The Leaving of Liverpool (23 page)

She began to walk up and down, peering through the dock gate. Supposing she’d missed him? He’d think she didn’t care and she hadn’t meant what she’d said. Then she heard her name being called. She hadn’t planned in any detail what she would do or say to him, but she found herself running towards him, arms outstretched, her heart racing.

He caught her and swung her off her feet. ‘Phoebe-Ann! You came! You came!’ He looked into her sparkling eyes and a wave of pure joy swept through him.

‘I haven’t got long. It’s my dinner time.’

They both ignored the rowdy cheer that came from a group of men coming out of the dock, followed by the jeers and taunts of the rest of the Malones. Nor did she see the envious glances of the waiting wives.

‘I’ll see you back,’ he offered as she tucked her arm in his. ‘I’ve missed you,’ he ventured.

‘I’ve missed you, too, Jake. I haven’t been out at all. Alice said I’m a real misery.’

He hadn’t expected her to stay in every night and he was filled with gratitude. She’d waited for him. She hadn’t gone off dancing or anything like that. It must mean something. He thrust the parcel towards her. ‘I bought you this.’

She was surprised. ‘What is it?’

‘Wait and see. I hope you like it.’

‘You won’t mind if I don’t open it here, will you?’

He was a bit disappointed but then he thought it might be a bit awkward and someone was bound to make some comment that would be repeated to his ma. ‘No. Will you wear it tonight?’

‘Now I’m really curious. Tonight?’

‘Yes. Where would you like to go?’

‘There’s a couples night on at the Grafton, and we’re a couple aren’t we?’

That made him smile. ‘We are too.’

‘I’d better meet you outside.’

He nodded. He was going to be in for enough stick from his brothers as it was. Better to meet her outside the dance hall.

She left him at the factory gate. She reached up on tiptoe and kissed him. ‘I’ll see you tonight, Jake, and I’ll wear it – whatever it is. I promise.’

He watched her walk away and his heart almost burst with love and pride. She was his girl and, what’s more, she’d waited for him without being asked to do so. That surely meant she was serious about him.

 

‘So yer ’ome then. Where’s the rest of yez?’ Ma Malone greeted him as he walked into the tiny cramped and cluttered kitchen.

‘Down the Caradoc. Where else?’ he said.

She grunted and then looked at him suspiciously. ‘Why didn’t yer go wit them? Is there somethin’ the matter wit yez? If yez ’ave got a dose of the pox then yez can get out an’ stay out!’

‘Will yer shut yer gob! I ’aven’t got nothin’ like that! Can’t I come ’ome once in a while without havin’ ter face a bloody inquisition!’ He slipped back into the thick accent that he had consciously suppressed with Phoebe-Ann. ‘What’s ter eat?’

‘Boiled bacon an’ it’s not ready yet. Yez’ll ’ave ter wait.’

‘Bloody boiled bacon. Can’t yer do anythin’ else!’

‘Not on the allotment yez leave me.’

He knew she wasn’t left short of money. All his brothers and himself left an allotment but most of it went on stout and horses. ‘I want me shirt doin’ for ternight.’

‘I want doesn’t get!’ she snapped.

‘Do I ’ave ter do it meself!’ he yelled, his patience exhausted. Fine home-coming this.

‘Don’t think yez can shame me to the neighbours, meladdo! Where is it? I’ll do it later.’

He produced the shirt, rolled up in a ball.

She glared at it. ‘Jesus, Mary an’ Joseph! Look at it! ’Ave yez been cleaning them boilers wit it?’

‘I just want it for tonight. I’ve got a new collar.’

‘What’s all this in aid of then?’

He sighed. He supposed it would be easier to tell her because as soon as the rest of them arrived home it would be common knowledge. ‘I’m goin’ to meet me girl.’

Ma Malone’s beady dark eyes filled with suspicion. He’d never mentioned any girl before and he’d never wanted a shirt washed and ironed for the occasion either. ‘What girl?’

‘Someone I met before I sailed.’

‘’As she gorra name?’

He was loath to tell her. He didn’t even want Phoebe-Ann’s name to be mentioned in this house. It would be tantamount to sacrilege, so high was the pedestal he’d placed her on.

