Winter on the Mersey(26)
‘Danny, what are we going to do about our Tommy?’ she asked quietly, as their young brother was upstairs getting changed into his one clean shirt. They had insisted he did this at the last minute, or else it would be filthy by the time he got to church. Tommy had protested that he wasn’t like that any more, he wasn’t a little kid, but they’d taken no chances. To her, he was still her baby brother – although she’d had quite a shock when she’d seen him as he was now: taller, his boyish face changing into that of a young man, a new restless look in his eye. Perhaps he really had outgrown all that life on the farm could offer him.
‘I don’t know,’ Danny confessed. ‘What do you think?’
‘Danny!’ Kitty was exasperated. She’d been back home five minutes and already he expected her to take charge of things, just like when they were younger. ‘It’s not down to me. We should work out if we’re going to be here for enough time between the two of us to look after him. I know he thinks he’s grown-up now, but he’s not. Also, just so’s you know, I’m going to be working flat out at all hours, and I might not be able to do all the cooking and cleaning, so there’s that to consider.’
‘Hang on, Kitty, I never said I expected that,’ Danny protested, even though one of the first things that had entered his mind when he got Kitty’s news was that he wouldn’t be so beholden to Dolly and Sarah for his food. ‘How do you think I’ve been managing while you were away? I haven’t exactly starved. I can look after myself, I’ll have you know.’
Kitty tutted. ‘Right. So Dolly hasn’t been cooking you extras then? I bet she has. In fact I know she has. Don’t try to fool me.’
Danny gritted his teeth. ‘I can make a sandwich. Actually I can do several things. Scrambled eggs, if you can get them. Or eggs and bacon. Or …’ He dried up.
‘Or reheating Dolly’s casseroles,’ Kitty predicted. ‘I’m right, aren’t I? I know I am.’
Danny gave up. ‘All right, all right, yes, Dolly and Sarah have been helping me get by, but I won’t be expecting you to do everything now you’re back, Kit. Honestly. I know what sort of job you’re likely to be doing. You’ll have your work cut out for you, no bones about it. I won’t expect you to do everything like you used to.’
‘Good,’ said Kitty shortly, ‘because I won’t have time.’ She folded her arms and then unfolded them, relenting. ‘Look, I’ll do all I can, of course I will, it’s just that it won’t be like when I lived here before, it can’t be.’ Her face creased in anxiety. ‘That’s why we have to decide about Tommy. I can’t mother him if I’m working all hours, which I’m likely going to have to do. I’m worried how we’ll cope, that’s all.’
Danny nodded in acknowledgement, knowing she was right and that they would have to have a serious think about it, but before he could reply, the door from the hallway crashed open and Tommy stood there before them, in his best suit that was just too short for him, his dark hair swept back off his slightly spotty forehead. He was already up to Kitty’s shoulder, although he hadn’t really begun to fill out yet. He was almost shaking with rage.
‘You’re talking about me behind my back.’
‘No, no,’ said Kitty, not wanting him to get upset right before they all set out for the christening. ‘We’re just trying to work out what’s best for you, that’s all.’ She hastily reminded herself that they couldn’t really go on about him as if he wasn’t there; he’d never liked it as a child, and would tolerate it even less now he was that much older.
‘No you’re not. You’re thinking about yourself,’ Tommy exclaimed. ‘You and your posh new job. Well, I don’t care if you don’t have time for me, I can look after myself.’
‘Now look here, Tom …’ Danny began, hands outstretched, coming towards his little brother who suddenly didn’t seem so little after all.
‘I don’t want to live here only because you’re here,’ Tommy went on. ‘I want to do my bit and help the war effort.’ He paused, almost as if he wanted them to agree there and then to his joining up. When there was no such response his brow creased. ‘You can’t stop me. I can leave school at the end of the summer term and I’m bloody well going to.’
‘Tommy!’ Kitty had never heard her little brother swear before, and was taken aback both by that and the sudden turn of events.
‘I hate you!’ Tommy burst out. ‘I’m not even going to speak to you again. I won’t walk to the church with you; I’m going across the road. I’d rather walk with Auntie Dolly and Pop. So there.’ He flung himself out into the hallway and there was a loud bang as the front door slammed shut.
For a moment there was silence as Danny and Kitty absorbed this new, older Tommy.
‘Well,’ Kitty said at last. ‘We’d better let him calm down. Looks as if we have some serious thinking to do, Danny.’
Danny nodded, fiddling with his collar once more and brushing his jacket sleeves. ‘Come on, we’d better get going. Can’t have one half of the godparents holding up the ceremony, can we, even if our little brother’s suddenly developed a temper.’
Kitty nodded and quickly glanced in the little mirror, patting back one of her unruly dark curls. Here we go, she thought. She’d wanted to be calm for the ceremony, because it was a solemn moment and she took her godmotherly duties seriously, but also because she knew Frank would be there with Sylvia. She would have to stand near him for the ceremony itself, wouldn’t she? The last thing she needed was to have a seething mass of emotion going on. But Tommy’s interruption had stirred it all up good and proper. She closed her eyes for a moment. She couldn’t undo the past few minutes. She would just have to get on with things and make the best of it. Frank was nothing more than a family friend to her.