Love Letters in the Sand

by June Francis

  She wished she could have persuaded Pete to go to Mass with her. All he needed to do now was enrol for instruction in the Roman Catholic faith. He had done the right thing in telling her mother that he sometimes attended Our Lady, Star of the Sea. So far her father had made no mention of him. She felt certain her mother would have told him that she had met Pete. So why hadn’t he said anything about it to her?

  She wished that she could stand up to her father more and be prepared to defy him. After all she was over twenty-one, earned her own living and had the vote. Sometimes she wished she had been born a man. They seemed to have the best of things. Better wages, never expected to help with the housework after doing a full day’s work. No periods, no giving birth. Of course, men did have to go and fight in wars and there had been a lot of them this century. Two world wars, fighting in Korea, then Cyprus and the other year there had been the Suez crisis which could have blown up into a real bad conflict, only the Yanks had refused to support Great Britain. On second thoughts, she was probably better off being a woman. She had a man she loved and who wanted to marry her.

  At that moment her sister entered the bedroom. ‘Dad says he wants you downstairs in five minutes.’

  Peggy’s heart seemed to flip over. ‘I’ll be there.’

  Lil sat on the bed. ‘Mam was telling me about your boyfriend. I heard her saying to Dad that he should speak to you about inviting him to Sunday lunch.’

  Peggy froze. ‘And what did Dad say?’

  ‘He’d think about allowing him under his roof.’

  ‘That sounds like him,’ muttered Peggy, reaching for her Sunday hat which was a pull-on sage green felt with a narrow brim and a white and green spotted bow at the side.

  ‘I wouldn’t worry,’ said Lil, getting to her feet. ‘Mam will win Dad round if he gets awkward.

  ‘Only if he’s decided that he wants to be won round,’ said Peggy.

  ‘So d’you think you’ll be getting engaged soon?’ asked Lil.

  Peggy hesitated, gazing at herself in the mirror as she put on her hat and fiddled with her hair. ‘Let’s wait and see, shall we?’ She did not want to put a jinx on things by saying she would soon have Pete’s diamond sparkling on the third finger of her left hand. She pulled on her coat, picked up her gloves and led the way downstairs.

  Her father was standing with his back to the fire, holding up the skirts of his overcoat, seemingly so he could warm his backside, while her mother was flitting about like a sparrow searching for crumbs in the street. ‘Here she is, William! Doesn’t she look nice? In fact, don’t both our daughters look nice?’

  ‘Stop babbling, woman!’ William ordered, staring at Peggy from beneath drooping eyelids. ‘So what’s this I hear from your mother about bringing a boyfriend home?’

  Peggy could feel her knees begin to tremble. Earlier she had almost convinced herself that he wasn’t going to mention Pete. She took a deep breath. ‘That’s right, Dad. I bet Mam told you all about him!’

  ‘I don’t gamble,’ said William. ‘Gambling is a mug’s game.’

  Peggy moistened her lips, thinking it was going to be one of those awkward conversations, and decided to keep her mouth shut until he spoke again. That way she was bound not to say the wrong thing.

  ‘Nothing you’d like to add to what your mother told me?’ said William, taking a handkerchief from a pocket and wiping one of his eyes.

  ‘I don’t know what Mam told you,’ said Peggy.

  ‘Don’t give me cheek!’ said William, shooting out a hand and slapping her lightly on the face. ‘Respect the commandments and honour thy father.’

  Peggy pressed her lips together to stop them from trembling. The blow had not hurt but the fact that her father should hit one of his daughters would upset her mother and she didn’t want her getting all nervy.

  ‘Isn’t it time we were going, William?’ asked Mary, twisting her gloves between her hands. ‘We don’t want to be late for Mass.’

  William gave a sharp nod. ‘Aye, it’s probably time we were going. I want to have a word with Father Francis.’ He moved away from the fire and, picking up his trilby from the sideboard, placed the hat on his iron-grey hair. ‘Put the guard to the fire, Lil! Come on, Mary, stop wasting time,’ he added.

  Lil placed the fireguard into position while Peggy waited for her. Then the sisters linked arms and followed their parents out of the house.

  Marty was standing at the back of the church, watching out for his parents and sisters while talking to an old school friend who helped out with the boys’ club founded by Father Francis. It had kept many a lad from hanging around on street corners and causing mischief, including himself. He saw the family come in and excused himself.

