‘Off you go. And mind – I’m watching.’
He surprised her with a warm smile. ‘You’re a hard woman, Mrs Brent. Nell’s lucky to have you.’
‘Get gone. I can’t stand here all day like a flaming lamp post.’
He bent to kiss her cheek. As he walked away, she pressed her fingertips where the kiss had been. The cheeky lad!
Would he? Wouldn’t he? Yes, he turned into Wilton Lane: good.
Now she must get back to Hilda.
‘Where have you been, Mother?’ Hilda asked as she walked in.
‘Just summat that wanted doing.’ She sat down. ‘Is there another one in the pot? Now, Hilda, tell us what the police said.’
‘They expect Edmund to go to prison.’ Hilda got the words out, sounding calm, but then she pressed her hand to her chest, breathing rapidly. ‘He’ll be up before the magistrate in’t morning and the matter will be referred to a higher court, which will mean …’ She swallowed. ‘… a stiffer sentence.’
Leonie’s heart ached for her child. ‘Are you all right, love?’
‘I’m that ashamed. My husband, a jailbird. But it’s a relief too. Knowing he won’t come back for however long – it’s a relief.’
‘You’re very brave,’ said Mrs Hibbert.
‘What will we do now, me and Posy, with no one to support us?’
‘I could come back here with my pension and my savings,’ said Leonie.
‘We both know it wouldn’t be enough.’
‘I’ve an idea,’ said Mrs Hibbert. ‘I’ve enough to see me out and I want to live near my grandchildren. What if I took on this house and you and Posy live with me? What do you say?’
Hilda placed an elbow on the table and propped her chin on the heel of her hand, fingers covering her mouth. Her eyes had a faraway look. At last she took her hand away.
‘I’ve got a bit of time to think about it. Edmund paid the rent monthly, not weekly. It made him feel superior to everyone else. So it’s paid in full until the end of July. Me and Posy have got till then.’ She looked at Mrs Hibbert. ‘Thanks for your offer, but the answer’s no. I’m sure you’re a good person, but you seem a managing sort to me, and I’ve had my fill of being managed. I don’t know what I’m going to do or how I’m going to do it without being scared to death, but I do know I’m not going to let someone else be in charge of it.’
Chapter Thirty-Six
Had she ever been this happy? Stan was gone; her children were safe with her; and Alf was restored to the genial, affectionate child he was meant to be. He had asked her to tuck him in last night and that had felt like all her birthdays rolled into one. Of course, there were still problems, but the pressure to find more work and earn more money was just part of life and she would tackle it with pride and determination, doing her best for her children.
The game in the backyard had moved on from paper boats. Nell scooped water into her cupped hands and chased the children round. They were wet, she was wet, but who cared? It was fun.
Mrs O’Rourke’s face popped over the wall. She must be standing on something. ‘Goodness me, is it just the three of you? With that amount of noise, I thought you were holding a party for the whole street.’
‘Were we being rowdy? I’m sorry.’ It was hard to sound apologetic.
‘Nay, love. It’s good to see all is well. Me and my George are glad you’re stopping next door.’
‘Thank you,’ said Nell. ‘I like living next to you too.’
‘Yon window cleaner fella is knocking at your front door, only you can’t hear him. I can’t imagine why not,’ she added, eyeing Alf with pretend-sternness, making him giggle.
What did Jim want? He had already been round once and she had got rid of him pretty sharpish.
‘We’d best answer the door,’ she said to the children, ‘but first,’ and she looked at the water in her cupped hands, ‘I need to find somewhere to put this.’ The children quivered expectantly. ‘I’ll put it back in the bath.’
The children crept behind her as if they were playing what time is it, Mr Wolf? She held her hands over the bath, then swung round and gave chase to two squealing children, dumping the few drops she had left on Cassie’s head.
‘Now let’s get that door.’
Maybe he had got fed up of waiting.
No such luck.
He stood outside her house, smiling and handsome and engaged to another woman; or if they weren’t engaged, they jolly well ought to be, after the way Miss Roberta Fairbrother had helped herself to his arm in public yesterday. If they weren’t engaged – well, there was a word in the backstreets for women like that.
