The Cobbler's Kids (13 page)

‘It will give me a chance to have a night out if Rita and Eddy come here,’ Vera persisted.

‘Why the hell do they have to be here because you want to go gallivanting off somewhere?’

‘To keep an eye on young Benny, of course.’

‘What the bloody hell for when I’m here?’

‘Well, you might want to go out for a drink …’

‘So what’s soddin’ wrong with that?’

‘It would mean Benny would be left in the house on his own.’

‘Once the little beggar is in bed and asleep what does it matter whether I’m here or down the boozer?’

‘He might wake up, and if he found himself all on his own, he’d probably be frightened to death.’

‘At his age? What a load of bloody rubbish you come out with sometimes!’ Michael Quinn sneered.

‘No, it’s a fact, Dad. He’s only seven, remember, and he’s still terribly upset over Mam and …’

‘OK!’ he interrupted, ‘S’all right they can come here if you want them to, then. But tell that soddin’ brother of yours that there’s to be no hanky-panky or they’ll be out on their bloody ears before you can blink.’

Vera was overjoyed. ‘I’ll make sure that Benny is in bed before I go out, and I’ll leave some milk and biscuits ready in case he wakes up before I come home,’ she promised Eddy, when she told him the good news.

Eddy tried to warn Rita what their dad was like. ‘He’s selfish, pompous, bad-tempered, bigoted, self-opinionated …’

‘Give up, Eddy,’ Rita laughed. ‘I know he’s no angel, but you’re making him sound like an ogre.’

‘He’s a damn sight worse than that,’ he told her gloomily.

Her grey eyes widened. ‘You’re trying to put me off coming round to your place, aren’t you?’ she said huffily.

‘No, I’m not,’ he assured her. ‘I’m simply warning you so that you won’t be shocked when you find out that most of the time he’s like a bear with a sore head. You ask our Vee!’

Rita looked at him with raised eyebrows. ‘I’m sure you’re exaggerating. Anyway, if I come round tonight then I’ll be able to judge for myself.’

Eddy was on tenterhooks waiting for Rita to arrive. He’d warned her not to put on too much lipstick and asked her to wear the dark green dress that she usually wore to church on Sundays.

‘Are you trying to make me look plain and dowdy?’

‘No! Of course not,’ he said quickly. ‘That frock looks good with the colour of your hair.’

‘A compliment from you at last, Eddy Quinn,’ she smiled, blushing.

‘There’s just one thing,’ she teased, ‘that green dress has quite a low neckline so do you want me to wear a modesty vest?’

He reddened. ‘Come here!’ Holding her plump cheeks between his hands he kissed her deeply.

To Eddy’s astonishment, his dad was so nice to Rita that she was impressed.

‘He’s not a bit like what you said he was, Eddy,’ Rita scolded after Michael Quinn had gone out to the pub.

Eddy shrugged, shaking his head in disbelief. ‘He must have taken a fancy to you, kiddo. Believe me, he’s not like that when he’s talking to our Vee.’

‘Well, he was quite charming to me and my mam says you should take people as you find them,’ she told him firmly.

Although he was mystified by his father’s behaviour Eddy was extremely relieved to find that he hadn’t been rude, or offhand, with Rita and scared her away. Even her barbed comments that their home wasn’t a bit like she’d imagined, and that she would hate to have to live at the back of the shop like they did, didn’t upset him.

Vera thoroughly enjoyed her one night a week out, especially after Joan introduced her to her brother Steve.

Steve Frith was nineteen, which made him three years older than Vera. He was tall, with light brown hair, hazel eyes and a winning smile. Vera was bowled over the moment she met him.

Steve was equally enamoured by his sister’s attractive dark-haired friend and wanted to see more of her. Whenever Joan mentioned that the two of them were going to the pictures, or off to a dance, he suggested that they should make up a foursome. He knew Joan was keen on his best friend, Liam Kelly, a green-eyed, redheaded Irishman who could charm the birds off the trees.

Vee found a whole new world was opening up for her as they happily paired off whenever they went out. She stopped feeling like a drudge and began to take more care over her appearance, vying with Joan to try out new shades of lipstick or other cosmetics.

At first it was pictures or dancing, but when they found how much they enjoyed each other’s company they ventured into doing other things. In fact, it worked so well for all of them that it became a regular arrangement for Eddy and Rita to stay in one night a week and Vera found herself seeing more and more of Steve Frith.

