For Better For Worse

by Pam Weaver

  He smiled. ‘I know, I heard your latest play on the radio the other day. Very good, in fact I would go so far as to say brilliant.’

  Kaye basked in a pink glow of pleasure. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘How many cigarettes do you smoke a day?’

  He’d caught her off guard. ‘Um …’

  ‘That tells me it’s too many,’ he said, ‘and judging by the look of that overflowing ashtray, I should say far too many.’

  ‘They say they’re good for you,’ said Kaye feebly. ‘They calm your nerves.’

  ‘There’s a new school of thought now,’ said Doctor Bradley. ‘Smoking is not as beneficial as we first thought. In fact, cigarettes have been linked to getting other diseases.’

  ‘All right,’ she said grudgingly. ‘I’ll cut down.’

  ‘I should like to run a few tests,’ Doctor Bradley went on. ‘I’ll arrange for you to see a colleague of mine in Harley Street. The next time you’re in town, make an appointment and pop along to see him.’ Kaye nodded dully. ‘In the meantime,’ Doctor Bradley continued, ‘get someone to put a bowl of water near the fireplace. The air is very dry in this room and that won’t help with your breathing.’

  As he left, Kaye gathered her things. She was in desperate need of some sleep. Sarah followed her up to her room and closed the curtains. Kaye undressed as far as her petticoat and slid under the eiderdown. It was chilly in the bedroom so she was grateful for the hot-water bottle Sarah had already put there. As she closed the door, Sarah glanced at her employer. Kaye really didn’t look well at all.

  *

  ‘Until we can find a place of our own,’ Henry wrote, ‘I shall be staying with an old family friend.’

  Annie was furious. She had already written to explain that she was sure Kaye wouldn’t mind him being in the house with her and the baby, although she hadn’t actually broached the subject with Kaye herself yet. She was confident that however she felt about Henry, Kaye would never turn Edward out of his only home. She’d explained to Henry that she wasn’t the least bit embarrassed about being with the other wives, but now he’d written this! Didn’t he want to be with his son? She banged her thigh in frustration. She had been looking forward to having Henry back. It was proving desperately difficult to find somewhere else to live and nothing was a patch on the room she and Edward shared at Copper Beeches. It was quite big and another person could easily fit in with them. It wasn’t as if Henry had much stuff, and besides, as soon as he got another job, they could find a place of their own.

  She had hoped that she would have plenty of piano students by now but a chance remark by one of the mothers had put paid to that. Mrs Riley had asked Annie if she was related to Kaye. It seemed like a simple request from an adoring fan and without thinking Annie had laughed out loud, ‘Well, we share the same husband, but that’s all.’ Mrs Riley had been visibly appalled. Gathering her child’s things and grabbing Oliver by the arm, she’d made for the door. Annie tried to explain that it was nothing untoward, but her client was in no mood to listen. Oliver didn’t come back for his Tuesday lesson and before long Annie noticed that some of her other clients had dropped away as well.

  ‘Perhaps you should try and get some other job,’ Sarah suggested when Annie told her.

  ‘There isn’t a lot of point,’ said Annie. ‘Henry will be here soon.’

  Sarah sighed audibly but said nothing.

  With nothing much to do, Annie was bored. Oh, she had Edward of course, but Kaye had been laid up for a couple of days with exhaustion and Sarah was making a wedding dress in her spare time. The only other person in the house, apart from the children, was Lottie, and quite frankly Annie didn’t have much to do with her. She was a funny little woman and could be a bit embarrassing at times, not the sort you had as a friend. As soon as Kaye felt better she would be too busy for idle chit-chat. She would be back at her desk.

  Annie hadn’t been back home since before Christmas, but she knew her parents were away. Her mother took her to Hubbard’s for afternoon tea now and then, but at the moment they were in York visiting Granny. Annie pouted. Everybody got to do things except for her. It wasn’t fair.

  ‘Why don’t you take yourself off to the pictures,’ Sarah suggested when Annie grumbled about being fed up. ‘I’ll look after Edward.’

  Annie’s eyes lit up. ‘I’d sooner go to the dance at the Plaza ballroom,’ she said.

  ‘Then go and enjoy yourself,’ said Sarah.

  Annie hesitated. ‘Do you mean it?’

