Cast the First Stone (2 page)

Ruth glanced at the two huge dishes, covered carefully with the ever useful cling film, that stood on the working surface along with the sandwiches and cakes. They were also covered to guard against flies or wasps until the time came to unveil them. Mrs Bayliss's creation was topped with fresh cream skilfully piped in peaks, each topped with a glacé cherry and morsels of angelica, whilst Mrs Fowler's effort, also covered in fresh cream, was sprinkled with flaked almonds and chocolate buttons. Handiwork that would be demolished as soon as a spoon went to work on them. It was not possible to see inside, but it was well known that neither of the ladies would have scrimped on the sherry to moisten the sponge cake. Most of the members of the congregation agreed that they reckoned nothing to ‘Methodist trifle' flavoured with fruit juice! Mrs Bayliss was known to favour fresh raspberries and red jelly, whereas Mrs Fowler preferred tinned peaches and orange jelly. It was assumed, however, that both ladies used the well-known ‘Ambrosia' custard that came out of a tin; but their efforts would be highly praised as the pièce de résistance of the meal.

Ruth and her friend, Heather Milner, did not really consider themselves to be part of the coterie of women who organized church teas and helped out at the social functions. Those were ladies of an older age group – late fifties, sixties or early seventies – whose children had long left home and had families of their own. They were retired ladies, too. Indeed, most of them had never worked outside of the home – whereas Ruth and Heather were both employed as teachers at the local school.

Ruth Makepeace was a widow. Her husband had been killed in the D-Day landings when he was twenty-two years of age, the same age as Ruth. They had been married for little more than a year, their wedding having taken place soon after Ruth had started her teaching career. Married women teachers were a rarity at that time, but the restriction about employing only single women had been lifted in recent years. The women, indeed, both married and single, had constituted the bulk of the teaching profession during the war years. The men who were employed in the schools were those who were too old or unfit for active service.

Ruth was now forty-three. Her marriage, though short, had been blissful, and she was sure, if Ralph had not been killed, that they would still have been ideally happy together. She had concentrated upon her career, glad that she had such a satisfying job. She had been happy at home with her parents and younger sister, and so she had not sought a post elsewhere. She had moved, however, to a flat of her own, when she had been able to afford it. This had come about because, in her mid-thirties, she had been promoted to the post of head of the Infant Department.

She had remained a widow because she had never met anyone she could consider marrying, since Ralph; that was until her friendship with the Reverend Simon Norwood had shown signs of developing. Now, though, her hopes had been cruelly dashed; but she was trying to carry on as though she had never felt anything but feelings of friendship towards him.

The only person who knew her secret was her good friend and colleague, Heather Milner. Heather, aged thirty-eight, was happily married with two children who were now of secondary school age. Heather had resumed her teaching career that she had given up temporarily when the children were small. Her sensible outlook on life and her cheerful disposition had helped and were still helping Ruth to get over her disappointment and put it behind her.

She spoke confidentially to Ruth now as, together – at the request of the ‘chief cook and bottle washer', Mrs Bayliss – they sorted out the glass dishes for the trifles. Each one had to be carefully checked to ensure they were clean and not cracked or chipped before being set out on the table top.

‘How are you feeling, love?' she enquired. ‘I must say you're looking very fetching in your new dress. Is that the one you got from M and S? The colour really suits you.'

‘I'm feeling OK, thanks,' replied Ruth. ‘Keeping myself well under control, I hope! Yes, this is the dress I bought at Marks and Sparks in Leeds. I liked the colour, but I wondered if it might be too short; in fact I'm still not sure about the length. What do you think, Heather, honestly?'

‘Of course it's not too short,' answered Heather. ‘They're all the rage now, these miniskirts. And you've got nice shapely legs, so why not show them off?'

‘Thank you,' laughed Ruth. ‘But at my age, I mean. Don't you think I might be too old? I saw Mrs Bayliss looking pointedly at my hemline when I came in.'

‘Oh, be damned to her!' said Heather, rather too forcibly. ‘Oops!' She put a hand to her mouth. ‘Sorry; I was forgetting I'm on church premises. But who's bothered what she thinks? She's an old fuddy-duddy. Anyway, my skirt's just as short as yours.'

