East End Angel (2 page)

‘There, that better?’ He tipped up her chin. ‘Do you know how much I love you, Mrs N?’

His words felt like a dagger to her heart. ‘Jim, there’s something I have to tell you.’

He laughed. ‘It’s too late to change your mind now. You ain’t Pearl Jenkins any longer, you’re Mrs Nesbitt and, left up to me, will remain so till we pop our clogs.’ Pearl swallowed on the lump in her throat at his words of love as he took her hands. ‘I want you to know you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, sweetheart. I want the world to know it. If I could shout it from the rooftops I would.’

‘You’d be lucky to find a roof that ain’t been bombed,’ she teased, but saw the hurt on his face.

‘I’m not much good at expressing meself, am I?’

‘Oh, Jim, you’re the best.’

‘It’s all up here.’ He tapped his head. ‘But it don’t come out right. I want to say things about your eyes, like they’re the greenest I ever seen. Emerald, they are, like them big fields in the country. Yeah, that’s it – that’s what your eyes remind me of – fresh air and little houses with straw roofs.’ He held her face between his hands, smoothing his rough thumbs over her cheeks. ‘And then there’s your nose. It turns up a bit at the end, gives you this ladylike look till it does a twitch just before you start nagging me.’ He laughed self-consciously, clearing his throat as his hands slid down over her shoulders. ‘I want to say so much. I just wish I had the old dickybirds to say it.’

Pearl fought back the tears. ‘You don’t need words, Jim. You’re . . . everything to me, everything.’

For a moment they were silent, content with their world and the thought of their future together. Pearl couldn’t bring herself to spoil it. Why should she? This was a day she wanted to remember, a day that she could tell her children about.

Jim cleared his throat. ‘It’s hard to believe it was the bombing that brought us together. The Blitz, I ask you! Who would have thought you’d have got a job with the council, same as me? Monday, September the second it was, five days before the raids started. There you was as I walked in your office, the girl of me dreams, sitting at this desk all prim and proper, bashing away at them keys and you didn’t hardly look up. But I knew it was you all right. Pearl Jenkins, little sweet sixteen, who’d stolen me heart all them years ago, then ’eartlessly given me the order of the boot.’

‘Jim! I never did!’

‘Well, a tap on the arse then.’

‘I was young,’ she fumbled, the dark spectre of Ricky overshadowing her again. ‘I didn’t even know you fancied me.’ She had given the cold shoulder to Jim even though she hadn’t wanted to hurt his feelings, but had never explained the reason. Why, dear God, on this day of all days, was she having to face this part of her past she would rather forget?

‘You was too good for me then, just like you are now,’ Jim said earnestly, bringing a cry of protest from her throat. But once more he stopped her from speaking. ‘It’s true, you could have had anyone you wanted, you was so pretty. All the blokes were after you, I didn’t ever get a look-in. But I’ll tell you something for nothing. You was not nearly as lovely then as you are now.’

A tear wrestled its way down her cheek and he frowned in confusion. ‘Hold on a minute. What have I gone and said now?’

‘Nothing. I’m just happy.’

‘Blimey, what do you do when you’re down in the dumps?’

Pearl couldn’t help but smile. Jim’s easy humour was one of the things she loved and admired so much. Her husband held her close, managing to entangle himself with her veil. Clumsily he attempted to unravel her long blonde hair that had been swept up into a glossy roll and pinned under the lace. His big hands, those of a hard-working engineer, were no match for the delicate arrangement, and Pearl’s own fingers reached up to intervene. As she lifted her arms, his eyes went hungrily down to the swell of her breasts. Suddenly he brought her against him in an embrace, pressing his mouth hard over hers and kissing her passionately. Pearl responded, and when they finally broke apart, they were both breathing hard.

‘Jim, you do love me, don’t you?’

‘Now what sort of question is that? Ain’t you heard a word I’ve been saying?’

‘It’s just that we’ve only had a few months to get to know each other again. With the bombing, we’ve not had much time for ourselves.’

‘Couldn’t agree more,’ he nodded. ‘And starting from now you’ve got me undivided attention.’

She put her hands round his neck. ‘I really do love you, Jim.’

‘Does that mean we can have another cuddle?’

