Love Letters in the Sand

by June Francis

Nellie shook her head. ‘No, but I’ve a friend at Litherland Nursery who passes it on after she’s read it. What do you know?’

  ‘There’s all kinds of rumours going round now that our beloved patron is dead. Her nephew and niece have inherited the property and there’s talk that they’ll have to sell because of death duties. If that’s true, then it’s likely the home will close down and the children will have to be moved elsewhere.’

  ‘It’s a shame. Does this mean you’ll be out of a job?’ Nellie asked.

  Irene sighed. ‘More than likely. That’s the trouble – we don’t know if there’d be jobs for us elsewhere. Besides it would all depend on where the children were moved to.’

  ‘It’s a pity you couldn’t get a job at Litherland Nursery.’

  ‘It’s a thought.’ Irene sighed again. ‘I’m going to miss the kids. Our damaged ones could break your heart. My friend Deirdre thinks no one will ever want to adopt them.’

  ‘She could be wrong,’ said Nellie, putting on the kettle. ‘There’re lots of compassionate people around, as well as uncaring ones. That’s the problem with working with such children. You have to try not to get too fond of them, but I know how difficult that is. Still, you’re bound to get married one day and have to leave them.’

  ‘I wasn’t thinking so much about getting married but doing some travelling,’ said Irene, straightening up and unhooking a couple of cups from a kitchen shelf and placing them on the table. ‘I had a letter today from Betty.’

  ‘How is she?’

  ‘Fine, although still missing family and friends. She wants to know have I ever thought of being a private nanny. What d’you think of that?’ asked Irene.

  Nellie stared at her. ‘Coming at a time like now? It almost sounds fortuitous! A nanny! Does she have an employer in mind?’

  ‘She didn’t name any names but I have a feeling she was thinking of someone.’ Irene felt a stir of trepidation as well as excitement.

  ‘There’s no rush for you to make up your mind, is there?’

  ‘I don’t think so.’ Irene took the milk out of the fridge. ‘Besides, I wouldn’t be going anywhere until Fair Haven closes down and that’s unlikely to happen for a while. There’s all the legal side to be settled, and then the arrangements for the children to be sorted out, too.’

  Nellie agreed. ‘Anyway, what other news do you have? Have you been anywhere interesting?’

  Irene told her about the pantomime and then about the party Jeannette and Davy were throwing before they moved to New Brighton. Nellie knew about that because her stepson, Tony, would be singing with the group at Lenny’s Place.

  ‘Hopefully I’ll be able to get the evening off. I could do with cheering up. It would be nice to see Peggy and Pete, too,’ said Irene.

  ‘I did hear that Pete and his mother have been invited to Sunday lunch at Peggy’s parents’ house,’ said Nellie. ‘You know my brother’s their parish priest?’

  Irene nodded, her eyes widening. ‘Now that is news! I can’t wait to hear how they get on. A wedding in the offing at last, d’you think?’

  Eleven

  ‘You ready, son?’ asked Gertie, standing in front of the sideboard mirror, fluffing out her greying curls beneath a russet felt hat with a feather in it.

  Pete nodded and inwardly braced himself for what he regarded as the ordeal ahead. He watched his mother remove a shopping bag from the back of a dining chair, knowing there was a box of chocolates inside for Peggy’s mother. He could only hope that all would go well. If it did, then most likely the next step would be his asking Mr McGrath for his elder daughter’s hand in marriage. He and Peggy had never got this far before and he was beginning to think that a wedding could well be on the cards for them later this year. Peggy was over twenty-one and didn’t really need her father’s permission but his instincts told him that Mr McGrath was a man who would expect any suitor for his daughters to seek it.

  Pete had decided to dispense with his walking stick even though the weather was still wintry. Besides thinking that he should try and do without it more, it meant that maybe the McGraths would regard him as less of a cripple.

  His mother glanced at him as he led the way out of the house. ‘That’s the ticket, son. Shoulders back, head high.’ Her eyes twinkled. ‘You’ve nothing to be ashamed of; you are as good as Billy McGrath.’

  Pete could not help wondering just what it was his mother knew about Peggy’s father. But he knew it was possible that before the day was over, he might just have found out.

