Coming back to the table, she began taking up two of the place sets. ‘I’m really sorry,’ she said disheartened, ‘they said to give you their apologies but they won’t be able to come tonight after all.’
‘Oh, that’s a shame.’ In truth, having already once met Alice’s mother, she was greatly relieved. ‘A problem, is there?’
‘They’ve gone to Hampshire to see Uncle Larry. Apparently he needs to see them urgently.’
‘Oh, dear. I hope everything is all right.’
‘I expect it is really,’ Alice promised. ‘It’s Uncle Larry again. He’s not ill or anything, but it seems he and Aunt Sheila have had another of their awful rows. This time though, it’s more serious than before.’
‘Really?’ Nancy was curious.
Alice paused, before going on to explain, ‘They’re always having rows and fights…I remember one time when my parents were away on business and I was taken to stay with my aunt and uncle.’
She had never forgotten. ‘It was awful! I woke up and there was all this screaming and yelling, so I crept down and sat on the stairs and I saw them…going mad at each other they were. Then Aunt Sheila threw a shoe at my uncle and it knocked him clean out. She’s got this vicious temper, you see.’
Tom and Nancy were shocked. ‘I’m not sure you should be telling us all this, luv.’ Nancy had never heard the like.
Alice confided, ‘This time it sounds bad. Father didn’t go into too much detail, but from the little he said, I understand that they had a really bad fight, and Aunt Sheila packed her bags left. And now, Uncle Larry is in a bit of a state.’
After Nancy reassured her, Alice continued, ‘Father says it’s all gone a bit too far this time, and that it was all to do with Uncle Larry seeing another woman.’
‘Hmm!’ Nancy squared her shoulders. ‘If any man of mine played about with other women, I would never leave!’
‘Aw, you must really love me then?’ Tom teased.
‘Not that much,’ she retaliated. ‘Like I said…I wouldn’t leave, but you’d be out that door on the end o’ my toe!’ She gave Tom another derisory glance.
‘Don’t you look at me like that!’ Tom was indignant. ‘For one thing, I have never played about in my life, and for another, I’m a burnt-out, balding man with weak eyes and a gammy leg. Who in their right mind would want to be lumbered with me?’
‘Are you saying I’m not in my right mind, Tom Arnold?’ Nancy squared up for a fight.
Recognising the danger, Tom tried to make light of it. ‘Well, if the cap fits…an’ all that.’ He might have gone on, but with a well-aimed, wet tea towel landing over his mouth, he found it difficult to speak.
Snatching away the tea towel, Nancy wagged a finger at him. ‘The sad thing is, I’m stuck with you, whether I like it or not. As for your weak eyes that’s because you’re forever staring at the small print on the racing page.’ She gave Alice a cheeky wink.
‘Sorry, luv. You know full well, I wouldn’t swap you for the world.’
When Tom saw her quietly smiling, he reached over to hug her. ‘How could I not keep you,’ he chuckled. ‘You make the best apple pie a man could ever want.’
Alice thought they were a delight to watch.
She had never experienced such a family as this, and she told them so. ‘Mother is so fussy. Everything has to be in its place with every plate, cup and table cloth matching.’ She loved the way Nancy set out her table, with multi-coloured plates, old earthenware serving bowls and a blue table cloth, which she proudly confessed to making herself out of an old curtain. It was so perfect no one would ever have known.
This was a happy table, she thought. A real family.
The pleasure of sitting round a table with this family had proved to be a new experience to Alice. ‘We’re not allowed to even speak at meal times,’ she revealed, to everyone’s surprise, ‘let alone tease and laugh with each other.’
Frank joked, ‘What with that and your mad relatives, I didn’t realise what I was letting myself in for.’
Alice laughed at that.
Draining the last dregs of his tea, Frank placed the mug in the sink. ‘Why do we have to wait for Joe anyway?’
After the showdown with Joe he was not in the best of moods. ‘If he can’t get here like the rest of us, let’s just start without him. After all, if he wants to spend his time with that flea-ridden bird, that’s up to him. The rest of us don’t have to eat a cold dinner, do we, eh?’
Believing that to be unfair, Alice protested, ‘We can’t start without him, Frank. It’s his first night back. Besides, he’s bound to be here soon.’
Nancy agreed. ‘My sentiments exactly!’
‘Suit yourself then!’ Frank went off in a sulk.
When Nancy went to look out the window, Alice followed her. At first she didn’t say anything. Instead she just stood beside Nancy, stretching her neck to peer out the same window.
Being older and wiser, Nancy was well aware that Alice had something to disclose. Drawing her close in a hug, she asked quietly, ‘When I’ve got a worry on my mind I find it’s best to tell somebody, so what is it, child? Are you worried about your family, is that it?’
‘No, they always manage to sort themselves out.’ Alice assured her; though she had never really known what a proper, loving family was like, until Frank brought her home to this wonderful place.
Nancy persisted. ‘Out with it,’ she demanded. ‘What’s troubling you? Was it something your father said?’
Ashamed of the position her parents had put her in, Alice explained, ‘You’ve been so kind to me…letting me stay last night, and making me that lovely silk underskirt for my wedding dress.’
Nancy laughed. ‘That dress has been hanging in my wardrobe since the day I got married. When I offered to make you an underskirt out of the lining, I knew I would have to take it in by a mile, so it was just as well you stayed over.’
She regarded Alice’s slim figure against her own ample size. ‘Back then, when I was just a young kipper, I was never as tidy-built as you are,’ she exclaimed. ‘Even after making you a long underskirt, there’s still enough of that material over to make a barrage balloon!’
Alice laughed. ‘That’s not true, I’m sure, but I really appreciate you making me that lovely underskirt.’
‘You’re very welcome, so now why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind?’ Nancy asked.
Alice told her, ‘Just now, when Father rang, he had a favour to ask.’
‘From me, or from you?’
‘From you.’
‘Well then, luv, I have a right
