1965
So, to Kirsten’s surprise, two years passed quickly with her working as Stella Wise’s housekeeper. Years during which she learned to be independent and provide for her children. She learned, too, some of Stella’s massage skills, which transformed Dixie’s tendency to tantrum. But then, all too soon, August arrived and it was time for five-year-old Dixie to start his schooling.
The beginning of his formal education was a milestone not only for Dixie, but for Kirsten as well. Entrusting anyone with the care of Dixie, even her mother or Stella, was very difficult for her. Indeed, he still slept with her. So, how was she going to be able to hand over his daily well-being to strangers? At this present time, nothing would convince her that his teachers would understand what a miracle he was. That the bright happy child before them once only weighed two pounds fourteen ounces, that his two tiny siblings hadn’t lived and his own survival hadn’t felt in any way guaranteed.
On the morning that she had to take Dixie to Lorne Street Primary School, a well-run Edinburgh Corporation establishment, Kirsten was in a state of apprehension. Her mother, Aileen, had foreseen just how difficult this day was going to be for her daughter and had come all the way down from Shetland to support her.
Aileen took over getting the girls ready for their first day back at school after the summer holidays. This left Kirsten to get Dixie dressed. First, she donned his crisp white shirt and tie, then it was time to lift him into short, grey knee-length flannel trousers. While she was assisting him he repeatedly asked her why he couldn’t just go over to the school with his sisters.
‘Darling,’ Kirsten replied ever so gently, over and over again, ‘you are going to school for the first time. All the children in your class will have their mothers with them. Your sisters go to school with their chums.’
When she arrived with Dixie at the school, she was introduced to his class teacher, Miss Elliot. Shaking the woman’s hand, and deliberately looking into her eyes, Kirsten couldn’t help but be impressed. Here, she reckoned, was a woman who was not only very capable and dedicated but also seemed instinctively to know how difficult this day was for Kirsten. She would, without a doubt, strive to assist Dixie to reach his full potential in his first years in school. And so, with bittersweet gladness in her heart, Kirsten watched as Dixie took his new teacher’s hand and sat at a low table alongside his classmates.
On arrival back at her home her mother could see that Kirsten was very emotional. Aileen recalled that when Bea and Jane had started school Kirsten had felt that she was no longer their universe, that others would now also play an important part in their lives. Going to school at five years old, that was the signal for all children that they were preparing to go out into the big world where they would one day make their own way.
Dixie going out the door that morning was even harder for Kirsten because she had sacrificed so much for him. Her whole world revolved around him and to hand him over to someone else, Aileen knew, was unbearable to her daughter. After all, had she not taken up the job with Stella Wise because Stella allowed her to take Dixie with her to work? Aileen smiled. That was all true, but now Kirsten could find work that would fit in with the school day – and she no longer had an excuse for staying in Stella’s employ. Thankfully she could now move to something more respectable. A job where she could hold her head up and honestly say to people what her job was.
But Stella had become rather frail recently and now needed Kirsten just as much as Kirsten had once needed her. To Aileen’s chagrin, she knew that Kirsten would remain ever so willingly in Stella’s employ.
The bond between Kirsten and Stella had begun on that first day at Castle View House. This was because, unlike the previous job-holder, who had only lasted a week, Kirsten fitted in with Stella’s wishes. Unlike her poor predecessor, who had thought that she could make more money for Stella by cutting down on not only the fees paid out to the girls but also on their food and general household upkeep, Kirsten from the very start had cottoned on to what Stella was all about. She quickly understood that Stella, although appearing eccentric bordering on bizarre, was a shrewd businesswoman. Yes, she was involved in a murky trade, but Stella tried to give her girls, her most valuable asset, good and fair conditions of employment. What she wished to achieve was that her working girls were the best in the trade. And so they had to know that they were appreciated and that their well-being was of importance. This being the case, she made sure her employees had regular medical check-ups and saved some of their earnings so that they would be able to leave the trade when they got better opportunities. She also insisted that the girls did not share their wages with any man. If she found out that they did, she would dismiss them on the grounds of gross misconduct.
Kirsten’s view was that prostitution should not happen. But she also realised that it seemed to have always existed, since time began. If it wasn’t going to go away, then surely Stella’s approach was the correct one.
Kirsten, whose working hours were 9.30 a.m. until 1.30 p.m., had been working with Stella for six months before she came into contact with any of the girls.
