Gilding the lilly, p.6
Gilding the Lilly, page 6
‘Oh call me Nora, lass, everyone does, an’ we’re family now, aren’t we?’
‘Yes, I suppose we are.’
‘I said to my Harold, you can’t go far wrong with a summer weddin’, six to one it’ll be fine for ’em an’ I weren’t wrong.’ Ralph’s mother’s voice was loud but it dropped a decibel or two as she added, ‘Look at ’em, they make a right picture, don’t they? Jack for Jill, all right.’
Geraldine’s gaze followed that of the smaller woman’s. Her face was blank but something of what she felt about Nora’s son came across in her voice when she said, ‘I’m sure Sarah will do her best to make the marriage successful.’
Uppity mare. Nora Turner stared at the well-dressed, elegant woman in front of her and the longing to slap her across the face was so strong she had to clench her teeth against it. That was all this wedding needed, a punch-up. That would crown it all. Her Harold would never forgive her if she let herself down like that, bless him. He didn’t like it when the lads went in for a bit of rough and tumble, let alone his wife. Keep talking, Nora, she told herself. Don’t let starchy-drawers get to you. ‘It’s always harder with the first one, you know.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘The first bairn to leave home, it always hits you hard. When our Cissy got married I was all of a dither for weeks before; drove Harold barmy, I did. But here she is, five years later, settled in a nice little home with a husband who thinks the world of her.You can’t ask for more than that, can you? Two bairns they’ve got, an’ another on the way.’
‘Really.’
‘An’ then our Florrie wed her Neville two years ago. Little lad she’s got. Bonniest baby you’ve ever seen. An’ both the twins, David an’ Francis, are courtin’ strong an’ them only just eighteen. I say to ’em, you want to be more like John. Plays it canny, does our John. He might be only twenty but he’s got an old head on his shoulders. Wants to get on in life. Goes to night school, John does.’
Nora paused, waiting for a response to this wonder. When none was forthcoming she sniffed before continuing, ‘Mind, it’ll be a while before the nest is empty. Our Robert leaves school in the summer but Hannah’s got a couple more years and little Larry’s not yet started. I can’t say I’m sorry for it in spite of the noise an’ mess my lot make. I was one of fifteen meself, an’ we all live within a stone’s throw of each other.You got any brothers or sisters, lass?’
‘A sister.’
‘Lives near, does she?’
‘No.’
Hen’s teeth, she’d cause a saint to swear, this one. It boded well for Ralph that Sarah took after her da rather than her mam. Stan seemed a good un’ from what she’d seen of him. He might be a gaffer at one of the shipyards and live in St Bede’s Terrace, but he didn’t come the old soldier like his lady wife. How he’d come to be landed with her she’d never know. And the other little lass seemed all right, all eyes and skinny with it, but nothing a husband and a bellyful of bairns wouldn’t sort out. She’d been as thin as a pikestaff herself once, till she’d started having the bairns one after the other.
Nora sipped at her beer.They were holding the little get-together for family and a few friends at Harold’s working men’s club. Geraldine had flatly refused to host a reception at her house. It had been Nora and her daughters who had prepared the sandwiches and ham and egg pies and the rest of the food, and Nora was reminded of this as she glanced at Geraldine’s soft white hands.Admittedly the Browns had stumped up for all the drink which would have come to a pretty penny, she couldn’t fault them on that, but Sarah’s mother had been determined not to help practically. She dare bet she never got her hands dirty if she could help it.
‘... is it, Mrs Turner?’
Nora caught her name but she had been far away. ‘What’s that, lass?’
‘I said’ - Geraldine’s tone verged on insultingly patient - ‘this marriage is hardly off to the best start with only the kitchen and bedroom being furnished at home.’
‘Don’t you worry your head about that,’ Nora said flatly, looking Geraldine straight in the eye. ‘My lad will soon sort the house out. It won’t do ’em any harm to build up gradual like, anyway, like me an’ Harold did. I understand your man wasn’t born with no silver spoon in his mouth if it comes to it.’
Geraldine’s creamy skin took on colour. ‘That is not quite the point, Mrs Turner.’
