‘I thought you’d like it,’ Ava said, pleased. ‘Dan likes pink too.’ Millie shot her a look and saw a secretive little smile lift her thin lips. She was not going to give Ava the satisfaction of seeing her upset, so did not rise to the bait.
‘Aye, no doubt it’ll remind him of the football results in the newspaper,’ Millie answered, and left to have a bath.
Her mother had filled a tub of hot water in front of the kitchen range, and making sure that Moody was out of the way, insisted on washing her daughter’s hair like she used to when Millie was a child. They chattered and laughed with Elsie about the day to come and were just wrapping Millie in towels when Dan burst through the kitchen door, followed by his two brothers and Kenny.
The women shrieked in consternation, Teresa flapping her hands wildly at the men while Elsie threw a coat over Millie’s pink shoulders.
‘You shouldn’t be here the night before you’re wed!’ Teresa scolded.
Dan laughed and lurched towards Millie, throwing an arm around her waist. ‘I’ve just come to see my bonny Millie,’ he announced, delivering a sloppy kiss on her cheek.
‘Well she’s not yours until the morrow,’ Teresa replied, ‘so be off with the lot of you!’
‘Aye, mother-in-law-to-be,’ Dan teased. ‘How about a quick wind-up of the gramophone?’ He twirled Millie, who grabbed at the loose coat to cover herself.
‘Dan,’ she giggled bashfully, ‘not now!’
‘Haway, Dan,’ the burly Grant said in embarrassment, trying to avoid looking at Millie’s state of undress. ‘It’s time we got you back. Sorry, Mrs Mercer.’
‘Aye, come on Dan,’ Walter coaxed, taking his brother by the arm.
Dan gave Millie another kiss on her flushed face as they pulled him away. She could smell the beer on his breath and knew they must have been celebrating hard. Side-stepping Walter, Dan planted a kiss on an unsuspecting Teresa as he lurched by.
‘Dan Nixon!’ she protested.
‘You’ll not be able to stop me kissing you all tomorrow,’ he joked, and allowed himself to be led away.
‘Just make sure you’re there,’ Teresa snorted.
Grant gave her a nod. ‘I’ll make sure they’re both there,’ he promised, ‘then we can all have a peaceful life.’
They retreated across the yard, their raucous laughter and singing echoing through the calm late-summer night. Teresa gave Millie a strange look, half amused, half sorrowful. Perhaps she was reminded of the old days when Graham had brought his friends back to the cottage in Craston and the small kitchen had rung with their joking. Millie wanted to ask her mother, but knew she could not. It was the one subject that was never raised between them, and after all this time Millie did not know how to broach it. Instead she allowed her mother to dry her hair and comb out her curls, and chatter about last-minute preparations.
When the moment finally came to walk down the aisle to meet Dan, Millie thought her knees would buckle with nerves. To her secret regret, it was Joseph Moody who took the place of her father and gave her in marriage to Dan.
Teresa had made sure he was well shaven and smartly dressed for the occasion, and he seemed genuinely pleased to be there, but Millie could not help imagining her own father at her side, proudly accompanying his only daughter. Where was he on her wedding day? she agonised. Could he possibly be aware that something momentous was happening within his family?
She smothered her guilt as she entered the church. If her father had really cared what happened to her, he would have returned to find out; he would not have been so easily put off by Teresa’s harsh treatment.
Once she caught sight of Dan’s handsome face, smiling at her in encouragement, she knew that nothing else mattered. Her heart leapt as she stood beside him, sure that what she was doing was right. The ceremony was over in a blur, and soon they were outside being congratulated by friends and neighbours and standing while the photographer from the Comrades club took their picture.
Back at the hotel, Moody had laid on two barrels of beer, and the guests tucked into the home baking. Even Mungo’s long face and grumbling disapproval did not dampen their spirits. When the carpet was rolled back and Dan and Millie led the dancing, Major Hall banged away with gusto on the piano and Teresa joined him in a duet which got everyone on their feet.
At two o’clock they all trooped back to the church for the second ceremony to see Ella and Walter married. This time the singing was lustier and the party afterwards even more lively. Elsie brought out the last of the baking, along with jellies and puddings and cakes, while Moody tapped into the second barrel.