His smile made her heart turn over. No, wait: there was something different, a flicker of uncertainty at the corners of his mouth and in his eyes, though what he had to feel uncertain about, she couldn’t imagine. He was obviously on the brink of returning to his old life, and with a beautiful, upper-crust wife in tow. She wished he would clear off and leave her alone.
Or – oh heavens – had he realised she had feelings for him? Decent, considerate man that he was, had he come to let her down kindly? ‘Ruddy heck,’ said Eric in her head.
‘Mr Franks!’ yelled Alf and the two children flung themselves at him, clinging to his legs. ‘We’re having a water battle.’
‘That’s a relief. I thought you had a burst pipe. Who’s winning?’
‘Mum, I think.’
‘If the winner is the driest, it’s Mum; if it’s the wettest, that’s this young lady.’ He picked up Cassie. ‘Is this Cassandra Hibbert or is it a sponge?’
‘It’s a sponge-monkey,’ hooted Alf.
Nell rolled her eyes. ‘They’re excited, I’m afraid. I think they caught it off me.’
The sight of her little girl in this man’s arms was irresistible and also exquisitely painful. Nell reached for Cassie and took her onto her hip. The familiar feel of her daughter’s sturdy little body gave her confidence. Whatever had brought Jim here, she would cope with dignity and good humour. When he left, she would never see him again. She would live for her children, just as she had before he came along.
‘Did you see Mrs Tanner?’
‘We went to the police station and were given some information.’
‘Good.’ What else was there to say? ‘I didn’t thank you properly yesterday. I’ll always be grateful.’
‘You’re welcome.’
He looked at her. Nell dropped her gaze. She took a step backwards. She needed to get the door shut.
‘Wait,’ he said. ‘I heard something at the police station—’
‘I don’t want to hear Mrs Tanner’s business.’
‘This is very much your business,’ he said.
Couldn’t he take a hint? She put Cassie down. ‘Children, go into the yard. I’ll be there in a minute – don’t climb in the bath!’ She turned to Jim. ‘If it’s who the thief was, I know that.’
‘It’s something else.’
‘You’d best come through.’ She led him to the backyard so she could keep an eye on the children. Standing outside the back door, she folded her arms. ‘What is it?’
‘There’s no doubt, apparently, that Edmund Tanner was the thief; I gather young Posy was a witness, though the police haven’t spoken to her yet. What you should know is that Tanner is busy blaming Stan Hibbert, saying it was all his idea.’
‘Never! Stan?’
‘That doesn’t make it true, of course, but I thought you should know. Presumably, when Hibbert hears what Tanner’s been saying, he’ll return the compliment.’
‘Stan was furious with me for naming him. And you’re saying he might have been involved?’
‘I’m just sharing what the sergeant told me.’
‘Thank you. It’s better to hear it privately.’ She turned to the door, ready to show him out. ‘I mustn’t keep you.’
He looked startled. ‘You haven’t asked what I came for.’
‘To tell me about Stan, obviously.’
‘That was just to
get me over the threshold. I didn’t think you were going to let me in otherwise.’
She forced a laugh. He wasn’t going to leave until he had said his piece, so she had better get it over with. ‘So what brings you here?’
He looked at her. ‘Do you really not know?’
‘Does Mr Franks want to come and play?’ called Alf.
‘In a minute,’ called Jim. ‘When you told me about your marriage, I turned away from you.’
‘No, you didn’t,’ she exclaimed. ‘You turned towards me. Look at all you did.’ She had to keep talking. She couldn’t bear to be told about his engagement. ‘Yes, you were rather cool, but I deserved that, and it didn’t stop you working hard on my behalf. If you hadn’t dug into Stan’s past, my children would be in Annerby by now. It gives me goosebumps just to think of it. Anyroad,’ she said, forestalling him, ‘I shan’t keep you. I have two children who aren’t nearly wet enough and I expect you have to get to Victoria Park.’
‘You know about Roberta.’
