The Ever Open Door

by Glenice Crossland

  Councillor Scott said these were only a few of the many things to be arranged and another meeting would soon be called when further details would be announced. He thanked his colleagues and the press for coming, and said if there were no more questions, he would be on his way to a round of golf. If anyone had wished to ask questions they would have had little chance to do so – the man was out of the door and away, to the relief of most people present. They could all go home and enjoy their Saturday activities, and Daisy had a wedding to attend.

  It was a lovely day for a wedding. Amy’s house was in chaos, with visitors turning up every few minutes, the latest ones Aunt Jane and uncle Jack. When they saw the full house they decided to go and visit Jim and Sally instead, to the delight of Kenneth and Daisy, and the dismay of Sally who hadn’t intended cooking on such a busy day. She promptly sent Kenneth off to the fish and chip shop for six lots, which they all ate from the paper to save on washing up. After the meal, Uncle Jack was eager to go for a pint or two at the Sun. Sally knew what his ‘pint or two’ meant and insisted Jim change into his wedding finery before leaving.

  ‘And don’t forget to be back here no later than two. Don’t you dare let your Betty down!’ Jim was to give his sister away.

  ‘As if I would!’

  It wasn’t Jim Sally didn’t trust, though, it was Uncle Jack, who was such a joker he tended to make other people lose all track of time. Once he had dressed up in one of Aunty Jane’s dresses, a pair of high-heeled shoes, and tied a head scarf round his head. He had made up his face and donned some of her jewellery to accompany Jim and Tom to the Sun. People had stared all night at the funny woman with Tom Porter and Jim Butler, but not one of them had guessed he was a man. Jim and Tom had laughed for days afterwards at the looks on the men’s faces when all had been revealed. Sally wondered what Jack had planned for today, and hoped it wouldn’t be anything too outlandish.

  At one o’clock Florence turned up at Amy’s, to the relief of her friend. Betty had been waiting all morning. The dress Florence had brought to wear was in lemon chiffon: ‘To match Betty’s flowers,’ she said. Little Alice was in white, with a flower in her hair to match her posy of spring blooms.

  Betty had kept her dress a secret. When she came downstairs, Ernie said, ‘Wow! You don’t look like me mam, you look like a film star.’ Even Amy had a tear in her eye at the sight of her lovely daughter.

  Jim turned up then as promised, and only a little bit merry.

  Amy sniffed his breath. ‘I don’t know how yer dare walk into’t chapel, smelling of beer!’

  ‘Oh, Mam,’ Betty said. ‘According to you, nobody should go to chapel wearing a veil when pregnant, nobody should go after having a drink … it’s a wonder anyone’s allowed in at all!’

  Just then a car drew up and Danny Powell got out, looking immaculate in a new suit and shirt. He eyed Amy up and down. She really did look nice in a beige suit and cream blouse and shoes. ‘Eeh, Amy, yer look lovely. I wish it were our wedding we were going to,’ he said, and she blushed prettily.

  ‘No, Danny,’ Betty teased, ‘I think me mam would rather live over the brush.’ Amy reddened even further at this.

  ‘Nay, love, I respect yer mother too much for that.’ Ernie had gone outside to play and Danny, joking as usual, quipped, ‘Mind you, if she ever does decide to wed me, I’ll tell yer summat – one of me outside legs might be buggered but there’s still life in me middle one!’

  Betty and Jim laughed with Danny, and Amy looked as though she would like to strangle him. ‘See what yer missing, Mother,’ Jim said.

  Florence and little Alice were now ready and came downstairs in all their finery. ‘Oh, my goodness! Where’s this fairy come from?’ Jim teased little Alice, who began to giggle. ‘I bet you’ve got a boyfriend, a pretty girl like you?’

  ‘Ernie’s my boyfriend, isn’t he, Aunty Betty?’

  ‘Is he now? Right then, we’d better start saving up for another wedding then,’ Betty said, and Alice giggled more than ever.

  The taxi driver popped his head round the door. ‘Are you ready, Mrs Butler? I’ll take you, Danny and Ernie, and come back for the bridesmaids. I think everybody else is already there.’ He was back in a couple of minutes for Alice and Florence.

