Classic Bestsellers from Josephine Cox: Bumper Collection. Josephine Cox

a while, Emily made no reply. She was relieved for him to believe the child was Danny’s. Now though, she felt his fleeting rage and it was a frightening thing. As she felt his grip loosen she looked up to see him gazing down on her, his eyes dark with emotion. ‘I never stopped loving you,’ he told her fiercely. ‘There were times when I thought I’d go crazy without you.’

      Bending his head he cupped her face and for a long, wonderful moment he just looked on her; seeing those familiar features and gazing into those wonderful eyes, feeling that he was home at long last.

      Emily saw he wanted to kiss her and she raised herself to him. Locking her arms round his neck, she softly pressed her lips to his, thrilled when he drew her closer.

      It was a passionate, hungry kiss – the kind of kiss that neither of them would ever forget, and yet there was something else. Some other emotion that neither of them had ever experienced before.

      Peering out of the window with trepidation, Danny and Rosie saw it happen and they were afraid. When Danny stepped forward to end it, Rosie pulled him back. ‘No!’ she whispered, and held onto him.

      He stayed, gaining strength and comfort from her, some deep instinct telling him she was right and he was wrong. ‘Let’s leave them, Danny.’ Older and wiser than her years, Rosie ushered him back to the kitchen, where she got him a hot drink and sat chatting quietly with him.

      Taking her by the hand, John led Emily to the bench, where they sat for a long time, she curled into him, and he with his arm round her, holding her close, as he had yearned to do all these years. ‘Are you happy, sweetheart, with Danny?’

      Emily took a moment to think about it. ‘I believe so.’ She didn’t look up, nor did she move. There was that special closeness between them that allowed her to stay in his arms the way they were. ‘And what about you, John?’ she murmured. ‘Are you happy with Rosie?’

      He smiled. ‘She’s kind of grown on me, I suppose.’

      Emily smiled at that. ‘They’ve been watching us from inside.’

      ‘I know.’

      ‘They’re both good people.’

      ‘I know that, too.’

      She drew away. In the quietness of evening with the skies above and the stars twinkling down on them, it was as though they were the only two souls in the whole world. ‘John?’

      He looked at her then, his eyes roving her face and thinking how deeply he loved her. ‘Yes, sweetheart?’

      ‘I’ll always love you.’ A single tear ran down her cheek.

      ‘I know that.’ He wiped it away. ‘And I’ll always love you.’

      They kissed again, only this time it was more gentle, more of a binding, lasting thing. ‘Are you ready to go back now?’ he asked gently.

      She nodded, but didn’t speak. Her heart was too full.

      They walked back arm-in-arm, easy and content in each other’s company. This was the night they would carry with them for all time. This night, this love, and the knowledge that the love would always be there, drawing them together, yet keeping them apart. It was how it should be.

      As they approached the farmhouse door, Danny was there, with Rosie by his side. They saw Emily and John, and for a moment were afraid again. But then they saw the easy smiles, and realised how it was; and the joy in their hearts was almost too much to bear.

      When Emily came towards him, Danny clasped her close. ‘I thought I’d lost you,’ he said brokenly. ‘Oh Emily, I wouldn’t want to live without you.’

      Rosie said nothing. She just walked to John and, looking at him with tears glittering in her eyes, she smiled knowingly.

      ‘It’s all right,’ he murmured. Then he slid his arm round her shoulders, and took her inside.

      As Emily and Danny came up the path, Aggie was rushing out of the door. ‘Have you seen Lizzie?’ She seemed frantic. ‘She’s not been seen for a while, and we can’t find her anywhere!’

      A search got under way. The entire party went out into the farm, hunting in every nook and cranny; even Grandad hobbled about, pausing every now and then to hold on to something or to sit down while he got his breath back. ‘Lizzie!’ His voice sailed on the night air. ‘Where the devil are you, woman?’

      It was Bob who found her, sprawled out in the orchard. She seemed lifeless. ‘She’s ’ere! For God’s sake, hurry!’

      Once they got her inside, it was Aggie who discovered what the problem was. ‘She’s drunk!’

      ‘Never.’ Leaning down, Archie took a sniff of her breath. ‘Well, the old bugger,’ he laughed. ‘She smells like a brewery!’ Everyone laughed at that, until Emily reminded them, ‘She’s been lying out there half-unconscious and she feels cold. We’d best get a doctor all the same.’

      At which point Lizzie opened her eyes. ‘Don’t want no doctor! Why does everybody allus want me to see a ruddy doctor? I’d be better off wi’ another measure o’ that elderberry wine.’

      When the laughter was over and everyone had drifted away, Grandad leaned down to give her a telling-off. ‘How much ’ave yer drunk, you devious little bugger? And what the devil were you doing out there?’

      Reaching up, she took hold of his coat collar and drew him down. ‘It’s all right,’ she hissed. ‘I saw them together, and it’s all right.’

      He realised what she was saying, and his old heart was thrilled. ‘Oh Lizzie,’ he kept his voice low, ‘is that what you were doing – so worried that you were knocking back the good stuff? An’ then yer follered ’em outside to see how it might all turn out?’

      She nodded, but then groaned suddenly. ‘I don’t feel well now.’

      Thomas Isaac laughed. ‘What am I gonna do with yer, eh?’ he said out loud, and people’s heads turned to listen. They were highly entertained when he answered his own question. ‘I shall ’ave to marry yer, I can see that.’

      Smiling, Lizzie nodded again, and everyone cheered. ‘Go to it, Grandad!’ somebody called out.

      When he gave Lizzie a kiss, they clapped until the little farmhouse shook.

      Two weeks later, Grandad and Lizzie were wed. ‘We’re too old and decrepit to have a long courtship,’ Grandad joshed, and hugging him tight, Lizzie agreed. She had always got on well with Tom and his wife, Clare, and she knew he was a good man.

      At their own request, there was just the family present: Michael and Aggie, Emily and Danny, and little Cathleen – the intelligent and loving child who had sprung like a miracle from a brutal and incestuous rape. The name of Clem Jackson was never spoken. His remains had been interred in a churchyard on the far side of Blackburn, and the very air in Potts End Farm seemed the purer for his absence.

      Lizzie’s beloved nephew John was there too, of course, back down from Liverpool with his wife.

      Rosie had been feeling proper peaky ever since the night of Danny’s welcome-home party. It was worse in the early mornings, and she’d gone right off the taste of tea … She hadn’t told John yet, but in her heart she knew their first bairn was growing inside her and in her wisdom, she also knew that it was the completion he needed.

      Archie and Harriet were there too, both considered members of the extended family. Many unsubtle jokes were made about marriage, and when John saw Harriet looking coy, he slapped Archie on the back and sprinkled bridal rice on his old shipmate’s shrivelled pate.

      The ceremony took place in the same church where Danny had married Emily. It was a quick service, given with a blessing, and afterwards a little tea in the local inn, at Grandad’s expense. ‘It’s not every day I tek a bride,’ he announced. ‘Besides, I’ve allus ’ad a bit put by for a rainy day.’

      ‘You’d