by Daisy Styles
‘I most certainly did,’ Edna replied. ‘I even asked her to the wedding.’
‘It would a nice touch if she came,’ Malc said, as he gazed at Edna’s happy, smiling face. ‘It would make your day.’
Seeing her fiancé suddenly uncharacteristically nervous, Edna sensed Malc might be wondering where he might fit in, now that Edna had a family. ‘He’ll be worrying about the new pecking order,’ she thought with sensitive insight. Cuddling up to the man she loved, she gave him a kiss, then whispered reassuringly, ‘You’ll make my day, sweetheart.’
Suddenly, after what seemed like an eternity of pain and grieving, excitement was in the air. As Edna waited for her daughter’s visit with her grandchildren, Gladys and Rosa were virtually dancing around the cowshed on the days they received missives in the post from their boyfriends.
‘I don’t know how he does it,’ Gladys sighed as she clutched Reggie’s most recent letter to her chest. ‘He’s working every hour God sends, but he still manages to write to me nearly every day.’
‘I hope you do the same for him?’ Rosa laughed.
‘I try,’ Gladys giggled. ‘And what about you?’ she teased. ‘Are you sending Roger little drawings every day?’
‘I try,’ Rosa mimicked her friend and they both burst out laughing.
‘Oh, Rosa,’ Gladys said guiltily. ‘Is it wrong to feel so happy?’
‘Gladeeees! Don’t be silly,’ Rosa chided. ‘You have waited a long time to be happy, certo.’
‘Yes, but being so happy makes me feel very guilty,’ she admitted. ‘I have only to visualize my brother Les’s dear face and all my happiness disappears.’
Gladys stopped short – she could have kicked herself as she saw Rosa’s smile fade at the mention of her brother. Given Rosa’s brother’s possible circumstances, it was without doubt a stupid, crass thing to say. Desperate not to pop Rosa’s small bubble of happiness, she quickly asked, ‘But you must be keen to see Roger Carrington?’
‘Of course,’ Rosa replied with a philosophical shrug. ‘But who knows? We must live each day we are given.’
‘Like Violet and Myrtle did,’ Gladys recalled. ‘And now Edna has a new family, it’s wonderful – I’ve never seen her happier.’
Rosa nodded as she said profoundly, ‘Each in our way, we must live life to the full.’
28. Two Little Bridesmaids
Catherine and Marilyn couldn’t believe that their new nana in Pendleton had a chip shop, and Edna couldn’t believe that she had two beautiful little granddaughters.
‘Granny in Penrith has gone to heaven,’ Catherine told Edna, who stared in rapt adoration at the little girl’s mass of fiery red hair, big hazel eyes and charming snub nose scattered with freckles.
‘I hope she’ll be happy with Jesus,’ Edna said sincerely.
Tall Marilyn, who had sky-blue eyes and a straight blonde bob, chipped in, ‘Grandad went to heaven a long time ago, so he’ll be looking after Granny now,’ she assured her new nana.
‘Will you die soon?’ Catherine asked cheerfully.
Edna swallowed a laugh. The child was asking a serious question, but Flora and Malc, who’d just met his fiancée’s daughter, were bursting with suppressed giggles.
‘I bloody hope not!’ snorted Malc behind his hand. ‘We’re about to get wed.’
‘I want to get to know you two little chicks and your mummy a bit more before I go to heaven,’ Edna replied. ‘And I want to teach you how to make the best chips in Lancashire!’ she added, and, unable to stop herself, she scooped up the girls and settled them on her lap. ‘Now I’ve a big favour to ask you two.’
Catherine and Marilyn looked at her expectantly. ‘I’m going to marry Malc,’ she said, pointing to her fiancé, who suddenly looked self-conscious. ‘And I was wondering if you two had time to be my bridesmaids?’
‘OOOH! I’ve never been a bridesmaid,’ squeaked Catherine.
‘Can we? Can we, Mummy?’
Flora smiled. ‘Of course, if that’s what Nana wants,’ she assured her daughters, who were pink with excitement.
‘Can I have a long, frilly dress like a princess?’ bright little Marilyn asked.
‘We’ll see what we can do,’ Edna promised. ‘But we’ll have to be quick about it – you see Malc and I are getting married on Christmas Eve.’
‘That’s soon,’ said Marilyn solemnly.
‘Will Father Christmas come to your wedding?’ Catherine gasped.
