When Wishes Come True (62 page)

‘I think it would be a good idea, but it would have to be this afternoon after lunch. Evelyn will be there then. She’s visited Bessie a few times this week, they seem to be fast friends. I’d be so glad if Matilda could be close to them too.’ Cyril closed the folder he’d been going through and placed it at the side of the desk. ‘Have you any business to attend to or shall we have a drink at the club and an early lunch? I’d say two o’clock would be a good time to arrive home. Bessie has to leave at three to pick Milly up from school.’

‘So Evelyn calls to see Milly too, does she?’

Cyril nodded. ‘Usually Philip is with her, he wants Milly to get to know him.’

Oscar smiled at him across the desk. ‘Life has changed radically for you over the last few weeks, hasn’t it? And all to the good.’

‘I feel a new man, my boy, and a much younger man. My dear wife and I can’t believe how lucky we are. The house has come alive with Milly and Bessie there. There is a homely feel about it, and when Milly’s laughter fills the rooms, it’s like music to my ears.’ Cyril pushed his chair back. ‘To the club, dear boy, we can pass an hour away talking of how life was, and how it is today.’

‘Hello, Mr Oscar.’ Maisie smiled as she took his coat. ‘It is nice to see you.’

‘Where are the ladies?’ Cyril asked. ‘In the drawing room?’

‘Yes, Mr Cyril. They finished their lunch half an hour ago. Shall I bring a tray in?’

‘No, my dear, Oscar and I have just come from the club.’ He walked towards the drawing room with Oscar close on his heels. Cyril opened the door to hear Bessie say, ‘I think a colour like hyacinth blue would suit Milly, and it would look nice with your ivory.’

The men had entered quietly, and the women started when Cyril said, ‘Do you think I would suit hyacinth blue, Bessie?’

She shook her head. ‘No, Mr Cyril, it wouldn’t go with yer complexion at all. Far better stick with the grey top hat and tails that Matilda was saying yer’ll be wearing.’

Oscar kissed each of the ladies in turn. ‘Plans for the wedding going well, are they, Evelyn? Gwen and I are looking forward to it. Her parents have agreed to have the two boys for the day.’

When Evelyn smiled, he thought how much she had mellowed. All from her love of Philip, who clearly adored her in return. ‘Yes, we seem to be organised. Invitations have gone out, the reception has been booked, flowers ordered and cars attended to. I have had a fitting for my dress, and you probably know that Gwen had hers at the same time. There is only Milly to worry about now. She is being very stubborn, insisting that Bessie should make her dress.’

‘I don’t mind, Evelyn, as long as you show me a pattern and get the same material as Gwen’s. I’d need three yards, ’cos I wouldn’t want to skimp it. And there’s no need to worry, I’ll make sure she looks as lovely as she is.’ Then she said something that brought a smile to every face. ‘I’ll see if I can manage to get me sewing machine up here tomorrow so I can make a start as soon as I have the material. It’s only a hand machine, I think I could manage it on the tram.’

‘Does that mean you’ve decided to stay with us?’ Cyril asked. ‘To make this your home?’

‘Of course it does, yer daft thing! There was never any doubt of that. I’m happy here, I get on with everyone. That is, if you’re satisfied with me?’

There was a chorus of approval and Oscar said, ‘I’ll take you home tomorrow and help you with the sewing machine. And there must be other things you want from your home?’

‘I don’t need any furniture, seeing as my rooms here are already furnished, but there are a few things I must have, sentimental things that belonged to my parents. I wouldn’t part with them. And I’ll have to ask me two mates to give the rent collector a week’s notice for me, and pay him the two weeks’ rent. Oh, and they’ll stop the coalman and the milkman too, and that’s the lot.’

‘What about your furniture?’ Oscar asked. ‘Won’t you try and sell it?’

‘I’ll let my two mates do it. It isn’t worth much, but they’d get a few bob for it and they’d be grateful ’cos they aren’t well off. One of the local secondhand shops will empty the house so the landlord won’t have any complaints.’

‘That’s something I’ll have to think about, too,’ Evelyn said. ‘I’ll come with you to meet Milly, and we can talk about it on the way.’

Cyril put his hand on Bessie’s shoulder. ‘We’ll leave you ladies now, but I’m delighted you are going to stay with us. I shall go back to my office a very happy man.’

Oscar went as far as kissing Bessie’s cheek. ‘I’ll pick you up at ten o’clock in the morning and we’ll sort out your affairs then. And for now, welcome to our circle of friends.’

