by Annie Murray
That was completely the wrong thing to say, she realized. It was good for him to come along and get to know some of the same people as her. And it wouldn’t be for long – he was already getting a bit bored with it. That was a good sign! He was recovering, not needing to be chained to her side at all times. He wanted to get back to the world of work and other men. But things had definitely changed. They talked about things more, instead of taking their roles for granted. They were trying to build something new. But Joanne didn’t take anything for granted. We’re together today, she sometimes told herself. And we’ll likely be together tomorrow. That’s all I need to know.
As she pushed Amy up to the Soho Road, she saw a familiar green-clad figure passing in front of the big gurdwara pushing a buggy. For a second she thought it was Sooky, before realizing it was actually Meena. They were almost the same size and shape, but of course Sooky’s mom’s face was older and a little more severe. Seeing Meena look across at her, Joanne raised her hand and waved. Meena waved back, checked for traffic and crossed the road.
‘Hello,’ she said amiably. ‘Very cold!’
‘Yes,’ Joanne nodded. She pointed at the sky. ‘Snow, I think.’
She wasn’t sure if Meena knew the word for snow, but she smiled and nodded as if she did and they both hurried to get into the warmth of the church hall. Joanne felt responsible for Meena. She had been the only person Sooky’s mom would recognize at the toddler group, and Sooky had asked her to look out for her when Meena first came, a couple of weeks ago.
‘Mom’s decided to bring Priya to the group,’ she said, sounding surprised. ‘It won’t be very easy for her, but I’m really happy she’s coming – Priya will be too.’
‘She’ll be all right, we’ll look after her,’ Joanne had said. And of course Tess was kindness itself.
In fact Joanne had been to the Baidwans’ house a couple of days ago. Sooky had told her that she had met the man whom she might marry. Joanne had been shocked when Sooky said she was going to see another prospective husband, but when Sooky explained her reasons, it made more sense.
‘Anyway, it doesn’t mean I have to say yes,’ she said. ‘But I’m going to meet him.’ She looked reflective. ‘You know, the amazing thing is, Mom said to me the other day – when we were on our own – “You don’t have to get married, you know. I don’t want to force you.” ’
‘Did she? What did you say?’
Sooky turned to her, and Joanne saw that she was moved. ‘Well, I said, “No, I know. But in a way, I do have to some time, don’t I? Maybe not this one, but sometime.” ’
Joanne had been very curious to know how it went. She found Sooky in an optimistic mood.
‘Well,’ Joanne began as they settled down with the children, ‘what’s he like?’
‘What’s who like?’ Sooky teased.
‘Oh, don’t be daft!’
‘Oh – Arun! We-e-ll . . . I think he’s okay. On first meeting. I mean, I did actually quite like him, as a person. He’s rather handsome actually, and the children seem okay too: quite sweet. He works in insurance, but he said he thought it was really boring – he made fun of himself – and he really likes cinema and books and stuff . . .’
‘Hey, you do actually like him!’
She was sure she saw Sooky blush. ‘Well, as I say, he seems okay.’
‘You haven’t said yes already, have you?’
‘No – we’re going to meet up again, take it slowly. I probably will, though; he’s really okay about me doing my degree . . .’
‘But, Sooky, marriage! You can do your degree anyway.’
‘Yeah, but you know. I kind of have to get married sometime.’
‘At least you’ll be here and not dragged off to Derby or Bradford or somewhere. I’d really miss you.’
‘Yeah,’ she smiled. ‘I’d miss you too. Anyway, I’ll probably go for it.’ With cool pragmatism she added, ‘I’ll give it five years.’
Joanne grinned to herself, thinking about this. Sooky made her laugh. She certainly wasn’t marrying with overblown expectations.
Dave came into the hall with Margaret after the toddler group had got going, and Joanne introduced her mother to Tess. Joanne saw Tess putting her mother at ease. She stood back and let Dave and Margaret do most of the looking-after of Amy. It was nice to have a break, and they would have felt awkward without something to do.
Watching Dave for a moment, she saw him bend over, by the painting table, which was still Amy’s obsession. Priya immediately came up as well, with Meena following shyly behind. Joanne smiled, seeing Dave and Margaret helping first Amy, then Priya on with their painting overalls. She watched him gratefully. He was still seeing the counsellor, was really trying. No guarantees – she still had that caution in her mind – but she had reasons to hope.
