Classic Bestsellers from Josephine Cox: Bumper Collection. Josephine Cox

of sugar, he told her with a grin, ‘Your mate here were in a right state when I picked her up from outside the prison. All white and shocked she were, as if she might faint any minute. No wonder she weren’t thinking right when she climbed into the cab.’

      Deeply shamed, Maureen none the less had to thank him. ‘Do I owe you anything?’ All she wanted was to be rid of him. She propelled him towards the door. ‘I mean, what with you having to come back and all … how much d’you want?’ All she had in her pocket were two small coins, but he could have them if only he’d bugger off, she thought angrily.

      ‘Keep your coppers in yer pocket, it’s all right,’ he answered. ‘I were in this neck o’ the woods anyway. Got a fare to collect from Penny Street.’ With that he bade her goodbye and hurried off ‘to earn a crust or two’, as he put it.

      It wasn’t only Amy who had been in the vicinity when he mentioned how Maureen had been to the prison; it was also Marie and the customer she was serving – though Mr Wagner was deaf as a post, his hearing destroyed by a shell explosion in the war, and he wouldn’t hear the ceiling come down, not even if it fell right on top of him.

      After the customers had all gone, Amy saw that Maureen was close to tears.

      ‘Is it all right if we go into the back, Mam?’ she asked, her arm round Maureen’s shoulders.

      Marie could see the turn of events and her heart went out to the other woman. ‘Aye, lass, you two go on. It’s quieter now. Yer can send Johnny out to help me sweep up the sugar, if yer like.’ It was Marie’s way of letting Amy and Maureen have the little chat they obviously needed.

      A short time later, with her son out in the shop, Maureen apologised to Amy. ‘I should have told you the truth before,’ she said tearfully, ‘only I were that ashamed, I couldn’t bring myself to speak of it. I thought if you knew my Arnie was in prison, you would never want me or Johnny anywhere near you again.’

      Amy was mortified. ‘I would never turn you and little Johnny away,’ she said. ‘I love you both, like my own family. And if you don’t want to tell me your troubles even now, it’s all right. You don’t have to.’

      Maureen took Amy’s hand into her own. ‘You’re a lovely lass,’ she said, wiping her tears away with her free hand. ‘I reckon you’ve known all along there was summat I had to hide, but you’ve never pressed me, and I’m grateful for that.’

      Amy could see how this whole sorry business was too painful for Maureen, and she didn’t really know how to help her. But she could listen, and she could offer support. ‘Like I say, Maureen, if you feel it’s something you’re not able to discuss, then don’t. But if you can trust me, you know I’ll keep your confidence and I’d like to help, if I can.’

      ‘I know you would,’ Maureen acknowledged, ‘but it’s not summat anybody can help with.’

      ‘Try me,’ Amy urged. ‘You never know.’

      Nervously, Maureen confessed how she had been deceiving everyone. ‘When I told you Arnie was working away,’ she began, ‘I was lying. He isn’t working at all. He’s serving ten years in gaol, for attempted murder.’ Glancing about, she lowered her voice. ‘His name is Arnold Stratton; the man who was convicted of attacking Sylvia Hammond.’

      ‘Good God!’ Amy could hardly believe her ears. ‘No wonder you’ve had to move from place to place. No wonder you didn’t want anybody to know.’ She began to understand now.

      ‘Langdon is my maiden name,’ Maureen explained. ‘I don’t want people making the connection with Arnold Stratton, particularly for Johnny’s sake. We’ve come to like living round here, and Johnny thinks the world of you,’ she went on. ‘You and Marie are the first friends we’ve had in a long time. It would break his heart, and mine too, if we were thrown out of Derwent Street.’

      Taking both of Amy’s hands in hers, Maureen clutched them tightly. ‘That’s why you mustn’t say anything,’ she pleaded. ‘I know Marie heard just now, and I know I can trust her like I can trust you, but don’t tell nobody else. Promise me that much, Amy. Please? For Johnny’s sake, if not for mine.’

      ‘Your secret’s safe with us,’ Amy promised. ‘Does Johnny know about his daddy?’

      ‘No, and I don’t want him to. Arnie has a terrible temper on him – but he can’t help himself. His imprisonment has brought shame on us both. I’m terrified that me and Johnny will be tarred with the same brush.’ She wiped away a tear. ‘It would hurt the lad too much if he found out. So far, thank God, he doesn’t know the truth of why we’ve had to keep moving on, and I pray he never will.’

      ‘He won’t learn it from me or Mam,’ Amy declared. ‘You need have no fear on that score.’

      Maureen took her friend’s hand and squeezed it in silent gratitude.

      ‘You say he’s known to be violent?’ said Amy.

      ‘That’s right! He’ll think nothing of lashing out with fists and feet, and anything else that comes to hand. He threw a vase at me once and cut my forehead, look!’ Shifting her hair aside, she displayed a crooked scar across the top of her hairline. ‘A couple of inches nearer and he would have blinded me for sure!’

      Amy shook her head in disbelief. This was the kind of thing she heard about Daisy’s parents. ‘And he’s confessed to having had an affair with Sylvia Hammond?’

      ‘Aye, that’s right enough, lass – her and several other women that I know of!’

      She saw what Amy was getting at and now she could see it herself. ‘Why! The bugger’s led me a merry dance these years.’ She gave a harsh laugh. ‘An’ there’s me half believing his self-pitying and his moaning, instead of him taking his punishment like a man. He’s bullying me even from inside prison.’

      When a moment later Johnny came back into the room, Amy took it as a sign that her mammy was waiting for help in closing up the shop for lunch.

      ‘Thank you, Amy.’ Maureen was grateful for Amy’s sympathetic ear. ‘You’ll not breathe a word of what we’ve discussed, will you … except to your mammy o’ course?’

      ‘You know I won’t.’ Amy saw her and the boy out to the doorstep. ‘Mind how you go,’ she gave them each a hug, ‘and remember, I’m here if you need me.’

      When they were gone, and Marie’s curiosity was satisfied, she came to the same conclusion as Amy. ‘It seems the man’s a bully and a brute and, if you ask me, he’s in the right place.’

      What Maureen had told Amy was still playing on her mind after she went to her bed that night.

      Poor Maureen. Amy tried to imagine what it might be like to be married to a violent man – a man who had been in prison – to live in fear of violence and bullying.

      Then her mind ran to the other victim of Arnold Stratton’s violence: Sylvia Hammond. Why had she turned to this dreadful fella when she was married to someone so widely admired? Amy’s father, and others, had first-hand experience of Luke Hammond and had only praise for him. She could not believe a man like that would ever deserve to be betrayed. If his reputation for fair-mindedness, even generosity, for sympathy and humanity, even despite his sharp business mind, were anything to go by, he sounded like the kind of man any woman would be glad to spend her life with.

       Part 3

      November 1933

       Twist of Fate

       Chapter 11

      ‘WELL DONE, JACK. You’ve done a good job.’

      Trusting