Life and Love at Mulberry Lane by Clarke Rosie

Author:Clarke, Rosie
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Published: 2023-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

19

Peggy lay beside her sleeping husband, listening to the familiar sounds: the faint rumble of traffic and a rustle in the old timbers in the roof; the sounds of home. They had been away for several weeks. Peggy wasn’t sure how long, but they’d left England at the beginning of May and it was now July. The time between had been mostly a haze of pain and bewilderment for Peggy as she lay in that hospital bed, not even knowing who she was for a time. She’d been frightened, but too ill to think of anything, and then, when Janet arrived, she’d known her, yet so much remained shrouded in mist. Able had told her they’d been on a holiday, visiting his cousins in Alabama when they got caught up in the big freedom march that was sweeping across the country. There had been a riot and some coloured folk, were attacked. Peggy had seen a woman fall and instinctively gone to her rescue, when she was herself attacked and knocked to the ground. She didn’t remember any of it and she hadn’t known her husband, but, gradually, she’d come to trust Able, believing him when he told her that it was 1961 and related stories of their happy life together.

Peggy felt truly at peace for the first time since waking to a world that puzzled her and filled her with apprehension. A world filled with strangers and faces she didn’t know. It had been a shock when they’d told her Able was her husband and he’d told her about the twins. For her, the world seemed to have stopped during the war – she remembered Laurie leaving to work for some secret organisation up in Scotland, but after that it all became hazy. It had been a complete blank for a while, but Able had visited her every day and sat with her quietly for so many hours that she’d lost her feeling of nervousness and looked forward to him coming.

Peggy had seen the hurt in his eyes when she didn’t know him and that struck her to the heart. He was a good man. She’d sensed that almost immediately and gradually she’d accepted all that he told her, knowing that it was the truth even though she couldn’t remember. He’d sat and told Peggy about the twins and Janet, her daughter Maggie, and her younger son Jon, and also about Peggy’s eldest son, Pip, and his family.

‘We don’t see Pip very often, just when we visit for holidays,’ Able had explained. ‘He is married to Sheila and they have a son called Chris and a daughter—’

‘Pip is just a boy…’ Peggy had shaken her head. ‘How can he have two children?’

‘He’s grown up now, Peggy.’ Able had held her hand as she struggled to accept that the years had moved on. ‘It is 1961 now, hon.’

‘That means I’m almost sixty…’ Peggy had looked at her hands and then touched her face. ‘I can’t remember those years…’ Tears had trickled down her cheeks.

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