Gordon had a few days leave over Christmas. Family life had some sort of normality. It was quite a happy time. He also managed a weekend pass for Julia's wedding. It was to be a double celebration because she would be twenty-one years old on her wedding day.
Margaret remarked cynically, looking at her little sister's swollen belly, when she was helping her dress for the wedding, "Almost a triple never mind a double celebration! You might have had a Christening as well!"
In the beginning, it was an unwanted pregnancy. Only a few months ago, Julia had lived for having a good time and nothing other than a good time. The last thing she wanted was settling down into married life. However, once she realised she was up-the-stick, and got over the shock, she informed her regular boy friend, the one who she was always having rows with. Sammy had been one of the first to be called up. Her pregnancy didn't make any difference to him. He was quite pleased with the news. It never occurred to him that the baby was not his.
"We'll have to be married ," he said. Sammy was a gullible, friendly young man, a cheerful extrovert, with auburn hair, brown eyes and freckles. He was so happy when she agreed. They told their parents, about their intention to wed, during Sammy's next full week's leave.
It was Beatrice's idea to combine Julia's wedding and birthday celebrations. "A lovely church wedding and the reception here at Dalton Road!" she enthused. "We'll ask all of the family."
She soon found out about Julia being pregnant. It made no difference to her. She thought to herself, "Same as me! Only difference is James wasn't the father of my first-born."
It never occurred to her that her youngest daughter was pulling the same trick on Sammy as she had done on James all those years ago. He'd never suspected anything. She'd had a lot to put up with from James since then. He was hardly an ideal husband. But she'd had all of her lovely children reasonably well-provided for by him. She could have had worse. And anything was better in those days, rather than having to suffer all that went with having a so-called illegitimate baby. 'Illegitimate'! How could an innocent little scrap of humanity be labelled 'illegitimate'?
Not all of the family came to the wedding. Beatrice had to accept that it was impossible for some to make it. She was disappointed because she sensed that it might be the last opportunity for them all to be together.
James refused to give Julia away. It was the same as it had been with Margaret. He liked Gordon and he liked Sammy. He said it was because he would have nothing to do with going to church. "Bunch of hypocrites!" he mouthed defensively when urged to change his mind. "When did any of you lot last go to church? You only go to weddings and funerals and christenings." As usual, nobody argued with James. He was still the boss man.
Dick agreed to give Julia away. On the wedding day he arrived at Dalton Road. There were crates of bottled beer outside the back door and bottles of wine on the kitchen floor. They were like red rags to a bull. The thought of the boozing which would follow the church service enraged him.
He declared, "I'll not be coming to the reception!" He was adamant. He would have nothing to do with an event which involved the demon drink. "I'll still give you away but someone else will have to make the speech. We'll be going off home, straight after the service."
His meek wife said nothing but Michael's little cousin Rosie cried. She was one of the bridesmaids and she wanted to go to the party after the wedding. Dick would not change his mind.
James glowered at his son. "Please yourself, you awkward sod!" he said, conveniently overlooking his own cussedness and dogmatic refusal to go to the church. James announced, "I'll be here at home, waiting for you to come. If he won't do it, I'll make the speech."
The crisis was over.
Margaret's favourite brother could not come to the wedding. He had always spoiled her and looked out for her when she was a girl. She was disappointed that she was not going to see him.
An eager patriot, Malcolm had volunteered immediately, for the Army, as soon as war was declared. He was accepted for the Pioneer Corps and went off happily to join up.
Unfortunately, he found Army discipline as little to his liking as anybody trying to boss him about in civilian life. He refused to obey silly orders and would not accept discipline and punishment for declining to obey orders. He was confined in a military prison at Colchester.
There was no escape. He could not beat the military system in the way he had done in civvy street. He spent most of the war fighting impossible battles against Military Policemen. The Redcaps abused him physically and mentally but never broke him.
Gordon said, "He's a real nut case. Why did he join up? He should have known you have to obey orders. With his attitude he's only helping bloody Germany! What's he trying to prove?"
Joe Cotton and he talked about on the way to Barrow by train. Joe could see the funny side of it. He would, being something of a rogue himself. The Watsons shared a crowded compartment on the train with other relatives. There were Joe and his wife Charlotte and their children Amelia, June and Jack. There were Aunt Belle and Uncle Tony with their children Peter and Maud.
Peter showed Michael some of the cap badges he was collecting. "It's great where we've moved to. It's a boarding house. We have a lot of R.A.F. staying with us. They get me all sorts of badges and give me some of their sweets rations. And there's all sorts of things to do in Regent's Park just round the corner. You'll have to come and stay. I've got a buggy I'll let you play with."
It was noisy in the compartment. All of the children were excited but Peter did most of the talking. He was one of the world's enthusiastic optimists."It's much better than Christie Avenue," he said.
Dick and his family were on the same train but they travelled in a different compartment from the rest. When it was suggested that Rosie travel with her cousins Dick had snapped,
"She'll stay with us. I'll know what she's getting up to that way!" Rosie was like her mother. You couldn't imagine her stepping out of line. She didn't say anything but she looked at her mother for support. She wanted to go with the rest of the children. But Molly said nothing.
"Miserable sod!" thought Gordon. He'd managed to get some leave for the wedding. He was looking forward to having a good time for a change.
Rachel could not leave Wales and Trevor, her miner husband. Coal-mining was essential war work and permission would not be granted for days off for a wedding. For a funeral maybe but not for a wedding!