By the evening, even Mungo had succumbed to the celebrations and was persuaded to bring out his old set of border pipes and play. The dancing continued, and they ended up around the piano for a sing-song before Ella and Walter made their departure for her aunt’s house, where they had decided to begin married life.
But Dan seemed in no hurry to end the party, and the dancing and singing and drinking continued until the beer finally ran out. Millie wished they had been able to afford to go away for a couple of days. At least there was the Bank Holiday charabanc trip to look forward to on the Monday, but there was no getting away from the hotel until then.
Teresa, sensing her daughter’s mounting nervousness, began to shoo the guests out of the hotel. She saw Ava hanging around the piano, giggling at what Dan and Kenny were saying.
‘Ava, come and help me clear up in the kitchen,’ Teresa ordered. ‘We can’t leave it all to Elsie.’
Ava looked about to mutiny, but Major Hall stood up and closed the piano lid.
‘Thank you for a marvellous party. It’s time we left you all in peace.’ He steered Kenny and Ava and the last of the guests out of the dining room with him.
All at once, Dan and Millie were alone. Dan started to hiccup and sat back down. Millie watched him, wondering if he could possibly be as nervous as she was. She had seen how much of Moody’s beer he had drunk, and how he had been in no hurry to end the party. Maybe it had been a mistake to arrange a double wedding after all. He gazed at her, unfocused, as if he was not sure where he was.
Millie held out her hands to him. ‘Let’s gan upstairs before we’re made to do the washing-up,’ she smiled.
He got to his feet, steadying himself against her with a laugh. ‘I hope the landlady lets us sleep in,’ he slurred as Millie steered him towards the stairs. With difficulty they negotiated the two flights up to the bedroom, where earlier his bag of possessions had been put. Then he lost co-ordination, banging into the clothes chest on the landing. Persuading him not to climb into it, Millie coaxed him into their room at last. She gulped to see his coat and spare suit hanging behind the door, and his shaving brush and razor on the washstand.
Dan flopped straight onto the bed. ‘Oh, Millie, we’ve had a canny day, haven’t we?’ he hiccupped, attempting to loosen his tie.
She went over and helped ease off his well-polished shoes, while he lay back and closed his eyes. ‘It’s been a wonderful day,’ she agreed, wondering if she should attempt to remove any more of his clothing.
She turned to the mirror and began to take off the necklace and earrings that her mother had given her as a present. She brushed out her hair, chatting all the while about the day to calm her racing pulse. Then she heard a snore from the bed, and looked round to see that Dan had fallen asleep. Millie felt dismay mixed with a little relief. She knew from Elsie that there were things that needed to be done on a wedding night and subsequent nights in a marriage. The country girl had been quite matter-of-fact about the mating of farm animals, but Millie was still vague about what might be expected in a marriage bed. Ella had been none the wiser, and when Millie had tried to raise it with her mother, Teresa had dismissed the subject. ‘You’ll find out soon enough. It’s not the worst side of marriage by any means,’ she had added bafflingly.
Millie sighed at the sight of Dan’s prone, inebriated body. She went and sat on the edge of the bed, wondering if s
he should shake him awake. But he looked so peaceful, his face quite relaxed and boyish in sleep, that she left him. Undressing and putting on her nightgown, she pulled the covers over them both. She lay awake a long time, listening to the sounds of the others clearing up below and the distant strains from the gramophone, and wished she was with them, being useful. Later she heard the creaking of floorboards as they went to bed. Millie wondered if they were listening out for noises from the newly-weds’ room too. Finally she heard Elsie tramping wearily past their bedroom up to the attic.
She put out a hand to touch Dan’s face in the dark and felt him stir. He flung out an arm, which found her, and mumbled a name incoherently. Millie closed her eyes and gave in to a sudden tiredness. At least they were now married; it was still a miracle to her that she was lying next to Dan at all. She did not blame him for having a good sup of beer on his wedding day, for there would be other nights to consummate their marriage. They had the rest of their lives stretching before them together. The thought brought her warm satisfaction, and she leaned over and kissed Dan’s forehead possessively.
