CHAPTER III
TOGETHER AT BECKFOOT
Leaving the churchyard they all made their way back to the various cars some of them had arrived in and had parked in one of the narrow roads nearby, and once seats were organised for them all they drove the few miles north to Beckfoot. With the death of Uncle Jim, and then their mother, Molly, the house had been left jointly to Nancy and Peggy. John and Peggy, now that John had retired from the navy, lived there permanently so dealing with its day-to-day upkeep. Nancy and Daisy visited as often as they could from their own cottage on the edge of the Essex Backwaters, but made little financial contribution. On arrival at the house the cars were parked in the stable yard, and they all entered the house by the rear through the kitchen door.
Once back inside the house and divested of their coats they all sat around the kitchen table, not bothering with the dining room overlooking the river and the lake, this was rarely used now. Peggy filled the kettle and began to make tea for everyone, while she did Daisy cut slices of the fruitcake she had brought with her, baked still using the old Cook's recipe. Each of them was still unusually quiet, only exchanging occasional pleasantries, each of them was engrossed in their own thoughts about Timothy.
"He was still young! Well youngish, not that much older than all of us really!" Nancy spoke what all of them had thought about at some time since hearing the news of his death some weeks before.
"Who was it who gave the tribute, whoever he was he knew nothing about him!" Dick was clearly annoyed, he had worked with Timothy and they shared many interests and skills and he would have liked to have said some words of appreciation of his life and the depth of his knowledge. John answered him; the terseness and anger in his voice was clearly not directed at Dick.
"It was his wife's brother."
"I didn't know she had one!" Nancy once again spoke her mind. "We all knew him better than that galoot!" Since Timothy had married nearly fifteen years before, the only contact some of them had with him was when he met up with some of them on his occasional visits to London. They had all got the impression, early on in his marriage, that his wife did not approve of his friends that he had made when all of them were still children.
Peggy handed around cups of tea to them all, other than for Nancy who she knew always preferred hers in her own mug, which she kept for her in the kitchen dresser. They all helped themselves to the slices of cake Daisy had piled on to a large plate. Titty tried to change the subject, having glanced across at Dot and seen the look on her face, she felt at this time it would be the best thing to do.
"Daisy, you make such wonderful cake! Even Cook's was never this good!" Daisy blushed, even after all her years with Nancy the others still managed to surprise her sometimes in their warmth and acceptance of her. Peggy though was not distracted, and turned the conversation back to Timothy, particularly his wife.
"I didn't liked her, then I only met her once, but she was nasty and it was her fault I'm sure that none of us got invited to the wedding!" There was a general murmuring and nodding of agreement about this long held injustice.
John finished his cup of tea, cleared his throat with an almost theatrical noisiness and began to speak, and did so in a manner, as he often did, as if he was addressing the crew of his ship as he did in his navy days.
"It's just us now, the last ones, isn't time we did something together, it may be our last chance."