CHAPTER 60
Ashley had been right, and there was no chance of a proper knees-up for the newly engaged, so we settled for a proper night in for the New Year. Work came back to haunt us, but in the end it was a relief getting back out of the house and seeing what damage the usual winter floods had done.

We were lucky that year, no wet feet in the King’s Arms, and the first few days of the year were spent setting out priorities for maintenance and refurbishment. Susie had somehow managed to find a source of Bolinder spares and reconditioned engines in Birmingham, and then added to her not-so-little coup by negotiating an incredibly cheap contract for traditional enamel ware with an artists’ studio in Camden.

“How did you manage that, lass? Where do you find these places?”

“Internet, Gerald. And it’s not all one-way, like. Got my eye on that tool shed by the yard gate”

“What for?”

“Well, Poppy, as does the bowls and pots and that, she says aye, you can have some stuff cheap, but what about if folk like it? And I say, you want a referral to the shop, like, and she says no: if we can keep spare stock as she makes it, sell it to customers as might want a souvenir to take home, or just like her work, and we split take sixty-forty in her favour. Good thing is, we don’t have to do owt for it except stack it up and take money!”

She grinned. “Oh, and I’m looking at giving proper names to boats, with hand-made signs for them to take home with them as well”

I was left shaking my head at her commercial savvy. And they had her stacking shelves? It gave us something to work on for the grey days, and it turned into a snowball, or perhaps an ice-cream-ball, for one thing as usual suggested another, and before I knew it I was being talked into demolishing the shed and replacing it with a bigger unit. We ended up with a proper gift shop, and once again she was off negotiating, this time with the new owners of Cyril’s old shop. That hurt a little, for it would always be Tricia’s to me, but Susie had arranged more than I realised. The name of what became a little take-away café was the final touch: Mrs Barker’s.

I took an hour off that day, just to walk out along the riverbank, and no, not with a return of those thoughts. If things had been different, that would have been MY Susie smiling at the customers, my Tricia’s baking on the shelves. There was pain in the idea, but it was tempered by reality. I had failed my wife, failed the man who had loved me, but this time I was a success. She had a life, one she expanded on an almost daily basis, and that surely spoke for my own value? Stupid, maudlin old man. Dry your eyes and run your business like an adult. I took a few minutes to dry my eyes before heading back along the brown flood of the river.

Young Darren was in to see me a few days later, clearly nervous.

“Sorry to bother you, Mr Barker…”

“That overall clean, lad? Take a seat. What can I do for you?”

“It’s Susie, sir”

“Sit, sit. OK. What is it about the lass?”

He was looking at his hands, clearly nervous. “Gossip has it she’s, you know?”

“No, I don’t. What do gossips say?”

“That a lad’s asked her to get wed”

“And would that be a problem?”

“Well…”

He shook his head as if to shake off a fly. I sighed.

“What is it, son? That she’s way she is? Nobody’s ever made a secret of that. Lads in yard talking?”

“No. Well, aye, they are, but not like that. Mr Barker, thing is, she’s OUR lass, and, well, lads just want to be sure she’s OK, like, if this lad’s messing her about and that. We’ve heard stuff, things about a bet with his mates. Doesn’t sit well, that”

“Have you asked Susie?”

The soft so and so actually blushed. “Aye, happen we have, and she just says ‘go and ask boss’ and grins”

So typical of her. “Well, you’ve done as she said, so, well, aye. Andy popped question at Christmas. And he had a few things to say about what he thought of his mates. So aye; she’s engaged, and he seems a right good lad. That satisfy you?”

He looked a little put out at that, so I softened my tone even more. “Darren, lad, don’t take me wrong. Susie’s told me about you and lads, how you’ve taken her in. That’s a big thing. Girls like her have a bit of a hard time of it, so we both appreciate what you’ve done, all of you”

He sat up a bit straighter. “Aye, well, we know. I mean, I don’t mean we think we’ve done owt special, like—“

“You have, son”

“Well, happen as like, but. There’s more. This a proper engagement thing?”

