Page 35 of A Family Affair
I asked the foreman to fetch my handbag from under the bed, because it had my ration book inside. Once he’d retrieved it, I handed him my new baby and watched as he climbed up the ladder and took him to safety.
Before I followed, as I gripped the wooden rung I steeled myself for what I was about to do. Because I knew it was wrong, but at the same time right.
I took one last look at the sleeping angels on the bed, then turned my head and focused on the hand that reached out from the hole in the roof, ready to guide me to the surface and the future.
When I stepped out into the frozen morning, the fireman handed me back my son and my handbag, while an ambulance man wrapped a blanket around my shoulders and steered me away.
I refused to go to another hospital and get checked out. I insisted on going home and said I’d walk if nobody could take me, and I would have. That’s how determined I was.
I told the ambulance man my mam would be waiting with a nice pot of tea and later, I was going to write my Walter a letter and tell him he was a dad. It would give him hope, even more to fight and stay alive for.
While the ambulance man nodded kindly, the firemen went back to bring out Nora and what they thought was her baby. I walked away from the rubble and didn’t look back. Instead, I left Joseph behind, and held my new baby very tightly. Sleepy precious Ernest, named after my dad. Then I took him home to meet his family.
CHAPTER26
HONEY
The vibration of her phone which lay on the kitchen table beside her was a minor distraction and not enough to drag her away from the task in hand. Staring out of the window.
That, and making a cup of strong coffee, was all that she could manage, mainly because her brain was fried, and her eyes looked like pee-holes in the snow. Being reminded of one of her grandad’s favourite sayings didn’t even raise a smile like it normally would, because thinking of him made it all worse.
What the hell am I going to do?
This, and a hundred other questions, had plagued her throughout the longest of nights where the bedside clock reminded her with each passing hour that she’d be knackered by morning. And she was.
Her thoughts then roamed to Ziggy, who she pictured zapping around A&E saving lives and making people smile. Ziggy was adamant that after hearing some of her patients’ stories, and seeing some of things they’d done or, had ‘accidentally’ inserted into various bodily orifices, nothing would shock her.
Well, have I got news for you, mate!
What Honey was also having great trouble with – what Molly had done, what Beryl had not done, and what she was more than likely going to have to do, was thatthis, this bloody awful family secret affair was happening to her. Them. Her and her grandad.
It wasn’t some tacky daytime telly show where you could roll your eyes at the participants who were more than willing to air their dirty laundry in front of a studio audience and millions of viewers. This was her life and her poor Grandad’s.
Her body felt like lead and, when her phone buzzed again, it took herculean effort to look downwards at the screen. She saw two names. Gospel and Levi.
Oh God… I can’t go and meet him. Not today.
Honey had too much on her mind to fake it, and this pissed her off even more because she’d been so looking forward to seeing him and hearing all about this advice he was so desperate to impart. Never mind the fact he was as fit as… and Ziggy would string her up if she stood him up.
Bloody Molly McCarthy, and Aunty bloody Beryl, too!
Her big mistake was opening Levi’s message because she knew as soon as she read it, she’d have to go.
Hi, hope you’re still on for today. Bought you some rock from Wales. Will meet you at Piccadilly at midday. Lunch is on me. L x
One kiss. He’d added a kiss. None of his other texts had kisses. As far as Ziggy was concerned that was like supergluing your lips to a love letter and Honey knew if she didn’t obey the Zigster, shit would go down. And who was she kidding anyway? Honey wanted to go. Had even chosen what to wear – but that was before she’d opened the box.
Before she could change her mind, Honey fired a message straight back and felt a little lighter for doing so. Lunch with Levi would take her mind off things.
Hi, ooh. I love rock and yes, we’re still on. See you later xx
She jabbed the send arrow, then opened Gospel’s message that was all about Aki and the ingredients he’d picked up at the wholesalers. He got a ‘yum’ emoji in return although she did wonder if the diners at the café would have the same response come Friday lunchtime.
Pushing back her chair, Honey then deposited her mug into the sink and headed for the lounge where the offending box was waiting. The pile of lined paper was still on the coffee table, as was the smaller envelope, its contents safe inside. With a tut of irritation, Honey folded the sheets quickly and placed everything inside the flaps, then pushed them shut. She’d had enough of other people’s mess.
Before she could return to the dilemma of if, and what to say to her grandad, Honey turned and made her way upstairs to the shower, desperate to wash away her irritability and waken her sleep-deprived eyes.
Getting away from the village and the café would do her the world of good and, on the train journey home, she would make a plan; but until then, the next few hours were going to be about her and Levi.
