Cockney Orphan (33 page)

‘I’m off then. Goodnight, you two.’

Ada let go of Connie. ‘Billy?’ She moved in the darkness towards him. ‘Thanks for tonight.’

‘Just make sure you stick to your guns now.’

‘I will. I’m never going back.’

‘Going back where?’ Connie whispered when they were alone. ‘And why are we standing in the dark? The blackout’s up, no one can see us outside.’

‘It’s what you can see inside that worries me,’ Ada said softly. ‘If you switch the light on, be prepared for a shock.’

Connie put on the light. She took a sharp breath when she saw Ada’s black eye.

‘I warned you.’ Ada put a hand over her cheek.

‘What happened?’ Connie groaned.

‘There was a bit of a ding dong, and I got landed one. But Billy sorted it all out.’

‘A ding dong? Who with?’

‘Oh, Con, I’ve got so much to tell you. Let’s sit down and I’ll tell you everything.’ Ada caught her arm and pulled her to the couch. ‘I haven’t half
missed you.’ They embraced and Connie inhaled Ada’s scent. She sat back, a look of surprise on her face. ‘I know where I smelled that before, it’s on my scarf, the one Billy
bought me at Christmas. I never washed it because the smell’s so lovely.’

‘I sprinkled a bit of me perfume on it,’ Ada confessed. ‘Billy asked me to choose a present for you, so I went up to John Lewis’s and bought it
’specially.’

‘Billy never let on about anything.’

‘I made him promise not to.’

‘But why? Where have you been all this time?’

‘I shacked up with Freddie Smith, the bloke we saw in the pub that night we went to watch Billy. I lied to you about not seeing him again. We started going out and that was it.’

‘Is he why you left Wally?’

‘Yes and no. It was lots of things, really.’

‘You could have written to me.’

‘I was worried you’d try to talk me into coming back to Wally.’

Connie frowned in confusion. ‘But we’re best friends, have been since we were kids. I thought we shared everything. Didn’t you think how worried I was about you?’

Ada hung her head. ‘I knew you wouldn’t approve, see. And, anyway, I didn’t really have a plan. It just seemed exciting at the time to go off with Freddie and leave all my
cares behind. Wally’s sister was getting on me tits and his mum had started to nag. Freddie was all flattery, telling me I was wasting myself on a chump like Wally who couldn’t even
stand up to his own family. He was generous with money and bought me new clothes and perfume and anything I wanted really. Look at this dress, for instance, it cost a lot.’ She smoothed the
skirt of her midnight blue dress under a little white bolero, then fingered the shimmering ivory pearls around her neck. Her red hair was still a lovely colour but her black eye was all shades of
green and purple.

‘Clothes and possessions aren’t everything,’ Connie said gently.

‘I know, but they don’t ’alf help. You know how vain I am about my appearance. I just can’t help it.’

Connie’s eyebrows shot up. ‘So is a black eye the height of fashion by any chance?’

Ada giggled. ‘Don’t make me laugh, it hurts.’

‘No, it’s no laughing matter, that’s obvious. Why did he hit you?’

Ada shrugged. ‘When he has one over the eight he gets a bit short tempered.’

‘In other words, he can’t take his drink and lashes out at women.’

‘I wouldn’t put it like that.’

Connie looked at her friend helplessly. ‘Ada, I simply don’t understand. This isn’t the Ada I once knew, who wouldn’t have accepted such behaviour from any man. My God,
if the situation was reversed and I was involved with a bully, you’d have gone up the wall.’

‘I know, I know! I hate blokes that are handy with their fists on women. I despise them. But I’m ashamed to say I liked the lifestyle he provided. I was given things I never had in
my life before. I never had to lift a finger. All I’d do all day was dust a few things in this nice flat we lived in, down Limehouse, or go out shopping up West. I saved up and sent Mum over
twenty quid.’

‘So you let a man beat you in exchange for money?’

‘It wasn’t like that,’ Ada replied defensively. ‘You might not believe this, but at first I thought it was true love.’

‘You always do,’ Connie reminded her friend gently. ‘Wally was the reason you parted company with your family, remember? And stayed on the island while it was being bombed to
smithereens.’

Ada nodded sadly. ‘It all changed when I moved in with Saint Jean. If he’d taken me out a bit more I could have swallowed on a lot. But he was content to sit around like we was an
old married couple.’ Ada looked up under her long eyelashes, the right set being stuck down on her swollen cheek. ‘You know me, Con. I like a bit of excitement in life.’

