A Family Scandal. Kitty Neale

Culling.’ Lily introduced herself, wondering if the woman was always this miserable.

      ‘Muriel Burns.’ The woman nodded – they couldn’t exactly shake hands as the fence was in the way. ‘You just moved in, then?’

      ‘Yeah, that’s right,’ said Lily. ‘Got here Friday before last. Takes a while to get it all sorted out, doesn’t it?’

      ‘I wouldn’t know,’ said Muriel. ‘I was born in this house and never lived anywhere else. When I got married to my Reggie, he moved in with me and Mum and Dad. Now they’re dead and buried it’s just us.’

      ‘It’s a big place for just two of you,’ Lily said. ‘We done this place up into a couple of flats.’

      ‘I know,’ said Muriel. ‘I heard. I couldn’t hardly have missed it.’ She gave Lily a hostile glare.

      Lily ignored it. ‘Me and Pete got the lower flat, with our little boy Bobby, and my grown-up daughter, Mavis, has the upper one with her two kids. They’re old enough for school now.’

      Muriel looked interested for the first time. ‘Oh, is that little boy yours? I’ve seen him out here playing, from the kitchen window. I just assumed he was the little brother of the other two.’ She peered at Lily more closely. ‘Surprise, was he?’

      Lily bristled. ‘He was someone we waited a long time for,’ she replied, although the truth was nobody had been more surprised than her to find she was pregnant again in her mid-forties. ‘He’s our little angel.’ She shot a direct look at her neighbour.

      ‘I’m sure he is.’ Muriel didn’t seem convinced. ‘Come far, have yer? Where was you before?’

      ‘Oh not far. Just a bit north of here, still in Peckham, but once we were blessed with Bobby the place was too small. Then Mavis needed a larger place too what with her kids getting bigger, so it made sense for us all to come in together and yet have our own space. It was the ideal solution,’ preened Lily, sure that Muriel couldn’t possibly find fault with it.

      She had a good try, though. ‘Bit odd your daughter having kids older than your son, isn’t it?’ she asked. ‘Don’t they find it funny? I bet they get teased for it at school.’

      ‘Not at all.’ Lily shook her head. ‘Mavis’s two love Bobby, and help to look after him. He looks up to them and plays with them. It’s good for him to have older kids around him, it makes him more grown-up for his age.’

      ‘Hasn’t Mavis got a husband, then?’ asked Muriel.

      Blimey, thought Lily, the blasted woman had been paying close attention. She’d probably been taking notes. ‘No, Alec isn’t with us anymore,’ she said, injecting a note of sadness into her voice and daring the woman to question exactly what that meant. ‘Still, they’ve got Pete and they love him, so they won’t miss out.’

      ‘Very fortunate, I’m sure,’ said Muriel. ‘Well I can’t say I’m sorry that your building work is finished. It drove me round the bend, all the banging and drilling. There should be a law against it.’

      ‘All finished now,’ said Lily brightly, thinking that she’d have to start hammering in nails for pictures to annoy the woman in payment for her unkind comments.

      ‘Glad to hear it,’ said Muriel. ‘Right, I’m done here. I’m gonna get back indoors. Pleased to meet you I’m sure.’

      She turned and hurried back through her kitchen door before Lily could say anything else. The grumpy woman looked anything but pleased.

       Chapter Nine

      ‘Oh, it’s nice here.’ Rhona looked around Mavis’s living room with approval. ‘You’ve got it looking lovely already. It’s nice to see the picture you sketched of James and Grace on display.’

      Mavis glanced at the little sketch which Tommy had insisted she framed. She’d done it quickly, she remembered, but there was something about it that captured the characters of the children and she was quietly proud of it.

      ‘Now that you’ve got all this space, it must be easier for you to work from home. Are you still getting plenty of orders?’

      ‘Yes, quite a few, and though I’ve insisted that I pay rent for this flat, Mum and Pete won’t take much, just a couple of pounds,’ Mavis said, finding that she had a little more money to spare nowadays. She earned money by doing sketches of children, and had started with just those at Grace’s playschool. Then, thanks to word of mouth and a bit of local advertising, the orders grew. She now offered a framing service too, which gave her a decent profit, and though it didn’t happen very often, she occasionally got a commission to do an adult portrait which paid well.

      ‘You could do a sketch of me. I’ve got someone who might like to have it.’ Rhona grinned, throwing herself down on her friend’s new sofa and resting her head on one of the crocheted cushions that had been a moving-in present from Jenny Bonner.

      Mavis sat down beside her. ‘Is that the young man you were talking about before we left? Andy, wasn’t it?’

      ‘God, no. He’s off the scene.’ Rhona pulled a face. ‘He was a waste of time.’

      ‘Wasn’t he your boss’s son or something?’ asked Mavis, concerned.

      ‘His nephew. I should have known they’d be alike once I got to know him. Old Forsyth has put me on a final warning, just because I’ve been late a few times. His nephew was useless and had wandering hands, and not in a good way so I gave him the push.’

      ‘Won’t that cause trouble at work?’

      ‘No more than I’m in already. Anyway that seems like ages ago and I’ve met a real dreamboat now.’ Rhona’s expression changed. ‘He’s not like all the others, Mavis. You’d like him. It’s why I haven’t been round before, ’cos I see him most of the weekends and in the week if we can manage it, only he lives up in North London so it’s not so easy. But he’s gorgeous, I mean, just like Brian Jones, and he wears dead trendy clothes, and he’s teaching me the guitar. All right, a chord or two anyway. He’s a musician, well, he has to work in an office at the moment, but that’s only till he gets his big break. That’s bound to be soon, he’s so talented. He’s really special.’ Her eyes shone.

      ‘He must be,’ said Mavis, impressed. ‘You don’t usually talk about your boyfriends like that. Don’t tell me you’ve actually fallen for this one?’

      ‘He’s different to the others, he really is. I haven’t felt like this before. He makes me tingle all over. He treats me like a princess, he’s a real gent.’ Rhona sighed with pleasure. ‘You’ll have to meet him, you’ll get on. I just know you will.’

      ‘Maybe.’ Mavis thought she might not have much to say to an up-and-coming musician but if he made Rhona happy then that could only be a good thing. ‘I hope you’re being careful?’

      Rhona gave her a direct look. ‘Now you sound like my mum, but I ain’t stupid. If you can’t be good, be careful, that’s what I always say.’

      ‘And how long have you known him?’

      ‘Almost two weeks. Two wonderful, perfect weeks.’

      ‘Almost an old married couple, then.’

      ‘You’re laughing at me and I know I probably deserve it but you wait and see. Gary’s different,’ Rhona insisted. ‘Talking of dishy men, how’s Tommy? Now you’re in this huge flat are you going to let him move in?’

      Mavis’s face clouded over. ‘It’s not that simple, and you know it.’

      ‘It’s about time you gave in and had a bit of fun.’

      ‘We do