‘I’ll make us a cup of tea to warm us up,’ Bessie said, ‘it’s freezing in here ’cos the fire hasn’t been lit all week. Would yer rather just take the sewing machine and I can come back another day for the other things?’

Oscar shook his head as he looked around the small room. ‘No, Bessie, this is a very warm overcoat, I don’t feel the cold. We may as well get it all done in the one journey.’

She had seen his eyes going around the room, and chuckled. ‘Bit of a difference to the Lister-Sinclairs’, eh? But it was home to me mam and dad, and it’s been home to me all me life. I’ll miss it, for the memories it holds, but we can’t have everything we want in life, can we? Being with Milly is the best thing in my life.’ Bessie took a deep breath then blew it out slowly. ‘The sewing machine is on the floor in the bedroom on the right. While you’re doing that, I’ll make us a drink.’

Oscar came down with the Singer hand-sewing machine, which was housed in a wooden case with a handle on top for carrying. ‘You would never have managed this on the tram, Bessie, it’s heavy.’

‘I would have had a go. I might be little and thin, but I’m quite strong.’ She grinned up into his face. ‘I’m glad I didn’t have to, though, ’cos it would have been hard going lifting it on to the tram. So thank you, Mr Oscar, I’m beholden to yer.’

He placed the sewing machine on the floor before asking, ‘Why “Mr” Oscar? We’re getting very formal, aren’t we?’

Bessie scratched her head. ‘To tell yer the truth, I don’t know what to call anybody! All the servants call yer Mr Oscar, and they say Mr Cyril, and address Matilda as Madam. And I’m only a servant, so I should do the same, I suppose.’ A picture came into her head and she put a hand over her mouth to try and keep the laughter back. But it didn’t work and she began to chuckle. ‘Can yer imagine it, Oscar. I’m sitting at the dining table, and as yer know it’s a very long table, almost as long as from here to the Pier Head. Anyway, Cyril sits at one end, Matilda at the other, and I’m somewhere about halfway down. And I want the cruet set. Do I leave my chair and fetch it myself, or do I call, “Ay, Madam, would yer pass the cruet set down, please?” Or perhaps, “Shove the salt down, Matilda, there’s a good girl”. Or do I keep me mouth shut and do without the ruddy salt?’

Oscar was shaking with laughter. ‘Oh, Bessie, you are absolutely priceless. I can quite see why Milly won’t be parted from you. You are really going to be an asset to everyone in that house.’

‘Ay, ay, ay! It’s all right for you laughing, but that doesn’t help me, does it? I want you to tell me how to address people, before I get the sack after only being there a week.’

‘You are treated as one of the family, so you address them by their first names. They don’t call you Miss Maudsley or Miss Bessie, do they? And for friends like myself and Philip, it is the same, strictly first names.’

‘Right, that solves that little problem.’ Bessie’s grin appeared. ‘If I get the sack for being too familiar, I’ll expect yer to find me another job, okay?’

He moved towards her and put his arm across her shoulders. ‘I think you can safely say that your home will always be with the Lister-Sinclairs. They know how lucky they are to have you. However, if it will make you feel any better and put your mind at rest, you will always find a job with my family.’

The kettle began to whistle and Bessie made haste towards it, shouting over the noise of the kettle, ‘Yer can always put an offer in, yer know. I’ll go to the highest bidder.’

Thinking there would never be a dull moment in the Lister-Sinclair household while Bessie was there, Oscar followed her in to the kitchen. ‘I’ll put the machine in the car out of the way, then you can see what else you wish to take with you.’

Bessie poured the hot water into the teapot before following him. And, sure enough, there were dozens of kids around the car. It was so unusual to see one in the street, particularly a big posh one, they were curious. But they weren’t touching it, and moved out of the way to let Oscar put the machine on the back seat. ‘Ay, mister, that’s a smashing car, what make is it?’ one lad asked, eagerly eyeing the leather upholstery and the clocks on the polished wooden dashboard. ‘I bet that cost a lot of money.’

Oscar noted the holes in the boy’s woollen jumper, and the trousers which were far too small for the size of the lad. His shoes were well worn, and he was without socks. ‘It’s a Bentley, made in this country,’ Oscar told him. ‘And one day, when you’re a man, you might have one.’

‘I wish I could,’ another boy said, wistfully, ‘but I never will, ’cos I’ll never have that much money.’

A front door on the opposite side of the street opened and Rita appeared. She’d seen the car, and her two sons were among the crowd of boys. ‘Bessie, if my two are in the way, chase them.’

