The Wives’ Revenge

by Lindsey Hutchinson

  Dr Shaw had been assigned the task of employing a nurse and a receptionist. Joshua and Spencer had agreed to cover the cost of their wages; a donation box was to be put in the waiting room for those able to contribute, until such time as the money from the workers would cover all the outgoings.

  ‘Dad, it’s good of you to help out with the building and all, but I do feel a bit guilty, after all this was our idea – Violet’s and mine.’

  ‘Look, son,’ Joshua said, ‘your mum was wealthy in her own right – old money – and she left you an inheritance, which you spent wisely. The rest she left to me. I know by rights it should have come to me when we married, but we agreed between us that wouldn’t happen. I had no need of her money, you see, because I had the factory left to me by my father. He built it up from nothing and he made sure I’d want for nothing after he’d gone. As you know, I’ve worked bloody hard over the years to keep that money safe and to add to it as much as I could. In turn, it will all come to you when I’m gone, but for now I want to help in any way I can.’

  ‘Thank you Dad, but I hope and pray that you will be around for a very long time into the future.’ Spencer smiled, his eyes brimming with tears.

  Joshua was amazed at the ingenuity of Spencer and Violet and clapped his son on the back as they stood together and looked through the window watching the men working happily below them.

  *

  Alone in his office again, Joshua’s mind took him back to Kath Clancy. He had watched her over dinner at Spencer’s and caught himself wishing she had agreed to his suggestion of a courtship.

  Sighing heavily, he dreamed on. What was it about her that drew everyone to her? She was a kind soul and Joshua couldn’t deny he found her a very handsome woman. There was a mystery around her he still had to fathom and he determined to discover what it was. Then again, if he discovered the mystery, would his attraction to her diminish?

  For now, he turned his mind to work matters. Joshua walked the length of the factory before someone shouted, ‘What’s happening with the old building outside, gaffer?’

  Not sure who had spoken, Joshua turned to see all eyes on him. ‘It’s to be a free medical clinic for the people of Wednesbury,’ he said simply. ‘Violet Gittins’ idea, and a bloody good one I reckon.’

  Calling his workforce together in the factory, Joshua related the plan regarding their halfpenny a month contribution to the wages of the doctor, nurse and receptionist. He explained that, if they agreed, this halfpenny would be deducted in the first week of each month before they received their wages for that week. Asking for their opinion on the idea, the applause, cheers and whistles gave him their answer. He was delighted with their response, and as the applause rang out again, he continued to walk back to his office hearing mutters of, ‘God bless you Mrs Gittins, and you an’ all gaffer!’

  Before he realised it, Joshua found himself outside number four, Hobbins Street… Kath Clancy’s house.

  Christ! The woman was in his subconscious now too! Joshua scuttled away but not before Kath had caught sight of him.

  Twenty-Nine

  The cold of the winter months stung harshly as people walked the streets. Chilly and wet the mist rolled over the heathland like a huge wave, and hung in the streets like a grey veil.

  Late skeins of honking geese flew over houses eager to be in warmer climes, and chimneys puffed out smoke adding to the thick pall covering the town.

  Frowns replaced smiles as, heads down, the people hurried through the streets, feeling the cold seep into their bones.

  Trees were deep in their winter slumber having shed their red and yellow leaves to lie in a multicoloured carpet on the ground long ago.

  Annie Green had just finished pickling onions and shallots for the winter and, as she sat with a cup of tea, realised she was now in need of help from the others herself.

  With ‘Gittins’ Medical Clinic’ up and running, her husband Charlie had been the first to visit Dr Shaw on the ‘free’ treatment day. After a thorough examination, the doctor had said Charlie would be well advised to leave the pit. Coal dust was beginning to affect his lungs and although only in the early stages now, it would only get worse until he was laid up completely.

  Charlie had told Annie over their evening meal, adding, ‘It will mean we’ll have to leave the house, the pit boss will want it for another pit worker and his family. Oh wench, I’m so sorry!’

  Annie’s concern sat squarely with Charlie’s health and right now she didn’t give a bugger about the house.