She noticed the hesitation. That was a bad sign. This looked serious. She’d always sworn she’d never share her kitchen with another woman, nor was she happy about the fact that her sons could show affection to anyone but herself. ‘I just ’ope she’s a good Catholic girl that’s all or be God neither of yez will set foot in ’ere.’

Jake was taken aback. It was something he had never even considered. He had loved Phoebe-Ann from the minute he’d set eyes on her, and he’d never even given a thought to what religion she was. Now that he had to think about it he decided it didn’t matter. He never went to church nor did any of his brothers nor Ma. It was years since she’d crossed the doorstep of any church and the priest never came near the house to see why not either.

His silence was not lost on his mother and she glared at him. So, that was it. A bloody Protestant. She’d soon sort this one out. ‘Where are yez goin’ now?’

‘The ale’ouse. I might get some peace an’ quiet there.’

 

‘I’ll have to come home with you first,’ Phoebe-Ann explained to Alice.

‘Why?’

‘Don’t be so thick! I’m going to have to say I’ve borrowed your dress. How else am I going to explain this away?’ She tapped the parcel she was carrying. It had caused a sensation when she’d finally opened it in the toilets at break time.

‘It’s not me who’s the thick one, Phoebe-Ann Parkinson! They’ll take one look at that and know it’s not been made with stuff from Blackler’s and look at the style of it.’

‘I promised I’d wear it tonight.’

‘Tough luck!’

‘I’ll just take it in and take it upstairs, then before I’m going out I’ll put my coat on. That way they won’t get a good look at it. It’s so gorgeous and I did promise.’

Alice shook her head. Phoebe-Ann was letting herself in for a heap of trouble and what’s more she herself was getting tangled up in the web of lies Phoebe-Ann was intent on spinning. ‘Don’t blame me if you get found out and your mam belts you.’

Phoebe-Ann tossed her head. ‘I’m beginning not to care anyway.’

Alice shrugged. When Lily Davies found out she was certain that the explosion would be heard all the way to the Pierhead. If Phoebe-Ann had chosen to fall in love, why on earth hadn’t she picked someone like that drippy Rhys? Anyone would be better than Jake Malone. But, as she looked at her friend, Alice realized that Phoebe-Ann was indeed in love or infatuated. Either way it spelled storms ahead and she didn’t intend to get caught in the subsequent maelstrom.

 

‘You’re late tonight,’ Lily observed when Phoebe-Ann finally arrived home.

‘I went home with Alice; she’s letting me borrow her new dress for tonight.’

Lily looked up. ‘What’s so special about tonight?’

‘Nothing really. Just a dance at the Grafton.’

‘Isn’t Alice going?’

‘No, she’s not feeling well. I’m going with Ginny,’ Phoebe-Ann lied, hoping her cheeks weren’t going to flush and give her away.

‘She must be feeling ill if she let you borrow a dress she hasn’t even worn yet.’

‘She has worn it. She had it on the other night.’ More lies, but she was in too deep now. ‘Where’s Albert?’ she asked to change the subject.

‘In the yard with Rhys. They’ll be in in a minute.’

She had totally forgotten about Rhys. ‘How did his trip go?’

‘Not too bad. Damned hard work he said it was. Much harder than down the pit. Well, let’s have a look at this frock then? You’ve both spent enough time on it, it should be a creation of wondrous beauty.’

Phoebe-Ann hesitated, thinking what Alice had said about the dress.

‘What’s the matter with it?’ Lily asked. ‘Has it got no back in it or – worse – no front?’

‘No!’

‘Well then, let’s see it, this copy of a George Henry Lee model gown.’

There was no way out. Phoebe-Ann undid the parcel and shook out the folds of gentian blue crêpe-dechine.

Lily was very impressed. ‘By, you’ve made a good job of it the pair of you! A fine job indeed. I think you’re both wasted in that factory. You should take up dressmaking.’ She turned as Albert and Rhys entered the kitchen. ‘Would you look at this, Albert. Our Phoebe-Ann and Alice Wainwright made it. Copied it from one they saw in the window of George Henry Lee’s. I was saying they should take it up as a trade.’

Albert smiled broadly at Phoebe-Ann and she blushed and smiled back.