  Peggy dipped a finger in the holy water and crossed herself, having stood back while her parents and Lil went ahead. She saw Marty, looking smart in his Sunday suit, talk to them for several minutes and waited impatiently for him to approach her. ‘I suppose Bernie told you about Pete and that’s why you’re here?’ she blurted out as soon as he was in earshot.

  Marty nodded. ‘We were just talking about Pete. Dad said he was going to have a word with Father Francis about him. I wouldn’t be too happy about that.’

  Peggy bit on her lip. ‘Wha— What d’you mean? You didn’t tell Dad that Pete’s a Proddy, did you?’

  ‘No, that’s your job. I’d do it as soon as possible if I were you.’

  Peggy’s mouth was suddenly dry. ‘Why?’ she asked huskily. ‘What d’you think Father Francis will do?’

  ‘One of Father Francis’s parishioners moved to Seaforth and set up a boys’ club at Our Lady, Star of the Sea. He’s bound to ask if the family knows Pete Marshall.’

  Peggy groaned. ‘I don’t remember them but I bet Mam and Dad will.’

  ‘And another thing – I met our Tommy in the Red Lion in Litherland last night!’

  Peggy’s eyes opened wide. ‘You saw our Tommy?’

  He nodded. ‘He phoned me. That’s why I wasn’t at the birthday tea.’

  ‘What did he have to say?’

  He told her. ‘You can tell Mam.’ He paused. ‘By the way, on the way out of the pub, I bumped into Irene Miller’s brother, not that either of us made any sign of recognizing each other. A few minutes later I saw him at the bar talking to Tommy.’

  Peggy was surprised. ‘I wonder what they were discussing.’

  ‘Perhaps you could mention it to Irene next time you see her,’ he said casually.

  ‘I’m seeing her next Saturday. We’re going the matinee at the Empire to see “Babes in the Wood”.’

  He looked surprised. ‘Are you now! So she really isn’t taking her mother.’

  ‘Change of plan. Nothing wrong with that, is there?’

  He only said, ‘We’d better go and sit down. Mam’s making signals to us.’

  Peggy realized that the service was about to start and joined the family in a pew.

  After the service was over, she was hoping to speak to her brother again but he wasted no time in leaving church, so she never got the chance. Her father told his womenfolk to go on ahead without him, which suited her fine. It meant she could tell her mother and Lil about Tommy.

  The news brought tears to Mary’s eyes. ‘I’m so relieved he’s all right. If it wasn’t for your father, I’m sure he’d have come to see me.’

  ‘Of course he would, Mam,’ said Lil, hugging her mother’s arm.

  ‘I’m sure he’ll get in touch with Marty again,’ said Peggy.

  ‘It’s nice to hear that he’s safe and hopefully he’ll get himself a proper job and keep out of trouble,’ said Mary happily. ‘Maybe our Marty will be able to arrange for me and Tommy to have a cup of tea and a cake in a cafe.’

  The sisters smiled encouragingly, although Peggy had her doubts about such a cosy reunion taking place. To Peggy’s relief when her father arrived home in time for Sunday lunch he made no mention of Pete or Father Francis and the meal went off smoothly. She was glad that her
mother seemed to be managing to keep quiet about Tommy while their father was in the room. Peggy was impatient to see Pete and tell him about the latest developments in the McGrath family affairs.

  The following evening Peggy left the Cunard Building and found Pete waiting for her. She slipped her hand through his arm and they began to walk in the direction of James Street.

  ‘So how did things go with your father?’ he asked.

  ‘Mam told him about meeting you and he wanted to know if I had anything more to add to what she had already told him. I didn’t get a chance to say anything really because it was time to go to Mass.’ Peggy’s hand tightened on his arm. ‘What worries me is that he was going to speak to Father Francis about you. A family from our parish moved out to Seaforth and are members of Our Lady, Star of the Sea. Father Francis is still in contact with them, and Marty thinks he is bound to ask around about you.’

  Pete stopped in his tracks. ‘Hell!’

  She gazed up at him, her eyes full of worry and doubt.

  ‘Well, that’s it, isn’t it?’ said Pete in a hard voice. ‘Your father either knows I’ve lied about being a Catholic and he’s playing some game of his own or he’ll get to know sooner or later.’