She smiled, clutching his arms so hard that he made a face.

‘Blimey, you’re tough for such a little thing.’

‘I just want you to know that I’ve never wanted anything more than to be your wife.’

He licked his dry lips. ‘Say that again Pearl, ’cos I wanna remember those words all me life.’

She whispered it again, never more grateful for the fact that their love had grown out of friendship and trust. Unlike her past experience, this was a love that was whole and healthy. Her husband would come home every day for his dinner, play with his kids and would be faithful. The kind of man her dad was. A man of all seasons, her mum said. Spring, summer, winter and autumn alike, Syd Jenkins never missed a night in his own bed cuddling up to his wife. And when his boilermaker’s job had allowed, he’d walked his two young daughters to school in the morning and given them each a kiss goodbye at the school gates. That was just the kind of husband and father Jim would make, and as Pearl felt Jim’s strong, warm body close to hers, she knew she had made the right choice.

‘Come on, you can do better than that, Mrs N,’ Jim prompted, his fingers fumbling not in her hair but at the tiny buttons between her breasts.

‘Jim, Mum’s in the kitchen. She could be out at any moment. She only told you to take me veil off, nothing else,’ Pearl teased.

He let go of her instantly. ‘Blimey, you know how to kill a man’s ardour, gel.’

‘There’ll be plenty of time tonight.’

‘All right, I’ll be a good boy.’ His sparkling blue eyes told her that he was, as always, prepared to do anything to make her happy. And that included waiting until after they were married to make love. She hoped and prayed that he would be so passionate in his need that he would never ever guess that things were not as he assumed.

If Pearl had been her usual happy-go-lucky self, she would have seen that rationing hadn’t noticeably limited the spread that her mum and dad had put on for the guests. She would also have remembered that the black market butter for the baps and sandwiches, and the cucumber and cheese that were virtually unobtainable in wartime, were all courtesy of Jim’s ingenuity. Nor was there any sign of the Spam that haunted the larders of working-class Britain. For Jim had worked a miracle with his mates at the works canteen. But Pearl wasn’t aware of the wedding breakfast being greedily devoured by their guests. Nor was she listening to the non-stop verbal from her aunty May and her husband, Ron, with their teenage daughters, Betty and Jane. Nor could she have said exactly what comments had passed between her and Aunty Till and Uncle Ted, her dad’s brother and his family, now living in Barking. As for her friends from school, Laurie Smart and Sheila Barton, and Moira Bush from work, she’d been in a daze when she’d spoken to them.

When would Ruby and Ricky walk in?

The answer came as Ruby appeared in the hall. Behind her stood a tall figure in uniform. Pearl felt Jim’s body tense. Slowly his hand lowered the mug of ale that seconds before had been glued to his lips.

‘Christ, Pearl, is that who I think it is?’ His tone was one of disbelief. Pearl closed her eyes in distress. When she opened them, his face had washed a ghostly grey. Then, sensing the fact that she was not as shocked as he was, he demanded, ‘What’s he doing here?’

But Ruby was there before Pearl could reply. Throwing herself into Jim’s arms, she hugged him. ‘I’ve got meself a brother-in-law at last!’

Jim was silent as Ruby stood back. ‘You both remember Ricky, don’t you? From the club?’

Pearl glanced at her husband and searched his face. She knew that the two men had always competed fiercely at sport and there had been no love lost between them. Jim had been popular amongst his team mates but not so Ricky, a loner, though Jim had never possessed any of Ricky’s smooth charm, which had seemed to set him apart from the others and had turned all the female heads.

‘You could say we were acquaintances, yes,’ Jim muttered coldly.

‘It’s been a long time,’ Ricky nodded. ‘Congratulations.’ His eloquent tone had Pearl’s heart banging against her ribs as his gaze travelled slowly towards her.

‘You two was much older than us,’ burst out Ruby, seemingly unaware of the tension. ‘I was only just left school when you rowed for the club, Ricky. Pearl, you must’ve been what – sixteen?’

Pearl nodded. ‘Yes, about that.’

