Songbird

by Josephine Cox

  “Yes, and I’d better get back home to my husband. He’ll be wanting his supper. Pass on my love to Robin then, and don’t forget to give him the benefit of doubt, both as far as his career is concerned, and the girl he’s chosen to be with. Try not to be too critical.”

  He laughed. “Critical? Who – me? Shame on you, Sue. When have I ever been critical?”

  Sue remained at the window, watching Brad until he was out of sight. Next to her was Roxy, the red setter bitch who had replaced the much-loved Donald when his big doggy heart had given out, years ago. “You’re a proud, unhappy man,” she said to the taillights of Brad’s car. “You should have gone after her.”

  It was just after six p.m. when Brad arrived at North Park Road.

  When he knocked on the door, it was Dave who answered it.

  “Hi, there, Mr. Fielding. They’re next door, Rob and Betsy,” Dave informed him. “Our neighbor collapsed and was taken to hospital. Rob and Betsy have been clearing up for her. I think you’ll find your son replacing a window he broke in the back door when getting into the house.”

  He sniggered. “It’s his second attempt – the first one didn’t fit properly. I don’t suppose he took the right measurements, but then again, he’s not all that hot at taking measurements – unless it’s of a girl’s vital statistics.”

  Choosing to ignore Dave’s lighthearted banter, Brad clapped him on the shoulder and set off down the path. “Okay, thanks. I’d best go and find him then. See you later, Dave. Your mum’s looking forward to having you at home next weekend. I think she’s planning to fatten you up, so I wouldn’t bother to eat till then, if I were you.” Chuckling to himself, he went round the back of next door, and found his son struggling to get the windowpane to fit.

  “Oh, Dad!” Robin’s face lit up on seeing Brad. “I didn’t think you’d be here for at least another hour.”

  “Got my work done early,” Brad winked. “Thought I’d catch you unawares.” He rolled up his sleeves, and together the two of them had the pane fitted and sealed in record time.

  “Thanks, Dad. I had the blessed thing in once, only it wouldn’t fit properly.”

  “So, where’s your girl? Young Dave told me she was round here with you.”

  “Betsy’s upstairs, putting the net curtains back up. She’s washed and dried them – got a ton of dirt out of them.”

  Brad found her as Robin had said, climbing down from a ladder, and looking flushed and rather disheveled.

  “Ah! And you’re Betsy, are you?” Brad said. He thought her to be an attractive young woman.

  He went to shake hands, but when she kissed him on the cheek, he was taken aback. “Does your young lady greet all your friends like this?” he chuckled as Robin walked in the door.

  “No. Only my dad – I hope?” He gave her a mock severe glance, before introducing them properly.

  Brad was interested in the woman who had collapsed and was now in hospital. He wanted to know if she was all right.

  Betsy told him how their mate Darren had called her the “Shadow-Thing” because, “You hardly ever see her during the day, and when she’s out at night, she scurries about, hiding her face and avoiding any eye contact.”

  “She peeks at us from behind the curtains,” Robin offered. “Betsy feels sorry for her and, to tell you the truth, so do I.”

  Brad was sympathetic. “Poor thing. Sounds to me like she’s had a rough deal in life. Otherwise, why would she hide away like that?”

  His son told him how Betsy had a theory that she had been a famous singer, fallen on hard times.

  Brad smiled. “And what makes you think that, young lady?”

  Betsy herself could not altogether explain it, apart from the evidence of the photos but, “The woman in hospital has let herself get into a pitiful state, but even through the layers of clothes and the way she hides under that long scarf, she has a look about her… There’s something really special about her, I can just sense it. It’s as though she’s in mourning or something… but,” she shrugged, “Oh, I don’t know. It’s just that I feel she’s so sad!”

  Growing excited, she grabbed him by the hand. “Look, Mr. Fielding – here.” She took him to the wardrobe. “I know we shouldn’t be snooping like this, and Robin thinks I’m mad, but I think this is who she really is.”