Rhys’s gaze was riveted on the dress. It couldn’t be! It just couldn’t be! But it was. It was unmistakable. He felt sick. It had been Phoebe-Ann who Jake Malone had been shopping for and the fact that it was a dress made him feel worse. Surely . . . surely Phoebe-Ann hadn’t let Jake Malone touch her or take liberties with her! He sat down suddenly.

Lily was all concern. ‘Rhys, what’s the matter?’

He managed a smile. ‘Still not used to the ground under my feet not moving, that’s all.’

Albert laughed. ‘Still feels as though he’s at sea.’

Rhys wished he was still at sea, for all the brightness and hope had gone.

 

As soon as he was able, Rhys approached Phoebe-Ann on the subject of Jake Malone. He’d tried to ignore it but he couldn’t. It kept eating away at him. In a rare moment before he sailed he found himself alone with her.

‘Can I ask you something, Phoebe-Ann?’

She looked up from ironing a blouse and he remembered how only a short time ago he’d first asked her out. She’d been ironing then, too, he thought.

‘What?’

‘Where did you get that dress?’

‘Which dress?’ she asked impatiently.

‘That blue one you said was Alice’s.’

She was taken aback. He worked with Jake and she wondered if Jake had been boasting. ‘Someone bought it for me. I couldn’t tell Mam that, could I?’

‘Jake Malone bought it. I saw him and so did Edwin and Todd.’

‘Oh, so I suppose half the crew of the
Maury
know about it, too!’ she snapped.

‘No. Just us three and him.’

‘He’s got a name!’

He got up and walked to the window, hands thrust deep into the pockets of his trousers. ‘Why him?’

She slammed down the flat iron and threw the blouse over a chair. ‘Well, why not? I didn’t know I needed your permission. I like him!’

He turned towards her. ‘Phoebe-Ann, I work with them! I hear the way they talk about women and girls and it makes me sick. They’re so crude and coarse! All they care about is one thing.’

‘Jake’s not like that!’

‘He is. He’s no different to the rest.’

She began to wonder if he was speaking the truth but she pushed the doubt to the back of her mind. He was just jealous. ‘He is! You’re jealous of him.’

He came towards her, his eyes pleading. ‘Yes I am jealous, Phoebe-Ann. I don’t want you to throw yourself away on the likes of Jake Malone.’

‘What I do is my business,’ she interrupted angrily.

‘Phoebe-Ann, I care very much what happens to you. Put a stop to it now, please? What kind of a man buys a dress for a girl who isn’t even his betrothed, let alone his wife.’

How dare he? Phoebe-Ann fumed. How dare he speak to her like that? He wasn’t even related to her. Before she could start to berate him he caught her hands.

‘Phoebe-Ann, I love you! I have loved you since the minute I set eyes on you. You’re so beautiful and so sweet. Don’t let him drag you down into the mire that he and his brothers wallow in.’

She snatched her hands away. ‘I’ll go out with whoever I wish and I don’t believe you! You’re jealous and angry that I don’t love you.’

He turned away from her. She’d thrown his declaration of love and devotion back in his face and it hurt. It hurt deeply. But even more bitter to bear than her rejection was the fact that she’d obviously given her heart to Jake Malone.

E
MILY NOTICED THE DIFFERENCE in Phoebe-Ann almost from the first time Rhys had gone away to sea. At least she thought it had something to do with that. It had changed Rhys too; he seemed quieter, more withdrawn and surprisingly he hardly ever spoke to her sister unless it was necessary. She’d mentioned the fact to Edwin but he had been as confused as herself. He had come to the conclusion that they had had some kind of a row, for any attempt to bring up the subject of Phoebe-Ann with Rhys was hastily cut short in such a way that he was not allowed to question Rhys about it.

Whatever had passed between them, it certainly hadn’t affected Phoebe-Ann, Emily thought. She went around with her head in the clouds most of the time and spent a good deal of time with Alice or at Alice’s house. Emily guessed that Alice had a boyfriend on the
Mauretania
for, when that ship docked, Alice always wanted Phoebe-Ann to accompany her to the dock. When it was away, Phoebe-Ann spent most of her time cheering Alice up. Or at least that’s what she said she was doing and she had no reason to doubt her sister.