Sweet Memories of You (Beach View Boarding House) (33 page)

‘You always did run a happy home, Peg,’ said Doreen eventually. ‘And it seems your matchmaking is working. Andy turned up at the dance, and although she’s a bit wary of admitting it, I suspect Ivy is rather taken with him.’

‘So she should be,’ Peggy replied. ‘They’re both Londoners and single – and he is a very handsome, pleasant young man. It’s time Ivy had someone nice to take her out and show her a bit of fun.’

‘Here we go again,’ sighed Ron. ‘For the love of God, Peggy Reilly, are you not satisfied that Rita and Fran are suited? Do you have to pair us all off?’

‘She’s even got romantic notions about me and Bertie,’ sniffed Cordelia. ‘Though what on earth she thinks I want with a man at my age, I can’t imagine.’

‘To take you out to lunch at the Conservative Club and dinner at the golf club, and drive you about in his car like Lady Muck,’ said Ron without rancour.

‘That’s just being useful,’ Cordelia retorted. ‘It’s not romance.’ She eyed the three of them over her half-moon glasses. ‘There’s a lot of rot being talked this morning, and if it goes on much longer I shall turn my hearing aid off.’

‘That won’t make much difference,’ muttered Ron. ‘You’re as deaf as a post anyway.’

‘I heard that, Ronan Reilly, and I’ll thank you to show some respect for your elders and betters.’ Her reprimand was slightly weakened by the glint of humour in her eyes.

‘Elder, certainly,’ he agreed, glaring at her from beneath his brows. ‘But when it comes to gardening and common sense, you’re no better than anyone – certainly not me.’

‘I grant you your gardening skills are adequate, but when it comes to common sense, you were obviously at the back of the queue when that gift was handed out.’ Cordelia challenged him with her eyes.

‘Right,’ said Peggy as Ron was about to retort, ‘that’s enough from both of you. Honestly, Dorry, I have to put up with this every day, and it would be marvellous if we could have just one meal that doesn’t end in a spat between those two.’

Doreen grinned. ‘But that would spoil all their fun, Peg. You know how much they love each other really.’

Ron snorted and Cordelia sniffed as she shook out the newspaper vigorously to show that she wasn’t impressed with any of them.

Peggy finished feeding Daisy and set her down on the floor, where she promptly tried to climb onto Harvey’s back, shouting ‘Gee gee!’ Queenie shot up the curtain beneath the sink to the sanctuary of her high shelf, and after a look of disdain began to clean her whiskers.

‘I wonder if anything can be done about Queenie’s poor leg,’ said Peggy. ‘Though it doesn’t seem to hamper her in any way.’

‘Best to leave it alone,’ said Ron. ‘But I am going to have to fork out to have her spayed. We don’t want to be lumbered with every stray tom coming round and then be presented with a litter of kittens.’

‘She’s a bit young yet to be thinking about such things,’ said Peggy. ‘Though I agree it should be done.’ She began to clear the table then looked round at the sound of the back door slamming. ‘Who on earth is that?’

Doris appeared at the top of the stone steps, dressed to the nines in her best suit and hat, a fox fur over her shoulders, her make-up and hair immaculate as always. Unfortunately her furious expression rather marred this vision of perfection and Peggy was immediately on her guard.

‘If it’s about the pork, then you’ve only got yourself to blame,’ she said to get in first.

Doris glared at her. ‘Do you have the slightest idea of how
excruciating
it was to have to present that pig’s head to Lady Chumley and Caroline for their Sunday luncheon? I was mortified, and no doubt it will be the talk of the town by now. I’ll never be able to hold my head up in high society again.’

‘Lady Chump Chop isn’t high society, Doris,’ said Peggy. ‘She’s the wife of a man who managed to make a fortune in armaments and munitions during the first war and was knighted for his efforts. She’s not from the top drawer and certainly wasn’t born with a silver spoon in her mouth – she just makes out she was.’

‘She’s a stalwart fundraiser and the patron of many charities,’ snapped Doris. ‘Her home is the most gracious in the town and her generosity is unimpeachable. Compared to you and the rest of the people in Cliffehaven, she’s definitely “top drawer”, as you so crudely put it.’

‘Well, I for one am delighted to be out of her range,’ Peggy retorted. ‘That woman irritates me beyond belief, and the way you suck up to her is hugely embarrassing. But your high and mighty Lady Chump Chop was born plain Bertha Smith above her father’s greengrocer’s shop in Hastings, so she’s got nothing much to crow about.’

