by Nancy Revell
‘All right, you win,’ she said, forcing herself to sound more enthusiastic than she felt.
‘Come on then.’ Vinnie grabbed Sarah’s hand as he hurried down Holmeside. ‘Look, there’s a tram,’ he said, grabbing Sarah by the arm and pulling her along a little too forcefully. She was struggling to keep up due to her three-inch heels and her gas mask, which was bobbing about annoyingly by her side.
‘God, Vinnie, what’s the dash? The shops aren’t gonna shut anytime soon,’ she said as they jumped on-board the wooden platform of the number 7 tram just as it was starting to pull away. ‘And neither are the pubs,’ she added, trying to sound jokey.
The tram was more or less full but there was one seat free, which Vinnie gave to Sarah.
As they trundled down the road, Sarah looked out the window and saw the bomb site where Binns, the town’s top department store, had once stood. She’d loved that shop as a young girl, loved walking around it and gawping at all the elegant clothes and posh pieces of furniture. It was a peephole into how the other half lived.
A few minutes later they were getting off at the top of Tatham Street. It was busy today. It was just six days before Christmas and although few people had any money, and there wasn’t even that much in the shops, the entire town seemed buzzing with anticipation. Perhaps that was what she was picking up from Vinnie. He seemed buoyed up and excited.
‘I tell yer what,’ Vinnie said, rubbing his hands to keep them warm. It might have been a clear day and the sun was out, but it was still bitterly cold. ‘There’s a really nice little pub two minutes from here. Why don’t we go for a little snifter, bolster me up before you drag me round all the shops?’
Sarah squinted down the road, which was busy with trams and bicycles. The pavements were spilling over with shoppers, old women wrapped in shawls and mothers with their children. Halfway down the street Sarah could see a sign for ‘Vaux’s Maxim Ale’ painted in huge letters on the side of a pub.
‘What, that one on the corner ?’ Sarah asked.
‘Nah, it’s a bit further down, follow me.’ And once again Sarah found herself being pulled along a little too forcefully. After dodging a few prams and old fishwives selling their wares from large wicker baskets, they arrived outside the pub.
‘Here we are,’ Vinnie declared. ‘The Tatham Arms … After you.’ He swung his hand forward as if he were the epitome of a true gentleman, allowing his lady to go first.
As Sarah stepped over the pub’s threshold, she didn’t see Vinnie checking out a house just across the road – a Victorian three-storey, mid-terrace home that had a gleaming white front doorstep and a polished brass plaque bearing the number 34.
‘What can I get ya, pet?’
Sarah was standing at the bar, which was still fairly quiet as it had just gone midday, although a few men were hurrying in, heralding the start of the Saturday-afternoon rush.
‘I’ll have a pint of Vaux for his lordship.’ Sarah glanced over at Vinnie, who had gone straight to the table by the window and seemed engrossed by what was happening in the street outside. ‘And I’ll have a port and lemon, ta.’ Sarah observed the barmaid and thought that she looked like a woman you didn’t get on the bad side of. Probably had to be tough working here. It wasn’t exactly a dive, but it wasn’t the Grand either.
As usual, Sarah paid for the drinks and took them over to Vinnie, who still had his eyes glued to the window.
Why was she getting the feeling that there was more to this day out than Vinnie was letting on?
‘Here’s yer pint,’ Sarah said, staring at Vinnie’s profile. ‘Did yer want me to put it to yer lips fer fear of yer missing the action?’ Sarah tried to sound funny, but her voice had an edge to it that she hadn’t been able to disguise.
Vinnie glanced back at Sarah and then down at his pint. He put his hand around the straight pint glass with the red and gold Vaux Brewery logo on the side and took a large gulp.
‘Sit down, Sar. Yer making me nervous,’ Vinnie said, turning his head back towards the window.
‘Vin, what’s going on?’ Sarah demanded. Her voice came out louder than she had meant and she caught the mutton-dressed-as-lamb barmaid look over at them both. She sat down and took a sip of her drink.
‘Come on, then,’ Sarah leant across the table and whispered. ‘What’re we doing in the east end, and in a pub that’s no better than any round our way?’
