Life and Love at Mulberry Lane Read online

  LIFE AND LOVE AT MULBERRY LANE

  ROSIE CLARKE

  CONTENTS

  Author’s Reminder

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  More from Rosie Clarke

  About the Author

  Sixpence Stories

  About Boldwood Books

  AUTHOR’S REMINDER

  This is book number nine in the Mulberry series so we thought it might help to have a little recap for readers. Some of you won’t need it, others might find it helpful.

  Main Characters

  Peggy’s family:

  Peggy and Able Ronoscki and their twins, Freddie and Fay. Peggy’s eldest daughter, Janet, and her brother, Pip, by her first husband, Laurie.

  Peggy is now in her sixties, Able is a couple of years younger. The twins are now 19. Janet is 39 and Pip is 37; they both have children.

  Maggie is Janet’s daughter by her first husband and Peggy’s first grandchild and is now 21. Janet and Ryan, her second husband, have a son, Jon.

  Pip is married to Sheila, they have two children, Chris and Cathy. Pip works as an aeronautical designer.

  Peggy has always run the Pig & Whistle pub in Mulberry Lane in the East End of London, apart from a period when she went away to the seaside and Sheila ran the pub. However, in 1958, Maggie and Fay started to take over. Peggy also has a boarding house, which is managed by Pearl. Pearl’s mother, Mrs Maggs, helps at the Pig & Whistle washing up. Able has a partnership with Tom Barton in the building trade.

  Maureen’s family:

  Maureen is in her late forties and Gordon is slightly older. Gordon’s daughter, Shirley, is in her late twenties now and Maureen and Gordon’s son, Gordy, is a teenager. Maureen also had a son, Robin, (not Gordon’s) but he died of a childhood illness.

  Gordon is suffering from a weakness of a heart muscle but is better than he was in the last book. He still manages the grocery shop that came to them through Maureen’s family, but it is much bigger now, though he only goes in for an hour or two and has a youthful manager. Maureen still helps out in the pub and the restaurant kitchen sometimes. Shirley is a doctor and married to Ray.

  The Barton family:

  Tom and Rose Barton have two children, Molly and Jackie or these days, Jack. Tom and Able are now partners in a building business and doing well. Rose sometimes helps out in the pub kitchens. She and Maureen are Peggy’s best friends and they’ve always done things together. They are several years younger than Peggy and Maureen and in their thirties.

  All the characters are well and continuing to thrive now that life is so much better after the long years of war. This is a time when things aren’t too bad for folk in Mulberry Lane, but, of course, life always has surprises round the corner…

  1

  It was really happening at last. Peggy looked around the Pig & Whistle’s old-fashioned bar, which was about to be pulled out as part of the refurbishment she’d promised Maggie would happen if her business warranted it. The downstairs parlour, which was never used, would become the bar for the regulars of the pub and this would form part of an extended restaurant, using some of the back yard. It was a big change, but the delicious meals that her daughter and granddaughter were now serving brought in too many customers to fit into the bar as it stood.

  ‘We’ll have to do it, hon.’ Able, Peggy’s easy-going and much-loved husband, put his arm around her waist. ‘We promised we’d come up with the money if their business expanded and it most certainly has.’ He’d done his part by purchasing the building from the brewery in order to let their dreams happen.

  ‘I can’t believe it’s more than two years since they started to take over,’ Peggy admitted with a sigh. ‘I never imagined they would stick to it the way they have, especially Fay. You know what she is like for changing her mind.’

  Fay was their daughter and Freddie’s twin, but Maggie was that bit older and the child of Peggy’s eldest daughter Janet, who was her first husband’s offspring. Laurie had been long dead now and was a part of Peggy’s memories that centred here in the bar of the Pig & Whistle in Mulberry Lane, but there were so many more memories – so much love, laughter and pain. Especially during the war years when she’d taken people down to her cellar for safety as the bombs fell. The pictures flitted through Peggy’s mind as she let her eyes travel the room and she saw her friends as they had been so many times, drinking, talking, sharing their lives with her, some of them still enjoying life, others gone now but not forgotten. She shook her head. Life moved on and it was foolish to cling to the past. The Pig & Whistle was a thriving business and she must celebrate that, not feel regret for what had gone before.

  ‘Are you ready, hon?’ Able’s voice broke Peggy’s reverie and she met his eager gaze and nodded. ‘All packed? Got everything you need?’

  ‘Yes, I made a list,’ Peggy replied, a lift in her voice as she felt a flutter of excitement. ‘And I know the taxi will be here in fifteen minutes.’

  ‘Good. I’d hate for us to miss our plane.’

