Where Memories Are Made (11 page)

She paused for a moment and gave him a tender look before she continued, ‘Roger had been widowed himself three years before. Like me he'd a very happy marriage, and when his wife died he missed her dreadfully and was so terribly lonely with no one to share his life with on a day-to-day basis. He'd fallen off a ladder cleaning his windows and broken his leg. The WI committee got to hear about it and, as his late wife used to be a member, felt it right that we rally round to make sure he was fed and comfortable while he was unable to fend for himself. Another widow woman and I were asked if between us we'd oblige. Of course we both said we'd be happy to.

‘During my visits Roger and I used to chat while I cleaned around for him and made him a meal. We discovered we had a lot in common in our likes and dislikes. I found myself really looking forward to it being my turn to visit, and he made no bones about the fact he looked forward to me coming. Six weeks later he had his cast off so didn't need our help any longer. As I prepared to leave for the last time, Roger asked me if I'd like to go old time dancing with him sometime. My husband and I used to dance regularly until his illness stopped us, which was a sad time for us as we really enjoyed it. I was thrilled to accept Roger's invitation. So we went out together a few times and before we knew it we were in a relationship. I asked Roger if he minded keeping the relationship under wraps as I knew if Clarice found out she wouldn't approve, and I didn't want her to make me feel guilty for having a bit of a social life. I did tell her that I had started going out with a friend, but led her to believe it was a female friend. I did, though, take my best friend Harriet into my confidence … we women tell our best friends everything, don't we? She's a widow woman herself, and I know she would like nothing more than to have a bit of romance in her life too. She was thrilled for me and very supportive.

‘Nine weeks ago Roger and I finally admitted to each other that we'd fallen in love and just going out socially wasn't enough. We wanted to be together all the time. Roger asked me to marry him and I was delighted to accept. At our age it's silly waiting as time is not on our side. We decided to get married as soon as possible, and that he would give up the tenancy of his house and move in with me as I'd got all my friends nearby and he didn't want me to miss them. By pooling our pensions, and Roger's savings … he showed me his bank book to prove to me he wasn't flannelling … it seemed we'd live a good life together. Since my husband died money has been quite tight for me so I thought it would be a relief not to have to penny pinch so much in future. Roger told his family and they were happy for him and couldn't wait to meet me. Clarice's reaction, though, was completely the opposite.

‘My hope that she'd be pleased for me and give me her blessing was a waste of time. Instead she held nothing back in letting me know how disgusting she thought me for taking another man into my bed at my age. She also accused me of being disloyal to her father's memory. She told me that in her opinion a man of Roger's age only took another wife to make sure he'd someone to care for him in his dotage. I would end up nothing more than a drudge, she said. If I thought she was going to stand by and watch me make a fool of myself then I could think again. She flatly refused to meet him.' Joyce paused and said to Jackie, ‘Does Roger look to you like he needs someone to take care of his every need? Does he look incapable or as if he will be any time soon?'

Jackie looked at him. He must be over seventy, judging by Joyce's age, but Jackie would have put him in his early sixties. He was a trim, healthy-looking man, and had to be fit from the way he'd picked up Joyce and carried her to the bed with apparent ease. ‘No, he doesn't,' Jackie responded truthfully. She had no doubt whatsoever how Roger felt about Joyce. Love for her radiated from him, and he was treating her as if she was his most treasured possession. It was such a pity that Joyce's daughter had not taken the trouble to get to know him before she made up her mind about him.

Joyce said with conviction, ‘If Roger did ever become infirm then I would happily look after him. When you love someone enough to marry them, you take them for better or for worse.'

He took her hand and squeezed it affectionately. ‘That goes for me too.'

