Forgive and Forget (14 page)

That had all the family laughing. All except for Polly, who scurried to the scullery, blushing furiously.

To Polly’s joy, even though he’d heard about the events of the night he’d taken her to the fair, Leo did not stop paying a gentle courtship to her. His shift work as a city policeman prevented regular meetings, but on his days off he’d walk with her to the Arboretum, even helping to push the pram up the inclines.

‘There’s not many fellers’d be seen pushing a pram,’ she said. ‘Doesn’t it bother you?’

Leo chuckled. ‘I’m a copper – remember. Nobody’d dare poke fun at me.’

Polly smiled and walked proudly at his side. ‘Everybody seems to like you, don’t they?’ she remarked. Whenever they walked through the streets and the park, even though he was out of uniform, people recognized him, smiled and greeted him.

‘Like I said before,’ Leo said, ‘a copper’s job is not just to run the miscreants in.’ He chuckled softly. ‘Though I’m quite good at doing that an’ all. No, I see it as a way of helping my community. Of putting a bit back. I lock the bad ’uns up to keep them away from the good folk and, at the same time, I try to help those that need it.’ His face sobered. ‘There’s times when I don’t like it, of course. I hate it when we have to go to some poor folk’s house when the bailiffs are banging on their door. Or even – ’ he bit his lip and Polly could see that he was deeply moved – ‘having to take some poor old soul to the workhouse and I know full well they’ll never come out of there again. It fair breaks my heart at times, Poll, I don’t mind telling you.’

Greatly daring, Polly linked her arm through his and squeezed it to her side. ‘You’re a good sort, Leo. All your family are. You’ll always do what’s right. I know you will.’

They walked on side by side, acutely aware of each other’s nearness, and Leo made no effort to release her arm. In fact, he hugged it closer to him. True to his promise, when he wasn’t on duty at the weekend, he would take Polly, and Miriam and Stevie too, to the park to hear the band or to the Brayford to see the boats. He even took Stevie on a rowing boat on the river. Polly was anxious the whole time they were out on the water and flatly refused to go too. Even Leo could not persuade her to go out on a boat, she was so terrified of falling in. ‘If I fall in that mucky lot, I won’t drown, I’ll suffocate.’

Leo had only laughed. ‘Whatever would our councillors say if they heard you criticizing their waterways when they’re doing so much to clean everything up?’

But still Polly would not give in. And so she and Miriam watched from the bank as Leo rowed strongly, taking the excited little boy for a trip.

The summer of 1906 was wonderful for Polly as she fell deeper and deeper in love with Leo.

‘Micky!’ Polly hoped the disappointment she felt inside didn’t sound in her tone. ‘Eddie’s not home yet. Can you come back later?’

‘’S’all right, Polly. I’m not doing owt. I’ll wait wi’ you.’

It was just what Polly didn’t want, but she had no alternative as Micky put his foot in the door before she could close it. With an inward sigh, she turned back to the kitchen. ‘Mek yarsen at home, then, but you’ll excuse me if I get on with Dad’s tea. And Eddie’s.’

‘I haven’t eaten. Me mam’s got one of her huffs on and she’s not cooking tea tonight. Is there enough for me an’ all?’

Polly was surprised. She hadn’t thought Hetty Fowler had it in her to refuse to cook tea for her family. Maybe there was more to the dowdy little woman than Polly had realized. And no, there wasn’t really enough food to share, but Polly wasn’t going to admit to Micky Fowler just how hard-pressed for money the Longden family still were at times. It was especially difficult when William kept more back for his beer than normal and, for some reason, Eddie hadn’t been giving her as much lately as he once had.

‘Of course there is,’ she answered Micky brightly. ‘Eddie’s friends are always welcome.’

He came to the doorway of the scullery and leant again the frame, watching her peel potatoes. ‘I’d much rather be
your
friend, Polly. Will you come out with me one night?’

‘Sorry. I’m seeing someone.’

Micky’s mouth curved in a sneer. ‘Our upstanding, pillar-of-society copper, eh?’

