A Dream to Share

by A Dream to Share (retail) (epub)

  Joy was silent, her eyes downcast as the other two watched her, waiting. Finally, she said, ‘Why haven’t I thought before about never having seen one of his letters on the doormat? I’m an idiot!’

  ‘You didn’t want to think about him,’ said Hannah. ‘We just wanted him out of our lives.’

  ‘Too right,’ muttered Joy. ‘But I should have been suspicious. He must have sent her another letter, though, to explain what he was up to… that’s if it’s true and he’s not in Australia. After that he could arrange a meeting every now and again to keep her quiet and happy.’

  ‘That’s after he convinced her that all the stuff in the newspaper about him was lies and that it’s us who are the liars,’ said Hannah. ‘She needs to believe he’s innocent as much as we need to prove he’s guilty.’

  ‘You’re smart the pair of you,’ said Chris quietly. ‘They’re probably still meeting if he is over here.’

  Joy turned her lovely eyes on him. ‘You plan to watch and follow Mother and hope she leads you to him? I could do that. I’m not allowed a job outside the house, so I’m nearly always around.’

  Chris shook his head. ‘Even if she didn’t spot you, which she easily might… what would you do if Bert were to see you? No! I want to get my hands on him and I intend to do just that.’

  ‘He’s no weakling, you know? You’d have a real fight on your hands.’ Then her expression changed and she chuckled. ‘We’re talking as if Mrs Black’s right. She could be completely wrong and Bert’s in Australia. He might never have sent Mother any letters but she’s lied about it, wanting to convince us that he still cares about her.’

  Chris rasped his unshaven chin with a fingernail. ‘If that’s the truth, then we’ve got to prove it.’

  ‘How are you going to do that… go all the way to Australia?’ said Joy tartly.

  ‘No. Liverpool, to check the departure records of the shipping lines to Australia… but first I’d like to meet your mother and we’ll take it from there.’

  Joy sighed and, without another word, walked in the direction of her parents’ home. Chris raised an eyebrow and looked at Hannah, who smiled. ‘She’ll go along with whatever you want. She hates Bert as much as the rest of us. Come on, let’s catch her up.’

  * * *

  ‘I’ll want a month’s rent in advance, Mr Williams,’ said Susannah Kirk, gazing at him through wire-rimmed spectacles, which made her eyes appear much larger than they really were.

  ‘That’s no problem, Mrs Kirk. But does the price you quoted include meals… and will I have a room to myself?’ asked Chris.

  ‘Certainly!’ She drew herself up to her full height of five feet, one inch and clasped her hands against her bosom. ‘It’s on the second floor and the only other person up there is my other lodger, Mr James. A very quiet gentleman, who works in the ticket office at the theatre. As for meals, I provide breakfast and an evening meal and a roast dinner fortnightly. Every other Sunday I visit a relative.’

  ‘Fair enough,’ said Chris cheerfully, his ears pricking up at the men­tion of the word relative. He reached into his pocket, taking out his wallet and removing a couple of bank notes, which he handed over to her.

  Susannah thanked him and turned to Joy, ‘Show Mr Williams to his room but no lingering,’ she said firmly.

  Joy turned a speaking look on her sister as if to say You know what she’s thinking.

  ‘I’ll leave you to it then,’ said Hannah hastily. ‘I’ll tell my husband you’re safely settled, Mr Williams. I’m sure you’ll be comfortable here. Bye for now, Mother.’ She brushed Susannah’s cheek with her lips and hurried out of the house, having found it difficult to look her mother straight in the eye.

  ‘This way, Mr Williams,’ said Joy in a cool voice as she led Chris towards the staircase.

  He followed her, unable to take his gaze from her swaying hips. On close inspection her clothes were much more worn than Hannah’s or Emma’s and he guessed she didn’t see anything in the way of wages for helping out at home with the paying guests. He wondered if she had any kind of life outside. If she didn’t, then it was unlikely there was a boyfriend in the offing. He’d like to see her dressed in a silken sari just like the women in India. Instantly, he asked himself why the hell he was thinking such thoughts. He had a job to do and had to keep his mind on it.

