by Joan Jonker
John inclined his head as he pulled his waistcoat straight. ‘We’d better make a move or Agnes will be here to start on the table.’
‘Are you comin’ with us, Mr John?’
‘I’m running you there in the car, but I won’t be coming in to see your father. The doctor was only persuaded to let you in because it’s a special day. They certainly wouldn’t have given permission for me.’
Polly linked his arm as they walked on to the landing. ‘You’ve been good to us, Mr John, and me and me mam won’t ever forget it.’
John hesitated before stepping down the first stair. ‘Polly, I’ll tell you something that might help you keep that smile on your face, shall I? Seeing you again after so long might be just what your dad needs to give him the strength to fight his illness. I know if I was your father I’d fight like hell to get back home to you, Joey and your mother.’
John stood beside the car and smiled at the two nervous faces. ‘I’ll sit in the car until you get back. I’ll be warm and comfortable so don’t hurry on my behalf. And give my best wishes to Tommy.’
‘I’m frightened, Mr John,’ Polly admitted. ‘Me tummy’s turning over and over.’
‘And don’t you think your father’s tummy will be turning over too? He’s about to meet the pretty daughter he hasn’t seen for over two years. He’ll be more nervous than you are, so don’t keep him waiting.’
Polly linked arms with her mother as they neared the hospital doors. ‘I am frightened, Mam, I can’t help it. I’ve never been in a hospital before.’
‘Yer dad won’t be in the big ward. They told Mr John they’d move him to a side ward just for the visit.’
‘Will I be able to give him a kiss and a hug?’
‘I don’t know, sunshine, we’ll just have to take things as they come.’
‘I told Mr John I’d be brave, but I don’t feel very brave right now. And I can’t even raise a smile.’ Polly’s lips were trembling. ‘Oh Mam, I’m goin’ to let yer down, I know I am. And that means I’ll be letting me dad down as well.’
Ada waited until they were in the corridor before pulling Polly to a halt. ‘D’yer know what I’ve just remembered? Mr John’s left three crates of stout in the kitchen. If Aggie and Fanny spot them they’ll be rotten drunk by the time we get back and there’ll be no table set.’
‘They wouldn’t do that, Mam!’
‘Oh yes, they would! I can see Aggie standin’ in the kitchen and shouting to Fanny, “Come an’ see what I’ve found, Fanny! Sod the table for a minute an’ let’s have a bleedin’ drink”.’
Polly began to chuckle and so it was that when the nurse took them into a small side ward, Tommy saw a beaming smile on his daughter’s face. ‘Hello, sweetheart,’ he whispered.
Polly ran and put her arms around him. ‘Oh Dad, it’s lovely to see yer.’ She was shocked by his appearance, and all she could feel through the material of his pyjamas was bones. But she gritted her teeth and strengthened her determination not to let him see how upset she was. ‘Thank yer for me birthday card, it was the nicest one I got.’
‘I’m glad yer liked it, yer mam chose it for me.’ Tommy patted the side of the bed. ‘Come and sit by me so I can take a good look at yer.’
‘Hey, hang about!’ Ada said. ‘What about me? Isn’t yer wife allowed a kiss? If I’m to be left out in the cold I won’t be bringing Polly no more.’
‘I’m sorry, love, I wouldn’t leave you out for the world. It’s just seein’ me daughter after so long, I can’t believe it’s happening.’
When Ada leaned over to kiss him she thought he looked brighter. He was certainly glad to see Polly; happiness radiated from him. ‘I’ll let yer off this time. In fact, I’ll sit as quiet as a mouse and let you and yer daughter catch up on the last two years.’
‘Our daughter, love, our daughter.’ Tommy had hold of Polly’s hand and his eyes drank in every feature of her pretty face. ‘She hasn’t half grown, she looks like a young lady now. And she’s prettier than ever, just like you were when I first set eyes on yer.’
‘She’s younger than when we first met,’ Ada said, ‘but she’s growing up all right. She went out on her first date last night.’
Tommy didn’t seem very pleased at that. ‘You’re a bit young to be goin’ out with boys, aren’t yer, Polly? I’m surprised at yer mam for letting yer.’
‘Dad, I only went to the first house at the pictures with Steve Mitchell from next door.’