‘So what happened to spoil this romantic interlude?’ Connie asked ruefully.

‘Your little brother, that’s what.’

‘Billy?’

Ada nodded. ‘I knew what Freddie was doing to Billy and it made me sick. Freddie’s a fixer, that means a bloke that makes things happen for the big syndicates who’ve got a lot
of money riding on fixed contests. They’ve no interest in the fighter personally, only the result, which is decided before the match. Billy was set up to lose from the start. In the end, all
Freddie’s hopefuls turn into punch bags.’

Connie sighed as she began to understand. ‘So that’s why Billy has decided to give up boxing. Now it makes sense. But how did Billy find out the truth?’

‘I told him. Though I might have thought twice if I’d known what Billy would do.’ She touched her face cautiously, wincing as her fingers pressed on the swelling. ‘When
me and Freddie came home from this club, Billy was waiting and caught Freddie clobbering me. He gave Freddie the bashing of his life. I heard it all as I sat at the bottom of the stairs. Honest to
God, Con, I was scared out of me wits.’ Ada giggled. ‘You should have seen your brother tonight, Con. He really stuck up for me. More than any bloke has ever done before.’

‘Well, if I’ve Billy to thank for you being here, then that’s all that matters. I was dead miserable when you left Dalton’s. I blamed myself for the row we had over
Clint. You were right. He’s a really nice bloke who doesn’t deserve the cold shoulder.’

Ada tried to look flirtatious with her one good eye. ‘Is he still on the scene?’

Connie nodded. ‘He even played the trumpet at the Christmas party. You would have loved it. He can dance too.’ She went a little pink.

Ada gasped. ‘Are you telling me Vic’s got competition?’

‘Course not.’

‘Where is Vic? Have you heard from him?’

‘He’s somewhere in Europe but I don’t know where.’

‘Oh, Con, you must have had a rotten time, what with—’ She stopped as she slid her arm around Connie’s shoulders. ‘Billy told me about Lucky. I can’t believe
they would take him behind your back. Do you still miss him?’

‘Of course I do.’

‘Is there any chance of him coming back?’

‘Not unless I had enough money to pay a solicitor. Even then, Gilbert Tucker has rights over me. I try not to think about Lucky but then I start worrying. Are they looking after him? Is he
missing me? What if they can’t understand what he says? What if he doesn’t eat or gets ill? What if—’

‘Now, now,’ Ada soothed, squeezing Connie’s hand. ‘Kids are very resilient. I should know with me sisters. I used to look after them when I was younger and Mum worked.
Don’t you remember when she was ill with TB one year and had to go into a sanatorium? I was only fourteen and had to look after them. I couldn’t go down the flicks with you on Saturday
afternoons or anything. As for the girls, they bawled their eyes out for the first week, then got back to normal the next.’

‘Are you saying Lucky won’t miss me?’

‘No, I’m saying he’ll get accustomed to the change quicker than you will.’ She sat forward and looked into Connie’s face. ‘What I’m worried about is the
weight you’ve lost. You don’t look up to much at all.’

‘It is the middle of the night you know.’

‘Talking of which, could I kip on your couch?’ Ada asked hopefully.

Connie grinned. ‘You can sleep in Lucky’s bed if you like. It’s small, but you can curl up on it.’

‘Oh ta, Con.’ Ada stifled a yawn. ‘When we’re in bed you can tell me all your news,’ she whispered as they tiptoed out of the room.

But when Ada’s head hit the pillow she was asleep in seconds. Connie lay awake, going over everything in her mind. There would be time enough tomorrow to catch up on their lives. Thank
goodness it was Sunday.

‘You’re welcome to stay, Ada,’ Olive said after breakfast the next morning. ‘In fact, I’m glad of the company for Constance. She’s not been
herself since you, er . . .’

‘Ran away,’ Ada said, going pink.

‘Thanks, Mrs Marsh. I’m really grateful. I feel awful about what I did. I didn’t realize how much I’d hurt other people.’

Olive patted Ada’s hand. ‘How did you sleep on the cot bed?’

‘Like a log.’

‘I could always ask Nan for the loan of her put-u-up and leave it down here.’

‘No ta, Mrs M., I like being with Con.’

Olive put on her hat and coat. ‘Me and Dad are going up to Christ Church for morning service. It’s not often we do, but there’s special prayers being held for our boys in the
front line. You’re both welcome to join us if you want, but I should imagine you’ve a lot to talk over.’

