Cissie, puffing from the exertion of bending over, cocked her head on one side and narrowed her eyes, assessing the display the flowers made in the two enamel buckets either side of the door.
‘They’ll never sell,’ a woman’s voice barked.
‘Yes they will, Myrtle,’ Cissie replied. She didn’t need to turn round to see who was speaking. ‘Cos I reckon early daffs like these are like little bits o’ sunshine after all the dark winter days we’ve had.’
‘What at that bloody price?’
‘People always have a few coppers for something beautiful.’
Myrtle snorted derisively. ‘D’yer reckon?’
‘Yes, Myrtle, I really do.’
‘Them greens fresh, are they?’
‘Sammy got ’em fresh from Stratford yesterday morning.’
‘Well, they wanna be,’ she grumbled, ‘or they’ll be off for Arthur’s Sunday dinner tomorrow. And he gets in a right old mood if his veg ain’t just right.’
‘D’you want some then?’
‘Gimme about half a pound – I can’t afford no more at your prices – and make sure yer finger ain’t on them scales when yer weighing ’em up and all.’
Cissie threw a handful of greens on to the scales that were set on a little table in the middle of the vegetable boxes outside the shopfront, and started changing the little metal weights on the other side until they balanced.
‘So yer working here full-time now then?’ Myrtle snapped as she peered suspiciously at the scales.
‘That’s right, Myrt,’ said Cissie, stuffing the leafy greens into Myrtle’s string bag. ‘They’ve weighed a bit over, but, go on, I’ll just charge yer the three ha’pence. Now, what else can I get yer?’
‘Nothing thanks,’ she said spitefully, handing over two ha’pennies and two farthings. ‘Like I said, I can’t afford these prices. I should have gone down Chris Street, but I had to come over here for this ceremony thing what Sammy’s been going on about. I must be the first to show up, eh?’
‘Ceremony?’ asked Cissie, slipping the money into her money apron. ‘What’s that yer going on about now?’
‘Aw, ain’t he mentioned it to yer?’ Myrtle asked with a delighted sneer. ‘Well, he can’t think much of yer as a worker if he ain’t even told yer about the ceremony, now can he?’
‘I honestly ain’t got a clue what yer talking about, Myrtle, but I think yer must have got it wrong, whatever it is.’
‘We’ll see,’ Myrtle said, hoiking the string bag up her arm. ‘So, is it true what they’re saying about yer mum and dad then?’ she went on.
‘What would that be then, Myrtle?’ Cissie asked wearily.
‘That they’re moving into your place?’
‘Blimey, your ear’oles must be flapping night and day.’
‘There’s no need to be so bloody rude.’ Myrtle sniffed haughtily and poked dubiously at a display of onions. ‘So, are they moving into number seven or what? I mean, I have every right to know who me neighbours’re gonna be, yer know.’
‘Yer right, Myrtle. Yer do. And they are. Satisfied?’
‘Ain’t gonna be much room in there then, is there? Cos Lil already has to sleep down in the front parlour, don’t she?’
‘All right, love?’ a woman’s voice asked from behind them.
‘Hello, Mum, Dad,’ said Cissie, turning round with a relieved smile. Not only was she pleased to see her parents, but it was a chance to escape any more of Myrtle’s awkward questions.
Cissie kissed them both on the cheek. ‘This is a nice surprise, I wasn’t expecting yers till this afternoon.’
‘Sammy asked us over,’ said Frank.
‘That’ll be for the ceremony, I suppose,’ said Ethel as she and Lena parked themselves next to Myrtle.
‘That’s right, Ett,’ said Ellen pleasantly. ‘Now, where’s them grandchildren o’ mine, Cissie, cos I can’t wait to give ’em a great big cuddle.’
‘What’s all this about, Dad?’ Cissie whispered behind her hand, as they followed her mum into the shop. ‘What ceremony?’
‘Don’t ask me, darling,’ Frank whispered back with a happy shrug. ‘You know what I’m like. I’m just here cos yer mum said I had to be.’
Cissie squeezed his arm. ‘She’s a lucky woman having a man like you, Dad.’
‘I think so,’ he said with a wink, ‘but don’t tell her I said so, will yer?’
‘Where’s Lil?’ Ellen asked, looking round the empty shop. ‘I thought she’d be here.’
‘She reckons she’s having one of her turns,’ Cissie said with a roll of her eyes, ‘and, knowing her, she won’t be up till at least dinner-time.’
‘Took it bad, did she?’ Ellen asked with a sigh.
‘No worse than she takes anything, Mum. You know her. Look, why don’t you go through the back to the kids. They’re in the storeroom with Sammy and Ernie. Been in there all morning they have. Up to some mischief or other. I don’t like to think the state they’ll be in, the pair of ’em.’
‘They get on well with Sammy, don’t they, babe?’
‘They certainly do, Dad.’ Cissie cocked her head on one side and looked at her dad, her kind, decent, gentle dad who had only ever done what he thought was best. ‘He reminds me a lot of you, yer know.’
