Sunlight on the Mersey

by Lyn Andrews

  David felt as though he’d been physically struck. She’d ducked her head but he had seen the expression in her eyes. He reached out and took her hand in his. ‘Rose, there is something I’ve wanted to tell you for weeks but I … I was afraid to. I … love you, Rose. I think I’ve loved you for quite a while but never realised it until … that afternoon. Rose, if you love me then stay, please?’

  ‘I do love you, David. I love you more than I can say, but how can I stay? I … I work for you,’ Rose whispered. Joy had surged through her at his words but had quickly been dispelled by the reality of her position.

  He longed to take her in his arms and tell her that that was unimportant, what was important was that she loved him and he couldn’t bear to lose her. His life would be unbearable without her, he had to ask her to be his wife, he had to keep her at his side. But what if she refused? What if she couldn’t face a future tied to him – a cripple? He thought of the courage that had carried him through the months in the trenches, that had helped him survive the field hospital and the journey home to a world that had changed so much. ‘Rose, will you … marry me?’

  Rose gasped aloud with shock. ‘David … I love you, I’ll always love you but I can’t …’

  ‘Is it because of the way I am? A cripple?’

  ‘No! I don’t even think of you like that … as being a cripple. David, I’m a servant. I’m a working-class girl from a humble home, I’m not even … well educated. I … I couldn’t … cope.’

  ‘None of that matters to me, Rose. You have so many graces and wonderful attributes. I can’t spend the rest of my life here without you. We’d lead a very quiet life. Livvie could continue to supervise the household, if that’s what you would prefer. I don’t have a title, so you wouldn’t either. And, and … I promise it will be a “complete” marriage, there is no reason why we can’t have children. I am not paralysed. Please don’t go, Rose,’ he begged, holding both her hands tightly in his now.

  ‘But … the others. Mr Lewis, Henry … ?’

  He could see she was weakening. He’d fight tooth and nail to keep her. He didn’t care what anyone thought or said – Olivia, Elinore, their relations and friends, the servants, convention, public opinion … He didn’t care. All that mattered was that she would consent. ‘Don’t worry about anything, Rose. I’ll discuss everything with them. It will be fine, I promise. And we’ll be happy, Rose, that I promise too.’

  She looked into his eyes and knew she couldn’t refuse him. A great tide of happiness surged through her. ‘Yes, I’ll marry you, David,’ she said shyly.

  He leaned towards her and gently stroked her cheek before kissing her on the mouth. ‘Oh, Rose, I love you so much. I never expected to love anyone, I never expected to be loved, not like this.’

  She placed a finger on his lips, her eyes now shining with tears of joy. ‘That doesn’t matter to me. You are so … special. Oh, I do love you, David, and I’ll be so happy to take care of you.’

  ‘Then leave everything to me, Rose. You go and spend a few days with your family in Liverpool. I’m sure your mother would like to hear the news first hand, rather than by telephone or letter,’ he urged. It would be better, he judged, if she were not here when he broke the news to his sister for he had a good idea of what Olivia’s reaction would be and he didn’t want Rose to be upset or, worse, change her mind. ‘Is there a bus tomorrow?’

  She nodded, wondering how her mam and Iris and Charlie would react to her news. Hopefully they wouldn’t be too dismayed because she would need Kate’s permission.

  ‘Then I’ll arrange for someone to take you into Denbigh in the morning. Will you confide in Miss Roberts?’ he asked, thinking that the news would spread like wildfire in the village.

  Rose considered this, realising the amount of speculation and gossip it was going to cause. ‘I’ll ask her to say nothing about it until … until I come back, David. Gwen can be very discreet,’ she promised as she got to her feet. Life had changed so much in just a few short minutes, she thought as she looked towards the house. It dawned on her that very soon it would become her home and that her position would be drastically changed. She held tightly to his hand for it was a very daunting realisation.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  DAVID WASN’T DISAPPOINTED BY Olivia’s reaction. He’d arranged for Rose to be collected from Gwen’s cottage and driven to Denbigh to catch the bus and had spoken to Gwen Roberts on the telephone that morning. She’d sounded completely bemused, he’d thought, but had recovered herself enough to offer her congratulations and assure him of her discretion. He had then asked Lewis to inform Mrs Mathews that Rose had gone to visit her family for a few days. Lewis was acutely aware that something strange was going on but his years of training stood him in good stead and not even by the raising of an eyebrow did he betray his surprise. Then David had gone in search of his sister.

