by Val Wood
He slipped it on to her finger, above her wedding ring. ‘Is this ’one I gave you, Lily?’ he whispered. ‘Say that it is.’
‘Yes,’ she breathed. ‘I never had another. Never wanted another. But you don’t think I’d ever sell this, do you? Even if I was as poor as a church mouse I wouldn’t.’
‘So will you keep it, and will you come back to me?’
‘I’ve never been away from you, Johnny,’ she said, and leaned towards him to kiss his lips. ‘It was you who went away. I loved you so much and prayed for you to come back; but then I gave up wishing and hoping.’ A tear trickled down her cheek. ‘I should have had more faith. I should have known that you wouldn’t let me down – but when they said you were dead I wanted to die too, and if it hadn’t been for our two childre’ I might have done.’
He held her close. ‘But you didn’t, and I didn’t, and you’ve proved yourself to be strong, and didn’t weaken.’
‘Just that once,’ she whispered. ‘With Billy Fowler.’
‘It’s done with, Lily,’ he said, kissing her wet cheek. ‘It’s all over. I love you just ’same as I allus did. What’s passed was just an interlude in our lives. Will you have me back?’
A sudden bright shaft of light seared the room, highlighting them as they stood close, and they both blinked from its intensity. Lily saw Johnny just as he once was, with laughter lines round his generous mouth and a crease at the sides of his eyes as he gazed anxiously at her. They would need to get to know each other again, but she could look forward to that with pleasure.
She nodded, unable to speak; then she swallowed. ‘Yes,’ she whispered. ‘I will.’
THE END
SOURCES
Books for general reading:
The Victoria History of the County of York East Riding, Volume V. Published for the University of London Institute of Historical Research by Oxford University Press, 1984.
Bernard Foster, Living and Dying: a Picture of Hull in the Nineteenth Century.
Anthony Wood, Nineteenth Century Britain, Longman, 1960.
About the Author
Valerie Wood was born in Yorkshire, where she still lives. Her first novel, The Hungry Tide, was the winner of the Catherine Cookson Prize for Fiction. All her novels are available from Corgi books.
Find out more about Valerie Wood’s novels by visiting her website at www.valeriewood.co.uk.
Also by Valerie Wood
The Hungry Tide
Annie
Children of the Tide
The Romany Girl
Emily
Going Home
Rosa’s Island
The Doorstep Girls
Far From Home
The Kitchen Maid
The Songbird
Nobody’s Child
Fallen Angels
The Long Walk Home
Rich Girl, Poor Girl
Homecoming Girls
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FALLEN ANGELS
A CORGI BOOK: 9780552156592
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781407033969
First publication in Great Britain
Corgi edition published 2008
Copyright © Valerie Wood 2007
Valerie Wood has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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