‘It’s true,’ she muttered. ‘David and Jo got married a few days before Danny and I came back here. They make a wonderful couple. I think they’ll be very happy together. At least I hope they will.’
‘But I thought you and . . .’ Eric forced himself to stop from going any further. The twins were watching him closely and he didn’t want to say too much in front of them. There would be time to talk to Maggie about this when the youngsters were safely tucked up in bed.
By the time they said goodnight, Eric was almost bursting with curiosity. Why hadn’t Maggie told him that David had married her friend? He’d assumed after she told him her life story that she and David were destined for each other, so how could she be happy about him marrying someone else?
When she came back down the stairs after seeing to the twins he was waiting for her.
‘So, how about you tell me just what’s been going on then?’ he demanded, the second she closed the door behind her.
‘There’s nothing more to tell other than what Danny’s already told you,’ she said sharply. ‘When I got back home I saw immediately that David and Jo had fallen for each other. To be honest, I think I saw it even before they did. Obviously, I was very taken up with visiting Danny in the hospital, and then one night I got back and David told me how he felt about her.’
‘And what did you tell him?’
‘I told him not to waste time; gave them both my blessing. If there’s one thing that this war has taught me, it’s that time is short. None of us know if we are even going to be here tomorrow, so every moment is precious. Just a few short months ago, I had a mother, a husband and a beautiful baby girl. Danny had two very special friends. Now they’re all gone and they won’t be coming back. Somehow we have to go on and make the best of what we have. So now, if you don’t mind, I’m really tired and I’m going up to bed. Goodnight. I’ll see you in the morning.’
‘Maggie, wait . . .’ His only answer was the sound of the door closing behind her and for a while he stood there staring off into space. So much of what she had said made sense. Slowly he made his way to the dining room where he clicked on the light and stared up into the face of his late wife. Was he imagining it, or did he see a great sadness in her eyes? His shoulders sagged as he turned about and slowly climbed the stairs to his lonely bed. What was it Maggie had said? Time is short.
Overnight, the snow began to fall again as it was prone to do in the Welsh hills, and Lizzie and Danny shrieked with excitement when they managed to rub off a small patch on the ice that had formed on the inside of the bedroom window and peep through it.
Everywhere looked clean and fresh again.
‘Come on, let’s go and tell Mam an’ Eric!’ Danny exclaimed as he manoeuvred his wheelchair towards the bedroom door.
Lizzie thumped off down the stairs ahead of him and within seconds came back with Eric, who carried him downstairs.
Maggie grinned at him. She was standing at the sink and, knowing how much Danny loved the snow, she had guessed that he would be thrilled to see it again. The snow here seemed to be completely different to the snow they got back at home in Coventry. Within minutes of it falling there, it was turned to dirty grey slush from the many footsteps that trooped through it. But here it made everything look crisp and bright.
‘This is goin’ to be the best Christmas ever,’ Danny declared as he stabbed his fork into a fat juicy sausage.
‘Oh yes, and what would you really like for Christmas then, if you could have anything in the world you wanted?’ Eric asked him with a twinkle in his eye.
Danny suddenly became solemn as he looked at the faces gathered around the table. Glancing at Lizzie he said quietly, ‘What Lizzie an’ I would both like more than anythin’ in the world would be fer us both to be able to stay here at Tremarfon forever.’
Maggie almost choked on the piece of bacon she’d just swallowed and Eric had to jump up and thump her on the back as she turned a frightening shade of red.
Lizzie and Danny grinned at each other and then nonchalantly carried on with their breakfast.
Once the table had been cleared, Eric lifted Danny onto the sledge he had made for him and Soho Gus. ‘Are you quite sure you can manage to drag him along?’ he asked Lizzie.
She gave him a smile that was so like her mother’s it made his heart skip a beat. ‘Of course I can,’ she informed him scathingly. ‘I’m only dragging him as far as the garden anyway, an’ then we’re goin’ to build a snowman, ain’t we, Danny?’
Danny grinned enthusiastically and suddenly, Eric felt ashamed. This poor child had lost both his legs and yet he had displayed more courage in the last few weeks than he himself had in years. Lizzie too had suffered a terrible ordeal at the hands of a woman who was demented, and yet as soon as it was over she had got on with her life. Maggie had lost her husband, her home, her baby and her mother all in the space of a few short months. But rather than let it beat her she was now fighting to build a future for herself and the twins.
Since the accident that had caused him to lose his eye and his wife, he had hidden behind his scars and shut himself away in a world where no one could reach him. Lost in his own self-pity. Turning away from the children, who had already forgotten he was there, he squared his shoulders. It was time to put things right. If it wasn’t too late, that was.
