Dave shook his head. ‘Not so! And I’m sorry if you got that impression. But we would much prefer that we went as a family together. Not because you’re not capable, but because then it would be like a little break for all of us, a belated family holiday, and that’s the truth. I’ve got a few days off anyway, and Cathy’s not at the shop again until next week, so it works out perfectly.’
Dave was keen to assure them, ‘We really are sorry if we’ve upset either of you in any way. Of course, we’re well aware that the two of you are perfectly responsible and able to plan a journey without us whittling and worrying. The thing is, it was all too quickly decided, and I have to admit we did kind of panic.’
‘Well, Cathy and I have been thinking too, and you may be right.’ Marie was eager to settle things one way or another. ‘If there’s a train going that way tomorrow, Cathy and I will want to be on it. So, does that suit both Anne and yourself, and can we now go ahead and make the arrangements first thing in the morning?’
‘But you don’t mind if we come to Blackpool with you?’
‘No, of course not.’
‘Right! So you had best set your clock for an early hour, and be sharp about it, because Anne and I will be packed and ready to leave, and if you’re not ready, we’ll just go without you. We’ve made the arrangements and we intend setting off at six a.m. sharp – and I want no arguments from you two, all right! So I’ll leave you now because I need to get a good night’s sleep. I’ve got a long drive in front of me in the morning.’
‘Oh, my word!’ Marie was excited, though half wondering if Dave was just teasing. ‘Do my ears deceive me or what? Are the two of you really coming with us, or are you just aggravating me and Cathy?’
Dave smiled from one to the other as they waited for the truth. ‘Yes! If it’s what you want, we really are off to Blackpool. I’ve been thinking, it’s high time we had a family holiday at the seaside, and what does it matter if it rains or the wind blows hard? We will at least be together, and I won’t be back here worrying.’
The ensuing shrieks of excitement echoed through the house. ‘Oh, Dave!’ Marie was close to tears. ‘Thank you so much. I promise you won’t regret it.’
‘Oh, thank you so much, Daddy. I’m really glad you’re going as well,’ Cathy joined in, and she gave him a huge hug to show how grateful she was. ‘I’m so happy you’ve decided to come with me and Nan.’ She could hardly speak for laughing and crying at the same time.
‘Right then!’ Dave was thankful that he had made the right decision. ‘So, we all need to be ready early. I expect the two of us will be up and about before the two of you, but I don’t intend hanging about too long for you. So be warned! I want you ready no later than six, packed, with your backsides parked in the car and your overnight bags waiting to be loaded alongside the two of ours. If you are not waiting there then I’ll take that as a change of plan on your part, and myself and my good woman will simply take off without you!’
Leaving them both open-mouthed and shell-shocked, he turned about and hurried away, and his merry whistling could be heard all over the house.
‘Anne, you were undoubtedly right when you decided that your mother really was putting on a show for our sake, no doubt to make us feel guilty. They’re a pair of devious devils, that’s what they are!’ he said, having joined her again in the kitchen.
Anne laughed. ‘That’s very true, and yet we still love them, don’t we?’
‘But of course. How could anyone not love them?’ He blew her a kiss. ‘In fact, I reckon that we are all truly lucky, to have each other.’
He thought of the many trials and difficult times they had endured over the years, and how they had actually managed to get through them, so far. Sadly, he was well aware, the worst was still to come with the prospect of revealing to Cathy the truth surrounding her birth, and her real position within this close-knit family.
The thought of hurting Cathy made his heart sink. But there was no way around it. She surely must know – and very soon – now that she had found Ronnie, the love of her life.
With love and trust, they had carried Cathy and Marie through every step of the difficult journey so far, and after all the worry, all the lies and the deep heartache, there was little else they could do except confess to Cathy the true story of her beginnings and hope that the love of her family would see her through.
But how would she ever deal with such a crippling revelation?
‘What’s wrong, love?’ Anne asked, seeing he had sunk into a deep and worrying silence.
Dave shrugged. ‘It’s nothing. Don’t worry.’