  He cleared his throat. ’I’ll need to go out again to fetch my things.’

  ‘Fine. There’s a cup of cocoa and a biscuit at nine o’clock. You can either have it with us or on a tray in your room.’ Her voice was pleasant to the ear with a hint of huskiness.

  ‘I’ll eat with the family. I’d like to get to know your mother. Make her feel at ease with me… that way she might just forget to be on her guard and slip up when talking.’

  They had reached the first landing and Joy stopped and gave him a startled look. ‘Surely you’re not going to mention Bert to her?’

  ‘Do you take me for a fool?’ His eyes locked with hers and he smiled.

  She did not look away but colour stained her cheeks. ‘I don’t know you, but Hanny seems to think we can trust you, so I’ll try and do the same.’

  ‘That’s real good of you. I’ll try and not disappoint,’ he said dryly.

  ‘I hope so.’ Joy turned away and started up the next flight of stairs.

  Chris kept his distance, so it was easier to watch that seductive sway of her hips. ‘Your mother said that she visits a relative. Who’s that?’

  ‘Her cousin who lives in Moreton. She’s getting on. Every fortnight she goes to see her.’

  ‘Are you sure about that?’

  She paused. ‘I was until you put doubt in my mind.’

  ‘You don’t ever go with her?’

  ‘The odd time if asked. I prefer having some time to myself. I’d like a job outside the house but Mother’s nerves are bad and she needs me at home.’

  ‘What if you were to marry?’

  She had reached the top landing and stood waiting for him. ‘I don’t see what that’s got to do with you,’ she said firmly.

  ‘I’m just curious. You’re real nice looking… have lovely eyes.’

  She moistened her lips and then, with a toss of her head, said abruptly, ‘I’ll have none of that talk.’

  ‘You don’t like compliments?’

  ‘It’s what’s behind the compliment that bothers me. You’ve proba­bly had loads of girls falling over themselves to please you.’

  ‘Not loads,’ he said, a smile in his voice. ‘I’ve been in the army abroad, luv, didn’t get to mix with many decent lasses. That’s why I appreciate meeting someone like you.’

  She said crossly, ‘You’re doing it again.’

  He tried to look innocent. ‘Doing what? Being nice to you? Why are you so suspicious of me? Is your mother to blame or is it having a brother like Bert that’s put you off men?’

  Her eyes flashed. ‘I know there are lots of men who are decent. I just don’t want you turning on the charm, thinking I’m desperate for a man.’ She walked over to a door on their left, turned the key that was in the lock and pushed open the door.

  Sunlight flooded out, momentarily blinding her. She stepped back­wards and bumped into Chris, who grabbed her by the shoulders. For an instant she remained still in his hold and he could not resist lower­ing his head and kissing the nape of her neck. She gasped and tore her­ self out of his grasp, turned and glared at him. ’You’ve got a nerve after what I said. Touch me again and you’ll know about it.’ She left him and hurried down the stairs.

  Chris swore beneath his breath but did not go after her. It looked like he really couldn’t rush things with Joy or her mother.

  He went into his room and inspected it swiftly; single bed, chest-of­-drawers, washbasin in a stand with a jug beneath, hanging space in an alcove one side of the fireplace, shelves the other, as well as a text Till He comes on the wall behind the made up bed. There was an easy chair and a small table. He glanced under the bed and sa
w a po. It looked like Mrs Kirk had thought of most things. He left the room, locking the door after him and pocketing the key. Then he ran downstairs and quit the house to go and collect his things from his mother’s.

  Joy heard the front door close and hurried into the parlour. She lift­ed the net curtain and gazed after him. She liked a tall man… and those shoulders. A sigh escaped her. She had never thought Emma’s brother would be so attractive. When he had touched her, it had started a chain reaction that had not only turned her limbs to jelly but set her heart fluttering like a caged canary. But she’d had to put a stop to his advances. If her mother was to get a hint that he had caught her fancy, she’d have him out of the house like a shot. And what hope would there be of finding out where Bert was then? She had to keep her wayward body and emotions under control and her mind on why he was here at all times.

  * * *

  ‘More potatoes, Mr Williams?’ Joy offered the tureen to Chris.