‘Nice to see your mother here.’ Tess had come up beside her. Her baby was asleep in the pram for the moment.
‘Yes, she’s getting out and about a lot more these days,’ Joanne said. She was proud to see how nice Mom was looking in her neat trousers and a soft blue jumper.
‘And your husband’s looking much better.’
‘Yes.’ Joanne smiled. ‘He is, thanks.’
Tess asked after Sooky, and then added, ‘It’s great that her mother’s here, isn’t it? She seems a lovely lady.’
‘She is. Come to think of it, I ought to go and introduce her to my mom.’
They were all still by the painting table. Margaret and Dave were busying themselves with Amy; Meena stood near Priya with her arms folded, looking uncertain.
‘Mom,’ Joanne caught her attention. ‘Come and meet my mate’s mom, will you?’ She steered Margaret towards Meena. ‘This is my best mate Sooky’s mother. Her name’s Meena.’
Joanne felt her mother hesitate for a second.
‘She doesn’t speak very good English, so it’s a bit hard for her.’ And to Meena she said, ‘This is my mother.’
Meena was smiling, pleased to be spoken to, and held out her hand. ‘Hello. My name is Meena.’
Joanne saw her mother take in what a nice person Meena looked. Shyly she shook Meena’s hand and smiled back.
‘I’m Margaret.’ She added, ‘Maggie. You can call me Maggie.’
They were all getting used to the idea that she now actually wanted to be called Maggie. She had explained to Joanne why.
‘Maggie,’ Meena repeated.
There was an awkward pause, but then Meena sat down on one of the baby chairs near the painting table and indicated in a friendly way that Margaret should sit beside her. Margaret shot a panicky look at Joanne, but didn’t like to refuse. In any case, they found quite a bit to keep them occupied, watching Amy and Priya, enjoying their antics with the paints, without having to talk much. The girls saw them sitting together and broke off from their painting to run back and forth to them, making them laugh as they tried to avoid getting covered in paint.
Joanne sat beside Dave, watching first the grandchildren laughing, then the grandmothers. She just wished Sooky could be there too.
‘It doesn’t look as if we’re needed for the moment, does it?’ Dave said.
Joanne shook her head. ‘Let’s make the most of it!’
Dave reached over and took her hand, squeezing it. She turned to look into his eyes and they both smiled. She squeezed his hand back.
Margaret didn’t like to say too much to Meena, because she didn’t know what she would understand. Now that the ice was broken, she could see that Meena was a nice lady and they smiled and nodded and found ways to communicate, discovering that they were enjoying themselves and were both very pleased when they could understand each other.
‘I am learning English,’ Meena announced proudly as they sat together.
‘Ah,’ Margaret enthused. ‘Good. That’s good. Difficult!’
‘Yes.’ Meena nodded. ‘Difficult!’ They both laughed at this.
After a few moments Meena looked across at Joanne.
‘Your
daughter,’ she stated. ‘She is good girl.’
‘Yes. Yes, she is.’ It was only now that Margaret realized just how good. She was filled with a swelling sensation of pride, of joy and possibility, of life opening out.
‘Have daughter is good,’ Meena continued. ‘My daughter Sukhdeep is good girl. She teach me lot of thing.’
Margaret turned to her new friend. Across the room, Joanne saw her radiant smile. ‘Yes,’ she agreed. ‘Mine too.’
ALSO BY ANNIE MURRAY
Birmingham Rose
Birmingham Friends
Birmingham Blitz
Orphan of Angel Street
Poppy Day
The Narrowboat Girl
Chocolate Girls
Water Gypsies
Miss Purdy’s Class
Family of Women
Where Earth Meets Sky
The Bells of Bournville Green
A Hopscotch Summer
Soldier Girl
All the Days of Our Lives
Acknowledgements
A number of people were helpful to me in my research for this book. A particularly big thank you to: Gaynor Arnold, Brian Holtham and Ruchi and Gurmit Sandhu.
First published 2012 by Macmillan
This electronic edition published 2012 by Macmillan
an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
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ISBN 978-0-230-75449-2 EPUB
Copyright © Annie Murray 2012
The right of Annie Murray to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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