Three Little Words

by Joan Jonker

Genres: Family Life; Siblings; Friendship; World War II; Sagas

Synopsis

Experience the joy and laughter of Liverpool's best-loved neighbours, Molly and Nellie. In Three Little Words, Joan Jonker brings us another instalment of her hugely popular Molly and Nellie series, as the two friends get up to more mischief in their beloved Liverpool. Perfect for fans of Katie Flynn and Sheila Newberry. The continuing adventures of two of the most entertaining families you'll ever meet... Best mates and neighbours for over twenty years, Nellie McDonough and Molly Bennett are up to their usual tricks in their Liverpool backstreet. When they're not playing detectives to find out who is pursuing their friend, Claire, they're on hand to help their children and grandchildren whenever they're needed. What readers are saying about Three Little Words : 'Love Joan Jonker's work. She has a great ability of making you feel like you are there experiencing the characters' lives and experiences with them! The characters always have a great depth and you can very easily grow attached to them and their storyline, cheering them on and hoping they get their happy endings or feeling empathy towards them when life throws them hardships. Joan was an exceptional author with a superb collection of works that deserve a place on any bookshelf!' 'I absolutely love the books written by Joan, especially the ones featuring the Bennett and McDonough and Corkill families. Once I pick up one of her books everything else stops '

Release date: February 2, 2012

Publisher: Headline

Print pages: 512

Sample

Molly Bennett stood on the top step and kissed her husband and daughter before they set off for work. They both started work at eight o’clock, but would part company when they reached the main road, for their jobs took them in different directions. The youngest of her four children, Ruthie, had only started work three months ago when she left school at fourteen, but to hear her talk you’d think she’d been working for years and knew the job inside out. She was much older in the head than Molly’s other two daughters and son had been at that age, far more confident and sure of herself. There were times when Molly thought she was over-confident, but her husband Jack said children these days were all the same, and that it was because during the war their parents hadn’t been strict with them.

A door on the opposite side of the street opened and a young girl stepped down on to the pavement, then turned to give her mother a kiss before hurrying across the cobbles to join Ruthie who had stopped to wait for her. They were best mates, Ruthie and Bella, friends from the time they could toddle, and it had been lucky that both had been taken on at Johnson’s Dye Works. They were as different in nature as chalk and cheese, though, for Bella was an only child whose mother wouldn’t let the wind blow on her, and hated to let her out of her sight. So while Ruthie was outgoing, Bella was very shy, blushing when anyone spoke to her. But she was a nice kid, and a good mate.

‘Ta-ra, Mam!’ Ruthie blew her mother a kiss, then linked her mate’s arm and hurried to catch up with her father so she could give him a hug. And from the movement of her head, Molly could tell she was talking fifteen to the dozen. ‘It’s a wonder Bella doesn’t suffer from a permanent earache,’ Molly said aloud as she closed the front door. ‘The poor kid can never get a word in edgeways.’

Standing in the doorway of the living room, Molly let her eyes go from the breakfast dishes still on the table to the grate that needed cleaning out, and the dust that had settled on the sideboard. Letting out a sigh, and holding her chin in her hand, she asked herself, ‘Well, now, what shall it be? Shall I clear the table first and wash the dishes, or shall I take the ashes out and clean the grate down?’ She didn’t answer herself right away, as she considered her options. Then her face lit up in a smile and she chuckled. ‘Or shall I do what my mate would do, and say sod them, I’ll make meself a fresh pot of tea and relax for half an hour? I deserve a break, ’cos me body hasn’t got over all the running round I did last week. And then there was the wedding on Saturday – that took it out of me.’ She nodded, having made up her mind to pamper herself, but as she passed the table she found she couldn’t break the habit of a lifetime. She’d clear up first, then relax with a cup of tea. Still talking to herself, she collected the dirty plates. ‘It’ll only take me half an hour to do the ruddy lot. I can have it done while I’m thinking about it. And the tea will taste better if I don’t have to drink it while looking at the blinking ashes.’

