The River Folk (24 page)

‘Here, here, there’s no need for that sort of talk,’ Minnie sprang at once to Bessie’s defence. ‘She only said—’

‘I know what she said,’ Amy spat. ‘She’s got a long memory and an even longer knife. And she knows how to wound with it, an’ all.’ Amy turned and stormed towards her own back door.

Inside the Ruddicks’ house, Mary Ann ran down the stairs as Bessie came in.

‘What was all that about?’ she asked.

‘Something and nothing,’ Bessie said. ‘Get the kettle on. I could do with a cuppa after that.’

Mary Ann busied herself and they were sitting at the table pouring out the tea when Minnie poked her head round the door. ‘Any left in the pot?’

‘Come on in, then.’ Bessie sighed and rested her arms on the table.

Minnie sat down. ‘You going to tell us then?’

‘I don’t know if I should,’ Bessie murmured. ‘Doesn’t seem fair. ’Specially now.’

‘Oh, go on, Bess. You know I can keep a secret. I’m not like Phyllis. And Mary Ann here, well, she’ll not say owt, will you, lass?’

Mary Ann, having witnessed Minnie defending her alongside Bessie, smiled. ‘’Course not, Mrs Eccleshall.’

Bessie sighed. ‘It’s a long time ago. Me and Bert had been married nearly two years and I was expecting our Dan when the Hamiltons came to live in the yard. George had got a job at Phillips’ Engineering and they’d moved here from Lincoln. Their little boy, Ron, was about eighteen months old, I think.’ Bessie paused a moment and smiled sadly, remembering the golden-haired little boy learning to walk on the uneven cobbles of Waterman’s Yard. ‘But living in the yard then was old Mrs Jaggers and she was
the
biggest gossip I have ever met in me life.’

‘What? Worse than Phyllis?’ Minnie asked incredulously.

‘Oh, ten times worse than her. Anyway, only a few weeks after the Hamiltons moved in, Mrs Jaggers was spreading it around that they’d had to get married. That Amy was six months gone when she walked down the aisle.’

‘How had she found that out?’

Bessie shrugged. ‘How does Phyllis find things out? They know someone, who knows someone, who knows.’

Minnie was thoughtful for a moment before she said, ‘I’d never have thought it of Amy, though, of all people. She’s always seemed so prim and proper.’

‘It can happen to the best of us,’ Bessie said, and then she winked at the other two like a guilty conspirator. ‘I have to admit, even I was lucky not to get caught ’afore Bert put the ring on me finger.’

The two women laughed together and Mary Ann joined in, though her laughter was with relief, realizing now, even more than before, just how lucky she had been that she was not at this moment carrying Randolph Marsh’s bastard.

‘So what are you going to do now that you’re married?’

Once all the legalities, because of Mary Ann’s age, had been satisfied, they were married quietly in the parish church. The only witnesses present were the Ruddick family members and Minnie and Stan Eccleshall.

Once back in Waterman’s Yard for the ‘reception’, for which Bessie had spent the whole of the previous day baking, she asked the question and went on, ‘It’s high time you were making some decisions. All I’ve heard so far is a lot of talk. But you know you can both stay here, Dan, in your room, if that’s what you want?’

Dan smiled at his mother. ‘I know, I know. You’d like to keep all your chicks under your roof, wouldn’t you, Ma?’

‘She can’t wait to be a grandma,’ Duggie teased. ‘That’s what it is. So you’d best get up them stairs, our Dan, and get cracking.’

Everyone laughed, though Mary Ann lowered her head, pretending to be shy at the mention of their wedding night. In truth, she was rather nervous at the thought of what would happen when she and Dan climbed into bed together. Not because she was ignorant, for she knew all too well what to expect. But Mary Ann was desperate to deceive Dan into thinking that for her it was the first time. She thought back to the night Randolph had first made love to her. To her chagrin, she felt the familiar thrill run through her when she remembered his touch and his seductive words.

No, no, she must not think of him. She must think only of Dan now.

Thoughtful as ever, Dan was drawing the conversation away from such delicate matters, though Mary Ann hoped fervently that he did not even begin to guess at the real cause of her blushes. That night, she knew, she would have to be a very good actress.

‘I shall have to start looking for a job tomorrow.’ He glanced apologetically at his new wife. ‘I’m afraid a honeymoon is out for us at the moment, love.’

Mary Ann slipped her hand into his and squeezed it. ‘I don’t mind. As long as we’re together.’

Duggie made a sound as if he was going to be sick, which earned him a gentle clout from his mother. ‘Don’t you mock it, son,’ she laughed. ‘You’d do better to find yasen a nice girl.’

