It Had To Be You (12 page)

Betty shook her head. ‘Why don’t you take the one of Dad? Maybe there’s some way a photographer could copy it without the negative.’

‘I suppose it’s worth a try. Thanks, Betty.’ She smiled and pocketed the photo. ‘Have you finished with the one of my granddad?’

‘No. I’m sketching a copy and then I plan on painting it. You don’t mind my hanging on to it a bit longer, do you?’

‘Of course not.’ Emma rummaged inside her shopping bag and produced two slices of cake from a paper bag.

‘I’m sorry I forgot the one of our Jared but hopefully you’ll be able to see him for yourself,’ said Betty.

She was about to bite into her cake when a familiar voice said, ‘Hi, Betty, fancy meeting you here.’

She started and looked up into her cousin’s
self-satisfied
face. ‘What are you doing following me, Maggie?’ she demanded tight-lipped.

‘Well, you wouldn’t take me with you,’ she said sulkily.

Emma glanced from one cousin to the other and said, ‘You’d best introduce us, Betty.’

‘No! Don’t tell her anything,’ said Betty, scowling. ‘She’ll only repeat it to Aunt Elsie.’

‘Mum has a right to know who you’re meeting,’ said Maggie, lacing her white-gloved fingers together. ‘For instance, who was that lad you were talking to just then?’

‘He’s the brother of a friend of mine,’ said Emma.

‘And that’s all you need to know,’ said Betty hastily.

‘It looked like you knew each other to me,’ said Maggie. ‘I’m going now and I’m going to tell Mum when she gets back.’

‘You do that and you’ll be sorry,’ said Betty. ‘Now shoo!’

Maggie’s lips tightened and she turned on her heel and marched away.

‘You think she’ll tell?’ asked Emma.

‘Of course she will. That is unless I can think up
a way of blackmailing her into not doing so,’ said Betty.

‘Blackmail!’

‘Bribe, then,’ murmured Betty.

Emma was slightly shocked at this further sign that families didn’t always get on. ‘Perhaps I should come home with you and explain to your aunt that we’ve met and now we want to go on seeing each other occasionally.’

‘No! She’ll put a stop to it!’ Betty sighed. ‘At least Norm drew some of the attention away from you. Hopefully she’ll think you’re just a friend of mine,’ said Betty, more confidently than she felt because that Lancashire accent of Emma’s was quite distinctive. As she ate her cake and scattered some crumbs for the pigeons, she thought about what was best to do. ‘Perhaps we’d better not meet for a while but just write to each other,’ she suggested after several minutes. ‘You could send your letters to my friend Irene Miller’s address.’

Emma could see the sense in Betty’s idea. ‘I am going to be occupied during the coming weekends for some time if I’m to make a success of my little tea shop business,’ she murmured. ‘It’s a pity you couldn’t come and visit me, but hopefully we’ll be able to meet here in Liverpool again in the autumn.’

‘After the school summer holidays have finished,’ said Betty. ‘Because Aunt Elsie is bound to find
plenty for me to do with her being out at work.’

With that agreed, Emma and Betty sat watching people coming and going, and waiting for the regiment to appear. It was a while before they heard the sound of a regimental band. Emma felt a thrill go through her and stood on tiptoe but there was no sign of the soldiers yet. But as the music grew louder and louder, she felt Betty hanging on to her sleeve and peering over the heads of people.

‘They’re coming, they’re coming!’ cried Betty.

Emma thought it was crazy the way her heart was beating so fast. It wasn’t as if she knew any of these soldiers and, no doubt, she would have a job guessing which one was Jared Gregory. She could now see the regimental colours and then the band. People were cheering and she found herself yelling herself hoarse as the ranks of soldiers began to march past. The music was stirring and she felt so excited to be part of the crowd of people gathered there.

Betty tugged on her sleeve. ‘Look, look! There’s our Jared,’ she yelled, pointing.

Her hand could have been indicating a dozen or more different soldiers, except there was one who glanced up at them, there on the monument, and winked at them.

‘I can’t believe it!’ cried Betty, jumping up and down with excitement. ‘Did you see him wink at us!’

‘I definitely saw one wink in our direction,’ said Emma, amused.

‘That was our Jared! Oh, I hope he doesn’t go and get himself killed,’ said Betty, her voice breaking.

‘Don’t think like that,’ said Emma, putting an arm around her.

Betty rested her head on Emma’s shoulder. ‘I’m tired. I suppose it’s all the excitement and I hardly slept last night, thinking about today.’