‘They’re not doing any harm, Rita, don’t be worrying.’ Bessie waved her friend over. ‘Rita, this is Oscar, he’s helping me take some of me things. Oscar, this is Rita, one of me best mates.’

Rita shook his outstretched hand. ‘Pleased to meet yer. Yer’ll have to excuse the way I look, I’m up to me neck in housework.’

Bessie tutted and huffed. ‘Rita Wells, will yer stop making excuses for yerself? Oscar isn’t a snob, and he’s not daft either. He knows yer can’t do housework without getting dirty. I was going to come over to see you and Aggie, ’cos I want yer to do me a couple of favours. But seeing as ye’re here now, yer might as well come in.’ Bessie’s keen eyes spotted Kenny Gordon, and she called, ‘Kenny, go and ask yer mam to come over too. Tell her not to bother putting an evening dress on, or her tiara, it’s only an informal cup of tea.’

Oscar looked on with mixed feelings. All these children were poorly dressed, it was a narrow mean street, yet not one of them had put so much as a finger on the car or been cheeky. It made him feel quite sad when he thought of his own children who wanted for nothing. He was deep in thought when he heard a loud voice shouting, ‘Get out of the way, the lot of yer, anyone would think yer’d never seen a bleeding car before.’ And crossing the street, he saw a woman with enormous breasts and stomach, untidy hair, and wearing a dirty pinny which had clearly seen better days. She pushed the children out of her way and stood before him with a beaming smile on her face. ‘They won’t hurt yer car, mister, they’re not bad kids.’ She nearly pulled his arm out of its socket with her hearty handshake, then she rubbed her hands together. ‘Now, our Kenny said something about a cup of tea, and unless me ears were deceiving me, he said something about a custard cream biscuit too.’

Bessie smiled. ‘I wish I had ears like yours, Aggie, they only hear what they want to hear. But ye’re going to be disappointed ’cos I’ve only got ginger snaps. Anyway, come on in or I’ll never get everything done I wanted to do.’

Oscar was given a china cup and saucer which brought knowing looks and nudges from Aggie. ‘Blimey, she’s only been living with the toffs for a week, and she’s already forgotten herself. Another week and she won’t even remember you and me, Rita.’

Bessie’s eyes went to the ceiling. ‘Aggie, if I live to be a hundred I’ll never forget you. For ye’re one of those “once seen, never forgotten” people. And I wouldn’t trust yer with a china cup ’cos yer’d break the ruddy thing with those ham shanks yer call hands. I’ve only got three china cups and saucers, they were me mam’s and I treasure them. I don’t even use them meself.’

‘Take no notice of her, sunshine, yer know how she likes having yer on. If yer’d given her a gobstopper instead of a biscuit, it would have kept her quiet for an hour. So let’s pretend she’s not here and tell us what favour yer want from us?’ Rita suggested.

‘I’d like yer to tell the rent collector I’m giving a week’s notice and he can take over the house from next weekend. I’ll leave yer the money for the two weeks’ rent.’

Rita pulled a face. ‘I’m not half going to miss you, sunshine, after all these years of us being friends. It won’t seem the same with a new family living facing me.’

‘The same goes for me, too, queen,’ Aggie said. ‘We’ve had some good laughs together and we’ll miss that.’ For once Aggie showed her soft side, her voice full of emotion. ‘And yer’ve been a good pal to me and Rita, always there to help out when we were stuck for money to buy food. We’d have been in Queer Street many a time without yer.’

‘The three of us have helped each other, Aggie, it hasn’t been all one-sided.’ Bessie’s heart strings were being pulled. It wasn’t going to be easy to move out of this house and away from her two mates. ‘Anyway, can we get back to business? I’m only taking a few small things with me, like photos, ornaments and pictures, things that belonged to me parents. So what I want yer to do is, have a look around yerselves and see if there’s anything yer’d like. The beds and bedding should be worth having, but yer can decide that. I’m leaving the key with yer. Anything yer don’t want, get the man from that secondhand shop on the main road to come and have a look at it, and ask him what he’ll give for it. And any money yer get I want yer to share between yer.’

‘Don’t be so daft!’ Rita said. ‘We’ll get the best price we can for it and we’ll give you the money. I wouldn’t dream of keeping it. We’ve always been the ones to take off you, and never been in a position to give you anything back, so the least we can do is help yer out now. But we don’t want the money, we’ll hand it over to you.’

Aggie’s chins, which fascinated Oscar, swung up and down. ‘Hear, hear! I’ll second that, queen. It’ll be our pleasure to do something for you. Especially after what yer did for us at Christmas, and half of the ruddy street too. A flipping hero, that’s what yer are.’