The Angels of Lovely Lane Read Free Page A

home, had all put a stop to that.
    ‘I’m going to leave work for good next Friday, Rita. I have to stay at home now. If Mam is taken into hospital, I can’t be at the factory all day. Can you go tomorrow and I’ll work out a week’s notice?’
    ‘Of course I can, love. If the doctor suggests she stays at St Angelus, I think it will be for the best. Your mam is going to need more help than we can give her soon. She will need those angels.’
    Tears welled up in Emily’s eyes. ‘Rita, is my mam going to die?’
    Rita dried her hands on her apron as she walked over to Emily. ‘Die? Of course not, love.’ She put her arms around the younger woman’s shoulders and hugged her. ‘She will be staying in St Angelus to be made better, just until there is a place in the sanatorium over the water, like Maisie Tanner’s mam. Now, come on, we have no time for crying, you and me. We have too much to do. Look, I’ve washed yer mam’s best nightie here and I’ve washed me own for her to take, too, for a spare. Pack those in her bag with some wash things and a headscarf to keep her hair nice. I was going to wash it for her – Alf and I, we had the range pumping out to keep the room warm, so the water was hot – but she wouldn’t let me. Truth is, I don’t think she could be bothered. Told us off for wasting the coke, she did. Wanted to save it until you kids got home to feel the benefit. Here’s me coupons; I’ll look after the kids. You go and get that bloody butter.’
    She handed over the ration books and gave Emily another hug. ‘Go on now. I’ll have some soup ready for when you get back. Then you can crack on next door.’
    *
    When Emily reached the shop, she found Maisie Tanner in the queue in front of her. Emily knew she had been at school with Rita and was now married to Stan Tanner, who was away fighting the war, and they had a little girl who was about five or six years old. The family lived with Maisie’s mam and dad, and Emily was both touched and grateful that she had offered to look after the boys.
    ‘Hiya, Emily. How’s yer mam, love?’ Maisie greeted her warmly. ‘I’ve told Rita, I can do anything you want to help, queen. It’ll be no problem. Me mam was only saying tonight, she remembers the time your mam took a load of the kids to the shore at Crosby with Betty. Half a streetful they took. You remember yer mam’s mate Betty? She’s in Wales now, you know, sitting out the war.’
    Emily did know. The Haycocks received a letter from Betty once a week, telling them they were mad for remaining in Liverpool and that the sea air in Trearddur Bay would be just what was needed for her mam’s chest to improve. Emily was beginning to wonder if she was right.
    ‘They pushed five kids in each pram and took them on and off the train. I’ll never know how they did it. God, it was a laugh. Our Brenda was one of the kids and she still remembers it. She’s never been since. Said she’ll never forget that day. I loved your mam, the poor thing.’
    Emily couldn’t answer. Maisie’s use of the past tense was all she heard. Loved? It seemed to her that Maisie, who wasn’t very much older than herself, was wiser than she could ever be. Maisie made Emily feel as though she knew nothing. Is that what marriage and children do to you, make you older and wiser?
    ‘Rita is going with Mam to see the doctor at St Angelus tomorrow,’ she said instead. ‘I’ve decided to work out my notice at the factory. I need to be at home. I can’t keep depending on others to help out.’
    ‘Well, it’s no trouble, but that’s smashing for your dad,’ Maisie replied. ‘You’re a good girl, Emily. Don’t you worry about a thing. It’s a great hospital, that St Angelus, you know. Some of the women on our street have started having their babies in there. My mam says they only go for the rest in bed. Seven days they make you stay, and they wash the baby and everything. You don’t have to lift a finger. The Angels’