Stormy Days On Mulberry Lane Page 6

  ‘I hope you don’t think me too greedy, Mrs Ronoscki, but I do like a cup of coffee and a bit of peace to read my paper after the children have gone off to prepare their programme for the day.’

  ‘You could have it in the lounge if you wanted, sir,’ Peggy suggested. ‘You only have to ask.’

  ‘Thank you – that is very kind.’ He beamed at her. ‘We were going to book just a week at a hotel, but a friend told me how much he’d enjoyed his stay here so I thought we’d have two weeks here instead – and, another morning, I will take you up on your offer. Much as I love my family, I don’t feel it necessary to be with them every minute of the day. They are bent on visiting every interesting building, monument, museum, and attraction in London – and I should rather enjoy some time to myself.’

  ‘Yes, of course, why not?’ Peggy agreed. ‘We have energetic twins – but it is nice to have a little peace at times.’

  She left him to the enjoyment of his coffee and returned to the kitchen.

  Gillian was hovering outside the door, looking nervous. Peggy smiled at her and ushered her through.

  ‘What would you like this morning?’ she asked. ‘You can have boiled eggs and bread and butter, scrambled egg on toast – or, as the twins like, bread and strawberry jam—’

  ‘I’d like some of that lovely fresh bread with the jam,’ Gillian said and smiled. ‘I thought I smelled kippers earlier on?’

  ‘Yes, the guests had them on the menu this morning…’ Peggy hesitated. ‘Would you like one? I believe there is one left.’ She’d been saving it for Able when he returned from taking Fay to her before-school lesson at the rink, but he wouldn’t mind.

  ‘Oh no,’ Gillian replied swiftly. ‘I hate them – my father used to insist on having them every Saturday and Sunday.’ she shuddered. ‘The smell reminds me…’

  ‘Yes, I suppose it might.’

  Peggy went to the table and cut two nice slices of her crusty bread, just baked that morning, spreading it with butter and her own strawberry jam. She pushed it across the table to Gillian just as Able came in alone.

  ‘Did Fay get to school all right?’ Peggy asked and Able smiled.

  ‘Yes. She had a very good skating session this morning – though she nearly took a tumble with an ambitious jump. Sara was cross with her, because she told me it is too advanced for a beginner. Her ankles are not nearly strong enough for her to do all the things she wants to do yet.’

  ‘I know – she told me Sara warned her to go slowly, but you know Fay…’

  Able nodded, turning his gentle eyes on Gillian. ‘Good morning, young lady,’ he said. ‘Are you feeling better now?’

  ‘Yes, thank you, sir,’ she replied, but her eyes remained downcast and her neck was pink.

  ‘Would you like your kipper now?’ Peggy asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

  ‘Yes, please,’ he said and sat down in a chair near the window. ‘I need to go out later, Peggy – are you cooking for the shop today?’

  ‘I shall join Maureen and Sheila as soon as I’ve cooked your breakfast,’ Peggy said, smiling at him affectionately. ‘I’ve already made some apple pies to take round so that is part of my job done, but I’m making meringues and almond loaf cakes today. Apparently, they all sold out within an hour last week.’

  ‘Whatever you cook sells,’ Able told her and touched her arm. ‘I’m a lucky man.’

  ‘You like Sheila’s macaroons better than mine,’ she riposted teasingly and he grinned.

  ‘Well, yes, I have to admit that she takes the crown there, hon.’

  Peggy flicked him with the tea towel, because she’d worked hard to make them the way he liked them, but she knew he was just teasing. Able liked everything she cooked for her family.

  Able watched contentedly as she cooked his kipper and brought it to the table. As he sat down, Gillian stood up and took her plate to the sink. Peggy frowned because there was something hasty about her movement, as if she’d wanted to avoid sitting at the same table as Able. She deposited the plate and cup and looked at Peggy.

  ‘Where are the cleaning things?’ she asked.

  ‘Pearl will show you,’ Peggy said. ‘I have to go now, Gillian – don’t do too much, please. You may tire quicker than you think…’

  She nodded to Gillian, bent to pop a kiss on Able’s cheek and then left them to it. Her apple pies were in large biscuit tins lined with greaseproof paper and she carried them carefully the two doors up the lane to her daughter-in-law’s pub, entering the back door into the kitchen.

