by Annie Groves
Alan’s mother looked as though she was about to explode. Her face had gone a deep beetroot red and her eyes were bulging in their sockets. She didn’t dress anything like as nicely as her own mother, Bella thought critically, and she certainly hoped she never got so stout.
‘Alan was there with you then, was he?’
Bella opened her mouth and then closed it again, the picture of uncertainty and guilt, the picture of a young wife desperate to protect her husband.
‘I …’
She was saved from having to reply by the sound of someone hammering on the back door, and she wasn’t at all surprised when Alan’s mother opened it to admit Alan himself, looking very different from the dapper full-of-himself young man who had first caught Bella’s eye. Unshaven, his suit creased and his shirt cuffs grubby, he looked wildly from Bella to his mother.
‘What’s she been telling you?’ he demanded.
‘I was just explaining to your mother about my accident, Alan, and how I walked into the door, and then fell over and banged my head.’ Bella gave him a reproachful limpid-eyed look, and had the pleasure of seeing the confusion darken his eyes.
‘Your mother was saying that I ought to see a doctor.’
‘No.’
Mother and son both spoke at once.
‘No, you did right to come round here, dear,’ Mrs Parker assured Bella, baring her teeth in what Bella assumed must be an attempt at a compassionate smile. ‘A bit of arnica on your bruises and you’ll be as good as new in a few days. And no going worrying your own parents, mind. I know how busy your mother is with all her charity work, and we wouldn’t want her to get herself into an upset state, would we, not now that she’s my deputy?’
‘Oh, no, I wouldn’t want to worry Mummy,’ Bella agreed.
She turned to Alan. ‘I’m really sorry that I made you cross because I got all muddled up and told Mummy that we could go to her on Christmas Day, darling. Please say you’ll forgive me.’
‘Well, of course he does,’ Mrs Parker told her firmly. ‘Everyone has these silly little fall-outs when they first get married. And I dare say it was you being so upset about Alan being a little bit cross with you that caused you to be forgetful and have your accident in the first place, wasn’t it, Bella?’
Bella got up and went to Alan’s side, reaching for his hand and smiling up at him.
‘Yes … that’s exactly what happened,’ she agreed.
Alan was looking at her as though he couldn’t believe his luck, tears of gratitude sheening his eyes.
‘Perhaps you could say something to Mr Parker about how hard Alan’s having to work, Mother-in-law. He’s coming home at all hours.’
Alan stiffened.
‘I’m sure Alan won’t want me to worry his father when he’s got so much on his plate with all this extra war work that the council is needing to get done.’
The familiar frostiness was back in her mother-in-law’s voice, but Bella didn’t care. She had made her point and satisfied herself that neither Alan nor his mother wanted Alan’s behaviour to get back to his father’s, or her parents’, ears.
When Teddy had asked Grace what film she would like to see she had told him Wuthering Heights with Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier. She had seen it once already with her mother, but she knew she would enjoy seeing it again, because it was so deliciously spine-tingling and sad. A real girl’s film, Luke had scoffed, which it was. Not that she was testing Teddy or anything by choosing it, of course. No, not for one minute. But she had been pleased by the way he had smiled at her and immediately agreed that he’d like to see it as well, even though she was pretty sure he had only said so to please her. And then soft-heartedly she had told him that really she’d just as soon see JamaicaInn, and his eyes had lit up like a kiddie’s at the thought of pirates and fighting, his relief making her laugh.
They’d arranged to meet outside the Odeon on London Road in the city centre, and although she was on time, Grace was pleased to see that Teddy was there ahead of her, smiling broadly at her when he saw her.
‘I wasn’t sure I’d recognise you out of uniform,’ he teased her, giving her an openly appreciative look, which was nevertheless still respectful.
He was wearing a smart navy-blue suit and an equally smart shirt and tie. Beneath the hat he’d removed when he came over to her and was now replacing, his hair was flattened into obedience with Brylcreem. Grace felt proud to be with him as he guided her towards the Odeon.
