Beyond a Misty Shore

by Lyn Andrews

  ‘But he’ll only be away a week, what if it lasts longer than that?’

  Martha looked sceptical. ‘It won’t. It’s a cut-and-dried case. He’ll be found guilty and sentenced although I’ve no idea when they’ll hang him. It won’t be straight away though – more’s the pity.’

  Sophie shuddered. ‘That will be something else we’ll have to contend with.’

  ‘At least it will be the end of it all and we can put it behind us and get on with our lives,’ Martha stated briskly.

  ‘So, I suppose it will be a few weeks yet before I can see Frank.’ Sophie smiled ruefully. ‘It will be very hard for us both.’

  Martha reached across and patted her arm. ‘I know it will, Sophie. He loves you a great deal, he told me so in the letter.’

  Sophie sighed and nodded, trying to fight down the feelings of impatience and disappointment that had risen in her at Martha’s words. ‘And I love him too. I . . . I never thought I would ever love anyone again after Andrew was drowned, but I fell in love with Frank although at times it all looked so hopeless. We’ve waited so long and he . . . he had to put up with so much . . .’

  ‘I know, but it will all soon be over for you both and I’ll welcome you as a daughter-in-law with open arms, Sophie.’ Martha meant what she said and she thought that all this press interest was terribly unfair on them both. ‘You know, luv, there’s nothing to stop you paying a visit to Lizzie on Tuesday night, she is your aunt and you do often come to see her.’

  Sophie looked a little puzzled.

  Martha smiled conspiratorially. ‘I’m sure it could be arranged for Frank to slip in to see Lizzie at the same time, using the back way in through the entry. Who would know except us and Lizzie’s family and none of us are likely to mention it to anyone else.’

  Sophie’s eyes lit up and she took Martha’s hand. ‘Could you arrange it?’

  ‘Of course I will. I’ll go in to see Lizzie straight after you’ve gone and I know she’ll be delighted. She can make sure that her lot are all out.’

  Sophie took her leave feeling much happier than she’d done when she’d arrived. As she walked to the tram stop her step was light and her heart was beating faster. In two short days he would be home and she wouldn’t have to wait weeks to see him, just a single day, and then for the first time since that fateful New Year’s Eve he would hold her and kiss her and this time there would be no shocked and disapproving glances or justifiably jealous outbursts or attacks from Nora. The waiting would be over and they could plan their future together.

  Lizzie was a little put out when Martha informed her that Sophie had been to see her. ‘Well, she might have called in to see me as well, I am her aunt.’

  ‘Just hold on a minute, Lizzie, will you. She wanted to know when Frank would be home.’

  Lizzie frowned. ‘I thought you said you’d advised him not to see her straight away. Well, of course he will want to but it wouldn’t be the wisest thing to do, they wouldn’t want the papers to get hold of it.’

  ‘That’s what I’ve come to tell you. I’ve sorted out a way round it. I had a letter this morning and he’ll be home on Monday. No one can read anything into her paying you a visit on Tuesday evening, can they? She often comes to see you and, as you’ve just said, you’re her aunt. So, what I suggested was that when she’s here our Frank slips in the back way.’

  As understanding dawned Lizzie began to smile. ‘Now why didn’t I think of that?’

  ‘Do you think you can get rid of your lot for a few hours? Give them a bit of time alone? God knows they deserve it.’

  Lizzie nodded enthusiastically. ‘Jim and our John can go for a couple of pints, Katie spends half her life down at Mary Seddon’s anyway these days so I’ll make sure she’s with Matt that night . . .’

  ‘And you and your Billy can come in to me. In fact Pat can go to the pub with Jim as well and the two lads do play well together. There’s no need to tell those two what it’s all about, Lizzie. The least our Robbie and your Billy know, the better. We can’t trust them to keep their mouths shut,’ Martha added.

  ‘And Sophie can leave Bella with Arthur Chatsworth,’ Lizzie mused. ‘So, it’s all sorted, Martha, and I’m glad. There will be another wedding in the offing before long, I’ll bet. They’ve waited so long that I can’t see them wanting to delay much.’ She smiled broadly at her friend. ‘Just think, then we’ll be related, Martha. He’s your son and she’s my niece: I’m not quite sure what “relation” that makes us to each other but I think we’ll have a cup of tea to celebrate just the same.’

