‘Well, blow me down!’ Liz hurries from behind the counter when Marcus and Luke walk into the shop. ‘Bless my soul, what a lovely surprise! Ooooh, come ‘ere’ an’ give your Auntie Liz a big cuddle!’ she says, bending to Luke’s level and smothering him in a hug. ‘My goodness that air must be good in Australia, you’s growin’ like a weed!’ she straightens a little to ruffle his hair and smiles into his face. ‘You’ll soon be as tall as me! ‘Ave you come for your ‘olidays?’

‘This time round. Haven’t we, mate?’

Overwhelmed by Liz’s effusive welcome, Luke shuffles backwards before answering and his smile is uncertain. ‘I’m going to come here all the time.’

‘Oh are you now? Is that because you like my sweeties?’

He looks up at Marcus with a worried expression on his face. ‘Daddy?’

‘Sweeties are lollies, remember?’

‘Nooo..’ he lowers his voice to an anxious whisper and shields his mouth with one cupped hand to talk to his father in private. ‘I don’t want to live with the lady.’

‘Ah! Right,’ Marcus strokes the back of Luke’s head and smiles at Liz. ‘Slight misunderstanding; what he meant to say was that we may be coming back here to live.’

‘Oh, won’t that be lovely!’ she claps her hands together then startles Luke with another excited hug. ‘Tha’s quite made my day, that ‘as. Bet your Mum and Dad are over the moon ain’t they?’

‘It’s what we hope to do, anyway.’ Marcus tempers her enthusiasm with a quieter reply. ‘Testing the water this trip; seeing what’s out there as far as jobs and so on are concerned.’

‘Wha’s made yer think a doin’ that, then?’ Liz asks as she makes her way back to her regular spot behind the counter and rests her arms on its top as she talks. ‘It ain’t like you weren’t settled. From what yer Mum’s said, you got a good livin’ out there.’

‘We have...but family’s family and Marie misses hers; not that I don’t miss mine....but...if we’re going to have more little monsters like this one, she wants to be close to her Mum. It might not happen, we might find out we can’t afford it, but it wouldn’t be fair on Marie to say an outright no and not even bothering to look.’

‘Well, my duck,’ she winks at Luke and opens out a paper bag and sits it in her palm, pointing with small white plastic tongs at each of the penny sweets in turn as she talks and waiting for his nod before making her selection. ‘I don’t know ‘ow it’d fit into yer plans, but I reckon she’d get ‘er old job back, easy as winkin’ now young Mrs. James is workin’ ‘er notice out. She ain’t above a month off ‘er time, I shouldn’t reckon, an’ between you an’ me, she ain’t got no intents a goin’ back neither.’

‘Think Marie would pick up work anywhere; it’s me who’s got nothing to offer anybody.’ Marcus says gloomily.

‘Don’t you go talkin’ such rubbish! There’s plenty as’d be glad t’ave yer.’

‘Not doing what I have been doing.’ He gives a similarly despondent shrug. ‘I can run a business, do the accounts, the marketing and the sales but I’ve got no qualifications to say I can. I could always go fruit picking, I suppose. I’m good at that!’

‘Summat’ll turn up, don’t you worry. You got yer ‘A’ levels, ain’t yer?’

‘They want more these days if you want to earn any real money. And real money’s what we’d need.’

‘You got t’start somewhere, my love.’ Liz tries to inject some optimism with a bright smile. ‘It’ll come ‘ard after what you been used to, but where there’s a will, there’s a way, as they say.’

‘Yep...Got to be a bit more positive for Marie’s sake. I can only look, can’t I?’

‘Tha’s right. You never knows what might be round the corner.’ She twists the neck of the paper bag closed and hands it to Luke. ‘There we are, my duck, now don’t you go eatin’ ‘em all at once.  Now then...’ she says, craning her neck to see over the racks of greetings cards. ‘Where’s that man gone? ‘E knows everybody as is anybody when it comes t’business folk. Geoffrey?’

Milliwick Newsagent

Chapter Fifty

Tawny House, Manor Road

The Annexe

‘We had a wonderful time, thanks, Jeannie.’ Helen turns from looking out of the open back door and smiles as she steps back into the kitchen. ‘The weather was perfect and the hotel absolutely out of this world. I feel unbelievably relaxed after being so spoiled. I didn’t so much as make a cup of coffee all the time we were away!’