Duggie put his hands over his heart and threw back his head dramatically. ‘But my heart is broken, Mam. Dan has stolen the only girl I’ve ever loved.’

The whole family laughed and Duggie’s grin was the widest of all. ‘There’s one good thing about it, though,’ he said. ‘She’s really our sister now, isn’t she?’

Mary Ann felt a warm glow run through her, and inside her head she repeated the vows she had so recently spoken in the church. She would be a good wife to Dan. Lovingly, she smiled up at him and he reached out and touched her face gently with the tips of his fingers.

‘Aye,’ Bessie was saying. ‘And we’ve got a daughter, ’aven’t we, Bert?’

‘Yes, light of my life, we have.’ He beamed across at the couple, but then his smile faded a little as he added, ‘But you’re right, Dan. You should start looking straight away for a job. I’ve asked around for you already, but everyone is so frightened of Price’s hold on this stretch of the river, you might have to go further afield.’

The interview with Mr Price a week earlier, Dan had told them all, had been short but nasty. ‘He’s a vindictive old devil, but I have to hand it to Susan that she hadn’t told him before now.’

That had surprised Bessie. ‘That day she came here, I thought she’d run straight home and tell him. I thought you were for the sack then, lad.’ Bessie had glanced at her son and then away again. She had said no more, but her look had said, ‘Susan must still care for you if she has kept it hidden from her father all this time.’

Understanding, Dan had nodded. ‘I feel guilty enough about it, without her old man having a go at me.’

‘You’ve no reason to feel guilty,’ Mary Ann had said. ‘It’s no good marrying her if you don’t love her. You love me now, don’t you?’

‘Yes, yes. Of course I do.’

‘And it’s not as if you were engaged to her or anything, is it?’

That had prompted a wry grimace from Dan. ‘Good job I wasn’t. Do you know what he said to me? If we’d been officially engaged, he’d have had me up in court for breach of promise. Can you imagine that?’

Bessie had nodded. ‘Aye, with Jack Price I can believe anything.’ She had looked, then, at her husband. ‘What about you, Bert? Is your job safe?’

Bert had wrinkled his brow. ‘I reckon. We go back a long way, Jack and me.’ Bert tapped the side of his nose and winked at his wife. ‘There’s things I know about Jack Price that perhaps he wouldn’t like aired in public. I reckon he’ll let me alone.’

‘Couldn’t you make him give Dan his job back, then?’ Mary Ann asked. ‘Couldn’t you sort of threaten him?’

Bessie had answered swiftly for her husband. ‘It’s not in Bert’s nature to do things like that.’

‘I think it’d be best,’ Bert said quietly, ‘for you to make a clean break, Dan. It’d only make things very awkward for you if you were to stay on with him, now wouldn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ Dan was forced to agree. ‘Yes, you’re right, Dad.’

Mary Ann continued to help Miss Edwina at the school, both in teaching embroidery and helping out generally. They had been married for two months and Dan had still not been able to find work.

‘I know how difficult things must be for you, Mary Ann,’ Edwina said, ‘so there’ll be a little extra in your pay packet each week until Dan has found another job.’

‘Oh thank you, miss. You are kind.’ Mary Ann paused and then added, ‘You heard then?’

Edwina smiled. ‘Not much remains a secret in this town, not even from the so-called gentry.’ She pulled a wry face against herself. ‘But seriously, how is Dan’s search for work progressing?’

Now it was Mary Ann’s turn to pull a face and say, ‘Not very well. So many people have business with Mr Price and they’re not prepared to upset him by giving Dan a job. Mr Price has let everyone know that he believes Dan jilted his daughter and broke her heart.’

Edwina sighed. ‘Oh dear.’ She was thoughtful a moment and then said, ‘There’s someone my father knows. A boat owner near Newark. I’ll see what I can do. Leave it with me, Mary Ann.’

A week later, Mary Ann ran nearly all the way home, arriving breathless and holding the stitch in her side. ‘Dan. Where’s Dan?’

‘He’s out. Why, whatever’s the matter?’

Mary Ann’s face was overjoyed. ‘Miss Edwina’s found him a job. At least, she’s arranged for him to go and see a boat owner near Newark and she’s put in a good word for him, so he can’t fail to get it.’

‘Here, here, slow down. I can’t keep up with you, lass. Sit down and tell me slowly.’

Mary Ann sat down, taking huge gulps of air to steady herself. ‘Miss Edwina’s father knows a man who owns several boats . . .’

‘Ships, love, ships,’ Bessie, out of habit, corrected her.