  Maureen and Sheila were already working at the long pine table.

  ‘What are you making?’ she asked as she deposited the tins on the huge oak dresser. ‘I’ve made the apple pies – and now I’m making almond loaf cakes and meringues… is that still the plan?’

  ‘Yes, please,’ Sheila said, greeting her with a fond look. ‘You’re the only one that can make meringues all look the same, Peggy. I’ve made a batch of coffee sponges with coffee butter icing and some macaroons.’

  ‘And I’m making Victoria sponges, some with buttercream and some with fresh cream,’ Maureen said, smiling. ‘I’m not as clever as you two at the fancy stuff – but I do make a lovely light sponge.’

  ‘Your seed cake is nice too,’ Sheila said. ‘You underrate yourself, Maureen.’

  ‘Gordon likes my light fruit cakes,’ Maureen said, ‘but the customers seem to prefer the fancier cakes now that they can buy them.’

  ‘We have more choice now Peggy is back,’ Sheila said, ‘and the sales have soared recently – and we sold five jars of that special marmalade yesterday, Peggy. If you could get all the sugar you needed, we could sell those until the cows come home.’ She laughed and then stopped and put her hands to her swollen belly. ‘Oh, he kicked me! Pip says it has to be a boy the way he kicks…’

  Peggy laughed. ‘I don’t know – Janet kicked when I was carrying her, more than Pip did.’

  ‘Pip is convinced it is another boy,’ Sheila told her. ‘I wouldn’t mind if it is a girl.’

  ‘That is what Ryan says,’ Peggy informed her. ‘Janet is determined it has to be a boy, but Ryan doesn’t care as long as they’re both all right.’

  ‘They should be now she’s past the dangerous stage,’ Sheila said. ‘He rang Pip the other evening for a chat and told him that she was keeping well and the doctors had assured him that both she and the baby should be fine now.’

  Peggy nodded. Janet and her husband Ryan had gone through a rocky period the previous year, but since moving up to Scotland, they seemed to have settled in well. Janet rang her mother once a week and Peggy rang her every Sunday after lunch, mostly when the twins were out with their father. She spoke to her granddaughter Maggie and enjoyed hearing her talking about riding the pony she’d been loaned by her friend Angus. Maggie truly loved being up there and was always full of what she’d seen and done.

  ‘Good.’ Peggy smiled at Maureen, ‘How is Gordon – and is Shirley ready for her working holiday?’

  ‘Gordon is fine,’ Maureen said but frowned. ‘His leg can be painful especially in wet weather, but the doctor assures us that there’s nothing seriously wrong now. War wounds are often good weathervanes, which isn’t much consolation when Gordon is in pain, but Shirley is fine. She bought a nice dress and has made herself several things to take with her.’

  ‘Is Fay still enjoying her skating?’ Sheila asked as she bent to put a tray of small cakes in the oven.

  ‘Yes – but she wants to go faster than she can,’ Peggy said with a sigh. ‘She’s so ambitious! Sara says she needs to exercise her ankles for strength, but she skips over those, because they’re boring, and insists on taking jumps she isn’t ready for yet.’

  ‘She wants to be careful she doesn’t fall and hurt herself…’

  ‘Yes, that’s what worries me,’ Peggy agreed. ‘A break could mean the end of her lessons and her hopes.’

  ‘Children seldom listen to our advice,’ Maureen said. ‘Shirl
ey has done for a long time, but she’s growing up now – and the boys… well, boys have too much energy to burn off and I just pop them in the garden with a ball and let them get on with it.’

  Feeling her mood lighten as she talked with her friends, Peggy realised that she’d been a little tense earlier, though she had no idea why that should be.

  7

  Shirley tried on the pretty, yellow polka dot dress with its full skirt and sweetheart neckline she’d bought, preening in front of the bedroom mirror as she turned this way and that, to see what it looked like from the back and sides. The shop assistant had told her it looked wonderful and it certainly suited her, the yellow accenting the slightly auburn tones of her hair, but would Richard like it? Often, her hair looked golden in the sun, but in shade you could see the red undertones and the sprinkling of freckles across her nose were testament to her fair skin. She and Claire had lingered in the sun in the park after window shopping and the hated freckles had appeared instantly.