She’d taken care with her own appearance, brushing the hair she had washed the previous night until her curls gleamed, her toilette critically overseen by the twins, who had shaken their heads over her first choice of last year’s sensible heavy tweed skirt, insisting instead that she wore her ‘best’ woollen dress, also from last year, and giving their approval to her silk stockings and smart court shoes.
Grace had banished them before carefully applying the new dark pink Max Factor lipstick she’d been experimenting with in the privacy of her room all week, worrying that it might be just a bit too racy. But not even her mother had said anything when she had finally gone downstairs, the pretty scarf that had been a Christmas present from Luke last year tucked into the neck of the raincoat she had decided to wear ‘just in case’.
Because they were early there wasn’t a queue. Teddy headed straight for the shining chrome box office set between the two pairs of doors.
Grace’s eyes widened when she heard him asking for front circle seats. She hadn’t expected that!
‘Seeing as we’re a bit early we could go up and have a bit of something in the restaurant before the film starts, if you fancy it?’ Teddy suggested once he had paid.
Grace shook her head. He’d spent enough already. But as though he guessed why she was holding back he told her, ‘I wouldn’t mind a bit o’ summat meself.’
‘Oh, well, yes, then that would be lovely,’ Grace agreed.
‘It’s you who is that,’ Teddy told her boldly as he guided her through the foyer and up the stairs to the lounge.
Grace could remember only one previous occasion when she’d sat in the front circle and that had been as a treat for her sixteenth birthday.
The carpet beneath her feet was so thick that she could feel herself sinking into it, and although she was trying hard not to look impressed, she couldn’t help studying the elegant décor.
A smartly dressed waitress showed them to a table in the restaurant.
‘Just tea for me, please,’ Grace told her, not daring to think what the prices were here.
‘Tea for two and cakes,’ Teddy told the waitress firmly, winking at Grace.
As other smartly dressed cinemagoers filled the restaurant, Grace was glad that she had allowed the twins to persuade her into wearing her frock. Its soft mid-blue suited her and emphasised the colour of her hair and eyes, as well as emphasising her small waist.
She felt a bit self-conscious pouring the tea for them both, but Teddy was so relaxed and such fun to be with that she soon forgot her discomfort at being out on her first proper date, as she laughed at his jokes and enjoyed his company.
‘I hope there isn’t going to be too much soppy stuff in this film,’ Teddy joked as they left the restaurant, his hand protectively under her elbow. ‘Mind you, me mum gave me a clean hanky before I left, so you needn’t worry.’
He was carrying his overcoat, and just in front of the doors to the circle he paused and rummaged in his pocket, producing a box of chocolates for her.
Grace blushed and smiled, and thought she had never been so happy.
They were back in their own kitchen, Alan looking at her as though he couldn’t believe his luck in getting away with what he had.
‘I’ll have to go round and see Mummy now, Alan, seeing as we’re supposed to be going shopping together this afternoon. It’s a pity we haven’t got a telephone. I’m surprised your father doesn’t have one installed for us, seeing as you’re working for him. Perhaps I should say something about it to your
mother.’
‘There’s no need for that. I’ll have a word with him. Look, Bella, what happened last night – well, it won’t happen again.’
She liked his hangdog look and the humble note in his voice, Bella decided.
‘No it won’t,’ she agreed coldly, ‘’cos if it does I shall tell your mother.’
‘It wasn’t all my fault.’ Alan was getting angry again now. ‘If you hadn’t said what you did—’
‘You’ll have to drive me round to Mummy’s, Alan,’ Bella told him, ignoring his accusation. ‘Oh, and if you want something to eat I’m sure your mother will have some tripe left.’
The film had kept Grace on the edge of her seat with fear for poor Maureen O’Hara, apart, that was, from those few brief occasions when Teddy had reached for her hand and held it comfortingly, drawing her closer to him.
Even her mother would have completely approved of the way he had behaved towards her, Grace acknowledged as they left the cinema.
‘That Maureen O’Hara is so beautiful,’ she said to Teddy as they emerged into the gloom of the late December afternoon.
