Flowers on the Mersey

by June Francis

  ‘Of course you have.’ He wrapped his arms round her. ‘I went to see the priest. I told him that we’d been living in sin and asked him to marry us as soon as possible.’

  ‘You what?’ Rebekah could scarcely believe what she was hearing.

  He grinned. ‘Don’t let’s argue religion. I have to make us legal before I go back to sea.’

  She swallowed. ‘I see.’

  ‘I say you do!’ He laughed and swung her around again. ‘You will say yes?’

  ‘What about banns?’ she said desperately.

  ‘“Tush to that” said Father Donovan, when I told him what Green had done to us in order to get his hands on your money.’

  ‘You said that? Did he believe you?’ Rebekah was breathless with the speed of his actions.

  ‘Sure and he believed me! Isn’t Green English, a Protestant, and an uncaring landlord to boot?’

  ‘But – but I’m Protestant and English. Doesn’t he—?’

  ‘But you’re half Irish, polite and pretty! And you came back to Ireland in search of me and rescued me from the jaws of death!’

  ‘You didn’t say that?’ Rebekah was starting to feel peculiar.

  ‘I did. I told him that we loved each other madly.’

  ‘Mad’s the operative word,’ she said, sagging against him. ‘Oh, Daniel, I don’t know what to say! I feel sick.’

  He looked anxious and ushered her over to the couch. ‘Let’s sit down. It’s the shock! And we didn’t eat our dinner. You’ll feel better once you’ve got some food down you.’

  ‘Food. Yes,’ she said faintly. ‘Let’s have some dinner.’

  He hurried over to the fire. She watched him filling the bowls and tried to form the words ‘I’m already married’, but they would not come. Instead she murmured, ‘When is this wedding?’

  ‘Soon. Maybe tomorrow. Or the next day.’

  ‘Right,’ she said, trying to control the terrible churning in her stomach. ‘I’ll have to pick out a frock.’

  Daniel smiled as he brought her a bowl of stew. ‘That pale green crêpe-de-Chine. I like that one.’

  She returned his smile and ignored the voice in her head that told her that what she was planning was wrong. ‘Dum-dum-de-dum,’ she murmured.

  ‘There’ll be no music.’ he said. ‘Just a quiet ceremony.’

  ‘That’ll do me.’ she said, and ate her stew.

  That night Rebekah could not sleep. The words ‘Bigamist! Liar! Cheat!’ kept running through her mind. She had read of a case in the Liverpool Echo only a few months ago. A soldier had been brought to court for having one wife in Liverpool and another in Preston. What was she to do? She could not bear hurting Daniel. She considered all they had been through and how they had found each other again. She smiled. They had been happy. Slowly she relaxed. She slept and dreamt her old dream of being locked in the turret, and was afraid. Someone was coming up the stairs and she could not escape.

  It was daylight when she woke. Daniel was out of bed and dragging on a shirt.

  ‘Who do you think it is?’ she mouthed.

  At that moment there was a knock on the door and a voice said, ‘Danny! Are you in there?’

  She watched him open the door a few inches to reveal Shaun’s face.

  ‘Out!’ Daniel pushed his brother before him and closed the door, shutting Rebekah in.

  She got out of bed quickly and dragged on her dressing gown. Downstairs the two brothers confronted each other, one either end of the table.

  ‘I knew she was here.’ said Shaun. ‘They told me in the village. Miss Rebekah Rhoades is staying in this house with her Liverpool cousin. But nobody has seen the cousin.’ He grinned, ‘I found that interesting so I came out here.’

  Daniel’s eyes narrowed. ‘How long have you been here?’

  ‘An hour or so. Stirred up the fire. Had a cuppa tea and some bread and jam. Not a bad place but a good bloody walk to find you.’

  ‘How did you find the village?’

  ‘A couple of the lads are from around here. It was one of the mothers who mentioned Miss Rhoades and her motor.’ Shaun smirked. ‘It was after that I mentioned that I knew her and the cousin might be my brother. They let on that you and her are the talk of the place since yesterday. A wedding in the offering and her getting married in our church. Quite a romantic tale you made out of it, Danny boy, but you’re not married to her yet.’

  ‘I will be soon,’ said Daniel. ‘What d’you want?’

