Another Man's Child

by Another Man's Child (retail) (epub)

She stared at him, speechless.

  His eyes twinkled. ‘I say work because I know you’ve got your pride.’

  ‘Lottie?’ she managed to get out.

  ‘She’s away more than she’s home. You can look after Jess. Be a companion to Mother.’

  He must be joking! she thought, fear welling up.

  ‘We’d see each other every day, Moll,’ Nathan said urgently. ‘We’re second cousins. You could be there as part of the family. Weren’t we happy when you lived at the house before?’

  ‘Yes, but—’

  ‘It’s better than meeting once or twice a month.’

  ‘Yes, but—’

  He frowned. ‘You don’t want to do it?’

  ‘I can’t.’ She got to her feet hastily and said unhappily, ‘I knew we couldn’t go on the way we were.’

  ‘Of course we couldn’t. But I thought with Doris having a baby it was the perfect excuse for you to come back and look after Jess.’

  ‘What! Doris and Charlie?’ She stared at him. ‘I never thought they’d manage it.’

  ‘She’s kept it a secret for a while, apparently. Moll, sit down,’ he urged. ‘Getting back to us – you’re still fond of Jessica, and George would be company for her.’

  A dream come true, thought Molly. But he was being ridiculous. Lottie must have heard the rumours and even in a marriage such as theirs she wasn’t going to be that tolerant. But that wasn’t the worst of it, of course. What if, as soon as his mother saw Molly, she went on about that likeness between Jessica and her again? Sometimes Molly thought her fear of Nathan’s finding out the truth went beyond the realms of reason but she could not help it. She would rather stop seeing him than risk things going wrong for her daughter.

  ‘No!’ she said harshly. ‘It was a lovely dinner and I really enjoyed the theatre, but no, no, no! Lottie would think I was there so we could carry on, and we probably would. We have to stop, Nathan.’

  ‘Dammit, Moll! Why do you always have to be thinking of other people?’ he said, exasperated.

  ‘I’m not! I’m thinking of myself. My reputation matters to me.’

  ‘OK. You’ve made your point.’ His voice was as harsh as hers. ‘Then nothing changes?’

  ‘Yes.’ She tilted her chin. ‘We stop seeing each other altogether. It’s the only thing that makes sense.’ And on those words she walked out.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Doris’s baby was due towards the end of July and Molly found that of more concern to her than the assassination of an Austrian Archduke in a small Balkan state. She had not seen anything of Nathan recently and although she missed him, kept telling herself she had done the right thing.

  The baby, a boy, was delivered safely. Charlie was as proud as Punch when he came to tell them. ‘Mr Collins gave Doris a whole guinea for the baby before he went off to training camp in Wales. And he’s given us an extra room on the top floor.’

  Molly’s heart missed a beat. She had almost forgotten about his being in the Reserves. ‘When did he go?’

  ‘Just this morning. It’ll do him good. The missus came home last week and she’s always at the old woman. If it weren’t for Miss Jessica, his life wouldn’t be worth living.’ Charlie glanced at Molly and said gruffly, ‘Our Bernie’s been visiting Frank by the way. I’ve told her it’s wrong but she can’t see it.’

  Molly wasn’t a bit surprised. In a year’s time Frank would be out of prison and there and then she decided to see if she could ask for a legal separation. The life she’d shared with him seemed to have been led by a different person and since Bernie had obviously taken him up it was doubtful Frank would want to live with Molly again.

  She decided to visit Doris and the baby as soon as she had a moment. With Nathan away there would be no chance of bumping into him and she could see how Jessica was getting on for herself. But there was a wedding dress and four bridesmaids dresses to be made first.

  It was August Bank Holiday before Molly had the chance to go to Blundellsands. Cath and Jimmy were taking the ferry to New Brighton and she could not help noticing they were snappy with each other. ‘What’s wrong with you two?’ she asked as she brushed her hair before going out.

  Cath burst out, ‘He says he’s going to enlist if there’s a war. Have you ever heard anything so stupid?’

  Molly stared at her in amazement. ‘Why on earth should there be a war? Who are we going to fight?’

  Cath raised her eyes ceilingwards and said, exasperated, ‘You’ve been at that bloody sewing machine too long!’