Anne understood and went to him on the pretext of giving him a kiss. She lowered her voice to the slightest whisper. ‘You’re thinking what I’ve been thinking a lot lately. It’s almost time now, isn’t it? But she’ll be all right. We’ll help her to come to terms with it all. We’ll be here for her, just as we’ve always been here for her. All of us together, we’ll carry her through it. No untruths, no fancy words, just the plain, honest truth, given with love and a huge measure of joy and reassurance.’
Dave looked up and found a precious strength in this woman he adored. ‘I’ve thought of it over and over, and I am so afraid of losing her. It’s a terrible secret for her to be confronted with. What if it completely crushes her?’
‘We won’t let that happen. We’ll be there for her, all of us.’
Dave nervously looked about to make sure the others could not hear what they were saying. ‘That’s all very well, but what if she rejects us, as anyone might after learning such a shocking truth?’
Anne could feel his pain and concern, for it was hers also. ‘Listen to me, sweetheart. I have every faith that we can carry her through it, with love and a strong belief in her own inner strength. She’s a determined character. You know that, don’t you?’
‘Yes, of course I know that, but will it be enough? I’m afraid she might turn on us. She’s our lovely girl – what if she blames us for not telling her sooner, as we should have done? And now, after all these years, the shock will be much harder for her to deal with!’
It was a formidable and terrifying thought.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CATHY THOUGHT SHE was the first one to wake.
Excited, she ran onto the landing in her pyjamas, where the hallway clock was already merrily chiming the start of a new and, she hoped, a very special day. It seemed Marie was already up, though, as Cathy could see her applying foundation to her face through the half-open door.
‘Come on, you lazy pair!’ she called outside Anne and Dave’s room. ‘It’s already five o’clock. I’m about to get washed and dressed, and Nan is putting on her make-up, so come on you two lazy bones!’ When there came no reply, Cathy raised her voice and called out again, ‘Mum! Dad! You had best answer me or I’ll keep yelling until I know you’re both up and getting ready!’
She glanced out of the hallway window, where the hazy light from a new day was already creeping through the house. It made her feel wide awake, and impatient to be on the road.
The thought of being with Ronnie lifted her young heart and she yelled all the louder: ‘Come on, Dad! Get up! You said for us to be up early. It’s already gone five.’
Then she heard a door being opened downstairs, and her father’s familiar, grumpy voice calling up to her, ‘Cathy, for goodness’ sake! Stop that yelling and bawling! Your mother and I have been up for over an hour already. And for your information, young lady, both our overnight bags are packed and waiting at the door.’ He raised the volume. ‘So you had best go and tell Marie that you have just fifteen minutes before the pair of you need to be outside and waiting, ready to set off. And if you’re not there, we’ll go without you. Or we might even decide to abort the journey altogether. Have you got that?’
‘For goodness’ sakes, will you two stop all the yelling and screaming, or we’ll have the neighbours at the door!’
That was Anne, who had just run out of the sitting ro
om. ‘Like your dad said, we’ll be ready to leave any time now, so just move yourselves, will you? We need to be off so just go and shout your nan, will you please? Dad and I need you both down here, with your bag and baggage!’
‘All right! I’m going.’ Cathy took off along to the other end of the landing, where she burst into Marie’s bedroom.
‘Cathy, love, I’ll be just a few minutes now,’ Marie assured her. ‘I’ve packed my case, and checked yours as well. If you discover that I’ve missed something we’ll just have to get it at the other end. So, go on, move yourself, before they have a chance to change their minds about taking us!’
‘Oh, Nan, I’m so excited,’ Cathy said, dancing on the spot. ‘I can’t wait to be with Ronnie.’
‘I can see that,’ Marie replied with a groan. ‘And, I have to admit, I’m hoping to see that little Irish rascal Danny Magee. He’s a friend now, after all these years, and I want to keep in touch with him.’ Marie could see Danny in her mind’s eye and she had to smile. She remembered a story he used to tell her years before, how he’d been out walking in the countryside and stumbled into a flight of fairies, dancing in the breeze. She closed her eyes and just for a moment she could see his dancing eyes, he could tell just fanciful lies that one, you could almost believe him. Her heart warmed. It must be the excitement getting to her!
