Harry marched in, shoeless and covered in dust. ‘Don’t ask,’ he said, raising a hand. ‘Don’t mention cellars, rats – including drowned ones – gas pipes or drains.’
‘I wasn’t going to. Go and clean yourself up a bit; you look like nobody owns you.’
He winked. ‘You own me, angel.’
‘We own each other,’ she replied, ‘but don’t come any nearer. I’m not sure I want to know a bloke who’s been up to his eyes in drowned rats.’
‘My fair-weather bride,’ he teased.
‘It rained the day we got married,’ she reminded him.
‘And what did I say at the time?’ Harry asked, teasing her.
‘Erm . . . I do?’
‘What else?’
She stood up and hugged him. ‘Did the rats have fleas?’
‘That’s not what I said on our wedding day.’
She gave in, just as she always did. ‘A French proverb, but in English. You said, “Rainy wedding day means a happy household.”’
‘And I was right.’
‘Yes. You always are.’
Ruth Hamilton was the bestselling author of numerous novels including The Reading Room, Mersey View, That Liverpool Girl, Lights of Liverpool, A Liverpool Song, Meet Me at the Pier Head and Midnight on Lime Street. She became one of the most popular writers of the north-west of England. She was born in Bolton, which is the setting for many of her novels, and spent most of her life in Lancashire. She also lived in Liverpool for many years, before passing away in 2016.
By Ruth Hamilton
A Whisper to the Living
With Love From Ma Maguire
Nest of Sorrows
Billy London’s Girls
Spinning Jenny
The September Starlings
A Crooked Mile
Paradise Lane
The Bells of Scotland Road
The Dream Sellers
The Corner House
Miss Honoria West
Mulligan’s Yard
Saturday’s Child
Matthew & Son
Chandler’s Green
The Bell House
Dorothy’s War
A Parallel Life
Sugar and Spice
The Judge’s Daughter
The Reading Room
Mersey View
That Liverpool Girl
Lights of Liverpool
A Liverpool Song
A Mersey Mile
Meet Me at the Pier Head
Midnight on Lime Street
Daughters of Penny Lane
First published 2017 by Macmillan
This electronic edition published 2017 by Macmillan
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
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www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-4472-8359-1
Copyright © Ruth Hamilton 2017
Cover design and photography © www.blacksheep-uk.com
Cover photograph of children © Getty
Cover photograph of girls and background houses © Alamy
Author photograph © Bolton News
The right of Ruth Hamilton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Pan Macmillan does not have any control over, or any responsibility for, any author or third-party websites referred to in or on this book.
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Daughters of Penny Lane Page 33