Heartbreak and Happiness

by Rosie Harris

  ‘So Cindy will be homeless when you two move away?’

  ‘Yes, unless she can come back here. Though we might be able to make some sort of arrangement for her. Maybe she could go and live at Grace’s home. Grace’s brother Danny has been one of the policemen involved in the case—’

  ‘Policemen? The police are involved?’

  ‘Yes, that’s the other problem. The case will be going to court soon and it’s more than likely that it will be in all the newspapers. Cindy’s not at all sure what her family will think about that.’

  ‘I think you must have missed out a lot of your story,’ her mother told her sharply. ‘Why are the police involved? What has Cindy done?’

  ‘Cindy hasn’t done anything. The people who were holding her prisoner turned out to be illegal immigrants and they’ve all been arrested. Cindy and Poppy were sent to hospital so that their injuries could be treated, and they were only discharged a couple of weeks ago.’

  ‘Dear, oh dear! This story gets worse in the telling,’ Sandra exclaimed as she reached for the sherry bottle and topped up their glasses.

  There was silence for a moment, then Sandra put down her glass.

  ‘Let me get this straight. Cindy was abducted by that chap Bruno and his gang, and then kept prisoner. She had a baby, presumably it is his, and then they allowed her out to do the shopping but wouldn’t let her take the baby with her and threatened to harm it if she tried to run away. Have I got that right?’

  ‘Yes, but they also used to keep the baby from her as a form of punishment and they ill-treated both her and the baby.’

  ‘Was there no other woman in the house?’

  ‘Yes, a very old woman who also treated Cindy badly. They wouldn’t even let Cindy have a doctor or a nurse when she gave birth to Poppy. The old woman delivered it.’

  ‘That’s scandalous! I hope she’s all right.’

  ‘I think she is, although they kept her in hospital for several weeks and she’s never really told us why.’

  ‘Of course she must come home,’ Sandra bristled. ‘What a silly girl to think her mother and father won’t welcome her with open arms.’

  ‘And her little girl?’ Rebecca asked.

  ‘She’s their grandchild, of course they’ll welcome her.’

  ‘Even though she’s illegitimate?’

  Sandra shuddered. ‘Yes, even if she’s illegitimate. I would do the same for you.’

  Rebecca grinned. ‘I know you would. In fact, I think that’s what you thought I was about to tell you, that I was expecting a baby and wanted to come home.’

  Sandra blushed. ‘Well, when your daughter who is living away from home turns up with a boyfriend and says he has been staying with her, Mum is bound to think the worst.’

  ‘Really!’

  As their eyes met, they both started laughing.

  ‘You’ll understand better when you are a mother yourself,’ Sandra told her.

  She drained her glass and put it down on the table. ‘Come on, get your coat. We’re going up to the Masons’ farm right now to give them the good news about Cindy.’

  Forty

  The late evening sun was sinking over the horizon like a huge golden-red ball as Rebecca and Sandra set out for the Masons’ farm.

  ‘Do you think we should have left doing this until the morning?’ Rebecca asked anxiously.

  ‘No, not a bit of it! I wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing what I do and aware of how worried Mavis and Tom still are over Cindy’s disappearance. No, we owe it to them to put their minds at ease just as soon as we can’.

  ‘I hope you’re right,’ Rebecca murmured. ‘By the way, are you and the Masons friends again now?’

  ‘More or less. I think Mavis still sometimes blames us for Cindy vanishing. If she hadn’t been coming to see you, then she would have been safe and sound on the farm as usual. Leastways, that’s the way Mavis looks at it.’

  ‘All those dreadful accusations against Dad, though. Does she ever regret them?’

  ‘She wasn’t the one who started those terrible rumours,’ Sandra defended. ‘That malicious gossip was started by old Lizzie Smith and her cronies.’

  ‘Yes, I know, but the Masons didn’t do very much to stop the rumours, did they?’

  ‘True, but they were so upset about Cindy disappearing that I don’t think they were thinking rationally at the time.’

  ‘So everything is more or less all right between you now?’

  ‘Yes, perfectly all right,’ Sandra said firmly.