Maggie glanced up from the sinkful of dirty crockery she was washing when he entered but then turned her eyes back to the task at hand.
He hovered by the door, drinking in the sight of her. Her clothes were shabby and her hair was tied into a ponytail, which made her look almost like a young girl. And yet, to him she still looked beautiful. Maggie didn’t need fancy clothes and expensive hairstyles. She had an inner beauty that shone through.
‘Maggie, why didn’t you tell me that David was married?’
A flush spread up her neck and into her cheeks as her hands became still in the soapy water. ‘You didn’t ask,’ she told him dully.
He crossed to stand right behind her, so close that she could feel his breath on the back of her neck and her heart began to thump painfully. Her eyes focused on the children playing out in the garden through the window.
‘Maggie Bright. Will you please turn around?’
Slowly drying her hands on the thin towel at the side of the sink, she then turned to look up at him, thinking how much better he looked, now that he no longer wore the ugly eye-patch.
Tenderly, he took her hands in his and asked her, ‘Will you answer a question truthfully for me?’
She nodded numbly as he took a deep breath. ‘Maggie - do you still love David?’
The look on her face answered his question before she even opened her mouth.
‘Of course I don’t. To be honest, I wonder now if I ever did. David has found his soulmate in Jo and I couldn’t be happier about it.’
‘Good, now one more question. Do you think you could ever love me?’
Shock robbed her of the power of speech.
He grinned. ‘Maggie, before you answer that, perhaps I should tell you something.’ There was no going back now so he hurried on. ‘I think I’ve loved you from the very first second I set eyes on you, but I didn’t dare to believe that there was a future for us. For one, I never thought you’d entertain someone who looked like me when you could have any man you wanted. Secondly, I thought you were still in love with David. But earlier on, when Danny told us he’d like to stay here at Tremarfon, it got me to thinking. I want you to stay, Maggie. On any terms you want. You can be my friend, my live-in lover, or better still . . . my wife. I know you don’t love me, but—’
‘Ssh . . .’ She started to giggle as she launched herself into his arms. ‘Who said I didn’t love you? Did you think what happened between us before happened just because I’d had a drink? You silly man, I fell in love with you within days of being here, but I thought you were still in love with your dead wife.’
A look of pure joy lit up his one good eye, and her heart took
flight as he sank dramatically down onto one knee. ‘In that case then, Maggie Bright, will you do me the very great honour of becoming my wife?’
She laughed, a gay laugh that echoed around the room. ‘Mr Eric Sinclair, nothing would give me more pleasure. Yes, I will.’
She would have said more but he sprang up and pressed his lips to hers, and suddenly words were unimportant.
Lizzie, who had just come in at the back door, gazed at them speechlessly, then with a whoop of joy she bounded across the snow to Danny again.
‘’Ere, Danny,’ she gasped. ‘You’ll never guess what. Yer know what yer were saying earlier on about us wanting to stay here at Tremarfon forever? Well, I reckon we’re about to get our wish!’
Epilogue
Coventry, May 1945
From the doorway of Beryl’s little terraced house in Gas Street, Maggie watched as people hung out of their bedroom windows, putting out flags and Welcome Home signs for the loved ones who would soon be returning. Today, they would try very hard not to think of the ones who would not be coming home. Red, white and blue bunting was strung between every available lamppost, and stretched for as far as the eye could see, turning the drab little street into a sea of colour. Men were erecting trestle tables all up the middle of the street. At last the war was over.
Eric came to stand behind her and put his arm around her swollen waist. The child inside her kicked lustily as if it sensed the presence of its father. Back in the kitchen, they could hear Lizzie teasing her harassed grandma as they buttered yet another loaf.
‘Crikey, Gran. At this rate there’ll be enough to feed the whole o’ Coventry, let alone the street,’ she laughed.
‘Better too much than not enough,’ Beryl rejoined. ‘If we’re goin’ to have a party then let’s make it a good ’un, that’s what I say! It’s certainly been bloody long enough in comin’. Six long years.’
Eric grinned, before bending to lift his two-year-old daughter, Katie into his arms.
‘Hello, sweetheart.’ He laughed as he saw the icing that was caked into her dark curls. Katie was a tiny carbon copy of Lucy, and he and Maggie absolutely adored her. ‘Gran been feeding you fairy cakes again, has she?’ Glancing back at Maggie he saw the look of sadness that had settled across her features and instantly guessed why. ‘Missing Danny, are you?’
She nodded. ‘Yes. It doesn’t seem right, us all being here without him.’
