A Mother's Promise (3 page)

‘You’re only just sixteen, Jane. That’s far too young to think about getting hitched.’

‘Ma was sixteen when she married Pa.’

‘That was different. Pa had good prospects at the match factory until he fell sick with lung fever. If you married Nat you’d have to get by on a labourer’s wage. You could do so much better, love.’ Hetty blinked away a snowflake as it landed on her eyelashes, but the chill was in her stomach as she thought of the risk that Jane was prepared to take.

‘You need to live in the real world, Hetty. There ain’t no knight in shining armour going to ride his white charger down Autumn Road to sweep you off your feet, nor me neither. We got to settle for what we can get, and if I can
persuade Nathaniel Smith to marry me, then I’ll be more than satisfied.’

‘But – but he’s cross-eyed, Jane. Sometimes when he’s looking at you, both his eyes meet in the middle.’

Jane tossed her head. ‘Well at least that stops his gaze wandering off and eyeing up other girls. I never said he was handsome, and maybe he ain’t clever, but he’s got a steady job and he’s a hard worker. If I can get him to the altar he’ll look after the lot of us, you and the boys included. Anyway, you’re wrong, Hetty. I do love him in me own way. I really do.’

Hetty stared at her young brothers gambolling in the snow. She would have to rub Eddie’s chest with goose grease tonight before she put him to bed, or by morning he would be running a temperature. She turned back to answer Jane but was just in time to see her disappear into a swirling mass of snow. She sighed. Well, it was Jane’s life when all was said and done, but if Nat proved to be a bad choice she would have a lifetime of regret stretching out in front of her. ‘Come on, boys. Stop that now and let’s get to the shop to buy the things we need.’

Sammy dropped his snowball onto the pavement. ‘And our fish supper.’

‘That too,’ Hetty said, smiling. A snowball, thrown by Eddie with deadly accuracy, hit her
squarely in the face. ‘Why, you little . . .’ Half angry, half laughing, she wiped the melting ice from her eyes. ‘Right, you little monster. You’ve asked for it.’ She bent down and scooped up a handful of snow. Forming it into a ball, she tossed it at Eddie who screamed and ran away. Sammy responded by pelting Hetty with snowballs, and Eddie joined in, shouting gleefully. Hetty forgot all about being grown-up and sensible as she fought back, laughing and shrieking as loud as or even louder than her brothers.

‘Hey! Two on to one – that’s not fair.’ Tom came striding towards them out of the darkness. He scooped up handfuls of snow and made a huge snowball.

‘You wouldn’t . . .’ Sammy murmured, backing away.

‘Oh, wouldn’t I?’ Tom lobbed it at them, but the snowball hit a lamppost, fragmented and fell harmlessly to the ground.

Hetty pitched a snowball at Tom, catching him squarely on the back of his head and tipping his cap over his eyes. ‘Got you, Tom. That one’s for me brothers.’

He spun round and caught her by the shoulders, giving her a gentle shake. ‘Here, I was on your side.’

A snowball hit him on the head and another clipped his ear, knocking his cap to the ground.

‘You see what happens when you take on the Huggins family,’ Hetty said, laughing.

He bent down to retrieve his cap. ‘Fainites!’ he said, holding up his right hand and crossing his fingers. ‘I’ll go quietly.’

Sammy and Eddie pounced on him, grabbing his hands. ‘We got him for you, Hetty. What shall us do with him now?’

Hetty angled her head. ‘I think he should carry the bag of coal for us, for a start, and the kindling.’

‘You’re a hard woman, Hetty, but I know when I’m beaten. I’ll pay my penance, gladly. But on one condition.’

‘And what’s that, Tom?’

‘That you let me buy you a fish supper at Greasy Joe’s.’

‘I’ll think about it.’

Sammy tugged at Tom’s hand. ‘And some wallies, please, Tom.’

‘I think I can run to a wally or two.’

Eddie pulled Tom’s other hand. ‘How about a pickled egg?’

‘Maybe, but only if you’re a good boy and do everything your sister says.’

Sammy and Eddie whooped for joy and bounded on ahead as Tom linked Hetty’s hand through the crook of his elbow and started off in the direction of the grocer’s shop.

‘You spoil them,’ she said with mock severity.
‘But thanks anyway.’ Hetty knew that she ought to have refused his generous offer, but the thought of saving a few pennies was too tempting. She would be able to give Clench a little extra when he called next day. The sooner they paid him off the better. She smiled up at Tom. Although he was only just twenty-one, two years her senior, he had been labouring at the gasworks for more than seven years, and if she was being honest, she had to admit that he had matured into quite a good-looking young man. Any girl would be proud to be seen out with such a fellow.

