Josephine Cox Sunday Times Bestsellers Collection

‘And what did he say?’ Amy was enthralled.

‘He liked the idea. Especially when he couldn’t sit down for a week, seeing as his precious little bits were all full o’ bumps and lumps.’

There was a flurry of laughter and more naughty talk, before the conversation ended and the two of them returned to their work.

Shortly after that, they had completed the accounts and having filed away the paperwork, began to pack up for the day.

‘Isn’t it tonight when Vicky arrives?’ Amy recalled Bridget telling her as much earlier on.

Bridget nodded. ‘Yes. She disembarked at Southampton last night, and will be in Salford by tea-time tonight.’ With the effects of drink beginning to wear off, her face reflected the seriousness of Lucy’s situation. ‘It’ll be a strange meeting, that’s for sure,’ she remarked thoughtfully. ‘There’s been a lot of water under the bridge since those two last met. Oh aye, they’ll have a lot to talk about, so they will.’

‘Do you think Vicky will be resentful?’

‘In what way?’

‘Because Lucy never told her about Barney?’

‘Oh sure, there’s bound to be resentment.’ Of that Bridget had no doubt. ‘According to what Lucy wrote me, on the night she discovered the letter to Leonard, Vicky walked out on him and she’s never been back since. Cleared off for two whole months, that’s what I’ve heard. But then she got in touch with Lucy, and today is the day they finally meet after all these years.’

She shuddered. ‘I don’t mind telling ye, it’s thankful I am that it isn’t me who has to explain why I didn’t get in touch with Vicky long before now.’

Amy was torn two ways. ‘Do you really think Lucy should have broken her word to Barney?’

Thinking deeply, Bridget took a moment to answer. ‘For what it’s worth, I believe Lucy did what she thought was right, for Barney’s sake, and for the sake of the family. I mean, look now at the heartache and trouble that’s been caused by the telling after all these years. Vicky’s life seemingly in tatters, and Lucy riddled with guilt at having sent the letter. It’s a tragedy, isn’t it?’

Amy agreed wholeheartedly. ‘I for one wouldn’t want to be in Lucy’s shoes when she meets up with Vicky.’

Bridget was momentarily preoccupied in thinking of Barney’s children. ‘Isn’t it strange how Vicky never even mentioned the children when she contacted Lucy? She wrote of how she and Leonard had split up, but there wasn’t one word on the three children.’

Amy’s heart went out to Thomas, Ronnie and Susie. ‘I know what it’s like to see your family torn apart,’ she said. ‘It’s a terrible thing – and those three had the added agony of being sent away believing their father was a drunk and a womaniser, a bully who thought nothing of hurting them every which way he could. And now, they discover that he was nothing of the sort, and that he loved them all along.’

‘Whatever did they think when they learned how desperately ill he was?’ Bridget mused. ‘And that what he did, he did for the love of each and every one of them. He saved them from the pain and anguish of seeing him deteriorate with every passing day. Moreover, he secured them a decent future. If that isn’t love and courage of a very special kind, I’m sure I don’t know what is.’

They each reflected on that, and after a time they shut up shop and went their separate ways. ‘And don’t get up to any hanky-panky!’ Amy quipped as she went.

‘Away with ye,’ Bridget replied haughtily. ‘Why would I ever want to be doing that? Sure, I’m a woman in the sunset of me life, so I am.’

Amy laughed. ‘Sunset nothing! You might have been around a long time, but you’ve not lost the come-on twinkle in the eye yet. Sixty going on sixteen, that’s you.’

Bridget prided herself on keeping active and fit. ‘You know what the secret is, don’t you?’ she said cagily.

‘No, what’s that?’

‘When the hair goes grey and your face is so dry and wrinkled it resembles the sole of your shoe, you dip your hair in dye, pile on the make-up and go out and get your man. If ye think old and done with, you’ll be old and done with. If ye think young and randy, you can hold off the years for as long as you like, and bugger them as thinks you’re mutton dressed as lamb.’

As she got into the car she had another piece of advice for Amy. ‘There’s something else ye should know.’

‘Oh yes, and what’s that?’

‘If you turn up late in the morning, you’ll be sacked.’

With that daunting piece of news, she drove away, leaving Amy shaking her head. ‘You should be locked up,’ she muttered with a smile. ‘A woman your age should be at home with her feet up and a shawl over her legs, but oh no, not our Bridget, she’s got more important things to do. You defy old age, you scheme and fight and lie through your teeth to get what you want, and you show no mercy to anyone who tries to muscle in on your territory. The truth is, if you weren’t running a legitimate business, you’d make a first-class villain.’

