The Melody Girls (32 page)

‘Pattie, over here!' she called, from her corner table. ‘I've ordered teacake and fancies – that OK? Or are you dieting?'

Pattie, smiling, slid into a seat opposite Lorna, and shook her head. ‘You'll never believe it, Lorna, but I've lost a stone, just since I got engaged! And you know I was always worrying about being too plump?'

‘You look wonderful, Pattie. Being engaged suits you.'

‘Being happy, you mean.' Pattie stretched out her left hand. ‘Like to see ma ring?'

‘Why, it's beautiful!' Lorna cried, looking at the pretty diamond ring and thinking how well Ewen had done to afford it. Had he been saving for some time? For this particular engagement? Immediately, she brushed that question aside and signalled to the waitress to bring their tea.

‘It's really nice to see you, Lorna,' Pattie murmured, as Lorna poured tea and passed buttered teacake. ‘Thanks for asking me.'

‘Well, I wanted to congratulate you and have a chat, just the two of us. I expect you're soon going to be very busy, eh? With wedding plans?'

‘Oh, yes!' Pattie gave a sunny smile. ‘Ewen's no' keen to wait, and neither am I. Canna wait to give up ma job at the post office, either. I sometimes wonder just how many stamps I've sold in all these years!'

‘You're giving up work? A lot of women are wanting to stay on these days.'

‘Aye, that's true.' Pattie was blushing a little. ‘But, the thing is, we want to start a family soon as we can. Why hang about? Ewen says. And I feel the same. Seeing your wee Sam always made me feel broody!'

‘Never knew that. Must warn you that it's no' always easy, bringing up a bairn. I couldn't have managed without Ma.'

‘No, but I've always admired you, Lorna,' Pattie said earnestly. ‘The way you've coped, and run your band and been so successful and everything. I'm glad you asked me out today, because I want to tell you that I know you and Ewen have always been special friends, and I understand why. I do, honestly, and I don't want to break that up, so please, if you need any help, or anything, don't think he's no' there for you. He will be.'

For a long moment, Lorna was silent, studying a small untouched cake on her plate. ‘I appreciate that, Pattie, more than I can say. It's really lovely of you to think of me like that. But I know things are different when someone marries, and I'd never expect it to be the same for Ewen and me, now that he has you. You come first, you always will, and that's how it should be.' Lorna gave a quick smile. ‘But if I ever do need any advice, how would it be if I came to both of you? You're my friend too, remember.'

‘As though I could ever give any advice to you,' Pattie said warmly. ‘But, come anyway! Don't drift away.'

‘And snap for you! First thing you'll have to do, is see my new house, once I've got some furniture!'

Lorna, reminded of Number 29, was thinking of all the pleasant times she should have, going to auctions and sale rooms to find just the right period pieces for her property. Flo and George, who'd expressed themselves thrilled by her acquisition, had promised to come with her whenever possible to advise on the bidding, and when all was complete, there would be, of course, a grand house-warming. That would be some way off, maybe, seeing as at present she had only her own personal possessions to put into her new home, but she had the plans, she had the ideas – she'd get there in the end. Suddenly, life seemed sweet again and she smiled as she called for the bill.

‘Yes, you must come round and see the house,' she said again to Pattie. ‘Never mind the furniture, come while it's still empty. My blank canvas, I call it, but it looks so nice, I can't wait to settle in.'

‘You're going to live in it all by yourself?' Pattie asked, with some concern. ‘Won't it be a bit lonely?'

‘Sam will be moving in when he's older, and Ma will always be popping round, no' to mention my Auntie Cissie, Flo and George, and you folks.'

Pattie's round blue eyes were soft with sympathy. ‘Lorna, do hope you don't mind me saying this, but I'm sure Mr Right'll turn up one of these days. I mean, he's bound to, for someone like you!'

‘Ah, the mysterious Mr Right.' Lorna laughed, as she placed a tip for the waitress underneath a saucer. ‘Funny thing is, Pattie, strange as it may seem, I'm perfectly happy being Miss Right. I've got everything, you see – my boy, my band, and now my house. What more could I want?'