  Mavis Mason was shutting up the hens for the night and Tom was making sure the other animals were all comfortably bedded down when Sandra and Rebecca arrived at the farm.

  ‘What’s up? You don’t usually come calling at this time of night,’ Mavis remarked in surprise.

  ‘Bill not with you?’ Tom asked with equal surprise.

  ‘He’s gone for a drink at the Red Lion with Nick,’ Sandra told them.

  ‘Then I think I’ll go and join them and leave you women to your chatter.’

  ‘No, wait,’ Sandra said. ‘There’s something I have to tell you … Both of you. Can we go inside?’

  ‘Sounds serious,’ Mavis commented as she led the way into their sitting room. ‘There’s something wrong, isn’t there?’

  ‘Is it to do with our Cindy? Have you heard something, Becky?’ Tom asked, looking at her.

  ‘Yes, she has,’ Sandra told him. She looked at her daughter, ‘Do you want to tell them or shall I do it for you, Becky?’ she asked.

  ‘Let Becky do the talking since she must be the one who knows what’s been going on,’ Tom said as he led them into the comfortably furnished sitting room. ‘Come on, sit down and let’s hear what it is you have to say. Come straight out with it, girl. After all this time we can take just about anything.’

  ‘She’s not dead, is she?’ Mavis asked, her voice shaking.

  ‘No. No, she’s not dead. She’s alive and well and I can tell you where she is. But there’s just one very important thing you need to know first. Cindy has a little girl and—’

  ‘Our Cindy’s had a baby!’ Mavis exclaimed, the colour draining from her face. ‘Are you sure about that, Becky?’

  ‘Yes, I’m quite sure. She has a little girl called Poppy and she’s adorable.’

  ‘Then why hasn’t she brought her home to see us?’ Tom asked in a bewildered voice.

  ‘It’s a long story,’ Rebecca told them. For the second time that night she found herself recounting all that had happened to Cindy since the evening she disappeared.

  The Masons sat in stunned silence, then bombarded her with countless questions. Some she could answer, but several she didn’t know the answer to and she felt almost as bewildered as they were by the time she had finished explaining everything she did know.

  ‘Well, this is wonderful news and calls for a celebratory drink,’ Tom insisted as he fetched a bottle of port and filled glasses for each of them.

  Rebecca was about to say she didn’t want any more to drink as she had already had two glasses of sherry. But she felt they might find it hurtful if she refused, so she joined in the toast as they raised their glasses and drank to Cindy’s safe homecoming.

  ‘What I can’t understand,’ Mavis said as she drained her glass and put it down on the table by the side of her armchair, ‘is why Cindy didn’t come home with you today. Why leave it to you to tell us all that’s been happening?’

  ‘I think she was afraid to in case you were upset by all that has gone on,’ Rebecca said lamely. ‘She didn’t know how you would feel about her having had a baby when she isn’t married.’

  ‘How I would feel about my own grandchild! What sort of person does she think I am? As for not being married, well whose business is that except ours?’

  ‘You mightn’t feel that way when Lizzie finds out and starts spreading malicious gossip in the village,’ Sandra warned.

  ‘That foul-mouthed old hag! I don’t worry about her or any of the oth
er gossips who join in with her,’ Mavis said dismissively.

  ‘The other thing that’s worrying Cindy is what may be said in court and what they will put in the newspapers.’

  ‘It might only get into a couple of papers, and I doubt if anyone in the village will hear about it if it does,’ Tom reassured them.

  ‘Don’t be too sure about that. Journalists can make these sort of cases seem really dramatic.’

  ‘Well, let them, see if we care. As long as our Cindy is safe and sound, that’s all that matters.’

  Tom nodded. ‘Our Jake will be that relieved. He’s always felt he was in some way to blame.’

  ‘Yes, I was telling Rebecca, Jake’s always said he wished he had gone on to the platform with her and seen her safely on to the Cardiff train.’

  ‘If only he’d done that, then none of this would ever have happened! Those men wouldn’t have been able to bundle her into their car and take her away,’ Mavis added with a sigh.

  ‘Let’s forget all about that now,’ Tom said. ‘Cindy’s safe and sound, and what I want to know is when she is coming home. I’d like to go and get her right now.’