  A smiling Peggy opened the door to them. Despite her smile, Pete guessed that she was as keyed-up as he was but trying not to show it. She was wearing less make-up than usual and he also felt that was due to her father. She looked pale without a touch of rouge on her cheeks.

  ‘Hello, love!’ he said, reaching out and squeezing her hand. ‘You all right?’

  ‘Of course, why shouldn’t I be? Come on in. Mam and Dad are looking forward to meeting you both,’ said Peggy brightly. ‘Let me take your coat, Mrs Marshall,’ she added.

  Gertie accepted her help off with her coat with a smile and handed her hat over to Peggy, but kept hold of her shopping bag. Having hung up his overcoat, Pete took a deep breath before following Peggy and his mother into the kitchen.

  The room seemed much smaller than he remembered from his last visit but that could be due to the dining table having been opened up and four people already taking up the surrounding space. Pete’s gaze went to the older man whom he recognized from that journey on the train at the end of December.

  ‘Mr McGrath, it’s good to meet you,’ said Pete in his politest voice.

  William had been sitting but now he stood up and glared at Pete. ‘So you’re him,’ he said.

  ‘He has a name, Dad,’ said Peggy.

  ‘I know that!’ he snapped, not looking at her. ‘Peter Marshall, the liar. He’s no Catholic! I found that out from someone who remembers the family who went to live in Seaforth and attends the church there. I’ve also spoken to the priest on the telephone. Are you going to deny it, boy?’

  ‘No,’ said Pete, looking him straight in the eye. ‘You should ask yourself why I wasn’t completely honest with Mrs McGrath when she questioned me.’

  William looked aghast. ‘You have no time for the truth, do you?’

  ‘Of course I do,’ said Pete. ‘But I have no time for bigotry and you shouldn’t either if you take the Christian faith seriously.’

  ‘He’s right, Dad,’ said Peggy bravely.

  ‘Yes, don’t let’s be having an argument, William!’ said Mary, grabbing his sleeve.

  He brushed her hand off and glared at her.

  ‘Most likely I misunderstood what Peter told me. I do think I’m getting a little bit deaf as I get older. Let’s all be friends?’ She held out her hand to Gertie. ‘It’s nice to meet you.’

  Gertie shook her hand. ‘Same here, love. May I sit down and take the weight off my feet? Years of standing in the factory have given me terrible bunions.’

  ‘Certainly,’ said Mary, pulling out a chair. ‘It’s my knees that are starting to go with getting down and scrubbing floors. But I don’t like using a mop; it doesn’t do as good a job.’

  ‘Stop babbling, Mary,’ William snapped.

  Gertie sat down and looked at him. ‘I’m not one for judging people, Billy McGrath, and I don’t like you judging my son before you even get to know him. You’ll find that Jesus has something to say about judging people and forgiveness.’

  Mary took one look at her husband’s face and said hastily, ‘Let me introduce my other daughter, Lil, and her young man.’

  ‘How do you do?’ said Gertie, nodding at the couple.

  ‘Now Lil has more sense than our Peggy,’ said William. ‘And who do you think you are, woman, to call me Billy?’

  Gertie slanted him a challenging look. ‘I once knew you as Billy Mac. That your lovely daughter, Peggy, should have fallen in love with my lad makes me think she must take after her
mother. It’s obvious she’s a nice woman. But you – you’re nothing but a hypocrite.’

  Peggy and Lil gasped and Mary could only look open-mouthed at Gertie.

  William’s face had reddened and his heavy eyebrows beetled together. ‘How dare you! I don’t remember you at all.’

  ‘I know it’s years since we last saw each other.’ Gertie eased herself back in the chair and took out the box of chocolates from the shopping bag and held it out to Mary. ‘These are for you, love. Thank you for your kind invitation.’

  Mary gazed at the box of chocolates but made no move to take them.

  ‘Take it,’ said Gertie, waving the box about. ‘They’re Black Magic!’

  ‘Can’t you see she doesn’t want them, woman!’ yelled William, causing his daughters and wife to jump.