‘Perhaps not. Aye, perhaps not.The point as I see it is that they’re starting out with a bun already in the oven. That being the case, the pair of ’em will have to make the best of what comes along.’
‘Please keep your voice down.’
Dear gussy, did she really think anyone was fooled by this show today? A few words by the vicar and a white dress couldn’t put the pig back in the poke. ‘Me voice is me own to do with what I want, thank you very much.’
‘Sarah was a good girl before your son took advantage of her.’
Nora felt she would swipe her one and to hell with it if she had any more of this. Drawing herself up to her full five feet, four inches, she said, ‘It takes two to make a babbie in my book, and while we’re on the subject I haven’t heard Sarah complainin’ she was taken down against her will.’ Turning her back on Geraldine’s outraged countenance, Nora stalked across the room, her plump cheeks fiery red. It was just as well she wouldn’t be seeing anything much of that one after today because she wouldn’t be able to keep her hands to herself. Just because she was old Preston’s daughter, she thought herself the cat’s whiskers, but she was nowt in her book. And if what she’d heard was true, Sarah was born a mite quick after her parents had got wed. Certainly something had happened to upset the apple cart because by all accounts Preston had had nothing to do with the pair of them after the marriage. Not that she was throwing the first stone, things happened when a man and maid were young and the sap was running high, everyone knew that, and many a couple had to get to the church on the run. Look at Sarah and Ralph. But for her to come the hoity-toity as though butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth, that was something else.
‘What’s the matter with you? You look like you’ve lost a bob and found a farthing piece.’ Harold had joined his wife, his walrus moustache showing evidence of the beer he had been imbibing. He was a small man, thickset and stocky, and his face was a dull shiny red. This was not as a result of his fondness for beer but because he had worked in the blast furnaces at the shipyard most of his working life.
‘It’s her, Sarah’s mam. Havin’ a go at our Ralph, she was.’
‘Aye, well, likely she’s feeling middlin’ the day, lass. An’ it’s natural for her to want to blame our lad rather than Sarah. You’d probably be the same in her place.’
‘I would not.’ Nora reared up indignantly. ‘I never would, Harold Turner.’
‘Look, lass’ - he bent nearer to her, so close his moustache tickled her cheek - ‘I don’t like the woman any more than you do, if you want the truth of it, but keep your chin up, all right? Likely we won’t see much of her, an’ with Ralph an’ Sarah being a few doors away from us, you’ll be the one the lass comes to when she needs somethin’ or a bit of advice. If you let Geraldine rile you now an’ you lose your rag, it could put an obstacle between you an’ Sarah an’ you don’t want that.’
No, she didn’t. She liked her daughter-in-law. She nodded to her husband and he smiled at her, reaching for her empty glass. ‘You stay put an’ I’ll get you another, lass.’
As he trundled off Nora watched him, smiling faintly now. She had met Harold a week or two after her family had moved south from Glasgow when she was a lass of fifteen, and she still reckoned it had been the best day of her life. He might not amount to much in the world’s eyes, lacking any ambition or drive, but she knew she and the bairns came first with him and that was enough for her.
‘What were you and Da talking so quietly about?’
Nora’s hand went to her breast as she said, ‘Oh our John, you made me jump.’ John was Nora’s fourth child and three years younger than Ralph. She loved him as she loved each one of her children, but John was the only one she didn’t understand. The others were cut from the same mould as their parents, but she had always known John was different. From a little bairn John had wanted to know the whys and wherefores of everything he touched and saw. His teachers had all said he was very bright and had wanted him to try for a scholarship at some fancy school or other when he’d turned thirteen, but they’d needed an extra wage so John had had the choice of following his father into the shipyard or working at the docks with Ralph. A job had been going at the docks so that had clinched it. And then two years ago he’d announced he was going to night school in the town. Ralph had jibed him about that till they’d come to blows. It had transpired John had set his sights on becoming an accountant.
Nora smiled at her son, reaching out her hands and fondly straightening his tie. She’d felt funny about the night school but as the time had gone on and he’d remained the same old John she’d felt happier. ‘It’s her, Sarah’s mam,’ she said in answer to his question. ‘Turning up her nose at us all.’