When Molly finally settled herself on a chair by the table, a hot cup of tea in front of her and an arrowroot biscuit between her fingers, she smiled in contentment. That was better. The grate was clean and the paper and wood laid ready to light a fire when she came back from the shops. Everywhere had been dusted, and there were no fingermarks to be seen on the sideboard or the small table in front of the back window. At least, she couldn’t see any from where she was sitting, and there were no visitors coming who would get down on their knees with a magnifying glass.

When the cup was empty, Molly put it back on the saucer and carried both out to the kitchen. It was only half past nine, so she had plenty of time to get herself washed and dressed before her mate called for her to go to the shops. Molly was not looking forward to going to the shops today, for she knew Nellie would talk non-stop about her daughter’s wedding on Saturday. Not that you could blame her, because it was a wonderful wedding, and it had gone off without a hitch. The bride looked beautiful, the groom handsome, and the bridesmaids very pretty. And the reception was everything you could ask for. Hanley’s, the confectioners, certainly knew how to lay on a good meal, well presented and plenty of it. And the party in the evening had been filled with fun and laughter until Tom Hanley had turfed them out at midnight.

It had been a smashing do, and Molly still hadn’t got over it. She’d laughed so much she got a pain in her side. And she’d never forget the sight of George McDonough picking up his wife and putting her over his shoulder. He was a big man, was George, but to pick up eighteen-stone Nellie was no mean feat. The laughter from the guests was so loud it was a wonder the roof didn’t cave in. It was some wedding party all right – fun and games all the way.

Molly sat up straight when there was a loud knock on the door. And it wasn’t just one knock. Whoever it was intended to be heard, because they kept rapping hard on the knocker. ‘Who the heck can this be?’ Molly asked herself as she pushed her chair under the table. ‘It’s not the day for the rent collector, and he doesn’t come this early anyway.’ With a quick glance in the mirror to make sure she was presentable, she made her way to the door, calling, ‘Whoever yer are, will yer stop making such a racket? Yer’ll have the neighbours thinking ye’re the bailiff, come to throw me and me few possessions out into the street.’

Molly opened the door intending to give whoever was standing there a piece of her mind, but the sight that met her eyes caused her jaw to drop. Looking up at her from the pavement, her face one big smile, was her mate Nellie McDonough. But not the Nellie who called for her every morning to go to the shops. ‘In the name of God, Nellie, what are yer playing at? Have yer lost the run of yer senses?’

Nellie’s smile never wavered. Dressed up to the nines in her wedding outfit with her purple dress, wide-brimmed lilac hat, beige gloves and shoes, and her bosom standing to attention, she looked as pleased as punch, and felt like Lady Muck. ‘Well, girl, aren’t yer going to ask me in for a cup of tea and a custard cream?’ She didn’t wait for a reply, but pushed Molly aside and swayed her way into the living room. ‘I hope yer’ve dusted the chairs, girl, ’cos I don’t want to dirty me frock.’

When Molly found her voice, she asked, ‘What the hell are yer playing at, Nellie? What are yer dressed up like a dog’s dinner for? I thought we were going to the shops?’

‘Oh, we are, girl!’ Nellie nodded her head, causing her chins to move upward and her wide-brimmed wedding hat to fall down over her eyes. Slowly, she took off one of her gloves, a finger at a time the way she’d seen Joan Crawford do it in one of her films. Then she pushed her hat back so she could see her friend, and explained, ‘It’s like this, girl. Seeing as we’re going to the butcher’s and the greengrocer’s, I thought it would be nice to let Tony and Billy see me bride’s mother’s outfit. I mean, they didn’t see the wedding, did they, girl, so I thought I’d give them a treat. Cheer them up for the day, like.’

‘Over my dead body, Nellie McDonough! If yer think I’m walking to the shops with yer looking like that, well, yer’ve got another think coming.’

