Three Letters (51 page)

Taking out her hanky, she tenderly dabbed away the dirt and damp, then folding the letter inside the hanky, she
slid it into her pocket. She needed to be alone when she opened the letter.

Recalling how wicked she had been, she was tempted to bury it with Tom, right there and then, but that would have been wrong, ‘It seems Tom wanted me to have it,’ she said. ‘He wanted me to keep it.’

‘You will keep it, won’t you?’ Casey asked.

She assured him she would. Then she asked, ‘Can I please come back to Addison
Street tomorrow? We can talk things over, and I’ll tell you where I’ve been.’ Just now, she was overwhelmed with it all, and the need to clear her mind was pressing.

Casey slid his hand into hers. ‘D’you promise you’ll come back tomorrow?’ It was easier to forgive her than he had thought.

Ruth nodded. ‘Yes, I promise. I have so much time to make up with you all, and so much I need to tell you.’

Bob insisted on accompanying her into town, where she caught the bus to Blackpool. ‘See yer tomorrow then?’ he called as she climbed aboard.

Casey waved until she was out of sight.

Later that evening, after they’d had their tea, Marilyn and Ruth were working on a difficult jigsaw puzzle, while Marilyn listened to all that Ruth had to tell her. When there came a knock on the
door, they were surprised.

‘Who can that be?’ Marilyn got up to answer it. ‘I’m not expecting anybody, are you? Unless o’ course Miss Partridge has forgotten her key again.’

‘No, I’m not expecting anybody,’ Ruth said.

She was bent over the puzzle when Marilyn returned some time later with Steve in tow.

‘There’s someone to see you.’

When Ruth looked up and realised who it was, she didn’t know
what to do. ‘What do you want from me?’ Remembering how he had deserted her, she felt desperately insecure.

When he stepped forward, the older woman made herself scarce. ‘I’ve got things to do upstairs,’ she lied. ‘And you need to mind your manners, lady.’ She winked at Ruth. ‘We have a visitor. He’s come a long way to see you. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he was ready for a cuppa tea.’

Having spoken her mind, she disappeared upstairs, leaving Ruth flummoxed as to how she should deal with Steve. ‘I don’t want you coming here reminding me of those awful men who attacked me.’ She told him bluntly. ‘Why are you here?’ She knew well enough, though, why he was there.

Steve ignored her questions and walked towards her. ‘You know why I’m here, don’t you, Ruth? And now, thanks to your
landlady, I know who you are and I’m so glad I found you.’

Taking the envelope out of his pocket he deliberately placed it over the puzzle. ‘Connie had this. She deceived you. She deceived both of us, because I never got your letter. She lied to you and she lied to me. She told me you were back with an old boyfriend and were about to get married.’

Ruth was shocked. ‘She told me you called me
names and said I meant nothing to you … that I was trying to put some other man’s child on you. I wasn’t, though. Casey is your son. There are other things you should know too, about the good man who raised him.’

‘I do know … all of it,’ Steve revealed. ‘And I understand.’

‘That night we spent together on the beach …’ His voice trembled ‘… I loved you then, only I didn’t even know it. I’ve loved
you every minute of every day since. I would have tried to look for you, but I thought you were happily married to that boyfriend and had forgotten all about me.’

‘So, did you never marry?’

‘I did, yes.’

Unwillingly, he told her how Connie had wormed her way into his life. ‘That’s why she didn’t want me to know about you and the baby,’ he explained. ‘She had her sights set on the good life,
and we sort of rushed into marriage, though it was a huge mistake … at least for me. Now it’s well and truly over.’

Taking her by surprise, he cupped her face in his hands, and kissed her, long and hard. ‘We were meant to be together, Ruth,’ he whispered, ‘We both know that.’

Ruth was lost. She didn’t know how to deal with this moment, a moment she had waited for since they’d first met. ‘There’s
a lot you need to know,’ she warned him. ‘There are many things to be taken into consideration … mainly for Casey’s sake.’

‘I know, and I’m ready to listen.’

Ruth looked into his eyes, and saw the truth shining there. She felt his arms around her, and she knew this was where she belonged. Where she had always belonged.

Having watched from the bottom of the stairs, Marilyn swept in. ‘I reckon
I might go out and leave you two to talk, would you mind?’

And no, they didn’t mind at all.

T
WO MONTHS LATER
, Connie and her accomplice were arrested.

They were fortunate to escape gaol sentences; but only because Steve had found out their intentions in time to stop any actual funds from being tampered with. As it was, the accountant lost his job and his credibility, and each of them received a crippling fine.

By the following summer, Steve’s divorce
had come through.

Two weeks later, he and Ruth were married, with Casey as pageboy and Granddad Bob as best man. Proud and upright he carried out his duties like a true soldier.

Both Marilyn and Dolly were maids of honour.

‘I feel like a princess in my pink dress,’ Dolly said.

Marilyn told her not to be so vain. ‘We’re just two old birds dressed up like candy floss … but don’t tell Ruth I
said that.’ Although, just like Dolly, she was thrilled to be maid of honour.

Eight months after the wedding, Steve and Ruth became the proud parents of a daughter, whom they named Mary.

‘We don’t waste much time waiting for paper approval, do we, eh?’ Steve laughed.