As they left the tea shop together, they both knew what was missing. Or, might be considered missing, if Lorna wanted to think on those lines. But, then, she didn't. Twice bitten, for ever shy, was her motto, even if no one believed it.

Fifty-Four

Pattie and Ewen were married on a bitterly cold day in January, 1954. The wedding was a quiet one at a Haymarket kirk, with a reception at a West End cafe, and a grand ‘going away' for the bride and groom at Waverley Station before they left for honeymoon in London. The only bridesmaid was Pattie's younger sister, which was a relief to Lorna, who had feared she might have been asked, too. Sam, who had been persuaded to act as pageboy, dressed in his first kilt and wee jacket, almost stole the show. Except for Pattie, of course, who had looked her absolute best in white velvet – not to mention, as she said, laughing, her long johns.

‘Just glad it's all over,' Ewen whispered to Lorna on the platform at Waverley. ‘But don't tell Pattie, eh? Feels like she's been planning this day for ever.'

‘She certainly looks wonderful,' Lorna told him. ‘I know you're going to be very happy.'

‘Aye, if we can find a place to live. Have to find a wee flat soon, or we'll be staying with one of our mothers.'

‘You can always stay at my place, Ewen. It isn't properly furnished yet – sometimes wonder if it ever will be – but there's plenty of room and I've got two more tours planned, so I won't be around much.'

‘Oh, thanks, Lorna, thanks a lot, but we couldn't do that,' he said hastily. ‘When you are home, you'll want to work on your house and we wouldn't want to get in the way.'

‘Well, the offer's there, so don't forget.'

‘I won't.'

As he was called to hurry to board the train, he gave Lorna a last hug, then ran to embrace Pattie's mother and his own, before joining his bride to wave and blow kisses while the confetti rained.

‘There they go, then,' Tilly murmured, as the great London train slowly began to leave the station. ‘Make a lovely pair, eh?'

‘Lovely,' Lorna agreed and, taking Sam's hand, said they'd better be getting home.

‘Which home?' asked Tilly. ‘I've asked a whole lot of folk back to mine, so you'd better come as well.'

‘Hope I don't have to eat any more of that wedding cake,' Sam exclaimed. ‘Currants and icing – ugh! And I hope nobody else kisses me, either.'

His grandmother laughed and said he'd been such a good boy, she'd give him his favourite supper as soon as the guests had gone – beans on toast with a fried egg on top.

‘And I'll give you some extra pocket money,' Lorna promised. ‘Ma, shall we take a taxi, Pattie's mother's asking? We're all in our glad rags.'

‘A taxi? No, what a waste.' Tilly waved to those coming back with her. ‘Come on, we'll get the tram. Nae bother, eh?'

But for once Tilly was outvoted and everyone squashed into taxis and drove back to her flat in style, to continue the reception in more relaxed fashion.

‘If only I'd got my house ready,' Lorna sighed to Flo and George. ‘It would have been perfect for something like this. But I never get any time!'

‘Soon as we get back from the next tour, we'll hit those auctions,' Flo promised. ‘Then you can get the decorating done and you'll be in business.'

‘Aye, because we're all waiting for that house-warming you promised us,' said George. ‘And we know you're wanting to invite half Scotland to that!'

‘Only the folks who play in swing bands,' Lorna told him. ‘No, but seriously, I am inviting all the musicians I know. Even Jackie Craik.'

‘Help!' Flo cried. ‘You'll be asking Luke Riddell next!'

‘Oh, yes, Luke will be coming, and Suzie.' Lorna grinned. ‘I've just got to get a few chairs and a table first!'

Fifty-Five

Finding the right furniture for Number 29 proved, however, to be more difficult than Lorna had ever imagined. Buying at auction and sales was not, of course, like buying at a shop. You couldn't just choose what you want, pay for it and have it delivered. No, you had to work through the catalogues, go to the previews, tick off what you liked, work out a bid, then suffer the ordeal of seeing most of your favourite pieces go to other bidders.

‘It's all your fault, George,' Lorna told him. ‘You won't let me up my bids, so I end up losing out.'