  ‘Cath!’ protested Jimmy. ‘It’s not nice for a woman to swear.’

  She ignored him. ‘Or are you blind, deaf, and dumb, Moll? It’s been in all the newspapers. Germany’s invaded Belgium and we have a pact which was drawn up blinking years ago to defend them. The Government’s sitting in Parliament today trying to decide what to do.’

  ‘Well, we’re not at war yet,’ said Jimmy hastily. ‘So let’s go and enjoy ourselves. See you later, Moll.’

  War! Could there really be a war? Suddenly it was a matter of urgency that she see Nathan. A month had passed so surely he would be home now? All the reasons why she shouldn’t see him were no longer important at the thought that he might go off to war.

  She dragged a struggling George away from the pavement where he was playing with a friend. ‘Wanna play!’ he wailed.

  ‘We’re going on the train. You’ll enjoy that.’

  His cries stopped and she hurried him to Sandhills station.

  There was a lovely breeze cooling their faces as they walked up Blundellsands Road in the direction of the sea. Swinging on her hand, George smiled up at Molly, sniffing the air. ‘We’re going to the sands. I can smell the sea.’

  ‘We’ve got to visit Uncle Nathan first. And maybe we’ll see your Auntie Doris and her baby,’ said Molly, her chest tight with apprehension.

  He wrinkled his nose. ‘I don’t like babies! But I won’t hurt it because I want to play on the sands.’ He squeezed her hand and brushed his lips against it.

  My little love, she thought, comforted.

  There was no answer at the front door so Molly went round the back and found Doris with the baby sitting in the garden. Charlie was stretched out in a deck chair, reading a newspaper.

  ‘What’s this? Not working?’ said Molly, forcing a smile.

  ‘While the cat’s away.’ Doris got up and came towards her. ‘Mr Collins had to rush off to Yorkshire as soon as he was home. Something to do with business. They’ve all gone with him.’

  Molly felt sick with disappointment. Right now decisions were being made in Parliament that might mean Nathan’s going off to fight the Hun. That couldn’t happen, surely? On such a beautiful day the prospect of men killing each other seemed utterly impossible.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Molly glanced over her shoulder as Cath entered the kitchen, carrying her daughter Lucy and waving a newspaper in her free hand. ‘It’s war,’ she said grimly. ‘And Kitchener’s asking for volunteers.’

  ‘No!’ said Molly, dismayed.

  ‘He’s only asking for single men between the age of nineteen and thirty at the moment, although Jimmy’s in the street now talking about doing his bit. There’s dozens like him can’t wait to go.’

  Molly thought, Nathan will be amongst the first being in the Reserves, and felt sick.

  ‘I don’t know what I’m worrying about,’ muttered Cath, putting down her daughter. ‘The French and our regular army’ll probably see them off before any of the new recruits are even trained.’

  ‘You’re right.’ Molly felt relieved. They probably wouldn’t call on the Reserves straightaway either.

  Cath sat at the table. ‘Stupid to worry when there’s probably no need. But we might as well make the most of this breakfast. Food prices are going up. Sugar’ll be double the price tomorrow. George, give your Uncle Jimmy a shout. Tell him his breakfast’s ready.’

  Jimmy’s eyes were ablaze with excitement when he entered
the room. He sat at the table, humming ‘We’re Soldiers of the King’.

  Molly and Cath exchanged glances and raised their eyebrows but kept their mouths shut. The next day he came home at lunch time with the news that Mr Collins had received a letter from the War Office telling him to report for active service.

  ‘You saw him?’ said Molly, rising from her seat.

  ‘No. Mrs Collins came in to tell us. He had to go immediately, the lucky dog!’

  Cath made an exasperated noise and told her husband to shut up and talk of something else.

  ‘No,’ said Molly, putting a hand on his arm. ‘Tell me – where did he have to report?’

  He shrugged. ‘I don’t know. She didn’t say and I didn’t think of asking. Does it matter? You can’t go chasing after him, Moll.’

  ‘As if she would!’ said Cath indignantly. ‘She might have been meeting him on the sly a while ago but she wouldn’t chase after him.’

