instead of finding fault. In Kathy at least they had one child who wasn’t an embarrassment but a positive reason to boast.
It got Winnie’s goat that the neighbours were constantly tattling at her expense because she’d got two troublesome kids. Kathy’s twin had been gone from home for five years yet the nosy cow next door still tried to bring Winnie’s wayward daughter into any conversation so she could gloat. Yet Winnie knew for a fact that Cissy Dickens’ son had turned queer in the army.
‘Your father’s right, though, Kathy,’ Winnie muttered beneath her breath so her husband wouldn’t know she agreed with anything he said. ‘There ain’t a family anywhere that’s too good for you to fit in it. You remember that.’ She gave a crisp nod.
‘It’s just the religion thing, Mum,’ Kathy explained. ‘I expect David’s people are quite nice on the whole.’
‘Yeah … and so are we,’ Winnie announced more vocally.
Kathy raised her eyes heavenwards, wishing that were true so she could voice an endorsement.
Winifred was aware of her daughter’s wry grimace, and what prompted it. But she held her tongue, wanting to savour this visit from Kathy. She looked forward to seeing her and wished her daughter would come over more often to relieve the monotony of her depressing life. But she accepted Kathy worked long hours in a demanding profession that gave her little free time.
Rich Jews with their own business or not, the Goldsteins wouldn’t find a girl to give them lovelier grandkids. Winnie glanced at her daughter’s perfect profile: creamy complexion and golden hair. Neither required the artifice of powder or bleach. Kathy was a beauty with a smashing character; she’d always been one of the nicest, prettiest girls in the neighbourhood, even as a child. Winnie knew that wasn’t just her being biased; folk had always commented on Kathy’s attractive nature and looks. Her daughter had been raised in an area where hardship sullied people, turning them mean and selfish, yet her Kathy had risen above it to shine like a jewel. Winnie spontaneously showed her pride and appreciation by giving Kathy a brief peck on the cheek.
‘How have you been, Mum?’ Kathy quickly enquired at the rare and unexpected show of affection. She repeated her question with more volume as Winifred simply clattered the tea things on the wooden draining board.
‘Same as ever,’ Winnie muttered eventually. ‘Nothing much changes here, love; wish it bleedin’ did.’ She peered past her daughter into the parlour as her husband, bored with dawdling about, shouted he wasn’t having tea, he was off out.
Kathy realised her mother’s doleful tone hinted at Tom still causing problems. Her brother was Eddie’s favourite, although the boy seemed to be turning into a right tyke. Kathy avoided discussing him in her father’s hearing because he wouldn’t hear a word against Tom. His affected air of obliviousness to Tom’s mischief then set Winifred off. The last time Kathy had come over to Islington on a visit, she’d given up trying to referee her parents’ argument and had got up and gone home, leaving them to it.
‘Where’s Tom?’ Kathy asked, sipping tea. The house was too quiet for her young brother to be in his room. When indoors, he would dash down to see her as soon as he heard her arrive.
‘Gawd knows.’ Winnie shrugged dispiritedly. ‘He’s probably messing about with those sods in Campbell Road, just to rile me.’ Now her husband had vacated the space, Winnie picked up her cup and saucer and shuffled through into the parlour, sitting down at the small square table. ‘Your brother’s on the road to ruin, Kathy, same as the other one.’ Following that ominous announcement, Winnie cradled her cup between her palms, gazing into the weak brew. ‘Your father don’t seem willing or capable of doing nuthin’ to stop it. Tom don’t listen to a word I tell him … not any more.’ She lifted her cup and gulped, rattling it back onto the saucer. ‘You know he hasn’t done so since all that bad business years ago.’ Winnie lifted an edge of her pinny to dab at her glistening eyes.
Kathy knew exactly what her mother meant by ‘all that bad business’. She also knew the person her mother blamed for setting in motion the disaster: Jennifer. That’s why her sister’s name was taboo and she was only ever referred to as ‘the other one’, if mention were made of her at all. It was as though her twin had ceased to exist.
Jennifer had done wrong, Kathy would be the first to admit that. But what had happened hadn’t wholly been her fault. Eddie and Winnie had to take their share of the blame but neither of them seemed to have the courage to lance that particular boil. In Kathy’s opinion, until they did the wound in the Finch family would never heal.
‘I like your hair shorter.’ Winnie sniffed back tears. Fondly, she leaned forward to touch a blonde curl resting on Kathy’s cheek as her daughter took the chair opposite at the table.
‘Keeps it neater under the cap when it’s in a bob,’ Kathy said.
‘Well … it looks nice.’ Winnie stirred her tea and a silence developed between them.
Kathy took a deep breath, summoning up courage. ‘About Jennifer, Mum …’ she blurted out awkwardly.
‘We don’t mention that name, you know that, miss.’ Winnie’s startled glance leaped to the door as though she imagined Eddie might have overheard and would burst in, ranting and raving.
Kathy toyed with her spoon. Too many times she’d backed down, not wanting to cause upset. But she’d cleared the first hurdle in mentioning Jennifer. The wistful look in her twin’s eyes when she’d seen her a few weeks ago still haunted Kathy. She was sure it was Jennifer’s greatest wish to be reconciled with her mother, if not her father. In Kathy’s opinion, the savage punishments their father had meted out had driven bad into Jennifer rather than out of her. Kathy knew one of the reasons her sister had run off with Bill Black was to escape her father’s fists. But the incentive of a meeting with Winnie might finally motivate Jennifer into making changes in her miserable life.
‘I saw Jenny a week ago. I’ve seen her a few times, Mum, and she asked how you were all keeping …’
Winnie shot upright, her face whitening in shock and anger. ‘I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that,’ she croaked. ‘So don’t you say no more. Yer father always asks what we talked about after you’ve gone. Don’t go putting me in a position where I’m to lie to cover up.’ She scrubbed her hands nervously on her pinafore.
Winifred hadn’t spoken to her other daughter for five years. She’d spotted her on a couple of occasions in the distance but had managed to hurry in the opposite direction, avoiding any awkwardness. Now Winnie wondered if she would recognise Kathy’s twin if she walked past her in the street.
‘I know she’d like to see you, Mum,’ Kathy continued determinedly. ‘I think it might get her back on track.’
‘Ain’t nothing gonna put that one back on track,’ Winnie hissed, finger quivering close to Kathy’s nose. ‘She’s too far gone … has been fer years …’
‘How d’you know that if you’ve not spoken to her?’ Kathy asked, keen to keep the dialogue going. ‘If you just see her for half an hour and have a talk, I’m sure it’d help her.’
‘Won’t help me, though, will it, when yer father finds out and goes bonkers? Didn’t help Tom, did it, when the little cow went off with Bill Black and all hell broke loose?’ Winnie’s voice had risen hysterically and she’d grown so rigid she teetered on her tiptoes.
Kathy let her hand drop back to the table when Winnie dodged away from her comforting fingers.
‘Don’t just write Jennifer off, Mum … please. She’s our flesh and blood.’
It was as though Kathy’s appeal went unheard. Winnie had turned her back on her but muffled sniffling was audible. Kathy sighed, knowing she was defeated for now. Her mother’s fears about Eddie’s reaction were valid. If her father discovered that she was in touch with her disgraced twin, Kathy suspected she, too, would be banished from darkening his doorstep. She sipped lukewarm tea, wondering why she