‘It must be that beach,’ Ruth said. ‘It’s magic.’

‘Well, whatever it is, it’ll do for me.’ Steve was now a happy man. He had
the family he’d always wished for. But he was even happier when little Mary was followed by a son, who was named after Steve’s late father, Edward.

Steve had been thrilled and amazed when Ruth had introduced him to Casey, his son – the child genius he had heard so memorably playing in Blackburn market. It was now evident that Casey had inherited his astonishing talent from his natural father
and the two of them grew ever closer. The boy Casey never forgot Tom the man who raised him. That wonderful man, who had nurtured Casey’s gift of music and who had taught him how to respect and appreciate the good and worthwhile things in life.

In the following year, Steve recruited the best music tutor in the North-West to hone Casey’s natural talents.

Granddad Bob went along to the lessons
‘to keep the lad on his toes’, as he informed anyone who would listen.

For Steve, the road had been long and arduous in pursuit of his dream, but now, three years on, the studio project was a reality, and the opening celebrations were planned with great enthusiasm.

Casey was the star turn on the official opening night, and he gave the solo performance of his life. Hundreds of people got to their
feet and cheered, clapped and called for more.

Proud and tearful, Ruth uttered a little word for Tom. ‘He’s playing for you,’ she said tearfully. ‘Whenever he plays, or sings, he’ll be doing it for you. I’m sorry for what I did.’ Hurting that good man, was the biggest regret of her life. ‘Rest easy, Tom, and forgive me … if you can.’

Later, when the excitement had died down, Steve took Casey
aside and told him that his future as a recording artist was assured.

‘I wish my dad could have been here,’ Casey said tearfully. ‘He would have been so proud.’

‘Oh, but he’s watching you from somewhere up there,’ Steve put an arm about his son. ‘He’s proud of you. We’re all proud of you.’

Long ago, when Steve had first re-entered her life Ruth had asked him, ‘How do you feel about Casey not
wanting to call you Dad?’ Casey had expressed his feelings on that.

‘I’m not hurt, if that’s what you mean.’ Steve had thought long and hard about it. ‘Casey and I have talked it through, and I’m happy to go along with his wishes. The way I see it is this: there is no way we can take away what he had with Tom. I am his biological father, but Tom was the man who raised him; who shaped his good
values, and taught him everything he knows. I’m proud of Casey, my first-born son, and he knows I’m here if ever he needs me.’

Now, grabbing hold of her, and full of excitement over the success of the opening, he kissed her long and hard. ‘The thing is, my beautiful woman, I am a very lucky man. I have a daughter, two sons, and my heart is at peace. I’m proud of Casey, and I’m proud of my whole
wonderful family. A family man – that’s what I am now. Whatever happens with the studio, I’ll have what I’ve always wanted right here.’

The following year, they threw a big family party to celebrate Casey’s rising star in the world of music. They held the event in their new home at Lytham St Annes, where from their bedroom window they could follow the curve of the beach that stretched to neighbouring
Blackpool.

After the party, when little ones were sleeping and the family were chatting with friends in the garden, Steve and Ruth strolled along the beach, hand in hand.

‘It’s been a long and winding journey, hasn’t it?’ Ruth asked.

‘You could say that, but we found our pot of gold at the end of it, didn’t we?’

‘We did, my darling, we did.’

When Steve ran on, teasing and urging her to catch
him, Ruth looked up at the night skies, and for a moment she felt the strength of Tom’s presence. Then, in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

‘Good night, Tom,’ she whispered, ‘and thank you.’ She hoped he would understand.

So in love, and with so much still to look forward to, Ruth and Steve lay down, right there on the beach, with the stars twinkling overhead. Two lovers, snuggled together
on this magnificent, lonely beach.

Just a heartbeat away from where the story first began.

Josephine Cox was born in Blackburn, one of ten children. At the age of sixteen, Josephine met and married her husband, Ken, and had two sons. When the boys started school, she decided to go to college and eventually gained a place at Cambridge University. She was unable to take this up as it would have meant living away from home, but she went into teaching – and started to write
her first full-length novel. She won the ‘Superwoman of Great Britain’ Award, for which her family had secretly entered her, at the same time as her first novel was accepted for publication.

Her strong, gritty stories are taken from the tapestry of life. Josephine says, ‘I could never imagine a single day without writing. It’s been that way since as far back as I can remember.’

Visit www.josephinecox.co.uk
to read her exclusive serial, catch up with her online diary and to find out more information about Josephine.

QUEENIE’S STORY

Her Father’s Sins

Let Loose the Tigers

THE EMMA GRADY TRILOGY

Outcast

Alley Urchin

Vagabonds

Angels Cry Sometimes

Take This Woman

Whistledown Woman

Don’t Cry Alone

Jessica’s Girl

Nobody’s Darling

Born to Serve

More than Riches

A Little Badness

Living a Lie

The Devil You Know

A Time for Us

Cradle of Thorns

Miss You Forever

Love Me or Leave
Me

Tomorrow the World

The Gilded Cage

Somewhere, Someday

Rainbow Days

Looking Back

Let It Shine

The Woman Who Left

Jinnie

Bad Boy Jack

The Beachcomber

Lovers and Liars

Live the Dream

The Journey

Journey’s End

The Loner