  Martha nodded happily. ‘It looks as if things will be turning out for the best all round now, Lizzie. Maria already happily married; next it will be Sophie and Frank and then your Katie and Matt Seddon.’

  Lizzie grinned at her again. ‘It’s like trams and buses, Martha. You wait for ages and none turn up and then three come altogether.’

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  SOPHIE HADN’T BEEN ABLE to contain her sheer joy when she’d arrived home. Her sparkling eyes and flushed cheeks gave her away.

  ‘I can see by your face that he’ll be home soon, Sophie,’ Arthur deduced.

  ‘On Monday, so Martha says, and she is going to arrange with Aunty Lizzie for me to see him in Lizzie’s house on Tuesday evening. Neither of us wanted to have to wait but . . . we felt if we were seen together as soon as he got home it would attract the wrong kind of interest and there would be a storm of criticism. So, to all intents and purposes I’ll just be going to visit Aunty Lizzie and—’

  Arthur smiled. ‘Frank will just “happen” to be there too?’

  ‘No, he’ll slip in the back way. Oh, Arthur, I’m so happy! I can’t believe that now everything is going to be . . .’ She flung her arms around him and hugged him.

  ‘You deserve to be happy, Sophie. You both deserve to be happy and I wish you a wonderful future together. When will you tell Bella?’

  Sophie hadn’t thought about that. In the past she had been so careful not to let the child know that there was anything between her and Frank but now she realised that she would have to break it to her daughter that soon she would have a new father.

  ‘I’ll tell her as soon as she comes in from school this afternoon.’

  ‘The sooner the better, Sophie, and I’m sure she’ll be happy about it although she might be a bit . . . apprehensive at first.’

  Sophie nodded thoughtfully. At least she had a couple of hours to think about what she would say to Bella.

  Arthur decided that it would be prudent if he went out and so he put on his jacket, picked up his hat from the hallstand and let himself out quietly half an hour before Bella was due home.

  Sophie was waiting at the front gate when Bella at last turned into Laurel Road. Bella walked home with her friends these days, saying she was too old now to be met, but she walked the last few yards alone, having left the others on Hawthorne Road.

  ‘Did you have a good day?’ Sophie asked, taking the child’s bag and cardigan from her.

  ‘It was all right, I suppose, but I’m glad it’s Saturday tomorrow. Can I go and play at Anne’s house in the afternoon, Mam?’

  Sophie nodded. ‘Of course you can.’

  ‘Where’s Uncle Arthur?’ Bella asked on entering the living room and finding it empty.

  ‘I think he’s gone out for a walk, he . . . he knew there was something I had to tell you, something important.’ Sophie sat down and gently drew the child to her. ‘Do you remember your pa, Bella?’

  Bella nodded, gazing at her mother. ‘I think I do, Mam. He’s in heaven with Aunty Hetty, isn’t he? Granny Sarah showed me the house where we all used to live, before he went to heaven and we came here.’

  ‘He is.’ Sophie paused, she hadn’t realised it was going to be this hard and Bella’s reaction depended so much on how she put this. ‘When he . . . died, Bella, I was very sad. I cried a lot and I missed him and was very lonely even though I had you and I love you very much.’
r />   The child regarded her seriously with her big blue eyes.

  ‘But when we were living with Aunty Lizzie I . . . I became friends with Frank, who lived across the road.’

  ‘Robbie’s big brother. I remember him, he’s nice. He took us to see that bonfire at the street party.’

  Sophie hoped she didn’t remember that Nora had also been there that night as well. ‘Frank and I were very good friends, Bella, for a long time, and . . . and well, then we discovered that we’d fallen in love.’

  ‘Wasn’t he married to that Nora? The one who was killed,’ Bella asked.

  Sophie sighed. It had been impossible to keep it from the child; everyone in school had heard about it. ‘He was married to her but . . . but he didn’t love her, Bella. Sometimes that happens, you’ll understand when you are grown up. And now that poor Nora is dead, Frank wants to marry me. I still get very lonely sometimes, Bella, and I do love him and I want to marry him. Then he’ll be your new pa and he’ll be a great pa to you, I promise.’