  ‘Marty thinks I should tell Dad the truth but I’m scared,’ said Peggy with a worried frown.

  ‘Could you do it if I was with you?’ asked Pete, tracing the side of her face with a finger.

  She did not reply immediately but after a minute said, ‘I … I suppose so.’

  ‘Then we’ll do it,’ said Pete firmly.

  ‘But not this evening,’ she said swiftly. ‘It’s Dad’s darts night. Let’s go to the pictures. I’d like to forget all this for a while.’

  ‘All right!’ He kissed her and they carried on walking. She told him about Tommy but he said little in response. No doubt Pete did not approve of her brother coming back into their lives. Then she mentioned visiting the Empire with Irene on Saturday afternoon. Pete suggested that he meet her in town afterwards and they could go for a Chinese. She agreed and began to look forward to it. They went to the cinema to see a musical comedy called Hollywood or Bust starring Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

  ‘I enjoyed that,’ said Peggy as they were leaving the cinema.

  ‘Do you know Irene wants to go to California?’ said Pete.

  ‘That’ll be to visit Betty Booth,’ said Peggy. ‘Irene will really have to save up for that kind of holiday!’

  ‘Or get herself a job there,’ said Pete, squeezing Peggy’s hand. He changed the subject. ‘I was thinking that perhaps we should go and visit Ma instead of you going straight home. It’s not late. What d’you think?’

  Peggy hesitated and then agreed that since Pete had met her mother, it seemed only right that Peggy should meet his. With that settled they went for the bus. They did not talk much and when they did it was about the film they had just seen and what it would be like living in America.

  They left the bus in Bootle and walked arm in arm to the Marshalls’ house. Pete took a key from his pocket and opened the front door.

  ‘We’re being watched,’ whispered Peggy. ‘You’ve got nosy neighbours.

  ‘Ignore them,’ said Pete, drawing her into his arms as soon as the door closed behind them and bringing her against him as he kissed her.

  ‘Stop it!’ she whispered against his mouth. ‘Your mother will have heard the door open.’

  ‘We’re only kissing,’ Pete murmured.

  And the rest, she thought as he caressed her breast.

  The sound of footsteps caused them to spring apart, so that when the kitchen door opened, Pete was just ahead of her, leading her by the hand up the lobby.

  Peggy received a shock when she saw a policeman standing in the doorway.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ asked Pete.

  ‘Came to see Ma. I thought she’d be here. We want her to babysit tomorrow evening.’

  ‘I’ll mention it when she comes in,’ said Pete.

  The policeman stared at Peggy. ‘Who’s this? I’ve a feeling I’ve seen her before.’

  ‘This is Peggy McGrath. We’ve been going out together,’ said Pete. ‘Peggy, this is my brother, Dougie.’

  ‘Hello,’ said Peggy nervously, thinking the brothers weren’t a bit alike in appearance – but then neither were her brothers. She hoped that Pete would not mention Tommy to his elder brother.

  Dougie held out his hand and she hastened to shake it. ‘Nice to meet you,’ he said. ‘First time he’s mentioned you. I presume you’ve come to see Ma.’

  She nodded.

  He released her hand and went back inside the kitchen.

  Pete and Peggy exchanged glances and followed him. ‘Shouldn’t you be getting back to catching criminals?’ said Pete.

  ‘I will shortly.’ Dougie glanced around the room. ‘This place could do with a good tidy.’

  ‘All right, fanatic,’ said Pete, looking irritated. ‘Ma and I don’t have the time to be tidying up before we go out to work.’ He glanced at Peggy. ‘Sit down, love, and we’ll have a cup of tea. Ma mightn’t be long.’ He left the room.

  ‘Yes, sit down, Peggy, and tell me about yourself,’ said Dougie, leaning against a table and eyeing her up and down.

  Peggy felt as if he were looking at her as he would a suspected criminal. She thought of Tommy and her heart sank as she sat down in an armchair over the back of which hung a cardigan. She stared back at him, determined not to feel cowed.

  ‘I’m trying to remember where I’ve seen you before,’ said Dougie, his eyes narrowing. ‘My memory’s generally pretty good.’

  Pete appeared briefly in the doorway to say, ‘Peggy’s a friend of Jeanette’s; she works in the Cunard Building.’

