The Angel in the Corner - Monica Dickens [128]
The next day, Jenny’s cough was worse. ‘I’m going to call the doctor,’ Virginia said, starting downstairs for the bar.
Joe followed her. ‘You’ve let that old trout scare you,’ he said. ‘Sickness and death are her favourite subjects. Why do you listen to her?’
‘She ought to know about babies. She’s had five – six with the one that died. But it isn’t only Mrs Batey. I can see that Jenny isn’t well, even though I haven’t had six babies. You only need one to be a mother. Please go back and stay with her Joe, while I telephone. She’s breathing so badly, I don’t think she ought to be left.’
‘For God’s sake.’ He leaned against the doorway of the saloon bar, while Virginia went behind the bar to the telephone. ‘Nothing is going to happen in five minutes.’
‘I keep remembering what Mrs Batey said. They sometimes go quicker than they come. I can’t get it out of my mind. Please, Joe – think I’m silly if you like – but please go up to her.’
‘I’ll go if you like.’ Lennie came into the passage from the other bar with a broom in his hand. ‘Nothing wrong with our baby, is there?’
His anxious face looked past Joe through the doorway, but Joe pushed him back and said: ‘Nothing’s wrong. You keep out of this.’
‘Can I just run upstairs and see her?’ Lennie asked.
‘No.’
‘But I can hear her coughing. That little cough does something to me, Mr Colonna –’
‘Oh, shut up.’ To silence him, Joe went upstairs, shutting the door of the room with such a loud bang that Virginia had to ask the doctor to repeat what he was saying.
When she finished telephoning, Lennie had crept up to the other side of the bar. He leaned his arms on it, stringy and thin with the sleeves rolled up. He twisted his fingers. ‘Mrs C. –’ he began, not looking at her.
‘What is it, Lennie? Don’t worry about Jenny. She’ll be all right.’
‘Oh, I hope so. I pray for her every night,’ he said. ‘Honest.
I pray for you, too, Mrs C.’ He raised his eyes.
‘Well – that’s nice,’ Virginia said uncomfortably, ‘but I don’t really need praying for.’
‘Oh, yes, you do,’ Lennie said earnestly. ‘But that’s not what I wanted to say. I wanted to ask you’ – he dropped his eyes again – ‘Nancy’s people are coming to town tomorrow night. She lives with her aunt, you know. They’re coming to see her, just for the one night. After that, they’ll be off back to Chelmsford, because they can’t leave the shop.’
He paused. Virginia could hear Joe walking about upstairs.
What was he doing? Was something wrong? She could not wait to get back to Jenny.
‘It’s like this.’ Lennie took a deep breath. ‘They’re not in favour of me and Nancy going together, as I told you. We want to get engaged. Not secret, like we are now, but right out in front of everyone, so Nancy can wear the ring and that. She wears it round her neck now.’ He paused again, thinking tenderly of Nancy’s neck. ‘They don’t really know me, you see. They’ve got no call to object, but it’s just that they don’t know anything about me. I wondered, could you – could you – oh, no.’ He took his arms off the bar and turned away dispiritedly. ‘Of course you couldn’t.’
‘Couldn’t what?’ Virginia came round the end of the bar and took his arm. ‘What do you want me to do, Lennie? You want me to go and speak to Nancy’s parents – is that it?’
‘Oh, Mrs C., you are clever.’ Lennie’s eyes combed her with admiration. ‘How did you guess it? That’s exactly it. What do you think of it, eh?’
‘Tomorrow.’ Virginia hesitated. ‘I don’t see how I could leave Jenny.’
‘We thought of that, Nancy and I. I mean, even when we didn’t know she was poorly, but knowing how much you thought of her and that. You could go after closing-time, we thought, when Mr Colonna was free to be with the baby. Best to go after supper, anyway. People are always