Dreams Can Come True (21 page)

“I’ve come on behalf of me brother and sister. We buried me mother yesterday and now they’re beginning to think of their future. As yer know, Ernie had it as part of his wages, but we wondered what was going to happen to it now.”

“The simple fact of the matter is that Mr. Tibbs will have to pay rent now if he wants to stay there. He is actually down for a visit, when our agent can find the time to get over to see him.”

“And what about Ashlea Cottage? Will that be up for rent or will it be pulled down?”

Mr. Arlington seemed startled.

“Why should Ashlea Cottage be pulled down?”

“Well, it’s in a worse condition than Thistledown. No one’s lived in it for fifteen year and the starlings have taken over it fer nesting.”

“Ah, sorry my dear, I didn’t know that. I rely on my staff to inform me of the condition of these places. What would your interest be in it?”

“My husband and I would like to rent it. Where we are living is too cramped for all of us and I seem to remember from when I was a child, there were three bedrooms. We could manage the rent, me husband has a milk round, he probably delivers to you and I take in alterations to make ends meet.”

“But you think it will need substantial investment?”

“If yer mean it wants doing up, I think the answer would be yes.”

“Then leave it with me. Get your husband to call in here next week and I’ll have an answer ready.”

Annie was shown out of his office, very politely she thought to herself. Though what had she achieved by making her visit? Nothing that she hadn’t known already. She couldn’t take her family to live in squalor and Ernie and Katie were going to have to find the rent.

“All I can say is that you must be going senile in your old age, Mr. Arlington,” said Alice, when he told her that evening about Annie turning up at his office that day.

“Well, I felt sorry for her. I remember when she used to work for Miss Rosemary. She was like a nervous rabbit in those days. Used to bolt back up to the workroom when I went over to the shop to have a word.”

“I’m surprised Maggie’s even considering keeping those places standing. They’ve always been hovels. Briggs never spent a penny on them as far as I know. If I were her, I’d have them pulled down.”

“I’m having a meeting with Maggie tomorrow. I don’t suppose she’s even thought about the other two cottages, what with spending all that money getting Lilac Cottage modernised. But it won’t look good for the company if the Tibbses are put out on the street.”

“If it were me, I would have let Hannah stew in it. I’d have made her take her chances with the Dockertys. Our Jack won’t have anything to do with her now, though Maggie’s never off their doorstep I hear.”

“Well, if that is so, she must have noticed those cottages’ condition. I’ll have a word and see if we can make Ashlea habitable.”

“Pooh, they won’t thank you for it. I’d let Annie stay where she is. If she’s anything like her mother she’ll turn it into a hovel again!”

It was a wet and windy day as Maggie walked down to Mr. Arlington’s office. There was a mist clinging to the hills in the distance and everywhere looked dark and dismal, matching Maggie’s mood. She had heard from Hannah that the woman who lived in the cottage up the lane had died. Poor Ruthie. She could have only been in her early fifties; not very old to have died. She hadn’t seen Ruthie for many a year, not since Maggie had worked with Annie. There had been no reason for their paths to cross, as Maggie got on with her life. Still, the thought of Ruthie dying saddened her. She had been there in the beginning when Maggie first came to live in Neston. A bit of a rapscallion really, but she had done her best with the cards that life had dealt her. Maggie wondered what would happen to Ernie and Katie. She had heard that Katie was a staff nurse at the cottage hospital and Ernie worked for Farmer Briggs. A sudden thought quickened her footsteps.

Thistledown Cottage belonged to her now, didn’t it? But all that land was earmarked for her building project. The cottage would be demolished as far as she knew.

Maggie looked at the plans for the creation of low-priced houses that she was struggling to get planning permission for from the local Town Hall when she arrived at the office. The officials had argued that larger dwellings for the middle classes would be more in keeping with the area. With the train stopping at Neston, it would encourage those with higher incomes to travel to Liverpool or Chester each day. These were the kind of people that would be welcome and would benefit local businesses, jobs, churches and schools. The air here was healthier, especially with the sea breezes coming up from the shore.

