Winter on the Mersey(62)
Sarah gazed up at the ceiling in frustration. ‘Tommy, this is Alfie Delaney we’re talking about. He’s never nice – or if he is there’ll be some other reason behind it. What did he want?’
Tommy’s face contorted with the effort of remembering. ‘Wanted to know about my job,’ he said slowly. ‘And asked if Kitty had a boyfriend. I said no, she didn’t.’
Sarah gave an involuntary shiver. The man had had no business taking Tommy into a pub – he was far too young. Maybe, just maybe, he’d done it as a gesture of friendship, she told herself. Then she shook her head. That wasn’t likely. What had he really wanted? It was unlikely to be anything good.
The boy had almost dozed off at the table. ‘Tommy, when is Kitty due back?’ She shook him by the shoulder.
‘Dunno,’ he said dully, slumping back down against the table. He looked pathetically young in the dim gaslight.
Sarah thought quickly. ‘You should have something to eat, soak up all the beer,’ she said. ‘I’ll go home and see what Mam has got and bring something over. All right? Probably best you don’t come over and let everyone see you like this.’
Tommy mumbled something and Sarah took it for agreement. She didn’t want to leave him alone, but knew that Dolly would have a fit if she knew the boy was in this state. That wouldn’t help matters. If she could nip across and grab a bowl of something hot, she might manage to help him improve a little before Kitty returned. She couldn’t leave him alone for long though. What if he was sick? She was pretty sure he wasn’t used to alcohol. He’d never been allowed it at home, or not officially anyway, and there was no way on earth that Joan and Seth would have given him any. She could not tell how much he’d had now, but she wanted to keep an eye on him, or at least until his sister finished her shift. Sarah knew from several cases at the hospital how dangerous a large intake of alcohol could be. She couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to Tommy.
She let herself out of the front door and made sure it was left so she could easily come back in. Moonlight was now flooding Empire Street, picking out all the details of the bomb damage – the missing tiles, splintered frames and the empty space where a house had once stood. She leant against the wall for a moment. If only Danny were here.
Briefly she closed her eyes. She missed him, and he hadn’t even been gone for very long. She’d come to rely on their almost daily conversations, his humour, the knowledge that she could ask him anything – and that he would ask her too. There had been a bond between them for years. She had been the only one apart from him and the doctors who had known about his heart condition, and he’d sworn her to secrecy. She’d said nothing to anyone until the accident, when he’d been so badly affected and the cat was well and truly out of the bag.
She also knew, although Danny hadn’t realised she knew, that Alfie had some underhand interest in him. That was one reason she was so alarmed that Alfie had sought out Tommy. She’d overheard the occasional comment over the years and put two and two together. That was why Alfie’s return could not mean anything good.
She was also deeply uneasy about his ongoing interest in Kitty. However, she wasn’t sure what she could do about it. In the usual run of things she would have immediately turned to Danny for advice, or as a sounding board to talk through her own thoughts. Sometimes he understood her better than she did herself. She realised she’d taken this for granted; it was as normal as breathing, until the day he’d packed his bags and gone on that blasted course.
Sarah had always known that she had strong feelings for Danny, but, being an unusually steady and responsible teenager, she’d told herself that things might change as she got older and she should do nothing hasty. After all, the Feenys and the Callaghans had grown up almost as one big family, so it was no wonder she felt so close to him. Then her sister Rita had married his brother Jack, to further cement the bonds between them.
But the feelings she now had for him were anything but sisterly. She had to admit it. While he was here every day she could go on as usual, enjoying his company, trusting him with her innermost thoughts, loving the way they seemed to agree on just about everything. Now he wasn’t here she was lonely even in the midst of her friends, family and colleagues. None of them came close to him.
She couldn’t tell him about Tommy now. What would he do if he read about this evening in a letter? He’d worry, but be unable to come up to sort things out, and that would be the worst of all worlds. It was better to say nothing. Kitty could make that decision, if it came to it. She could just imagine Danny’s fury, fuelled by deep concern for his young brother. She knew how responsible he felt for him, how anxious he’d been that this course would take him away just when he was needed at home.
Did Danny feel the same about her as she did for him? She didn’t know. She wouldn’t force the issue when he came back. She dreaded losing his friendship, and suspected that he still thought of her as another sister. Besides, he was so clever. Nobody had recognised this when he was growing up, least of all his teachers, but now look at him, doing this really hard hush-hush job and being sent off to learn even more complicated work. He might think she was too stupid for him. She had been no great shakes at school either, but she loved what she did and nursing came easily to her. That was enough for her; but would it be enough for Danny?
Sarah looked up at the moon. Time to go and see what her mother had in the way of a meal so she could make sure Tommy recovered from his ordeal. Her feelings for Danny would have to wait – but they showed no signs of going away.