‘That’s a very nice thing to hear, Cissie. Thank you.’ Ellen took hold of the handle to the door that led through to the back rooms, but it was snatched from her grasp as it was opened inwards from the other side.
‘You made me jump, Sam!’ Ellen grinned at Sammy standing there framed in the doorway. ‘How are yer, love?’
‘Covered in paint,’ he said, grinning back at her. ‘Don’t let me get none on yer frock.’
Ellen backed away, making room for him and Ernie to step through into the shop. Between them they were carrying what looked like a short plank of wood covered with sacking.
Cissie frowned. What was all this about?
Joyce and Matty came trotting through behind the two men, with the sort of easy smiles on their faces that Cissie was so pleased to have come to expect. The moment the children spied their grandparents, the pair of them launched themselves across the shop with whoops of pleasure.
‘Guess what, Nan?’ yelped Matty. ‘Guess what we’ve been doing?’
Ellen scooped him up into her arms. ‘Remember what Nanny told yer?’
Matty nodded. ‘It’s a surprise?’
‘That’s right. Good boy.’
‘You sure you don’t know what’s going on, Dad?’
Frank smiled and shook his head unconvincingly. ‘I never know nothing, me.’
‘Come on, everyone,’ Sammy said, with a gesture of his head towards the doorway. ‘Out we go.’
Outside, Cissie could hardly believe her eyes. Where had all these people come from? Practically everyone from the street was standing there, and they all had expectant looks on their faces, as though something special was about to happen. There were even a couple of Elsie Collier’s gentlemen, as well as quite a few women, plus their noisy broods of children, from the surrounding neighbourhoods, whom Cissie knew from their visits to the shop, although she couldn’t have put a name to most of them.
‘What’s going on, Sam?’ she asked with a frown.
‘Yer’ll see,’ he said happily, and with that he clapped his hands loudly. ‘If I could just have yer attention ladies and gentlemen.’
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ sneered Lena Dunn, ‘who the hell does he think he is, the bleed’n Lord Mayor o’ London?’
‘Thank you, Lena,’ Sammy said patiently. ‘I won’t be keeping yer for very long.’
‘Bloody good job and all, the Sabberton’ll be open soon,’ Ethel’s husband muttered darkly.
‘Yer might be offered a little drop o’ something in here in a minute, Dick,’ Sammy encouraged him, ‘if yer can just bear with me.’
‘Well,’ beamed Dick, hooking his thumbs into his waistcoat. ‘That’s a different matter, son. You carry on.’
‘Thanks. Now I’ve invited you all here this morning,’ Sammy began, ‘and a very nice morning it is too—’
‘Get on with it!’ a voice growled from the crowd.
‘To unveil me new sign. The sign that Ernie,’ he said turning to Ernie Mills, ‘is gonna help me screw above the door later on.’
‘What, had to sell the shop, have yer?’ Ethel sniped. ‘I knew it’d come to this. It’s all that credit what he’s been giving to the likes of her, that Cissie Flowers,’ she added knowingly, pulling in her chin and jerking her head sideways. ‘She could work here till doomsday and she still wouldn’t be able to pay off that slate of her’n.’
‘Actually Ethel, I’m glad to say that I ain’t had to sell the shop, but things are gonna be a little bit different round here. And that’s why I invited all of yers here today to see the new sign.’
With that, Sammy pulled the sacking covering from the board that he and Ernie had carried out on to the pavement, with a dramatic flourish.
It read ‘Cissie and Samuel Clarke’.
The unity with which the onlookers gasped made it sound as though they had all been practising.
‘Yesterday afternoon, Cissie did me the honour of becoming my wife.’
There was new gasping, more ragged this time, and a flurry of whispers.
‘You and her?’ Lena asked incredulously. ‘Married?’
‘It’s a bit of a surprise to me and all, to tell yer the truth, Lena,’ Sammy said, smiling shyly across at Cissie, who was clasping her mum’s arm as though she would never let her go again. ‘I never thought I’d be lucky enough to be this happy.’
Increasingly loud whispers and mutters passed around the now astonished neighbours.
Sammy held up his hand to silence them. ‘There’s a lot of other things about to change that yer might as well all know about and all.’
‘I’ll bet there is,’ a wag shouted from the back of the crowd.
Sammy ignored him. ‘Gladys’ll be helping Cissie in the shop,’ he went on, his smile growing broader by the minute. ‘Cos Cissie’s running it from now on. And she’s a clever girl, so don’t worry, yer’ll all be well looked after.’
‘She’s a clever girl all right,’ hissed Ethel into Lena’s ear. ‘Got the bleed’n shop off him, ain’t she? He must be barmy.’
‘And me and Ernie are gonna be busy and all,’ Sammy went on, all the jibes and heckles unable to dent his happiness. ‘We’re setting up a new fruit and veg stall down Chris Street. We’ve got the pitch all sorted, so, if yer down the market and yer want the right gear at the best prices, yer know who to come to, don’t yer? Clarke and Mills, Quality Greengrocers.’