Doris waved away this piece of information, either because she already knew it, or because she couldn’t bear to think that her idol had feet of clay. ‘I do wish you wouldn’t call her that,’ she said crossly. ‘It’s extremely common and not at all funny.’

‘It suits her, though, with that thick, blunt face, so why not?’

Doris’s lips thinned. ‘At least she’s made something of herself,’ she snapped. ‘Which is more than you and your disreputable household have done.’ She glared balefully at Ron, who winked back at her and continued to fill his pipe.

‘Don’t start that, Doris,’ Peggy warned. ‘I’ve heard it all before, and just because your plans to show off to the silly woman didn’t work out, there’s no need to come round here at this time of the morning to vent your spleen.’

Doris suddenly noticed Doreen, who was sitting back in the kitchen chair, arms folded and with a wide grin on her face. ‘What are
you
doing here?’

‘I’ve come for a holiday.’

‘It’s about time you remembered you had a family,’ said Doris as she pulled off her gloves, used them to dust the chair and sat down with her back to Ron. ‘But I suppose you’ve been too busy gadding about to spare a thought for any of us.’

‘I’ve been busy working,’ Doreen said flatly. ‘There isn’t time to gad about where I’m posted.’

Doris eyed her thoughtfully as she draped the beautiful fur over her lap. ‘People don’t have holidays in wartime. I suppose what you’re really saying is you’ve been sacked. Well, it’s hardly surprising, you always were a flibbertigibbet.’

Ron decided to make a hasty retreat with Harvey, and Cordelia adjusted her hearing aid so she could fully enjoy the conversation, while Peggy braced herself for fireworks.

The smile slid from Doreen’s face. ‘What do you mean by that exactly?’

‘You left home when you were barely out of a gymslip and had more jobs than anyone I know – and probably more men than is decent to number in polite society,’ Doris added with a sniff of disapproval. ‘Then, to add insult to injury, you caused a scandal by getting a divorce and leaving those poor little girls without a father and a decent home.’

‘You know very well why I got that divorce,’ said Doreen, her voice dangerously calm. ‘Eddie was a gambler and a womaniser.’

Doris looked down her nose. ‘All men have their funny ways. It’s a wife’s duty to train her husband out of such disgraceful habits.’

‘Just like you trained Ted so well that he went off with one of his shop girls?’ Doreen unfolded her arms and sat up, her eyes sparkying with fury. ‘If you had an ounce of sense you’d mend your own ways and beg that man to take you back, Doris. He’s the best thing that ever happened to you, only you’re so busy social climbing and trying to outdo the neighbours, you can’t see what’s in front of your nose.’

‘My marriage is none of your business,’ said Doris haughtily. ‘Put your own house in order before you start picking on mine.’

‘I would, if my house hadn’t been repossessed by the bailiffs to pay Eddie’s gambling debts,’ Doreen snapped. ‘Why don’t you go and mind someone else’s business and leave us alone?’

‘I’m not leaving until I get a decent piece of that pork,’ Doris retorted, swiftly rescuing her fur from Daisy’s exploring fingers.

‘You’re too late,’ said Doreen. ‘It’s all gone.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous. It can’t be.’

Doreen shrugged. ‘You had your share. It’s no one’s fault if you didn’t appreciate it. After all, you blackmailed Ron into giving it to you in the first place – which I think is despicable.’

Doris lit a cigarette and glared at her. ‘What exactly
are
you doing here, Doreen?’

‘I told you. I’m on leave.’

‘Then why aren’t you with your children?’

‘Because I haven’t been well and I needed to get right away for a while.’

Doris snorted. ‘Nothing too trivial, I hope,’ she said nastily.

‘Sorry to disappoint you, Doris, but I’m recovering.’ Doreen’s eyes glinted dangerously.

Doris hitched the fur over her shoulder and snorted. ‘A fine mother you turned out to be, I must say. Poor little mites. They’ve been abandoned down there in Wales, while you gallivant about here. I bet there’s some man involved. There usually is,’ she added spitefully.

‘Just get out, Doris, before I slap that smug face of yours and shove you down those steps,’ snarled Doreen.

‘I can see that I’ve struck a chord,’ she replied as she stubbed out the cigarette and stood up. ‘The truth is never palatable, is it?’

Doreen pushed back from the chair and faced her. ‘You want the truth, you bitch? Well here it is. You smothered Anthony and made his life a misery until he met and married Suzy and finally had the balls to cut himself off from your apron strings.’