‘All right, all right.’ Vinnie spoke in hushed tones, his eyes darting between Sarah and the view outside. ‘I didn’t want to tell ya before we left, ’cos I knew you’d play war.’ His voice was low and had a rare hint of meekness. ‘But I’ve got a favour to ask.’
He looked at Sarah’s puzzled face as she took a drink of her port.
‘It’s about the bab,’ he said a little sheepishly. ‘I’ve got to see her.’
‘Ah, please, Vin! Not this again!’ Sarah let out a loud lament. She’d been kidding herself to think that just because Vinnie hadn’t mentioned the baby in a good while, it was a sign he’d put the whole debacle behind him.
Sensing the barmaid and a few of the regulars were looking over at them again, Sarah glared back and snapped. ‘You all had a good enough look?’
Sarah saw a big fella who must have been the landlord grab the barmaid’s skinny arm as she made to come over to them.
Vinnie realised they were creating unwanted attention and glowered at Sarah.
‘For God’s sake, Sar, keep yer knickers on.’ He looked out the window.
A few seconds later he jumped up out of his seat.
‘Come on!’ he demanded.
‘I’ve not finished my drink!’ Sarah was angry, but kept her voice low. She’d seen how the barmaid had been keen to have a word and she didn’t fancy her chances if anything kicked off.
‘Neck it down,’ Vinnie told her, before pouring the rest of his pint down his own, swallowing it in two large glugs.
They both put their empty glasses down on the small wooden table and made for the saloon door that led out into the long hallway. As Vinnie reached the pub’s main entrance, he turned to Sarah.
‘Just follow my lead.’ He squeezed her hand. ‘I’ll never ask you for anything else again if you can just do this one thing for me.’
Sarah knew this was as close to a plea as Vinnie would ever make and that she couldn’t turn him down, although God only knew what he was up to.
As they stepped back onto the street, Sarah saw a pretty young blonde woman manoeuvring a big Silver Cross pram from the doorway of a house just across the road. The woman checked on the baby before heading along the street in the direction of town.
And that’s when Sarah realised what was really going on.
As she looked at the back of the woman now walking away from them, she would bet what little money she had that nestled up in that pram was a little baby girl called Hope.
On seeing the man leave with the gobby woman in the skirt that was too short and a pair of heels that made her legs appear even longer than they already were, Pearl hurried from behind the bar and over to where the couple had been sitting. She nudged one of her regulars out of the way in order to get right up close to the window.
Bill had gone down to the cellar to change a barrel and the pub was starting to fill up fast. There were now customers waiting at the bar.
‘Come on, Pearl!’ one of them shouted out good-naturedly. ‘Has a man got to die of thirst before he gets a drink round here?’
Pearl stood stock-still as she kept her sight on the middle-aged bloke with thinning hair and the beginnings of a bald patch, and his bit of stuff that looked like a right tart, as they hurried across the road. Something wasn’t right about the pair.
‘Hold yer horses, Georgie,’ Pearl shouted back, but kept her eyes looking straight ahead.
She stared at the couple as they started to cross the road.
Then she saw Bel taking Hope out in her pram.
For a split second Pearl felt a wave of panic. T
he man and woman looked like they were headed straight for her Isabelle and the baby. Something told her to run out of the pub and shout a warning to her daughter, but just as she started to move, the man and woman veered to the left and started hurrying off in the opposite direction.
What’s up with ya, ya daft mare! Pearl reprimanded herself. Yer going loopy in yer old age.
‘I’m coming!’ Pearl shouted out to her impatient regulars. ‘I think yer barmaid needs a little tipple to keep her on an even keel this afternoon.’
Vinnie looked behind one last time to see Bel steer the pram left into Murton Street.
‘Come on, then!’ Vinnie said. ‘We’re gonna have to run if we want to catch her.’
‘Run?’ Sarah was now shouting. She’d practically knocked her port back in one and it had gone straight to her head. ‘Have you tried running in heels like these?’
‘This way.’ Vinnie pulled Sarah immediately right so that they were hurrying up Maeburn Street. It was quieter than Tatham Street, so they weren’t slowed down by pedestrians or gaggles of old women taking up the pavement as they stood idly chatting.
