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Back Goodnight Lady Save as PDF
Chapters (60)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Praise
  4. Dedication
  5. BOOK ONE
  6. Prologue 1989
  7. Chapter One
  8. Chapter Two
  9. Chapter Three
  10. Chapter Four
  11. Chapter Five
  12. Chapter Six
  13. Chapter Seven
  14. Chapter Eight
  15. Chapter Nine
  16. BOOK TWO - 1925
  17. Chapter Ten - 1925
  18. Chapter Eleven
  19. Chapter Twelve
  20. Chapter Thirteen
  21. Chapter Fourteen
  22. Chapter Fifteen
  23. Chapter Sixteen
  24. Chapter Seventeen
  25. Chapter Eighteen
  26. Chapter Nineteen
  27. Chapter Twenty
  28. Chapter Twenty-one
  29. Chapter Twenty-two
  30. Chapter Twenty-three
  31. Chapter Twenty-four
  32. Chapter Twenty-five
  33. Chapter Twenty-six
  34. Chapter Twenty-seven
  35. Chapter Twenty-eight
  36. Chapter Twenty-nine
  37. Chapter Thirty
  38. Chapter Thirty-one
  39. Chapter Thirty-two
  40. BOOK THREE - 1947
  41. Chapter Thirty-three
  42. Chapter Thirty-four
  43. Chapter Thirty-five
  44. Chapter Thirty-six
  45. Chapter Thirty-seven
  46. Chapter Thirty-eight
  47. Chapter Thirty-nine
  48. Chapter Forty
  49. BOOK FOUR - 1968
  50. Chapter Forty-one - 1968
  51. Chapter Forty-two
  52. Chapter Forty-three
  53. Chapter Forty-four
  54. Chapter Forty-five
  55. Chapter Forty-six
  56. Chapter Forty-seven
  57. Chapter Forty-eight
  58. Chapter Forty-nine
  59. Chapter Fifty - 1970
  60. EPILOGUE

‘Come on, girl, we’ll get the car and take you home.’

Boysie and Danny had guessed that Liselle had what was termed ‘a touch of the tarbrush’ in her. But how could they tell her that if she didn’t even guess it herself?

Chapter Thirty-six

Chapter Thirty-six

Tommy and Briony sat up waiting for the twins to return. Bernadette had left shortly after Marcus had taken Molly and Rosalee home. Sitting in her warm lounge with the fire roaring and Tommy Lane by her side, Briony finally felt the enormity of what had taken place. Her anger against her mother grew virulent.

Tommy grasped her hand in his. ‘She should have been told, Bri ... before now.’

Briony nodded and swallowed hard. Her face white and earnest, she looked at him. ‘I know that, Tommy, better than anyone. But how? How do you tell a girl something like that? Especially at this time, with all the black servicemen who were over here in the war? The feeling against them by men in particular? Black people live under a stigma. It’s wrong, we know it’s wrong. But not everyone’s us, are they? Christ himself knows I wanted to tell her, I wanted to tell her when she was fifteen. But when she don’t look black, it seemed unfair somehow. Now bloody Mouth Almighty’s started a chain of events that can only lead to trouble. Oh, Tommy, sometimes I could wring my mother’s bloody neck!’

‘Well, the twins will see Liselle all right.’

Tommy kissed the palm of her hand. Briony smiled crookedly and touched his face with gentle fingers.

‘I’m so glad you came to the Manor today, Tommy. Really I am. You know us all so well.’

He smiled at her then. She saw the lines around his eyes and mouth. The two deep grooves alongside his nose, the greying of his hair. Time raced on with no regard.

She poured herself another drink and sipped it gratefully. ‘It’s funny, you know, Tommy, but a long time ago when Liselle was small I had a chat with one of the black girls in one of my houses. Nice girl she was and all. Real looker. She told me that a white-looking Negro could have children as black as night. We even had a black girl once with blue eyes. I think that’s when I built up a wall in me mind about poor Liselle. If you don’t think about it, it goes away. Well, it doesn’t go away, that much was proved here tonight. Problems don’t go away, mate, they just get bigger and bigger, and for the first time ever, I don’t know the answer to this one.’

‘You’ll find the answer. You always do.’

Briony leant against him.