  When she threw open the doors, Brad stepped forward and as he looked on Maddy’s face, he felt the blood drain from his own face. “Oh, my God!” He couldn’t breathe. “It’s Sheelagh! ROBIN, look – don’t you recognize her? It’s really her!”

  When he spun round to look at his son, his voice broke and he was in pieces, laughing and crying all at the same time. “My God, son! That’s Sheelagh, that’s who she must have been before she came to us. Didn’t you know? Couldn’t you tell?”

  “It can’t be.” White and shaking, the young man came to see. And when he looked closer, he knew it must be her. “I thought she was f-familiar,” he stammered. “But wearing those clothes, that stage… I didn’t connect her with us.” He looked now, and he could see Sheelagh there, smiling and lovely as he remembered her from a boy. How could he be expected to equate this glamorous woman, with the sorry being who lived here?

  He saw the joy in his father’s eyes and his heart went out to him. “She’s not the same, Dad,” he warned. “The Sheelagh we knew is vastly different.”

  But Brad wasn’t listening. He was running down the stairs two at a time. “Where is she?” he was shouting. “Which hospital did she go to?”

  Nurse Cathy had finished making Maddy comfortable, after a savory supper, followed by a shower and shampoo. “There!” With her long hair combed out and twisted into a plait, and her face glowing, Maddy was sitting up, feeling a whole lot better.

  “You look like a different woman,” her old friend was telling her. “With your hair done in that pretty style, we can get a good look at you. You don’t want to hide yourself, dear – not with those cheekbones and those eyes.”

  Having grown quite plump, and having acquired a few gray hairs of her own, she leaned forward to smile into Maddy’s face. “I bet you feel much stronger now that you’ve had a little nap and some decent food. With the iron treatment, you’ll be back on your feet in no time at all.”

  Maddy merely nodded. “Thank you, Cathy.” She had been silent for so many years, she had forgotten how to converse.

  On hearing the doors swing open at the other end of the ward, Maddy glanced up. She recognized the girl, and the young man, as her student neighbors. But who was that with them? That big, broad-shouldered man with the graying hair, almost running up the ward… was he making for her? For one wonderful moment, she thought it was Brad.

  But this man couldn’t be Brad, could he? This man was older, slightly heavier. And yet… A strange sensation came over her. She tried to swallow, but the lump in her throat got in the way. And now he was in front of her, and he was crying. Brad was crying! And try as she might, she couldn’t even open her mouth to speak.

  Suddenly he reached out and she was in his arms, and all the sorrow and trials of these long years simply melted away in the warmth of his love. “Oh, my darling! I’ve watched for you every day,” he sobbed, and there was desperation in his voice. “You went away, and you never came back. Oh Sheelagh, why did you never come back to us? We missed you so much.” He laughed tearfully. “Donald missed you too!”

  Then he held her at arm’s length, reaching up to wipe away her tears; he looked long and hard at her; into those melting brown eyes that had stolen his heart, and the face he had cherished in his dreams. And he could hardly believe that she was here, in his arms. He pressed her close to him.

  “I love you,” he whispered. “I’ve loved you since that first day at the garage, and I’ve loved you every minute since!”

  “And I’ve loved you,” she whispered brokenly. Hold me.” With both arms she clung to him, as though someone might come and drag her away. “Brad, please… never let me go.”

>   Watching this amazing, tender scene, the young couple were made to wonder at the pain these two had suffered apart; and they were deeply moved, so much so that for a long time they stood and watched, holding hands, and loving each other all the more.

  Gradually, loath to intrude, Robin came forward. “Hello, Sheelagh,” he said shyly, a little boy again and asking for a birthday cake.

  Maddy looked up, her eyes alight with recognition. “Hello, Robin.” She hugged this fine young man, then held out her hand to Betsy, who came to sit beside her. “I’ve seen you two,” she said softly. “I’ve watched you from my window, not knowing who you were. But I know, like me and Brad… you two belong together.”