‘I think he might be spoken for on Christmas Eve,’ Malc explained. ‘But it would be nice if you two could be there?’
Marilyn and Catherine, happy beyond words, held hands and danced around the kitchen.
Suddenly anxious that she hadn’t first asked Flora’s permission, Edna quickly said, ‘Is that all right, sweetheart?’
‘Of course, Mum,’ Flora replied.
Edna’s heart skipped a beat every time her daughter called her ‘Mum’. She momentarily looked around for somebody else – it would take time to get used to her new precious title.
‘I’ll take the girls’ measurements,’ Edna said. ‘Then I can pick up some frocks for them in Manchester.’
Flora put an arm around her new mother. ‘I’d like to do that with you, Mum. It’ll be the first time we go shopping together.’
Fighting back tears of joy, Edna nodded in delight. ‘I’d love that, Flora. But what about the girls – shall we take them?’ she asked.
‘Leave them to me,’ Malc announced. ‘I’ll get one of the lasses at work to babysit for you.’
The lass free to babysit Marilyn and Catherine was in fact Nora, who was so excited she almost fell through Edna’s front door when she opened it. ‘I can’t wait to see them,’ Nora gasped, as she rushed into the back room of the chip shop, where she gave a big, gap-toothed grin.
‘Hello, I’m Nora!’ she announced to the little girls. ‘Shall we play a game of Father Christmas and his Potato Elves?’ she suggested excitedly.
‘Oooh, yes!’ squeaked Catherine. ‘What do we have to do?’
‘You have to fit as many presents into a sack as you can,’ Nora explained. ‘Here’s a sack,’ she said as she gave the girls an empty potato sack each.
‘Where are the presents?’ Marilyn asked.
‘Over there, on the table,’ Nora laughed as she pointed to a pile of potatoes that she’d removed from Edna’s chip bucket.
‘POTATOES!’ the girls laughed.
‘They’re not presents,’ giggled little Catherine.
‘I know, but let’s pretend they are for now,’ Nora, who was a complete natural with the children, giggled back. ‘The one who gets the most potato presents in the sack is the winner!’
‘We must dress up,’ Marilyn insisted.
Flora gave Edna’s arm a tug. ‘Come on, Mum, we could be here all day listening to my two – they can play for hours.’
Edna chuckled under her breath. ‘So can Nora, from the looks of things!’
Leaving Nora with her charges, the two women caught the bus into Manchester; on the top deck they lit up their cigarettes and smoked as they chatted companionably together.
‘Tell me about your husband, Flora,’ Edna asked. ‘How did you meet him?’
‘John and I met at school,’ Flora said with a fond smile.
‘Just like me and your dad,’ Edna recalled.
‘Before he got called up, John was a science teacher in Penrith; I was an infant teacher before I had the girls.’
‘A teacher!’ Edna explained.
‘Like I said, my parents gave me a good education,’ Flora reminded Edna. ‘And I was their only child.’
Edna smiled proudly at her clever daughter. ‘Eeh, you’ve obviously done well for yourself, lovie, not like my bloody feckless family,’ she said with a grin.
‘You’re not feckless!’ Flora protested.
‘Mi dad was,’ Edna replied. ‘Spent all his money down the pub.’
‘You bought your own shop and built up a successful business al
l by yourself. I admire any woman who can do that,’ Flora said, proud of her independent, successful mother.
‘Thanks, lovie. I worked hard, and, like you say, I was on my own, but now suddenly I have a daughter and soon I’ll have a husband!’ she exclaimed in sheer delight.
Laughing and joking, the two women walked arm in arm into the large Co-operative store in Piccadilly.
Edna said with stars in her eyes, ‘I want to dress your little girls as prettily as the two royal princesses when they were children; I remember Elizabeth and Margaret always wore identical clothes, and that’s what I want for your two little princesses.’
Flora smiled at her mother, who was flushed with excitement. ‘What colours are you wearing?’ she asked.
‘Royal blue and a big red hat,’ Edna replied.
‘Wouldn’t it be nice if the girls wore matching colours?’ Flora suggested. ‘Red would be nice and festive, and it would blend in with your outfit too.’
Charmed by the idea, Edna, who had cash and clothes coupons in her purse, and was intent on using both on her grandchildren, began to search the children’s racks for girls’ red dresses. Eventually, she and Flora found two identical dresses that were the right sizes for Marilyn and Catherine.