  Shaun looked injured. ‘You could be a bit more welcoming. I could have been killed. I thought you’d be glad to see me.’

  ‘Why? You’re nothing but trouble.’

  ‘Now that’s a fine thing to say! There could be state troopers on my tail.’

  ‘So you go and declare yourself to all and sundry in the village?’ Daniel’s tones were disbelieving. ‘Don’t make me laugh!’

  Shaun sighed heavily. ‘It’s a fine thing to be calling your brother a liar. And there’s me worrying about you.’

  ‘Come off it! You’re a liar.’

  ‘Don’t believe me then.’ Shaun shrugged. ‘I was in the fighting at Waterford. I was lucky to get out.’

  Daniel stared at him before walking over to the window. ‘It’s a bloody shame. It says in the newspaper that de Valera wants to talk peace.’

  ‘So he does – but who’s listening? Michael Collins and Griffiths sold us down the river. There’ll be no peace.’ Shaun’s expression was ugly. ‘What you’ve got to decide, Danny, is if you’re with us or against us.’

  ‘I’m out of it,’ said Daniel. ‘I’m going back to sea.’

  ‘You can’t quit!’

  ‘You’re going to stop me?’ A grim smile played around Daniel’s mouth.

  ‘Danny! You know they won’t let you,’ insisted Shaun. ‘You’re either for or—’

  ‘You know what I’m for.’ Daniel held his brother’s gaze. ‘But I’m not going to be fighting my fellow countrymen for it, and that’s my final word on the matter.’

  There was a silence during which Rebekah felt faint again and lowered herself on to the bottom stair. Shaun glanced at her. ‘It’s her fault we’re arguing! Mam must be turning in her grave. I tell you, Danny, you could be making a mistake. Guess what I found in that bag over there.’

  Involuntarily Daniel looked at Rebekah’s canvas bag sitting on the floor in the corner. ‘You went nosing in Becky’s bag?’ he said furiously. ‘You’ve got no right—’

  ‘Hold on,’ said Shaun, placing on the table a wedding ring and ruby and diamond engagement ring. ‘I found those in it.’

  Daniel stared at them and did not speak for a moment. ‘So? They’re her mother’s,’ he said at last. ‘Aren’t they, Rebekah?’

  She stood up. ‘Yes.’ She came over to the table and feeling like an old, old woman, sank on to a chair. She did not look at Daniel.

  ‘There,’ he said to his brother. ‘Now get out.’

  Shaun’s gaze went from one to the other. Then without another word, he left the house.

  Daniel watched him through the window until he was the other side of the gate, then he turned. ‘He could be back with others.’

  She stared at him. ‘But you haven’t done anything wrong.’

  ‘You heard me tell him I’ve quit. You should know what they’re like. I think it’s best we do go to Liverpool. You’ve got friends there.’

  There was a silence before she murmured, ‘You think I’m going to need friends?’

  ‘We all need friends.’

  She felt cold to her stomach. ‘Has he actually brought any men with him?’

  ‘You heard what he said.’

  She nodded and squared her shoulders but her heart was thumping as she reached for the oats and put a cupful in the frying pan. ‘Are we leaving today?’

  ‘Yes.’ He picked up the rings. ‘I didn’t know our Shaun had taken to thieving. Are they your mother’s?’

  Rebekah stared at him and her throat ached and she fe
lt so sick that she could not answer him immediately. He looked at her with a slight pucker between his brows. ‘Well?’

  She swallowed. ‘I’d hardly take them from her dead hand.’

  ‘Your Grandma’s then?’

  ‘No.’ A splinter of laughter escaped her. ‘The Bible says, “Be sure your sins will find you out!” and that’s what’s happening to me.’

  ‘Becky!’ He went pale and moved over to her. ‘What is it? Tell me!’

  ‘You won’t love me any more! You’ll hate me!’ A sob shook her throat.

  Tell me!’ He shook her.

  ‘I’m married, Daniel!’

  She would have found it easier if he had immediately shouted at her but instead he was silent for what seemed an age before his arms slackened and then dropped. There was an expression in his eyes that made her want to cry and cry and when he shouted in a furious voice: ‘It’s Green, isn’t it? It’s bloody Green!’ she did start crying but he ignored her tears and yelled, ‘Why, Rebekah? Why if you loved me?’

