Moving On (18 page)

Although they were planning on having an Easter wedding Tom and Jenny decided not to make any firm arrangements until they’d had a chance to talk to Karen and Bill. They wanted them to be witnesses so it was important that they found out first of all if they had already made plans for Easter.

Jenny thought they might be thinking of going away during the Easter holidays for a break and she didn’t want to upset any of their arrangements.

‘We’ll talk it over with them when we go to see them at half term,’ she told Tom.

‘Good idea,’ he agreed. ‘We’ll say no more about it until then and just hope people here drop the subject for the moment.’

The following Wednesday the residents present at coffee morning were agog with speculation about who was coming into old Mrs Parsons’s flat. It had been newly decorated and snapped up the moment it went on the market.

Some people said it was a man, others stated it was a couple, but Jane, who always managed to know the very latest news, said that it was a woman.

‘She’s in her sixties and I understand she’s an artist,’ she pronounced.

‘A woman! Hope she’s a good-looking filly,’ Major Mitchell boomed. ‘I doubt if she’ll be as handsome as your granddaughter, Jenny, but as long as she’s young and fit she’ll do!’

‘You mean she’ll be an asset and brighten the place up,’ Tom commented.

‘I’m hoping for more than that,’ the Major chortled. ‘I wouldn’t have minded being in old Lionel’s shoes last year. I mean, of course, when he got married not when he fell off his perch.’

‘I didn’t know you were looking for a bride,’ Jane Phillips said archly. ‘Bit long in the tooth for that though, aren’t you?’ she added waspishly.

‘Never too old to be cared for and mollycoddled, always providing it’s by the right person. If she’s an artist and she’s in her sixties she should have an interesting personality,’ he added, removing his monocle and polishing it with the silk handkerchief he always sported in his breast pocket.

‘Well, she’s moving in this coming weekend so you will be able to judge for yourself,’ Jane told him. ‘I’ll make sure she comes to our next coffee morning.’

The following Wednesday there was an exceptionally good attendance at the coffee morning. News of Major Mitchell’s interest in the newcomer had spread and the residents were all eager to see his reaction when he met her for the first time.

‘At least it’s diverted attention from us and our future plans,’ Tom said quietly to Jenny.

‘Perhaps we’ll be able to make it a double event,’ she retorted with a low laugh.

Jane was as good as her word, bringing the newcomer to join them.

As they entered the room, Jane paused in the doorway until she knew she had everybody’s attention, and in the expectant silence that followed introduced the new arrival as Isabel Harding.

There were murmured greetings from those present as they took stock of their newest resident.

She was of medium height, her grey hair cut into a straight sharp style that suited her bold features. She had bright turquoise blue eyes that were vivid and piercing as if they could see through to your innermost thoughts.

She was dressed in a striking purple two-piece wool suit and with it a double row of pale pink beads filling the low cut neck of the top. Her earrings were also pink; a cluster of pale pink beads that matched her necklace.

‘By Jove, now there’s an interesting filly,’ the Major murmured. He removed his monocle, polished it and put it back in as if to see her even more clearly.

‘Brings a spot of colour to the place and no mistake,’ he chortled. ‘A bird of paradise amongst a flock of sparrows.’

Rising to his feet, he squared his shoulders and strode across the room. ‘Major John Mitchell, retired,’ he boomed as he held out his hand to the newcomer.

There were some titters and amused looks as Jane took it upon herself to introduce him again.

With a smile Isabel stretched out her hand towards the Major who bowed over it and then gallantly raised it to his lips. He then took her elbow and guided her across the room to his chair and pulled up another alongside her for himself.

‘Now, if you will tell me how you like your coffee I’ll fetch you a cup,’ he told her.

‘No, you stay and talk to Isabel and I’ll fetch the coffee,’ Jane told him.

Although general conversation resumed everyone was straining to hear what the Major and Isabel Harding were saying to each other.

The Major wasted no time.

‘I hear you are an artist,’ he said. ‘I regret I’m not familiar with your work.’

Isabel laughed, a deep rich sound. ‘You wouldn’t be,’ she told him. ‘I’m an artiste, not an artist.’

The Major looked slightly taken aback. ‘An artiste?’ he repeated, frowning questioningly.