‘Marilyn’s tall for her age, so I might have to let down the hem,’ Flora said, holding up the dresses and inspecting them. ‘But that’s not a problem, not since John bought me a new Singer sewing machine,’ she added happily.
‘Before we do anything else …’ Edna said, after they’d bought the garments.
Flora held up her hands and laughed. ‘Don’t tell me, you want a fag and a cuppa?’
‘Took the words right out of my mouth!’ Edna chuckled.
In the Lyons Corner House they both enjoyed a pot of tea and several cigarettes, then they ordered boiled-egg sandwiches – though, as Edna pointed out, the eggs had gone a bit grey in the middle. ‘Mustn’t grumble,’ she said as she tucked in. ‘At least it’s not dried egg – I detest that stuff!’
After pouring more tea into their empty cups, Edna asked her daughter, ‘Were you married when war broke out?’
‘We’d been married two years by then,’ Flora replied. ‘And I had Marilyn very soon after we got married.’
‘Strange to think I wasn’t at your wedding,’ Edna mused.
‘But I’ll be at yours!’ Flora cried joyfully. ‘Now, come on, Mum,’ she said, briskly dusting crumbs from her skirt, ‘we’ve got more shopping to do before we rescue poor Nora from my girls.’
Edna chuckled, ‘Eeeh, lass, you’re proper bossy. I don’t know who you get that from!’
The rest of the afternoon was spent buying two pairs of black leather shoes with ankle straps, and two little headdresses decorated with artificial flowers.
‘That should do it,’ said Edna, clambering aboard the Pendleton bus loaded down with bags.
Marilyn and Catherine were ecstatic with their outfits, which they insisted on trying on right away.
‘You look lovely,’ Edna announced as the girls, holding hands, pretended to be walking down the aisle behind her.
‘I can’t wait for your wedding day, Nana,’ they each said to Edna, who felt a sudden thrill of excitement run through her.
‘Neither can I, my sweethearts, but with you two and your mum there, I guarantee it’ll be the happiest day of my life!’
Edna hadn’t opened her shop that afternoon; nor did she drive up to the Phoenix that night. ‘I’ve got more important things to do,’ she told Flora, as they prepared the little girls for bed. ‘How often in my life have I had the chance to tell a bedtime story?’
Edna gave her double bed to Flora and the girls, whilst she slept in the single bed in the back room. ‘Now, are we all cosy?’ she asked as she settled the happy but very tired children under a big lilac eiderdown.
Yawning, the little girls nodded. ‘Sing to us, Nana,’ Marilyn said, flinging an arm around her sister, who was already half asleep.
Edna smiled: life had come round full circle for her. She’d sung Flora to sleep with the same song she was now singing to her granddaughters.
Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles await you when you rise,
Sleep, my darling, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby.
By the time she’d finished, they were both asleep. Edna gazed in wonder at their flushed innocent faces in repose. ‘Thank you, God,’ she said with a heart full of gratitude. ‘Thank you for reuniting me with my family.’
It was quiet after Flora and the girls returned to Penrith, promising to be back in good time for the wedding day, but Edna had a lot to do. Before she opened her chip shop for the mill workers’ dinner-time rush, she popped into the Black Bull in the market square, which she’d booked for their wedding breakfast. Ted, the landlord, a boy she’d been to school with, had (like Malc!) good contacts on the black market.
‘I’ve done the best I can for you, cock,’ Ted told Edna as they both smoked Woodbines at the bar. ‘There are no sides of beef or legs of lamb to be had, not even for you.’
‘I could’ve told you that, you daft apeth!’ Edna teased. ‘So what have you mustered up for mi wedding day?’ she asked. ‘If you say Lord Woolton pie, I’ll throw the bloody thing at you!’ she threatened.
‘I’ve got pork from the local allotment,’ Ted quickly told her. ‘Didn’t come cheap,’ he added as he stubbed out his cigarette in an ashtray on the beer-stained wooden bar-top.
‘Money’s Malc’s department,’ Edna said with a wink. ‘What else have you got, or is it just pork butties on offer?’
‘Get away with you!’ Ted joked. ‘If you can let me have half a sack of spuds, I can roast them and serve ’em up with local sprouts, and apple sauce too,’ he said with a lick of his lips. ‘A feast fit for a king!’