‘Good night, me husband,’ she whispered, and snuggled under his heavy arm.
Chapter Ten
1925
‘Guess what I’ve heard?’ Ava said breathlessly, dumping down her shopping on the kitchen table where Millie was rolling out pastry.
‘Watch me pastry!’ Millie complained, exasperated that this rare quiet moment had been spoiled.
‘Millie’s been keeping secrets from us,’ Ava continued, deliberately leaving the groceries where they were.
‘No I haven’t,’ Millie replied, pushing back her curls with a floury hand.
‘What secrets?’ Teresa asked, looking up from the menu she was planning for a debating society luncheon.
Ava pulled off her gloves and hat. ‘They were talking about it in the butcher’s. No doubt Millie was trying to protect Dan by not saying anything.’ She picked up one of Millie’s newly baked hot-cross buns and bit into it without asking.
‘I’ve no idea what you’re on about,’ Millie snapped, suddenly nervous.
‘You mean Dan hasn’t told you?’ Ava said in mock surprise.
‘Told her what?’ Teresa demanded, sensing another battle brewing between the women.
‘They’re suspending the Comrades from the League,’ Ava announced, hardly able to keep a smile from her face.
Millie’s heart jerked. She had known something was wrong. Dan had been preoccupied of late, spending more time round at Kenny’s, telling her not to fuss him when she asked what the matter was. She had assumed he was worried about being put on short time at the pit, like many of the other men. For two weeks in February the pit had shut down completely and the men had been idle, hanging around street corners sharing cigarettes, or squatting on their haunches playing pitch and toss. It was a sight which filled her with dread, a reminder of those hungry days in Craston before their flight.
‘Suspended?’ Teresa cried. ‘What for?’
Ava flopped into the battered horsehair chair by the fire, eager to tell all.
‘They’re saying the team’s being investigated. Something to do with taking payments that they shouldn’t have. No doubt Dan will be able to tell us,’ Ava said with a malicious look at Millie. She seemed to derive all her entertainment these days from baiting her, Millie thought angrily.
She at once jumped to Dan’s defence. ‘You’ll not go bothering him with any of your gossip!’
‘Not gossip,’ Ava insisted. ‘It’s in the evening newspaper, apparently.’
‘It’s rubbish,’ Millie answered. ‘The Comrades are amateurs, they don’t get paid anything.’
‘Well, the butcher says they’ve been fiddling their expenses – tea money and travelling. Claiming for money that they haven’t spent.’
Millie put her hands on her hips. ‘They’re entitled to their expenses. It’s little enough they get for all the effort they put in to represent the town!’
‘There’s even talk of some players being paid to play – make up for them losing a shift at work, that sort of thing,’Ava continued. She took another bite of bun and munched while Millie’s slim face reddened.
‘Well, that’s rubbish! But most of the lads can’t afford to play if they don’t get expenses,’ Millie said, flustered. ‘I don’t blame them if they decide to walk miles to a match and save the bus fare – they’re still entitled to it! I don’t see the harm in that.’
‘Keep your hat on, Millie,’ Teresa warned, seeing how Ava had so quickly needled her daughter. ‘You don’t have to convince us. Ava, move those parcels now. Grant Nixon will be calling shortly about the debating society lunch.’
Ava got up slowly, finishing her bun. ‘Umm, that was tasty. That’s what you do best, Millie, cooking.’ She strolled over to the table and, picking up the parcels, headed towards the larder. Millie wanted to hit her for trying to put her down all the time. She was beginning to feel like the drudge that Ava thought she was, still doing the main share of the chores despite her married status. And if Moody’s daughter was not ridiculing her or flirting with Dan, then she was making impertinent remarks about how slow they were in starting a family. Millie longed for a baby, and to escape the restrictions of the hotel, but both dreams were receding along with Dan’s dwindling pay. This new shock about the Comrades would make things worse, for football was the one thing that might release them from a future of poverty.