‘That’s right. A circus artiste,’ she explained, her blue eyes mesmerizing him.

‘You mean you’re a lion tamer,’ John Mitchell chortled, amused by his own joke.

‘Exactly. How very clever of you to know.’

‘Good heavens!’ The Major’s eyebrows shot up. ‘Are you serious? I was jesting, dear lady.’

Isabel looked amused. ‘Well, you guessed correctly. I am retired now, of course,’ she added with a deep sigh. ‘I have appeared all over Great Britain and throughout Europe and my performances were even attended by Royalty.’ Her eyes shone with pride. ‘I can show you pictures and photographs that will make you gasp with surprise.’

‘Indeed, dear lady. I shall very much enjoy seeing them,’ the Major told her enthusiastically.

‘I am still passionate about the circus world; it’s in my blood. One of the joys of living here in New Brighton is that I will be able to visit the circus in the Tower grounds whenever I wish to do so.’

There were smiles on several faces as they overheard Isabel regaling the Major with details of her accomplishments, and it was noticed that the Major seemed to be completely overawed and, at times, he even appeared to be completely at a loss for words.

Tom and Jenny looked at each other. ‘I don’t think the Major is going to be the one who makes a conquest there,’ Tom said quietly.

‘No, I think that this time he’s met his match,’ Jenny agreed.

‘Yes, it would be an interesting partnership.’

‘So, do you think it will be a double event at Easter then?’ Jenny queried as they exchanged smiles.

‘Hard to say,’ Tom prevaricated. ‘We’ll all have to wait and see.’

Confident that they could go ahead with their plans, they looked forward to asking Karen and Bill when they went to stay at half term if the dates suited them. But before they could do so, Karen had her own news to tell them.

‘We’re expecting a baby. Well, I am,’ she confided with a giggle as she reached out and took Bill’s hand. ‘It’s due at the end of May, isn’t that wonderful?’

Tom and Jenny exchanged warning glances with each other as they both congratulated Karen.

‘Where does that leave us over our wedding plans?’ Tom asked as soon as they were on their own.

‘I honestly don’t know,’ Jenny said in a bewildered voice. ‘I did so much want it to be at Easter and I also wanted to make sure that Karen and Bill were there.’

‘Karen won’t really be up to all the travelling involved if it is at Easter, will she?’ Tom frowned.

‘I wouldn’t think so,’ Jenny agreed.

‘In that case then perhaps we should bring it forward a week or two,’ Tom suggested. ‘What about making it the first week in April?’

‘We could do that,’ Jenny said thoughtfully. ‘To some extent the date doesn’t matter to us as long as it’s not April the first.’

‘It damn well does,’ Tom said fiercely as he took her in his arms and kissed her. ‘We’ve postponed it once and I don’t want to have to do that again. I’d say let’s get married tomorrow if we could arrange things at such short notice.’

‘Stop being so impetuous,’ Jenny said, laughing. ‘Early April sounds fine. Shall we check the date with Bill and Karen to make sure that they are both quite sure they’ll be able to attend?’

When they suggested it Bill looked rather doubtful but Karen was all in favour of the idea.

‘It will be much better if you have your wedding then rather than after the baby is born. I might have difficulty in finding someone to look after it and you wouldn’t want a baby crying its head off in the middle of the ceremony now, would you?’

‘OK, let’s see if we can fix things for the beginning of April,’ Jenny affirmed. ‘We’ll let you know the exact date as soon as we have spoken to the Registrar and completed all the arrangements.’

‘It will have to be at the weekend, on a Saturday, because I won’t be able to take any time off so near to the school’s Easter holidays,’ Bill reminded them.

‘Yes, I had thought of that,’ Jenny told him.

‘Have you also realized that I will probably be the size of a house by then?’ Karen laughed, running her hands over her bulging figure.

‘Is that important?’ Jenny frowned. ‘As long as you are feeling well enough that’s all that matters.’

‘I’m not sure that it’s such a good idea,’ Bill said worriedly. ‘It will mean quite a lot of travelling from Wiltshire to here and then back home again the next day. It might be too much for Karen, she might not be feeling up to it.’

‘You’ll know nearer the date. If you think it will be too much for you, Karen, then let us know and we’ll find two other people to be witnesses.’

