Whispers of Love (21 page)

The one thing that irritated her even more than the way she spoiled Kay was the frequent comments Christabel made about how like the Montgomerys Kay was.

‘She not only has Lewis's dark hair and blue eyes, but she even has the same slim build,' Christabel pointed out repeatedly.

No one knows better than I do
, Violet mused,
that Kay doesn't look the slightest bit like me
. She had even regarded it as something of a bonus since she knew only too well that she was exceptionally plain, but it was different when someone else pointed it out.

‘What's so odd about that?' Violet questioned.

‘Nothing really, except that she doesn't seem to take after you or your family in any way at all.' Christabel smiled. ‘Most children seem to inherit likenesses from both their parents, but not Kay. You can identify everything about her as being inherited from the Montgomery family.'

Violet found these comments very upsetting but when she commented on it to Lewis, intending to ask him to tell Christabel to stop making them, he merely shrugged and told her she was becoming neurotic. After all, he pointed out, Christabel was quite right because Kay did have his colouring and since he was her father he couldn't see anything very surprising about that.

Although Violet tried to dismiss the matter as being of no consequence, it worried her. She found it impossible to ignore what Christabel had said and was constantly studying Kay and scrutinising not only her looks but also her habits.

Christabel was right: Kay wasn't the least bit like her, Violet thought miserably. It wasn't simply looks – that was understandable, as
Lewis had pointed out – but it was even her manner and her way of speaking. Kay had Lewis's turn of speech, his mannerisms and his attitude to things. She even had the same flashes of temper which flared up in seconds and died down just as swiftly.

Violet was so unsettled by these revelations that she found other disturbing thoughts began to invade her mind. What if there was an underlying reason why Christabel was right? she asked herself. Could it be that the reason Kay had inherited all these traits was because, even though Lewis was her father, she wasn't really Kay's mother?

She knew it was a preposterous thought, but she had been so very ill when her baby had been born that she couldn't remember very much about what had happened. She had been in so much pain and so terribly weak that it had all been so confusing. She'd been devastated when, after all the hours of agony she'd endured, she thought she'd heard the doctor say that her baby was stillborn and that she would never be able to have another.

She recalled drifting in and out of consciousness for several days wishing that she could die as well. If her baby was dead and she couldn't have any more children, then there was nothing to live for because having a child of her own meant so much to her.

Days later, when she was well enough to be
propped up in bed, she'd been in tears when she realised that her baby was in the crib alongside her bed and had been there all the time.

Lewis had consoled her, telling her not to worry. They had a beautiful little girl and that was all that mattered. He'd also explained that because she'd been too ill to look after the baby after she was born the nurse had fed her from a bottle. Nevertheless, the baby had thrived and everything was going to be all right from now on.

From then on she'd hardly given it a thought. Now she found that she couldn't sleep at night for worrying about it. She spent hours and hours going over every minute detail relating to Kay's birth.

The more she thought about it, the more convinced she became that Christabel's insinuations might be justified and it was possible that Kay was Lewis's child but not hers.

Supposing, she reasoned, he had replaced her dead baby with his love child, thinking that because she was so anxious to have a child of her own she would never know the difference?

She knew it was an absolutely outrageous idea and highly improbable, but try as hard as she could she found it was impossible to put it out of her mind.

 

Christabel had been staying in Rolleston Drive for well over six weeks before Lewis suggested
that perhaps she'd like to go over to Liverpool to visit their parents' grave, and he would accompany her the following Sunday afternoon.

Violet was very much in favour of it and couldn't wait to have both the house and Kay all to herself.

The moment Kay heard what they were arranging she threw a tantrum because she wanted to go with them.

‘No, Kay, it's impossible for you to come because it would mean you would probably be late getting back and you have to be up for school on Monday morning,' Violet explained.

‘We could go over on Saturday, then it wouldn't interfere with Kay's schooling at all,' Christabel suggested.