  Bella frowned, trying to digest all this. ‘Will you be happy if you marry him, Mam? You won’t be lonely any more?’ she asked at length.

  Sophie nodded. ‘I’ll be happy. Will you be happy to have a new pa? I want you to be happy, Bella. It’s very important to me that you are.’

  It was a few seconds before the child nodded slowly. ‘I’d like a new pa, Mam. I’m the only one in my class who hasn’t got a pa and sometimes I feel . . . left out when all the others talk about theirs.’

  Sophie hadn’t known that and suddenly she felt the tears prick her eyes. She’d never realised that Bella felt like this. She was aware that Bella looked on Arthur as a grandfather but it wasn’t the same. She put her arms around the child. ‘Well, you’ll have a pa now too, Bella, and he’ll love you just as much as your pa in heaven does.’

  Bella smiled. ‘Can I be a bridesmaid again, Mam?’

  Sophie hugged her with relief. ‘Of course you can.’

  Everything looked the same, Frank thought as he walked up Harebell Street towards his parents’ house. It was late morning and was already very warm; the cobbles were dusty and little clouds of flies hovered over the rubbish in the gutter. Yes, everything looked the same but it didn’t feel the same at all. As he drew nearer he glanced over at Nellie’s house. As usual the front door stood open, revealing the scuffed, cracked lino, the curtains at the windows were grey with grime, the brasses dull and pitted. There was no sign of life and he felt a wave of relief wash over him. Nora would never taunt, torment or humiliate him again. He would never have to set foot in Nellie’s house again either. At the top of the street a group of young lads were playing, swinging on a rope tied to one of the arms of the cast-iron lamppost; his brother was amongst them. He didn’t shout or wave to him; he didn’t want to call attention to himself. Robbie would be in soon enough for something to eat. Lads of that age always seemed to be hungry.

  He paused for a second outside his mam’s house. Her door too stood open but the lino was polished, the windows sparkling, the curtains pristine and the brasses well polished. Even the step had been scrubbed.

  ‘Mam, I’m home!’ he called as he dropped his kitbag in the lobby, and never had those words been uttered with such enthusiasm and cheerfulness.

  Martha instantly appeared from the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron, her face wreathed in smiles.

  ‘Come on in, Frank, it’s good to have you home, and I’m so sorry for the way I treated you in the past, when you were married to Nora.’ She hugged him, silently giving thanks that all the trials and sorrows of the past were over at last. ‘I’ve a real treat for you, lad. Homemade cottage pie and with a decent bit of minced beef too. And I’ve a surprise too! You’ll be seeing Sophie tomorrow night.’

  ‘But, Mam, I thought—’

  ‘Don’t worry, Lizzie and I have arranged it all. No one will be any the wiser. Now sit yourself down while I get the pie out of the oven.’

  Frank digested her words and felt a surge of joy rush through him. ‘I’ve never felt so happy for years, Mam. I know the circumstances are tragic and that things will still be a bit difficult, but as soon as I caught sight of the Three Graces at the Pier Head I felt I was home and that from now on life will be so much better for us all.’

  Martha nodded and, putting down the pie, hugged him. ‘They will, Frank. They will indeed.’

  For Sophie the next four days had seemed unbearably long and when Tuesday at last arrived she knew it would be best if she kept herself busy all day, otherwise she would get herself into such a state of nervous excitement that she’d be fit for nothing. She intended to get to Lizzie’s for about eight o’clock. It would of course still be light but at least there would be less activity in the street and fewer people about.

  She wanted to take a great deal of care with her appearance and had decided to wear a navy and white flowered dress with a white jacket over it. Smart but not too brightly coloured: she didn’t want to attract attention to herself. She’d put her hair up and wore a small white straw hat with a narrow brim trimmed with navy ribbon.

  She had very mixed emotions as she walked towards Harebell Street. Her heart was beating jerkily with happiness, excitement and some nervousness too. There had been times over the weekend when she’d had to pinch herself and tell herself that it really was happening.

  As she passed Maggie Dodd’s shop, Maggie was just drawing down the blinds.

  ‘You look smart, Sophie. Paying Lizzie a visit?’ Maggie asked pleasantly.