The interior of Greasy Joe’s café was filled with steam and the slightly rancid odour of hot fat mixed with the wet sheep smell of damp woollen clothes drying out in the fuggy heat. The other customers, all working men who had just come off shift in the gasworks or the carbolic acid factory on the banks of the River Lea, sat smoking hand-rolled cigarettes and drinking tea. Hetty prepared to queue at the counter, but Tom directed them to a bench, insisting that it was his treat and he had no intention of standing outside in the snow eating his supper from yesterday’s newspaper. Sammy and Eddie took their places at one of the wooden tables, staring around wide-eyed. Hetty hid a smile as she watched them sitting primly on the form,
unusually silent, as they absorbed their unfamiliar surroundings. She could not remember the last time she had sat down to eat in a café. Greasy Joe’s might not be grand like the chop houses and restaurants up West that she had read about in old copies of magazines, but at least it was warm and cosy in here, and tonight for once they would go to bed with full bellies.

Tom threaded his way between the tables holding an enamel plate in his hand. He set it down in front of Sammy and Eddie. ‘Here, boys. Get your choppers round them for a start. The fish suppers won’t be long.’

Sammy grabbed the largest wally and bit into the sweet pickled cucumber with an expression of bliss on his face. Eddie snatched another and crammed it into his mouth.

‘Steady on,’ Hetty said sternly. ‘You’ll get bellyache if you gobble your food.’

‘Let them be. They’re enjoying themselves,’ Tom said, taking a seat beside Hetty. ‘This is most pleasant. We should do it more often.’

Hetty eyed him suspiciously. ‘What d’you mean by that, Tom? I ain’t a charity case, you know. I was going to buy us a fish supper tonight even if you hadn’t offered. I can pay me way.’

‘Don’t get all huffy with me, girl. No offence intended. I just meant it was nice to have your
company, and maybe we could step out together, proper like.’

Sammy paused with a wally halfway to his lips, scowling. ‘Are you spooning with me sister, Tom?’

‘Of course not, silly,’ Hetty said hastily. ‘Look, our supper’s ready.’ She half rose, intending to go to the counter to collect the food, but Tom pressed her back onto her seat.

‘No, you sit there like a lady. I’ll get the grub.’

Hetty watched him with a feeling of unease as he returned to the counter. She was fond of Tom, but she had no intention of getting tied up with a bloke, not yet anyway. She had ambition and it didn’t involve getting hitched at nineteen and being saddled with a baby every year. She wanted something better out of life than the back-breaking daily grind suffered by her poor dead mother. She hadn’t worked out how she would achieve her ambition, but there must be something she could do that would earn good money. The solution to all their problems would come to her one day, of that she was certain.

When Sammy and Eddie were so intent on stuffing fish and chips that the roof could have blown off without their noticing it, she turned to Tom, speaking in a low voice. ‘I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, just because I let you buy us supper.’

His smile faded into a puzzled frown. ‘I ain’t sure I get your meaning, Hetty.’

She laid her hand on his arm. ‘Oh, Tom. We’re good friends and always have been. I want it to stay that way.’

‘And I do too, ducks. But that don’t mean to say we can’t be better than friends.’

‘That’s just it. I don’t need any complications in my life. I got a family to raise and a living to earn.’ She laid her finger on his lips as he opened his mouth to speak. ‘No, hear me out. I got plans, Tom. Plans for a better future, and they don’t include romance – at least not yet.’

Next morning, although dawn was several hours away, Hetty gazed in wonder at the moonlight reflecting on the surface of the snow and turning night into day. Standing beside Jane on the pavement outside the factory gates, she tried to ignore the bitter cold gnawing at her bones and hunger growling in her belly like an angry bulldog. Icicles hung from the factory roof, sparkling under the stars like diamonds around a rich woman’s neck. The amorphous mass of darkly clad workers stood out eerily against the pristine whiteness of the snow. Some of the younger children were having snowball fights and their shrieks of laughter echoed off the high walls.

Hetty moved closer to Jane. ‘What time did you get home last night?’ she demanded in a low voice. ‘I didn’t hear you come in.’

Jane’s soft lips curved in a smug smile. ‘Can’t say that I remember.’

‘It must have been very late. I heard the church clock strike midnight before I fell asleep, and you still hadn’t come home.’

‘Me and Nat went to the Four Feathers for a drink. Then we had a pie and eel supper.’