As she walked away, Amy thought to herself, I’ve a good mind to turn up late, just to see if you really would sack me. You’re a bully and a slave-driver, and you make me tired, just watching you run around.

Bridget was like no one she had ever known. But, warts and all, she would not have her any other way.

At that moment some short distance down the street, Bridget was engaged in a heated exchange with the milkman. Having pulled up in front of her at the junction, his horse had taken the opportunity to dump a load of manure all over the road in front of her; in the process splashing the bonnet of her Hillman Minx. ‘You filthy heathen!’ Shaking her fist at the man, she told him in no uncertain terms, ‘Look what your damned horse has done to me car. You should be put away, you and the horse along with ye!’

When the milkman took not the slightest notice, she roared off, making a most unladylike gesture as she went.

‘Time was when old women stayed at home and waited on their menfolk!’ shouted the milkman. ‘But I don’t imagine there’s a fella this side of Australia that would take on a harridan like you!’

After making another rude gesture, Bridget wisely put a fair distance between herself and the milkman. She didn’t want to cause too many upsets, especially with a policeman strolling nearby, and even more especially when she had never applied for a driving licence, nor ever had one granted.

Coming into the quieter part of town, her thoughts soon turned to Lucy, and the ordeal she was about to face. ‘God bless you, Lucy girl,’ she murmured. ‘I hope it all goes well with you and Vicky.’ Like Amy, she did not envy Lucy the task ahead of her.

Adam had been awake since the early hours.

Concerned about the arrival this evening of the woman he still looked on as Barney’s wife, he decided to go across to Knudsden House and make sure Lucy was all right.

From the front window, Lucy saw him coming. She too had been awake since the early hours. ‘Only a few hours to go,’ she told him as he walked in the door. ‘To tell you the truth, Adam, in my entire life I’ve never been so nervous.’

Occasionally stopping to glance at the mantel-clock, she paced up and down, back and forth, now pausing at the window and looking out on the bitter-cold January morning. ‘I’m not sure if I’ve done the right thing. What if I’ve ruined all their lives?’

‘You can’t turn back the clock now, Lucy my dear, so don’t torment yourself.’ Adam had the same worries, but he did not want to convey that to Lucy. Instead he was doing his best to encourage her, because right now she was beginning to make herself ill.

‘I can’t help worrying,’ Lucy argued. ‘I’ve already caused a split between Vicky and Leonard. She said in her letter that I shouldn’t blame myself, but if I’m not to blame, who is? After all, it was me who put the cat among the pigeons so to speak.’

‘Look, Lucy, what you did was certainly not done out of malice. It was done out of concern: you thought they had a right to know. Well, I agree with that and so, it seems, does Vicky.’

Lucy was still not convinced. ‘It might have been better though, if I had left well alone.’

‘Ah, but in the end, my dear, the truth has a way of sneaking out. Who’s to say Vicky or her children would never return home at some time in the future, even for a visit. They would find out then, wouldn’t they? There can’t be a single person in Liverpool who hasn’t learned the sad story of Barney Davidson, and they would tell it to anyone, neighbour or stranger. No, Lucy, you did right. What happened between Vicky and Leonard is something aside, which only the two of them can sort out.’

Eager for peace of mind, Lucy nodded. ‘Maybe you’re right,’ she conceded hesitantly. ‘Maybe it would have come out sooner or later.’

‘Are you ready to face her tonight?’

Lucy nodded. ‘Ready as I’ll ever be, I suppose.’

Early that evening, the car was out and as he arrived Lucy was waiting at the door, looking smart and sophisticated in her high-necked cream-coloured jumper and skirt, with a coffee-coloured winter coat and dark shoes. Her greying hair was swept up in a loop of straying curls that framed her face, and she carried her best silver-topped stick; though she half-hid it in the folds of her coat. Even now she had a reluctance to show her slight handicap.

‘You look lovely as ever,’ Adam commented as he held open the door for her to climb into the back. Whenever he saw her, morning, noon or night, it was always the same; his old heart would leap to his throat and he had to stop himself from taking her in his arms.

As they travelled through the country roads towards Bedford town and the railway station, Lucy wondered aloud, ‘What will she look like, do you think?’

Adam glanced at her in the mirror. ‘I’m sure I don’t know,’ he answered. ‘She was lovely as a young woman, but not everybody stays as handsome as you.’