THE TYNESIDE SAGAS: Box set of three dramatic and emotional stories: A Handful of Stars, Chasing the Dream and For Love & Glory by Janet MacLeod Trotter

Author:Janet MacLeod Trotter [Trotter, Janet MacLeod]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: MacLeod Trotter Books
Published: 2014-04-10T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Teresa came and stayed for nearly a month, revelling in her new granddaughter and in her first proper visit to Newcastle. Once Millie was back on her feet, they went out every day, proudly pushing Edith in her new pram up to the shops and round the park in the late-spring sunshine. Teresa loved it all: the wide, bustling streets, the myriad of shops, the ice-cream parlour on Cedar Crescent and the bands that played in the park. She made instant friends with Dinah and was persuaded to have her hair done at Laurie’s. Several times Millie and Dinah took Teresa into the centre of Newcastle to look round the shops and have tea at Fenwick’s or Tilley’s. On other occasions, Mrs Hodges minded the baby while Millie took her mother to the music hall and to a concert of touring American gospel singers.

Bit by bit, Millie learned just how grim life had been in Ashborough over the past year; of the debt that saddled the hotel because of Teresa’s generosity to starving neighbours, and how little Marjory had nearly died of whooping cough that winter.

‘She’s better now, but they had a terrible shock. Ella won’t let her out of her sight. Walter’s quieter than ever, he’s a good family man. Ella’s expecting again.’

Millie listened aghast to the tales of hardship, silently vowing that she would write to Ella. It pained her to be estranged from her oldest friend. She heard how Teresa had been forced to lay off Elsie, who had gone to work on a farm. But her greatest shock came with news of Grant and Ava.

‘He’s been blacklisted from the pit,’ Teresa confided one time when they were out and Dan could not complain of them speaking about his family. ‘I blame him for joining the Communist Party. Anyway, there’s no work for him around Ashborough. They’ve only got a roof over their heads because old Mungo is still working. We’d have taken them in at the hotel, of course, but Grant’s too proud to live off the likes of me and Joseph.’

‘Is Ava very unhappy?’ Millie asked, feeling sorry for her old rival.

‘Aye,’ Teresa sighed, rocking the pram with her hand as they sat on a park bench. They watched a boy run past rolling a hoop. ‘She’s got this bee in her bonnet about emigrating to America; thinks Grant could work in the mines out there.’

‘America?’ Millie gasped.

‘She got hold of one of Grant’s periodicals and read about it – Virginia or somewhere. Anyway, she’s set on this idea. She gives him a terrible time, never a minute’s peace. I think they’ll go. That’s why I’m making the most of this visit – it’ll be the last if Ava leaves. I’ll have no one to help me in the hotel.’

‘I could always come home for a bit and help out if you want,’ Millie offered at once. ‘You only have to ask.’

Her mother gave her an odd look. ‘That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you call the hotel home,’ she answered.

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