‘What do you want to do next?’ asked Emma. ‘If you’re tired, then perhaps you’d be better off going home.’

‘No, not yet,’ said Betty, lifting her head. ‘I said that I’d show you the Liver birds.’ She took Emma’s hand. ‘Come on, let’s get down from here. People will start dispersing soon and we’ll be able to get away. We can go down Water Street and I’ll show you the Pier Head.’

Half an hour later, Emma found herself gazing up at the birds on top of the Liver Building. ‘I can’t believe I’m actually seeing the Liver birds in the flesh,’ she said.

Betty giggled. ‘Hardly flesh but I know what you mean.’

‘What kind of birds are they supposed to be?’ asked Emma.

‘Our Jared reckons they’re cormorants and that’s a bit of seaweed they’ve got in their beaks,’ said Betty.

Our Jared again
, thought Emma, trying to bring to mind the soldier who had winked at them. She reckoned he was a cheeky chappie and couldn’t help smiling. ‘You will bring a photograph of him next time we see each other,’ she said.

‘Sure, I will,’ said Betty. ‘We’d better go back now. I doubt we’ll be allowed on the Landing Stage in the circumstances.’

Emma nodded. ‘We can take our time walking back to Lime Street,’ she said.

By the time they reached the railway station, the crowds were dispersing. There they hugged each other and said their goodbyes. With a slight niggle of worry, Emma watched her half-sister walk away, hoping that Maggie would not get Betty into trouble with her aunt.

Betty decided not to go straight home but instead made her way to her friend Irene’s street, near the library. As it happened, Irene and some other girls had a skipping rope and were singing ‘Old Soldiers Never Die’ in the road.

‘Want to join in?’ called Irene as she caught sight of her friend.

‘I’ll turn the rope if you like while someone else has a skip,’ offered Betty, noticing her friend’s flushed cheeks, lively blue eyes and flyaway blonde hair, due to the exertion of the game. She thought that Irene was so pretty that she’d have
all the boys after her in a few years’ time.

‘Sure,’ called Irene, nodding at the girl holding the far end of the rope.

The game continued for another quarter of an hour. Then Irene was declared ‘out’ and she and Betty left the others to continue without them.

‘Let’s have a sit-down,’ suggested Irene, pushing open their front door that was on the latch. She parked herself on the mat, leaving enough space for Betty to sit beside her. ‘What’s up?’ she asked.

‘I want you to come to Aunt Elsie’s house with me. If you’re there, then she’s less likely to have a go at me.’

‘A go at you! What for?’

Betty told her about her afternoon. Irene’s eyes widened in surprise. ‘Blinking heck, fancy you having an older half-sister and not telling me. That’s great!’

‘Of course it’s great! But I don’t want Aunt Elsie knowing I’ve been seeing Emma, or Maggie telling her about Norm Marshall. She might stop me from going out altogether, reading things into that chance meeting that weren’t there.’

Irene’s eyes narrowed. ‘You haven’t taken a fancy to Norm, have you? He and his twin, Pete, tried a bit of breaking and entering a short while ago, only Pete fell from the windowsill of an upstairs window. Norm had no choice but to go and fetch his big brother.’

Betty’s mouth fell open. ‘The idiots! Fancy doing such a daft thing when your brother’s a policeman.’

‘From what I heard our Jimmy saying, they did it
because
their brother is a policeman. Sheer devilment! The newspapers might say all this juvenile crime is down to boys having lost their fathers in the war, but we lost our father and our Jimmy didn’t get into trouble.’

‘Your Jimmy’s different. He has his head screwed on right, just like our Jared.’ Betty paused. ‘Anyway, let’s think of what we can do to bribe our Maggie into keeping her mouth shut. That’s if we get to our house before Aunt Elsie.’

‘What does your Maggie like?’

‘Clothes, music …’

‘You could shut her up by bribing her with the promise to take her along to the next musical evening at the Gianellis’,’ said Irene, shifting a little because the bristles on the coconut mat were itching her bare legs.

‘You think they’d invite her?’ asked Betty.

‘The Gianellis welcome anyone who loves music. Especially young people, because they believe it keeps us out of mischief.’

Betty smiled. ‘Shall we go, then?’

Irene nodded.

Betty was relieved to find only Maggie at home. She was stretched out on the sofa, reading the
School Friend
, and pretended for a few moments
that she was unaware of their presence. Then she looked up with a start and said, ‘I hope you two aren’t ganging up on me.’