  At her desk, Nurse Cathy too, had witnessed this tender reunion. “You’ll be all right now, my mystery lady,” she whispered. “Now that you have your family about you.” Checking her watch, she went about her work, leaving them to catch up on all those wasted years.

  Maddy pushed her hair back to show Brad the scars. “What scars?” he said, feigning ignorance. “I can’t see any scars.” All he could see were those wonderful dark eyes, and the beloved face of his darling Sheelagh.

  Beyond that, nothing else mattered.

  Maddy smiled. There were still many things to deal with, confessions to embark on, and people to see – especially her own beloved son, Michael. But she was not afraid any more.

  Nothing in the world could be worse than the hurt and pain of what she had already endured.

  Twenty-five

  With Ellen and Michael strong in her thoughts, Maddy spent a few wonderful weeks recuperating with Brad, telling him the true story of her life, revealing that she was not Sheelagh Parson but Maddy Delaney – the Songbird. Eventually, it was time for her and Brad to travel north, to Blackpool, in order for her to start putting the past to rest and laying down a future based on truth and unconditional love.

  When Nora saw the couple knocking on Bob’s door, she came out, walking awkwardly with her stick to ask, “Are you looking for Mr. and Mrs. Clark? They’ve gone out for the day.”

  “Hello, Nora.” Smiling broadly, Maddy opened her arms to embrace the old lady.

  With poor eyesight, it took Nora a moment before she recognized Maddy, and on seeing who it was, she was beside herself with excitement. “Is that really you, young Maddy? How wonderful! I never thought I would see you again.”

  When the greetings and introductions were over, she welcomed the couple into her house, where in a serious tone she addressed Maddy. “I’m so very glad you’ve come. I didn’t know where to find you… or Ellen.” She paused, looking flustered and awkward. “Oh my dear, I’m so sorry.”

  She sat them down, and made a pot of tea. “Your son isn’t with you then?” she asked, looking about. “Oh, I suppose he’s grown up now, isn’t he? My! How time does fly. I remember when he was a weeny little thing.” She hoisted herself up and stomped painfully over to the sideboard.

  “Here, you’d best have these.” Collecting a bundle of documents from the drawer, the plump little woman put them on the table in front of Maddy.

  She appeared nervous, and Maddy guessed that there was bad news to come. And why wouldn’t there be, when nearly twenty years had passed? Nothing stayed the same; nothing was forever. She braced herself.

  “These are Bob’s belongings,” Nora began. “It was a year ago, lass. I’m afraid he had another stroke, and this time they could do nothing to help him. He died in the ambulance. He had an earlier one – soon after Ellen left, it was. Oh, but he did fret over her, especially when she never contacted him after that.”

  While Maddy was taking in the shocking news – both of Grandad Bob’s death and of Ellen’s disappearance – the old woman went on, “I suppose by rights these are Ellen’s, but as she isn’t here and you’re the next nearest thing he had to a living relative.”

  She pushed them toward Maddy. “These are private documents – letters and such. I had to deal with his estate, along with the solicitor, as he asked me to after the first stroke, should anything happen. But I haven’t opened any o’ these.” She was adamant. “The official things I had to deal with – but the letters are personal things, d’you see?”

  Maddy could not begin to cope with the news that her son had vanished all those years ago, with Ellen. A cold horror clutched at her. True, in her period of madness, she had not written, or given her new address in Bedford town, but she had pictured her boy growing up here, loved and nurtured by those two good people. It was another blow, another sorry illusion.

  Putting her fears aside for a moment, she told Nora how sad she was not to have seen Grandad Bob for so long, but that there had been a lot of trouble in her life, and she had been unable to travel. The old woman could see from the threads of gray in her hair and the marks of suffering on her face that this was true.

  Maddy felt Brad’s hand over hers, and she spoke calmly again. “It must have been so hard for you, Nora,” she said. “Thank you for your kindness to him, when we both let him down so badly.”

  “Well, like I said, he had that first do just days after Ellen had gone. It got so he was having difficulty looking after himself, so in the end I persuaded him to move in here – as a lodger, you understand?”