  ‘Of course,’ smiled Sarah. ‘We’ll take care of Edward.’

  Dizzy with excitement, Annie telephoned an old friend and agreed to meet her at the entrance, before spending the rest of the afternoon going through her clothes. This was the first time she’d actually met up with anyone from Worthing. She knew her father wouldn’t approve and up to now she had always hesitated in case he found out, but all at once she felt her old defiant self coming back. She had some beautiful dresses, and although it was a bit of a struggle, she still fitted into them. In the end, she chose a pale lemon dress with a navy zigzag pattern across the skirt. Its sweetheart neckline was flattering, especially when she put on the two-strand pearl necklace her mother had given her on her sixteenth birthday. She fed Edward and had put him down in his cot by six thirty. He played for a while with his teddy and the bell she had tied across the cot with a ribbon and then fell asleep. On her way out, Annie stopped by the sitting room to give everyone a twirl. Kaye was reading a story to Jenny and Lu-Lu and all three agreed that she looked lovely.

  ‘See you later,’ Annie cried as she hurried out. ‘I’ll be back in time to feed him.’

  As she turned into the street, she glanced towards Mrs Goodall’s house and saw her watching from the sitting room window. Annie stopped and, looking right at her, she leaned forward and stuck out her tongue. With a shocked expression, Mrs Goodall dropped the net curtain.

  *

  ‘That was nice of you to babysit,’ said Kaye as she and Sarah sat together in the sitting room. She had persuaded Sarah to join her once the girls were in bed, using her recent illness as leverage. Lottie was sitting under the standard lamp having a go at sewing a button onto a cardigan while they all listened to the radio. The programme was Twenty Questions in which the members of the team had to discover a mystery word using only twenty questions. ‘And the mystery word is bicarbonate of soda … bicarbonate of soda.’ In a hidden studio, Norman Hackforth had just given the radio audience the word the team were struggling to find. Stewart MacPherson, the chairman, told the team it was mineral.

  ‘She’s young,’ Sarah shrugged. ‘The girl needed a bit of fun.’

  ‘You’re a very caring person,’ Kaye remarked as they worked on a jigsaw puzzle together. ‘Have you given any more thought to a career?’

  On the radio, Daphne Padel squeaked, ‘Can you drink it?’

  Sarah shook her head. ‘I’ve thought about it but I can’t make up my mind what to do.’ She explained about Spirella and its drawbacks. ‘I’d like to do something with people, like running a tea rooms or something. Does that piece go there?’

  There was a round of applause on the radio when Jack Train asked, ‘Is it medicinal?’

  ‘Bicarbonate of soda.’

  The radio audience applauded. ‘She’s very clever that Anona Winn,’ said Kaye.

  ‘I’m just going to the toilet,’ Lottie suddenly announced. ‘I’m busting.’

  ‘You’ve done amazing things with her,’ Kaye remarked as soon as Lottie had gone. ‘She’s hardly the same person anymore.’

  ‘She still doesn’t say much,’ said Sarah, ‘you know, express an opinion on anything, but she’s getting there.’

  They worked quietly, picking up pieces and putting them down, sometimes finding a place to fit. ‘Henry will be out soon,’ said Kaye as the programme came to an end. She switched the radio off.

  ‘But he doesn’t know where we are, does he?’ said Sarah cautiously.

 
; Kaye shook her head and raised her glass of wine. ‘Thank God for that.’ And they laughed. ‘I sometimes wonder why I put up with him for so long. He was always so pedantic about everything.’

  ‘In my house I had to fold the laundry a certain way, I could serve nothing from a tin for the main course, and he would only allow three more knobs of coal on the fire after nine thirty,’ Sarah grinned. ‘Oh look, that red bit belongs there.’

  ‘Heavens above,’ Kaye laughed. ‘Did you have all that too?’

  ‘I was so in love with him, I didn’t mind,’ Sarah said. ‘Now that I’ve tasted my independence, I couldn’t go back to that.’

  Lottie came back into the room and Sarah decided to go and check on the children. They were all asleep, and when she came back, Lottie presented her with her work. ‘I knew the top button was the most important,’ she said.

  ‘Very good,’ said Sarah. ‘Well done.’

  Glowing with pride, Lottie excused herself and went to bed.