Violet demurred and remained adamant that she didn't want Kay to go with them.

‘OK, OK, you win!' Christabel held up her hands in mock surrender. ‘I'm sorry, Kay, I got it all wrong. Never mind, we'll have some days out when you are home from school over Easter.'

Lewis cut short the argument. ‘We'll all go on Saturday,' he said decisively. ‘We'll have lunch at the Adelphi Hotel and afterwards go and visit the graves and then we can be home again in good time for Kay's bedtime.'

Violet was on the point of saying that wasn't what she wanted to do, but a warning look from Lewis silenced her. She knew it was no
good arguing with Lewis once his mind was made up so she accepted the inevitable.

Kay was not so easily mollified. Life had been so different – quite wonderful, in fact – since Aunt Chrissy had been staying with them. Aunt Chrissy took her part whenever her mum and dad scolded her, or wanted her to do something she didn't want to do, whether it was tidying her room or going to bed.

Aunt Chrissy was so much more fun to be with than her mum. They had such good times together. She bought her sweets and ice creams, took her to the pictures on Saturday afternoons when it was too wet to do anything else, and, whenever they went shopping, Aunt Chrissy always bought her a present. Sometimes it was a puzzle, or a book; at other times it was something pretty to wear.

Best of all was when she went out with her aunt on her own and she liked the idea of just the two of them visiting Liverpool; it was far more appealing than all of them going as a family.

 

Later that morning, after Lewis had gone to work and Kay to school, Violet brought up the subject of the forthcoming trip.

‘Are you saying that I seem to have undermined your plans, Violet?' Christabel questioned.

Violet's face reddened, but she said nothing.

‘Is it because Kay is so fond of me?' Christabel persisted, ‘or is it because you are tired of having me living here?'

‘Well, naturally, I have been wondering what you have decided to do about your future,' Violet prevaricated. ‘Surely you need to get a job and earn some money? You can't sponge off Lewis for ever,' she added spiritedly.

‘I don't intend to,' Christabel promised. ‘It's only a temporary arrangement.'

Ever since she'd been staying in Rolleston Drive she'd been borrowing money from Lewis and she'd kept concocting stories about her money being tied up in America, and that she was waiting for it to come through. Lewis knew the truth and she'd promised to pay back every penny once she found a job, but she was surprised that Violet was shrewd enough to see through her story.

‘The trouble is, I'm not able to find the sort of job I want. There's not much call for writing publicity copy for films here in Liverpool, so I'll probably have to go to London.'

Violet looked relieved but she said nothing and Christabel could tell from the way her lips tightened that she was waiting to hear something more definite than that.

‘I'll leave right after Easter,' she promised. ‘I would like to go before then, but I've promised Kay that I will have some days out with her during her holidays and I don't want to upset her by letting her down. Is that all right?'

‘I suppose it will have to be. Have you told Lewis?'

‘Not yet, but I will do. Perhaps we could
leave it for the moment, until the end of the school holidays, otherwise Kay might get upset and I'm sure you don't want that to happen.'

Christabel made the most of her time with Kay during the Easter holiday. Easter Sunday 1926 fell on 4 April and although there was still a chill in the air, most of the days were bright and sunny.

They went out almost every day and even though she promised both Violet and Lewis that she wouldn't spoil her with too many treats, Christabel spent every penny she had on making sure Kay enjoyed every minute they were together.

Christabel took her somewhere different most days, setting out shortly after breakfast and not coming home again until very late in the afternoon or early evening.

Violet was far from pleased, especially when Christabel said she'd thought that it was the best way of helping her.

‘It means we are both out from under your feet all day and since you don't like anyone in the kitchen when you are cooking, I thought you would be pleased.'

‘There are plenty of other ways that you could help,' Violet grumbled. ‘Kay needs to learn how to keep her room tidy, for a start. There are books and pencils everywhere.'