‘Indeed I do.’ She made herself laugh. ‘I saw you kissing her, remember, and then she spirited you away yesterday. I wish you every happiness. You deserve it—What are you doing?’
He was heading for the bath. He climbed in and sat down, with Alf and Cassie hooting and laughing around him.
‘What does it look like?’ he asked. ‘I’m playing with your children.’ Looping an arm round Alf, he lifted him into the bath in a tangle of arms and legs. ‘Come on, miss, there’s room for you too.’ He picked up Cassie and squeezed her in as well.
Nell ran across, then didn’t know what to do, just stood there helplessly, trying not to laugh.
‘One thing I know about you, Nell Hibbert.’ Jim stood up, leaving the children jumping and splashing in the confined space around his feet. ‘The way to your heart is through your children. Will you let me speak now, instead of interrupting me? What I’ve been trying to say, only you won’t let me get a word in, is that I was shocked about your marriage, not just because anyone would be, but for personal reasons; the most personal reason of all. I love you. I started to love you that very first day, when Cassie climbed the ladder and you told me off for picking her up.’ He lifted Cassie out of the water and she nestled confidently against him. ‘Come on, mate, you as well.’ He held out a hand to Alf and heaved him up onto his other hip. ‘The thing is this, Alf Hibbert. Your mum has an admirer. That means there’s a man who wants to marry her. Now this is what we have to consider: I’ve got a ladder and you, Mr Alf, have got a pet ladder-monkey, so don’t you think that makes me the perfect man to marry your mum?’
‘Instead of her admirer?’ asked Alf.
‘What do you say, Nell?’ asked Jim.
The uncertainty was gone from his expression. Standing there, holding her children, he looked confident and natural and trustworthy and right. From the start – well, almost from the start – she had associated him with the same basic decency she associated with her lost Pringle family. Never mind the class distinction. Never mind that she had learnt the three Rs in classes of sixty while he had probably had a private education, maybe even a degree. Never mind that he had money behind him. Having grown up as a daughter of the proud poor, she could tell someone’s financial state by looking at their eyes; and Jim Franks’s financial situation wasn’t one that kept him awake at night. For her, on the other hand, money worries were a part of everyday existence.
All these differences between them; and yet, at heart, where it mattered, they were the same.
It was why she loved him.
‘Well, I don’t know,’ she said. ‘It depends who this other admirer is.’
Chapter Thirty-Seven
August, 1924
The house on Beech Road, near where the old beech tree hung far over the street, was perfect – big enough for their purposes without being too grand. The women from Wilton Lane and thereabouts would be comfortable coming here for lessons and to use a sewing machine. Her forthcoming marriage might be about to take her up in the world, but Nell was determined it wouldn’t take her up too far. That was the way Jim wanted it too. He valued his experiences of recent years too highly to walk away from them.
They stood at the front gate looking at the house.
‘Fancy me moving into a place with a room on each side of the front door.’ She laughed. ‘That’s proper posh, that is.’
‘It won’t put off your backstreet pupils?’
‘They understand we have to have a certain number of rooms if I’m to have my sewing school.’
They went inside. There were four rooms downstairs, plus the kitchen at the back. Each front room was spacious, the ones behind smaller.
Jim waved his hand towards those on the left. ‘Your sewing school room at the front, my study behind.’
‘Will you let people needing advice call on you here?’ asked Nell.
‘Yes. The kind of people I want to help aren’t the sort to traipse into town and knock on the door of Winterton, Sowerby and Jenks.’
‘Isn’t it wonderful that they asked you back?’ said Nell. ‘I’m so proud of you.’
He smiled. ‘Isn’t it wonderful that they agreed to my doing PPD work? But you can still be proud of me, if you like.’
PPD. Poor Person’s Defence. But Jim intended to expand his work way beyond representing poor people who couldn’t afford representation when they had to appear in court. He wanted to offer advice on simple matters free of charge or for a nominal sum. Just being with this man made Nell feel taller and stronger, such was her pride.
‘Folk in the backstreets haven’t had access to legal information and advice before,’ she said, ‘and now they’re to receive it from my husband.’
