MB09 - You Stole My Heart Away

by Joan Jonker

  ‘Just leave it, pet,’ Gordon said. ‘If she’s soft enough to fall for a scamp like him, then she’s not worth worrying about.’

  Ruthie nodded, but she didn’t agree in her heart, and she kept sneaking looks while they were dancing. It was when the tango came to an end, and she was leaving the floor with Gordon’s arm round her waist, that she saw the lad who was the cause of all the trouble pulling a reluctant Bella through the double doors of the hall. ‘Gordon, that bloke’s just gone out with Bella!’

  ‘Leave her to it, if that’s what she wants, pet. Ye’re not her minder.’

  ‘But he was dragging her out, Gordon! I could see she didn’t want to go, she was trying to free her hand! I’m going after them, I’ve got to. You can stay here if yer want, but I’m going to make sure Bella knows what she’s doing, and whether that lad is frightening her. Me mam would go mad if anything bad happened and I didn’t help.’

  ‘Ye’re not going on yer own, pet, I’m coming with yer. But I think yer’ll find Bella’s being daft again.’

  They left the dance hall in a hurry, expecting to find Bella and the lad in the foyer, but there was no sign. In fact it was quiet and empty, apart from the doorman.

  ‘Have yer seen my friend?’ Ruthie asked. ‘You know her, she comes with us every time we come.’

  ‘I know who yer mean,’ the man told her. ‘She’s just gone out with some bloke. I was a bit suspicious actually because I know four of yer always come together, and the lad she’s gone out with is noted for being a troublemaker. I almost stopped them because yer friend didn’t seem to want to go with him, but the lad said they’d be back in ten minutes, they were only going out to get some sweets.’

  ‘Did yer see which way they went?’ Gordon asked. ‘It’s not like our friend to go out without telling us.’

  ‘They turned right, and yer’ll catch them up because they’d only gone out of the door when you appeared.’

  Gordon was concerned now, and he propelled Ruthie through the door and into the road. ‘They can’t have gone far. I don’t think they’ll have crossed over, but you keep yer eyes peeled on this side, and I’ll look the other side. Watch out for the alleyways, and listen for Bella’s voice. I don’t like the sound of this lad.’

  They had passed two side streets and were crossing the third when Ruthie pulled Gordon to a halt. ‘I’m sure I heard Bella’s voice. Listen.’

  A few seconds later, Gordon dropped Ruthie’s hand. ‘That’s Bella all right and she’s not happy. They’re in the first entry, come on.’

  As they turned into the entry, Bella sounded distressed as she cried, ‘Leave go of me, I want to go back to my friends. Get away from me, I don’t like you.’

  ‘Don’t be such a baby, give us a kiss.’ That’s as far as the lad got before Gordon had him by the scruff of the neck and pulled him into the street. Bella was crying and clinging to Ruthie when they heard a blow being struck, then Gordon saying, ‘Count yerself lucky I’m letting yer off lightly because I wouldn’t waste me breath on yer. And when I get back to Blair Hall I’m going to report you, and I’ll make sure ye’re banned from ever getting in there again.’

  ‘I haven’t done nothing wrong.’ The lad tried to bluff it out. ‘We were only having a lark, what’s wrong with that? A kiss on the cheek doesn’t do no one any harm. Can’t yer take a joke?’

  ‘Oh, I can take a joke,’ Gordon said. ‘But I don’t happen to think you are funny. In fact I think ye’re pathetic and I’m not wasting any more time on yer. So scarper before I black yer other eye for yer.’

  Gordon watched the lad run hell for leather to the main road, and waited until he disappeared round the corner. Then he returned to the girls. ‘Are yer all right, Bella? He didn’t hurt yer, did he?’

  Still shaking, Bella shook her head. Neither she nor her friends were to know that in the last fifteen minutes she had finally grown up. Used to being pampered, she was ill prepared for someone like the lad who was cheerful and charming as long as he was getting what he wanted from someone like Bella, who was gullible enough to believe his flattery. ‘He was horrible. I didn’t want to leave the dance hall with him, but he made me. He said he wanted to buy me some chocolates, and when I said I didn’t want any, he pinched my arm.’ She showed Ruthie the inside of her arm, which was bright red now, but would turn into a bruise quite soon. ‘I hate him, he’s horrible.’

  ‘You should have had more sense, Bella.’ Gordon spoke softly because the poor girl looked so frightened. ‘You must never talk to a strange lad, never mind go off with him. You should have told the doorman what was happening, he would have chased the bloke. He certainly won’t get in Blair Hall again, I’ll see to that.’