  Dougie’s face lit up and he pointed a finger at Peggy. ‘I’ve gotcha now! You had something to do with that fight in a chippy a few years back. You’ve a brother called Marty, who later helped us with information that led to the capture of the real nasty piece of work – a bloke who’d been involved in a fight and who nearly did for the doorman at the Stadium.’

  ‘I didn’t know our Marty helped the police,’ said Peggy, taken aback.

  ‘You can’t know everything,’ said Dougie, smiling. ‘Some things have to remain hush-hush.’

  Peggy still found it hard to believe that Marty was a snout. She was pretty certain her father was unaware of it because he hated the police, especially when they came knocking on his front door.

  ‘Don’t look like that, Peggy,’ said Dougie. ‘You should be proud that Marty’s a good citizen. You ask Jeanette’s brother about him. He’ll tell you we could do with more of the public being like him.’ He paused and added abruptly, ‘On second thoughts, best not.’

  Peggy had no intention of investigating further.

  ‘You’re Catholic, aren’t you?’ said Dougie out of the blue.

  Peggy stiffened. ‘What if I am?’

  ‘What do your parents have to say about you going out with our Pete?’ Dougie folded his arms across his broad chest and fixed her with a stare.

  She did not reply and wished he would go away.

  ‘You haven’t told them, have you? That says something.’ Dougie shook his head.

  Peggy was beginning to really, really dislike this brother of Pete’s.

  ‘Leave her alone,’ said Pete, entering the room carrying a tray with two steaming cups on it and a plate of biscuits. ‘She’s not on trial here!’

  Dougie glanced at him. ‘I’m only thinking of you, brother. I don’t care what she is, myself. I’m not religious.’

  Pete exchanged glances with Peggy and smiled as he handed her a cup of tea. ‘He’s always like this. Has to put his oar in everyone else’s business. Ignore him.’ Pete sat on the arm of Peggy’s chair with his own cup of tea.

  ‘He isn’t easy to ignore,’ said Peggy, reaching for a biscuit.

  ‘He’ll be going soon. Won’t you, Dougie?’ said Pete, glaring at his brother.

  T
here came a noise at the front door and immediately Dougie left the room. Pete said, ‘That’ll be Mam. You stay here, Peggy. I’ll be back in a mo’.’ He limped out of the room, pulling the door to behind him but it did not click shut.

  Peggy stood up and tiptoed over to the door.

  ‘You should see Maisie Miller’s hair!’ she heard a female voice say. ‘She came in this morning with it really short and the most peculiar colour! Nobody dared laugh to her face, though.’

  ‘Never mind that, Mam,’ said Dougie. ‘Can you babysit for us tomorrow evening?’

  ‘Sure I can, son,’ said Gertie. ‘But I was just telling you …’

  ‘We’ve got a guest, Ma,’ interrupted Pete.

  ‘His girlfriend’s here,’ said Dougie. ‘I’ll be seeing you, Ma. Come about five.’

  ‘All right,’ said Gertie. ‘Now who did he say was here, Pete?’

  ‘My girlfriend, Peggy. Come and meet her.’

  Peggy backed away from the door and sat back in her chair. She picked up her cup and sipped her tea. The door swung open and a middle-aged woman stood there.

  ‘Well, you don’t look too bad,’ said Gertie, nodding her head several times.

  Peggy was not sure what to say to that remark, so she just stood up and smiled at the little plump woman in a belted russet woollen coat and plaid headscarf and said, ‘Hello, Mrs Marshall.’

  ‘Hello, love! What did our Pete say your name was?’

  ‘Peggy, Peggy McGrath. I’m pleased to meet you.’ She held out a hand that trembled slightly.

  ‘McGrath, McGrath,’ murmured Gertie, screwing up her face. ‘What are your mother and father’s Christian names?’

  ‘William and Mary,’ replied Peggy.

  ‘Hmmm! William McGrath. That sounds familiar.’ She patted Peggy’s hand. ‘Can you cook, love?’

  The question took Peggy aback. ‘A bit, although Ma didn’t really like us girls messing up her kitchen.’

  ‘That’s a shame,’ said Gertie, blinking at her. ‘I bet she’s a good cook. A woman should be able to cook and feed her menfolk. My husband enjoyed cooking, that’s why I never bothered. When he went off to war and I had to go out to work … what with rationing … I can’t say we ate well.’