  ‘I don’t think that would be a very good idea, it might frighten her if you suddenly turn up after all this time,’ Sandra warned him. ‘No, let Rebecca go back and tell her that you now know everything and then bring her home in a day or two’s time.’

  ‘Yes, I suppose you’re right,’ Tom agreed. ‘It will give us time to get used to the idea as well.’

  ‘It’ll give me time to get her room ready for her, and we’ll need to see if the cot we had for our two is still in the attic. First thing tomorrow, Tom, you must get it down, then I can clean it up and find some bedding for it. I’ll have everything ready and waiting for the pair of them, so bring her home as quick as you can, Becky.’

  ‘I’ll tell her everything you’ve said and that you want her home,’ Rebecca promised. ‘I’ll ring you and let you know which day we’re coming.’

  ‘That’s a good girl,’ Mavis told her, flinging her arms round Rebecca and hugging her. ‘Make it as soon as you can. I still feel like I’m imagining all this, so bring her back here before I wake up and find it’s all a dream.’

  ‘I think we’d better be going,’ Sandra said. ‘It’s getting dark, and Bill and Nick will be back from the pub and wondering where we are.’

  ‘They’ll have a damn good idea, I imagine,’ Tom agreed. ‘Come on then, if you’re ready to go, I’ll walk down to your place with you.’

  Forty-One

  When Rebecca and Nick arrived back at the flat in Liverpool, they found that Cindy looked as though she had been crying and her first words the moment they went through the door were ‘Well? What did they say?’

  ‘They’re over the moon that at long last they know you are safe and where you are,’ Rebecca told her.

  She stared at them for a long moment in silence, almost as if she hadn’t heard what they said or if she had then she didn’t believe them.

  ‘Do they want to see me, though?’

  ‘Of course they do. And little Poppy,’ Rebecca told her. ‘They’re thrilled to bits about having a grandchild.’

  Cindy looked doubtful. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Quite sure,’ Nick affirmed.

  ‘Did you tell them everything?’

  ‘Absolutely everything, from the time you vanished at Frome station right up to the present moment.’

  ‘Rebecca even warned them there would be a court case coming up soon and your name may be mentioned,’ Nick added.

  Cindy went white. ‘So what did they say to that?’

  ‘They want you to be home with them safe and sound before that happens,’ Rebecca assured her.

  ‘They are so eager to have you back that your father would have driven up here tonight to collect you, but we felt you needed a day or so to come to terms with the idea of going home.’ Nick told her.

  ‘When we left, your mum was planning to bring down the cot she used for you and Jake when you were little from the attic and get it all cleaned up ready for Poppy,’ Rebecca said with a smile.

  Cindy still didn’t seem to be completely convinced. She shook her head from side to side, pushed her hair back behind her ears and fiddled with the belt of her dress as she looked from Rebecca to Nick and back again.

  ‘So what do you think I ought to do?’ she burst out.

  ‘Get down to Shelston and see them, of course,’ Nick told her.

  ‘When they see me again, they might think I’ve changed and maybe they won’t want me back.’

  ‘Oh for goodness sake, Cindy, pull yourself together,’ Rebecca said impatiently, ‘We’ve been to see your parents. We’ve told them everything there was to tell them, and they want you back.’

  Cindy nodded and smiled weakly. ‘Sorry, I just can’t believe it’s true! But I … I’m afraid to face them. Will you come with me, Becky? I’d feel better if you did.’

  ‘Of course I will. Not tonight, though,’ Rebecca grinned. ‘What about tomorrow?’

  ‘Oh yes, yes, that would be wonderful!’ Cindy flung her arms round Rebecca and hugged her.

  ‘Hold on a minute,’ Nick said quickly. ‘How are you going to get there? I can’t take you, I have to be at work tomorrow morning.’ He looked at his wristwatch, ‘In fact, I ought to be setting off within the next half hour if I’m to get to the lodgings I’ve reserved before midnight.’

  ‘We’ll figure something out,’ Rebecca said confidently. ‘We can always go by train.’

  ‘Or perhaps Danny would take you down if he’s off duty?’ Grace suggested.