  In other circumstances, Maddy would have grinned at the thought of what Grandad Bob would have had to say about this. So Nosy Nora had got him in the end!

  Number 8 Ackerman Street had been sold, and Grandad had turned most of his pension over to Nora, to pay for his keep. The £15,000 he had received for the house had gone into his bank account, and was still with the solicitor, while they attempted to find the beneficiaries.

  The old lady leaned forward and lowered her voice confidentially.

  “Just before his second stroke, you see, love, he asked for the solicitor to come and see him. Must have felt it coming on, I reckon. That was when he changed his will: he left half his money to you, and the other half to Ellen. He made me a token gift of his Rover, and do you know, I learned to drive an’ all! I even took him out in it a few times, although he was as nervous as a kitten.” She chuckled.

  While Brad tactfully took Nora off to the kitchen to make another pot of tea, Maddy slowly opened the letters, one by one, praying for news of her son.

  It was a good thing that she was fitter in mind and body then she had been in many years, for the revelations contained in this bundle of papers were about to turn Maddy Delaney’s life upside down. Again.

  There was a letter to Grandad Bob from Ellen, dated a year ago, just before he had had his second stroke. The address was Ryde, in the Isle of Wight. As Maddy held the paper with shaking hands, she read Ellen’s message of love and contrition to her grandfather, trying to explain why she had done the terrible things she did – of abducting Maddy’s child and of deserting her beloved grandfather, stealing from him and lying to him. Michael had grown up bonny and bright, she wrote, and now she needed to make her peace with her grandfather, and also with her dear friend Maddy, whom she had never forgotten. She loved them both, and craved their forgiveness.

  Please will you tell Maddy that her son is a fine boy of seventeen now, she wrote, and that I love him like my own flesh and blood.

  While Maddy was trying to come to terms with all the emotions that arose when she read these words, she opened the next letter, and her heart nearly stopped with the shock of what it contained.

  The letter, which was dated eighteen months ago, was addressed to Ellen. Grandad Bob had not opened it, and Maddy imagined that his health had prevented him from making contact with his granddaughter. For Bob Maitland, it had all happened too late.

  The letter was from Raymond, the gentle giant from the Pink Lady club, and Maddy read it with amazement and disbelief, followed by a painful kind of joy.

  Dear Ellen,

  I have finally plucked up the courage to get hold of you, after all these years. I need to tell you what’s on my mind.

  The thing is, Alice says it might be
time now to tell Maddy the truth, since her tormentor was put out of his misery by another “good for nothing” at the prison some time ago. It was bound to happen, and I for one have no regrets about the demise of Steve Drayton. May he rot in hell, that’s what I say!

  Anyway, Ellen, please get in touch. Alice would like Maddy’s address. She needs to break the news gently, so it won’t come as such a shock. But I’m sure Maddy will understand how we only made her believe that Alice had been killed, to keep her from coming back and putting herself and the baby in danger.

  I hope she can forgive us, but I know it will be hard, and maybe too much to ask.

  So many years have passed and no doubt many things have occurred, but I hope this letter reaches you, my dear. It’s time to put the past to rights. None of us are getting any younger, and we don’t know how much time we have left.

  Lots of love – hope all is well with Maddy and yourself, and the boy.

  Waiting to hear from you,

  Raymond and Alice

  XX

  The news that Alice was alive more than compensated Maddy for the riveting shock she felt, at learning how the three people she loved had betrayed her.

  She tried to think of Michael as he was now. Where had she been while he was growing up? For a long time she had been trapped in another place, in limbo, unaware of the world around her. The years had flown by, and she hadn’t even noticed. The most important thing in her life was to see her beloved son again, to hold him close, against her heart, where he belonged.

  The news of Steve Drayton having been murdered lifted her spirits and made her utter a prayer of thanks. For too long she had remained in her own prison – one of fear. And today was the date of her release.

  So justice had prevailed, and the evil punishments he had dished out to others over the years had come back to haunt him.