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but she was good-hearted and had offered to lend them a scrubbing brush and bucket.
    It was greatly needed. She looked round, hands on hips. Before she’d finished this place was going to be sparkling clean. She might be poor, but she could afford a bar ofsoap, and water and elbow power were free. And for all her flightiness, Renie was a good worker.
    They would manage.
     
    Cliff turned up just as the minister was bringing the second load of donations back. He looked round and grew very tight-lipped at the sight of the battered furniture they’d been given. ‘This is rubbish! My mother wouldn’t have it in the house.’
    Nell went to thread her arm in his. ‘It’ll do to give us a start. And if you could let me have some money, I’ll get us the bits and pieces we’re lacking, then Renie and I will scrub the whole place down.’
    He looked down at her in a more kindly way than recently. ‘I’m sorry I can’t give you better than this, Nell.’
    ‘We don’t need to stay here for ever and it’s a start.’ She hated to see the shame on his face and tried to distract him. ‘I’ve met Peg next door and she says there’s a big market in Rochdale where you can buy blankets, sheeting and towels really cheap if you get the seconds. That’ll save us a lot of money. She’s offered to take me there on Friday, but I’m going to need money to buy the things.’
    ‘I’ll give you some. By then you’ll be Mrs Greenhill.’ He patted his pocket. ‘I’ve got the special licence here. If Mr Garrett will oblige, that is.’
    The minister and the lad came in just then, carrying a rickety table with a scarred top. ‘If I’ll oblige with what?’
    ‘Marrying us.’
    ‘You’ve got a special licence already?’
    Cliff nodded. ‘Better not to wait, I thought. Could you marry us tomorrow, do you think? We could come to thechapel here in Milnrow during my midday break.’
    ‘Of course I can. It’ll be my pleasure. Um … you don’t want to invite any of your family to attend?’
    ‘I have no real family now, except for Nell, of course. My cousin won’t want to give up a day’s work and his wife is … busy with her children.’
    Nell kept a smile on her face somehow. It seemed a shameful way to get married and she didn’t even have anything pretty to wear, but she wasn’t going to say that. Cliff was upset enough about the whole situation.
    Once they were in their own home, things would surely improve.
     
    When she thought about it, Nell decided that she might have to get married in this shabby way, but she wasn’t wearing a headscarf to her wedding, not for anything. She found a second-hand clothes shop on the way home and bought a hat for her wedding, a plain little straw one with a stained ribbon round it, for a shilling. She bought a yard of navy-blue ribbon to match her dress and coat, then realised she’d need needles, thread and scissors, so bought them too. She trimmed the hat up quickly after she got back.
    ‘What will Cliff say about you spending money on the hat?’ Renie asked.
    ‘I don’t suppose he’ll even notice.’
    But Pauline had noticed and pretended to tease her that evening about vanity and spending.
    Cliff looked at her very sharply.
    When Nell and Renie went to get ready for bed, she thrust her own money at Renie. ‘Look after this for me,will you? And don’t spend a penny! I’ll just keep a few shillings in my purse. He might ask for my money, but I don’t want to be totally without some of my own, not ever again.’
    Renie nodded and gave her a quick hug before wrapping the coins in her handkerchief so that they wouldn’t clink.
    When Cliff tapped on the door and asked if they were decent, Nell told him to come in. He closed the door and stood staring at her.
    ‘Did you really spend money on a hat when we have nothing but rags and broken furniture to our name?’ he demanded, keeping his voice down, but still sounding furious.
    ‘I bought it second hand. It only cost a