Across the Mersey - Annie Groves [54]
Edwin was constantly preaching economy, with regard to the wedding, especially since she had insisted to him that they could not let poor Bella move in with her in-laws and that if the Parkers didn’t do something for the young couple to enable them to have their own house then they must. But at the same time as he was saying he wasn’t made of money he was also boasting about how much money he was going to make because of the war.
‘We’ve just got the flowers and the cake to sort out now, darling,’ Vi told Bella as they left Madame’s salon.
‘And the house,’ Bella reminded her sharply. ‘Don’t forget about that, Mummy. I can’t possibly move in with Alan’s parents.’
‘Of course not, Bella, and no one’s suggesting that you should. It’s just that your father thinks that maybe you should consider something a bit smaller to start off with.’
Bella pouted. She had set her heart on a four-bedroomed detached house in the same road as Alan’s parents, but with a larger garden. The kind of house, as she had pointed out determinedly to her father, that people would expect her and Alan to have.
‘Aye, well, let Alan’s father put his hand in his pocket and pay for it then,’ her father had responded sharply, but Bella knew how to get round him.
‘I don’t think Mr Parker’s business is going to do as well out of the war as yours is, Daddy. I’ve heard him say so,’ she had told him, slipping her arm through his as she added, ‘In fact, Alan has as good as said that his father is just a little bit jealous of you because you’re so successful, and I don’t suppose they’re going to like it very much if you buy us a house.’
She would get the house she wanted, Bella knew – one way or another.
‘It’s such a pity that this wretched war has come now,’ Vi sighed now, as they made their way home. They would have to cross the Mersey using the ferry, and then get the bus, but with such a satisfactory day behind them, and so much to talk about, neither of them minded. ‘I’m afraid that we shan’t be having as many guests as we would have done, because of it. Your auntie Jean’s written to say that Luke probably won’t be able to come, and it’s the same for Charlie,’ Vi added, as they found seats on the bus that would take them down to the Pier Head and the ferry, ready to make the crossing to Wallasey.
Bella pulled a face. ‘I’m not bothered if Auntie Jean doesn’t come. It’s a pity we haven’t got some really smart relatives, Mummy. That would show the Parkers.’
Vi could only agree with her. Her twin sister wearing her one good coat with her husband dressed in a half-price Blackler’s suit was hardly going to impress the likes of the Parkers. Mrs Parker was the type who would know immediately what everyone was wearing had cost and judge them accordingly, Vi decided, conveniently forgetting that that was exactly what she would do herself.
‘It’s just so selfish of Charlie to have gone and got himself called up for the TA just when I’m getting married,’ Bella complained. ‘I was relying on him and Luke to be groomsmen and now they probably won’t be there.’
‘Well, darling, I’m sure Charlie’s equally unhappy about what’s happened himself. He never intended to get involved in this, as you know, and Daddy is still very cross with him.’
Of course, it was typical of her sister Jean’s family that Luke had volunteered for the army and was now undergoing his initial training and that Grace was training as a nurse, Vi reflected ungraciously. She just hoped her twin didn’t live to regret it. She’d heard that nursing had a dreadful coarsening effect on a young girl and was little better than being a skivvy.
Vi was every bit as put out about the fact that the war had stolen some of their shared mother-and-bride glory as Bella, even though she had initially been the first to recognise what an excellent excuse it had provided for the speed with which Bella was getting married. It was bad enough that Mrs Parker was refusing to be as publicly enthusiastic and grateful for the fact that she was getting such a prize as a daughter-in-law as she ought to have been, without this talk