There was silence between them. Polly was determined not to rise to his goading, so she carried on peeling the potatoes, but inside she was churning with anger.

‘Well, I don’t reckon he’ll ever want to marry into a family where there’s a thief.’

Polly’s hands trembled. How on earth did Micky know about Violet taking the money from the tea caddy that time? Had Eddie told him?

Slowly, she turned to face him, making her face expressionless. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Oh, come off it, Poll. You must know that Eddie got the sack from Wilmott’s for pinching.’

The potato she was holding slipped out of her fingers and splashed into the water. Now she couldn’t hide the shock from showing on her face.

‘You didn’t know?’ Micky said softly, but he was still grinning. ‘He’s been left there nearly a month.’

Polly said nothing and just continued to stare at him. But her mind was working fast. That was about the time when his contribution to the housekeeping each week had dropped.

She found her voice at last. ‘Pinching what, exactly?’

Micky shrugged. ‘Veg, fruit, owt, I suppose.’

‘Not money? He didn’t take money?’

‘How should I know?’

‘Well, you seem to think you
do
know. But let me tell you summat, Micky Fowler. On a Saturday night Mr Wilmott
gave
our Eddie any fruit and veg that wouldn’t be good enough to sell by the Monday. He’s been good to us. Very good. If it hadn’t been for the stuff he gave us at the time of the typhoid, I don’t reckon we’d’ve survived.’

‘So, why’s Eddie left there then, if it was such a brilliant job?’

For a moment, Polly was flustered, then she made herself shrug nonchalantly. ‘Mebbe he’s found a better job.’ The suggestion didn’t ring true, even to her own ears, but it was all she could think of to say.

There was a pause before Polly couldn’t help asking, ‘So where’s he working now then, if you know so much?’

‘In the market. With me. We both work for a bloke called Vince Norton. He runs one or two stalls on the market.’

‘Not Ida Norton’s husband?’ Ida Norton worked at the glue factory; Polly knew her from the time she’d worked there. She couldn’t stand the woman; Ida was a spiteful cow and a telltale to the management. She’d tried to wheedle her way into Roland Spicer’s good books, but, credit due to him, he’d seen right through her tactics. The other workers universally disliked her and it was rumoured that her husband – a market trader – wasn’t above bending the law to his advantage. A lot of shady deals went on behind the scenes, according to the other women.

‘Don’t buy owt from his stall, Polly lass,’ her friend at the glue factory, Nelly Rawdon, had warned. ‘You don’t know where it’s come from.’ Nelly, a big, jolly woman, had befriended the young girl on her first day at work and had told her many a titbit of gossip. But there was no malice in Nelly; she always ‘told the truth and shamed the Devil’, as she said herself.

Polly felt her heart plummet. If it was true that he was now working for Vince Norton, there was no knowing what trouble Eddie might get himself into.

And, she thought, just as Micky had gleefully predicted, Leo wouldn’t want to be associated with such a family.

Polly worried through the night and, as dawn filtered through the thin curtains, she made up her mind to visit Mr Wilmott and find out exactly what had happened.

Although Miriam, at just over eighteen months old, was walking well, she couldn’t manage long distances and the greengrocer’s was too far for the toddler to manage. So when she’d taken Stevie across the High Street to school, Polly set off with the perambulator in the opposite direction.

‘Morning, miss, what can I get you this fine morning?’

Polly had never had occasion to meet Mr Wilmott in person, always relying on Eddie to bring home whatever they needed – or had been able to afford – in the way of vegetables and fruit.

Now, facing the tall, thin man, who was peering at her benignly over steel-rimmed spectacles, she licked her lips nervously. She glanced around to make sure there were no other customers to overhear what she had to ask. ‘Mr Wilmott, I – I’m Polly Longden, Eddie’s sister.’

The smile faded from Mr Wilmott’s face. ‘Ah.’

‘Is it true?’ Polly blurted out, her sleepless night making her rash. All her carefully rehearsed questions flew out of her head.

The man sighed. ‘I don’t know what he’s told you.’