  ‘Yes, I haven’t been to see her since we got back from Maria’s wedding, so I thought I’d pop along this evening for an hour,’ Sophie answered, trying to keep her tone calm and matter of fact.

  ‘You were wise, Sophie, what with all that’s been going on. Shocking it’s been.’

  Sophie nodded, looking serious. ‘It was a terrible tragedy, Mrs Dodd. We heard about it when we got back from the island. It was such a shock.’

  Maggie picked up the tub that held a collection of brushes and brooms and prepared to take them inside. ‘Well, it’s all over now – bar the shouting as they say, thank God.’

  Sophie moved away thankfully. ‘Goodnight, Mrs Dodd.’

  Maggie nodded and closed the shop door and Sophie walked on. She was grateful Maggie hadn’t mentioned Frank. Maybe she hadn’t heard that he was home, although she doubted that. There wasn’t much in this neighbourhood that Maggie didn’t know about.

  As usual Lizzie’s front door was slightly ajar and she let herself in. ‘Aunty Lizzie! It’s me, Sophie,’ she called as she went down the lobby. She was hoping Lizzie would let her see Frank in the parlour for there was never any privacy in the kitchen. She stopped dead as the kitchen door opened. Frank was standing in the doorway. Her heart seemed to leap into her throat and she couldn’t utter a word. He looked so handsome and so well. It was as though all the anguish and anxiety had been lifted from him.

  ‘Sophie! Oh, Sophie!’ he cried, coming towards her.

  Then he took her in his arms and she clung to him, still unable to speak. Her heart was so full.

  He kissed her tenderly at first but then with increasing passion. ‘Oh, Sophie, my darling, I never thought this moment would come.’

  She drew away a little, thinking of Lizzie and her family. ‘Aunty Lizzie?’

  He smiled down at her. ‘They’re all out; we’ve the house to ourselves for a couple of hours.’

  It was quite a while before they drew apart and Frank led her towards Lizzie’s front room. ‘Mam planned it all, so we could be alone,’ he informed her.

  ‘I’d hoped Lizzie would let us use the parlour as I thought they’d all be in. This . . . this is so much better. Oh, Frank, I can’t believe it. I really can’t. You’re here at last and it . . . it’s all over.’

  He drew her down onto the sofa. ‘There are times when I’ve thought that too. It’s really over, Sophie. I’m free. We have a future now – or at least very soon we will.’

>   She leaned her head on his shoulder. ‘There’s still the trial, Frank.’

  ‘I know but they’ve persuaded me to do a last short trip. I know it’s only a week but hopefully things will have settled down when I get back. Sophie, I want to marry you as soon as possible – that’s if you want to marry me?’ he added hopefully.

  ‘Oh, Frank, of course I do! And I don’t want to wait for very long either. I’ve already told Bella.’

  He nodded, looking a little anxious. ‘How did she take it?’

  ‘Very well.’ She smiled up at him. ‘She’s looking forward to having a new pa and to being a bridesmaid.’ She became serious again. ‘How long do you think we should wait?’

  ‘I’ve had plenty of time to think about that, my love. Would you be happy to get married in four weeks? The banns will have to be called, if you want a church wedding.’

  ‘Yes, I’d like it to be in church, Frank, but a very quiet affair. Just us, Bella, Arthur, your parents and Uncle Jim and Aunty Lizzie.’

  ‘Not Maria and her husband and your mother?’

  She shook her head. She’d had her family around her the first time she’d been married and it wouldn’t be fair to drag them across now. ‘Mam is very busy helping Maria to get the tea shop they’re opening up and running before the season is over and Hans already has half a dozen contracts for his new tractor. They’ll understand, I know they will, and it’s not as though it’s the first time . . . for either of us.’

  ‘I just wish it could be sooner, Sophie, I love you so much and I want you so much.’ He held her tightly.

  ‘I know, Frank, but it really isn’t very long to wait and you will be away for a week too. We have a lot of things to talk about and decide on and I will have things to organise, including a dress for Bella. She’ll want a new—’ she replied before his lips cut off her words.

  All too soon they heard Lizzie and Billy returning, Lizzie making rather a lot of noise as she closed the scullery door and loudly informing Billy he was to go straight up to bed as it was way past his bedtime.