Unspoken: A story of secrets, love and revenge T. Belshaw (good books to read for beginners txt) 📖

a bit of money for the voyage, not much, but I’ll be going ashore in all the ports.’

‘How much?’ I asked.

‘A fiver? I’ll make it up to you.’

‘A fiver? Blimey, Frank! It’s only a few bob for the train fare, one way.’

‘I don’t want to look like I’m a shyster when I go out with the crew, that’s all it is, Alice, and I won’t be paid until the voyage is done. I could get a sub here and there throughout the trip, but that would mean I’ve got nothing left by way of wages to collect, when I get back.’

‘Give me a minute to think about it. You said there were two favours?’

He sucked on his teeth. ‘The other one… Look, when I talked to the guy on the telephone, he gave me a list of ports and destinations, from when I get back, right up until the first week in September. He told me how long the voyages are, the cargo, that sort of thing. Anyway, this first trip will see me back in mid-August. The ship then turns around and leaves a few days later, doing the same run. Now, in early September, there’s a ship heading out to America. I’ve never been there, and I’d love to see New York, or Chicago with its gangsters. Anyway, I can’t get on that ship if I sign up for a repeat trip on the first one. So, the favour is. Could I stay here from mid-August until the other boat sails in September. It will only be for two weeks, and I’ll work for my keep. The other ship goes from Liverpool. I won’t be any trouble, Alice, I promise, I swear on—’

‘Don’t you dare say, Martha,’ I warned him.

‘Okay, my mother’s life then, I swear on my mother’s life.’

I suddenly felt seriously worried about Edna’s future. I thought about the money. It was a lot for him to ask for, but then again, getting a clean break from him might be worth it.

‘When you come back, it’s for two weeks, maximum, Frank, less if possible. Please let your mother know the name of the ships you’re on, in case she ever needs you.’ I paused, still reluctant to agree.

‘Come on, Alice. I’ll pay you back. Every penny.’

I came to a decision.

‘I’ll give you four pounds, Frank. You’ve still got the best part of your wages from yesterday. When you come back, you’ll work for your keep, there will be no pay, I’ll get it back that way. Are we agreed?’

I held out my hand. Frank thought for a moment and then shook it.

‘Agreed,’ he said.

‘When do you leave?’

‘I’ve got to meet up with the Nightshade, at six o’clock on Monday morning. My name will be on the ship’s roll. If I leave this evening, I can get the late train from London to Sheffield and on to Hull from there tomorrow.’

I went to the safe and took out my own wage packet that I’d made up the day before. I counted out the money inside and topped it up from the petty cash tin.

‘Here you are, Frank,’ I said, dropping the money into his hands. ‘Bon Voyage.’

‘You won’t regret this,’ he said.

‘I sincerely hope not,’ I replied.

When Frank walked out, I felt a surge of relief, tinged with just a touch of sadness. I knew I was better off without him, but he had been a big part of my life for a good while. I shouted to Miriam to come back in and then put the kettle on for a celebration cup of tea.

Chapter 69

July 1938

It was the perfect day for a funeral, if you can have such a thing. In the films and in books, a funeral is always held in foul, wet, windy, weather, as though the deceased was playing a final practical joke on the mourners. My father, it seemed, had ordered wall to wall sunshine for his funeral. This made me happy for two reasons. One, I wouldn’t have to stand around, shivering, while water dripped down my neck from the branches of the old oak, and two, the blue sky gave me the crazy idea that the sun was celebrating his reunification with the love of his life. This thought cheered me, and I clung on to it all the way through the service.

The funeral went off as well as we could have hoped, if not a little slower than I, for one, had hoped. The vicar spent so little time on my father’s achievements and character and so much time on lecturing us on the temptations of life and the evils of drink. Had he gone on much longer I swear I would have stood up and asked him if he remembered staggering about in the garden of the vicarage with a bottle of best malt in his hands, the Christmas before last. My mother had sent me up with a Christmas card and a large home-made beef and onion pie. He was hardly able to see, let alone thank me for it, so I left it on his doorstep where I hoped he would tread on it.

I was on the front pew throughout. Miriam sat next to me, holding a very well behaved, Martha. The only thing she seemed to object to, was the hymn, Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, but Miriam quickly settled her. I almost laughed out loud as whenever my father heard that line of the hymn, he would sing, and a bloody fine sunbeam am I.

Amy couldn’t be at the service because her foreman had refused permission, even though she’d offered to make the time up later. The foreman, who was Frank’s age, and divorced, had asked her out earlier in the year and she had undiplomatically, refused, so he got over this perceived humiliation by stopping her going to her best friend’s family funeral. She got her revenge immediately by telling everyone who would listen, how she had turned down his