  ‘What did she do?’ said Kaye as soon as she was sure her aunt was on her way upstairs and out of earshot. ‘You didn’t say anything but I could tell she’d done something funny.’

  ‘She moved every single button up one and then put the new button at the bottom of the cardigan,’ said Sarah, suppressing a sympathetic smile.

  *

  The dance floor was crowded. Annie hadn’t sat down all evening and she was worn out. She had just bought a lime cordial and kicked off her shoes. Her old school friend, Madge, threw herself into the chair beside her and put her feet on the chair next to them.

  ‘My feet are killing me,’ she laughed.

  ‘Mine too,’ said Annie. For the first time in weeks she was truly enjoying herself. She hadn’t given Edward or Henry or Copper Beeches a moment’s thought since she’d arrived.

  ‘I thought you were abroad,’ said Madge. ‘Mummy said your mother told her you were in the South of France.’

  ‘I wish,’ sighed Annie.

  ‘So where were you?’ said Madge, coming closer.

  Annie hesitated for a moment and then scuffed her chair towards her friend. ‘If I tell you, will you swear to keep it a secret?’

  Madge’s eyes lit up. ‘Of course.’

  ‘You won’t tell a living soul?’

  Madge leaned forward eagerly. ‘I swear.’

  ‘I got married and had a baby,’ said Annie.

  Madge’s chin dropped. ‘You’re married?’

  ‘Well, not exactly,’ said Annie.

  A young man came to the table, but both girls shook their heads dismissively. ‘What do you mean, not exactly?’ Madge said as he left.

  Annie explained about Henry.

  ‘You don’t mean you were the other wife in that awful bigamy case?’ Madge gasped.

  ‘Shh,’ said Annie. ‘Keep your voice down.’

  ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ said Madge, ‘but this is unbelievable.’

  ‘Promise me you won’t tell,’ said Annie, suddenly anxious.

  ‘My lips are sealed,’ said Madge, edging forward again. ‘So tell me, what was it like … being a married woman?’

  *

  Kaye fitted another piece into the jigsaw and yawned. ‘Annie should be home soon. I gave her money for a taxi.’

  ‘When he comes out, where do you think Henry will go?’ said Sarah.

  ‘I don’t know and I don’t care,’ said Kaye. She glanced up at the clock.

  ‘I don’t want him back in my life and yet I can’t stop thinking about him,’ said Sarah. ‘There was so much I didn’t like. My pet hate was when he used my flannel in the bathroom.’

  ‘Oh, that didn’t bother me too much,’ said Kaye, emptying her glass of wine. ‘I just thought about the last part of my body I’d washed before he’d used it on his face.’

  For a second Sarah seemed puzzled, but then she roared with laughter. They hadn’t noticed that Annie had walked into the room. ‘How could you?’ she demanded.

  ‘Oh, hello,’ said Kaye. ‘Did you have a lovely time?’

  ‘That was horrible, what you just said about Henry,’ Annie cried. ‘You hated him, didn’t you?’

  ‘No, we didn’t hate him,’ said Sarah, her face slightly pink. ‘We wouldn’t have stayed as long as we did if we’d hated him. Given time, Annie, you’ll begin to see what he’s really like.’

  ‘Well I think he’s wonderful,’ she said. ‘You just don’t understand him. When I was with him, we had a lovely home and he was always loving and caring. Everyone makes mistakes. Anyway, now I know why he left the both of you to live with me. You’re thoughtless and cruel and you may as well know that as soon as he comes out, we’re going to get married. Properly married.’

  Sarah began packing the loose pieces of the jigsaw back into the box. She said nothing.

  ‘Annie, I didn’t want to tell you this,’ said Kaye, ‘but I have asked Henry for a divorce.’

  ‘Good,’ said Annie. She turned to leave. ‘And about time too.’

  ‘The trouble is,’ Kaye called after her. ‘He doesn’t want one.’

  Annie stopped in her tracks and turned back, her eyes blazing with indignation. ‘What do you mean he doesn’t want one? Of course he wants one.’

  ‘When my solicitor came the other day, he brought a letter from Henry,’ Kaye went on patiently. ‘Henry has refused to sign the divorce papers and he says he wants to give our marriage another try.’

  Annie stared at her, her face wreathed in disbelief. ‘I don’t believe you,’ she cried. ‘You’re just saying that to upset me. Henry loves me and we’re going to be properly married.’