‘Aye, I’ve noticed.’ John glanced across the room, his brown eyes narrowed. He was a good head taller than his older brother but apart from that the two young men were very similar with black hair and fresh-looking skin.
‘Ralph’ll have trouble in that direction, you mark my words. Every time she opens her mouth poison comes out. Still, at least Sarah don’t take after her mam.’
John said nothing to this. He did not envy Ralph his mother-in-law, but only time would tell if Sarah was as pleasant and easygoing as she seemed. One thing was for sure, many a lad would hesitate about taking up with one of the Brown sisters after clapping eyes on the mother. But then Ralph probably hadn’t thought that far. His brother had always let what was between his legs rule his head and, furthermore, it appeared Sarah had been obliging in that regard.
Harold returned with his wife’s drink. ‘I’ve just been talking to Stan’s mam and da. His da’s in a poor old way. Can’t work no more, apparently.’ Harold worked in Austin’s shipyard on the eastern side of town but all shipyard workers felt a kinship whatever yard they worked in. ‘Mind, he was a welder so what can you expect? Times I’ve looked into a tank where three or four welders were working and you couldn’t see the lights of the welding arcs for fumes. No wonder he can’t get his breath.’
John looked across to where Stanley Brown’s parents were sitting with the other sister, Lily. He had known she was there, he’d been conscious of her whereabouts all day which had faintly annoyed him. He couldn’t quite make her out, that was the thing. Physically she was almost shapeless in form, showing little evidence of either hips or bust and yet he understood she was only two and a half years younger than Sarah. And her face was unusual; bonny but definitely unusual. And her hair, he didn’t think he’d ever seen hair like it. But it was the air she had about her which had irritated him; it was cool, withdrawn. She was definitely a chip off her mother’s block.
Nora had followed his gaze. ‘That poor little lass has been sittin’ with her grandma an’ granda all afternoon. Why don’t you go across an’ make yourself known?’
Poor little lass? Only his mother could refer to that uppish piece as a poor little lass. He drained his glass before he said, ‘She’s sitting there because she wants to, Mam. No one’s forcing her.’
‘Aye, but likely she feels she’s got to keep the old couple company.’
‘She doesn’t want to join in, it’s as plain as the nose on your face.’
‘Not to me.’ Nora’s eyes were no longer soft on him. ‘She’s nowt but a bit of a lass an’ she don’t know folk, not our side, anyway, an’ there’s half a dozen of us to any one of them. Geraldine Brown already thinks we don’t know how to conduct ourselves an’ it’s not helpin’ with your head stuck in that glass.’
‘There’re plenty of other people who can talk to her. Why pick on me?’
If Nora had spoken truthfully here she would have said, ‘Because you’re bright and know about things the rest of us don’t,’ but this would have meant admitting she considered the Browns above them. Instead, she said, ‘You were Ralph’s best man an’ if things had been different an’ not so rushed, likely Sarah’s sister would have been chief bridesmaid. It would have been your job to look after her then.’
For crying out loud! John recognised his mother had got the bit between her teeth. She didn’t do it very often but when she did they all knew about it. He glanced at her face under the green felt hat. The hat clashed horribly with her new dress, a dress she could ill afford, but she’d been as pleased as punch when she’d got it cheap because it had a tear on the skirt. She’d sat all one evening mending it till it didn’t show. He reached out a hand and patted her arm, his voice reflecting the tenderness he felt for this indomitable little woman. ‘All right, all right, keep your wig on. I’ll go and make small talk for a minute or two if that’s what you want.’
‘I should think so.’ Nora hitched up her ample bust with her forearms, only partly mollified.‘You’ve never been shy an’ the lassies have been after you since you were in short pants, but it’s different for a lass like that one.’
He didn’t see how, besides which he’d bet his last farthing Lily Brown didn’t have a shy bone in her body. ‘Aye, all right, I’ve said I’d go, haven’t I? I take it I’m allowed to get myself another drink first?’
‘Please yourself.’
‘That’ll be the day with you around.’ He softened the words with a smile, drawing her plump little body into his side and hugging her for a moment.