Margaret's sister Jean who lived in London was coming. Her husband Jack was a regular soldier in the Household Cavalry stationed in Chelsea Barracks. In peacetime, he'd enjoyed riding and looking after Blackie his horse. He told Gordon, "They've taken Blackie away from me. They're teaching me how to ride a bloody tank!"
Michael's cousins, Laurie and Lisa, would be coming with their parents. Michael and Gwyn had never seen them and wondered what they would be like. Margaret was delighted at the thought of seeing Jean. She had not seen her for eight years. She was really excited.
Michael wished that he was grown-up and could do whatever he wanted to do. He said to his sister, "If I was grown-up I'd have a good time all of the time. I'd do everything I wanted to. I'd have thousands of adventures. Id go where I wanted to go. See who I wanted to see."
He observed the eager anticipation of the adults for the event. It was all right for them, they could please themselves. Nobody would tell them to behave themselves. They could really enjoy everything they wanted. He was still too young to realise that he had got it wrong. He would be a long time learning that freedom for anyone, irrespective of age or situation, is an elusive dream. He didn't yet understand the nature of all-pervasive Authority and the 'shades of the prison house'.
He did know about having to do what adults told him at home and school. He did know about the Uglies in his life. They were the half-hidden nasties, sometimes within and sometimes outside himself. They were always trying to take charge, trying to win or gain control of him. There was no escaping them. But they were his. Surely grown-ups did not have them. His Dad didn't. His Mam didn't. Perhaps when he was grown-up he wouldn't have them anymore. They were hydra-headed, chameleon, many-guised. Their different manifestations were confusing. They separated or came together to win, to defeat the Other.
At the wedding, Uncle Tom was a groomsman. Cousins Amelia, June, Maud, Lisa, from London, and Rosie were all bridesmaids. It was a grand affair. There was money despite the war to spend freely.War work was paying well for some of the family, especially James. The hardest times had gone with the end of the Great Depression.
Precious food coupons had been donated and pooled to help provide for as a good a feast as most of the family would have for many years to come. Beatrice thought it was the best time she had ever had in her life. Everyone enjoyed themselves.
Gordon had a very merry evening, despite the shock of what his sister-in-law had said to him before she left with her husband for the honeymoon.
It happened when the guests were taking turns in kissing her before she climbed into the vehicle which was taking her to Keswick. As Gordon pecked her on the cheek, she smiled at him and whispered, "You did a good job that night didn't you? Some would say too good!" As she spoke, she patted her stomach.
"Hell's teeth!" Gordon thought, looking round shiftily. He looked anxiously at all of the faces. There were no surprised or unusual reactions. Thankfully, nobody else had heard what she said!
Shortly afterwards, Tom drove the happy couple, with stars in their eyes, and Gordon's baby in her belly, off into the moonlit night. Tom drove Julia and Sammy all the way to their brief honeymoon in the Lake District. He and his girl were not coming back until the following morning. They were going to have a bit of bliss outside of wedlock!
Their absence left two bedrooms free. Beds were going to be made up downstairs for some of the adults. Some others were sleeping at obliging neighbours. The children would all sleep in one bed upstairs in the room above the party. The boys would sleep at the top and the girls at the foot of the bed.
What Michael enjoyed most of all was this bedtime after the wedding. While the adults, led by James, consumed large quantities of alcohol and made merry, the children had a whale of a time. By nine o'clock, Aunty Charlotte had seen them all settled down, so she thought, for the night. She switched off the light, paused before going back downstairs and said, "Now go to sleep and no misbehaving! Good-night all of you."
A chorus of innocent voices responded. "Good night, Aunty Charlotte."
Within minutes, there were raucous boys at the top of the bed and giggling girls at the foot protesting that the boys were tickling their toes. Then Peter and Michael had a pillow fight. The others joined in. There was mayhem. It was great fun. They were enjoying themselves. There were no bullies amongst the cousins. Nobody became too rough. The light had been put back on, as soon as Aunty Charlotte had gone.
Peter pulled a sheet off the bed.He put it over his head and waved his arms about. He chased the girls and grabbed them each in turn. He pretended to be a ghost. The girls pretended to be frightened and Gwyn was, a bit. Their shrieks intensified. They were heard, eventually, down below, despite the fact that the adults were making plenty of their own noise.
Margaret came upstairs, to see what all the noise was about. As usual, she was sober. She had been doing her best to put on a good face. She found her relatives' stupid behaviour boring. Instead of entering into the full spirit of the occasion, she smiled stoically and longed for the merry-making to end.
She was bored and irritated by the occasion. She could hardly object to Gordon making a fool of himself; it was her own father who was leading him astray.
She saw what the children were doing and shouted at them. "Enough! Back into bed the lot of you!" The children moved swiftly, the girls to the bottom of the bed and the boys back to the top. The sheet which Peter had been using lay on the floor. Margaret saw it there.
"Everybody out of bed again!" she said. Laughing and giggling, they all stood together while Margaret remade the bed.
"Now the lot of you, no more nonsense!" she warned, sounding as though she really meant it as she tucked them in. She switched off the light and departed.
There was silence for a minute then Peter made a quiet, "Whooooing!" sound. Then he whispered, "I think it's the ghost of Furness Abbey. It's coming to get us." He ducked down the bed and the other boys followed him, to tickle the girls and make ghost noises down there.
And so it went on. Frivolity and laughter upstairs until midnight. By that time the children were worn out and a subdued mood prevailed. They all fell asleep. Drinking, singing and dancing to records on the wind-up gramophone downstairs went on until the early hours.
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