Shattered Dreams (4 page)

He had the grace to look ashamed, but said with drunken authority.

“You
are
my girl, Irene, and you shouldn’t be dancing with another fellow. I’m only a bit late anyway, had to go on what’s ’is name’s stag do. But I’m here now. I came especially to see my wonderful girl. You know, Irene, I’ve been thinking. If you ever consider marrying someone, would you give me first refusal?”

So it had worked then, she thought triumphantly, Eddie had been jealous enough to ask the question. It wasn’t quite how she had wanted his proposal to be, but it was good enough that he had asked her!

J.C. went with his son to court and pleaded with the judge on Eddie’s behalf. He was sorry, but business was booming at the moment and he hadn’t got time enough to keep an eye on his lad. The lorry was to be scrapped immediately, as there was a brand new one being delivered any day. The judge wasn’t to blame Eddie and J.C. was there to pay any fine that he decided to give.

He chuckled when he and Eddie walked out of the court room, the fine was a pittance, but then again hadn’t old Harry Spencer said to him on Saturday night over dinner that it would be.

“I’ve something to tell you, Dad, now that the court thing is out of the way,”said Eddie.

“What’s that son? Make it snappy, I’ve got a bit of business to do. I thought you could take the car home and I’ll come back by train.”

“I’ve decided to get married.”

“Oh, that’s nice for you, who’s the lucky girl?”

“You don’t know her, her name is Irene and we met at the village dance in Irby. She’s lovely, Dad, so pretty and really good at dancing. She lives with her Aunt down Seaview Lane.”

“Have you told your mother?”

“No, Dad, because she won’t approve. She wants to fix me up with Marjorie Buckley, but you’ve seen what she looks like, she’s a horse of a girl.”

“I wouldn’t go against your mother, son, yer know what she’s like. Has this girl’s family got any money? What does her father do?”

“As far as I know her father’s an invalid. He used to work on submarines, got made redundant by Cammel Lairds and now he’s beginning to go blind.”

“And what religion are they?”

“Protestant, but that shouldn’t make any difference. We love each other, Dad.”

“As far as I’m concerned you can forget her, lad. I could put up with the fact that the family is penniless, though I would wonder if she was after you for your money, but if she’s not Roman Catholic, you’ve no chance. Your mother wouldn’t let her over the door. Forget her, son, and go out with Marjorie Buckley; she’s from a good family. A Roman Catholic and, her father’s a good friend of mine. Anyway, I must be off, see you later when I get back home.”

Eddie was left feeling angry, but despondent. Though he was in love with Irene, was falling out with his mother worth it in the long run?

J.C. got on the train at Chester Station. He wasn’t going far, just down to Queensferry, but he had this urge to go and visit a little cottage on the main street. He was sure of a welcome there, it was the place he went to when he needed a bit of affection.

He lit a cigar as he sat back in the First Class carriage and thought about Alice. No one loved him as Alice did and he was sure he loved her in return. She had been the family Nanny when the children were younger and of course he hadn’t meant to put her in a compromising position that night, but Glad had gone back to stay with her mother for a few days in Holywell and he always knew that Alice worshipped him. He could tell from the way she always had his slippers warming and a nice cup of tea ready for him when he came in from work.

Things had gone on from there and they snatched what happiness they could over the next year or so, until she had come to tell him that she was expecting. She’d asked him to leave Glad and set up home with her somewhere that no one would know them. Maybe in the Welsh countryside, where he could perhaps buy a bit of land and work a small holding. Alice, though, was happy enough when he said he’d buy her a little house, somewhere he could visit and get to know their baby. She’d been happy with that, Alice adored him and would never have resorted to blackmail, when perhaps another girl would have done.

Gladys Dockerty was running over the list of wedding invitations with her daughter, Caitlin. Caitlin was a small chubby girl who had never lost her puppy fat and was too fond of cakes and steak and kidney puddings to ever lose her weight.

“I’ve decided to invite Marjorie Buckley to be Eddie’s partner at the wedding, Caitlin. I would have asked you to have her as one of your bridesmaids, but with you having all your sisters that should be enough. Your father has told me that Eddie has proposed to a most unsuitable young lady. She’s a shop assistant for heaven’s sake, not quite what we were wanting for your father’s son and heir.”

