Winnie of the Waterfront Page 20

  As he turned to retrace his steps he glanced idly at a liner berthed a little further along, and his blood froze as he saw the name Patricia along her prow.

  He stood stock-still, breathing heavily. The Patricia was the name of the boat that Winnie had said that Bob Flowers sailed on. Did that mean he was in port again and would once more be trying to find Winnie?

  The last time Bob Flowers had come ashore almost eight months earlier he had come to Paddy’s Market looking for her. Fortunately, Sandy had spotted him first and, knowing that she was at work with Peg in the market kitchen and well out of sight, had told him that she wasn’t there that day.

  He’d felt guilty about lying like that, but then he’d told himself all was fair in love and war. He was in love with Winnie and there would be a war if Bob Flowers tried to muscle in.

  Winnie had assured him that her feelings for Bob Flowers were simply ones of friendship, but Sandy wasn’t taking any chances. Flowers was a good-looking chap and uniforms like the one he sported were well-known to turn women’s heads. So it was better to be safe than sorry, he told himself.

  Now, just when all their plans and dreams were about to come to fruition, here he was again, turning up like a bad penny!

  Sandy hesitated for about five seconds then he set off in the direction of the Patricia. He’d warn Bob Flowers off, tell him he was going to marry Winnie, and that would clear the air for all time.

  He had to do a lot of arguing before he could persuade someone to fetch Bob Flowers up on deck. When Bob did eventually appear he seemed to be far from pleased when he saw Sandy standing there waiting for him.

  ‘We sail in twenty minutes so you’d better be quick saying whatever it is you’ve come to tell me.’

  ‘That’s fine!’ Sandy’s spirits lifted. If the Patricia was leaving in under half an hour then Bob Flowers mightn’t be such a threat to his plans as he’d feared.

  ‘Winnie’s not with you?’

  ‘No! I happened to be on the dockside and saw your boat was alongside so I thought I’d have a quick word.’

  ‘Yes? Well as I said it will have to be quick. I did mean to come to the market, but thought better of it.’ He grimaced uneasily. ‘The truth is I didn’t know how Winnie would take my news.’

  ‘Oh, what news is that?’

  ‘I got married during my last trip, and this is my last voyage. We’re going to live in Brisbane, Australia. I did promise Winnie I’d keep in touch, but you know how it is. Jasmine, that’s my wife, she’s a bit touchy about friends I’m leaving behind in England, and I was afraid that if Winnie wanted to keep in touch and write to me and so on, then Jasmine mightn’t take it too well.’

  Sandy nodded sagely. ‘I understand, I know what women are like. Better for the two of you to drift apart quietly. Winnie’s got her life here in Liverpool so it’s not very likely that your paths will ever cross again if you are going to settle in Australia.’

  ‘You’re spot on, mate!’ Bob Flowers held out a hand. ‘Nice to have met you, and thanks for being so understanding. Not a word to Winnie, but you will keep an eye on her, won’t you? She’s a good kid.’

  ‘Yeah, no worries. She’ll be fine, so you can set your mind at rest on that score!’

  And my mind will also be at rest as well, Sandy thought happily as he walked away whistling.

  Peg was as good as her word. The following week she arranged for one of the workmen from the market to come to her house and give her bedroom a coat of cream emulsion to freshen it up. That done, she hung new curtains at the window and then helped Winnie to move her belongings into it before she took over the smaller room.

  Once again Winnie began having doubts about whether it was fair to Sandy for them to get married. She knew he loved her as much as she loved him, and every minute they spent alone together proved that more and more, but there was still the question of her legs.

  In her opinion they were so twisted and deformed that when he saw them properly for the first time, and saw how hideous they were, it would be enough to kill his feelings for her stone dead.

  Sometimes she thought it would be more acceptable if she had no legs at all, rather than such thin, ugly and practically useless appendages over which she had so little control. She kept telling herself that as Sandy knew she couldn’t walk he must realise how deformed they were, but the thought that he had never seen them uncovered still bothered her.

  When she mentioned it to Peg the older woman had pooh-poohed her anguish.