Nellie glared at her friend before turning her back and picking up the carver chair from its place beside the sideboard and putting it by the table. She then sat down, and took off her other glove, in slow motion, one finger at a time. Then, after laying them down on the table, very neatly and precisely, she glanced up at Molly, who had a look of disbelief on her face. ‘If I’m not supposed to wear me wedding outfit, well, what am I supposed to do with the bleeding thing? Put it in the wardrobe and leave it there for the moths to get at? This hat cost me two guinea, so I intend getting some wear out of it.’ Her eyes narrowed and her top lip curled. ‘I know what it is, Molly Bennett, ye’re jealous, that’s what it is. I’m surprised at yer, acting like a flaming child.’

‘I am not jealous, Nellie McDonough, and I am not childish.’ Even as she was speaking, a voice in Molly’s head was telling her that she wanted her bumps feeling, and it was childish to argue. ‘Anyway, I don’t intend to get meself all worked up about it, so I’ll keep me cool and just tell yer I’m not going shopping with yer in that get-up. You go to the shops now and I’ll go when I’ve put some washing on the line.’

‘Yer mean I’m not even getting a cup of tea?’ Nellie’s voice rose. ‘Well, you miserable bugger! I’ve a good mind to take yer at yer word and go to the shops on me own. That would teach yer to be sarky with me.’

‘Yer know where the door is, Nellie, yer don’t need me to show yer out. But as we’re supposed to be mates, I’ll go halfway with yer. Yer can have yer usual cup of tea, but I am definitely not walking down the street with yer looking like that.’

‘I think ye’re two-faced, Molly Bennett. Yer were full of praise for me dress and hat before the wedding. Now yer won’t even walk down the street with me wearing it.’

Molly pulled a chair out and sat down. This was going to be a long session and there was no point in making her feet suffer. ‘Nellie, sunshine, I love yer outfit, and I think yer look like a million dollars in it. But there’s a time and place for everything, and this isn’t the time to be walking down the street in a wedding outfit. Yer’d be the talk of the neighbourhood, a laughing stock, and that is something I don’t want to see.’

Nellie spread out her chubby hands. ‘Then when am I going to be able to wear it, girl? It’s a sin to stick it in the wardrobe and never wear it again. It’s not often we get clothes as posh as these, so why can’t we enjoy them? Aren’t yer going to wear yours?’

Molly nodded. ‘Yes, sunshine, I’ll be wearing mine, but at the right time.’ She patted her mate’s hand. ‘Tell me, will your Lily be wearing her wedding dress often?’

Nellie lowered her head to think of a good answer to that, but one didn’t spring to mind. ‘Not to go to the shops in, girl. That would be daft.’

‘Apart from going to the shops, when will she wear it again?’

Nellie was stuck. No matter how many faces she pulled, she couldn’t think of an answer. Then suddenly her face lit up. ‘I know, girl, she could wear it at the christening!’

‘What christening?’

‘When the baby gets christened!’

‘Which baby is that, sunshine?’

‘The baby what our Lily and Archie are going to have. Why don’t yer use yer brains, girl?’

‘Nellie, they’ve only been married forty-eight hours, and already yer’ve got them having a baby! And just so yer can wear yer ruddy hat! If Lily and Archie have got any sense they’ll put off having a baby for a while. Let them enjoy each other a bit before starting a family. Once they have a baby they won’t be able to get out to dances and the flicks like they do now. They’ll be tied down. So don’t be putting a spell on them just so yer can titivate yerself up and show off.’

‘All that bleeding money spent on the wedding and we can’t wear the clothes afterwards. What a waste when there’s people in the world starving.’

Molly was dying to laugh. Never once had her mate ever mentioned the people in the world who were starving. In fact, Molly was surprised she even knew about them, ’cos although she loved the bones of Nellie, she had to admit she wouldn’t go out of her way to help anyone. If she saw someone lying in the gutter she wouldn’t offer to help them up, she’d say it was their own ruddy fault for being drunk. Then a little voice in Molly’s head pulled her up, and reminded her that Nellie had been getting more generous and caring over the last few years. Why, it was only a few days before Christmas that she had let herself be talked into putting a penny in a Salvation Army collecting tin. The memory of that brought a smile to Molly’s face as in her mind she saw a picture of Nellie holding the penny up to the collector’s face so she could see it was a penny Nellie was putting in the box, and not a button like some folk she knew.

