Queen of the Mersey by Maureen Lee

Author:Maureen Lee [Lee, Maureen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thrillers, Fiction, War & Military
ISBN: 9780752858913
Google: DV05OQAACAAJ
Goodreads: 1298782
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2003-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

‘What are you doing here?’ asked Vera Monaghan.

The little girl giggled. ‘Me mam left me, Nana, while she went to get hair done.’

‘I don’t remember that. ’Fact, I don’t remember seeing you before. What’s your name?’

‘Carmel.’

‘Carmel what?’

‘Carmel Monaghan, Nana.’

‘Of course!’ Vera cried. ‘You’re our Victor’s little girl. Come and give your nan a nice big hug.’

Mary watched as Carmel hurled herself into Mam’s arms and felt a little niggle of jealousy. She knew it was ridiculous, being jealous of a four-year-old child, but she missed being the apple of everyone’s eye. Now the lads had kids of their own who were far more important to them than their little sister. And Mam, with swarms of grandkids to kiss and cuddle and generally make a fuss of, seemed to forget she had a daughter. Mary felt very unloved and badly missed her dad.

It was Wednesday, half day closing, and she wished she’d stayed in town and had a wander round, except there wasn’t much point when the shops were shut and Liverpool was as dead as a door nail. When was she supposed to buy things for herself ? It was only after lunch when, if she hurried, she could snatch quarter of an hour in C & A or Lewis’s. Even with staff discount, the clothes in Freddy’s were far too expensive.

Should I look for another job? she wondered. In an office, maybe, where I’d have Saturday off, like Hester, and we could go round the shops together. Then she remembered that since Hester had met Duncan Maguire they spent virtually all their free time together, so that idea wasn’t on.

‘Do you fancy a cup of tea, Mam?’

‘I wouldn’t say no, luv,’ Mam said. She was too busy letting Carmel examine her shrivelled elbows to look up. Mary remembered she’d been fascinated by Mam’s elbows when she was Carmel’s age. Now they were more shrivelled and possibly even more fascinating.

What she needed was a boyfriend who worked in a shop, she thought as she ran water into the kettle, and they could go out together on Wednesday afternoons.

In fact, what she needed was a boyfriend, full stop. The supply had dried up all of a sudden, the reason being she no longer went dancing with Hester, the favourite way of meeting fellows. She thought it a bit lousy of Hester to drop her like a hot brick the minute Duncan came along, entirely forgetting she’d done the same to Hester loads of times.

The chap, Paul, whom she brought to Daniel’s christening, hadn’t been in touch since, put off, she felt convinced, by the little Monaghans’ bad behaviour in church. She felt hurt, because she’d slept with him, and had visualised her giving him up, not the other way round.

She was uncomfortably aware that Paul was the fifth chap she’d slept with – she daren’t think what Mam’s reaction would be if she knew. She hadn’t told Hester, who was a virgin; at least had been a virgin when she met Duncan and might not be now.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.