“And you think that by throwing Eddie and Marjorie together is somehow going to make him un-betrothed, Mother? You don’t know our Eddie very well then.”

“Caitlin. I know your brother very well, he is my first born son, after all. I know that he’s expecting to inherit everything from your father and will change his mind when I tell him that he will get nothing if he disobeys me.”

“And does Eddie know that the bungalow he’s working on is going to belong to me and Larry? Because if he doesn’t, I’d like to be there to see his face when Dad tells him.”

“Oh, you can be so heartless, Caitlin. No, he hasn’t been told yet and I think it was quite underhanded of your father to pretend that the bungalow was going to be his.”

“Well he’d better tell him soon, because Eddie’s nearly got the roof on, he’s been working every night on it. Probably that’s why he’s proposed to the shop girl, so that they can get married when he’s finished it. Anyway, Mother, will you telephone Miss Clarence in Chester for me soon, because I’ll have to go to a dressmaker for my wedding dress? I’ve looked around Liverpool and there’s nothing suitable in the department stores.”

Aunt Miriam’s face was wreathed in smiles when Irene told her that Eddie had proposed.

“And when is he taking you for your engagement ring, dear? He’s bound to get you a solitaire, not like this little thing that your uncle gave me. Still, I know they say that opals can bring bad luck for the wearer, but we had a happy marriage for nearly forty years.”

“Oh, I don’t mind what Eddie gets me, Aunty. I’m so pleased that I’m going to marry him, I could burst. I’ll be able to leave work and set up home in a nice house somewhere, maybe even in West Kirby where the toffs live.”

“Well, Heswall is quite a nice place to live too, Irene. Maybe you’ll live down Mount Drive and have a view across the River Dee? Has he said when you’ll be getting married? Is it to be a short engagement or a long one? I know most couples have to save up to get married, but with his background, the family will probably make sure you have everything that you need.”

“I think there may be a little problem, Aunty. We haven’t talked about it yet, but Eddie’s family are Roman Catholic. He’ll have to wait until it’s the right time to tell his parents because they probably won’t accept a Protestant like me.”

“Surely that won’t be a problem, Irene. Once they meet you, they’ll see what a lovely girl you are and then religion won’t come into it. I have heard that their eldest daughter is getting married. Miss Smith told me the other day when I went into the Post Office. She said she’d seen the announcement in the
Wirral News
. ‘Caitlin Dockerty marrying Lawrence Davies from Shropshire’. She won’t have to change the initial of her surname, will she?”

“The other thing, Aunty, is that Eddie is only nineteen, so he will need his father’s permission to marry. If his father says no, we’ll have to wait another two years and that will be four years in all that I will have known him.”

“Well, that isn’t such a bad thing, too many marriages falter because they’ve rushed into it. Remember the old adage of ‘marry in haste and repent at leisure’.”

On the following Saturday after the dance, Eddie walked Irene as far as her Aunty’s gate.

“Would you like to come in and have a coffee before you go home?”she asked eagerly. “Aunty will probably still be up and she’s dying to meet you.”

“It’s all right, Irene, I’ll get off home if you don’t mind, I’ll see you again next Saturday.”

“Eddie, I hope you don’t think I’m being forward or anything, but last week when you said about us getting married, you did mean it, didn’t you?”

He laughed nervously and looked a little sheepish, not being able to meet her eyes.

“Is this because I had a bit to drink, that you think I wasn’t being serious?”

“Well you did say I was to give you first refusal if I was thinking of marrying someone. I suppose it was a bit of a cockeyed proposal, but you haven’t mentioned anything since.”

“It’s difficult, Irene. Of course I would like to marry you, but there are so many hurdles to get over before we can be officially engaged. My parents won’t be happy because we aren’t the same religion. I would need their permission to marry as you know I’m only nineteen. But in two years time I’ll be old enough to marry without their consent. So it’s probably best if we keep our engagement secret for the moment, but you know and I know that we’ll get married one day.”

“Oh, and do you love me, Eddie?”

“What do you think, Irene, and I know you love me too.”

She closed her eyes and lifted her face for him to kiss her, but he only kissed her lightly on the cheek, then walked away.