Tommy looked relieved. ‘Oh well, yer won’t come to any harm with Steve, he’s a good lad.’ Tommy swept his arm down the length of her. ‘Yer looking very posh, sweetheart. Who bought yer clothes for yer?’
‘I got them off the Denholmes for me birthday.’ Polly was still shocked by his appearance but the more she looked at him the more she could see in him the dad she knew and loved. And he was glad to see her, she could tell that. Without stopping for breath, the words pouring from her mouth, she told of all her cards and presents, her visit to the Odeon with Steve and, of course, the box of Cadbury’s and the offer of an ice cream. She almost told him about the courting couple, just to give him a laugh, but had second thoughts when she remembered the stolen kiss in the shop doorway. ‘And tonight I’m having a party at Mr John’s.’
‘Yeah, I know about that ’cos yer mam told me last week.’ Tommy took a deep breath. He was feeling tired now with all the excitement, and was calling on what little strength he had left to help him through the visit. God knows when he’d see Polly again, if ever, and he wanted to keep her with him as long as possible. ‘It’s good of Mr John to let yer have a party at his house.’
‘Yeah, he’s a nice man. Like Mr Denholme, he’s nice, too.’ Polly wound one of her curls around a finger and tilted her head. ‘I wish you were comin’ to me party, Dad.’
‘I wish I was comin’ too, sweetheart. I’d be able to see our Joey, I bet he’s grown that big I wouldn’t recognise him. And of course, Dolly and Les Mitchell. It would be a treat to see them again.’
‘And don’t forget their son, Steve.’ Polly gave him a cheeky wink. ‘I can’t let yer forget him when he spent all his hard-earned money on me last night. I bet the poor feller’s got to walk to work every day this week.’ Another cheeky wink. ‘Mind you, I think I’m worth it.’
Tommy gazed at the pretty face and his heart filled with pride. She was a beauty, his daughter, and she had such a nice, sunny disposition. ‘I’ve been in here so long I’ve lost track of time. I keep forgetting that the young ones are growing up. I remember Steve playin’ footie in the street, now he’s a working man.’
‘Oh, yer wouldn’t know him now, love,’ Ada told him. ‘He’s a head taller than his dad, and Dolly said she has to stand on a chair to give him a clip around the ear.’
‘Dolly still the same, is she?’
‘Yeah, she’ll never change, will Dolly. Mind you, I wouldn’t want her to, she keeps me going. I’d have been lost without her since Polly left. She looks after Joey and gets me shopping in for me. She’s a good pal, is Dolly.’
‘Mam, I could come home, yer know.’ Polly saw the opening and took it. ‘Now I’m fourteen I can get a job, and with me bringin’ in a wage yer wouldn’t have to work such long hours.’
‘No, yer don’t need to do that, sunshine. I manage all right. I don’t work nearly as hard as I used to.’
‘You’d be daft to leave where you are, Polly,’ Tommy said. ‘Just look at the clothes yer’ve got on, yer mam couldn’t afford to buy that sort of clobber. And anyway, I thought the idea was for you to get a good education so yer’d end up getting a decent job, one with prospects.’
‘I’ve packed a lot into this year, Dad. I’m way ahead of where I’d be if I was still at school. I could work me way up to a decent job, I know I could. And if me mam needs me, that’s more important.’
‘Leave it for now,’ Ada said. ‘We’ll talk about it some other time.’
‘Yeah, okay, Mam.’ Polly was glad the subject had com
e up because now her mother wouldn’t be surprised when she mentioned it again. Anyway, it was selfish to be thinking about herself when it was her dad she should be giving all her attention to. ‘How long are yer going to be in here, Dad? Me and our Joey don’t half miss yer, and me mam misses yer although she tries not to let it show.’ She took one of the pale thin hands in hers and brought it up to her lips. ‘We never thought yer’d be away all this time.’ She met his eyes and smiled. ‘You are tryin’ yer best to get better, aren’t yer? I mean, trying really hard?’
‘Yes, of course I am, sweetheart. I’ll pick up one of these days and then I’ll be on me way home, you’ll see.’
‘Cross yer heart and make a promise, Dad?’
‘I promise, sweetheart.’
Ada heard the tiredness in Tommy’s voice and saw the heaviness in his eyes. This visit was taking a lot out of him, draining him of what little strength he had. ‘I was warned it had to be a short visit, so we’ll have the doctor on our tail if we stay too long.’