  When they had gone, Jim looked at his sister. ‘Well, Betty,’ he said, ‘I’m sorry our dad isn’t here, but I’m sure ’e’s watching from wherever ’e is. And I’ll tell you this – he’ll be the proudest man in heaven today, just like I’m the proudest man on earth.’ He kissed his sister just as the taxi drew to a halt outside. ‘The best of everything, love.’

  Then they were getting into the car observed by children from the estate and further afield. Betty noticed Mary Holmes’s two standing shyly amongst the others. Jim threw a handful of coins for them in keeping with the old Yorkshire custom. Then they were sitting back and on their way to chapel, to meet the love of Betty’s life.

  Millington Chapel was more crowded than Amy had ever known it in all her years of attendance. She was proud that her family and Ernest’s were well liked enough for so many people to turn out and watch. She could make out cousins and half-cousins she hadn’t seen for years. It’d be nice to have a chin wag with them later on.

  She hoped the reception would go off well. She had ordered the best ham salad teas with trifle to follow. Danny had insisted on supplying champagne for the toasts. When she had tried to refuse he had been upset, pointing out that he had no children of his own to see wed and that Betty ’s wedding would give him the pleasure he had otherwise been denied. Amy considered it a shame he had never become a father, he’d have made an excellent one. Just like he had made an excellent husband, and would do again, she supposed.

  She glanced sideways at his handsome face and felt an unfamiliar feeling, one she had thought she would never experience again. He felt her eyes on him and turned to smile at her. He took Amy’s hand then and held it firmly in his.

  What if someone saw him? Holding hands at their age … what would folk think? Then Amy thought, To hell with what folk might think, and settled down to watch their Betty come in, looking like an angel, walking down the aisle to the man she loved.

  Betty and Ernest thought Bernard would never stop clicking his camera. Ernie, Alice and Kenneth were becoming impatient. Actually Bernard was just making sure of perfect pictures, since Daisy had told him she would include his name in her report: Photographs by Bernard Cartwright. Fancy that. One of these days he might even become a professional.

  ‘Right,’ he said, ‘that’s all for now.’

  ‘Betty whispered something to Ernest and they went towards the far end of the graveyard. She plucked roses from her bouquet and placed them on the graves, one for each of her brothers and sisters and one for her father. Then another, in loving memory of her first husband.

  ‘You’re ruining your bouquet, love.’ Ernest looked at the bouquet with half its flowers missing.

  ‘I know, but it doesn’t matter. None of this finery really matters, does it, Ernest? Only people matter. People who are still here, people who aren’t here any more … what’s the difference? They don’t go away just because we can’t see them. They’re here in our hearts, in our minds, all around us. So I’m sharing the happiest day of my life with them, by giving them a rose.’ She took his hand then. ‘Come on, or they’ll be holding a reception without the bride and groom.’

  ‘That’s okay.’ Ernest grinned. ‘We can just sneak off home to bed. They’ll all be too inebriated to miss us.’

  ‘I doubt it!’ Betty laughed as they joined the merrymakers and were greeted with a shower of confetti.

  The dancing was in full swing. Trevor Dyson had recommended a four-piece band and they were keeping everyone happy, from the teenagers to the oldies. Sally couldn’t believe her eyes when Ida and Doug rose to their feet and joined in the Boston Two Step. They had obviously had a bit of practice at the Grand Hotel in Scarborough. Sally privately wondered if they had had a bit of anyth
ing else while they were there, too. If they had, it certainly hadn’t done them any harm.

  Mary had been subdued all day, she had even refused a gin and orange – usually her favourite tipple – and asked for just orange juice. Sally couldn’t keep quiet about any longer.

  ‘For heaven’s sake, Mary, is there anything the matter?’

  ‘No, why should there be?’

  ‘Well, it’s a wedding. Anyone looking at your miserable face would mistake it for a funeral.’

  ‘I’m not miserable! Oh, I might as well tell you … I think I’m pregnant, and I don’t know what our Stanley’ll say. I mean, it’ll be embarrassing for him at his age …’

  ‘Mary, that’s absolutely wonderful! How can you be feeling miserable when it’s what you’ve always wanted?’ Sally hugged her friend. ‘What about Tom?’

  ‘Oh, he’s bursting to tell everyone, but I won’t let him until our Stanley’s been told.’

  Sally looked round the room for Stanley. Daisy was locked in his arms in the middle of the dance floor. ‘I shouldn’t worry about him. I think he’s too much on his mind at the moment to worry about anything.’ She moved closer to her friend. ‘Come on, tell all. When is it to be?’

