Flowers on the Mersey
Page 34
Rebekah stared at him. ‘You never told me that.’
‘Most of us Irregulars were at some time or other. Sure, and I forgot about it in all the excitement. Like you’re forgetting to tell me if I was right about Joshua’s money.’
‘You mean, had he put a clause in his will saying if I married one Daniel O’Neill, then I wasn’t to get a penny?’ He nodded. ‘You were wrong,’ she said softly. ‘You won’t believe this but the shipping line goes to David. Joshua must have made the will after he was born and strangely, considering what he suspected, he never bothered to change it. There’s some charitable gifts and a hundred pounds for his cousin. The rest is mine.’
‘Odd,’ said Daniel, shaking his head. ‘I can’t understand him. I never could.’
‘I don’t doubt that he was thinking of his reputation even after death,’ murmured Rebekah. ‘But after all, what is he giving me? He told me that he married me for my money.’
‘It doesn’t make sense.’ Daniel shook his head.
‘Some old aunt of his reckoned there was mental instability from his mother’s side of the family.’
Daniel stopped. ‘You’ve had a lucky escape.’
She nodded, remembering. ‘What are we going to do about the business? Someone will have to look after it until David is old enough. I know you fought for a free Ireland, but—’
‘But it’s not the way I dreamt it,’ he said quietly.
‘Is anywhere?’ Her voice softened. ‘If you ask me, the pictures of places people carry in their minds have no reality. They’re like that Land of the Ever Young you spoke of.’
He shrugged and looked over the river. ‘Dreams die hard.’
‘You have to dream new dreams. We have to think of David and he has a future here. We’ll have to become respectable.’
‘Respectable?’ he murmured. ‘Is Liverpool a city full of respectable people then?’
Her lips twitched. ‘It has its share of rogues. But what do you expect? It’s a seaport! Its ships go all round the world and you can hear ten different languages in a day!’
He stared at her then smiled. ‘You don’t have to convince me. I know the place. I thought we might go on a cruise.’ He brought out two tickets with all the panache of a magician successfully pulling a donkey from a hat. ‘I was thinking that the captain could marry us without any fuss.’
‘It sounds a good idea.’
‘I thought so. In the morning do?’
She nodded. They kissed, and arm in arm went off to Brigid’s wedding.
EPIGRAPH
Set me as a seal upon your heart …
for love is strong as death,
jealousy is cruel as the grave …
many waters cannot quench love,
neither can the floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
all the wealth of his house,
it would be utterly scorned.
Song of Solomon 8: 6-7
About the Author
JUNE FRANCIS’S maiden name was Nelson, and although she can’t lay claim to the famous Lord Admiral, she can boast of at least six mariners in her ancestry who came from far and wide. June’s mother worked in service and her tales of the old days have inspired several of June’s published novels.
Also by June Francis
Friends and Lovers
Step by Step
A Place to Call Home
A Dream to Share
Look for the Silver Lining
When the Clouds Go Rolling By
Tilly’s Story
Sunshine and Showers
It Had to Be You
Copyright
Allison & Busby Limited
13 Charlotte Mews
London W1T 4EJ
www.allisonandbusby.com
Copyright © 1991 by JUNE FRANCIS
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
First published in Great Britain in 1991.
Reissued by Allison & Busby in 2011.
This ebook edition first published 2011.
All characters and events in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978–0–7490–4052–9