  ‘If he’d wanted a woman with fancy pins who pranced around in high heels he’d have found himself one,’ she said sharply. ‘You can’t have everything perfect in this life so be thankful that you have a pretty face, lovely hair and a nice nature. He’s absolutely daft about you so why on earth should he worry about your legs?’

  Winnie’s eyes misted with tears and her chin wobbled. ‘Well, I worry about how they look all the time!’ she admitted.

  ‘Look, luv, they’re part of you, the same as his red hair is part of him. What you can’t change you have to accept. I’d bet anything you like that Sandy hasn’t given them legs of yours a second thought, leastwise not in the way you’re thinking, so stop snivelling and start helping me to make plans for your wedding day. We still haven’t decided on a dress for you to wear.’

  Peg insisted that even if they were getting married in a Register Office then Winnie should wear white.

  ‘A long dress, a flowing train and orange blossom?’ Winnie said cynically.

  Peg shook her head. ‘No, I thought a pretty dress, perhaps flower-sprigged on a white background.’

  Winnie shook her head. ‘I’d look like Snow White in something like that. I don’t suit fancy clothes. It will have to be something plain.’

  In the end there was a compromise. Winnie’s outfit was white, like Peg wanted her to wear, but it was an ankle-length straight skirt and a matching hip-length jacket, both in white linen. With it she wore white shoes and a white picture hat decorated with a single red rose at one side. Peg even insisted on decking out Winnie’s wheelchair with flowers and white satin ribbon.

  With her black curls almost touching her shoulders, and carrying a posy of sweet peas in a variety of pastel shades, Winnie made a lovely bride. Her face was radiant with happiness as she took her place alongside Sandy, who looked very dashing in a dark suit, crisp white shirt and a dark red silk tie. They made such a handsome couple that Peg felt tears threatening. She was as proud of them as if they were her own children.

  The ceremony was simple. Afterwards the three of them went to the State Restaurant in Dale Street for a celebratory meal. At the end of the meal, Peg raised her glass to toast their future happiness.

  ‘That’s the easy part over,’ she smiled. ‘Now it’s up to the pair of you to work hard to achieve this business you’ve set your hearts on.’

  ‘No, that will have to wait for quite a while yet, Peg,’ Sandy told her. ‘We’ve got a lot of saving up to do first.’

  ‘That’s where you’re wrong, Sandy.’ Peg rummaged around in the big black handbag that she carried everywhere with her. She had even insisted on carrying it to the wedding ceremony, even though it looked out of place with her bright blue flowered dress and plain blue coat.

  ‘You probably thought I hadn’t bought you a wedding present, but I’ve got something here for you, if I can find it.’

  ‘You’ve already given us the best wedding present you possibly could,’ Winnie assured her. ‘You’ve invited us into your house and even given up your bedroom to us.’

  ‘Yes, well that was so that you wouldn’t go and set up home somewhere else and leave me stranded all on my own, wasn’t it,’ Peg told her a little smugly. She pulled a thick envelope out of her bag and pushed it across the table towards them. ‘This is my wedding present to you both. Go on, open it.’

  Sandy held it in his hand for a moment and then passed it to Winnie. ‘You open it,’ he whispered.

  Frowning slightly, Winnie
lifted the flap and drew out two documents. She looked at them, mystified, then her eyes widened. Silently she held them out to Sandy.

  He gave a long low whistle as he scanned both of them, and there was a mixture of disbelief and amazement on his face as he looked across at Peg.

  ‘Is this really true?’ he asked thickly.

  ‘Says so there, doesn’t it?’

  ‘I’m not sure I understand what it’s all about?’ Winnie murmured uncertainly.

  ‘It means that Peg has not only found somewhere on the dockside where we can start our café, but she has signed a lease on it,’ Sandy exclaimed. He paused and looked at the documents again in disbelief. ‘Peg’s even paid the rent on the place for the next six months!’

  Sandy frowned as he looked across at their benefactor. ‘It will probably take us at least a year before we can afford to pay this money back to you, Peg?’

  ‘Who said anything about paying it back? I’ve already told you that’s my wedding present to you.’

