Pack Up Your Troubles (46 page)

BOOK: Pack Up Your Troubles

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Mark was back on duty and not at home until three days before the wedding so there was no chance to discuss the matter with him and she could hardly ask Sally what she thought about it. If it was considered bad luck for the groom to see the bride’s dress before the big day, surely the same thing applied in the opposite direction? She searched for the label. Lion Stores, the most expensive shop on the High Street. Dee folded the suit carefully and took it back to the shop.

‘I’m afraid,’ said the assistant, a rather overly made-up woman of uncertain age, ‘that I cannot change the suit. You’ve no receipt. How do I know the suit is ours?’

‘The label,’ Dee pointed out. ‘Your store is unique isn’t it? At least you claim you are when you advertise.’

Reluctantly the assistant called the Manageress.

‘Madam,’ said the Manageress, a snooty woman who held her head back and peered at the offending garment as if it had a very bad smell, ‘there is nothing wrong with the suit. It’s the material.’

Slightly confused, Dee frowned. ‘But surely that’s the same thing?’

But the Manageress was implacable. ‘We never have complaints. There is nothing wrong with the suit,’ she repeated.

‘A suit is made of material,’ Dee pointed out. ‘Without material there would be no suit and this material is very creased.’

But the Manageress refused to budge. Dee could feel herself getting quite cross. How dare they look down their noses at her? She gritted her teeth and stood her ground.

‘Give me the name and address of your head office,’ she said, raising her voice for the first time.

The Manageress was reluctant, but it was obvious she didn’t want a scene. A scrap of paper was pushed into her hand and Dee was escorted to the door.

Back home, Dee composed a letter. She explained the problem very carefully. It took her the best part of the afternoon to work out what to say and she used three quarters of the Basildon Bond she kept for best.

‘If the suit creases this much,’ she wrote politely, ‘what will it look like when he poses for the wedding photographs?’

Dee enclosed a self-addressed envelope with the letter to ensure a speedy reply. All she had to do now was wait for the cheque.

A week later, Dee recognised her own handwriting on the envelope as it fell on to the mat. She sat at her kitchen table with her coffee to savour the moment.

‘Dear Madam,’ the letter said. ‘We regret you are dissatisfied with our merchandise. However, as Mrs Gambol, the Manageress, pointed out, Lion Stores’ suits are second to none. The cut and style are immaculate and the colour is the very latest fashion. We suggest to avoid further creasing, your son should wait until the last minute to put on his suit.’

Dee almost choked on her digestive biscuit. Then she reached for her notepad once again.

The local paper made her simple request a generous headline. ‘Crumpled suit good enough for local hero?’ certainly captured everybody’s attention and sold a lot of newspapers.

The Manageress was given the opportunity to put her side of the story in the next issue. She repeated her first edict and posed outside the front door of Lion Stores. The photograph was a little unflattering, especially with her arms folded over her ample bosom, and everyone agreed that the unfortunate smudge under her nose made her look like somebody else entirely.

It was after that, that the national press began to show interest and ‘there’s nothing wrong with the suit, it’s the material’ became the new buzzwords.

Dee was alarmed when she was asked to give a TV interview, but she was quite excited to be sitting on the sofa with Sophie on the Beeb and then with Lorraine over on the other side.

‘Surely they can’t expect,’ she asked innocently, ‘my son to arrive at the church in his boxer shorts and shirt and then to put his suit on in the car park?’

The TV presenters agreed that it was ridiculous to ask any man to do that. Lorraine seemed positively appalled, and when she held up a picture of the tearful bride holding a photograph of her fiancé, the whole nation was stirred into action.

Clothwise Fabrics were none too pleased when their shares suddenly plummeted on the stock market. A furious Board of Directors met to consider legal action against Lion Stores, and when the local MP bumped into the Lion Stores MD at their golf club, the intransigence of the managerial department was suddenly reversed.

When he came back home on leave, Mark was stunned to find he had a five star wedding all lined up for him. Everything, the cake, the reception, the cars, the photographs, had all been generously donated by those who wanted to make sure that ‘one of our boys’ had a day to remember. Everyone agreed that his designer suit, personally paid for by the owners of Lion Stores, Clothwise Fabrics and the local MP, was superb. Bride and groom were happy to be photographed, videoed and filmed for all the glossies … for a small fee of course.

The world cruise honeymoon was a terrific surprise and the Brigadier (who went to the same golf club), made sure the groom had enough leave to enjoy every minute.

Satisfied at last, Dee kissed her new daughter-in-law and son goodbye as the honeymoon car waited to take them to the airport. One hundred yards down the road it stopped and reversed back.

‘Mum,’ said Mark, ‘do us one more favour will you? Could you take the suit back to the shop for me? I got it from “Seconds for Hire” on the high street.’

Can a wife ever really know her husband?

A gripping family drama for fans of Kitty Neale and Maureen Lee.

The war may be over but the hard times have only just begun for the Roberts family.

Full of family drama, this is the perfect read for fans of Maureen Lee and Katie Flynn.

About the Author

Adopted from birth, Pam Weaver trained as a Nursery Nurse working mainly in children’s homes. She was also a Hyde Park nanny. In the 1980s she and her husband made a deliberate decision that she should be a full-time mum to their two children. Pam wrote for small magazines and specialist publications, finally branching out into the women’s magazine market. Pam has written numerous articles and short stories, many of which have been featured in anthologies. Her story
The Fantastic Bubble
was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and the World Service. This is her fourth book.

Published by Avon an imprint of

HarperCollins
Publishers Ltd

77–85 Fulham Palace Road

Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins
Publishers
2013

Cover photographs © Getty Images & Alamy

Cover design © Debbie Clement 2013

Pam Weaver asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Source ISBN: 9781847563620

Ebook Edition © June 2013 ISBN: 9780007480449

Version 1

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