‘Ships, then.’ Mary Ann was impatient to impart her news. ‘And Dan’s to go and see him. It’s a Mr Sudbury. One of his skippers has just been taken very ill and he’s desperate to find someone.’

‘That’s a bit of luck,’ Bessie began and then she clapped her hand to her mouth. ‘Oh, that sounds awful towards the poor feller who’s ill, but you know what I mean.’ Her face clouded. ‘Dan’s not a skipper though. He hasn’t the experience.’

‘Mr Price was going to make him a skipper if he’d married Susan, so he must have thought he was capable of being one.’

Bessie was frowning. ‘How d’you know that? I didn’t know that.’

‘Oh, er . . .’ Mary Ann realized suddenly that in her excitement she had let her tongue run away with her. ‘Dan told me.’ Mentally, she crossed her fingers, hoping the lie would not catch her out. She was sure Bessie would not have approved of her eavesdropping.

‘Well . . .’ Still, Bessie did not sound too sure, but she smiled and nodded and said, ‘At least he can go and see this Mr Sudbury. That’s something, ain’t it? But I shouldn’t get your hopes up.’

Dan travelled to Newark the following day, leaving Mary Ann in a turmoil of excitement until she heard his footsteps in the alleyway that evening. She flew out of the house and across the yard to meet him, Bessie waddling after her as fast as she could. Dan caught Mary Ann in his arms and swung her round.

‘I’ve got a job. I’ve got a job and what’s more, we’ve got a home, an’ all. Mr Sudbury says we can live aboard the ship I’m to skipper. There now, what do you think of that?’

Mary Ann gave a squeal of delight and Bessie clapped her hands. ‘I’m that glad for you, I don’t know where to put mesen. Wait till Bert hears. And to live aboard, an’ all. Oh, I’m that envious. It’s a wonderful life, Mary Ann. You’ll love it.’

Mary Ann was still hugging him. ‘I don’t care where we live, as long as I’m with Dan.’

That evening the house was alive with chatter as Dan related all that had happened and everyone plied him with questions.

‘Whatever did you tell him?’

‘Does he know you’ve not skippered before?’

‘Did he ask for references, ’cos I doubt old Price’d give you the time of day.’

‘It’s all thanks to Miss Edwina. Oh, but she is good.’ This was from Bessie.

‘One at a time, one at a time,’ Dan grinned happily. ‘I told him the truth. Everything. There was no other way, really, was there? But he’s a really nice chap. I took to him and I think he took to me. He’s a real, larger-than-life character. He wears a check jacket and trousers and a top hat all the time and always has a cigar in his mouth. And you should hear him laugh. It’s so loud it’s a wonder we can’t hear it from here.’ If it was possible, Dan’s smile broadened even further. ‘It seems that John Sudbury had a run in with Jack Price some years back. He can’t stand the man and they’re bitter rivals now for trade on this part of the Trent. So, he’s very happy to put one over on him. He said he’d heard of me. You know how river folk talk? And he’d heard nowt but good, how I was a good worker and that I was more than ready to take on my own ship. He wants me to take on all the work I can get downriver, to Hull, even into Yorkshire, if I can.’

‘How’s he paying you, lad?’

‘Thirds, Dad.’

Everyone nodded approval, except Mary Ann who looked puzzled. ‘What’s that mean?’

‘It’s the way the earnings are shared between the owner and the captain. The owner pays certain expenses out first, then the money that’s left is split one-third to the owner, that’s Mr Sudbury and then two-thirds to the captain.’ Dan grinned, as if he could not, even yet, believe his good fortune.

‘And that’s all yours?’

‘Well, yes, but I’ll have a lot of expenses to pay out of my portion. Casual labour, towing, horse-hauling, even lock pennies when we have to go through locks or bridges that have to be operated to let us through and then of course there’s our living expenses . . .’

‘Oh stop, stop. I don’t want to know,’ Mary Ann laughed.

Now Dan glanced apologetically at Mary Ann. ‘There’s just one thing. I had to tell him about the bit of trouble a while back. I thought it best to be completely honest with him. And it was a good job I was, because he’d heard all about it. He put his hand on my shoulder and said that clinched the deal as far as he was concerned. If I could be that honest about that, then he had no more worries.’

‘There you are. Haven’t I always told you, honesty is the best policy?’ Bessie reminded him.

‘You have, Ma. You have.’

‘It’s all down to you and your upbringing that’s got Dan that job today, our mam,’ Duggie teased, but Bessie only pretended to preen herself and agreed, ‘Of course it is.’