She felt at a loss as she gazed at the drawings that the architect had given her. Were the committee members right? Should she have given more thought to what was being built; was she being sentimental as she thought of people like Annie who was still living with her mother in law?

She turned to Mr. Arlington, who was aware of her inner struggle. He had been there to advise her for twenty years, even though you would have thought he owned her businesses himself. She had cause to appreciate what he had done for her; she wouldn’t have been so successful without him at the helm.

“Well, what do you want, Maggie? Profit, or a statue of a kind benefactress erected in the village? Whatever you decide on, I’ve been thinking that those cottages will have to be demolished. Not only will the council act, but they’re in the way of progress; buyers will want a view of the sea.”

“But we didn’t have to tear down Lilac Cottage, did we? We’ve had it done up very nicely, we could do the same with those.”

“Let’s face it, Maggie. You kept Lilac Cottage for its sentimental value. As I understand it from Alice, you were happy there, but you’ve earned your reputation as a hardheaded businesswoman in the community. Keeping those cottages will make you a laughing stock amongst those who choose to buy around there. I must admit, when Annie Tibbs came to see me yesterday I felt a certain sympathy. I too thought that perhaps we could make those cottages habitable again. But if I were in your shoes I would have them demolished and build two pretty villas instead.”

“You agree with the Town Hall then, Mr. Arlington, don’t you? Build large four-bedroomed dwellings and give them an acre or more of land.”

“Yes, I do, Maggie and if you want to do your bit for the more poorly paid, there’s some spare land along Town Lane. A row of terraces would go nicely there.”

“And what about Katie and Ernie? Neither will have a home if they’re told to go.”

“Oh, pay them some compensation then. Fifty pounds would give them a deposit on a very nice place.”

Sam walked glumly into Piper’s Cottage a week or so later. He ducked his head through habit as he entered the small cramped living room. His wife had just given birth to their latest addition and she was sitting nursing baby Alexandra by the fire.

“Well, what did they say? What are they going to do with Ashlea Cottage, Sam? Are they going to do it up and let us go and live there?”

“The answer’s no, Annie. The man there said it was something to do with the Artisans and Labourers Act, where the Town Hall can pull down insanitary dwellings. So we’ll be buggered anyway, because this place is falling round our ears too.”

“So, what are we going to do then? Look around yer, Sam. Two cradles now in the living room, four kids top to tail in the bedroom, me and you sleeping on the kitchen floor. You know if yer mother would give up her room and sleep down here, we could move in with the babbies. She doesn’t need all the space for herself.”

“Annie, that’s cruel. It’s her cottage and she was good enough to let us share it with her. It isn’t her fault that you’ve been giving birth every year.”

“It’s not my fault either! Perhaps yer should be keeping your baby maker to yourself, Sam Piper.”

Annie was stung that he should even think it was her fault. Didn’t he get as much pleasure making babies as she? She had never turned her back on Sam as they lay snugly together on their mattress; he was so good-looking that she thought she was the luckiest woman around.

“Keep yer voice down Annie, our Joe’s twitching, he must be ready for his dinner. Where have the others gone? It’s awfully quiet. I’ll be glad when they’re all school age.”

“I should be saying that, but you know they’re good kids really. Just loud like all kids are; they’ll settle down when they go to school. Your mam has taken them down to the promenade, to run some energy off them, then this avvy they’re all going up to Dr. Farrington. He’s giving them all injections in case there’s a smallpox outbreak again.”

“That man at the Sheldon office said that they might be building some places on Town Lane that might suit us. He said that the rent would be low ‘cos the woman who will own them all wants to make sure that people like us can afford it. What do yer think, shall I get our name down?”

“Don’t see why not. Though you’ll have to find somewhere for the cart and a place to stable Dobbin. I know the woman you’re talking about. She’s Maggie Haines. We used to work together at Miss Rosemary’s. Shall I go and see her, put in a word for our Ernie and Katie as well?”

“Best not, let them sort their own affairs out and if we do get a place, we’ll be taking me mother as well!”

