Across the Mersey - Annie Groves [11]
‘Well, when she’s bin in here wi’ her mother she’s been all hoity-toity and keen to let us know how much better than us she is, hasn’t she? I must say I was surprised when you first introduced her as your cousin, you being such a decent ordinary sort and her being so full of herself.’
Susan’s comment made Grace feel too uncomfortable to respond. It was true that there had been times, especially since they had grown up, when Bella had made her feel that she considered Grace’s side of the family to be inferior to her own, but Grace had always dismissed this as Bella simply not understanding how hurtful she was being and not really meaning any harm. In fact, it was because of this attitude on the part of her cousin that she had been so pleased when Bella had invited her to the dance. Family meant a lot to Grace and she wanted to get on with her cousins and be close to them.
It was St John Ambulance tonight and, as always, the thought of going to her first-aid class delighted her. As a little girl Grace had dreamed of becoming a nurse but the training to become a proper nurse, at a teaching hospital like Liverpool’s Mill Road or the Royal, rather than merely working at one of the infirmaries that took on girls to care for the long-term ill, was costly and lengthy, with the uniform costing twenty-one pounds up front and a probationer nurse’s wages only eighteen shillings a week for the first year. It would also have meant her having to live in at a nurses’ home, so she wouldn’t have been able to help out at home with her wages or an extra pair of hands, and so she had felt it her duty to take the job at Lewis’s, for which a kind neighbour whose cousin worked there had put her forward.
It was gone six o’clock before her work was finally over for the day and she was free to leave. The warmth of the still sunny August evening made her feel that she would rather walk home than sit on a bus, even though that would take her a good half-hour.
Their house was the end one of a terrace, which meant that there was a side passage that led to the gardens at the rear of the houses, and as Grace opened the gate into their own garden she heard her mother calling out from the kitchen.
‘Is that you, Grace, love?’
‘Yes, Mum.’ Grace went to join her.
‘Just look at these cups,’ her mother told her, gesturing towards the solid-looking plain pottery cups she was drying. ‘I know it’s daft but I felt that envious of Vi’s lovely china when we were there. Proper bone china it is too, and so pretty. It reminded me of a little doll’s tea set we used to play with when we were kiddies. It belonged to our nan’s sister, our great-aunt Florence. She kept in it a corner cupboard in her front parlour and she’d let us play with it when we went to visit her. I can’t tell you how badly I wanted that tea set, Grace.’
Jean laughed. ‘Of course, Vi wanted it as well and there were some fair words said between us as to who should have it. In the end it went to Great-aunt Florence’s own granddaughter. Of course, now Vi can afford to have proper china of her own.’
Grace frowned as her mother gave another small sigh. Personally she had thought her auntie Vi’s china nothing to get excited about but she could see that her mother felt differently.
‘I can’t see Dad and Luke being happy with them fiddly little handles,’ she pointed out.
Jean laughed again. ‘No. And that’s exactly what I told myself as well. I’m just being daft, like I said. Even if I had the money I wouldn’t go wasting it on summat that would only end up broken.
‘Run down to the allotment, will you, love,’ she told Grace, changing the conversation, ‘and tell your dad to bring up another lettuce, and some tomatoes? I want to use up the rest of this beef and we might as well have it cold with it being such a warm evening.’
The allotments weren’t very far away and, as Grace had expected, when she got there she found her father deep in conversation with several of the other men, all of them looking serious enough for her to hesitate about interrupting. But on the other hand Mum wouldn’t be too pleased