Millie went back to thumping pastry with the heavy rolling pin, determined to ignore Ava, but the other girl turned and added softly, ‘You never did tell us where Dan got the money for your birthday clothes, did you? What with him being laid off so much recently, it’s a wonder he had any wages put by for that fur-trimmed coat. Even in the sale it must have cost at least a guinea. I wonder if he’s ever been offered money for a match? He is the Comrades’ best player, after all.’
Millie’s patience snapped. In an instant she was across the kitchen and seizing Ava by the arm. ‘How dare you!’ she yelled. Ava screamed in pain and dropped the parcels. Sausages, bacon bones, dripping and offal fell from their paper wrappers on to the oilcloth as the girls pushed and tussled. Ava pulled Millie’s hair and bit her hand, while Millie pummelled her stomach. Teresa shouted at them to stop, but they fought on, giving vent to their years of antagonism.
Millie forced Ava to the ground. ‘You’re jealous!’ she accused. ‘You can’t stand to see me happy with Dan!’
‘I couldn’t care less about your precious Dan,’ Ava shouted, shoving Millie away. ‘He came after me ages ago, but I told him where to go.’
‘You’re lying!’
‘He’d kiss anything in a skirt!’
Millie howled in rage, ‘I hate you!’
‘Look at the pair of you,’ Teresa bawled. ‘Stop this at once!’
As they rolled on the ground, spitting bitter accusations at each other, someone knocked on the back door and entered. Teresa cried out, ‘Help me separate them before they kill each other!’
Millie felt strong, rough hands pull her off Ava, and looking up, she saw the brawny figure of Grant Nixon looming over her. His look was one of astonished revulsion. Millie threw off his hold, humiliated that Effie’s eldest son should have seen her like this. What would the gentle Effie herself have thought of her? she thought in sudden self-disgust.
‘Thank you, Grant,’ Ava gasped, leaning dramatically against him as he helped her to her feet. ‘She just came at me like a wild animal.’ Then she burst into tears. Grant, quite at a loss as to how to react, gave her an awkward pat on her shoulder and produced a white handkerchief.
Teresa took charge of the situation. ‘Ava, you were just as much to blame. Millie, get yourself upstairs until that husband of yours comes back from wherever he’s drinking.’ She turned to Grant. ‘I’m very sorry you had to witness that. Would you like to come through to the dining room while we discuss the luncheon arrangements?’
Grant hesitated, looking betw
een the women. Millie was shaking, unable to move, and she had a sudden urge to justify her actions to him. She had always been rather in awe of the stern older brother with his bookishness and politics, but she knew he was a fair man. His disdainful look was worse humiliation than her mother’s scolding.
‘Ava was bad-mouthing our Dan. Surely you don’t believe the rumours about the Comrades?’ she appealed to her brother-in-law. ‘Ava says everyone’s talking about how they’ve taken money when they shouldn’t. But I know they’re not bad lads.’
Grant stared at her with dark, hooded eyes, his heavy jaw set, and she thought he would criticise her too. ‘You’re right, they’re not bad. No one complained when they won their games most Saturdays this season. What do they expect these lads to live on? If they won’t pay them a decent wage at the pit, the lads must do what they can. It’s the middle-class amateurs who complain the loudest, but they’re not the ones who are tightening their belts. The rules are made up by officials who’ve never had to worry where the next penny’s coming from. It’s the system that’s to blame, not the players.’
They were all stunned by his speech. It was the most Millie had ever heard him say. Teresa broke the silence. ‘Well, we can see why you’re in the debating society, Grant Nixon.’
He smiled sheepishly and followed her out of the room, but not before Millie had given him a grateful look. Without another word to Ava, she ran upstairs to wash and change and went out to the Palace, thankful to escape the hotel for an evening’s work. Dan came in for an hour’s nap before going on night shift, but there was no chance for them to talk alone. Millie left a supper of ham and pease pudding for him and woke him just before she left. As she took tickets, she determined that she and Dan must find a place of their own as quickly as possible. It was as if they were not properly married, the way they lived under her mother’s rule and she carried on working there as before. Maybe Dan would not stay out so much if he had a real home to which to come back.
THE TYNESIDE SAGAS: Box set of three dramatic and emotional stories: A Handful of Stars, Chasing the Dream and For Love & Glory Page 57