Joyce took up the tale again. ‘I pointed out to Clarice how narrow-minded she was in believing that marriage was only for the young. Besides, I was entitled to do as I wished, and I wished to marry Roger and was determined to, whether or not I had her blessing. She was determined it wasn't going to happen. Said it was obvious to her I was losing my mind. She bundled up my personal belongings and forced me to go home with her, telling me it was for my own good and she wasn't going to allow me back until she was convinced I'd seen sense. My son-in-law and two grandchildren were all on my side but dared not cross Clarice on a matter she felt so strongly about or she would have made their life hell too.

‘I was beside myself with worry that Roger would believe I'd just gone off without a word, and knew it would break his heart, but there was nothing I could do about it. Clarice was watching me like a hawk. But thankfully Harriet knew me well enough, and how I felt about Roger, to realise I loved and respected him far too much just to finish our relationship for no apparent reason, without even having the decency to tell him face to face. So she made the journey to see me, travelled on two buses all the way across town … she's a couple of years older than me and suffers badly from arthritis … to find out for herself what was really going on. In the few minutes Clarice left us on our own while she made tea, I managed to convey to Harriet what had happened.

‘She did her best to make Clarice see that she was wrong to prevent me from being with Roger, but Clarice wouldn't listen. So behind her back Harriet became our go-between, passing messages between us. We made a plan that I would toe the line for a few weeks and then Harriet would inform me that she had heard Roger had met someone else and was pursuing them, and then I'd make out that if he'd got over me so quickly then Clarice was obviously right and I'd had a lucky escape. That way she would relax her vigilance over me. I did not at all like deceiving my daughter, but she'd given me no choice.

‘So that's what we did. It was a long few weeks for both of us, not seeing each other, just surviving on the messages Harriet passed between us, but it paid off. With Clarice believing that Roger was out of my life, she had no reason to keep watch on me any longer and allowed me to go back home. As soon as she settled me back in and left, I wasted no time in letting Roger know and we made arrangements to go away somewhere and while we were there get married by special licence. Once we're married Clarice will just have to like it or lump it. We were going to a hotel in Skegness, but when we were looking in the paper for a suitable one to book we saw an advertisement for Jolly's. We thought the camp would be perfect for us as we could get married in Skegness and have fun here doing all sorts of things for our honeymoon.

‘So Clarice wouldn't worry about me, I left a note for her on my kitchen table, telling her that after all that had happened I felt the need for some time on my own and had gone away for a few days. I underestimated her, didn't I? She obviously twigged I hadn't gone on my own and that I'd been duping her all those weeks, and immediately went to see the one person who would know where I was.' Joyce paused, gave a sad sigh and said to Jackie, ‘I suppose I'd better come back to reception with you to face her. If I don't, once you tell her I'm here, she won't leave without me.'

Roger interjected desperately, ‘And then she'll never let you out of her sight again. I can't lose you, Joyce! I can't imagine my life without you in it. Let me go and try and reason with her. You never know, meeting me in the flesh she might see I'm not a philanderer or a doddering old fool who needs a nurse. Maybe she will change her mind then.'

Joyce wearily shook her head and said with conviction, ‘She won't. Once Clarice has made up her mind about something, she never changes it.'

Jackie's thoughts meanwhile were racing. It didn't seem right to her that these two very dear elderly people were being denied a chance of a good life together through the bigotry of another. They had worked hard to get this far, and from what she'd been told, if they failed, it didn't seem likely they'd get another chance. Jackie's mind was made up. She was going to help them fulfil their ambition.

‘Just a minute,' she urged. ‘What time did you ask the taxi to come and pick you up?'

Roger answered, ‘At a quarter to four, by the entrance gate. Why?'

She told them what she had in mind. ‘I'll get you both outside the camp by a route that doesn't pass reception. You can go out of the employees' entrance. Then I'll go and tell the taxi where to pick you up. That way we won't risk your daughter spotting you out of the window if she happens to be looking. Once I've seen you safely off to Skegness in the taxi, I'll go back to reception and tell your daughter that I've spoken to all the Daventrys staying here and no one of your description is among them, so it must be another holiday camp you're staying at.'

Both Roger and Joyce were gawping at her. Joyce uttered, ‘But that means you'll be lying for us. I said before, we can't let you do that, it's not right.'

