A Family Scandal. Kitty Neale
Peckham, Spring 1965
‘Pete’s done us proud, ain’t he?’ Lily Culling grinned at her daughter as she looked around her new kitchen with delight. ‘Mavis, look at that, proper hot water and everything. And a new cooker too. It’s the first time I ever had one of those. I’ll be able to do some lovely sausage and mash on that, Pete, your favourite.’
Pete beamed at his wife but shook his head. ‘It’s only what you deserve. God knows we’ve waited long enough for it. I’m only sorry it took ages to get it all finished. I wanted it done while Bobby was still young enough to keep out of mischief but look at him, there’s no stopping him now.’
Bobby paused when he heard his name, but then carried on chasing James and Grace around and into the patch of garden at the back of the house. He was two and a half and into everything. It didn’t help that he was the youngest of the household too and spoilt rotten.
‘It’s lovely to see them playing together,’ Mavis said. ‘It’s funny to think that Bobby is the youngest. He’s their uncle, but I doubt he understands that.’
‘Well, love, it is a bit complicated,’ Lily replied. ‘How do you explain to a two-year-old that you’re my daughter from my first marriage, and that he’s from my second? Same mother, but different fathers so you’re his half-sister. Not only that, you already had James who is now eight and Grace who is six when I gave birth to him.’
‘It’s enough to confuse anyone.’ Pete commented.
‘I’ll explain it all to him when he’s older,’ Lily said as she once again looked around her new kitchen. ‘Oh, I love this house, Pete. You’ve done a wonderful job of converting it into two generous-sized flats.’
‘I love it too, Mum,’ said Mavis. ‘James and Grace will have their own bedrooms instead of sharing. It’s not like when I was their age is it? I remember that damp, old kitchen in Battersea and you didn’t have anything modern or new then.’
‘Don’t remind me.’ Lily shuddered. ‘Your dad off gambling all our money away, me never knowing where the next penny was coming from and if I’d be able to feed you or not.’ She patted her hair, reluctant to remember those days of extreme poverty. She didn’t intend to go back to that hand-to-mouth way of life. Even though she was well into her forties she still took care of her appearance, using the peroxide often enough to stop the roots showing through, determined nobody would notice if she was going grey or not. She prided herself on keeping her figure – not something many women who’d had a child at her age could boast of. ‘Still, you didn’t know no different when you were little. And half the stuff was still rationed. Those three out there don’t know they’re born. Nothing but good times ahead for us now, pet. You just see if I’m not right.’
Mavis smiled and crossed her fingers. ‘Hope so. Now we’re here it’s a fresh start for all of us.’
‘That’s the spirit,’ said Pete, proud of all he’d done to keep this family together. He was a bricklayer by trade and had worked his fingers to the bone until he’d had enough money to set up his own company. He had started off by doing small jobs but finally was in a position to go for the bigger projects, and that had all been down to his own hard graft. Now he’d found this big house and finally got it done up. Nobody else need know about the enormous loan that had made it possible. Good times were on their way for his business and nothing was going to spoil it. He’d done all this without a helping hand from anybody, and still had to pinch himself when he realised he really was married to Lily and he’d given her the life he’d always known she deserved. He certainly wasn’t going to worry her by telling her about the loan. There were no flies on Lily, but he knew it was his job to be the provider for the family, and that was exactly what he intended to be.
‘Best thing about this place is there’s a decent pub just round the corner,’ he said. ‘I fancy a pint and reckon I deserve it after all that lifting. You coming to join me, Lily, just for a change? See if we can get to know any of the new faces?’
Lily turned to her daughter. ‘I might go, just the once. It’s something to celebrate, after all. I won’t be long. You’ll be all right, stopping here with the kids?’
Mavis nodded. ‘You go and have a good time. You worked hard for this and helped to pack a lot of my stuff too when I was busy sorting out James and Grace. Don’t worry about me. Tommy will be over later to see how we got on.’
‘You got a good man there.’ Lily approved of Tommy. When he’d first come on the scene she hadn’t been sure about him as he’d been a bit of a tearaway in his youth, but he’d turned into a real tower of strength for Mavis just when she needed one. ‘Be giving him a tour of your new bedroom, will you?’
‘Mum!’ Mavis quickly checked that the children were all out of earshot. ‘Don’t go saying that. It’s all very well for you, but I’m not rushing into anything. Tommy knows that. So don’t you go putting ideas into his head.’
‘You’ve been seeing him for ages, and if you ask me the man’s a saint to wait for so long.’
‘Mum!’ Mavis warned again.
Lily grinned and then winked at her husband. ‘Come on then, Pete. I might let you show me a good time, an’ all.’
Pete caught her round the waist, grinning from ear to ear. He might not be much of a looker, with his boxer’s face and skin still scarred from teenage acne, but he loved her mum, thought Mavis. He’d done them proud all right and she was grateful to him for that. ‘You go on, I’ll make sure Bobby goes to bed on time.’
‘And we’ll be back before its James’s bedtime so you won’t have to worry about leaving any of them on their own in a different part of the house.’ Lily grabbed her handbag. ‘See you later. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.’ She allowed Pete to open the newly painted door for her and they were gone.
Well that didn’t rule much out, Mavis thought ruefully. How different her mother was to her. Lily had begun her affair with Pete not long after Mavis’s father had gone missing, which Mavis, a lonely teenager at the time, had found unbearably hard and impossible to accept. By the time her father finally reappeared, close to death after years of gambling and drinking had ruined him, Lily and Pete had been living together. They’d only married after Mavis’s dad had died and when Lily was heavily pregnant with Bobby. It had scandalised