  ‘Well! I think it happened on New Year’s Eve. You know, after we’d been to the dinner dance? So it’ll be September.’

  ‘Oh, Mary, I’m so excited for you. You must tell Stanley. Tell him now, while he’s starry-eyed about our Daisy. Go on.’ She beckoned the young couple over to their table. ‘Come with me, Daisy, Mary’s got some news for Stanley.’

  ‘What’s going on?’ Daisy enquired.

  ‘Stanley’ll tell you later I expect. Anyway, what’s going on with you two?’

  ‘Oh, Mam, I really like him. Well, I always have, but since last night it’s different. Now I really, really like him.’

  ‘Well, he’s a nice boy, I’ve always thought so. Just watch his face when Mary talks to him. If he smiles, I approve of him. If he frowns, I don’t. Okay?’

  Daisy looked puzzled, but they both stood and watched. Suddenly Stanley’s eyes widened. Then he grinned and picked up a bottle of wine and held it up, Mary picked up her glass, and they clinked them together and both smiled. Stanley walked over to his dad, patted him on the back and shook him by the hand.

  ‘I defnitely approve,’ Sally told Daisy, beaming.

  ‘Good,’ she said, ‘because it wouldn’t have made any difference if you hadn’t.’

  Tom and the other men were banded together, as usual. ‘I’ve got summat to tell you all,’ Tom announced. ‘Our Mary’s expecting a baby.’

  ‘Bloody ’ell, Tom, you’re a dark horse. How long ’ave yer known?’

  ‘A month or two.’ He grinned at Jim.

  ‘Well! It’s smashing news. After all the disappointments, Mary must be delighted?’

  ‘Aye. Come on, sup up, we’re celebrating.’ Tom declared.

  Alfie as always was the first to down his drink. ‘Aye, I’m celebrating as well.’

  ‘What’re you celebrating, Alfie? Your Kitty’s not expecting as well, is she?’

  ‘No, she’s left me.’

  Nobody moved. Glasses were held suspended in mid-air.

  ‘What?’ Jim thought Alfie was joking.

  ‘She’s left me … at last! I’m getting the drinks in tonight.’ And he stood up to go to the bar.

  ‘Blimey, that’s a first, Alfie, you going to get a round in,’ Mr Firth commented.

  ‘Aye, well! I can afford it now, can’t I? Now she’s gone.’

  ‘Where’s she gone?’

  ‘Off wi’ a little fat bloke. ’E came and fetched ’er in ’is car. Came and knocked on’t door and apologised to me. ’E said they were well matched.’

  ‘Did yer thump ’im?’ Tom enquired.

  ‘Did I ’ell as like! I gave ’im a pound note to buy some petrol with. I told ’im the further he took ’er, the happier I would be.’

  All the men laughed, then Jim said, ‘Who’ll look after yer, Alfie?’

  ‘Look after me? The only thing she’s looked after is me money. I’ll tell yer one who’ll miss her, though, Judith McCall. No wonder she can afford to retire. She must ’ave made a fortune out of our Kitty, all them fancy brassieres and things. ’E’ll get a shock when ’e finds how much her underwear costs ’im.’

  ‘It might be that underwear that turns ’im on?’ Tom suggested.

  Alfie burst out laughing. ‘Then he’ll get a big shock when she teks it off!’

  ‘Well, even so, it’ll be funny living on yer own.’

  ‘I won’t be on me own.’

  ‘Oh, aye, ’ave yer got a floozy lined up then?’

  ‘No! I’ve done with women. Our Florence’s coming home.’

  The men were surprised, but glad for Alfie’s sake.

  ‘She only went away because of ’er mother. Now she’s gone, our Florence says she’ll be glad to come home.’

  They were all happy for him then. Florence was a nice lass who had got off to a bad start. They’d both be better off without Kitty.

  ‘Come on then, get ’em in, Alfie!’ Mr Firth handed over his pint pot. Nobody could ever remember Alfie buying a round before.

  Jim looked round the room at all the guests enjoying themselves. Even his mother was almost splitting her sides laughing, and no wonder.