  Gertie placed the box of chocolates on the table and took a large envelope from her shopping bag. ‘Maybe these will jog your memory, Billy? I don’t bandy around words like hypocrite for fun. My father owned a photographic studios not far from where you and I grew up,’ she added. ‘You must remember it? I used to pull tongues at you when you’d stand, looking in the window at the latest portraits. You had a sense of humour then.’

  He blinked at her. ‘All right! I remember the place but that doesn’t give you a reason to come into my home and throw your weight around.’

  ‘I come in peace,’ said Gertie quietly, folding her shopping bag. ‘Just take a look at those photographs and make up your mind to give my son the welcome he deserves for loving your daughter.’

  Mary reached out for the envelope but William would have snatched it from beneath her hand if she hadn’t managed to get a grip on it. ‘Let go of it, Mary!’ he ordered.

  ‘Why, William? I thought we had no secrets from each other,’ she said.

  ‘There isn’t anything world-shattering in there, Mrs McGrath,’ said Gertie. ‘I brought these photographs along, thinking they would jog your husband’s memory. I have the negatives, by the way, Billy.’ She glanced at William. ‘My son and your daughter want to get married,’ she continued. ‘I’d like to see it happen before I’m in my dotage. I’d enjoy having her company about the place and a couple of grandchildren. She seems a good girl to me.’

  ‘She is that,’ said Mary swiftly. ‘I’ve brought her up respectable.’

  Gertie smiled. ‘As I did my boys. My eldest son is in the police force and Pete’s twin is a marine engineer. When I mentioned the name of McGrath to our Dougie, he remembered it but I’ll say no more about that.’ She added virtuously, ‘None of my business.’

  William’s face darkened. ‘Are you saying that your policeman son had reason to arrest one of my sons?’

  Before Gertie could answer, a voice spoke up. ‘I’m hungry! The dinner will be spoiling if we don’t eat soon.’

  Mary sighed with relief. ‘Our Lil’s right. Let’s eat. Forgive and forget, I say. Whatever we are, we all believe in the same God, don’t we?’

  Pete opened his mouth but a look from his mother silenced him.

  ‘Come on, girls,’ said Mary, and hurried out of the room.

  Peggy gave Pete a stricken look and followed her mother and sister. Pete was wishing more than anything that he and his mother had not come but it was too late now. Where did he and Peggy go from here? He realized that Lil’s boyfriend, whose name he had forgotten, was staring at him. Suddenly the boyfriend got up. ‘I’m going for a smoke,’ he said, hastening out of the room.

  No sooner had he left than William opened the envelope and took out the photographs. He wasted no time riffling through them, pausing a couple of times. When he had finished, he replaced them in the envelope and dropped that on the table. ‘Why couldn’t my daughter get herself a nice Catholic boy?’ he said, running his fingers through his hair.

  Pete, who had been silent until then, felt his temper rising. ‘I don’t want to be one like you, Mr McGrath, that’s for sure.’

  William’s eyes narrowed. ‘Don’t be funny with me, lad.’

  ‘I don’t find this situation the least bit funny,’ said Pete harshly. ‘Your attitude terrifies your daughter. D’you realize that? We could have married last year if you weren’t such a bigot!’

  ‘It’s right for a girl to have a healthy fear of her father,’ said William. ‘He knows what’s best for her.’

  ‘Rubbish,’ said Gertie. ‘Possessive, controlling …’

  William rounded on her. ‘Keep out of this, Gertie!’

  ‘Oh, you remember me now, all right, don’t you?’

  ‘Mam, say no more,’ said Pete. ‘I see now that whatever you say to Mr McGrath, he’s never going to accept me, even if I did what Peggy wanted and took instruction in the Catholic faith - something that I have no intention of doing now.’

  There was a sudden silence that was broken by Peggy blurting out, ‘But you promised!’

  Pete turned and saw her standing in the doorway, holding a tureen between her hands.

  ‘I never promised, and anyway, I’ve changed my mind,’ said Pete. ‘Sweetheart, we don’t need his permission to get married. If you love me, then marry me despite what he says.’

  ‘Don’t you be giving her orders!’ shouted William. ‘You’re forcing her to choose between you and her family.’

  ‘No, I’m not! It’s you that’s trying to force her to do that,’ said Pete angrily. ‘Well?’ he snapped, turning to Peggy.