‘Sounds good, Ted, thanks for all your help.’
‘By the way, Maggie Yates popped in to say she’ll supply sherry trifle for the pudding,’ Ted added.
Edna’s eyes opened wide in amazement. ‘Sherry trifle!’ she gasped. ‘Where’s Maggie going to get cream and sherry from?’
Ted winked again as he answered her question. ‘A little bird told me there might be some available.’
‘Honestly,’ Edna sighed. ‘If you and Malc carry on buying stuff from under the counter, you’ll both be banged up on mi wedding day!’
That evening, as Edna drove her mobile chip shop along the dark winding lanes that led up to the Phoenix, she marvelled at the number of stars that were twinkling in the night sky. The air was clear and frosty, and she felt as excited as a child counting down the days to Christmas.
‘Wait till I tell the girls about my two little bridesmaids,’ she said out loud as she pulled into the despatch yard and waited for her first customers. ‘They’ll never believe it,’ she murmured. ‘And, if the truth be known,’ she added with an incredulous smile, ‘neither can I!’
29. Arthur’s Choice
After Gladys had finished her shift at the Phoenix Infirmary, tired as she was after a night when one of her male patients nearly died as a consequence of a ruptured hernia, Gladys was keen to catch up with her friends – some of whom she felt like she hadn’t seen in ages. Cycling down the tarmac road that led from the domestic quarters to the factory, Gladys marvelled at the beauty of the new day unfolding all around her. The sharp frost had turned the moorland vegetation into a filigree of white ice; bracken stood tall and spiky against heather bushes shimmering with icicles. As the sun rose in the sky, the light was so intense Gladys briefly had to close her eyes to protect herself against the sun’s golden blinding glare.
When she walked into the canteen, she was thrilled to see Kit at their usual table. Grabbing tea and toast, Gladys rushed to join her friend, who was delighted to see her.
‘How are you feeling, Kit?’ Gladys immediately asked.
‘Wonderful!’ Kit replied. ‘I could do with more sleep, and my back aches at the end of my
shift, but I’m excited about the new baby – so are Ian and Billy too!’ she laughed. ‘Now tell me your news – Rosa told us you’ve got a doctor boyfriend,’ Kitty said with a teasing smile.
‘I think I have!’ happy Gladys exclaimed, all her former reserve gone. ‘Dr Reggie Lloyd,’ she said with a dreamy sigh. ‘He’s so gorgeous, Kitty,’ she added with a proud ring in her voice.
‘You’ve been keeping him a secret, you dark horse,’ Kit chided as she wagged a disapproving finger in front of Gladys’s radiant face.
Gladys burst out laughing as she poured out the truth to her friend. ‘I met him in Naples, then again in London when I was at St Thomas’. It was love at first sight for both of us, but we’ve encountered so many problems along the way it’s a miracle we’re even speaking to each other!’
‘So you’ve known him since you went abroad?’ Kit asked curiously.
Gladys nodded; she was relieved that she could answer so openly, but she wasn’t yet ready to go into detail with Kit just now. She would tell her the full story in time, but for the moment she wanted to enjoy the happiness she felt when she talked about the man she was rapidly falling in love with. ‘We met under the Italian stars!’ she said.
‘Sounds romantic,’ Kit sighed.
‘Oh, it was,’ Gladys assured her, before quickly adding, ‘but now that we seem to be back together, our biggest problem is Reggie’s in London and I’m up here, so we won’t see each other much,’ she concluded with a rueful laugh.
‘It’ll be a test of your love,’ Kit said with a knowing smile. ‘Oh-oh!’ she chuckled as Nora and Maggie approached with thick slices of bread and marg and mugs of steaming hot tea. ‘Here comes trouble!’
Maggie and Nora wanted to know all about Gladys’s young man, and when Nora heard he worked as a doctor in London her simple trusting face dropped. She hated it when their friendship group was in any way threatened, plus she’d been especially sensitive about losing friends since Myrtle’s death. ‘You won’t go leaving us, will you, our Glad?’
‘It would be nice to spend time with Reggie, even though I would miss you, Nora,’ Gladys answered gently. ‘We’ve never been together for very long; we could finish up hating each other after a fortnight!’ she joked. ‘Come on, I’m not going anywhere at the moment – tell me your news,’ Gladys urged as she looked from Maggie to Nora. ‘Have you heard from our Les?’