  ‘Oh Annie,’ Kaye sighed. ‘Don’t you see? All Henry wants is for us all to dance to his tune. I don’t want to stay married to him – you’re welcome to him – but he loves playing these cat-and-mouse games. Henry is no good and the sooner you realise that, the better.’

  Annie covered her ears with her hands. ‘Stop it, stop it! It’s not true. You’re lying. Anyway, I don’t care if we never get married. I’ll live in sin with him forever if I have to!’ and with that, she flounced out of the room.

  Kaye flopped back into her chair.

  ‘Is all that true?’ Sarah gasped.

  ‘I’ll show you his letter if you like,’ said Kaye. ‘It’s full of his usual holier than thou drivel. You and I know that Henry uses people, especially women. The trouble is, they just can’t see it. It took me years to work out why he did what he did. Somehow or other, he gets gullible people to do things they would never have normally done … and I should know, I was one of them for far too long.’

  They sat for a minute or two, the only sound in the room that of the dying fire.

  ‘Kaye, I need to confess something to you,’ said Sarah. The wine had gone to her head, but she was thinking clearly. ‘I pawned your cigarette case.’

  ‘My cigarette case?’

  ‘A lovely silver filigree one. Henry had it in the back of the kitchen drawer,’ said Sarah. ‘I was desperate for money. The girls were hungry so I pawned it.’

  ‘Oh, I remember that,’ Kaye shrugged. ‘If it helped, then I’m glad.’

  They both stood up ready to go to bed then Kaye added, ‘Funny though. He told me it had been pinched.’

  Sarah frowned. ‘I’m sure it was yours. It was engraved Kaye from Henry.’

  ‘Then it would have been,’ said Kaye. ‘Henry told me one of the nurses took it when I was in hospital. In fact, he was adamant.’

  ‘What happened to her?’

  ‘She got the sack.’

  Twenty-Two

  ‘Sarah, forgive me for asking,’ Kaye began, ‘but they are looking for someone to make the teas at the new Labour Hall.’ She had come out of her office and accosted Sarah as she walked downstairs with the dirty sheets. ‘I was wondering if Lottie could do it, but I don’t think she’d be brave enough to go on her own … not at first anyway. Could you help her? They say they’ll pay.’

  Sarah thought it would do Lotti
e good to get out of the house and if she got a small wage, so much the better. ‘When do they want her?’

  ‘They have a whist drive every Tuesday afternoon, two till four and the amateur dramatic society meet on a Friday night for rehearsal. That’s seven until ten, but she doesn’t have to stay that long. Once the teas are done she can go home.’

  ‘I’d like to help,’ said Sarah, ‘but it’s a bad time for me. What about my children?’

  ‘They’d be in bed by seven, wouldn’t they?’ said Kaye, flicking ash from her skirt. ‘I don’t mind looking after them once a week.’

  ‘Tuesday afternoon won’t be so easy,’ said Sarah, ‘I have to collect Jenny from school at three.’

  ‘I hadn’t thought of that,’ said Kaye, ‘but if you could do the evening with her for a few weeks, she might manage the Tuesday afternoon on her own.’

  ‘Will the job still be open after a few weeks?’ Sarah asked. She knew only too well that there were plenty of women desperate to earn a few shillings who would snap up a nice little job like that.

  Kaye tapped the side of her nose. ‘I’ve called in a favour,’ she smiled, ‘and I gave the am-dram a free play.’

  ‘In that case,’ said Sarah, ‘I think Lottie would love it.’

  *

  The first evening they set off for the Labour Hall, it was dark and cold, but the snow which looked as if it might fall, held off. Sarah and Lottie walked along arm in arm, the closeness of their bodies keeping some of the cold out, even though the wind bit their cheeks. The job was simple enough. The actors in rehearsal had a break at around eight fifteen. Lottie had to have the tea ready and serve it from a hatch which opened out from the kitchen. When everyone had finished, she had to wash up the cups and saucers and put them away. Once the kitchen was tidy, she was free to go, and for all that she would be paid a very generous five bob.

  The two of them set out the cups and saucers and put the urn on to boil. They knew they weren’t supposed to open the hatch until break time, but listening to the play taking shape in the hall was too much of a temptation to miss. They pushed the hatch slightly and watched the actors through the crack.