Classic Bestsellers from Josephine Cox: Bumper Collection

‘I’ll come with you,’ she offered. ‘We’ll put him between us. One of us can drive the cart while the other makes sure he doesn’t fall out.’

Danny feigned indignation. ‘Are you saying my father’s drunk?’

Emily laughed. ‘Drunk as my grandad,’ she answered with a twinkle in her eye. ‘So, do I come with you or what?’

When they told Aggie, she wasn’t at all sure it was a good idea. ‘He can stay the night here,’ she said. ‘The snow’s been falling most of the day, and the lanes might well be choked.’ She didn’t know how she would manage it though. ‘We’ve no spare bedrooms, so we’ll need to make him comfortable down here. I’ve plenty of blankets and a bolster, so he should be warm enough.’

‘That’s very kind,’ Danny said, and they settled for that.

Half an hour later, with the makeshift bed on the floor and Aggie insisting they leave the pots and pans to her in the morning, they woke Bob Williams and explained how he was to stay the night. ‘That’s really good of you,’ he said sleepily, and while he proceeded to take off his shoes, Aggie went to her bed, followed by Danny and his new wife, whose nervousness was heightened with every step she took.

In the bedroom, she sat on the chair for a time, while Danny, also nervous but ready to die rather than admit it, went to the window and looked out at the endless expanse of fields, magically white and sparkling under the moonlight.

‘There’s two ways it can go.’ He glanced at the skies. ‘It’ll either freeze over by morning, or disappear like a will-o’-the-wisp, as though it were never here.’

Emily said she hoped it would all be gone by morning. ‘It makes our work outside a lot easier.’

An awkward silence followed, when each of them was momentarily lost in the enormity of the day’s events.

After a while, Danny addressed her quietly. ‘What have I done, love?’ he asked worriedly. ‘What have I said to hurt you?’

‘Nothing.’

‘There must be something, or you wouldn’t be so quiet.’

‘I’m quiet because I’m thinking, that’s all.’ And to put his mind at rest she stood up and gave him a kiss on the mouth. Not a long passionate kiss, but a kiss that told him she was fond of him.

Encouraged, he drew her into his arms, returning the kiss tenfold, his mouth covering hers and the need in him rising. ‘I love you so much,’ he whispered. ‘I’ll make you love me too, Mrs Williams.’

Slowly and ever so gently, he undressed her, taking off her pretty bridal garments, one by one.

Emily made no protest. Danny was her husband. She had taken his ring and his name and now she was his wife, with all the duties that came with it.

The lovemaking was hesitant and tender. He didn’t hurt or frighten her as she had feared. Nor did he excite her.

Instead, her heart was with John. In her mind’s eye she saw him as plainly as if he was there with her. During the half-hour that Danny was on top of her, she pretended it was John who held her in his arms, and so the ordeal was easier to bear.

Long after Danny had fallen asleep, his arm still round her shoulders, Emily lay awake.

This is my life now, she thought. Giving myself to Danny, and pretending it is all right. Only of course it wasn’t, and never would be.

‘Where are you, John?’ she asked the darkness. ‘Why did you never come back for me?’

There was no answer. Outside, the snow fell thickly on her wedding night, covering all in a blanket of silence.

Chapter 13 (#ulink_92a4374d-9129-543b-9b80-7f2d2d5ff10c)

AGGIE WAS SHOPPING in Blackburn town, when she saw a familiar little figure just ahead of her. Recognising the woman at once as John Hanley’s Aunt Lizzie, she called out: ‘Lizzie! Wait on!’

The other woman had already quickened her steps, and darted inside the ironmonger’s to escape her.

Unaware that Lizzie was trying her best to dodge her, Aggie persisted. ‘Hey, Lizzie! Hold on a minute!’ she shouted as she hurried down the street after her.

‘Right, missus. What can I get you?’ The man behind the big counter had seen his customer rush in and was eager not to let her rush out again without buying something.

‘I’m just looking, thank you.’ Hiding herself behind the nearest rack of shelves, Lizzie bent her head to examine the row of paint-brushes.

