Classic Bestsellers from Josephine Cox: Bumper Collection. Josephine Cox

      They drank to that, and soon Archie took his leave. ‘Got to see a man about a room, then it’s off to find work of a kind,’ he said. ‘You take care of yourself, son. You’ve already given me your aunt’s address, so as soon as I’m settled, I’ll write to you.’ A big grin lifted his features. ‘This letter won’t have oceans to cross, so you should get it all right.’

      John watched him leave, and when the loneliness flooded over him, he strode across the room to the bar, where he took instructions from the landlord, paid his way, and was soon shown to the back parlour, where his ‘lukewarm’ bath was ready and waiting.

      Some time later, he emerged refreshed, smartly dressed in his new clothes, and ready for his journey. With a lighter heart, he bade the landlord goodbye and headed for the door.

      The sooner he was out of the Sailor’s Rest and on his way home, the better.

       Chapter 6

      ‘IT’S NO USE you arguing with me,’ Thomas Isaac insisted. ‘I haven’t been out of this room in weeks, and now I’m feeling stronger, I intend being downstairs to see that little lass blow out her birthday candles.’ His homely old face withered into a crooked smile. ‘Two year old – I can’t believe it!’

      Aggie sighed. ‘That’s how quickly life passes us by,’ she said philosophically. ‘She were born March 1903, now it’s suddenly 1905. Two year old today … twelve year old tomorrow. Afore you know it, our Cathleen’ll be a woman with a husband and childer of her own, Lord help us!’

      The old fella lapsed into a mood of nostalgia. ‘I just hope the same Good Lord lets me live to see the day.’

      Aggie rolled her eyes to the ceiling. ‘Aw, give over, Dad. You’ll not get round me that way. I know you too well to let you bamboozle me into feeling sorry for you.’ She gave him a knowing wink. ‘So you might as well stop trying.’

      He looked shocked. ‘I don’t know what yer talking about, woman!’

      ‘Oh, yes you do,’ Aggie retaliated. ‘You’re badgering me to get you downstairs, even after the doctor has given strict instructions that after this last chest cold o’ yourn, you’re to stay in bed, well wrapped up and with a roaring fire in the grate.’ She was pleased to see that the fire had got a good hold, with the flames already leaping up the chimney. Even in March, when the sun began to struggle through, these farmhouse bedrooms were awfully cold.

      ‘You make me out to be a tyrant.’ The old man’s querulous voice brought her attention back to him.

      ‘That’s what you are,’ she teased. ‘And when you can’t find a good argument as to why I should let you get out of your sickbed and risk catching pneumonia, you then start on about the Good Lord, and how you pray He might let you live to see little Cathleen have childer of her own. Playing on my sympathies, so you are – making out you’re hard done by. Same as you allus do.’

      He groaned. ‘Yer a fierce woman, Aggie Ramsden. A poor old fella like meself don’t know how to take yer from one minute to the next.’

      ‘There you go again!’ Aggie cried. ‘Calling yourself a poor old fella, when we all know you’re as crafty as a wagonload o’ monkeys!’ She gave a hearty chuckle. ‘But I can’t blame you for wanting to see the lass blow out her two candles. Moreover, she wouldn’t be happy unless you were there and neither would me or Emily.’ She tried another tack to keep him in his bed. ‘Mind you, we could allus fetch the child and her cake up here to you?’

      ‘Oh no, you don’t!’ he retorted. ‘I’m coming down. I’ve had enough o’ lying in this damned bed.’

      Aggie took a deep, invigorating breath. ‘It doesn’t look like I’ve got much choice.’

      ‘At last!’ His face lit up like a beacon. ‘So you agree? I’m to be taken downstairs the first minute you get?’

      ‘We’ll see.’ She knew how to play her father-in-law at his own game. It was asking for trouble to let him win too easily.

      ‘What d’yer mean, “we’ll see”?’ Opening the palm of his hand, he twirled the porcelain balls on the head of his bed, until they danced and jangled like a band playing a tune. ‘One way or another, I’m going down them stairs, an’ that’s that!’

      Knowing how stubborn he could be when the mood took him, Aggie relented. ‘All right, then. But the minute I see you looking peaky, I’ll have you back up these stairs and into that bed afore you know it!’

      ‘Oh, will yer now?’ Giving her a cheeky wink, he laughed. ‘By! It’s been a long time since a woman made me an offer like that, I can tell yer.’

      Aggie, too, laughed out loud. ‘Behave yourself.’ She craftily turned the tables on him. ‘By! I wonder how I’ll get on, carrying you down them stairs?’ she groaned. ‘I mean, you’re not as fit and slim as you were. Come to think of it, you’re an awkward lump. It wouldn’t surprise me if I had to let go of you halfway down. Then what would we do, eh? You could break a leg or summat.’

      ‘Tormenting me now, is it?’ he said with a twinkle in his eye. ‘You’ll ’ave me down them stairs no trouble,’ he declared. ‘Wi’ you on the one side and Emily on the other, I’ll be safe as ’ouses.’

      ‘Well, I certainly hope so,’ she answered. ‘Look, there’s no need to be getting out of yer bed just yet.’ Glancing at the mantelpiece clock she told him, ‘It’s only just gone ten past six. The child is still fast and hard asleep, bless her little heart. What’s more, our Emily only put the cake in the oven an hour ago. We’re not setting the birthday table until twelve o’clock, so you’ve time enough to get another few hours’ sleep.’

      But the old fella didn’t like that idea at all. ‘How can I sleep when I’m not tired?’

      ‘I don’t know,’ Aggie replied. ‘But you might as well try, ’cause you’re not coming down them stairs for a while yet. And that’s an end to it.’ She repeated her warning in a serious voice. ‘You’re not to tire yourself out, Dad. And if I say you need to get back to your bed, I don’t want no argument. All right?’

      Ignoring her pointed question, he asked, ‘Will he be there?’

      Aggie was momentarily thrown. ‘Who?’

      ‘You know who,’ he retorted. ‘That ugly brother o’ yourn.’

      Aggie visibly bristled. ‘I’ve no idea where Clem is,’ she answered in a hard voice. ‘What’s more, I don’t care.’ She glanced at the window, her eyes glittering with hatred. ‘If somebody came to the door and told me he’d had an accident and there was no hope for him, I’d throw my hat up in the air.’

      ‘Good God!’ In all the time he’d known this lovely, caring woman, he had never witnessed such loathing in her eyes. ‘D’yer really hate him that much, lass?’

      For a moment he thought she had not heard, because now, as she wandered to the window and stared out, her thoughts appeared to be miles away.

      ‘Aggie?’ His voice was probing but gentle.

      She turned, a quizzical look on her face. ‘What is it, Dad?’

      He smiled. ‘I asked … d’yer really hate him that much?’

      Giving a wry little smile, she answered, ‘Yes, I hate him that much,’ then added, ‘more than you’ll ever know.’ Then, fearing she had given too much away, she strode back to the bedside. ‘I asked you a question,’ she reminded him. ‘And I still haven’t got an answer.’

      He grimaced. ‘I can’t recall you asking me no question.’

      ‘Right then,’ she declared. ‘I’ll