‘Oh no, I don’t want you doing that,’ Karen protested. ‘I want to be there, Gran. Can’t you arrange it a bit earlier? What about some time in March?’

‘We’ll see what we can do,’ Tom promised. ‘It can’t be too soon as far as I’m concerned.’

As soon as they had arranged the first Saturday in April at the register office, Tom promised that he would rebook the cars and flowers and dinner for the four of them at the Grand Hotel.

‘Do you still want to hold a party here at Merseyside Mansions afterwards?’ he asked Jenny.

‘Of course! They’d never forgive us if we didn’t,’ she said with a laugh. ‘We’ll phone Bill and Karen tonight and confirm the date.’

They were both delighted by the idea and Karen insisted that she’d be fine coming for the weekend. ‘If I do feel exceptionally tired then I can stay on in Tom’s flat for the rest of the week and Bill can come and pick me up the following weekend.’

‘That sounds like a perfect solution,’ Jenny agreed.

‘Are you going to wear the same outfit as you had planned for last time?’ Karen wanted to know.

‘I don’t think so,’ Jenny told her. ‘I’m not being superstitious but I feel I want to buy something new, something quite different.’

‘Good for you, Gran. I wish I could come and help you choose it but I don’t think Bill would agree to me doing that. He’d have me wrapped up in cotton wool and confined to bed if he had his way. He’s even more excited about this baby than I am.’ She giggled. ‘He watches to make sure that I eat all the right foods, take vitamin pills and that I get the right amount of exercise and sleep.’

‘Well, that’s a relief. It means that there’s no need for me to worry about you then,’ Jenny said teasingly.

‘There most certainly isn’t, Gran. I’m the picture of health,’ Karen said, laughing.

‘Well, it looks as though we can go ahead with all our plans without any worries,’ Jenny reported to Tom after she’d spoken to Karen.

‘One thing we haven’t checked on,’ he said, frowning.

Jenny looked puzzled. ‘What’s that?’

‘Whether or not it’s going to be a double event.’

‘You mean the Major and Isabel.’ Jenny chuckled. ‘I don’t think we need worry about them, from all the rumours flying around I gather they are already an item.’

‘Yes, so I’ve heard, but I wasn’t sure exactly what to believe.’

‘Jane keeps an eye on them and thoroughly disapproves of the fact that the Major is seen leaving Isabel’s flat in the very early hours of the morning,’ Jenny said with a smile.

‘Really!’ Tom’s eyes widened. ‘Lucky devil,’ he muttered.

‘I didn’t know she’d taken your fancy as well,’ Jenny said in surprise.

‘She damn well hasn’t. You know quite well what I mean. Still –’ he heaved a deep sigh – ‘it’s not long now until March so let’s hope nothing goes wrong this time.’

The run up to their wedding was so quiet that Jenny began to long for some excitement. She and Tom met up most days but their outings for meals or walks were relatively few; they both seemed to have put their life on hold.

They continued to go to the Wednesday coffee morning but even this social event had begun to pall. She sometimes wondered why they went on attending as she usually came away feeling disgruntled.

There was always so much disapproving gossip about what people were doing or discussions about the various changes in their own medication and the effect it was having on them. Apart from that there were the same old grumbles about the management committee and criticism about the way things were run.

Since the start of spring the way in which the garden was landscaped was another prominent topic. The gardeners were constantly being criticized either because the plants were behind schedule or because people didn’t like the choice of bulbs and flowers or where they had been planted.

Jenny couldn’t understand why these discussions became so heated and vitriolic. All residents had known when they moved into Merseyside Mansions that they were not allowed to do anything in the garden, so why not accept what was being done for them. She did. She was only too pleased not to have to maintain a garden any longer. Knowing how much hard work it entailed, she was more than delighted by the sight of snowdrops followed a few weeks later by daffodils and hyacinths when she looked out of her windows. She looked forward to enjoying a colourful display continuing throughout the summer without any effort on her part.

New Brighton itself was also slowly returning to life after the winter closures. Preparations were being made for the return of the circus in the tower grounds, the pier was being repainted and workmen were busy at the outdoor swimming pool in anticipation of an influx of summer visitors and day trippers.

