‘Jaysus, Mary and Joseph!’ Her mind and senses were in turmoil. ‘What have I done?’

Chapter Twenty

Molly didn’t sleep a wink. At six o’clock she was downstairs, pacing the floor. Alfie was leaving today, and she could think of nothing else.

Like a cat on hot bricks she watched the hands of the clock go round, until it was six-thirty, then quarter to seven, and now seven o’clock. Rosie had said he’d be leaving about half past seven, she recalled, and her heart sank.

She lit a fire, then got her dad’s breakfast going. He was on a slightly later shift at the factory today. She made herself a brew and sat by the fire. Then she was up again, peering out the front window, hoping to catch a glimpse of Alfie.

At this time of the morning, the street was coming alive with people; some on bicycles making their way down to the mills, others hurrying to the tram stops, and still others pushing through the chill wind on foot, the men with their caps pulled down, women with headscarves wrapped round their heads, all of them bent to the wind, their faces set hard.

Alfie was nowhere to be seen.

Hearing her dad come down the stairs, she returned to the scullery where his breakfast was keeping warm. Dishing up two eggs, a rasher of bacon and a plump pork sausage, she placed it on the table. ‘I’ll get your tea.’

When, a minute later, she returned with his mug, she found him standing at the back window, deep in thought, and not seeming to care whether he went to work or not. ‘Have you seen the time?’ she asked. ‘If you don’t get a move on, you’ll be late for work.’

Without a word, he walked across the room and, when he was settled at the table, she reminded him, ‘I’ll need ten shillings.’

Before he could begin his usual inquisition as to what she needed it for, Molly began her list. ‘I owe four shillings to the grocer. Eddie needs a pair of trousers, and Georgie’s shoes…’

Before she could finish, he fished a ten-shilling note out of his wallet and laid it in front of her.

Molly was dumbfounded. Normally she had to ask him time and again before he came across with the money; and she had no intention of telling him how much she earned from the deliveries, because then it would be even harder to get him to part with a single penny.

To add to her confusion, he put a half-crown alongside. ‘I noticed one of Georgie’s shoes had a hole in it,’ he remarked. ‘That should get new soles on the pair of ’em, and a new set of laces too.’

While Molly was left wondering if he’d finally lost his mind, Frank went into the scullery to swill his hands and face at the sink.

Seeing Molly go into the passage, he leaned against the wall and thought about the incident between himself and Rosie. ‘She’s a fine figure of a woman,’ he murmured. ‘A good woman, too.’