‘Don’t be daft,’ said Betty, raising her eyebrows. ‘We’ve something to say. If you keep your mouth shut about seeing me in town, Irene will ask Mrs Gianelli can you come with us to their next musical evening.’

Instantly Maggie put down the comic. ‘You mean it?’

‘Yes,’ said Betty. ‘You like Italian tenors and Mr Gianelli sings as good as Mario Lanza. It’s a real treat listening to him.’

‘OK,’ said Maggie, her eyes alight. ‘I won’t say anything to Mum about you being with that woman at the Pier Head, although what the big secret is I’d still like to know.’

‘Never you mind. Just don’t say anything about my taking the photos either, will you?’ asked Betty.

‘No, but Mum might discover they’ve gone and, it’s my opinion, she’ll guess it was you that took them. Sooner or later she’ll find out what you’re up to without my saying a word,’ warned Maggie.

‘So what are you three plotting?’ asked a voice from the doorway, causing them to jump.

To Betty’s relief it was her elder cousin. ‘Hi, Dot,’ she greeted. ‘How did it go?’

‘Marvellous. I managed to spot our Jared, but I came over all tearful and so did Mum. She’s gone
for a drink but I’ve got a date tonight.’

Dorothy plonked herself down on a chair. Betty thought that this cousin was really nice-looking and couldn’t be more different from her mother. Her hair was dyed strawberry blonde and she had green-blue eyes in an oval face with a cute nose and a Cupid’s-bow mouth. She had a lovely figure and the two-piece dusky-pink costume she wore accentuated her bust and slender waist. The skirt was flared and was mid-calf length. Her hair was styled similar to the British film actress, Diana Dors. She kicked off her tan kid sandals. ‘Put the kettle on, one of you, and make us a cuppa.’

Betty stood up and went into the kitchen. Irene followed her. ‘So d’you think Dorothy heard anything we were discussing?’ asked the latter.

‘I don’t know, but even if she did, I don’t think she’ll say anything. She and Aunt Elsie have been at odds ever since she married Uncle Teddy. He’s such a creep. I think if Dot had the money and was able to find a place of her own she’d leave home.’

‘That’s OK, then,’ said Irene, nodding. ‘You’ll just have to hope that you can trust Maggie, because I’ve no idea when the Gianellis will have their next musical evening. It mightn’t be until September. They generally go to Italy for a week during the holidays and then they take their lot camping in Wales, along with Mrs Gianelli’s sister and her children. Jimmy and I went with them last year.’
She paused. ‘So when d’you think you’ll be able to see your half-sister again?’

‘Emma said autumn and that seems ages away.’

Irene could only agree. ‘At least we’ve the summer holidays to look forward to,’ she murmured. ‘Perhaps if the Gianellis go camping again and ask me and Jimmy along, I might be able to wangle an invitation for you, as well.’

‘What do you do there?’ asked Betty curiously.

‘It’s by the sea, so we swim and sunbathe, and you can hire bikes and play rounders in the field where we camp. Rhyl’s only a couple of miles away and there’s a fair there.’

‘It sounds fun,’ said Betty wistfully.

‘It is, and it would be more fun for me if you were there, too.’

Betty sighed. ‘But it would cost money and I can’t see Aunt Elsie coughing up.’

‘No harm in asking,’ said Irene.

‘Well, don’t go saying anything to the Gianellis just yet,’ said Betty. ‘I’ll sound her out first.’

Irene nodded.

The following evening Betty broached the possibility of going camping during the summer holidays with her friend Irene. But as soon as she mentioned the Gianellis, Teddy said, ‘They sound like Eyeties.’

‘Mr Gianelli is half-Italian, yes,’ replied Betty, wishing he would keep out of her conversations.

Teddy glanced at Elsie. ‘You can’t let her go mixing with wops. They were on Hitler’s side during the war and they’re bloody papists as well.’

‘So what!’ said Dorothy, without looking up from
Woman’s Weekly
. ‘You never go to church. Anyway, I bet his other half is English.’

‘That’s right,’ said Betty, glancing at her cousin gratefully.

Teddy glared at Dorothy. ‘You’ve no right to interfere.’

She flashed him a honeyed smile. ‘But that’s what you did, Uncle Teddy. You didn’t give Mum a chance to answer Betty.’

‘She’ll agree with me,’ said Teddy. ‘Won’t you, Elsie?’

Elsie did not immediately reply.

‘Elsie!’ he snapped. ‘You heard what I said. Betty can’t go off on holiday. You can bet there’ll be lads there and you don’t know what she’ll get up to.’

Betty reddened. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s a family holiday.’