‘She’s not a patch on you,’ Teddy told her stoutly, before asking, ‘What number bus do we want?’
‘We?’
‘Well, you don’t think I’m going to let you make your own way home, do you? I should have brought the ambulance, then we wouldn’t need a bus.’
‘There’s no need to see me home, Teddy.’
It was typical of him that he should offer, though, and Grace was pleased that he had done, even if by doing so he had inadvertently reminded her of another, very different, man, who had also wanted to see her home safely.
‘I suppose you and the other girls will already have made plans for New Year’s Eve?’
‘We have talked about it,’ Grace admitted.
‘You’ll be wanting to go dancing, I expect, somewhere like the Grafton,’ he guessed.
‘Lillian says it’s got the best dance floor in Liverpool, properly sprung and everything, and she’s going to get tickets for us all for New Year’s Eve.’
‘Happen I might get a ticket for meself, especially if a certain very special girl is going to agree to stand up and dance with me.’
‘I’m sure any girl would be happy to dance with you, Teddy,’ Grace told him, and meant it.
‘I’m not talking about any girl, just one girl … Promise you’ll save the last dance for me?’
Somehow or other he had taken hold of her hand without her realising it and now he was lacing his fingers between her own and she could feel a warm glow of happiness.
‘I … yes, I will,’ she told him breathlessly.
It had gone cold, and suddenly Teddy started to cough.
‘That sounds nasty,’ Grace sympathised when he had stopped.
Teddy shook his head. ‘It’s nothing, just got a bit of cold air on me lungs, that’s all. Fancy going to the pictures again tomorrow?’
‘I’d love to, Teddy, but Mum will be expecting me to help her at home,’ Grace told him regretfully. ‘Here’s my bus,’ she added. ‘I’d better go …’
He caught her off guard when he suddenly put his arm around her and drew her to him, then kissed her on the cheek.
‘It’s all right, I’m not going to take liberties with you,’ he told her gruffly as he released her. ‘Not that I’m saying that I wouldn’t like to kiss you properly, mind,’ cos I would.’
There wasn’t time for her to say anything; all she could do was let him walk her to join the queue already boarding her bus.
TWELVE
‘Roller skates.’
‘No, new gramophone records.’
The twins, giddy with the excitement of it being Christmas Eve, were giggling as they tried to outdo each other with what they hoped to find under the Christmas tree.
‘I wouldn’t mention gramophone records in front of Dad,’ Grace warned them, ‘not after him telling you off last night for all the noise you were making.’
‘Dad doesn’t understand, Grace. You’ve got to play them loudly,’ Sasha explained patiently. ‘Otherwise it doesn’t work, does it, Lou?’
‘Otherwise what doesn’t work?’ Grace asked them, putting her head on one side to study the effect of the candles she had just finished clipping onto the branches of the Christmas tree Dad had brought home from the market earlier in the week.
‘That thing that happens inside your head when you’re dancing that make you forget everything else. You need to have the music really loud.’
‘When you were our age did you ever want to be a singer like Auntie Francine, Grace?’ Lou asked her.
‘No, never,’ she said truthfully. ‘And if I were you two, I’d put that idea right out of my head,’ cos Dad would never agree to you going on the stage.’
The twins exchanged looks whilst Grace sighed over her attempts to decorate the Christmas tree. No matter how careful she was, the weight of the candles in their clip-on holders kept making the branches bow and spoiling the symmetry of what she was trying to achieve.
‘Proper fairy lights would be better,’ Lou told her.
‘Well, yes, but they aren’t as pretty. Anyway, what are you two doing in here? I thought you were supposed to be making paper chains?’
‘We were, but the taste of the gum was making us feel sick. Come on, Gracie, tell us what you’ve bought for us …’ Sasha wheedled.
‘It isn’t slippers, is it?’ Lou asked suspiciously, ‘only it feels very light for such a big box.’
Grace hid a small smile. She had deliberately put the record she had bought them into a box she had packed carefully with paper so as to disguise it.