  ‘How did you know?’ asked Molly.

  ‘I’m not daft. You’d come back looking different. Not exactly starry-eyed, but I knew.’ Cath glanced at Jimmy. ‘So shut up, you, about war.’

  Molly walked out of the room, wishing she could have Nathan safely with her right now. She was going to have to keep in closer touch with Doris to find out how he was getting on. It was unlikely he would write to Molly herself after the way she had walked out on him.

  A recruiting centre was set up in the Old Haymarket and most evenings in the Echo there was an advertisement stating Your King and Country need YOU. Despite Kitchener’s stating the war could be a long one, young men from Liverpool’s shipping and business offices rushed to volunteer. Lord Derby called them the Pals. A month later an advertisement appeared in the Echo, saying married men and widowers with children could now volunteer. Jimmy was one of the first and was soon off to Lord Derby’s green acres at Knowsley Hall where, dressed in civvies and shouldering a broomstick, he began his basic training.

  Lucky Frank, he was out of it, thought Molly, as reports of the war filled newspapers daily and she worried herself sick about Nathan. One minute victories were being claimed. The next there were heavy losses and the need for more men was being announced. Molly collared Doris the next time she visited her mother, asking after Nathan and how Jessica was in his absence.

  ‘He’s written to her. He’s just outside Hull now at a training camp. He tells her mainly about the presents the townspeople have given them: fruit, chocolate, cigarettes, books and magazines.’ Doris ticked them off on her fingers. ‘Not bad being a Tommy, is it? He’s a lance corporal now, yer know? They want him to stay over here and train the men. It’s unfair,’ she said indignantly. ‘Charlie went and volunteered but they wouldn’t have him because of his hand. He’s real upset.’

  Molly agreed it was unfair but like most women prayed the war would be over by Christmas.

  It wasn’t. And by then she knew Nathan had decided to have a go at the Boche. He sailed to Le Havre in November and made it sound very jolly to Jessica, writing about sipping vin blanc and practising his French.

  ‘I don’t suppose it’s all fun, though,’ said Doris seriously. ‘He mentions the cold and I read in the Echo about some of them soldiers having frostbite in the trenches. I’ve taught Jessica to knit and turn a heel and she’s busy making him some socks.’

  Molly was proud of her daughter and wondered at Nathan for risking his life when he had her to think about but she supposed it was what he had been trained for and now he wanted to put it into practice.

  She was curious to know how they were managing at the factory but Jimmy was no longer around for her to ask. Cath and his mother were busily knitting for him and trying to keep their fears at bay. Already the Echo was displaying photographs and names of Merseysiders killed on active service.

  It was towards the end of January 1915 that Molly discovered that Nathan was in Boulogne where he was having treatment for trench foot. The news came via Doris through her sister. Rob Fletcher had joined the navy at the outbreak of war and was serving on a troop carrier. Apparently he’d asked Nathan about the fighting and he’d made jokes about Fritz and whizzbangs and sausages. She guessed, though, that it was no joke at the front.

  Molly was busy during the weeks to come. Miss Lightfoot, who was now in charge of the Garment and Embroidery room, turned up at the house, asking could Molly do some more work for them? She was pleased about that as it had petered out after she’d stopped seeing Nathan.

  In March news came that Jimmy had been killed in action. ‘That’s it then, isn’t it?’ said a white-faced, pregnant Cath, crushing the telegram and flinging it on the fire. ‘He’s gone. He did his bit all right, didn’t he?’

  ‘Oh, Cath, I’m so sorry,’ said Molly, putting her arms round her, thinking this kind of news was the last she needed.

  ‘Not as sorry as I am or his mam will be.’ Tears thickened Cath’s voice as she struggled to control herself.

  ‘You cry,’ whispered Molly, her own mouth trembling. ‘It’ll be better for you.’ Cath sobbed on her shoulder and tears ran down Molly’s own cheeks as she imagined how she would feel if Nathan were killed.

  After that sad news Cath was out of the house more often than she was in it, spending time with Jimmy’s mother, the pair of them comforting each other.

  Miss Lightfoot called again, although more often than not a messenger brought work to Molly. They talked and when the other woman realised Molly was a shareholder in the business, she said, ‘You should be having more of a say in things. There’s talk of changes coming.’