She would always remember meeting Marigold Thomas, Stella’s right-hand evening manager. Marigold was a statuesque lady of mixed race. Kirsten noted that her beautiful black hair was always swept up and held in place by two diamante-adorned combs. Her hair, however, although lovely, was not her main attraction. It was her soft, twinkling brown eyes that mesmerised you. Kirsten also thought that she must be a very warm person because the girls always turned to her if they had an issue to resolve. This estimation of Marigold was confirmed when Stella confided to Kirsten that, although Marigold was a working girl herself, she could rely on her to shepherd the other staff on duty. Under her watch, Marigold would not tolerate any of her charges to be abused or ill-treated.
Kirsten realised that Marigold, like Stella herself, accepted that their trade was, or could be, fraught with danger, but insisted there were standards they would always maintain.
Naturally, Kirsten wondered why Marigold, who appeared to have so much going for her, had chosen prostitution. Marigold herself was tight-lipped as to why she earned her living the way she did. There were reasons, but these were only known to Marigold.
*
Marigold’s Story
Marigold’s mother, Trudy, to her parents’ disgust, had fallen in love when she was just nineteen with Ahmad, a stately Nigerian student. Ahmad, who was studying medicine at Edinburgh University, appeared to be brilliant. First in his class, he was, at all his studies. Unfortunately, his memory did not match his intellectual ability. Thus it was that somehow he forgot to mention to Trudy that, on completion of his studies, he would be returning home to Lagos, Nigeria, where he would be resuming marital bliss with his wife.
Admitting to her parents that she was pregnant by Ahmad was something for which Trudy would require courage. Unfortunately, this mettle evaded her. But then how many people would be brave enough to tell Bible-punching Alexander Thomas that he was about to become the grandfather of a mixed-race child? After all, Alexander, who would swear he was not racist, knew that his blue-eyed saviour was born in Bethlehem, with skin as white as the driven snow.
Knowing well how her father would react to her news, Trudy, who worked in Edinburgh as an auxiliary nurse, decided not to return to her home in Bathgate to await the birth of her child. The only alternative she could see was to go to Leith and find lodgings. Why Leith? Well, she had been led to believe that Leith residents were more accommodating and tolerant. Once in Leith, Trudy had been immediately befriended by Maggie Sibbald. Maggie, a forty-year-old matriarch, at once guessed that Trudy was pregnant. Like she would have done for one of her daughters, she suggested that Trudy could either go to an unmarried mother’s home or stick it out in Leith, where she would take care of her.
Naturally Trudy opted for Maggie’s assistance, and so the months passed before Marigold made her spectacular entrance into the world. There was no doubt that everyone who looked at her could see that she was a very beautiful child. However, everyone could also see that, with the child being mixed race, she would, even in Leith, have a difficult time.
Marigold did indeed have a difficult childhood. And these difficulties were because her mother yearned to be married and was always looking for a suitable mate. Trouble was, she was not a good judge of character and always seemed to be exchanging one unpleasant or abusive partner for another.
Crisis point came when Marigold was fourteen. Her mother’s then partner was Johnny Stuart, a roughneck seaman. His desire did not end with Trudy, however, and Marigold was soon frightened of this man and felt threatened by his presence.
It was true that Trudy was not the best of mothers, and when her partners had physically chastised Marigold, who could be truculent, she had turned a blind eye. But this was another matter.
Marigold, therefore, found herself being awakened at three in the morning, with her mother urging her to get dressed so they could make their escape.
The following year they moved to six different addresses in Edinburgh, always keeping one step ahead of Johnny Stuart. As bad luck would have it, Johnny did track them down. Trudy’s reward for trying to protect Marigold was a severe beating. Even as she was losing consciousness she implored Marigold to run – to escape.
Marigold should have put distance between herself and Johnny, but she loved her mother. Her devotion was such that she could not leave her mum to suffer any further physical abuse.
But in throwing herself over her mother in an effort to protect her, Marigold gave Johnny his opportunity. When dawn broke, a badly injured Trudy was rocking her distraught child in her arms. They remained huddled close to each other until they were able to make their escape.
From that time on, Trudy was unable to work and Marigold cared for her. She worked at any jobs she could get. By the time Marigold was eighteen Trudy was bedridden and the only way Marigold could care and provide for her was by selling herself.
This was not an easy course for Marigold, but one she knew she had to take. She asked around and, on hearing about Stella, she approached her.
Stella had a dilemma about Marigold. Her rule was that her girls had to be at least twenty and had chosen their path for themselves. Marigold was too young, but the position she found herself in was such that she needed to provide for her beloved mother. Taking these factors into consideration Stella acquiesced and allowed Marigold to become a ‘renter’.
Stella was the only one who knew Marigold’s secrets. Up until now, five years down the line, she had worked for Stella and Stella alone. Never did she tell anyone about herself or her mother. Indeed, no one knew that she cared and provided for her bedridden mother. As to Trudy, she believed what Marigold told her: that she worked as a night-duty nurse.