‘What are yer smiling at, girl, ’cos I can’t see anything to smile about. If I thought yer were laughing at me, I’d clock yer one.’

‘I’m not laughing at you, sunshine, it was just something flashed through me mind. It was a long time ago, and I can’t remember where or when. Anyway, how about you going to the shops? Otherwise they’ll be closing for dinner.’

‘What! Where’s me cup of tea? Now that’s breaking a promise, that is. Yer said I could have a cup of tea and a biscuit, and I ain’t moving from here until I get it.’ Nellie’s sharp nod told Molly she meant what she said, and it told her chins to please themselves whether they did a quickstep or a slow foxtrot. ‘So put that in yer pipe and smoke it, Molly clever clogs Bennett.’

Molly’s head told her she was as daft as her friend, but it didn’t stop her from saying, ‘I never said yer could have a biscuit, sunshine, so don’t be making me out to be a liar.’

Nellie was fast losing her patience. ‘Bloody hell, girl, how long are yer going to keep this up? I don’t know why ye’re getting yer knickers in a twist, but if it improves yer temper, I’ll leave me ruddy hat here while we go to the shops. Honest to God, girl, when I was wondering what to give yer as a Christmas present, I couldn’t think what to get yer. It never entered me head to buy yer a dummy.’

‘Yer didn’t buy me a Christmas present!’

‘I know I never, girl.’ Nellie hands were spread out and her face looked the picture of innocence. ‘As I said, I didn’t know what to buy yer.’

‘Okay, sunshine, I’ll let yer off this time. But next Christmas, perhaps it would be a good idea to ask me what I’d like, save making excuses.’

Nellie’s face was all sweetness and light. ‘I’ll remember to do that, girl. But can I have me cup of tea now, ’cos me throat is parched.’ As Molly got to her feet, Nellie added, ‘And if yer could see yer way clear to include a biscuit, it would be much appreciated.’

Molly tutted. ‘I should have sent yer packing when I opened the front door, then I wouldn’t have had to go all through this. I’m me own worst enemy.’ She was putting a match to the gas ring when Nellie came into the kitchen with her lips pursed and her hands on her hips. ‘What’s up with your face, sunshine? Yer look as though ye’re ready to kill someone.’

‘I’ll tell yer what’s the matter with me, Molly Bennett, you little sneak. You never bought me no present at Christmas, that’s what.’

The match had burned down to Molly’s finger. She flung the spent match into the sink and turned the tap on to run cold water over the sore spot. Someone had once told her this would stop the skin from blistering. Pulling a face, she turned the tap off and rested the finger in the palm of her other hand. ‘If you say I’m a sneak, Nellie, then I’m a sneak. And don’t stand there doing nothing, put the tea in the pot and set the cups out.’

Nellie stepped back a couple of paces, horror on her face. ‘Make the tea in me wedding dress! Not on yer life, Molly Bennett. If yer want a cup of tea yer’ll have to make it yerself.’

Molly had an answer ready for that. ‘I’m not fussy on a cup of tea, so put the gas out for us, if yer will. It’s no good wasting money.’ She held her sore finger to her chest and went back to the living room to sit down.

Nellie was in a quandary. She’d got herself into a mess and wasn’t sure how to get out of it. All over her ruddy hat! Then she told herself it was her own fault because she’d talked herself into it, and the best solution was talk herself out of it. She followed her mate back to the living room. ‘Ah, have yer burnt yer finger, girl?’ She put her arm across Molly’s shoulder. ‘Yer poor thing. You just sit there and I’ll make a nice pot of tea. That’ll make yer feel better, girl.’ She put her two hands on the brim of her hat and carefully set it down on the glass bowl on the sideboard. ‘I know that’ll be clean, girl, ’cos I can see yer’ve done yer dusting.’ With that she swayed her way to the kitchen again. Then she cocked an ear, heard a chuckle, spun round and walked back. ‘Did I hear you laughing at me, Molly Bennett?’