  ‘What kind of changes?’ It was well over a year since Molly had received a report or any dividends from Mr Taylor.

  ‘To do with the war. We’re getting work from the factory in Leeds. That’s why you’re so busy. There’s talk of them using their building for the war effort.’

  ‘In what way?’

  ‘We haven’t been told. Maybe you should ask Mrs Collins?’

  ‘Do you see much of her?’

  ‘More than we used to.’

  Molly was thinking of acting on what she’d said when Doris called. She told Molly that Nathan had been gassed and shipped home to a hospital in Birmingham. As well as that Frank was out of gaol and had now moved in with his mother. ‘And yer know why that is, don’t yer?’ she said grimly.

  ‘To be near Bernie, I imagine,’ said Molly, who was more concerned about Nathan.

  ‘Perhaps you should prepare yourself for a visit from your husband?’ said a concerned Doris.

  Molly thanked her for the thought, and after she’d left decided not to wait for him to call but to take the fight into his corner by asking for a legal separation.

  The next day she took a tram to Bootle. Ma opened the door just wide enough to poke her head out and glare at Molly. ‘Took yer time coming, didn’t yer? Well, yer too late. He’s gone.’

  ‘Gone where? To live with Bernie?’

  ‘To sea, of course,’ she snapped. ‘His country needs him. And Frank’s never been a boy to shirk his duty.’

  Astonished, Molly turned on her heel and walked away.

  It was a few days later that a German submarine sunk the passenger liner Lusitania and it occurred to Molly that Frank could have been killed. The whole of Liverpool was thrown into mourning and many women in her neighbourhood lost husbands or sons. People went on the rampage smashing and raiding the premises of German owned butchers, and music shops despite their proprietors having lived in the area for years. It appeared that the despised enemy, whom the press consistently mocked and belittled, were far more powerful and daring than most of them had believed. There was not going to be any quick solution to end the war as the Government had initially promised, and there were definitely more changes afoot on the home front.

  Miss Lightfoot called again, informing Molly that this week’s work was to be her last. There was talk of the factory being closed down. Molly thought how Nathan had worked to make it prosper and came to a decision.
Two days later with her finished work in hand, she put on her Sunday best and walked to the factory. She was fortunate enough to arrive just as Lottie was stepping down from her motor.

  ‘Mrs Collins!’ called Molly. ‘May I have a word?’

  A frown creased the other woman’s smooth white brow as she stared at Molly. ‘I feel I should know you, but—’

  ‘Molly Payne. It’s a few years since we met. I’m Nathan’s second cousin and a shareholder in the company.’

  Charlotte’s expression altered. ‘I thought you’d gone off somewhere? There were rumours.’

  Molly felt embarrassed but wasn’t about to back down. ‘Well, you shouldn’t believe everything you hear. I’ve heard you’re planning on closing down this factory?’

  Charlotte looked startled. ‘Who told you that?’

  ‘Does it matter? I want to know why. Whether it’s something to do with the war effort?’

  ‘Ah!’ Charlotte smiled. ‘I suppose you’re thinking about your dividends? Well, I can tell you that things are looking up.’ She clapped her hands and rubbed them together.

  Molly smiled. ‘I’m glad to hear it. But I still want to know what your plans are?’

  Charlotte hesitated. ‘Perhaps you should come inside and I’ll ask Miss Jones to bring us some tea.’

  Molly followed her to the office which had once been Nathan’s and memories came flooding back. She longed to see him. After sending the secretary to make them tea, Charlotte waved Molly to a chair and sat down behind Nathan’s desk.

  ‘How many uniforms do you think an army needs, Mrs Payne?’

  ‘Thousands, I should imagine.’

  Charlotte smiled happily. ‘Thousands and thousands! We’ve turning our whole factory in Leeds over to making them. We need more machines there and I just won’t have the time to be travelling backwards and forwards.’

  ‘I see. Does Mr Collins know?’

  Charlotte’s eyes slid away from Molly’s and there was a pause before she said with a smile, ‘Of course. He realises that with him gone and most of the men, we won’t have the manpower to keep this factory going.’