A Sister's Duty

by June Francis

  Amelia could only wonder what Peter knew about Bernard’s relationship with Tess, but most of all she realised her husband had to be reassured before he did something stupid. ‘If he had set foot in this house, I’d have been tempted to put Paraquat in his tea,’ she said rapidly. ‘You still don’t know me if you think I’d take up with him again. Like you, I’ve tried my best to make the children feel secure and reasonably happy. Do you think I’d risk spoiling that? We’ve only failed with Chris, and maybe that’s not our fault.’

  ‘Maybe not.’ Peter looked less tense. ‘If only he’d get in touch! I keep telling myself he’s not my son, but part of me still finds that difficult to accept.’

  ‘I know.’ She sank on to the bed, feeling drained, wishing she could tell him the whole truth, but then he would be even angrier.

  He stared at her pale face and instantly went down on his knees in front of her. He took one of her hands between his. ‘I’m sorry. I should have known better, but I’ve had trouble thinking straight lately. Are you OK?’

  ‘I felt faint for a moment. It’s passing now.’

  He looked relieved. ‘You have a rest and I’ll bring you up a cup of tea.’

  Amelia did not argue but stretched out on the bed. She felt exhausted and could quite happily have slept the clock around.

  ‘His wife’s dead, you know,’ said Rosie.

  It was a fortnight later and she was due to start college that morning.

  ‘Whose wife?’ Amelia’s mind had been a thousand miles away. To be precise, in the middle of the Atlantic on the liner bringing her sister, niece and nephew to Liverpool.

  ‘Mr Rossiter’s.’

  There was a pause while Amelia gathered her wits. ‘You’ve seen him recently?’

  ‘The day Dotty thought she saw Chris, he came into the shop with his son.’

  Amelia stared at her. ‘Thanks for telling me. I’d guessed as much. He’s been seen round here but I suppose that’s not so strange. I mean, he works for a drugs firm and there’s Miss Scott’s on the corner.’

  Rosie nodded, picking up the briefcase which had been a birthday present from her aunt and uncle. ‘I thought you’d like to know because of Dotty. I’ll be on my way now. See you later.’

  ‘Have a good day.’

  Half an hour later, Amelia caught a tram to Kensington. For the next week or so she had decided to go into the shop for at least part of the day. If Bernard came in, she was going to have a talk with him, although she had not yet made up her mind exactly what she was going to say.

  But he did not come that day, nor the next, and the day after that Amelia had to go down to the docks to meet the liner from America bringing Iris, Babs and Harry home.

  For a while, as she stood on the quayside amongst the milling crowds, she forgot her worries in the excitement of the moment. She craned her neck, gaze scanning the people lining the rails of the ship. Then she saw Iris and a young woman she barely recognised as Babs, and squashed between them caught the gleam of Harry’s golden hair. She waved vigorously, calling their names, and somehow above all the noise they heard her. They waved but it was to be another half hour or so before they were through Customs.

  The sisters flew into each other’s arms, hugging and kissing before each held the other at arm’s length. ‘Oh, it’s so good to see you,’ cried Amelia. ‘You look so smart! You can tell rationing hasn’t hit you over there.’

  ‘Don’t remind me,’ said Iris, laughing. She was wearing a navy-blue and cream checked suit and a wide-brimmed hat. She looked lovely. ‘But I can’t say the same for you, dear sister. You look drawn. Life tough, is it?’

  Amelia shrugged. ‘It could be worse. I’ve a lot to tell you.’

  ‘Me too, when we can get a moment’s peace,’ said Iris, pulling a face.

  Amelia turned to Babs and Harry. ‘And how are you two? Glad to be home?’

  ‘Where’s Rosie?’ said Harry with a hint of an American accent, gazing about him as if expecting his sister to materialise out of thin air.

  ‘At college. But you’ll see her later. Come on now! Grab the smallest of the suitcases and let’s get home.’

  Babs and Harry met Rosie at the door that evening. ‘I can’t believe you’re actually here,’ she said, eyes sparkling as she hugged them both. ‘It seems for ever since I last saw you.’

  ‘More than two years,’ said Babs gravely.

  ‘Your ringlets have gone,’ sighed Rosie. ‘You’ve got a pageboy and you’ve really filled out. I like the frock. That neckline.’