‘Yes, but you're younger than me. You're not even forty yet.'

‘I will be in a couple of years' time. And I never think of you as being any older than me. You're as young as you feel, that's what I say. And I think these new fashions are great.'

The length of skirts had been gradually rising since the start of the sixties, and now, in 1965, they were well above the knee. The dress that Ruth was wearing was a cherry red colour, what was known as a shift dress, in the new Terylene material, sleeveless, with a tie neckline in white and with a narrow white piping at the waist.

‘As I was saying, that colour's just the right shade for you,' Heather continued, ‘with your dark hair and eyes. And you're slim enough to get away with anything. I must say I envy you your trim figure. How on earth do you manage to keep so slim?'

‘I don't know really.' Ruth gave a slight shrug. ‘I don't watch what I eat, not particularly. I suppose I take after my mother; she's seventy now and still as slim as ever.'

‘I started putting weight on after I had the children,' said Heather, ‘and I've never been able to lose it. And of course this lot won't help today, will it?' She waved her hand towards the array of food that surrounded them. ‘Gosh! What a spread! I can't wait to sample some of those cakes. That is if there are any left after we've served the VIPs.'

‘Don't worry; there's enough to feed a regiment,' smiled Ruth. As she looked at her friend she couldn't help thinking that Heather maybe should lose a little weight. She, too, was wearing a dress with a short skirt, revealing plump thighs. The pale-blue colour suited her fair prettiness and her blue eyes. Her cheerful rounded face and her curvaceous figure were part of Heather's charm, though, and Ruth couldn't imagine her any other way.

‘Ladies, will you listen, please?' Mrs Ethel Bayliss now called them all to order. ‘It's time to carry the sandwiches and savouries through to the hall. A nice selection on each table, and make sure the top table is well served. Blanche and Joan – would you put the kettles on now, please? Our guests should be here in just a few moments.'

Fiona, the new Mrs Norwood, looked round the room a little apprehensively. She didn't like being the centre of attention, although she supposed, as the rector's new wife, she would have to get used to the position. Simon had assured her that there was nothing to be anxious about. He had also assured her that she looked lovely – as she always did, he added – and she was quite pleased with her appearance as well. Simon had persuaded her to wear her ‘going away' suit – a short-sleeved jacket with a peplum at the waist in a shade of buttercup yellow, over a slightly above the knee length skirt with a scalloped hemline. He said she looked like a ray of sunshine. The suit had been a minor extravagance, purchased from Schofield's in Leeds rather than the M and S, or C and A stores where she usually shopped. She had decided, however, not to wear the small cap of artificial petals in a matching shade that she had worn on her wedding day, feeling that it might look a little too fancy for the occasion. Looking around she saw that it was mostly the older ladies who were wearing hats.

Fiona knew that some of those elderly ladies were inclined to look critically at her make-up and her painted nails, also at her blonde hair – which, contrary to what people might think, was her natural colour. She had always been conscious of her appearance and tried to look her best at all times. Her lips and her nails today were a coral colour, rather than a vivid red, which she felt was more in keeping with ‘the rector's wife' image. Not that Simon cared two hoots, he said, about what the members of the congregation might think. He loved her just as she was and didn't want her to change at all.

She knew, though, that the position of rector's wife was regarded as one of importance in the parish and she couldn't help wondering how she would adapt to it. Simon had agreed that she should keep on with her job at the library for the time being. Fiona also knew it was Simon's hope that they would be blessed with a child in the not too distant future. ‘Be blessed with . . .' That was Simon's way of looking at things. He regarded the good things that happened in life as God's blessings. Until she had met Simon, Fiona had attended church only spasmodically of late. She had not given much thought to spiritual matters; not since her teenage days, in fact, when circumstances had caused her to doubt all that she had been taught in Sunday School. Now, though, since her friendship with him had blossomed into love and then marriage, she had come to realize that there was a good deal more to life than the day-to-day routine with its ups and downs. She had found herself starting to believe more fully in this God who meant so much to Simon, and not only because it was her duty as the rector's wife to do so. She still had a great deal to learn, but with her beloved husband at her side she knew she would be all right.

