for support. Despite the heat she was dressed in her best black woollen coat and twill dress underneath, thick black woollen stockings and sturdy black lace-up shoes. Her best black felt hat was on her head, the bunch of plastic cherries that had decorated it removed for this sober occasion.
Arch, as always, looked striking in the only suit he possessed. He’d last worn it for their own wedding five years ago, totally unaware that the next time he’d put it on it would be for such a sad event.
The sudden death of his mother-in-law had come as such a shock to Arch that he hadn’t given a thought to how Aidy’s grandmother and her siblings were going to continue without her. Aidy had outlined her own plan to him at her first opportunity the next day. Like herself, she knew it wouldn’t be easy for Arch, abandoning the home they had worked so hard to make nice, hoping eventually to raise their own family in it when Arch finally got his promotion at work. But in the circumstances there was nothing else they could do. He had put his arms around her and assured her that he would support her as best he could in anything she undertook. Family was family. She had never loved him as much as she had done then.
Having recovered sufficiently from the ‘help’ Bertha had given her for her supposed bout of constipation, Pat Nelson stood next to her son, black dress pulling tightly over her huge bulk. It was not yet apparent whether she was put out by the fact that only one of the suggestions – or, in truth, instructions – she had issued for the funeral had been taken up, that of Arch being chief pall-bearer, but Aidy knew she would certainly let them know if she was displeased, at the first opportunity. She appeared to be grief stricken but Aidy knew she had been jealous of Jessie on many counts: her still youthful looks, her likeable disposition, and because Jessie lived in a bigger house in what the locals perceived to be a better part of the area. So in truth, Jessie’s death was no real loss to Pat, and knowing her greediness as she did, Aidy knew her mother-in-law would be desperate for the service to end and the wake to start so she could take her fill of the food that was on offer. Arch’s work-shy father hadn’t come, but then Aidy had known that he wouldn’t as the time of the funeral overlapped with the beginning of the lunchtime session at his local pub. He’d put in an appearance at the wake, she had no doubt of that, as there was beer on offer for the men.
At least fifty people besides themselves were present. Jessie having been as popular as she was, it was known that her funeral would be well attended, but even so none of the family had expected quite so many to take the trouble to pay their respects, not forgetting there were also those who would have liked to have attended but couldn’t, due to the fact they couldn’t afford to lose pay taking time off work.
Since word had got out of the death, a steady stream of people had called at the house to express their condolences. Aidy and Bertha had lost count of the number of pots of tea they had mashed between them and packets of Rich Tea biscuits they had offered. It was comforting to know that so many people were genuinely mourning the loss of Jessie, but all the family would be glad when today was over so they could begin the long process of rebuilding their own lives without her.
A short while later, as the bereft family made their way back to the house followed by the rest of the congregation, Aidy noticed Marion no longer had her doll with her. ‘What happened to Janet?’ she asked.
Looking up at her with large innocent eyes, Marion said, ‘I didn’t like the thought of Mam being down there all on her own, so when no one was looking I threw Janet in to keep her company ’til she wakes up. She’ll give me Janet back when she comes back home, won’t she?’
Swallowing down a lump in her throat, Aidy tenderly patted the top of her sister’s head. ‘That was a lovely thing to do, Marion. Mam knows how much you love Janet, and I’m sure she’ll look after her for