  ‘It’s a sweetheart. We’re all grown up now,’ said Babs, linking her arm through her sister’s. ‘We’ll soon be old and grey. And talking about old and grey, when are we going to meet this granddad of ours?’

  ‘As soon as I can arrange it with Davey’s mother.’

  ‘How is Davey?’

  ‘Fine as far as I know.’

  ‘I think I’ll be a soldier too,’ said Harry.

  Rosie shook her head at him, taking in his sturdy body and cherubic features. ‘You’re back in Liverpool, my lad. You stick to the sea if you want to travel. I think you’ll be safer there.’ She hugged him again.

  ‘God help the Navy in that case,’ said a voice Rosie had not heard for a long time. ‘He’s a right scallywag!’

  Rosie gazed at Iris and could not speak for a moment. She had never realised just how like her mother Aunt Iris was. Maybe her hair was a shade darker and the brown eyes less luminous but the likeness was there in the bones of her face just as they were in Rosie’s. She could not help wondering what Sam had made of that likeness. She held out a hand. ‘Hello, Aunt Iris. It’s nice to have you home.’

  ‘It’s nice to be home. Although I think we’re going to be a little bit overcrowded.’ Her handshake was brief. ‘No wonder our Lee’s looking ready to collapse.’

  ‘I help her as much as I can.’

  ‘I’m sure you do, honey, but she was never very good with kids. It’s a miracle to me how she’s managed. But there you are. Lee always was one to do her duty.’

  Rosie realised she had not heard that word on Amelia’s lips for a long time now but said no more, believing it was more than duty that drove her to do what she did.

  One of the twins stuck his head through the morning-room door. ‘Tea’s ready. Hurry up, we’re starving! But we can’t sit down ’til you’re ready, Rosie. Dotty arrived home early.’

  Rosie raced upstairs, washed her hands and face and hurried into the morning room. There was a noisy dragging out of chairs and jostling for places from the boys. ‘Stop that!’ rapped Peter, flicking Tom across the cheek with his finger. ‘It’s not feeding time at the zoo.’

  Immediately, Harry made cheetah-like noises, scratching his armpits and snuffling. ‘See what I mean?’ said Iris, her smile not quite reaching her eyes. ‘A scallywag!’

  ‘Harry, if you carry on like that you can go outside and eat off the cat’s plate,’ said Amelia, shaking her head at him. ‘That’s where animals eat.’

  ‘Lovely grub,’ he said, smacking his lips.

  Peter picked up his plate and headed for the door. Harry’s grin vanished. ‘Sorry!’ he called, scrambling down from his chair and going after his uncle. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘Perhaps all he needs is a man’s touch. I remember he used to behave for Bill,’ drawled Iris, flicking ash from her cigarette into a cut-glass bon-bon dish.

  ‘He’ll behave for me or it’ll be bread and water for the rest of the week,’ said Peter, putting the plate back on the table.

  ‘I’m an angel,’ said Harry, putting his hands together in an attitude of prayer, and started to sing ‘Ave Maria’ in a piercingly sweet voice.

  Everyone except Babs and Iris stared at him. ‘Since when did you start singing like that?’ said Rosie, a thrill running through her.

  ‘Since a music teacher discovered I had a voice,’ Harry said, throwing out his chest.

  ‘It’s cissy,’ said Tom, elbows on the table, eyes narrowed as
he stared at his step-cousin.

  Harry’s chin jutted. ‘No, it’s not. It’s a gift from God.’

  ‘Which has gone to your head,’ said Jimmy.

  ‘Quiet!’ thundered their father.

  The silence was immediate but Babs had an expression on her face which caused Amelia, remembering how the twins had once tormented Harry, a moment’s disquiet. She could see trouble ahead if they reverted to their old tricks. Hopefully, they wouldn’t.

  She put it out of her mind and listened to Iris talking in an animated manner about the people she had met in America and on the trip home. Suddenly, it occurred to her that her sister might find it difficult to settle down here.

  ‘So how was America?’ said Rosie, as soon as she and Dotty were alone with Babs. A camp bed had been squeezed in alongside their single bed. ‘I wrote to you,’ said Babs, yawning and wriggling into the sleeping bag bought from the Army and Navy store.

  Rosie pushed Dotty’s foot out of her face. ‘Of course you did, but you can’t tell everything in a letter. It’s like I never got to tell you about Granddad’s fancy woman or about Davey being made lance-corporal and wanting to stay on in the Army.’