‘An’ that’s how it shud be, hen.’ Jeannie pours water into the teapot and replaces the lid. ‘Ye’ll be busy enough when the bairn comes.’ She lays her hand against Helen’s face as she passes on her way to fetch the milk. ‘Ye dae look bonnie wi’a bit of colour in yer cheeks.’

‘Thank you.’ Instead of shyly lowering her eyes, Helen accepts the compliment with a broad grin. ‘Oh, you got our card,’ she says as Jeannie opens the refrigerator and she catches sight of it affixed to the door. ‘I did wonder if we’d get back before it arrived.’ She walks closer and starts to giggle at another card in the small display. ‘Oh dear, no prizes for guessing who this one is from! I like where you put the magnet.’

‘Och, the man’s a wee terror!’

Helen turns the card over to read it. ‘Hahaha!  ‘Posed for the statue in a past life.’ Trust Jeremy!’ She puts it back on the refrigerator and places the magnet with equal delicacy.

‘Aye...An’ his father wis a petrol pump.’

‘Jeannie!’

‘I’ll teach the man tae try an’ embarrass me!’ Jeannie manages to look stern for all of a second before giving a tolerant shake of her head and laughing. ‘I’ll hae the better of him yet.’

‘I expect you will.’ Helen settles herself on the window seat and out of habit, slips off her shoes and begins to rotate her ankles to ease them. ‘Alfie been good?’

‘Och, nae trouble at all. He’s oot there sunning hisself, same as he’s been most days. Seems tae smile fae being home.’

‘Mmm. He hasn’t really found his spot at the new house. Still exploring; it’s so much larger than what he’s been used to. I think he views it all as one big adventure playground...although he’s getting too old now to have as much fun as he might have done.’

‘Aye..’ Jeannie glances through the window and makes a small click with her tongue to show she is of similar mind. ‘He’s trouble enough tae get on tae the wall there.’

‘You don’t think he’s in pain, do you?’ Helen turns her head to look over her shoulder, smiling a little as Alfie stretches out a paw and rolls over, immediately curling up again for another nap and to sun the other side of his body. ‘Am I wrong in not letting him go?’

‘Wud ye put yer Granny doon fae being auld?’ Jeannie stops pouring tea to briskly voice her opinion. ‘There’s nae wrong wi’him that a bit o’fuss an’ a warm place tae sleep won’t help. The animal’s happy enough, an’ he’d soon tell ye if he wisna. He’s eating fine an’ his eyes are bright. Noo, there’s nae wrong as needs fixing tae my mind.’

‘That’s reassuring. You tend not to notice when you see them every day; any change is gradual, so you wouldn’t always be aware of how bad things have become...’

‘Och...he’s fine, hen. Just getting on, like the rest of us.’

‘Harriet seems to have been given a new lease of life.’ Helen smiles and lifts the cup that Jeannie has put in front of her to take her first tentative sip.

‘Just as well, lassie, or ye’d be fae taking her along tae the vet wi’ poor wee Alfie!’

‘I didn’t mean for those two things to be connected!’ she gurgles with laughter alongside Jeannie’s chuckle. ‘We spoke to her on the telephone and she was so full of all she’d done so far and the family she’s met. She seemed far more energised and already making plans to go back again.’

‘Och, tis nice tae hear she’s looking tae the future.’

‘Instead of believing she doesn’t have one.’

Jeannie confirms with a brief nod that she is as aware as Helen of the reality. ‘Aye. Tis better tae travel in hope...’

‘Literally!’ Helen saves the mood from becoming too sombre by giving another laugh and changing the subject. ‘So have you finished all your Spring cleaning?’

‘Ma Summer cleaning, yer mean? All done bar the shouting.’ Her eyes twinkle over the rim of her cup and she takes a drink before lowing it to its saucer. ‘Tho’ wi’ a hooseful a men wearing next tae nae duds, I’m surprised tae hae anything done at all. I didnae know where tae look first fae missing anything.’

‘Not all hard work, then?’

‘Och,’ Jeannie waves away Helen’s giggled remark and smirks.  ‘I managed just fine.’