‘Are you and my big brother going steady?’ Joan teased.

‘You’re the one who always brings him along when we go out,’ Vera parried, her blue eyes glowing.

‘He always wants to come and I think it’s because he’s sweet on you!’

‘Or do you want him there so that you can be with Liam Kelly,’ Vera laughed.

The two girls had become very good friends, both at work and in their leisure time.

Without consulting Miss Linacre they helped each other out, making sure that neither of them ever got behind with their work. Vera was now a reasonably proficient typist and it no longer worried her when she was interrupted to attend to the switchboard.

‘Now that the weather is better and it is lighter at nights, why don’t we go to the park with Steve and Liam,’ Joan suggested.

‘Do you think they would want to do that?’

‘We won’t know unless we ask them,’ Joan smiled.

When she did ask, they were not too keen. ‘Well, perhaps one Sunday we could all go to New Brighton for the day,’ Joan suggested.

Vera sighed. ‘That would be smashing, but I couldn’t leave Benny, and I’m not sure if Rita and Eddy would look after him for a whole day,’ she explained regretfully.

‘Then we’ll take him with us! They can come as well if they want to.’

The extended friendships were a new experience for Vera. She found that both Joan and Rita were full of bright ideas on how she could make life easier for herself.

‘Instead of spending Sunday doing the washing, why don’t you take it down to the public washhouse in Upper Frederick Street,’ Rita suggested.

‘It will be full of Slummies! Anyway, I couldn’t afford to do that!’ Vera told her.

‘Yes you could. It wouldn’t cost any more than the coal you use to boil up all the water at home. Anyway, you would only need to go every other week,’ Joan told her. ‘What’s more, while the washing is in the machine you can sit and enjoy the magazines I bring in to work for you. You’re always saying that you never have time to sit and read them.’

Vera laughed. ‘It all sounds wonderful but I change the sheets each week so I’d have a mountain of things to wash if I left it longer than that.’

‘Start changing them every two weeks instead,’ Rita suggested.

‘Mam always …’

‘Your mother didn’t have to do a full-time job as well as look after the home,’ Joan told her quickly. ‘Try changing them every two weeks and see if anyone notices.’

Vera nodded, but she still looked worried. ‘There’s Dad’s shirts, too. He’d run out of clean shirts if I only washed them every two weeks.’

‘Tell him to buy some more,’ Rita prompted. ‘Once he runs out he’ll do it quick enough, you’ll see.’

‘It will only be something else for him to grumble about,’ Vera said gloomily. ‘Still,’ she added with a weak smile, ‘it might take his mind off constantly criticising my cooking.’

‘What’s the matter with your cooking. I’ve always enjoyed the meals I’ve had at your place,’ Rita told her.

‘You haven’t had my lumpy custard or soggy pastry when I make an apple pie, yet, Rita.’

‘Buy ready-made custard,’ Joan said calmly. ‘I think it is better than home-made anyway.’

‘My dad would go mad if I served shop-bought stuff,’ Vera sighed.

‘Don’t tell him! Anyway, it is home-made, the factory where they make it is in Liverpool!’ Joan giggled.

‘Yes, and buy an apple pie from Prestwood’s in Great Homer Street. My mam does and she says they’re better than anything she could make.’

Vera shook her head doubtfully, but their suggestions kept buzzing around in her mind. When she finally capitulated she found they were right on all points. The apple pie was delicious, and so was the custard. For the first time since she’d taken over the housekeeping there was a clean plate and no complaints from her father.

Full of confidence she began to sound out Rita and Joan for other labour-saving tips; in fact, anything to make her life easier.

‘My mum hates housework so she’s bound to know plenty of good shortcuts,’ Joan told her. ‘Perhaps you should come to tea one night and ask her yourself about them.’

‘That would be wonderful, but …’

‘You can bring Benny with you, he’d probably enjoy it, he doesn’t have much fun for a little boy does he. Our Steve will love the chance to play with him!’ she promised. ‘Steve’s still got a bedroom full of toys and games that he had when he was a nipper.’

Vera never failed to be amazed at the ways in which Rita seemed to become more and more a part of their lives. She regularly collected Benny from school, but, instead of taking him to the park, or back to her place when it was raining, she had started delivering the boots and shoes with him.