Maggie sat in her bedroom, looking out of the window at the sun dappled estuary and to her beloved Welsh hills. Jack had moved his things into the guest room again, on the evening of Hannah and Eddie’s wedding. She felt annoyance at his childishness; he had done it to let her know that he was blaming her. What had he expected? Was she to let his daughter experience the deprivations of being married to a builder’s labourer? Where was his compassion for the daughter he had loved so much? She had known that she had made the right decision. Hannah loved playing the little housewife and from what she had told her recently, there might be a baby on the way.

Maggie visited Lilac Cottage often; as often as she could when her diary wasn’t full. The place had been changed beyond recognition; her workmen had certainly done a good job. The roof had been re-slated, a modern kitchen range put in, an inside bathroom and water closet and two extra bedrooms built on the back of the place. The original bedroom was now a small sitting room and Hannah had done her best to make the place bright and comfortable. She shopped every day in the village and joined the other housewives looking for a bargain on market days. So now Hannah was living in the real world, but she appeared to be making the best of it with what money Eddie managed to give her.

But what was she going to do about Jack? Maggie’s thoughts returned to her very morose husband. He had more words to say to a cat than he said to her nowadays. Evenings were the most uncomfortable times when they sat together in the dining room. Meals were eaten in silence, then Jack would disappear to sit in his room. He had eaten his breakfast and gone out by the time Maggie came down for hers. She wondered where he got to. Had he returned to the horse racing? The carriage and pair was certainly missing every day. She had been reduced to using Sam Owen’s transport instead, driving to her appointments in his old black cab. Not very dignified when she was attending one of her Board of Guardians meetings at the hospital. Most members had a servant to convey them, another reason now for them to look down on her. She knew she was only invited to sit on these boards because of the wealth she had behind her, but if it meant that they would be getting the poor man’s point of view, then so be it. Maggie had a wealth of experience of what it was like to be poor!

She turned from the window with a sigh and looked at the plans on her desk again. She wished she had someone to listen to her doubts over the houses that she wanted building. Mr. Arlington could only see what was good for the company, though when she thought about it, wasn’t that what he was paid for?

Jack had never been really interested in the Sheldon Property Company. Because he had not been part of its development he had let her get on with the job. So long as his own needs were catered for and he had a biddable partner in bed.

But she wasn’t even that to him, now he was sleeping in the guest room. Oh well, was she bothered?

As far as she was concerned, he could go to Hell.

It was as if Jack had picked up her thoughts, as an hour or so later Maggie heard Olive talking to someone in the hallway and when she looked over the banister it was him.

Jack looked guilty as she came down the stairs towards him, like a small boy whose mother had caught him with his hand in the biscuit jar.

“Oh, Maggie, I didn’t expect you to be here. I thought you would be at one of your meetings.”

He said the words so coldly and didn’t meet her eyes as he said them. Then he asked would she like to sit in the conservatory with him and would Olive make some tea?

Goodness, thought Maggie. How very formal, like he was the chairman at a meeting. She followed him through the dining room, wondering what he had to say.

“This isn’t easy for me, Maggie,” Jack said, when they had both sat down on comfortable chairs. “But I want you and I to have a separation. It’s not working out again, is it? Surely you must have noticed it too?”

“If yer mean you’re a moody sod and if yer don’t get your own way you’ll sulk forever, yes I’d say our marriage isn’t working. But you were the one who came back from America, you were the one who said you wanted the dream of us being together again to come true.”

“Yes, and at that time I meant it. The thought of us being a family again was one of me dreams. But Mikey has gone to foreign parts, Hannah is… Well, as far as I’m concerned she doesn’t exist anymore and you, Maggie, are so tied up with your do-gooding and being the big developer, that the wife I knew before doesn’t exist anymore either. There’s nothing here for me now.”

“So, what you’re saying, Jack, is that we’re finished? Fine. Clear off like yer did before. See if I care. What is it? Found another woman to get yer leg over? ‘Cos if that’s so, don’t expect me to bring up her bloody kid!”

“There is no other woman, Maggie. Unless you include Ivy, Fergal’s wife, who will be coming with us. Ah, yes,” he continued, when he saw Maggie’s face taken aback by the mention of Ivy. “I’ve been planning this from the night of that damned wedding. Fergal and Ivy are coming with me as well.”