Still holding her finger, even though it wasn’t as sore now, Molly looked the picture of innocence. ‘Me finger is giving me gyp, sunshine, so what the hell have I got to laugh about? It just goes to show what a bad mind yer’ve got.’

Nellie was far from convinced, but nevertheless she went back to the kitchen and put a light to the ring under the kettle. But she kept her ear cocked all the time. Then she leaned against the sink and wondered how to get back in her mate’s good books. And when the kettle boiled, her chubby face was creased in a smile as she silently complimented herself on coming up with a smashing idea.

In the living room, Molly was wondering what weird and wonderful scheme Nellie would come up with to get herself off the hook. And Molly had to admit to feeling a bit sorry for her mate, because she knew she only wanted to show off. But whatever, there was no way she was going to the shops with Nellie dressed up in her wedding regalia, stopping everyone they met, even people they’d never set eyes on before. They’d all be as sweet as honey to Nellie’s face, for her reputation was well known, but they’d be laughing at her behind her back and Molly wasn’t going to let that happen.

‘Here yer are, girl, a nice cup of tea, just as yer like it.’ Nellie set the saucer down in front of her mate, and with as much sympathy as she could muster, asked, ‘How’s yer finger now, girl? Is it any better?’

Molly asked God to forgive her before she answered, ‘No, sunshine, it’s still sore and throbbing like mad. I don’t think it’s going to come up in a blister, though, so I suppose I should be thankful for small mercies. I’ll put a bandage on it when I’ve had me drink, and by the time I’m ready to go to the shops it should have calmed down a lot.’

Nellie put on her Florence Nightingale guise. ‘No, I was thinking while I was in the kitchen, yer shouldn’t go out if ye’re feeling under the weather. You stay in and rest, and I’ll get yer shopping in for yer.’

Molly lowered her head so she could bite on the inside of her lip. So that was what Nellie had come up with, eh? She was slipping, for it wasn’t a patch on her usual excuses. ‘No, thank yer all the same, sunshine, but I’d rather get me own shopping in. I haven’t made up me mind yet what to get for our dinner, so I’ll wait and see what meat Tony’s got to entice me. But don’t let me stop you, sunshine. You poppy off and get to the shops.’

Nellie narrowed her eyes. ‘Yer know, girl, we could go on like this all day. I said before that yer were childish, but I’m as bad as you. So shall we both grow up and behave like responsible adults? I’ll take me hat and go home, then I’ll come back in me old clothes and we’ll go shopping together like we always do. I mean, if I went in the butcher’s or the greengrocer’s on me own, they’d start a collection for a wreath for yer, thinking yer were dead.’

‘Nellie McDonough, how d’yer think these things up? Why couldn’t yer just tell Tony or Billy that I was busy, and that’s why yer were getting me shopping in? Wouldn’t that be less morbid than having me dead and neighbours collecting money for a wreath?’

The little woman puckered her lips and her eyes slid from side to side. ‘Here we go again, girl, you with yer words what I sometimes think yer make up just to fool me. I can’t wear me big hat, but it’s all right for you to use big words that nobody but yerself understands.’

Molly looked puzzled. ‘I didn’t use any big words, sunshine, at least I can’t remember using any. What was it I said?’

‘If I knew that, I wouldn’t have to ask yer, would I, soft girl? Whatever it was, it was as bad as having yer dead and buried.’

‘Oh, I think I know the word yer mean, sunshine, but it isn’t a long one. There’s only six letters in it. Was the word morbid, by any chance?’

Nellie’s face lit up. ‘That’s the one, girl, that’s the one. It might not be a long word, but it’s double Dutch to me. But ’cos I don’t know what it means doesn’t mean I’m thick, girl, it only means that you’re a show-off.’ She sniffed. ‘Still, seeing as yer’ve used it, yer may as well tell me what it means, for future reference, like.’