‘Ah, ay, Mam! We’ve only been here a few minutes.’
‘According to that clock on the wall in the corridor, we’ve been here half an hour, sunshine, and I think we should go now and let yer dad get some rest. There’ll be other times. I’m sure they’ll let you come in to see him again soon.’
Polly was reluctant to leave. She looked down on her beloved dad and felt like crying because he looked so pale and thin. But he’d made her a promise he was going to do his best to come home as soon as he could. And her dad never broke a promise. She gave him a hug, careful not to press too tight, and kissed his cheek. ‘That’s from me.’ She repeated the action and whispered, ‘And that’s from our Joey.’
John stepped out of the car when he saw them approaching. He scanned their faces anxiously. ‘Well, was he glad to see you?’
‘Oh, he was, Mr John, he was over the moon! I told him about all the cards I’d got, and me presents, and he thought I looked a real toff in me new clothes.’ Nerves were making Polly speak quickly, saying anything that came into her head. ‘He knows all about the party and he said he wishes he could be there. And he told me to thank yer for being so good to me and me mam.’
John looked at Ada and raised his brows. ‘Ada?’
‘As Polly said, he was very happy to see her. You were right, John, it was the best present you could have given, to both of them.’
‘And how is Tommy in himself?’
‘He seems just the same.’ Ada’s eyes told him not to question her too much in front of her daughter. ‘But with the excitement and all the talking, he was getting tired and I thought it was time to leave.’
‘But he’s going to get better, Mr John,’ Polly said as John held the car door open for her. ‘He promised, didn’t he, Mam?’
‘Yes, he promised, sunshine, and he crossed his heart.’
Polly sat on the back seat of the car and looked up at John. ‘And me dad never breaks a promise, Mr John.’
Chapter Twenty-Four
‘The car’s just pulled up, Aggie.’ Fanny was pulling her pinny off as she ran into the kitchen. ‘Get rid of yer apron so they can see us in our glad rags.’
‘Don’t forget what I’ve told yer, d’yer hear?’ Aggie, in her wisdom, had decided not to ask how the hospital visit went. And she had passed strict instructions on to Fanny. ‘I’ll box yer ears if yer even mention it.’
‘Aggie, yer’ve told me at least a dozen times and I’m not bleedin’-well deaf!’
Aggie put her pinny on the kitchen table and ran a hand down the front of her best dress. It had a navy blue background and was patterned with small white diamond shapes. ‘Do I look all right?’
‘Yer look the gear, Aggie, the bloody gear! Anyone would think it was your party.’
Aggie gave her friend’s dark green dress the once-over. ‘Yer don’t look so bad yerself, Fanny. In fact, if you an’ me don’t get a click tonight I’ll eat me bleedin’ hat.’
‘Yer haven’t got a hat, Aggie.’
‘I know that, soft girl! D’yer think I’d have offered to eat it if I’d really had one? I once saw Stan Laurel eat his in a picture, but he gets paid to be daft, I don’t.’
‘Come on, they’re comin’ up the stairs.’ Fanny pulled her out on to the landing. ‘Let’s greet them, proper like.’
Polly was the first up the stairs and Aggie threw her hands up in mock surprise. ‘Well, I never! Fanny, I didn’t know we had a princess comin’ to the party.’
Polly raised the first smile since leaving the hospital. How could you keep a straight face with anyone like Aggie? ‘Don’t be actin’ the goat, Aggie, it’s only me in me posh new clothes.’
‘D’yer know, I didn’t recognise yer. Honest, yer could knock me down with a ruddy feather.’
Fanny slapped her on the back and cackled, ‘Providing the feather was stuck to a rolling pin, eh, girl?’
‘Oh, very funny.’ When Ada and John came into view, Aggie jerked her thumb at Fanny. ‘Ay, Mr John, because this one here’s got her best bib an’ tucker on, she thinks she’s the bleedin’ belle of the ball. She hasn’t done a hand’s turn since she came in ’cos she’s frightened of gettin’ her ruddy dress dirty! Left me to do the lot, she did, the lazy cow.’
‘Don’t yer take no notice of her, Mr John. I’ve done a damn sight more than me whack.’ Fanny feigned indignation. ‘Pulled me ruddy guts out, I have, an’ that’s all the thanks I get for it.’