  ‘She’s shaking like a leaf,’ Ruthie said, her arm round Bella’s shoulders. ‘And she’s not the only one. I’m shaking meself with fright. I hope yer’ve learned yer lesson, Bella, and yer won’t be so daft in future.’

  ‘Yer won’t tell me mam, Ruthie, will yer?’ Bella begged tearfully. ‘She’ll never let me out again if yer do. Promise yer won’t tell her?’

  ‘I’m not going to tell lies for yer, Bella, ’cos fibbers always get found out. But yer mam won’t find out from me. We just won’t mention it.’

  ‘And don’t tell your mam,’ Bella sobbed, ‘’cos she’ll only tell mine.’

  ‘I won’t mention what happened tonight, I promise yer that. I’ve never lied to my mam or dad,’ Ruthie told her, ‘and I’m not starting now. I’ll just say we went to the dance as normal, except Peter didn’t come. If me mam asks why Peter didn’t come, I’ll say you upset him at the dance the other night, that’s why he’s got a cob on. But you’re going to call at the Corkhills’ tomorrow night and tell him you’re sorry, so everything will be back to normal then.’

  Gordon huffed. ‘Yer’ll really have to make it a good apology, ’cos our kid is mad at yer. And so he should be, ’cos yer made a right fool out of him.’

  ‘I will tell him I’m really and truly sorry. And it won’t be a lie, Ruthie, ’cos you know I’ve wanted to be Peter’s girlfriend since we left school.’ Bella looked at Gordon. ‘D’yer think he’ll forgive me, Gordon?’

  ‘That’s up to him, I can’t speak for me brother. But I’ll tell him you want to see him tomorrow night. If he’s willing to listen to yer, the four of us could go to the park for a walk, away from the street. I won’t mention tonight’s trouble, and you shouldn’t mention it either, if yer want him back again.’

  ‘Oh, I do. I love Peter, and I’ll do anything to get him back.’

  ‘Then can we put an end to this now, and go back for the last few dances?’

  And it ended up with Gordon in the middle with a girl on each arm, as they walked back to Blair Hall. Of the three dances played by the band before the last waltz, he danced the slow foxtrot and the rumba with Ruthie, and the quickstep with Bella. But wild horses wouldn’t have kept him from having the romantic last waltz with his girl, Ruthie.

  On the back row of the stalls, Paul was sitting with an arm round Phoebe’s shoulder, and holding her hand. He wasn’t watching the film, he was only interested in the girl who was soon to be his wife. ‘Go on, tell me what the dress is like that yer’ve chosen. Yer can tell me, I won’t say a word to a soul.’

  ‘Will yer stop whispering in me ear, Paul, ye’re putting me off the picture. I can’t listen to you and watch the screen at the same time.’

  ‘I’m the one you should be looking at all soppy-eyed, not Dick Powell.’ Paul blew in her ear. ‘I’m the feller ye’re going to marry in a few weeks. Besides which, I think I’m better-looking than him, and just as funny.’

  Phoebe turned her head, and found herself gazing into eyes that set her heart pounding and her tummy turning over. Her shyness forgotten, she said softly, ‘I love you, Paul McDonough.’

  ‘And I love you, Phoebe Corkhill.’ Once again he blew in her ear. ‘I’m counting the days, and they’re not passing quickly enough for me.’

  ‘I�
��m the same, Paul, but we do have lots to do before the wedding. And the back row of the stalls is not the place to discuss it. We’re getting dirty looks off people who want to enjoy the picture they paid to see. So can we watch the film and talk on the way home?’

  ‘Are yer going to tell me if yer’ve chosen yer wedding dress yet, and what it’s like?’

  ‘No, yer can forget that. Yer’ll only know what my dress is like when I’m walking down the aisle. And the same goes for the bridesmaids. So can we keep quiet and watch the rest of the film, please? And I mean it. Paul, because it’s embarrassing being given dirty looks.’

  And Paul had to be content with holding her close until the end of the film when the lights went up and the audience stood for ‘God Save the Queen’.

  ‘You go to bed, love,’ Molly told her husband. ‘I’ll wait up for Ruthie.’

  ‘No, I’ll wait up with yer. It’s a quarter past ten now, not long to wait. Anyway, I don’t like going to bed without you. I always feel there’s something missing.’

  ‘Well there is, soft lad, I’m missing! And I have to say it’s nice that yer miss me. I only suggested yer going to bed because yer were yawning yer head off.’

  ‘It’s always the same with me,’ Jack said. ‘If I yawn once, I can’t stop meself, I just carry on.’