‘Why are we going in the opposite direction?’ Sarah asked as she felt Vinnie pull her right again and onto Northcote Avenue, hurrying straight across the road and up Winifred Terrace. The street was pretty much deserted, apart from a few children playing out on the street or sitting on their front doorstep.
Vinnie didn’t answer. He looked like a man possessed.
When they turned right into Laura Street, Sarah worked it out. They were doing what amounted to a sprint around the block so as to meet the young woman and Gloria’s baby head-on.
‘What yer gonna do when we meet them?’ Sarah rasped. She was struggling to get her breath.
Vinnie slowed down.
‘Not me. You!’ Vinnie said. ‘You’re gonna act yer socks off ’n’ coo over the baby like you women always do. And then yer gonna somehow get hold of her ‘n let me have a good look.’
Sarah opened her mouth to voice her objection – you couldn’t just lift someone else’s baby out of a pram, for God’s sake!
But before she had a chance to say what she was thinking, they turned the corner onto Murton Street and ran slap bang straight into the pram.
Vinnie nearly landed on top of it and would have risked crushing the baby had the grey canvas hood of the pram not been up.
The sudden clash caused a long wail to start up.
‘Oh my goodness!’ Sarah said. ‘I’m so sorry!’ The shock of crashing into Gloria’s babysitter was genuine, as were her words of apology.
Bel stared at the couple in front of her, who were now blocking the pavement.
Hope was screaming her head off and Bel looked into the pram to see a reddening, scrunched-up face peeking out of her little bed. She reached in to pick her up.
‘No need for an air raid siren when this little one decides to exercise her lungs.’ She sounded jocular, but was actually trying to keep under wraps her annoyance that they had set Hope off.
‘I’m sorry, pet,’ Vinnie said.
Bel looked up at the man and felt an instant dislike.
‘Don’t worry,’ she said, a little harshly. ‘Don’t let me stop you getting on your way,’ she added, jiggling baby Hope around as she spoke. Thankfully her cries were starting to die down.
‘Oh,’ Sarah said, stepping nearer and craning her neck to have a better look at the babe in arms. ‘She’s adorable, isn’t she?’ Sarah looked at Bel and then at Vinnie, who was staring at the baby unashamedly.
‘And what beautiful blue eyes she’s got.’ Sarah went to touch the baby’s cheek, now wet with tears. Bel got a whiff of alcohol and moved to the side.
‘What’s her name, then?’ Sarah kept on, putting on her poshest voice. She could tell the woman was feeling uncomfortable and that their time was running out.
‘Hope.’ Bel reluctantly gave up the baby’s name, adding, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m in a bit of a dash.’ She leant forward to put Hope back into her pram and as she did so the baby’s little white hat came off, revealing a mop of jet-black hair.
Vinnie bent down, quick as a flash, to retrieve it, but rather than give it back to Bel, he fumbled to put it back onto the baby’s head, causing Hope to start crying again.
Vinnie stared at the child. He took in her sea blue-grey eyes and her shock of black hair. Vinnie’s own eyes scoured the baby’s delicate features – and it was then he knew that the child was not his.
‘Don’t worry,’ Bel said, panicking a little and snatching back the hat. She could smell beer and fags on him as well. ‘I’ll get her moving and she’ll calm down.’ She gripped the handlebar of the pram and pushed it forward, almost ramming it into Vinnie and Sarah. They had no choice but to move out the way.
‘Oh, sorry,’ Bel said, but it was obvious she wasn’t at all apologetic as she pushed the pram determinedly past them both, banging it down the pavement and hurrying across the narrow residential road and along Laura Street. She only started to breathe properly when she had Toward Road and the Winter Gardens in her sight.
She cast a look back and saw the couple staring at her as she and Hope made good their escape.
Vinnie and Sarah stood watching Bel’s back as she hurried away. It wasn’t until she disappeared from view, merging with the crowds on the busy main road, that they turned to each other.
‘Well! That’s a turn-up for the books! Isn’t it?’ Sarah said, trying hard not to sound as happy as she felt. This was better than she could have wished for. It was well worth being dragged to the east end, having to more or less down her drink in one and then sprint around the block in her high heels.
