Winter on the Mersey(97)
Kitty squeezed his hand. ‘Then I’m glad too. I couldn’t have borne it if you hadn’t survived, Frank. You mean the world to me, I see that now.’ She sighed but her eyes were bright, full of the knowledge that what was happening between them was exactly right. ‘Thank you for all you said when we were trapped down there. I might have given up hope without you.’
‘Nonsense.’ He squeezed her hand back. ‘You’re made of steel, Kitty Callaghan. You might not look tough but I know you are. You weren’t going to give up, not for a minute.’ He gazed into her deep blue eyes. ‘I just wish I could lie down here with you and take you in my arms like I’ve longed to do for so long.’
She grinned at him. ‘Well, you can’t. Doctor’s orders. Or at least,’ she added, ‘only if you’re very careful.’
‘As long as I know you want to as well,’ he breathed. She shuffled cautiously and he stretched out beside her.
Kitty looked at him seriously. ‘Frank, you’re the man I’ve wanted ever since I was old enough to know what these feelings meant. I can’t wait to be with you properly. You are my only love, and the thought of being without you is more than I can bear.’
He moved towards her and kissed her gently, careful not to jolt her arm. ‘There, that’s just for starters,’ he said. ‘We need never be separated again, Kitty. When you’re well again we can celebrate properly. Make up for lost time.’ He folded her into his arms, stroking her back, breathing against her neck, closing his eyes, and taking in all the sensations that were pulsing through him.
Kitty sighed and stroked him back with her good arm, burrowing her forehead against his chest, where she fitted as if she was made to be there. Finally she gave a little sigh. ‘Frank … I’m sorry, I can’t keep my eyes open any longer.’
‘Then sleep tight, my darling Kitty,’ he said softly, carefully releasing her, but she was already asleep. He curled around her, vowing that this would be the beginning of many years of their lives together. Slowly he too fell asleep on top of the covers, one arm resting around Kitty’s waist, protecting her from whatever the fates could send her way, for ever.
‘So you are the little boy’s mother, Mrs … Mrs …’
‘Kerrigan,’ Nancy said between gritted teeth to the policeman. She thought she really was going to be sick. Never in her wildest dreams did she think this would ever happen to her, that her little Georgie would go missing. She was trembling with shock as she sat on her mother’s settee. Violet had gone to fetch her a cup of tea.
‘And you were not at home last night?’
‘I’ve told you already,’ she gasped. ‘I was with a friend in town and Georgie was staying with his cousin Tommy for a treat. Well, they’re as good as cousins. He’d been going on about it for ages, but we only decided he could do it a couple of days ago.’
The policeman nodded. He’d been over and over the story to see if anyone’s statement didn’t match, but they had all said the same thing. Nobody outside the immediate families would have known the boy was there. It made no sense that someone could have planned to snatch him in advance. The family members themselves seemed very unlikely suspects; he’d been surrounded by anxious enquiries and offers of hot drinks and biscuits since he arrived, everyone clearly desperate to find the little boy. The grandfather had wanted to stay home from his salvage job, but the policeman had persuaded him to go, with a promise of getting a message to him if anything changed.
‘And there’s no likelihood he would have gone home and your mother-in-law has him?’ he asked.
Nancy shook her head vehemently. ‘No, there’s no likelihood of that at all.’
The policeman nodded again. His colleague had gone to check that for himself, but he’d wanted to hear the mother’s answer nonetheless.
‘So do you have any idea of who would have wanted to take him?’ he persisted.
Nancy looked up to the heavens. Years ago, before Sid had joined up, he’d run with a pretty rough crowd, and had even had the local gangland boss Harry Calendar’s sister as his fancy piece. But that was all water under the bridge. None of his old mates had bothered calling by to see if there had been any news about him since he’d been taken prisoner after Dunkirk. They probably didn’t even know of Georgie’s existence.
‘No, I can’t think of anyone.’ She accepted the tea from Violet and sipped it, but it made her feel sicker than ever.
‘Well, it looks as if he was frightened by this burglar who attacked your sister. We’ll enquire at every house to see if they know anything,’ the policeman said reassuringly, but Nancy’s mind was not put at rest by this. Everyone on Empire Street knew what was going on in everyone else’s houses. There wasn’t much of a chance Georgie could be anywhere nearby.
She bent forward, hunching her shoulders, her head in her hands. Georgie, her little boy. She knew she’d been selfish and taken advantage of her family’s willingness to look after him whenever she fancied going out, which was often. She hadn’t been the best mother to him, in all honesty, but he was the centre of her world. Without him her life had no purpose. The hurt and humiliation of the last twelve hours had been stripped away, leaving one clear fact: Georgie mattered more than anything. She had to get him back.