The Girl From Penny Lane (45 page)

‘Would you like to have a go at keying up the surface of the old paint on the back door?’ Nellie said diffidently. ‘There’s a bit of sandpaper . . . you just sort of make circles, then when I put the fresh paint on it’ll stick.’

‘Oh. Right,’ Lilac said. ‘Had I better wrap something round my hair, our Nell? You aren’t half free with that whitewash!’ She indicated the line of tiny white specks which had just appeared on the draining board.

Nellie laughed.

‘Did I do that? Yes, perhaps you’d better cover up a bit. There’s another duster in the drawer to the right of the sink, and you can borrow me old overall, it’s hanging behind the door.’

Shortly, properly dressed and equipped with sandpaper to rub with and a feather duster to get rid of the debris, Lilac began on the door. She rubbed away industriously, whilst above her Nellie sloshed around with the whitewash, occasionally apologising as the spots flew through the air. By the time the kettle boiled both girls were absorbed, but Lilac left off for long enough to make the tea and then Nellie climbed reluctantly down from her stepladder and the two of them settled themselves at the kitchen table, Nellie sweeping off her duster and shaking her hair down as she did so.

‘Whew, it’s hot up by the ceiling,’ she remarked. ‘It don’t half make your arm ache an’ all.’

‘And it makes you pale,’ Lilac said with a giggle. ‘Your face is white as a sheet, Nellie Gallagher!’

‘I feel more scarlet than . . . oh, am I covered in whitewash?’ Nellie said, standing up to peer at her reflection in the small mirror beside the sink. ‘Gracious, me face is covered, I’d better fetch a flannel . . . only I’m going to have that cuppa first, I’m really dry.’

She sat down again and picked up her cup. Lilac waited until her sister had slaked her thirst, then fished Kitty’s letter out of her pocket and spread it out on the table.

‘Heard from Kitty this morning,’ she said. ‘She and Johnny are getting married, they want us all to go to the wedding. Have a read.’

‘Getting married? Those children?’ Nellie picked up the first page and scanned the neat lines of writing. ‘Good gracious, so they are!’

‘We’ll go, won’t we?’ Lilac said, when Nellie lay the pages down again. ‘I’m so fond of Kit, and you’re the same. I’d hate to miss her big day.’

‘I love a wedding,’ Nellie agreed. ‘Yes, we’d be happy to go. I daresay Stu will book us in at a hotel, rather than putting on poor Kitty when she’s preparing for her wedding. What about Joey, queen? D’you think he’ll come?’

Lilac picked up her cup and left her chair, walking over to the teapot where it stood on the draining board.

‘I’m just pouring meself another cup,’ she said. ‘Joey? Oh, I wouldn’t think he’d be interested, would you? He only met Kitty three or four times, when she was in hospital. Besides, he can’t pick and choose where he goes, he has to fit his life ashore round his sailings.’

‘Heard from him lately?’ Nellie asked casually as Lilac, with her fresh cup of tea, returned to the table. ‘It seems a while since he was in the Pool.’

‘No, he’s not written for a while. Nor visited, come to that,’ Lilac said equally casually. ‘I wonder if he’s got as berth aboard a different vessel, one that doesn’t touch the north-west, though I should have thought he’d write and let me know.’

‘Oh, perhaps he’s busy,’ Nellie said. ‘Want a biscuit, chuck? There’s a bag of ginger nuts just inside the pantry door. Get ’em out whilst you’re on your feet, would you?’

Lilac fetched the biscuits and sat down again with a thump. She opened the bag and fished out two biscuits, took a bite out of one and handed the other to Nellie.

‘Lovely, my favourite,’ she mumbled. ‘Nell . . . is Joey cross with me?’

‘Oh, Lilac love, you sound just like a little girl; I do love you! You come straight out with things sometimes . . . it’s awful nice, that.’

Lilac put her biscuit down.

‘He is cross, isn’t he? Oh Nell, it’s been nearly six weeks . . . I miss him, really I do, but he wanted me to go down to London . . .’

The story poured out; how Joey had seemed to Lilac to be getting a bit possessive, had actually suggested she go down to London with him for a weekend. How she’d told him she didn’t want people gossiping about her, how he’d gone a bit quiet, then seemed his usual sunny self. Only he’d not written since, nor visited, and she was worried, she wouldn’t hurt him for the world . . .

‘Have you written and told him so?’ Nellie asked. ‘But of course, you’ll have done that.’