Molly grinned to herself. This should be interesting. I bet me mate will be sorry she asked. ‘It means someone who takes an interest in things that are unpleasant, such as disease or death. In other words, miserable buggers who don’t know what it’s like to enjoy themselves, or how to laugh.’

‘Yer can’t say I’m like that, girl, ’cos I’m not miserable, and I laugh more than I ruddy well cry. And being me best mate, yer should know that.’

‘Of course ye’re not, sunshine, or I wouldn’t be yer best mate. And because you are me mate, I’ll go to the shops with yer if yer go home and get changed.’

‘Ah, ay, girl! I don’t feel like getting changed, it’s too much trouble! How about if I slip home and put me old coat on, and I leave me hat there? I can’t say fairer than that, girl.’

Molly nodded. ‘Okay, sunshine, and I’ll be ready for when yer get back.’

Nellie hitched her bosom and narrowed her eyes. ‘I see yer can use yer finger now. That’s a miracle, that is, ’cos a minute ago yer were in agony.’

‘Yes, I was, sunshine, and that’s why I held me finger under the cold water. It does the trick if yer happen to burn yerself, sunshine, so there’s a little tip for yer.’

Nellie picked her hat up and made for the front door, saying under her breath, ‘Yes, Florence Nightingale, I’ll do as yer say. You’re the boss, Florrie, I’m only the ruddy lackey.’

Molly hurried after her. ‘What did yer say, Nellie?’

‘I said, girl, don’t forget yer key.’ With that the little woman stepped on to the pavement laughing her head off, feeling that everything hadn’t gone her way so far this morning, but at least she’d got the last word in.

Molly closed the door and walked back into the living room shaking her head. ‘She’s a caution, is Nellie; yer don’t get many like her in a pound. Which is just as well, I suppose. It’s a wonder me ears aren’t burning, ’cos I’d have a bet that right now she’s standing in front of the mirror, with her hat on, telling herself what a miserable so-and-so I am. But I wouldn’t have her any different. Just imagine what life would be like without her. I would know exactly what was going to happen each day, doing the housework, going to the shops, getting the dolly tub out every Monday and putting the washing in steep. All very predictable and dull. Whereas, with Nellie, yer never know what’s going to happen from one minute to the next.’ Molly smiled at her reflection in the mirror. ‘I’d better be ready when she knocks, for it’s going to take us longer to do the shopping today with my mate stopping to tell everyone about the wedding. She won’t care whether they’re friends or not, or if they don’t want to hear it – they’ll have little to say in the matter once Nellie gets her claws in them. Even Elsie Flanaghan would be received with open arms … that’s if Nellie could catch her.’

Molly saw a shadow pass the window and hurried to take her coat off the hook in the hall. ‘I’m ready, sunshine, so there’s no need to bash the door in.’

Nellie was waiting with hands on hips for the door to open. ‘What d’yer mean, don’t bash the door in? Anyone listening to you would get the wrong impression of me. They’d think I was a loud-mouthed bully, instead of a respectable wife, mother and grandmother.’

‘No, they wouldn’t think that of yer, sunshine.’ Molly closed the door behind her. ‘Anyone with half an eye can see that ye’re as cuddly and gentle as a little lamb.’

Nellie squinted up at her mate to make sure she wasn’t being sarcastic before she smiled to show how pleased she was at the compliment. ‘Ah, that’s nice of yer, girl.’ She linked arms. ‘Where are we going to first, girl, butcher’s or greengrocer’s?’

‘Greengrocer’s last, sunshine. There’s no point in lugging potatoes around with us. We’ll see what meat we want first. I wouldn’t mind a sheet of ribs, to have with cabbage and some mash.’

‘Sounds good to me, girl, sounds good to me.’

They’d only gone a few yards when the door of a neighbour’s house opened, and Nellie dropped Molly’s arm as though it was a hot poker. Mabel Bristow was stepping down on to the pavement when she was confronted by Nellie. She put a hand to her chest and shook her head. ‘In the name of God, Nellie, yer frightened the life out of me!’