Both Eddy and Vera really appreciated this. Fitting it in had not been easy. Sometimes when she had been taking a load of washing to the public washhouse Vera had also taken along the boots and shoes that needed to be delivered. While the clothes were in the washing machine she’d dashed around doing her deliveries, praying she’d get back before the boiling cycle was completed. She knew that if she didn’t, someone would empty her washing out so that they could use the machine and, in all probability, she’d return to find everything dumped on the floor.

‘Use the time to sit there and read the stories in the magazines Joan gives you,’ Rita told her. ‘I quite enjoy delivering the boots with Benny. The customers all love him. I send him to the door on his own and they usually give him a biscuit or a sweet. He likes it best of all when they give him a penny, mind. He tells me he’s saving up to buy a bicycle.’

Sometimes, Vera couldn’t help feeling a little bit jealous. It seemed as though Rita was seeing more of Benny than she was, and that Rita was being taken into his confidence more than she was. When these thoughts flashed through her mind she shook herself and told herself she was lucky to have Rita to help out.

Having Rita around made life easier in other ways as well. When she was in their house Vera noticed that her father was all smiles. Rita never saw his dark moods, never heard his vituperate grumbles. She certainly never felt the impact of his clenched knuckles across the top of her head.

Rita was rarely there for a meal, so she never witnessed the way he grabbed the best of any food that was served. Even though he no longer had grounds for saying that ‘they didn’t need meat because they weren’t working’ he still couldn’t resist leaning across the table and stabbing his fork into anything on their plates that looked tempting.

Vera and Eddy had long ago learned to eat the most succulent piece of meat first. Benny was not yet sharp enough to do this and more often than not he lost the best bits on his plate.

In some ways, they also had Rita to thank for many of the improvements in their home. Vera couldn’t remember any of their rooms ever being redecorated. Rita talked so much about the decorating her father was doing that, not to be outdone, Vera asked at Elbrown’s whether she could buy any finished lines of wallpaper or tins of paint that were going cheap.

‘Will you help me redecorate, Eddy?’ she begged. ‘It won’t half brighten the place up.’

Eddy hadn’t any idea how to go about decorating, but with Steve Frith’s help they managed to do a pretty good job on re-papering their living room.

Since the completion coincided with Eddy qualifying as a fully fledged marine engineer, he suggested that they should have a party.

‘We could invite Rita and her parents, as well as Joan, Steve and Liam Kelly,’ he told her.

‘Do you think they would all come? I know Rita’s mam, of course, from schooldays, but I don’t know her father. What’s he like?’

‘Quite a bit older, but he’s easy-going and friendly.’

Since they’d never had a party, or even entertained guests before, apart from Rita, Vera was unsure how to go about preparing for such a momentous event.

Rita’s face creased with smiles. ‘Don’t go making a lot of work or fuss. Simply relax and enjoy yourself.’

‘It’s all very well you saying that, but I will have to provide them with food and drink.’

‘That’s easy enough. Send Eddy out for some beer and buy some sausage rolls and meat pies from Prestwood’s.’

‘Shh! My dad still thinks I make them.’

‘Well let him think you make the pies and rolls for the party as well if that keeps him happy,’ she advised.

‘Do you think my dad will get on with your mam and dad?’ Vera asked worriedly.

‘They’d better.’ Rita grinned. ‘I think Eddy wants them all to be together when he announces some other special news …’

‘You mean he’s asked you to marry him?’ Vera exclaimed excitedly.

‘Not yet, but I’m pretty sure he will do so on the night of the party.’

‘That makes it even more special,’ Vera said delightedly. ‘Now I really am looking forward to it.’

Michael Quinn scowled when the party was first mentioned. ‘Waste of bloody money. Anyway, what do we want other people coming here for.’

‘It’s a celebration,’ Vera told him. ‘It will show how proud we are of Eddy because it will mark the end of his four-year apprenticeship.’

‘Well, let’s hope he’s the one who is going to pay for it, and clean up the mess afterwards,’ Michael grunted ungraciously.

At work, Vera and Joan Frith talked of nothing else. Two days before the party they even had the idea of dashing to Paddy’s Market, in their lunch break, to buy something new to wear.

‘Rita won’t say what she will be wearing, but she always seems to be buying new clothes, so I suppose it will be something spectacular. I don’t want to let our Eddy down by turning up in the blouse and skirt I wear for work every day.’