‘No I haven’t,’ Lilac said at once. ‘It was his turn to write to me, I couldn’t write just out of the blue, it wasn’t as if I’d said anything nasty, I only said what you’d have said . . . that I couldn’t spend a weekend with him and cause talk.’

Nellie looked across the table at Lilac and raised her eyebrows, but she said nothing.

‘Oh, Nell, don’t look at me like that! You’d never . . . you wouldn’t want me to risk my reputation . . . I mean think what people would say . . .’

The silence stretched. Lilac picked nervously at a patch of whitewash on the table.

‘Nell? What’s the matter?’

‘Lilac, love, if Stu had asked me . . . whatever he’d asked me I’d have said yes, because I loved him so much. And I believe you’re very fond of Joey.’

‘Oh . . . fond! That’s a bit different, surely, from wanting to chuck me cap over the windmill for him?’

‘Perhaps it is; I’m not sure. Tell you what, flower, suppose I said if you had a choice, to – well, to sleep with Joey or never see him again, what would you choose?’

Lilac stared at the older girl.

‘
Sleep
with him? I can’t believe me ears, our Nell! Surely you wouldn’t expect me to behave like that – you’ve brought me up to behave meself!’

‘I hope I brought you up to be generous and loving – and to know your own heart as well as your own mind,’ Nellie said gently. ‘What would you do, Lilac love?’

Lilac got up from the table and carried her cup over to the sink. Without turning to face Nellie she said indistinctly, ‘I dunno; it ain’t a fair question, our Nell! I were going to marry Art, remember. I don’t reckon Art ’ud think much of it if I . . . if Joey an’ me . . .’

Tears were near. Nellie got up as well and took her cup to the sink, then put her arms round Lilac and gave her a hug.

‘Perhaps it weren’t a fair question, queen. But it made you think, and that’s all I was trying to do. Now let’s get on with this decoratin’, or I shan’t have made the dinner by the time Stu and the babe get home!’

Chapter Sixteen

Lilac stayed with the Gallaghers all day. She played with Elizabeth, helped Nellie to decorate the kitchen, walked round the garden with Stuart and admired his display of purple, white and gold crocuses, the snowdrops under the apple tree and the spears of daffodils and narcissi pushing up through the dark earth.

No one mentioned Joey, though the wedding was much discussed. Elizabeth, Nellie announced, would wear a primrose-coloured silk dress – it was bound to be warmer in a month – under her rust-coloured coat, just in case it wasn’t. Nellie herself would have a new dress, to be worn under her own best coat – beech-leaf green – with a new hat, colour to be decided.

‘What’ll you wear, love?’ Nellie asked her young sister, but Lilac just shrugged and said she’d probably buy something new since it wasn’t often she got invited to a wedding.

Nellie smiled and said if her help was needed there was nothing she liked better than a shopping trip and Lilac said with more enthusiasm than she’d yet shown that she would definitely get Nellie to go with her, because two heads were better than one when it came to choosing pretty clothes.

‘I’ll run you home, queen,’ Stuart said when they’d had their tea and Lilac stood up to go. ‘We’ll all come, get some air.’

Nellie, however, declined the treat.

‘You know I’d like to come,’ she said with feigned regret. ‘But the place is such a mess and tomorrow’s Sunday, I’d like to get it cleaned up before then. So I’ll stay now, then we can go out for a ride in the country tomorrow afternoon.’

‘Oh . . . thanks Nellie, but I shan’t be coming round tomorrow. I’ve . . . I’ve been invited out . . . just to dinner . . . by one of the guests.’

‘Well, that’s nice,’ Stuart said genially, shooting a quick, rather worried look at his wife. ‘Umm, anyone we know?’

‘No, I don’t think . . . it’s a Mr Albert Evans, he’s very nice, not married or anything,’ Lilac said quickly. Her cheeks, Nellie noticed, had gone very pink. ‘I’ve been out with him once or twice before, he comes over to Liverpool regularly, every few weeks. He’s got a – a small business in Sir Thomas Street and another one in Manchester. Sorry I forgot to mention it before but it completely slipped my mind. I’ll see you all next Saturday, if not before.’

‘Right, love,’ Nellie said cheerfully, kissing her sister’s hot cheek. ‘Have a lovely time with your friend.’

‘He’s not really my
friend
, just an acquaintance,’ Lilac mumbled. ‘You’ll probably have far more fun driving out into the country, only I did promise . . .’

‘It doesn’t matter; I love you to have fun,’ Nellie declared. She gave Lilac a friendly push. ‘Go on, queen, Stu might let you get the car out of the garage and drive it as far as the gate if you hurry.’