  ‘Don’t you worry about that, Charlie, you just give your notice in tomorrow morning and get yourself out of that pit.’

  ‘But what about the house, Annie, we’ll have nowhere to go!’

  ‘Don’t you fret none, we’ll be all right. It’s you I’m concerned about, so do as I say and get out of it now.’

  Sitting in Kath’s kitchen the following day, Annie listened to the news that the clinic was already doing well. Unable to concentrate, she hadn’t realised she was tapping a spoon on the table until Martha relieved her of it.

  Martha asked, ‘What’s up Annie?

  Tears threatening, Annie was about to answer when Spencer Gittins walked in. ‘My apologies for my lateness, ladies,’ he said as Violet gave him tea, ‘did I miss anything important?’

  Martha, looking at Annie, answered, ‘We were just about to find out.’

  Taking a deep breath, she lunged in, ‘Charlie’s been told by Dr Shaw he has to leave the pit – coal dust in his lungs – early stages but…’ Drawing another breath, she resumed, ‘He’ll be all right if he gets out now. Charlie’s putting his notice in today so I expect they’ll want us out of the house by the end of the week, so I’ve got my work cut out packing everything up.’ Her emotions burst their banks and the tears flowed.

  Violet was at her side in an instant, wrapping her arms around the sobbing woman.

  ‘Oh Annie! Don’t cry, please, I can’t bear it!’

  After a minute or so Spencer spoke up, ‘Annie, I’ll send round some of the men who worked on the clinic to help you pack your things.’

  Violet interrupted, ‘Spencer, could I have a private minute with you please?’

  The women exchanged puzzled looks as the two walked quietly outside and stood in the freezing back yard.

  ‘Sweetheart, we have all those empty rooms at our house, would it be possible for Annie and Charlie to move in with us? I know it would mean sharing the house but they have nowhere else to go!’

  Spencer sighed as he thought over what she said. Eventually he replied, ‘It would make sense, I suppose, because they could end up on the street. Do you think they would go for it? What I mean is, will they see it as charity?’

  ‘Oh Spencer! I think they would be so grateful. As long as you are happy enough with the situation?’

  ‘I don’t see another way out for them, my love,’ Spencer said, enjoying the feel of her body against his as she flung her arms around his neck.

  ‘Thank you my darling!’ Violet stood on tiptoes to kiss his lips.

  ‘Right, let’s get in out of this cold and tell Annie.’ He smiled.

  ‘Annie, Spencer and I have agreed the men can bring your stuff to Gittins Manor.’ She looked at her husband who smiled and nodded.

  Faces with open mouths, Annie’s included, stared at Violet as she asked Kath for another piece of her delicious cake.

  ‘Violet… Spencer,’ Annie said, ‘I thank you both from the bottom of my heart, but we couldn’t impose on you like that; with Charlie out of work we couldn’t pay any rent.’

  Spencer waved a hand, dismissing Annie’s words, ‘If it’s all right with Violet…’ he said, taking her hand, ‘it’s all right with me.’

  Annie’s tears fell again as she sobbed into the corner of her shawl.

  Violet smiled her thanks to the man she loved beyond measure and now it was her turn to give him some good news.

  ‘Besides which…’ Violet said and waited as everyo
ne looked her way, ‘Spencer and I are going to need a nanny – fancy the job, Annie?’

  Spencer jumped out of his seat and looked at her with a shocked expression on his face. Then he picked her up and danced her around the tiny kitchen in his excitement. Suddenly thinking she might be breakable, he sat her carefully back on her chair.

  ‘Oh my God! I’m going to be a daddy! Oh Violet, thank you!’ He kissed her tenderly then with both fists clenched he punched the air. Taking a deep breath, he added with a laugh, ‘Violet, you really must refrain from dropping these surprises on me, I’m not sure my heart can take it!’

  Kath’s face was a picture; with her hands across her mouth she stared at her daughter.

  *

  True to his word, Spencer sent the men round with handcarts to load everything the Greens owned and by the week’s end they were settled in at Gittins Manor.