  ‘Does he?’ Babs let out a low whistle. ‘How d’you feel about that?’

  ‘How d’you imagine I feel?’

  ‘Pretty lousy, I guess.’ She hesitated. ‘I got pretty fond of Willy, Sam’s cousin. I think I mentioned him, didn’t I?’

  ‘Were you in love with him?’ said Dotty, turning over and digging a knee into Rosie’s back.

  ‘I guess so. But I’m not pining away or anything. What would be the point?’ She sighed. ‘Aunt Iris wanted to get away from the Dixons. I don’t think he loved her anyway. It was just that she was so like Mam. They are alike, aren’t they? Aunt Amelia’s one on her own.’

  ‘She’s OK is Aunt Amelia,’ said Rosie.

  Babs laughed. ‘You’ve changed your tune. You used to hate her.’

  ‘I know. We get on much better now, though. Do you think Aunt Iris and Sam – whether it was too soon after her husband died?’

  ‘No. She’s just a flirt,’ said Babs firmly. ‘Everywhere we went there was some guy or other who’d take her out. On the ship coming home there were several.’

  ‘No one special, though?’

  Babs pursed her lips. ‘There was Derek who she said was a real bright spark. I think she had a pash on him. They used to dance the night away.’

  ‘Shipboard romance,’ said Dotty dreamily. ‘Didn’t you get to smooch with anyone under the stars? I’d love to be on a ship with Chris.’

  ‘Chance would have been a fine thing,’ said Babs dryly, meeting Rosie’s glance and rolling her eyes. ‘I was stuck in the cabin most evenings looking after Harry. I got the distinct impression we cramped her style.’ She shrugged. ‘Anyway, we’re home now and it’ll be interesting to see what she does. She likes her comfort and I don’t think she’s going to find much of that here.’

  Rosie frowned. ‘You don’t think she’ll stay?’

  Babs rolled her eyes again. ‘You want me to tell you what I really think?’ she drawled.

  They nodded.

  ‘She’ll be off like a shot.’

  ‘You won’t be going with her, though, will you?’ said Dotty, pouting.

  ‘No way,’ said Babs firmly. ‘Now fill me in on your news, Dotty. You never did write to me.’

  ‘I won’t be stopping, Lee.’ Iris lit a cigarette, gazing over the flame of the platinum lighter into her sister’s face. ‘I think you’ve enough on your plate without me adding to the workload.’

  Amelia paused in mid-stitch as she turned a sheet outer edges in, aware Peter had stopped pencilling in figures in the accounts book. ‘I thought you’d be helping me with the workload? I’ve been looking forward to having you here,’ she said quietly.

  Iris did not speak for a moment, then she sighed. ‘I’ve met someone. He has his own import-export business down in London and he suggested I go work for him. I told him all about Bill and the canning factory and the experience I’ve had there, and he thinks I’d be a real asset. The only thing is—’

  ‘You don’t want to take Babs and Harry,’ murmured Peter.

  ‘It’s not don’t want,’ said Iris swiftly, smiling at him. ‘More a case of can’t, really.’ Even more swiftly she added, ‘I don’t expect you to look after them. After all, Babs is seventeen, Rosie’s eighteen and Dotty’s hardly a kid any more. They’re old enough to find somewhere and look after Harry themselves.’

  ‘You can tell you’ve been away from Liverpool for a while,’ said Peter. ‘You’ve no idea what the housing situation is like since the Blitz, have you?’

  ‘Rebuilding must have started, surely? The Americans are loaning money, aren’t they?’

  ‘The Marshall Aid Plan?’ grunted Peter. ‘It hasn’t really got going yet.’

  ‘He’s right,’ said Amelia, putting down the sheet. ‘There’s hundreds of newlyweds wanting to set up home. What chance do three young girls with a seven-year-old brother have of finding somewhere?’

  ‘What about the grandfather?’ said Iris, drawing on her cigarette. ‘Couldn’t he help?’

  Amelia gave one of her basilisk stares. ‘Are you joking? He needs to get his love life sorted out first. Besides, I’d hate them to think they’re not wanted here.’

  Iris shrugged her shoulders. ‘I know they’ve suffered, poor things. But haven’t we all? We lost Father and then I lost Bill. Peter lost Tess. It hasn’t been easy for any of us. But at least you two are all right together and the children have each other. I have no one of my own really.’

