‘Can I bring the children?’ Still smarting from all that had happened, she asked more out of duty than love.

‘You know I don’t want that, Amy.’

‘Eddie then, and Bertha. They’re only bairns.’

‘No, Amy. I’m sorry… really.’

‘I’ve already lost one bairn, Jack. I don’t want to lose them all.’ Part of her wanted freedom, yet part of her was afraid.

‘The children will survive. They’ll have their father. And there’s Molly. You said yourself, she’s a gem. She’ll take care of them. All I want is for you and me to have a life. We’ve earned it, Amy. Surely you can see that?’

She drew away. ‘You’re asking the impossible.’ Yet, in the light of what Frank had done, what he would continue to do at every given turn, didn’t she have a right to some kind of happiness before it was too late? Or was it already too late?

Dear God, how she wanted to leave! How she wanted to close that door behind her and never again be afraid. But how could she? What of the children? If she did as Jack asked, what would become of them?

A great tide of guilt swept through her. The truth was, she felt ready now. She was desperate to take what she wanted, and to hell with everything else, as Jack would say. But she wasn’t Jack. In all her life she had never shirked her responsibilities, especially where the children were concerned. Whatever had transpired between her and Frank, it was no more the children’s fault than it was hers.

‘I want you to go now, Jack,’ she told him softly.

Undeterred, he told her, ‘When you’re better, I want you with me. We’ll go anywhere you like – America, Paris, London. Just name it and it’s yours.’

‘I can’t.’

‘You can… if you really want to.’ He kissed her again, a wonderful, warm kiss, the like of which she had not experienced in a very long time. ‘I can wait until you’re better. I’ve a few old pals to look up, and a bit of business to see to. That should fill the time in between.’

‘Don’t hang around on my account, Jack,’ she warned, ‘and don’t come looking for me again.’

‘As you say, sweetheart. But when I leave I want you by my side.’

‘Then you’ll be disappointed.’

He smiled, a small, hopeful kind of smile. Then he held her, kissed her fleetingly, and left her there.

Her face expressionless, Amy watched him walk down the ward. She watched him open the door without a backward glance, and for one incredible minute she wanted to shout his name; to ask if he would take her away now, before she had a chance to change her mind.

Then the door closed and he was gone. ‘Goodbye, Jack,’ she whispered. ‘I’ll always love you.’

Chapter Five

‘I’m sorry I’m late.’ Flushed and anxious, Molly came rushing in. ‘I got to finish work early so I could pop in and see Mam, and the bus was late as usual,’ she explained breathlessly. ‘Honest to God, you’d think they could be on time just for once!’