was about to ask him about it, when he said, ‘You’d make somebody a good little mother.’ His remark caught Dottie by surprise. She stared at him, unsure what to say. How odd. Was he feeling the urge again? Oh dear. Could he hang onto it until they were home, or was he going to suggest they go somewhere?
As they all paddled together, Dottie felt she couldn’t be happier. The sun, the sea, the lovely weather, their friends on the beach and Reg … She wanted to tell him so, but she couldn’t embarrass him in front of Billy.
Picking up her skirts, Dottie ran further into the water. Billy followed and the two of them splashed about a bit.
‘Fancy a quick look around Woolworths?’ Mary suggested when Dottie and Billy came back. Reg was already back in his deckchair.
‘Ye-ah,’ said Billy.
‘What about the kids?’ asked Dottie.
‘I’ll stay and keep an eye on them,’ said Peaches.
‘The men can look after them for five minutes, can’t they?’ said Mary.
‘Reg?’ Dottie asked.
‘I’m reading the paper.’
‘Can I come?’ said Billy.
Tom and Jack waved them away. ‘Go on, get on with you and enjoy yourselves.’
‘And me?’ Billy tried again.
‘You heard your mother,’ said Tom. ‘Us men’ll have to look after the kids. About time you took our Christopher over to the toilets, isn’t it?’
‘Aw, Dad!’
The three friends set off for the town. As they walked along the promenade, Peaches fluffed out her blonde hair with her fingers. Dottie linked her arms through theirs and they began an impromptu dance until Mary slipped and trod on some man’s toe.
‘Oi!’ he shouted.
‘Sorry,’ Mary called as they all dissolved into laughter.
‘He’ll have a flat foot now,’ said Peaches. ‘Step – flip, step – flop …’
It was all very silly but Dottie laughed until she held her sides. ‘I haven’t had a laugh like this for ages.’
They stopped off to look at the exhibits in the big marquee on the green.
‘I’ll tell you what,’ said Mary, holding a prize-winning jar of lemon curd up to the light, ‘your preserves are every bit as good as these, Dottie.’
Dottie blushed happily.
‘And I tell you what,’ said Peaches. ‘I’m busting for the toilet again. Let’s head towards the town.’
The friends linked arms once more and set off to find the public conveniences. Outside again Peaches said, ‘I’ll be glad when this one comes and I can have some fun again. Fancy coming to Brighton with me once I get my figure back? I can’t wait to get some new things.’
‘Let me make you something,’ said Dottie.
‘Be nice if we could all go shopping though, wouldn’t it?’ Peaches remarked.
‘Count me in,’ said Mary.
‘You’re on,’ said Dottie with a smile.
‘How come you haven’t got any kids, Dottie?’ asked Mary. ‘Doesn’t Reg want any?’
Dottie felt her face colour. ‘It just never happened,’ she faltered.
‘Oh darlin’, I’m sorry,’ said Mary. ‘Me and my big mouth.’
‘It’s all right,’ Dottie quickly reassured her.
‘My cousin Nelly was like that,’ said Peaches. ‘In the end she went to the doctor and he said she and her husband wasn’t doing it right.’
‘What the ’ell were they doing then?’ said Mary, agog.
‘Just touching navels.’
There was a moment of silence then Mary said, ‘Was that all?’
They all burst out laughing.
‘Perhaps your Reg needs some coaching,’ said Mary, giving Dottie a hefty nudge.
‘You volunteering?’ grinned Dottie and they all laughed a third time.
‘What about cousin Nelly?’ Mary asked.
‘Whatever the doc said to them worked,’ said Peaches. ‘They’ve got three kids now.’
‘All the spitting image of the doctor,’ roared Mary. Peaches enjoyed the joke, laughing heartily. Thank goodness they didn’t know about Doctor Fitzgerald, thought Dottie as she joined in. Thankfully the subject of babies, and the lack of them, didn’t come up again.
‘Here we are,’ said Mary as they found the shops.
They wandered around Woolworths and Peaches bought herself a bottle of Lily of the Valley. Mary got each of her brood and Gary a 3D stick of rock with ‘Littlehampton’ printed through it to take home. ‘Clever how they do that,’ she remarked.
Dottie bought a new comb for Reg.
Reg flipped through the pages of the Littlehampton Gazette. Nothing much there. He was just about to fold it up when Connie tottered towards him, a long candlestick of mucus and sand hanging from the end of her nose.
Alarmed, he cried, ‘Tom!’
‘Cor, love a duck,’ said Tom as he saw her.
Lifting her half-filled bucket towards her father, she said, ‘Eat tend cakey, Daddy.’
‘Hang on a minute, sweetheart, let Daddy clean you up first.’ With the practised hand of an expert, her father put one hand on the top of her blonde head to hold her steady while he fumbled in his pocket for his handkerchief. Connie sneezed and the candlestick grew longer.
Jack, who was cuddling Gary on his lap, laughed aloud. Reg shuddered with disgust.
‘Tend cakey, Daddy?’ Connie said as her face emerged from under the voluminous handkerchief.
‘I’d love to,’ said Tom, pretending to take a piece. ‘Ummm, delicious. Don’t forget your Uncle Jack and Uncle Reg.’
‘Yum, yum,’ said Jack obligingly.
Connie turned towards Reg. ‘Not for me,’ he said quickly.
Tom ruffled the child’s hair. ‘Uncle Reg is full up,’ he said. ‘But I could eat you up!’ He growled and, snatching her in his arms, he kissed her neck. Connie giggled happily and when he put her down again she wandered back to the area of sand which served as her kitchen.
‘Not up to sand pie, Reg?’ Tom said good-naturedly.
‘Looking after kids is woman’s work,’ Reg muttered.
‘Rubbish,’ said Tom. ‘I love being with all my kids. I’m a dab hand at changing a nappy too.’
Reg shook his paper disapprovingly and hid behind it again. Thank God Patsy was well past that stage. His lip curled at the thought of changing nappies, and as for dealing with snotty noses … You’d better keep well away from me, thought Reg sourly. But a couple of minutes later, the little brat was on her way back. Reg glanced around helplessly. The other two men were gone: Tom was doing something with Christopher and Jack was walking Gary towards the sea where the other kids were splashing about at the water’s edge.
‘Clear off,’ Reg hissed.
But Connie was on a mission. Holding out her bucket of sand, she struggled to steady herself, tottered and made a grab at his trousers. She stumbled against him and fell. At the same time, Reg noticed a wasp crawling along the sand nearby. As Connie pulled herself to her feet again, Reg glanced