The Runaway Woman (43 page)

Exactly half an hour later, Lucy got up from the chair in the foyer. Kathleen was dressed up as though she was off to a party. She had on a pretty green dress with swirly skirt, short sleeves and a revealing neckline. Her legs were bare and she wore white sandals.

‘Oh, Kathleen, you look really nice.’

‘You look nice as well.’ Kathleen saw that Lucy had chosen to wear a blue, short-sleeved
top, with a straight skirt and blue sandals. Her hair was brushed to a shine, and her eyes were especially sparkling.

‘Come on, Lucy girl!’ Kathleen led the way. ‘Let’s go frighten the locals!’

They went along the beach, and with every step, Lucy recalled how she and Dave had run along here, with her on his shoulders, and the two of them making fools of themselves. But it was too wonderful to
regret, and so she remembered it with joy.

As they entered the café, Kathleen told her, ‘I’m hot … how about we get an ice cream or something? What d’you say, Lucy girl?’

‘Yeah! Let’s go for it!’

And they did.

They noticed one empty table in the far corner, and they made straight for it.

Sitting down, Kathleen stretched out her legs. ‘Is this the place you told me about?’ she asked Lucy.

‘Yes.’ Lucy was torn in so many ways. ‘This is it. Don’t you think it’s pretty … set in the cliffs like this?’

‘I do, yes! I think it’s very pretty, right on the beach and nestling into the cliffs. What else could anyone ask for?’

A moment later the waitress arrived. ‘Yes?’ She opened her notepad.

‘Right, Lucy girl!’ Kathleen quickly glanced at the menu. ‘What takes your fancy?’

Lucy wasn’t
quite sure. ‘You get yours, and by the time they bring it, I’ll have decided.’

So, Kathleen ordered a banana split and a cup of tea.

Lucy continued to look through the menu as the waitress went to fetch Kathleen’s order. ‘I think I’ll have a banana split as well,’ she told Kathleen.

The girl arrived with Kathleen’s order, but before Lucy could say anything, a voice behind her asked, ‘Would
the lady like an ice cream, topped with nuts and choc flakes?’

Lucy’s heart almost stopped, and when his hand touched hers she knew. ‘Dave!’ She looked up and there he was – the man who had stolen her common sense, along with her heart.

‘Hello, you,’ he said, bending to kiss her. ‘I’ve missed you … so much.’

Lost for words, Lucy felt like crying, she was so taken aback and so very happy to
see him again. When he sat down beside her she thought she might be dreaming.

Kathleen, however, was beaming. ‘After you came home and told me about this “wonderful” man you met, I thought you two should get to know each other better,’ she confessed. ‘So I rang the hotel and asked if they would forward a letter to this man called David, who had been in the room four doors away from my friend
Lucy Lovejoy. I sent my letter and here we are. Am I a miracle worker or what?’

Lucy dared not say a word, because if she did, she would surely break down and cry. And when Dave’s arm slid about her shoulders, she leaned into it, and it was like all her dreams had come true at once.

And then he was whispering in her ear, ‘I’ve got an idea. Why don’t you and me run along the beach, like we did
before, and give the natives something to talk about?’

Lucy shook her head, laughing too much to answer.

Kathleen diplomatically left for a walk along the cliffs, leaving Lucy to bond with Dave all over again.

‘If I behave myself, will you walk along the beach with me?’ he asked her. And how could she refuse?

From the clifftop, Kathleen looked down and smiled. ‘You two belong together,’ she
whispered.

Then she walked along a little further. She was enchanted by this place and she wondered, if she offered the owner enough money, whether he or she would consider selling that picturesque café to her and Lucy.

Once the idea had taken root in her mind, there was no turning back. So, without delay, she made her way back down.

Much later that evening, the three of
them turned out in their best party wear to spend the evening in the open-air where a gala of music and dancing was about to start.

‘They couldn’t have a more beautiful setting,’ Lucy told Dave as he led her onto the makeshift dance floor.

‘And I could not have had a more beautiful dance partner than you,’ he whispered in her ear. ‘You look wonderful.’

Lucy smiled at that. ‘Do you know, you
are the first man ever to call me beautiful?’

His answer was a soft and loving kiss, and the whispered comment, ‘All I can say is, they must all be blind.’

He gestured to where Kathleen and Billy the porter were dancing some way to the other side of them.

‘Kathleen said he fancied her,’ Lucy said, ‘and she was right.’

Later, they sat in the hotel bar, and chatted with Kathleen and Billy, who
had the evening off work.

‘I’ve got some news, Lucy girl!’ Kathleen announced.

‘What? Is it good or bad?’