  After he’d told her she stared at him blankly for a few seconds.

  ‘Dai! David, you can’t … can’t possibly be thinking of doing something so, so crass, so utterly stupid!’

  ‘I don’t see it like that, Livvie,’ he replied curtly.

  Olivia struggled for words. ‘She … she’s a servant! She’s … she’s …’

  ‘Common? Working class? Yes, she is, but no one can say she’s been ill mannered, loud or uncouth in any way while she’s been here – just the opposite.’

  ‘It’s been her place to be well mannered!’ Olivia snapped back. ‘Oh, I just don’t believe this!’

  ‘She’s kind, gentle, intelligent and she … she understands me. She’s helped me to pick up the threads of my life again, to look forward instead of back. There will be no formal announcements, no engagement party, it will be an even quieter wedding than Elinore’s.’

  ‘I can’t believe I’m hearing this, David! Mother and Father would be utterly mortified. Totally devastated.’

  ‘They are dead, Olivia, and I have to live out the rest of my life as a cripple, dependent upon people. Do you think that prospect fills me with pleasure? I have little to look forward to and without Rose …’

  Olivia could see he was determined. ‘You do realise that the servants will all leave? How can we expect Lewis, Henry, Mrs Mathews, Cook to accept her as mistress of this house?’

  David was becoming increasingly annoyed by her attitude. ‘Are you more interested in what the servants will think than in my happiness?’

  ‘That is unfair and uncalled for,’ she snapped. ‘But how can we expect them to accept her? And if they don’t, how on earth is this household to continue to function? It will be disastrous! A complete shambles! Rose has no idea how to supervise staff, no idea of how to even communicate other than on the level to which she is now accustomed. You are putting the whole burden of the staff situation on my shoulders, David.’

  ‘Leave that all to me, Olivia. Rose has no social ambitions whatsoever; she is happy for you to continue to supervise the household. And we intend to live very quietly, there will be no entertaining – except for Ernest and Elinore.’

  And what about her family? Will we be expected to entertain them?’ Olivia was feeling quite faint at the thought.

  ‘No. Her mother is a widow and has a medical condition which makes it unwise for her to travel. Her sister is married and runs a business and I believe her brother is to be married soon and he also has a business to attend to – shops, I gather.’

  Napoleon’s derogatory remark, “a nation of shopkeepers”, flashed through Olivia’s mind, and then she pursed her lips. ‘Well, I have to say I wash my hands of it entirely, David. On your own head be it! You’d better summon Lewis and ask him to inform the staff and be ready to try to find replacements. I want nothing at all to do with it.’ She walked purposefully to the door and slammed it hard behind her.

  He sighed heavily; it was what he had expected, which was why he’d sent Rose home.

  Lewis had heard the door slam and had seen Olivia go upstairs with a grim, set expression o
n her face. She was obviously furious about something, he thought as he entered David’s drawing room.

  ‘I’ve upset Miss Olivia, I’m afraid, Lewis,’ David informed him.

  The butler inclined his head.

  ‘I have just informed her that Rose has agreed to marry me. That’s why she has gone home. To inform her family of the fact.’

  It took all Lewis’s years of training to keep his composure and not reel with shock or utter a word.

  ‘Olivia expects that the staff will resign en masse. Is that likely?’ David asked quietly.

  Lewis’s emotions were in utter turmoil although his facial expression had hardly changed. ‘I … I don’t think so, sir,’ he managed at last. ‘There will of course be … comment.’ There would of course be uproar, he thought, but the senior members of staff – including himself – had been with the family for years and knew no other life. Plas Idris was their home and when they retired it would be to David Rhys-Pritchard that they would look for a small pension; as for the maids, jobs for young girls were not easy to find in rural areas. However, it was a situation that would need a firm hand.