She took a step towards Doris, who’d gone rather pale. ‘And what about Ted? You made his life a misery too, didn’t you? With your demands for bigger and better things so you could show off to people like poor Peggy who has to graft for every last bloody penny. And what about your complete disregard for Ted’s feelings and opinions? You showed him no respect and treated him like a lackey, so it serves you right that he found comfort and fun and good honest sex with someone else – because I bet that marriage bed of yours was about as welcoming as a bloody morgue.’

Doris paled further and took another step back as Doreen once again advanced. ‘There’s no need—,’

‘There’s every bloody need, Doris. You come round here with your bitchy remarks and your sniping and expect us to say nothing – but you don’t like it at all when the boot’s on the other foot, do you?’ She gave Doris a sharp jab in the shoulder. ‘Well, we don’t need this sort of harassment – and we don’t need you. So sling your hook and stay away.’

‘Well, I never,’ gasped Doris and she looked to Peggy, who was now holding Daisy on her hip. ‘Are you going to let her talk to me like that, Margaret?’

‘My name is Peggy, and she’s only saying what the rest of us haven’t been brave enough to say for years,’ she said mildly. ‘And it was you who started this. You can hardly blame Dorry for speaking her mind after you’ve been so nasty to her.’

‘I’ll remember this,’ Doris hissed. ‘And to think of all I’ve done for you over the years. It’s utterly disgraceful that I should be treated in this vulgar fashion by my own flesh and blood.’ She swept the fox fur around her neck. ‘But then you were both always inclined to be common.’

‘Oh, put a sock in it, Doris, and clear off,’ said Doreen.

Doris hesitated and then turned on her heel, went down the steps and slammed the door behind her with such force it shook the walls.

Peggy put Daisy back on the floor and collapsed on the kitchen chair with a burst of laughter. ‘Oh, Dorry,’ she gasped. ‘You were quite, quite magnificent. Doris didn’t know what had hit her.’

‘She’d have known if I’d let rip with a right hook,’ Doreen fumed. ‘I’ve been taking self-defence lessons at work and can pack quite a punch.’

‘It’s about time someone told her what’s what,’ said Cordelia, chuckling. ‘I’m glad you’re home, Dorry. Life is far more interesting when you’re here.’

Doreen was still furious and her hand trembled as she reached for the teacup. ‘I didn’t mean to come out with all that – and I certainly didn’t mean to be quite so heartless. But she just made me so angry it all poured out, and once started I couldn’t stop.’

Peggy put her arm round her shoulders. ‘Doris is tough. She’ll shrug it all off like water off a duck’s back – worst luck. But at least you got that out of your system. Do you feel the better for it?’

Doreen smiled. ‘Yes, I do, strangely enough. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a run-in with Doris, and I’d forgotten how liberating it can feel.’

Peggy laughed. ‘It was quite like old times with you going hammer and tongs at one another. Let’s freshen the pot and have another cup of tea to celebrate your homecoming, and happier times to come.’

‘A glass of sherry would be more appropriate,’ said Cordelia hopefully.

‘It’s barely past ten in the morning,’ gasped Peggy. ‘Besides, we haven’t got any.’

‘There’s a bottle in my wardrobe,’ Cordelia replied. ‘And as it’s after ten, we’ll call it early elevenses – the perfect time for a drop of what you fancy.’

Ivy was feeling much more cheerful after the long talk she’d had with Doreen the night before. There had been tears, of course, and quiet confidences exchanged in the knowledge that the other really understood – and when they’d finally gone back to their beds, Ivy knew they’d both benefited from their shared experiences. The memories of what had happened to them would still linger, but they were now more capable of dealing with them, knowing that in time they would fade.

She should have been tired after so little sleep, but she was full of energy, and she wondered if her high spirits might have anything to do with Andy Rawlings. She firmly tamped down the thought, for although he was a nice bloke who seemed to know Hackney almost as well as she did, and could certainly dance and give the old chat, he was probably only trying his luck, so she shouldn’t get too excited about it. Once a bloke realised you weren’t the sort of girl to put it about, they soon lost interest. And yet, annoyingly, the thought that she might not see him again saddened her.

When she’d finished her shift she wandered over to the site where the new factories were slowly emerging from the ashes of the others. Sitting down on a slab of broken concrete, she drank the last of her tea from Peggy’s flask and thought about what had happened to her. She’d seen some terrible sights during the London Blitz, but had never actually been caught up in something, and now, with the debris cleared away and the new buildings rapidly going up, it felt as if it had all been a bad dream.