But Nellie wasn’t the least bit put out. ‘Did yer see our Lily’s wedding on Saturday, Mabel? There were so many people there I didn’t get to see everyone. Oh, it went off a treat. Everyone said what a beautiful wedding it was.’

Mabel groaned inwardly. She liked Nellie, nearly everyone did, but once she got talking to you it was hard to get away. ‘Yes, I was there, Nellie, and it was beautiful. Lily looked lovely, and so did the bridesmaids. The groom seemed a nice friendly lad, and I wish them the best of luck and hope everything goes all right for them.’ Mabel made to walk away, but she should have known from past experience that it wouldn’t be so easy.

Nellie put a restraining hand on her neighbour’s arm in case she made a dash for it. ‘Did yer like my outfit, Mabel?’

Mabel nodded. ‘Yeah, I thought yer looked great, Nellie. Very ah, la, posh.’

To the poor woman’s dismay, and Molly’s, Nellie put her basket on the ground and began to undo the buttons on her coat. ‘Yer wouldn’t see me dress close up, like, Mabel, so I’ll let yer see it now. Feel that material, girl. Don’t yer think it’s real classy?’

Mabel dutifully obliged. ‘Oh, yeah, queen, it’s real good quality.’ She looked over to Molly, and her expression screamed out for help. ‘But I’ll have to go now, Nellie, ’cos I’m going to see me mam and dad.’

Molly obliged. ‘You go on yer way, Mabel, ’cos me and Nellie are tied for time. When we’ve done our shopping I want to call at me daughters’ and see if they need anything. So we’ll love yer and leave yer, sunshine, and give our love to yer mam and dad.’

Mabel took off as though she was being chased by the devil himself, while Nellie watched her retreating back with surprise. ‘Well, that wasn’t very nice, was it? Another few minutes wouldn’t have hurt her. I think that was bleeding rude, and I’ll tell her next time I see her.’

Molly grabbed her arm and marched her forward. ‘Yer’ll do no such thing, Nellie McDonough. People have their own lives to live; they don’t revolve around you. Mabel was going to see her parents, and we’ve got to see to our families. So no more moaning, and no more stopping to gab to everyone we see. If yer do, I’ll leave yer to get on with it, because I’m going to see Doreen and Jill, whether you’re with me or not. Understand?’

Nellie gritted her teeth. Fifteen minutes ago her mate had been Florence Nightingale, now she was talking like ruddy Hitler! But best to keep quiet: least said soonest mended. But Nellie couldn’t help the way she was made, and when they were nearly at the corner of their street they came face to face with another neighbour coming back from the shops. Nellie had her mouth open ready to ask if Mrs Bamber had seen the wedding, and Molly had her hand ready to move her on. But they both got their eye wiped, for Ann Bamber beat them to it. ‘I won’t stay, ’cos I’m weighed down with shopping and me arms are dropping off, but I’d just like to say, Nellie, that the wedding went off a treat. I thought Lily looked lovely, and her new husband seems nice and friendly. You and your feller did them proud.’ With a beaming smile, Ann went on her way, calling, ‘Ta-ra. I’ll be seeing yer.’

Molly squeezed her mate’s arm. ‘There yer are, sunshine, they all thought the wedding went off very well. And so they should because you and George did Lily and Archie proud.’ Before Nellie had time to differ, Molly had cupped her elbow and steered her across the main road and along to the butcher’s shop.

Tony happened to glance through the window of his shop and saw Molly and Nellie approaching. There were no customers in the shop, and he called through to Ellen in the stockroom. ‘Yer mates are on their way, Ellen, d’yer think Nellie would take offence if I pulled her leg about the party? What yer told me was true, wasn’t it? Her husband did pick her up, throw her over his shoulder, and Nellie did show everything she’d got, and something she hadn’t got. Is that right? Yer weren’t making it up?’

‘I wouldn’t make a joke about a woman’s knickers, Tony, of course it was true. But whether Nellie will appreciate yer pulling her leg, well, yer’ll have to