Mrs Ethel Bayliss, whom she had soon learnt was one of the bigwigs in the church – the chief bigwig, in fact – had met them at the door and had led them, with a good deal of bowing and scraping, to their places at the table at the end of the church hall; the ‘top table' she had called it. The assembled crowd – Fiona estimated at a glance that there might be about forty of them – had all clapped and smiled in a very welcoming manner as the rector and his wife took their places.

‘What's it all in aid of, this tea party?' Fiona had asked Simon.

‘Oh, it's just their way of welcoming us back,' said Simon. ‘You especially, my love, as my new wife. But it's any excuse for a tea party, if you ask me. We have to humour them. Mrs Bayliss and Mrs Fowler are in their element when they're organizing church teas.'

Fiona had met both these ladies soon after she had started attending St Peter's church. She glanced across at Mrs Bayliss now, deep in conversation with Mrs Fowler, who was seated next to her. Ethel Bayliss was in her mid sixties, Fiona guessed; a large-bosomed woman who moved in a stately manner like a ship in full sail, as though she considered herself to be of some importance. Fiona, in all fairness, had noticed that she always dressed well and in keeping with her age. The navy-blue dress with white spots was stylish but discreet, as was the small white straw hat above her newly permed hair. Ethel – although Fiona would not dream of calling her by her Christian name – was married to Arthur Bayliss, the church warden at St Peter's, a small unassuming man with a bald head and rimless glasses, whom Fiona rather liked.

‘Yes, Mrs Halliwell's ginger cake is as delicious as ever,' Mrs Bayliss was saying, delicately licking her finger and picking up the crumbs that remained on the plate. ‘I think it's the combination of a small amount of black treacle with the golden syrup that gives it that extra something. I'm just guessing though. She's very guarded about the recipe.'

‘Yes, so I've noticed,' agreed Mrs Blanche Fowler. ‘I did pluck up courage to ask her for the recipe once, but she was very evasive. Still, we all have our little secrets, haven't we?' She gave a tinkling laugh. ‘I must confess I'm the same with my Christmas cake recipe. It's been handed down through our family for generations.'

Fiona was fascinated by the bunch of cherries on Mrs Fowler's straw hat. She assumed that this lady was roughly the same age as Mrs Bayliss, but the two were as different as could be. They were close friends, at least on the surface. Mrs Fowler was tall and slim and walked with a slight stoop. If one was to be unkind she might be described as ‘mutton dressed as lamb'. Her full-skirted nylon dress was boldly patterned with pink and blue flowers that did not really match her headgear. However, Fiona found her not quite as intimidating as her friend, and of the two she much preferred Blanche Fowler. She was the wife of Jonas who was the other church warden. There were always two, known respectively as the rector's and the people's warden. Jonas was a large rotund man who was also in charge of the Sunday School.

‘So you enjoyed your honeymoon, did you, Fiona?' asked Mrs Joan Tweedale who was sitting next to her. ‘Well, you know what I mean,' she went on, colouring slightly. ‘I didn't mean to be personal,' she added in a whisper. ‘What I meant was did you enjoy Scarborough? You had lovely weather, didn't you?'

‘Yes, we were very fortunate,' replied Fiona. ‘There was only one day when it rained. And, yes, I love Scarborough, I've been several times before, and so has Simon. It's a favourite place for both of us.'

Fiona liked Joan Tweedale. She was the wife of Henry, the organist and choir master who was seated on the other side of her. Fiona put them both in their late forties, and they were rather more go-ahead in outlook than some of the other members of the congregation. Henry leaned forward to speak to Fiona.

‘I have been wondering, Mrs Norwood, if you would be interested in joining the choir? I have noticed on a Sunday morning that you sing out with great gusto and I'm sure you would be an asset in the . . . soprano section, would it be?'

Fiona smiled. ‘I should imagine so. I've never been in a choir, not since I was at school. But I can read music after a fashion and I enjoy singing, although I don't know whether I'm a soprano or a contralto! Yes – that would be a nice idea. Thank you for asking me. But why the formality? I would much rather you called me Fiona than Mrs Norwood.'