  She had once asked her mother if there was a special lotion she could buy to get rid of them, but was told they were a part of her and very attractive. Wrinkling her nose, Shirley rubbed at them but knew nothing would make them go away. When she’d asked the chemist as a little girl if bleach would cure them, he’d laughed and said it might, but it would kill her, so she’d given up but still felt they were a blemish on her face.

  Did Richard notice them? Claire said they were a part of her and pretty, but what did Richard think? He must see lots of prettier girls where he worked and Shirley’s stomach tightened with nerves as the day of their summer holiday approached. It was, of course, a working holiday, but Richard had written to tell her that they would be working together in a seafront restaurant. She was to be a waitress and he was helping as an assistant chef. He’d told her that the jobs he’d applied for were the pick of what was going and most of the girls were going to be washing up or making beds and cleaning.

  One of my friends has a job at the fairground. I rather envy him that, because he gets to go on all the rides for free and he will have fun rather than actual work all summer. However, I thought it would be better for us to work at the same place, Shirley, so I took these jobs while I could. If we hate them, we might find something different when we’re there – though most of the work is either in the hotels, boarding houses or, if you’re lucky, on the seafront.

  We’ll try it and see. I think it could be fun. I’ve done a bit of cooking since I was at medical school, so I thought I might see what I could learn. The only other job in the kitchen was washing up and I thought you’d rather serve at table?

  I hope I’ve done right for you, Shirley?

  Love from your Richard.

  P.S. I can’t wait to be with you! Think of all the time we’ll have together when we’re not working! Xxx

  Shirley had smiled and held the signature to her lips, kissing it when she’d first read it through. Serving at tables didn’t sound too bad. She didn’t have to get there until twelve to help prepare and she was finished at five, because they served afternoon tea as well, but there were different waiters in the evenings. Evening service was always experienced men, but the busy lunch hours were the times when the holiday girls – as they were called – helped out.

  Best of all, in a way, was that you only needed a black skirt and a white blouse for work. Aprons and caps were provided. Shirley’s old school skirt would be fine for working as a waitress, as would her school blouses. She could keep her smart new clothes for when she went out with Richard.

  Twirling again just to be sure, she approved her lovely new dress that she’d purchased with her father’s gift. She’d made three pretty dresses, one in a shirt style with a collar and short sleeves with little white pique cuffs and two shift dresses in patterned cotton, a blue and white daisy pattern and a green stripe, which Claire had liked and did look smart with its white collar and puffed sleeves, but which Shirley wasn’t quite sure about. Although it looked better under her best white cardigan that her mother had made for her.

  Claire envied her sometimes, Shirley knew, because her mother was a widow and couldn’t afford to spend as much on her. Shirley had passed on a few things that she’d still liked, but still knew Claire felt left out when she bought her new things and she’d asked if Maureen would make her a pretty white cardigan too.

  ‘She loves mine, Mum,’ Shirley had explained. ‘I can pay for the wool – if you’ll make it for her. Her mother can’t do those intricate lacy patterns you do for me.’

  Maureen had smiled and nodded. ‘They take a lot of concentration, love, but I enjoy doing them – and if you want one as a present for your friend, I’ll make it. You don’t need to pay for the wool.’

  ‘But I’d like to,’ Shirley had told her with a smile. ‘It will be a present from both of us then – though you will do all the work.’

  ‘Except that it is a pleasure to me,’ Maureen had replied.

  ‘I’m so lucky to have you as my mum,’ Shirley had said and hugged her. ‘Honestly, I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t rescued me from that horrid place…’ Shirley’s grandmother had taken her to a farm during the war, but after she’d died, the farmer’s wife had mistreated her.

  ‘Once I knew she was hitting you for the smallest mistake, I could never have left you there,’ Maureen had told her. ‘I wasn’t your dad’s wife then, but you were a lovely little girl and I couldn’t bear to see you so unhappy – so I brought you back where you belonged.’

