Bella told him not to be ridiculous, that she’d been eating the stuff for years and loved it. It was only tripe she didn’t care for, much to her father’s despair as it was his favourite dish. ‘Do you care for jellied eels?’
‘Nay,’ put in Violet. ‘Thee’d think his face had dropped a stitch if I were to put owt of that sort before him.’
‘There you are then.’ Bella laughed in triumph as Dan scowled.
He took his revenge when he came upon her with her sleeves rolled up, covered in blacking as she helped Violet clean the range. ‘By heck, this is a turn up for the books. Miss Isabella Ashton getting her hands mucky.’
The final straw came when he returned home early after his shift one day to find Bella in the steamy kitchen, elbow deep in soap suds, scrubbing his father’s socks on the rubbing board. ‘What are you trying to prove, acting as skivvy fer us lot? We don’t need your help to do the flipping washing. Mother, what are you thinking of, letting Miss Ashton demean herself in such a way?’
Violet gave him what could only be described as an old fashioned look. ‘I’ve asked her to do nowt, lad. I couldn’t get going this morning. I’d both feet in one clog and t’lass offered to help. What’s up with yer? Thee’s always chunnering over summat these days. Leave lass alone.’
‘She’s the one creating problems here, not me.’
‘Drat you! I’ve had enough of this.’ Bella flung the socks back in the wash tub sending soapy water flying all over Violet’s shiny steel fender. ‘Might we have a word in private. Outside, if you don’t mind.’
‘Nay, it’s chucking it down,’ Violet protested, but Bella paid no heed.
Standing facing Dan in a wet back yard, rain soaking whatever parts of her she’d managed to keep dry during a long morning’s washing, Bella said, ‘Why are you behaving like this? I used to think you and I were friends. Now, nothing I say is right. What have I done to deserve this sort of constant backbiting?’
‘If you don’t know, then I see no reason why I should bother explaining.’ He half turned from her but she snatched at his arm, pulling him round to face her.
‘No, I’m not letting you escape so easily. I want you to tell me what’s wrong. Do you want me to leave, is that it? Is it a nuisance, having me present in your house?’
‘
Present in your house
? Hearken the way you talk. Doesn’t that just show that you don’t belong in Jacob’s Court.’
‘For God’s sake, you’re not still obsessed with my so called middle-class status. What the hell does it matter? It shouldn’t, not between friends.’
‘Aye, but we’re not friends are we? You blows hot and cold you, like the wind.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘You know
who
I’m talking of.
Billy Quinn
.’
Bella felt as if the blood drained from her face and then rushed back in again making her feel hot and uncomfortable despite the rain. ‘So you know about Quinn.’
‘Aye. I know.’
‘Well he’s just a friend, like you, and it’s none of your damned business what other friends I have. Is there some rule that says a person can have only one friend?’
Dan laughed, and it wasn’t kindly meant. ‘You’re one of them lasses what likes to do a bit of slumming with whoever happens to be handy like, and when you’ve had yer laugh, yer bit of fun, you walk away. You could walk out of here any time you fancy and go back home to your posh house and to hell with the lot of us.’ He prodded his broad chest with the heel of his thumb. ‘But
I
can’t walk out. I
live
here.’ Whereupon he marched back indoors, leaving her to stand alone in the rain, steaming with fury and frustration.
Yet in a way Bella had to concede that for all it was none of Dan Howarth’s business who she saw as a friend, in other respects he made a valid point. She could indeed return to the comfort of her middle class home, any time she chose to do so. The fact that she didn’t, was because it would mean she’d either have to tolerate her family’s disapproval or give up the Mothers’ Clinic altogether. A price she wasn’t prepared to pay, so either she suffered the back-draught of Dan’s temper, or found a place of her own to live.
In view of the strained relationship between herself and Dan, Bella began at once to look for a house of her own. She soon realised that it wasn’t going to be easy to find one that was clean and decent, in a respectable neighbourhood, and at a rent she could afford.
Her only income was what she earned herself, working three days a week on the glove counter at Kendal Milne and she certainly had no intention of asking her father for any help. In the end she gave up looking in the better streets and settled for a tiny two bedroom cottage only slightly more salubrious than Jacob’s Court. But it was at least close to the clinic. It was also nearer to the cattle market which was unfortunate, as the early morning lowing of cows being brought to the pens, not to mention the smell that seemed to permeate the entire neighbourhood, would be something she must learn to tolerate. But then, was it any worse than the sulphurous stink of the gas works?
Violet rolled up her sleeves, flexed her substantial muscles and set to with a will to help Bella to scrub and scour the hovel clean from top to toe. Cyril gave it a wash of distemper, ‘to keep down the bugs’ and the older children pegged Bella a rag rug out of their scrap box.
Simeon grudgingly agreed to her taking a few pieces of furniture from her own room at Seedley Park Road, including her bed, which were brought round on a cart by a cheerful Sam who readily lent a hand to help her settle in. Mrs Dyson included two pairs of curtains that had lain neglected in a drawer for years, and of course a basket of food, just to start her off.
‘By heck, tha’ll be as snug as a bug in ‘ere lass,’ Violet remarked with satisfaction as she surveyed the finished result. ‘Though happen a kitchen table and an horse hair sofa wouldn’t go amiss. Have a scout round the market. It’s surprising what thee can find.’
‘I will. Thanks Violet. I appreciate all you’ve done.’
Her friend’s bright eyes filled suddenly with tears and, pulling a large handkerchief from the capacious pocket of her pinny, resoundingly blew her nose upon it. ‘Eeh, I’ll miss thee, lass. I’ve enjoyed our little chin-wags and you helping around the house, putting in your fourpennorth.’