“Aye. Don’t know if he’s done thing with jewellery, like, but way he asked her were right sweet”

“Thank you, Mr Barker. That’s what we needed to know. Here’s our bit, aye? Lads are putting hands in pockets, and I had a word with Ship. They’ve got big room out back, dining thing. Would it be right if we booked it, put some cash behind bar? Celebrate properly?”

“Have you asked lass herself? She might not want to do big, flashy thing”

He grinned. “Part two of plan. What you taught us when we first started”

“Beg pardon, son?”

“Mr Barker, first thing you taught any of lads, first thing you taught me: lay everything out, tidy-like, before you do anything at all. So that’s what we’re doing, getting tools and stuff in order. I’ll have a word with lass”

He was off, grinning happily, and an hour later he was back.

“Sorry, Mr Barker, but Susie says I have to ask you”

“Whatever for?”

A really cheeky grin. “She says as it’s your call as you’re to give her away at wedding!”

He left us both laughing with that, and of course I said yes to the plan. What a start to the year; her life was indeed expanding. I resolved to put some of my own money into it, naturally, for all the good intentions of the lads in the yard would still have to depend on how much cash they would be able to afford. I didn’t underpay them, but it wasn’t exactly a high-wage job. When I picked up the phone that afternoon to check the arrangements with Valerie, she laughed happily.

“Gerald Barker, you knew before I did, and that isn’t a criticism. We both owe you too much to ever pay back, so if she brings things to you before me, then I won’t worry about it. What about food?”

“Ship’ll do that, Val”

“I meant cost. I’m putting in whatever you do”

“Meant to be from lads in yard, Val”

“Well, good intentions, money gone on Christmas and New Year. Let me know, Gerald, and that’s not open to argument. I’m just wondering if she’s told Andy, like. He might not want to be in spotlight. Oh, and how many will there be?”

“Oh, depends. There’s twelve apart from me and Susie, so there might be what they call partners and that. Don’t know about Andy”

“Well, I think Pete and his lad, and that Ashley. He’s a good lad. And don’t forget your mates”

“Eh?”

“Rodney, Matthew, Ernie? They not want to have a bit of a do?”

I hesitated, and she was right. After what we had shared over the Channel, there was no counter-argument. She hadn’t finished, though.

“Look, Ship does rooms. We have spare, both of us, and then there’s Pete, and his place is a proper size. Plenty of space for us all without having to do anything daft like---oh! Just a thought, but what about a couple of your boats? Save the drive out to mine, and makes a bit of an adventure of it for those who like that sort of thing”

“Val, you are as sharp as your daughter”

“No I’m not, Gerald, for if I were I’d have seen her as she is a long time ago, and I didn’t, so least said on that the better. Now, have you spoken to Pete?”

We said our goodbyes, and as instructed I rang the other yard. Pete seemed a little distracted, but still keen on the idea.

“Great plan, Gerald, and yes, I can take a couple in if needed. Do we have a date?”

“Not yet, got to see what slots they have available, and then it’s who can come when, who’s got something else on, all usuals. Are you all right, Pete? You sound a little off?”

“Sorry, mate. It’s the boy. He’s getting restless”

“Beg pardon?”

“Ah, Gerald, been looking to line him up with work here. Makes sense, if you see what I mean. Let’s be blunt: with all the laws and benefits in the world, how many businesses really want to hire someone shy a leg? They’ll trot out all their fairness and inclusion credentials, but in the end they somehow seem to slide past the cripple. So I was planning on setting him up here, office work and that, and he says no”

“What is he after, Pete? I mean, it’s not ingratitude, not from him”

“No, not at all, mate. Not my boy. I think, well, I think he just wants to prove he’s able to make his own way. Getting a bit touchy about needing to be looked after”

“So what’s he after doing?”

“College. University, really. Get a degree if he can”

“He’s not stupid, Pete. Good university right here, as well”

He gave a long, troubled sigh. “No, he wants to go home. No, mate, before you ask, he means where he grew up. Hampshire. What the bloody hell am I supposed to do if he goes all the way down there, and him without a leg?”