  ‘I did love you! I do love you!’ She scrubbed at the tears on her cheeks and her voice rose, ‘But I thought you were dead, and he was so persuasive. It was what Papa wanted and I felt so guilty about him because we quarrelled and he died. I wanted to please him even though he was dead! Can you understand that?’ Daniel was silent, just staring at her. She continued, ‘I realised my mistake as soon as I married him. He changed. It was frightening. He was cruel, calculatingly cruel. That scar on my shoulder you asked about – he did it on our honeymoon with a cigar because I mentioned your name. He knew that I loved you and he told me that one of the reasons he married me was because he hated you.’

  ‘Green told you he hated me on your honeymoon?’ His expression was disbelieving.

  ‘Yes!’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Why on the honeymoon? Or why hate you at all?’

  ‘I know why he hates me.’

  Rebekah smiled bitterly. ‘You were his friend once. I think he liked you. He kept going on about you. He wanted to know if you’d tried anything on with me. I couldn’t understand it, but of course he knew all the time you weren’t dead and that I loved you. On our honeymoon I didn’t want him to touch me and he raped me. He wanted to be the first with me, but of course he wasn’t. You were. Not that I told him that. As it was he hurt me. Since then I’ve lost count of the times he’s hurt me. He has a Cat o’ Nine Tails.’ She choked on the words and stopped.

  ‘Don’t tell me any more.’ He was white about the mouth. ‘I need to think. I’m going for a walk.’ Not bothering with a coat he opened the door and went out.

  Rebekah ran after him. ‘Daniel, you will come back! You won’t—’

  He pushed her away. ‘Just let me be for a while!’

  She watched him go with his hands rammed in his trouser pockets, and had to lean against the door jamb. Her head throbbed and she felt sick.

  When he was out of sight she staggered inside and sat down on the sofa. She tried to think what to do but could not. Then she smelt burning. She got to her feet and took the frying pan from the fire. She threw the burnt oats on to the peats, watching them blacken even further. Hell’s fire. She had thought it terrible when she believed Daniel dead but now she experienced a different kind of loss. Often she had marvelled that he had loved her, but had believed in that love. Now he might not love her any more. She could not bear the thought. She had to speak to him. And without stopping to think any more, she opened the door and went after him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Daniel was striding along the river bank with visions of violence in his mind. He had wanted to hit Rebekah, that was why he had to get out. His white-hot anger had abated somewhat and he was no longer dwelling on her deception but on a childhood memory of his father knocking his mother to the floor, and of her whimpering when her belly was big with Shaun. His brothers had been out and he had put his arms round his father’s leg and hung on to prevent him from kicking his mother again. He shuddered even now at the scene. His father had fallen over, and his mother had lumbered to her feet, and grabbing Daniel’s hand had fled with him to Old Mary’s house.

  As he thought of Old Mary, he remembered the day he had walked with Rebekah to the bay. The attraction between them had been strong even then. Holy Mary, why had he had to love her? He paused and gazed down into the water. It was where he normally fished and they had bathed here once or twice. He remembered the marks on Rebekah’s back and shoulder and there was a tightness in his chest. A Cat o’ Nine Tails! It was a bad moment as he struggled with his emotions. He was about to turn round when he saw his brother running towards him.

  ‘Troopers,’ panted Shaun. ‘I told you they were after me and when they realise who you are, they’ll be after you too. Although with that beard—’He paused, bending over and resting his hands on his knees, getting his breath back.

  ‘Is this another one of your tricks?’ snapped Daniel. ‘Because I’m in the mood to biff you one.’

  ‘Don’t be like that, Danny,’ he protested. ‘We’ve got to get away from here, and quick. You can drive. You can get us out of here.’

  ‘I can what? You’re joking if you think I’m going to get involved in anything to do with you! I wouldn’t put it past you to be making all this up.’

  Shaun laughed. ‘I’m not! Why would I do that? I’m telling you, Danny, they’ll be up here soon and we’ve got to get away.’

  ‘We’ve got to get away!’ Daniel’s eyes narrowed. ‘What about your friends in the village? I bet they’ve put you up to this to get me back.’