Bella attempted to give Violet an affectionate squeeze, though it wasn’t easy to stretch her arms even a half way round her plump girth. ‘I shall still pop round for a chat, don’t you worry. And don’t forget we meet regularly at the clinic too.’
‘Course we do. Tara then chuck. I’d best be off and see to me own hungry crew.’
When they had all gone, Bella closed the door and walked back into the empty kitchen, feeling strangely vulnerable and alone. Violet had lit a fire in the grate and on an upturned orange box were the plates of sandwiches and cakes sent by Mrs D, though Bella’s appetite had suddenly deserted her and she didn’t feel in the least hungry. A few daisies and buttercups from Tilly stood in a jam jar on the mantle shelf, and it must have been Sam who’d filled her coal scuttle and chopped her some kindling. The thoughtfulness of these kind friends, in stark contrast to the support her own family had signally failed to offer, brought a gush of tears to her eyes. Drat them, they could have helped, but wouldn’t. Drat Dan for being so pigheaded. Drat them all. Not even Jinnie had come round to help or even wish her well.
Life seemed suddenly far from easy. And to make matters even more uncomfortable, she still couldn’t get Billy Quinn out of her mind. What would happen when he learned she had moved to a place of her own? Her heart gave a tiny jump of alarm as Bella realised she could have made herself even more vulnerable to his charms by doing so. She wouldn’t tell him. There was no reason for him to know where she lived. She must stand by her pledge not to allow the relationship to develop any further, no matter how much the weakness of her flesh may crave otherwise.
It was at this moment that she heard footsteps hurrying up the yard and suddenly there was Jinnie’s bright face at the kitchen window and the bang of the back door as she bustled in. She flung herself down in the only chair in the room, quite out of breath.
‘Hello, love. I know I should’ve been here earlier to help you get sorted out but Emily took one of her turns and has kept me on the run for days. I’m fair wore out. By heck but you need the patience of a saint to deal with that madam. How did you manage for so long?’
Bella was laughing, delighted to see her friend and not in the least concerned about her mother’s apparent relapse, the timing, as always, impeccable. Bella had come to realise over these last months that despite Emily’s aspirational, some might say snobby approach to life, there was much more to her than that. While she clung to Edward with a tenacity that drove her to the limits of self-sacrifice in order to keep him at her side, she was in fact jealous of Bella’s achievement and freedom. Consequently she would do anything she could to deflect attention away from either of her children, in order to focus all eyes upon herself. Reading between the lines from comments, Bella suspected this desperate need for attention had something to do with the cracks in her own marriage. Though Simeon wasn’t willing to admit it, moral restraint had perhaps taken its toll upon them both. Bella understood all of this now and learned not to blame herself for her mother’s behaviour.
‘Oh, I can’t tell you how glad I am that you came. It’s so good to see you, Jinnie. But I’m sorry if Ma’s being a nuisance.’
The other girl’s eyes lit with wicked laughter. ‘Aw, don’t worry, I can cope well enough. I think she’s warming to me, the old besom.’
Bella chuckled. ‘You’ll have her eating out of your hand in no time, just like Father and Edward.’
‘Aye, happen I will an’ all.’ Noticing the plate of sandwiches and another of flapjack biscuits reposing grandly on a paper doily on the upturned orange box, she raised her eyebrows. ‘Mrs Dyson?’ And when Bella smilingly nodded, saying she’d been about to have a bite herself, Jinnie produced a bottle of wine from inside her coat.
‘I nicked this from Father-in-law’s cellar. At least, Edward did. He’ll be along later by the way, soon as he can escape Mother’s clutches, meanwhile we’re to get on with celebrating your new home, he says.’
Bella sank to her knees on the rag rug, overcome with emotion. ‘I thought you weren’t coming. I thought nobody in my family cared.’
Jinnie looked at her askance. ‘How could you think such a thing? Nay, we love you, our Bella. Don’t ever think different.’
Suddenly realising she was ravenously hungry, Bella snatched up a sandwich and bit it into it. ‘Best cooked ham. What joy! Help yourself, Jinnie.’ And as she held out the plate a thought struck her and she began to laugh. ‘Do you realise that you and I have changed places. You’re the young lady now, living in the fine double fronted Accrington brick. And I’m the one in the slums.’
Jinnie’s dark eyes opened wide with surprise, then she glanced about at the undoubtedly poor, if neat surroundings, and let out a shout of laughter. ‘Well, I’ll go to foot of our stairs, I reckon we have.’
They were both laughing then, merry bubbles of glee, helped along by the generous glasses of wine they were drinking. But as they laughed and joked, teased and made fun of each other, Bella wondered when she might taste such fare again, or how she was going to manage in future with precious little money coming in. Life would certainly be precarious but at least she’d be responsible for herself, for better or worse. ‘And how’s married life?’ she finally got round to asking, deliberately turning attention away from her own worries.
Jinnie’s dark brown eyes seemed to melt with the warmth of her love. ‘Ooh it’s grand. I can’t tell you how happy I am, our Bella. You don’t mind me calling you that, do you? Only you are now, aren’t you? And it’s so good for me to have a family of me own again, I like to do it.’
‘Of course I don’t mind. I’m honoured. I love having a sister too.’
‘We’ll always be there fer each other, won’t we?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘Well, the best of this marriage lark is that I’m finally free of Billy-bloody-Quinn. You must be pleased to be free of him too.’ Jinnie bit into a sandwich, eyes shining, enjoying the taste of Mrs Dyson’s best cooked ham so much she didn’t notice the slight hesitation before Bella answered.