Child of the Mersey. Annie Groves
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for war, it seemed.
‘Are you going to save me a dance on Saturday, Kit?’ Eddy asked, slow, slow, quick-quick, slowing in circles around the room, making Kitty laugh loudly. ‘Go on, Kit, will you?’
Kitty, nodding, agreed.
Eddy and his older brother, Frank, had always treated her like a younger sister, larking about with her just as they did with Nancy or fifteen-year-old Sarah, the youngest of the Feeny clan. The thought of any of them, especially Frank, going to fight an enemy – risking their lives – gave her chills.
Neither of them had serious relationships, but Frank seemed more the type to play the field. He always said there was enough of him to go round, and why stop at one, which brought howls of protest from his sisters, who maintained he would get himself into trouble saying things like that.
The more outgoing of the Feeny brothers, Frank had courted a great many girls on his travels – so he said – and Kitty had no cause to doubt him. Now she sat ramrod straight, holding tightly on to her teacup like a shield. What was it they said about sailors – a girl in every port?
Please come home alone, Frank. The sun dipped behind a cloud and the room grew darker for a moment, the gloom temporarily mirroring Kitty’s feelings when she recalled the last time Frank had brought a girl home to Empire Street. Kitty did not know who the girl was, nor did she ask Rita about it. She had seen Frank come down the street with the pretty girl, obviously taking her home to meet his folks. Kitty thought they looked like a couple of film stars. Frank, being his usual friendly self, waved to Kitty, sitting on the front step after cleaning the house from top to bottom and worrying where the money for the next meal was coming from. Frank’s girlfriend, dressed in a fabulous camel-hair coat with wide, turn-back cuffs and large buttons, waved too, making Kitty feel dull and dowdy by comparison. To her shame, Kitty did not wave back, pretending not to notice; instead she got up, went inside and cleaned up all over again, all the while fighting back hot tears and wondering where they had come from all of a sudden.
‘Oh, Kitty!’ Sarah exclaimed, bringing Kitty back to the present moment. ‘Would you look at that beautiful cake! I’ve never seen such a work of art – and it is a work of art, to be sure.’
Nancy, the bride-to-be, was dumbstruck by the sight of the beautiful cake.
‘You have done yourself proud with this one, Kit,’ Dolly said, while Nancy threw her arms around Kitty and gave her a hug so tight it took the breath right out of her.
‘Gloria is going to be so jealous when she sees this cake,’ Nancy laughed. Gloria was her best friend and chief bridesmaid, and like many best friends they were always in competition with each other. The Feeny women gazed at the exquisite latticework and perfectly crafted white roses, so wonderfully sculptured with the finest icing sugar they looked perfectly real.
‘Mine was nowhere near as good as that, and I paid a fortune for it,’ Rita joined in, eyeing the three cakes with obvious admiration.
‘Well, we couldn’t expect the poor widow to put her hand in her purse, could we?’ Dolly was unable to confine the sardonic words.
‘Nancy’s wedding will be smashing, Aunty Doll,’ Kitty said, thrilled that they liked her creation and equally sure they would enjoy eating it. ‘You’ll have nothing to worry about, just you wait and see.’ She smiled as Dolly rippled with unashamed pride.
‘I’ll not have Madam Kennedy looking down her nose and finding us wanting.’
‘Hell will freeze over before she’ll lay on a spread!’ Rita laughed, knowing everybody was aware of her mother-in-law’s miserly reputation. ‘Anyway, I’ll be off now before Charlie gets in from work.’
‘You’d better make tracks, he’ll be coming down the street pretty soon.’ From her window Dolly could watch her son-in-law’s daily arrival home with amusement. The insurance salesman, his bicycle clips wrapped firmly around his trouser legs, always sat far back on the saddle, riding his cycle down the street like a powerful Norton motorbike. ‘Madam Kennedy didn’t have cause to complain at your wedding, Rita.’
‘And she won’t have any reason to carp at Nancy’s either.’ Rita knew her mother had been saving for months for this day, and she was proud of her family’s generous nature.
‘I’d sooner starve than ask her to help me out, moneylender or not.’ Dolly’s nostrils flared with disdain.
Kitty sighed. Some of us have no option, she thought, knowing she would shortly have to go cap in hand to Mrs Kennedy and grovel for a loan.
For, as much as she had rescued the money that Danny and her dad almost gambled away, she still did not have enough to rig out Tommy, who was one of Nancy’s ushers. He was going to need a new pair of trousers and shoes, not to mention a new shirt and tie.
‘Right then,’ said Rita, ‘I’ll have to be going now, Mam. As it’s my and Charlie’s anniversary I’ve made a special tea with sherry trifle for afters.’
‘Oh, that sounds lovely,’ said Pop. ‘Can I come?’
‘You might as well, Pop,’ Rita laughed. ‘Mrs Kennedy will be there.’
‘In that case I don’t think I’ll bother, but give her my regards.’ Pop rolled his eyes to the ceiling. Rita had never heard him say a bad word about anybody, not even the old dragon Winnie Kennedy, her own mother-in-law.
‘You’d think she’d leave you alone on your anniversary!’ Eddy said. ‘Or even better, Charlie should have taken you out instead.’
‘We’re saving for a deposit, Eddy.’ Rita pulled her son’s socks up as she was talking. ‘We’ll never get a house if we waste our money on nights out.’
‘Maybe he’ll win the money for a deposit,’ Nancy said. Rita’s look of confusion told her she had said too much so she added suddenly, ‘Let’s go into the parlour,’ linking her arm through Kitty’s, ‘and we’ll see what’s what.’ Amidst the bustle of Rita and the two kids leaving, Nancy, Dolly and Kitty went into the parlour. Kitty eyed up the room, which Pop had decorated in preparation for the wedding, and decided the top table would look better under the window. They wanted everything just right.
‘The wedding cake could go there,’ Kitty pointed to the imaginary table, ‘with Nancy’s bouquet in front … and then we could have the groom’s family over here …’
‘You can say what you like about Kitty Callaghan …’ A deep, melodious voice coming from the direction of the parlour door made Kitty’s insides turn to jelly, ‘… but she knows how to put on a splash.’ Kitty’s head whipped round and that familiar feeling of pleasure tingled through her at the sound of Frank Feeny’s velvety voice. She only just managed to hold on to a gasp of delight at the sight of him, and heaved a sigh of relief when Dolly rushed past her to throw her arms around her elder son. It gave Kitty the chance to drink in his compelling presence.
Frank had grown from a gangly six-footer to a strong, handsome man. Confidently self-assured without being cocky, he was a petty officer in the Royal Navy and the only man whose tanned good looks had ever made her pulse race. Kitty stepped back and, as the lid was up, leaned on the piano keys, causing a plinkety-plonk, which almost turned into a tune as she tried to retain a little dignity.
‘Give us a song then, Kit!’ Frank laughed, dropped his kitbag on the floor and almost hugged the living daylights out of his mother. Kitty reluctantly lowered her gaze; she had been staring, intentionally, of course. However, she did not want him to think she had lost her marbles …
‘You said you wouldn’t be home until Friday. You’re a day early,’ Dolly cried when she got her breath back.
Frank looked comically sad before turning his gaze to Kitty. ‘Hello, Kit, maybe you’ll be glad to see me?’ His dark blue eyes lingered just a little longer than necessary before he gave Kitty’s arm a playful squeeze. ‘Those muscles are still a bit puny.’
‘You