Hers to Have and to Hold by June Francis

Author:June Francis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Canelo
Published: 2023-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

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The following day she met the other shareholders, including one of the younger men, Theo Jones, who told her that they would meet again in Liverpool at his aunt Amelia’s house. It was then that she remembered he was the guest that her employer was expecting. She asked about his cousin, who was also to be a guest, and he told her that he was picking her up in Ludlow, where she lived with her parents. They parted just before the AGM started and Theo said he looked forward to meeting again in Liverpool.

Eliza and Jack had arranged to meet in the park where they’d had the fish and chips. He was already there when she arrived with Alfie and a picnic lunch provided by the hotel. They settled down on the same bench. Alfie had dozed off in his pushchair, after having been fed and changed at the hotel.

Eliza told Jack about her meeting with Theo, whose full name was Theophilus, which had been his great-grandfather’s name. ‘I didn’t say anything at the time, but I think Bryn told me that was a family name and it was from the Bible, and that the great-grandfather had originally been a farmer.’

In turn, Jack told her that he had asked the chairman’s grandmother if he could go straight up to his bedroom, as he was tired after the journey. He thanked her for offering to put him up and added that he would not need any supper, as he had already had something to eat that evening. ‘That way I avoided seeing Rosie, although I did hear her having an overloud whispered conversation on the landing.’

‘Did you manage to catch what was said?’ asked Eliza.

‘Some of it. They seemed dissatisfied with their menfolk’s attitude to the females in the family and mentioned not only that the suffragettes had it right, but that Ada Jones did the right thing in having joined them recently. Apparently, she had been force-fed in Walton gaol. Bryn had treated her, and her daughter, disgracefully. Although, I got the impression that they believed she tricked Bryn into marrying her by telling him that she was pregnant with his baby when it was someone else’s. It was Rosie who said that. She and Ada meet up in Liverpool sometimes.’

‘Stop right there,’ said Eliza, holding up a hand. ‘You should, as a policeman, know that sort of thing no longer happens. After the Great War the suffragettes succeeded in some of their aims and there is no longer force-feeding. You’ve misheard. What I want to know is: did they mention me in connection with Ada?’

‘There’s nothing wrong with my hearing. I think they’d forgotten I was there and, as for you, they’ve never met you and, as you are now a widow, I think they most likely dismissed you as not being important.’

‘But they’re widows,’ cried Eliza indignantly.

‘From a different era,’ said Jack earnestly. ‘You’re young and have the opportunity for a different life altogether. You’ll have choices that they never had.

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