  It was the spring of 1961, and Peggy had more or less handed over the reins, leaving the business of running the Pig & Whistle to Fay and Maggie. Now, she was about to leave for the most exciting trip in her life. Able was taking her to America and they would actually be flying first class. It was the holiday of a lifetime and had cost the earth, but Able said they could afford it and he was so happy that Peggy had given in to his persuasion. She’d thought that flying was for VIPs, like famous footballers and film stars and she was worried that it could be dangerous, but Able told her that within a very few years everyone would be doing it and only a few aeroplanes actually crashed, so she had given in. She felt a frisson of excitement as she realised it was really happening.

  ‘Mum,’ Freddie’s voice interrupted her thoughts. ‘You haven’t forgotten I’m off to the coast this weekend?’

  ‘No, of course not, love.’ Peggy turned to look at her youngest son. Freddie had shot up these past months and looked like a confident young man. Before he started his new university course, he was going to take a casual job at the coast. He’d applied to be a lifeguard on a beach in Hastings, Sussex, and had secured the job, which made Peggy both proud and anxious, though she knew he could swim well and would receive training once he joined the team. Freddie wanted to be a sports teacher and to direct his spare time to helping those less fortunate children, who had a physical or mental impediment. He’d already joined a club in London that helped disabled kids and spent three evenings a week there. ‘I’ve packed your cases for you and your father has put some money into your bank account,’ she answered with a look of affection.

  ‘Thanks, Mum. You always pack better than me – but that wasn’t what I meant. It means I shan’t be around for a while… and you and Dad are going away. The girls will be on their own – do you think they can manage? Shou
ld I put my trip off until later?’

  ‘Maggie is very sensible,’ Peggy told him. He was always so thoughtful of others. ‘Maureen and Rose will still be around – and Tom. You go and have a wonderful time, Freddie. Those girls will be fine.’ Maureen and Rose were Peggy’s best friends and she knew they would be on hand. Tom Barton was Able’s business partner – they built houses and flats as well as restoring old property now – and he had turned into a very capable man these days and was someone she could rely on.

  ‘If you’re sure.’ Freddie grinned. ‘Fay told me not to be an old woman and quit worrying about her.’

  ‘Then you should,’ Peggy assured him.

  ‘Okay, if you say so.’

  He nodded, walking off with his shoulders straight. He was as tall as Able now but would be broader and heavier as he grew. Freddie ate a lot but was very active; running, playing football and lifting weights had made him strong and muscular. It seemed to Peggy that girls must find her son an attractive young man and she wondered if she ought to worry whether he would be led astray in this glamorous beach job he’d taken. Freddie knew what he wanted of life – and yet he had a tender heart, which might easily be broken.

  ‘Penny for your thoughts, hon?’ Able’s caressing tones made her look at him and shake her head.

  ‘The twins are growing up so fast…’ was all she could say, but a smile of understanding came to her husband’s face.

  ‘Freddie will be fine,’ he replied. ‘And so will Fay. She is too busy to get into much trouble – and Freddie never does.’

  ‘I know…’ Peggy laughed. ‘They’ve both done so well in their own ways. Freddie’s job this summer will help him with his sports training and a lifeguard has to be prepared for all sorts, so it is a good experience for him.’

  ‘It is what he wants,’ Able said. ‘He was so good last year, giving up his time to go to France with Fay for that special cooking course. Mind you, I think they had a wonderful time out there.’

  ‘I often wonder what they got up to that we don’t know about,’ Peggy said, brows lifted. ‘Freddie kept Fay in line, I am certain – but I know something went on with her out there – but tneither of them tell tales about the other.’

  ‘Whatever it was, Freddie handled it,’ Able replied, a sparkle in his eyes. ‘And now she is trying to make her bit of the partnership work. At the moment Maggie is paying their way; I know Fay, she won’t be pleased with that for long. She’ll need to be on her toes to bring in the extra business.’

  Peggy nodded her agreement. Fay’s part of the girls’ combined business was more of a specialism and the orders were irregular – sometimes plentiful and at others slower. She baked wonderful cakes and puddings, which were a part of their private catering service. Fay and Carla, a young woman who had begun by working in the bar evenings, did most of the weddings and parties, with some help from Peggy, and both Rose Barton and Maureen Hart helped where and when needed. Fay hadn’t yet found it necessary to take on permanent help, hiring in the extra waitresses for larger events.

  Maggie was usually too busy in the restaurant, as she now termed the bar of the Pig & Whistle, to help with the outside catering much, and these past few months her trade had built up steadily and the pub was still popular with the locals. She’d employed a full-time waitress, as well as Mrs Maggs, who did the washing-up. Peggy just did whatever was needed, either in the bar, the kitchen or for the private catering service.

  Peggy was not truly needed in the kitchen often these days; it was nice for her not to be always working, but it was hard to let go at times, especially when the memories crowded in on her and made her feel nostalgic.

  ‘Feeling a bit like you’ve been hit by a whirlwind, hon?’

  Peggy looked up at her husband and sighed. ‘Just looking and remembering,’ she said. ‘I’ve spent a lot of my life in this bar. I was thinking of the old customers – like Alice and Mrs Tandy, Jack Barton, and a few of the others…’ She spoke of three particular friends who were no longer with them but still remembered; folk she’d shared so much of her life with.