  ‘Yer’ve no need to tell me that because it’s contagious. I’ve only got to see someone yawn in a shop, or on a bus, and it sets me off. The only one I know who isn’t affected is Nellie. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her yawn.’

  Jack chuckled. ‘That’s because she hasn’t got time, she’s too busy talking. But don’t tell her I said that.’

  ‘She wouldn’t hear me if I did tell her, unless she’d stopped talking to take a breath.’

  They heard voices outside the window, and Jack said, ‘Here’s Ruthie now, I can hear Gordon’s voice. I may as well wait and see what’s happening with Bella and Peter.’

  ‘Ay, men are not supposed to be interested in things like that. It’s us women that are nosy.’ Molly pushed herself to her feet. ‘I’ll open the door for her.’

  Ruthie jumped with fright when the door opened, for she was standing on the step with her hand reaching for the knocker. ‘Oh, Mam, yer gave me a fright. I nearly jumped out of me skin!’

  ‘Sorry, sunshine, but I heard yer saying goodnight to Gordon, and I thought I’d save yer knocking.’

  Ruthie gave her mother a peck on the cheek as she passed. ‘I’m going to take a key with me in future, Mam. I’m old enough now to let meself in. Yer know I won’t come to any harm when I’m with Gordon.’

  Jack smiled at his youngest daughter. ‘You look exactly like yer mam did at your age. And that’s the biggest compliment I can pay yer.’

  Ruthie threw her arms round him. ‘Then ye’re a very lucky man, aren’t yer, Dad, having a lovely wife and three beautiful daughters. Not to forget a very handsome son into the bargain.’

  ‘Yer dad was yawning his head off ten minutes ago, but he wouldn’t go to bed in case he missed something. Like meself, he’s waiting to find out what the latest is on Bella and Peter.’

  Ruthie slipped out of her coat and draped it over a chair. ‘Yer didn’t wait up for that, did yer, Dad? If so ye’re going to be disappointed because there’s very little to tell.’ She sat down facing her mother. ‘Peter didn’t come, but that doesn’t surprise me. But Bella is going to see him tomorrow night to apologize and ask him not to fall out with her because she really wants to be his girlfriend.’

  ‘D’yer think Peter will make it up with her?’ Molly asked. ‘I mean, she can’t behave so badly, then expect him to take her back. She’s really got to learn you can’t treat people like that. And Peter’s such a nice lad.’

  ‘Gordon has told Bella she’d better pull her socks up if she wants to keep a boyfriend. And he’s going to ask Peter to meet her tomorrow night for a talk. Me and Gordon will be there to make a foursome, and we’ll go for a walk in the park. We’ll let them walk behind us so they can say what they want to without anyone sticking their nose in.’

  ‘It’ll blow over,’ Molly said. ‘A lovers’ tiff, we’ve all had them. It happens to all young people, girls and boys. It only takes a couple of wrong words, there’s a falling out, then when they’ve had time to simmer down they come to the nice part. And that’s the making up. A loving kiss, and the couple are all lovey-dovey again. That’s life, and that’s love.’

  ‘Ay, love,’ Jack said. ‘The way ye’re talking, our daughter will be thinking we were always falling out when we were courting, and that’s not setting a good example.’

  Molly looked at her daughter and winked. ‘No, sunshine, me and yer dad skipped the falling out part, and we stuck to the loving kisses, and the lovey-dovey. We liked that better.’

  There was a sly look on Ruthie’s face when she asked, ‘Is that when yer were sixteen, Mam?’

  Molly fell into the trap. ‘About that, sunshine.’ Then the penny dropped. ‘You little tinker!’

  Ruthie’s laughter filled the room, so youthful it lifted Jack’s tiredness. ‘Oh, Mam, yer haven’t called me a little tinker since I was at school in the juniors! Yer can’t call a sixteen-year-old a little tinker, even if I haven’t ever had a lover’s tiff and made up with a loving kiss. I will try it one of these days though, if I can manage to get Gordon to say a couple of wrong words so I can fall out with him.’

  ‘We’ll have less cheek from you, young lady,’ Molly told her, hoping she sounded stern. ‘The youth of today are much more advanced than they were when me and yer dad were your age.’

  Jack left his chair and stretched his arms above his head. ‘I’m off to bed, I don’t know about you two. But I’d like to add that my mam said the same thing about the generation before ours. So yer see, parents have had to put up with the same problem right through the ages. And Ruthie will be saying it to her children when the time comes.’

  ‘Ah, ay, don’t be putting years on me!’ Ruthie linked Jack’s arm. ‘Come on, Dad, I’ll help yer up the stairs. It’s up to us young ones to help the older generation.’