  It was the evening of the following day.

  ‘Thank you, Miss Kirk.’ As he took the dish, his fingers brushed hers. They quivered and he shot a glance at her face but she gazed back at him woodenly. He forked out a potato and asked if anyone else want­ed the last one.

  ‘You go ahead, lad,’ said Jock. ‘I’ve had sufficient.’

  ‘Mrs Kirk?’ offered Chris.

  She smiled and waved him away. He offered the dish to the other lodger, who shook his fair head, and then to young Master Kirk. Freddie nodded and speared the remaining potato and put it straight into his mouth.

  ‘He’s a growing boy,’ excused Joy hastily for this show of bad table manners.

  Susannah was frowning at her youngest son. ‘It’s a pity your broth­er isn’t here. He had perfect table manners.’

  Joy could not resist saying, ‘Perhaps Bert shouldn’t have gone to Australia but stayed here to be the perfect example to Freddie.’

  Chris could scarcely believe what he heard her say and decided not to let the opportunity slip. ‘You have a son in Australia, Mrs Kirk?’ he asked.

  Her answer was short and to the point. ‘Yes.’

  ‘What part of Australia? I have a couple of cousins who work for a telegraph company out there,’ he lied glibly.

  Susannah hesitated. ‘He’s an engineer like his father and works at something to do with shipping. I can never remember the name of the place. At my age, Mr Williams, the memory starts to go.’ Her smile was that of a sweet, forgetful, old lady.

  ‘I think yer told me it was Perth, Sue,’ said Jock.

  ‘Did I? Then it must be there.’ Her eyes showed relief and she turned to Chris. ‘Are your cousins anywhere nearby?’

  Chris had his answer ready. ‘They travel about connecting telegraph lines as well as doing repairs. I never know where to get in touch with them. It’s a vast country, Mrs Kirk, as I’m sure your son’s told you.’

  She nodded vaguely and then asked her daughter to clear the dishes away and fetch the pudding. Joy hurried to comply with her orders, determined to get the meal over with, the dishes washed and put away. Then she would go to her room and finish her library book, hopefully it would help her to put the last half hour out of her mind. Yet she could not help but admire Emma’s brother for his seizing of the moment. She wondered if he really did have cousins in Australia. If not, it proved just what a smooth talker he was. As for what her mother had said… was she as forgetful as she had made out? Surely if Bert was writing to her then he would have written descriptions of the place where he lived and worked. Joy would much rather her elder brother was in Perth, than somewhere at large in the North West of England.

  * * *

  ‘Miss Kirk, can I talk to you?’ Chris caught up with Joy as she strode down Egerton Street with a shopping basket on her arm several days later.

  Joy barely glanced at him. ‘I thought the idea was that you persuade my mother to divulge secrets, not me.’

  He looked incredulous. ‘On a Monday morning? She’s doing the washing and I don’t think she’d appreciate my bothering her. If wash­ing day in your house is anything like it was in ours, then she’s going to be at it all day. Besides, I’ve an appointment with Mrs Black… and I want to call in on your sister and her husband on the way. I’m hoping he has that drawing of Bert for me.’

  Joy hesitated only a moment before saying, ‘I was going to call in on them, too, and ask Hannah if she wants to go shopping with me.’

  ‘Perhaps I can walk with you then.’

  She said dryly. ‘If I say no you’ll probably follow me, anyhow. So perhaps it’s better if I have you under my eye, rather than behind my back.’

  He smiled. ‘I suppose you’d like me to say sorry for the other day?’

  ‘Are you sorry?’

  ‘No. You have a lovely neck.’

  She rolled her eyes. ‘Then what’s the point of saying sorry? Perhaps we’d better change the subject.’

  Chris adopted a mournful expression. ‘It was only a little kiss.’

  ‘Little or large… we’d only just met.’

  ‘Then perhaps when we know each other better I could try again?’ There was a gleam in his eye that made her feel hot. She gave him a withering glance and changed the subject.

  ‘Will you tell Mrs Black that you’re lodging at our house and what you’ve found out so far?’