Ada and John stood at the bottom of the flight of stairs and both of them said a silent prayer of thanks to God for these two women who were beaming down on them. In an instant they had managed to lift the cloud of depression that had been hanging over them on the journey home. Ada had been worried that Polly wouldn’t be in the mood for a party, but she could see her daughter laughing at the antics of the two older women and she gave a sigh of relief.
‘You two haven’t been at the stout, have you?’ Ada, her hand on the bannister, made her way up the stairs. ‘I told Mr John he should hide it from yer.’
‘Yer couldn’t hide nothin’ from me, girl,’ Aggie said. ‘I know this place like the back of me hand, every bleedin’ inch of it.’
Fanny elbowed her friend in the ribs. ‘Yer sly bugger! Yer didn’t tell me yer’d seen any bottles of stout.’
‘I didn’t tell yer for the simple reason I hadn’t seen them.’ Aggie’s tummy was shaking with laughter. ‘How could I see them when Mr John had put them in the pantry and covered them with a cloth?’
They were all laughing except for Fanny, who was scratching her head. She just couldn’t figure that out. ‘If yer hadn’t seen them, how d’yer know where they were?’
‘Yer as thick as two short planks, Frances Delaney! I’ve got no time now to spell it out for yer, so get yer feller to explain it to yer in bed tonight.’ Aggie grabbed her by the scruff of the neck. ‘Let’s show them how we’ve set the table out.’
‘Oh, I say, that looks a treat.’ John smiled his pleasure as his eyes travelled over the table. ‘You’ve done a splendid job.’
Ada put her arm through Polly’s. ‘Doesn’t it look lovely, sunshine?’
Polly was speechless. She had never seen such a colourful variety of food before. There were dainty sandwiches that you could eat in one bite, iced fancies in every colour and shape imaginable, trifles in posh, stemmed glasses, and there were lots of little pastry things but she didn’t know what was in them because she’d never seen anything like them before. But the main attraction, set in the middle of the table, was a huge pink iced birthday cake with her name written across it in blue. And around the cake was a wide, shiny blue ribbon with a big bow in the front.
‘Oh Mam, I don’t know what to say. I feel like crying.’
‘Don’t you dare!’ Ada said. ‘And if yer want to thank anyone, then thank Mr John. It’s all his doing.’
Polly slipped her arms around John’s waist. ‘If I said thank you a million times over, Mr John, it wouldn’t be enough.�
� She reached up to kiss his cheek. ‘You’re ever so good to me and I am grateful.’ Wiping away a stray tear, she added, ‘I wish me dad could see it.’
‘He will see it.’ John fingered one of her curls. ‘I’ve asked Charles to bring his camera to take some photographs. When the film is developed your mother can take one in for your father.’
Aggie could see Polly was getting very emotional and decided it was time to intervene before the tears started. ‘Excuse me for interruptin’, like, but would yez mind getting yer coats off and doing whatever yer have to do to make yerselves pretty? The guests will be arriving any minute.’
When Aggie and Fanny were alone, Fanny leaned towards her friend. ‘Yer know what yer said about gettin’ me feller to explain it to me in bed tonight?’ She waited for Aggie’s nod. ‘Well, that won’t be no problem because talking is all we do in bed these days. My feller’s got no romance in him. The day he was fifty, he said to me, “That’s yer lot, girl. I’m too old to be messing about now. I haven’t got the will, the energy or the inclination, so yer’ll have to make do with yer ruddy memories”.’
Aggie chuckled. ‘I’d have thought you’d have had better things on yer mind at that age, too!’
‘Sod off, will yer, Aggie. I was only forty-six – I had plenty of life left in me.’ Fanny glanced around furtively to make sure they couldn’t be overheard. ‘So I set me hat at the coalman. Great big man he was, flamin’ muscles on him like Tarzan.’
‘Yer didn’t, did yer?’ Aggie looked horrified. ‘The flamin’ coalman! Frances Delaney, I’m ashamed of yer.’
‘Oh, nothin’ came of it so don’t be gettin’ yer bleedin’ knickers in a twist.’
‘I should bloody well hope not! You a married woman an’ all.’
‘It wasn’t bein’ a married woman that stopped me, Aggie.’ Fanny was laughing inside so much she had to take a deep breath before she could carry on. ‘It was worryin’ about what excuse I could make to my feller about me havin’ black hand-marks all over me body.’