‘
He’s
told me nowt. I didn’t even know Eddie wasn’t still working here until Micky Fowler told me last night that – that you’d sacked him.’

Softly, Mr Wilmott asked, ‘And did young Micky tell you why?’

Mutely, Polly nodded, tears springing to her eyes as the last vestige of hope died. Oh, Eddie, Eddie, she was crying inside. Haven’t we had enough trouble in our family without something like this?

Mr Wilmott sighed heavily. ‘I didn’t want to do it, lass, and I didn’t want to mek trouble for him. I just said I thought it’d be better if he found somewhere else to work. But I did warn him that he should keep his nose clean in future. Other employers might not be so lenient.’

‘What – what exactly did he do? Did he take money?’

‘No. Just fruit and veg.’

‘I see. So you didn’t ever give him stuff that was going off on a Saturday night, then?’

‘Oh yes, that. Yes, I did, but then I noticed he was taking the good stuff. And I never
gave
him that. I can’t afford to, lass. Only wish I could.’

‘So – so you didn’t give him some extra at Christmas as a – a bonus?’

‘Is that what he told you?’

Dumbly, she nodded and her reply elicited another sigh from Mr Wilmott as he said heavily, ‘That’s when I noticed that some of the good stuff was going an’ all. After that, I kept an eye on him and, yes, I’m afraid he was taking things he shouldn’t have.’

‘I knew he was bringing some good veg and that home, but I thought he was paying for it. If I’d thought for one moment . . .’ She stopped and bit down on her lip to stop the tears from spilling down her cheeks.

‘Aw, lass, don’t upset yarsen. It’s done with now and by what I hear he’s working on the market, so he’s all right. There’s some good fellers on the market. Straight as a die, most of ’em are. They’ll keep him in line.’

‘Will they, Mr Wilmott?’ Polly said grimly. ‘Even Vince Norton? Will he “keep him in line”?’

Mr Wilmott blinked behind his spectacles. ‘Is that who he’s working for?’

When Polly nodded, all he said was, ‘Oh dear.’

As she walked home, Polly pondered what she could do about Eddie. She didn’t want their father to know and she certainly didn’t want Leo to find out, but she knew she had to make Eddie aware that
she
knew.

‘But Dad’ll have to know Eddie’s working at the market now,’ she murmured.

Miriam, hearing her soft voice, gurgled and smiled beatifically at her. ‘Oh, Baby, what would I do without you and little Stevie?’

When she arrived home, Polly picked the little girl up from the pram and gave her an extra special hug and that afternoon she had a special treat for Stevie when she met him from school.

‘A whole bar of chocolate just for me?’ he asked with wide eyes.

She ruffled his hair. ‘You’re a good boy, Stevie. Mind you always stay that way, won’t you?’

Stevie nodded as he broke off a piece of the chocolate and put it in his mouth, but the next piece, Polly noticed, he put in Miriam’s chubby hand.

He was such a good, kind little boy. The two younger children she cared for never gave her a moment’s trouble, but she couldn’t say the same for the older pair.

To Polly’s relief, William took the news that Eddie was working in the market now with a disinterested shrug. ‘As long as he’s earning, Poll,’ was all he said. She didn’t want him to know why Eddie had left the greengrocer’s shop; she didn’t want a blazing row between father and son. But she resolved to have a quiet word with her brother when she could get him on his own sometime.

The opportunity came the following week.

‘What are you doing home?’ Polly demanded when Eddie walked in, whistling jauntily, just after dinnertime.

‘Got the afternoon off.’

‘Oh aye, and what does Mr Wilmott say about you taking time off work in the middle of the week, eh?’

Eddie frowned at her and she returned his gaze steadily.

‘I – don’t work for him any more,’ he said glancing away.

‘I know that,’ she snapped. ‘
And
I know why.’

Eddie’s head shot up. ‘How—?’

‘Ne’er mind how. I just do. And I hear you’re working for Vince Norton.’

‘That’s right. What of it?’

‘He’s got a reputation, that’s “What of it?”’

‘He wheels and deals a bit. They all do, them market traders.’