‘But if I don't do this, I'll be breaking company rules. Mrs Jolly is emphatic that her staff should do everything they can to make sure the guests go home having had a time to remember. If you go home not married your memories of Jolly's won't be good ones, will they? And then I'll have failed in my duty towards you.'

Their expressions were a delight to behold.

Fifteen minutes later the three of them were hurrying around the back of the reception and entertainment blocks and over to the employees' entrance. They arrived through the gate just in time to see the back of a taxi heading off down the country road towards Mablethorpe.

‘Oh, no!' Joyce cried in distress. ‘The driver obviously thought we weren't coming. By the time we get another to fetch us, we'll have missed our appointment. We got the only slot available for the next three weeks, and we're due to go home in six days.'

‘Is there a bus due?' Roger asked hopefully.

Jackie shook her head. ‘Not until a quarter to six. Even if there was one due now, you'd still have to catch another bus from Mablethorpe to Skegness and wouldn't arrive in time for your appointment.' The disappointment and dejection on the faces of the old couple would have made the hardest man cry, and Jackie was having a tough job not to give in to tears on the spot. They had gone to such lengths to be together, she just couldn't let them fail now, not over a transport problem, not when she had the means to resolve that for them. She quickly calculated that she could get them to Skegness and be back here at Jolly's in time to go home and be ready in time for Keith to pick her up. It would mean abandoning work that really should be done by this evening, but this time she was going to put her personal life before that.

All she told them was, ‘Don't give up hope of getting married just yet. I know where I can get transport to take you to Skegness. Stay here. I'll be back as quick as I can.'

With that she rushed off. Moments later, making it appear she had come from the direction of the chalets, she went into reception. She found Joyce's daughter anxiously pacing up and down while glancing out of the large window for signs of Jackie returning with her mother in tow. On seeing her enter on her own, Clarice stopped her pacing and demanded, ‘Where's my … Mrs Daventry?'

Giving a performance worthy of an acting award, Jackie told her, ‘I did manage to locate most of the Daventrys staying here with us, and those I didn't see face to face I got descriptions of from campers staying nearby. I'm afraid none of them match the woman you are here to see.'

Clarice stared at her for a moment as she digested this information before her face glowed purple with anger. She spat, ‘That damned woman lied to me! I should have known she'd not divulge where they'd really gone and would send me on a wild goose chase instead.' She took a deep breath, her face set tight. ‘Well, when I'm proved right, my mother needn't think she'll get any sympathy from me.'

Jackie pretended she hadn't a clue what Clarice was ranting on about. She said evenly, ‘I'm sorry you've had a wasted journey. Can I get reception to order a taxi for you, to take you wherever you need to go?'

‘Yes, to the station.'

Jackie left the furious woman, to cross over to the reception desk where Ginger had been doing her best to eavesdrop on the conversation.

‘I take it you never found the Mrs Daventry she's after?'

Jackie whispered back, ‘Actually, I did. Don't ask me any questions, I haven't time to explain or we could be late.'

Ginger frowned in confusion. ‘Late for what?'

‘I'll explain later.' Then loudly, so Clarice could hear, she added, ‘Would you please order a taxi to take this lady to the station? And make her a cup of tea while she's waiting.' Lowering her voice again to a whisper, she added, ‘Tell them to come in half an hour, so we've time to get clear.'

Leaving Ginger champing at the bit to know what Jackie was up to, she turned and hurried over to the door leading upstairs to the office. While dashing to her desk to pick up what she had come in for, she told a bemused Al that she had to go out for about an hour but hopefully would be back before he left for the night. Then, giving him no chance to enquire where she was going, she dashed out again.

When Jackie rode up on her Lambretta to join Joyce and Roger their faces were a picture. She said to them both, ‘It's the best I can do at such short notice, I'm afraid. It'll be a bit of a squash and I'm not sure if it's legal to have three riding on it at one time, but …'