Undeterred, the man was out from behind his counter and beside her in a trice. ‘What kind d’you want?’ he asked. ‘I’ve got all types and sizes, aye, and all prices to suit.’ Hovering close by, he kept her trapped in that spot. ‘There’s your good-quality brush, then there’s your cheap brush. It all depends on what you want it for, and how much you intend paying.’

Believing she had been there long enough for Aggie to have gone her own way, Lizzie pushed by him. ‘I’ve changed my mind,’ she said. ‘I’ll have to think on it.’

‘You’ll not find a better brush anywhere else.’ Hands on hips, he blocked her way.

‘I’m sure I won’t,’ she said sweetly. ‘But if you don’t move outta my road, the fish in my bag will begin to stink your shop out. Once the smell greets them at the door, you’ll not get another customer this side o’ Christmas.’

On that he swiftly moved aside and let her go. ‘Don’t forget,’ he called after her. ‘You’ll not get cheaper or better, however far you look.’

When Lizzie came out, Aggie was waiting for her. ‘I didn’t follow you inside,’ she explained. ‘The man who serves in there is a nightmare. You can’t look at anything without he’s breathing over your shoulder.’ Now, as he recognised her and waved eagerly from inside the shop, Aggie gave him a wave back and began to move away. ‘I allus go into Preston if I need owt like that,’ she confided out of his earshot.

As she had no real option, Lizzie accompanied her back up the street. ‘I threatened to stink his shop out wi’ fish if he didn’t let me go,’ she laughed.

Aggie glanced suspiciously at the older woman’s shopping bag. ‘If you’ve got fish in there, you’d best tek it home a bit smartish,’ she advised. ‘It’s early yet, but this July sun will fry it for sure, if you’re not careful.’

Lizzie grinned. ‘I were fibbing. I ain’t got no fish at all,’ she confessed. ‘Only I had to tell him summat. The bugger had me trapped against the paint-brushes, so I told him a fishy story, if yer like.’

Aggie chuckled at that. Lizzie had always been easy to talk to, but since her nephew John had gone off and left their Emily with child, the woman had been keeping out of everyone’s way. Aggie thought that was a real shame. After all, it wasn’t Lizzie’s fault any more than it was Aggie’s.

‘It’s so good to see you,’ she said warmly. ‘It’s been a long while since we’ve had a natter. I did call round a few times, only you were never in.’

‘Oh, well y’see, I often go for long rambles now I live on me own,’ Lizzie answered. ‘Happen that’s why you couldn’t get me.’ She hated lying. It made her feel uncomfortable, as it did now.

Since Emily had cheated on John, and she herself had lied to both him and to her because of it, Lizzie’s attitude towards the Ramsdens had changed. In fact, she had decided it might be wiser to keep her distance. So, whenever she saw them coming up the lane to visit, she had locked the door and hidden herself away. Both Aggie and Emily had called on her many a time, until in the end they appeared to have given up, and that was fine by her.

‘All right are you, lass?’ Aggie had a sneaking feeling that Lizzie wasn’t telling the truth. Moreover, the old dear looked a little under the weather.

‘I’m very well, thank you,’ Lizzie replied confidently. ‘And yourself?’

‘Can’t grumble,’ Aggie shrugged. ‘I don’t get time to be ill, what with the farm and everything.’

‘No, I don’t expect you do.’ Through it all, Lizzie had always respected Aggie for the way she seemed to cope. ‘I do admire you, lass, the way you soldiered on after your husband … well, I mean …’ Having blurted out more than she intended, she now felt like crawling under a stone.

Aggie nodded resignedly. ‘I know what you mean, and it’s all right,’ she assured her. ‘Michael left us well and truly in the lurch. It’s no secret hereabouts.’

‘But you’ve kept it all going, and I think that’s grand.’ Relieved that Aggie had taken it so well, Lizzie added, ‘And how’s Emily?’

‘Oh, she’s fine.’ Aggie’s pride showed in her face. ‘The lass is a treasure. Honest to God, Lizzie, I don’t know what I’d do without her.’

It was on the tip of Lizzie’s tongue to ask after the child, but she thought better of it. ‘Is your father-in-law well?’