Stuart, however, popped back a moment later, ostensibly to fetch a torch to light Lilac down the path. He grabbed one off the sideboard, then turned to Nellie.

‘What’s all this, then? I thought you said she was really fond of . . .’

‘Shush! Talk later,’ hissed Nellie. ‘Go
on
, Stu, little Elizabeth has ears like a donkey. Drive carefully, I’ll see you soon.’

Stuart, with a doubtful backward glance, left. Nellie waited until she heard the car cough into life, until she heard its engine disappearing down the road, then she took off her apron and walked through into the front hall.

The telephone stood on a small, round table, with a chair conveniently near. Nellie hesitated. Ever since Joey had come calling six weeks ago, in some distress, he had been ringing her whenever he was in port for a progress report. It was painfully clear that he was head over heels in love with Lilac, but he was very aware that Lilac was still telling herself she had buried her desire and ability to love a man in the grave with Art.

‘I’m not gettin’ any younger, Nellie,’ Joey had said plaintively last time he had rung. ‘I don’t say I mind waitin’, I’d wait for years, like, but ’ow do I know that at the end of the wait she won’t turn to someone else? Someone not so patient wiv ’er?’

‘Art nearly lost her through being impatient and trying to force her hand,’ Nellie had said worriedly. ‘Me and Stu are so fond of you both, Joey, that it would break our hearts if the same thing happened. Look, you’re right to keep away from her, it’s the only way to make her look at the situation. I believe she’ll begin to miss you a bit, then she’ll miss you badly, and by the time you come calling again, she’ll see her feelings for what they are.’

‘What are they?’ Joey had asked. ‘Damned if I know, gel!’

‘They’re stronger than she believes,’ Nellie had replied. ‘Strong enough to have her admitting how she feels when it’s tell or lose you. Oh Joey, be patient, I’m sure it’ll work out all right in the end.’

But now, standing by the telephone and gnawing her lower lip, Nellie wondered, for the first time, whether she was doing Joey a real disservice by advising him to stay away. She didn’t believe Albert Evans existed, Lilac was a real little chatterbox as far as admirers were concerned, but she did believe that, if pushed, Lilac might jump in the wrong direction.

However, it was a week since Joey had last rung and if her calculations were right he should be back in London right now, in his lodging house. The house wasn’t on the telephone, but she could ring the shipping office, see if she could get a message to him. On the other hand, sending a message seemed rather extreme. She could drop a line, ask him to telephone her.

She was moving away from the telephone when it rang, sharply, making her jump. She grabbed the receiver from its rest and held it to her ear. ‘Liverpool 22212, Mrs Gallagher speaking.’

‘Hello, Nell; it’s me, Joey. Are you awright to talk?’

‘Joey! I was standing right by the telephone, wondering how to get in touch with you . . . no, it’s all right, there’s nothing wrong, in fact I think it’s rather good news. Kitty Drinkwater’s getting married, and we’ve all been invited to the wedding – you as well. Lilac’s worrying about you, Joey, and getting awful het-up. The wedding’s on the fifteenth of April – any chance?’

‘How important is it?’ Joey’s voice had lit with hope, Nellie could almost see the smile on his face. ‘If I come, I mean.’

‘I believe if you come to the wedding, you’ll be able to suggest that the two of you set a date,’ Nellie said. ‘Her first reaction, I think, was that Kitty was much too young, which she is, of course. And I think it occurred to her that she was going to miss a lot by her determination not to marry . . . she’s been very quiet all day.’

‘An’ you mentioned me?’

Nellie chuckled.

‘I did. Joey, can you come to the wedding? It’ll be in Corwen, North Wales.’

‘I’ll make a point of it,’ Joey said. ‘I’ll come, no matter what ’appens, though I’m due a few days arahnd then. Tell you what, I’ll drop Kitty a line but I won’t say nothin’ officially to you.’

‘Lilac doesn’t know you and I are in touch,’ Nellie said. ‘Better keep it that way.’

‘Yes, acourse. Right, then. See you on the fifteenth!’

Nellie replaced the receiver slowly and walked back into the kitchen. Suppose she was wrong? Suppose the worst possible thing would be for Lilac to arrive at the wedding and find Joey there too? But it was no use worrying, she’d done it now. They would just have to wait and see.

Kitty woke and rolled over. Outside the window the sun shone, sending long golden beams through a gap in the curtains. Beside her, Patch stirred too, then stretched, sat up, and vigorously scratched her ear.