Across the other side of the room with her grandparents on either side of her, Lily felt miserable. She was worried about Sarah, more worried than she had been earlier that morning because, now it was too late to say anything, she regretted not voicing her doubts about Ralph to her sister. But how could she have done? she asked herself for the umpteenth time. Sarah was having a bairn, she had to marry him.The shame of having a baby outside wedlock was unthinkable. No, she couldn’t have said anything but she felt awful nonetheless.
A gust of ribald laughter brought her head turning to where Ralph and a crowd of lads were standing. They were all three parts to the wind, and since they had left the church and entered the club she hadn’t seen Sarah and her new husband exchange more than a word or two. Ralph had been steadily knocking back the beer with his brothers and cousins, and Sarah had been going round the assembled company chatting to folk. It hadn’t seemed to bother her sister, admittedly, but it wasn’t right. It smacked of the sort of relationship so many people seemed to have round these parts, the man spending his free time at the local pub and his Saturday afternoons at the football match while his long-suffering wife stayed at home minding the bairns or went round to visit her mother.
Lily’s eyes moved to Geraldine. Her mother was talking to the vicar’s wife. Her granda had remarked earlier her mother was wearing a face like a smacked backside and he was right. She wasn’t making any effort to pretend she approved of the marriage.
She looked to where her father was talking with several of Ralph’s relations. As she did so, her father said something which provoked a gust of laughter. Her lip curled. Her father was acting a part as always. When they’d first found out Sarah was having a baby he had wanted to knock Ralph into next weekend.
Ava had followed her granddaughter’s gaze. She was well aware of the gulf between Stanley and his daughters and it disturbed her greatly. She was in absolutely no doubt who was behind it, but on the rare occasions she’d felt moved to broach the subject with the girls they had closed up like clams. Quietly, she murmured, ‘Would you rather your da spoilt Sarah’s wedding day by being unsociable and causing waves?’
Lily’s head shot round. She stared at her beloved grandma but said nothing.There was nothing she could say. She was being unreasonable, she admitted silently, but where her father was concerned she couldn’t help it.
‘He’s doing what he’s done since you an’ Sarah were born, what he believes is the best for you both. I pray God you’ll see that one day, lass.’
‘I’m sorry, Gran.’ She didn’t want to upset her grandma, she had enough on her plate with Granda being poorly. A surge of feeling demanding she take the sad look from her grandmother’s face swept through her, and quickly, with the lightest of kisses, her lips touched the faded, lined cheek. ‘I love you.’
It wasn’t often such things were said and Ava blinked before she smiled. ‘I love you too, me bairn.’
‘I’ll get you and Granda another drink.’ She gathered up the empty glasses and stood up just as John Turner reached her.
‘Hello.’ He nodded at Lily and then to the older couple. ‘I’m John, Ralph’s brother. I don’t think we’ve been introduced properly. ’ He shook Albert’s hand and then Ava’s, exchanging a few words before he turned to Lily.‘Can I get those refilled?’ He nodded at the glasses in her hands.
‘No, it’s all right.’ He was considerably taller than his brother but the resemblance to Ralph was so strong it brought immediate antipathy. ‘I need to stretch my legs.’
‘I’ll help you, then.’
‘There’s no need, really.’
‘I’d like to.’
‘I’m perfectly capable of getting the drinks myself.’ Her voice had been too sharp and as she saw his face change, she added lamely. ‘But thank you anyway.’
He turned from her without a word and she knew she had offended him. Staring after him, she could have kicked herself. What had got into her? She wasn’t normally like this.
After fetching the drinks she told her grandparents she needed to get some fresh air. This was true. For the last hour or so she had felt stifled in the thick, stale atmosphere of the club.The cloying smell of cheap cigarettes and pipe smoke and beer, along with an underlying odour she couldn’t put a name to but which was a composite of stale, unwashed bodies and old men’s pee, was making her feel nauseous.
Once outside in the club’s small yard it wasn’t much better. The stink from the privy was overpowering and there was evidence of vomit in dried patches on the cobbles. For one of the rare times in her life she felt in tune with her mother about something: this was an awful wedding. Poor Sarah. Oh, she wished the day was over and she was back home. She’d have the bedroom all to herself now.This thought was not comforting, and she felt she was missing Sarah already.
