Bridget was shocked. ‘You can’t mean that, Fan,’ she protested. ‘Where would you go, and why? She’ll not be back to bother you now. She’s had her say and you sent her packing. You’ve seen the last of her, you can bet on it.’

Placing her cup in the hearth, Fanny shook her head. ‘No. She’ll not give me any peace now. But that doesn’t bother me. I’ve come up against harder cases than her afore. It’s the lad I’m worried about. She’ll not let him alone. I know her sort. If she were to see him in the street, she’d be going on at him, calling him a bastard and saying how his mam was a scruff who’d let anybody into her bed. She’s a wicked bugger, gal. I have to get away. Not for meself, but for my Billy. He’s the one who’ll suffer.’

‘I see what you mean.’

‘If his father was a proper man, I could turn to him. But he’s so frightened of the old battleaxe and desperate to keep her because he can’t run the business without her, I reckon he’d stand by and see her tear that lad apart – his own flesh and blood too.’

‘Don’t leave,’ Bridget pleaded. ‘Come and stay here, with me and Ruthie. There’s room enough. You’ll come to no harm here. The first time she turns up on my doorstep, it’ll be the last, I promise you.’

‘Bless yer for that, gal. I know you’d take us in, and I’ll be eternally grateful for the offer. But I can’t.’ Fanny smiled warmly. ‘There are three people who mean the world to me, my lad Billy, your lovely lass and, long before they came on the scene, you. It were allus you and me.’ Fanny gave a long, deep sigh. ‘We go back a long way, gal, and wherever I go, I’ll allus make me way back to make sure you’re doing all right.’

‘Don’t go, Fanny. Please, stay with me and Ruthie.’ Bridget was close to tears.

‘No, gal, I’ll not stay. But you’ve made me an offer,’ she said, ‘and now I’ve got one for you. Come with us, you and Ruthie.’

Bridget’s eyes opened wide. ‘What?’

‘Come with us, gal. There’s nothing to hold you here, is there?’

‘Memories,’ Bridget told her. ‘This is where my life is, Fan. It’s where I belong. I have a good job at the market, I’m paid well, and Joe really needs me. He’s getting old. Besides, Ruthie is due to take lessons at the charity school next month. I can’t deny her the chance to learn.’

Fanny understood. ‘Course yer can’t, gal. It’s just me being selfish, same as usual. I can’t bear the idea that I won’t see you so often, or that you might need me and I won’t be here.’

‘Where will you go?’

‘Anywhere and everywhere. We’ll give the old horse his head, and he can take us wherever he fancies. Who knows where we’ll end up.’