  ‘Peg, what can we say,’ Winnie gasped. ‘It’s absolutely wonderful!’

  ‘I’ve drawn up a list of suppliers and I’ve already placed an order for equipment, so all you two have got to do is get everything organised as quickly as possible.’

  ‘It would be great if we could be up and running before the holiday season ends,’ Sandy agreed. ‘Think of all the people who will be going over to New Brighton during the summer months! That should bring in enough business to put us on our feet.’

  ‘It will put all of us on our feet, won’t it, Peg?’ Winnie said, reaching out and taking her hand and squeezing it affectionately.

  Sandy rose from his chair and went and put his arms round the little woman and hugged her until she protested that he was squeezing her to death.

  ‘Don’t forget there are three of us in this business partnership,’ he told her. ‘Without your help we would still be only daydreaming about what we’d like to do. This’, he tapped the envelope containing the lease ‘makes everything possible. It turns our dreams into something that is really happening. You’ll never regret it, Peg. I’ll work my fingers to the bone to make a success of things.’

  ‘I know you will,’ she told him, smiling broadly. ‘Both of you will, I know that, and I promise you’ll have my full support. You can count on me putting my twopennyworth into making a success of this venture as well.’

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  THIS WAS THE moment of truth, Winnie thought in alarm as they returned to Skirving Court after their celebratory meal.

  As soon as they reached home, Peg tactfully said that she was so tired she could hardly keep her eyes open and went straight up to bed.

  The moment they were left alone, Sandy took Winnie in his arms and held her close. ‘Well, how does it feel to be Mrs Sandy Coulson?’ he asked, his green eyes gleaming with desire as he gently held her face between his hands.

  Before Winnie could answer his mouth had claimed her trembling lips. Momentarily all her pent-up fears came to the fore, and then, just as quickly, they evaporated as she responded to the urgency of his mouth.

  As the tension vanished so her own anticipation took over. She returned Sandy’s kisses with equal fervour. Her hands stroked his face and neck, entwined themselves in his thick hair, pulling his face closer to her own.

  When their passion heightened Sandy swept her up in his arms and carried her up to their bedroom. As he lowered her onto the bed and began to remove her clothes her fears returned, and for a fleeting moment she wanted to push him away – and run!

  Her heart was pounding. Run! She couldn’t even walk out of the room without her sticks! She had no option but to submit to him.

  Tonight might be the only time in her whole life that she ever experienced a man making love to her, she reminded herself. It might have to be her sole opportunity of being a woman, so why not enjoy the experience to the full?

  After tonight, once Sandy realised the full extent of her crippled disfigurement, he might vanish from her life for ever.

  She wouldn’t blame him, she wouldn’t attempt to stop him; she would simply be grateful for this one night of love.

  Even if he did go, she knew it would make no difference at all to the way she felt about him. Her love would remain as strong as ever and it would be everlasting. She’d love him as long as there was breath in her body.

  In his haste to take her to bed, Sandy hadn’t pulled the curtains and moonlight spilled into the room casting a magical glow over everything. As he peeled off his clothes Winnie marvelled at the beauty of his muscular body. She had never seen a man completely naked before and she was intrigued and astonished by his physique as well as filled with wonder.

  As the moonlight illuminated the room, bathing him in its silvery light, she studied every plane and every muscle of her husband, from his broad shoulders and defined waist to his slim, strong buttocks and thighs.

  She thrilled to his touch as he gently stroked every inch of her body. His caresses inflamed her senses. As he nibbled at her ear lobe she pulled his head lower. His lips were hot and demanding as they encircled first one nipple and then the other. As his hands moved down over her hips, fear and desire pulsed through her. What would happen when his exploring fingers felt the tops of her wasted legs?

  Sandy’s passion equalled her own. His tender whispering, his eager hands carried her to new peaks of need. Her fears vanished as she felt a dizzing uprush of emotion. She joyously accepted the sharp stabbing pain as he entered her, exultant because it signalled their complete union. Now she was a woman; fulfilled. She was Sandy Coulson’s wife as well as his partner.