‘There’s no way that bairn’s yours!’ she said. Vinnie’s face was a mix of shock and confusion. ‘I mean, that thick black hair! And those big blue eyes!’ Sarah looked at Vinnie with his thinning, tawny-coloured hair and his brown eyes.
‘What colour eyes has Gloria got?’ Sarah asked. She was starting to feel excited. This could mean the end of this whole bloody baby saga. Once and for all.
‘Brown,’ Vinnie said.
‘Well, brown and brown do not make blue!’ Sarah declared. ‘That hair!’ she gushed. She had been genuinely taken aback by how stunning Hope was. Sarah wasn’t normally one to slaver over babies, and she certainly didn’t think all babies were adorable little cherubs, but this baby was really quite beautiful.
Vinnie was nodding in agreement, but still looked shell-shocked. In his mind’s eye he could see his two sons, Gordon and Bobby, as babies. Bald as coots, the pair of them. Thickset, like little boxers, they were. And deep brown eyes. Just like his own.
‘Actually, if the babysitter hadn’t said her name, I would have thought we’d got the wrong baby.’ Sarah spoke her thoughts aloud.
‘Aye,’ Vinnie agreed.
‘Come on,’ Sarah cajoled. ‘I think this calls for a celebratory drink. The Burton is just a few minutes away.’
They started walking, Sarah’s mind replaying the unexpected turn of events.
‘So, how did yer know where the bab was?’ she asked.
Vinnie gave his one-word answer: ‘Muriel.’
Sarah nodded, knowing that Muriel worked in the canteen at Thompson’s and that her best mate, Elsie, worked with Vinnie in the ropery. Sarah had commented in the past that it was like the pair of them were in some kind of competition to be the town’s number-one gossipmonger.
‘And how did you know the childminder would be out with the bab this afternoon?’ she asked, intrigued that Vinnie seemed to have orchestrated the whole accidental meeting with such precision.
‘Apparently she’s as regular as clockwork. Goes up to town the same time every day,’ Vinnie said. His voice was expressionless and his eyes were still staring straight ahead as though he was in a different world.
‘You all right, Vinnie?’ Sarah asked. She gave him a sidelong glance as they turned right onto Toward Road. ‘Yer look a mil
lion miles away. I’ve never heard yer so quiet.’
‘Aye, aye, I’m all right. Nothing that a drink won’t sort out.’ Vinnie said the words through habit rather than with any real meaning.
Sarah’s mind started galloping ahead. ‘And this also means,’ she said excitedly, ‘yer won’t have to pay a penny towards it. Not if it’s not yours.’
Vinnie nodded, but didn’t say anything.
‘So, you were right,’ he said at last.
‘What do yer mean?’ Sarah asked as they hurried right onto Borough Road. She could see the Burton House pub. In a few minutes they’d be enjoying a drink and thinking about their future. One without Gloria and the baby in it. And with the divorce under way, they could start planning their wedding.
‘When you said that night that Hope mightn’t be mine,’ Vinnie said. His voice sounded uncannily calm. Neither of them had really believed Gloria would ever be unfaithful, never mind have another man’s child. The only reason Sarah had tried to put doubts into Vinnie’s head was to get him to drop his obsession with the child.
How wrong they had both been. Gloria had been off the side!
‘That’s why she never wanted me to see the bab,’ Vinnie said, but his words were drowned out by a passing tram.
‘What’s that, Vin?’ Sarah was aware Vinnie had said something but not sure what. ‘Tell us when we get inside,’ she added as they reached the pub.
Once they were through the door, Sarah went straight to the bar and ordered a pint of bitter and a brandy. This time she had no resentment about paying for the drinks. She’d be happy to spend what money she had in her purse today. It was worth it. And besides, once all of this was done with, she would sit Vinnie down and they could talk about their future together, including their finances. This was a clean sheet. After what they had found out today, they could start afresh. No Gloria and no baby hanging on, ruining everything for them both.
‘Get this down yer,’ Sarah said, as she put their drinks on a table near the back of the bar.