Gladys walked down the dirt track to the bungalow. She carried a small wicker basket that held a round of salmon sandwiches, an apple, a piece of chocolate cake and a Thermos flask of tea.

“Cooee,” she called, as she daintily tiptoed in her cuban heels over the plank of wood that served as a ramp to the doorway.

“Eddie, are you there, darling? Mummy’s here.”

Her son swung down from the loft, where he had been busy checking that the roofing felt was secure enough.

“I thought I heard someone and it’s you, Mum. Oh good, you’ve brought me some lunch. That will save me some time not having to come up to the house.”

“Have you somewhere I could put a tablecloth down and Eddie, is there somewhere you could wash your hands? I brought enough tea for the both of us because I’d like a little talk as you’re eating.”

“We could use that work bench over there, Mum, and I’ll just nip over the fence and wash my hands in the water butt. Sit on that crate, you should be comfortable enough on that.”

He rushed off and was back in five minutes, while Gladys sat on the crate and rehearsed what she was going to say.

“Darling, you know how I hate to interfere in any of my children’s business, but a little bird has told me that you are thinking of marrying a girl that you have met at the village hall dance?”

“Yes, Mum, her name is Irene. I haven’t brought her home to meet the family yet because I’ve been busy getting this place ready, so that when we’re married we can move in.”

“This is why I wanted to talk to you, darling. Do eat that apple, Eddie, before you eat the gateau.

I’m afraid that your father has not been entirely honest with you. He has given you the impression that this will be your bungalow when it’s finished. As you know, Caitlin and Larry will need somewhere to live when they’re married because the house that they were going to have in Nutmeg Avenue has fallen through.”

Eddie’s face had been getting redder and redder as he listened to his mother’s words. The bastard, the effing bloody bastard, he’d been working on this place for months and now it was being taken away!

“Where is he, Mother?” he asked in a dangerously calm voice.

“Who dear?”

“My father, of course. I’ll bloody well swing for him. I’ve worked on this place in all my free time, given up going out with my mates, only seen Irene on Saturday nights and here he is saying I’m not getting it!”

“I think I would calm down if I were you, Eddie. I wouldn’t go doing anything hasty. I know it has come as a shock to you, but your father is allowed to do whatever he likes with his land and property and remember you only work for him. Nothing will be yours until he dies.”

“The way I’m feeling, Mum, I could choke the life out of him. But you’re right, all of this is his anyway. I’ll go and speak to him straight away, because I’m not doing another hands tap for him again.”

“Just be careful what you say to him, darling, he’s not in the greatest of moods at the moment, I’m not sure why. Something to do with that appointment he had a while back with the bank manager. Did I tell you that your father is putting a house in my name? Well, it was going to be a pair of semi’s in my name, but your father has decided to sell one of them and raise some money for Caitlin’s wedding.”

“Bully for Caitlin. I bet he won’t do anything for me and Irene.”

“I’m sure he won’t, dear. You’ll have to make do with a civil wedding if you marry a Protestant and I’m sure you won’t want that to happen, will you, Son?”

There was no answer from Eddie. He had shot off out of the bungalow and left Gladys to clear up the picnic.

J.C. was locking up his car on the driveway as Eddie ran through the gates and caught him by the shoulder. His father looked in surprise at his son’s belligerent face, then brushed his hand away resignedly.

“Someone’s told you then,” he sighed. “What can a man do, when it comes to keeping his head up high in the community? I promised the girl somewhere to live and the bungalow will have to do.”

“Have to do?” snarled Eddie. “You’ve loads of property you could put them in. Why pick the one that I’ve worked on since the footings? Let me tell you, Dad, if you give that bungalow to Caitlin, you and me are finished. I’ll walk out of here and you’ll never see me again.”

“Hah, brave talk from a young whippersnapper, who’s relied on me since he’s been dirtying his cloths. I’ll find you another plot of land and you can start building something else and be damn grateful I’m letting you.”

“What!” Eddie exploded.“So you can give the next one away to Sheena or Rosalind? I don’t think so. What do you take me for, I didn’t come down in the last shower. No, I keep that bungalow or I’m out of here and, like I said, you’ll never see me again.”