Page 90 of The Winter Bride

‘So Adam is Alex’s child?’

Annie nodded miserably. ‘I never told Monty; I couldn’t bear to hurt him. But he was very astute and I always felt that he knew, especially as I later found out Monty likely couldn’t father children due to his war wounds. But he was a wonderful father to Adam and accepted him as his own.’

Charity frowned. ‘And you never told Alex that he had a son?’

Annie shook her head. ‘What would have been the point? He already has a daughter and a wife. He told me that was why they stayed together. It had been a marriage in name only for a long time.’

‘So surely if he knew about Adam, he would end the marriage and come to you?’

‘I don’t know, and I wouldn’t feel right if their marriage broke up because of me. I thought I was getting over him, but recently Marie and her husband invited me to a dinner party at their house and Alex was there.’

‘With his wife?’

Annie shook her head. ‘No, he was alone and the moment I saw him I knew I still loved him. Even so, from now on I’m going to concentrate on Adam. Now that I’ve found you, I realise that all I’ve ever really wanted was a family of my own. I’ve decided that I’m going to look for a house to rent and bring Adam back here to live after the New Year, and I won’t open any more shops until Adam is at school at least.’

Charity didn’t know what to say so she simply wrapped her arms about her daughter and gave her a big hug, her heart heavy.

Two days later Reggie’s fate was splashed all across the newspapers. He’d appeared in court and been found guilty on all counts of murder. Now he was waiting to go back to court for sentencing the following week, but they all guessed what the outcome would be.

‘He’ll hang, sure as eggs is eggs,’ Charity said. ‘An’ truthfully it sounds like ’e deserves to. All them poor girls he beat up and the young women’s lives he took. But anyway, let’s not speak about that today. It’s the start of a brand-new year tomorrow an’ I want it to be a good one fer all of us.’

Annie nodded in agreement, but she dreaded to think of how her ex-mother-in-law had taken the news.

She spent the New Year quietly with the family she’d always longed for and it was everything she’d dreamt it would be.

The day after, Peggy and Levi returned from Broadstairs and when she met them at the station, one glance at their beaming faces told Annie all she needed to know.

‘Eeh, we’ve had a grand time,’ Peggy told her as Levi lifted their cases off the train. ‘The hotel were like a palace an’ I ain’t ’ad to lift so much as a pot all the time we were there. I could get used to being waited on, I tell yer.’

‘That’s enough o’ that sort o’ talk, woman. I need me snap on the table an’ me shirts ironed,’ Levi teased. He lifted Adam and tossed him in the air, making the little boy squeal with delight before placing a smacking kiss on his cheek.

‘An’ what sort o’ time ’ave you two been ’aving?’

‘We’ve had a wonderful time,’ Annie assured him as she ushered them out to the taxi. ‘We’re going back tomorrow, but, er . . . we won’t be gone for long.’ She told them of her decision to stop work until Adam was at school and that she would be renting a house she’d viewed in Weddington that morning for six months. ‘That’ll give me time to look around till I find one I want to buy,’ she explained.

‘Well, I’ll be pleased to ’ave you closer again,’ Peggy admitted. ‘An’ it’ll do yer good to not be chasin’ around an’ ’ave some quality time wi’ this little ’un here.’

And to get further away from Alex, Annie thought.

Chapter Forty-Five

Marie was not so pleased to hear of Annie’s decision when she got back, but Annie would not be swayed now.

Ruth was more than happy to be in complete charge of the shop and as Annie trusted her implicitly, she could see no problems there. But Nancy was a different matter, and she frowned when Annie told her she would be moving back to Nuneaton.

‘In that case, there’s somethin’ I’d like to ask yer,’ she said tentatively.

Annie raised a curious eyebrow. ‘Go ahead then, I don’t bite.’

‘Well, the thing is me an’ Jamie half expected yer to do this an’ we thought that if yer did decide to go back, we may as well go ahead an’ get wed as soon as possible. The problem is, I’m not of age yet an’ you’re me legal guardian so we’d ’ave to ’ave your permission. How would yer feel about that?’

Annie looked concerned. ‘But you’re still very young,’ she pointed out. ‘What if things don’t work out with Jamie?’

Nancy chuckled as she fondled Alfred’s floppy ears. ‘Yes, I am young,’ she agreed. ‘But like you I spent me early years shut away in the work’ouse an’ although I might look younger than I am I ’ad to grow up quick. All I ever really wanted were a family of me own, an’ I’ve found that in Jamie. I know he’s the one fer me. I couldn’t find anyone I could love more if I searched the world over. We wouldn’t want a big do, o’ course. Just a short service at the registry office. As I told you before Christmas, his parents ’ave already said we could stay wi’ them till we found somewhere of us own to live, so what do yer think?’

Annie stared at her for a moment before answering quietly, ‘I think that if this is what you both really want then you should be allowed to go ahead. But, oh . . . I’m going to miss you so much!’

Nancy smiled. ‘But it ain’t as if you’ll never see me again. I’ve no doubt you’ll be poppin’ back regularly to check on the shop an’ see Marie. We’ll still see each other often.’