in the Bennett and McDonough clan, and hadn’t her hats been the talk of the whole neighbourhood for weeks? She had no intention of lowering her standards now, and letting the side down. ‘Me and yer mam will be going hat hunting soon. And for the other things, like dress, shoes and handbag. Oh, and I can’t forget gloves. We mustn’t give the neighbours room to say we are as common as muck.’ The chins anticipated the sharp nods, and immediately went into a quick-step. ‘Paul will be the last of my children to get married, and I intend it to be a wedding the whole neighbourhood will still be talking about in years to come. Only the best will do.’ She turned to Molly. ‘Don’t you agree with me, girl?’ Then the devil in her surfaced. ‘I’ve already told yer mam she can’t wear her red beret, even though they are the height of fashion in France.’

  Doreen let it be known she wasn’t without humour. ‘Oh, I don’t know, Auntie Nellie, I think me mam would really look nice in a beret. Especially a bright red one. Just think how the red would show off her long blonde hair. She’d really stand out.’

  ‘Oh, she’d stand out, girl, I’ll agree with yer on that. Outside the church is where she’d stand! And she wouldn’t be there long before the police moved her on. They’d think she was a lady of the night.’

  Victoria tittered before saying, ‘But it wouldn’t be night, would it, Nellie? Surely the wedding will be in the morning or afternoon? Father Kelly would never perform a wedding ceremony at night.’

  ‘I don’t care what nobody says, she’s not coming to my son’s wedding in a red beret. Even if she is me best mate, she not making a laughing stock of the McDonough family. And that’s me last word on it, so there!’

  Molly asked, ‘Even if I promise to sit on me own in the back pew?’

  ‘Yer can wear a black veil over your face, girl, as long as there’s no red beret on top of it.’

  Doreen was tickled. ‘Ye’re not helping French fashion, Auntie Nellie, and the French are very fashion conscious. I don’t know what they’d say if they heard you.’

  ‘Well, d’yer know what I say, girl? I say sod the French, and their knickers. Have yer seen those knickers? There’s nothing of them! The price they charge for a bit of satin and lace what wouldn’t even keep the draught out! Indecent, that’s what they are. Those French people must all be heathens. Cold ones at that, if all they wear are those ruddy knickers. Give me the old fleecy-lined bloomers any day. Yer know where yer are with them.’

  ‘Nellie, bloomers went out of fashion before the war,’ Molly said. ‘You’re probably the only woman under eighty years of age wearing them. These days, that part of the anatomy is covered by knickers or briefs.’

  ‘Yer don’t need to tell me that, girl, ’cos since Blacklers closed down, the only place what sells bloomers is Paddy’s Market. And they only have them in blue and pink, no variety.’

  ‘Why, what colour would yer like, Auntie Nellie?’ Doreen asked. ‘A nice bright orange, or red?’

  ‘Ay, red would be nice, Nellie. Yer could wear them when ye’re doing the flamenco.’ Tongue in cheek, Molly added, ‘Mind you, yer couldn’t wear them for the wedding. Yer’d have to stand outside the church with me in me red beret.’

  ‘No I wouldn’t, clever clogs, ’cos no one would see me knickers. And what is the flameco when it’s out?’

  ‘It’s called the flamenco, Auntie Nellie,’ Doreen told her, ‘and they do it in Spain. Yer must have seen it in a film at some time. The senoritas have those maracas in their hands and they click them while they stamp their feet and swish their full skirts around.’

  ‘Ooh, I know what yer mean, girl, ’cos I think me and yer mam did see a film with dancers like that in. The women were showing their legs off, and dancing round this man.’ She gave Molly a none too gentle dig. ‘Ay, girl, what was that film star’s name? The one with black hair and flashing white teeth. Dead handsome, he was. I wouldn’t have minded dancing round him meself.’

  ‘I can see the man in me head, sunshine, but for the life of me I can’t remember his name. It’s on the tip of me tongue, but won’t come out. Ye’re right about him being handsome, and he really looked Spanish.’ Then Molly thumped the table with a clenched fist. ‘I’ve got it, Nellie. His name’s Anthony Quinn.’

  ‘Oh, yeah, I remember now,’ Nellie said. ‘Ay, if he ever asked me to dance, I’d definitely buy a pair of those French knickers. And I’d be swishing me skirt around so he could see them. He wouldn’t half get his money’s worth.’