  ‘We were lucky to have Gran, too,’ Shirley had said. ‘I still miss her – don’t you?’

  ‘Yes, I do,’ her mother had admitted with a sad smile. ‘She was lovely to me, Shirley, and to you – and we’ll never forget her, so she still lives in our hearts.’

  ‘Yes, she does,’ Shirley had agreed. ‘Do you think Richard and I will be like you and Dad one day? I know we both still need to study and work hard, Mum – and I do want to become a doctor, which means years at medical school and then as a junior in the training hospital – but I’d like to be as happy as you two are.’

  ‘Well, that is a lovely thing to say.’ Maureen’s face had lit up and she’d nodded. ‘We are very lucky as a family, Shirley. Your dad has taken my small corner shop and made it into a wonderful business for us. My father’s old business is still a grocers’, newspaper agent and sweet shop, just as it always was, but Mrs Tandy’s old shop, which we took over, now sells all sorts of things: electrical equipment as well as kitchen tools and saucepans and towels, everything the housewife needs practically under one roof, and we still sell knitting wool just as she did. Gordon saw what they were doing in America and he sort of copied it, though in his own style – and he’s doubled and trebled our profits.’

  ‘I know.’ Shirley had looked thoughtful. ‘You earn a little bit from the cake shop too – but it isn’t the extra money, though I know how nice it is when Dad can afford to give me ten pounds to spend on new clothes. No, it’s the way you look at each other and your kindness – to everyone. And you and Peggy are like sisters, caring for each other.’

  Maureen had dabbed at her eyes and given a little muffled laugh. ‘Now you’ve made me cry, Shirley. I think that one of the loveliest things anyone has ever said to me.’

  ‘I only said it because it is true,’ Shirley had replied. ‘Some of the girls I knew at school said their parents were always quarrelling and their fathers slammed out of the house to get drunk. I should hate that.’

  Maureen had given a shudder. ‘I know what it can be like to live in an unhappy home, though my father didn’t get drunk. He was mean and never gave me anything I didn’t earn – he even hid my mother’s best jewellery from me and it wasn’t his.’ She’d shaken her head. ‘It doesn’t matter. He tried to make up for it at the end.’

  ‘I shall always love you,’ Shirley had told her. ‘Even when I get married and have children, I’ll never stop coming home to visit you and Dad.’

  ‘I know Richard
is lovely and being in love is very much on your mind at the moment,’ Maureen had gone on carefully. ‘When you’re together you may have times when it is difficult to think of anything but what he means to you, love – but try to remember that you really do need to finish at your medical school…’

  Shirley had laughed. ‘I know, Mum. I really do. I shan’t lose sight of my goal even if I am having fun.’

  As she looked at herself in the mirror before taking off her new dress to pack it carefully, Shirley knew her stomach was full of butterflies. It was easy to tell her mother she would be sensible when she was here in her parents’ home – but what about when she and Richard were walking alone on a moonlit beach?

  Richard was a few years older than Shirley and had been living away from home for some years now, his medical training on the last stretch before he qualified. She suspected that he might have had a few girlfriends while at medical school, even though he’d told her she was the one he loved. A malicious letter had hinted that he was sleeping with one of the other students, although he’d denied it – but Shirley knew that he must have had some experience. She’d sensed the new maturity in him when he was home the previous Christmas and afterwards. She also knew that he wanted to make love to her, and the thought both excited and frightened her. Shirley had known for years that Richard was the one for her, but was she ready to take what for her was a huge step forward?

  ‘Nearly finished your packing, love?’ Her father’s voice as he entered the bedroom behind her, made Shirley jump.

  She turned and looked at him, a guilty flush spreading through her, because she knew what he would think if he could read her thoughts.

  ‘Yes, nearly finished, Dad,’ she said and smiled at him. ‘Did you need something?’

  ‘No, Shirley. I just wanted to make sure you were all right.’ He handed her a white envelope. ‘This is emergency money, love. If anything happens and you need to get home. Put it somewhere safe and don’t spend it unless you need it, and make sure we’ve got your address so we can contact you if we need to. If there’s a phone you can use, ring us at least once a week—’