  The waves of sensation as he moved inside her swamped all else from her mind. She joined with him on a coaster roll of pure bliss that increased until she felt she would explode with sheer joy.

  They climaxed simultaneously. Exhausted and sublimely content they lay curled in each other’s arms as sleep claimed them both.

  When she wakened the next morning, Winnie lay for a moment wondering where she was. What was she doing in Peg’s room and in Peg’s bed? As she moved her arms she became aware that she was naked. She always wore a nightdress, a long one to cover her legs, so what had happened to it?

  In a flash it was all back. The wedding, the celebration meal, and then being carried upstairs by Sandy.

  So where was he now? Had she overslept? Had he gone to work? She tried to concentrate, but she still felt as if she was mesmerised by all that had happened. Then her fears came swirling back. Had Sandy gone? Had he left her because he’d been so shocked when he’d seen her legs for the first time?

  She buried her face in the pillow, going over the wonder of everything that had happened, and tried to shut out her fears.

  A noise startled her. She looked up to see Sandy coming into the bedroom carrying two mugs in his hand. He placed them down on the table at her side of the bed before bending down and kissing her.

  ‘Move over, make room for me to sit down!’ Gently, but as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do, he lifted her wasted legs out of his way.

  As he sat there, his hand resting on her withered thigh, her happiness was so great that she was lost for words. After all her nightmares, thinking that he would be appalled by her disfigurement, his acceptance of it without comment was unbelievable.

  It seemed inconceivable, but obviously he had meant every word when he’d said that her legs made no difference at all to his feelings for her.

  ‘So, what are our plans for today?’ Sandy asked as they sipped their mugs of tea.

  She shook her head and smiled. How could she tell him that she hadn’t made any plans because she wasn’t sure that he would be there to share them with her.

  ‘I think we should go down to the Pier Head and take a look at this place Peg has leased, don’t you?’ Sandy suggested.

  Their new venture! She nodded eagerly. It was still hard to believe that they were going to be running their own business, doing e
xactly what they had dreamed about.

  Reg Willard was incandescent with rage when a couple of days later Sandy told him that he was quitting his job.

  ‘What’s wrong with you all? Peg Mullins and that girlfriend of yours, Winnie Malloy, have also said they’re packing in,’ he scowled, ‘and now you’re going to leave me in the lurch as well.’

  ‘You should have let me have a stall here in Paddy’s Market and then I wouldn’t have had to leave in order to set up elsewhere.’

  ‘Don’t give me that!’ Willard sneered. ‘You should be thanking me that I stopped you from making a bloody fool of yourself. What do you know about running a stall, or any other kind of business?’

  ‘I’ve been taking lessons from you for years, haven’t I?’ Sandy grinned.

  Reg Willard’s scowl deepened. ‘You’re a cheeky young bugger, do you know that?’

  ‘Like I said, I’ve been watching how it’s done and now I’m ready to give it a go.’

  ‘Oh yes! And where are you going to do that? I know you haven’t managed to get a stall at St John’s Market because the inspector there is a mate of mine and I’ve made bloody sure you didn’t.’

  ‘Who said anything about going there?’ Sandy asked flippantly.

  ‘So where are you setting up then?’

  ‘Right away from here! Nowhere that will interfere with you, so don’t worry,’ Sandy told him mildly.

  ‘We’ll see about that,’ Reg muttered. ‘If you think you can sell second-hand goods anywhere within a twenty-mile radius of here then you’ll find you’ve made one big mistake. Even if you’re thinking of walking round the streets selling door-to-door from a handcart I’ll have it stopped unless you’ve got a proper licence. You put one foot wrong and I’ll get the scuffers on to you, just remember that.’

  ‘Who said anything about peddling second-hand stuff?’ Sandy countered.

  ‘I’ve heard the rumours! That’s about all you’re any good for, isn’t it?’ Reg said scornfully. ‘I’ve watched you and I know what I’m talking about. Unless someone is right behind you, issuing the instructions, you don’t know what to do next. There’s a lot more to being a businessman than wearing a collar and tie and being top dog. You need know-how and experience. You also need money behind you. You couldn’t even find the dough to pay for a stall in advance, now, could you?’