Page 70 of Harbor Lights

Con wanted to know more about Shiv and her family. It wasn’t a trap, just someone she was getting close to, asking reasonable questions. Aware of Con’s hand on her hip over her pajamas, she placed her own hand over it and moved it under the pajama top, so it rested on her stomach.

“Your hand is so warm. It’s like a hot water bottle.”

“Glad to be of service.”

She could feel the smile in the words. If Con wished to know more about her background, she wanted to open up and talk.

“I told you my mom was big into activism, too. She grew up in the eighties in England, so there was plenty to fight for. She went on marches and rallies and even ran off to a peace camp when she was fifteen. My granddad brought her back, but he could never understand her motivation. He thought she should be grateful she was being brought up in a comfortable home.”

“I know Desmond lost his wife young. How old would your mom have been?”

“She was eleven. And the eldest. So, my granddad expected her to help run the house at that age. It became clear very early on that wasn’t going to happen. I think she’s got a lot of unaddressed grief from that time, but her reaction was to rebel.”

Con’s fingers circled across her abs in what she assumed was meant to be a comforting way. Shiv was enjoying it, but comfort wouldn’t have been the word she’d use.

Focus on the story.“So, she hung out with all these feminists. They were mostly lesbians, but she always said she was cursed with a love of dick.”

Con made a gagging noise behind her, making her giggle. “I know, right? So unnatural. Anyway, long story short, she met a guy at a fundraising gig. The singer in the band. They were from the US and gigging around the UK in an old bus. She got on the bus to travel with them, and I’m sure you can guess the rest.”

“She got pregnant?”

“Yeah, but by the time she knew, he was long gone. After my granddad found out and threw her out, she stole her mom’s jewelry and sold it for the price of a plane ticket.”

“I can’t imagine that helped heal the rift in their relationship.”

“No. But she was sixteen. She did what she thought her mom would’ve wanted. But it turned out San Francisco was a little bigger than she bargained for. She never did find him. And when her visa ran out, she went in search of the kind of place her friends had lived in back home.”

“A squat?”

“They called it a women’s collective, but yeah. They looked after her so well throughout her pregnancy, and after I was born.”

“And that’s where you grew up?” Con shifted and Shiv wondered if her legs were numb.

“On and off. We moved around for a few years when I was young.” She half turned. “D’you want me to move?”

“No, no. You’re cooling me down.”

Shiv wasn’t sure she was. But now she had opened the can of worms that was her younger life, she wanted Con to know everything.

“By the time I hit my teens, we moved back for good. The house had got really run down by this time, but then a woman called Martha arrived. She had a proper job, but she liked the communal life with other women. She started doing all the jobs that were needed around the house and when I showed an interest, she taught me to help.”

“And that’s how you became an electrician?”

“Who’s telling this story?” She tipped her head back to frown.

Con laughed. “Get on with it, then.”

“I wanted to do an apprenticeship, but my mom had moved back so I could go to the local school and not get home-schooled like some of the kids. I always got good grades, and she had this crazy idea that I could get into college.”

“Did you want to go to college?”

“Nah. I wanted to earn money and do my own thing. I couldn’t wait to get away from my mom’s control, even though all she’d ever done was look out for me. Then something happened that changed everything.”

“Hold that thought. I need to stoke the fire.” Con eased out from under her, and she felt the loss immediately.

She sat up straight, watching Con stretch out her legs before bending toward the fire.

“Shall I make tea?” She started to remove the blankets.

---