‘Both.’

‘Go on then.’

‘Well, I kind of took a fancy to that picturesque little café, and I wanted to talk to you about it, but you were too tied up with this handsome man who wouldn’t let you go. So …’ she took a deep breath, ‘… I bought it for us!’

After the initial shock, everyone
congratulated her. Lucy was thrilled. ‘So now, we’ll need to start looking for a house. We can’t stay at the hotel for ever.’

While Katheen thought about Lucy’s reminder, Dave slid his arm round Lucy’s shoulders. ‘You won’t need to find a house … not if you marry me,’ he told her.

Lucy looked at him, astonished, and then she said, ‘But I can’t. I’m still waiting for my divorce to go through.’
She reminded him, shyly.

‘I don’t mind how long I wait,’ he answered, ‘as long as the answer is yes.’

‘Then, yes.’ She laughed out loud. ‘I’ll marry you!’

Everyone burst out laughing, and Kathleen turned to Billy, ‘Seems like everybody wants to get married, so, what about you and me?’

‘Are you free?’ he asked cheekily.

‘I am … yes.’

‘Then I’ll certainly bear that in mind.’ He laughed.

The evening ended in happiness and great excitement.

A year later, the double marriage was arranged.

It was well attended, by Dave’s daughter and relatives, alongside Lucy’s children, and Martin and Paula. Paula was now fully recovered, and both she and Martin were wonderfully happy.

Kathleen’s uncle and a nephew came from Ireland to see her get married, along with Billy’s
entire family of sixteen people, young and old.

Kathleen was shocked. ‘Blimey! I can tell you right now, we ain’t having an army o’ kids to look after. No way!’

Four years later, the same people attended the double christening of Kathleen and Billy’s third child, alongside Lucy and Dave’s first son – named David.

In quiet moments, when Lucy managed to hide away for a few
minutes, she sat thinking of all the heartache and pain over the years.

But that was all in the past, and she could not possibly be happier than she was at that moment.

At last, she was content in herself.

And life was good.

QUEENIE’S STORY

Her Father’s Sins

Let Loose the Tigers

THE EMMA GRADY TRILOGY

Outcast

Alley Urchin

Vagabonds

Angels Cry Sometimes

Take This Woman

Whistledown Woman

Don’t Cry Alone

Jessica’s Girl

Nobody’s Darling

Born to Serve

More than Riches

A Little Badness

Living a Lie

The Devil You Know

A Time for Us

Cradle of Thorns

Miss You Forever

Love Me or Leave
Me

Tomorrow the World

The Gilded Cage

Somewhere, Someday

Rainbow Days

Looking Back

Let It Shine

The Woman Who Left

Jinnie

Bad Boy Jack

The Beachcomber

Lovers and Liars

Live the Dream

The Journey

Journey’s End

The Loner

Songbird

Born Bad

Divorced and Deadly

Blood Brothers

Midnight

Three Letters

The Broken Man

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Three Letters

Midnight

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Divorced and Deadly

Born Bad

Songbird

The Loner

Journey’s End

The Journey

Live the Dream

Lovers and Liars

The Beachcomber

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In the summer of 1952, two lonely people arrive in the pretty seaside hamlet of West
Bay. Strangers coming from very different backgrounds, they are there for the same reasons: to find peace of mind and the chance to start a new life.

Tom Arnold has abandoned all his possessions and walked away from a highly paid job. A year ago, he had a wife and two beautiful children, when suddenly his world was turned upside-down. The car he was driving with his family was deliberately run
off the road high above the cliffs. He was the only survivor. The drivery – who Tom is sure intended to kill them all – has never been found.

Kathy Wilson has tried to cling on to her zest for life through times of pain and loneliness. Recovering from her divorce, she seeks comfort in the arms of other men. But a shocking, revealing row with her mother is the final straw, and when she inherits
a rundown house in West Bay, she flees to Dorset.

For both Tom and Kathy, it seems there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Yet even now, someone means to undermine their search for happiness. People are jealous. And a brutal killer is still on the loose … Suddenly West Bay is no longer the peaceful place it seemed …

In the sleepy Lancashire village of Salmesbury, childhood
sweethearts Emily and John are secretly planning a life together when they are cruelly forced apart.

Already abandoned by her father, and unhappy at home, Emily is heartbroken when John leaves the village. Her life takes a devastating turn for the worse when she gives birth to a child. She dare not reveal the identity of the child’s father or there will be a terrible price to pay.

Many miles
away, John is trying to forget Emily and forge a new life. Having carried her in his heart for years, a chance encounter leads him to believe she has forgotten him.