  Shaun protested, but Daniel did not believe him. ‘Go and put your head in a pot and boil it!’ He pushed his brother out of the way and began to walk back to the house.

  Shaun followed him. ‘Were those rings really her mother’s?’

  ‘You heard what she said.’

  ‘Why wasn’t she wearing them?’

  ‘Would you wear a ring like that fancy one to do chores?’

  ‘She could have worn the wedding ring. I bet she’s been deceiving you.’

  Daniel turned and his expression was bleak. ‘Don’t talk to me about deception. You told me she was dead! Green told us both that the other was dead! Now get out of my sight before I forget that I once cared that you’d been born alive.’ Shaun stopped in his tracks and Daniel walked away.

  He saw Rebekah half a mile further up the river, running towards him, and when she would have flung herself at him he held her off. He gazed into the drawn face that was blotchy with tears.

  ‘You were coming back to me?’ she stammered.

  ‘How should I know? You’ve got me that way I don’t know where I am. Let’s go before Shaun catches up with us.’

  ‘He’s still around?’

  Daniel nodded and hurried her along, making her run to keep up with him.

  ‘What are you going to do?’ she asked.

  He stared at her unhappy expression and dropped her hand. ‘You want me to make you feel better by saying I forgive you?’ he said in a seething voice. ‘Straight away! Just like that!’ He snapped his fingers.

  ‘I don’t suppose you’ll ever forgive me. You hate Joshua too much for that.’ Her voice trembled. ‘But I thought you loved me enough to stay with me. After all, I left him to find you and it wasn’t easy for me to come to Ireland alone. I was scared, not only of the fighting, but of what I might find out when I met you again.’

  ‘And what did you find out?’ he muttered, looking away from her towards the house.

  ‘That I still loved you,’ she cried. ‘But I soon realised that I’d been living in a fool’s paradise thinking that you would understand why I had married Joshua, so I decided not to tell you. I didn’t mean to hurt you.’

  He looked at her. ‘I’ll never understand women. You really thought we could carry on without my ever finding out the truth?’

  ‘I didn’t want to think,’ she said. ‘It seemed simpler just living from day to day and preten
ding Joshua didn’t exist. We were happy.’

  ‘Happy? Living in a fool’s paradise?’ He shook his head and stared down at the ground.

  ‘What are we going to do?’

  He looked up. ‘Bloody hell, Rebekah, why keep asking me that? I bloody don’t know,’ he said savagely. ‘Perhaps we should just to go bed and pretend – that – none of this – has happened?’ He did not know why he said it.

  ‘Bed?’ She stared at him, her eyes twin pools of shock.

  Suddenly he wanted to hurt her. ‘Do you think it’ll be different? Perhaps it will now I know I’m having it with a married woman.’

  She flushed. ‘You make it sound more sinful.’

  ‘It is more sinful.’

  ‘How can you say that?’

  ‘I just open my mouth—’

  ‘Daniel, don’t be cruel.’

  ‘Cruel! Me?’ His voice was harsh. ‘The way you went on about Lily, and all the time you were married to bloody Green!’

  ‘I know,’ she said miserably. ‘If you want to know, I was thoroughly ashamed of myself for going on about Lily.’

  ‘You should be.’

  ‘Daniel, I do love you!’

  ‘So you say. You’ll have to prove it.’

  ‘I thought I had by leaving Joshua.’ She tilted her chin. ‘I’ve given up a lot for you, you know. Perhaps you should think about that.’

  For a moment he said nothing, then with some satisfaction he said, ‘Green would be bloody mad if he knew we were together. I wonder what he’d say if he found out?’ He took hold of her wrist and hurried her into the house. For once he bolted the door before running her up the stairs.

  Daniel no longer wanted to strike her but was in no mood to be nice to her. It seemed to him that she had not grieved long for him, but perhaps he would not have minded so much if it had been anyone else but Joshua Green. Then again, he could be kidding himself because he loved and did not want anyone else to have her. He could hazard a guess to how much she had suffered at Joshua’s hands and it did occur to him that she had paid for her mistakes. Even so the pain she had inflicted went deep. He wanted to be rough with her but surprisingly she did not seem to mind that and somewhere along the way desire took over and their passion for each other seemed greater than before. He wondered if she believed that this could be the last time they would make love.