Free Coronation Wives by Lizzie Lane

locked hands, their eyes moist.
    Meg chose that moment to come in with the teapot. Ethel breezed in behind her carrying a tray of cups. She looked a lot calmer, but it didn’t last long. Instead of placing them on the table she stopped in her tracks and stared at Colin. Suddenly she screamed, lifted the tray and let it fly.
    ‘Get out! Get out!’
    Cups flew everywhere. The tray hit Colin in the chest and for a moment he wobbled before he managed to grab the door surround.
    Edna ran to his side, catching him as he toppled.
    The rest of the room was pandemonium, children crying and adults trying to calm things down. Ethel Burbage crouched between two chairs, fingers in her ears and eyes tightly closed.
    Charlotte leaned over her. ‘It’s all right, Mrs Burbage. It’s only Colin in his costume.’
    Meg bent down beside her. ‘Now there’s a bloody awful way to carry on, Ethel. It’s only yer son-in-law dressed up for the kiddies’ party. Who did you think it was, aye? Boris bloody Karloff?’
    ‘Storks have got long legs. He’s got long legs and I don’t want to have a baby. I don’t know how it got there. Besides, I’ve changed my mind!’
    ‘What’s she on about?’ asked Polly.
    Charlotte touched her arm. ‘She thinks Colin is a stork.’
    Polly looked dumbstruck.
    ‘His legs,’ mouthed Charlotte. ‘She thinks she’s about to have a baby. Am I right, Meg?’
    ‘Blimey,’ said Meg. ‘Now you are going back a bit.’
    Charlotte went on. ‘She thinks she’s about to give birth and she’s frightened because no one’s told her anything about it and she’s not sure how it got there.’
    ‘It wasn’t considered nice to discuss things like that in our day,’ said Meg.
    ‘Still isn’t for some,’ Polly added.
    Meg sighed. “We was told the stork brought it or it came from out our belly button. It was a bloody big shock when you found out the truth, I can tell you. For some it was even more of a shock when they found out how it got in! Leave her to me,’ she added to Charlotte. ‘I’ve seen this before.’ Her face was grave.
    For once Charlotte was grateful not to take charge of a situation. She stood up and smoothed her dress down over her hips.
    ‘She’ll be all right.’ She patted Edna’s arm.
    Edna shrugged and said bitterly, ‘I don’t care whether she is or isn’t! I wanted today to be perfect. My mother’s spoilt it, just as she’s spoilt everything in my life.’

Chapter Six
    On the morning of Coronation Day Polly fixed a paper crown onto her daughter’s golden curls with the help of Aunty Meg’s spikiest hairpins. Carol made faces, wincing each time a pin was used.
    Polly gave her a good shake. ‘Stop wriggling, you little mare!’
    Carol pouted and folded her arms. ‘Why’ve I got to wear this bloody thing anyway? I wore it yesterday.’
    Polly turned her round to face her. ‘Because you’ve got to be the best.’ Impatiently she smoothed the child’s wild curls into some sort of order. ‘And you won’t be if you swear like that. I don’t know where the bl—’ She stopped herself from using the same word and made a mental note to mend her own ways, which she’d promised to do a thousand times before. ‘Yesterday doesn’t count,’ she went on. ‘Today does. This street’s going to win the prize for ’avin’ the best Coronation costumes of all – an’ the best decorations.’
    And it can do with all the help it can bloody get, she thought. Truth was, she didn’t think they had a cat in hell’s chance. Red-brick council houses, front doors the same green as the buses and metal-framed windows running with condensation, were the devil’s own work to make jolly. She vaguely wondered how the celebrations for the Coronation were going in Australia.
    That sunny poster viewed on a damp day in England shone brightly in her mind; A new country for ten pounds each. Once Billy was in the mood …
    ‘Can I go swimming on Saturday?’
    ‘No!’
    ‘Not another