A Mother Forever

‘And no, I’m not from round here, but I’m pleased we made the move from Woolwich. I didn’t much like it there. Well, not where we lived, anyroad. This is a lovely town, and I’ve only seen a bit of one street. Is there much work to be had?’ she asked, thinking that Eddie could do well if he put his mind to it and settled into one job.
‘There’s plenty, even if a man doesn’t have a trade.’
‘My Eddie would be looking for labouring work. He had a job, but wants to work down this way now we have the house,’ she explained. ‘He’s a grafter and doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty.’ She didn’t add that of late, hardly any of the money reached home on payday – and although it was true Eddie was a hard worker, he’d had many jobs. ‘I’ll be looking for something for myself as well, once I’m on my feet. Mum will be caring for George – he’d not be left on his own,’ she added, with a spark of defiance in her eyes.
Stella gave a thoughtful nod as she handed coins over to the butcher for the scrag end she’d chosen, placing the wrapped packet in her basket. Ruby Caselton wasn’t telling all, but it was early days, and who was she to question a young woman she’d only known for a few weeks? She liked Ruby a lot, but thought of her more as a young girl than a woman of twenty-five with a small son. In age she sat neatly between her oldest son, Frank, and middle son, Derek. Stella would have loved a daughter of her own. Well, perhaps Ruby Caselton would fill her need for a daughter, even though the waspish Milly Tomkins could claim the position of mother, being the real blood relative. She’d mentioned this very fact to her husband just the evening before. Wilf had laughed, warning her not to interfere in a stranger’s life. He’d mentioned that he thought Eddie Caselton was one of life’s wasters, and as much as he too was taken with Ruby, his opinion was that getting involved in their lives could bring trouble to their own family.
Whatever her husband said, though, Stella knew she would look out for the girl and be a good neighbour to her.
‘There are boards up outside the Vickers factory most days, along with others, calling for people with a trade as well as labourers. Then there’s the docks, the coalyards as well as the brickfields. Why, my Derek is doing well working down the brickfield, and the money is regular during the summer months. Making bricks is a good honest trade if you don’t mind outside work.’
Ruby looked thoughtful as she listened to Stella. ‘Does your Frank work there too?’
‘No, he works down at the coalyard. He’s a clerk in the office,’ she said proudly. ‘My Wilf wanted Frank to join him on the river, but Frank’s not so keen. It’s a shame, as being a lighterman runs in the family. Unless a family member puts you forward for a job, you can’t get in. Wilf is the master of his own tug, the Merry England, and he has rowed in the annual Doggett’s cup race on the river.’
‘That sounds really important,’ Ruby replied, although she didn’t really understand half of what her neighbour had said. She liked Stella’s husband and sons, who had sat with her when she was poorly. Frank had read to her while she was weak and lent her a well-thumbed copy of Great Expectations to take back to number thirteen. Wilfred Green had sat smoking his pipe, pointing out items of interest from his newspaper. They were polite to Eddie the few times he’d popped over the road and they’d entertained George, too, pulling out old wooden toys that had belonged to the three brothers when they’d been younger.
‘Wilf says Frank is a thinker, not someone to work with his hands on the river. Even Derek would rather work with his mates making bricks. Perhaps Frank will reconsider when he’s older. It would be good to keep the tug boat in our family.’
Once Stella’s doctor declared Ruby strong enough to be moved, her eldest son had carried her with ease across the road and up to her bed, Stella hurrying behind all the time telling him to be careful and watching out for the nosy neighbours who peered from behind their lace curtains. Ruby had still been very weak, and she had little memory of it now apart from Frank’s strong arms and twinkling blue eyes. This wasn’t Eddie, the man who had stolen her heart when she was a mere slip of a girl, and who her mother had hassled to marry her when she was expecting her George. Any man was better than being an unmarried mother. A moment of madness when she fell for Eddie’s charms had resulted in her mother marching them both down the aisle long before anyone outside the family was aware there was a child on the way – which was surprising, considering her slim outline at that time.
At the age of twenty, Ruby had been pleased to be with child. Many girls her age had already been married a while. She’d almost thought herself on the shelf, destined to be a spinster living with her mother for the rest of her days. Granted, she had a real fondness for Eddie – otherwise, she had no idea what she would have done. Her two sisters had backed their mother. Both of them had found themselves good husbands, and in their eyes a younger sister having a child out of wedlock would blacken the family name. Only weeks after the wedding, though, Ruby had realized that Eddie’s promises were not to be believed. What was that saying about promises and piecrusts, she thought to herself? Long before their son arrived, they were living in one room in a building that should have been