‘And then what?’

‘That’s none of your business, I’d say, Hetty.’

‘I’m the eldest and Ma told me to look after you and the boys.’

‘Well, when I’m Mrs Nathaniel Smith, I’ll be the married woman and it will be me telling you what to do. He’ll have to marry me now.’

Hetty felt her heart miss a beat and she seized Jane by the arm. ‘What have you been and gone and done?’

Jane pulled her left hand from beneath her shawl and waved it in front of Hetty’s face. ‘We got engaged last night, me and Nat,’ she said, her voice throbbing with suppressed excitement. ‘Ain’t you happy for me, Hetty? Nat wants to marry me as soon as he gets his promotion.’

‘And when might that be?’

‘I don’t know.’ Jane pushed her away, pouting. ‘And don’t look at me like that. You’re just jealous because a man has asked me to marry him, and I’m younger than you. I’ll be a married woman and you’ll be an old maid.’

‘It’s not that and you know it,’ Hetty said in a low voice. ‘You – you didn’t do nothing silly, did you, Jane?’

One of the almost unrecognisable figures in front of them turned her head to give Jane a
long, searching look. ‘I’d say she got more than just a cheap glass ring last night.’ Mrs Briggs let out a loud cackle of laughter, causing heads to turn.

‘Shut up, you old witch,’ Jane cried angrily. ‘Who asked you to stick your nose into our business, anyway?’

Mrs Briggs nudged the woman at her side. ‘Jane Huggins will be needing your services in nine months’ time, I’ll wager.’

‘Ignore them,’ Hetty said hastily as Jane’s lips began to tremble. ‘They’re having you on.’

‘You don’t think she could be right, do you, Hetty?’

‘Oh, Jane, you never – you know what. Did you?’ Hetty whispered.

Tears sparkled on the tips of Jane’s long eyelashes and she nodded her head. ‘But you can’t get in the family way the first time you do it.’

Mrs Briggs doubled up with laughter. ‘That’s all you know, ducks.’

Hetty stifled a groan. ‘How could you be so silly, Jane? Ain’t we got enough trouble without you giving in to the first bloke who buys you a pie and eel supper?’

‘He’s going to marry me,’ Jane whispered. ‘Nat give me a ring and said he wanted to do it proper.’

‘Oh, he’s done you proper, all right, girl.’
Mrs Briggs uttered a derisive snort. She leaned over to Hetty, lowering her voice. ‘If the worst comes to the worst, ducks, I know a woman who can fix her up. I shouldn’t take too much notice of the ring neither. In my experience, blokes will say and do anything to get what they want.’ She tapped the side of her nose. ‘Know what I mean?’

Hetty drew herself up to her full height. ‘When I want your advice, Mrs Briggs, I’ll ask for it.’

‘Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.’

At that moment the factory gates swung open and the queue moved forward before Hetty had a chance to retaliate.

Later, when they arrived back home, Hetty sent the boys out to buy bread for breakfast, and she gave them enough money to buy a pot of beef dripping as a treat. As soon as they were out of earshot, she turned to Jane. ‘How could you, Jane? How could you be so – so silly?’

Jane’s lips drooped like those of a sad baby. ‘You’ve ruined it. You and that old bitch, Briggs. Nat loves me, he said so, but you’ve made me feel dirty.’

Hetty hurried round the table to give Jane a hug. ‘No, of course it’s not dirty if you love each other, but you mustn’t let him have his way with you again, not until you’ve got that
wedding ring on your finger. We can’t feed another mouth, even a tiny one.’ She managed a wobbly smile. ‘Cheer up, love. It might never happen.’

‘That’s right.’ Jane mopped her eyes on her apron and she chuckled. ‘I’m a woman of experience now, Hetty. I done something that you haven’t done. At least, you didn’t, did you? The boys told me that Tom bought you a slap-up fish supper and he saw you home.’

‘Certainly not. I got more sense. I’m not going to live in this midden all me life. I got plans for all of us, so you keep your legs crossed next time, my girl.’

‘I’ll try,’ Jane said doubtfully. ‘But it won’t be easy. To tell you the truth, Hetty, I really enjoyed it – after the first painful bit, that is.’

Hetty held up her hands. ‘Ta, but I think I’ve heard enough.’ She turned her head to peer out of the window at the sound of footsteps outside. ‘Oh, blimey. It’s Clench.’ She picked up her purse and moved towards the door. ‘I’ll deal with him; you keep out of the way.’

‘I can’t help it if all the blokes fancy me,’ Jane said, smirking.