‘I’m not your husband yet.’
‘Just a couple of weeks. I can’t wait to drop the Hibbert name. Mr Aitcheson said I wasn’t entitled to use it any more, anyroad.’
‘Legally, you can use whatever name you please, as long as your use of it is above board,’ said Jim, ‘though maybe I shouldn’t tell you that, or you might not be so eager to get married.’
Nell pretended to consider. ‘It’s time for a change. I’ll have a go with Franks and see how I like it. I want the children to be called Franks too. Is that allowed?’
‘With their father in prison, I don’t think anyone will argue, but we’d better ask Alf if he minds.’
‘Minds? He’ll love it. He worships you.’
‘What I’m really hoping for,’ said Jim, ‘is to adopt them – if you and they would be happy with that.’
What had she done to deserve all these good things? A wonderful husband; a comfortable home for her children; her own sewing school for her backstreet friends and her middle-class clients; an unexpectedly good friendship with Stan’s mother, who wanted nothing more than to make up for lost time not only with her grandchildren but also with the daughter-in-law she had spurned back in Annerby. And now Jim wanted to make their family complete by adopting Alf and Cassie.
‘There are going to be new adoption laws,’ he said, ‘making adoption a formal legal process, complete with certificates, so it would be in our interests if I were to adopt them before that. Afterwards, the fact that they have a father living might cause complications.’
‘Alf Franks,’ she said. ‘Cassie Franks.’
‘The name I’m keenest on is Nell Franks.’
Delight shivered through Nell’s body. The Franks family. That was what she wanted. She had suffered dreadful butterflies before meeting Don and Patsy, but Don was a sweetheart who had done all he could to make her feel welcome and accepted. Nell wasn’t stupid. She could see the reservations in Patsy’s eyes and didn’t blame her, but Patsy had been civil and kind, gradually unbending and becoming friendlier. Nell hoped she and Patsy would become genuine friends in the not too distant future. Stranger things had happened: look at her and Olive.
‘Aunt Leonie will like this house too,’ she said. ‘We’re just along the road from Riley’s Farm, s
o she can pop across and see Hilda and Posy as much as she wants; and they can come here.’
Hilda – doormat Hilda, droopy-drawers Hilda – had surprised them all by finding herself a job serving in the grocer’s further along Beech Road, which was ideal for her and Posy’s new home in Mrs Jeffrey’s cottage.
They went upstairs in their new house. Jim was already living here. Nell, the children and Leonie would move in after the wedding.
‘Are you sure it’s all right, me coming?’ Leonie had asked anxiously.
‘Of course it is.’ Nell hugged her. ‘I’m going to work during the day, so I need my dear aunt there to keep house and mind the children.’
Later, she had said to Jim, ‘Make sure Aunt Leonie knows you want her to live with us.’
And Jim, bless him, had gone one better. ‘I wish your Hilda and Posy would move in as well. We could make room.’
Leonie’s eyes had glowed. ‘Oh, you’ve got a good man here, Nell.’
‘I know,’ she said.
‘I’ll tell Hilda,’ said Leonie, ‘but I know already what she’ll say. She’s determined to pull herself together and do her best for Posy. They’ll be poor as church mice, but working in a grocer’s means she’ll get the bruised stuff for next to nowt. Eh, I’m that worried about our Hilda, but I’m proud of her as well. She turned into another person after she married Edmund. I hope the old Hilda comes back.’
Now, Nell and Jim walked into the room that was to be the children’s.
Nell gasped. ‘You never told me you’d organised this.’
‘Do you like it?’ asked Jim. ‘Aunt Leonie told me how much you loved the bed in the Fairbrothers’ nursery. From what she said, it sounded like a half-tester.’
Nell caught his hands, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the bed. A fairy-tale bed for Cassie. Fabric spread across the top of the tall frame over the head of the bed and hung down the sides in gauzy folds that were scooped back by tasselled silver cords.
‘It’s perfect,’ she breathed. ‘I love it.’
‘You do realise she’s going to use it as a climbing frame?’
A Respectable Woman Page 40