  Each of the three rooms on the ground floor they were given sported a fireplace. They were big and square and all overlooked the gardens. These rooms had been built onto the music, sitting and living rooms and each had a door leading outside. They had been added before Spencer Gittins had bought the house and now were proving very useful. Annie turned one into a bedroom. Another she set her living room furniture in and the third she used as a makeshift kitchen. There was no range but the fireplace served her needs. Her kitchen table sat in the centre and her pots and pans were stacked neatly in the corner. There she could continue to experiment with herbs for the cosmetics and skin creams she loved so dearly. She spent many happy hours tinkering with herbs and spices seeing what would work and what didn’t.

  Not long after they had settled in, a knock came to their living room door and when Annie opened it she saw Spencer and Violet standing there.

  ‘Oh,’ she said, suddenly aware she was in their house but moving furniture around like it was her own. ‘Erm… come in…’

  The pair entered and Violet said, ‘Oh Annie, you have your home looking beautiful!’

  Your home, she had said. Annie smiled a little uncertainly as she looked at Spencer.

  ‘She’s right, Annie, your home is lovely.’ There is was again… your home. Annie thought they were so good to her and Charlie and she beamed her pleasure at the young couple.

  Charlie appeared, saying, ‘Bloody hell, wench, shut your mouth and get the kettle on!’ Realising only then he was speaking to her, Annie went into the room allocated as a kitchen-cum-beauty room.

  Listening to the quiet voices in their living room, all around her Annie felt comfort, and relaxation at last began to settle on her. It had been a trying time, first worrying about Charlie’s health and then about where they would live, but the Wednesbury Wives and Violet and Spencer in particular had come up trumps. For that she would be eternally grateful.

  A moment later, Spencer walked in. Seeing the kettle on a bracket over the fire, he said quietly, ‘Annie, please feel free to call the maid or, if you prefer, use the big kitchen downstairs.’

  ‘Thank you kindly, Spencer, but I couldn’t. It doesn’t sit right with me.’

  Spencer smiled then glanced at the pots and pans on the floor in the corner. ‘You should tell Charlie to put some shelves up for those.’ He grinned at her then rejoined the others.

  Annie rattled around, setting cups on saucers while the kettle boiled. A warm glow surrounded her as she thought how lucky she was.

  Joining the others, Annie listened to Spencer saying, ‘Well Charlie, what do you think?’

  ‘Ar well, it’s a good idea, Spencer, but begging your pardon lad… are you able to afford it?’

  ‘Yes,’ Spencer nodded. ‘The factory is making an incredibly good profit at the moment so I thought to invest and reap the benefits while the going is good.’

  ‘Right then,’ said Charlie, ‘in that case I’m your man!’

  Looking from one to the other, Annie said, ‘Charlie Green, what exactly are you his man for?’

  Laughing, Charlie said, ‘The gaffer just gave me a job, overseeing the renovations of that string of cottages down Cross Street. It seems…’ Charlie looked at Violet, ‘on Violet’s suggestion, he’s bought them to use as outworkers homes for the making of nails!’

  ‘Bloody hell!’ was all Annie managed to say, not knowing what she had done to deserve such good friends.

  *

  Spencer and Violet had, as a way of ensuring that this part of the house belonged to the Greens, given them a key to the front door of Gittins Manor. It was a symbolic gesture more than anything else to make them feel like they belonged; although they knew Annie and Charlie preferred to use the doors out onto the gardens. Spencer said to invite visitors as and when they liked; treat it as their own for that’s exactly was it was – theirs.

  Charlie hired some men from the breadline and took up his work at Cross Street and Violet and Annie set about sorting out a nursery for when the baby arrived. Kath went over frequently to help out and was in her element in the preparations for the birth of her first grandchild.

  Joshua Gittins, it was said, was delighted at the prospect of a grandchild, wanting to invest immediately in a perambulator. Violet had begged him to wait until after the birth – the carriage before the baby invited bad luck. He finally gave in to her request and in his excitement he had given his workers at the factory a day off in celebration!

  Everything was turning out fine when one day Charlie told Annie the help of the ‘Wives’ was needed again.

  Thirty

  Sitting in their usual places around Kath’s table, all the men out at work including Spencer, Annie repeated what Charlie had said.