‘Fatal to start upping bids, Lorna. Once you've decided what something's worth to you, you stick to that figure. Otherwise, it's all too easy to lose your head and pay out ridiculous money for something that isn't worth it.'

‘Shame you can't buy new,' Flo said, ‘but I agree, you need to get stuff that matches the house. And what they make today looks so flimsy, it probably won't last five minutes.'

‘And priced far too high,' George put in. ‘Second hand is best, particularly as I think we should be considering keeping costs down.'

‘I'm no' worrying too much about keeping costs down,' Lorna told him.

‘Well, maybe you should be. All of us should.'

‘What's this, then, George?' Flo asked, widening her eyes. ‘An economy campaign? Has something happened?'

‘No, no, nothing's happened. It's just that sometimes I can't help wondering if our particular bubble might burst.' He lowered his eyes. ‘You know how it is, these fears come, don't they?'

‘Do they?' Lorna's brow was furrowed. ‘Seems to me we're doing so well, there's no need for you to worry.'

He paused for a moment. ‘You remember that time I talked about rockabilly music? Well, it's struck me since that that might turn out to be – like they say – the cloud that's no bigger than a man's hand. If you understand me.'

‘No, we don't,' Flo said bluntly. ‘Bubbles, clouds – I don't know what's got into you, George.'

‘The cloud that's no bigger than a man's hand might come before a thunderstorm,' George said patiently. ‘Or, disaster of some sort. One minute, you've a clear horizon, the next, darkness. But . . . hell, I'm not saying we're facing that, of course.'

‘What are you saying?' Lorna asked quickly. ‘Something's in the wind and you don't like it?'

‘Exactly. And the something in the wind seems to be starting up in America. Music that's a mixture of rockabilly and a whole lot of other things. Seems it could really take off, according to the grapevine.'

‘Has this music got a name?'

George shrugged. ‘Some say rock and roll.'

‘But why should we worry about it?'

‘Oh, I'm not saying we need. It's not even over here yet. But as we always seem to copy America, it's pretty certain to come. And once it does, who knows how long people will want what we play?'

‘George, you're talking nonsense!' Flo cried, in exasperation. ‘There've always been different kinds of music going side by side. Jitterbugging music, jive, skiffle, all that sort of thing. This rock and roll stuff, it won't stop people wanting our sort of music for dancing. Nothing will change that!'

George was silent, then smiled and nodded. ‘You're right, of course. I suppose I'm only thinking of what might happen, not what will. So, take no notice!'

‘We won't,' Flo said, glancing quickly at Lorna's set expression. ‘With the sort of money we're making now, I say we have no need to worry. You look for what you want for the house, Lorna, and don't listen to this old doom merchant here. He ought to be going round with a billboard. “The end of the world is nigh”, eh?'

As long as it isn't the end of our world, Lorna was thinking, but didn't really believe it could be. George was worrying about nothing, as Flo had told him. Even if this rock and roll stuff did take off, as he'd said it might, that wouldn't mean that she and other bandleaders would be queuing for the dole. There would always be people who wanted what they played, which meant that there would still be money coming in and no need for economizing. ‘You buy what you want for the house', Flo had said, and why shouldn't she?

All the same, the more she thought about it, the less Lorna was inclined to spend as though there was no tomorrow, as her mother would have put it. Maybe she had all along been too extravagant? Buying herself a big house she didn't really need? Trying to fill it with furniture that had to be the best? She hadn't been brought up to spend like that, and when she remembered how little some folk had – how little her own parents had had at one time – a great feeling of guilt began to weigh down her heart.

And then, just supposing George turned out to be right, and the attraction for the big bands began to decline, and also their incomes?

Oh, Lord, what could she do? Lorna asked herself, beginning to feel like pressing cold towels to her brow. She could scarcely sell the house in the West End before she'd properly moved in, could she? And if she did plan to live in the house, she'd need furniture. Which brought her back to the auctions and what she would have to pay to get something that suited Number 29. At one time, she would have asked advice from Ewen, of course, but whatever Pattie had suggested, Lorna knew she could no longer do that. Better turn back to Flo and George, then. See what they could suggest.