‘I'll make sure Kay makes her bed and leaves her room in order each morning before we go out,' Christabel promised. ‘If there is anything else I can do to help, you have only to ask me.'

Violet didn't take Christabel up on her offer; instead, she continuously grumbled about all the extra work having a visitor made until in the end even Lewis grew tired of listening to her complaining and pointed out that Christabel wasn't a visitor, she was family.

It also made both Christabel and Kay all the more eager to get out of the house and stay out as long as possible.

They never planned in advance but waited to see what the weather was like before deciding where to go.

If it was bright and sunny, they were quite adventurous; if it was raining or very overcast, they often went to look round the shops in Liscard and then to a Milk Bar for their lunch before strolling home again around tea-time.

Kay loved the sunny days when they went to New Brighton and Christabel let her mess around on the shore. They would buy fish and chips and sit in one of the shelters on the promenade and eat it out of the newspaper. Afterwards, they would walk around the fairground and even go on one or two of the rides.

‘Will you come on the ride with me, Aunt Chrissy?' Kay always asked. Laughing and holding each other tight they'd spin round in one of the chair rides, or sit side by side on the
galloping horses on the roundabout, both of them giggling as they soared into the air and then bumped back down again.

‘Mum hates anything like this and she certainly wouldn't come on one,' Kay told her.

‘Does your dad ever take you on one?' Christabel asked.

‘Only when we come here on our own because Mum says it's very common to go on the rides and she won't let me do it.'

One day they went all the way to Southport because Kay had never been there and very much wanted to go.

‘You mightn't be able to see the sea, you know,' Christabel warned her. ‘It goes out so far that you can't even see it.'

On the way there she told Kay all about when she was nursing at the military hospital that was between Liverpool and Southport.

‘Can we go and see it?' Kay asked eagerly.

‘It won't be there now,' Christabel told her. ‘After the war it was closed down and I expect they've built either factories or a housing estate there by now.'

Once, when it was too cloudy to go to New Brighton, they went over to Liverpool to look at all the shops. They'd had lunch at the Kardomah Café and afterwards Kay wanted to go and see the house where her father had grown up.

‘You grew up here as well, didn't you, Aunt Chrissy?' Kay asked as they stared at the old family home. ‘You and Aunt Lilian.'

‘Yes, we did, but that was a long time ago.'

‘Have you ever lived anywhere else in Liverpool?' Kay asked.

‘Yes, in Wilcock Court.'

‘Where's that? Can we go there?'

For one impulsive moment Christabel thought of taking Kay there; then common sense prevailed and she knew that it would be a silly thing to do.

For a start, she reminded herself, it had been ten years ago when she'd lived there, and there'd been a war on. So much had happened since then. It was quite possible that Maggie Nelson was no longer living there or even that she might be dead. If she was alive, then Maggie was bright enough to work out that Kay was about the same age as the baby Christabel was expecting while she'd lived there.

‘One day, perhaps,' Christabel prevaricated, aware that Kay was waiting for an answer.

‘Why not now?'

‘It would take too long; it's in another part of Liverpool altogether and we have to get back. Your mum would be very cross indeed if we were late after she's cooked a meal for us, now, wouldn't she?'

‘I suppose so,' Kay agreed resignedly.

‘Come on, then. Are we going to walk down to the Pier Head or catch a tram?'

‘If we're late, then it had better be a tram, I suppose,' Kay muttered.

‘Well, we have time to walk and it
is
all
downhill,' Christabel told her. ‘Come on, we'll walk. Shall we count how many steps it takes us to walk from Bold Street to the Pier head?'

Linking arms they began counting but they gave up long before they reached Tithebarn Street, both of them agreeing that it didn't really matter.

On board the
Royal Daffodil
ferry boat they decided to walk round on the top deck.

‘Can we see the part of Liverpool where you used to live?' Kay asked as they hung over the rail watching as the boat pulled away from the landing stage and headed across the Mersey towards Seacombe on the other side.