  ‘And an eyeful.’ Molly tutted. ‘Is there anything you wouldn’t do to get attention, sunshine?’

  ‘Yeah, of course there is, moaning Minnie. I wouldn’t give up eating me cream slices and custard creams. And another thing I wouldn’t do is to cut me throat.’

  ‘Oh, dear, oh dear.’ Molly shook her head several times. ‘If yer did the latter, sunshine, then yer’d have to give up the former.’

  Nellie’s face was like rubber, bending into every shape. Then, when she couldn’t figure out what Molly had said, she turned to Doreen. ‘I’m sure your mam makes up words what aren’t real, just to get me mad. Can you tell me in plain English what she’s just said about me?’

  ‘She wasn’t trying to be funny, Auntie Nellie, but to tell yer the truth I thought it was hilarious meself. Anyway, if yer go back to what yer said, yer’d know what me mam was getting at. If yer cut yer throat, then yer wouldn’t have no need to buy cream slices, would yer? On the other hand, if yer gave up yer cakes and biscuits then yer wouldn’t have any reason to cut yer throat. Is that more clear to yer now?’

  ‘Clear as mud, girl, clear as mud. But thank you. Yer did yer best and no one can ask for no more.’

  ‘Will you do yer best and finish that last custard cream, sunshine,’ Molly said, ‘so we can try and make the butcher’s in time. I don’t know what to get in for the dinner, but I’ll think of something by the time we’ve walked there.’

  ‘I’m just doing mashed potatoes for our meal,’ Doreen said. ‘Mashed potatoes with butter in, and two runny eggs on top. Phil loves that. He’d have it every night if I let him.’

  Molly and Nellie looked at each other and grinned. ‘There yer are, girl,’ Nellie said, ‘problem solved.’

  Molly nodded. ‘Thanks, Doreen, we’ll have the same, save us racking our brains. It’s an easy meal, and we all like it.’

  Nellie added another reason for egg and mash. ‘And it’s cheap, girl, two bob at the most.’

  ‘I bet yer won’t tell George that the dinner for three of yer only cost two shillings.’

  ‘I might act daft, Molly Bennett, but where George is concerned I’m not that daft. If I told him, when he was halfway through his dinner, that it only cost two bob, he’d lower me housekeeping money.’

  ‘I won’t snitch on yer, sunshine, if yer’ll say farewell to our hosts and we can be on our merry way.’

  Having duly kisse
d the baby and Doreen, Nellie bent to kiss Victoria and whispered, ‘See what I mean about me mate? I mean, ye’re not our friends or neighbours, ye’re our hosts!’ She tapped her temple. ‘Don’t forget now. And don’t worry if we give a little curtsy next time we come, just put it down to Molly’s age and go along with anything she says or does. Spring is in the air, yer see, and I’ve heard it does affect some people.’

  ‘Spring had better be in your steps, Nellie McDonough, as well as in the air. And don’t be making a beeline for the butcher’s so yer can have a good natter to Ellen about the wedding, because we don’t need to go to the butcher’s seeing as we’re having egg and mashed spuds for our dinner.’

  Molly was opening the front door when she heard Nellie saying to Doreen, ‘See what yer’ve done now? Because of you, we are not going to the butcher’s, which means I don’t get to speak to Ellen. The mother of the bride and the mother of the groom are being kept apart because you are having egg and mash. So in future, girl, don’t bother telling us what you eat, but keep it to yerself.’

  ‘I’ll do that, Auntie Nellie. I was going to tell yer I’d make a mince pie for you and me mam tomorrow, with thick onion gravy inside. But I won’t tell yer now, ’cos yer’ve told me to keep me mouth shut.’

  Molly had stepped down on to the pavement and she was chuckling. It would be interesting to see how her mate got out of the mess she’d got herself into. Oh, she’d get out of it, of that there was no doubt. But seeing her facial contortions, and hearing her coaxing voice, well, it was worth waiting for. And there was no hurry now, seeing as they were having an easy meal.

  ‘I didn’t mean no harm, girl. Yer should know me well enough by now to know when I’m joking.’

  Doreen, like her mother, had to bite on the inside of her mouth to stop herself from laughing. ‘It’s all right, Auntie Nellie, we’re all entitled to say what we think. Don’t you worry now, because it’s easier for me to just make one extra mince pie for me mam. So then you can buy whatever takes yer fancy.’