Classic Bestsellers from Josephine Cox: Bumper Collection. Josephine Cox

her mind’s eye she saw him as plainly as if he was there with her. During the half-hour that Danny was on top of her, she pretended it was John who held her in his arms, and so the ordeal was easier to bear.

      Long after Danny had fallen asleep, his arm still round her shoulders, Emily lay awake.

      This is my life now, she thought. Giving myself to Danny, and pretending it is all right. Only of course it wasn’t, and never would be.

      ‘Where are you, John?’ she asked the darkness. ‘Why did you never come back for me?’

      There was no answer. Outside, the snow fell thickly on her wedding night, covering all in a blanket of silence.

       Chapter 13

      AGGIE WAS SHOPPING in Blackburn town, when she saw a familiar little figure just ahead of her. Recognising the woman at once as John Hanley’s Aunt Lizzie, she called out: ‘Lizzie! Wait on!’

      The other woman had already quickened her steps, and darted inside the ironmonger’s to escape her.

      Unaware that Lizzie was trying her best to dodge her, Aggie persisted. ‘Hey, Lizzie! Hold on a minute!’ she shouted as she hurried down the street after her.

      ‘Right, missus. What can I get you?’ The man behind the big counter had seen his customer rush in and was eager not to let her rush out again without buying something.

      ‘I’m just looking, thank you.’ Hiding herself behind the nearest rack of shelves, Lizzie bent her head to examine the row of paint-brushes.

      Undeterred, the man was out from behind his counter and beside her in a trice. ‘What kind d’you want?’ he asked. ‘I’ve got all types and sizes, aye, and all prices to suit.’ Hovering close by, he kept her trapped in that spot. ‘There’s your good-quality brush, then there’s your cheap brush. It all depends on what you want it for, and how much you intend paying.’

      Believing she had been there long enough for Aggie to have gone her own way, Lizzie pushed by him. ‘I’ve changed my mind,’ she said. ‘I’ll have to think on it.’

      ‘You’ll not find a better brush anywhere else.’ Hands on hips, he blocked her way.

      ‘I’m sure I won’t,’ she said sweetly. ‘But if you don’t move outta my road, the fish in my bag will begin to stink your shop out. Once the smell greets them at the door, you’ll not get another customer this side o’ Christmas.’

      On that he swiftly moved aside and let her go. ‘Don’t forget,’ he called after her. ‘You’ll not get cheaper or better, however far you look.’

      When Lizzie came out, Aggie was waiting for her. ‘I didn’t follow you inside,’ she explained. ‘The man who serves in there is a nightmare. You can’t look at anything without he’s breathing over your shoulder.’ Now, as he recognised her and waved eagerly from inside the shop, Aggie gave him a wave back and began to move away. ‘I allus go into Preston if I need owt like that,’ she confided out of his earshot.

      As she had no real option, Lizzie accompanied her back up the street. ‘I threatened to stink his shop out wi’ fish if he didn’t let me go,’ she laughed.

      Aggie glanced suspiciously at the older woman’s shopping bag. ‘If you’ve got fish in there, you’d best tek it home a bit smartish,’ she advised. ‘It’s early yet, but this July sun will fry it for sure, if you’re not careful.’

      Lizzie grinned. ‘I were fibbing. I ain’t got no fish at all,’ she confessed. ‘Only I had to tell him summat. The bugger had me trapped against the paint-brushes, so I told him a fishy story, if yer like.’

      Aggie chuckled at that. Lizzie had always been easy to talk to, but since her nephew John had gone off and left their Emily with child, the woman had been keeping out of everyone’s way. Aggie thought that was a real shame. After all, it wasn’t Lizzie’s fault any more than it was Aggie’s.

      ‘It’s so good to see you,’ she said warmly. ‘It’s been a long while since we’ve had a natter. I did call round a few times, only you were never in.’

      ‘Oh, well y’see, I often go for long rambles now I live on me own,’ Lizzie answered. ‘Happen that’s why you couldn’t get me.’ She hated lying. It made her feel uncomfortable, as it did now.

      Since Emily had cheated on John, and she herself had lied to both him and to her because of it, Lizzie’s attitude towards the Ramsdens had changed. In fact, she had decided it might be wiser to keep her distance. So, whenever she saw them coming up the lane to visit, she had locked the door and hidden herself away. Both Aggie and Emily had called on her many a time, until in the end they appeared to have given up, and that was fine by her.

      ‘All right are you, lass?’ Aggie had a sneaking feeling that Lizzie wasn’t telling the truth. Moreover, the old dear looked a little under the weather.

      ‘I’m very well, thank you,’ Lizzie replied confidently. ‘And yourself?’

      ‘Can’t grumble,’ Aggie shrugged. ‘I don’t get time to be ill, what with the farm and everything.’

      ‘No, I don’t expect you do.’ Through it all, Lizzie had always respected Aggie for the way she seemed to cope. ‘I do admire you, lass, the way you soldiered on after your husband … well, I mean …’ Having blurted out more than she intended, she now felt like crawling under a stone.

      Aggie nodded resignedly. ‘I know what you mean, and it’s all right,’ she assured her. ‘Michael left us well and truly in the lurch. It’s no secret hereabouts.’

      ‘But you’ve kept it all going, and I think that’s grand.’ Relieved that Aggie had taken it so well, Lizzie added, ‘And how’s Emily?’

      ‘Oh, she’s fine.’ Aggie’s pride showed in her face. ‘The lass is a treasure. Honest to God, Lizzie, I don’t know what I’d do without her.’

      It was on the tip of Lizzie’s tongue to ask after the child, but she thought better of it. ‘Is your father-in-law well?’

      Aggie chuckled. ‘As daft as ever,’ she said. ‘He drives me mad with his antics, but we’re good for each other. He makes me laugh.’

      ‘Give him my regards, won’t you?’

      ‘Aye, but you could do that yerself, if ever you chose to visit?’

      Lizzie nodded. ‘We’ll see.’ But she knew she wouldn’t. To go down to Potts End and pretend that nothing had happened between the two families was all too daunting.

      Even though Lizzie had not asked after Cathleen, Aggie was determined to mention her, if only to remind Lizzie of how her nephew had left Emily a shamed woman. ‘The child is well,’ she told Lizzie guardedly. ‘A more darling lass you could never hope to meet.’

      Lizzie nodded. ‘I’m glad.’ That was all she could say on the subject, because now her mind went back to the conversation with Emily, who had assured her that John was not the father of her child.

      To Lizzie’s thinking, that had cleared him of all blame – though lately, somewhere at the back of her mind, she felt things weren’t quite what they seemed.

      Emily and John had been so much in love, she had always known that. When it seemed that Emily had cheated on John, Lizzie had been shaken to her roots. She had been angry and disgusted, wanting to hit back.

      All along, John had been her main priority. Believing she needed to save him from a woman who had betrayed him the minute his back was turned, she had sent him away, saddened and broken by her lies. Had she been right, she fretted, in telling John that Emily was happily wed, with a child by Danny Williams? Though it didn’t matter now, she told herself, because now Emily really was wed. Danny had taken on the role of