The long promenade that ran from Seacombe to Wallasey Village, however, was practically deserted. High winds in early February had made a daily stroll along it out of the question and once the habit had been broken there seemed to be some reluctance in restarting.

Even the Mersey had been quieter than usual, with fewer liners waiting at the Bar to enter or leave the river and less commercial activity.

Jenny had been over to Liverpool shopping on her own several times. She had bought a new wedding outfit because she didn’t think the one she’d chosen for December would look right at Easter.

Tom had rebooked the hotel meal and the cars for the new date they had chosen and had even placed a tentative order for the flowers, so it seemed there was nothing further to do until the actual day drew nearer.

They paid Karen and Bill a very short visit at half term and Jenny couldn’t believe how well she looked. The talk had all been about the coming baby and the preparations they were making for its arrival. Karen delighted in showing them the nursery that she and Bill had decorated and the collection of baby clothes and all the other items they’d amassed ready for the new arrival.

Karen was now so large that the outfit she’d planned to wear at Jenny and Tom’s wedding was no longer suitable because she couldn’t get into it.

‘I’ll wait until the week before your wedding to decide what to buy just in case I get any bigger,’ she told Jenny with a laugh.

‘Would you like me to come for the weekend and go shopping with you?’

‘No, there’s no need for you to do that, Gran. I’ll have to settle for whatever they have in stock that fits me,’ she added with a laugh. ‘I never dreamed I would be this big.’

‘Well, you can always ring me if you change your mind, and I’ll keep the next couple of Saturdays free just in case,’ Jenny told her.

‘She certainly is enormous,’ Tom commented on their way home. ‘Are you sure she isn’t expecting twins?’

‘I wouldn’t think so. These days they have scans and know about these things in advance,’ Jenny told him.

Nevertheless, she was concerned about Karen’s size, but since she had very little to do with pregnant mothers she was sure that since Karen looked so well there was nothing to worry about.

Although it had been a long cold winter, the weather took a massive turn for the better in mid-March and promised to be warm, dry and sunny for their wedding.

The Saturday before the date fixed for their wedding was such a nice day that Tom suggested a walk along the prom to Harrison Drive and then they could have lunch in Wallasey Village and either walk home or catch the bus back to New Brighton.

They were just going out of the door when the phone rang.

‘Leave it, probably nothing important,’ Tom said quickly.

Jenny hesitated. ‘I don’t know. I did tell Karen that if she needed me to go and help her to choose her outfit for our wedding then I would go with her.’

‘She’s hardly likely to phone you today; it would be afternoon before you got down to Wiltshire and the shops would be closing by the time you got into the nearest town.’

‘Yes, you’re probably right,’ Jenny agreed.

The phone was still ringing though as if the person on the other end had no intention of hanging up until it was answered.

‘Oh, go on then, answer it,’ Tom said resignedly. ‘You won’t rest until you know who it is, but be quick.’

When Jenny answered the call he could tell by the expression on her face that it was bad news. She was shaking as she tried to tell him who it was and what it was about but the words wouldn’t come.

Tom took the phone from her trembling hand and his voice was curt as he asked: ‘Yes, who is it? What is it you …’

Before he could finish speaking the voice on the other end cut in and the moment he recognized that it was Bill calling he listened in silence.

‘Yes, I understand. We’ll be there as soon as possible,’ he promised before hanging up.

‘Did you understand what Bill was saying?’ he asked, looking at Jenny.

Jenny nodded then shook her head. ‘I’m not too sure. I think I did.’

‘Karen has gone into labour early and has been taken to hospital. The baby will be premature,’ Tom told her.

She stared at him wide-eyed. ‘We must go down there right away. Karen will need me to be there with her.’

‘Yes, that is what I’ve told Bill we will do. Now can you pack an overnight bag for both of us. While you are doing that I’ll go and put some petrol in the car and check the oil and make sure it is OK for the journey and then we’ll be off.’

Jenny nodded, then she said in a worried voice, ‘What about all our plans … our wedding day is only a week away.’

‘There’s plenty of time to sort that out,’ Tom said as he picked up his keys and made to leave. ‘We’ll decide what to do about that when we know what the situation is with Karen. Let’s get down there and see what we can do to help.’