  ‘I can’ t see any point in not telling her. Our aim is the same… to see that your brother can’t hurt anyone else and that he gets his just desserts.’

  Joy looked thoughtful. ‘I can’t help wondering why she cares so much. Unless she’s just one of those people who can’t help interfering in other people’s lives.’

  ‘You could be partly right.’

  ‘Hanny seems to think well of her, despite what she does.’

  There was a note in Joy’s voice that caused Chris to grin. ‘You think it’s all codswallop?’

  She raised her eyes to the heavens. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘When I was in India and Palestine I saw things that I’d have said were impossible. Strange things happen in life. Why is it that you can feel something for a person the first time you meet them that makes you think this is the one?’

  Joy’s step faltered and she glanced at him. ‘Are you talking in gen­eral, Mr Williams?’

  ‘No, Miss Kirk,’ said Chris solemnly. ‘But perhaps we should change the subject before you swipe me one. Tell me what you do with yourself when you’re not helping your mother or visiting your sister?’

  ‘I read, I walk… I’ve been along to several Women’s Suffrage meetings.’

  ‘You’re one of them, too.’

  She stiffened. ‘You make it sound as if there’s something funny about us. The law needs to change so women on their own can support themselves.’

  ‘If they can do that, then maybe they won’t want to get married,’ said Chris.

  ‘And who can blame them? I don’t want to be under a man’s thumb. Although, at the moment it’s Mother who orders me around,’ she said ruefully.

  ‘At least if you marry, you’ll have a home of your own.’

  ‘True. But if I marry, I want to have an equal say in everything,’ she said robustly.

  He frowned. ‘There’s nothing wrong with having your say but in the end if a couple can’t agree, someone has to make the final decision and that should be the man.’

  ‘Why?’ She didn’t give him a chance to answer. ‘I suppose you’re one of those men who thinks women’s brains aren’t as good as a man’s?’

  ‘Well, my sister did make the big mistake of going out with your brother and ending up dead,’ he said, exasperated.

  His words shocked Joy into silence and, for several moments, she could not answer him. Then she found her voice. ‘She wasn’t the first person to be fooled by Bert. She must have really fallen for him and love makes fools of both women and men from what I’ve heard.’

  ‘Then you’ve never been in love?’

  She stared at him and felt
the colour rush to her cheeks. Mad at him for making her feel the way she did, she made no answer but hurried away.

  Chris caught up with her just before she reached the gates to the yard. ‘There was no need to run away,’ he said.

  ‘No! But I feel better for it.’

  ‘You certainly look it. Your cheeks are all rosy and your eyes are sparkling.’

  Joy stamped her foot. ‘Don’t start paying me compliments again. It won’t wash.’

  ‘You’re really hard to please,’ he said mildly ‘But have it your way, I’ll keep my thoughts to myself in future.’ He walked through the open gates and across the yard, leaving her to follow him this time.

  Kenny had a sketch of Bert ready, having etched him in coloured chalks on blue sugar paper. Chris gazed down at the face of the man believed responsible for his sister’s death and understood, for the first time, why Aggie had fallen for him. ‘Handsome devil, isn’t he?’

  ‘Devil is the right word,’ said Kenny grimly. ‘You know what it says in the bible about the devil? That he looks like an angel of light.’

  ‘It was the way Bert used to say things that got me going,’ said Hannah. ‘The words could sound so innocent when he said them to Mother but I knew he meant something else entirely.’

  ‘Mother always took him at face value,’ said Joy, turning away. ‘I don’t want to look at him anymore. Are you coming, Hanny?’

  Hannah took her purse out of the dresser drawer, picked up her shopping bag and shrugged on her coat. With a ‘See you later!’ the sis­ters left.

  Kenny placed the drawing in a large envelope and handed it to Chris. ‘It’s up to you now. My foot has put me out of the reckoning. I hope next time I see you that you’ve found out where he is.’

  Chris nodded.’Me, too.’

  It did not take Chris long to reach Mrs Black’s house. He arrived there as Emma was on her way out. She was wearing a russet coloured costume with a mandarin collared cream blouse underneath. On her hair she wore a brown beribboned straw hat.