  ‘You have us. You’re part of the family,’ said Amelia, deeply wounded. ‘Isn’t that right, Peter?’

  ‘If Iris is in love, then we mustn’t try and hold on to her,’ he said mildly.

  Amelia frowned at him. ‘Is she in love? She didn’t say she was in love.’

  ‘Of course I’m in love!’ Iris seized on the words. ‘You’ve no idea what it’s like being in love all over again.’ She stubbed out her cigarette and stood up. ‘Well, I don’t think it’s worth me unpacking, do you? I’ll see about getting a ticket tomorrow. I don’t want to delay in case he finds someone else. You do see that, don’t you?’

  ‘We see,’ said Peter, carrying on totting up figures. ‘You going to bed?’

  ‘Yes. I want to be up early in the morning.’ She blew them a kiss and left the room.

  ‘Bitch!’ said Peter savagely, not looking at his wife. ‘She’s a selfish—’

  ‘You don’t have to say it,’ said Amelia. ‘It’s been a rapid lesson but I’ve already worked that out for myself. We’re just going to have to manage without her.’

  He nodded, certain they would get on better without Iris. His only worry was that it was going to be more work for Amelia.

  She, though, did not doubt that somehow she would manage and was more concerned about Bernard, his son and Dotty. So she put her energies into working out a solution to that particular problem. She had to keep Dotty and Eddie from meeting again. Babs had only met Chris once so the chances were she would not make the connection.

  By morning, Amelia had it all worked out, but she had to see Miss Scott first before putting it to the girls. Iris went out early and Amelia presumed she was making travel arrangements for London. She still felt hurt about the whole thing but decided there was nothing she could do, so went to call on Miss Scott in the chemist’s on the corner. Amelia had noticed only the other day that there was a card in the window advertising for a shop assistant. She was pinning her hopes on Bernard’s son not covering this area any longer now he was back covering hers.

  ‘So you’ve arranged for me to work for Miss Scott?’ said Dotty when Amelia broached the subject that evening. ‘Why?’ Her pale delicate face was bewildered.

  ‘I don’t need you and Babs in the shop,’ said Amelia briskly. ‘And you’re trained now. Miss Scott jumped at the chance of having you. Besides, it’s no
t as far for you to go so it’ll be easier.’

  Dotty could see that and decided that although she would miss Irene’s company, at least she would be able to come home for lunch and would save on tram fares. She never had enough money for what she wanted. ‘OK!’ she said. ‘I’ll do it.’

  Babs shot a glance at Rosie and winked. ‘I can’t wait to get started myself,’ she said cheerfully. ‘I haven’t a penny to bless myself with. You are going to pay me something, aren’t you, Aunt Amelia? I’m not doing it for my keep, am I?’

  ‘I’ll pay you what you’re worth,’ she said with a smile. ‘So you’d better work hard.’

  ‘So you’re another one of them?’ said Irene, taking in Babs’s smart appearance in a grey suit with a red pinstripe.

  ‘That’s right! Barbara Kilshaw, at your service.’ Babs gave her a curtsey.

  Irene chuckled. ‘You don’t look like either of your sisters. Where did you get that suit?’

  ‘The States.’ She did a twirl. ‘And, no, I don’t. We’re all different.’

  ‘I’d heard you’d been to America,’ said Irene eagerly. ‘What d’yer think of the Yanks?’

  ‘Friendly, most of them. Why?’

  ‘Me mum wouldn’t let me near them when they were over here. She said I was too young,’ said Irene, sounding exasperated. ‘They had money to burn, so my mate’s sister said. Not like our blokes.’ She sighed. ‘Anyway, I’d better show you the ropes and I hope yer listen better than that younger sister of yours. Head in the clouds, her, half the time.’

  Babs was prepared to work hard. She liked people and was ready to help them.

  Two days later, she came face to face with Eddie Rossiter, and as nobody had warned her about him, she was willing to be friendly with him, too.

  ‘Who are you?’ he said, eyeing her up and down as she reached up to get something off a high shelf, revealing a couple of inches of deliciously rounded thigh in the process.

  She glanced down. ‘Babs Kilshaw. Who are you?’

  He told her. ‘You got a boyfriend?’

  She laughed. ‘You’re a quick worker. No, as it happens. Why? Are you asking me out?’

  He grinned. ‘Why not, if you’re willing? What about the flicks? Believe there’s a good film on at the Kennie. One of those American musicals.’