  ‘Away, both of yer,’ Molly said, lumbering to her feet. ‘Yer need yer sleep to be bright and breezy in the morning. I’ll be up in a few minutes, Jack, I just want to get the dishes ready for the breakfast.’ She smiled at Ruthie. ‘Sleep tight, sunshine. Goodnight and God bless.’

  ‘Goodnight and God bless, Mam. I’ll see me dad to his bed, then when I’ve undressed and got me nightie on, I’m going to lie on me back, looking up at the ceiling and thinking of a way I can have a lover’s tiff with Gordon. Can yer give me a hint?’

  ‘I’ll give yer more than yer bargained for if yer don’t get up those stairs right now. It’s a quarter past eleven, way past our bedtime. Now scoot!’

  ‘It wasn’t a bad picture,’ Paul said as they came out of the cinema. ‘Not bad, but not really my taste.’

  Phoebe gave him a sharp dig in the ribs with her elbow. ‘How would you know whether it was a good picture or not? Or whether it was to your taste? Yer talked all the way through the big picture, and yer made sure everyone sitting near us didn’t hear anything, only the sound of your voice going on and on. It’s a wonder some of them didn’t ask for a refund on their ticket, because they certainly didn’t get their money’s worth.’

  ‘Ah, now, fair is fair, I was only whispering in your ear, I wasn’t bawling through a megaphone. Anyway, people shouldn’t listen in to a private conversation, it’s bad manners,’ Paul said. ‘And what about me? I should get me money back because I didn’t even get one kiss! I mean, don’t yer know that they invented back rows for that very purpose, so people in love could kiss and cuddle?’

  ‘Paul McDonough, yer’ve got an answer for everything. I can’t get a word in with yer. But I’m telling yer now that after we’re married and living in your house, I’m going to get yer mam on my side. She’ll soon toughen me up, and between the pair of us yer won’t stand a chance. We’ll have yer washing
the dishes and making the beds in no time. A couple of weeks, and me and yer mam will have yer house-trained.’

  Paul’s hearty laugh filled the night air, so contagious it brought smiles to the faces of people passing. ‘Ooh, that’s a good one, Phoebe! Me at the sink with me mam’s wraparound pinny on, washing dishes! Ooh, I can just see it. Me mam would be taking the tram down to London Road every day, to buy seconds in T.J.’s half-price basket. And as quick as she was buying them, I’d be breaking them! Ooh, that hasn’t half tickled me fancy, that has.’

  Phoebe was shaking with laughter. How could you fall out with someone who wouldn’t let you? Someone who was as handsome, in your eyes, as any film star. And someone you had loved from afar since you first knew the meaning of the word. The handsome prince you never thought, in your wildest dreams, would look twice at you, never mind ask you to be his wife. A shiver ran down her spine at the prospect.

  Paul pulled her close. ‘You wouldn’t really stand by and see yer husband washing dishes, would yer? I mean, if yer would, say so now or for ever hold yer peace.’

  ‘I’m not committing meself at this stage, Paul McDonough, I’m going to wait and see how the land lies. Whether it’s in my best interest to take sides with yer mam, rather than you.’

  ‘Oh, I get it now,’ Paul said. ‘Ye’re waiting to see what side yer bread is buttered on?’ He let out a heavy sigh. ‘Not even married yet, and ye’re taking sides against me. If we were married I could divorce you for that. In fact I’ll give marriage a three-month trial, and see if I like it. If I don’t I’ll go back to the register office where yer get the licence, and ask for me seven shillings and sixpence back!’

  ‘They’ll not give yer the money back, Paul, because I’ll be second-hand goods by then. So if yer marry me, ye’re stuck with me for life, whether yer like it or not.’

  ‘Oh, I’ll like it, sweetheart, of that I am sure. In fact I’ll love it because I love you. I’ve loved yer for a few years. I didn’t know it for quite a while, because yer were so quiet, and shy, while I was fond of a good time, out dancing every night. But I can remember exactly when Cupid’s arrow was aimed at me. I was talking to yer one night when I was going to Blair Hall, and you were walking up the street while I was going down. I was acting daft, as usual, and you looked at me and said you were going to meet a girl from work. You had your head held high as you passed me, and our eyes made contact for just a brief second. And with that one look, you stole my heart away. I didn’t know what hit me, and I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind since.’ He pulled her to a halt, put a hand on each shoulder and bent and kissed her. It wasn’t a long kiss, because there were people passing, but it brought a sigh of pleasure from the young lovers. ‘There now, darling Phoebe, don’t you agree we were meant for each other? Or when I kissed you just now, didn’t hundreds of stars explode in yer head, and your heart feel a thrill? Mine did.’