They both nodded, and, as Kevin and Billy were out, they spent the next few hours gossiping in the front room. The news of Jenny and Len’s affair came as a surprise to Ada, and she laughed
loudly when Connie told her the story of Mrs English turning up at Dalton’s in her underwear and wanted to know all the details of the missed Christmas party.

‘I’d have enjoyed meself all right,’ Ada sighed regretfully. ‘Sounds like you did, even without your Vic.’

‘He was in America, wasn’t he?’ Connie was loath to admit she was jealous, but equally reluctant to say she’d let her hair down on the dance floor with Clint. ‘I
wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice and be thought of as a snob,’ she added pointedly.

At this remark, Ada was silent as she curled her feet under her bottom on the couch. ‘I wished I’d never called you that. It was a bad time for me what with Jean always on my back
and Wally ignorant of my presence in his life. It’s no excuse, I know, but when I look back on that time I get a real depressed feeling. Even worse than lately with Freddie.’

‘Will you go and see Wally?’

Ada shook her head. ‘I don’t think he’d appreciate my appearance, do you? One day, though, I’ll tell him I’m sorry.’

‘He’d probably have you back. He was crackers over you once.’

Ada smiled. ‘He’s better off without me. I don’t think I could ever have loved him if our relationship couldn’t survive his family. I’ve been doing a lot of
thinking and come to the conclusion I need someone strong to boss me round a bit.’

‘What makes you say that?’

Ada considered this question carefully. ‘Freddie is a womanizer, a liar and a cheat. But he’s also good looking and charming when he wants to be. He knows how to treat a woman when
he isn’t pissed.’

Connie looked shocked. ‘Are you considering going back to him, then?’

Ada grimaced. ‘Not bloody likely I’m not.’

‘What about Dalton’s?’ Connie asked. ‘You could speak to Len and ask him to put in a word with Mr Burns for you.’

‘I don’t think I could work in an office again,’ Ada admitted. ‘At least I’ve had a chance to find out how much I hate being cooped up. The only good bit was you
and Len and the other girls. I’ll miss all that, but I won’t miss the routine and boredom.’

‘What will you do then?’

Ada drummed her fingers on her knee. ‘I might join the WAAFS or the WVS.’

Connie laughed. ‘I can’t see you in a uniform.’

Ada looked offended. ‘I always fancy blokes in them, so why not?’ She threw back her red head. ‘Anyway, I’m footloose and fancy free now. I can please meself.’

‘Oh, Ada, you haven’t changed!’

‘I don’t think I ever will, Con. I’m too selfish to share my life with someone else. Not like you and Vic. You two was made for each other. You’re one of them couples
that will walk off into the sunset holding hands, with the birds and the bees flying around their heads and romantic music playing in the background.’

‘Is that what you think love is?’ Connie asked as her fingers turned the slim gold band of her engagement ring.

‘On the films it’s always like that.’

‘But films are made to make sense of people’s lives,’ Connie said as she tried to think of how to express her views. ‘They always come to a satisfactory end, even if
it’s sad. But in reality life just goes on, taking you with it through all the ups and downs. And if you love someone enough, you hang on through it all.’

Ada looked sad. ‘Do you think I should have hung on with Wally?’

‘Only if you loved him.’

‘Maybe I would have if I’d tried harder.’

Connie lifted her shoulders. ‘I don’t know what to say.’

Ada was silent until she giggled softly. ‘Well, that definition of love certainly don’t match up to mine.’

‘And what’s that?’

‘To be honest, I only get as far as a bit of slap and tickle.’

They both collapsed into fits of laughter and were making so much noise they almost didn’t hear the knock.

‘Someone’s at the front door.’ Connie pulled herself up, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes as she went into the hall.

‘Thank God you’re in,’ Pat gulped breathlessly, her cardigan open and her chest rising heavily under her frock. ‘I dunno what I’d have done if you
wasn’t.’

Connie looked over her shoulder. ‘Where are the kids?’

‘I’ve left them with Eve Beale.’

Connie gently pulled her in. ‘What’s wrong.’

Pat leaned against the wall. Her brown hair was sweat laden and her eyes looked strangely bright. ‘It’s Gran. She got a telegram.’ Pat licked her dry lips. ‘I’m
sorry to tell you this, Con, but it said that Vic is missing. I thought at first it might be Laurie – oh God, I nearly died. I only got a letter from him last week, too. Then when it said
Vic’s name I just couldn’t believe it either.’