Gently placing Katie back down, he turned her to face him. ‘You know this is an important time for him,’ he pointed out. ‘He was so lucky to get that place at art school in Chelsea. If it hadn’t been for the fact that he was in the middle of exams, heaven and earth wouldn’t have kept him away. Though I have to admit I’m not altogether sure that was the only reason he chose not to come. I don’t think he wants you to see him on his prostheses till he’s mastered the art of walking properly on them.’
Maggie nodded in agreement; she had thought much the same. Like everything else that life had thrown at him, Danny was struggling with his new legs with a courage that made her heart swell with pride. She was proud of both of the twins, for Lizzie could now speak fluent Welsh and was the star pupil back at the school in Sarn-Bach. Already she’d decided that she wanted to become a teacher, and Miss Williams had every intention of making her dream come true. Maggie didn’t have time to ponder on it though, for just then, David and Jo turned the corner of the street and waved at them. Jo was pushing a pram with their three-month-old daughter inside, whilst David clung on to the chubby hand of four-year-old Jonathan, who was straining to get to his Cousin Katie.
Maggie’s face lit up at the sight of them. They made such a lovely family and looked so happy that it did her heart good to see them.
‘How’s the new house coming along?’ she asked Jo after they’d all had a hug.
Jo pulled a wry face. ‘Not too bad. It would be much easier though if Jonathan didn’t keep stripping off every bit of wallpaper as fast as I put it on. I’ve asked David to talk to him, but you know what a big softie he is with the children.’
They almost had to shout to make themselves heard above the clatter in the street. Women had appeared now and were throwing huge white sheets across the tables as fast as the men could assemble them.
‘Come on,’ Maggie grinned, taking Jo’s arm. ‘Let’s go and scrounge a cup of tea off Beryl. She’s been hard at it since six this morning.’
‘How long are you here for?’ Jo asked as they stepped from the pavement into the tidy front parlour.
‘Just till the end of the week. Eric is doing a big contract for a children’s publisher’s in London so he doesn’t want to get behind with it.’
They strolled into the kitchen arm-in-arm and Jo looked at fourteen-year-old Lizzie in astonishment. ‘Good grief! You’ve turned into a young lady, and a beautiful one at that since the last time I saw you. I bet your dad is having to beat the boys off with a stick.’
Lizzie flushed. She was very aware of her fast-blossoming figure and didn’t as yet quite know how to handle it.
‘Leave her alone,’ Beryl scolded. ‘You’re embarrassing the poor girl.’
Turning her attention back to Maggie, Jo asked, ‘So how much longer before this little one puts in an appearance, then?’
Maggie gently stroked her swollen stomach. ‘Not long now, thank goodness. I’m sure this one is going to be a boy. It never keeps still. I think it’s going to be an athlete.’
At that moment, Katie and Jonathan toddled into the kitchen and immediately began to attack the plate of fairy cakes.
‘Get off, the pair o’ yer!’ Beryl shouted at them, but there was a wealth of affection in her voice. ‘There won’t be a single one left at this rate by the time they’re due to go out on the table.’
David and Eric appeared in the doorway. They were laughing at the antics of the local children who were erecting an enormous bonfire at the end of the street on the common.
‘Little sods have been at it since early this mornin’,’ Beryl announced. ‘They’ve given ’em two days off school to celebrate, an’ don’t we know it! I tell yer, they’re getting that carried away I’m scared to leave me door open in case they whip it off its hinges an’ chuck that on the bonfire an’ all. Anyway, that’s enough chat fer now. Help me to get some o’ this stuff out on to the table, would yer? I’ve still got to get me curlers out an’ make meself look respectable before the party starts.’
They all grabbed a plate each and piled out into the street where the tables were beginning to groan beneath their weight of food. There were sandwiches with all manners of fillings, wobbly jellies that reflected the light of the bright May sunshine, cakes of all shapes and sizes, and dishes loaded with homemade pickled onions.
At the other end of the street a band was tuning up and Beryl sighed with satisfaction. ‘Looks set to be a good night.’
As darkness fell, the party got into full swing. Barrels of beer had been placed at either end of the tables and everyone was in high spirits. Sticky-faced children sat on doorsteps with their plates loaded with food. Fireworks exploded in rainbow colours in the sky above them. The band was belting out merry tunes and as the beer flowed like water, people took to the street and began to dance around the tables.
Maggie stood quietly, thinking back over the last few years. They had not all been easy. Her eyes settled on Katie; she was so like Lucy that sometimes it was painful to look at her. She thought of her mother and Sam, and a great feeling of sadness descended on her, but then Eric was there with his arm thrown protectively about her shoulders.
‘All right, sweetheart?’
She nodded tearfully as she realised how lucky she was. The war had taken its toll on all of them, but they had come through it and now they could gradually rebuild their lives. Life was for the living.
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Moonlight and Ashes Page 42