  ‘You are bound to feel a bit sad to see the old bar go,’ Able said. ‘But it needs a spruce up, much more than we’ve done before, and Maggie’s idea to expand into the back yard is a great idea. If they open this out and add on the extension at the rear, it will nearly double the number of tables she can fit in – and we can have a new bar in what used to be the downstairs sitting room.’

  ‘Well, we rarely use that ourselves,’ Peggy agreed. ‘It will be very smart – what’s the word these days? Fashionable… didn’t I hear Maggie say that is what we need to be? A part of the new vibrant sixties… isn’t that what they’re saying it will be?’

  Able nodded and laughed softly. ‘It’s a new world they’re building – I heard someone say it was the start of the swinging sixties the other day, though what on earth that really means, I have no idea. I suppose with this idea of space travel, it really will be a new world.’ The Soviet Union had put a man into space for the first time in April, which still seemed incredible to him, and the United States of America had sent its first astronaut into space earlier that month.

  ‘Well, Harold Macmillan told us we’d never had it so good.’ Peggy laughed with him. ‘Makes you feel old, doesn’t it? All this talk of a new world and the buzz that seems to be going on all over London these days.’

  ‘It’s what is needed,’ Able replied with a shrug. ‘We need a brighter future for the young folk, Peggy. We have to hope that all the new ideas and the fancy talking isn’t just hot air. We wouldn’t want them to have the hard times back, would we?’

  ‘Good grief, no,’ she cried and gave herself a little shake. That was the last thing Peggy wanted. ‘I’m glad we’re off today, love. I know this is all going to be lovely when it is finished, but I don’t want to watch it happen. This holiday you’ve organised to America is the best thing we could do.’

  ‘We have the leisure now to do a bit of travelling and I’d like to show you where I was born.’ Able shrugged. ‘When I met you, during the war, I left America quite willingly to make a home here. I haven’t pined for it, so don’t imagine that, hon. I just thought it would be good for us to get away and let the kids get on with it.’

  ‘Yes, I know you’re right,’ Peggy agreed and then looked him in the eyes. ‘Supposing we hate what they do?’

  ‘Then we’ll look for somewhere else to live. Maybe this time we will retire to the sea. Besides, Tom is in charge of the work here and I can’t imagine him letting them do anything that is too horrendous, can you?’

  ‘No, I am sure it will all be tasteful and just as we’ve talked about, so I am going to put it all out of my head and enjoy myself.’ Once again, she felt that buzz of excitement. Never in her life had she really believed she would fly to America!

  ‘Good.’ Able tucked her into him, holding her with his one strong arm against his side as he bent his head to kiss her. He’d lost part of his left arm when wounded during the war. ‘I am going to enjoy having you all to myself for once…’ He turned his head as he heard a horn sound. ‘I think that must be our taxi. Come on, love. It’s time for us to have fun.’

  2

  ‘I just popped in to say hello – and check you are coming to lunch on Sunday?’ Rose Barton said as she smiled at Maureen. ‘Peggy will be in America by now – lucky her! Yet I’m not sure I’d want to fly. I think I’d rather go on a luxury liner, if we ever get the chance… but even if we could afford it, Tom is too busy.’

  ‘Speaking of Tom’s work, how are the renovations at the Pig & Whistle coming along?’ Maureen asked. ‘I’ve been wanting to take a peek all week, but I thought I might be in the way.’

  The pub had been closed for several days now – the first time in many years. Even Hitler’s bombs hadn’t manged to shut it down, but Maggie had decided that the alterations were so structural that it wasn’t possible to work round them. As it happened, Fay had booked several big events for the
catering side of the business for the next week, so they were concentrating on them and the pub had a big ‘closed’ notice on the door, which had caused a few grumbles, even though it had been well advertised in advance.

  ‘Tom says it is all going to plan – but you know Tom. He won’t say, whatever happens.’

  Maureen nodded her agreement. ‘I know what you mean. When we opened up Mrs Tandy’s old shop and made it one with my father’s grocery business, Tom did a wonderful job. Gordon was thinking of taking on another small shop and opening that up too, but after his heart trouble a couple of years back, he decided against it.’ A little sigh escaped her because Gordon had been a little quiet of late and she worried that her husband was feeling unwell again.

  ‘I saw him this morning,’ Rose said, looking at Maureen hard. ‘He seemed cheerful and well – is he?’

  ‘Ray did what he could for him; you know what a wonderful surgeon Shirley’s husband is, but Gordon may need more surgery one day,’ Maureen said and her anxiety came through in her voice. ‘He feels better than he did – but… he believes he is living on borrowed time. Shirley warned me that he probably won’t have much more than five years or so at most – though she is hoping for a little miracle, and so am I.’