  ‘Lewis, you’ve known me since I was four years old. It was you who amused me with those tricks involving bits of coloured paper. You gave me toffees at Christmas and a half-crown each time I went back to school; you taught me how to fish in the river. You were here waiting after the accident to try to ensure a semblance of normality prevailed and you saw me off to war with a handshake and cheerful words. You were waiting when I came back – like this. The damned war left me a cripple, unable to pursue any of the pastimes I once enjoyed. I had nothing to look forward to except years of loneliness and pain. I never expected to be loved or to find happiness.’

  Lewis had recovered a little from the shock. Everything David had said was true, he thought, and he was fond of this young man whose life had been beset by tragedy. He wanted Mr David to be happy. Rose was a good girl: she was quiet, unassuming and thoughtful, but the fact remained she was not of his young master’s class. He nodded slowly.

  ‘Rose will need help, Lewis. Olivia will still supervise the household – I hope. We will live quietly; we will not entertain. There will be no formal announcements, a very quiet wedding but occasions may arise that she feels unable to … cope with. I trust she can depend upon you for advice and support?’

  Lewis nodded again as he digested all this. ‘Rose seems to be taking a very … sensible attitude, sir.’

  David breathed deeply, feeling relieved. It appeared that Lewis was prepared to accept Rose and he hoped the rest of the staff would too. He hoped that in time Olivia would relent also.

  As Charlie alighted from the tram and headed towards Cedar Grove he was thankful that the snow was rapidly melting. It had made life very difficult for everyone. Tom had struggled to get to and from the market and Iris had forbidden Kate to go over the doorstep in case she slipped; he hadn’t been able to get to see Florence for a few days as the trams had virtually stopped running.

  He was feeling very disgruntled for Florence had succumbed to Ethel’s hints about the house they had and was now wondering if they should keep on looking. Well, he’d had enough. He intended to enlist Edward’s help in putting a stop to this dithering. He’d paid a deposit to secure the house and he didn’t intend to lose it.

  When Florence had first told him – months ago now – that her mother intended that the business be sold and that they move away from Liverpool he’d been very upset. Getting rid of the business certainly hadn’t been any part of his plan but thankfully Florence had caused such a fuss that Ethel had postponed everything, at least until after the wedding. Charlie frowned: that was something else that was getting completely out of hand. Well, he’d let her have her way over that – he wasn’t paying for it – but he was going to put his foot down over the house, he thought as he knocked on the door.

  Thankfully Florence was distracted about something else that appeared to have gone wrong and after giving him a quick kiss had ushered him straight into Edward’s study and hastened back to her discussions with Ethel. Edward was at his desk, his shirt sleeves rolled up and a pile of papers in front of him.

  ‘I take it the trams are getting back to normal now,’ Edward greeted him.

  ‘Yes, the snow has virtually gone. It’s been nothing but a damned nuisance. I thought that bloke you took on was supposed to sort all those out?’ Charlie indicated the cluttered desk.

  ‘He is but like a lot of people he couldn’t get to work. It’s the coldest weather we’ve had this winter, my customers wanted and needed coal and my lorries have been stuck in the yard because the roads were so treacherous. Two of the drivers managed to make it in but then couldn’t work because of the conditions,’ Edward replied. He looked harassed.

  ‘Things should get back to normal in the morning. Do you want me to sort that lot out for you?’ Charlie offered.

  ‘No, Charlie, you’ve already done a day’s work and it’s what I employ Mellor for, except that he’ll be short of a couple of days’ pay this week.’

  Charlie nodded his agreement. ‘You’ve got more than enough on your plate as it is, but …’ He hesitated.

  ‘But what?’ Edward asked. ‘Not more fuss over this wedding?’

  ‘No, not that – for a change. It’s the house we’re going to rent.’

  Edward sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair. Charlie was being very tolerant with both Florence and Ethel, he thought, which was more than he could say for himself. ‘I’ve heard the odd bit of conversation about it between Ethel and Florence. What’s the matter with it?’