By the time they reached the front door, Anne and Dave were already putting the bags into the car.
‘Come on, you two. Leave your bags and get into the car, I’ll stash them away,’ said Dave. Without further ado, he grabbed the two overnight bags and in two seconds had them stashed in the boot alongside the others.
‘Right! At long last we’re ready for the off. Now, are you sure you haven’t left anything behind, because I’m not coming back for it?’ He looked from one to the other.
‘We’re ready to go, if you are,’ Cathy said. ‘Are you okay, Nan? Have you got enough room, because I can easily slide along?’
‘I’m fine, love, and have you got enough room for comfort?’
‘More than enough, thanks, Nan.’
‘Right, you two!’ Dave called back to them from the driver’s seat. ‘If you’re quite ready I’ll set off – and I intend to keep going.’
Marie and Cathy assured him again that they were satisfied that they had not left anything behind.
Marie, though, had a question. ‘Are we stopping along the route?’
‘I haven’t decided, but why do you ask?’
‘No reason.’ Marie shrugged. ‘It doesn’t matter anyway.’
At the end of the street, Dave checked for oncoming traffic while asking Marie, ‘If it doesn’t matter whether we stop or not, why did you bother to ask?’
Anne answered him. ‘Well, for starters, none of us had time for any breakfast to speak of, and we might need to stop to pop into the toilets, or even to just get out of the car and stretch our legs.’
Dave groaned. ‘If we can do without stopping then we’ll just keep going, and we might be in Blackpool that much earlier.’
Anne heartily agreed, but: ‘If anyone does need to stop, then we’d be best to go where we’ve stopped before, and besides, it’s the nearest café off the main road. Also, as I recall, the breakfast they served up was well cooked, and piping hot.’
‘Yes, that’s right, and the whole place was spotlessly clean. You could eat your breakfast off the floor.’ Marie recalled that very café.
‘Oh, for goodness’ sakes, you lot!’ Dave grumbled. ‘We’ve only just set off, and already you’re talking about stopping. If you had got up earlier, you might have had time to cook breakfast – and there would be no need for us to stop on the way then, would there?’
Dave laid it out for them. ‘All right, if we do need to stop, it will be a quick in and out, no rummaging through the sales counter, looking through magazines for ages before you make your minds up which ones to buy! And as for you, Cathy, no hanging about in the loos dolling yourself up. We have no time for half an hour fussing about and doing your hair, or putting on your lipstick, d’you hear?’
‘All right, husband!’ Anne lovingly patted the back of his neck. ‘We hear you. In and out, and down the road again. Point taken.’
Dave concentrated on the road, while Anne softly sang a little ditty that showed she was in good spirits, until Dave asked her not to sing out loud because she could not sing anyway, and besides, it spoiled his concentration.
Cathy remained silent, lapsing into a kind of dreamy state when she cast her mind on Ronnie and the knowledge that every moment carried her nearer to her beloved man.
‘Cathy?’ That was Dave again.
‘Yes, Daddy?’
‘Well, nothing really. Except, what’s with the smile, eh?’ He grinned at her in the driver’s mirror. ‘Or do I even need to ask?’
‘Hey!’ Leaning forward in her seat, Marie playfully clipped him across the shoulder. ‘Stop taunting her. She has things on her mind, that’s all.’
‘Really? Well, I never would have guessed!’ Dave again gave Cathy a cheeky little smile through his rear-view mirror. ‘You miss him, don’t you, your precious Ronnie?’
Embarrassed and becoming rather tearful, Cathy simply nodded.
‘Not to worry, eh?’ Dave had not forgotten what young love was like. ‘Before you know it, we’ll be there, and you’ll have him all to yourself for a couple of days.’
Glancing again in the mirror, he lifted one hand from the wheel and carefully reached back to tap Cathy on the arm. ‘I’m so glad we were able to make this trip. I reckon we could all benefit from it, eh?’
Having seen him stretch his hand out to Cathy, Anne gave him a gentle, little slap across his knee. ‘Get your two hands back on the wheel! Are you trying to kill us all or what?’ Anne was ever the nervous passenger.