  ‘He was going about his business at the Cross Street cottages, and a woman rushed up to him asking if he had seen her young daughter. He told her he hadn’t. The woman had wrung her hands, wailing that her five-year-old had gone missing. Charlie said for her to report it to the police while he and his men went on a quick search of the area. They didn’t find the child.’

  ‘Do you think she may have been taken off by somebody?’ Violet asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach. The shaking of heads said they couldn’t possibly guess. ‘Right,’ she began again, ‘we need to meet with the woman; Annie, are you able to arrange it?’

  ‘Yes,’ Annie confirmed, ‘I’ll take some cake and scones down to the lads working with Charlie and see what I can find out.’

  *

  Later in the day, Kath answered Annie’s shout of, ‘It’s only me,’ with ‘Come on in.’ Annie walked in to greet the others with a woman dressed in rags. She was dirty from her head to her bare feet. Her desperately thin features made her teeth seem too big for her mouth, and her eyes bulged. Her arms were rail thin and they all wondered how she managed to stay standing on her stick like legs. Horror etched their faces as they looked on the woman, and they watched as she poured her tea from cup to saucer, blew on it once and slurped it down. The woman watched Kath cut thick slices of bread and put them with a chunk of cheese on a plate before her. Violet thought it impossible for her eyes to get any bigger – she found herself mistaken.

  ‘I can’t pay…’ the woman began, and Kath waved her words aside. ‘Ooh ta!’ the woman said as she fell on the food.

  ‘Take your time, wench, else it’ll make you bad,’ Martha said.

  Nodding, the woman continued to chew, watching the bread in one hand and cheese in the other as though afraid it would disappear before she could eat it.

  Everyone waited until she’d finished before Violet said, ‘What’s your name?’

  Looking over another saucer of tea in her hand, she said, ‘Hildy… Hildy Johnson.’

  ‘Well Hildy, Annie here…’ Violet said, pointing ‘…tells us your little girl has gone missing. Is that right?’

  Head bowed, she said through the utter misery that engulfed her, ‘Ar, I don’t know where her could be.’

  It was plain she had no more tears, she was completely cried out.

  ‘What’s your daughter’s name?’ Violet took u
p.

  ‘Margy… Margaret, but we calls her Margy,’ the woman said through a mouth full of cake.

  Violet asked, ‘Have you been to see the police, have you reported it to them?’

  ‘Ar, they said as her’s probably wandered off – her’ll come home when her gets hungry.’

  Mary put in, ‘Bloody useless them coppers!’

  Violet raised her hand and the assenting murmurs died down. ‘Now, Hildy, think about it, would she do that – wander off on her own?’

  ‘Nah,’ the woman said, ‘her don’t go far, her’s only five, her’s still a babby. Her usually plays with daft Billy.’

  ‘Who’s daft Billy?’ Kath asked, handing a piece of cake over.

  ‘He’s the lad up the road, he ain’t all there,’ Hildy said, tapping a finger to her temple.

  Violet went on tentatively as she watched the woman cram the cake into her mouth, ‘How old is daft Billy?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ she said, trying to push the escaping cake back behind her teeth, ‘about twelve I suppose, in his body, but his mind is about the same as Margy’s.’

  ‘Hildy,’ Violet tried to broach her next question with care, ‘do you think daft Billy could have taken Margy off somewhere?’

  ‘Possible I suppose.’

  Amazed Hildy was showing more interest in the cake than her daughter, Violet chastised herself when looking again at the woman’s gaunt face.

  Over the next few hours they learned that Hildy Johnson’s husband had died in the pit cave-in that had taken Kath’s first husband Harry, years before. Hildy had taken in washing to feed herself and her kids and on returning clean washing to a house one day had been raped by the man living there, the result of which was Margy. The older kids had been helping her with the laundry in order to continue to pay her rent, but the work was not to be had any more. People couldn’t afford to pay to have their laundry washed.

  Hildy had resorted to begging from the stalls in the marketplace as they closed up in the evenings, and searching the streets for any dropped coins. Eventually being turned out by the pit boss, Hildy and her children had moved into an empty house at the end of Cross Street.