  She had been sitting quietly nursing Poppy and listening to all that had been said.

  ‘I couldn’t ask him to do that, it would take him all day,’ Cindy demurred.

  ‘He’d jump at the chance of spending a whole day with you,’ Grace said with a smile.

  Cindy blushed but said nothing. She suspected that it was true. Danny had been calling at the flat more and more frequently and he always seemed concerned about how she was. It had been due to Danny’s intervention that she had been allowed to stay with Grace and Rebecca after she came out of hospital, and she would always be grateful to him for that. Even so, to expect him to spend his free time driving her down to Shelston was asking rather a lot, she thought.

  ‘I would feel much happier if I knew that was what was happening,’ Nick said. ‘I don’t like the idea of you travelling all that way by train, with Poppy to look after and having to change trains and so on.’

  ‘Danny will take them, I’m sure of that,’ Grace stated.

  ‘I don’t think we could get there and back in a day,’ Cindy muttered.

  ‘Why do you need to come back here?’ Grace looked puzzled.

  ‘That’s right. You could stay down there and we can bring all your things down later on,’ Rebecca suggested.

  Cindy still looked undecided, but did seem ready to go along with their suggestions.

  ‘I’ve got to leave, I’m afraid,’ Nick said finally. ‘Will you phone me later on, Rebecca, when you’ve decided what you’re going to do?’

  ‘I will,’ she promised as she went to the door with him, leaving Cindy and Grace still volubly discussing the pros and cons of Danny driving her to Shelston.

  In the privacy of the hallway, Nick took Rebecca in his arms and kissed her. ‘This wasn’t the way I intended our weekend to end,’ he said ruefully.

  ‘Never mind!’ She hugged him close. ‘We have plenty more weekends to come.’

  ‘A whole lifetime, I hope,’ he said tenderly as once again he kissed her deeply and passionately.

  When Danny came round to the flat later that evening after coming off duty, Grace put the question to him about driving Cindy down to Shelston to see her parents.

  ‘Of course I will,’ he said eagerly, his face lighting up with the pleasure. ‘When do you want to go, Cindy?’

  ‘As soon as possible. But are you sure you want to driv
e all that way? It will take hours.’

  ‘I don’t mind if it takes days. I’ve got three days’ leave coming up at the end of the week, so we could go then.’

  Cindy’s face registered delight, then clouded. ‘That’s two days away. Perhaps I ought to take the train?’

  ‘Two days is no time at all,’ Rebecca told her. ‘You need time for me to let my mum know what is happening, and for her to tell your mum and for your mum to get things ready for you and Poppy.’

  ‘Yes, I suppose you’re right,’ Cindy agreed. ‘The thing is, the longer I put it off the worse it seems. I’m so scared they won’t want me when I get there.’

  ‘You do talk a whole lot of nonsense sometimes,’ Grace told her bluntly. ‘Don’t forget we have to give up this flat in ten days’ time, then you’ll have nowhere to live. Rebecca is going down south, I’m going to a school near Chester, and we’ve got a lot of preparation and planning to do—’

  ‘All right, Grace, don’t make a meal of it!’ Danny said reprovingly. ‘I can understand how Cindy feels and I only wish I could get away earlier. But I can’t, so that’s that. I certainly don’t want you travelling all that way by train,’ he told Cindy firmly.

  ‘Very well,’ Cindy said meekly. ‘Thank you for agreeing to take me, Danny, I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful. There’s just one other thing,’ she went on slowly. ‘Can Rebecca come with us? I’d like her to be there when I meet my family.’

  ‘Of course she can, but will she have time? There’s all the clearing up here for her and Grace to do before they hand back the flat.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I’ll help them do that,’ Cindy said quickly.

  ‘Right, then. That’s fine by me, as long as Rebecca doesn’t mind coming with us.’

  Forty-Two

  They left Liverpool at eight o’clock. Danny was driving, with Cindy sitting alongside him and Rebecca in the back of the car with Poppy safely strapped into a car seat that Danny had managed to borrow from a fellow officer who had small children.

  Packed in with them were several of Poppy’s soft toys to keep her amused during the long journey.