  Uncle Jack had obviously come well prepared. There he was, wearing nothing but a grass skirt and a garland of flowers round his neck. He was wearing a long black wig and dancing the hula-hula. He’d succeeded in persuading Emily Simms to join him on the dance floor, and someone had placed Betty’s large picture hat on her head and given her the remains of the bouquet.

  ‘Emily looks as though she’s had one too many,’ laughed Ernest, who had come over to buy the men a pint, much to Alfie’s relief.

  ‘Aye, it’s a grand wedding,’ Jim said. ‘Something for your Betty to remember in the future.’

  ‘Well, let’s hope we never get another war to ruin this marriage.’

  Ernest thought then about what Betty had said in the graveyard, and wondered if Clarence were here in spirit. If so, no doubt he’d be thankful she was happy and that Ernie was to have a new dad.

  Jim was thinking, too, about how fortunate he and Sally were. Daisy, despite all the ordeals she had faced in her young life, was a daughter to be proud of. Kenneth was quite a character too. He’d announced last night that when he grew up, he was going to be on television. If he was anything like his sister, Jim knew nothing would stop his son from achieving his goal. Aye, they were fortunate in their kids all right.

  Jim caught sight of his mother then. He didn’t think she would hold out much longer against Danny. It’d be strange having a new step-father at his age …

  If he had but known it, Danny was at that moment proposing to Amy for the umpteenth time.

  ‘Well, Amy, it’s been a grand wedding but it’ll be lonely now they’ve gone.’

  ‘Aye, it will.’

  ‘So how about marrying me, then we can keep each other company?’

  ‘I’ll say one thing for yer, Danny, you’re persistent if nowt else.’

  ‘Oh, come on, Amy. I know I’m a one-legged old fool, but I do love yer.’

  ‘Yer not a fool at all, or I wouldn’t be considering yer offer.’

  ‘So yer considering marrying me at last?’

  ‘I’m not leaving the row, mind. I was born there, and when I leave it’ll be in me coffin.’

  ‘So it looks like we’d better get electricity put in ’cos I’m not coming without me television set and me new electric washer.’

  Amy felt close to tears. ‘Would yer really give up yer home for me?’

  Danny took hold of her hand. ‘I’d give up everything for you, Amy.’

  ‘Except yer television and yer washer?’ She grinned.

  ‘Even them. But I hope yer’ll accept me, gadgets and all?’

  ‘Well, as I’ve taken quite a liking to some of t
hem programmes we’ve been watching together, I expect I’d better say yes.’ She watched as joy lit up Danny’s face.

  ‘Eeh, Amy, I’m as happy as a pig in muck!’

  ‘She laughed. ‘Do yer know what I love most about you, Danny?’

  ‘Me good looks, I expect,’ he joked.

  ‘No! Yer make me laugh – and it’s a long time since anybody’s done that.’

  And then Danny kissed his future wife on the lips for the first time, and although Amy turned the colour of beetroot, she did not resist.

  Chapter Thirteen

  DAISY AND STANLEY caught the last bus from Sheffield. They’d had a smashing time dancing at the Cutler’s Hall. The band had been great and she’d felt like a star in her new black taffeta circular skirt and white mandarin-collared blouse. That was until Stanley got a pass out and took her for a drink at the Grand Hotel close by.

  The sight of all the women’s diamanté-trimmed cocktail dresses and the man’s bow ties made her six-inch-wide waspy belt feel rather tarty somehow. Stanley said none of these posh women ever had a waist worthy of a waspy belt, and Daisy told him he was the handsomest man in the room. He was, too, in his khaki Army uniform.

  Daisy wasn’t quite old enough to be drinking but ordered a gin and orange anyway. It cost Stanley an arm and a leg and made Daisy, who was unused to alcohol, feel quite woozy. After a visit to the ladies, she took a wrong turn, became quite lost, and ended up in a fit of giggles by the time she located Stanley.

  ‘You’re not fit to take anywhere!’ He grinned at her. ‘Come on, we’re missing the dancing.’ The rest of the night passed in a blur and they kissed and cuddled all the way home on the top deck of the bus.

  The lights were out when they arrived at Taylors Row. ‘Come in,’ Daisy invited, ‘I’ll make some tea.’

  They both had other things on their mind, though, and the tea never materialized. They didn’t switch on the new electric light – installed by Stanley before he was called up on his National Service, Instead, Daisy broddled the fire until a warm glow filled the room. Stanley reached out for her then and she came eagerly into his arms.