‘What’s wrong with slippers?’ she teased them, keeping her face straight.
‘Grace, have you got a minute, only I could do with you to give me a hand making the stuffing,’ called her mother from the kitchen.
‘Coming, Mum.’ Grace got up.
The kitchen was full of steam and the familiar delicious smells of Christmas – only this Christmas wasn’t going to be the same as the ones she remembered, Grace acknowledged. Luke wouldn’t be with them, and they were at war, even though as yet nothing had really changed apart from the blackout, which everyone was grumbling had caused more accidents and been more of a nuisance than Hitler.
‘I went and telephoned our Vi this morning from the corner shop,’ Jean told Grace, having instructed her to grate the bread she had dried out in the oven for breadcrumbs for the stuffing. ‘I thought she might have changed her mind about Jack being evacuated and had got him back home with it being Christmas, but she hasn’t.’ Jean gave a small sigh.
She had been worrying about Jack ever since Vi had announced that he was sending him off to the country, but she knew how stubborn her twin could be once her back was up, so she had held off from saying too much, knowing that Vi would tell her that the arrangements she and Edwin made for Jack weren’t anyone else’s business.
‘What, she’s not even having him home for Christmas?’ Grace asked indignantly.
‘She wants him to be safe, love, that’s why she’s sent him away.’
‘There’s lots of kiddies being brought back as their mothers don’t see any sense in them being away when there’s not been any bombs or anything. Is that enough breadcrumbs yet, Mum?’
Jean peered into the bowl. ‘Better do some more, love. We’ve got old Mr Edwards coming in for a bit of Christmas dinner and I thought I’d ask Miss Higgins, that you used to run errands for, as well, seeing as she’s all on her own. I know she likes to keep herself to herself but no one wants to be on their own at Christmas. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to get this goose in the oven, Grace. I told him what has the poultry stall in the market that I didn’t want it more than twelve pounds.’
‘At least he let you have it for the same price as a twelve-pound one, Mum.’
‘Yes, because he’d probably gone and sold mine to someone else. Next year I’m going to order from some
one else.’
Grace smiled. Every year her mother grumbled about the goose and the poultry stall owner she always bought it from, threatening to buy from someone else.
‘At least Dad and Luke won’t be arguing over who’s got the biggest drumstick this year,’ Grace joked, and then bit her lip when she saw her mother’s face. ‘I’m sorry, Mum,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t know what I was thinking of, saying a daft thing like that. Christmas just won’t be the same without our Luke.’
‘No it won’t.’
‘He said in his last letter that the officers have to serve the men their Christmas dinner and that that ENSA – you know, the singers and actors and them that go doing shows for the men – are putting on concerts for them and they’ve been told that Gracie Fields will be performing at them, and Billy Cotton and his band.’
‘Well, I’d be surprised if she does, seeing as how it’s bin in all the papers how poorly she’s bin and how she’s gone to that Capri place for a rest.’
The newspapers and the fan magazines had been full of veiled and not so veiled references to the cancer of the cervix the star had suffered, and her ongoing recovery from it.
‘I thought you might have gone out dancing tonight, Grace, with them nurse friends of yours.’
‘We can only afford to go out dancing the one night, so we’ve decided to get tickets for New Year’s Eve,’ Grace told her. ‘For the Grafton.’ Although she tried hard not to, Grace could feel herself colouring up slightly, as she remembered what Teddy had said to her when he had made her promise to keep the last dance for him. He probably wouldn’t even be at the Grafton, never mind remembering what he’d said to her.
‘I dare say that young lad will be there, hoping to get a dance with you, will he?’ Jean asked her shrewdly.
‘Teddy?’ Grace tried to look nonchalant but she knew she was blushing again. ‘He did say something about going, but I dare say I won’t even see him, it will be so packed.’
Jean saw the blush and sighed inwardly. Grace might be trying to pretend that she wasn’t interested in this Teddy lad, but Jean, with a mother’s instinct, knew better.