  She stared back at him with a mixture of hurt and anger in eyes that were shiny with tears. ‘You promised me that you’d take instruction and get married in my church! You agreed that our children could be brought up as Catholics,’ she cried.

  ‘I made no promises,’ insisted Pete, his dark eyes glinting.

  Peggy was so upset that she felt as though she couldn’t breathe for a moment. Then she caught her breath. ‘You’re a liar, just as Dad said you were!’ She slammed the tureen on the table. ‘I hate you! Get out of this house!’

  Pete could only stare at her and then he drew in his breath noisily and limped out of the room. His mother called him back but he was not listening. A few moments later the front door slammed.

  Gertie got to her feet. ‘Well, you made a right mess of that, Billy. But then you did come from a family who always thought they were in the right.’ She snatched up the envelope containing the photographs and looked at Peggy. ‘I might have enjoyed having you living with me as a daughter but after the way you spoke to my son, I reckon we’ve had a narrow escape! Say sorry to your mother for me! Tarrah!’ She picked up the box of Black Magic and hurried from the room.

  Peggy was trembling and wanted to smash something. How dare Pete’s mother speak to her the way she did! She’d said no worse to Pete than he’d said to her. And what had she meant about her living with her as a daughter? Could he have told her that they’d live with his mother after they were married without even mentioning it to her? He had no right! And besides, his mother was a slut! She’d be forever tidying up after her!

  ‘Well, I’m glad to see the back of them,’ said her father, interrupting the riot of thoughts running through her head

  ‘What were those photographs of, Dad?’ she asked.

  ‘Nothing that need bother you,’ he said.

  She didn’t believe him, thinking that he bore the blame for what had happened as much as Pete and his mother did. Without another word, she brushed past her father and went into the back kitchen.

  ‘Have they gone?’ asked Lil.

  ‘What do you think?’ said Peggy tartly, tears running unchecked down her cheeks.

  ‘Oh, my poor little girl,’ said Mary, holding her arms out to her.

  ‘I’m not a little girl!’ cried Peggy, and hurried out of the back kitchen.

  Ignoring her father, who was standing in front of the hearth, staring into the fire, she went upstairs. A few moments later she could hear her mother’s shrill voice from below, arguing with him.

  Then he bellowed, ‘Leave me alone, woman! And don’t y
ou dare go fussing over our Peggy. You’ve spoilt her, just like you spoilt Tommy! I’m going out,’ he shouted.

  Peggy heard the front door slam and then a few moments later, it slammed again. Perhaps her mother was going after him. From below came the sound of Lil and her boyfriend talking. She thought if her sister came upstairs and told her what she had done wrong then she would scream. She was fed up with her family and Pete telling her what she should do. She was fed up with her job, too. In that moment she made up her mind to leave Liverpool – and the sooner the better!

  Twelve

  ‘Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you,’ sang Deirdre.

  ‘Great way to enjoy a birthday,’ said Irene, emptying another potty. There had been no cards from her brother or mother, which was disappointing. Although she thought maybe Jimmy would bring them with him to Jeanette and Davy’s party.

  ‘But you’re off this evening, aren’t you?’ said Deirdre.

  ‘That’s true,’ said Irene, smiling faintly. ‘Pity you couldn’t come to the party.’

  ‘I could do with going to a party,’ said Deirdre, scouring out one of the potties. ‘I need cheering up. The trouble is nothing is certain at the moment. If we had a positive date when we’d be finishing I could start making plans. At least I’ve tomorrow afternoon off but I’ve nobody to go out with. I think I’ll go to Southport, although it’s not the same going on your own.’

  Irene thought of Jimmy and how Deirdre just might suit him. She was no beauty but she had pleasant features and a nice way with her. Although Irene liked Lucia, she was too young and the way she hung around Jimmy made her feel a little uneasy. It would be much better if he had a proper girlfriend, someone who would put Lucia off.

  ‘Once we’re finished here,’ said Irene, ‘we’ll get out in the fresh air with some of the children. The rain has stopped and it looks warmer out there now.’

  But the heat of the sun shining through the windows proved deceptive because the air was cooler than Irene had thought. Probably that was due to the rain.

  As they set off for the beach, Deirdre began to sing ‘April Showers’.