‘We used to watch the boys in the gym, remember?’ Ruby giggled, nudging Pearl’s arm. ‘Those other two girls liked a good gander through the window too. That Stella Burns and her mate. They was always throwing themselves at anything in trousers. Dunno what happened to her. Someone said she got . . .’ Ruby looked embarrassed. ‘Anyway, that was a long time ago now, but how strange that me and Ricky met up at the pictures again? Remember that film
Captain Fury
we saw last year, Pearl? Well, it was showing again a few weeks ago and Ricky was on a weekend’s leave with one of his mates. I was with Irene Naylor from work. Don’t know how he recognized me but it was that flashy gold band on his arm that caught my eye.’

Pearl had already noted the sub-lieutenant’s gold braid and it was clear that Jim had too.

‘So you’ve joined the reserves?’ Jim said icily.

‘The Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve,’ Ricky corrected in the same tone.

‘Yeah, the Wavy Navy,’ sneered Jim, and Pearl cringed at the derogatory expression.

She was not surprised when Ricky retorted, ‘And you, Jim? No uniform?’

‘You better help yourselves to something to eat before it’s all gone,’ Pearl suggested quickly, giving Ruby a little nudge.

‘Good idea,’ Ruby nodded as she slid her hand through Ricky’s arm. ‘And I want to introduce Ricky to Mum and Dad. Dunno if they’d remember him, but they might.’

But when they were alone, Jim turned on Pearl. ‘What did you do that for? I can speak up for meself.’

‘I didn’t do anything.’ Pearl was shaken. ‘And don’t bite me head off, Jim. I was only telling them about the food.’

‘They could see the grub clearly enough, couldn’t they? There’s enough to feed the five thousand. Didn’t you see he was having a go at me? And I certainly don’t need you to fight me battles.’

‘You started it, Jim,’ Pearl retaliated. ‘Saying about the Wavy Navy.’

‘Are you taking his side?’

Pearl went scarlet. ‘Course not. But I don’t want a row on me wedding day.’

‘Wedding or not,’ growled Jim, ‘I’m fed up with every Tom, Dick and Harry thinking a man in civvies has no backbone. It’s people like Winters that get me goat. A bloody reservist, I ask you! They think they’re God’s gift to the country. And what the heck is he doing here anyway?’

Pearl shrugged dismissively. ‘I’ve no idea.’

‘You didn’t know she was seeing him?’

‘No, she never said.’ Pearl wondered why her sister had not told her about Ricky. They spoke about everything and had shared the same room since they were kids. They’d gone to the same school, had the same friends and only gone their separate ways when Pearl started her job in the council offices. Later, Ruby had joined Brewer’s, the wholesalers on the wharf. When war broke out, Brewer’s was requisitioned by the War Office and Ruby had stayed on and joined the assembly line. Ruby was her best friend. They had no secrets, except, it seemed, for Ricky.

‘Well,’ continued Jim irritably, ‘she should have said she was bringing a guest. It took us a month of Sundays to sort out who was coming and who wasn’t.’

Pearl thought it unwise to correct him. But it was her mum and dad who’d written all the invitations and arranged the wedding. Oh, they’d got a nod out of Jim now and then, but he’d been too busy at work after the bombing to take much part in the preparations. As for Mrs Nesbitt, sitting in her ivory tower and sniffing at most of their plans, well, they wouldn’t have been married today if it had been up to her.

‘Don’t let’s get upset over nothing,’ Pearl said softly.

‘Nothing it might be to you, Pearl, but turning up at me wedding without an invite is a bloody big insult to me.’ He stiffened his shoulders. ‘But what’s done is done, I suppose. Anyway, I’m going over to talk to Mum. She wasn’t feeling too bright this morning. Kept going on about Pride Place and how it would be cheaper to live with her.’

‘Oh, Jim,’ Pearl sighed heavily, ‘we’ve been over all that before.’

‘I know. I know. Anyway, she’s on her own. Sitting there like a bloody wallflower.’

‘I’ll come over in a minute.’

Jim cast her a grudging smile. Pearl watched him make his way across the room to sit by his mother, clad in her widow’s weeds, perched stiffly on a wooden chair by the window. Pearl knew that this day must be a lost battle for her. Jim had refused her offer of their living with her when Pearl had found the rooms above a corner shop in Pride Place. It needed doing up but it wasn’t far from her parents in Roper’s Way. And Jim would have done anything to win her, including finding them a home of their own.