Cathy looked up to smile at Dave in the mirror, and he sheepishly smiled back. Then all was quiet once again with Dave concentrating on the minor roads, which were growing busier by the minute as early workers set out to go to work.
Meanwhile, Marie looked ready to take a little nap, while Anne sat up straight and watched the road with Dave.
Cathy could only think of Ronnie – her dearest love, her best mate and confidant – and she felt she could not wait to be with him.
Marie sensed Cathy’s deep yearning to be with Ronnie, but she wisely remained silent, just reaching out to wrap a loving arm about young Cathy’s shoulder. ‘Try and get a little nap, sweetheart,’ she told Cathy, but Cathy assured her that she was too excited to sleep.
‘How long will it be before we’re there, Daddy?’ she asked Dave.
As always, Dave was philosophical. ‘Oh, well … I suppose it will all depend on the volume of traffic, but thankfully we were early starting. So, with a bit of luck, we might just miss the worst of it. All we can do is take it as it comes.’
A few minutes later, feeling somewhat reassured, Marie again wrapped a loving arm about Cathy’s shoulders, and soon the two of them fell asleep, Marie lightly snoring, and Cathy somewhat restless, lolling against her.
However, Cathy’s dreamy thoughts of meeting up with Ronnie were soon broken when Marie patted the back of Cathy’s hand.
‘Don’t fold your legs underneath you like that, sweetheart,’ she whispered in Cathy’s ear. ‘It’s not safe. If we should need to stop quickly for whatever reason, you could very easily get flung about.’
Dave approved of Marie’s warning. ‘Your nan’s quite right, love. And besides, you’re sitting higher on your haunches, and blocking my view through the back window.’
When he gave Cathy a wide smile in his mirror, Cathy promptly slithered down into her seat. ‘Sorry, Dad. Is that better now?’
‘Yes, sweetheart. And are you comfortable enough?’
‘Yes, thank you.’ After Cathy assured him that she was perfectly comfortable, order was returned, at least for the moment.
They were now leaving the familiar, narrow urban streets. Soon t
hey would turn onto the main highway and the major roads that would carry them north.
As they passed through the last of the residential streets, Marie watched with interest as the workers tumbled out of their neat little houses to set off for work. ‘Here we are, heading for a lovely short break, while these good people are rushing off to a hard day’s work,’ she commented thoughtfully. ‘No doubt they would rather be fast asleep and tucked up in their warm beds.’
She gave a deep-down, weary sigh. ‘I know exactly how it feels to drag yourself out of bed and trudge off to work, when you don’t really want to.’ She gave a wistful little smile. ‘I don’t mind telling you that I am very thankful to have left all that behind me.’
As Marie glanced along the street she was surprised to see a familiar face. ‘Well, I never! If I’m not mistaken, that looks like Beth – Ronnie’s sister.’
She gestured to the young woman, who appeared to be hiding in the doorway of the little terraced house where she lived with her bad-tempered husband. ‘What on earth is she doing standing outside in the cold air with no hat or coat on? Good Lord, she’ll catch her death!’
‘Oh, my word, it really is Beth, and at this hour of the morning.’ Anne could hardly believe her eyes. ‘Why in heaven’s name is she lurking outside like that, and on such a cold morning? She looks absolutely perished.’
From comments Ronnie had made in the past, Anne suspected that Beth’s quick-tempered husband might easily lord it over the shy, homely little woman. She hoped all was well with Beth, who was a sweet and amiable young woman, without a bad bone in her entire body.
She glanced back to see if Beth was still in the doorway, but there was no sight of her. ‘Well, thank goodness, she’s gone now. She must have felt a bit chilly and gone back inside.’
‘Good!’ Marie was relieved to know that. ‘Maybe she just popped out to get the milk in. Or maybe she was calling the cat in for its breakfast.’ But she had an uneasy feeling.
After much thought though, Marie had convinced herself that Beth would be okay. And God willing, she was right. She would be there for anyone really, but Beth was a special lady.
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