  ‘Apparently it’s not in the right area. I hate to ask this but … I wonder if you could give me a bit of moral support on this. It’s not a bad house, I doubt we’ll get anything better for the rent they’re asking and I’ve paid a deposit. The area seems reasonable enough to me, far better than some we’ve seen. It’s in Walton, in one of those streets opposite the hospital gates.’

  Edward nodded his agreement. ‘I know them. It’s convenient for all the amenities and they’re quite substantially built houses. You know, we haven’t always lived in this house, in fact we started married life in a small terraced property and Florence can’t expect to—’ Suddenly he leaned forward, his features contorted with pain, fighting for breath.

  ‘Oh, my God! What’s wrong?’ Charlie cried, jumping to his feet. ‘Is it your heart? What can I do? Edward! Edward!’

  Edward was clutching at his throat. ‘Pills … pills …’ he gasped.

  ‘Where? Where are they?’ Charlie cried, scattering the papers on the desk.

  Edward tried to indicate a drawer and Charlie wrenched it open and rummaged around inside until he found the small round box. Charlie’s hands were shaking for it was obvious that the older man was in agony and struggling to breathe. ‘Damn! Damn!’ he cursed as he finally got the lid off. The box was empty. He threw it down, hesitated for a second and then ran into the hall and burst into the morning room.

  ‘Pills! His heart pills! The box is empty! For God’s sake, he can hardly breathe!’

  Florence screamed and Ethel went white and jumped to her feet and uttered, ‘My bag!’ in a strangled voice.

  She ran from the room in search of her handbag and Charlie and Florence both dashed back to the study. Edward was lying face down across the desk and Florence started to cry hysterically as Charlie tried to lift her father.

  Ethel, looking as if she were about to faint, stumbled in clutching the small pill box tightly in her hand. ‘I … I picked them up today but I … I … forgot … ! Edward! Oh, Edward!’ she cried for Charlie was sadly shaking his head.

  ‘It’s too late. He’s gone,’ he said. He’d seen death often enough to know that pills would be of little use now. Edward Taylor had breathed his last and he felt a wave of sadness wash over him for he’d liked, respected and admired the man.

  The trams had long since stopped running by the time Charlie was able to le
ave Cedar Grove. He’d called the doctor, who had arrived quickly and confirmed that Edward had died of a massive heart attack. He had assured Ethel that there was little anyone could have done, the pills would have been ineffective, and he’d administered a sedative to both Ethel and Florence. He’d then asked Charlie if he was able to manage the formalities. Charlie, although very shaken, had said he could and had contacted the funeral director’s. Florence and her mother were both asleep when they arrived; they agreed with Charlie that it would be best if they took Edward to the mortuary.

  ‘Much better if his wife … widow … and daughter see him tomorrow in the chapel of rest,’ Mr Coyne had said gravely. ‘Terrible shock for everyone. My deepest condolences,’ he’d added respectfully.

  Tom was already up and preparing to leave for the market when Charlie finally arrived home for he’d had to walk – the first tram had passed him at the bottom of the street. Taking in his brother-in-law’s expression he knew something tragic had occurred. ‘Mr Taylor?’

  ‘He died in front of me, Tom. There was nothing I could do. It was his heart,’ Charlie said, collapsing into an armchair. It had been a gruelling day and one that had brought back memories of the shock of his father’s death and the horror of his experiences during the war. Dealing with it all had drained him.

  Tom immediately poured him a small brandy. ‘Drink this. I’ll go and wake Iris and Kate. Florence and her mam, are they all right? I mean how … how are they coping?’

  ‘They’re both sleeping now, Tom. When the doctor came he gave them something. I’ll grab a few hours then I’ll go back. They’re going to need me now. We’re all going to have to manage … somehow,’ Charlie said, gulping down the liquid, which seemed to burn his throat. All thoughts of weddings, houses and businesses were far from his mind. He was just too exhausted now to think about anything.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  KATE AND IRIS WERE both deeply shocked and saddened by the news of Edward Taylor’s sudden death.