Mouths dropped open like trapdoors. Now Sammy really had taken leave of his senses this time. Everyone knew what a useless lump Ernie Mills was, the man hadn’t worked for years. He didn’t want to work. It was a well-known fact.
‘That shut yer up, didn’t it?’ Gladys beamed at Ethel.
‘Now,’ Sammy concluded, ‘if yer’d all like to come inside and join us in a toast, I’ve got a few bottles out the back that might just need opening. Including some lemonade for all you little chavvies!’
The Godwin kids beat everyone to the door, leaving Sammy and Ernie waiting for their turn to go through and start pouring the drinks.
‘Maybe yer’ll change that sign again one day,’ Ernie said, punching Sammy matily in the shoulder, ‘to Clarke and Family. If you and Cissie have a nipper of yer own, like.’
‘I’ve got all the family I need already,’ Sammy replied, smiling proudly over his shoulder at Cissie and her children. ‘Come on, Ern, let’s get inside before them Godwins pinch the lot.’
As the drink flowed and the people who packed into the shop joined in toast after toast, their benevolence towards the happy couple and the new arrangements increased with every glass of free drink they swallowed.
Cissie pushed her way through the now congratulatory crowd to go over and speak to Ellen.
‘I’d better nip over and tell Lil, Mum. She’ll go barmy if she thinks she’s missing a drink.’
‘It’s all right, darling, I’ll go over.’
‘You sure?’
‘Yeah, cos if me and her are gonna be sharing that house, I reckon there’s a few things we’re gonna have to get straight between us. And me not appreciating having to get up and do all the jobs while she stays in bed till dinner-time cos she’s got another bloody hangover is one of ’em.’
‘Well, I’ll just step outside with yer for a bit of air anyway.’
While Ellen went over to speak to Lil, Cissie stood outside on the pavement, staring at the freshly painted sign that Sammy had propped against the vegetable boxes.
‘Cissie and Samuel Clarke’.
Cissie Clarke.
She didn’t know if she’d ever get used to not being known as Cissie Flowers, it had been her identity for so long. And even though it was a name she had chosen to reject long before she had accepted Sammy’s proposal, it still seemed strange to her. But not nearly as strange as being married again. A little over a year ago, who would have thought that all this – marriage to Sammy Clarke, working for a living, seeing her mum and dad again – would all be happening to her?
But Cissie was now grown-up enough to know that life was never as simple as you thought it was going to be. And that marrying Sammy Clarke was definitely not just a simple matter of loving him. Cissie didn’t know if she would ever be able to love a man again. Not in the way she had loved Davy.
She put a cigarette in her mouth and lit it with the pretty engraved silver lighter that Sammy had given her instead of the engagement ring that she had refused. She had had one of those once, and that was enough for her.
She blew out a stream of smoke and whispered the words to herself, ‘Cissie Clarke.’
Was this really what she wanted? Or was it more to do with having a bit of security for her kids? And a bit of safety for herself with a decent man for once? Or was it the fact that Sam had just been there at the right time and she didn’t know what else to do?
With Davy she had no choice in the matter. She had seen him, and that had been that. She had fallen in love with him and nothing anybody could have done would have stood in her way.
It shamed her to admit it to herself even now, but she had had a similar sort of feeling when she had first known Jim Phillips, although he had been different to Davy. But he had been kind to her, or so she had thought, at a time when she had really needed it.
But then so had Sam. Kinder than she had ever deserved.
She thought of the lies she’d been told and the lies she’d told herself.
And she thought about how things might have been.
No one could ever know how their lives were going to turn out. She knew that. And she knew that no one in her life would ever be like Davy. Funny, romantic, unpredictable Davy.
But wasn’t that a good thing?
Cissie stared unseeingly through her cigarette smoke at the sign.
Probably.
She’d been hit with a lot of hard lessons in the year since Davy had been killed. Lessons that, if she had any brain at all, she would make sure she would learn from.
‘You look miles away, love.’ It was Sammy. ‘I just came out to see if everything was all right.’
Cissie nodded; unable to face him. ‘Course it is, Sam. Why wouldn’t it be? I’ve got everything a woman could ever want, haven’t I? Two lovely kids who are smiling again, me mum and dad back with me, and a man who loves me.’
‘A man who loves yer more than you can ever know,’ he said, his voice catching with emotion. ‘And I’ll give yer time, Cis,’ he added, looking down at the sign through tear- glazed eyes. ‘I promise yer that. As much time as yer want.’ He scrubbed roughly at his cheeks with the back of his hand. ‘For ever, if that’s how it’s gotta be.’
‘Time?’ she asked, dropping the cigarette to the floor and grinding it beneath her heel. ‘What for?’
‘I understand, yer know, Cis. I know I ain’t what yer wanted. But I love yer enough for the both of us. Honest I do.’
Cissie turned to Sammy, took his pink-cheeked face in her hands, and kissed him gently on the mouth. ‘If she had any brains, Sammy Clarke, any woman in the world would tell yer that you’re all she could ever want. And ain’t you always telling me what a clever girl I am?’